What has been consuming my time?

Lee and I each had a 4-day weekend last week, so we decided to tackle a big project around our house. Refinishing the living room and kitchen floors. So, we turned our dining room into a psuedo-kitchen and got to work.

At one point as we fumbled around in our dining-room-turned-kitchen, Lee said "This is what it would be like living in an efficiency apartment." FYI, I don't want to!
Since I had Thursday and Friday off and Lee had Friday/Monday off, I was in charge of a lot of preparation. I had to remove the THREE layers of linoleum in the kitchen. I got about 1/2 done before it was beyond my capabilities. In the pic to the right you can see some of the decor schemes that they had at different times in the kitchen. Which is worse? Robin egg blue? Or the neon green plaid wallpaper? EEK/

All of the linoleum on the floor left a lot of tar-y glue. This crap was near impossible to remove. The pic on the left was after Lee had been sanding for a good hour. The pic on the right was after about 4 hours. It was brutal.

The end result is always worth it though. Look at these shining new floors. Gorgeous!

However, we still can't put our furniture back until SUNDAY. The floors have to dry for 7 days before total use. So, besides our television and our stove, we're still dealing with no furniture. Oh, and we won't have a kitchen sink for a little while. It really stinks doing the dishes in the bathroom sink, but it is still better than last time we refinished wood floors and went without a bathroom!!!

Continuing Improvements

BEFORE

AFTER

I wrote once before about the projects we have to do in our house. Today we got kind of a big one out of the way. It wasn't hard to do at all, it was just pesky. Today Lee removed the 1/2 wall out of Taryn's room. The family that owned the house for the 50 years before we bought it had two daughters. They always wanted separate bedrooms, but that ain't gonna happen in a 2-bedroom house, so the parents built a 1/2 wall. Yeah... It was odd. Anyway, we made it work for the last few months, but now it is gone and I can hardly believe how much bigger her room looks! And brighter too! It won't be completely gone until we re-carpet and paint, but already it is a huge improvement!!! The room is still hard to furnish because it is a long skinny room and it also has an oddly placed heating vent and only ONE outlet in the whole room. But, we've made it work for now!

The Wood Floor Saga

Here is a rundown of how our wood floor refinishing went:

Monday - Sanding. And Sanding. And SANDING. It wasn't as dusty as I thought it would be, thank goodness. Lee took the big floor sander and I was in charge of the edges and corners using the hand sander. It was a long tedious process.

Tuesday - Lee and I both woke up sore as heck. Onto the staining process. This part was a rollercoaster of emotions. It's too dark. That spot is too light. Is that a fuzz ball in the stain? Do you think it will dry evenly? Agh! The can said that it would dry in 8 hours, so we were hoping to get in a topcoat that night. When the evening rolled around... Not dry.

Wednesday - Still not freaking dry. Are you kidding me?

Thursday - And it isn't dry STILL. 8 hours has turned into 48 hours. We're getting antsy here.

Friday - Merry Christmas! We finally got two layers of the topcoat down in between our holiday festivities.

Left to do: put the toilet back in, put our new bathtub in, buy and install a new vanity, put our washer and dryer back in, replace all the vents and whatnot, then refill with furniture! Even though things did not go as smooth as we hoped, we're really happy with how they look. Oh and we're REALLY happy with the money that we saved. We were getting quotes of $1300 for the job and we spent only $230 in materials. (You wouldn't believe how many times I had to tell myself that during the sanding process!)

P.S. Yes, we are still working without a bathroom. We have been showering at my mom's and peeing outdoors. Thank goodness for neighbors that aren't right by us! It's all class around here. I have never missed indoor plumbing so much!!

Holy Holiday Busyness!

On Thursday I made a to-do list. It was so overwhelming that I had to make a SECOND list that broke things down by the day.

December is always a busy month with all of the holiday festivities, but jeepers, this year things seem to be taken to another level! Here is a rundown of the BIG things I have left to do. Then there are a bunch of not-necessary-at-this-moment-things that are still on the list like getting Taryn's college fund started.

Today: We headed up to Demotte early to pick up a UHaul truck and empty out our Demotte house. These are things that were still left in our house after moving to West Lafayette 2.5 months ago. These have been passed over in all of our trips to Demotte when we have taken a load of stuff back. ie, these things are NOT IMPORTANT. We then had to come back to Lafayette and unload/disperse things. Some went to my mom's, some went to my grandma's... More things than should have went in our basement and the Man Coop. What's the opposite of an Indian Giver? An Indian Taker? That's what we are. When we moved into our big ol' Demotte house, we took everyone's extra furniture. Now that we cut our square footage in half, we're giving it all back!

Tomorrow: Our niece Cora's 1st birthday! Then lots of organizing around the house.

Monday: Taryn has her follow-up appointment with the allergist. Then we have our closing up in Demotte.

Tuesday: Study for my Geometry final. Yes, I realize that it sounds like I'm in high school when I say that. Who takes Geometry in college?

Wednesday: I go to meet the teachers that I am going to be student teaching with next semester. Please be cool! Then my Geometry final is that night, 7-9pm. That is bordering on my bedtime.

Then, next weekend we have FOUR social committments. For real? That's more than we usually have in a month. Phew! And, during that time, we also need to be preparing our house for our project du jour... REFINISHING OUR WOOD FLOORS! Yes. We are insane.

We are refinishing our floors in the few days before Christmas. What makes it even worse is that while we are refinishing the floors, we are also installing a new bathtub. So... Yeah... That means we're not going to have a toilet for a couple days and a shower for a few days. Ah, good times. From the glass-is-half-full side of things, I can't wait to have the new floors! It is going to make SUCH a huge difference up in here!

Oh, and right after Christmas we are going to New Jersey to see my dad's family.

So, please understand if you don't see many blogs from me in the next few weeks. I'll catch up when I catch my breath! Happy Holidays to all!

New Stuff in the Hiz-ouse!

Here are some pictures of the changes going on in my house:

We finally got a new fridge! WOOHOO! It's name is "Tall Dark & Handsome". It matches the rest of our appliances now!

We moved our little white fridge out to the garage. Yay for a beer & meat fridge!

Last but not least, the new light fixture in our dining room. We no longer have a 70's era chandelier! (If you know anyone who wants a "retro" chandelier, we've got one. We also have vintage yellow & white bathroom tile, a vintage yellow shower & a retro vanity complete with shell-shaped sink.)

(In the fridge picture, Lee isn't just there modeling it. He's holding the handles on. He hadn't attached them yet!)