Still going.

What this thing is still active?

Well the unthinkable has happened - we actually got one room almost done. We painted the second bedroom on the second floor and now just need to paint Katie's craft room. We are going to have someone come and sand and finish the floors.

I am going to strip and paint the doors separately.

Then onto the downstairs office...and the windows, roof, kitchen, basement, etc.

No really, we started again.

We have a lot to do by the end of the year. I ordered a infrared paint stripper and I have to admit, it is pretty cool. It helps but does not totally replace having to scrape off old paint. Just working on one small room on the second floor. Then on to the front bedroom. Scrape, scrape, and then scrape some more. Can't wait to have this part done. Just doing the trim and doorways for now.

Wait for it....

OK, admittedly it has been a little while since our last post but things are beginning to happen. With the work of a new water main being put in (or upstairs bathroom remodel caused us to need one according to the city) we have started to work on 108 again. (photo below) Phase 1 continued. First insulation was put into the remaining upstairs walls. (photo right) Now patching those holes and preparing for painting. I did purchase a infrared paint stripper though.

A new start

So a few minor projects and one big delay, that would describe us recently. We took care of a few small details but mostly just put project 108 on hold. We traveled to London, spent time with a certain god-daughter, and started making of list of what is left to do on the house. Fall is a great time to start planning on indoor projects.

One down...mostly

So we are very close to having the Kids Bathroom done. We just need some final items done for the washer dryer we just had delivered. And then it's just the trim paint around the door and window.

Also the closet took a final step with the installation of some shelving. Again the trim has to be painted.

Oh yeah, the house

We have taken a bit of a summer break. Gone to California, hung out in Michigan, and tried to get down to Chambana as often as we can! So, needless to say the house project time line has been stretched a bit.

I recently went to show someone details of the kids bathroom and realized we don't even have photos of the finished project must less posted on the blog. Time to get crackin'.

A few shots of us living life.

Back on track....

Week 4 was overlooked based on our vacation to wine country for my friend Aaron's wedding. We blatantly ignored our new healthy eating regime and indulged (me - In N Out, Steve - libations). Both disappointed but not surprised, I gained 1 lb back and Steve gained back 2.

Week 5 was much more successful. Although WW reminded me that losing over 2 lbs beyond week 3 was ill-advised, I managed to lose another 4.6. This means a grand total of 15lbs to date! I pushed myself much harder this week because I wanted to make up for the gain. Rather than starve myself, I walked and walked pretty much all weekend. Steve also had a good week (not sure of the exact number), but he has lost a total of 8 lbs to date.

I am guessing if we don't start doing house projects and posting them - we may have to stop thinking of this as a house blog. I still think this should count as renovation!

The gloves are off!

I am happy to report that Steve and I had pretty successful weeks. Steve lost 4.6 lbs and I lost 3.6lbs! Which means I am at 11.6 lbs towards my 25lb goal. Steve (who started after me) is at 5.6 lbs towards his 28 lb goal.

Steve was greeted with happiness and shock when he told me his numbers. I know everyone had warned me - but all I could think of was how much harder I had to work for my lbs. Not to say that he hasn't been trying. He did burn a great deal of calories doing yard work and mowing the lawn with the push mower while I vegged out.

I assume this week will be even tougher for many reasons. I am at week 4, which I hear is when there is a drop off. We are also going on vacation to Cali, which includes attending a wine tasting, rehearsal dinner and a wedding. I am already making my list of what snacks I can take to help curb my appetite. Although, I also mentioned that a trip to In and Out burger was on the menu.
Hopefully we can get lots of walks in as well.

2 week update (a little late)

So it doesn't seem fair to give an update since Steve was on day 3 of his diet this past Monday. In any case, I will share that in week 2 I lost 3.2 lbs.....grand total of 7.6 lbs. I am supremely confident that this will slow greatly in weeks 3 and 4 - but I have my secret weapon for when that happens....actually going to the gym. You know the one I pay every month so I have the option to workout. I have been doing nightly walks of 30-45 mins, but it is getting muggier and buggier every night.

I am also happy to report that Steve on Monday was down 1 lb. He also randomly posts his actual weight on his site - so I will leave it to him to update his progress. He hasn't fully adopted the ww points plan- but does check in with me to see how many points values of different foods. For the record, they give 0 pts to most veggies and salsa is also a 0-1 pt option (depending on how much you eat). Steve has taken to sliced green pepper with salsa as a good snacking option.

Even if at this week's weigh in Steve has lost tons of weight while perhaps not following as strict of diet, I will be happy. While getting to healthier weights is one of the goals this is more about enstilling healthier eating habits that will last beyond the weight loss.

Biggest Loser(s)

Ok let's just overlook my lack of updates on the house. We have started a new project called remodeling our stomachs.

2 weeks ago I decided to step out of denial about the amount of weight I have gained in the last few months. I did the mental game of - well as long as I weigh less than X, I'm not so bad. Of course I made that number 5 lbs more than I thought I was (having not weighed myself in quite a while). When I saw that I was only .5 lbs less than my inflated estimate - reality hit.

I knew I could talk myself into exercise - it was the change in diet that seemed overwhelming. I went to weight watchers to check out their online points system. They were offering one-week free trial - so I figured why not? In the first week I lost 4.4 lbs and this week I am on track to lose another 2-3lbs. My official weigh in day is Monday.

This past Friday, Steve and I met for lunch at Chipotle -one of my favorite places (pre-dieting). I was able to put together a lower point option and had to manage the rest of my food intake that day. I also decided to challenge Steve to participate in my quest to lose weight. After fattening him up, Steve agreed to take the challenge. His goal is to lose 30 lbs and mine is to lose 25. I figured I need to give myself a stretch goal (still within my ideal weight for my height) since I am a few weeks ahead of him.

No before pics at this point. Perhaps when we get a little further I can post the house and the owner before/after shots!

The Bag Lady

My mom would drive my dad to the train station when he worked downtown. My sister and I were often fascinated by the characters at the train station. One such lady always rode her bicycle and carried a bag of bags. She was affectionately named the bad lady by us and I'm sure many others who saw her around town. I remember my sister at no more than 3 or 4 claiming that she wanted to be the bag lady when she grew up. Today, my eco-friendly little sis wouldn't step foot in her house with a bag of plastic bags. She was the first in the family to start using the cloth bags at the grocery store and routinely turns down the use of a bag when carrying the items will surely do.

Since we now have a hybrid and we recently celebrated earth day, I decided to go bagless this weekend. I haven't made the effort to purchase the grocery store bags but I was able to make grocery and household purchases at meijer, walmart, target, linens n things, and lowes without a single bag. I have purchased vinyl cube baskets for the trunk so no worries of spillage.

I know that this is not a major breakthrough for many folks - but it was suprising to me how little effort it took on my part and how much it threw off the store clerks. I know my sis and bro-in-law get similar reactions when they say "no thanks - we brought our own". JC Penney went as far as saying that the bag would ensure that Dr. T was not wrongly accused of theft. I guess the receipt wasn't quite enough evidence of a legitimate purchase.

I was planning on posting some pics of the house since things are really coming together. It will have to wait a little while longer as I don't want to spoil it for those that are coming for the big day bday/open house bash.

17

cans of PAINT! I just went around and counted all of the full and partially used cans of paint/primer in out house. Bear in mind, this 17 doesn't include the 20+ cans of paint that came with the house and currently reside in the basement.
This pretty blue is waiting for the kids bathroom. It has been all primed - but needs a coat of ceiling paint. For whatever reason in the pic below, the wall looks blue - it is actually just primed.
I think we might as well get stock in Kilz primer which we are using on the future kids bedroom.

We decided to paint the ceiling white to cover up the corrugated tile looking things. The plan is to go back and fill in the brown around each of the tiles. Needless to say, this is going to be a rather tedious process....only slightly more fun than the few hours I spent cleaning the walls in this room - 30 yrs of dirt removed!

These 8 cans are the remains of the master bedroom and bathroom painting. We also have a few cans of ceiling paint and some paint for the trim to use.

Finally, here are the supplies currently sitting in the living room. The lady who we hired to paint the living room and family room is using these.

Here is her work so far. The bay window had some water damage, so we are hoping that the Kilz will keep this looking good for a while.

A strangely familiar feeling....

I woke up this morning and had this strange ache in my back. In fact my whole body was sore. I spent a good minute or 2 wondering how this happened. Until, it hit me. We spent most of Thursday night painting the kids bathroom. Hence by deduction, the physical labor had strained muscles that clearly had not been used in a while.


Suddenly it all came back to me - this familiar feeling of doing work on the house in the evenings during the week. Since we moved upstairs at Christmas we have been slowly getting things done under the gise of being ready for my bday party. We have also had a woman painting the downstairs living room and front room. The plan was to have her finish up and then we would start our work.

Not quite sure why we couldn't be working simulataneously (she's downstairs, we're upstairs). In any case we have procrastinated away several weekends. Buying a car is way more fun than painting!

So pictures to come - as I hope we are pretty close to done on the kids bathroom!

Hey Harvey!

We are pleased to announce the latest addition to our family - Harvey the Highlander Hybrid.

This is a picture of what Harvey will look like in the rain that is due today and with his new sunroof (which is being installed at the moment).

We decided to take the plunge this weekend into full yuppiehood and get not only an suv but a hyrbid. I love it and am thoroughly annoyed at the non-hybrid loaner from the dealer which requires a REAL key and gasp - doesn't tell me my mpg! I know the horror. Let's just say in a mere 5 days I have gotten used to all of the bells and whistles of Harvey.

Not to brag - but Harvey is smart and therefore only requires a button to start. He is also wise enough to show me what is behind me so that I don't run over things (btw no beeping noise either Prius owners). It is making me a more cautious driver as I am aware of the size difference between a car and an suv. I also have a fun new game to play called - drive so that you can get your mpg as high as possible.

So why the name Harvey - well first off we are big geeks and wanted alliteration AND a certain song from hs about a hamster pops into my head when ever I hear the name Harvey. 2pts if you can name both the song and the artist!

Why Katie no longer posts....

A. If she waits long enough, Steve will post for her, the house will be done and PT will have started college.

B. She is so humiliated by the pics Steve posted (yet too lazy to take them down) and is hoping the internet will forget that she was the instigator of this blog.

C. When not working, she spends all of her time with the Gilmore Girls and her new best friend- a Cricut machine.

D. All/most of the above

On to the future Kids bathroom

I will post some 'moved into' pictures of the master bedroom but right now it has a lived in look. So moving onto the kids bathroom.

Here is the beginning of the work taken last summer with a trench in the middle of the room for our new plumbing. On the opposite wall studs and plumbing go in for our laundry. And of course we needed the "little inspector" to make sure that everything was up to standards. Up next, the vanity's and bathtub go in.

And the beat goes on

It does help that we play music while we work. We agree on most stuff but sometimes I need a little extra push from something heavy like Rammstein - especially if we have a 'heated discussion' about what should be done first or how fast something should take. (Katie is a lot better at getting 3 things done is the same amount it takes me to do one - but I get more detailed, so it all works out.) Happy wife - Happy life.

So we flash forward a bit (thanks to Katie's persistence). We move our bedroom upstairs into the kids room and finish painting the master bedroom, closet and I start working on painting the master bathroom.

Master Bedroom, Craft Room

So moving right along - some chipping and wallpaper removal with a pinch of plastering.









We try to keep track of each stage but we missed a few points. Getting the wallpaper off in the Master Bedroom was rough. There aren't a lot of shots of the process because we were just happy to get it done. The picture of the cabinet is the one that used to be in the 2nd floor kitchen (now the Kids Bathroom). It will be well used in Katie's Craft Room.

Slow Progress

We are further along than these photo's indicate but they show some progress of the Master Bathroom. All the tile is in and the shower basin is set.

Now for a few fixtures.









Along with the general mess that comes with a house renovation. And on the the stripping! Stripping of the old wall paper from our Master Bedroom. I'm not sure if I am allowed to post a picture of the Mrs. as we both tended to get a bit messy.