handy

Isao took care of installing new hardware for the front door



and the handyman replaced the light in the entryway (here's the old one) and added new house numbers.




Now we need the painters to remove the old numbers and patch it up.

now we're cookin'

The boys, making breakfast.

crowned!

It pains me to admit, but this project was one of the first we put on the list for beautifying the living room: crown moulding. We finally had it installed, and now we're leaving. Lesson learned - next time we'll DO those things on the To Do List.





It still needs patching and painting, and then we're having the walls painted, so it will look even better. For someone else to enjoy. (No, I'm not bitter. Not at all.)

smoooooth

My little smoothie-lover.

the never-ending project

That should be the theme of this blog...

When we moved in, we removed the sliding doors on the closets in both bedrooms (because they were ugly) and planned to install a rod with nice curtains instead; that was August 2008. We should have done this before we had the floors refinished, because the floor under the track didn't get refinished, but the folks that did the floors in our kitchen remodel (April 2009) took care of that.

Fast forward to late summer/fall of 2010, when we had a handyman install this curtain wire from Ikea, among other things. (I must have been embarrassed it took us so long, because I don't have any photos from the handyman's tasks.)

It then took me forever and a day to find curtains to hang on it; I ended up using twin sheets. After a not-insignificant amount of time spent washing and ironing said curtains, Miles ended up yanking them to the floor in no time flat.





Admittedly, the hooks that come with these wires are wimpy at best, so I bought shower curtain hooks to use instead. But that meant I needed holes in the curtains to attach to the hooks. The woman at my favorite alterations place probably thought I was a bit crazy - button holes? in sheets? - but she managed to do what I needed.



Or what I thought I needed. The button holes were spaced too far apart, so the fabric in between was too droopy. So... back to alterations for more button holes. That only took me another 6 weeks.

Finally, button holes properly spaced, curtains washed and ironed, and tah-daaahhh!





I know, it doesn't get much more anti-climactic than that.

xmas in july

This project (inspired by something else earlier, but similar project here) has only been on my Do List for months years. I originally planned to use the leftover tester pots from this project, but they dried up while I procrastinated, so I decided to stick with the leftovers from what we actually used on the walls. I was determined to do it before we moved, mostly because I didn't want to drag the old paint with us.

I pulled out the three colors we've used around the house, empty clear glass ornament bulbs, and a few plastic pipettes from an old craft kit, and got to work.



Not exactly what I expected, but nice enough.



I actually prefer the look of what drained out of the bulbs after I left them upside down overnight to dry.





If we manage to buy a house and move in before Christmas this year, we'll hang them on the tree!

yahoo family day

The first of many fun times in Sunnyvale.

(click to watch video)








(click to watch video)

preparation

My years of slave labor at the Lindenstruth Work Camp for Children... wait, scratch that.

To earn my allowance, I spent a few hours each summer weeding the yard. So, I was well-prepared for clearing out the back garden.

Whew!

nee nah! nee nah!

What a big day at school - the fire truck came to visit!