Rubba-dub-dub

The ghetto fix from 3 years ago.

So the answer to the question: What could we fix in our house to make guests enjoy staying here more? is:

A new Shower Apparatus!

It used to be, if you showered in our house you had to turn the cold and hot water supplies off at  the base of the tub before and after showering.  This is no longer the case, as I am gathering that we no longer have a "leaky O ring" (snickers).  

We purchased a Victorian Clawfoot tub conversion shower kit about a month ago, but hadn't had the time to put it together.  Today, I set out to put it together by myself.

And I utterly failed.

I opened the box to find all sorts of gizmos, with NO directions for the D rod to hold the shower curtain.  The only thing that DID have directions was the faucet head and the shower riser, which of the lot was the easiest to decipher (and may I add, the directions were confusing so I threw those away).  So, envision me surrounded by gadgets, in my pj's...tongue out...and whimpering.  That is pretty much the scenario. 

Again, utterly devastated by my ineptitude, I had to call the Naterman to my aid to use his engineering skills to figure out how the pieces fit together.

I HATE PuZzLeS.  Seriously. 

I had something that looked like a U....it is a D rod (for the shower curtain).  Not only that, but I couldn't figure out how they fit together.  I also had 4 wall attachments, which I still am not sure if we figured out how to get those all in together.  Anyway, the Nater came over and had it all figured out how the rod parts fit together in around 5 minutes.  Sigh.

Then, as I struggled to remove our old showering thingydoodle (again, I am NOT an engineer), I determined my use of power tools leaves something to be desired.  So, long story short(er) Nate and I did this rehab piece together. 

I am happy to inform any potential guests....this NOW functions as a real bathroom!!  Woot Woot!

So then, I had to figure out if I wanted to do more tonight.  Well, I did do some painting, but nothing warranting a picture.  I had wood filled some of our trim pieces so tonight I repainted it, plus some ceiling repainting.  Eh. 





And then....


I wrapped Christmas gifts for my nieces and nephews and my siblings.  I have three siblings, Nate has two, and many of our siblings have kids.  I LOVE kids toys, but this year I didn't get list items, but things I think will stimulate the kid's imagination.  Having considered having children in this past year, I bought stuff I think could be fun for the parents and the kids with possibly some interaction...do parents interact with their kids these days? 

I shall leave you with a puppy.  Everyone loves adorable puppies. 

Celebrate Good times!

 A Scary Picture to Begin the Blog!  Woot!

Cough cough, I'm tired!

 

 

 

Well, up I got this morning and got to sand drywall and PAINT the ceilings!  I am thinking if I am a thorough Rebekah, they will need another layer of paint to look good, and of course, as per usual, my seams Le suck. 

I had to remove the lights and pull down the bronze fixtures to paint around them.  This cause more problems than expected since now I can't seem to screw the bulbs in tight enough.   So, I must wait for the Naterman and his man like strength to fix the problem.  BAH!  For all my trying to be independent I find myself relying on him more than I would like.  Who likes whining to their hubbadub, "It's so dark in here and I can't screw in the bulb"?  I mean, come on.

This is the face of finishing drywall.  Do your part to bring drywall finishing down so faces like this no longer exist!

Celebrate good times come on!

 

Our yummy dinner tonight, courtesy o' Costco.

And THEN I had the glory of getting to go to Costco, which anyone who knows me, knows that it is a PLEASURE to go.  Man I love Costco with a passion.  While there I met a guy who had to get a job there in order to pay for his wife's addiction.  This reminded me of the South Park episode about Walmart.  Everyone in the town started shopping at Walmart, working at Walmart, and addiction to Walmart insued.  The South Park kids then embark on an epic Matrixesque adventure to take down the Walmart.  Aw, South Park.  Classic.  

I clean up all right.  Invigorated after my Costco trip. 

So, all in all a good day.  Lots to do, emails to catch up on, people to make plans with, but the house is coming along.  I could ALMOST say our first floor looks like a home now!  Albeit with some faults. 

HOORAY!!!

Y'all come back now ya hear?

Tardy for the Party!

Well, I am tardy in "turning in" my house assignment from yesterday.  I went out with a friend last night to celebrate her good score on the GRE and hopeful acceptance to a nurse practitioner program.

I was amused because I was one of the oldest people there.  Her French professor (I later found out he is more like a TA since he is a grad student) was younger than me!   Okay, it isn't THAT amusing, but what WAS amusing is the younger people (the 19 and 21 year olds there) would answer age and/or school levels with funny additional segments.  For instance, when the 21 year old was talking about how old she is she said, "$hit I'm old, I am turning 21 and a half next week."  What?  The sophomore (who was 19) told me he was a sophomore and one quarter.  Hm.  I dont remember saying similar things in college, but I am sure I did.  How cute.  Aw aging.

Anyway, yesterday I worked on the bane of my existence: finishing the ceiling drywall.  It is utterly horrible.  BUT once I am finished I am DONE with drywall finishing.  There may be other ceiling work though, just not this.

All righty then, off to drink my tea and then get to work on the ceilings again.  Yay....

Ghosts....

Seeing how our house looks fairly decent these days (at least the parts I am posting).  I figured y'all need to see what we did to the house before moving in to it. 

This leads me to LESSON #1 of rehabbing a home. 

DO NOT START PROJECTS BEFORE ANOTHER IS FINISHED.

• we ripped out walls and flooring before moving in thinking it would help us in moving along.  Instead it has led us to sadness and poorly insulated walls etc
• This also made people never want to visit us after seeing our house soon after this tear down...they think our house will never look good (and we feel the same).

Tomorrow I am hoping to look at hardwood flooring.  

Back in the Saddle

Well first things first!

Friday we had circumstances change and we ended up leaving at 9 pm to get to Atlanta, GA by 6:55 am the next morning to drop off a pup for a flight.  This didn't preclude me from being able to do work on Friday (I got a lot done actually!) but it did make me unable to post. Soooo...

Friday I sanded, primed and painted the kitchen walls.  Here is the end result. 





Then we were off for an overnight voyage.  It was crazy; this is the second time this year Nate and I have driven overnight spur of the moment (the first was a trip to NH for a festival Nate wanted to visit).  This time however, I was unable to drive at ALL because Nate didn't include me on the insurance for the red CRV we rented.  I do NOT like CRVs.  The stupid thing autolocked itself every time you turn around.  I felt like a little kid scrambling at a parental lock in the back seat. 

So up all night, we arrived and sent the puppy on his way to Calgary Canada...and then looked for a Walmart to camp out in (since they allow trucks and RVs to park there for sleeping).  We picked up a couple dog bowls and a collar for the puppy we had left.  Here is a pretty pic of this Walmart at dawn.  Say what you want of Walmart, but I will always have a place for them in my heart after this....allowing us to snooze in their lot for a few stolen hours. 




Here I must give tribute to Nate Paziamor for driving overnight at a moments notice to Atlanta for my business endeavors (a PR move to make up for missing a flight to Canada since I couldn't send him when I wasn't able to contact her the day before), and for taking it all in step without protesting even ONCE.  It is wonderful to have a man and partner who is supportive of me.  Thank you Naters!

We dropped off the second pup around 1 and then drove to our cabin in Seviervile TN...which is a location I would recommend to anyone!  Next time (if there is one) we want to try to get a cabin in Wears Valley. Here are some pics from our trip.

 View from our cabin.

It's Woody!

 Gobble Gobble.  These ferocious beasts were at one of the cabins on the Cades Cove loop we looked in to.

We saw some bears on our way to Cades Cove (an 11 mile drivable loop in the Smokies).

Da Bears.  

We also went to the Gatlinburg strip and walked around hand in hand, looked for some good finds (all we found was fudge which is at this moment likely fattening me).

Me in Gatlinburg in the cute town area. 

Sadly, all good things must end.  However, we stopped at a winery on our way back to the O-H.  It was pretty good, and we picked up a couple bottles for Christmas gifts and for ourselves.  The pour-er was skimpy on my tastes though.

(boo)                                    

  (hiss)

Our girls getting to play on the winery grounds. 

But, the doggies got to run around on the acres of land a little and it reminded me of one reason we want to move: so our dogs can run on ACRES of land and play.  

Today.  I came back last night and of course needed to do some cleaning and putting away...so nothing has been done on the house for almost a week!  However, I need to ease back in. 

First thing I did was sand the edges in the dining room and then painted along the junctions of the ceilings to walls.  This resulted in uneven painting so I repainted all of the walls as well.  

View of the room that is finished and the room that still needs to be finished.  I suppose I will have to work on ceilings again this week.  Oh the horror.  

I also painted this stairwell wall.  This room is almost finished minus some details needed done by Nate beefore I can do much.

Then after ALL of that, I got myself to go upstairs and work on the plaster in the bathroom.  Both Nate and I are pondering how I am going to make this look resplendant due to the amount of sanding needed.  

B  L  E  C  H.   

It stinks because I have to make up small batches of it since it starts to harden and be unusable fast!







Well, Thank You for reading and do please

Come again!

Dog gone.

Well today was a satisfying day!



I worked on sanding the drywall in the kitchen and in the dining room. This should be ready to paint tomorrow if I have the time between cleaning, organizing and preparing for a dogsitter this weekend whilst Naters and I go on Holiday. 













AND THENNNNNN.....

I painted the dining room ceiling!


Now you may not appreciate painted ceilings like Nate and I...but I havent seen a finished ceiling this large in a long time...at least in our house.  I was soooo proud of myself.

AND THENNNNNN.....

Naters came home and helped me carry in the groceries I had gotten.  We settled down to eat sushi.  He still hadn't noticed.

And THEN...

Finally I asked him if he knew what I did today.  He said "ummmmm".  I pointed to the dining room....He was like..."oh."

So sad.  Here I thought it would be super DEE duper exciting.  I need more accolades than an "Oh" when I have worked for 8 hours a day on this house.

Sigh.

At least I enjoyed it.

Happier news!

Nate officially booked our hotel in the Smokies this weekend.  Whooooohooo hott married people time!  It has been THREE years since we have had a vacation together.  And we will have a PRIVATE HOT TUB (Should I mention my adoration of hot-tubs again?) during our stay as well as a jacuzzi tub.  I must say, owning your own cabin in the smokies to the tune of $120 a night does NOT sound bad at all.  Not at all.

Again thank you to my friend Katy who is making this happen. 

The rest of tonight I spent with Nate getting a crate ready to fly tomorrow, double checking the flight times, and trying to contact the puppy owner to be with no luck.  If I dont hear from her tonight I won't be able to ship the puppy since I do not feel comfortable shipping a puppy when I haven't talked to the soon to be owner in two days.  I mean, what if something happened to her and she won't be there to pick up my little one?  Its tough being a breeder sometimes, because I have to keep in mind my puppy's rights and well-being as well as the purchasers'.

Pup who is supposed to fly tomorrow

whoops!

Taped the front entryway and drywalled, sealed some places with plaster, first finishing of the drywall on the dryer closet, and worked on finishing the kitchen drywall.

This kitchen has been waiting to be finished for a few months now.  Maybe tomorrow I will sand and finally paint!

Closet that Nate built this past weeked to house our dryer

I taped the conjunctions/patched plaster

"I've got the black lung Pop"

Well,  despite my drywall goals today I stole some time to paint our front entryway a green color...I figured I deserved doing something rewarding after the horror of working for like 6 hours yesterday above my head.  I mean, I have these flabby arms that do not enjoy being lifted above my head for hours at a time while on a ladder.  I am pleased with the outcome.
Now all we need is for Nate to frame in the door to the half bath...and BUILD the half bath of course.  Some things are way beyond my limit of capabilites, and crawling around our crawl space trying to weld joints is included in that.  I can just imagine the abject horror I would have if I saw a spider **shudder**.
The half bath will be located beyond where the green ends. 

View to the now painted front entryway with the pin lights that will shine upon an yet undetermined art piece.

Then it was back to the BANE OF MY EXISTENCE.  Finishing ceiling drywall.  Today I worked on SANDING the joints I taped etc yesterday.  Pretty much hell on earth. 

Cough cough....cough cough.  

 Note the horrible drywall junk that filtered down upon the floor.  Half or more of that is ON me.  And not in the good way. (I wanna BE on you).

"I think I've got the black lung pop." There is all kinds of junk on me and dust. 

Here is a picture but not that interesting since it looks the same as yesterday and will until it is painted.

In other news, I worked on finding a cabin to rent in Gatlinburg on our mini-vacation that will allow dogs and has a great view.  I think I found one so I am hoping for a sexy/romantic holiday with my hubbadub.  We will see if it is to be or not, but I am pretty excited....because....

IT HAS A HOT TUB!

http://www.hearthsidecabinrentals.com/unit.php?id=14

There is not that I love more than a hot tub and a brewsky.  Seriously.  Well maybe a beach but with the oil in the Gulf I am not likely to be going there...not to mention my hubs is practically albino and more likely than not to fry to a crisp in any sun brighter than a cloud covered day.  I hate trying to get him to wear sufficient sunscreen to.  Hurrumph. 

Anyway, I will likely be in the hot tub a majority of the vacation and "liquid is the essence of moisture", and I will be a mer(wo)man!   Hooray!