MOVING!!! :)

Biggest news...we're moving on Saturday!

The house is nowhere near being ready for normal living (read: we'll be camping out in the parlor for a while), but we're just so eager to start living there full time. It's been so difficult to be an hour away from our new house all week...we just want to BE there!

While we're technically renting our apartment until 9/19, our landlords had a showing last night, and the prospective tenants were definitely interested. It would be GREAT if they could rent it out early. (Bring on the refund!)

And in other news...

Auctioneer. So it turns out that we don't have any amazing hidden treasures, a la Antiques Roadshow, among the contents of the house. Definitely some value, but more of the "hundred bucks here, fifty bucks there" type. And since the auctioneers we spoke to take anywhere from 25-40% commission, it's definitely better for us to sell the stuff we don't want via ebay, craigslist, and a yard sale. We've also been contacted by relatives of the previous owner that are interested in purchasing some of the furniture, so we'll see how that works out.

Last Weekend. Priority #1 was to prep an area for the washer and dryer in the basement. Since there's already plumbing down there for a utility sink, the obvious location for the washer/dryer was right next to it, smack-dab in the middle of a monstrous obsessively-built cedar closet. So we demo'd that, leaving the back and bottom to use as the washer/dryer station. With a little quick trim work, it'll actually look pretty okay. And we snagged a used dryer off of craigslist for $50, so we're all set for the electrician and plumber to do their respective things.

Our bedroom is coming along, but I gotta say...stripping wallpaper backing is a rewardless job. It's tedious and time-consuming, with no satisfying visual impact. The walls still look dirty whitish and crappy, whether it's covered in whitish paper (back wall in pic below) or stripped down to the plaster (right wall on pic below). Unfortunately, I'm not going to get any significant visual reward until these walls get skim coated and painted.
To get a mental break from the wallpaper drudgery, I went out to the garden to play. First I did some weeding and pruning around the row of peonies. Then I checked out the rose of sharon, which is in full bloom:Much to my delight, the whole thing was abuzz with honeybees! I'm quite sure I haven't seen any ALL year, and I've been keeping an eye out, since there's quite a bit of hype about their disappearance. (If you're interested, check out the 60 Minutes report: Part1 and PartII)
On Sunday, Steven worked on framing the new wall between the downstairs bathroom and the kitchen. It's pretty much done and we've selected most of the fixtures, so we're nearly ready for the plumbing and electrical work for this project as well.
And lastly, here's a shot of one of the beautiful flowers that Steven's parents planted in the flowerpots on the frontporch. Luckily it's been a pretty wet summer, so they're flourishing despite not having everyday care.
But that won't be an issue after this weekend! :) :) :)