house update

Ok, so here's what been going on with us and the house. This past week we have taken like 4 trips to the dump. I even took a trip all by myself! We got that big pile of junk out the garage and all the little debris out of the house.

I had forgotten how stinky it was at the dump. By the end of our last trip on Saturday we were all smelly and gross. But at least now we can walk through the house and garage with tripping over a bunch of stuff. It's still a bit dusty, but it's coming along nicely.

We have made about half a dozen trips to Home Depot. I'm noy sick of it yet- it's still shopping. And it's shopping for stuff that is going to make my house awesome.

There was one thing that happened this week that I didn't get any pictures of, but I have to blog about anyway. I was cleaning up around the house, while Nathan was putting up the last of the drywall around the shower. All of a sudden, Nathan dashed down the hall and out the door. "Where are you going?!" I shouted to him. "I have to turn the water off!" He had put a drywall screw through one of the pipes in the hall bathroom and water was leaking out the wall. So, we had to have the plumbers come out again. It's all fixed now though- so, no worries.

We finally got a light put up out front. We do a lot of our work at night after Nathan gets off work, so it's nice to have a porch light now. It was just a spare fixture that Nathan's dad had, but coincidentally it was the same light fixture I had picked out online for the front of the house. How convenient!

While we were demo-ing out the house, Nathan made the discovery that the bottoms and some of the framing on the vanities in the bathroom, and the cabinets under the kitchen sink were all rotted out. They were water damaged from the drains not being connected correctly. So instead of buying all new vanities, Nathan decided that he was going to re-frame them.

It was like it just came naturally to him. He had them done in no time.

While Nathan was in the garage working on the vanities, the puppies played in the back of the truck. They had been in the backyard all day though...

...and they were tired. So they went inside the truck to lay down and relax for a little while. Aren't the cute?!

Here are the finished cabinets. They turned out awesome, and it was a lot cheaper to fix them than to buy new ones.

So now we are moving forward! Our new windows are going to be here on Thursday. We are getting ready to order our counter tops. The drywall guys a coming this week to finish up, and then comes my favorite part...

PAINTING! We are getting our colors picked out and before you know it, we'll be having a painting party. Woo-hoo!!

dave's emergency surgery

"Hey Nathan, Tarin- what happened to your dryer vent?"

Oh....That's what happened.

My dad came over to check out the progress on the house, and while we were in the laundry room, discussing our plans- Dave decided that he wanted to come in there too-- via the dryer vent!

He got his head stuck. I went around to the back yard to try and free his head, but it wouldn't come out, so I pushed his head all they way through the hole so it was around his neck. Meanwhile, Nathan was on the other side of the wall, pushing the vent out of the wall.

That's how Dave got that nifty square collar!

It was so funny- and weird- I had to go out to the car and get the camera!


Of course, we can't have a puppy running around with a dryer vent around his neck- so we did an emergency surgery to have it removed.


Luckily, my dad was there to hold Dave- while I took pictures to document the event.



It only took a few snips with the bolt cutter...

...and Nathan was able to snap it apart.

Free at last!!

The poor little guy's heart was racing so fast! Did he learn though? Of course not! We had to leave the dogs in the backyard while we ran some errands, and when we came home Dave was in the garage. He had climbed through the same hole.

Goodness! What will they do next?

we're here to save the princess!

mail time!!

We got the mail box installed this week too. We had to, because the mail lady informed us that we had already been getting mail sent to this address, but she had to send it back because she had nowhere to deliver it.

Dave & Buster, checking the mail.

"Here's the mail, it never fails; It makes me want to wag my tail; When it comes I want to wail- MAAAAAAAAIL!!"

I painted the post all by myself. Isn't it pretty? And then Nathan dug the hole and stuck it in the ground. And now we get mail.

subcontractors

So this week we had our first subcontractors came. The drywall and plumbing guys came.

The drywall guys covered everything in plastic and started on the ceilings.

They also patched up all the bigger holes in the walls.

The plumbers came and installed this awesome bath tub! It's deep and glorious. I can't wait til everything is all finished and I can take a nice, long, fantastical bath in this tub. I don't think I have taken a bath since we've gotten married- only showers.

They also got the shower pan installed.

It's all starting to come together!

the government can

This pretty much sums it up...

new stuff!!

It's not much, but I am excited to have put some new things in, rather than ripping old stuff out!

Nathan and his dad got the can lights up in the kitchen! They looks and work marvelously!

They also got the front room all wired up for a ceiling fan- so for the first time we have a light in there!

It's the little thing in life that bring the most joy! =p

MORE house demo

So we've been pretty busy at the house! We're getting close to the end of demo- which is exciting for me, because I don't know how much more my body can take. Here is what has been going on:

We finally finished demo-ing out the bathrooms! Well, NATHAN finished. He's awesome.

We even got the tile ripped out.



We've got plumbers coming this week to get the new shower and tub stuff put in.

Nathan also ripped out some cabinets in the kitchen- not for good though. Since there were drain issues, there was also a lot of rotting wood. So Nathan only took them out so he can fix/re-frame them. He is going to do the same thing for the bathroom vanities.

We also finally got around to scraping popcorn ceilings. Oh my goodness!! That is the most awful job EVER! Not fun. The goobers who lived in the house before painted over the popcorn- which made even harder to remove.

Nathan figured out a trick to make it easier...AFTER I had done it the hard way on my own in one of the bedrooms. He realized that if he took the scraper and lightly scraped off some of the paint, and then sprayed it down with water, I came off in sheets. I had done it dry! I was sooooo sore! ... I am STILL sore!

Nathan is a ceiling scraping champion! He's such a hard worker- and he never complains.

This is the floor of one of the bedrooms after we had finished scraping the ceilings.

Nathan and I were only able to get the three bedrooms done while he was off work on Friday- So lucky for me- my fabulous father was willing to come on Saturday- Halloween- to help his poor, super sore daughter finish scraping the family room.

I let Dad in on Nathan's trick, and we got the job done pretty quickly. My dad did most of the hard work because my arms were sore and weak from doing the hard work the day before. It was nice to have someone else there to talk to too.

It's done now- that's the most important part. And I hope I never have to do it again! It was really tough work, but since it's MY house, I was willing to endure whatever I had to, to get it done. I just keep trying to tell myself how fabulous it will look when it's all done!

My dad insisted that we sweep all the ceiling debris into piles and make it look all neat and tidy. Our trash can was full, so we have to leave it there until trash day.

Once we had finished the ceilings, we made an appointment with the dry wall guys to come in and re-texture the ceilings and to do some repairs on the larger holes we have around the house.

Now, I am not 100% sure, but I think the only things we have left, as far as demo goes, is to rip out the baseboards and possibly to rip out the tile in the rest of the house.

With everything all ripped up like this, it's hard for me to think that in less than a month we are planning on being completely moved in and LIVING here! My anxious to see it all come together.

in other NON-house news

When we aren't at the house tearing it apart and putting it back together again- life goes on as usual at the Lunt home.

I have found some crafty little projects to fill in my spare time. I decided a few weeks back that I wanted to make a few more pillows.

So I headed down to DI and bought a bunch of ugly pillows for like $1 a piece-- much cheaper than going out and buying pillow forms.

And I busted out the sewing machine, yet again! You can never have too many pillows, right? Besides, I wanted to make sure I got them done so I could return Virginia's sewing machine- I am trying to get rid of as much stuff as possible so I don't have to find a place for it in the new house when we move.

Dave began enjoying the new pillows right away.

They must be comfy...

...reeeeeally comfy. =p

When we were up in St. George for the Isom family reunion, you may remember me mentioning that I picked up some vinyl transfers at Peach Days. I finally got around to doing something with those too!

I first saw this quote at Marvin and Sarah's reception and I fell in love with it. I started looking for a wall decoration of my own online- but couldn't find any. I was psyched when I found the transfer at peach days. I mounted it on this piece of dark wood, and made it my own with some of my wedding ribbon and pretty flower (also in wedding colors)

I LOVE they way this one turned out. It's mounted on glass with a two tone wooden frame. I am glad that I mounted these instead of sticking them directly on the wall at the new house- so I can take them with when we decide to move again. The tricky part is going to be deciding where to hang them! If you've been to our apartment you know that our walls aren't lacking in decoration!

One part of my daily life that I have blogged about before is laundry- I despise this awful chore! But I have found something that makes it a little more bearable:

I saw the commercial for this and had been looking for it in the stores without success. Lucky me, Nathan found it on one of his shopping excursions. It's a little sheet that has the laundry detergent, fabric softener, and dryer sheets all in one. I just toss one in with my load of laundry and that's all. No measuring! No mess from spilt detergents! "Now, if it could only fold"


Halloween is coming up, and we still have no official plans. With all the other stuff we have going on, it's not going to be a huge celebration for us this year. I wouldn't be surprised if Nathan makes me go do work on the house that night! If I have my way, we will at least have a spooky themed dinner and maybe go see a halloweeny movie.

To get us more in the halloween spirit, I once again made some halloween cookies! It was fun!

Well, that's all for now. I think I am going to go bake up some cupcakes! I've had a bit of a sweet tooth lately.

good news!!

I took my state board tests about a week ago and I just found out today that I passed! I am officially a licensed esthectician! w00t!!