one with nature

Here are some scenes from my backyard this evening...

coming along

This is what my bedroom looks like now. There are closet doors. The walls will be ready for paint by the weekend!














And, these are the new lights we're putting up. The wall light is at the top of the stairs, and the ceiling light is in the hall downstairs. There will be a second light like this a little further down.

2nd time's a charm

Second night in the house was peaceful, quiet and great. Yea house!

you always remember your first time

First night in the house for me was a bitch, to say the least. Because the night was cool, we decided to sleep with the windows open. In most cases, this would have been a great idea, except:
- I'm not yet used to the trains passing at the bottom of the hill in the middle of the night and blowing their horns (there is a railroad crossing at the foot of the hill, so I get it, but it's pretty loud at night with the windows open)
- a big wind kicked up at two different points last night and window blinds started banging everywhere
- around 11:30pm, some building somewhere toward the bottom of the hill had its alarm start going off. This went on for about five hours. I swear I would have preferred to hear nails on a chalkboard.

It really did turn into a scene from a sit com. First I tossed and turned. Then I grabbed my iPod (though I can never really fall asleep listening to music). Then I put a pillow over my head, with the iPod. After that, I decided maybe I had put my mattress down on the frame opposite of how it was set up at the apartment, so I flipped around and put my feet against the wall instead of my head. Once all that happened, I decided to grab the newspaper and a flashlight and read until I couldn't hold my head up anymore. But, when I got back to the bed, I decided to just close the window in the room, turn on the ceiling fan and try to fall asleep. I should note this final step happened around 3:30am. Finally fell asleep, and, as you can imagine, was oh so happy to have the alarm go off 3.5 hours later for a full day of work.

Tonight we're sleeping with AC and closed windows.

i actually live here

So, it's official. Tonight will be the first night I spend in my house. My parents have been here for two weeks, but I have finally left the apartment and now live in this house I paid too much money for. There are boxes everywhere, and I have no earthly idea how I'll get ready for work in the morning in any kind of timely manner, but I just tell myself it's like camping and the chaos is all okay.

Today Mom and I painted the stairwell. This will be the same color in the hallway downstairs too, but since there is still some repair and sanding to happen in the hallway, that'll come later. I knew I wanted some kind of golden color, but wasn't sure which one. But, landed on this one because it's called "Acorn." As someone who grew up around oak trees with tons of acorns, I thought it was pretty appropriate. Bad news about the color: it doesn't come with tall, beautiful, shady oak trees. Good news: it doesn't hurt to walk around barefoot! :)

Here's a quick catch up of what you see here:

1.) Here's the stairwell with one coat of acorn. Another photo to follow after the second coat is on, and taken during daylight. The true color is the lighter color here on the right edge of the photo.
2.) Dad putting sheetrock mud on the new sheetrock in the downstairs hallway.
3.) My beautiful bedroom and the wall that I can't believe Dad never gave up on.
4.) Imagine my headboard here.
5 & 6.) How lovely are those ceilings!? This is what the ceiling looks like in the hallway downstairs right now.

It may not look like it now, but it's all coming together!

special request

My dear Aunt Deanie said that I keep sharing photos of the view from the back yard, but that I never show the back yard and back of the house. So, as requested, here is a photo of my rear. :)

who needs a red carpet...

when you have a red floor. Cement floor downstairs is officially sanded and ready for cleaning and clear gloss finish. Mom and Dad deserve all the sweaty credit on this one. They sanded the floor while I was at work. This is kinda what it'll look like. It may not seem much, but just trust me. :)

This will be the floor downstairs, which consists of two bedrooms and the hallway. Downstairs laundry room and bathroom will likely get tile, but that's still to be determined.

movin' on up

Actually started to move some of my things into the house this weekend. Did a load on Saturday and will likely finish moving everything next weekend. So, at that point I'll start to live in my house. I'm sure this was quite a sight on an L.A. freeway. And yes, that's how much traffic we were dealing with at 4pm on a Saturday afternoon. Crazy. My things won't stay where they are in this photo in the house, but it's nice to see it in there.

time for a cool change

WE HAVE CENTRAL AIR!! Just in time. The temps started going up again this week and we have the new system just in time for an 88* - 92* weekend. Woo hoo!!

dinnertime?

We have a stove!

if it looks like a duct, acts like a duct...

Central AC/heat installation isn't complete, but it's coming. The guys really dug in today, running ducts to the bottom floor. Since half the bottom floor is underground (into the hillside) they really have their work cut out for them. The upstairs was easy because of the attic, but now they're having to cut holes into walls and put duct work between the studs, going through the floor to the bottom floor. Upstairs is missing some pieces of wall and downstairs is missing pieces of ceiling. It'll come together, but it looks a mess right now!

beautiful living room wall


as luck would have it, this is the freshly painted kitchen wall on the opposite side of the above living room wall


ceiling in second bedroom



looking at mom in the living room through the hole in the ceiling of the second bedroom

king me

Here's how the kitchen is coming along. We still need to finish the edges and add base boards, but this is pretty much the idea. This isn't the red I initially intended to use, but I think I like this color better than the first.




Mom and Dad are sleeping in the new house starting tonight, while I'm still in the apartment for at least another week. We set up my bed in the living room for them. It looks kinda funny, but it works.

radiant red

Here's Mom as we're finishing the first coat of paint in the kitchen. Last night we finished the second coat and today we'll be putting in the floor. Tuesday Lowe's will come to install the new stove. So, it looks like the kitchen will be done first.

We tackled the back yard on Friday too... me with the push lawn mower, Dad with the weed eater. Wow. The grass is something we've never seen. It looks great, but it's incredibly spongy and so difficult to cut. Not sure I'll be doing this myself very often. I'll be looking for a gardener to help out. Even Dad agreed it would be worth the money!

welcome to the neighborhood

Allow me to reenact a conversation I had with my mother this afternoon.

SCENE:
My parents are driving in from Louisiana to spend the summer with me to fix up the house. They have made it into L.A. and are driving up to the new house. This is the first time they see the house, neighborhood, etc. I am in my office at work, parents are in their truck with trailer in tow.

ME: Hey, where are you?
MOM: Oh, I think we took a wrong turn, we're on the college campus.
(aside: there is a college campus near my neighborhood.)
ME: No worries, let me pull up a map online and guide you to the house.
... directions occur...
MOM: Turn on (street name)? Oh, I see it!
...pause...
MOM: Oh, it's blocked. I think there's a police raid.
ME: What!?
MOM: There are cops everywhere.
ME: WHAT!?
MOM: Yeah, they have their guns drawn and everything. That guy has a machine gun.
...freak pause...
MOM: Oh, wait... I see a sign... oh, it says "police training in progress."

And that, my friends, is how my parents were introduced to my new neighborhood.

250 reasons

Okay, so I'll give POSS a little credit... today I received a check for $250 for the "inconvenience" of leaving the place a mess. In his mind, I think he feels the place was just a little untidy when he left. Wow. And, I realize his realtor probably talked him into it. But, that'll help with the multitude of projects coming this summer. So, I no longer want to kick him in the shins, but still don't feel the need to be friends.

hallelujah isn't just for church

Hallelujah! The tile in the bedroom is finished! The only remaining tile is in the laundry room, but that should go pretty quickly. I can't start on that until I move the washer and dryer, which will likely be next weekend once the summer workers are here!

Found a little bit of damaged wood along the bottom of the wall. Looks like maybe water seeps into the wall in one spot. Who knows what we'll find once we dig deeper. Fingers crossed it's nothing too bad.

from floor to ceiling

So, I tackled room 2 of 3 with popcorn today (of course leaving the largest one for last). What I learned is that I didn't spray nearly enough water on the popcorn in the first room. I gave it a nice spraying this time and it came off so easily. And, also utilized my "ax technique" to remove tile in the bedroom. Last week 'what I knew for sure' was that removing tile is a bitch. This week I'm learning that sitting on a floor for hours hunched over isn't the most pleasant position for your back. I'm walking around like an 85-year-old lady now.

But, I see progress and that makes me happy. Popcorn removed from the computer room, half the tile removed from the bedroom and just paint to remove from the floor in the second bedroom.

And, of course, the view. Half the reason I bought this house. Life is good.

reggie rocks!!!

Because POSS is such a dipshit, his realtor felt horrible and sent over his own cleaning guy to help me out. And man, did he! Reggie scrubbed for six hours and got the kitchen and two bathrooms looking like I'm sure they haven't looked in years! Love him.