26 February 2009

It's Thursday.

Whenever I talk to my parents they remind me that some people actually read this blog.  


Most of the big work on the house is complete and by Saturday night we should have all the kitchen appliances installed and running.  Cereal and sandwiches have been our staple meals this past week.  The tiny cooler from my childhood (the one with the teal green top that my brother wrote my mom's name and our phone number on that's big enough to hold a six-pack of cans) has been chilling our half and half, sandwich meat, and cheese.  The stock pot with one handle we got from a yard sale (or Goodwill, I can't remember) filled with ice has been chilling our milk and mayo.  The lettuce is on its own.  

We're sleeping on our real mattress again and have even unpacked our clothes.  The clothes that aren't in desperate need of washing (those are properly piled in a corner) are becoming rarer and rarer - there are rumors the plumber is hooking up the washing machine tomorrow.  (Honestly, this plumber: unimpressive.)  There're shower curtains around the tub and after several afternoons of hunting and pawing I found a sizable cotton bathmat at a reasonable price.  

Our office got it's first coat of paint, lemon pound cake, and man - it is IN-TENSE.  It's like walking into a glowing lemon.  I finished the first coat at night and as I stood in the blue bathroom and looked through the office to the red dining room I knew the yellow was a mistake.  It felt really...primary.  It's been yellow for about a week and I still don't like it, some people thought the color would "settle down" or we would "adjust" but they were obviously and instantly wrong.  The color we're pretty sure we're switching to is a grayish tan called Haze.  I'm going to do a little more scouting around for a similiar color with a different name, I'm not so down with "haze".   It doesn't sound like a very productive office.  

There'll be some pictures soon, maybe even as early as tonight. Maybe.

15 February 2009

It's the little things


bathroom
Originally uploaded by lady grey cupcake

I highly recommend this wall color to everyone for their bathroom. It's "Provence" by Behr (How awesome is that bear at the loading screen?  Wicked awesome.) , available at Home Depot. We have yet to install the shower curtain rod, a mirror, and any sort of shelving, but then again, the light switches aren't full fastened to the wall yet.

Tonight we're installing the lower cabinets in the kitchen and by the end of next week the counters, sink, stove, fridge, dishwasher (!!), and upper cabinets should all be in place. I can't really express how excited we are to not be living out of a suitcase and cooler in one room with two cats, a litter box, and an air mattress. SOON.

George is attending his last Bee School class today, maybe he'll win a hive in the raffle at the end. (He's hoping for bee books instead.)

I've started doing a little itty bitty bit of work at this new great cake shop, maybe I've mentioned it: Short Street Cakes. It's extremely close to our house, it's super small, and adorable. The cake is delicious and the owner, Jodi, is great. If you're in Asheville and are hankerin' for some sweet next Sunday you should stop by her graaaaaaand opening! I'll be there making cake.  (225 Haywood Rd. Be there.)

11 February 2009

Living

After three days without a bathroom, we have a bathroom.  Best of all - it's gorgeous.  Seriously, just wait until it's clean and I get some pictures, it's by far the nicest bathroom I've ever lived with. The last three days have also been very long days, tiling and painting into the wee hours of the morning, sleeping on an air mattress, waking up and feeling as though we just went to bed.  Last night we started assembling the kitchen cabinets and hopefully by early next week we'll have the lower set installed.  This afternoon I tried to put one together by myself and parts ended up inside out and backwards.  C'est la vie d'Ikea.


The cats are handling living in one room very well: Girl spends most of her time under the loveseat and Boy spends most of his time on top of the loveseat.  Some time in the near future they will go to the vet for some shots and will not handle it very well. 


04 February 2009

Snow day!


kitten tracks
Originally uploaded by average lavender

Overnight roughly an inch of snow fell. Boy is not into it. Girl is hiding under the house. The neighbors are spinning their way up the hill to get to the main road. Our car won't start.

On the home front: the floor guys didn't put the second coat of finish down when they were supposed to. Friday night we're having a "tile the bathroom" party. Sunday morning we'll move the mattress and the kittens, hopefully by Sunday night we'll have installed the toilet. =/

02 February 2009

Rats


rat
Originally uploaded by average lavender

Under the porch at this other house is a lot of dirt, the furnace, the water heater, some rusty hooks, a weird cage thing (big enough for one rabbit to live comfortably in, but was apparently used for the ex-owner's vicious dogs), the barn & fence paint for the house, and this rat. It's completely dehydrated and in relatively good shape. Not only does he still have his big nasty teeth, but also his little claws and seven-ish inch long tail. We've joked about making a shrine to it down there, but it's so incredible I sort of want to get him mounted in a shadow box. Regardless, we think that after the renovations are complete the final exorcism will be removing this rat from the premises.

(Yesterday it was in the fifties and sunny, this morning it was partly sunny, by noon it was gray, by two it was raining, half an hour ago it was sleeting, currently it's snowing. What gives?)