Seven Months Later

It's been a little over seven months since DH and I set a new 'course.' He brought it up the other day and so I thought I'd take stock of our progress.

Mentally, I feel like I've made some headway. I'm much more thoughtful when it comes to 'stuff,' both in terms of getting rid of excess possessions and the acquisition of new ones. Yes, I bought four pair of stretchy pants at Target two weeks ago, but that's because I read jeans are bad for your alignment (and, therefore, overall well-being). They also look pretty good and are comfortable as hell for sitting in the floor (also better for you than chairs), playing blocks or trains or reading with my 2-year-old.

I forgot to mention that DD turned two, two weeks ago. That's for another post but I'll just say that "play witt me" are my favorite three words right now.

26#, 9.9oz. of T.R.O.U.B.L.E

I made her an 'Easter bunny' cake. I dyed coconut and then put a chocolate bunny and a couple of peeps to hold the candles on top. It was adorable, as was the look on her face.

Anyway, now that we've moved back home (and twice in 4 months), we've definitely gotten rid of a lot of excess stuff. There's still more but we're down to the potentially interesting/valuable stuff and will sort through and try to sell whatever we decide we can't display. We do have some room in the attic to store stuff but it really needs to be reigned in, as well. If we can keep it to seasonal and necessary, as opposed to mountains of yarn and fabric I'll never make into anything or boxes of old and never 'might need it' computer parts, we'll be able to breathe easier.

Did you notice my new kitchen in the cake photo above?!?

It's so nice to have something, well, nice. It's just a house but hopefully one we'll really get to enjoy, as long as we're here. Then, if and when the time comes to sell, hopefully it will be one that will make a nice return on our investment.

We've talked about some sailing classes but I'm back working part-time and we're just trying to get through the final bit of unpacking and returning to 'normal.'

Working part-time means my parents keep DD and DS, part-time. DS has taken his time getting used to taking a bottle (although he does fine for me and for DH), so it's been a little stressful for my folks. This is only the fourth week, though, so I'm sure things will settle down. DS has the best smile, not to mention the dimples! His eyes are still just barely hazel but are heading toward brown. They're the biggest, brightest, smiling-est eyes. We even had to trim his hair to keep it out of them. He's working on rolling over and makes the most interesting noises. He's a big fan of his hands and feet and he thinks his sister is pretty cool, too.

Demolition continues

Demolition continued last Friday, part of Saturday, and yesterday (Tuesday). The masonry chimney came down, which was pretty dramatic to us. It had once served an oil furnace, not a fireplace... and the placement wouldn't have worked for a wood stove, which we did consider.   

 Getting rid of the chimney and related framing gave us an additional 10 sf of space in the kitchen for cabinets and appliances. Of course we changed the kitchen layout on Saturday, almost immediately upon seeing the emptied space. I met with our contractor on Monday to look at everything and go over the changes, which is why there was no demolition work that day. The refrigerator will now go in the corner, there, instead of on the opposite side of that doorway into the living room.

One major bummer was the discovery that the pine flooring (underneath a couple of layers of vinyl) that we'd hoped to save and have finished... was full of nail holes and there were chunks missing in spots. I'd have been ok with some dings and holes... you know, "character," but we opted to have it pulled up and will have them put down oak to match the rest.

We cut most of the bathroom scope, but decided to go ahead with redoing the tile shower surround, which was of superb quality...








 



The previous owner (it could have been one of several, but we tend to blame the one before us) had green board installed on top of the plaster, then had tile installed over that. It's been uneven and terrible to try to clean ever since. The contractor removed everything, down to the framing, and will install new, "water-durable, mold-resistant," cement board and tile.

We still have to decide exactly how to deal with the window in the shower. Our contractor suggested replacing it with glass block or just blocking it from the inside. We'd rather leave it or take it out completely. I'm not a fan of the glass block or the high 'clerestory' windows in bathrooms because they make me think of bad cookie-cutter housing developments... "oh, look, there's the bathroom!"

For ten years we kept it covered with a translucent shower curtain (along with the awesome 'stained glass' blobs that are now disintegrating), which seems to have kept out the water. You can see the evidence of past repairs for water damage to the framing below the sill. We might still need to repair some of this old damage, but I hope better tile work and making sure everything is clean and sealed will help... I can deal with the shower curtain.

The only other thing we're doing in the bathroom is replacing the tub & shower valve. The existing diverter (from tub to shower) quit working years ago, which wasn't a problem when it was just adults taking showers. Now that we need to use the actual tub, we figured we need to get something that doesn't fall off in your hand. ;)












The contractor is getting the revised cabinets re-quoted and the additional flooring quoted. I'm waiting to hear on a window quote. I think they're going to start work on replacing the roofing soon.

We're more or less settled in the rental house, even with a couple of boxes to sort, consolidate, and put away. We even put up and decorated the Christmas tree (and two wreaths!) and DH put lights on the outside, along the roof.

DD turned 20 months old on Friday. She was keeping the hounds company in 'time out' while my MIL was making cookies. Both of ours are on the left, in a pile, and that's my in-laws' dog on the right.

It didn't hurt that he had a ball to chew, but our boy is SO awesome with DD... he lets her sit on him, pull his collar and tail (although we nip that in the bud as quickly as we can)... it probably also helps that she frequently shares food with him. He'll do anything for food, even her favorite bananas and clementines ('babee' oranges, she says). She has tried, at least once, to throw her leg over him and climb on while he was standing... I'll keep y'all posted on how that goes.






Tomorrow is my due date and I'm trying not to get impatient for this new baby to get here. The weather had been pretty cold and we even burned fires in the fireplace at the rental, but it turned downright spring-like over the weekend. I'll take 60s and 70s in December!

Baking Brownies!

My good friend, Brettany, has inspired me to be more adventurous in baking... so I've been searching and trying more scratch recipes. I don't have anything against mixes, but it is interesting to see how slight variations in ingredients or amounts can really change the final product.

A while back I found and tried the Supernatural Brownies recipe and, although I liked them, DH deemed them too cake-y. He strongly encouraged me to keep looking for a fudgier brownie recipe.

This past weekend we had friends coming down from Virginia to go to the Virginia Tech game at Duke, so I decided to find an alternative or at least figure out a way to make the Supernatural recipe fudgier. I began by searching for the original recipe and found the Tender Crumb Blog, comparing the former recipe to another... The Baked Brownie recipe! My results pretty much match her findings, and I also agree with liking both. I will say that sitting out in the sun all day makes for hungry folks, the six of us pretty much inhaled the 24 Baked Brownies on Saturday!