It's Getting Real

It's getting real.  And it's getting real expensive.

At first when things started going wrong around here, we half laughed it off like "these things always happen at inconvenient times" and "things always happen in three's!" but it's really not so funny anymore.  We have had more costly problems in the past 6 weeks (since we ordered our windows) than in the whole year we've lived here up until now.

Let's recap, shall we?
6/27 - One of Husband's suits tears dramatically beyond repair
7/4 - AC compressor quits
7/7 - Husband's car won't start and we have to have it towed and have the starter replaced - OH YEAH and start looking to buy a new car because his isn't worth much more than the parts cost anymore
7/9 - Husband discovers that his other suit is also ruined (both only 1 year old) & pants not being sold separately and his current work mean we have to replace both entirely
7/25 - Through some googling, I discover that the weird fishy smell coming from the light fixture in the hallway upstairs, is most likely melting plastic and an electrical hazard - which has made me worry about the circuits and wiring in the house in general
7/28 - We notice a huge crack in the trunk of our gorgeous, beloved magnolia in the backyard next to the patio, it's unstable, and I have someone coming to look at it to (likely) give me an estimate to take the whole thing down. Sob.

Every one of these things has cost or will cost several hundred dollars to fix - except for the whole buying-a-car thing, which I can't even think about without having palpitations.

Also, there's a secondary list...Things that haven't happened yet, but that I'm convinced are imminent:
- The refrigerator is moaning. Loudly and often. A new one will not only cost a butt load, but will not fit in the current spot because of the new standard dimensions
- I'm suspicious that something is living in the attic/I think we have a hornet's nest somewhere up in the roof eaves in a spot we can't see
- We really need a new patio door, it's not just cosmetic, it's a real issue, but um, I don't think that's happening anytime soon.

Once again, might I refer you back to this?

Alright, whining over now - We are safe, we are healthy, we are okay.  Getting out the checkbook and moving on.

Single Pane was a Pain

We finally got our new windows! The upstairs of our house was still rocking 1960's single pane wood and aluminum windows which were doing nothing nice to our heating/cooling bills, so we had all 8 replaced with double pane, low-e, argon insulated (no, I don't know what any of that means), vinyl ones. It's amazing - it feels like a whole different house up there. On hot days (uh, all days) we used to get smacked with a wave of heat about 3/4 of the way up the stairs, and oh my god that doesn't happen anymore! It has made the money spent SO worth it to be able to go to sleep comfortably for the past few weeks, and also superficially it makes the rooms look so UPDATED. Hi, new house!

Before the guys came to install the new windows (just 7 hours after we got home from being in California for 10 days), we had to take down all the window treatments.  Should have been fairly straightforward, but remember this?

Our lovely shutters had stumped all of the window sales & measurement folk who saw them. We obviously wanted them removed, but no-one seemed to understand how they were attached.  No obvious nail heads or seams.  At one point we even thought they might be glued. Since no one could find any point of attachment, the only option was to forcefully pry them away from the window frame (and yes, it split and splintered), until we saw this.

A screw (because nails would have been too easy), and then after digging into the wood with a chisel...

...the screw heads CUT OFF. Unreal.
Husband spent almost a whole day prying the frames away enough to fit in a hand saw and then cutting the screws off, and (somehow) pulling out the ends. It left some major carnage on the window frames, but luckily we're pretty handy with the Spackle around these parts.

The window installation itself took about 6 hours, and it was more traumatic than I expected. Turns out it's a little disconcerting to see pieces of your house flying past the window while you sit helplessly and hope the strangers upstairs aren't destroying your home.

Yikes.
Luckily, the end product was well worth the stress and after a little time spent on touch ups, we could officially cross this one off the list.

Now for the pretty (but not so pretty photos) before & afters.

CRAFT ROOM

 

 BEDROOM (yes we do only have one curtain on each window. classy joint.)

BATHROOM

OFFICE

GUEST ROOM

Also, that same day, this happened:

So yeah, we're finding out that committing to a large purchase (windows) pretty much guarantees that everything else you own is infinitely more likely to break down in an expensive fashion or, as Bridget Jones more eloquently stated, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces.” 


Truth, indeed.

The Worst Ever

This project was the worst ever.


After I got home from work on July 4th, we had a few hours to spare and I was MOTIVATED. I wanted to DO something. Somehow, Husband let me talk him into taking on a project that has been on the list since we moved in - changing the hardware (handle and deadbolt) on the front door. I take full responsibility for what followed. It went a little like this:


- Couldn't figure out how to get the old mechanism out - broke a pair of pliers.

- Got the old mechanism out, but bent it beyond repair - no turning back
- Faced with a gaping hole in the side of the door roughly 4 times the size of the new hardware - had to build a piece out of scrap wood to rebuild and screw everything into
- Old holes through door were smaller than needed - had to enlarge them by 1/2" in diameter - took an hour
- Lost a screw - searched the area for 20 minutes
- Strike plates didn't fit - chiseled for an hour
- Deadbolt hole too big, nothing to screw strike plates into - nothing to be done until we could buy wood filler

...and I think I blocked the rest out. Six hours of blood, sweat, and tears (yup, all three) later we showered and ran out to the BBQ we were 3 hours late for, where our lovely friends fed us and commiserated with us.

Ironically, here is the after picture:

You'd never know the trauma that led to this perfect looking door hardware.  Unless you looked at the side of the door...

Ha. Ha. I don't even have a picture of what the door jamb looked/looks like, but believe me when I say that it makes the above picture look neat and polished.

Obviously the most important thing is that the door closes and locks securely, and it does. It totally does; but that's also what made this project so stressful when it was all going wrong. Of course, the fact that our AC had stopped working but we were too preoccupied to realize until later in the middle of the night, probably didn't help things either.

Like I said, The Worst Ever.

Sod Tales

Topping the list of changes we wanted to make outside was reworking the giant bed running along the back of the yard.  It's hard to tell unless you're actually standing within it, but it's absolutely huge.  Unnecessarily huge.

At it's narrowest point, it's probably 16 feet deep. That's a lot of clearing, weeding, and mulching for no good reason. Plus, it's not really attractive with those shrubs semi-evenly spaced with several feet of empty dirt between them. So, our plan was to move or remove (since 2 are dying anyway) some of the shrubs from the center, and then extend the grass back toward the fence - basically creating a bed in each corner rather than the whole way along the back.  Obviously, we can't do anything about the placement of the trees, so the portion of bed on the left side will be bigger than the one on the right.

After talking and talking and talking about all this, we chose the weekend of record-high temps in mid-May to take action (ha! we're WISHING for those temps these days!). Husband dug up the 3 bushes from the front row (Xs below), and replanted them in some open space on the left side (Os below). Deciding that it was impractical to move the four plants in the back, we figured we'd just leave a strip as-is along the fence. The white line is my feeble attempt at showing the new layout. We Husband also dug up and got rid of the two dying evergreens.

Two weeks later, on a much more temperate afternoon, we filled the back of the car with sod. And dirt - lots of dirt. I will not be surprised if weeds start growing between the seats.

The first load of sod took care of some other areas we needed to patch, 

and about half of the back bed.

We watered the heck out of it that evening, and the next morning went back to the store and filled the car up again with another load.

It turned out to be exactly the right amount to finish the other side of the bed, and a little strip around the trees to the left.

In total, we used 40 rolls of 2' X 5' sod (without an inch to spare!). We watered daily (sometimes twice daily) until we actually had mushrooms start sprouting in the back area, and had to cut back. The big area in the back survived really well because it is in the shade all day long, but pretty much everything else died.

Cute, right?

It's been almost 100 degrees for weeks on end without any rain, and I just can't justify using that much water everyday to fight a losing battle. The rest of the lawn is dead and yellow too, so it's not even worth stressing about. Luckily the biggest area survived, and the others shouldn't be too terrible to seed (whenever it's appropriate weather to do so - who knows...?).

Oh, the life & death of sod. So thrilling. 

Rain Dance

Sometimes I hear myself say things, and I'm suddenly terrified that I've been freaky-fridayed with someone else. With like, an actual grown-up. For example:

"It's supposed to rain.  Thank goodness.  We need the rain."

"WE NEED THE RAIN?" When did I start saying ridiculous, responsible things like that?!
When I made the connection that plants are expensive and so is the water necessary to keep them alive - that's when. I never thought I'd see rain in the forecast and say "SCORE. Free water.", but what can I tell you. As you might have predicted, this rambling internal monologue leads us to...

**side note: I wrote this post a month ago, before I knew how seriously badly we would need the rain, before my lawn turned completely brown, before it became impossible to spend any time outside, and before I stopped making jokes about the water bill. Today I say, simply: "There is not enough water. Save it."

MAKING A RAIN BARREL

Step 1: Acquire a barrel. Bonus points if it's free.

Step 2: Paint the barrel (unless you want it to look like you're storing hazardous substances in the yard).

Step 3: Figure out which downspout you want to use to install your barrel.

Step 4: Grab a few bricks or cinder blocks to set the barrel on top of.  If you don't raise it, the spigot either won't be high enough to fit a watering can under or, if it is, will never empty the barrel fully and you'll have to install a drain at the bottom and waste all that water. We bought 4 for 98 cents apiece. As cinder blocks go, I find them very cute.

Step 5: You can buy all the fittings and supplies separately, or you can buy a convenient all-inclusive kit that includes every single thing you'll need for this project (except the barrel) for about $30. The kit was pretty fab.  I recommend it.

Step 6: Follow the directions in the kit. You'll start by drilling a hole at the base of the barrel for the spigot.

Then, drilling a hole in the downspout, and another in the barrel. Husband read the directions wrong on this step, and made the intake hole in the barrel almost level with the hole in the drainpipe, which didn't provide enough slope in the hose for the water to drain effectively.

But after some head-scratching, we just made another hole right below and plugged the first hole with the drain included in the kit.  We'll lose a few inches of water depth capacity, but it was a simple fix and honestly kind of looks like it's meant to be that way.

The piece that screws into the downspout diverts most of the rain water into the hose to the barrel, while still allowing it to bypass it in the event of a huge gush, or if the barrel is already full to this level.

Step 7: Wait for it to rain (which it already was in our case - nothing like the last minute, eh?)

Step 8: Fill up a watering can from the spigot. Water plants. Repeat. Sure it's a little tedious to keep making trips back to the barrel, but hi. it's free.

We're so excited about how simple and valuable this project is, and already planning on making another for the other side of the house.

Free water!!

Hangin'

You're never going to believe it. We actually made that headboard.

And here's how...

MAKING AN UPHOLSTERED HEADBOARD

Step 1: Make all of your decisions. Determine size, shape, thickness, fabric. If you're anything like us, allow several months to accomplish this.

Step 2: Buy all of your materials. If you're playing the craft-store coupon game, allow several weeks for this. (If anything, don't pay full price for foam...it's absurdly expensive.)

Step 3: Have the helpful hardware store guys cut a piece of plywood to size for you (we used 1/4"). Bonus Tip: become familiar with the measurements of your vehicle before nailing down your exact chosen dimensions or, alternatively, scratch the heck out of the inside of your car and argue loudly with your spouse in the Home Depot parking lot. It's really your call.

Step 4: Cut the foam to size with an electric carving knife. We planned efficiently when buying it, and only ended up having to make this one cut.

Step 5: Adhere the foam to the plywood. I used year-old spray adhesive, and it really didn't work. We probably should have tried harder to find a solution that did, but instead we just sat on it for a while and ignored the problem. MOVING ON.

Step 6: Lay the batting on top of the foam...

...then the fabric (which you have previously ironed/steamed), and then hold everything in place while you carefully flip the whole deal upside down.

Step 7: Put one staple in the middle of each side and look at the front again to make sure everything is still straight and lined up properly. Add more staples and check again. Repeat.

Step 8: We used 2 of these picture hanging brackets (even though they supposedly hold 100lbs. each) to mount the headboard to the wall. One piece screws into the wall - and includes a handy snap-in level - the other piece attaches to the headboard, and then they hook together firmly. At least we hope so.

Step 9: Hang the headboard by hooking the brackets together, then wait with baited breath for the whole thing to come crashing down. 

If it doesn't...high fives all around!

We loooove it. It totally fills the wall like we'd hoped, and it's actually comfortable to sit up and read or watch TV now.

We just need to find some taller/better nightstands and maybe one day we'll even have lamps beside the bed. Then I would actually be able to take a wide shot of the room I'm not ashamed of. What what!

Hard Work If You Can Dig It

...which, by the way, I can't.
I would have never imagined that "ability to dig a hole" would be a talent that I would admire so much and lack so severely, but here we are. My upper body strength is pathetic.

Anyway, the brush collectors are coming.  Can you tell?

Husband and I tend to talk things to death and take for.ev.er to actually do any of them. Then when we do, it still feels scary and spontaneous. We're still pretty chicken with this whole home-ownership business, I guess.

With brings me to the shrubs.  I'm sorry, The Shrubs. I hated those shrubs. Husband hated the shrubs. No one else on the street has weird shrubs at the end of their driveway. We didn't understand them, we didn't want to mow around them or shovel snow on top of them, we wanted them GONE.

Fall 2011

But, it seemed like a really big job. We didn't want to pay for a pro to remove them, and we also didn't want to get into a situation where instead of weird shrubs, we had ugly mangled tree stumps in the middle of the lawn. So naturally, we did nothing but talk about how "we need to get rid of them" for months and months. Then we realized that our window to dispose of the bushes and branches cheaply and easily would close as soon as the street brush collection came by. We may be procrastinators, but we're even bigger opportunists, so one Saturday Husband just went for it. The first, smaller tree seemed to come out really quickly (I wouldn't know since I was keeping busy in the back yard trying to stay as far away from this job as possible), but the second one was a monster. Like, a massive horizontal root every 2 inches deep and all around the trunk, monster. At one point, he couldn't even fit a small hand shovel between all the roots and had to clear dirt from around them by hand, then chop through them one at a time (side note: roots really freak me out.) It took hours. HOURS. And I was zero help.

Before you go thinking I'm completely useless in this project, I had already chopped down the big bush by the house that was crowding up the front door and window a few days prior. I definitely didn't dig out the stump, but I did plant something next to it that will eventually grow out and cover it. To each his own, ya know?

The depressing thing about all this work is that it seems like everything we do in the yard initially feels like a big giant step backwards. Even though we're really happy that those ugly bushes are gone, I'm not convinced that our curb appeal is actually looking any better.  I'm sure it will, in time, maybe, but honestly it looks pretty bare and beaten up right now.

Oh well, we're new at this.