Tis Better To Give Than To Receive...

That must be the mantra of the good grandparent, yes? Because every time we are visiting my grandparents, or Nick's grandparents, we come home with some goody. This week's may be bell ringers. This came from Nick's grandfather... he had it in his basement, never opened, and thought we could use it. He got it "a few years ago"... 

Looks like it's been through quite a bit, but I can't wait to open it and try it out!! The box itself just tickles me!

And from my grandparents? This week it was a generator. That's right, a generator. For those that don't know, a few years ago a massive storm hit the area and almost everyone lost power for at least a day... some (like my parents) for as long as 10 days. 

Things got a little Mad Max for the folks without power or a generator, and since we live furthest away from everyone else, my grandfather wanted to make sure we had one. A.dor.able.

So moral of the story – grandparents are awesome – not because they give gifts, but because they find stuff and think "Hm, I know who could use this..." So sweet.

Blog Poll!

Ok all (both) of you readers out there! As the garden makeover continues, I need your opinion on what to do with possibly the BIGGEST lack-of-curb-appeal eyesore in the whole Money Pit... (now that we have a gorgeous window for the OTHER biggest eyesore...)

One of these things is not like the other... Do you see the problem?? All this time and energy and money spent a garden that, in the end, still has a GIANT A/C unit in it! Who puts that in the front yard ANYWAY? Well, since it's an environmental hazard to remove yourself, we have to hire pros to do it, and since that costs a pretty penny, it's going to have to wait until next year. SO, I ask you, should we:


a.) Turn it into a bird bath
b.) Paint it to blend in better
c.) Turn it into a planter
d.) Paint it black, put 8 sticks in it, and make it look like a giant spider for halloween

Rototill This...

Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?  Not well, I'm afraid, not well at all my dears. I should have been listening to Megan when she said, "Work smarter, not harder," and NOT when she said, "That rototiller won't handle all that grass, you're going to have to dig it up first..."

My tool (for the last two weekends or so...)

That's right, the old-fashioned Amish way, of digging the weeds up from the roots, turning them over, stabbing them with the shovel to break up the dirt, and pulling out the weeds... Until finally, while having beers and enjoying the nice [albeit too-hot-to-garden] weather, my neighbors just couldn't stand to see me toiling any longer, and they said, "Why don't you just rototill it??" To which I responded what I was told, about the grass wrapping around the blades and breaking the thing... To which THEY responded, "Why don't you just TRY it?"

Well, guess what folks... This thing:

Was a f*&%ing champ... And I got to tag off and take a break while Nick finished, in 15 minutes, what it had taken me several weekends to "start."

I'm looking at it this way - what a WONDERFUL learning experience, and just think of all the CALORIES I burned! Hooray!!

So, once again, a holiday weekend full of parties, friends, and cookouts got away from us, but, we did get it to this point:

 

(Lest we forget it WAS this:)

 

And we've got these all ready to go in...

So we're gettin' there... and we'll just have to keep taking advantage of these light-out-late evenings... After all, you can't work the whole summer away!!

Happy Anniversary?

Well... here we are... one whole year since first moving into the Money Pit. If you had asked me a year ago, I would have thought I'd have MUCH more to show for it than I do now... but let's take a moment to reflect on what we do have...

Things I Know Now:

The sense of pride you get from doing something yourself far outweighs the bruises and the muscle pains and the headaches and the "why the eff wouldn't you just pay someone to do this" questions you get from people who don't get it.

Whoever did the last renovation did it wrong. Ask a contractor. The other guy ALWAYS did it wrong.

Pigeon shit is the most vile substance on the face of the Earth. Mike Roe should dedicate an entire show to the superheroes that cleaned our attic for us.

Contractors don't want to talk to women. Good contractors WILL, but they all prefer dudes.

24 hours to finish your kitchen before a surprise inspection on the hottest day in August, a broken furnace in January, and two weeks to fill a 10 ton dumpster will instill a sense of panic and desperation in you like none you have ever known... and an indescribable gratitude for the people that come to your rescue.

Everything takes longer than you think it will. EVERYTHING. Got a deadline? Add a week. Already did? Add another one. Now you've got a chance. Maybe.

Measure twice cut once... usually... sometimes, you cut twice anyway...

Good family and best friends aren't always the same people, but sometimes they are.

You'll feel better if you stop asking yourself the question, "WHY would someone DO something like [fill in the asinine blank]?"

You CAN survive a Buffalo winter without a furnace. But I don't recommend it.

Beers make even the dirtiest job bearable.

Swinging a broom at a bat will only make it angry.

"Good fences make good neighbors," but GREAT neighbors are priceless.

A puppy would much rather chew on a piece of plaster than the organic rope toy you spent $16 on.

A year ago, I wouldn't leave the house in anything less than a 2" heel, had regular mani-pedis, couldn't hammer a nail, and didn't know the difference between a circular saw and a miter saw. Now, it's not unusual for me to be seen coming out of a hardware store in paint-splattered jeans, a pair of work gloves hanging out of my back pocket, with little to no makeup on, loading paint, power tools, and/or lumber into a pickup truck. Oh, and I drink beer now.

But I don't think I'd have it any other way.

City of Good Neighbors

It's been a very strange past couple days... good news, then terribly sad news, then a stroke of amazing luck... So let's focus on the positive, shall we? A neighbor from a few doors down (whose house is GOR.GEOUS, may I add) stopped me in front of my house yesterday and said, "You see that space between those windows?"

To which I thought, "Which space, buddy, I've got a lot of missing windows..."

Then I realized he was talking about this:

My dreaded little half window on the second floor... that I hate... and is currently covered with a piece of carpet... classy... ugh.

Awesome John, as he will be known from now on, says, "I HAVE that window."

".......... what?"

"When the place was abandoned, and the garage was falling down, I noticed there was a beautiful leaded glass window inside, so I took it so it wouldn't be demolished with the garage... but now that you are restoring the home, I want you to have it."

".......... what?"

"It's in perfect condition, and it's from your house, it belongs to you, I just didn't want to see it destroyed with everything else."

"..... original leaded glass??"

"Come on, I'll get it for you."

So, Awesome John gave me a piece of something ORIGINAL, from my house with almost nothing original left in it... and we now have this:

Don't you just love the Chrysler Building-esque Art Deco glam??  And to have all clear glass, with no colored glass [which, in my opinion, is just hard to design around, and it's not my fav] is so amazing. I'm so absolutely in looove with it!

Yes, you could be a pessimist and say, so what, he STOLE it, he SHOULD return it, but if you knew the condition this house was in... for as long as it was in it... I don't blame anyone who took anything in the name of preserving it. The guys who stole the copper piping from the basement: you suck. Dude who took something to save it from being crushed under a bulldozer, then gave it BACK, when you didn't have to, when I had NO IDEA that a leaded glass window had even been there, or that it still existed, or would have known it even if I'd seen it in their house: you rock. Hardcore.

So, The Way I See It

If someone were to ask me what the most difficult part of this [extraordinarily] difficult renovation is, I would have to say it's communicating my ideas to people [including my husband] that can't visualize what III'm seeing! Realistically, this is most likely a fault of mine in communication, but it usually comes out as "YOU HAVE NO VISION!" in the heat of a "where should this wall go" argument. ENTER – Google Sketchup. Where, my darling, have you been all my life? A FREE 3D program for me to draw up all my ideas and floorplans and colorize and drop carpet and wood swatches?! Yes please!

So without further ado, to all of you ["all" 2 of my readers hehehe] that think I'm crazy, I give you my "vision" for the second floor...

Confusing, yes. As an overview, from left (front of the house) to right (back of the house) we have: Our master bedroom, with coffee "nook" leading out to the patio (patio not pictured) with walk-in closet and full bath off the bedroom. Near the top you will see the stairs from the first floor, with the "reading corner" window alcove, leading to the tv room (with very, very rough estimations of furniture! haha!) Off the tv room you will see the laundry room, at the top, and the second bedroom at the bottom. Now, let me give you the tour. 

PLEASE NOTE: The colors are waaay off... I'm not sure why, they just look very strange. 

Bedroom:

Again, all the furniture in this model is pretty rough, but you can see the bed and the end tables. In the "coffee nook" (where the hardwood is) we'll have a couple chairs, and a table with a coffee maker, mugs, and probably a little fridge underneath for creamer and such. You can see the door on the left to the walk-in closet, and the door to the right will be the bathroom (and they'll obviously have doors! haha!) There will also be a fireplace under the half window in the middle. 

Bathroom:

Oh boy is this rough! Ok, you can see right by the door we will have two basin sinks, probably on a refurbished old dresser as the vanity. That oval mess is supposed to be a clawfoot tub with two sided shelves next to it, and behind the toilet.

Another view, where you can see the shelves better, and the windowseat:

You can also kind of see the walk in closet there too!

Next we have the tv/family room:

Now WHY, you may ask, is the tv room on the second floor? Well, we really like to entertain, and our first floor really flows well from the living room to the dining room to the kitchen, and I really wanted a room that people could just sit in and talk and enjoy each other's company without being distracted/talking over a television. It's taken a while to get Mr. Moneypit on board with the idea (and he still may not be completely) but I think he's getting there... ;) You can also see in this picture the doorway to the third floor. 

You love my lego-land furniture, admit it. You want some. 

The top of the stairs and future reading corner:

I think this is the hardest part for people to picture right now, because this section will look so different. The wall and doorway around the top of the stairs is coming down, and opening up into a hallway that will lead to the bedroom. The doorway that now leads to what used to be the kitchen will be closed up, and the stairwell to the third floor will get a door put on it. 

Back of the house; second bedroom and laundry room:

If I had my way, this room would be done first. I am so done with the laundromat. So. Done. But this keeps me hanging on, the idea of my luxurious second floor laundry room... okay maybe "luxurious" is the wrong word, but it will definitely feel like a luxury to NOT have to cart my laundry out of my house anymore! Also, on the left is what we are calling the "second bedroom." MEGAN enjoys calling it "the nursery" – but only because it will be the kids' room where her kids can sleep when she and her family come over to hang out on the weekends again.

So there you have it, kind of, it will be interesting to see how close to this the final product ends up... hopefully I'll be able to make you a big collage of it soon!

Weeds – Your Days Are Numbered...

Since this weekend consisted of wrapping up the upstairs for window installation [yawn, nothing worth blogging - how many pictures can you take of contractor bags and piles of dust?] we didn't make much headway on the "curb appeal"... but we did get...

[and by WE I of course mean Nick :)]

Look out weeds... we aren't effin' around...