Party time :)

In addition to just doing things because they needed done, we had the added incentive to finish projects because I had a housewarming party this past Saturday! I invited several good friends from school, and lots of people from around town. Lots of food, lots of drinks, and lots of good people – it was a really great time J

I stayed up late the night before finishing up the window painting project in the solarium. I wanted to get those done and the grilles painted so that people could get a feel for the direction that room was headed, and I’m glad I did. A little more touch-up painting on the walls and everything was ready for deep cleaning!

2:00am aaaaand DONE!

I even received a couple new plants! Greenhouse, here we come ;)

I dusted, scrubbed, and swept EVERYTHING really well…I’m always amazed how well the house cleans up. When we were covered in insulation and plaster dust, I thought – for sure – I’d never get the house cleaned ever again. Luckily, I was wrong!

Housewarming party turned Slumber party!

This was after we had been semi-cleaning throughout the night..

Thankfully (but against my instructions) my friends were kind enough to help clean up before they left. I suppose, in retrospect, we did make kind of a mess. The true sign of a successful party.

With the landscaping stones put in place last weekend, my leftover siding sold on Craigslist, and the lot next door cleaned up, even the outside of the house was looking pretty good. The pallet the siding was shipped on was going to be used for a fire the night of the party, but we had such a good time inside, we never made it back OUTside. Sunday morning after my friends had gone, I decided I would go ahead and start the fire anyway. There were a couple other things for the pile, too…..I decided to burn everything all at once J Mwahaha!

My little fire ring before being loaded up with scrap wood.

Who knew the driveway was so big?! I'm now down to two piles left up here :)

...oops.

Otherwise, a pretty quiet day. A little more cleaning..a little movie watching..a short nap, and all was right with the world.

Tying up loose ends

Well folks, the weather is turning colder and we’re running short on daylight most days after I get off work. That means we’re having to take better advantage of our weekends..before the snow starts flying!

Finished up some of the trim pieces around the bay window that hadn't been done. Looking pretty good up front!

This past weekend was a long one, thanks to Veteran’s Day. Saturday was a busy day for a number of reasons (more on that below) and my office was closed Monday, so we were able to get quite a lot accomplished in a fairly short amount of time.

Story time: Friday night was spent doing a little grocery shopping and getting ready for my mom’s surprise party the following night. She specifically requested no party, but it was her 50^th – we HAD to! So, Friday night was prep night. Saturday, it was my job to keep her distracted from my dad and sister while they put the pieces together and got everybody rounded up. I find the best way to distract anybody is to have them haul stones for most of the day..

Get to work.

Anyway, the party was a success and the birthday girl was REALLY surprised, so that was a lot of fun. Mom and Dad have both helped me out a lot over the last year and half (..or 25, but who’s counting) so it was nice to be able to do a little something for her.

The day after the party was pretty much a lost cause. I did do a little laundry and a couple dishes, but it was mostly a day of recovery from Saturday’s festivities. I hadn’t over-indulged as much as some, but I had hauled enough of that rock to have difficulty climbing stairs! Basically anything from my butt cheeks down was feeling the burn from all of our landscaping.

This was the process: string line, spade for trenching, gloves for moving stones. woof..

I rolled the stones back out of the trench and lined it with landscaping fabric to (hopefully) keep weeds from popping through.

I'll fill this with mulch - it's going to look so good! :)

I couldn't believe how far the stone went! I thought for sure I'd run out before we got everything done, but we actually had a few little pieces left over. That's good living.

Monday saw more work inside as the temperature dropped – that meant finishing up some of the baseboard and random trim pieces that hadn’t been done before, filling holes, and touch-up painting. This detail work takes a little longer, but makes such a big difference when it’s done!

I had to have my (new) drywall patched to account for the new windows being slightly smaller than the old ones.

I also put in a special order for these grilles to give the look of divided panes - I think it makes the house look better AND is more in keeping with the details in the old pictures I was given. 

Testing out my grilles....ignore the painters tape :)

We also trimmed out the front door and finished up the baseboard in the solarium. I'm always amazed how FINISHED that baseboard makes everything look!