Path to Glory

I'm supposed to be working on my Curriculum Studies homework right now...

Here's what happened since we hung the chandelier:

Wendy found a $160 ceiling fan on Craigslist for $45.  We bought it to replace the ugly faux marble fan we have in the living room.  However, although the fan can be mounted as a flush mount or angled ceiling mount, it's missing one part that we need.  So that fan will go into the Elspeth Suite since that fan's blades we sagging more than my waistline.

The Cassels lent us their chainsaws, so we took out the last African Tulip tree in our yard.  We also cut out most of the stumps in the yard.  We also hired a professional tree trimmer to take down the palm trees that were growing in the power lines.  It cost us $50, but we really didn't want to try to take down the trees ourselves since they could have dropped on the power lines or the neighbor's house.

This week we cleared the area between our front door and the garage.  We put down some edging and dumped a bunch of gravel.  We're not done, but here is where we're at so far:

Hoosier Daddy?

Say that title slowly.  I was doing that on the drive to the store today.  Got Wendy pretty annoyed too.

My Hoosier Mom and Hoosier Dad send me a card for my birthday.  Although it was one day early, I opened the envelope, just in case it was Ding-dongs.  Inside the card was some money!

"That's the same amount of money they gave me for my birthday, and I'm related to them," cried Elspeth.

Guess we know the pecking order for kids in the McDowell family now.  I'm right up there with blood.

Thanks mom and dad.  We used the money to get lunch at Garden Island Barbecue.  That's a restaurant I've been asking to go to for the last month, but always get vetoed.  With the remaining money, we're going to try and pick up a nightstand we saw on craigslist.

Swagging Swag

The old dining room had a ceiling fan.  Problems with the ceiling fan include:

• it was a cheapo piece of doodoo
• we never used the fan while dining
• it wasn't centered properly
• the lighting was harsh

We decided to get rid of it.  At first, we were planning on moving the dining room fan over to the living room.  The living room fan is a bit ugly.  However, it turns out the living room fan is a higher quality fan.

One day we were in the middle of our weekly Home Depot tour when we passed a clearance shelf.  On the shelf there were 2 chandelier priced at $39.  One was a large pendant-style light in black.  The other was a 3 light set up in brushed nickel.  Wendy wanted a pendant light.  I wanted something with multiple bulbs.  I won and we got the brushed nickel chandelier because I'm bigger and more menacing than Wendy.  (Actually, the pendant light, though a good size, lacked girth.  It looked too scrawny, and the black was too dark.)

It took us about 3 hours to take down the fan and install the light.  The fan took 10 minutes.  The chandelier took forever.  The directions were sparse.  There was just one sheet of paper.  The directions would mention parts by their names, but no reference sheet or diagram was given.  We had to guess which part was which.  There were 4 diagrams on the paper.  One showed how the light bulbs should be spaced.  Another showed how the chandelier mounted to the ceiling (this was helpful).  A third showed wiring... black wire goes to black, white goes to white.  The last diagram was just a side view of the light.  What would have been helpful would be a diagram showing how the top, middle, and bottom sections of the chandelier go together.

The best part of the instructions was something Wendy couldn't stop talking about.  The instructions kept mentioning balls and nipples.  Twist the balls on the ends of the nipples.  Wendy amused herself for 15 minutes straight giggling and saying, "balls and nipples."



We think it's a big improvement over the fan.

We got the swag hook in the garden area of Home Depot.  It's the exact same hook that is found in the lighting area, but in a different package.  It was also $2 cheaper.  Also, the original list price of the chandelier was $170.

Other improvements since last time:

• guest bathroom is now ice dance (light blue)
• we have a fridge.  an LG top freezer
• master bathroom painted violetta
• roses dug up out of the yard and potted
• my-side garage door opener died :(  new one on order
• Elspeth has a drafting table and is now painting flowers
• vestibule in the garage painted vintage orange (the women thought it was ugly, but all our visitors love it when they enter.  Ryan knows his colors)
• removed a dead rat, dead chick, and a nest from the attic
• installed soffit vent covers to keep rats and bird from building nests in the attic and dying
• motorcycle now parked in the garage

 Next step:

• landscape area in front of bedrooms with native Hawaiian plants
• get fake rocks to cover cesspool access covers
• landscape area between garage and front door.  We're planning on a rock garden/potted plant garden
• build a walkway from the driveway to the front door.  Either pavers or concrete.

House pictures

I spent the whole day digging out the ginger and heliconia in our yard (minus lunch time).  I had Elspeth take some pictures of the house so we could share.


Dining room to living room.


Living room.  Hard to tell, but the walls are safari.


Mid-century modern dining room table with McDonald's taro pie.


Kitchen.


Kitchen again.


Living room from hallway.


Foyer.  The kitchen cart will be removed some day.  Probably before we have kids.


Clearstory.


Guest bath.  Just recently painted.  Waiting until the paint cures before the shower curtain and mirror go back up.


Guest bath.


Bedroom #2 is currently our office.


Bedroom #1.  The brightest room.  Currently occupied by Elspeth.


Master Bedroom.  The purple really helps when trying to sleep.


Master.


En suite.


The mini-mart is very close.


The backyard hibiscus.  We'll have to trim it soon.


Backyard.


China.

Elspeth forgot to take pictures of the laundry room.  It's a really bright yellow.  Makes you feel all cheery doing laundry.  It does have a shower, toilet, and laundry tub.  I guess that makes it a .75 bath.  So our house must be a 2.75 bath.  However, we also have another shower outside of the laundry room, in the backyard.  We don't have any fences up, so it might not be a good place to be naked.  Hmmm... maybe our house has 2.85 baths?

What can you do with $50?

Wendy is out in Kalalau Valley for a week, and Elspeth is working at a night event at the NTBG.  Ryan is home bored, listening to the dishwasher.

So what did we do with the $50 Nick and Emily sent us?

1.  Changed all the locks on the house.
2.  Added deadbolts to all entry doors.  The entry from the garage has a keypad system.
3.  Added missing knobs to closets.
4.  Sprayed the entire house with Home Defense Max.
5.  Used Spectracide all around the yard.
6.  Replaced broken jalousie glass and straightened out screens.
7.  Changed all incandescent bulbs to CFLs.
8.  Replaced bathroom dimmer switches with illuminated switches.
9.  Added door stops to some of the doors.
10.  Waxed window rails.
11.  Cleaned windows.
12.  Steam cleaned the carpets.
13.  Patched drywall in the bathrooms, laundry room, living room.
14.  Painted the master bedroom purple, the tardis and dining room red, the living room safari, the laundry room buttery, and the guest bath blue.
15.  Moved all our stuff over.
16.  fixed the 3-way switches in the hallway.
17.  Replaced the vertical binds on the sliding glass door with sheer curtains.
18.  Fixed the speaker connector in the living room.
19.  Removed shelves from the entertainment center and patched the holes... including the one Wendy made with a prybar.
20.  Removed mini-blinds from the laundry room and added etched glass contact paper.
21.  Got a new washer and dryer combo.
22.  Put shelf paper in all the cabinets and pantry.
23.  Poisoned all the Guinea Grass.
24.  Caulked the laundry room shower.
25.  Got various tools and a roll-away tool chest.
26.  Replaced one of the garage door openers, fixed the non-working one.
27.  Installed a new threshold on the dining room entry, repaired the garage-side door one.
28.  Replaced the door sweep on the laundry room door.
29.  Fixed all three toilets. 
30.  Felled 2 out of 3 African Tulip trees.
31.  Took down a bunch of palm trees.
32.  trimmed the Heliconia and ginger out front.
33.  Got new hoses.
34.  Got new trash cans.
35.  Got a midcentury modern 7 piece dining room set, hutch, and side table.
36.  Got a heavy coffee table.
37.  Got 3 bar stools for the counter overhang.
38.  Patched some roof shingles.
39.  killed a bunch of ant living in fire detector.  Darn thing went off randomly and it was mounted all the way up the clearstory.
40.  Hung a mirror.
41.  Got a fire extinguisher for the kitchen.
42.  Replaced the motion sensor light for the driveway.
43.  Repaired the laundry room exterior light.
44.  Got a mini-fridge.

Fifty dollars goes a long way, eh?

I was going to post some pics, but Wendy didn't take any with her good camera.

I'm a Homo...

...wner.  The title has been recorded in our names and now we own the TARDIS house.

Dogsitting is Hard Work

Maybe we should think about hiring a landscaper too.  I wonder if we know anyone who does landscaping...

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We get the keys to the house tomorrow!  We've already purchased a washer, dryer, and lawnmower... though it looks like Bank of America mowed the yard one last time today.  I also have 9 door knobs/deadbolts ready to go, including an electronic keypad.  Woooooo!  We'll be all high tech so we don't lock Elspeth out of the house.