Progress report

We're slowly moving things into the new house. There has been much painting done, some light demolition in the kitchen to make room for the larger refrigerator we have already, cleaning, arranging, etc.
We're taking our time since we don't want to live there full time until the cable is installed for phone, TV and Internet. However, we're enjoying spending our days there and taking the dogs down most days to get used to the new digs (um, let's hope they don't take that literally).
School has begun and there is much reading and adjusting to new computer systems, but so far so good.
Katie left today to go to Aussie Nationals with Stacie in Colorado. She hopes to meet up with family there on her quiet days. She really seems to be enjoying massage school so far. I seem to see CJ in passing since he has marching band two nights and Scouts one night every week. Things will calm down soon, right?

Home Improvement, Take 2

The old porch lights ...
The new lights Mel and I chose to replace them with

In my last post I mentioned the waterfall. Here’s the view from the back patio (and the kitchen window). This waterfall runs about 12 feet down a small slope. The plants on the slope are sadly overgrown with weeds, but we’ll remedy that in the fall and winter.When we have the windows or sliding glass door open, you can hear the water from anywhere in the house … I love it!

Home improvement

I haven’t moved in more than 12 years, but before that I moved much more often. Whenever I moved into a new place, I always had a knack for making the place mine. I’d decorate, perhaps paint, plant flowers – different things that seemed to be my way of turning an impersonal space into my own. That tendency seems to have appeared again with the move to Yelm. It might also have something to do with the fact that I’ll be moving into my mother’s house. Ya think??

Anyway, there were two things about the house that I told Mel we HAD to change before we lived there. Both were throwbacks to the ‘70s, when the house was manufactured and I’m sure they were stylish. So I laid plans to bring the bathroom into the 21st century. I’ve taken “before” photos so you can see the hideous wallpaper and fixtures for yourself.

We went shopping and talked about the plans and then Mel proceeded to go elk hunting for a week – giving me the opportunity to do the work while it wouldn’t interfere with anything since we haven’t moved to Yelm yet.
I thought it wouldn’t be too hard to slap a little paint on the walls, hang new hardware, etc. That’s where I was wrong.
There were complications, such as me trying to be in Olympia to take care of things with the kids and dogs, while also being 30 miles away prepping, priming, and painting. I also hadn’t realized how many little angles, corners, and other tough-to-paint areas there were, so the project took much longer than I had expected.

primed! trim painting...

I washed the walls, coated them with primer, then painted and most nights I felt like I could hardly raise my arms to feed myself, much less cook a meal.
Suffice it to say that I was worn out at the end of 4 days and decided Mel could deal with the electrical and putting up the new lights when he returned. So now the deed is done and I can proudly cross it off the list of things to do.

Finished product!

It looks fabulous, Mel loves it, and we can get on with the actual move. Mom has gotten 99% of her stuff out of the house and we’re ready to make the transition. It will still be two weeks before we have phone, cable or Internet there, so we might have to work out some logistics still.

What about the other I-can’t-wait-to-change-this item? The outside light fixtures, another Mel production, but I’ll be sure to post pictures as soon as we get that accomplished.

Oh, anyone wanting to go “retro” can e-mail me and I’ll gladly give you all the old hardware and fixtures. You’ll have to supply the tacky wallpaper, though.

Lyn's new house

And yes, I would love for this to be my new house. But we don't have the $250K it took to pay for it. And the smaller, older house next door is still much bigger than our Olympia house and we get the waterfall (pictures to come, I promise) and the 5 acres to play on anyway.