This weekend was part 3 of the Ragsdale painting the house party. We have so many awesome friends and family who have offered to help paint, but unfortunately it's seeming to be a 2 people job. Beginning the painting saga, we used our friend John's, Wagner sprayer. Unfortunately, it just didn't cut the mustard, and by that I mean it worked for about 2.5 seconds and then splattered paint like it was 1994 and we were splatter painting sh*t. After researching airless sprayers, we got a Graco airless sprayer. Best. Move. Ever. We also got the 30" and 6' extension pole sprayers which turned out to be some of the best purchases we have bought for the house.
Let me tell you, Preston and I think we are WAY more awesome than we actually are sometimes. We thought "oh, we got this! We'll get it totally painted in a few days." Unfortunately we always underestimate the time it takes preparing things. ***as a side note, as Cozumel-death-marchy as it is, prepping for painting is absolutely THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do when painting.
What is the Cozumel-death-march you ask? Story time.
Preston and I got married and went on a cruise for our honeymoon. It was a good thing we had already paid for the hotel & cruise because the night before we left for the high seas we went to dinner in Galveston. Our bill was about $16.00 (we split an appetizer) and our debit card was declined. Sad I know, but we had just paid for a wedding and house so.....
I absolutely believe with my whole heart we had more fun than all the other people combined on that ship - it was awesome; karaoke on every non-sleeping deck, food 24 hours a day, ice cream anytime, no cell phone service, dance clubs that played country music, we were in heaven. When we disembarked at Cozumel we thought, how fun would it be to rent a vespa/scooter thing with smelly helmets and explore the island! The problem: it was 11:45 am, we stopped at a few places along the way, had a beer, checked out the beach, and realized none of the people we ran into were on our cruise. We were exactly 1/2 way around the island, it was sometime in the pm (we didn't have any time telling devices), pouring down rain, and we realized we had no clue when the ship left. Absolutely not enjoying it anymore we pushed through in the downpour, having never driven a scooter before Preston and I were scared, I was hanging on teary eyed thinking, "okay, if the ship leaves without us, it's only Thursday, we get paid tomorrow, so we may just be homeless in Cozumel for a night but can fly out tomorrow as long as the flight isn't too expensive so we can pay our mortgage payment this month." so so so sad. We get out of the rain, and hear a ship horn - oh sh*t! We go a little faster, turned in the scooter hoping and praying we can make it back onto the ship. We start running towards the direction of the ship, praying we see the Carnival Triumph. There, like a beacon of hope we see it, we start running faster. Out of breath we check back in, and make it up to the upper decks to watch others running towards the ship. It was approximately 15 minutes after we checked in that the ship left the dock, leaving two folks behind, they didn't quite make it back in time.The thing is, I wouldn't change a thing about any of that. It showed us we can make it through anything and still be happy-in love.
Anyways, this whole house exterior painting thing is like the Cozumel death march. Exhausted, happy, broke and elated we have completed the entire priming of the house. ~ I know, you were expecting me to say the whole thing is done yay! Unfortunately that is not the case.
Until today we found out we had the spray tip backwards - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN THE DIRECTIONS SAY WHICH WAY IT GOES. Ahem. Once we got things going well today we got the whole house primed. The second/possible third coat should go smooth.
Oh, as another side note, during the previous exterior painting times we also tore down a horrible, rotting pergola that actually had a huge yellow jacket nest in it, and I got stung in the FACE, it was out of nowhere and I didn't deserve it. Needless to say, now we have a code word for yellow jackets - mistletoe - now we have "mistletoe patrol" when the other is painting. Does anyone else have these problems? It really is kind of funny.
Thanksgiving is coming up and the weather getting cooler, maybe - I'm not certain but I don't think Texas is participating in fall/winter this year - we have to get the rest of the coats on asap just in case. My nephew Little E is getting baptized on Sunday which is one of the last days we can work on the house before the holidays. The plan? Get up at the butt crack of dawn, paint, baptize, come home and paint until dark. Preston, who is reading this over my shoulder said "um, Bailey, we probably need to shower before the baptism, but do you think it will matter if we have a little paint on us?" I said, "well, Jesus was a carpenter so I'm sure he'll understand".
So to recap: Don't underestimate the importance of paint prep, having the tip going the right way, and becoming rich so you don't have to go through the Cozumel death march in many aspects of your lives. You're welcome.
Also, I don't have any pictures because we were cleaning up by flashlight and couldn't see a thing by the time it was picture worthy, and Preston is sad because we recorded the Cowboys game and missed the last 10 minutes of the game because it went longer than ATT thought it would. Damn you ATT.
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Sunday, October 9, 2016
End of the crazy day recap
It's a two blog post kinda day. It has been a crazy weekend, one that would make Kanye West jealous. This morning I wrote about what we planned on getting accomplished. Getting the metal off and getting the siding prepped for paint. Well, we got a little bit side tracked. And by we, I mean ME. We DID get most of the metal off, but while blowing the gutters/roof of the garage I kept looking at the stupid, ugly, dilapidated, creepy "arbor" between the house and driveway.
As we went to Home Depot for some supplies for the siding, we realized it was only 10:30 am, and we had already done pretty much everything on our to-do list. This is really unheard of for us. We've been so dejected and depressed, thank you Tom, we didn't really ever get started until about 2 pm after hurricane Tom. I should also mention the extremely funny conversation we had in the store. ~ it needs just a little bit of backstory~ when we fist started our renovation we used to say "man, can you not wait until we can be those people who go to Home Depot to just get light-bulbs and filters?" So we were strolling the aisles of Home Depot getting odds and ends like, WD-40, bug spray, big gap filler, brillo pads, screws, a galvanized steel plate for the squirrel hole in our siding and whatnot.
Our conversation:
Bailey: oh sweetie - we need some light bulbs and filters!
Preston: laughed and said, well, we don't have any arms to carry them. (we didn't get a cart).
Bailey: okie dokie hokey pokey.
Preston: Let's just order it on Amazon. I don't even use stores anymore. (in his most mean girls, Regina George voice).
Bailey: *laughing so hard in the aisles of Home Depot with people looking at me like I escaped an insane asylum.*
*ahem*
Bailey: okay.
Back to normal brain function. On the way home from the Depot we started driving to look at other peoples painting jobs. As we drove around here is our conversation:
Bailey: hmm. that one is kind of cute! I don't know about it though.
Preston: White siding with black trim around the windows; that's like mascara for your house.
*driving around looking more*
Preston:........actually...on second thought....it makes your house look kind of slutty.
Bailey: yeah, you nailed it. It's like dark houses need white mascara and light houses need no mascara.
************The jury is still out on the colors for the house, but we're pretty sure which way we're going. Tune in later for the reveal.
After a little bit of driving around looking at other people's paint jobs, we went home and decided we needed more time to decide the fate of our colors.
Then, Preston went to get the big ladder from his parents house, I got started demoing the ugly arbor. I was on a good role, but then I heard something buzzing around my head - having been in absolute war with wasps several times before, I froze and got to the driveway to check things out. ~PS. I had officially declared war on wasps 4 years ago..... (Preston informed me while he was showering the day off, "knowing your tract-record i figured the ugly-ass arbor would all be gone by now" Luckily, I noticed the buzzing because on the board next to the one I was ripping off, was covered in yellow jackets. ~ notice, I said yellow jackets, not the paper wasps we had been encountering in the house. Yellow jackets are mean little bastards that get mad if you mess with them and come after you with a vengeance. Just ask my sister Shawna on this one. She got stung by 42 yellow jackets. Trust me, they're mean.
When Preston got back from getting the ladder, we ate the yummy pizza his dad got us (so sweet :-) ) and got to the massacre. With wasp spray cans in both hands we started spraying like we were at the Texas State Fair in the midway, playing one of those water shooting the red circle games that you get the whatever to the top. ~ As a fun side note, Preston proposed to me 5 years today in front of Big Tex at the State Fair of Texas. <3 <3 <3
To make a long story short in the ending, we killed a ton of yellow jackets, finished demolishing the arbor and sat in the grass for about 20 minutes basking in our awesomeness, and went inside to watch the Cowboy's kick some butt. Today was a great day. Enjoy some pictures. #micdrop.
Preston's quote of the day:
"if a building could be held liable, this one should be."
<3
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| the ugly white lattice with some vine-y bull-honkey taking it over is what we destroyed today |
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| my goodness, can he be more wonderful? seriously. God broke the mold on this man. |
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| Dead yellow jackets. *please note, not all of them made it into the picture. |
Preston here; Bailey is showering the crazy off. I took this awesome picture today without the ugly arbor we had. We are so pumped that the Cowboys won the game. What a great weekend. Stay tuned to for the next week for some amazing updates!!!!! Isn't our house cute????
Exciting times at the 'ole homestead
I have started this post many times over the last month or so, and yes I apologize for the delay on the "creepy bathroom reveal" I will post that next. It's mid October and the weather in Texas is getting cooler- well, as cool as the beginning of fall in Texas gets. I woke up yesterday at 4:30 am completely psyched about the house. I know, this realization almost knocked me over too; after so much bitching and complaining (and you haven't even heard the whole "Tom the contractor" story) I realized something very important. We are on the downhill slope, it's incredibly overwhelming, and actually as I type this my eyes are filled with happy tears.
Preston and I bought this house thinking "we totally got this", it's not that bad", "we can get this done in about a year or so and be the baddest of them all". Luckily we were unaware of just how naive we were. Many people, including our realtor, said "I don't know guys, this is an awful big undertaking", "you guys are crazy" and my personal favorite, "dude, yall must be out of your damn minds. Do you even KNOW how to fix any of the problems this house has?!" None of it phased us in the slightest. You see, Preston and I are, oh what's the word......stubborn as hell. I am a Taurus, and fit it to a tee. T? T-ee? whatever, you know what I mean. Ask my mother, she'll tell you some awesome stubborn Bailey stories. Preston is stubborn too, and that, in this case is the best thing ever.
You see, we don't get hung up on the little things like, neither one of us had ever done any plumbing, tiling, drywall, foundation, electrical, you know, that kind of little thing. We just knew deep down, together we could do anything. And this still holds true. We are also just crazy enough to try anything, and if we can't do it ourselves, we'll think about hiring someone. One of our motto's during this renovation is: let's give it a try, because we can't mess it up any worse than it already is.
Something to keep in mind. At the time of buying/beginning to renovate our home there weren't really any TV shows about it, no Chip and Joanna Gaines, no Nicole Curtis. Nope, it wasn't "popular" yet. There was a show called Renovation Realities which is amazing, I strongly suggest you watch it. If I could only go back in time and tell HGTV, hey - our renovation is something yall really need to film, I would. Those shows like Fixer Upper and whatnot are nice to watch, however it's not a true representation of a real renovation at all. Chip and Joanna get to go home at the end of the day to their gorgeous farmhouse, don't have to worry about sleeping in a different room with just a mattress on the floor because the room that was their "bedroom" last week has been demoed, and don't have to be stressed all week because their actual job is renovating - not a 9 - 5 job which means most of the renovation can only happen on the weekends. If I'm not mistaken, Chip and Jojo lived with her parents while renovating their farmhouse, so again, not actually living a renovation. I am way off track now, but I felt that was important to say.
So as I get back to my original point of the downhill slope, I think of our to-do list. The last really major thing is painting the exterior of the house. At first, we were like, cool! This shouldn't take long. Well, throughout this renovation we have learned something very important. Do it half ass or 90% and you'll find yourself doing it again but the right way in about a year. *cough* downstairs creepy bathroom. *cough*. So we began researching how to prep and paint an all wooden exterior - mad credit to Google and YouTube, thanks guys. Getting the siding ready for paint is the hardest part. The actual painting will be a walk in the freaking park in comparison.
Currently this weekend we are removing the nailed in metal strips along the outline of the windows. doors and corners of the house, (2nd story corners are super scary) that used to hold the old siding (most likely filled with asbestos) and figuring out just how much work the siding needs before we can paint. While we were on the roof taking care of all that, we figured why not go ahead and use the leaf blower to clean the gutters? You know, since we were already up there. Today we tackle the rest of the metal, blow the garage roof/gutters, and clean the siding on the garage. This is really exciting to me, hence why I have gotten up for the past two mornings at 4:30 am psyched and just too excited to sleep. It's finally time to see some real pretty changes and knowing this is the last big hurdle before just the little things, is truly more exciting to me than almost anything that comes to mind.
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| Metal hanging on for dear life |
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| Grave yard of metal strips |
Here's the point where I will ask for your help. Pretty please.
I will post a picture of our garage (as that is the starting point of the painting) we are trying to decide whether to:
1. Paint the house AND trim white as it was originally.
2. Paint the trim white and the house grey.
3. If the garage will look stupid with the white garage door, white trim and white siding.
So please, take a look at this picture, show it to your friends, family, co-workers, the mailman, grocery store checker and tell me your thoughts. I thank you in advance.
More to come soon!
<3 B
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Well folks, its been a long while. We have come to the realization that we cannot do it all. As much as we think we are superheros we are not. To explain everything that has happened since my last blog post all at one time is just more than I can handle, I might spontaneously combust from the pain. So I'll start with our most recent undertaking: the downstairs bathroom.
Originally coined the "creepy bathroom" it has gone through many phases. From green, peeling up stick on tile, base board coming off the wall (where I killed the mouse by bashing it with a crowbar - they really do squeak by the way), black ooze coming from the sink, opossums living under the tub, the yearly flea outbreak, okay you get the point. To, when we hired our contractor and thought - finally! We'll have a functioning shower that we can feel good about. Unfortunately we hired a contractor who employed the saddest gaggle of rejects who should really find another form of work before someone clobbers them in the tukhus. The bathroom was gutted down to the studs, and I narrowed down my wishlist from my pintrest board. Black and white bathroom with a sexy shower that looks like it's from this decade. Layout was stumping Preston and I, so during our pre-renovation party my wise Aunt Sally suggested we move the sink to the other wall opening up the shower/toilet area! Brilliant! So we told Tom, our contractor where we wanted everything and how we wanted it to look.
The plumbers went to work moving the water lines, setting the new shower drain (which was supposed be centered and is not, and we went to work getting light fixtures. This was about 6 months ago and I'm sad to say the beautiful light fixtures are still in their boxes waiting to sparkle in our bathroom. When the "bones" were done, our budget was running out and we needed other things done so we explained we'll do the tiling. Unfortunately we also got stuck doing the shower pan - If you ever get the chance to make your own shower pan, PASS on that one. Trust me. <---- Preston just exclaimed "it's the worse thing ever!!!!!"
We were getting down to the wire with the renovation to get it completed in the time the bank allowed. Preston and his dad worked really hard on the shower pan, Preston and I did the tiling and all we had left in there was to grout and paint.
***as a fun side note, during this renovation we spent 113 nights in a small hotel room with no kitchen which meant takeout for 113 days, about 25 minutes away from our house, and obviously just thrilling. More on that in another blog.
We had to do an extreme rush job on the finishing touches like grouting (not a good idea) and Tom had to throw up some crappy looking builder grade sad light fixtures. Everything got 'done' enough for the bank to pass our final appraisal and I've never been more relieved and angry at the same time. Why angry? That is a story for the next blog, it will be called "the worst 6 months of my life" so get your whiskey or other beverage of choice ready for that party train wreck.
So with the bathroom mostly done we were excited to use it. Unfortunately, getting the slope to a shower pan proved more difficult than anticipated and it didn't actually drain. There was also a sewer gas smell coming from the drain, and still some squirrel hair (another story for a later date) so feeling so dejected we simply closed the door to the downstairs bathroom and pretended it didn't even exist.
In just a few days we'll be celebrating our 4th anniversary, and man has it been an incredibly wonderful, stressful, learning, trying, loving, funny, interesting 4 years. So we decided we deserved a vacation. A getaway to Austin/Gurene and forget about this crazy house. Mid day yesterday we were talking and getting ready to pack, when we came to the same conclusion. Instead of going on a trip to luxurious hotels, and the Gurene Mansion Inn, floating the river and eating chicken fried steak - we were going to redo the downstairs bathroom. Who in their right minds do this? I'm not entirely sure because we are obviously out of our minds; "what's that Preston? Green Oaks is ready with their straight jackets to take us to our padded rooms? Cool." Just kidding. However, yes we forewent a vacation to make a more fiscally responsible decision of finally getting our bathroom right and enjoy it for years to come. Man, being an adult is not as much fun as it seems.
So this morning (Sunday) we got our supplies (we had to make 2 Home Depot runs, because, that's just how we roll) and started demoing the tile we had just laid 6 months ago.
What? You don't completely rip out your bathroom every 6 months just because? haha. loser.
Approximately 7 minutes into demo I cut my thumb. Awesome start. The rest of demo went pretty well and it was on to the dreaded shower pan. This time, I did the sloping and fingers crossed it works/drains because I was talking mad shit to Preston about me being so much better at it. Let me just tell you the honest truth - shower pans are no joke and it's above your skill level. Trust me. You'll hate your self, life and everyone else with a functioning shower. My best advice is to either pay someone else to do it and blame them if it's all jacked up on mountain dew. OR burn the house down and get a new one. It's just not effing worth it. Trust me.
It's the end of day 1 of making the bathroom luxurious, and things are looking good. More to come tomorrow, stay tuned kids.
Preston's quote of the day "So many memories in this shower.....none of which include showering. "
Originally coined the "creepy bathroom" it has gone through many phases. From green, peeling up stick on tile, base board coming off the wall (where I killed the mouse by bashing it with a crowbar - they really do squeak by the way), black ooze coming from the sink, opossums living under the tub, the yearly flea outbreak, okay you get the point. To, when we hired our contractor and thought - finally! We'll have a functioning shower that we can feel good about. Unfortunately we hired a contractor who employed the saddest gaggle of rejects who should really find another form of work before someone clobbers them in the tukhus. The bathroom was gutted down to the studs, and I narrowed down my wishlist from my pintrest board. Black and white bathroom with a sexy shower that looks like it's from this decade. Layout was stumping Preston and I, so during our pre-renovation party my wise Aunt Sally suggested we move the sink to the other wall opening up the shower/toilet area! Brilliant! So we told Tom, our contractor where we wanted everything and how we wanted it to look.
The plumbers went to work moving the water lines, setting the new shower drain (which was supposed be centered and is not, and we went to work getting light fixtures. This was about 6 months ago and I'm sad to say the beautiful light fixtures are still in their boxes waiting to sparkle in our bathroom. When the "bones" were done, our budget was running out and we needed other things done so we explained we'll do the tiling. Unfortunately we also got stuck doing the shower pan - If you ever get the chance to make your own shower pan, PASS on that one. Trust me. <---- Preston just exclaimed "it's the worse thing ever!!!!!"
We were getting down to the wire with the renovation to get it completed in the time the bank allowed. Preston and his dad worked really hard on the shower pan, Preston and I did the tiling and all we had left in there was to grout and paint.
***as a fun side note, during this renovation we spent 113 nights in a small hotel room with no kitchen which meant takeout for 113 days, about 25 minutes away from our house, and obviously just thrilling. More on that in another blog.
We had to do an extreme rush job on the finishing touches like grouting (not a good idea) and Tom had to throw up some crappy looking builder grade sad light fixtures. Everything got 'done' enough for the bank to pass our final appraisal and I've never been more relieved and angry at the same time. Why angry? That is a story for the next blog, it will be called "the worst 6 months of my life" so get your whiskey or other beverage of choice ready for that party train wreck.
So with the bathroom mostly done we were excited to use it. Unfortunately, getting the slope to a shower pan proved more difficult than anticipated and it didn't actually drain. There was also a sewer gas smell coming from the drain, and still some squirrel hair (another story for a later date) so feeling so dejected we simply closed the door to the downstairs bathroom and pretended it didn't even exist.
In just a few days we'll be celebrating our 4th anniversary, and man has it been an incredibly wonderful, stressful, learning, trying, loving, funny, interesting 4 years. So we decided we deserved a vacation. A getaway to Austin/Gurene and forget about this crazy house. Mid day yesterday we were talking and getting ready to pack, when we came to the same conclusion. Instead of going on a trip to luxurious hotels, and the Gurene Mansion Inn, floating the river and eating chicken fried steak - we were going to redo the downstairs bathroom. Who in their right minds do this? I'm not entirely sure because we are obviously out of our minds; "what's that Preston? Green Oaks is ready with their straight jackets to take us to our padded rooms? Cool." Just kidding. However, yes we forewent a vacation to make a more fiscally responsible decision of finally getting our bathroom right and enjoy it for years to come. Man, being an adult is not as much fun as it seems.
So this morning (Sunday) we got our supplies (we had to make 2 Home Depot runs, because, that's just how we roll) and started demoing the tile we had just laid 6 months ago.
What? You don't completely rip out your bathroom every 6 months just because? haha. loser.
Approximately 7 minutes into demo I cut my thumb. Awesome start. The rest of demo went pretty well and it was on to the dreaded shower pan. This time, I did the sloping and fingers crossed it works/drains because I was talking mad shit to Preston about me being so much better at it. Let me just tell you the honest truth - shower pans are no joke and it's above your skill level. Trust me. You'll hate your self, life and everyone else with a functioning shower. My best advice is to either pay someone else to do it and blame them if it's all jacked up on mountain dew. OR burn the house down and get a new one. It's just not effing worth it. Trust me.
It's the end of day 1 of making the bathroom luxurious, and things are looking good. More to come tomorrow, stay tuned kids.
Preston's quote of the day "So many memories in this shower.....none of which include showering. "
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Busted pipe=blessing in disguise. Also a new addition to our family!
This is a post I didn't publish last winter. I guess Preston having the Shingles in his eye kind of derailed us.
Enjoy:
Well folks. As you might have heard Texas has some pretty kookie weather. It kind of reminds me of a woman going through the menopause mixed with a pregnant woman's mood swings. So far we have had so many freezes I think we are on the verge of a record. This past weekend was the biggest mood swing, er, weather swing I have ever seen. Saturday it was 80 degrees, I was wearing shorts and a tank top. Sunday, the high was in the low teens. That's Texas for you.
Sadly for us, the Home Improvement Newlyweds we didn't drip the pipes as well as we should have and you guessed it, we got a busted pipe.
We thought giving the faucets a good drip was good, but the next day when we realized we had no water pressure we had a leak. When we went into the kitchen to regroup we heard something. A Fountain? We don't have a fountain........oh no!!!! Umm....Preston! Look!!!! We have a fountain under the house!!!!! (the explanation points were sarcastic) After locating the location and fixing it (with the help of John, Preston's friend from work) we were able to thank God that it had happened because we had never had such good water pressure. It was such a blessing in disguise because after fixing that we had THE BEST water pressure!!!!!! What we did for the fix:
Sand both sides of the copper pipe till shiny and push the "shark bite" in-it's a compression fitting.
Here's the finished product: (yes, under the cast iron main drain, but look folks-we aren't millionaires, just trying to get by)
Insert the Shark Bite plumbing fixing thing:
http://www.sharkbite.com/product/flexible-coupling-hoses/
we got ours at lowes. Literally saved our lives.
and voila!
Also, during this time I was having a brake problem in the Bumblebee (1999 mustang, 35th anniversary edition) I took these pictures and sent them to
Preston while he was at work because I was annoyed because the Autozone boys were sassing me saying "you're going to change your own brakes?" and other nonsense like that.
Me working under the house on the busted pipe!
Our new kitty Waylon, he found us in our backyard right before a thunder storm-he was nearly dead when he warmed our hearts.
Preston and John working on fixing the busted pipe.
Oh yeah, during this menopausal Texas winter UTD cancelled my Bachelors Graduation because of the ICE! I was obviously not a happy camper. I spent all day in my cap & gown in my OWN celebration. F U ICE!
Enjoy:
Well folks. As you might have heard Texas has some pretty kookie weather. It kind of reminds me of a woman going through the menopause mixed with a pregnant woman's mood swings. So far we have had so many freezes I think we are on the verge of a record. This past weekend was the biggest mood swing, er, weather swing I have ever seen. Saturday it was 80 degrees, I was wearing shorts and a tank top. Sunday, the high was in the low teens. That's Texas for you.
Sadly for us, the Home Improvement Newlyweds we didn't drip the pipes as well as we should have and you guessed it, we got a busted pipe.
We thought giving the faucets a good drip was good, but the next day when we realized we had no water pressure we had a leak. When we went into the kitchen to regroup we heard something. A Fountain? We don't have a fountain........oh no!!!! Umm....Preston! Look!!!! We have a fountain under the house!!!!! (the explanation points were sarcastic) After locating the location and fixing it (with the help of John, Preston's friend from work) we were able to thank God that it had happened because we had never had such good water pressure. It was such a blessing in disguise because after fixing that we had THE BEST water pressure!!!!!! What we did for the fix:
Sand both sides of the copper pipe till shiny and push the "shark bite" in-it's a compression fitting.
Here's the finished product: (yes, under the cast iron main drain, but look folks-we aren't millionaires, just trying to get by)
Insert the Shark Bite plumbing fixing thing:
http://www.sharkbite.com/product/flexible-coupling-hoses/
we got ours at lowes. Literally saved our lives.
and voila!
Also, during this time I was having a brake problem in the Bumblebee (1999 mustang, 35th anniversary edition) I took these pictures and sent them to
Preston while he was at work because I was annoyed because the Autozone boys were sassing me saying "you're going to change your own brakes?" and other nonsense like that.
Me working under the house on the busted pipe!
Our new kitty Waylon, he found us in our backyard right before a thunder storm-he was nearly dead when he warmed our hearts.
Preston and John working on fixing the busted pipe.
Oh yeah, during this menopausal Texas winter UTD cancelled my Bachelors Graduation because of the ICE! I was obviously not a happy camper. I spent all day in my cap & gown in my OWN celebration. F U ICE!
Maggots, demo and Cowboys!
Well folks, I would love to tell you that since my last post (almost a year ago) the house is finished. I would love to tell you that, but it would be a complete and udder lie and my mother told me never tell a lie. As the house stands we had gotten it to a level of "we-feel-pretty-good-walking-around-in-bear-feet-but-know-it-is-far-from-where-we-want-it-to-be". We started to realize that if we ever want to have kids (or lower blood pressure) we needed to kick this thing into high gear; the foundation, roof, HVAC units and electrical needed to be done. We knew if we wanted to spend a few more years we could probably do it all ourselves but thought it would be more worth it to get the house refinanced and tack on a renovation loan for those big items.
You would think getting contractors to give you bids would be easy! Well, it would have been 2 1/2 years ago when we bought the house (but our real estate lady didn't have much of a clue about the kind of loan we needed and royally effed us unknowingly) Now apparently there is so much work to be done contractors don't even call you back! Oh well, we think we might have found someone great and hope it works out.
So knowing these HUGE projects are on the horizon we started to get excited about the house for the first time in a year. We decided on the floor plan, eventual Attic Master room, and other very exciting touches. We decided on a whim to take out the back of the wall between the current living room and dining room-
Then we decided to tear out the ugly upstairs bathroom vanity. Now, something I should mention; a few weeks ago I woke up to the sound of Preston banging a shoe around in the bathroom. Honestly I didn't pay much attention to it, thinking he was just killing wasps (because they had come back with a vengeance) After a few minutes of him banging his shoe and muffled curse words I came to see what in the world was happening. Maggots. Yes folks, slimy yucky icky maggots. hundreds of them. All over the bathroom floor. So currently we have dealt with opossums, fleas, spiders, squirrels, roach eggs, more opossums, random cats, mice, rats and now maggots. So there Preston is, in his boxers with a shoe in his hands giving me a look of horror and serial killer and said- "just go! I got this! save yourself!" So I went downstairs and waited. When he finally emerged from the- what we thought "the safe bathroom" he just said, we need to stop living in the upscale lap of poverty.
After that maggot morning, we decided we needed to let whatever had died get really dead before trying to find it. We bleached the bathroom and uneasily went about our business. Until today, at 11am on Sunday morning we were trying to decide if we wanted to watch TV, tear down a wall, or "find the brick" like one of our favorites Nicole Curtis on Rehab Addict. Finding the brick won, so we went to work upstairs. Very shortly into this venture Preston gagged and said "Oh Sh**!" I knew it had to be something dead. Me, being the loving wife I am sent him after the supplies we would need-gloves, trash bag, broom & dustpan, and vodka. He came back minutes later and I disposed of the rat. After just getting back to normal I saw a tail. THANK THE LORD IT WASN'T MOVING! I told Preston to just go to the hall, it looked like the rat had a friend. He did, and they went into the same bag.
While demoing part of the bathroom, I got some great candid footage of Preston:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFVELNOL5kI&feature=youtu.be
After cleaning up that mess we decided to watch the Cowboys!! More updates soon.
You would think getting contractors to give you bids would be easy! Well, it would have been 2 1/2 years ago when we bought the house (but our real estate lady didn't have much of a clue about the kind of loan we needed and royally effed us unknowingly) Now apparently there is so much work to be done contractors don't even call you back! Oh well, we think we might have found someone great and hope it works out.
So knowing these HUGE projects are on the horizon we started to get excited about the house for the first time in a year. We decided on the floor plan, eventual Attic Master room, and other very exciting touches. We decided on a whim to take out the back of the wall between the current living room and dining room-
Then we decided to tear out the ugly upstairs bathroom vanity. Now, something I should mention; a few weeks ago I woke up to the sound of Preston banging a shoe around in the bathroom. Honestly I didn't pay much attention to it, thinking he was just killing wasps (because they had come back with a vengeance) After a few minutes of him banging his shoe and muffled curse words I came to see what in the world was happening. Maggots. Yes folks, slimy yucky icky maggots. hundreds of them. All over the bathroom floor. So currently we have dealt with opossums, fleas, spiders, squirrels, roach eggs, more opossums, random cats, mice, rats and now maggots. So there Preston is, in his boxers with a shoe in his hands giving me a look of horror and serial killer and said- "just go! I got this! save yourself!" So I went downstairs and waited. When he finally emerged from the- what we thought "the safe bathroom" he just said, we need to stop living in the upscale lap of poverty.
After that maggot morning, we decided we needed to let whatever had died get really dead before trying to find it. We bleached the bathroom and uneasily went about our business. Until today, at 11am on Sunday morning we were trying to decide if we wanted to watch TV, tear down a wall, or "find the brick" like one of our favorites Nicole Curtis on Rehab Addict. Finding the brick won, so we went to work upstairs. Very shortly into this venture Preston gagged and said "Oh Sh**!" I knew it had to be something dead. Me, being the loving wife I am sent him after the supplies we would need-gloves, trash bag, broom & dustpan, and vodka. He came back minutes later and I disposed of the rat. After just getting back to normal I saw a tail. THANK THE LORD IT WASN'T MOVING! I told Preston to just go to the hall, it looked like the rat had a friend. He did, and they went into the same bag.
While demoing part of the bathroom, I got some great candid footage of Preston:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFVELNOL5kI&feature=youtu.be
After cleaning up that mess we decided to watch the Cowboys!! More updates soon.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Valentines Magnolia and more yellow Jacket invasion
My sweet husband surprised me on Valentines day with a beautiful Magnolia tree! When he told me about the great lengths he and his friend John went to in order to get me and John's wife each a tree I though it was the absolute sweetest thing a man could do for a woman! They had decided to get their wives a magnolia tree and the search was on. It was Valentines day and they went on a search for 2 beautiful, big and not too expensive trees. After visiting many many many Home Depots and Lowes they found 2 that would work. Since neither of us wives knew about the surprise they were feverishly trying to get both trees to their homes without raising suspicion. They incredibly pulled it off! We were both surprised and thrilled!
The next day Preston and I started digging the massive hole for the tree and wouldn't you know, the exact place we wanted to put the tree had a huge stump that needed to be removed first, so after digging around the stump Preston got the chain, truck and magically the stump came out like melted butter. Once we got the tree in we cleaned up the driveway and while we were just about to call it a day our neighbors little dogs scared some young boy (who was skateboarding down our side of the street) he jumped off his board, ran over by us, and the dogs were relentlessly barking and growling. Now, keep in mind these little dogs are ugly, mean, and have come over to our house many times and scared the poo out of me. If I had the opportunity I would drop kick them into next week. The scared boy realized that when he lept off his board it kept rolling, and he went to get it back, at that precise time there was a car just about to hit the board. Luckily no one was hurt, but those dogs have pushed it a little bit too far. When an innocent boy is trying to play outside and almost gets run over because of some dogs it has pushed me to the edge. I'm taking it to the city. Wish me luck.
As a side note, we named our Magnolia tree Hazel. There is a wonderful wise woman I work with named Hazel and she has always been there for us to talk to and has supported Preston and I throughout all our journeys.
Now, we are going into the attic for the 3rd time to get after the yellow jacket invasion. I swear, I almost just want to rip off the whole roof, destroy their lives and put on a tin roof. Finances are keeping us from that. We also are having to get rid of the Yellow Jackets by ourselves because all of the quotes I got for a pro to do it were upwards of $1000 which we don't have. If anyone out there is a millionare and wants to donate to the cause let me know.
More on the yellow jackets after we get done with them.....time to be John Wayne and man up.
The next day Preston and I started digging the massive hole for the tree and wouldn't you know, the exact place we wanted to put the tree had a huge stump that needed to be removed first, so after digging around the stump Preston got the chain, truck and magically the stump came out like melted butter. Once we got the tree in we cleaned up the driveway and while we were just about to call it a day our neighbors little dogs scared some young boy (who was skateboarding down our side of the street) he jumped off his board, ran over by us, and the dogs were relentlessly barking and growling. Now, keep in mind these little dogs are ugly, mean, and have come over to our house many times and scared the poo out of me. If I had the opportunity I would drop kick them into next week. The scared boy realized that when he lept off his board it kept rolling, and he went to get it back, at that precise time there was a car just about to hit the board. Luckily no one was hurt, but those dogs have pushed it a little bit too far. When an innocent boy is trying to play outside and almost gets run over because of some dogs it has pushed me to the edge. I'm taking it to the city. Wish me luck.
As a side note, we named our Magnolia tree Hazel. There is a wonderful wise woman I work with named Hazel and she has always been there for us to talk to and has supported Preston and I throughout all our journeys.
Now, we are going into the attic for the 3rd time to get after the yellow jacket invasion. I swear, I almost just want to rip off the whole roof, destroy their lives and put on a tin roof. Finances are keeping us from that. We also are having to get rid of the Yellow Jackets by ourselves because all of the quotes I got for a pro to do it were upwards of $1000 which we don't have. If anyone out there is a millionare and wants to donate to the cause let me know.
More on the yellow jackets after we get done with them.....time to be John Wayne and man up.
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