14 Hours+ 4 Days+5 Trash Bags =

One livingroom that is stripped of wallpaper and the walls scrubbed. Today I finished steaming the paper remnants and then scrubbed the walls to get off all the remaining glue and pieces of paper. Then the basboard and floors were scrubbed too. Every muscle and joint in my right arm and hand ache and a few fingers are actually numb - but I'm so excited about this project and how well it's turning out. Next for this room - Steve need to patch some wall areas, fix the windows and lay down the new flooring. The pictures aren't the best because the sunlight was fading....as was I.

Project - Day 3

Still no pictures of the house project we have started, but take my word for it - it is one big mess! But a good mess - a work in progress mess. The rugs downstairs have been torn up and all the staples removed and trash hauled to the dump. Most of the wallpaper has been scraped in the living room, just a few more spots that will be finished tomorrow. My mother in law came over and helped me today because Steve had to work. We scraped for 4.5 hours and we'll be feeling it tomorrow. Gregory even came over and scrapped a whole wall, I'm not sure if he really wanted to, but we bribed him and said if he helped us out with watching the little boys and doing some work we'll get him a new skateboard with all the accessories (wheels, bearings.....). The little guys were awesome, no one fought, cried or got in our way the whole time.

Now I've got some drinks in the fridge and the pizza piled on platters. As soon as Nona and Tiffany get here with their troops we sit, eat, talk and relax!

Steve is off tomorrow so we'll be back in full swing - all day! Sunday Steve works a double and if the weather is nice I will be spending some time with my sons in Sackets Harbor. I love going and strolling up and down the streets, eating ice cream and sitting by the water. Of course, they'll be in their flag shirts, Greg will be hating every minute of it and I'll be taking pictures!

And So It Begins

July 1st has arrived, which means to us, so have renovations. Miss Bea has officially moved out and the paint buckets have moved in. Today Steve tore up all the carpeting to expose the hardwood floors and I started pulling down wallpaper, stripping windows of their old dusty curtains and mini blinds. We've decided to take out a home equity loan and really do this right; the kitchen is in need of major renovations. There are no appliances, only about 4 cupboards, a small counter, linoleum from 1940ish and one old....very old white porcelain sink.

On the agenda for tomorrow - finish pulling up staples from the carpet and steam some of the wallpaper off. We will be taking a side trip to the park tomorrow night for the Fourth of July festivities!

Kitchen Renovations

Renovations have begun on our kitchen. We're not getting into gutting walls and installing new cupboards - that will come, but for now, we are making some cosmetic changes to freshen things up a bit. So far I have primed all the molding, windows, doors and edges. Day two plans - roll the remaining sections on the walls and hope that with the heat and humidity it will dry in a reasonable amount of time. If we can get this done early enough and it dries in the one hour that is promised on the can, maybe I can edge the walls in the color!!

Toys R Us

When we first moved into our house, I thought the little sun porch off our diningroom would be the perfect spot to put a set of wicker furniture, to curl up with a good book and open the windows to enjoy the summer. Unfortunately, it has turned into our playroom and has been a constant thorn in my side since. I like things to be neat and organized, every car, dinosaur, superhero and army guy has a particular spot and I like these toys to remain in their designated spot. As you can see from the pictures below, I can't win that battle! I have cleaned and reorganized this space more times than I can count and it ends up like below in a matter of a week - if I'm lucky. So, once again, I've added this project to my to do list this week and I've bribed Gregory with minutes for his cell phone if he helps. I'm going to put one of the toy boxes in the boys room and load it up; they don't play upstairs too often when we are all downstairs, but I'm hoping in the mornings they can play in their room while we get ready, or possibly sleep in...shhhhh...don't tell them that! I've also informed the little guys that we are making a huge pile for the poor kids and an equally huge pile for the trash bin. Do we really need all those happy meal toys or the 5,000 army guns that come with those little GI Joe guys?????

New Neighbors

We own a duplex house, we live in one side and we rent the other. The lady who rented the other half has lived there for about 10 years, she is 87 years old! Well, she is moving out, against her will, unfortunatley she is in intensive care and will have to go into a nursing home. We'll miss you Miss Bea! Her family is moving out all her stuff as I write this and will be out by the end of the month and then we (Steve and I) start the grueling task of remodeling, probably completely, every room on that side. Carpets will be pulled up to expose all the hardwood floors, walls stripped of the god awful wallpaper and coated with some Kilz primer, the kitchen cupboards will all come out and new put in.....and the list goes on. Hopefully some friends will pull through and help us out!!! We already have new tenants lined up, a couple that has a little boy Joseph's age and in his preschool class and another little boy in 1st grade is interested. They are an Army couple and the husband has been deployed to Iraq, he is not even half way through his tour; me and my good friend Tiffany have befriended Nona and she has joined us in our Friday playdates. Anyways, her lease in the Army housing is due to be renewed August 1st....so that means we need to get our butts in gear and get to work so this can be finished by the end of July. I'm acutally looking forward to this project.