Friday, February 19, 2010

Come on in!

Internet. At home. Awwww!





Here are some things I know about the house after living in it for one week:


I am not scared to sleep here.


In fact, sleeping in my own bed is wonderful!


The person who lived here before may have been scared, though. There are double and triple locks on all doors, including the door between the basement and the upstairs. Even the double windows have double locks.


The mice seem to be gone!! No new droppings since before we closed on the house. Keep your fingers crossed.


An oven not cleaned for several years is beyond disgusting.




Heavy Duty Oven Cleaner (2 cans) + 6 SOS pads + 1 razor blade = mostly clean oven.


The supersized basement is awesome!


The supersized box fort in the supersized basement is super awesome, but enter at your own risk - it may cause clausterphobia in adult sized people...


The cool blue carpet that covers the entire upstairs is in really good shape and is extra cushy. Too bad it is the same blue color as the task bar at the top on my computer screen.




Living without a dishwasher is possible. I've never lived in a house without a dishwasher. Hannah and Sydney are muy excellente dish washers! It may help that until yesterday I was not willing to cook in the beyond gross oven.


Rocks are cool. The previous owner (the one and only previous owner of this house, actually) was apparently a renowned rock person. The kids have been finding evidence of this under the snow in the backyard. Lots of little (and bigger ) interesting rock bits.


If you keep snacks around, teenage boys from church are willing to help with all sorts of moving chores, like carrying boxes downstairs, carrying boxes upstairs, carrying boxes out to the other garage, setting up the tv/vcr/dvd/hd converter thingy/antanea, minor light fixture repair, etc. Bonus points if a cordless drill is involved!




The wheelchair ramp that takes up 5/6ths of the garage really needs to go. soon. and I mean it. I'm willing to live with the mostly clean oven for a while, but we need to be able to use the garage. Wouldn't it be nice to not have to scrape ice off your windows each morning?


The wheelchair ramp that takes up 5/6ths of the garage is great for riding your bike down. And probably it should stay in place until after we re-do floors and use the ramp to roll the extra heavy piano that is resting in the garage at it's peril until the new floors are done up into the house. But right after that, the ramp needs to go to a good home.


It is always wierd to fit everything from one certain house into a totally different house.



Uh, can't thing of anything else right now. Off to find photos...






Established 1980

18 comments:

Deanne said...

Yay, pics of your house!!! Whoa, that's some blue carpet! Have fun making the house your very own home!

Unknown said...

I love your new house! thanks for the pictures. I really like the flow from the living room to the kitchen with the fireplace in the middle- that is pretty cool. Anywho i am totally excited for you guys!

Mary said...

A bike ramp, a fort, and everything! How fun! I can't wait to see pictures of the new floor. It looks like in the kitchen there is a prime spot for a dishwasher to the right of the sink where a couple of cabinet doors are.

Are the teenage boys willing to help because of snacks, or because of a certain cute teenage girl that lives there?

Have I shown you my dream oven? http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02298023000P?vName=Appliances&cName=Cooking+Appliances&sName=Freestanding

Mom said...

It's fun to see some pictures. I was wondering where or how you got your piano in. Could the ramp be used for skateboarding or wiggle boarding (what are those 2 wheeled things called?) or scooters or skates???

Congrats on your almost clean stove!

Mom said...

P.S. I know from experience that the mice are just pretending to be gone. . .

orchard_girl said...

Hooray, new house pictures. Love it. Nathan seems excited to get started on home projects. Can't wait to see the after pictures.
Heather
ps get a cat.

wendy said...

Mary - that is exactly the oven I've got my eye on. The smaller top part to be used for a sheet of cookies or a loaf of bread. The bottom for a roast chicken. and both when you want fresh rolls with a roast.... perfect! Imagine Thanksgiving!

Mom - I think the mice were poisoned and I have a feeling we may have a smelly problem when it warms up!

Heather - I don't wanna cat. Every house we looked at smelled like stinky cat (except this house, which smelled instead of old lady). I am attempting to mask the old lady smell by setting dryer sheets all around the house. I think pulling up the carpet will help.

Erin - I'm not sure if I'd call it "flow" but I do like the open area.

Deanne - when I take down the seriously ugly hotel curtains and replace them with something new, I can call the house mine.... first the popcorn ceiling....

orchard_girl said...

Wendy, I like having a scary outside farm cat. He isn't very affectionate, but he is a great mouser. Before we moved in, he got to sleep in the converted porch/laundry room. It still smells like him.
Heather

brandi said...

Wendy~ I am so happy for you guys! I know from living in the desert, we needed a cat for the mice as well. He was ONLY an outdoor cat, and would leave the mice as presents on our front door step sometimes, but overall, there were NO MICE inside anymore because of him, so for that I was grateful. I know what you mean about smelly cat smell too, if you do get one, keep him/her outside, especially if you have a covered area for him/her to stay out of the weather. I promise you it will be worth it! It is neat you get to add all your own creative touches to this home and make it your own!! Good luck with everything, and we miss you a ton!!!
Brandi

Lana said...

well, cats are cute.

Nice house, I love it!

L McBride said...

Awesome house, Wendy! That basement sounds amazing,and it sounds like you are doing all kinds of terrific projects. I'm exhausted just reading about it!

Tammy said...

I definitely don't check in here enough since I see you've up and MOVED to the states, Wendy! LOL!

I stopped by to make sure you were okay after reading about the earthquake in Chile and the possible tsunami coming toward Hawaii.

I'm relieved you are VERY safe and sound in snowy cold South Dakota and I'll continue to pray for those living and vacationing on those beautiful Hawaiian islands!

Blessings,
Tammy ~@~

Jon and Janene said...

Wendy,
I thought you would build a house. Welcome back to RC. Where is your house located and will you attend the new church or the old one? Can you please give me your new phone #'s. Our email is jcreerj@yahoo.com. or you can call at 605-484-2253. Anxious to talk to you. Take care.
Janene

Jon and Janene said...

PS. We have a nice indoor/outdoor kitty with the auto pooper scooper cat box. She is great, DOESN'T stink at all and caught a mouse in the house. We get hours of enjoyment watching her play as she is only a year old. We got her last Christmas as a kitten and we love her. I think the smell (or no smell) is all in how you train thm and take care of them.

Donna Boucher said...

Oh! I love an exposed basement! Your fireplace looks so cozy!

Rebekah Greiman said...

In our 9 years of marriage we have owned five houses and moved into three of them (keeping the others for rentals). Each time, there is a major reconstruction/gutting out the new house before we move in. I keep saying I won't do it again. But, then I go on a run in the morning and pick up a 'For Sale' flyer somewhere and the process begins. I am a masochist apparently.

Hyde Family said...

Wendy, this is so exciting! I can't waiat to see more pictures!!
Even tho moving in and out is my least fav thing to do, I do love getting rid of junk in the process and moving my couch a thousand times to see where it looks the best! Have fun! Can't wait for the final finish.
PS I remember the days of "snow" falling from the sky/ceiling!

Unknown said...

HEY! You said you were going to post new pictures...