Flooring and Pain in the Master Bedroon

Pain. So much pain....For the re-appraisal of the Pitt, we needed some cheap flooring in the master to replace the white painted plywood that we've been living on. We were back and forth on whether or not we would actually put in floors, but Lowe's had a sale on laminate wood floors for 58 cents a square foot and we were sold. We bought the underlay at the Habitat for Humanity Restore, and we were ready to go.  Dad stopped by on Saturday to put some finishing touches on the house. He thought putting flooring in was a waste of time, but he couldn't resist watching us do it. So while Bob was at Tae Kwon Do, I began the process.

To begin, I rolled out the first row of the underlayment and put up the first row of the laminate. It was tricky figuring out how to anchor the floating  floor, but I got the hang of if. Initially, dad hung out in the master putting on the pocket door hardware (yeah!) and giving me advice. By the time Bob came home I already had the groove down and was a third of the way done with the floor.

Since I already knew what I was doing, Bob became my lackey. He got me my pieces laminate, vacuumed cleaned, while I laid the floor and sawed the pieces. (Yes folks, they trust me with power tools!!)
That crouching position you see? That was the position I was in for 12 hours. 12 straight hours with one break for a veggie burger.  But I was determined to get the job done. When we reached the difficult areas like the door, Dad stepped in to help.

Notice folks, I am still in the crouching position with like 6 inches of underwear showing. This was late into the evening and it was not pretty.  Dad finally left around 7 and we only had a couple of more rows to go. We finished by 9 and I couldn't wait to get in the shower to wash off the saw dust. But it's done. the floor is done, and for what it is, it looks great!

As a reward for a job well done we went out to dinner at Sidetracks at 10:00 pm. We were so pathetic. Bob was falling asleep at the table and I couldn't stop eating everything in sight.

Well this morning I woke up and I could barely move. My thighs and butt hurt so much from crouching, that I may never move again. And let me tell you folks, day to day tasks that you take advantage of like, sitting on the toilet, become really difficult. I can hardly walk stairs, get into my car, or sit and stand up. I'm am a sad human being right now. But my friends, the flooring is complete and I was the one who did it!

This is me crouched over in pain. Somehow with all the exercise from yesterday, my roll is still prevalent. Sigh.

Curtain

The master closet has a window in it. This is thanks to Bob's suggestion that we should have natural daylight to save on energy costs. The window was installed, it all looked great, except for one tiny thing. There was no window covering. Granted the master closet window faces the backyard, where there are woods, no neighbors, but still, it was always a big creepy if I caught myself without my shirt on in there. So the obvious choice was for me to sew a curtain for the room. I presented this idea to Bob and his response was, "You know honey, this is the master closet, and I think your curtains were fine in our apartments, but we should have something a little nicer in here, don't you think?" Well it was on? Me sew inferior curtains? I don't think so. Granted my last curtain attempt resulted in 4 curtains, all different sizes, but they were adequate and did the job. So I set off to find fabric to make the curtain extravaganza happen.

Step 1: Buy fabric. Bob says, "Shouldn't you call Reenie and see how to do
this right?"

Step 2: Take fabric and measure it to the window.

Step 3: Realize that I should have measured window before purchasing fabric.

Step 4: Return fabric. Bob calls Reenie himself to try to get me help.

Step 5: Buy new fabric in measured amount.

Step 6: Cut out fabric and bicker with Bob that I am not doing this correctly and clearly I need to call in a professional (Reenie) to help with the situation.

Step 7: Iron fabric

Step 8: Set up sewing machine I have not used in 3 years since last curtain making attempt. Bob still convincing me that I need to consult with Reenie.

Step 9: Begin sewing along ironed seams.

Step 10: Have the bobbin (what the heck is that again?) get stuck and a good piece of the material gets ripped.

Step 11: Proceed on. I mean there was plenty of extra material cut, right?

Step 12: Finish curtain and hang it on the window.

Step 13: Realize that the curtain is 5 inches too short. 5 inches!?!?!? How does that happen?

Step 14: Realize that the fabric was wide enough to cut another window panel.

Step 15: Start from beginning and repeat Steps 7 and 9.

Step 16: Finish curtain. Finally. It fits. I swear - because I am a master of sewing. In fact I am a sewing genius.

Step 17: Pack up sewing machine for another 3 years of storage.

Reenie or Mama B, can we please get together for sewing lessons soon?

Siding Complete!

The siding is finally complete. It took a lot longer than we thought, because dad was MIA for about 4 weeks. Once he was back, the house really started to come together. Everyday the house was looking a bit more put together. Cars driving down the street, would often slow down to get a second look at the Pitt. Friends coming over, will often drive by the house because they can't recognize it. As you can see from the pictures below, we ended up going with a white siding and sandstone trim. Now were' on to putting on the finishing touches before the appraisal; finish flooring in the kitchen, prime a couple of walls, put up fixtures etc.

House Before:

 

After:

One of our Christmas gifts which we love:

Visitor at the Pitt

Over the Holiday we had a four legged visitor at the Pitt, Sophie. Sophie is Scamp and Pepper's cousin from Virginia and she happens to be Scamps BFF. Elizabeth got to take some great pictures while she was here:

 

On a house related note  - the siding is done! Stay tuned for pictures.

Deck the Halls

I vowed that would not get a Christmas tree until we owned our own place. This year we have our own place and have plenty of space for a tree. Those ornaments we got as gifts through the years, finally have a place to be hung. There was lots of buzz, cooking, baking and family. All in all - a good thing.

Baked Goods:

The tree and fixin's:

 

The Reason for the season (lunch box nativity scene):

 

The story of Bob's Christmas Gift 

Since Bob and I have been together, my mother manages to take every gift idea I have for Bob, and one up me. This is typically not a problem because we benefit by ending up with a nicer thing. This Christmas Maria did not let me down. I bought Bob a U of M Snuggie. This was the perfect gift. Bob is always cold and he doesn't own any Michigan apparel. I excitedly special ordered my purchase and waited for Christmas to arrive. I made no mention of this to Maria (my mom). I was on the phone with her a week before Christmas and asked, "So what did you get Bob?" She replies, "Vell you know Orsika, since Bob is alvays so cold, I got him blanket for couch. It vraps around like robe." Her blanket was indeed leaps and bounds beyond mine. it had zippers, clasps, fuzzy insides. So once again, Maria outdid me.

U of M Snuggie:

Maria Snuggie a like (Doesn't it look like something the pope or Kevin would wear?):

 

 

We hope your holidays were relaxing and filled with warm moments! To 2010 and beyond!

A Milestone

Dear readers, Bob and I achieved a milestone today; we parked both cars in the garage today. This is indeed a glorious day.

Things we are thankful for...

Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. I mean yes, there were 8 people in a house with 1 full bath, an incredible "mysterious" smell coming from a room, but other than that things were great. It was great to see family and have everybody together. Things that we are thankful for:

• Good friends that stop by the night of the family arrival and help us get prepared.
• Good friends that help us borrow tables. (We'll return them, I swear!)
• Family Bingo. This was our first year playing, and we can highly recommend it. When we were getting ready for the big day, Bob and I kept saying, "So and so will say this, or do this..." Finally, a friend suggested that we create a bingo board with all the different scenarios and mark them off as they happen. The rules? We can't initiate the conversations on the board, and that the board remains a secret until the end of the event. It was great fun, and we would like to thank our families for being so predictable.
• A successful turkey with a veg roasting it. 
• Equal pie to person ratio. (Thank you Nuxoll's for teaching us the way).
• Getting all the food on the table within a reasonable time frame.
• Big house where everybody got their own room and a chance to spread out.
• Great family and great family time.
• Seeing the look on Annmarie's face when she first tasted the Ethiopian food.
• An almost finished master bedroom and a great dad that helped us get there!

All the helping hands in the kitchen:

The boys helping out:

The food:

The pies:

The niece and nephew: