Girl Power

The pictures say it all.......

Has anyone noticed I've gotten artsy with my photo effects? Thanks to Stephanie ( Chasing the Timberman) I have a fancy photo editing app. Enjoy !

Little helper: rethinking child labor laws

Christina asked if we could entertain Aiden for the morning so she could run errands. I asked 'how handy is he ?'. We can't break our stride now, especially with a floor sander out for rent ($60/day).
And so dear Aiden spent the morning cleaning out the attic- which he has a personal interest in since this will be Lego land in the future.

He cleaned out old rolled up carpet , glass from old light fixtures, an old mini bottle of coppertone from a cruise to Nassau (we investigated the P&O Steamship label to see it was a cruise line that went between Miami and the Bahamas), and he found a cute straw bag which I promptly removed from the trash pile- I love it!

I brought burrito-night leftovers and whipped up some grub for us - it's all very campy preparing a meal there- no microwave or plates or utensils other than 3 plastic spoons left over from our 'before party'. I used one small pot and tin foil to deliciously fill 3 worker bellies. Move over Pioneer Woman, there's a new Sheriff in town!

Mike started the effort to remove the wood burning stove from one of the fireplaces- per State Farms insistence . I think we will use it in the A-frame if we can figure out how on earth to get it out of the house! It appears they built the house around it.

Today Mike has to work so I made a Home Depot and Sherwin Williams paint store run, now at the house to (hopefully) finish sanding. Mike is supposed to drop off the replacement sander since the one we had caught on fire yesterday. It obviously can't keep up with the Caponis, NEXT!

Drarings

Well you know my name is Janet, and I like to do drarings (SNL reference-look it up, Mike Myers at his best). After meeting with Randy-the-electrician last week I decided I needed to draw out the current electrical status. I have already put the first floor in Revit ( 3D drawing program - 'cause I'm a nerd) so I'm gonna draw the top floor and note the electrical. Weeee!

Happy Birthday Mike!

Happy Birthday Mike! 

You may feel old (35!) but remember the house has a good 20 years on you!

Claus' Vacation House?

Several discoveries have led us to question: maybe Mr. and Mrs. Claus owned this house before? 

We've found wreaths, 

small elf sized doors,

 

and red, green, and gold carpet.

There is even what could only be assumed to be a toy workshop on the property.....and maybe an elf shute?

The most interesting discovery of all is this self portrait, which not only confirmed our suspicions, but tells us that St. Nick is of African descent!

Go 'head Santa!

Merry Christmas from our Claus house to  yours!

Bowx

Randy the electrician paid a visit today to check out our 'situation'. This is him looking at our bowx ( only Emma and Justin will get how funny that is). Every short cut scenario we thought up in attempt to save some cash ended with Randy explaining how that would result in the house catching on fire. So, we think we will end up burying the main line that comes in, tidying/ combining the 9 'bowx's at the back of the house, and seeing if we need to revert to a pb&j diet after that.
BTW, I don't remember vacuuming out your car being on the list? I'll give him this one...

Mike spends 6 hours hugging the toilet

My husband's dedication to reusing/ repairing is unparalleled. Allow me to illustrate: The toilet in the downstairs powder room had caution tape on it when we first toured through the house. Home depot sells new toilets for $100, sounds like a no brainier to me. Mike refuses to spend money on things we already have- and so after 6 hours , 2 trips to our current house to get tools, and 3 arguments between us because of my distaste of his colorful vocabulary choices as he expressed his feelings towards the commode, I heard a flush! I am convinced in a past life he suffered through the depression, or was one of those monks who punished themselves for enlightenment.

The A-frame becomes a V-frame

V for vandalized, it didn't flip upside down. But it might as well have...
There is (was) the cutest little A-frame structure on the property that the previous owner used as a workshop to mix dyes (former Dupont employee).
We were thinking it would make a great kids play house, or eventually a walk through to a future guest house, as it sits between the house and the other half of the property. A run-off stream sits in front of it, I pictured a little bridge leading to it as a darling addition.

Front - facing the house

Back - isn't it magical! I expect a Hobbit to pop his head out

Inside - remember this ladder shown

3 days after I took these pictures I found this:

Window and shingles are gone off the back! They are scattered in a thousand pieces on the ground.

Terrorized! Both windows shattered in the front, the interior is  ram-shackled.

Wasn't that ladder IN the structure previously? Looks like riffraff tossed it out the window, taking down the shingles with it. That ladder is HEAVY - at least 2 riffraffs involved. 

Disgruntled teens upset that we spoiled their plans for a meth lab? Our elderly neighbors fight back against gentrification (there is at least 40 years between us and the next youngest neighbor)? A ghostly revenge for us taking out all the Brady Bunch stylings in the house? Whoever it is, karma's a bitch...and so am I! If I find out who did this there will be H E double hockey sticks to pay!

Firsts

We spent our first night at the house! Both Lorie and the Taheri's had Christmas parties in the neighborhood so we figured it was appropriate. We slept in the master in sleeping bags, Cyrus lent us some mats and thankfully the wine made falling to sleep easy. In the morning we rode our bikes to the Taheri's for some coffee and brunch, we are wondering when they will tire of their new mooching neighbors. Hopefully not until after bacon.
And this is my first iPhone post!

The List

One of us got a little off track according to the other one of us. Someone decided that  spending 2 days blowing the leaves was more important than working inside the house to work towards, well, moving into the house. The other one of us decided a priority list was necessary. So here it is:

 it is posted on the fridge as a reminder of what needs to be done for move in, which one of us wants sooner rather than later. So this is what resulted:

We need a list for everything...
Oh - newsflash, I got an iphone so Stephanie is teaching me how to post updates from it, I'm calling her Siri now.

Roof Fixed

Mike fixed the leak - he looks tiny up there!

One down, 2361 tasks to go.......

We are headed over to the house now - will be taking a short break at some point to ride bikes in the neighborhood with the Taheris, join us! Bringing the Papa John's pizza coupon and some beers with us - who knows WHAT craziness will ensue!

We're headed over to work a little on the house (read: come over if you want to do something productive!)....then we'll help Kate and Alfredo warm their new abode!

Mom, Dad, great to see you! Did you bring your pliers?

This thanksgiving we were very thankful for our family's helping hands.

Chris and Frank (or as we affectionately call them, 'Crank') left the warmth of their Florida abode to visit Mike and I this Thanksgiving. I am happy to report that I successfully coerced them (in their tryptophan laden half-coma) to agree to put in a little elbow grease at our new house. They started out taking up the staples in the guest room - 

they'll be staying there in the future so I figured it was appropriate.

Although he couldn't understand WHY we'd want to remove golf themed border in the master bedroom, Dad ripped it all out

 while Quality Control Christine made sure Mike was on track

Break's over guys, staples don't remove themselves!

Okay, so I feel the need to explain something here, Mom crafted her own ear plugs out of tissue because our tack strip hammering was too loud. 

Function over form people!

The Caponis spend the day at the homestead on Sunday

Mary goes to work on the leaves to make sure we haven't lost any small children under there.

Mama Caponi wielding the leaf blower

Graemey-kins  takes over

Man down! Paula's raking injury

I end the day scraping off the gluey tape that held the bathroom carpet to the tile, one of the nastier things I have done in my life, thank you goo gone! And thank you family!!