Last night John was bit by the productive bug, before I got home he had put away the laundry, mowed the grass, replaced the outdoor light bulbs and fixed the carport door (the thresh hold was coming loose so whenever you opened the door it would rub across the floor making the most awful sound, I had been on him for weeks to fix it).
When I got home I helped him put in the coolest electrical switch. We have a fan in our bedroom and I like to sleep with the fan on in the warmer months, but that would mean you'd have to use the pull chain to turn the light on or off. Pulling that pull chain was really difficult for me since it's about a foot taller than my arms reach. I hated that pull chain and would always groan loudly when I flipped the light switch and only the fan would turn on. (I was also fairly certain that a creeper was hiding out in my dark bedroom and had just the opportunity needed to pounce while I was straining to turn on the light.)
We bought this really nice (and expensive!) switch that controlled the light and fan separately back in July, I didn't want to hound John about putting it in, but I REALLY wanted it done. Last night without me even asking he opened the box to the switch and I threw a little party in my head. I dusted the fan blades and light dome while he installed some of the do hickeys and then I held the fan above my head (what I'm best at) while he wired it back together. I then spent a good hour just messing with all the settings and loving that I could actually turn the light on without straining and tippy toe action.
But wait! Even more was accomplished last night! We finished glazing the panels, too bad we're not done glazing though, we have to finish the trim :( I'm so tired of glazing, just too much wood!
Hopefully (which I keep saying) the guestroom will be completed by this weekend or early next week.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
It's only been 13 months!
So on the 23rd of September I came home to a robbed house...again. We were robbed last August so it has only been 13 months. It was just fantastic, let me tell you.
I opened the side door expecting for the alarm system to say, "beep, beep, beep, disarm system now" and I'll I got was, "beep, beep, beep, garage door". I thought, "Da** it! Not again!" and looked over at my kitchen cabinets, all wide open and stuff pulled out.
I walked into our bedroom as I threw my keys and swore up a storm, it was thrashed. Everything was missing (except the dogs). John's phone had died so I couldn't call him and he was planning on running errands after work so I knew he wouldn't be home for some time. I called the next person who came to mind, my dear father. Then I called the cops and calmly explained the situation. This time around there were no tears (until my dad came) and no worries, I was just furious that it happened again.
They broke a basement window to get in the house and at the time we had nothing monitoring the basement so they scurried up the stairs to the kitchen not setting off any alarms. When we first got the system we thought the key chain remote was a fabulous idea, but we never used it because I was always worried that it wouldn't set the alarm so we stashed it in a kitchen drawer. In hindsight that was a sh**y idea because that's how our system was disarmed (needless to say we no longer have a remote) and had their way with our house.
They stole a lot of valuable things and things that had a lot of memories. My engagement ring, all the jewelry John had bought me, our Brad Paisley tickets (that ends on a happy note though) and my laptop which wasn't even a year old. sucks, sucks sucks. Oh well, this time instead of just talking about making our house more safe we're actually doing something about it! But I can't tell you what because then it wouldn't be safe anymore.
Some of my tips so that this kind of crap won't happen to you:
p.s. We REALLY amped up our security system now and have plans of getting a man eating dog so that this will never happen to us again.
I opened the side door expecting for the alarm system to say, "beep, beep, beep, disarm system now" and I'll I got was, "beep, beep, beep, garage door". I thought, "Da** it! Not again!" and looked over at my kitchen cabinets, all wide open and stuff pulled out.
I walked into our bedroom as I threw my keys and swore up a storm, it was thrashed. Everything was missing (except the dogs). John's phone had died so I couldn't call him and he was planning on running errands after work so I knew he wouldn't be home for some time. I called the next person who came to mind, my dear father. Then I called the cops and calmly explained the situation. This time around there were no tears (until my dad came) and no worries, I was just furious that it happened again.
They broke a basement window to get in the house and at the time we had nothing monitoring the basement so they scurried up the stairs to the kitchen not setting off any alarms. When we first got the system we thought the key chain remote was a fabulous idea, but we never used it because I was always worried that it wouldn't set the alarm so we stashed it in a kitchen drawer. In hindsight that was a sh**y idea because that's how our system was disarmed (needless to say we no longer have a remote) and had their way with our house.
They stole a lot of valuable things and things that had a lot of memories. My engagement ring, all the jewelry John had bought me, our Brad Paisley tickets (that ends on a happy note though) and my laptop which wasn't even a year old. sucks, sucks sucks. Oh well, this time instead of just talking about making our house more safe we're actually doing something about it! But I can't tell you what because then it wouldn't be safe anymore.
Some of my tips so that this kind of crap won't happen to you:
- lock all your doors and windows, even if you're home.
- Charley Bar your sliding glass door, the lock alone won't help. (that's how they got in the first time)
- back up all pictures on a CD or USB drive and store them in a safe place or off the premises. Or put them on a free picture website. I have now lost most baby Sophi and Enna pictures. Luckily with my blog and facebook I still have quite a bit.
- Store valuable jewelry in a floor MOUNTED safe. Just having the safe isn't any good if it's not hard mounted somewhere, they'll just take the safe and crack it open later.
- Make copies of all important documents (taxes, social security cards, birth certificates etc.) and store the copies in the safe. Store originals off site in a safety deposit box. Never store any in just a filing cabinet.
- Shred all paperwork that can compromise information. John and I shred every paper that comes to our house with our name on it.
p.s. We REALLY amped up our security system now and have plans of getting a man eating dog so that this will never happen to us again.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Private
My blog will be set to private in two weeks, please email me at nvoshell@nelsonlabs.com or leave your email address in the comments below if you want to still be able to read it.
Sorry I have to do this, but I feel like I need added security in my life now. Once my blog is set to private I'll post about the fiasco that made me change my life around.
Sorry I have to do this, but I feel like I need added security in my life now. Once my blog is set to private I'll post about the fiasco that made me change my life around.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
It has come no further...or is it farther...
I would love to be telling you right now that the guest bedroom is in the final stages, but that would be a lie. We haven't done a dang thing since Sunday.
Monday we had really grad plans about hard working and being covered in red paint, but alas we were bitten by the lazy bug and watched too much TV instead. We did at least make it into the room after dinner to check out the second coat on our sample pine piece, but all the work that was mustered up was me saying, "We really should work on this tonight." as I closed the bedroom door behind me.
Yesterday John sanded the sheetrock ceiling mud and I really didn't feel like cooking so we ate at Iggy's. After dinner we headed next door to Yogurtland (Hi Sister!) that ended up being devoured while we relaxed on a park bench. This adventure didn't drop us back home until 8:30 PM and Good Eats with Alton Brown was calling our names.
I'd like to tell you that we'll be working on it tonight, but I don't know what the future holds. John may or may not be sanding sheetrock mud so that might mean I may or may not be second coating the pine. Who knows? I do know that I have some laundry that needs to be put away, dishes to wash and pet hair to be vacuumed up, maybe that's what I'll be working on tonight.
Monday we had really grad plans about hard working and being covered in red paint, but alas we were bitten by the lazy bug and watched too much TV instead. We did at least make it into the room after dinner to check out the second coat on our sample pine piece, but all the work that was mustered up was me saying, "We really should work on this tonight." as I closed the bedroom door behind me.
Yesterday John sanded the sheetrock ceiling mud and I really didn't feel like cooking so we ate at Iggy's. After dinner we headed next door to Yogurtland (Hi Sister!) that ended up being devoured while we relaxed on a park bench. This adventure didn't drop us back home until 8:30 PM and Good Eats with Alton Brown was calling our names.
I'd like to tell you that we'll be working on it tonight, but I don't know what the future holds. John may or may not be sanding sheetrock mud so that might mean I may or may not be second coating the pine. Who knows? I do know that I have some laundry that needs to be put away, dishes to wash and pet hair to be vacuumed up, maybe that's what I'll be working on tonight.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Weekend Lowdown
Friday night I did something to my back, not sure what but I couldn't move without throbbing pain. I slept on the couch (for the 3 hours I could actually sleep) since it molded to my back better than our mattress.
Saturday John and I were suppose to go to a Pirate Party but because of my back I couldn't finish my costume :( and my back was hurting too bad to enjoy myself. So instead John worked on the guest bedroom and I helped a smidgen.
John had to tear out the moldy sheetrock so he set to work doing that. For a 6 foot section it sure was kicking his butt, we soon found out that they doubled the sheetrock so it was an inch thick! I thought maybe they did it for a sound barrier, no they did it because the first layer had wallpaper and they were too lazy to take it off.
Once he got the sheetrock off, it took him no time to get another piece up. While he did that, I first coated the pine paneling pieces with a clear glaze. The pine paneling is a kit, you buy sections of just the paneling and they're unfinished. You also have to buy the trim kit for the base molding, chair rail and door trim.
That evening Makoa found his bed. :)
We bought Makoa a bed a few weeks ago when we decided he was over the worst of his chewing phase. He thought it was an awesome big toy and couldn't understand why we kept getting mad at him when he started to chew it. He finally figured out that you sleep in it! I was so happy and kept saying, "look how cute! he loves his bed!"
Sunday John finished first coating the rest of the pine paneling and second coated the ones we did Saturday while I was at a friend's house.
It's coming along nicely. Tonight (if John gets home at a decent time) we'll 3rd coat the red walls and finish second coating the pine. Hopefully by tomorrow we can start installing the pine!
Saturday John and I were suppose to go to a Pirate Party but because of my back I couldn't finish my costume :( and my back was hurting too bad to enjoy myself. So instead John worked on the guest bedroom and I helped a smidgen.
John had to tear out the moldy sheetrock so he set to work doing that. For a 6 foot section it sure was kicking his butt, we soon found out that they doubled the sheetrock so it was an inch thick! I thought maybe they did it for a sound barrier, no they did it because the first layer had wallpaper and they were too lazy to take it off.
Once he got the sheetrock off, it took him no time to get another piece up. While he did that, I first coated the pine paneling pieces with a clear glaze. The pine paneling is a kit, you buy sections of just the paneling and they're unfinished. You also have to buy the trim kit for the base molding, chair rail and door trim.
That evening Makoa found his bed. :)
We bought Makoa a bed a few weeks ago when we decided he was over the worst of his chewing phase. He thought it was an awesome big toy and couldn't understand why we kept getting mad at him when he started to chew it. He finally figured out that you sleep in it! I was so happy and kept saying, "look how cute! he loves his bed!"
Sunday John finished first coating the rest of the pine paneling and second coated the ones we did Saturday while I was at a friend's house.
It's coming along nicely. Tonight (if John gets home at a decent time) we'll 3rd coat the red walls and finish second coating the pine. Hopefully by tomorrow we can start installing the pine!
Friday, September 17, 2010
A nice surprise
The guest room got it's first coat of paint in Sunday but because John hasn't got home from work until 10 at night the past 4 days that's as far as it got.
Last night I went into the guest room to think about the color some more, but when I opened the door I was surprised not to feel the resistance of the drop cloth we had left laying on the floor.
I flipped on the light switch and to my surprise I realized that the room had gotten another coat of paint, the drop cloth was neatly folded on the bed and all the paint supplies set against the wall.
It was John's dad who did such a nice deed. John had asked him to come over and mud the family room ceiling since John just didn't have time and he went above and beyond what we had asked. It was a really great surprise.
I really like the color now, having it painted by a professional really helps :) It still needs one more coat since it is a red, but hopefully we can do that this weekend.
Thanks dad-in-law for all the hard work you've done the last couple of days!
Last night I went into the guest room to think about the color some more, but when I opened the door I was surprised not to feel the resistance of the drop cloth we had left laying on the floor.
I flipped on the light switch and to my surprise I realized that the room had gotten another coat of paint, the drop cloth was neatly folded on the bed and all the paint supplies set against the wall.
It was John's dad who did such a nice deed. John had asked him to come over and mud the family room ceiling since John just didn't have time and he went above and beyond what we had asked. It was a really great surprise.
Thanks dad-in-law for all the hard work you've done the last couple of days!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
P.S. I love you
Let me tell you about the first time I saw P.S. I Love You. It was 3 days after I got home from my honeymoon. The 26th of December is my grandma's birthday and we try really hard to have a girls day so all us girls (my mom, sister, aunt, cousin and grandma) go to a movie. I was told that P.S. I Love You was the movie she picked to go see that fine day.
I bawled from start to finish, I have NEVER cried so hard in a movie. When the movie was done and all us girls, minus my grandma, were red eyed and snot nosed and my out spoken grandma hollers at us, "Why are you all blubbering?" She's never that touched by movies.
Once I found my car (stupid District, I think they make you get lost so that the security guards can laugh at you in the surveillance tapes) I started crying all over again and not that kinda cute little tears dripping down the cheeks, no full one wailing. I called John to tell him how much I loved him and all I could say was, "whaaaaa!!! John, I WHAAAA!" Poor boy, I probably terrified him.
Needless to say, I love that movie. No matter how many times I've seen it, I cry.
So why in the Hell did I put that movie in for background noise when I was sewing tonight? Because I'm an idiot, that's why. John wasn't home, I had pulled all my sewing stuff into the family room even though I have a room dedicated for such a task (I couldn't sew in that room right now even if I wanted, it's full of family room furniture) and popped in P.S. I Love You . Let me tell you how hard it is to sew seams and straight lines when you can't see through the tears and you're sobbing so hard the pedal gets pushed in spurts. I also had to go blow my nose often.
Well the movie is done and I at least finished the blouse part of my pirate costume (more to come on that later), but I've learned my lesson. No sad movies when I sew unless I want everything tear stained.
P.S. John is forbidden to die. I'll be just like Holly in the movie and stay cooped up in my house for days, if not months.
P.P.S. For those who think I'm really tough skinned because that's how I act. Well I'm not, I'm a big softy and cry all the time, even during really touching commercials. But lets pretend I'm still a real hard ass, I wouldn't want my reputation ruined.
I bawled from start to finish, I have NEVER cried so hard in a movie. When the movie was done and all us girls, minus my grandma, were red eyed and snot nosed and my out spoken grandma hollers at us, "Why are you all blubbering?" She's never that touched by movies.
Once I found my car (stupid District, I think they make you get lost so that the security guards can laugh at you in the surveillance tapes) I started crying all over again and not that kinda cute little tears dripping down the cheeks, no full one wailing. I called John to tell him how much I loved him and all I could say was, "whaaaaa!!! John, I WHAAAA!" Poor boy, I probably terrified him.
Needless to say, I love that movie. No matter how many times I've seen it, I cry.
So why in the Hell did I put that movie in for background noise when I was sewing tonight? Because I'm an idiot, that's why. John wasn't home, I had pulled all my sewing stuff into the family room even though I have a room dedicated for such a task (I couldn't sew in that room right now even if I wanted, it's full of family room furniture) and popped in P.S. I Love You . Let me tell you how hard it is to sew seams and straight lines when you can't see through the tears and you're sobbing so hard the pedal gets pushed in spurts. I also had to go blow my nose often.
Well the movie is done and I at least finished the blouse part of my pirate costume (more to come on that later), but I've learned my lesson. No sad movies when I sew unless I want everything tear stained.
P.S. John is forbidden to die. I'll be just like Holly in the movie and stay cooped up in my house for days, if not months.
P.P.S. For those who think I'm really tough skinned because that's how I act. Well I'm not, I'm a big softy and cry all the time, even during really touching commercials. But lets pretend I'm still a real hard ass, I wouldn't want my reputation ruined.
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