modern conveniences

i really do tend to take a lot of things for granted. one of which is doing laundry in the confines of a clean, indoors area. call me spoiled, that's ok. but i like what i like. :-)

when i decided to buy this house, the thought of doing laundry in my garage with my new washer & dryer sitting on blocks of wood to be level and me standing with bugs and dirt at my feet was immediately tossed out of my mind as i began imagining and planning the addition of two walls and a door to make an actual laundry room. that was over a month ago.

finally, my vision has been fulfilled...

from this:

to this:

to this:


between the washer and dryer is a nicely painted window frame (no longer yellow!) and a long space to put a shelf so i can sort and fold my clothes on it. above the washer i'll put a cabinet for the detergent and other cleaning necessities, and maybe another cabinet over the dryer with a rod below it for hanging stuff up. on the long wall opposite the appliances i'll probably hang up my broom and mop and other items of that nature. the floor is now level and tiled nicely, there's a new window that actually opens, and there's a light fixture on the ceiling. it's wonderful to have modern conveniences, and it's even better to be able to use them comfortably.

awww....

last night when i went to bed, this is what i found. this is Ozzy's bed, mind you. but Harriet has curled up to sleep there, too.



when the camera flashed, she looked up to see what was going on. who could resist this sweet little face?!


but where IS Ozzy? oh, THERE he is! under his blanket, of course. "if only this other dog would be still, i could get some sleep!"



and there she found comfort and peace, and off to dreamland we went.



but this morning it was back to playing. it sounds ferocious, but looks so loving...

it's hard to tell from the angle, but they really are the same size, only she's just got longer legs and so can move a lot faster. little Ozzy has been really patient with her, despite the fact he can't get away from her. :-) i think they're going to get along just fine.

the new and improved, and yet to be finished

here's what the windows and frame looks like today, after two full days of work. new, solid, beautiful wood, inside and out. still needs to be trimmed out, and eventually painted, but at least it's all secure and SOLID. :-)

looks can be deceiving

VERY deceiving, in fact. this is what my window looked like after the new ones got put in. looks fine, right? ah, but wait...




in the process of putting the new windows in, the guy finds some rotted wood. so my guys come along saturday and take out the new window, as well as all the wood around it.


and found this...








and this...



these lovely pieces of wood got trashed. yes, they were holding my house together, and my windows in, and shielding me from the outside world. yes, people, this very wood...

Ozzy & Harriet

when i was a kid the Disney channel was good. they played the old Mickey Mouse cartoons, the classic movies, and reruns of family-friendly shows like Ozzie & Harriet. and me being me, the avid TV watcher that i am, tuned in to see these reruns, enjoying every minute of the Nelson family antics.

when i bought my first dog i knew i'd get him a playmate eventually. and because of that, wouldn't it be fun to have corresponding names? so it should come as no surprise (to some) that i named him Ozzy. however, because of The Osbornes being so popular at the time, everyone i told his name to thought i named him after Ozzy Osborne. when it's written i guess it could be confusing, because i didn't like the way Ozzie Nelson spelled his name. i have a Y in my name so i liked it better as Ozzy.

and now, the rest of the story...

this little dog needed a home. she was a stray found by girl who had two dogs and a young baby of her own, so she brought her to the country home of an older couple. the sweet little dog kept running to the neighbors for attention, because they would let her sit on their laps on the porch and feed her treats. not that the older couple was mean to her, mind you. they were loving parents, too, but they didn't want an inside dog and don't have the energy for such a springy pup.

since i bought this house and since we put Dweezil down, Ozzy has been feeling lonely and disoriented. the subject of dogs came up at church and the lap-providing neighbors asked if i was looking for a dog. a few weeks later i went to meet this little sweetheart of fur. she immediately rolled over for a belly rub and that was that.

hence, meet Ozzy & Harriet. :-)

Harriet moves fast, so i haven't been able to get any good pictures of her sweet face yet.

steps to completion

meet Toby the cat. Toby was left by the previous owner who didn't think of him when she was preparing to move. for the first couple of weeks i was to try to catch the cat and call her to pick him up. but since i didn't even live there, that made it quite difficult. then i move in and a few days later, MEOW ... he shows up. hungry. and willing to eat dog food. for several days he would come home around 9-ish at night, meowing fiercely for food. i gave him dog food, because afterall, that's what i actually own. he ate and rubbed all over me and was thrilled to have ANY owner. now he has cat food in his belly and finds safety on the front step, not minding the dog only inches from him. Ozzy, on the other hand, is quite uncomfortable. i was making him sit still for the picture. notice his tail is tucked so much he's actually sitting on it. *L* poor Ozzy. i think deep down he WANTS to like Toby, but for some reason he's gun shy. i'm hoping he'll get over it. of course, keeping Toby around the house during the day to actually keep Ozzy company is a whole other story, or should i say an act of Congress. i guess Toby actually likes roaming during the day.





this is the laundry room, after Juan and friends taped and mudded.


and this is the laundry room after i textured and painted it.


check out the close up of the texture. they make this stuff that you actually mix with paint and roll it on. so that's what i did. the entire room could still use another coat of just paint, but i think it looks darn good for my first time at any kind of texture attempt.



this week is dedicated to flooring in that little room. i bought some tile and have a guy working on it in the evenings. so, i'm REALLY hoping that maybe as soon as next weekend i'll actually get to wash clothes in my very own washer and dryer in my new laundry room. :-)

windows and tree pictures are still to come.


meanwhile, i pulled off some more paneling in my bedroom to find some pretty bad and scary looking wood. but i'm thankful i didn't find any live termites continuing to eat it. i stopped at about three feet in either direction from the hole i made previously, so i'm just hoping i don't find bugs or even worse damage beyond that. my family still thinks i got duped and need to take some kind of legal action. i guess i'll have a consulation with a lawyer to see what action should be taken. my pessimism tends to lean toward the side of, "i bought what i paid for." *sigh*

farewell old tree

i finally found some new bedding i liked for my bed this past weekend.

and here, finally, is the termite hole. the top layer of the paneling peels off real easy, which is why it's peeled from top to bottom. the actual panel of wood takes a little more effort, which is where the hole is. when we found termites, we stopped pulling. you can kinda see in this picture the termite damage in the actual wood that makes up my house. thankfully since termites don't like light, they aren't crawling around for me to see on the surface, otherwise i don't think i could be living there right now. the hole already freaks me out a bit, but if there were visual bugs to go with it, forget about it!

the new windows are supposed to be installed today. i'm very excited about that! also, a big change happening yesterday and today is that i'm losing a bunch of trees. apparently the big tree in the front yard is rotted and needed to be taken down. and then the trees in the back yard need to be trimmed and cleaned up and some of them even removed along the back fence which are leaning and damaging the fence. so yesterday after work i pull up to my house to find my entire front yard full of tree limbs - probably 80% of that tree is now on the ground. in the back, about 1/3 of the yard is full of tree limbs from those trees. what a mess! but it'll be so much better when it's all done. though the front of the house will look strange w/o a tree, that's for sure. when it's all done i'll post before and after pictures.