Muscles

Just call me muscles!

Two down, one to go...and she's a beast.

Sunday Pictorial

Basically, Scott is badass for braving the heat to prep, trench, and lay the pipes for sprinklers this weekend while I was reminded how much I am not designed for manual labor. And need a pedicure desperately on those dirty hobbit-feet.

Shout out to my mother-in-law who showed up to help as well. She's a woman who works the shovel well!

Boost MY Roost!

Saturday Spent

Up and at 'em searching for a duffle bag at 5:30 a.m.

Stayed up reading, started 1/3 loads of laundry, and made shopping lists until bootcamp at 8:30 a.m.

Target, grocery store runs.

Primed the new side door.

Painted the fixed trim on the new side door.

Picked up laundry and a new foam rollers for paint job. Note to self-all paint projects and errands fall under my responsibility.

Painted two coats on side door and second coat on trim.

Swept the porch.

Dusted, vacuumed, laundry.

Cleaned the dishwasher.

Watered the gardens. Felt kind of guilty about the water use today.

Showered. Napped.

Chatted with a potential DJ for my high school reunion.

Roasted chicken and chopped vegetables for Sunday night dinner, chicken pot pie.

Walked to Two Saucy Broads for salad and pizza for my own dinner.

Finished making the chicken pot pies.

Settled in to finally watch tv recordings from earlier in the week: Up All Night, Parks and Recreation, and What Women Want.

Bed. TGI a three day weekend.

Final 2011 Victories

1. Fruits of my labor began sprouting-ziva paperwhites.

2. Built up my tolerance of other species.

3. FINALLY got around to organizing and decorating the office.

In process of moving everything out to prep for paint.

More put together, but not the final vision.

3a. Earthquake-strapped the bookcase to the wall.

4. Started new nail trends in the painting process, "the spackle".


5. Fixed the doorbell so that it's no longer on the same frequency as the next door neighbor's.

6. Hung rain gutters and down spouts.

Goodbye 2011, hello 2012. First anticipated victory will be staying up until midnight.

Progress Report-Part II

The bathroom is about 80% done. And my visits to the gym to shower are looking to be a thing of the past. All that is left on the to-do list is ripping up the awful linoleum and putting in a pedestal sink. The public lavatory model kills me.

The wallpaper tearing down process:


A previous owner actually used hot glue to seal the top and bottom of the wallpaper likely when it started to curl from moisture in the bathroom. I'd like to have a few words with the other person who slopped paint on the kitchen cabinetry, but that must wait for another day.

I hated those stupid moonbeams.


I am actually thankful in terms of wallpaper removal for this home-this was it, a border. Granted it had hot glue that had to be scraped off, but at least it wasn't rooms and rooms of it.

When my parents remodeled their house a few years ago, I earned my wings scraping wall paper down from every nook and cranny it seemed. Layers on layers of wallpaper. I shudder at the memory.


Finally gone.

First off-the grout lines in the tile are wider than we would like. However, being our first time dealing with tile (though we didn't lay it) we went with a recommendation. It's grown on me with the darker paint and accents as well.

The paint choice leans more towards the feminine side, but I'm trying to balance it with the black and gray accents. Scott is manly enough to handle it though.



The two white spots in the above picture are waiting for a new set of hooks to go up.

I have to say I love it more than the hippie version that preceded it. And it's another lesson in the dramatic difference paint makes.

A Progress Report

We timed our Solvang trip to coincide with some work being done on our shower. If I may give one piece of advice to anyone buying a home-pull back the shower curtain. Two inspectors and two newbie buyers lacked to do so and were stuck with water damage in the window frame that is costing us to fix part of the bathroom sooner than we'd hope and forcing us to go to the gym so we can use the shower. The highlights of a one bath home!

The entrance to the supreme dust zone. It even has a red (plaid) carpet.

Progress! But no available shower.

The work required the walls of the shower to be ripped out, new studs and and waterproofing board that the new tile can be affixed to.

Power tools and boom box take priority to perfume.

Because we think the tub was originally claw-footed and previous homeowners sometime in the last 85 years filled in the corners with cement to make the tub flush with the wall, it's requiring some creative solutions. Thankfully we've got a great contractor who's well equipped to face these issues.

Dust everywhere. I am counting down the days to a functional bathroom and major house clean.

Naturally with the shower's progress I want to move along to replace the gym sink with a pedestal and of course pull up the vinyl flooring for tile. In reality I will probably finally remove the celestial wallpaper and paint.

The Ghetto Box

Or, another lesson in "never say never." Specifically, I'll never have a window air conditioning unit.

Time to shut your pie hole, Erin.

Although it's not in our originally intended location of the bedroom, it's going to make us utilize the office much more. Apparently this variety of air conditioning units don't work with the left to right sliding windows which we have in our bedroom. Whatevs, it's still cooler than it was and I'll still spoil my cat with it on this week when temperatures are supposed to hit 100.

I was spoiled growing up with central a/c, then I got married and moved into an Irvine Company apartment, which boasts gyms cabanas, nightlife and central a/c. I continue to pretend I'm Laura Ingalls Wilder. Sadly, the heat makes me more of a Nellie Olson.

While the boxy beast is certainly not central a/c, it cost about $5,802 less and it's cooling down the back end of the house...sorta.

A Weekend SPENT

This weekend was all about finishing projects, large and small, mostly ones that I visualize while laying in bed at night and wishing someone would wave a wand and we'd be done. Not so much. That's what husbands are for.

So what did we do?

I finally painted our everything-including-walls-and-trim-and-closets-and-windows bisque bedroom, a few shades of tan. Still has some more dressing up to do with a new duvet that does not seem to exist outside my brain and within my very reasonable budget. I'm sure this service exists somewhere so I may promote the idea but I'm too cheap to actually hire people like this--a service that would do the painting prep work for you-TSP the walls, spackle, sand, tape, and prime the walls, all so you can get Sugar Kisses up in one day. I loathe painting prep.




I purchased a headlight oxidation repair kit a few weeks ago and went to do it this weekend when one of the three parts included-buffer, wash cloth, and solution was missing-the buffer. So we rode our bikes to Autozone and in my sweaty paint-clothed feminine way, I nicely asked them to swap it out for a complete kit-as I was sans receipt. Being nice gets you places people! After a 4:00 lunch I got to work to rectify my poor headlights.

I'm pretty bad about taking before and after pictures, so imagine my headlights looked something like this:

Thank goodness for Google images.

Since I am on the bandwagon of listing our hard work, I'll also add grocery shopping because that takes time and efforts that resemble the work of a burrow.

Scott hung our new porch light. I broke the orb that surrounded the white bulb MONTHS ago dusting away cob webs, and living the ghetto lifestyle of a solo bulb wasn't very inviting to our guests. Now, high porch fashion.


I also finally got rid of 6 keys from my keyring. Lessons learned the hard way in life-too heavy key chain can break your transmission and leave you stranded at a bridal shower for hours. Not really a big deal when you do it before or during the shower, but after it slightly cramps your Sunday evening plans. Also, it gives your assistant back aches hauling the set to and from the post office. But, I've ditched 6 keys to the tune of an intimate14. Now you might think-is this really laborious? Yes-because I walked between our two sides making sure I was getting rid of keys that really had no purpose.

Finally got around to filing/shredding/ditching/making a new pile of "requires further reading" mountain of paperwork that accumulates during the week on my desk. Nothing like organizing to help you find zen.

Finally, I capped my weekend off with vacuuming and washing both of our cars. Complete with final Febreze spritz.

The most laborious award this weekend goes to Scott, who helped his brother and sister-in-law move from their apartment to their new home and then came home to rip out the mile of pink geraniums on our parkway. I know people will be saddened, but every person getting out of the passenger side of the car will salute us for years to come. Though we will miss the small bouquets left on our doorstep by Vivien and Nathaniel too.

Before:

After:

Next up: installing sprinklers. Scott will act as the ultimate in charge, I will supply beverages and In 'n Out to the laborers.

Happy House-aversary

May 8, 2010 we closed escrow and moved into our first home, which ended up being not just one, but two-which I lovingly refer to as "the twins."

Closing day!

What a year it has been. I never dreamed we'd become homeowners and landlords at the same time-but we've managed both with the help of insight from family, friends, and of course, the all knowing search engine that is Google. I thought I paid our first mortgage payment twice; a great set of renters serendipitously found us and stayed the entire year; I mowed the lawn for the first time; Scott (my own Wayne Szylinski) is in the planning stages for engineering a temperature-timed sprinkler system; he has completed countless projects that I have started and given up at finishing; and though no official housewarming party has been had, we've hosted the annual Haselton Cousin Christmas Party, a recent Mother's Day weekend, and countless dinners for our parents (which will never begin to repay them for their help in educating us to arrive at the point in our lives where we could afford to purchase, making curtains, helping us move and pulling up carpet and nails the day we moved in.)

I've mentioned before there are countless projects that need tackling and I'm sure they'll get done in the next few years-though this is not our forever house we plan to live in, we do plan to hang onto it as long as we are alive and kicking-and this house is already 86 years young. It's got a few creaks, cracks, and dings, but then again so do we. It's our perfect house we've made our home.

There is a first for everything

Today I mowed the lawn.

Not a huge milestone in life, but the fist time I did the task on my own. I realize that women do this and carry water for miles on their heads every day, but I grew up in more of an indoor chore environment.

Scott gave me a quick tutorial in the garage last night and obviously it looked simple enough. I got a few rows in and then the engine started smoking. This was a dilemma. I wanted to finish the task and not have some wonky half mown lawn, yet didn't exactly want to meet my maker via lawn mower explosion. So I did what any sensible girl does. I called my husband. None of my man neighbors were around to help, so I did feel slightly the failure, but hey, I had a smoking lawn mower on the grass-direction was needed. At his direction, I let it sit for about 4 minutes and investigated the situation and found what I believe to be the problem. Fixed it, felt like I should win some kind of blue ribbon and finished.

While its not necessarily a military lawn mow, it suits and will provide a nice foundation for my tenants who are having a garage sale tomorrow.

No photos were taken so as not to increase the dork factor of this experience.

I have a new friend.

His name is Ruben and he works in the paint department at Lowe's.

I recently purchased patio furniture on Craig's List and am currently giving the items a face lift.

Now I have been to Lowe's about 3 times a month for the past year and somehow I only met Ruben yesterday. Maybe he's new. I didn't want to inquire.

He was very helpful in answering some questions for me, and looking past my tunnel vision when I couldn't spot the primer that was right in front of me. When it came time for me to depart, he said "I just know you are going to have a good day-you have such a good attitude!" I thought that was really sweet.

I returned today because I bought every last bottle of Rustoleum's Metallic Copper spray paint and was hoping it had been restocked. Low and behold Ruben was working again and even remembered me. He was very complimentary and told me how nice I looked (which I did, I had new dress on for our biggest business event of the year. Probably looked a little out of place at Lowe's.) And it was in stark contrast to my usual home improvement weekend look of stained jeans, t-shirt and no makeup. I had also left my name tag on so he was eager to learn what I did at my job and to have a name with the sometimes bare/sometimes made up face.

Ruben was so happy to see me he made me promise to come find him and say hello next time I was in. Which will likely be Friday when my spray paint is expected to arrive, or I can jet over to a neighboring city where he looked up that two cans were in stock. But no Ruben at that store!

Just like my time with the best pharmacist ever, Ruben was the epitome of customer service. And I have to guess he liked me so much because I was not a crazy, demanding customer. It was refreshing to see someone so helpful and genuinely nice who cared about my project and was interested to know how day 1 went.

Selfishly, I filled out two surveys for Lowe's to win $5k (which I also do at Target-someday I'll win something) and was hoping for a fill in the blank comments section where I could call Ruben out and hopefully earn him employee of the month, but sadly, no such deal. I'll send the manager a nice note instead.

Mother Nature is Menopausal

Mother Nature is a wild woman. Besides the heartbreaking disasters worldwide, she is being quite fickle with the weather in SoCal as of late. Some days it's winter, some days it's spring, some days it's a season not yet defined.

Last week: high 50s, rain, wind, battening down the hatches.

This week: sunshine, breezes, and today a high of 90.

What gives ma? I like it a moderate 75 with a slight breeze. I don't have a/c and my poorly-insulated plaster walls don't do well with extreme heat or cold...but mostly heat.

In other news, a second variety of my poppies are blooming and our renters have given notice. If you are quiet, clean, and by culture like taking your shoes off before entering the home and want to live in an adorable 1 bedroom/1 bath duplex, give me a ring.

My Science Project

I've come a long way since lima beans, thanks to the help of my mother-in-law who weeds each time she comes over, since I cannot tell the difference. She very sweetly informed me when my 4 foot dandelion was in fact, not one of my seedlings.

I'm very proud of these poppies, even if they are akin to the leaning tower of Pisa. They are my little garden babies.

I'm still waiting for my poppies and dahlias to bloom. I did not grow the calla lilies-those were a gift from my mother in law, nor did I plant the hot pink shrubby plants-I was tired of the non-sprouting greenery and needed some insta-color.
We have a long way to go but we're getting there.

Wedding Wall

I just love projects that I think are going to be a) easy and b) inexpensive. My wedding wall has turned out to be neither of those things.

We have a random plank of wood in our hallway that I painted to become our "wedding wall"--a wall of the weddings we have been in over the years. On Black Friday I went to the Goodwill to buy 5 different frames, all a little different, to hang the photos. Easy. And they were 50% off that day. So I spent $9 on 5 frames.

After settling on the images and laying the frames out on the floor, we decided to hang the frames from the middle-thus they are centered to the yellow plank, not by hanging from the typical top spot. Enter challenge to hang the suckers.

Because these frames were from all corners of the retail world, a few had the teeth, some had popout holes, etc. Either way, all were not in the right spot. I needed something to affix to the middle of the frame and then could stick to the wall. Enter 3M Command Strips. I know everyone swears by them, but they did not work. At all. ONE of the Velcro sticky variety claimed to hang up 3 pounds. I think most of the frames weighed less than one. We had up to 4 sets of those little buggers on a frame and they still fell from the wall. Sometimes during dinner, sometimes in the middle of the night which is always good for the heart. I'm pretty sure I spent about $25 on those damn things. And then my favorite frame fell and broke. Awesome, who doesn't like 5 trips to Michael's in one week. So I purchased a new frame. And then we tried the stick-ems another way and again, frame dropped, and broke. Make it 7 times to Michael's because I forgot my coupon the first time.

So, here we are, probably $40 later, but I do have the wedding wall, thanks to my resident handy man.

Wider shot towards the front door:

I excel at blurry photos in three feet wide hallways. Yet, the "wedding wall" does bring a smile to my face at each walk-through.

Dining Room Chairs Redux-update

UPDATE-"before" photos found! We waited an hour and half for dinner on New Year's Eve so it was the perfect time to delete all of the 2010 photos that had already been uploaded to my computer...or so I thought. I KNEW these were on there, just stuffed between baby showers and Halloween. The one with the cushions attached was deleted in my feverish routine but you can still see them on the ground to the right.

Detail shot:

I think it gives the "after" a bit more impact.

Well I can't find my before picture so that makes this post severely lack impact. Therefore, I'll call upon my best storytelling skills.

Imagine a dingy beige chair with an equally dingy ecru seat cushion. Imagine scoring the 4 chairs for $50 on CraigsList and then taking a month to do the transformation. In reality it can obviously be done faster, but we didn't have a dining table to set them with, so no immediate rush.

And voila! The after:
Yeah, it does not have impact without the before. C'est la vie.

Raining Cats and Dogs

Gratuitous shot of my cat since I don't have a kid.

We have had rain four days straight in Southern California. The rain is constant, heavy at times, and thus makes for many Murphy's Law scenarios.

1. The locks on my car have gone bad. Not just the driver side, but now the passenger. Not sure if I'll be able to drive to work today.

2. The kitchen ceiling is leaking. I just KNEW something was going to happen during this storm! It's by no means bad, but I am an expert worrier and thus very concerned since the worst of the storm is this afternoon and tonight. Everything is a first in the new house. We've now been through a heat wave and days of downpours.

It's times like these I'm glad I don't live on a hill.