Our Mystery House

Some people should never touch power tools. Ever.

2010-05-22T18:18:00.005-04:00

Why do I say this? Because some idiot with a staple gun did this to our living room window:Since you can't really tell see the staples in question, here's a better look:

See all the brown spots? That's where the guy that rented our house before we bought it borrowed a staple gun from our neighbor and violated the beautiful wood work with well over a hundred staples to hold plastic sheeting and with a cardboard frame to the window to "winterize" the window. In some places there were clusters of up to 10 staples! And a lot of them only had one side of the staple in the wood, which is good for us, but makes me wonder what the point was in the first place. And this is not the only one he did it too...there are 5 other windows that he did it to and on 3 of them he not only did the inside, but also the OUTSIDE!

It took LOTS of work and patience, but I finally got the window to this condition, which is not great, but a HUGE improvement (and I tried like hell to get that bracket out, but the nails just wouldn't give so James is going to have to handle it)
To get the window to look that nice again it took a pair of needle nose pliers and a lot of cleaning. The cleaning part was because in my whole I-don't-care-what-the-house-looks-like-I-have-homework attitude towards housekeeping over the last 2 years, I did not clean the windows. Which was really, really, really stupid cause the 5 minutes I would've spent every month would have saved me the 2 hours with a shop vac, Murphy's Oil Soap, and glass cleaner.

Speaking of glass cleaner, this is the most awesome glass cleaner. Ever. And I'm being serious. Sprayway Glass Cleaner...it's in an aerosol can, sprays as a mist or foam (depending on how fast you move when spraying), it's super clingy & never runs, will remove ANYTHING from glass, the can lasts forever, and it's cheap (about $2!). And when I say it'll remove anything, I mean it removed dried, rock hard barbecue sauce from my glass cutting board in one swipe using it as foam!
Ok, back to the window. Here's the pile of staples I removed from the window, and there's way more than it look like there is. I counted a hundred before I lost interest in counting them, and there were still more!
This is probably going to get me in trouble with my hubby. It's a pile of rotting caulk that I accidentally removed from the bottom of the storm window with the shop vac. But in my defense, if it came out with a shop vac, and it was almost unrecognizable as being caulking, then it probably needed to go anyway. Right?

And in case you're wondering how we know that the renter borrowed a staple gun from one of our neighbors to do this, the neighbor told us! We were talking to him one day and I don't remember what brought it up, but the neighbor told us that the renter borrowed a staple gun one time, but didn't say what it was for. The neighbor had no idea that he used it to staple plastic to the window frames. And the people we bought the house from said that if the renter would've said something to them about the windows being drafty, they would've taken care of it for him, and it would not have involved staples!

So now that I have this taken care of, the window is ready for new glaze and caulk, and the frame and trim are ready to be refinished. I really didn't want to do it because I love the patina of the old varnish, but due to the high visibility of all the staple holes, it will have to be done. So that will be coming up soon!

***Edit: I thought this was done with a power tool. It wasn't. It was a basic hand held staple gun. So the title is totally wrong. My bad.

Need some help with exterior colors!!

2010-05-11T14:23:00.003-04:00

We are officially getting back to work on the house!! The first big project is painting the exterior trim, and I have no idea what color to choose! Our house is kind of a off white or pale gray color and I'm lost as to what color to use on the trim. My husband pretty much said no to plain white, and would prefer gray. I have no idea what would look good, but I do know that I do not like the black seen around the windows in this picture. And we're not painting the house, just the trim since we will be putting new siding on in the next couple of years.

What color would you paint the trim of an all white house? Would you go bright, neutral, or dark? Would you also paint the gabel face a color that ties the trim to the rest of the house or just leave it white? Also, does any one know any links where I could look at pictures of white houses with color trim? I tried google and that was pretty much pointless...all that it showed were pure white houses with no color or pictures of white houses with black trim.

Hmm...more Eames chairs?

2010-03-10T09:58:00.008-05:00

Just realized fishing season is almost here and so I'm wondering if the place on 15th street will be throwing more Eames chairs out to the curb. Apparently it's a really weird redneck thing around here. When fishing season starts this person sets these awesome Eames chairs out on the curb and people take them for fishing chairs! Apparently, according to several people that obviously don't know any better, they are awesome for fishing because they are comfortable and sink into the mud nicely so they don't have to worry about their chairs falling over. When some one takes one of the chairs this person sets another out! I think it's just weird that I've noticed several housebloggers that drool over these chairs and here in southern Indiana, where no one apparently knows what they are, they're used for fishing!

How I found out about this is one of my hubby's friends got one last year and showed up at the river camp with it. I told him it looks like an Eames chair and he informed me he had no idea what that meant, but that it's the most awesome fishing chair ever. So before he buried it in the mud I turned it over and his almost brand new looking "fishing chair" had the original Charles Eames sticker on the bottom! I tried and tried to talk him into giving it to me and he told me no. Repeatedly. And then proceeded to bury it in the mud and sand on the river bank where he used it that one time before the river flooded and took it away.

Does any one else find this really, really odd? Or am I the only one?

Quick Update

2010-02-26T16:49:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to say that although I have pretty much completely abandoned our blog, we have been really busy, but I haven't had any time to post about anything. School has pretty much taken over my life, it's gotten really hard and I've been loaded down with hours of homework every night. The good news is that it's almost over!! I graduate in May and will finally be able to get back to working on the house (and finding a job)!!!

More good news....we have done a few things around here and when spring break starts in a little over a week I'm going to start posting about all the little things that have been done such as....new washer and dryer, finished bedroom closet, the mini bathroom make over, new-to-us fridge, the mountains of mulch, as well as some of the bad things that have happened such as....gutters falling, pet problems, wall warping issues, and more.

If there's any one left who actually checks our blog...please be patient, we're almost back!!!

Too much to do, not enough time

2009-11-12T18:17:00.003-05:00

That's the excuse I'm giving for my current blog abandonment. School is really hard this year and I'm buried to my eyeballs in homework! I have an average of 2-3 hours of homework a night on top of all the normal stuff (like making dinner, laundry, cleaning) so there just hasn't been any time to do anything to the house. Which means nothing to blog about. The only thing I've done is pick a paint color for the bedroom, but I won't be able to actually paint until maybe Thanksgiving.

We do have some things planned though for when I can finally catch a break from school. We're going to be getting a new washer and dryer, tearing out some walls to insulate, and of course painting the bedroom. I decided on Valspar Silver Fox for the walls and Rising Tide for the ceiling. Silver Fox is a pretty blue-gray color (think blue sky with a storm coming in) and Rising tide is a really light grayish blue color that looks great with the main color. We have to get a new washer and dryer because our 15 year old set is quickly dying...3 hours to do one load of laundry is a bit ridiculous! It's taking that long because the washer is having a hard time spinning the water out and the dryer isn't getting hot (high is now almost the same as low). And we are NOT tearing out plaster walls to insulate, we're tearing out the plywood walls in the laundry room.

And I haven't forgotten to post the pictures of the closet transformation...just haven't had time, but I still plan to put them up sometime, probably Thanksgiving break.

Closet is done!!!

2009-08-10T16:46:00.002-04:00

I actually finished last Wednesday, but I watched my little cousin Thursday and Friday so I was busy at the movies, pool, river, playing Wii and wherever else she wanted to go for those days. Anyway, back to the closet...it was a pain to get it in but we finally got it and I love it! It's designed for a closet that's 5'-8' and a standard height of at least 7'. Our closet is 6' 8" and about 6' 5' tall. I had to cut a little over 6" off the support posts, and drill new holes in the posts for the clips. I also had to eliminate a shelf since there just wasn't room for it. We also couldn't use the hanger bars so the hangers are hanging from the rack. If we used the bars the clothes would be dragging the floor which is not good. Another problem was the ends of the racks. There's supposed to be brackets mounted to the side walls, which we can't do since the chimney is on one end and the boards are so thin on the other end the screws would've gone straight though. So we took 2x4's and cut them down to the width of the closet and used wood screws to mount them to the closet frame and the shelves are sitting on the 2x4's. Yet another problem was the crumbling skim coat on the plaster. It was worth is though because I now have a ton more storage than I did and at least 3' more hanging space! I'm working on getting everything back in and figuring out how I want everything be. Once I get it all organized I'll post before and after pictures.

Closet System

2009-08-03T09:22:00.004-04:00

I have decided to go against keeping our victorian closet all original. I just can't handle a single pole any more. I have been looking at closet systems for a long time but couldn't afford one. I was in WalMart Friday and saw a Closet Maid system on clearance for $40! I just let it be and figured James would never let me have it, even at that price. Well, I told him about it Saturday night and he reluctantly said I could have it!

So now I have it, the closet is empty and just cleaned. I'm waiting for the wood to dry so I can start. I'll post all the pictures later today after it's all done. Well, I should say if it's all done today, if not then it'll be tomorrow. I have to modify some things because it's for a 5'-8' closet that's a standard height. Our closet is a little over 6' (waiting for things to dry so I can measure) which is no problem. It's only about 6' tall, which is a problem, so I have to break out tools to cut the supports so it'll fit. Should be fun!

Stupid Cable Company

2009-06-21T17:41:00.004-04:00

It's been awhile since my last post. There's not much going on here because school is taking priority right now. I officially made the deans list again. I have one more week of clinicals and then I will be able to get back to work on the dining room and bathroom restoration/remodel....the dining room is a restoration, bathroom a remodel. Classes start again in the middle of August, so I have to get most of it done before then or it won't be done for another year.

We got home Thursday and there were two green pipes sticking up in our yard, and there was spray paint all over the grass and deep ruts all over the side yard. We were a little confused about what was going on so I asked the neighbor. She hadn't seen anything because she hadn't been home. But she did say that our local cable company is going to be burying their cable line so that's probably what it's for. So Friday I tried calling the cable company and I got a whole lot of answers I didn't like such as "we may be burying lines, but if you don't have cable we don't have to tell you" and "we don't have to notify you that we're going to be using your property for our use if you are not a cable customer." All this did was irritate me even more, so I went into the local store and talked to a receptionist. Actually I kind of yelled and bitched a little bit at a receptionist. She took it well, and apologized, then took my name and number and a supervisor will be calling me Monday. I can't wait. If they don't fix what they did and compensate for it somehow, I will be contacting some one with a little more authority to find out what to do. Hopefully it's all resolved tomorrow.

Car for Sale

2009-05-11T15:25:00.004-04:00

I hate to see it go, but I have decided to sell my Kia Sportage. I don't really drive it much any more, so it's better to sell it to some one who can get some use out of it.

It's cute, isn't it? I hate to sell it...I love driving it, but it's not doing much good sitting around and I really need the money more than I do another car taking up space (we have 7 right now including this one). It'll make a nice cheap car for some one.

If any one out there in blogger land is interested in buying a car I'm only asking $3,500 and the book value is over $4,000 so it's a great deal! It's a 2001 with around 81,000 miles, 5sp, 4wd, alarm, about as loaded as a Kia gets and top is in excellent condition with no leaks and easy to remove. Really fun to drive!

That's all of my shameless advertising for the day.

When It Rains, It Pours

2009-03-10T14:00:00.003-04:00

I am once again blogging after a long relapse. Its not that there's nothing going on here, its that there's too much going on and pretty much none of it is house related. And none of its good.

I am going to be unemployed at the end of May. For the second time I am working at a K Mart store that is closing. Our last day is tentatively set for May 24. I worked at Princeton K Mart and they closed, so I swore I'd never work for K Mart again. I went to work at the one here in Vincennes last May, and now, not even a year later, they are also closing. That's 7 total years of my life I will never get back.

To add to that, my throw out bearing is going out in my car so I'm putting a new clutch in (it doesn't really need the clutch, but there's 80,000 miles on it, I've only had it for 5,000 miles, so we figured it'd be best to replace it now) and shifter that will work better with the new clutch. I also had to have more brake work done. James got a new truck. Its a diesel and he had to put a new thermostat and oil pressure gauge it, which somehow caused the radiator to spring a leak, which cost over $400.

We're getting a new (used) fridge this weekend. James parents got a new one and we get their old one, which is actually better than the one we have now. Bad news is James wants to drill a hole in the hardwood floor in the kitchen for the ice maker. I told him no because when we gut the kitchen it's not staying there. He said the kitchen won't be redone for a few years so we'll just fill the hole in later if the fridge ends up somewhere else :(

I got overcharged at Kohl's the other day. The cashier didn't give me a receipt though so I'm just out the 20 some dollars.

I have an "emergency" doctors appointment later today. I have a skin problem that looks like blood spots on my skin but its not bleeding, and its been going on for over a year but has gotten worse in the last three weeks so they wanted me in ASAP.

Most likely nothing will be done to the house till this summer. Instead of being "house broke" like many housebloggers are, we are "car broke". All our money has been poured into our cars to keep them going. For what we've put into them we could have finished the dining room and almost finished the bathroom.

Like I said: when it rains, it pours. One bad thing after another.

The only good news: I'm on spring break. No classes this week. My midterm grades are in and they're all good. Oh, and I just started the third book in the twilight series which took me forever to find because they're still selling out as fast as stores get them in. Now I have to find the fourth one.

Snow Pictures

2009-01-29T08:56:00.005-05:00

We have a ton of snow here in Southern Indiana, but thankfully we're far enough north that we didn't get the 3" of ice that every one to our south got. We just have a foot of snow. We still have power and the highways are clear now.

I couldn't go to my class today though because of this...
It doesn't really look that bad from this picture, but that is a Mustang (which sits low to the ground) and that is a two foot wall of snow in the background from the plows going down the highway. James four wheel drive made it, but there is no hope for my car moving today.

This is our backyard today. And this is after the melting that happened yesterday.

James tried to move his mom's car yesterday to the part of their driveway that had been plowed. That is about 12" of solid snow and ice sitting on the hood. He didn't make it far.

This was what happened yesterday when I let Sox out. He fell through the snow (which was taller than him), made it under the truck and sat down. I don't think he liked it.

James has to shovel the driveway when he gets home today so I can get out tomorrow. That sucks for him. And the news said we're going to get another inch or so tonight. Great.

If I actually make it outside today I'll probably post more pictures later today.

Antique Curio Cabinet Pictures

2009-01-18T18:05:00.006-05:00

I have some pictures today. It's the cabinet I got for Christmas! (Please ignore the mess around it)

There are glass shelves that go in it and it has lights in the top that were added a few years ago. Not really sure if they're going to stay or not.

The pretty handle

Just a little bit of the antique glass that came with it. There are 3 boxes all together, and it's almost all antique and it belong to James grandma and great grandma. I haven't been through all the boxes yet, but so far I've found cobalt, green, and milk glass, and several old (1800's) medicine bottles and jars and cooking bottles (oil, seasonings, spices). I also saw some silver teapot shaped place card holders, some really old Christmas decorations, and a ton of glass ashtrays.

I'm going to stain it the same dark red-brown I used on the mirror. You can't really tell from the pictures, but it does need to be refinished...there's some wear on the corners. And it doesn't match the dark wood that we have all through the house.

I would have pictures of the garage, but it's been snowing and sleeting today on top of cold and windy. And I'm a baby so I'm not going out there. Hopefully I'll have them next time

Quick Update

2009-01-14T13:00:00.003-05:00

I'm a little behind on posting, so there will probably be several posts over the next few days. I hadn't realized that it has been nearly two months since my last post so there's a lot of catching up. Things have been a little busy here. I am between classes at school right now so I don't have my camera which means no pictures right now. But they're coming.

Since my last post James got the garage cleaned up and installed a woodburner in there so he can be warm while working on cars when it's around zero degrees out (like it has been lately). He's also been slaving away at my moms truck when he hasn't been sick.

Not much has been going on inside the house though. I didn't get the dining room done cause I was working so hard on finals I kinda forgot about it. It paid off though, I just found out I made the deans list!! But we didn't have dinner here this year. Maybe I'll get it done by next year. Actually I'm hoping we have it done by next year cause I don't think I can look at it in the state it's in for another year.

For Christmas I got an antique curio cabinet that I think originally belong to James grandma, although his parents bought it for me from his uncles dad, and it came with a lot of antique glass, buttons and thimbles that had belonged to his grandma and great grandma. As soon as it gets warm out I'm going to refinish it and I think it's going to go in the living room until I decide where I want it to stay permanently.

School has started again so that and work and playing Wii Fit (I also got a Wii and Wii Fit for Christmas) and cleaning and playing more Wii and homework are about all I've been doing.

I'll be posting pictures of the woodburner, the clean garage (which is like a miracle...it was a disaster), and the cabinet before too long

First Refinishing Project Done!!

2008-11-18T15:04:00.005-05:00

The mirror is finally done!

Before:
During:
After:

I think it came out amazing for having no idea what I was doing! I used Citristrip, cleaned it with mineral spirits, let it dry for a couple of days, then sanded it with an industrial strength scotch pad, used an attachment on the air compressor to blast the dust away, and stained it with Minwax Red Mahogany and finished with a coat of poly.

It's now ready for it's new home. It's going to go above the couch in the living room. That's really the only place where it'll look right because of it's size. It's about 4'x3'. I'll post pictures once it's been hung.

Ummm...

2008-10-28T16:29:00.005-04:00

I left hubby alone with a chainsaw and this is what I came home to: (yes, that is him making a rare appearane in a picture)And there it is being hauled away. It is now sitting by the barn. And we are going to plant a new tree there in the spring, James just hated the cedar tree so much he decided it needed to go.

We are looking into having it cut into rough planks because I really don't want to waste all that cedar. I say rough planks because this past weekend I found out that we have use of a planer and band saw! They're not ours, they actually belong to James brother, but they're brand new still in the boxes and we have full permission to use them! If we can get find some place to rough cut them then we can plane them ourselves and save a lot of money.

Quick update

2008-10-28T16:07:00.003-04:00

I have successfully stripped for the first time! The mirror is finally done! Well, almost done. It still needs to be stained but the worst part is over and it was much easier than I thought it would be. I chose Minwax Red Mahogany stain which is a dark reddish stain like I had planned to use all along. And I'm hoping to get it stained this weekend. I would do it sooner but I have a huge test I have to study for and some cleaning that needs to be done before I can do it.

We've also been getting ready for winter since the temp has already dropped to freezing at night here. We removed the a/c unit from the bedroom and laid it to rest in the garage for the winter, and James put a new filter in the furnace last night because we finally had to start using it, and we put a heater in the laundry room to keep the pipes from freezing since the room is not insulated.

I found the material to make the curtains for the living room on clearance at WalMart for $1 a yard! It's actually pretty good material, but I wanted cheap because I know I'll have to make more before too long. One of the joys of having a lab that feels the window is his and anything covering it must be removed. Which is the reason why there are no curtains there right now...he tore them off the widow. Along with the curtain rod.

Termite Inspection and Dining Room Progress

2008-10-15T16:38:00.002-04:00

We had our annual termite inspection yeasterday and it went well. No activity, sprayed for other bugs (spiders, crickets, ants, etc) and it was all under $100! When we were under the house last fall we found evidence of previous termite damage in one area. It wasn't anything really bad as far as termite damage goes, but we were curious as to how long ago it had happened so when I made the appointment I asked them. They had no idea and said that there was no record of it in the account history so it had to be before the account became active. So the next obvious question was...What year would that have been? 1946! Our house has had continuous termite inspections since 1946 with no record of activity and the person I talked to said that it was one of their oldest accounts! He also said that since there is no record that it had to have happened before 1946 so it's really nothing to worry about. That makes me feel better.

The dining room is still slowly coming along. A lot of ceiling tiles have been removed from the house and most of the nails are out. Bought patching plaster today to fill the nail holes so I'll be starting on that soon. Hopefully next week. Still have to wait for James to sand the glue off the wall before I can really do anything with that wall. New deadline to have it all done is Christmas since I have to work Thanksgiving Day.

Stupid Computer

2008-10-06T18:02:00.003-04:00

I tried to make some changes on my layout and I'm not sure if it was a Blogger problem or computer problem, but some thing doesn't like me. See the way the page looks? It's not suppossed to be like that. The blogroll is supposed to be towards the bottom, and it's not complete...it only listed a few of the sites I entered. And I can't move it or delete it, so I'm going to have to figure out something to do about it. I really wanted to add the blogroll so I don't have to sit here and try to remember the names of all my favorite blogs while houseblogs.net is down. So expect more changes soon, because it's not going to look like this for long.

In house news it's something like baby steps. A little bit everyday, but not a whole lot at one time. Especially since I now have to rewash all the clothes that were in the laundry room. They have that nasty dead mouse smell so they're all getting a good dousing of Tide, Febreeze Laundry, and Clorox 2. And I finally decided on paint colors for the dining room. I think. For now anyway. Now I just have to find the time to get to Lowes and get the patching plaster so I can fix the 100's of nail holes in the walls and ceiling. But, I no longer have a Thankgiving deadline, it's now Christmas since I have to work Thanksgiving.

I'm Back!!

2008-09-25T18:37:00.003-04:00

Yes, that's right...I've started up the blog again. It's been awhile, but the only thing thing that's happened around here was that I finally removed the coffee table from the middle of the living room to the garage. I haven't been lazy though. I started college! It's proving to be much harder this time around so all my free time has been spent studying my ass off. But a few days ago I realized that Thanksgiving is not that far away and for the first time ever I'm supposed to be having dinner here in a dining room that looks something like this right now...
This just isn't going to work for the first time my family sees our house. And this picture doesn't even show all the crap that's covering the table or the ceiling tiles that are still stacked 6 feet high or the paneling that's leaning against a wall because it still hasn't made it to it's final resting place in the burn pile.

Here's what I have to do before Thanksgiving:
Remove the rest of the paneling
Take the panels and the ceiling tiles out of the house
Figure out something to do about the curtains (they're pretty gross...they came with the house)
Sand the glue off the wall (otherwise known as removing the artwork seen in the picture)
Fill in about a thousand nail holes
Paint walls, ceiling, trim
Maybe figure out something to do about where the plaster is crumbling from where they removed the top trim pieces to put the drop ceiling in. I have no idea what to do though...any suggestions?

I really don't want to paint the trim, but it's going to be awhile before we have the time or money to strip, repair, stain, and poly the trim so paint is the only reasonable short term solution. We already have the paint so the cost will be $0...which is in our budget.

I'm thinking about gray walls...any input? Other suggestions? I'm clueless about paint but I'm loving gray walls with white trim.

Oh, and that's our new chandelier. I don't think I posted any pictures of it since it's been put up. We were trying for a look that fits our little Victorian farmhouse. I think it works. As I make progress I'll show more pictures...it really looks better than it does in the one. And I can't help the bulbs, we only use the long life fluorescent and they stick out the bottom. When they burn out I'm hoping to find the new ones that aren't as long.

2008-08-19T19:20:00.002-04:00

Well, it's starting to get a little cooler here so things are getting ready to start back up on the house. It's still blistering hot during the middle of the day, but morning, evening and nights are cooler. We've mainly been working on the yard some. The other day James parents gave us a bunch of pretty concrete edgers so we'll be doing some landscaping soon. And I'm still loving the weedeater. But that's really all we've been doing here. Nothing worth posting any pictures about yet. There's other news though...

We have a coal mine under us now...or beside us...I'm really not exactly sure which, but I was told yesterday that it's here and that's what all the soil samples and drilling in the field next to us and down the road.

A hot air balloon went down in the field behind us yesterday! We were talking to the neighbor and heard something so we looked around our garage and there was a hot air balloon flying kind of low, so we started watching it and it went down in the bean field behind our house. I ran in to get my camera while James and the neighbor were trying to figure out what to do (call the balloon company, 911, or walk back and see what was going on) and by the time I got back out it was just about out of sight and thats when the balloon company van went by our house. There is a company here that does hot air balloon rides and tours, so seeing one around here wasn't a big deal, but seeing one go down is.

That about covers it for now...more to come on the house soon!

Brick Oven Scandia Blue...

2008-07-24T13:45:00.004-04:00

This saucer is a piece of a set of dishes that we use everyday. The set was given to me by one of my managers at K Mart when I got my first apartment. I was talking to her and she asked if I needed anything and I told her I needed everything but I was slowly working on it. She said that she had a lot of kithen things that were in storage from her first marriage and said I could have whatever I wanted. So of course being 19 and broke, I took her up on her offer. I got tons of tupperware, pots and pans (still in their original box and never used), glasses, utensils, and this set of dishes (which were also never used and still in the box). I offered to pay her, but she said no, that she was just happy to get it out of the basement and see them used. These dishes have been with me since, and we are really hard on them. Two plates have been broken, and I think 3 bowls (we have the cats to thank for that...they knocked them off the counter). So I was thinking about selling them in a yard sell since we have 2 other sets of dishes and I'm trying to cut down on clutter and we don't need 3 sets of dishes. I was going to sell them for $5 since I have used them for a long time and there are pieces missing but I decided (out of curiosity) to look them up on http://www.replacements.com/ and see if I had the missing pieces how much the set would be worth, or if the replacement pieces are cheap enough to order them and then sell the set at a higher value. I really didn't expect them to have them because I thought this was just a cheap set of dishes. Boy was I wrong! Not only do they have them, but they are worth more than the antique Notitake China that we have! One dinner plate is worth $15.99! Each cup and saucer is $9.99!

I am just in shock about this because they were given to me, we abuse the crap out of them, and they are worth more than the expensive dishes we got as a wedding gift, and the antique Noritake china I found at a yard sale for cheap(that ended up being worth a small fortune). And there's also the fact that I have never even heard of this brand, where the others are big names in china! So I think instead of selling them for super cheap in a yard sale I'm going to see how much that website will give me for them. And then I'm going to take that money and use it to get the dining room restoration going again.

Loving Black & Decker, and taking a break

2008-07-21T17:36:00.007-04:00

We got a new weedeater! It's a Black & Decker cordless battery operated 18 volt weedeater and it's awesome! It's super light and doesn't vibrate, and has a built in edger. It won't tear through the thick stuff like a gas powered one will, but it works great on everything else and the battery lasts a pretty long time. It works just like we thought it would, which is great. I definitely recommend it to any one. We checked out several others but went with this one because of the weight and the reviews. I have weight restrictions and this one weighs 6.5 pounds compared to the 10 or more of the others. And the battery is interchangeable with all other Black & Decker 18 volt tools which is a plus.

But I have some sad news too...due to the unbearable heat here in southern Indiana we will not be doing any work on the house until we get a break from it. It's been around 100 degrees with 100% humidity and a "real feel" around 115! I don't see how all you southerners do it...it's so hot out that you can' breathe and everything sticks to you. most of the things we need to do involve stain and paint and I'm afraid if I try it the stain will just boil instead of drying like it's supposed too. And we are also having that problem that goes with owning an old house...no a/c! We have two little window units that are working overtime to keep the inside of our house around 80 degrees. And it gets even worse when I cook anything. And even worse when Cledus turns the digital a/c unit off. It was 85 in here today when I got home! We don't know how, but some how he's turning it off. OK...I'm done complaining now. Just wanted to share that there won't be much for updates for awhile.

I just Can't Decide!!

2008-06-28T17:04:00.002-04:00

We have been planning a vacation to Gatlinburg for the last year. It's our delayed honeymoon. The time has finally come to finalize all the plans and book the cabin. We already picked it out and the only days left are the days we wanted. It's perfect with beautiful views for miles from the hot tub on the deck. Completely secluded at the top of a mountain, but not very far from Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge. 2 nights, plus gas and food are going to cost us around $500. Well, last night we were talking to some one we know and found out that they know some one who has a pool for sale. For $500, for everything including deck and privacy fence. Now here's the thing...we have been talking about getting a pool for over a year now, but we were going to wait awhile because they are so expensive. This is really, really cheap though. The problem is if we get the pool we can't go to Tennessee, because they are the same price and, well, we just don't have the money for both right now. However, we can get the pool this year, and go on vacation later (as in a couple of years). James has left the decision up to me, and I don't know what to do. I love the thought of kicking back in a hot tub and looking at amazing veiws of mountians from the middle of nowhere for a few days, but the temp here in Southern Indiana stays between 90-100 degrees with 100% humudity all summer.

Which would you do...get the pool now and vacation later, or vacation for 2 days now and no pool for a long time?

Refinishing a Paper Towel Holder

2008-06-24T08:18:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I took the vintage metal paper towel holder off the kitchen wall and took a heat gun to it. Blogger is not letting me upload pictures right now, so the only picture I have of it right now is this one you have to scroll down a little to see it. And look close, it blends in with the wall because it's covered in the same wallpaper. All I know about this towel holder is that it came with the house, is metal, and appears to be from the 50's. We don't use it right now because the few times we have we usually forget that it's there because it blends right in and then we end up with two rolls of paper towels in use. And then we end up taking the roll back out so we don't forget that it's there again.

So back to the refinishing. I took it off the wall, which was a pain since it was screwed through the plexiglass backsplash and took it out to the garage. I then grabbed the heat gun and got to work. This was the first time I have ever used a heat gun, so it was an interesting experience. I only had one small fire before I realized the heat was up way too high. It was rough at first because, well, I had the heat too high so all I has doing was melting and smearing the paint underneath. After I got that figured out it went nice and easy. Peeled all the layers right off with no smearing. I have to go back over where I started though because its rough and bumpy. I'm going to try using a scotch pad to get that straightened out. When I get off work this evening I'm going to paint it bright red. And hopefully blogger will be working right again so I can post pictures of it. There ended up being a layer of wallpaper, a layer of paint, some kind of fruit decal, and the original finish which has some kind of writing on one side and a design in the middle.

I'm painting it bright red because I want a red kitchen. Since hubby said no to red walls (actually it was something like if you paint the walls red they'll be white again before you get home from work) I'm using red accents everywhere I can. Like storage containers have red lids, red Kitchen Aid cooking utensils, red towels, red corners on the cutting board...you get the point.

It's like a scab...

2008-06-23T18:45:00.002-04:00

You just want to pick at it until it's gone.
This is a wall in our kitchen. This is also the only room in the house with wallpaper. I noticed today that there was some separation at the top of the paper (it only covers about half the wall) and it was bugging me while I was trying to do dishes so I stopped what I was doing and picked at it a little. I thought there would only be one layer of wallpaper and I'd just have the top a little messed up. I guess that's what I get for thinking. I've read enough blogs and talked to enough people to know that it's never that easy. What is there looks to be plaster, paint, wallpaper, paint, cardboard, wallpaper, paint, and more wallpaper. And there may be a few more layers in there. I may be missing something, but I have no idea why there would be cardboard. So all together the kitchen has been neon green, sky blue, dark striped paper, a brown color, and the curent white/flowered paper. I'm not exactly sure what the cardboard has to do with anything, but it's under a couple of layers in there.

And now I'm going to have a whole lot of ugly in my kitchen for a while because I just can't stop picking and I promised I wouldn't do anything in there until the dining room is done, and that's going to be a while. Great.

Happy Anniversary!

2008-06-17T07:57:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was our 1 year wedding anniversary! It was an absolutely beautiful, burning hot day (I think the temp was 94, but James says 97). We had an outdoor ceremony in a small field at the barn my great grandpa built (and where all our family reunions are at) in Stewartsville, IN. I found out later that this is also where my grandma and grandpa were married.

This picture was taken in the barn and is one of my favorites. And it was not taken by the wedding photographer...go figure, right?

And for fun, this is what we looked like 5 years ago when we started dating.

If we were still dating today would be our 5 year anniversary. This picture was taken at his going away party shortly after we started dating. (He was going to basic training for the Navy).

And history kinda repeated itself this year...about an hour after this picture was taken we went with a friend (who had not been drinking) to see the flood water on the White river because no one had seen the water as high as it was then. This year we also went to see the flood water because it was the highest it has ever been...although we couldn't get within a mile or more of that same place we went before because the boat isn't ready for the water yet. And the river shattered it's record high.

Flood Pictures

2008-06-17T07:03:00.003-04:00

Today I decided to post some pictures of the flood. I have a lot more taken from different areas than where these were. The water is now starting to go down some, and the National Guard has pretty much left the area. For a week we were seeing the National Guard everywhere, and we are very thankful for all their hard work. These are random pictures that were e-mailed to me. The first is due to levee breaks on the Wabash river, the rest are from the White river.

This is Westport Auto. Taken from a boat. They started moving their cars on Thursday (last week, not this past Thurs.) evening, and got them all moved by Thursday night. The levee broke and flooded their lot the next morning. Their cars are in Kmart's parking lot (my work) and they are selling lots of cars there.

This is Highway 358 going to Davies County (Washington, IN...taken from helicopter). If you look in the right side you can see the water over the road. Also on the right at the bottom of the tree line you can see the water running over the levee.

Edwardsport. This is not very far from where we camped on a sandbar in the river on our honeymoon last year. This was also taken from a helicopter. The river is the squiggly line between the trees in the middle of the left side. The power plant is in the brown spot in the middle of the upper part of the picture

This is Highway 67 looking from Edwardsport to Bicknell. Bicknell is top, Edwardsport is bottom.

I also found lots of pictures of Lake Lawrence in Lawrenceville, IL (just across the river from us) but I'm not going to post those because they are mostly all of people's homes, and I'm not going to put their flooded houses on here because I know if our house was under water I wouldn't want some one to do that to us. I think nearly every house on the lake has some water, but some are all the way to the roof and one even looked like it was starting to collapse. On top of that a water main broke in Lawrenceville, and all the stores in Vincennes ran out of bottled water because several other towns were already under boil order or without running water. And as fascinating as it was to see the water that high, I hope that it never happens again.

And as far as I know, Mt. Carmel is still OK. They were worried about the water breaking the levees in East Mt. Carmel and on the southside of town, but I haven't heard any more about it, so I'm assuming they are ok for now. I do have a picture of the train bridge on my phone and as soon as I get a memory card for my phone I'll post that one. It was taken by my best friend and the water is level with the tracks on the train bridge, which I don't think has ever happened.

Stripper Supplies

2008-05-29T17:59:00.003-04:00

HaHa...not that kind of stripper. But hopefully that got my google hits up a little. I just got (hopefully) everything I need to start stripping the woodwork. I wasn't sure what will work the best so I got 2 different kinds of stripper and a bunch of different tools. I already have a heat gun, mask, and glasses.

I'm going to start small though and refinish this mirror and a bookcase before I start on the woodwork in the house.
This mirror is huge. It's like 3 feet high and about 2 and a half feet wide and it came with the house. It has a stamp on the back that says the glass was plated on 9/25/59 and packed on 2/17/60. When it's done it's going to go in the living room over the couch. And anchored really, really good in case of another earthquake. I'm going to stain it dark like all the other wood in the house but maybe with a reddish tint.

I figured I'd start small so I can figure out what I'm doing and not ruin any of the original wood baseboards, doorframes, doors, or floors. I am hoping to do the mirror tomorrow and I'll post pics if I do.

And I figured out how useless people who work at Lowes are. I had a $10 off $50 purchase so I got all the stripping stuff there. They were friendly, but when I asked about something specific they led me to the area and said "there they are" and then left me to search for about 20 minutes for what I needed (it was in a box that had been pushed back on the bottom shelf). Now I see why so many people get frustrated there.

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-28T16:45:00.004-04:00

Sadly our extended Memorial Day weekend has come to an end. James went back to work today, and I go back tomorrow. (I worked Sat. & Sun. though). It was great to have nothing to do for a few days. James weekend wasn't as easy though. He installed a new Mohawk wood laminate floor in his parents living room. It looks really good, but he got a little frustrated with it a few times. I didn't take an pics because I didn't have my camera, but they are doing the hall this weekend so I might have some then. Yesterday and monday we were lazy though. I didn't know that my dad was a speaker at the Memorial Day services in Mt. Carmel or we would have gone to that. I didn't know until yesterday when my mom called to tell me that he was on the front page of the Daily Republican Register (the Mt. Carmel mewspaper). Yesteray we went to see my best friends new house. It was a great hour and a half drive with the top down (well, until the rain hit about a half hour from her house). Her house is actually an old house thats already (mostly) remodeled. Its really nice and it looks like the p.o.'s did a good job on the remodel. I did notice that her stairs had been relocated at some point, which confused her. There is a flue cover in the wall on the staircase. That means that there used to be a stove or fireplace of some kind there at some point. But the stairs have also obviously been where they are now for a really long time. And James pointed out that her bathrooms were most likely originally a porch because of the low sloping ceilings. They still have a little bit of painting to do but thats really all that needs to be done, and its really nice. Makes me wish our house was already done. Speaking of which, if I can get a day with no wind I'm finally going to drag all the paneling and the ceiling tiles outside to burn them. And then I can get started playing with plaster!

Some little projects

2008-05-23T14:54:00.004-04:00

We have actually completed some small projects here in the last few weeks. I don't know why I haven't posted about them. So here they are...
A little improvement that makes life a lot easier. I wish I had a before picture of this. This is in the laundry room/back porch. Before, this corner had a pile of brooms and mops and pet food that kept overflowing right into the doorway to the house (in the right corner). Now, as you can see, it has some order. I installed the rack in about 2 minutes and it holds all the brooms and mops, and since they are off the floor now there is actually the perfect amount of room for the food to set on the floor and out of the way.

The freshly scrubbed floors! Aren't they beautiful! Trust me, this is a HUGE improvement over what they looked like before.
The kennel has been expanded. It used to be 10'x10' and is now something like 36'x12'. I could be off there...actually, I probably am, but its huge now. Before there was only enough room for the doghouse, feeder, water trough, Clementine, and the puppy with a little room left over. Now there is room for 2 doghouses, 2 feeders, the water trough, the two dogs, and plenty of room to run. I mean seriously they run up and down it. It's so long that it had to be supported with t-posts so the sides wouldn't fall down. The doghouse sitting outside of it belongs to the dog that ran away. We are still keeping it in hopes that she may come back.

The reason for the jungle like setting of our yard is that the lawn mower is broken :(

Randomness

2008-05-23T14:10:00.004-04:00

The iris's finally bloomed! Of course the time they finally bloomed is about the same time Cledus decided to tear them up. He had already completely cleared them out under then window. Oh, and ignore the cable coming out of the window...that's just until we get the antenna properly wired into the house. I hate it, but I just keep telling myself it's only temporary so its ok.
Remember the absolutely adorable puppies we had? Well, this is the only one that has not found a home yet. See how big she is? At 6 months old she is huge! And has a mouth on her...she found her "big dog voice" recently and barks at everything. She's absolutely sweet and lovable, and every bit of a puppy still. We are still trying to find her a new home though.
And this makes me sad. James has finally decided that he's tired of his truck and its now for sale. It was listed on Craigslist this past weekend. I love this truck. It might be one of the most loaded trucks I have ever seen (including Bose & remote start)I will give him some credit though...he's owned and driven it for 3 years now, which is a record for him. When we first started dating, and even well before that, he averaged at least 2 vehicles a year. Just because he gets bored with them and wants something different. He's now decided that he needs a diesel.

We are getting ready to enter the next phase of the dining room. I'm just not sure if the next step should be stripping or plaster repair. I'm not sure which would be better to do first. I'm thinking maybe plaster so I don't have to worry about ruining woodwork that has just been freshly restored.

If it's not a boat its not for sale!

2008-05-09T14:44:00.004-04:00

We have a boat for sale. We live on a highway and it sits in the front yard with a for sale sign on it. Apparently because we have a boat for sale people assume that everything we own is for sale. I've had offers for the boat, Jeep, Firebird, S10, and our house! I am seriously getting pissed about it. Its like people think that we're a freakin car lot because we own lots of cars. Today some one added a new one to the list. Look at this picture...do you see the car trailer?
You can see a little of it between the cars. It sits in our backyard and is barely visible from the highway. I just had some one stop and ask if it's for sale. No, that's why there's no sign on it and it's in the backyard! I told him the boat was for sale and he said he saw that and thought he's stop and see if the trailer was for sale too. WTF??? No, I tell him...that's why it's in the backyard with no for sale sign on it!

Maybe I just don't get the total lack of respect people have around here. Or maybe they're just curious because the cars are outside and not in the garage. Either way, I don't like it. We don't stop at random houses and ask if their stuff is for sale when it's clearly not, and as for the cars not being in the garage...well, it's our property and if we don't want them in the garage they don't have to be. Maybe I just don't understand people. I don't know. We have lots of cars because James likes them. He likes to fix them up, play with them and then sell them. But for the love of God, until one of them sits in the front yard with a "for sale" sign on it I just wish people would only stop if they're interested in the boat. Which is the only thing for sale right now.

Cleaning Hardwood Floors

2008-05-02T14:55:00.004-04:00

I read one time that old, real wood floors should only be dry mopped in high traffic areas as needed, and actually mopped in all areas no more than once per season using as little water as possible. Well, I have broken that rule. I have been (carefully) scrubbing all of our unsealed but stained wood floors in our house. That's right...I have been on my hands and knees with a scrub brush cleaning the crap out of our floors because I'm tired of them always looking dirty. No matter how many times I mop the floors they still looked dirty. The end result is that they now look clean and even have a little bit of shine to them. And I do not plan to make this a habit, but they needed it. And I learned a lesson...scrub lightly. Otherwise you remove the stain and have bare wood. Oops. And Clorox Anywhere spray will make hard swirls on the floor that have to be sanded to fix. No, I was not trying to sanitize the floors. A bottle was knocked over and spilled on the floor shortly after we moved in. There was no liquid on the floor when I discovered it so we assumed the dog drank it (which resulted in a panicked call to poison control) so I mopped over it and went on. Well, that spot is covered in hard swirls that will not go away. That sucks.

The front bedroom is almost done and ready for our guest. I'll post pictures of it soon. It's no where near done, but it's much better now.

Oh, and my second interview at K Mart lasted about 5 minutes and I have orientation tomorrow.

Frustration

2008-05-02T08:40:00.002-04:00

Ok, so I am remembering just how much I love K Mart's weird policies. I posted the other day that I got rehired at K Mart and I start next week. Well, that's what I thought. I got a call yesterday from their HR manager that they want me to come in today for a second interview with and assistant manager to make sure that I'm qualified for the job. What??

A little back story here. I first started working for them in 2001 and was trained to work in every single department in the store. I then became a department manager a year later. I have done everything a worker in that store could possibly do. Everything. You name it and I can do it, including higher level management responsibilities. I worked there until 2006 when they fired 2,700 employees corporate wide including me. And then they closed the store I worked in. They have access to my file, so they already know everything that I can do.

I am going back to work there as a part time cashier/floor associate, working in the same department that I used to run all by myself! So the thing that I'm wondering is what exactly they need to make sure I'm qualified to do. I guess I'll find out in a couple of hours.

Sorry about that. I realize that this is has nothing to do with house stuff, but I needed to vent a little.

Flowers

2008-04-30T17:49:00.003-04:00

Last weekend James mom bought us a bunch of flowers for the flower bed in front of the house. I tried to tell her not to because I will just end up killing them. She got them anyway.
So here is the photographic proof that I planted the flowers. Now I'm wondering how long it'll be till they die. I have no idea what any of them are because they didn't say and I don't know anything about flowers, but they are pretty. And she said they're shade flowers so lack of sunlight shouldn't kill them. The remaining plants on the porch are tomato's and peppers. As soon as James tills the place for the garden I'll be planting those too. I don't do the tiller though...if I tried it would probably send me to the hospital.

I am now going to go take a nice long hot shower, a muscle relaxer, and a pain killer. I did a whole lot of things today that I'm not supposed to do, and now I'm paying for it in a really bad way.

Too much to do and too little time

2008-04-30T14:05:00.002-04:00

Well I haven't posted in over a week, but it's been a pretty productive week. I am almost done with the disaster in the spare bedroom, scrubbed the floors (on my hands and knees with a brush), got all my winter clothes put away and all my summer clothes out, started working on the landscaping in the front of the house, and I have done about 50 loads of laundry. And today I got a job. Pretty easy. Filled out the application, had the interview and was hired...all within 2 hours! Of course I have already worked for the company before so it went a little faster. That's right, for any one that knows me, I went crawling back to K Mart. After swearing I wouldn't and saying that they can kiss my ass before I work for them again, I went back. I need a job and no one else will hire me, so I'm putting aside what they did last time and I'm going back to work there. Yep, I'm an idiot.

The reason for putting the spare room in order and scrubbing the floors is so that the room can finally be set up as a bedroom because some one is staying with us for a few weeks. James friend is coming home for a few weeks to work in the recruiters office here (he's in the Marines) and is going to be staying here. So I am busting my butt to get that room to somewhat resemble a bedroom (you know, doing things like putting the bed together and de-junking it so you can actually move around the room).

Earthquake Damage

2008-04-19T18:23:00.004-04:00

It turns out the damage to our foundation is worse than I thought. I have to call the insurance company Monday to see what they say about it. When James got home he looked at it closer than what I did and he pushed the bricks back in on the corners and under the corner of the laundry room/back porch. It looks like the whole foundation under the kitchen is going to have to be replaced and then some repairs around the rest of the house.

Some Exterior Details

2008-04-18T13:02:00.004-04:00

Well, it's official...the epicenter of the first earthquake was my parents backyard! The USGS has officially said that the center was Mesa Lake, which is where my parents live. How cool is that?! They are also saying that we are having an earthquake storm and to expect more (possibly worse) earthquakes over the next few days. Great.

I took these pictures yesterday, but couldn't get them to upload so I'm posting them now. These are all exterior details of our house.
I can't wait to strip this down and refinish it. Both of the front doors have the same details. And the black part isn't uneven, it's just cobwebs.
The inside and outside of the door knobs and locks match, it's just the inside picture shows the detail better. If any one out there knows how to date these, please let me know.

I have no idea what these are, but they are on the top of the storm windows. And they are about 14 feet off the ground (I love zoom) so I can't get up there to check it out because I can't move the ladder.
This is the outside of the doorbell. This is another one that I can't wait to strip and refinish. The only problem is I can't figure out how to get it off the house. There are no nails or screws in it. And the actual doorbell on the other side of it won't pry off the frame either. Notice how the detail on it matches the lock plate for the doorknob? Unfortunately it doesn't work right now. I need a new button. You can see where I scrapped the paint off it to see if that might work, but it didn't.

The other day I finally got James to agree on a paint scheme! It's going to be dark gray, light gray, blue-gray, deep blue, and bright white. I guess it'll qualify as a painted lady when we're done since our house is victorian style and we're using more than 3 colors. Downside is that we have to wait 2 years to start work :( Since I'm going back to school we really don't have the money to do it until I'm working again. I'm figuring it's going to be expensive (even though we're doing it ourselves) because we have to remove all the shingle siding, repair/replace any bad spots in the wood siding, and then scrape, prime, and paint. At least we have a ton of windows and doors (3 doors and 16 windows on a 1400 sq ft house) so that'll be less paint we need.

Earthquake!

2008-04-18T09:56:00.002-04:00

Now that the internet is working right again I can explain the last post. We had an earthquake this morning. It was a 5.2 (officially...when I posted before it still wasn't official) and the center was close to here. We were still in bed, but awake when it hit and I knew it was an earthquake but we still checked to make sure it wasn't a tornado. We looked around the house to make sure nothing was broken, and luckily nothing was. The dogs were scared, the laptop was almost on the floor, and a piece of trim on a bookcase was sitting at an angle. When the sun came up I checked out the foundation (it's 130 year old brick that already needed some repairs) and sure enough it absorbed most of the shaking which caused damage. There are bricks that are recessed now, morter broken and laying on the ground, gaps, and cracks. Which means that we need to reinforce it immediately because they said that this happened on a fault line that has been inactive so there is a good chance of another possibly stronger one coming.

Right after it happened I turned on the TV and they said it was felt in Terra Haute which was about the time my cousin called to see if we were ok. He said they were all fine down in Princeton. I then called my parents and my mom was laughing! She said there was stuff falling all over the place and flying across the rooms, and it sounded like an explosion there. And they were already having aftershocks. It turns out they were right at about the center of it. The center was between West Salem and Allendale, IL and that's about where they live. I called my best friend who lives in Allendale and she said it scared her and there was stuff falling off the walls but they were ok too. It turns out that it was felt all over the country...Chicago, Nashville, Detroit, Minneapolis, Louisville!

When we had the last earthquake in 2002 they said we weren't suppossed to have any more again. Now they're saying there may be more. That means I'm going to put off hanging the giant mirrors that we have (they're each about 3-4 feet tall and 3 feet wide) and I'm going to move my huge glass collection to a safer place (Not sitting 8 feet up in the air on the open top of the cabinets!)

5.4!!

2008-04-18T07:10:00.003-04:00

Earthquake! We are 30 miles from the center. The center was in West Salem, IL which is just a few miles from my parents and my best friend. I already talked to them and they're fine. Internet keeps coming and going but we're fine too. Getting ready to go check out the outside. I'll post more later when things calm down here. We're still getting aftershocks.

Investigating the Porch

2008-04-17T14:42:00.005-04:00

I said the other day in my last post that I'm going to start investigating the front porch to find out why it looks like there is a porch post missing when there obviously was never one there. At least not for a very long time any way.
This is what was sitting under the center of the porch. It looks like it may have been part of a post that maybe broke or was never needed. It's not finished and it's broken.
This is the right side of the gable overhang. It looks like this in the same place on either side. With out getting a ladder out (which I can't do) it's one of 2 things. Either something has been removed, or the gable is heavier than it looks and it's breaking. Which really wouldn't be good. Or it's a combination...something was supporting it and was removed, therefore the overhang is now falling.

So the point is that I'm really no closer to figuring it out. And now I'm worried about the roof. I may have to go talk to the neighbor again and see if she may know anything. Her parents owned the house from about 1940-2006 (when we bought it as an estate sale) so if something was changed in the 66 years before we bought it she will probably know.

2008-04-15T12:28:00.003-04:00

I saw a picture of our house on the front page of houseblogs and it's been bugging me. I couldn't figure it out at first. Yes, I know I had the angle of the camera off, but that wasn't it. So I opened up the original on my computer so I could get a really good look at it...and I finally figured it out!
It looks like a porch post is missing! There is no evidence that one has been removed though. So now I'm going to have to do some investigating to find out why it looks like that. And fix it because it's driving me crazy. And yes, I realize that if we have lived here for a year and a half and I just noticed it that probably no one else ever has. It's just one of those things. You know what I mean?

I think I jinxed the weather

2008-04-12T13:53:00.005-04:00

On Wednesday it was warm (mid-70's) and sunny. I got to open the windows for the first time this year! I looked at the thermostat to see what the temp was inside and noticed that the thermostat was set at 57...not off, but 57.

Me: Why did you set the thermostat at 57? Why not off if you're going to set it that low?
James: Thought about turning it off but left it at 57 in case we get a freak snow storm.
Me: Yeah, ok, like that's going to happen.

It's now Saturday and our high is 45 with a chance of snow tonight. And it was 57 degrees in here when I woke up. Open mouth, insert foot...I should have never made my last comment.

And now James gets to say "Told ya so"

Organization and Spring Cleaning

2008-04-11T15:09:00.003-04:00

I have said before that I love my closet. And I really do. Isn't it pretty? The problem is that it is the only closet in the house. And it only has a hanging rod and a short shelf (the height of a shoe box). I have decided that it's time for an intervention. I've been looking at closet storage systems and think I have decided on the Rubbermaid Customizable 4'-8' closet system. It will fit the odd length of the closet so there is no cutting and it comes with all the rods, shelves, and hardware for only $99.97! Then I'll have plenty of room for my 50 pairs of pants (not kidding...a downside of working in a clothing store for 5 years), tops, shoes, bags, and I may finally be able to get some of James clothes into the closet. I decided all this while trying to get all the laundry caught up and ran out of space again. Now I just have to convince James that this is a good investment. Oh, and I'm buying storage totes for the top half to hold out of season clothes, James collection of Nascar crap, and my toys left from when I was a kid (they've made it this long so they're not going anywhere)

I have also started spring cleaning. We have way too much crap and nowhere to put it, so I'm getting rid of a lot of it. I started getting things together for a yard sale last year, but it never happened, so I am adding to it. And I decided whatever doesn't sell is going to Goodwill the same day so it doesn't find a way back into the house. I am tired of all the clutter so I'm going through everything with the "if you haven't used/worn it in 2 years get rid of it" approach. With a few exceptions. And I've been doing actual cleaning too...windows, scrubbing floors, TONS of laundry, and I even cleaned the pets (and no, the kitties didn't like it!).

Progress on the yard

2008-04-10T12:15:00.002-04:00

So yesterday I got James thinking about a tree stump in our yard. What brought it up was a post at One Project Closer about tree stump removal. While I was making dinner (spaghetti and my special breadsticks) he said he was going to go out and fill in some holes in the yard with the tractor. Well, when I went out to tell him dinner was ready I was this:
He some how got the stump out with the tractor. I have no idea how, but he did. This was not planned in any way. I thought we were going to burn it this summer. Oh, well...at least it's gone. I asked him where it went and he told me it was back by the barn. So I looked over and saw this:

I guess after he put it back there he decided to start working on our little field. He got it a little over half done. So in the about hour and a half that I was cooking he filled in some holes, put a pile of dirt over where the outhouse was (couldn't level it because the tractor started sinking), removed a tree stump, and took down over half the field. I'd call that a pretty productive hour and a half!

The field is far from done though. After he gets it all knocked down he has to disc it, then level it, and then we can put down grass seed. After we get all that done we are putting up a fence around our property. Nothing fancy, just a wire fence so Clementine has a place to run.

What is that?

2008-04-08T15:54:00.002-04:00

I have had a ton of people ask "what's a twitter?" since I put it on here. The first was my mom, then James dad, then James, then Sandy, then even more people asked! So...a twitter is a nifty little way that I can update what I'm doing with out actually posting a full entry. I can update it from twitter.com, my cell phone, or IM. I put it on there when I was loaded up on medicine and had nothing better to do. It's actually a good idea, that way I'm not compelled to post about pointless, non-house related stuff. My goal is to keep it up to date for a whole day, but I'm not doing so great with that. Any way, that's what it is.

Speaking of house stuff...I've been so busy trying to play catch up from all that time I was out of commission that I haven't had time to get back to work on the dining room, but I hope to get back to it this week. In the meantime, if you're curious about what I'm doing, just check the twitter.

2008-04-04T10:29:00.002-04:00

Everything went well with the surgery tuesday. I have always been scared to go to the dentist, so the thougth of going to an oral surgeon flat out terrified me. They were great though. Very understanding that I was really nervous, so they gave me the "happy gas" and numbed me twice. I didn't feel anything. Its now itching and my jaw bone hurts where they jambed the needle in. And I didn't like what they had to say about my next visit. Apparently 3 of my wisdom teeth are impacted and one is decayed because its "unbrushable". I didn't even know that I had one that had come in all the way...he said thats because its so far back I probably can't feel it, and because its so far back there is no way to get a toothbrush back there. So on my next visit I will be put under and have my teeth cut out. and its going to cost a fortune. And I mean a fortune. So as soon as I find a way to sell our boat I'll be having that done. (Any one wanna buy a boat?) I'm really not looking forward to it, but they said if I don't have this done soon I'm going to have even more problems.

I added a twitter yesterday for the fun of it. So now I can share what I'm doing with out having to post multiple times a day. I plan to get back to the dining room Monday. James is going to get all the paneling out of the house for me this weekend so I can actually move around again, then Monday I am going to work on getting the hundreds of nails out and repairing the plaster. Should be fun...this will be my first time to repair plaster!

Missing Dog Found...And Gone Again

2008-03-31T14:29:00.004-04:00

I just saw our missing dog!! The one thats been missing for a few months...I actually saw her!! That makes me so happy cause now I know she's still around. and apparently someone has been taking care of her because she looked really healthy and she was running with another dog. Unfortunately, I didn't catch her. I do think that she wants to come here because when I saw her the first time she was looking at her doghouse, and she was still looking at it when she was running with the other dog back into the woods. So now I'm watching for her...and between Cledus and Clementine they'll let me know if she comes back again.

In other news I talked to the oral surgeons office a little bit ago and they said I will be able to drive myself home tomorrow, so at least thats good news.

A Completed Project!!

2008-03-31T12:02:00.005-04:00

On Saturday we made a 2+ hour trip home with this...

So we could make this...
Look like this
It took forever to get the tractor to our house for several reasons. It was at his parents house (about 15-20 miles away), and we ran about 10mph all the way, breaking down every few miles till about 5 miles from home, then it gave up and had to be towed. I followed him in the truck, and had to keep pulling him to get it restarted, then when it gave up his dad came and took over and towed him the rest of the way.

In the end it was all worth it though. That gravel was delivered over a year ago, the picture was taken in august (I think) and its now level! And we have an extra parking space! He tried to start filling in some of the holes and smooth the ruts, but the ground was so wet all he was doing was making even worse ruts in other areas of the yard. So next weekend he's going to get all that straightened out. As long as we don't get any more rain.

I won't be making any more posts for a little while because I am having oral surgery tomorrow. They haven't shared with me yet if they are cutting or pulling, or if they are numbing or knocking me out. I have no idea what to expect so I am planning for the worst (knocked out and cutting) and will probably be out of commission for a few days.

Best Worst Birthday Ever

2008-03-24T07:05:00.008-04:00

I haven't been posting lately because no work has been done. I spent my birthday (the 18th) in the dentists office in severe, horrible pain being told I have a massive infection, and need to have surgery. What a way to spend my birthday, huh? Which means I have been loaded up on medication so I can't do any work on the house. Luckily I celebrated on the 15th, so I did get to have some fun, just not on my actual birthday. I got to see friends that I haven't seen in over a year, get drunk on pineapple upside down cake (the drink), and just have a great time.

Here we are at Brewsky's in Mt. Carmel....me, Tiff, Sid, and Jen (I'm already drunk, thats why I look like that)

Then this weekend I was feeling better and my best friend gave me the best birthday present ever...
Tickets to Seether, Breaking Benjamin, and Three Days Grace!!! It was in Indianapolis, the fastest selling out concert in the history of the Pepsi Colliseum, and my first real concert ever! I had a lot of fun, but left before it was over because my jaw was starting to hurt really bad again. Seether was great, but Breaking Benjamin had the best show...lots of pyrotechnics, the lead singer crowd surfed, great light show, and had a surprise...the singer for the Deftones! We got to hear Change(in the house of Flies) in the middle of the show! James didn't really have much fun, but I kind of expected that. Country boy at a hard rock show...not going to go over well, but he was a trooper and didn't complain at all through the whole thing. I took a ton of pictures but the one on here is my favorite.

I am scheduled to have surgery on the 1st, so it'll be a while before I get back to working on the house, but as soon as I do I'll get back to posting regularly again.

A New Mystery

2008-03-11T14:36:00.002-04:00

We have had so much water (snow and ice melting) that the sump pump has been working overtime. And its causing erosion around the sidewalk...which is where we found these. We're not sure, but it looks like a patio, a path, or possibly a really old foundation. The bricks are laid in rows and run under the sidewalk and were under about 6" of dirt. You can't tell but there are more in the top part of the picture too. I'm taking this as a sign. For the last few months I have said I want to build a brick patio using the bricks laying in the basement and crawlspace. I just wasn't sure where to put it, or if it would even look right. Now that I found these I can't wait to get started. With help, of course...I can probably lay the bricks, but I can't physically level the ground or dig these up. I have to do a little research though before digging these up to make sure they don't have a historic significance.

The weird part it that I had been on James for weeks to move the tubing for the sump pump because the ground was eroding and I have been freaking out about the foundation holding up to losing all the soil. However, if he had moved it like I wanted him to we would have never found these. Oh, and the pipe in the picture is the exhast pipe off my Kia. It fell off this past summer and James used it to redirect some of the water...must be a guy thing cause I would have never thought of that! I think that might qualify as more redneck DIY.

2008-03-11T13:58:00.003-04:00

Isn't that a beautiful site to wake up to? Yeah...not so much. This was taken from the kitchen window behind the stove. Lucky for them they are not on our property. I am seriously pissed about the situation though. That is a huge drill they are using to get soil samples for the railroad that (supposedly) is not even going to be going through here. They are about 20 feet off of our property, driving our dogs crazy, and using our driveway for parking. Without even asking! The parking wouldn't be a big deal except that its only one lane so while this guy was parked there I couldn't leave the house! I talked to James and the police and we decided to get no trespassing signs that way if they do it again it can be towed at their expense. Because if they park there again it will be trespassing. I don't usually get this worked up about stuff, but they are not supposed to be on our property, and there is a driveway in the field where that car could have parked. Ok...I think I've ranted enough about this.

Our Weekend

2008-03-03T12:00:00.003-05:00

As a lover of old houses it upsets me to see an old house being torn down. But unless you own it you really have no control over it. We noticed the windows removed from this house in January and it took a while but we finally managed to contact the owners, Mark and Becca Ewing, and they let us salvage it...for free! They had one request though that we were more than happy to follow...they wanted to know about and keep anything interesting that we found. Which turned out to only be some foundation grates.
The house was built in 1911 so its newer than ours. It has hardwood floors, ceilings, walls, and frames! All the rooms have wood slat walls except the living room, which had tons of beadboard.

We salvaged all the beadboard we could, the floors (we think they're red oak), the wall slats, and 2x4's. We couldn't save as much as we wanted to due to asbestos insulation and termites. But we did get quite a bit, so it was worth it. We have to go back and pick the stuff up, and try to get some more of the floor boards out, but we're pretty much done. Once we have everything gone they are going to bulldoze the house in and then have the fire department do a controlled burn.

We are putting everything in our barn for now. We are going to use the bead board in the bathroom and laundry room, the floorboards are back up in case one of ours breaks, and the wood slats are the same size as whats in our bathroom ceiling and porch ceiling.

Thanks again to Mark and Becca!

I Got Wallies

2008-02-29T15:43:00.003-05:00

I got my chalkboard Wallies today! Hopefully this helps James find things. I need to order another set though, I ran out so I just put them on the most used cabinets. And obviously I didn't get them straight...

That is an antique Coke crate that I got at a yard sale for a quarter!

If you want to get your own Wallies, or just check out Home Interiors website here is is: http://www.homeinteriors.com-dianesplace/ (Diane is the consultant I use...she's awesome)

Oh, and in other news...we have to replace a wall in the dining room. One (only 1!) panel was glued and I didn't realize it until it fell off the wall...with chunks of the top layer of plaster attatched to it (ouch!). This is the same wall that has the bad drywall job where they tried to cover where the pass throughs were at. So with all that going on we think it'll just be best to replace the wall. But until we have the money to do that we have a work of art on the wall right now (see the last post and you'll get it)

A picture worth a thousand words...

2008-02-28T11:30:00.003-05:00

...and not one of them are pretty, nice, or ladylike.

Whatdya think? Can we call it artwork?

And the walls came tumbling down...

2008-02-27T13:54:00.002-05:00

Literally. A piece of paneling was hanging on by a nail somewhere and I got between it and the wall to see where. I found it. I went to reach in with the hammer to pull the nail, heard a creaking sound and pulled back just in time for the whole panel to go crashing to the floor! I think that coulda left a mark...each panel weighs a ton.
The room seems to have doubled overnight from taking down the ceiling and some of the paneling. I only got 1/2 a wall done and had to stop. I had not expected the weight of each piece to be so much, and with the problems I have with my neck and shoulder I can't physically do it. So James gets to have that fun.
This is where the top trim piece goes over the transom window. I about cried when I saw what was under the little piece of paneling. The wood in this picture is the actual door frame and the hand hewn lathe. And the plaster, of course.
Same thing from a different angle. I figured out that the plaster is true horse hair. I picked up a little piece that was laying up there and could see the hairs in it. From this angle you can kinda see that the lathe is hand hewn (notice the rough edge). The lathe and the frame are made of the same type of wood, but I have no idea what kind it is. Its a little dark with a reddish color to it.

When I was removing the nails from the now bare walls it looked like the plaster was crumbling around each nail I pulled out. Upon closer inspection, its not. What is crumbling is layer after layer of paint! I also figured out that the paint on the door frame is peeling too. Its like it never adhered to the paint under it.

Last night when James was hanging the chandelier I looked up and noticed a crack between the wall and the ceiling. I climbed up on the freezer to get a better look and realized it was drywall that was not hung right and there for didn't line up right. And I can see where the pass through's were at...they drywalled it, but didn't mud or paint it so I can tell where everything was. Oh, and I was told there was no drywall anywhere in this house. That its all plaster. Uh, no. That's not right. Last time I checked, plaster has never been made in sheets that you nail up. It'd be sweet if it was though!

Oops

2008-02-26T17:29:00.002-05:00

I almost forgot to post this...
The flourescent light that was mounted over the sink dies a few months ago. While we were at Menards the other day we got a new one. Changing them out was no big deal, not much work required. What we had not noticed before was that the cord to the old one actually ran behind the cabinets. Like the cabinets were mounted over the cord. James was pulling on it and it wouldn't budge, so he gave it a good yank...and a piece of the cabinet went flying! He looked at me and said "You didn't want to keep these cabinets any way, did you?" and my response was "I think you just decided for me". The next time I get to a store I'm going to get some wood glue to put the piece back and hope that makes it not so noticeable. And we have decided to go with the open shelving when we do the cabinets.

Let this be a lesson to everyone...when putting up new cabinets don't run appliance cords between them and the wall. Appliances do go bad, and you don't want to either ruin your cabinets or have to take them down and put them back up to get the cord out.

Another Round?

2008-02-26T16:41:00.003-05:00

James mig welder and hood came today, delivered by UPS. This time he came barreling into the driveway with the horn honking! Cledus about went through the window! I managed to keep him in the house though and met the guy in the driveway. Then made him stand there holding a mig welder and hood in his arms while I took my sweet time putting the code into the garage door opener so he could put it in there. His face was red and he couldn't wait to put it down. I'm usually not that mean, but when the guy seems to enjoy tomenting my dogs I gotta do something about it. If he does something like that again I think I am going to make a formal complaint about it.

More Dining Room Progress

2008-02-26T14:56:00.003-05:00

The tiles are all out! I'm covered in itchy dust from them, and socks keeps eating the little pieces that crumbled and fell to the floor, but they are now out. I'm getting ready to take down the cross tee's but I can't take the actual framing down until James gets home and takes the light out.

The blue lines are chalk. I also found out that this is an Armstrong Intergrid suspension ceiling.

I got these yesterday at Gordman's for $3 each. I'm going to use them to cover 3 small holes in the wall in the laundry room.

More dining room pictures to come...James should have the light out and the chandelier up tonight. Then tomorrow I get to take out the frame and the paneling. And then comes the agonizing process of picking out paint. I hate picking paint...I want color, James wants off white, so I have to find something that makes us both happy.

At last...

2008-02-24T19:11:00.002-05:00

Progress! The ceiling started coming down today!
I started doing this while James was outside playing with his new toys (an engine and an air compressor...he loves tax return time).
This is the top of the door between the dining room and living room. That is the lines from where the top trim piece was removed. And you can see it looks like the plaster was never painted under it, and that when it was removed the wall cracked. There is a crack in the same place above each door and window where the trim was removed. Obviously it didn't want to be removed.
This is our new chandelier. That's right...I won! James wanted a fan, I wanted a light. And I got it. Its not really what I wanted, but it works for now. It matches the house style and was in our price range ($35 at Menards).

A temporary solution

2008-02-22T10:30:00.006-05:00

I was getting really tired of picking CD's up off the floor everytime we watched a movie (they were piled on the amp) so I did this...
I have had this bookcase since I was probably about 10 years old. It has always hung on the wall. Eventually, when the dining room is done, it will go back on the wall and hold pretty stuff again. For right now though I think its working well as media storage. And it got some of the candles off the end tables so now we may be able to actually use them again. James says its really ugly and wants to junk it or at least put it where it can't be seen. I told him absolutely not...even though he said please. As for the bookcase that was here, it found a new home...

Right around the corner in the dining room. For now an way. I really hate this bookcase. It looks cheap and doesn't look right any where I put it. But it has held up good...3 moves and still going strong. Not bad for $7.99 at K Mart, right? And yeah, that was the regular price. I bought it when I got my first apartment and never expected it to still be standing now (7 years later)

While this is working for now, I am looking into something more permanent to hold everything in one place. I just haven't found one yet that I like. And by hold everything in one place I mean this is only the over flow of stuff. There's more in the drawers of the entertainment stand and hidden on a rack in a corner. And I am also trying to find a new bookcase because this one isn't big enough. I have two boxes of books that just won't fit.

Changing it up a little

2008-02-21T10:37:00.000-05:00

A little up date...I just changed some things on here, and have no idea how it looks yet. The feeds stayed the same, just the actual blog name and description changed. And I curently don't have a banner on houseblogs either. I'm still playing around so there may be more changes.

Genius

2008-02-21T09:24:00.001-05:00

I decided that I am tired of hearing James complain that he can't find any thing in the kitchen. Its his excuse for everything food related. Such as "I wanted to take my lunch to work today but I can't find the plastic bowls", or "I would have made it but I can't find the lid to the skillet". And my favorite "You were hiding that!" to which my response is always "it was in the front of the cabinet" and his is always "which cabinet?" So yesterday I ordered these...

http://www.homeinteriors.com/sites/dianesplace/productdetails?sku=17110

I am hoping that writing what's inside the cabinet on the outside of it will end all that. These are about the coolest things ever. They are eraseable, removable, reusable, and come with the chalk! I ordered 2 sets because we have a lot of cabinets and some have more than one thing in them. For example spices only take up 1 shelf so I put the waffle iron, toaster, and food processor in there too. Hopefully this will work. It kind of seems like I'm teaching a kid where all the stuff is, but I'm not getting through any other way and I'm tired of being accused of stashing the Oreos...when they are in the same place everytime!

Round 2? Bring it on!

2008-02-20T14:10:00.000-05:00

I had a run in with the most stupid UPS guy I have ever seen yesterday. I saw the truck pull up and the dogs started barking. I went to answer the back door and the dogs went running out barking all the way. They ran right past the guy, but the guy turned around and started waving his little machine while yelling at them (they were not even near him when he started doing this, they were probably 20 feet away) and they went right up to him barking and jumping at him. They did not jump on him, only around him. The guy continued yelling and waving his machine at Cledus and was kicking at Sox! I was yelling at him to stop waving the machine because it was getting Cledus worked up (where he wasn't before) and the guy wouldn't stop. He instead started yelling at me that my dogs were attacking him (when they weren't...they hadn't touched him) while I was yelling at him to stop waving the damn machine. Cledus then knocked him over! The machine went flying! Cledus got what he wanted though and went up and sniffed the guy and went on his way. The guy stood up and I told him that Cledus was not attacking him, that the dog hadn't even touched him. Cledus was feeling threatened by the machine and wanted him to stop, and that was why he knocked him over. I also told him Cledus has never bit or attacked any one before. The guy said he really thought the dog was going to and that was why he started waving the machine, to keep him away. What? You don't do that! About this time Cledus came trotting up to me to make sure he did the right thing, and the guy started waving the machine again, yelling at Cledus to get back! I started yelling at him again to please put the thing down because now Cledus was ready to go (he was waiting for me to tell him it was ok). The guy finally put it down again and Cledus went up and sniffed him and then went and peed on his truck! The guy was ok, he said Cledus didn't bite or scratch him and he didn't want to file a report. He also asked that the next time we are expecting a delivery that we not have the dogs out and don't answer the door if we can't keep them inside. Understandable, and I told him that wouldn't be a problem. To make one thing clear, this is apparently a new driver. Cledus loved the other guy, and they would even play. But that guy had never threatened Cledus before. I have a feeling that as long as this guy delivers here we will have a problem.

The reason why I say this was the most stupid driver I have ever seen is because he did everything wrong. I was raised around dogs (bigger than Cledus) and was always taught that when you feel threatened by or are afraid of a dog you never call attention to yourself by waving things around, yelling, or running. Instead you back away slowly or stand still and never let the dog see that you are afraid. James said that if Cledus would have bit the guy that we would be making a complaint to UPS because the guy was threatening and intimidating our dog, causing him to go on the defense. James also said that the reason why Cledus just sniffed and went on after round 1 was because the machine was not in the guys hands any more, so there was no threat. That Cledus wasn't worried about the guy, just the thing he was waving.

This was Cledus trying to explain things to me afterward. I ended up being late to my interview but they were understanding. I took this picture while I was trying to calm down and make sure my new camera was ok because it also took a fall at one point.

Blogger Problems

2008-02-18T16:04:00.001-05:00

Blogger makes me mad! I've tried to leave comments on a few different blogs and the stupid verification picture won't come up, therefore I can't leave any comments. This has been going on for about a week. It's just frustrating me. Is any one else having this problem or is it just me?

Breaking News...

2008-02-15T16:25:00.000-05:00

Any one who knows the New York Yankees knows who Don Mattingly is. What most people don't know is that his actual home is only about 45 minutes from where I live. His home is on Darmstadt Road outside of Evansville, Indiana. I remember my grandparents always slowing down so I could look at his massive stone mansion with a stone fence and gate. He even had a restaurant in Evansville. To put it in a way, people around there were proud he was from their town. Today was not such a proud day though. According to channel 7 news his wife attacked him and he called the police to have her removed from his property and put a personal protection order in effect. When police came they arrested her for public intoxication and some other charges. Since they took her to jail the protection order was dropped. However he personally requested a restraining order and the removal of all rights to firearms when and if she makes bail. They also said they would have more details on the 6:00 news. How bout that? I guess no one's life is perfect, huh?

To Do List

2008-02-15T08:49:00.000-05:00

This is the new (much bigger) list. I'll probably be adding more later. And it will probably take years to do all this because we're just taking it one room at a time to not feel overwhelmed by it. Except the windows. Since they have to be removed completely from the house they will be done as the weather allows.

House in General (Inside)

Refinish all windows (including glazing)
Paint
Refinish door frames that need it
Find a way to remove paint overspray from baseboards and framings, then retouch. If that doesn't work out, then refinish all
Refinish floors
Replace ceiling fans with newer models. Currently they are all probably 70's-90's models.

Dining Room

Remove drop ceiling
Install new light fixture and wiring
Repair plaster on ceiling
Remove paneling
Repair plaster if needed
Finish removing carpet
Put the pass throughs back in
Have new top pieces made for all window and door frames
Find (or have made) replacement door and transom for door to kitchen

Living Room

Replace wall where woodstove used to be

Bedroom

Repair plaster where needed

Front Bedroom (Guest/Game Room)

Replace light fixture

Kitchen

Refinish cabinets
Find period appropriate hardware to match original cabinets
Tear out sink base unit
Have a custom base unit made that matches original cabinets
Build or find an island
Tear out little cabinet by door
Relocate freetanding cabinet by refridgerator, put shelving in its place
Tear out linoleum and subfloor like stuff under it
Remove all wallpaper

Bathroom

Replace formica walls with drywall
Replace stand up shower with tub
Refinish linen closet
Replace floor under shower (shower leaks so I 'm sure this will be needed)
Have large mirror on wall framed and possibly relocated to another room. The mirror is about 5'x4'...I might be a little off, but not much. Its huge.
Insulate. There is currently NO insulation

Laundry Room/ Rear Entry

Replace walls. (They are plywood pieces, with big cracks between each piece)
Level floor
Paint the cabinets so they match
Insulate...again, no insualtion right now
Find a way to place the cabinets so there is more room.
Replace trap door with something as sturdy, but not as heavy

Basement/Foundation

Fix floor
Put hole in floor for sump pump. (sitting on the floor its still leaving about an inch of water)
Repair foundation

Outside

Paint smokehouse
Figure out how to bring the corner back together so there is not a huge gaping hole
Level backyard
New gravel in driveway
Fill in the holes clementine has dug out
Install another T post for a clothes line (there's already 1 there)
Remove a large branch from a tree so it doesn't put a hole in the roof
Repair the back side of the barn

House (Outside)

Remove shingle siding
Restore original wood siding
Repair/replace window trim
New screen doors (hopefully wood)
New transom screens (No more birds between the doors!)
Paint
Replace wooden front porch steps

Short term ADD?

2008-02-15T08:28:00.000-05:00

I am realizing that I am having some kind of home improvement ADD. I can't seem to finish one thing with out moving on to the next. Wednesday I got the front bedroom to a point where its about 75% cleaned up. All I have to do is finish 1 more box, clean the floor, and have James set up the bed. Well, I decided to do a load of laundry while taking a break before starting on that and ended up working on the laundry room! And then this weekend we are back to the dining room. I just can't seem to focus on one thing. Maybe because since I'm home all the time now I am realizing that there is so much more that needs to be done than I thought. Or maybe its because I'm being thrown off because I can't work on the dining room, which is the main priority right now. Hopefully Monday I'll be back on track with the dining room, and I won't have this problem any more. As long as James gets the ceiling done I can do everything else myself. And i have a new revised to-do list. Since I have found more things, I have decided to just start the list over.

New phones and a great interview

2008-02-15T08:01:00.000-05:00

For Valentine's Day this year we went pretty simple. We found out last weekend that we were eligible for new phones, so thats what we got each other. I got James the enV in silver, and he got me the enV in orange! I'm lovin it! I send a lot of text mesages so the keyboard is great. He's still not too sure about his though...he says his fingers are too big for the keyboard. I now wish I would have gotten him a different one, but that was what he said he wanted. I also made breakfast, and for dinner I ordered Bobe's on 6th street (the best pizza EVER!), but I'm still not sure it was worth the 2 hour wait.

I also had an interview yesterday for a management position with a shoe store. I go back today for my second interview and testing. I explained that I will be going back to school full time in the fall and they said thats no problem. Not getting my hopes up too high though because I have to disclose my permanent restrictions today which is a general deal breaker. They can't not hire me because of it, but 2 other places have said I wasn't qualified for the job (when I was overqualified) and another said they didn't feel I would be happy working there so they were going to go with some one else. And everytime this has come after a great first interview and after I disclosed in the second interview. I hope it works out though because this unemployment thing is not working out. I have worked up to 4 jobs at a time since I was 18, and while some time off was kind of nice, I need to get out of the house.

Uh-Oh...

2008-02-11T08:14:00.000-05:00

Saturday was an interesting day for us. I planned on James removing the drop ceiling, and instead he planned to go to Washington and get an outdoor dog kennel. It was free as long as we took the dog with it. No problem. Its an outdoor dog and very shy and timid so we thought it would give Clemintine some one to play with. We thought wrong. When we got home the dog didn't want to get out of the truck. I finally got her to get down on her own, and she hit the ground running! She took off accross the backyard, stopped to sniff the neighbors Shih-Tzu's and was gone. I tried to catch her and almost caught up when she was checking out the other dogs but she took off again and disappeared. Completely gone! So we got in my car and went looking for her. We live in the country and are surrounded by fields. You can see a long way right now and she wasn't anywhere. So after an hour of checking out fields and leaving our phone numbers with every one that lives within about a mile of our house we got back in the truck and went back to Washington to get her doghouse. And tell the guy we lost her. That was horrible! I have never lost a dog before! He was understanding though, except he said that he had never seen the dog run before! Never! He didn't even know that she could run like that! So her house is sitting in our backyard, and she is still no where around. I feel really bad about it because I have never had this happen before. We're still hoping that she comes back, but we don't think she will.

After all that the day was wasted so we stayed home and played basketball on X Box and waited for the dog all night. Nothing else got done. And its now Monday and the dog still isn't back. Today's plan is to finish cleaning up the disaster in the 2nd bedroom. Next weekend we are going to take down the drop ceiling. I can't wait to get it down, I think the room will look bigger and that musty mildew smell that showed up when we opened it up will be gone again.

I'm scared...

2008-02-06T14:56:00.000-05:00

I'm about to begin on the spare bedroom/game room/room where we put everything we don't know what to do with

And yes, that's a pool table under all that...and the whole 15x15 room looks like that. Wish me luck, I may not come out alive

Inside the Ceiling

2008-02-05T14:32:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I posted a picture of the ceiling in the dining room and it didn't look too bad which gave me a lot of hope. Which quickly went away. After James got home yesterday he brought a ladder in and got up there to take a better look. He looked back down at me and said "How bout we just put the tiles back in place and act like there's nothing wrong?" That was not what I wanted to hear. So I got up on the ladder and this was the first thing that caught my eye...
The first words out of my mouth were not pretty or lady-like. Why did they do that? James said "come on lets just put the tiles back and act like its not there" Are you kidding me? And let the house burn down? I don't think so! The suspension part of the drop ceiling has made the entire ceiling look like this...
The cracks make huge squares in the ceiling. And where the screws are at there are nice holes where the plaster is crumbling around them. Great.
This is the whole space. You can kind of see the squares in the actual ceiling. I told James no band-aids, this ceiling is coming out. So thats the plan for the weekend. Since we're on a kind of tight budget I don't know when the actual ceiling will be repaired, or when the tops of the frames will be replaced (3 doors and 3 windows were all removed) but the drop will be removed and a new light fixture put in.

More dining room

2008-02-04T09:40:00.000-05:00

I forgot...the walls look great underneath too!
And I got most of the carpet out last week.
That is water damage. A lot of it. I have no idea what its from, and I guess it doesn't really matter since its already done. The wood is still in great shape over all. Nice and solid, no creaking. We didn't want to sand the floor since its already been done once, but I think we may have to. I'm not sure how stain will go over that with out sanding. And there is still some of that nasty carpet left. I am unable to move furniture or lift anything heavy, so I cut the carpet out in small strips around the furniture.

Well, since I can't do anything else in there today, I'm going to work on the bedroom and get caught up on laundry. Since I'm not working I am slowly tearing the house apart room by room. Cleaning, decluttering, organizing...all that fun stuff. Actually its not fun at all, but it is nice to have the house neat. Unfortunately I have this problem that I hate housework, so it usually doesn't get done unless I have a reason. Don't get me wrong, I do the basics, but anything more usually just doesn't get done. So there were piles of clutter covered in dust, but not any more. I have the kitchen, dining room, living room, and bathroom done so far.

No Dining Room Today

2008-02-04T09:19:00.000-05:00

The panel removal has come to a screeching halt for today because of this
That is the corner of the drop ceiling. You can see that the paneling goes into the ceiling. The problem here is that we we not going to remove that yet. I couldn't figure out why the panel wouldn't come off the wall so I had to get a step ladder and get up there and see (I can't look up long enough to tell what the problem was). When I saw this a long stream of dirty words followed. The dogs went running . It was so bad. The good news is this...
I held the camera up and took the picture blind, but it came out good. This is the actual ceiling. the reason we were not going to remove the drop yet was because we weren't sure how it looked up there. I'd say it looks pretty good from here. Granted, it is a small part but it gives me hope. So until I find out if James wants to go ahead and remove the drop ceiling, no panels will be coming down. Which makes me sad. I'm ready to get it done!

Change in plans

2008-02-04T08:49:00.000-05:00

A quick update...while I have been torturing myself with paint colors, James said no paint. Instead we are going through with finishing the dining room first. Tearing down the paneling, drop ceiling, finally finishing the floor, all that fun stuff. And that is what I'm off to do now...I'll probably update once I find out whats under that paneling.

And mom...if you still want the paneling you need to tell me soon because we can only store it for so long. I hope to have it all down by the end of the week. If you don't want it or wait too long it'll make a nice fire :)

Drumroll Please....

2008-01-31T16:01:00.000-05:00

We finally have a date confimed by a city historian! This amazing picture of the original house was taken in 1867!! The historian said that date has to be within one 1 year!
This was confirmed through census reports and death records. The little boy in the picture (in a dress) is about 3 years old. In the 1870 census he was 5 years old. The death records were used to find the true ages of the family in the census report. The historian said they could be off, but according to records, they are correct. I also learned that the Marter family was considered well to do because they had $1887 in property and $525 in assets. According to the historian this was really good at that time. Unfortunately there were virtually no records kept outside the city limits, so the "official" date of the new house is still 1890 until we can find a builder, tax record, or some other kind of documentation showing otherwise. The house that we live in is not the house in the picture. But the house in the picture may be part of the house we live in. If that makes any sense.

A Pappy Moment

2008-01-28T08:01:00.000-05:00

The best thing about this couch? It not hand-me-down! We actually bought our first piece of NEW furniture! It's microfiber, reclines, and was CHEAP!! We have been looking for a new couch for a while and were mainly looking at used because we thought we couldn't afford new. I went to Value City Furniture and found this "damaged" couch. The damage is so small you can't even see it unless you are looking for it and it saved us $400! I saw it, took a pic, sent it to James and he said take it. There were 2 other people lookingat it so I planted myself on the couch and waited for a salesman! I had to wait about 15 minutes, but the other people finally left. Now I have to decide on a color for the walls because what I wanted is actually pretty close to the color of the couch, and that won't work very well. Oh, and the black spot on the wall is where the plaster is crumbling.

About the Pappy thing for the people who read this and aren't family...Pappy was my Grandpa. He always looked for the best deals on everything. He found a lot of nice things for really cheap, especially furniture. When Grandma wanted something new Pappy would start looking for deals. I pretty much did the same thing. My Uncle Bill called me while I was getting the living room ready for the new couch and I told him all about it and and he said I "pulled a Pappy"

The Kitchen

2008-01-23T08:57:00.000-05:00

Since I have never showed the kitchen I figured why not do it today.
I would love to do something with this side of the kitchen but really can't
This is the main area. It needs a lot of work. The "island" is actually a microwave cart serving a new purpose. And all the stuff on the top of the cabinet is a vintage glass collection. Everything from McDonald's and Coke glasses to alcohol bottles and vases. And I love the glass backsplash.
This cabinet will eventually be torn out. All it usually does is serve as a catch all for junk, but we need the storage space so it can't go anywhere yet. I need that little orange stool to reach the top shelf of the cabinets.
This cabinet is the only one original to the house and is most likely the only cabinet that was built with the house. I found out that there were originally pass throughs to the dining room.

Here's the plans for this room:

Tear out the base cabinet where the sink is because its rotting from water damage and have a custom cabinet made

Refinish the upper cabinets. They were made by Mr. Yochum in our garage and are amazing. They are very well made, I just don't like the finish or the pulls.

Tear out that little cabinet and maybe install shelving

Find an island

Tear out the floor and retore the hardwood. Its linoleum with some kind of subfloor with hardwood underneath. The linoleum is stained, cracking and peeling up in some places.

Paint, new curtains, refinish window frames, refinish lower cabinet, put pass throughs back in, remove wallpaper

Add more outlets. There is a power strip, one for the refrigerator and Pet Safe, and one for the microwave. Its enough (the power strip has 6 plug ins), but not in the right places.

Teach the cats to stay out of cabinets and off the counter, stove, refrigerator

Puppies

2008-01-21T16:07:00.000-05:00

Awww...aren't they cute?! This was the first time I could get close enough to get a picture of the puppies and it came out good. There are 4 black and 1 brown. They are now about 4 weeks old and are already almost the size of our Shih-Tzu! We had to disrupt the pile shortly after this picture was taken though. We had old blankets in there and the mama ripped them to shreds, so then we had cedar chips in it and she dug them all out. So now we have straw in there and she seems ok with it so far.

Beauty Advisor to Housewife in 2 seconds

2008-01-21T15:45:00.000-05:00

I was fired from my job Friday due to a simple mix up. The schedules were posted out of order causing me to be 4 hours late and therefore fired. I was really upset about it at first because I have never been fired before, but now I'm doing fine. So I am no longer a beauty advisor, instead I am now a housewife. And in a few months a student. So it looks like 2008 is going to be a year of changes. And big adjustments. I have had 1-3 jobs and worked up to 90 hours a week for 8 years, so it'll take a little bit to get used to this. Financially we're going to be fine, but any work on the house will be little to none. There will be things like painting and refinishing, but the big things we had planned like completely restoring the dining room and gutting the bathroom will have to wait a while. Right now I'm mainly focused on taking control of the house back from the animals and finally getting unpacked. Our 2 dogs and 2 cats we have inside seem to think that they rule the house and can help themselves to food in cabinets, tear up/eat the furniture, and drag things wherever they please because they do all these things when no one is home and they can't be punished since we can't figure out which one did it. Well that has ended. And as far as unpacking we have lived here for about a year and a half and still have a mountain of boxes that have been sitting unpacked. And that means I can finally decorate so it looks like some one lives here!

Back from Ohio

2008-01-16T14:40:00.000-05:00

We got back from our little vacation on Monday and I've been on the go ever since. This is where we went...
Yes, that was a really familiar site. We went to Wellington, Ohio to my cousin's wedding. That would be this happy family...
That's my cousin Chris and his wife and their adorable son. The wedding was simple but beautiful and we had a lot of fun. I also got to see the rest of my family that I haven't seen in a long time.

And of course it wouldn't be a house blog with out a house to show...

We saw lots of amazing houses and shops in the historic districts, but this one just really caught my eye every time we went by it. I think it was the bright yellow paint or the green front door, or all of it. We stayed with my cousin Dusty and his family the first night who also lives in an old house that they are currently remodeling, and we stayed with my uncle who lives in another old house that is almost done and its amazing. I guess its just in my family that we're attracted to them. I think Dusty's house has the most work that needs to be done. They decided to stucco over the plaster in the living room because the plaster was in such bad shape(I never thought of that), and they have to replace the foundation, and they are going to expand the kitchen. But the house has been in their family for many, many years. it belonged to his grandparents, so it'll be worth it in the end. And my cousin Pam is living in an amazing farm house. She said it was built in the late 18Th century and for the most part looks to be all original...all the was down to gas lamps that have been converted to electric. The trip was a lot of fun and I wish we could do it again soon, but it took me 2 days to recover (I have permanent damage in my neck so I don't handle long trips well) so it'll be awhile. I did invite all my family to come and visit us though.

Oh, and to Gary over at This Old Crack House...I feel sorry for you if you have to drive through all the construction in Dayton! That was horrible...its like a freakin death trap trying to drive though it! And we also learned something...30 degrees in Ohio is not as bad as 30 degrees in Southern Indiana. You know why? No wind! Even as close to Lake Erie as we were there was no wind. Down here 30 is actually about 10 sometimes!

Show Off!

2008-01-07T22:50:00.000-05:00

Just for fun I had to show this off. Its my new car!
2000 Mustang convertible fully loaded, leather seats, 5 speed, low miles! Love it! I'm so excited...this is kind of my new year gift to my self. I've had a little 4x4 for about 4 years now and this is so much more me. I love cute little sports cars. And that is my hubby poking around in the trunk. This is probably the closest to a real picture of him you will ever see on here. He laughs at me every time I call it a cute little sports car. He says it muscle cause thats what the insurance classified it as, and that mustangs are not "cute".

And a little preview of what my summer will be like: Check out the windows. They're in sad shape, especially the ones in the laundry room (the row to the left) they are so bad the panes are about ready to fall out. So this summer James and his friends are going to remove them and then I am going to restore them. Should be fun. I have never done anything like this before, but another one of our friends is a pro at this so she said she might be able to help me, depending on when I start.

2008-01-07T22:08:00.000-05:00

Ta-Da! Meet the newest improvement to our house.

This is our newest unexpected purchase for the house. On December 22 James came home around 8pm for a few minutes and and everything was fine at home. then we went out for a little while after I got off work. We got home around midnight and started watching a movie. I thought it was chilly so I put on a sweatshirt. An hour later I was still cold so I got a blanket. Another hour goes by and James is getting cold. So I check the thermostat and its set for 70 but the actual temp was 54! So at 3am we were down in the basement checking it out. Couldn't figure out what was wrong and finally gave up at about 5am. The next day was Sunday, then Christmas eve, Christmas day...still no heat and no one open. At this point we are using space heaters to keep it around 60 degrees and no place is open because of the holidays. The day after Christmas James tried to fix it. The heating guy said it was one of 2 things wrong...either expensive or cheap to fix. Turns out it was the expensive one. so since the furnace was an 80's model we decided to put a new one in instead of fixing it and waiting another year before it says good bye for good. While we were at it we had a new thermostat installed too since the other was really, really old. It cost a fortune (to us anyway) but hopefully will pay off in the long run. This furnace is 95% efficient versus the 85% (heating guy said actually about 60%) that the other was so that will save us a lot. And we get a reimbursement from the gas company.

While I was at it taking this picture I did a video tour of our basement with my new camera (12 mega pixel, HD video...sweet) but I can't get it to load, so I'll try that again later. I have figured out that either my computer or blogger doesn't like high quality pictures. At 6 mega pixel they load fine. At 12 they take forever. I think its blogger because they went onto the computer just fine but are taking forever to upload to blogger.

A little catching up

2008-01-07T21:46:00.000-05:00

I have just realized I have not posted anything in almost 2 months! But it been a really eventful couple of months though. From new babies, puppies, furnace, car, and lots of other things. I'll have several new entries here soon. First off though, I wish I could get a picture of the puppies to put on here, but mama won't let me close with a camera so it's going to take some work to get a picture. There were 10 puppies, 8 black and 2 brown! They are all pure bred lab. But since this was Clementine's first litter (and a big litter) not all of them made it. We now have 4 black and 1 brown. And they are all doing great. Next up, one of my best friends welcomed a new baby boy on December 22! His name is Thomas Allen and he's so adorable! That same weekend the furnace died so unfortunately I have not seen the baby yet, just pictures. I have a lot more stuff, but I'm posting that separate.

I'm Back!!

2007-11-10T00:52:00.000-05:00

I have been taking a break from the blog because things have been so crazy around here. Since the last post we have had a yard sale, moved 2 jeeps here, and had the arrival of Bryson Hunter Lee...I wish I had a picture I could post of him he's so cute! He's the first child of one of my best friends and her husband. I have also been cooking and baking a lot lately...I think I'm getting in touch with my domestic side. As far as actual work on the house though, there hasn't been any. Unless you count bringing heaters in from the garage to put off turning the furnace on. And ordering a lot of Tupperware. Oh, I did get a few more boxes unpacked finally. Yes, that's right...we have lived here over a year and our front bedroom is still full of boxes. Most of its going away though cause if we haven't needed it in a year we probably won't need it again.

As promised before, here's the new T.V. stand
I love this! The new surround sound is great and no more skipping DVD player. As he promised, James had it done that same day all ready to go when I got home from work. And I sold the old entertainment center all ready, I'm just waiting for them to come and get it. Its still sitting in the living room, you can see part of it in the right corner. Well, thats all I got for now!

Happy Anniversary...

2007-10-13T15:55:00.000-04:00

Today we have officially owned our house for one year! We closed on Friday the 13th last year. And at about this time last year I was sitting in the cold doing what very little cleaning that needed to be done (The previous owners kept it very, very clean) and figuring out where I wanted the furniture to go. Any way, to celebrate this James is currently at the store buying a new home theater system and DVD player. And he promised by the time I get home from work tonight it will be all set up on the new entertainment stand thats been sitting in the middle of our living room for the last few weeks. So on Monday I should have pictures to post showing the change! For now though I gotta get ready to go to work.

Crying Over Exploded Milk

2007-10-04T00:15:00.000-04:00

Ok, not really crying, more like cussing. But the milk really did explode! A littler bit of info up front-I have post concussion disorder. I'll explain this later. Anyway, back to the milk. On my way home with pizza James called and told me to use the front door. I didn't think anything about it. He met me on the porch to take the pizza and I said it smells horrible out here. I walked into the house and gagged! Immediately lost my appetite. I asked what the hell that smell was and he told me the milk exploded. I asked "what milk?" He said "That gallon on the floor by the refridgerator" My response "what gallon of milk on the floor?" His "the one you said you were going to take out 2 months ago" Oh, shit! I went to open the door to the dining room and he stopped me. He said the smell was even worse in there! So I sat there with this yummy pizza in front of me (Bobe's-my favorite) and couldn't eat it. I finally gave up, went to Wal Mart and bought a mask, gloves and bleach. I already have bleach and gloves, but it was so bad I didn't want to search for them. I went in armed with all these things, a bucket, and a mop. I mopped up the standing milk and then mopped the floor 5 times, bleached the fridge, microwave, door handle, all painted surfaces, the trash can, pretty much everything on that side of the room. And then Lysoled everything. Tomorrow I am going to bleach it again and scrub the floor with a brush cause I'm OCD like that. The rank, nasty smell is gone. Replaced by bleach and Lysol. I wish I could say leson learned, but probably not. Which brings me back to the post concussion disorder. If you have never heard about of it, its what happens when a concussion is misdiagnosed. I had no clue what it was until my neurologist explained it. This is the result of a bad car accident 3 years ago. I'm not going to go into all the details, but since then I forget things all the time. My memory is crap, and there is no cure for it. Its really bad, and really, really frustrating! So as much as I'd like to say this milk incident will never happen again, it just might. And I'm actually thankful for the really crappy linoleum in the kitchen, because we have no idea when it happened since we were gone for 11 hours today!

Time for a change!

2007-09-28T13:30:00.000-04:00

This is the current state of our entertainment center (please excuse the fact that I forgot to rotate the picture) and its really annoying. It doesn't fit the house in any way. I bought the entertainment center when I had my first apartment and we have outgrown it.
So we upgraded to this...
I love this! It fits better with the house and while there isn't room for all the movies and CD's it will hold the DVD player, VCR, XBox, and a stereo (I'm switching out the big one). I got the media situation under control though. I am going to mount a victorianish (is that a word?) bookcase above it to hold all the movies and stuff. I just have to refinish it first. And I got a shelf to hold the unity and memorial candles until we find something more appropriate to put them in (they shouldn't be on the t.v. any way)

In other news:

This is Lucky. He was a rescue kitty. I love how big and fluffy he is and he's so sweet. (BTW...he's going to get fluffier as it gets colder, this is his summer coat) He also likes to get into trouble...
Thats right...one paw is orange! I had to post this cause its just too funny! I had canned ravioli last night. I forgot to put the can in the trash and left it on the stove. Lucky helped himself to it and now his paw is dyed orange! He's been cleaning on it all morning and it won't go away! I figured out it is ravioli sauce because the can was in the dining room when I woke up. Maybe he learned something from this...probably not though.

A victorian closet

2007-09-23T17:50:00.000-04:00

I thought while I was showing off the woodwork in the living room today, I'd also show off my closet. I absolutely fell in love with this when we toured the house the first time. Its a floor to ceiling armoire-style closet, with tons of detail.
The inside is basic and its barely deep enough to fit the hangers, and I have to have a ladder to get into the top half...but I still love it! And all those clothes are mine...there's no room for any of James in there!
This is the latch. I really want to clean it up. Both locks still work, and the detail is beautiful. We are going to have this closet replicated as close as possible in the second bedroom where there is currently no closet. We need something in there and figured why not go with the same thing we already have.

I hate this wall!

2007-09-23T15:37:00.000-04:00

I just realized I didn't post a picture showing why the wall needs new plaster. Here it is. I had to take the picture in sepia because the damn walls are so bright white it didn't show anything on the regular setting. This is the only wall in the whole house that needs any work. The paper plate looking thing is to cover the hole from where the botbellied coal stove vented. The original heat in this house came from 3 botbellied coal stoves...one in here, one in the kitchen, and one in the front bedroom. I have no idea what the little eye hooks are for. You can also see the wall is rippling, its like that all the way across and down. You can't really see it, but there is also a hole on the ceiling (above the cover) that has been plastered over. It looks like a flaw in the plaster in this picture. The PO's said that after the stoves and before the central heat they had some kind of wall heat. I don't know if that hole had something to do with that, or if it came from somewhere else. Oh, and those are cobwebs...I really need to take care of that!

And about the stoves...I wish they were still here. Even if we never used them, I think it'd be great just to have them. And eventually we are going to add period appropriate wood burning stoves where all the coal stoves used to be. But we have a teeny tiny (virtually nonexistent) budget right now so it's going to be a while.

Look at all that beautiful woodwork

2007-09-23T14:53:00.000-04:00

I decided to post some pictures of our living room today. This is one room that really doesn't need too much work, but I love all the woodwork so I thought I'd share. Just ignore the mismatched hand me down furniture and all the clutter (I'm working on it)
The door on the left goes to the front bedroom, and the door on the right goes outside (obviously) and has the original doorbell. Both have the transoms with original hardware and are fully functioning. The ceiling fan is going to be traded for something more appropriate.

The door on the left is for the bathroom (used to be a porch thats why the door has a window), the middle door goes to the dining room, and the door on the right goes to the bedroom. Again, all transoms work and have original hardware. You can also see the tall baseboards with spindles.
This is going to be the biggest project in this room (besides redoing the plaster on the wall behind that couch). The wood is 2 colors because the floor was stained a deep brown to match the door and window framing, but there was a linoleum rug in here (actually in all the rooms) and the stain is faded in a huge square in the middle of the room. All the scratches are thanks to Cledus and Socks (Lab and Shih-Tzu) running through the house.

I really can't get a picture of the entire room because the ceilings are about 12' and the doors are about 10'...and the room is about 15'x15'. There is also a window on the only wall not shown and it matches the rest of the framing and is nearly floor to ceiling. I didn't take a picture of that wall because of the t.v., kennel, and chair...you can't really see anything but that. And it is annoying to have 5 doors off one room...it really limits the furniture placement and there is only 1 outlet so that doesn't help much either.

The plans for this room are to refinish floors, redo the plaster on 1 wall, replace ceiling fan, and add at least 2 more outlets. And maybe paint it something other than bright white. Also, down the road the window is going to be restored (stripped, glazed, and stained...we are keeping all the original windows but they need a LOT of work)

Socks and his kennel

2007-09-21T03:34:00.000-04:00

I had some one tell me that its cruel to keep a puppy in a kennel and that we should give him away if we can't take care of him! We take great care of our pets and they are incredibly spoiled. So I just wanted to let every one know that Socks is handling the kennel well. Its set up in our living room. He spends a few hours in there depending on work schedules. The most time he's in there is 1-3 hours. I hate doing this, but there have been no accidents on the floor and the litter box has been peaceful (as in not looking like it exploded). And the kennel is not the same as a crate. Some people leave their pets in crates (small boxes) for that amount of time or longer and I would never do that. His kennel is designed for a large dog (he's a Shih-Tzu, they're small) and is about 5'x4' and about 4' high...and he's only about 2' long and about a foot and a half tall. He's got water, food, a bed, and toys in there and plenty of room to move around and jump all over. He goes in there on his own, we don't have to put him in there. And since we've started doing this he's actually starting to housebreak! Hopefully we won't have to do this long. He's a little over 1 year old and it takes about 3 years to completely housebreak a Shih-Tzu. Oh, and the lady that told me I was cruel...she was buying puppy pads for her 2 year old dog that refuses to go outside and said that she keeps it locked in the laundry room when she's not home! I think thats cruel! I would never keep an animal in a confined area with no windows or doors and poor ventilation! She also said that when she tries to move the puppy pad outside the dog brings it back inside and does its business! I think she's doing something wrong there.

On the home improvement subject...James reminded me that its been 2 months and the dining room floor is still not done. I reminded him that he can do it too. I've been in so much pain lately that I just can't do hardly anything. Maybe we'll get started on it again soon.

T.R.A.I.N. Meeting was a joke!!

2007-09-20T00:38:00.000-04:00

So there was another t.r.a.i.n meeting last night at the Robert Green Auditorium at Vincennes Universtity last night. We were told that the petition would be there and so we went. With no other goal than to sign the petition. Turns out that the petition was MIA and this was not a meeting where they wanted opinions, instead just support. It was a joke. They had the auditorium broken up into stations and you had to visit each station and then fill out a questionaire at the end that left no room for protest, just support. This meeting was not meant for us country folk that want to keep our homes. Instead it was meant for the city people that, after purchasing their home next to a railroad track, have decided they don't want to live next to one. They were pointing out the benefits and there were many upset people. One had owned his property for nearly 60 years and they couldn't tell him anything other than "we are considering the community as a whole". There was a homeowner in the paper today that stated they owned their home in town for 30 years. Their house is near a set of tracks that was there when they bought the property. They feel they shouldn't have to live next to the nusiance of the trains any more. HUH?? They chose their home next to a railroad and have lived there for 30 years. We chose to live in the country no where near a track and now they want to put one there and we are told to deal with it. Makes no sense. And we saw the advisory board...15 farmers, 15 teachers and a lot of city people. Not one actual rural homeowner anywhere. I really think thats not fair. We should have a say too, not just the farmers and people who live in town!

There is one other option that they are not even wanting to talk about...overpasses. This was supposed to be studied too, and not one person last night really wanted to talk about it. An evironmental scientist was actually trying to tell a rural homeowner that its actually better for the environment to remove all these houses and all the farm land and some creeks than it would be to have the tracks in town. Thats insane...I bet they pay her a lot, because I can't see any way that all the construction and destruction can be good in any way!

We are looking into the possibility of applying for National Historic Register for our home. It should be there any way, and if we can get it then we will be saving our historic home, along with a lot of other homes because they would not be able to build the track here.

A little note...we are in a potential (and the most likely) corridor for the new tracks. If they do this, we (along with hundreds of others) will be forced to lose our home. If they put it in the next corridor over, less people will lose their homes, but ours will end up ruined anyway due to 30 60mph trains per day running about a half mile from our house with its 130 year old brick foundation and plaster (the house is ALL original)

And yes, I realize I am ranting on and on, but I want everyone to understand how much we are against it. And how upsetting this is...to all us country people involved. I haven't met one person that lives outside of town that is for this.

No tile, but solved the case of the litter box bandit!

2007-09-17T00:44:00.000-04:00

On my last post I stated that the bathroom floor would be tiled this weekend. Did not happen. I also mentioned the litter box being emptied onto the floor...it happened 2 more times over the weekend, but we finally got to the bottom of it. Socks! Our adorable little Shih-Tzu decided to play...and then sleep in the freakin litter box! He got in trouble, got a bath, and got a kennel! We put a kennel in our living room for him for when we're sleeping or not home. I hate to do that to him, but thats disgusting! I have no idea why he's doing that! And it just started...he never did that before! So now that we have this massive kennel taking up our living room I'm hoping this doesn't happen again. The floor didn't get tiled because it was wet most of the weekend. I'd clean it up, we'd leave for a while and it'd happen again. So maybe it'll get done next weekend.

In other news we went to a housewarming party this weekend. One of James friends just got moved into his house and had a party. It was a lot of fun, and a beautiful house needing absolutely no work. I'm a little jealous! Actually it needs one thing...a wall between the master bedroom and bathroom! There is no wall at all...its like having a toilet in the bedroom...kinda disturbing. The owner named it the "voyeur room" because when you sit on the toilet you see everything in the room and when you are in the bedroom part all you want to look at is the toilet. Weird. As you can imagine it was the topic of many discussions. Mainly the advantages (number one being when you're drunk you don't have to leave the room or mess with doors) and us girls pointed out the bad (there's so many I won't list). And we donated our vacuum to him since he has carpet upstairs and no vacuum, and we have a vacuum and no carpet. The weird thing is I almost looked at this house before we bought ours. Decided not to see the inside because the asking price at that time was just way too high. Instead we decided to buy a house that cost a ton less, but we're probably going to have to invest as much money into as what that house cost. Oh well...we love our old house even though it needs a ton of work. It'll be beautiful again some day and until then we are living here just fine.

Can I Get Some Tile PLEASE!?!

2007-09-14T00:21:00.000-04:00

I hate our bathroom. Its so bad I won't even post a picture of it. We ripped out the carpet the first night here because out of curiosity we pulled up a corner and saw blood on the underside. A LOT of blood. It had to go. Immediately. Since them we have had a bare unfinished hardwood floor, with the whole "I'll tile it next weekend" from the hubby. Its been 11 months almost to the day, and still no tile. We have the tile. But its still in the boxes. Not very productive, huh? In the meantime, our wood floors are being destroyed and I hate it. The shower leaks, the cats keep throwing litter all over the floor (I think they're trying to tell me something and I can't figure it out) and we walk all over it every day. I decided I am going to make James tile that damn floor this weekend. One way or another he's going to do it. (it probably won't happen but I like to think I have that kind of power) I decided this today when the shower sprang a massive leak and when I got home from work the litter box was emptied all over the floor yet again. I am tired of mopping and slowly scrubbing the floor with a brush to get the kitty litter out of the cracks ( I can only work for about 10 minutes at a time) If we get the tile down all that will be soooo much easier to clean up. I would like to do something with the shower and get the litter box out of the bathroom, but we don't have the money for the shower and there really is no where else for the litter box. If I can figure out why they're throwing the litter then it won't be so bad to have it in there.

We do have a plan for the bathroom, but a massive lack of money. The shower is going to be replaced by a tub, the floors are going to be refinished, and a lot of other things are going to change. Pretty much the room will be gutted...but until we win the lottery (or get vehicles payed off) I'll just have to settle for tile over the wood and continue to search for an effective way to keep the water in the shower and the kitty litter off the floor. By the way...I'm open to suggestion on either.

I'll make sure to post Monday about how it went. And maybe pictures if it does get done. They'll be pretty scary though...I have nightmares about the blue Formica walls. And the flooding on the floor. And the litter box exploding. Yeah, its that bad!

2007-09-13T12:28:00.000-04:00

I don't have anything to post about the house today. I am a little frustrated though by a comment left. On my last post some one, actually a website, left a comment. Its all in spanish! I have no idea what it is. I took spanish in high school (which was a long time ago) and I have no idea what its about. It looks like some kind of spam but I'm not sure. The thing that frustrates me about it is that at the end its in english...wtf?? I don't get that. Its like they don't want me to know what its about. If any one can tell me what its about that would be great. I can still speak and read some spanish, but I can't tell what this is about.

And to the person that left that comment, I will not be adding you to my blogroll. I don't even have one yet. If you actually looked at my blog you would have seen that. And if you want to comment in the future please do it in english! And if it was spam, please don't comment on my blog again. I don't have time for that.

Interior Stain vs. Deck Stain

2007-09-06T01:37:00.000-04:00

I came up with a crazy idea last week...using deck stain and seal indoors. I think this would be great, but I guess I'm the only one because I can't find anything about it anywhere. I would just do it, but safety wise I'm just not sure. Here's why we are considering it

Water resistant...it rains and snows here and wet shoes in the house are common. I also spill things and we have a puppy (meaning sometimes he has accidents)

Fade resistant....This room has 3 large windows and 3 doorways, which means a lot of sun

Scratch/scuff resistant...Things get dropped, our pets drag their toys (and the puppy drags his metal food bowl for the fun of it), they also have nails that have pretty much stripped our living room floor already from running though the house, and this room is really high traffic since its the center of the house

Mold resistant...I can't figure out how to fix it yet, but we have a mold issue. Its the biggest problem in the kitchen (if a dish gets left overnight its got mold by morning), but we'll be eating in this room and I'm really worried about it. Plus a previous renter had a big problem with it on floors and walls (we'll probably be using bathroom/kitchen paint on the walls in all rooms because of it)

But the interior stain I looked at says its scratch and fade resistant, I'm just not sure how good it really is. I got samples to try it out before we go all the way.

I got plenty of time to think about it though. I've been in a lot of pain here lately so all work has come to a screeching halt. The carpet has been laid back over the floor (not held down, just there) to protect the floor until I'm feeling better again. It sucks, but I can't really do anything about it.

A Mystery Solved!!

2007-08-31T00:37:00.001-04:00

I posted about this a while back. We had no idea what it was used for, except a shed, but thought it had to have some other purpose. Well, after talking to the PO's family we solved the mystery. It was a smokehouse! She said they would smoke meat in there...sausage and things like that. This was a fully functioning farm so this isn't really a surprise. In fact I'm surprised we hadn't thought of that. Our house is on a highway and she said that people would stop every once in a while to tell them the building was on fire and they would explain that it was supposed to have smoke coming from it! Also found out the building is made of white poplar.

I also learned that the outhouse was located close to the far end of this building about where the clothesline is at. Just realized you can't see the clothesline because of the big tree in the way...trust me, its there. I've had people tell me that if you can locate and excavate the outhouse or "privy" that you can learn a lot about the the property all the way back to when the hole was fist dug. I'm sorry, but it was in use till the 50's so I don't see us digging it up any time soon. But it is nice to know where it was.

Returned the card to its family

2007-08-30T23:23:00.000-04:00

I can't remember if I have posted about this before or not, but our house was an estate sale. The previous owners were Leo and Cecelia Yochum. We bought the house from their children. One of their daughters and her husband lives 2 houses down from us and said if we ever have any questions, to ask and they would try to help. I took the playing card over there a couple of days ago (we thought it would be best to return it to the family...we figured it would mean more for them to have it than it would be for us to put it in a scrap book) and I had a great chat with them. I learned a lot about our house, and they are so nice. I told them we are restoring the dining room and found the card under the carpet and linoleum and they said it had to have been there for many years. The room was redone in the 60's. Her husband said that he remembers installing the drop ceiling and paneling and it was done to help with heating. They also said that the room had always been used as a living room, never a dining room, but it was meant to be a dining room. Before they renovated, the wall that is shared with the kitchen had cabinets that opened through on both sides (you could open the cabinets in both rooms and see through) They are going to try to find a picture of it so we might be able to replicate it again. I hope they can, or maybe we can figure it out when we remove the paneling from that wall. I would love to have that again. I learned a ton about our house, so much that I won't post it all at one time because it would be way too long. But it'll be coming. I also showed them the blog in case they are ever curious about something we're doing.

And a special note to the family...if you ever see any dates or anything that are wrong please feel free to leave a comment so I can correct it. Or you can comment on anything else. We are trying to keep things as acurate as possible, but mistakes do happen.

An interesting trip to the Zoo (long post, sorry no pics)

2007-08-28T14:22:00.000-04:00

This is the first chance I've had to post since Friday. I actually learned some more things about our house over the weekend from someone who rented it before we bought it. The girl works with James and we saw them at the Zoo saturday night The Zoo is actually Kazoo's...a bar/club locally known as the zoo because people can get a little wild there...lots of fights, drunk people acting crazy, people can dance in a cage or a balcony and its always entertaining. Not really our thing though so we don't go there much. Anyway, we saw this girl there and while she didn't really want to talk about the time that she lived here, she did and we learned a lot.

Like my header says, we've had some strange things happen here. Starting the day we closed. I came in at night to start cleaning (it didn't need much, mainly dusting) and the house was cracking and popping and made some weird sounds. When James got off work he brought a friend over here and they asked how it's been going. I told them the house is settling and they both laughed! They both agreed the house is done settling and have no idea what I heard.

Next, we had lived here for a few weeks and James went to play paintball, leaving me here by myself. I was in bed and I heard a very distinct, deep manly voice say "there's some one at the door" I sat straight up in bed. Our dog was going nuts running from the bedroom to the front door (which we don't use) I looked at him and sayed "is there some one there Cledus" he yipped and took off for the soor again. I got up...no one there! No one in the drive, outside at a neighbors and no cars on the road.

Then James and I were asleep in bed and I heard a woman talking. James rolled over and told me to shut up. I said you heard that? he said yeah, now stop talking and go back to sleep. I wasn't talking, there was no one else here and the t.v. and radios were all off.

The stereo in the dining room has come on all by its self on stations that we don't listen to.

The other night when I started tearing up the carpet I wanted to listen to 89.1 on the radio. It wouldn't come in so I was listening to 91.1 I had to keep unpluging the radio and moving it to move the carpet. Every single time I turned it back on it was on 89.1! I set it back to 91.1, unplug, move, plug it back in, and its on 89.1 again!

Well, the girl that used to live here sayed that they heard things too. The t.v. and radio would turn off and on by themselves, and she saw Mrs. Yochum when she was doing laundry one day! She said they used the dining room as a living room. It has a window that looks out at the dryer. She said she was taking clothes out of the dryer and looked up at that window and saw a little old lady with white hair sitting in a chair! Luckily we haven't had anything like that happen...that would freak me out!

Now on to the house stuff. I asked her if some one had kicked a door in. She started laughing and sayed "yeah, the back door, did they replace it?" I said "no, the dining room" she said "uh, no the dining room door was fine...wait, what does the door look like?" I told her its white on one side and stained on the other, she started laughing again and said that they swithched the doors. The dining room and the back door have been switched, but at least they left us with all the original doors. She said that her brother and her both kicked the door...and then her new boyfriend said he did too!

We also have big faded squares in the center of every room. We thought from area rugs, and never mentioned it to her. She brought it up though. She said that when they moved in there were big squares of linoleum blocks in every room. She said they were beautiful, perfect squares complete with padding underneath! She told us she came home from work one day and her boyfriend had ripped evry one up, but the front bedroom! I can't belive that! She told us she cried for 2 days because they were either original to the house, or had been there for many, many years because they were real linoleum like they don't make any more. I wanted to cry when she told us! Then it sank in that she said it was still in the front bedroom, I told her that its not there any more. Apparently the Yochum family decided to rip it up too to make the house look whole. She about cried. I gotta find out if she has any pictures of it.

We also got explanations for the cracked formica on the bathroom walls ("using the bathroom and a fist came flying above my head") the Southern Comfort bottles ("he drank a lot") and the blood on the carpet (no explanation...knew about it, but didn't want to talk about it) She also said she had a mold problem and used bleach on the plaster on a daily basis...I don't know much about plaster but I think it doesn't mix well with bleach so we may have more problems down the road. She also told us her rent was only $400 a month...If you figure it up we over payed but I'm ok with that. It appraised for way more than what we paid.

Thats all I got for now...going to go clean out the shed to see if I can find anything to put in the yard sale.