Been a busy month, so I figured I was well overdue for an update! 4th of July weekend marked the beginning of this painting madness. I thought that if I could just get a BIG chunk of the house done that first weekend I'd have everything done in a few weeks. Which seemed like a good idea if I didn't do anything else with my spare time! Even now, we still have some painting left to do - mostly the high-up areas where I'm too short or scared to reach, or parts where we need to replace the siding. At the very least, the parts that face to the street look up-to-snuff and are dramatically improved. I know it's a bit like only styling the front of your hair since you can't see the back, but I can live with it for now.

Hopefully, despite my crazy schedule in the coming weeks, we'll be able to pack up all the paint and brushes for good and call this project done before Sept. 1st. Which is why I figured I'd better get cracking right away on my next outdoor project! I've been dying to do landscaping since we moved in: once upon a time this house had a phenomenal yard, and now it's overgrown with weeds. I wanted to wait until we were mostly done with the painting - so as not to stomp down all our hard work trying to paint - but I couldn't resist when I stopped at Shopko and I saw that they had perennials 80% OFF!!!

So on Friday, I got to be the crazy lady with two shopping carts full of plants at Shopko, giddy that a dozen of them only cost me just over $50. Then came the hard part: weeding.

Mars came over to help me pull all the weeds out and till up the soil. Whoever lived here before either dug the plants out (as evidenced by gaping holes in the landscape) or cut them off cleanly, leaving beer-can sized stumps sticking out here and there. We were able to remove all said stumps except one, which ended up breaking one of our shovels in half and then bending the second one to a point where I'm unsure if it could be called a shovel anymore. After much hacking and whacking, we decided to just plant something in front of it and hide it. Not perfect, but it works: you win this time stump.

Anyway, today I got up nice and early for the next step in this fun process: laying down the weed block and mulch. This is probably an easy task, except that HGN.com got this great idea in my head that you can use old carpet as weed block.

Brilliant! I thought, since we had two huge rolls of old carpet in the garage waiting to be hauled to the dump, what a great way to re-purpose that carpet. So I got out my utility knife and cut/tore pieces and laid them down. Huge pain in the ass by the way. And despite the two massive rolls of carpet, I ran out halfway (as well as ran out of mulch) and had to use the regular plastic sheeting anyway. So I'm going to go-ahead and lie and say I planned it that way as an experiment: time to see which one will be more weed infested in two weeks!

I think that HGN.com and all those home improvement channels, shows and DIY things are a bad influence for people like me: no one should be spending their whole summer working on projects like this and enjoying it! I mean, I wouldn't say it's fun to break two $15 shovels on the same stump, but there is a strange satisfaction in driving by my house and knowing that I'm the reason it looks like a cozy little home (well, Dusty too). Maybe that's the sense of self pride you get from investing in your own home.

Or the delusion you have because you don't want to fathom how much money it's taken to get there. Either way, still feels good at the end of the day.

Extreme Make-Over

So I've come to the point in the summer where I've convinced myself that we're ready to paint the house. This personally, has been one of the very first things I've wanted to do: our house is right on 26th street - a pretty busy street in town - and I hate that you can see the chipping paint and faded siding. Plus, being gray with green trim, it blends in with the trees a little too well - might as well have been camouflage.

Now that I've set the date in stone and have my heart set on giving the house a face lift, I'm kind of stumbling on what exactly we'll be painting this house!

Normally I shoot from the hip with colors, but I realize that I probably don't want to screw up the outside of the house - it's a little easier to paint your bathroom an ugly color and just keep the door closed. Since my house was build in the late 20s in a craftsman-bungalow style, I tried doing some research on what colors houses were generally painted. But, I decided those looked bad (lots of gray and greens, which makes sense, right?).

So now I'm looking online and seeing what strikes my fancy. Right now, I'm kind of leaning towards warmer colors since our lot is so shady I feel like a dark and dreary house blends in too much. I really like the dark trim with the red accents on this house (at right). It's not a bungalow-style, but it has similar woodwork treatments on the gables; I like how it draws your attention to the woodwork without looking too busy.

This other picture (below) I like because I think it looks warm and inviting; I also really like the red/rust accents. I have always wanted a big red front door: I'm not sure where it comes from, but I always felt like red doors were very welcoming on homes. Must be the influence of all those colonial-style houses I was around growing up ;)

For now, I guess I can still run though ideas since I have another week to make up my mind: the plan is to start Sunday and through the next week start tearing the siding off the south side of the garage and fix the gutter. Then power wash and scrape the whole exterior, as well as fill cracks, caulk windows and replace any rotting woodwork. Then we should be ready to paint.

And don't worry, right now the plan is to just paint the front, west and south side since we've got two windows on the east-side that need to be replaced. It's a little crazy, but I think if we can get this one BIG thing done, we can kind of kick back for some of summer and work on the little projects. Like trying to fix the dryer...

Spring has somewhat begrudgingly arrived in Sioux Falls, so this last weekend when it was sunny and nice, I splurged at the lawn and garden center and blew way too much dough on plants.

My number one task was to get our window boxes filled with something better looking than dirty and leaves. I decided on geraniums since they're bright and hearty, and then added in some dangly filler plants to make them look a bit more dimensional. Now I've just got to remember to water them everyday since they seem pretty sheltered under the overhang.

My next project in the yard was to find a spot to put all the flowers I had left from my window boxes! I had completely overestimates how large they were and had to find a spot for the rest. So, I decided to weigh my options.

Whoever lived here before evidently loved their bushes so much that they dug them up and took them with - as evidenced by the random holes in areas that would ideally house a bush or shrub. The most obvious spot was by the front step where some hostas were attempting to grow. Using random bricks I found in the back yard (which believe it or not was the perfect amount), I made a little flower bed in the front yard.

Best of all, I got to put out my little frog: he has batteries and makes croaking sounds whenever the little sensor in his mouth sees movement. Makes my day.

One weird thing I found looking for bricks was this one random one, painted white with the word "Salamander" on it. Besides just being random, I thought I'd check and see if there was something to this strange duck. I looked online to see where on earth a brick like this would come from. Aside from lots of pictures of salamanders, the closest thing I could find was that there was a Salamander Brick Company operating in Woodbridge, NJ at the turn of the 1800s. I don't know if this brick comes from there or not (no other markers), but I made sure to include it in my flower bed arrangement! If you can find anything further about said mystery brick, let me know!

Anyway, next step on the home-make over process it to work on the next big project: the kitchen.

That's more like it: we've finally reached the point where we've got artwork on the walls, so it's starting to really feel like home now.

I felt bad for everyone who came to our open house last weekend since we were still kind of unpacking and putting stuff away (if I recall, Dusty was still putting blinds up in the living room when people stopped by!). Regardless, we had a great turn-out and an even greater time partying with our friends: who could forget a night full of the Riverside buffet bucket, a human pyramid and a bacon bikini. Coolest. People. Ever.

Today was my first weekend that I actually was able to roll my sleeves up and work on the house. Dusty spent the week working on some plumbing issues (like our whimpy shower) cleaning the floors. So I decided to tackle our scary-looking yard.

Aside from all the branches, leaves and pods in our yard, there is also a strange growth of numerous plants that I'm uncertain are weeds or decorative plants. Thankfully, the one thing that appears to be growing like crazy are the ferns. In face, there are so many sticking up their curly little leaves that they are pushing through the walkway and bricks on the little patio.

That being said: if anyone wants a fern, let me know and I'll dig one up for you ; )

After mowing and raking and picking up a 100 branches and sticks, I decided to celebrate my hard work by purchasing a little portable fire pit with some of the gift cards I was given at our house warming party (thanks Cameron, Val, Dale and Nadine!). It's not the best thing ever, but I know that I'll get to have some sweet revenge tonight on all those pesky sticks I had to pick up today as I roast marshmallows over them!

Okay, so obviously I need a better camera, but at least you get the gist of it. Got a couple clean coats on the bathroom walls (and thankfully didn't splatter all over the place either!). I really love how it looks: very soothing.

I also stopped over at Bed, Bath & Beyond - aka the devil - to drool over some over-priced home decor. The only thing I found that I cannot live without are these awesome little sparrow-shaped stick-on mirrors. I think they'll look freakin' sweet around the medicine cabinet. Plus, at only 10 bucks for a pack of six, I can live with the price.

In other news, I finally found a stove today. Some guy was selling a practically new one for $100 bucks on Craigslist. I checked it out and forked over the cash, so now we just have to get it home.

Tomorrow after I'm done with work, I'm going to be borrowing the company van and hauling as much as I can: which means not only picking up that stove, but also anything I can move. The one catch right now to being completely over at the new place is that there is no hot water: the pilot light in the boiler keeps going out. Dusty's not sure why, so hopefully once he's done with his long weekend at work (14 hr. shifts both Sat. & Sun.) he'll have time to figure it out.

Until then, I'm snarfing down some chips and salsa for dinner and waiting for this Icy Hot to kick in. I jacked up my right shoulder doing derby last weekend, and bowling three games followed by painting for an hour certainly didn't help matters. The house is a mess and there's a lot of shit I could be doing, but for now, I think it's time to relax while I can.

Well, we officially have water in the house. The plan was to paint, but after some car shuffling and errands, I came to the conclusion that it might be more important at this time to have water rather than fancy walls. It's amazing how nice it will be to use the toilet in the house instead of riding down to the Shell station.

Tomorrow is a half day at work for me, so I'm going to try and cram as much as I can into moving, unpacking and starting over again. The search for a stove continues: you would think finding a used electric stove with coil burners wouldn't be this difficult. The Habitat Restore had a bunch of gas stoves, plus those glass-top stoves that just suck: I'll try again and just keep watching the Argus and Craigslist. Tis the season: something ought to show up soon. Otherwise I guess we'll just put the microwave in the void.

In other news, the neighborhood is gearing up for the annual project NICE: basically the city-run junk curb program. Officially, the city won't be coming by until Monday to pick up any of the rubbish, so right now it's like white trash Christmas in my neighborhood as the piles of broken couches, old tvs and non-functioning exercise equipment randomly appear in front of homes. Cars creep up and down the streets to check out these magical trash heaps, trucks full of scrap metal aren't too far behind. I've been tempted to stop - the scavenger in me is hard to quell - but I've resisted thus far. Besides, none of the good stuff is out there yet.

Since I've got to have any of my own large junk to the curb by Monday, my supreme goal for the weekend is to get anything I don't want out there this weekend, like my old desk, some rusty bikes and broken chairs. Is is bad that a part of me wants to put it out there one piece at a time and just wait for someone to slow down and pick it up? Ah: I'm gonna miss this neighborhood.

Well here is the happy new home! Dusty spent most of the weekend raking pine needles and leaves: evidently the folks who lived here previous had never heard of a rake before. Our hope is that we might be able to eventually break through to soil under all the leaves and have grass this summer. I'll keep you posted as this excitement develops.

I have decided that the only way to tackle this place without going A) broke and B) insane, is to take things one room at a time. And the first room that will be getting an extreme make-over is the bathroom (see lovely pic at right). Believe it or not, that ugly green bath tub is my favorite part of the bathroom! I have a funky green shower curtain and when I saw this Dr. Seuss-esque tub, I knew this was the place for us!

I went ahead and cleaned the walls and taped the trip to paint tomorrow: I'm going to go with a deeper olive green (you can't tell in this picture, but the green tub is actually a light cucumber color). I'm a big fan of monochromatic, and I think if we do the floor in basic black and white tile for contrast it will look pretty nice. I'll be sure to update with pics as soon as I get the painting done.

At left is the next project I want to tackle: the kitchen. Surprisingly, the cabinets are in great shape and have a neat, blue-wash over the hardwood that's pretty unique. The flooring needs to be replaced, but I can live with it until I figure out what I want to do. You can't see it in this picture, but there are these big beams overhead and a tall ceiling that makes this little kitchen feel really open and spacious. As small as my kitchen is now, this looks like sooooo much counter space to me! Soon as I track down a stove, I'll be set.

At right is probably the room I love the best and probably will change the least: the living room. I love the hardwood floors and archways. I really hate blue walls, but I have to admit they're kind of growing on me. This picture doesn't do this room much justice because you can't see the five big windows on the westside of the room: it's great in the afternoon. I can tell this will be the perfect place to park with a book on the couch when the suns going down.

Lots of exciting projects: Dusty is off tomorrow, so I've got some things for him to get done while I'm at work. Most importantly, I'm hoping he gets the plumbing hooked up: it was a pain in the butt to work on the house and have to drive down to the gas station for bathroom breaks!

it's ours and there's no going back

Well, we officially closed on the house today, so after much pen wagging, I own my own chunk of South Dakota. I took the afternoon off in preparation for the overwhelming excitement I would have at receiving my keys, but really I was too exhausted by the afternoon that I retreated home and am now baking an asparagus quiche while I look over the list of items I took note of while there.

There is the issue of the plumbing, which, having been winterized will need to be repaired. There are also both storm doors to the front and side door which appear to be in various states of decay. Otherwise, other than some elbow grease, the place could be move-in ready by next week. All I do know is that the very first thing that is going to change is the over-sized lantern outside the garage door: I don't know why, but since I first looked at this place I knew that thing had to go. Seriously: it's the biggest light I've ever seen.

My plan is to head to Lowe's with my list tonight: most of the items are small or related to cleaning up the place, but it's the first step. I'm the kind of person who likes to do everything, all the time, all at once so this might be an interesting adventure. Got to think of it like eating an elephant: one bite at a time.