Michelangelo had it Right

While Jeremy was on his backpacking trip this past weekend, I kept myself busy completing a few outstanding painting projects – namely, the ceilings and baseboards. Between Saturday and Sunday, I painted the ceilings in the kitchen, living room, and hallway white. The difference that this makes in the brightness and cleanliness of these rooms is unbelievable. I wish that pictures would do it justice, but they don’t. I also finished painting the rest of the baseboards – they look so much cleaner now. It’s funny, the house is looking more and more like a house that people actually take care of, and I can’t get used to the changes. Having always lived in places where the ceilings and baseboards are white, it’s almost a shock to my system to see them finally white in this house. Now, we just need to get new floors put in, so I don’t have to look at fugly (yes, you read that right, I said fugly) tile anymore. All in good time, all in good time.

On a side note, as I’m writing this it’s Tuesday, and I can almost lift my arms above my head without wincing. Painting is fun!

On another side note, last night, sitting in the living room, I decided it’s time to start painting some accent colors in the house. Now that I’ve gotten every room to the same color, I’m ready to put some other colors on a few walls. I think this is becoming a sickness.

Happy white ceilings & baseboards in the hallway: I realized that I didn't take a before picture of the hallway, so a description will have to suffice. The hallway was the same poopy brown at the living room, from baseboards to ceiling. Much better now.

Garlock, (who is always one step behind me when painting), with a big blotch of white paint on his belly from when he laid down in a spot of paint, showing his glory to the world:

Warming it Up

A couple of weekends ago, we had a party double-header - why have one party when you can have two? On the 12th, we had Kali’s second annual Back to School Pool Party, which was a huge success. Nine of her friends joined us for an afternoon of swimming, Magic Dip, pizza, and Rock Band. They’re all great kids, and they were a lot of fun to watch. Kali’s friend Michelle had a broken arm, so we wrapped her cast in a plastic garbage bag so that she didn’t have to worry about being splashed. An hour later, she almost gave me a heart attack when I walked around the corner, and saw her floating in an inner tube in the middle of the pool, cast held above her head. Images of her flipping the tube and soaking her cast had me on the edge of my seat the entire time, but no such catastrophes occurred.

The girls:

Garlock, living it up:

That night, we had our grown-up housewarming party. Also a huge success, I played grill master while Jeremy plied everyone with drinks (Sunday was not a good day) and Kali and her friend Mel took some pictures of the party. We really enjoyed having everyone over, and it was unanimously agreed to that our house is a great house for entertaining; with a pool and an outdoor bar, we’ll be having parties three or four times a year. Jeremy and I discussed starting a few annual parties, so keep you ears open for invitations!

Pictures, courtesy of Kali:

And suddenly, some of these pictures make A LOT more sense...

Target, how I love thee

Let me count the ways…

I’ve long been a fan of Target. In high school, Jamie and I would go wander the aisles at least weekly, and I continue to do so to this day. There is hardly a week that goes by where I don’t find some excuse to venture to the land of Target. Its gotten to the point that I need to regulate myself upon entering the store, to prevent run-away spending. My Target shopping philosophy?

If you’re broke, no basket, no cart. If you can’t lug it to the counter with your own brute strength, you can’t bring it home.

Got some money, but need to rein in the spending? Grab a basket. If it doesn’t fit or makes the basket too heavy, it wasn’t meant to be…put that sucker back.

Ready to go buck wild? Grab a cart, and enjoy it! It’ll be awhile before you have one of these moments again. (Buying a house is a good catalyst for a Target shopping spree, and an excellent justification for grabbing the cart.)

I’ve also recently come to appreciate a whole new side of Target – the wedding registry. Jeremy and I went after work one night a month or so ago, and wandered the aisles asking “do we need _____?” Which, as any avid Target shopper knows, could be anything from lip gloss to a power sander. After we finished our tour of the store, I ventured online to add to the registry – and a whole new world opened up to me. Target, I love thee, I really do.

Reality Check

When we purchased the house, we inherited a set of umbrellas and six bar stools for the backyard bar. Upon closer investigation, we realized that the umbrellas were broken, and were replaced thanks to an end of summer clearance sale at Wal-Mart. (yes, Wal-Mart. Evil, evil Wal-Mart). We had been planning to give the bar stools a glorious farewell as fuel for a bonfire until we realized that new barstools were going to cost an arm and a leg. Solution? Sanding those babies down and re-finishing them with new stain. Add in a few well-placed screws to remedy the broken pieces and wah-la (I have no idea how to spell that word, which I'm sure was abundantly clear), good as (almost) new.

Are they comforable? No. However, you can sit on them without getting splinters in your butt, which I consider to be a win.

We’d also like to welcome to the family our new electric sander. After 20 minutes of hand-sanding, we realized that if we were ever going to finish this project, power tools were in order. This brings the new power tool count to 2: the electric chainsaw and the electric sander. I will take this moment to testify to the awesomeness of power tools. Testify!

The chairs, before, during, and after:

Action shots of each of us taking our turn sanding. Stunning, aren't they?

Garlock stretching after a long afternoon of laying in the shade and watching us work, intermixed with trips to the pool for a quick drink:

Also, while I was taking my turn with our new friend electric sander, Jeremy was hanging a rope light under the bar, to help bring some visual interest and depth to the bar area. It looks really nice and makes a big difference at night. I need to get a picture of it after dark so that you too can admire his handiwork.

The Master After

When we bought the house, the master bedroom was a dark grayish blue, from baseboards to ceiling. As soon as the living room and kitchen were painted, my subsequent project was the rehabilitation of the master bedroom. Painted the ceiling, walls, and baseboards, and now it's one of my favorite rooms in the house.

And no Mom, we don't have a bed yet.

Before:

After:

Another After

The guest bedroom was originally known as the purple princess room, with it's purple walls and Disney princess wallpaper border. This room led us to the discovery of the wonderful Wallpaper Chomp wallpaper remover. We've laid carpet and painted the walls, all that's left is to put in new baseboards.

Interesting note: when pulling off the baseboards and removing the wallpaper, we discovered that before it was purple, the walls and ceiling were blood red. Sweet dreams are made of these.

Before: After: