new look

Special thanks to Christie for help with the new header. I thought since my anniversary is coming up I should bring attention to the man that makes all of this possible. As Salt-n-Pepa would say..."what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man" (I know you all can hear that song in your head!) I will wait till our actual anniversary to share all the gushy, love stuff.

Also, as of next Monday I will be undergoing a new look. I will once again be a full-time working woman. My search for a new job is over and, as always with His plans, it couldn't have happened at a more perfect time. I will be back in my old neck of the woods, downtown Bakersfield, which I am definitely excited about. The job seems fun too!

So...new blog look, new job, new year of marriage, what else could I ask for?

Oh yeah, I would really like the new chairs I ordered to finally come. UPS where are you??

our weekend

Memorial Day weekend provided us with some extra time to do a few more small projects and spend some time with family and friends. Our days were filled with yardwork, more painting, guitar hero, ikea shopping, dodger game, bbq parties, and one rousing game of cranium pop 5 with seven hilarious people and one fabulously gay celebrity. Battle of the sexes style, complete with slushie cocktails and super fab guacamole. We had fun.

cutting our grass for the first time...our grass!!

a shot of our backyard and patio, which we love

a couple really bad pics with horrible lighting and not our normal seats, but fun nonethless

**jill-- I wanted to include a pic of you guys, but my camera wouldn't zoom that far!

too many to choose

Is it just me, or is picking interior paint one of the most difficult tasks in home improvement? Why are there a gazillion mocha-y, grey colors? I wish you could go to a paint store and the employee would somehow be able to get into your mind and see the same color you are envisioning and create a perfect can of paint. Just for you. Instead you have to browse the countless options in horrible lighting, just to bring it home and discover the swatch looks nothing like what just came out of the can. Uggh!!

These aren't even all of the bad choices I have made. There are more on another wall....

progress

I drive up to our house everyday, and yet it still doesn't feel like MY home. The exterior is so not me and just reminds me everyday of the house's previous life. So since the roof is done, we have been making small changes to the outside. To make it feel more like our house. The super hot 100+ temps (did I mention our ac is on the fritz??) and the freak dust storm today have delayed our progress, but I am happy nonetheless. My goal is to have the trim finished Saturday morning (we are going to a Dodger game/Peter's Mecca Sat. afternoon) and hopefully the other set of shutters will be ready by then. The landscaping....thats a whole different story.

newly painted black door with grey trim and new accessories
original ugly white security door

original paint and uv window screen--that scraggly shrub has got to go

new trim and shutters--the house is still white (the lighting is weird in this pic) and the uv window screen is hideous it saves our house from becoming a boiler room until we get blinds in that front window. just picture the window without it :)

preview of the cute flower pot ledge

my nemisis

I have decided that wallpaper is, quite possibly, one of the worst things invented. I always scoffed at those new house shows (house hunters, for example) when a couple would walk in and see wallpaper and immediately form a negative opinion about that particular house. "Wallpaper can be changed!!" is what I used to shout at the tv. Now I can see where they are coming from. After a couple weeks of on and off work, I am happy to say our house is now wallpaper-free! I am just thankful in wasn't in every room.

vanessa and I feeling triumphant at the end of the day

this was just one side of the bathroom, the other side was worse

the wallpaper glue in the kitchen, it had been stuck there since the 50's. it wasn't coming off without a fight

trying to gouge myself with the wallpaper scraper

the test

taking a 16 year old girl to the dmv to take her written test (for the second time) is one of the most anxiety-ridden things I have ever done. I was so nervous watching her today I couldn't even sit still. the second she was done I jumped out of my seat and went over to the counter. the woman working there (side note--why are dmv employees so disgruntled?) actually had to tell me to sit down. like I didn't have a right to be there or something. needless to say, the 45 minutes ended with my stomach in knots, a test with 1 too many red circles, and lots of tears being shed. by both of us :( I know some of you are thinking, in the grand scheme of life this is no big deal. that was the logical, adult thing to say. the thing I had planned on saying. but looking at that defeated face with runny mascara I couldn't help but let a couple tears fall and agree on the entire crapiness (new word) of the whole situation. good job toni, great lesson.
**side note -- most of you probably know who I am talking about. If you happen to see this particular dmv-hater please say nothing about tests, cars, driving, the road, gas, etc.

the roof, part 2

so after all of our (and by "our" I mean my husband's) strenuous work, the roof was ready to be handled by professionals. over a three day process our roof was transformed from old, crusty composite, to wood foundation, to beautiful, new, clean, composite. now its time to paint the trim and put the shutters back on. however, I am not sure how much will get done this weekend. 105 degress anyone?

the roof, part 1

peter and daniel working... as you can see I was too busy at the dump to take pictures during the afternoon

So the only way we could get homeowners insurance was to put on a new roof. Nothing like a cheap, easy fix to start the process, right? Yeah, no. So last weekend Peter and some guys (thanks Brother, Ryan, Zack, and Jake) started the process of taking off the old wood shingles, only to discover an entire other composite roof underneath. Needless to say, it was a hot, long, stressful day for all of the guys. My job, with the help of my dear friend Vanessa, was to drive the dump trailer full of shingles to the beautiful Shafter-Wasco Landfill, or as we locals call it, The Dump. The first couple trips were fine, we went to the recycling section and you could barely notice the smell. Unfortunately, we had to go to the general trash section the third time around. This trip consisted of me trying to reverse the trailer (so hard!), a nice employee offering to help, a dump trailer that wouldn't move up, seeing my grandpa there dumping his spa (random), and a huge bag of poopy diapers spilling right in front of me. And dont even get me started on the smell and the squishy dirt. At the end of the day we sat in our dust filled house, pleased with the work we had done and so incredibly thankful for the many friends and family that helped.

our house

this is the first pic we took of the outside, changes have already been made....including removing the little toyota

So tomorrow marks the 3 week anniversary of being in our house. We have done a bunch so far, but the list is never ending. A little history on the house....It was built in 1958 and has only had one owner. Thats right, we are only the second owners! This was definitely a selling point of the house (well, that and a blue toilet, but more on that later). The house also happens to be down the street from my parents and the house where I spent the majority of my childhood. This was not planned, although has been quite nice when we need to borrow a tool or some food. I grew up watching the man who built this house, Mr. J, walk his dog everyday down the street. He was so cute and so quiet and although he lived alone, seemed quiet content with his life with his dog. The first time we looked at this house I found out that Mr. J has Parkinson's and now lives in a senior home and would still live in his house if he could. I know they say not to get emotionally attached to houses you tour, but I was already picturing us living there, being good stewards of the house Mr. J loved so much. We always knew we wanted an older home in this neighborhood that we could fix up and make our own and this one fit the bill! So now here we are, 3 months later with scrapers, hammers, and paint brushes attached to our hands, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

here goes nothing

so, for about the past year I have become addicted to blogs. thankfully, I have many friends with entertaining lives that have satisfied my need for blog reading. so its about time I return the favor. this blog will not be my heart spilled out on a page, nor will it always contain insightful rhetoric. however, i hope to share our lives as we navigate through the crazy world of home renovation and our journey as a family of two.