Stored up Snippets; everything is "epic" in our world lately; home beautification
Max told me during a car ride the other day that there's nothing for Stu and I to worry about because he's got everything in our household under control. He will battle anyone that tries to hurt us. And no need to worry about his friend, C.J. (name changed to protect the innocent), because C.J.'d assured Max that he had his household under control too. Shortly thereafter he asked me if I realized that the wind outside was "epic" that day. I asked him if he knew what epic meant and he said, "Yeah. It means really big." This cracked me up because it seems like I'm reading and hearing about "epic" everywhere. Epic movies, epic books, even epic "fails" when someone screws something up really badly. Apparently even kindergarteners are learning about the epic-ness of our world.
Ryann told us to take good care of our house because she wanted her children to live here someday. She's also told us several times over the last year or so that she wants to have 10 kids. Max sometimes says he wants that many, too.
Adam was playing with two balloons that the kids had decorated with funny faces. He was holding both of them closely to his chest and with this hugely excited look in his face, exclaimed, "If I had wotsa bawoons, dat wud be AWESOME!"
We've been doing some little things this fall and winter to keep making our house nicer and nicer. My mom and I painted the boys room a dark sand color on three walls and a deep blue on one wall. We're EAGERLY awaiting delivery of the beautiful bunkbed we ordered for the boys (we've been waiting for over four months now when I was originally told it should arrive in 6-8 weeks). Stu recently touched up a bunch of dings in the paint in the basement. Stu changed out the light fixtures in the kids' rooms. They used to be these sort of directional lights that resulted in dark shadows in certain areas of the rooms. Now each room has a nice flush mount ceiling light fixture and their rooms are so nice and bright. I looked at a new light fixture for the kitchen today and we thought about replacing the countertops in the kitchen but couldn't bite the bullet to spend so much money right now. I'll likely work on re-doing the bathroom soon, too. It currently has wallpaper and "shadow-y" directional track-lighting and, unfortunately, the wood trim on one side of the countertop seems to have pulled away from the grout and is progressively warping more and more as it continues to get wet so we may need to replace that countertop sooner than later. I am really proud of all the work Stu and I have done to make our house nice and have been thinking about writing it down just to see it all listed out so I'll do it here.
Stu and I moved in to this house in January of 2002.
That summer, we tore out the huge, overgrown arbor vitus bushes that blocked the front window and planted new bushes and put in new landscaping rock.
Later that year or maybe early in 2003, we painted the wood paneling that was in the basement. We bought new hardware for all the cabinets down there and then put in carpeting over the existing linoleum floor. We also painted our bedroom, one of the guest bedrooms and the living room, dining room, and hallway. Additionally, we had a dishwasher installed because this house had NO dishwasher when we moved in!
In 2004, we refinanced our home loan and took out some money to replace the fiber board siding on the house with maintenance-free siding. We also had maintenance free soffits and facia installed. We got all new windows including a huge, beautiful bow window in the living room, and a new front door and storm door installed at the same time. We also replaced the existing exterior light fixtures over the garage, near the front door, over the back door, and on the side of the house. We painted the second "guest" bedroom that was now our nursery, in preparation for our first baby. Sometime that year, our hot water heater started to leak so Stu and his dad replaced it with a nice, big hot water heater so we have plenty of hot water for laundry, dishes, and multiple showers!
In 2005, we replaced the carpet throughout the first level and instead of recarpeting near the front door and in the "formal" dining room, we had hardwood flooring laid in the entryway and in the dining room and kitchen, replacing the Pergo flooring that used to be in the kitchen.
Somewhere around here, we replaced the entryway and hallway light fixtures.
I believe it was the summer of 2007 when we tore out the huge raised garden beds that arced around the perimeter of our backyard and put in grass seed. The gardens were too much to take care of and we ended up with tons of great square footage for the kids to run and play in.
I think it was the winter of 2007/2008 when we painted the kitchen (a huge undertaking because whatever materials had been used to paint it previously required us to sand the entire kitchen in order for the paint to stick), and bought a new refrigerator, stove/oven, and hood fan. Around the same time, Ryann moved out of the bedroom she and Max had been sharing and into the bedroom Adam had been using as a nursery. We painted her bedroom a pretty lavendar and hung hot pink curtains. Adam and his crib moved into Max's room (which is soon to be the boys' bunkbed room). Also around this same time, our dryer quit working so we got a new front load washer/dryer pair.
The summer of 2008, when Adam was a tiny baby, we replaced our furnace and air conditioner after the furnace had been acting funny the winter before.
The summer of 2009, we installed a nice, big maintenance-free shed in the backyard and the summer of 2010, we replaced the lovely but falling-down, rotten wood fence in our backyard with black vinyl-covered chain link fencing.
My dad joked once that he and my mom would buy houses, fix them all up, and when they got them how they wanted them, my mom would want to move. Like mother, like daughter...probably by the time we get the bathroom all re-done, I'll be ready to move...
Ryann told us to take good care of our house because she wanted her children to live here someday. She's also told us several times over the last year or so that she wants to have 10 kids. Max sometimes says he wants that many, too.
Adam was playing with two balloons that the kids had decorated with funny faces. He was holding both of them closely to his chest and with this hugely excited look in his face, exclaimed, "If I had wotsa bawoons, dat wud be AWESOME!"
We've been doing some little things this fall and winter to keep making our house nicer and nicer. My mom and I painted the boys room a dark sand color on three walls and a deep blue on one wall. We're EAGERLY awaiting delivery of the beautiful bunkbed we ordered for the boys (we've been waiting for over four months now when I was originally told it should arrive in 6-8 weeks). Stu recently touched up a bunch of dings in the paint in the basement. Stu changed out the light fixtures in the kids' rooms. They used to be these sort of directional lights that resulted in dark shadows in certain areas of the rooms. Now each room has a nice flush mount ceiling light fixture and their rooms are so nice and bright. I looked at a new light fixture for the kitchen today and we thought about replacing the countertops in the kitchen but couldn't bite the bullet to spend so much money right now. I'll likely work on re-doing the bathroom soon, too. It currently has wallpaper and "shadow-y" directional track-lighting and, unfortunately, the wood trim on one side of the countertop seems to have pulled away from the grout and is progressively warping more and more as it continues to get wet so we may need to replace that countertop sooner than later. I am really proud of all the work Stu and I have done to make our house nice and have been thinking about writing it down just to see it all listed out so I'll do it here.
Stu and I moved in to this house in January of 2002.
That summer, we tore out the huge, overgrown arbor vitus bushes that blocked the front window and planted new bushes and put in new landscaping rock.
Later that year or maybe early in 2003, we painted the wood paneling that was in the basement. We bought new hardware for all the cabinets down there and then put in carpeting over the existing linoleum floor. We also painted our bedroom, one of the guest bedrooms and the living room, dining room, and hallway. Additionally, we had a dishwasher installed because this house had NO dishwasher when we moved in!
In 2004, we refinanced our home loan and took out some money to replace the fiber board siding on the house with maintenance-free siding. We also had maintenance free soffits and facia installed. We got all new windows including a huge, beautiful bow window in the living room, and a new front door and storm door installed at the same time. We also replaced the existing exterior light fixtures over the garage, near the front door, over the back door, and on the side of the house. We painted the second "guest" bedroom that was now our nursery, in preparation for our first baby. Sometime that year, our hot water heater started to leak so Stu and his dad replaced it with a nice, big hot water heater so we have plenty of hot water for laundry, dishes, and multiple showers!
In 2005, we replaced the carpet throughout the first level and instead of recarpeting near the front door and in the "formal" dining room, we had hardwood flooring laid in the entryway and in the dining room and kitchen, replacing the Pergo flooring that used to be in the kitchen.
Somewhere around here, we replaced the entryway and hallway light fixtures.
I believe it was the summer of 2007 when we tore out the huge raised garden beds that arced around the perimeter of our backyard and put in grass seed. The gardens were too much to take care of and we ended up with tons of great square footage for the kids to run and play in.
I think it was the winter of 2007/2008 when we painted the kitchen (a huge undertaking because whatever materials had been used to paint it previously required us to sand the entire kitchen in order for the paint to stick), and bought a new refrigerator, stove/oven, and hood fan. Around the same time, Ryann moved out of the bedroom she and Max had been sharing and into the bedroom Adam had been using as a nursery. We painted her bedroom a pretty lavendar and hung hot pink curtains. Adam and his crib moved into Max's room (which is soon to be the boys' bunkbed room). Also around this same time, our dryer quit working so we got a new front load washer/dryer pair.
The summer of 2008, when Adam was a tiny baby, we replaced our furnace and air conditioner after the furnace had been acting funny the winter before.
The summer of 2009, we installed a nice, big maintenance-free shed in the backyard and the summer of 2010, we replaced the lovely but falling-down, rotten wood fence in our backyard with black vinyl-covered chain link fencing.
My dad joked once that he and my mom would buy houses, fix them all up, and when they got them how they wanted them, my mom would want to move. Like mother, like daughter...probably by the time we get the bathroom all re-done, I'll be ready to move...
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