Deals, Steals & A Little Bit of Water

Well, I strongly recommend NEVER having an allergic reaction to a tetanus shot.  (If you would care to see the pictures of the blisters, check out this link, otherwise imagine a HORRIBLE sunburn.  http://www.wellsphere.com/singleSearch.s?wellpage=true&entityType=PERSON_GROUP_PHOTO&searchLocation=&searchString=Reactions+To+Tetanus+Shot&pageIndex=&photoId=10042)  Thanks to this, I've been away from cleaning products, (yes, I am showering daily, brothers,) sweating, outdoors and general labor of any kind.  Can I tell you how hard it is to get anything done when you can't move?  Now, I could disobey doctors' orders and take care of business anyway, but there is this itchy rash that goes off, causing you to claw yourself to a bloody mess as soon as the temperature reaches higher than 77 degrees.  Personally, I think the rash is just a way to ensure that I'm obeying!  Anyway, all that being said, I'm finally getting back on track with the house. 

Yesterday afternoon was spent on an unintended shopping spree. I had the greatest intentions of running into the local hardware places and checking prices on trim.  Unfortunately/Fortunately Lowe's and Sutherland's both had great clearance items that I was able to get for a song.  I now have door levers for every closet, bedroom, bathroom, and entry door in my house.  The design I like is a lever handle, not the typical knob, so I had to count the number of left handed and right handed doors in the house, and then get the correct set, closet, bedroom/bathroom, keyed entry.  I had the entire "display" (they were dumped in the middle of an aisle on a pallet) taken apart and spread into piles.  I then mentally walked through the house and pretended to open each door.  I'm sure I looked quite comical to anyone watching but such is life.  I was going to go with Satin nickel, but switched to oil-rubbed bronze (think copper brown), seeing as there wasn't enough of the satin nickel (think dull silver) in left handed doors to work.  Either finish is okay with me.  I like them both and actually prefer wear shown on the oil-rubbed to the satin.  I also picked up 2 clearance ceiling fans, light switches (flat "bump-able" style,) outlets and other "fun" purchases. 

The real progress was shown this weekend when Dad and Sar re-plumbed the entire house.  Using a product called PEX and some sweat, okay, a lot of sweat, they were able to re-plumb the entire house in approximately 24 hours of work for WELL under the bid by the professional plumber.  The true feather their the cap was the compliment paid by the professionals!  My contractor, Jack, has two helpers that in their former lives were plumbers.  They admired the plumbing job and pronounced it "Done Right!"  High praise indeed, trust me. 

I'll let you know what I get accomplished, if anything, today.  Hopefully the rain will hold off just enough to allow something to get done!

Not really slacking but...

Okay, I know it has been suspiciously quiet on the house blog front, but I promise I haven't been that lazy lately.  First of all, I kid-sat all weekend, so I wasn't able to get much done.  The real reason for the tardiness for everything started last Thursday with a small red spot on my face next to my left eye.  Since Sunday, the small spot, which was the same from Thursday through Sunday blossomed to my entire body, legs, upper arms, hair, and face.  When I woke up on Monday morning at 4:45, the entire left side of my face was so swollen that I couldn't open my eye.  I ended up in the ER with an idiot for a Dr.  He declared that I was having a reaction to polyurethanes and paint thinners that I'm using in my house.  Unfortunately, I don't even have any polyurethane or paint thinner in my house.  Anyway, I ended up with 2 steroid shots,Pepcid, which is also an antihistamine and orders to take Benedryl every 4 hours.  Fabulous!  I have an appointment with an allergist this afternoon in College Station, and hopefully there is a magic shot which will make me look more recognizable in the mirror.  At least better than I have been.

Making My List & Oops...

This weekend was extremely productive.  Crazy, but productive.  Friday night Cas and Can came over and helped me get color on the walls in the master bedroom.  I must say it looks fabulous!  Three of the walls are Brown Tepee, a cafe latte color and the accent wall is Roasted Nuts, a chocolate syrup color.  It will all be accented in Heavy Cream colored trim.  Contrary to their claims, Can and Ca are incredible painters and great workers!  Dad came by after he got off work on Friday and continued his quest to retro-fit the bathtub with a shower.  As simple as it sounds, the job has evolved into replacing all reach-able pipes in a really tiny hole under the tub, through the hamper.  We ended the evening with giving another set of neighbors, the Cavasar's a tour of the house after a quick trip to Lowe's & Sonic for supper.  (Thanks for the gift card Aunt Jud & Uncle Bri.  It was a huge help in keeping my wonderful volunteers happy!)

Saturday dawned bright and early with some dummy's idea to set up a window estimate appointment at 9.  (Yeah, the dummy was me.  What was I thinking??  9 am??)  Ray from Home Depot came and expounded greatly on the benefits of Home Depot's double hung, vinyl, energy efficient windows.  After he came, David from ClearChoice Windows came and expounded on his.  Basically I couldn't see much difference between the two, except for the lifetime warranty at Home Depot is truly a lifetime, while the one at ClearChoice is only 50 years.  Have a slight bone to pick with ClearChoice, a lifetime doesn't have a preset limit last I checked.  During the middle of the fun with windows, Dav and Jes, apparently wonderful gluttons for punishment, showed up again to help.  (Wow!  Is this what decorating a wedding gets you?  I'm thrilled!)  Jes went to work on priming the back bedroom and the office.  She even did the ceiling!  That earns extra bonus points in my book.  While she and I continued painting and getting the bathroom ready for wallboard, Dav and Dad attacked, literally, the back and side yards.  See the attached pictures to tell the difference in the before and the after.  The vine tree picture is showing a tree that is COVERED in some kind of vines, choking the life out of the tree.  (G'ma & Sar don't read the next part.)  Dave used the bucket of the borrowed bobcat, thanks Brandon, to life Dad up so he could attach a chain to the vine.  Dad was then lowered down to get out and Dave would use the chain to pull the vine out of the tree.  Some of the vines had a diameter of more than 4 inches. 

(At this point, I stopped typing to attend a gradebook training meeting that lasted an hour or so.  By the time I left it was after 5 and I was pooped.  I went home, got mom, checked on the house and picked up supper.  We then sat down to put together a puzzle, a serious weakness of mine.  I'm now in bed and about to fall sound asleep.  Stay tuned for the rest of the weekend, including the oops and more pictures!)