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Toadfrogs & Elephants

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Month: May 2008

31 May

The Never Ending Project

My goal before our furniture was delivered was to complete painting in the living room and dining room. I had planned to paint the walls, the ceilings, and the trim. The trim turned into a nightmare. I thought a good sealer coat would be enough to cover the stained trim and I would still be able to use a latex paint. Wrong. Sometimes the stain bled through; sometimes the paint cracked. I tried numerous paints and methods before giving up. I even had the guys at Sherwin Williams stumped. I had a painter come in to give me a quote – he said $27,000 for all trim, doors, and windows – and then Wade decided to figure it out.

Wade set up on the mantle with four different paints. We think he found a solution. Sand with an orbital; two coats of Zinser BIN, lightly sand, one coat of Sherwin-Williams Pro Block; one coat latex semi-gloss.

This project is much larger than anticipated, but I think the results are looking good. I still have the Pro Block and semi-gloss to go:

29 May

Painting and Hanging

Wade and I have most of our pictures back on the walls. I wasn’t sure what to do with the stars Jamie gave me for my birthday last year. The stars are red and blue which I didn’t think would look right on my red walls. Wade pointed out the obvious – paint the stars. I now have gray and white stars and love them! They are still hanging at my backdoor, just in a new house.

28 May

Sad News

I got some sad news today. Melissa and Chris had to have Taylor put to sleep. Shortly after adopting her they discovered some heart problems. Over the last year the problems have gotten worse. Taylor was having trouble breathing and the vet tried a few things, but couldn’t decrease the fluid around her heart.

27 May

Let’s Make Some Money

Our house in Milwaukee is slightly smaller than our house in Anderson. More importantly, there is radiant heat which leads to less wall space. We also lost a walk-in attic. All of this has motivated Wade and I to sell, donate, and throw out. We decided to keep a running tally of everything we sell and then use that money to buy new stainless appliances for the kitchen to match our fridge. As of today, we have sold a refrigerator (came with the house), a dresser, a rug, a dog house, a set of TV trays, two televisions, a microwave, dishes, glasses, pots, pants, etc. It is nice to be back in an area with an active Craig’s list – perfect for the larger items. I still use eBay for the smaller things. Our current total is $696. My guess is we’ll get another hundred from the remaining items. I am going to wait to sell our current appliances until the new ones arrive!

25 May

Johnny, Cash, and Tango

Wade and I have one room 90% done. The kitchen only needs the track lighting removed and can lights installed, but that is a later project. For now it is done – painting, decorating, etc.

In celebration – we now have three fish in our tank. They were named for some of my current favorite things – Johhny Cash and an old movie favorite – Tango & Cash. We have two black mollies (Johnny and Cash) and a dalmation molly (Tango). We are not taking bets at this time on their life span.

19 May

We’ve Been Pepplered

Wade and I only met the Peppler family a couple of times during the house buying process. It probably isn’t a fair evaluation, but we decided we don’t like them. The more and more issues we find with the house (all little things) only cements our feelings. To this end we have created a new phrase, “We’ve been Pepplered.” We use this whenever we find something done really weird to the house – clear unpaintable caulk EVERYWHERE, drywalling around a ceiling fan mounting bracket, glass windows replaced with plexiglass, etc. None of it is a big deal – no holes in the wall or anything major. But it is always an inconvenience that makes our project just a little harder. We can’t even really say it was previous owners because they were in the house for ten years. We have been using the phrase freely and I know we are going to get caught – most of our neighbors seemed to really like the Pepplers and I have already seem them out once around town. Oh well, we’re having fun with it for now.

18 May

Painting Peanut Butter

Wade and I woke up before everyone else and went to early church. We came home to find the girls playing in the tree house and “building campfires”. We puttered around the house and then the girls wanted to help Wade paint his office. He had bought paint with the name “Peanut Butter”. They had a great time using brushes, rollers, and fingers. The walls are now painted and the rest of the house is relatively paint free.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with the Wii and making brownies – Tina is quite the baker. The house is going to feel very empty tonight after everyone leaves.

17 May

Family Time

The girls got up around 7:45 am so we all got up then. We made chocolate chip muffins for breakfast and then set up to decorate the sugar cookies we made last night. We were almost done when Anthony returned from Madison. The five of us piled into the car for a trip to the zoo (which is just down the street). We had a good time and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of animals. I’m curious to go back in the winter to see what they do with all of the animals in the snow. Tina kept us entertained with her funny teeth.

We grilled burgers and hot dogs for dinner and ate in front of the tv. The girls had bought some new movies for the trip and hadn’t watched all of them yet. The movie of choice was “Golden Compass”.

16 May

Putt Putt and Cookies

Wade’s cousins are in town for Jamie to take a work-related class. The class is actually in Madison, an hour or so away, but it didn’t start until late afternoon. After an early morning run to the train station to drop off my mom, we had a leisurely morning. Then we found a cool putt putt course and had a little family fun.

Jamie and Anthony left around 3 pm and we had the girls for the night. We played a lot of games, walked to a local Mexican restaurant, and then made sugar cookies.

15 May

Visitors in Town

Wade and I unpacked most of the house by Sunday evening. Mom arrived on Monday and helped me put the finishing touches on my shelves and bookcases. Then Wade’s cousins arrived on Thursday – Jamie, Anthony, Marie, and Tina. We all went out for pizza on Thursday night – Wade is loving that thin crust is the normal pizza – and then the Wii games began.

12 May

A Gift From The Previous Owners

When we moved into our new house we noticed many things we wanted to change. The light fixtures and ceiling fans in the house all need to be painted or replaced. One of the first things Wade did was to remove the lamp shades from the over head light in his office. We both thought they worked better as hats.

09 May

Unpacking

Time to start unpacking. Madison has become my shadow and doesn’t want to be more than two feet away – that means she gets lost in all the packing paper.

07 May

Moving In

It took five guys two days, but Wade and I are moved in. By “moved in” I mean there is stuff everywhere and nowhere to walk or sit. The movers couldn’t take the mattresses up the stairs. Our small hallway makes too tight of a turn. They felt bad because they weren’t able to reassemble any of the furniture they took apart (desks, table, etc). To make up for it, they did get my mattresses in the house. Don’t tell anyone – I know they weren’t supposed to do it this way.

04 May

Goodbye Anderson

Wade and I spent the week in Anderson packing up the house (or rather watching the movers pack) and saying goodbye to friends. Wade was able to arrange a research trip in Atlanta and Charlotte for this week so the company paid for him to come down. I drove down with Madison and stopped in Atlanta to have dinner with Tina and Carol. Thursday I had lunch with Danielle, Emma, and Brooks. Then I met up with Debra in Greenville. On Friday, I went to lunch with my replacements at TTi. Wade and I spent the afternoon at TTi talking to old friends. Friday evening we loaded up the few things the movers wouldn’t take and started our drive. We made the trip in three days and stopped to see all of our family – Memphis and then Paducah. Now we are safely in our new home and trying to finish up a few projects before our furniture arrives on Tuesday.
Goodbye Old House

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