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!!

oh, by the way...

We have a new baby at our house. Since we finally got the keys to the house, we decided it was time to get Buster a playmate.

We found an add on craigslist for a cute little 7 week old puppy. The owners were giving him away for free because their cockerspaniel didn't really like having him around. They were sad to see him go, but we assured them he was going to a good home, and would have a lot of puppy friends, and would soon have a big ole yard to run around and play in.

He actually looks a lot like Buster. They have the same stripe down the middle of their face, and the white collar mark, socks, and dipstick tail. We are really sure yet how big he is going to get- he is part lab, part terrier (we aren't sure what kind of terrier though). Right now he's just a little tiny ball of personality! He's small but he's pretty feisty- which is good, because sometimes we think that Buster just thinks he's a new toy. He loves Buster though- and he always wants to play.

I forgot what it was like to have a baby puppy around. He has to go out potty every two to three hours- even in the middle of the night. I am looking forward to him getting older and being able to hold it longer- or moving into the house with the doggy door so he can take himself out- whichever comes first!

He's a super cutie though- but I'll let you see that for yourselves! Here he is ladies and gentlemen! Dave!! (yup, now we've got our very own Dave & Buster)

On the way home from picking him up, Nathan let him drive!

The first good picture we got of him on a cell phone. It's hard to get them sometimes because he moves around so much.

He's so little that he practically has to climb into Buster's dish to eat. The size of the bowl doesn't stop him though. He eats and eats and eats- he's got a little belly on him!

Close up!

I couldn't believe he sat still long enough for me to turn on the camera and take this picture. He must have been tired.

Dave & Buster playing at the new house.

Taking a little rest in the car.

Just like his brother, he likes to cuddle up next to any part of your body he can when he's ready to lay down.

Cutie!

I had to get one like this with Dave, because I did the same pose with Buster when we got him.

This was his first back yard experience. He's gonna love it once we move in and make it a little more puppy friendly. Right now it's pretty much just dirt.

That's it for now- but I'm sure there will plenty more pictures along the way. Our boys are so adorable- and you know how picture crazy I am.

more d-d-d-demo! ...and stuff.

On the morning of day 4, I packed up the pups and headed over to the house on my own to finish pulling up tack strip while Nathan was at work.

All geared up- gloves, safety goggles, hammer, and pry bar.

Since we wanna move in as soon as possible, there is no time to waste! Let's go! Chop chop people!

So I got all the tack strip ripped out. This is my bucket from just one of the bedrooms.

And once the strips were ripped out, I used my little sweeper and dustpan- and the shop vac to get all the dust and nails off the floors. So now we're all cleaned up and we have some rooms inside the house that are puppy safe!

I worked on my own for a couple hours and then went back with Nathan later that evening.

Since we took all the doors off the hinges, Nathan went around and labeled all the doors and rooms they go to. That way, when we send the doors to be re-made, we will know which door goes to which room.

Since we had the giant Sharpie, we had to have a little fun....

This was my bit of fun! "Tarin loves Nathan!" awwww!

It was the only place Nathan would let me write. =p

This was Nathan's fun. "Make me disappear, Please" in the hallway bathroom tub/shower.

And so he did! Well, he started on it anyway. For now, it's still standing- but it's next on the demo list.

He did manage to bust out the shower in the master bathroom!

There was a ton of banging and loud noises with the shower demo and stuff, but Dave was so tired, he didn't even notice. Here he is sleeping, right outside the bathroom door.

The next day we were planning on heading out of town, for yet another family reunion on Nathan's side of the family- but Nathan couldn't stay away! He went over to the house that morning, while I finished up some things for the trip back the apartment. He got a pretty decent amount of work done without me.

He ripped that goofy light fixture out the kitchen! It looks better already!

And finished completely ripping out and cleaning up the shower area in the master bathroom.

Out pile of ripped out junk is growing! We are definitely going to have to make a trip to the dump sometime within in the next week!

So then, we were out of town Friday night, all day Saturday, and most of the day today (Sunday) but we headed over this evening just for a few to get a couple odd jobs out of the way. First and foremost, we had to get the trash can out on the curb because we found out from one of the neighbors that Monday is trash collection day; and as you can imagine- demolition causes a bit of trash.

When we went to unlock the front door, we found this on the front door. Apparently, the local fire department had gotten word that the house had been sold and left us this nifty little bag of mostly boring information. We did get a magnet and the cool bag out of it though.

You are probably wondering- why did Tarin take a picture of a pee toilet? Rest assured- it is not a pee toilet. That, my friend, is a toilet full of bleach. We are trying to clean the stains off the inside, because the toilet is practically new and if we can save money by not replacing it- we'd rather have the money to spend elsewhere. So hopefully the dirty rings will have vanished by the time I go over there tomorrow.

We also took some time to measure out a few of the rooms- so we can figure out pricing and decide whether or not new flooring is going to be possible.

The puppies follow us everywhere! Buster is pretty good at staying out of the way, Dave is fearless and still learning; like maybe it's not such a good idea to climb on momma's lap while she is on the floor pounding a hammer. They have kept each other busy for the most part though. They will be really excited when it's all done.

Before we left for the night, there was one more thing I felt we should do....

Bye bye Bugs Bunny!

This is for you Kassi!! haha

demo days 2 & 3

First of all, I'd like to give a shout of thanks to my mommy and daddy for letting us borrow their digital camera- so I don't have to email myself pictures!

So the demo journey continues....



Oh wait, first I wanted show a couple quick snapshots of the backyard!

It's a pretty good size yard- and the dogs love it! This is the view from the gate...

...and this a view of our little patio from the door.

Ok, NOW for the continuation of the demo story!

THIS is the job Nathan put me in charge of to keep me busy. I was supposed to use the pry bar and the hammer to pull the tack strips and the nails that were holding them down. It wasn't really a hard job, but it was real work! I got my hands dirty, I sweat, and I may have even gotten a blister! I feel like I did something productive and helpful- and I feel like I am a champion tack strip puller-upper! There are no pictures of me in action because Nathan was busy doing other things like...

Ripping up even more carpet- this time in the master bedroom. We thought we might be able to salvage the carpet and give it to my dad to put down at their house in my old bedroom- but after a few runs with the carpet cleaner- we decided it was not possible. So naked room #3!

These are the doors that Nathan took off the shower in the master bathroom. They are in pretty good condition- we might be saving them for the new shower, but I'm not really sure. Speaking of showers...

Ooops! Nathan went to the house this morning to start some demo on the shower, and knocked out a little more than he had intended. Luckily, we are going to have to replace the drywall behind the shower anyway- otherwise that hole in the wall on right, might be a problem. I am very excited to see that ugly blue tile gone! Nathan brought me home one of those hideous tiles as a souvenir.

This pic was taken when I took a quick break from my tack strip pulling- Nathan was almost done ripping out the counter tops in the kitchen at this point.

Here are all out kitchen counter tops, closet doors, and the kitchen sink. Out with the old to make room for the new!

So this is the empty kitchen! The only things left to do in here are removing the hardware on the cabinets and the ever so glamorous job of scrubbing out the unidentified gook from inside!

Nathan also was able to take the counter tops off in both of the bathrooms.

With Nathan removing, like all the hard surfaces, these shelves in the hard closet and the fireplace are where we have to put all our stuff now. :p

And finally, here are some of the treasures that Nathan found while cleaning out the kitchen. Random kitchen utensils, a little brass washer, and even a check for $181 from back in 2006. Interesting stuff!