Tuesday, November 30, 2010

A Christmas First

I've lived on my own for over 5 years of my life. Yet, in all this time, I've never bought and decorated a Christmas tree. This year I decided that as my first Christmas in my house, that I would finally make the investment of having some Christmas spirit on display.

My roommate Britney was very excited. On the Friday after Thanksgiving (during the middle of the day, none of the midnight black friday shopping ridiculousness) we went to Walmart and picked out the tree, ornaments, and the topper for the tree. Here are the pictures of our tree!


Out of the box and in some dire need of "fluffing"


It's starting to look like a real tree :)


Pre-lit trees = WIN!


Gold ribbon on with the lights


Ornaments on without the lights. I swear there are a lot of ornaments on there, it just doesn't look like it in this picture.


Decorations up, lights on, DONE!

I'm very proud of my cute little tree. I can't wait to start wrapping presents so the base of the tree doesn't look so lonely.

To starting your own traditions,

Boomba

Monday, November 8, 2010

The Joys of Homeownership....

Don't get me wrong, I love my house. I've worked very hard on it and wish it would finish itself, but I think it was an investment and a learning experience that money could not buy. That being said:

MY HOUSE IS MISBEHAVING!

The beginning misbehavior was this summer when we discovered the furnace was no good. That was a $2800 expenditure. Not only that, some of the people that kept staying at the house would play with the AC which resulted in it causing the freon to freeze and the freon drain. So then the air wasn't even cold after it was fixed, however, it is working very nicely for winter.

This last week my I noticed that my drain in the laundry room was acting up. We'd run a load of laundry and it would back up. After a while it would slowly drained, but then it would leave terribly gross stuff on the floor. This happened once and then didn't happen again, but then it got worse and worse. Every time we tried to do laundry, then the dishes, then showering. After a while it started backing up through the bathroom in the basement as well. The house smelled all mildewy and it was no good at all.


I tried Drano and a Brandt plug, but neither remedied the situation. I had to call in a plumber from Roto-Rooter. Ended up being the roots from my yard had grown into the main line going out to the sewer. So they had to snake all of those out and then informed me that the main line was in rough shape and that I'd need to look into replacing it in a few years. Joy....

While he was cleaning up all of his tools, then he noticed this gem of a find.


Yeah, the toilet upstairs had a leak and had been leaking for quite some time. Since no one uses that bathroom, no one noticed the tumor growing from the ceiling. So he had to reinstall the toilet correctly and then there was a leaking fitting in the ceiling that he had to tear into and replace. As I sit here now he is out there tallying up my bill. We are at a minimum of $355, plus parts and tax.

I guess I should just consider myself lucky that I have the money for this and that I'm lucky not to have to touch my savings to cover it. I have a job that takes very good care of me and enables me to live a good life. Without these frustrating times in life I would not understand or appreciate the peace.

To biting the bullet,

Boomba

Saturday, November 6, 2010

I'm not dead!!!

After moving in and getting settled I definitely needed a break from home renovation projects. It was a good thing too, because then I started traveling for work for about 3 straight months. A lot has changed in the last little bit and I'll just say that I have some more time to focus on stuff around the house.

I picked up trim for the doors a long time ago and my parent help me cut it. I borrowed Jack's paint sprayer to paint it all, but the sprayer ended up being broken. :( Frustrated I set the project aside for a while. this last week I got up some motivation and decided to paint the trim.


My painting station I build with my new saw horses :)


Trimless door


First piece up! I can do this...


The finished product! Man I need to paint the door now.


Got the pantry done too!

I used the compressor that I still have borrowed from Jack. Don't worry, I borrowed it about this time last year for the couch re-upholstery project. Luckily he hasn't really needed it, so it's been able to stay in my possession.

I used the finish nailer to get all the trim up and then went back over the nails with white, paintable caulk. Then I used some liquid nails on the corner blocks. I don't even have all the doors done... but I did get 3/15 done. I'll get there. Slowly but surely!

To getting back on the saddle,

Boomba