Great Beginnings

This is going to be tough to write, just because there are so many good songs to think about. You'll see what I mean. I hope that after reading it, you'll share your opinions with me.

We all love different things about different songs. But while talking recently about song beginnings, I tried to think of the bands who have written songs that when you hear the first few notes, you're like YESSSS. I realized that there really isn't another band I can think of that has as many awesome song beginnings as AC/DC. The beginnings of many of their songs are just so classic; they're instantly recognizable and immediately set a certain tone. Of course there are a bunch of bands with songs with great beginnings, but AC/DC sticks out to me because it seems like they've accumulated such a large number of them. Plus, when you hear the beginning of an AC/DC song, there's really no question who the band is; they are great at writing song intros that are not only catchy, but also communicate the philosophy and attitude of the band. As I said, feel free to share your feelings about this.

AC/DC is well-known for their bare bones, old-school hard rock sound, as well as the voices of the band's two singers, Bon Scott (1974-1980) and Brian Johnson (1980-present). But central to the band's unique sound are the power chords and guitar riffs generated by guitarists Malcolm and Angus Young. The guitars are most often what people remember and love about the band, especially songs that feature great guitar riffs before the lyrics start (which is most of them).

For me, it's really tough to beat the beginning of AC/DC's For Those About to Rock. When I hear those first tentative notes, I immediately get a sense of anticipation; it just feels like something big is about to happen. It makes sense that this song is played at sporting events before the start of overtime; it's effective. It gets you amped up and excited. I find it fascinating and amazing how music is able to achieve such strong reactions in people. Anyway, I'm just saying, the beginning of this song is killer. The worst is when you find it playing on the radio but you realize you missed the beginning of the song (because it's the best!). There are no words for that feeling. Well, there are, but they're jumbled strings of curse words. In fact, I'd bet brand new curse words have been created by people who just missed the beginning of that song on the radio. Like this one: muthasshitcockhat. What? If you don't like it, you'll have to make up your own.

AC/DC has a catalog of songs with great beginnings. I mean, I feel like most people would recognize the beginnings to Thunderstruck, You Shook Me All Night Long, Back in Black, and Highway to Hell. And they're just great songs with a great rock n' roll feel.

OK, here's your assignment (I bet you didn't realize I'd give you homework, eh? You're probably thinking Thanks a lot for tricking me into reading your stupid blog and then AMBUSHING ME WITH A FREAKING HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT, JACKWAD). Anyway, here's the deal: I'd love to know which songs you think have the best beginnings. Here are a few songs I (and a couple people I asked) came up with after only thinking about it for a few minutes. I know there are tons more out there, so let me know which songs you think have great-beginning status.

Rush - The Spirit of Radio
Led Zeppelin - When the Levee Breaks (love the drums)
The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name
Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child o' Mine (A friend of mine argued that Welcome to the Jungle should also be included, but I totally disagree, and therefore it is not on this list. Except for just then when I mentioned it.)
Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child
Dropkick Murphys - I'm Shipping Up to Boston
The Who - Baba O'Riley

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Mumford and Sons?

Yes, I'm going to write briefly about Mumford and Sons, a band from England who I am not overly familiar with. I've heard several of their songs, and I've liked them just fine, but I haven't heard anything that particularly struck a chord with me (pun intended, sorry). But one of the nice things about having a Tivo is that I can look at upcoming music performances on tv and set them to record, even if they're performances by bands of which I'm not an especially big fan. That way I can sort of "skim" through them and see if anything catches my ear. You never know what you'll find that you weren't expecting. So recently I fast-forwarded my way through the Mumford and Sons episode of Unplugged, and I came across their cover of a song called England by a band called The National. And I loved it. It's an extremely simple song, but it caught my attention and I've had it in my head for days. Give it a listen and see what you think. Also, see if you agree that lead singer Marcus Mumford would be doing us all a favor if he shaved that ridiculous mustache. I swear it's like he's waggling it at me on purpose.

Get More: Mumford and Sons Unplugged, Mumford and Sons, Music Videos, Live Performances

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Countertops

Well, the countertops are in, and we're really happy with them. It's difficult to visualize how a particular shade of granite will look in your kitchen. Will it go with the cabinets, the floor, the wall color? When thinking of various colors, we weren't sure whether a lighter, beige color would look good, or if a darker color would be better. As we looked at the samples, though, it was very clear we preferred the dark color over the light. I don't have any photos yet that adequately show the pattern of the granite, but at least the photos below can give you an idea of what they look like. We're still waiting on the refrigerator and the microwave, which will be delivered on Wednesday, and then we can get the dishwasher and microwave installed. Then we'll be ready to move things in and start using our kitchen!

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More progress...

This will have to be short and sweet. It has been an extremely busy time at work for me, so I haven't had time to post anything lately. But here are some photos to show what has been going on around here.

First of all, the cabinets are all in! And our new floor was installed a couple weeks ago. We are currently finishing up the painting that needed to be done. Our countertops will be installed on Tuesday. The new stove is sitting in our living room, and our dishwasher should be delivered by Friday.

Be sure to note the old floor in these photos.

Here are some shots of the new floor:

And a few random photos, showing the new soffits above the wall cabinets and the finished pass-through hole!

Aside from getting the painting finished (we still need to paint the ceiling), the next project is putting all the pulls on the cabinet doors and drawers. I'll post again soon, once our new countertops are in.

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And Then There Was Snow

In my last post, I shared my excitement that some progress was being made on my kitchen renovation. Don't get me wrong, I'm still excited and all, but since the snow came, progress has once again come to a screeching halt. I'm not exactly sure what the snow totals were, but I do know that there are 3-6 foot drifts and piles of snow out there right now. Luckily the sun is starting to melt some of it away, but it has been a heck of a snowy week. I'm told we're supposed to get more snow on Monday, so I have no idea when my contractors will be able to make it back over to work on the kitchen again. The upside to the snow is that since I work for a college, I got to stay home all week! Hooray for snow days!

One thing I am excited about in the kitchen is the new opening in the wall between the kitchen and dining room. It opens things up a lot, and since the kitchen is so tiny and the kitchen doorway is so narrow, I think adding the opening in the wall really helped make things seem less closed off.

Remember the beginning stage of the hole?












Well, now it is a nice square opening; it might just be my favorite square opening in the whole world right now. The paint on the left wall is the color we'll be painting the kitchen. It's beige. Yep, just beige. There is still some drywall work and sanding to be done, and that's why all the walls aren't painted.










Here's the view from the dining room side.










My house was built in 1958. In the process of tearing apart the kitchen, a small treasure was found: an Everywoman's Family Circle magazine from November, 1960. I don't know how it managed to stick around for so long (it probably just fell behind a cabinet) but it's interesting that it had not been seen in nearly 50 years. It is chock full of homemaking tips, recipes, sewing projects, and fashion news. Here are a few photos.













My favorite page in the magazine, though, was this one; it advertises "Fat Girls' Diet" - a list of diets which you could purchase for 25 cents each. They weren't concerned with being sensitive back then, were they?









Snow permitting, the cabinets should start going in this week. I'm on my way to having a kitchen again!

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Sorry, Kitchen's Closed

Just a quick update:

It has been a long time since I've posted any updates about the new house. Again, that's because there hasn't been anything to report. But while the past few months have offered little in the way of progress, today ushered in a tiny bit of hope. I've gotten used to living without a kitchen, though it's not easy. In fact, it's pretty annoying. If I didn't have a refrigerator in the basement, it would've been much more difficult. At first I just ate a lot of fast food (silly me, I didn't think it would take so long to get the kitchen renovation started), but then I grew out of almost all of my clothes. It's not funny. The only skirt that fits me is the one with the elastic waistband, which is totally unacceptable, and also really depressing. In fact I can't believe I just told you that. Can I hold Chick-Fil-A responsible for the whole thing? Anyway, I'm not eating all that junk anymore so I hope that sometime in the next month or two I'll be able to reunite with my old wardrobe.

My living room is looking pretty special these days. It is full of kitchen cabinets, as well as the boxes in which the cabinets were shipped, which you'll see I have carefully stacked in an artistic ode to the leaning tower of Pisa. I also have cabinets stashed away in a spare bedroom. See?




OK, onto the progress. First, let me remind you how the kitchen looked when I bought the house:







Today when I got home from work, this is what it looked like.




Fancy, eh? Admit it, you've never seen a more handsome hole in the wall. Hey, it's a start. I'm just glad to have things rolling. I'll have another update as soon as it's warranted, which I hope is soon.

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The Spark - Music Series, part two

Some of my earliest memories are of lying in my room at night, and hearing the sounds of my father playing the piano in the living room. I fell in love with music from listening to him play. It never occurred to me that it wasn’t necessarily typical to have someone playing an instrument in the house all the time. I guess I figured everybody had a family member who played often. But I was lucky in that regard. My dad had a brown Kimball baby grand, and I loved that piano and all the memories it created for me. If my father hadn’t constantly provided me exposure to his playing, I know I still would’ve come to love music, but it probably wouldn’t have happened as early as it did. My dad would sit down at the piano nearly every night to practice, and he played a variety of music. I heard countless church hymns (he was the pianist at our church), some classical pieces, and a bit of ragtime also. My dad loves George Gershwin music, and I’m glad for that because when he played Gershwin, I was exposed to very different rhythms than with the classical or religious pieces.

When my parents began sending me to piano lessons, I learned that while I was very interested and excited to learn how to play, I wasn’t too enthusiastic about learning to read music. All I wanted to do was play the piano, and at first all my piano teacher wanted me to do was read music out of a book and do sight-reading exercises. Talk about all work and no play. I wanted to hear myself playing songs, but that takes a little more time to achieve than I had originally assumed. I figured I would have one lesson and be able to play anything I wanted, perfectly. I was, as they say, ready to jam. Surprisingly, that’s not what happened. Learning to read music wasn’t especially difficult, but it took more patience than I typically kept on hand at the time, so my parents had to begin forcing me to do some serious foraging within myself to find an extra stash of patience and focus I wasn’t even sure existed (turns out it was down near my toes, and I didn’t have nearly as much stashed away as my parents claimed I did). I have the sneaking suspicion that I’m not the only child in history who has had this problem. In fact, as time went on, I tried to find ways to avoid reading music. I knew I was supposed to learn a song by reading the music, but if I could hear it played once or twice, I could usually figure it out from there without having to do the dirty work of sight-reading. It was just easier to play by ear. Granted, I could read music, but when I was still learning, it took longer to figure out the notes from the page than from hearing someone else play them. Essentially I was being lazy, and looking for the easy way out.

It was also in my early years that I developed a distinct fondness for music that sounded melancholy. Pieces written in a minor key were favorites because they created a feeling of sorrow that I identified with. They inspired me and made me love music even more. I began to comprehend the power of music, and the magic it makes possible. Those somber pieces made me feel understood; they created an atmosphere that represented how I felt, and they expressed emotions I wouldn’t fully understand for years. I could relate to the music in a way I was unable to relate to another person. I absorbed it as a means of communication and expression. I feel like music taught me that every emotion I possess is allowed to be acknowledged and expressed. As I got older, I felt that it was alright to convey the sadness I carried most of the time; it was a safe and even healthy outlet for the emotions that are difficult to put into words and share with other people. With music, whether listening, playing, or composing, my ever-present depression is allowed to be recognized; I am not expected or told to cheer up, and I am not made to apologize for it.

Music is a precious art that can be at once empowering and humbling, and it is a gift to create as well as to hear. Obviously some people are more musically talented than others, but I think some people also have an innate attraction to music, where music is not just something that drones on in the background, but is a priceless and integral component of life. It nurtures the soul in a way that little else can, and it allows for a stunning expression of life's emotions, from the worst sorrow to the greatest joy. I plan to write about my experiences with composing, playing, and listening to music, and I am hopeful that I’ll be able to convey the love and respect I have for it.

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The Attempt - Music Series, part one

Recently I was chatting about music with my friend Kris, and he encouraged me to do something I have always assumed I was incapable of doing. I had just downloaded a new album on iTunes, and he asked if it was any good. I had only listened to a few songs in the car, so I said I would have to give it an attentive listen that evening to get a better idea of what I thought of it. He asked, "What is an 'attentive' listen?" As I prepared to answer his question, I experienced the familiar difficulty I have when trying to explain my relationship with music. It's like asking me to solve a trigonometry problem; I get that deer-in-headlights thing going on, where my eyes open slightly larger than normal and my mouth drops open just a little, and then I stare into space just long enough to make anyone in the vicinity wonder if I've lost my lone marble. I have never, ever been able to adequately describe the role music plays in my life, how it really makes me feel, or why it is so important to me. I always come away feeling like a frustrated child wanting to stomp my feet and whine, "Wait, you don't really understand!" It sort of makes me feel like I must be the only person who feels this strongly about music. Obviously that's not true; there are a lot of people in the world who are passionate about music, and it would be arrogant of me to think that I am the only one who feels the way I do. But, man, talk about a difficult thing to describe. Even if I had better communication skills, I think I would still have trouble with this one. I mean, how do you describe that kind of magic?

I decided to try and write about music. This will be a true challenge for me, but I’m actually looking forward to it. Instead of attempting to fit everything into one post, I’m going to write a series; I’ll be able to break things into narrower topics and I’ll also have the chance to add or expand on things in later posts. Writing this series of posts and trying to express my passion for music is what Kris encouraged me to do. "That is what I want to read about," he said. I had never felt so much support for something like this, something that is very important and personal to me. So I decided to give it a shot, and if I fail to do the explanation justice, that's okay; at least I can say I tried. I’m willing to crash and burn here. But if I do, I’m blaming it all on Kris.

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A Very Unentertaining Blog Post

It's been a while since I've posted about progress on the house. There's a reason for that. See, for me to write a post about progress on the house, progress would have actually had to have occurred. Unfortunately, as it stands, there is really no progress to speak of. My living room is currently divided into three distinct sections: 1. the section of boxes containing unassembled kitchen cabinets, 2. the section containing assembled kitchen cabinets, and 3. the section containing a whole mess of random stuff that hasn't been unpacked or put away yet. There isn't anything in the living room that looks like it actually belongs in a living room, except for some bookshelves, and they don't even have books on them. My laundry room is the current depository for most of my kitchen stuff, which, of course, can't go into the kitchen because it is in the process of being completely stripped of any and all kitchen-like paraphernalia, including cabinets, flooring, drywall, and appliances. There are exactly zero pieces of art hung in the entire house. I've hung zero curtains. I haven't even hung the new chandelier in the dining room (but I did put it together and that was a lot harder than you would think). How can it possibly be taking me so long to get this house together? I've been thinking about this for weeks now, and I finally found the answer, unfair as it may be. Apparently (and contrary to my expectations), not everything in the world stopped because I bought a house. I mean, I'm still expected to go to work, attend functions for family and friends, do laundry, and pay bills. And other people still have their own responsibilities to take care of, too; it's like they don't even realize that I just bought a house and have a lot of work they could help with. They aren't dropping everything and spending all their evenings at my house, getting much-needed work done! It's simply not fair. Okay, so of course I am being sarcastic. I do realize that the world does not revolve around me. But it would sure be a lot easier to get things done around here if it did. I'm just saying.

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Slowly But Surely

Unpacking boxes at the house has been a painfully slow process. It is frustrating in the way getting stuck on a two-lane road behind a tractor or an old lady who's driving 27 mph is frustrating. It seems like no matter how much time I spend unpacking boxes, the house is still impossibly full of them. I suspect that they are secretly reproducing while I sleep at night. What this means is that I am not yet ready to share photos with you of the current state of affairs around here. Frankly all you would see are photographs of someone else's clutter. OH THE GLORIOUS CLUTTER. So instead of interesting photos of beautifully decorated rooms, I will share these.

While the master bedroom is still in the most basic form of updatedness (i.e., no curtains, nothing hung on the walls), it does look quite different than it did when I moved in. Here are before-and-after shots of the master bedroom.

Here's the before:

And here's the after (so far).

One of the best things about having a house is the fact that I now have a nice yard for my dogs to run around in. Murphy and Oliver have been having a blast out there; they wander aimlessly, sniffing everything, and Murphy has begun to chase crickets, which is more comical than I can express with words. Here are a few random shots I got recently.

Here's a look at the back of the house from about 3/4 of the way back in the yard. And also a photo of the neighbor's yard (a fence will be going up between my house and his) and his canoe. There's a spectacular view of the canoe from the back porch.

Here are Murph and Ollie "on the hunt" and then taking a break with Christi's dog Shiloh:

And here are my handsome boys enjoying their yard (Oliver on the left, Murphy on the right)!

I'll have more progress photos as soon as I can. I hope I'll have something good to show you soon!

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Basement "Befores"

Well, I moved into the new house this past weekend, so that means: a) I haven't gotten to do much work on the house lately, because I was trying to get everything packed and ready for the move, and b) now there are boxes all over the place. I had to send out a text message to a bunch of people who helped me pack and move, asking if anyone knew where my hair dryer was. I was kind of annoyed when shortly after I got out of the shower, I realized that I had no idea where any of my stuff was. I mean, I had the basics, like my toothbrush and contact lenses, but ask me to find a hairbrush or some moisturizer and I was stumped. Luckily all the blinds were closed, so my nude sprint around the house didn't inadvertently catch the attention of some neighborhood kid who was innocently walking by to get to his friend's house.

Anyhoo, I thought I'd share some "before" pictures of the basement. I'm not quite ready to post any "after" pictures, but at least you'll get to see what I started off with.

It's a big basement, but certainly not the most attractive. The paneling is pretty tacky, though the zig-zag floor is kind of fun. Kind of.






The tops of the benches in this area fold up to allow for tons of storage. If I find myself involved in a cut-throat game of hide-and-seek in the near future, I'm hiding in there. (Don't tell anybody.)






Much cleaning and painting has happened since these photos were taken. I can't wait to get everything finished so I can share the "after" pictures with you all.

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Whirlwind Weekend

It was quite a whirlwind of a weekend for me. I'm going to do a brief recap, and then I'm going to bed because I'm tired, and I'm told sleep can help with that.

Friday the electrician came to do some work, resulting in a new ceiling fan in the master bedroom, an exhaust fan and new outlet in the bathroom, and outlets and switches in the basement that actually work! There is still so much to do, but at least some of the projects are getting close to completion, instead of having tons of loose ends. Those loose ends tend to rattle around in my brain and cause me to lose sleep. Moving day is Saturday, so those loose ends need to get nailed down, and soon.

Today I was blessed with lots of help. I started off the day by meeting my father-in-law, Bob, and my brother-in-law, Alex, at Home Depot to pick up a new bathroom vanity, sink top, and faucet. They spent the entire day at my house working on the plumbing in the bathroom, and they only set the house on fire twice. Really. Apparently even the smallest of blowtorches can cause a real problem. The wood behind the drywall caught on fire a couple times, but it was not a serious issue. Of course, the water to the whole house was shut off at the time, so if it had been a serious issue, we probably would've been screwed. The main floor of the house smelled like a campfire for hours. I found myself with a strange craving for s'mores. Note to self: it's time to go ahead and pick up a fire extinguisher.

Anyway, most of the basement was primed today, which is cool, because I wasn't sure there would be time to paint the basement before moving in. Little things, like vent cover installation and paint touch-ups were done today as well. My feet hurt. But you don't care about my feet, you want to see if there are any photos in this blog post. So here you go.

Here's the "before" shot, in all its glory.













And here's the "after" shot. I know, it's still pink. I assure you, the pinkness of this bathroom cannot be squelched in one day. Oh no, that will take time and plenty of careful planning. For now, I'm incredibly happy with a new vanity and sink. There's still work to do, though; as you can see, there's a tile missing behind the sink - that's where a soap dish was ripped out of the wall. The backsplash hasn't been put on yet either, but that will be coming soon. Oh, and the sink is only usable thanks to the bucket that's hiding under the sink. Something about some pesky missing plumbing parts...

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Change on the Horizon

While progress is being made at the new house (seemingly at a snail's pace), there are parts of the house I haven't shared with you yet. These areas are going to be changed and improved, but since the "2009 War on Pink" has taken longer than expected, the work is not yet underway. Today I will show you the kitchen. The cabinets are original to the house (1958) and are in pretty good shape. However, everything you see in the kitchen will be gone soon. Everything. There will be new floors, new cabinets, new countertops, a pass-through in the wall between the kitchen and dining room, a new ceiling fan, new paint, and new appliances. (You can't see it in the pictures, but there is pink paint between the cabinets and the ceiling!) It will be quite a job, but I think it will also be totally worth it. As it is now, the kitchen isn't exactly an example of an efficient use of space. There's no way I could even fit all of my dishes and cookware into the cabinets. And the cabinets are hung so low on the walls that even I (at less than 5' 2") think they're too low. And there's no dishwasher. Without a dishwasher, I might as well just start using paper plates and cups. Handwashing dishes on a daily basis is ok if you're camping, but in my normal, day-to-day life, I know it just wouldn't work.

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Paint Colors

Here are a few photos I took yesterday. It's tough to accurately show the paint colors via digital photo, but I gave it a shot anyway.

On the left is a shot of the dining room wall. This, of course, shows the pink trim that hasn't yet been painted white. The second photo is of the third (smallest) bedroom. I really like the deep blue color. It'll look great once the trim is painted and all the blue tape is off. The third photo shows the corner where the dining room meets the living room. The living room is currently painted a color called Natural Linen, which I thought was just going to be a nice beige color that would go well with the green in the dining room. But once it was up on the walls, it took on a rather green tint all its own. At night when the room is lit only by lamplight, it actually looks mint green, which is one of my least favorite colors. After painting the second bedroom a subtle gray and falling in love with it, I decided the living room will be repainted that color, too.

Painting this house has been less like simple painting and more like a battle against the pink. If your house was painted pink everywhere you'd probably understand why I can't wait to cover every last little speck of it. I want to defeat it soundly and never look back! I started painting the trim last night, so soon I'll be able to step back and look at the nice white trim against the newly painted walls. I can't wait.

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Where are all the pictures?

OK, I haven't posted any updates since Sunday. What in the world have I been doing all week? Did I run out of steam and decide to be lazy and idle? I can tell you what I haven't been doing: relaxing, getting massages, and eating ice cream. Work has continued at the new house, mostly in the form of painting; all the ceilings are done, and the walls are nearly done as well. The trim hasn't even been started yet, so the whole house has beautiful, freshly painted walls framed by - you guessed it - pink trim.

The wall in the master bedroom has been repaired; after the first area was patched, another soft spot in the drywall showed itself, so that had to be repaired, too. After a second coat of paint, the master bedroom will be ready to rid itself of the yucky carpet that is in there. That will be exciting because that carpet is pretty gross, and it will be nice to see the hardwood floor.

So if work has continued, why are there no new photos on this blog? Well, every evening this week I've been working at the house, but by the time I think to grab my camera and take some pictures, it's completely dark outside, and we don't have enough light inside the house to properly illuminate the new paint colors. My mission for tomorrow is to take pictures as soon as I get to the house. I certainly wouldn't want you to miss out on seeing the place in its "pink-trimmed" glory!

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Aaaargh

This weekend was supposed to be all about painting. There was to be paint just flying onto ceilings, walls, and trim. In fact, a great symphony of painting was going to be conducted, resulting in a beautiful outcome. Then I got one of my headaches.

For over a month I've been going to physical therapy for these 'headaches' I get frequently. It turns out they're not normal headaches; they are the result of extreme muscle tension, which in turn causes occipital nerve pain. NERVE PAIN. All I can say is, well, ouch.

Anyway, I am incredibly lucky, because Rita is over at the house with Matt, painting away. The living room, dining room, and hallway should be done today. And all I've done to help the last two days is tape off the trim in the living room, dining room, and part of the hallway, and get the first coat of white paint on a few of the interior doors. It's a terrible feeling to be stuck at home on one of the few weekends I have left to get things done before moving in. Not only is it very frustrating, but it's horrible to be sitting here with ice on my neck, while other people are working on my house, which is what I should be doing. If I felt better, this actually might not be a bad deal, sitting around and having other people doing the work. I guess that's how rich people do things. But anyone who knows me knows I would rather be doing the work myself, not relying on someone else to keep things rolling.

I suppose I'd better get over it because right now there's nothing I can do besides try to get myself feeling better and maybe eat some Oreo cookies. I'm hoping that tomorrow night I'll have photos of the fabulous paint job to share. And oh yeah, when painting the ceiling in the dining room, there was a pretty large area just outside the kitchen doorway where all these little brown spots kept showing up through the paint. I hadn't noticed them at all before the painting started. I'm pretty sure they're grease spots, so that whole area is going to need a coat of primer and then another coat of paint. Ugh.

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One Step Forward...

The painting has begun! Christi and I started by painting the ceiling in the master bedroom the other night. The walls were started a couple days ago. I am an experienced painter, so I figured the master bedroom would be a breeze to paint. It would be done in no time, right? Well, after the first coat of paint went on, a soft spot was discovered in one of the walls, so the drywall had to be pulled out and the area had to be patched.

Crap.

But at least it will be fixed properly now so I won't have to deal with it later. I decided to take the day off work tomorrow so that I could be at the house all day, painting and cleaning. Right now the focus is on getting the painting done. Since every surface except the hardwood floors is getting painted, there's a lot to do!

Anyway, tonight I went over and started priming some of the interior doors. They are unpainted wood, and I'm painting them all white. As I said, every surface except the floors! I'm hoping to have a different photo of the master bedroom for you soon, once it's all finished and flawless!

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Out With the Old...Carpet

I said I would post more photos, some showing the results of the work from yesterday. I know you've been on the edge of your seat. The highlights of the day were that the yucky carpet was torn out and the drapes came down. Maybe it doesn't sound like we got much done, but with all the staples we had to remove from the hardwood floors, it took quite awhile. I seriously think I sprouted a new gray hair every time I wrestled out a staple. Today was mostly about cleaning. I spent about two hours cleaning the mini-blinds in the master bedroom, which was exactly as exciting as it sounds.

Today was interesting in that I got a revelatory nugget of information - the electricity in certain parts of the house no longer works. No light in the bathroom, no working outlets in the bedrooms and part of the basement, no obvious cause, and no electrician skills to fix it. Sweet.

OK, so here are some more of the photos I took on Friday after I got the keys.

Here's a shot of the hallway. You can see the master bedroom also. The glass in the light fixture is currently held together with masking tape. It's clear the fixture has had a long life, but it is showing its age and needs to walk toward the 'bright light' to that final resting place in the sky.








This is the master bedroom. Thankfully, the drapes are now gone. I'll show you all an updated photo once it's painted and the carpet comes out. At least it's not pink.






Remember the "before" shot of the living room? Well, here it is again. So far, it has gone from this:









to this (Christi's sweeping pose is super):









to this (yay)!









Maybe there's been no exciting stuff yet, but have no fear, I'm working on it! I'm hoping to get the painting started tomorrow after work. I'll be posting photos of the kitchen and basement soon.

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