Halloween 2009... oh the costumes

Sam and I each wanted to do our own thing this Halloween.

I decided long ago to dress as Cheetara from the 80's cartoon Thundercats.

Sam wasn't into that, so he decided to dress as Terry from Reno 911.

We had an absolute blast going into the city with some friends... who dressed up of course!  We saw some amazing, crazy and tons of run of the mill "sexy" costumes.  All in all we had a blast.  Here's a pic from last night!  That's our nephew- who was quite confused as to why Uncle Sam grabbed him for the picture.

Ghost of Halloweens Past

Happy Halloween!

I've always enjoyed dressing up for Halloween, and ever since Sam has come into my life, we have a LOT more fun on Halloween, picking costumes and showing them off. We ususally "try" to keep it a secret until Halloween. And we try to do something "couple-ish" without being super cheesy. But sometimes, we just have to do what we're dying to do.

Here's the past three years for you, some are couples, and some definitely are not!

Halloween 2005-
I was He-Man and Sam was Mikhail Gorbachev. NOT a couple costume. And I looked better earlier in the evening, I just cannot find a better photo. This was our second foray into Halloween costumes... they've gotten better


Halloween 2006
I decided I wanted to go as Cruella DeVille. Sam decided he wanted to go as a Cadillac Deville. Yes, he made that car ON Halloween day. Took him quite a few hours, and it BARELY fit into the car!!

Halloween 2007

Not a couple costume. I wanted to be Betty Rubble, Sam wanted to be Matthew Lesko. AKA- "The GOVERNMENT WANTS TO GIVE YOU MONEY!"

Halloween 2008

Just last year we did another "couple" costume. A couple of my friends and I decided in advance to be Disney Princesses. So we did. Sam didn't want to be a corny prince. So he decided to be "Prince" or, the Artist formerly known as.

So, seeing our nasty Halloween Habits...

any guesses for this year???

Mr. Motivation

That is what I am calling Sam as of this weekend. See, since oh, August, we've hit a plateau of sorts. Whether it was a lack of time, a lack of energy, or a lack of funds, we hadn't accomplished much in the house. There were still walls to be painted, ceilings to be painted, trim to be installed... and other items.

On Saturday, it was slightly rainy and overcast. Which meant house work. Sam forced me to get off my rump and go to Home Depot. There we bought the items necessary to begin to finish the upstairs. We bought a new light fixture for the foyer (so long nasty fan) and some trim, and paint for the hallway and foyer... and we tackled the beast on Saturday.

We were getting into such a great groove- I had painted the hallway, Sam had primed the foyer and was starting to cut trim when we hear a loud POP down the street, and our electricity goes out. Yep. At 6 pm. On a Saturday. I continued to paint a little while I could still see, and Sam decided that now was a good time to switch out some of the nasty outlets to nice new ones. So we still got some work done... showered up and then watched a movie at a friends house.

By time we got home, the lights were back on (thank goodness!).

Sunday, I went to an all day craft fair (Colorfest) up in Thurmont with some friends, while Sam stayed home. I had a great time walking around... and when I got home He had finished painting the foyer, the living room and most of the ceilings AND installed the baseboard molding throughout the upstairs. I was so thrilled! I grabbed the vent covers and started painting those to match the walls.

So we had quite a busy weekend, and every time I walk down the hallway I am just thrilled!

Dear Young House Love...

I absolutely adore your blog. You are first on my google reader, and always savored as the last read.

If you've never heard of Young House Love, you should check it out. John and Sherry are an adorable Richmond couple who bought their house a couple of years ago and have put their blood sweat and tears into fixing it up. They are a definite part of the inspiration that caused me to blog our adventures in Home Renovations.

Recently, John and Sherry announced that one of their freebies they would be giving away is a $500 gift card to Lowes.

"I want that"

Sam and I could use it OH so well around our house. Unfortunately for us, I was comment number, oh 6,623. So maybe we have a chance? Otherwise, here are the specific improvements I would be using that card for.

Look here... this is our foyer. The only thing that still remains? That dilapidated broken ceiling fan. We JUST realized that the fan had been in the "on" position, but couldn't rotate because the blade was stuck on the light. *Sigh* Not to mention the fan in the dining room is as old and ugly, and the hallway fixture is a bare bulb. The horror of what I have to live with!!

And here:

We're so close to being completed, but look, no baseboard moulding through OUT the living room, dining room and hallway! The contractors must have taken it up when ripping out the lovely orange shag carpeting, but we plan on installing crisp white trim anyway... and speaking of trim, we plan on installing crown moulding through the same area!

Oh, to win the freebie. Otherwise, we'll just chug away at our list on our own!!

Here we go a Painting...

This is how we spent an hour of our Sunday, this past weekend. On such a gorgeous gorgeous day.

Sam painting his side. He is happy, I promise you.

Sam said, "I found some ancient hieroglyphics on your side Mary."

Ah, now our house is one color!

Just looking at that picture makes me want to paint the deck!

Countertop Drama

Rant and Rave, are you ready for it?

When were purchasing the house, it was necessary to remove the base cabinets and flooring in the kitchen because of water damage.

We originally wanted to have some nice Shaker style maple cabinets, natural or honey stain... with a lighter countertop, beige or white, and then paint the walls a blue green color. That all didn't necessarily pan out the way we thought.

We had to choose from stock cabinets. Not a big deal. They had Maple cabinets, but not in a Shaker style. Okay, that's fine.

Laminate top. Ugh. They don't have anything close to what we wanted in stock. But we found one we can live with.

Put it all together, it looks nice.

Bought more cabinets to finish out the kitchen the way we want it... and bought another section of countertop to finish off the added area.

Problem. The new countertop has rounded edges while the other one has square edges. This shouldn't be a big deal, but of course I had to notice it, and it has to be changed. You would think that they would have square edged countertops in the back at 4' just like they had the rounded edge right? Of course not, and of course I sent Sam back by himself. Great.

So Sam takes back the countertop in order to just get a square edge one. They don't have square edge. He'll have to order it. For triple the price. That's right. You read correctly.

TRIPLE THE PRICE

Does this seem ridiculous to anyone other than me?

We purchased a countertop, 4' in length, with rounded edges, IN STOCK, for $40.

Now, we have to "special order" a countertop, 4' in length, with squared edges, for $120.

When Sam got home and told me he special ordered it, I was aghast. Why didn't he just say, no thanks and walk back out with what he returned? Because I wanted it. At least he did what I asked right? I will give him that!

So, we special ordered this countertop on August 5th. It's supposed to arrive at our house in two weeks they tell us. Two weeks go by. We call. No sign of countertop, we'll call you as soon as it comes in. Two more weeks go by. Same deal. Two MORE weeks.

Finally, Sam's getting mad. Not to mention me.

We finally agree that we'll go in and complain, get our money back and buy the rounded edge. We walk up to customer service and Sam says, I need to speak to someone about our countertop. What do they tell us? Oh, it's ready and I'll have someone go get it.

Talk about frustrating. Absolutely infuriating!

Yes, now we have a countertop that cost us more money than we'd originally thought, and yes, it works just like a counter should.

And yes, We have a letter to write.

Painting my Bathroom Vanity. Making my life a little prettier.

I decided that until we can completely renovate the bathroom, I will have to make do with what we have.  Unfortunately that consists of a really ugly vanity, paneling on the walls, and pink and white tiles... and a gold shower door.

I previously painted the paneling white, added some decorative touches... and finally decided to paint the vanity. Here's the ugly truth:

Repainting the vanity was my first "furniture" update.  I have plenty of ideas of other items yawning their life away and need some sprucing up.  Why not try it on something that isn't staying for more than 4 years (I pray)

So, the first thing I did was remove the knobs and handles since the wood had finger grooves cut into them.  We didn't use the knobs.  Then I decided to remove the extra panel in the middle to give me a more uniform vanity.

Then I added some wood filler to disguise the mess I made, waited a couple of hours, sanded them down  then applied a layer of primer.  Remember, I sanded the vanity first all over to assure the paint would stay. (It was a mess in there!)

After primer?  Two coats of the beautiful green I chose.

What do you think?

AFTER:

Don't Shake the paint can

Is this actually advice anyone has gotten?  Since Home Depot and Lowes have failed to give me paint stirrers the last two times I've purchased paint, I've been using a scrap of corner bead.  Yes, it works wonders.  Today, however, I decided that the remaining paint can was light enough for me to shake it up.

BAD IDEA.

This caused the dried paint on the sides of the can to mix with the good paint at the bottom.  Meaning I had to finger swipe a ton of clumps off the wall!  How frustrating.

Well, now you know huh?

To Do List

Funny story- my sister in law the other day mentioned that when we were intending on purchasing this house, and we were showing her and her husband the pictures, afterward he mentioned how he thought we "bit off more than we could chew" and was doubtful of our intentions.  Apparently he renegs on that statement.  That really makes me feel good about our progress.  Another way to feel good about my progress?  Showing you my to do list.  I know I shared a few of these things with you, but you might not have known how extensive this list is.  Oh, and it does NOT even begin to touch the basement.  I will be adding that list on when more of the upstairs list is complete.  Here goes!




KITCHEN:
REMOVE BACKSPLASH TILES
INSTALL 3-WAY SWITCH
REMOVE BULKHEAD
REMOVE UPPER CABINETS
REMOVE PANELING ON WALL BEHIND FRIDGE
REMOVE WALLPAPER
PATCH ALL HOLES
PAINT ENTIRE ROOM WITH PRIMER 
PAINT WITH COLOR
INSTALL NEW CABINETS!
RE-ARRANGE COOKING STUFF


LIVING ROOM/HALLWAY:
REMOVE BRICKS
REMOVE WALLPAPER
REMOVE PANELING
SAND BAD SPOTS OF PEELING PAINT AND GLUE
SKIM COAT BOTH WALLS THAT HAD BRICKS
PAINT CEILING
PAINT WALLS
TWO WALLS OF MISSISSIPPI MUD
REMAINING WALLS BEIGE COLOR
NEW CEILING FAN IN DINING ROOM
NEW CEILING FAN/LIGHT FIXTURE IN FOYER
PRIME FOYER
PAINT FOYER


MASTER BEDROOM:
CLOSET- TWO HANGING RODS
INSTALL CEILING FAN
BLINDS/CURTAINS




GUEST BEDROOM:
CLOSET- SUPPORT FOR BAR OR NEW BARS
FIX CLOSET DOOR
PATCH AREA ABOVE DOOR (REMAINDER OF GLUE FROM WALLPAPER)
TOUCH UP PAINT LOCATIONS
INSTALL CEILING FAN
CURTAINS/BLINDS


OFFICE:
REMOVE INSTALLED SHELVES
PAINT (TO BE DONE THIS WEEKEND!)
SUPPORT FOR CLOSET BAR
CURTAINS/BLINDS


BATHROOM:
RENOVATE COMPLETELY
REMOVE DROP CEILING
REMOVE PANELING AND MIRRORS 
INSTALL DRYWALL
REMOVE TILE FLOORING
PAINT VANITY/NEW VANITY


EXTERIOR:
NEW WINDOWS
NEW SIDING
TRIM TREES
TEAR DOWN SHED- UPDATE/RENOVATE SHED
PAINT RED BUMP OUT (HAVE THE PAINT, JUST NEED ANOTHER SUNNY DAY!)
PAINT SHUTTERS AND HANG THEM
NEW LIGHT FIXTURES FOR FRONT DOOR & SLIDER
PATCH AND PARGE CONCRETE
REMOVE HANDICAP RAMP
PAINT SHED
CREATE STAIRS OFF PORCH
PAINT BRICK DECK SUPPORTS
PAINT DECK
REMOVE HOLLY BY POOL STAIRS
REMOVE BUSHES AROUND FRONT YARD
SEED!
PLANT LILAC BUSH
POWER WASH DECK AND STAIRS
BACKFILL SINKHOLE AND GRADE AWAY FROM HOUSE
NEW FENCE!
RE-DO BACK DECK


There's so much more that I am now realizing isn't even on this list!!

Patio Pictures!

Well, its been requested that I get off my lazy bum and take some more pictures. Here we go!

So, the patio was basically just a wasteland of concrete that we didn't use. Mostly because we had no way to use it.

Thanks to some friends, family and freecycle, I've had lunch out there about 3 times now!

Here's the after pictures... and yes, I plan on painting those loungers! (they were from freecycle too!)

This is just one of the lovely planters that the same lady who gave us the ubrella gave us. Two, on both sides of the patio really make it feel homey...

And here's another little project I have in mind... stay tuned!