The Luck of the Irish

It has officially been five years since we moved into our happy home. I will always remember that we unpacked on (or around) St. Patrick's Day because we gave our dear friends green beer and wine for helping us move. Chardonnay doesn't taste quite the same when it's green, but I know the beer was good.  

Adam and I dig our place so much that we decided to finance it again! Six L-O-N-G months of headache and paperwork are finally behind us, and we just completed signing enough documents to carry us through middle age. It must be the luck of the Irish (and President Obama) that allowed us to be among the fortunate few able to refinance to take advantage of the very low interest rates in a declining housing market. We are grateful.

We had an appraisal several weeks ago, and since our house will never be that clean again, I thought I should take a few photos. I was fooling around with a cheap little wide-angle lens, so that's why the photos are distorted and blurred. Also, it goes without saying that a house is a work in progress, especially our house. On to the living room!

The "new" basement. (We have two basements, which I know sounds awesome, but really, you just have to buy twice as many furnace filters and there's always double the expensive stuff to break.) I don't use subterranean spaces, so it's kind of an embarrassing catch-all for lonely furniture and boxes from other people's basements.

TJ's spot, one of his favorites. He can see everything from here.

The entry. Probably my favorite room in the house, if only because it has no projects that need doing (yet).

Here's a great example of a project for 2012. Ironically, this was also a project for 2011 (see also, TJ Wins!). The only change we've made to the hallway in the past year was to add two additional boxes of shelving. 

The master bedroom. (Does the term master bedroom bother anyone else? I hate it. I usually just call this the room with the bath.) This room is usually full of shoes and laundry, but we put them away for today. Also, this bedroom has never contained a bed. We do have a project planned for the bathroom this very weekend - sealing the grout and replacing one tile. Fun, fun, fun!

The kitchen. Still the same green and purple cabinets that charmed us into buying the house and overlooking the fact that we do not have a dishwasher. We did purchase that Darth Vader of a fridge about a year ago after our old one finally lost it. I wanted stainless steel and a bottom freezer, but since each of those options adds a few hundred bucks, Adam only let me pick one. You'll never notice the color once I finish my magnet collection.

Another of TJ's favorite spots. This one is great for intercepting the cat on her way to dinner.

The poor dining room. It's only purpose is to collect bills and newspapers, since we routinely eat dinner at the coffee table. Today, it has no purpose except for Adam to drink his cocktail creations. (See here, here, and definitely here). I did create a wall collage last year, but as it is now the third wall collage in our home, I think it's time to lay off.

Here is the mother of all projects, the one we have been saving since the day we moved in - the horrible blue bathroom.

Here's another look, just to terrify you. Ironically, Adam casually mentioned, just today, that he was considering demolishing the bathroom this very weekend. I'll let you know how that goes.

The guest bedroom, a project we actually completed. Although I'm slowly learning that no room is ever complete. At least our guests have a nice place to lay their heads, to make up for the fact that they still have to use the blue bathroom.

The computer room / mud room / sun room. We never did decide on a name. This is generally our worst room in terms of cables, shoes, mud, dog hair, mail, purses, plants, pencils, pollen, etc. It's also the room we live in.

All that's missing is the dog kennel and a bit more dirt.

 

The "old" basement. I almost don't want to go here. That is why the photos will henceforth be in black-and-white. Most people, including TJ, have never set foot in this place. Consider yourself warned.

It's not so bad (for a Stillwater basement). We actually spent a few weekends last fall patching, priming, and painting the walls to pretty it up a bit. I think the waterproof blue looks delightful in the space. Other than laundry, it's mostly a repository for Adam's endless collection of beer bottles, anyway.

That's it. Happy house hunting. The place spruces up a bit in the spring, and hibernates again in the fall. Stop by for a visit if you're ever in the neighborhood. You know we'll be here for awhile. I'm not going through that nightmare of paperwork ever again.

The Tequini

Sorry, no lemon twists in the house.

The Hell Yeah!

Puppy Days

My parents recently paid us a mid-winter visit, with Cricket - as usual - acting as scene-stealer. She can't help that she's so darn cute.

We also figured that it was about time to take down the Christmas lights, and four hands are better than two. I think we're through with decorating the evergreen after this year. Even with our extension ladder, homemade light pole, and six strands of lights, we still can't quite reach the top. When we first moved in, we only needed three strands and a step stool.

Adam's do-it-yourself extension wand / home invasion weapon

Check out the Columbia jacket, ear warmer, and stretch gloves (2 pairs for $1 at Target). I'm bringing the early nineties back to Stillwater. That whole outfit cost me about $35, even after adjusting for inflation.

Cricket hasn't yet learned that TJ does not like to play. Especially with puppies.

Cricket also has not learned how to handle a leash. We spent much of the weekend untangling the dog.

Buddies, for a while.

 Time-out for Cricket. She needs to recharge and the rest of us needed a break.

Just so we didn't spend all weekend doing yard chores, we also took my parents across the river to western Wisconsin. We stopped by the Bass Lake Cheese Factory for some curds and then continued south to Hudson.

Adam got some rock chucking and ice cracking in on a stop along the St. Croix River. The ice was just beginning to break up.

I ordered a happy hour drink that was half red wine, half Coke. I was so appalled by this combination that I had to try it. Why would you ruin red wine with Coke, and vice versa? It tasted almost exactly like sangria. I guess it's good to know that I can just skip the fruit from now on.

The next day, Cricket was so obsessively focused on meeting the cat that it was all she could do to sit still. My dad was her protector.

"Watch out!" says the cat

The object of Cricket's affection

Time for treats! This is one game TJ knows how to play...and win. He will drool on your shoes until you drop the treat.

Next up...shedding season. We're trying to get a heads up on TJ's undercoat now. Cricket had fun with the leftover fur balls. It's like a free toy. TJ tried to prove to Adam that he doesn't care about grooming, but he does. He will fight us throughout the whole spring. Eventually, we will give up and take him to the groomers for his annual bath, where he will come back clean and sleek and trim and smelling like lavender and honeysuckle for another year. It's a lose-lose situation for everyone!