Drapes live again! June 23, 2008

Sometimes home improvement projects at our house can turn into not so fun hours of cursing and a battle of Man Vs. Manmade.  So I always hesitate to ask Boom to undertake any home improvement project - and when I do ask, I am usually filled with dread and fear - and I always have my “Don’t worry, honey, we can get the handy man to do it” line ready to blurt out.  But our new handy man down here is not like our awesome handyman in RIC - he just isn’t as good, so it ends up taking a lot more time and thus costing more.

So that is why I asked Boom to put up a drapery rod I got in anticipation of our first “real” out of town (state, really!) visitor coming on Thursday.  (There is nothing better than someone coming to visit or throwing a party that will really spur me onto getting the house into order, or at least more order).  And this, our first home improvement project here in H-town, was relatively not too painful!  I was really proud of Boom and how well he did.

Prep stage - Boom always like to be prepared and plan out the task, almost a little too much, for my taste.  But that is why he always has all the tools he needs and if it were me, I’d have to make 5 trips to the garage for different items.

Nearly done!  Looks good - and not too many curses came out of his mouth.

Voila!  The finished project.  As a side note, Boom ordered the drapes from someplace like Pottery Barn about 10 years ago!  He used them in ATL when he lived there for a year, but then we just moved them around with us - they went from ATL, to Arlington, VA (3 different apts), then to C’ville then to RIC and now they are finally up again in H-town.  When we were in RIC, I wanted to cut them up to use them in craft projects - good thing Boom was smart enough to say, let’s wait until we get down to H-town.  I think they are just  stop gap drapes, but maybe I can line them and spruce them up… they literally are like new.

Red Sisters May 22, 2008

For an additional $200 and no added features except making me smile every time I see them, we got a fire engine RED! washer and dryer set.

When we were at Best Buy purchasing them, I was really fine with white. It was the cheapest and who really cares about the color of your washer and dryer, right? But Boom convinced me to go with RED! since those were the ones I was initially drawn to… and I am glad that we did! (I think and add’l $200 didn’t seem so bad to Boom ’cause the really pretty stainless steel ones were an add’l $2000!)

I love looking at them and seeing them in my lovely mud room makes me smile. Yarbs came over today and saw them and she was all, they are so cute! and I was all, I KNOW! Her theory is that Boom is hoping the RED! will entice me to do laundry more often. We’ll see about that…

I did do my first load this morning (sheet) and used the steam setting (on both washer and dryer) - and the sheets do seem to be cleaner than they ever were in the Ric. That is probably all in my mind.

But the steam dryer setting did really cut down on static electricity, like it said it would. I have stopped using dryer sheets (ran out of the in the Ric and didn’t want to get a new pack since we were moving) and sometimes static cling can be an issue. I went to Whole Foods to see about getting some enviro-friendly dryer sheets, but they all had major essential oil smells, so I couldn’t do it. With this steam dryer setting, it seems that I won’t need dryer sheets ever again (which is the most enviro-friendly, to not use dryer sheets at all)!

Wow, I can’t believe I just typed that. Seems that my life is pretty boring these days, when I am getting excited about not using dryer sheets. Sorry, will try to find more exciting fodder for this blog!

Man at Work April 29, 2008

Boom enjoys small, manageable projects around the house. Putting the house on the market has provided many of these. Most I outsource to our trusty handyman Steve, but a few Boom has completed.

Last weekend, Boom put a doorknob and latch on our master bedroom. We haven’t had a doorknob that latched on that door since we moved in. So we’d just have to barricade ourselves in the room to keep Ruby out and off of the big bed. Many a night one of us would head off to the bathroom and crash into one of these barricades (trash cans, yoga ball, empty copy paper box, etc).

I love the way the old timey door knobs look - love the cream colored knob and the black hardware. During this project, I was dozing on the bed, slightly hung over from the Darden reunion. and when I would wake, I’d take a few photos, then go back to dozing. Tough to be the manager, but someone has to do it.

Boom’s expression is both “Ha! I triumph over you, Doorknob!” and “Doorknob, you are a true SOB and I respect you, but I still gotcha” all at the same time.

When we (we being the contractors) fixed up the outside entry way, we moved the mail slot from the side to the front of the door. This meant we had to close up the secret door that mail went into. Boom painted on once the wall had been patched. Unfort, his first coat was with the wrong paint:

We were both like, maybe it dries a LOT lighter? But then I realized we were using the living room paint and not the hallway paint. Boom repainted with nary a complaint!

He is just so cute! It’ll be nice when we are both down in H-town full time.

New House April 24, 2008

Here are a few photos of the house we have under contract in H-town:

(Disclaimer - Homes are large and grand in Texas! So this is way more space than we need right now, and definitely grander than we ever imagined, but we think it will work out just fine…)

Here is the front of the house. I love the Spanish tile roof! I think we will grow some ivy on the garage wall with the 3 square windows, at least I think Boom would like to do so…

Here is the front entry way and staircase. Ruby is not pleased with the spiral staircase. She is afraid she won’t have enough energy to get up ‘em, or pick up too much speed and hurt herself going down! I foresee us having to carry her up and down the stairs.

Formal sitting room into dining room. We literally don’t have enough to furnish even one-tenth of this house.

Boom’s man room (aka study) with built-ins on both sides. It also has French glass doors - which I like so I can spy on him when he is in there.

Looking at the kitchen from the eating area - 6 burners, 3 ovens, I dunno if I will ever use all of the appliances. At least I am ready to cook for an army, literally. Too bad I am not much of a cook. Maybe this will spur me on…

Living room with gas fireplace and lots of built-ins. Boom already knows what large TV he wants to go above the fireplace.

UPSTAIRS:

This is at the top of the stairs. We are going to have the builder put white built-ins along the wall with no windows, and we’ll use this as our upstairs family room.

This mudroom could possibly be one of my favorite things about this house (besides the master closet). On the 2nd floor and look at all that storage!

Here is the master bedroom with a sitting area. I think the one sofa we currently have is scaled for this sitting area. We are going to get a king size bed! That will be glorious as I will be able to be right in the middle and Boom will still have lots of space.

This is the master bath. The shower has 2 heads, so that should be fun.

And last but certainly not least - the master closet! We both have a door to the closet - it is shaped like a U so we will be able to see each other in the mornings! I love that. And love all the space (the top rack is for out of season clothes, and the black things help to bring the rack closer to you when you need something off of it).

[Update: If you want to see even more photos of the house, check them out here. Not that you weren't already bored out of your gourd!]

There is so much space I kinda don’t even know where to begin, once we are down there. We’ll put our current queen bed in one of the other bedrooms and sleep there until we can get organized in the master bedroom, with a rug and king bed.

Well, it seems that we are all grown up. Scary. Very scary. Maybe we’ll put my bridal portrait in the dining room, like is the custom in RIC and evidently Dallas as well. We’re gonna need things to go on the very large walls, that is for sure.

Tornado? March 5, 2008

Last night the metro Richmond area was under a tornado warning (who knew tornadoes could be a threat in VA?) and in the middle of the night Boom and I awoke to a ton of rain and a very scared Ruby.  When I looked outside our bedroom windows, the trees were swaying so hard that I really was afraid that they might get blown over, into our house.  Luckily they did not and all is well.  Here is the view, today, from our bed:

But last night, all the trees last night were violently swaying in the rain and wind.  It was frightening.  Good thing I was really tired, as I was able to fall back asleep with relative ease.  So I guess it wasn’t too frightening.

Before and After February 29, 2008

Monday and Tuesday I worked on getting our bathroom in order - a little spring cleaning.  Unfort, I am not a tidy person by nature, much to Boom’s chagrin.  I take after my dad in that respect, and didn’t get my mom’s severe tidiness gene.  Oh well - I think it is because I am a creative type… or at least that is the reason I use

So here is our messy bathroom closet!  So much stuff - all jumbled together.  (The clothing hanging from the doors, is my workout gear.  That is not part of the messiness.)

And here it is after!  I threw out / am giving away a ton of stuff.  So we actually have lots of room in the closet now.

I even cleaned out our drawers and the cabinet.  Lots of expired meds (over-the-counter) got thrown away.  Much better now.

I am hoping I can keep the bathroom organized, at least for a bit.  Boom is actually very tidy, but he let’s my bad habits bring him down!  Resist, resist!

Happy Friday: Ramblings & Photos February 23, 2008

Yarbidy sent me cds with photos of Thanksgiving and the Austin Marathon - I got them today. The best part is she included them in a super cute handmade card! and she rarely makes cards…

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I was at Macy’s the other day looking for drinking glasses (we have gotten rid of all our plastic glasses, as they possibly leach bad things when put in the dishwasher) from the Martha Stewart Collection. I didn’t end up buying glasses there (got them from Kmart - their Martha Stewart Everyday line - I heart that line! It is great - tho Kmart is totally ghetto. I guess I am lucky we have Kmarts in Va… don’t think they exist in TX) but I did end up getting a cute glass container (supposidly to be used for snacks, but would be a huge amount of snacks…) with a turquose top and matching towels with a turquoise accent on them for my downstairs bathroom. I think the towels are actually bar towels, but they look cute.

Part of why I love her stuff so is the clean and attractive packaging. Not a good reason, I know, but I am the type to buy something just to try based on it’s packaging…

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I cooked up the rest of Ruby’s pumpkin, as part of her veggie dog diet. This time it was a little odd - as the pumpkin was still the one that Ims and Gretty gave to us, but I had frozen the extra. So I thawed it out, and it was already mushy from defrosting, and then steamed it. Ruby knew exactly want was going on, and was very excited!

Here is the cooked pumpkin.

Mashing it.

Full container! This should last a week or so…

I give her a heaping amount of pumpkin with a scant 1/2 cup of dog food on top for each meal. Makes her deuces orange and big, but she does love it!

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As we are using up our conventional cleaners (and paper products), I am replacing with cleaners that don’t contain toxic chemicals (paper products that are unbleached and recycled) - which is better for us and the earth.

I was a little wary of using this Seventh Generation dish washer detergent, as our dishwasher is not the best. Has left food and stuff on the dishes in the past - so I had to go from using the water miser mode, to the full water mode.

Anyway, this stuff works great! and I can use the water miser mode again. Seventh Generation promised to get our dishes sparkling clean, and they did! I am quite pleased.

Huh? November 14, 2007

We’ve lived in our old house (built in 1911) for 4 and a half years.  Basically none of the upstairs doors have knobs or if they do, they don’t work.  I was getting ready for supper club last night, Boomboom came home, puttered about in the basement and was upstairs for maybe 5 minutes.

“Come up here.”

I go upstairs.   He is grinning widely and proudly opening a shutting  the middle bedroom door - and the knob works!  It latches!  and even the lock works!

I am literally speechless.  My mouth is open, flies are flying in and out.

“I can’t believe we have lived here nearly 5 years, and it only took you 5 minutes to get the knob working.  Why didn’t you do this 4.5 years ago?”

“Oh, well, I had to take pieces and parts - knob from front bedroom door, latch from who-knows-where - to make it all come together for the middle bedroom door.”

I am still a little astounded.  Not that I am not grateful that the door now works, but just that it wasn’t a huge, day long ordeal with lots of cursing and yelling - that it only took a mere 5 minutes.  Everytime I go upstairs and have to use the know to get into the middle bedroom, it surprises me.

And when I go to the top of the stairs, and see the middle door closed, the back door rigged shut and the front room door barricaded with the yoga ball and box, I feel sad for little Ruby.  Her bed is in the hallway - good thing she has taken to her downstairs bed and new blanket.  Long live the Purple Wizard!