Saying Goodbye

It is time to say goodbye to this chapter in my life and start a new one. It was an amazing experience and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but now it's time to continue on on my own. So I'm starting over with a new blog and I look forward to what this new chapter in my life will bring. Thanks for all the memories.

School's over...

summer is here and it's time to start doing some serious work on the house again. Here we go!

Spring Is Here

Jose and I took advantage of the great weather and a rare day off together to do some much needed yard work. Despite waking up with yet another raging headache (my fourth this week), we actually accomplished quite a bit. Jose worked on moving some of the many, many rocks in the side yard so we can get the vegetable garden started while I weeded the front and planted a few more natives. We definitely need to go get some mulch so we can stop weeding the same spots over and over! It's looking good though and I'm going to work on planting at least a few new things each week. I'm getting excited!

Volunteer sunflower.

Jose moving rocks for the future vegetable garden.

Heuchera about to flower.

Bulbs in bloom.

Ribes close-up.

Weeding the side strip.

Newly planted Ribes.

Native grape planted and tied to start climbing!

California Island Snapdragon

Yarrow, Island Snapdragon, and bulbs.

Vegetable seedlings almost ready to be planted.

Painting the Kitchen

Alright, I'm back. Yes, I know it's been a while but, well, I've been too busy being lazy to do anything around the house. But on Thursday night, my mom sent me a text offering to take the dog for a couple days so I could get some painting done. (Have I mentioned that my mom is awesome?!) Turns out that was the motivation I've been looking for, so 4 hours of taping, 5+ hours of priming and painting, and a gallon of paint later, the kitchen, laundry room and part of the pantry are done! Things I learned: painting is fun, taping is not. It looks good though, so I guess it was worth it!

Before, with green cabinet paint over-spray.

This is what took so long. Painting the walls and ceiling BEFORE the cabinets were in would have been nice.

After! It just looks white here, but actually its a really nice cream color.

A better idea of the paint color.

Laundry room before.

Laundry room after. So fresh and so clean.

Laundry Room Progress

Well, it only took us a year, but this weekend my Dad and Jose installed the newly milled wood onto the laundry room wall! Now all we have to do is paint and add some trim and it will be ready for a washer/drier!!! We can't wait. Here's the before, during , and after...

Before

During

After (my camera's not working so all I have is a crappy cell phone pic).

ps. If my camera was working I'd post some pictures of our Christmas decorations. I'm so excited to finally be settled into our house for Christmas this year, since we missed it last year.

I Love Fall!!

Pumpkins. Half Moon Bay. Pregnant sister. Pumpkins. Graves in front yards. Pumpkins. Crisp air. Pumpkins. This is why.

Late Night Visitor

Tonight we got a knock at the door. A woman, all dressed up for a night on the town and slightly drunk informed us that she used to own our house, and that it was the only place she ever felt at home. We let her in and showed her around, after she divulged enough details about the house to assure us that she actually did live here and wasn't a psycho creep trying to scope out our house and rob us . She told us about the plans they had for the house--knocking out a wall, adding on a master bedroom, replacing the garage with a granny unit--and even seemed a little teary. I felt a little bad, but then I realized that she wasn't the one who lost it to foreclosure. She was the second to last owner, so it wasn't as awkward. The house was a complete mess, but it was actually kind of nice talking to someone who used to live here. We didn't really get to do that when we moved in since it was a foreclosure, so we knew nothing about it's history or any of it's little quirks. In the year that we've lived here, though, we're slowly learning more and more and the house is feeling more like our own. Sometimes I think we're not getting much done, but as I showed her around tonight, I realized how much we've accomplished and how it's not really the same house that those old owners lived in. Everything they thought about doing (new floors, remodeling the kitchen, fixing the garage), we've done. I guess we're not doing to bad, after all.