Warmpth

You are looking at the gynormous, unsafe, non efficient unit that has heated this home for a few decades. We have only owned this house for 5yrs. On Sunday, February 20th she died. Ken & I were watching a lil tv before he had to go to work that night. I started sweating, asked Ken what the dealio was. Our house was 77 degrees!! He told me he was cold so he turned the thermostat up a couple degrees. Silly boy! If he'd wear some actual clothes in the winter....he was just in gym shorts. He does not parade around the house in the buff. Anyways, he turned the heat down on the thermostat...heat kept pumping through the vents. He went in the basement to shut the actual furnace off and restart it.

When he came upstairs he had that "this is not good" type look on his face. He said that he shut it off and when he turned it back on, flames shot up the side. YIKES!! We called the furnace fixer men. Yup, on a Sunday night. The fella came and confirmed it, our furnace croaked. Totally non fixable. He said that someone can come Monday morning to give us an estimate on a new one. Ok....So, we're gonna have a slumber party for a night and then get a new furnace. No biggie. Ken called his dispatcher and told her he would not be able to go to work until this problem at home was fixed.

We quickly shut the curtains and hung blankets on the windows that we do not have window treatments on to keep the heat in. We turned on electric heaters and blocked off the staircase going upstairs with another blanket. We were going to camp out in the living room for the night.

I put on my pink footie pajamas with polar bears and blew up the queen sized air mattress. We put an electric heating blanket on the top of the mattress and then our sheets and blankets.

Got up on Monday morning and the fella came her to check it out and get the info needed to make an estimate. The day dragged on, no word of an estimate...we thought he forgot about us. Ken called and a short time later we had two estimates. So, Monday night we slept in the living room. Again.

It really wasn't bad at all and we had fun. Reminded me of when we would camp in a tent. On Tuesday we thought, ohh awesome, we will give them their $ and work will begin on the new furnace. Nope, we had to wait until Wednesday. Ok, so night three on the living room floor.

Wednesday morning the banging began promptly at 8am. The guys took a break around 10am. Oh, and one of the fella totally looked like an older Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers. I contemplated how I could get a picture of him to show yas. But the hubby thought it would be a bit too odd. LOL

At lunch time Ken & I decided to go get sub sandwiches and we offered to get one for the fella that was still working in our basement. Neither Ken nor I hadn't the slightest clue who this man was, but we were grateful that he was going to hook us up with some heat. When we got home with our sandwiches Ken asked if we were going to make the guy eat in the cold basement or in the semi warm dining room. I said around the dining room table with us of course! Ken was thinking the same thing. Folks, we had a stranger eat a meal with us and it was fun. We learned about where the guy went to college and his family. It really was pretty neatotastic!

After we cleaned up lunch we realized that an aspiration on my 2011 list was completed. We paid for a strangers meal & had them eat in our home with us. Pretty cool if you ask me. By 4pm the 93% efficient new furnace was in and we had heat. I felt like hugging the man!!

The end is near

Before I show you the new floor I've sooo totally gotta show you the ceiling in the den/dining room all finished!! Shazam!!

Look at the floor!! Ken and his dad layed the laminate last weekend. Ohhh, did I mention we only paid 77 cents per square foot for this yummy floor? Yup, totally awesome sale at Menards! It's not junky quality either. It had far better qualities that many of the more expensive ones.

Ohhh, a couple more things. The underlayment plastic stuff was free after rebate!! So, in a couple weeks we'll be getting a check, which will then be used to buy the remainder of the items needed for the bathroom remodel.

One more thing....Ken's parents had a rummage sale the end of July and we put a bunch of our non used, don't need anymore, this is cluttering up our house type things in the sale...anyways, guess what??? We were able to completely pay for this floor with the money we made!! BONUS right?!?! Get rid of stuff which we don't need and be rewarded with a beautimus new floor!! Bozinga!!

Buh bye yuckoid orange linoleum and fake marble looking linoleum stuff that always snagged my toes.

Hooray for privacy!!

Just a little update on the remodel....We now have a bathroom door & no longer have a blanket stapled above the doorway for the only means of privacy while visiting the can!! Wanna know something else? This door cost us $1.00 at Menards in the damaged door secion. It's a wooden 6 pannel door and it had one dark smudge on it. That's it. Ken just had to trim it up a bit on the bottom to make it fit. Hooray for some privacy!!

Another update on the remodel: All of the drywall is hung and it has its first coat of mud. I'm looking forward to the day we paint, put up the trim and cover the crazy, unsensational, orange lineoleum with laminate. This is the color we are going with for the walls.

The stories our walls tell

For those who don't know, we bought this house 4 years ago from a friend of the family. For three years before this purchase we lived in an old fifth wheel camper when we weren't on the road. We lost our 1st house in 2003. The previous owners were best friends of my parents. I had heard years ago it was my Mom & Dad who got John & Helen together. Now years pass, Mom & Dad pass away, Helen passed away & John decided to go live in an assisted living home. We could not pass up the deal on this home. We knew the house had history with my parents. We also knew the home had a history of having "unpaid guests" Now, say what you will but we have had numerous occurrences happen in our home since we bought it. We have seen & heard things, lights turn on, our dogs snarl up the stairs, Ken has felt "someone" pass him on the staircase...the list goes on. We are not afraid of our home however. In fact, we feel blessed to be here & we take great pride in our old house & take great care when we do remodeling. Any sort of changes seems to stir up the activity in the house.

Anyways, last week we decided after 4 long years of not liking the dining room & den that we would remodel. The house is in complete array right now so I won't share oodles of pictures. Instead I would like to talk about this one....


We had a built in desk/curio cabinet along the one whole wall. When we took the bank of drawers out this is what we found: 1 completely empty vodka bottle, another vodka bottle with a tiny amount in it and a cabinet making book from 1949.

I posted a few pics of the whole remodel on my facebook for friends to see & because almost all of the pics have "orbs". Now keep in mind, we know the family who owned the home prior to us. Sandy, who is John & Helen's daughter commented on this particular picture & said that she remembers when those bottles & book were put there. This is what she said:

"I remember when my dad put the vodka bottles in the wall, Donald and Thelma came over that night. They shared what was in the empty bottles, and then they (dad and Donald) put the bottles there for kicks, mom was upset but laughing. They said in 100 years who will give a shit, and then he threw his cabinet book in there too. I will tell you there ... are many stories those walls will tell, and I know exactly which ones have the biggest tale, I will say be careful with the sledge hammer you never know what is behind old walls;). I often think I should have bought the house, just so I can dig stuff back up. I will tell you one spot if you have not already removed. The kitchen counter top that was by the sliding doors. Every time dad would place something to be covered up for the future mom would say "John Rickel I might want that", or she would say "I might need that" of course, he never listened."

We are having fun finding out the stories beneath the walls but at the same time, we are sooo ready for this project to be done!!

Lookie Here

Meet my new friend...she doesn't have a name yet & I'm not sure if she'll ever have one...but she's brand spankan new. Even the dent on the lower left hand corner was put in there by us...well the hubby actually cuz he really doesn't exhibit much as far as patience goes & he ran into the door while carrying it. Hence why he's not a doctor!! Ok, that was lame!!

We had an old jalopy of a washer that came with the house when we bought it. But she worked nicely until...she had a sudden seize this past week. She would fill up with water & it wouldn't drain or spin at all. Her twirling days were over...Ken was thinking he would be able to fix her, that it would be mechanical. But alas, her motherboard or something electronical went on her & we had to part with the 20 something year old beaut.

We both had desires to get a front load energy efficient model. Those things are beyond gorgeous & are supposed to save big buckaroos & are way awesome for the environment. All pluses in our book. We did some research & found that their electronical system lasts about 5 yrs...now, to pay a handful of hundred $$$'s or a grand or more how would that save us any money at all in the long run seeing we'd be replacing it in a handful of years? We priced them around town, checked online to see what they usually go for, did comparisons & in the end we bought this one at Sears. Don't get me wrong, the dandy bright, shiny green front loading green beaut had me almost drooling, envisions of doing laundry in it were running through my head. I could picture me with that having "loads" of fun with her. Really. That's how pathetic I am. I quickly snapped out of it & told Ken I would love to have the Kenmore in the picture. Anything with the name Ken in the brands works for me =) I anticipate a long, productive life for her.

After she was installed, the 1st load put in we started gutting our den/dinging room. Talk about chaos!!

Weekend Madness

Ahhh another busy weekend! Ken got home late Friday night & we found ourselves leaving the house at 11:30 pm & heading to Perkins for our friend Chad's 30th birthday. I told Ken he could drink & I would drive. We never drink & drive...actually we really never drink. But it was Chad birthday so a few celebratory drinks would be fun. Well Ken decided not to drink so Nikki & I decided to try some apple pie shots...well after 4 I was a whipper snappin holly jolly gal!! It was totally fun though.

Shaney baney bo baney, myself & Ken

No clue what Ken had the giggles for. But Shane & I did a shot in celebratory fashion =)

Chaddy Chad the birthday boy & myself

Saturday we watched my lil brother Jess & Miss Madison for a few hours while Jim & Donna attended Donna's cousins funeral. JJ also came over & spent the night. Ken & his dad installed a new motion light on the front porch & a new dusk to dawn light on the garage in the back. No more loud buzzing bulb!!! Yahooo!!!! Serious, it sounded as if a swarm of bees or wasps were lodged in the old light. This one is energy efficient too =) Wonder what our electric bill will be next month. I'm actually excited to see it!!! We watched a couple movies before the Kenster & JJ vanished to the den to do some XBOX 360 gamin. Ahhh gotta love gamer geeks!!

On Sunday we put a turkey breast in the crockpot with some broth & picked Jesse & Maddy up & took them up to Ken's family's camp for his cousin Andy's 10th birthday party. Total funness!! The kids were fabulous & such fun. After we dropped them off it was time to come home & veg out in our fluffy clothes & watch the Packer game & the race. We were both tired & dozed on & off. Totally uncool for me!! I slept through part of the race!! By dinner time our turkey was finished. Oh we also added some veggies & had a yummalish turkey noodle (nuunuu as my niece calls it) soup, watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Family Guy (Ken's show) & American Dad (another one of Ken's shows) & then we watched Mr Magoriums Wonder Emporium. I suggest you watch that!! Totally magical & whimsical!! I'm almost finished with Logan's (my friend Shash's son's) afghan. There's still so much I have to do & make in time for Christmas. Speaking of Christmas...bathroom is decorated now with lights & pine garland, and a lil tree, village is up on the tv & end stands. My home is still a mess though & in need of some serious attention!!! I wonder if it would be animal abuse if I put some dusting cloths on my dogs feet & had them walk on the tables....hmmm Arizona is an Alaskan husky...perhaps we could have her pull the vacuum around!!! Ok, lots ta do & only a short time to do it!! Happy Monday =)

Buster Brown snugglin with ken while we watched a movie. I just love this pic. =)

The Christmas Village

Only 45 more days till Christmas!!!! =)

Thank You!!!

Yahooooooo!!!!!

It worked!!! Happy Dance! Happy Dance!

Thank you oodles Jewel on your remedy for making paragraphs on my blog! You have no idea how happy a gal you made me!! You rock!

The man upstairs was DEFINATELY involved!

Our downed maple tree is finally all cleaned up & disposed of. We have ourselves a nice stash of firewood for the firepit next year & camp also has gobs of wood as well for future bonfires.


Thursday night was one late night of cleaning up as much as possible. Ken had to leave at 4am on a run for work & returned home Friday late afternoon. He & I began tackling the tree mess again. I however didn't last long. It was one heck of a night spent in the bathroom. My Meniere's was totally kicking my arse something fierce! Thank God Ken was home because I needed him this time. My brain was ready to explode, my head was non stop spinning & I was just a pukey mess & I had horrible cramps. (Excuse the bluntness here) So, what to do? Do I take my anti vertigo meds, ibuprofin for the cramps? Meds for the migrane? Or perhaps put my head in a vice to stop it from spinning? Well in the state of mind I was in I decided to take ibuprofin. In hopes that the headache would go away. I always take 4 ibuprofin for headaches. Nothing less that that will even touch them. Anyways, so I pop what I think is ibuprofin. Then I realized they were freakin Aleve!!! YIKES!!! I was still a pukey spinny mess but managed to holler to Ken to come in the house. He had been outside talkign to his folks. Anyways, I didn't die from taking the Aleve & they are now put far away from where we put the ibnuprofin & my other meds.

After that ordeal Ken wanted me to go to bed but I wouldn't dare. I was still scared of my dosage & Ken was outside working on cutting down the tree. Someone had to be out there!! So I watched & then helped a lil after he had the branches down.

Saturday Kens Dad came over & they went at it with the tree again. I made the Nelson's (our neighbors)one of those Blueberries & Cream Pies & made a double batch of stewed tomatoes & canned those up. They had a few smaller limbs to cut off yet before they tackled the honkan big ones. Everything was going smoothly. The branches were falling as planned. Well one of them decided to go awol & crashed into the ladder which Bill (my father in law) was on. Ken was holding the rope. Anyways, Bill managed to grab onto the left side of the Y branch on the tree & then he lost his grip & fell about 6 or 8 feet. Luckily the chain saw stayed in the tree!! We all kept asking if Bill was alright & he assured us he was fine. He had a few scrapes on his forearms & that's it....pretty darn tootan lucky if you ask me!!! It was not too bad of a fall but it was bad enough that his hearing aides popped out of his ears when he fell. The big man upstairs was DEFINATELY looking out for Bill that day!! It could have been a real bad scene.

SNAP!

Ken got home just in time last night...about 15 minutes after he arrived we got a hugemungus storm that passed through. The rain was pounding in our screen room so I had to get the cat tower & doggie bed out from there. I was a bit late though as they were already drenched & by that time, so was I! So what the heck, we decided to sit back there & watch the storm. The wind was INSANE & rain was coming down horizontally right into our faces. Our glasses could have used some wipers! It was insanely loud so there we are, sitting in our screen porch, hollering at each other in order to talk & the trees were just dancing away & we kept hollering, "holy wha, look at that one. Then I screamed "HOLY SH! Look at OUR maple tree....It was practically bent in half! The SNAP!! Right in front of our eyes! How freakin cool was that!!! Well the cool amazement feeling lasted for just a lil while. Because we knew we were going to be in for one long night of removing the tree. It split right in half. One half landed on our neighbors garage & the other half is still standing, but very droopy. We managed to clean up all of the tree that was in the Nelson's yard & on the garage before it got dark. This weekend we still have half of that honkan maple to cut down & clean up & bring to the compost site. All this lifting is gonna help oodles with getting my arms in shape. In a couple of weeks we are going on a canoe trip. Here are some pics of our crazy mess!!












You can see in one of the pictures where our back screen room is...lucky the darn tree didn't come clunk on our heads with us being that close!!!

My bones hurt!!!

What a crazy busy day!! Started out running errands & finally sent a gift package out to Shash!! I stopped at our local Family Dollar to pick up some odds & ends for the camper & ended up with a cart full of goodies!! One such goodie was this adorable birdfeeder. I put it together when I got home & put it in the front flower garden.





After I did that I took several pictures of the flowers in bloom in my gardens =)













I also bought some stick on floor tiles. I planned on testing it out on our bathroom floor. We desperately need to remodel our retro bathroom with the olive green tub, toilet & sink but when we do that we have to gut it & do all the plumbing & electric which ties into the kitchen. So we want to re-do the whole back of our house & right now that is not affordable. But these tiles are a perfect bandaid for the totally UGLY floor that has been in there since we moved to this house. This is our 3rd summer here & I've despised the bathroom & kitchen floor for as long as I laid eyes on it. Sooo, this is what I was up to today...
The Before:




And After:



Once I finished that & was pleased with the results I hopped in the truck & bought 2 more boxes & set out to do the kitchen floor I so badly despised! When we put the new stove in we had to move our bar & when we did that this orange tile was exposed! GROSS!!! I just finished that task & am pleased with that project as well. My bones ache & I am flippen dizzy but it's done & looks swellacious!! =)


The Before:








The After:





Tomorrow I need to situate the rest of my house. Ken will be home sometime tomorrow & I can't WAIT for him to see what I did. He knows I did it... only because after I was finished I sent him a pic on his cell phone of the finished product. I'm so incredibly lucky & fortunate to have a husband that puts up with my spur of the moment projects!!!