Mixing It Up In the Master Bathroom

Yes, as denoted in goal #3, I have plans to re-do the master bath and shower room. This won’t take much since both rooms are tiny, like 4 x 6, so that means it should be easy and cheap!

Here is what I’m working with now:

And here are my thoughts for the re-do:

Paint: Morning Fog by Olympic – I think that this swatch looks a little gray, but it is actually a light blue with a slight tint of turquoise. I’m trying not to be scared by the fact that I just admitted that it has a turquoise tint…oh well, it’s just paint, right? Shelving: I’m taking down that big white shelve thing. The previous homeowners left that, and it has been useful to store our stuff since we have NO storage whatsoever in this room, but it has to go. I’m thinking of replacing it with one of these sleek little shelves from the Container Store:Or three of these shelves:

Lighting/Fixtures: not changing, except for the door knobs and hinges that are currently in the process of all being changed to Oil Rubbed Bronze: Tile: ugh…unfortunately, not changing
Rug: I currently have a brown rug, but I think I’ll move that to the guest bath, and try to find something a little lighter for in here…maybe the lighter taupe shade of these:
Art: Probably none since I have NO wall space…

What do you think?

Water, Water Everywhere

No, we didn't have a plumbing issue...but something else water related did happen. Pretty funny story actually...

I receive a bill on Saturday from Smyrna Utilities for $250. This bill is for my water and trash and it usually around $50 a month. So I'm immediately shocked...but then I notice that I have a balance forward. I look at the previous bill and have a balance forward...and the same on the one before that.

Turns out, I haven't paid my water bill since March. HA! And they haven't called, sent me a letter, or, better yet, TURNED OFF THE WATER! I find this quite hilarious. I'll pay it...this week...I swear.

Ha Ha Ha!

What, Blogging on Saturday?!?

I'm blogging on a Saturday, believe it.

Last night, Shane and I had dinner with some friends (Melissa & Jon and Kelly & Austin) at Lola in Buckhead. It was pretty good but was even better to just chill and hang out with friends...especially on a Friday night. Drinks, on a patio no less, on Fridays are the best! We left Lola around 11 p.m. and Shane and I headed over to Padriac's in Vinings for a little bit more drinking, I swear we don't have a problem, and some live music. It was just a guy and his guitar - very chill and exactly what we were looking for. We made it home around 2:30 a.m., after we circled the block at least 10 times while we were listening to Mark Wills music...hilarious.

We slept in this morning, like until 11 a.m. (ouch), and then went to our fave breakfast place, J. Christopher's. As we were leaving, I started thinking about the TV in our bedroom and how I want it mounted on the wall. My brain functions in a really weird and random way, I'm aware of it and I embrace it. So, we head down to Wal-Mart and buy a mount for the TV for a mere $50. Not bad! We then go across the street to Home Depot and buy a cord hider (that's probably not the exact name but it is what it does nonetheless) and a new bamboo blind. Yes - that's right - goal #6 has been attained!

First, behold the new blind...it looks so much better than the old blind!


And on to our biggest accomplishment of today - mounting the TV! It was so easy, I think it probably took an hour. We tried to mount a bracket to the wall but decided that we really did need a stud finder, as the directions suggested, so we left and picked one up. We then mounted the bracket, popped the TV on, painted the cord hider, slid the cords in, adhered it to the wall and then admired. I'll let you do the same:

By the way, did I ever mention that we hung those shelves in my bedroom? IKEA...my savior. And we also added the white vases with sticks - what do you think? It was Shane's idea to put the vases there and I thought that the sticks would add some height to that corner. Thoughts?

Okay, off to grab some dinner - enjoy your weekends!

June's Goal Assessment

Let’s take a look at June’s progress…

1. Organize office files (DONE)
2. Paint front door
3. Paint kitchen trim (DONE)
4. Paint kitchen and bathroom ceilings
5. Paint master bath and shower room
6. Get bamboo shade for kitchen
7. Sign up for 401K
8. Figure out Breck medical bills
9. Make 1 new piece of jewelry

Sigh. Two out of nine…22% success rate. Lame.

And now for the monthly goal rollover, with a few extras thrown in there to keep it at a round number:

1. Paint front door
2. Paint kitchen and bathroom ceilings
3. Paint master bath and shower room
4. Get bamboo shade for the kitchen
5. Sign up for 401K
6. Figure out Breck medical bills
7. Make 1 new piece of jewelry
8. Finish landscaping backyard (moving concrete pad, pinestraw, grass seed)
9. Read two books
10. Have new windows/doors installed

I think that the issue that I have with these goals is that I am easily sidetracked. For example, it may seem that I haven’t done anything inside my house except for paint some trim and file papers, but we have done a lot in the front yard (ex: replenished all of the mulch around the house, added mulch around trees, finished the deck, etc.). So, I think that I just need to be more realistic about what we are actually working on so that I can actually cross off some goals at the end of the month…thus #8.

Wish us luck!

Hey Strangers!

It has been many moons since my last post…sorry about that. Let’s recap the past 2 ½ weeks, shall we?

Two weeks ago:

• Pretty busy work week.
• Pest control/Snake handler came for monthly check-up. No snakes found.
• Didn’t do anything with the busted concrete pad in the backyard.
• Hung out with Kel and Austin on Friday night at her gorgeous pad, drank too much and got home really late.
• Did a TON of yard work on Saturday, which consisted of shoveling probably 75 wheel barrow loads of left over mulch, refreshing the mulch that we had already laid, cut the grass, pulled weeds, and moved some of the pinestraw bales to the backyard. That was BEFORE the monsoon came and put a halt to our work.
• Sunday – We left for Key West!

One week ago:

• We had a fantastic time in Key West! We flew into Miami very early on Sunday morning, picked up our rental car, and started our four hour journey to KW.
• We made a few stops on the way, including the Miami-Homestead Speedway, where a security guard let us go into the track to watch a MOTO GP race. Shane was obviously more psyched about this than me – here he is:



• We then made our way through the keys, stopping in Islamorada at the World Wide Sportsman in Islamorada. This is apparently the ONLY thing on this island.
• The Seven-Mile Bridge was pretty cool, but I thought that it would be longer…I thought that the name was a bluff.



• The island was awesome…it reminded me of a beachy New Orleans (beach + history). The beaches weren’t great, very rocky and a lot of seagrass, but it was still nice to be able to see the ocean, lay out and just be at the beach.





• Shane and I rented bikes to make our way around the island…so much fun. We were inspired to buy bikes back here at home. We’ll see if that ever happens.



• We went to a different local place every night for dinner, and hung out at a different bar with live music every night. So nice.




• Our five days seemed to fly by, and on Friday we made our way home, and rented another car in Key West to drive to Miami. We were so sad:
• This return trip didn’t go quite as smoothly…we get to the Avis counter and they tell me that I can’t pay with my check card, although I could with Alamo, and that if I did they would immediately deduct $400 from my account as a deposit. Well, at this point we had no other choice so FINE. We get to our little Subaru and it is filthy – nothing compared to our cute little Ford Focus that we drove to KW in. We turn the car in in Miami, and the attendant meets us with ‘Did you get in an accident?’ ‘WHAT?!’ is our reaction. We go to the front left of the car and there is a huge dent, scratches and yellow paint on the side of the car. Fantastic. Shane kicks into work mode and gets us through the ‘accident report’ and says that they will more than likely wait a few weeks and send me a letter telling me that I owe a ton of money and that I should file it against my insurance. My response will be ‘Get in line…right behind Breckinridge Medical Clinic.’ No money for Avis.



• But before we turned the car in, we did some exploring around Miami. Not impressed. And Ocean Drive/South Beach was definitely not what I imagined…
• We got home really late on Friday night and our boys were here waiting for us! (Grandma Debbie picked them up from the vet early and brought them home for us). They were so sweet and so excited to see us. I must admit that I cried when we dropped them off at the vet for boarding, cried when I got home, and cried twice while we were in KW – it was very traumatic for me.

This week:

• Happy late 4th of July! Shane and I went to our friends Mike and Mandy’s for the 4th, hung out at the pool, and made some new ‘interesting’ friends. I’ll leave it at that.
• Sunday was a decompress day, where neither of us did anything but lay around and watch TV.
• No progress on house stuff, but I’m sure we’ll get at it this weekend.

I know I need to update on goals, seeing how it is already eight days into the month, so look for my superb results tomorrow!

Wow.

Wow…sorry about that. I fell off the face of the earth for a second, but now I’m back.

I don’t have the before and afters yet, and I know what you’re thinking, ‘What the hell have you been doing for over the past week?!?’ I’m not really sure, but I do have another project to update on, though. I’ll get back to you on the B&As…

We have really been focusing on the yard for the past month or more. We wanted to wait until the deck was complete before we started the backyard landscaping, and now that that is finished, and it is 90 degrees everyday, we have embarked on the backyard landscaping adventure!

This past weekend, we rented a jackhammer, which is also referred to as an electric breaker, to bust up what used to be a shed foundation. I was pumped! I picked it up from Home Depot on my way home from work on Friday, rushed home, and wanted to get started immediately. Here are Shane and I taking care of business:

So, after about five minutes, I’m tired, hot, sweating, and done. Shane takes control, and then after about 10 minutes, wants to give it back to me. After an hour of this crap, we had only busted half of the pad. We had plans on Friday night, so we stopped around 8:30, got ready and left. We got home around 3:30 a.m., so needless to say, we didn’t get as early of a start on Saturday as I would have liked. But we were back at it on Saturday morning around 10:45…again, sweating, tired, and hot. We took turns and finally got it done around noon. Here is our final product:

Next steps:

• Remove concrete and lay under the deck (for erosion control)
• Fill in concrete area with remaining fill dirt
• Pull up any crazy monkey grass that has somehow risen from the dead and bloomed again
• Cover with pine straw

Stay tuned!

A Very Special Anniversary

It was a year ago this weekend that Shane and I finally moved into our first home. We closed at the end of May and spent almost three weeks doing some must-needed renovations before we moved in, including:

• Ripping out the digusting berber carpet from the living room, and the even grosser kitchen tile, and replacing it with 20x20 porcelain tile.



• Ripping up the carpet from the bedrooms, revealing hardwoods that were in bad condition (i.e. paint smeared all in the master bedroom, a huge black stain in the office, and carpet pad glue in the guest room) and resulting in the refinishing of the hardwood floors.



• Clearing out some REALLY overgrown landscaping



• Tearing down layer after layer after layer of wallpaper in the hallway, skim coating it with plaster, and then realizing that it STILL wasn’t smooth. Enter Venetian Plaster.



• Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning…the people that lived there before were complete and utter slobs. For example, there was cat puke, FRESH mind you, on the carpet in the living room (which we simply covered with a paper towel), there was soda spilled all over the walls in the bedroom, and they apparently didn’t understand the concept of cleaning baseboards, and blinds that hadn’t been washed since the day they left the factory. It was gross.

But now, we have managed, over the course of a year and a lot of help from friends and family, to make this house our home.

Thanks to those who helped!

• Jim C. – “The Machine” – he was at the house before Shane and I even arrived after our closing to rip out carpet, clean up, and/or anything that needed to be done. He helped us clean up the yard, painted the office, and pretty much tried to renovate our entire house in the first weekend. We couldn’t have done it without you…Love you dad.
• Manny – “Paper Puller” – Manny took on the task of getting rid of the hallway wallpaper. After removing the first layer, he was surprised to find that there was even more paper underneath! He diligently worked, and I do not use this term lightly…Manny pulled paper like it was his JOB, until the task was complete. He then skim coated the entire hallway and sanded it to perfection. Unfortunately, our sheetrock is old and bowed and I still had to use a plaster finish to cover it up. I’m pretty sure that he wanted to slap me the first time he saw the post-plaster hallway…Thanks, Manny!
• Debbie – “The Cleaner” – If you know her, you know she did it and she did it well. Wiped down cabinets, inside and out (and she probably managed to clean the back of them somehow), cleaned bathrooms, washed windows, etc. etc. etc. Thanks, Deb! There is nothing better than a clean house!
• Wanda – “The Painter” – I somehow roped my mom into helping me paint almost every wall in the house. And she agreed to do the trim paint…sucka! She also helped Shane and I with our tile floor – speaking of…did we ever pay that back? Kidding…love you mom.
• Katie – “The Babysitter” – our dogs were weeks old, not potty trained, and were completely confused as to why they had to live in a crate. Thankfully, Katie was there to watch and play and love our pups while we were doing house stuff!
• Carlisle Brothers – “The Machine Part Deux and The Kinda Helper” – so my brother, Chris, was a huge help as well, as he still is when he helps us do yard work, clean out the gutters, sweep the roof (yes, I do ask him to do that). He is a lot like my dad in that he will work EXTREMELY hard to get the job done. That is a Carlisle trait, I do believe. His job was to take all the staples out of the wood floor from the carpet…ha! While he was performing this task, he convinced me that my house was haunted. Nice. Patrick, my other brother, is a little aloof at times, but still managed to contribute. He removed some staples…some…from the office floor. He’s such a wittle helper! Love you boys.

Well, that’s enough praise…we love you all and greatly appreciate all the help of those not mentioned! Stay tuned for some really juicy before and afters tomorrow! (yes, I’m committing to posting on a Saturday.)

The New Deck...In All Its Glory!

Here are pictures of our completed deck, for your viewing pleasure. Cue music...


By the way...putting up lattice is SUPER fun!


Gate and stairs leading to the yard:

Gate and stairs leading to the driveway:


New stairs on the side door:

It was definitely a lot of work, and we owe a huge amount of gratitude to master deck builder, Matt, for all of his help!

Happy Monday

I hope that everyone had a good weekend! I definitely wasn’t ready for Monday to be here.

Shane and I had a pretty good and productive weekend…

Saturday: WE FINISHED THE DECK! Yahoo! I’ll post pics tomorrow. Also, we attended our friend’s third annual party called Kirnfest and got to see a lot of friends that we haven’t seen in a while.

The most exciting part is that we ordered new windows and doors! I had someone come out from Window World who beat Pella by 50%. I told him that I still had a few more quotes to get, but they ensure that they have the lowest price or they will match it and double the difference. The only bad side is that everything is ‘custom’ (I just love when they claim that) so it will be 4-6 weeks before everything is installed. Oh well, I’m just glad to have that problem fixed and to have it done before it starts getting cold outside again. And if you don’t remember the issues with my cranking, crappy windows – go here.


Sunday: Shane had to be at work at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning, although we didn’t get home until 1 a.m. on Saturday. He was home by 9 a.m. and starting doing all kinds of house stuff – making the bed, putting away his laundry, etc. It was really weird. We then tried to go to the pool in Smyrna (city pool) but quickly found that that isn’t going to be an option for us. A: You can’t bring in alcohol. Not that we are pheens, but still – I do enjoy a cold one as I’m baking in the sun. B: You have to pay…$3.50 per person. C: It was crowded and there were no chairs. You want me to pay to lay on the concrete? No thanks. So, instead, we just went home and took a nap. When we got our second wind, we went to see the new movie, ‘The Hangover.’ I give this movie five thumbs up and 15 gold stars – hilarious! I have a small group of movies that I can watch over and over and over again (i.e. Old School, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Step Brothers, Knocked Up, etc.) and this one has made the list. I would totally recommend seeing it!

And, now it’s Monday…starting another week. I plan to get some goals accomplished this week, but how often do I say that?

Seriously?

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, I've been busy, but I'm just not sure with what...

One highlight of the week is that my cost estimates for my door were COMPLETELY off base. Remember I said, 'It could be $100 or $1000...I don't know!' Well, let's just say that my first quote, because there will be more, fell way outside of this range at the $3000 to $5000 mark. They must have been confused or drunk or high and thought that they were walking into a mansion when they arrived to do the quote. I didn't spend that much on my entire kitchen renovation!!!

I have four more companies coming to give quotes over the course of the next week...stay tuned to hear if they are crazy fools or not.

Really?

It’s June…really?

Shane and I had a jam-packed weekend…no house-related stuff, but we honestly just needed a break.

Friday: Shane and I went to a good friend’s little sister’s graduation party (did you follow that?). Lots o’ fun…and then we went to Wild West, a little bar down the street. It was interesting, to put it mildly, but I got to meet Bob Whitfield who most of you (or a rare one or two of you) will know as Sheree’s ex-husband from the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Shane told me who he was, because of course I had no idea, so I ran up to him and introduced myself. (Five beers deep…the only reason I decided to approach.) I told him that I knew him because I was a big fan of RHOA, and he didn’t like that too much (joking, of course). I didn’t get a picture or autograph or anything, but I can tell you that this dude is TALL! At least 6’5”…other than that this bar was struggling. I’ve never seen so many redneck fights, muffin tops, or toothless men in my life…wow.

Saturday: We hung out on the lake all day with friends and had a great time! Our boat captain almost killed us a few times, but overall it was a really good time. We left the lake around 8, and then headed to my mom’s to pick up Beau and Brother. They got to hang out with G-ma all day and eat the plants that she was trying to plant…needless to say, they had a great time! On our way home, Shane calls and says that some friends of ours are at Vintage Tavern in Smyrna, so we decided to swing by and hang out for a while. I knew it was time to go home and go to bed while I was standing at the bar and felt myself swaying. Good night.

Sunday: Me, Gretchen, Lindsay and her boyfriend hit the lake up again. It was SO hot out there yesterday, and I also discovered this morning that as a result of that heat yesterday I have developed a gnarly case of sun poisoning. Nothing like having your body covered in a red, itchy rash.

And now on to the highlight of this post – how did the May goals go?

1. Finish reading Breaking Dawn (DONE)
2. Organize office files
3. Paint front door
4. Paint kitchen trim
5. Paint kitchen and bathroom ceilings
6. Paint master bath and shower room
7. Get bamboo shade for kitchen
8. Sign up for 401K
9. Figure out Breck medical bills
10. Make 1 new piece of jewelry

One out of ten...awesome. So what are June’s goals?

1. Organize office files
2. Paint front door
3. Paint kitchen trim
4. Paint kitchen and bathroom ceilings
5. Paint master bath and shower room
6. Get bamboo shade for kitchen
7. Sign up for 401K
8. Figure out Breck medical bills
9. Make 1 new piece of jewelry

This is seriously getting embarrassing…wish me luck.

The Aftermath of the Break-In…

While it was Shane and I, the homeowners, who actually broke into the house…it has still been a traumatic experience. A big mess…no doorknob on the exterior…compromised security in our home…we need a new door. Here’s what I’m thinking:

And I must say that figuring stuff out about doors is very difficult. There are no prices on this specific door…anywhere. It could cost $100 or $1000 – not quite sure. I don't know what size door I have, but that's my own fault - I haven't measured. Do I want aluminum or steel? Do I want E-rated glass or not? I contacted someone from Pella Windows and Doors to come out next Wednesday to give us a quote, but we will probably be engaging Home Depot as well…

Hopefully, these doors will be reasonably priced and we can replace the one that we mauled on Tuesday and get a new side door as well. And rumor has it that they even make models that have blinds INSIDE the panes of glass…I’ll keep you posted.

Beau and Brother Turn 1!

Our baby boys turned one-year old on Saturday! Well, that isn't actually their birthday, but it is the one-year anniversary of when we rescued them and began to show them the good life. :)

May 2008 -
Beau weight: 16 lbs.
Brother weight: 13 lbs.
Food: Ate 1 cup of food per day/per puppy
Crate: Shared a 32" crate by putting a divider in the middle

May 2009 -
Beau weight: 80 lbs.
Brother weight: Roughly 70 lbs.
Food: Eat 4 cups of food per day/per mammoth dog
Crate: They each have their own 42" crate

Even though they are big, big boys - they are always our wittle, bitty squishy faced puppies!!!

Breaking In

Hope that everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

We got locked out of the house, and so this had to happen:





Sigh.

Fill Dirt = No Fun

I got home yesterday afternoon and our mulch and fill dirt had arrived and was sitting at the top of our driveway…taking up the whole space. I think that we may have ordered too much mulch, but oh well – we’ll find somewhere for it to go.

Last night, we finished mulching the bed on the left side (you remember, the one where I butchered the bushes), and then started to put the fill dirt up against the house in the backyard. Okay, here is my rant on fill dirt:

• It’s red clay. Not dirt. Clay.
• It’s really heavy, and difficult to move around with our one-wheeled wheelbarrow. Yeah, one tire is flat…but we still use it anyway.
• It has rocks in it and big clumps of dirt that you have to break up with a hoe. That sucks.
• It doesn’t spread evenly.

It took a lot of dirt to bring the ground beside the house up to the same level as the yard. What happens is that when it rains, the gutters overflow and all water just beats down on the dirt...just so you know. I don’t want anyone losing sleep over my erosion problems. But on another note, I’m having someone from GutterGuard come out next Wednesday to quote new gutters (Surprise, Shane! Love ya, mean it!).

Tonight’s plan consists of pruning the holly bushes and spreading mulch in that area and around another tree in our front yard. Just how I like to spend my Friday nights…

I hope everyone has a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend – I can’t wait to relax and not do yard work!

Happy 18th Patty!

Today is my little brother's 18th birthday...tear. They just grow up so fast.

He isn't part of my massive blog following, but I figured I'd give him a shout out - Happy 18th Birthday Pattywhacker! Love you!

Progress on the Deck and Butchering Bushes

Last night, Matt (the master deck builder) and Shane worked on the deck handrails. The one on the stairs going down to the yard is now complete; we just have to put on the balusters so I’ll wait until we do that to post pictures. This means that we now lack only the following items:

• Handrails on the stairs going to the driveway
• Gates at the top of both stairs
• Lattice

I believe that Matt and Shane made plans to work on it sometime next week…I am so ready for it to be done. Have I said that before?

While the deck boys did deck stuff, I got to work on the front yard. I am so proud of myself for starting and almost finishing, I ran out of daylight, this little project all by myself. As you know, on Tuesday night we ripped out all the monkey grass from the front two beds. Last night, I sprayed the area on the left with Roundup, to hopefully kill any monkey grass that may be lurking in the dirt, and started to ‘trim’ the shrubs. I say trim, but I think that it may border on butchering. I think they look good, and look a lot neater, but I’m no plant person. Take a look for yourself:

Before:

After:

I was going with an 'umbrella' technique that I so often hear about on 'Flip This House.' Anybody watch that show? I LOVE IT, and I love the Montelongo family on there...and his tree umbrella-ing. So, did I butcher them? Be honest, I can take it.

I also got a lot of the mulch spread, but only in the front as I ran out of daylight and it is very difficult to spread black mulch in the dark, as you can imagine. If it isn’t raining tonight, I’m going to finish the mulch in the bed on the left and start on the right side. These are prickly holly bushes, so I might not be doing too much pruning. But Shane will be available to help, so maybe he’ll do it. How that works is I point to a limb and tell him to cut it and he crawls in and chops it for me. This actually works quite well because I can stand back and take inventory of the ultimate vision. Yes, I have visions about my yard.

We are also having five more loads of black mulch and three loads of fill dirt delivered today. Why fill dirt? We have a lot of uneven areas around the foundation of our house that we need to slope down so that water doesn’t sit against the house.

Yard work sucks. But I did get to operate a hedge trimmer, which wound up being very anticlimactic. I thought that it would be more like a chainsaw, really dangerous and sharp and 'Jason'-like, but I’m certain that this thing wouldn’t even file down one of my fingernails.