Keepin’ it Clean

 

One of our Field of Despair finds

 

Around the time we were having Dead Tree taken down, we built our laundry room.
My mom and dad gave me a wonderful washer and dryer for christmas, and we had our work cut out for us before they could be anything but art!
They’re quite lovely – front loading, stacked and, well, awesome!  I can’t say thank you to them enough (mom and dad – I’m not sure the machines are sentient. They do sing though. Nothing too complex, but they’re young)

Have I mentioned that part of the reason I’ve not been updating this often is that I’ve been working. . .a lot? I think it’s made me even more giddy than normal.

Ok, so. . .Easterwood and Thomas put in the plumbing for our washer and a utility sink. Thomas and his dad moved a pole that was in the middle of the room, put in a tile floor and scooted our water heater further into the corner.
Then we put up sheetrock on one wall and painted the entire room.
Then it was time to put in the washer and dryer!

oh, wait. Then we moved the water heater back in place and found that it didn’t care for that and died. So off to Home Depot for a new one.

Then it’s time to put in the washer and dryer.

Oh, wait – I forgot about putting in the plug for the dryer. More Home Depot trips for that.

Now! Putting in the washer and dryer. I think that was it.
We’ll, except that the dryer didn’t work. But eventually we got Sears to bring us a new one and take away the defective one. After many, many phone calls, a few visits, and a bunch of parts. But they did bring that new one at 8am on a Sunday morning. . .And it works like a dream.

It’s getting nicer and nicer to do the laundry too, the further we get with the work downstairs. The warmer weather helps too. We got the new(er) dryer about a week after the new year. 

I threw in some shots of the wood chipper the tree guys brought with them – it’s still there now. Thomas spoke to a couple who are supposed to be closing on the house next door, but we’ll see. I wonder if they’ve noticed the big red monster in the back yard. . .

One of our Field of Despair finds

Our New Neighbor

Mr. Chipper

just, wow.

Happy Wall and Plumbing

Mud, Mud, Mud

Our Utility Sink

Faucet!

Merry Christmas!

Doing our first load of laundry

Small space, tons of cleaning potential!

Happy New Year!

My christmas wish was answered!
We have ceilings and walls. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am about this. Dance around the room, howl at the moon happy.
(way happier than some tiny cup of yogurt could make me – but, still a good ad campaign)

did you get that?

WE HAVE CEILINGS AND WALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have pictures of everything and stories to tell, but my cameras downstairs at Butters and I’m at Kelli’s house about to go to bed. But it’s been so long since I’ve posted anything that I just couldn’t hold it in any longer.

WALLS!!!!

There’s still a lot of work to do – little bits of sheetrock here and there and ever more mudding and sanding – but we’re getting there.
We even bought our paint today – Lemon Soufflé for the kitchen walls (see my post about our test kitchen) and Parmesan for the walls in our living room and dining room.
Is it really that surprising that we picked food colors? And we weren’t even hungry!
We almost went all desserts, with crème brulée, but that was a bit dark, and, not illogically, didn’t go well with the soufflé.

See why it’s time for me to go to bed?
I’m a bit giddy. That, and it’s time for me to take some more Emergen-C and slather on more and more lotion on my hands. Sheet rock dust is turning my hands into corn husks. ick.

I promise I’ll post more this week – pictures and pictures and stories. We have a new friend that’s made this all possible and I don’t think I can give him a proper introduction without a photo. Not to worry – I have the perfect one already.

Umm, you named your house? Butters?

Well, yeah!

Loads of folks name their cars, boats, planes, plants, iPods, it’s just a thing. Humans anthropomorphize just about everything in their daily lives; it how we relate. And a house, particularly one we’re spending so much time making truly our own, certainly deserves to be treated as one of the family.
Plus, there’s the practical reason. Kelli asked that I name the house to avoid confusion; I’d say Thomas and I are going over to our house – “which ‘our house’ do you mean?”. 

Ok, so that’s the why name a house.
Why on earth Butters?
There’s this show called South Park. You may have heard of it? Quite sweet and wholesome; never offensive, really kinda dull.
umm
Ok, so if you haven’t seen the show, you probably don’t want to – but we do love it, and have for years.
Again, Kelli gets major credit here. We were discussing the need for a name while shopping at work (we both work at the same WFM – yes, we’re adorable), and then we started throwing out random names.
Ralph was thrown into the ring (yes, that Ralph) as were George and maybe even a Bob or some such name. Then Kelli suggested Butters. It had been a long day and we were both rather punchy.
But, well, I love Butters, so does Kelli and so does Thomas.
I immediately fell for it, but wasn’t so sure that Thomas would, though I kinda thought so.
Turns out I know the man I love and bought a house with! Handy, that.
But, Butters is awesome. He’s sweet, silly, naive, and totally adorable.
Ok, I’m having some trouble finding good clips of Butters – if anyone can find a good one, please let me know. Here’s a link to his Wikipedia entry though.

So, yep, we named our house Butters. I’d write a bit more right now, but we’re moving some of Thomas’ stuff in today, I need to put another coat of paint on a door, and we have a birthday party for Thomas’ grandmother this afternoon. Busy day – again!