I said 'YES!'

Well, in all honesty, I said 'OF COURSE!'  but whose really counting...

Keeping it Cool

There were a few things in the house that needed updating.  Mind you, we are renting and do not have a bottomless account to fund out projects but we make do. 

Thinking only of the environment of course and not about the boatloads of cash we could save {obviously}, I thought it was definitely a MUST to replace the old outdated thermostat.

Here is the money-sucker-mother-earth-killer thermostat that came with the house:

Since this was my idea of a good time on a Saturday night, David left this all up to me {just not when it came down to actually doing anything that involved electric, that's where David took over}.  We turned off the electric at the breaker that controlled the AC unit {read: G-G-G Unit} and David tested it with his electric-tester-with-a-light-bulb thingy.  And yes that is its technical term and please don't ask me where you can get one {ask a guy at Lowe's}.

I read up on the instructions earlier so I could supervise the entire project.  I told David to undo all the wire and label them with the little stickers that came with the new unit so we could easily reattach them.  You can see them in the picture below.

He took out the two screws that held it in place {I could've done that but relinquished all tools over to the man}, being very careful of the Mercury.

David reattached the screws and then hooked up all the little wires to the corresponding little screws. 

TA-DA! And it works!  I programed it so it has four different settings that depend on time of day and what day of the week it is.  I foresee this little guy saving us quite a few dollars so we can maybe get a little puppy dog in the near future {wink wink nudge nudge papa bear}.

It's so pretty and I love that I am the only one who knows how to work it {muahahaha}.  For only $30 at Lowe's, I am sure this guy is going to save us at least double that.  Sometimes it pays to be good to Mother Earth.

David your welcome too.

Suck and Blow

David doesn't get to help me very much while he's in school due to the large amount of projects he has with this program {he logged 112 hours a few weeks ago. eeek}.  But during his spring break we logged some hours at home doing yard work.

I do believe the previous tenants never picked up a rake in the few years that they lived here and we have some rather large trees in both the front and back yard {read: 3 inch thick layer of leaves}.  So we stared raking. And raking. And raking.  We were a few hours into it when David thought we needed another power tool.

We headed to Lowe's and picked up a leaf blower.  He picked out an electric one {so we don't have to worry about gas cans} and headed home to start playing with the new toy.  It's a combo leaf blower/mulcher {it sucks and blows hence the witty title of this post} and came with some assembly required.  The numerous amounts of parts were a little confusing so after tried his hand at putting it together by himself, I gently handed him the instructions... 

  

 So he read.

 And examined.

 And read some more.

 After he figured out how to assemble it, he went to town.  He blew all the leaves into a pile near the fence to make it easier to stuff into the yard bags.  He may have had a little too much fun with this...
He even let me in on the fun...

It wasn't terribly heavy but it was hard to blow the leaves where I wanted them.  David changed the parts and turned it into the mulcher {my favorite part!}.  I have a strange love for sweeping, mopping and vacuuming and since this is somewhat an extension of that, it was my turn to go town.  This thing sucked up the leaves and chops them up into itty-bitty pieces. Awesome!

We spent that entire day outside doing yard work and ended up with 15 {15!} bags for the garbage man.  There are still two piles in the backyard, but one can only do so much in a day {and for a person that hates doing yard work,  a day of it is enough for the whole year}.

We are even seeing some results of our hard work already.  Where there used to be a lot of dirt under those 3 inches of leaves, there are now some green sprouts.  We bought some grass seed as well and threw that out the other day but we shall see how that goes.

Happy Spring!

Dust off the Apron

With Easter being a week away, I think it might be time to don on the apron and roast another turkey.  The last attempt went so well {sans leaving the giblets inside while it cooked....oops.  I swear I looked for them, who knew they were in the neck?} I am excited for another go.  I understand that ham is the more traditional route, but I prefer the bird {it goes better with mashed potatos and gray}.

David has another huge project due the Monday after, so it may be just Jocelyn and myself, but that means more leftovers for turkey and gravy sandwiches. Yum.



Things Look Different.

This feels better.  There was something that just wasn't sitting with me with the last layout.  It was just...there.  Not very personal.  I found it on a great blog template website and thought it was for me, but I could never settle into it.  This is better. More my taste.  I even designed the header all by myself {with a little push from David}.  Take a look around and let me know what you think!  There may be a few more changes coming soon...

Paint, Paint, Painting Avay

Sung to the tune of 'Roll-roll-roll in ze hay' {Young Frankstein, LOVE that movie}

One of the more massive undertakings over here at the casa, has been painting.  When we moved I knew one of the first things that needed to be done were the walls.  Some were painted back to white {which made the place feel cleaner} and some were left alone {with terrible, horrific, god-awful paint jobs}.  The living room and David's office were so uneven, it was laughable.  And the bathroom was a light powdery blue {yum...}.  I, all by my lonesome, painted the living room on a gorgeous Saturday.  Everything from the trim work to the 9 ft walls and the edging around the ceiling.  It took 8 hours, but I finished and even managed to muster up enough energy to go out to dinner and play a rousing game of Balderdash {side note: Best Game of LIFE and I am still currently undefeated, any takers?}.

Here are the tools I used:

3 Gallons of Paint {trim, living room, and the bathroom}

Rollers

Frog tape

Paint tray liner

Edge pads {for the ceiling}

A small roller {detail work}

And stir sticks

{Not pictured above: a marvelous angled Edger Brush, didn't even have to use the Frog tape}

I turned on some Katy Perry and went to town, turning an embarrassing ugly, uneven camel colored living room into a warm and cozy living room.

The color wasn't terrible but so uneven.

You can kinda see it in this picture.  David and Jocelyn can vouch for how bad it was.

One coat of paint and it was instantly better! So much easier than when we painted the apartment {the walls are smooth here and the apt had texture like you wouldn't believe}.

I love that it acts as a neutral and looks great with the floor and our existing furniture.

{please don't try to guess what's on our television, I tend to watch terrible t.v.}

I finished both bathrooms during a few nights after work, again by myself.  I am so happy its done as it looks loads better.

Its so hard to get a good picture of our bathrooms.  But it's more brown and a little lighter than the living room.  These pictures make it look like their the same color. 

I even painted the cabinet {it definitely needed it}

I couldn't get any pictures at the master {ha. that's funny} bathroom, as there is a mattress in the way.  More to come on that project and a few others later this week.

Three years and counting...

First Anniversary

Second Anniversary

Third Anniversary

After three years I think that I really like him...a lot.

This past week has been great! He has been on spring break and has been such a great help around the house!  We have been working on lots of projects and I have plenty of pictures to share {when I get a chance to sit down and upload all of them}...