Yard Sale

Yesterday's yard sale was a huge success! We had a great turnout, purged a ton of stuff from the house & garage, and made enough money to make a sizable deposit into our Travel 2010 savings account. It's funny--when Steven & I were trying to organize things in the garage on Friday night, we actually felt like we didn't have that much stuff to sell. But on Saturday morning, when we started spreading all of the items down the driveway, we suddenly realized why we had been feeling so overwhelmed...we had been living with what seems like 4 households worth of STUFF. No wonder we felt like we were buried alive at times! ;)

Besides the obvious benefits of clearing out the house & making some dough-dough, the yard sale also ended up being sort of a 'meet & greet' with the community. It was such a pleasant surprise and everyone was so welcoming. It was downright heartwarming. We just felt so...supported. People seemed genuinely happy to see a young couple moving in, who have an appreciation for a nice old house, and intentions to shine 'er up a bit. We met a bunch of people who knew the previous owners, too...and I think one of them is going to be my new BFF. She's a super cute, little old Italian grannie...and she had me laughing out loud. We made loose plans to go out for lunch sometime and I'm really looking forward to it. From what we've seen so far, this town has a special breed of Golden Girl, and it just makes me want to say "now that's a spicy meatball!" :)

There was one hiccup in an otherwise wonderful day--we were blindsided by some disgruntled relatives of the previous owner, who are apparently bitter about being left out of her will and chose to lash out at us. Their behavior was extra shocking considering that I had been contacted by, and communicating quite amicably with, one of them regarding the items they would like from the house. It's fair to say that after their appalling behavior yesterday, the sense of good will I had towards them has been replaced by a decidedly less charitable attitude. Ummm....yeah....don't try to appeal to my sense of family and sentimentality and then come by and disrespect my family and my home. (We're talking about some pretty audacious stuff here.) NOT. GONNA. FLY. As my mom said, it's a good thing because this "defined it". We were a little skeptical about their story of woe, but gave them the benefit of the doubt. Now I can very comfortably send them a "this is what's up" email, and never deal with them again.

I'd be lying if I said that I'm not relishing the idea of composing and sending said email. >;]

Dear Obama

Thank you so much for the generous housewarming gift! It was very stimulating. You'll be pleased to know that it's already been earmarked for various projects around our new house, and we're sure our local contractors recommended by ServiceMagic thank you as well. We have a feeling you'll ask us to pay you back in the next few years, but the timing couldn't be any better for us!

Yes We Can (Renovate This House),

Steven & LT

On The Inside Looking Out

Today's stunningly beautiful evening sky, looking out our bedroom window:

Lovely...

Psychedelic Bedroom

Good news: I've finally worked out the right method for removing the wallpaper adhesive from our horse hair plaster walls, and I've even successfully fiddled with joint compound to get a feel for skim coating. (Kind of fun actually, like icing a giant flat cake.)

Bad news: It's going to take a lot longer to get that room done than I originally thought. Not only do I have to remove the wallpaper adhesive, which is slow going, but I need to repair some cracks and significant holes before I can then skim coat, prime, paint.

Here's a shot of my joint compound test. I was pretty pleased with the results, and enjoy imagining how the room will look with 4 freshly skim coated walls.

In other news: We've temporarily moved into another bedroom. Steven had had enough of the twin-air-mattress-in-the-living-room set up, and decided we should just wipe this room down with Murphy's Oil Soap and set up our bed. I initially resisted, thinking we should wait until we have a fully-renovated bedroom available, but joined the clean-up effort anyways.

When I started wiping down the dusty walls, the weirdest thing happened--the wallpaper pattern dissolved and smeared as soon as water touched it. Now, this wallpaper is really old...and seems as if someone took a brown paper bag from the grocery store, painted it with chalk-based paint, and left it out in the sun for 75+ years.

Add water, and you have blurry, psychedelic wall decor:

Let me just say this for the record: I am a foolish woman with a very smart husband. Living upstairs, in a bedroom, with a real bed, is SO much better. It's only temporarily thrown together...mattress & boxspring, bedframe, bedside table, and 1 dresser...but it's such an upgrade!

Good call, Steven. Good call.

And We Are Back Online...

Woo-hoo! We are reconnected to the modern world--the cable company came by today to hook up our internet, cable, and landline. Funny how the latter 2 represent a major shift for us...we haven't had cable since May '08, and a landline since...college? Yup, settling right in.

And (bonus!)-we are apparently getting a free Dell Netbook as part of the Comcast Triple Play promotion. No idea if we get to pick a color...but if we do, I'm loving the blue one! And the red one...

Okay, where to begin? Ah, yes--WE HAVE MOVED INTO OUR NEW HOUSE!

Moving was a trip! When a certain die-hard family member (cough*KEVIN*cough) suggested that we pack and move everything on Friday night, Steven and I initially balked...but 2 minutes later Steven had that crazy look in his eye and, well, we pulled an all-nighter, packed every last worthwhile belonging (as well as tons of JUNK) into the UHaul, and set off for our new home. We arrived at our house at 4 a.m., went to sleep at 5:20 a.m., and started unloading the truck about 5 hours later! Luckily, Steven's bros and dad were around to help us...otherwise we might still be packing! ;)

After a week+ of living here, I can honestly say it's great. Primitive and disorderly, but awesome nonetheless. I still can't believe we're in our own house!

More updates coming up soon...but for now, any guesses as to what this plant is?:

Steven went all Tarzan on a HUGE weed near the foundation, and this guy got caught in the crossfire. Apparently "a little pruning" and elimination of competition was just what it needed, because it's been growing like crazy since then. Nice, huh? But it'd be even better if we knew what it was!

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! :) :) :)

Demolition Derby

A status report from our second weekend at our new (old) house...

Here is the downstairs 1/2 bath when I left for work Friday morning. Steven had just removed the washing machine from that back corner, and was fixin' to do a LOT more.

The same little bathroom, on Saturday evening...
And, finally, after a weekend of doing the Demolition Dance with Steven...
With some help from a Mister Radl, he demo'd the whole room and also took out the wall that was separating the bathroom from the kitchen. The plan is to steal a couple feet from that kitchen area (which will eventually become the pantry) so there will be room to install a simple shower stall in the back corner of the bathroom...crucial in a house with only 1 full bath. And with all of the debris from the bathroom demo, the dumpster is O-fficially FULL...
And on my end, I finished scraping the adhesive off of the floor of our future bedroom, which also called for the careful excision of approximately 1 million staples, and finally, removal of the tack strip. (Which, btw, was installed as if it needed to survive a nuclear holocaust. BIG nails, in addition to the tacks, about every 5 inches. Next time you encounter a carpetinstallerman, kick him in the shin for me.) Awesomely, my mom (aka: the wallpaper czar) went to town on the wallpaper in there, removing all of the vinylized portions, and about 1 wall's worth of the paper backing.Now we just need to talk to our floor guy about refinishing the floor, and I need to focus on removing the rest of the paper backing & adhesive on the walls. Apparently hot water with fabric softener is the trick (per the czar). The BR as it stands right now:
And using that method with great success, my BIL Brian, removing the wallpaper in the parlor...
I'd say it's about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way done, and then we'll figure out whether we can just prime it or we need to do a quick skim coat over the plaster. So excited to paint this room! I already have a "vision". :)
It was beautiful out this morning, so I decided to get some garden time in. (Which means the wallpaper removal in our BR is not as far along as it could be. But it was totally worth it.) I did some weeding around the lupine growing behind the house...
And I planted an impatiens that my grandmother brought up for me under the big maple tree in the side yard. Hopefully this puppy survives...I'd be quite mortified if the first thing I try to plant croaks on me!
I particularly love this impatiens, because it has double blossoms, which look really full and almost like mini roses. Pretty, yes?

Well that's it for tonight, but I'll be posting again soon...

We Own A House!

Well, a mortgage anyways, which is good enough for me.

Anyways, it's awesome! We are so happy to finally be homeowners, and furthermore, this house was definitely "the one" for us. (HA! Wait til you see the state it's in, you'll think we're nuts.) There's so much to do, and so much to write about--but not enough time...so for now, a bunch of pics from our first weekend in OUR house:

The Happy Homeowners

Not the most flattering shot, but such an event must be documented, so whatevs!

One of my favorite parts of the house--the front staircase with the original woodwork. (BTW, the painting is the wedding portrait of the previous (late) owner's parents, painted by her younger sister. More about that in future posts.)
This house was an estate sale, and we ended up getting the house with ALL of the contents. Consequently, we spent the first 2 days of homeownership sorting & clearing (as seen below). We managed to fill a 15 cubic yard dumpster in that time! But, we also "inherited" some pretty nice stuff that we'll either keep or sell at auction to help fund our renovations. The auctioneer is coming this weekend, so hopes are high that we have some treasures!
Steven checking out the oak HW floors on the first floor...I can't WAIT to tear out that nasty wall-to-wall carpet!
Caution: Biohazard. Steven scrubbing the upstairs shower, which had chunky, crusty black stuff growing on the grout. Looks pretty good now, for an ancient bathroom. (Second on our major renovation list.)
Pulling up the w2w carpet in one of the bedrooms, to reveal fir HW floors. But don't you just LOVE that purple carpet? ::gag::
And this is my current project--liberating the fir floor in our future bedroom from some mystery adhesive/binder that was used when they put the w2w carpet in, probably about a thousand years ago. Some of it is really brittle and scrapes off with little effort. Other parts have to literally be CHISELED off. Hoping to wrap this up this weekend and start the wallpaper removal, as we want to have this room completely done ASAP. We need a nice room to retreat to when the workzone gets to be too much! :)
The 4th bedroom (our future office) after clearing out all the junk and tearing out the orange/yellow/brown shag carpet:
Our luxurious accommodations until the bedroom is ready...twin air mattresses on the living room floor. What, no mint on my pillow? I can't work like this!!! ;) ;) ;)

Stay tuned...

We Are Under Contract!!! :)

Okay-most important news first:

Househunting. Our offer on that house was accepted last week, and as of today, we are under agreement! There is so much more that needs to happen before we become homeowners, but we are definitely thrilled to have a signed P&S and a closing set for July 24. If all goes as planned, we should be moved in by August 1 and ready to enjoy the best time of year in New England...the end of summer-autumn-slide into the holidays...in our own (first!) home. Here's hoping!

And in other news...

Mount Desert Island YMCA Spring 10K. Why do people volunteer to do these kind of things? (For the record, my reason is that I was coerced by 2 very persuasive, yet sadistic, girlfriends.) What on earth possessed all of the other people who participated in this event!?

Perhaps you are picking up on just how much I enjoyed my first 10K a couple weeks ago...to sum it up, I'm glad I did it, but it's fair to say that it was my first and last. As I've said, I am not a runner and I am not in shape. Add to that the fact that 80% of the other participants were Lance Armstrong doppelgangers (including the women) AND that the race took place on the only hot and sunny day we've had in the last month (figures), and what you have is a miserable, hot, sweaty LT straggling behind the fit masses, wondering why she wasn't sitting on a seaside bench enjoying an ice cream cone instead. ;)

BUT it bears repeating...I AM glad I did it. I not only achieved my goal of finishing a 10K, but managed to run the whole way except for about 50 feet at the top of a steep hill when I thought my head was going to explode. (I think we can all agree that that's an undesirable event.) So, checked that off my list, and have implemented a 5K maximum policy from here on out!

Cherry Clafouti. I feel like I have been leaving out some of my more domestic endeavors lately, so here's my latest culinary effort. I had some sweet cherries that I needed to use up, and plenty of eggs on hand, so I decided to take a stab at a cherry clafouti. I based it on the following recipe from Martha Stewart Living:

Ingredients

Serves 8

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 pounds cherries, pitted
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 3 tablespoons kirsch
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 10-inch porcelain tart dish, and fill with cherries. Set aside.
2. Sift flour and salt together into a large bowl. Add sugar. Gradually whisk in whole eggs, egg yolks, milk, and cream. Add vanilla-bean scrapings and kirsch; whisk to combine.
3. Using a sieve, strain the batter over the cherries. Bake until puffed and browned, about 45 minutes. Let cool until warm; it will sink slightly. Dust with confectioners' sugar, and serve.

I did make some small changes based on what I had in the house (skipped the kirsch, used vanilla extract instead of bean, and increased the milk amount to 1.5 cups because I didn't have heavy cream) and it still came out pretty well!

Straining the batter over the cherries:
Right before putting it in the oven:

The finished product:
It was really quite good, like a warm eggy fruit custard, but I think next time I'll use a recipe (such as this one) that calls for more flour, just to make it a little more cake-like. Also very good cold the next morning!

Random Randomness

Nothing huge going on these days...but some random tidbits:

-I just started reading this book...

and so far it's awesome.  All kinds of nature, travel, science-y kind of stuff.  I'll do up a proper review when I finish it.

-This Saturday I'm running the Mount Desert Island YMCA Spring 10K in Bar Harbor with a couple of my best girls.  This is actually going to be quite the escapade, as I am not a runner by any stretch of the imagination, and supposedly my compatriots have not been training very diligently either.  (I've been fooled by them before, though, LOL.  When I decided to do my first running event ever, a 5K last fall, one of these tricksters was all "I don't know how to run either, I hate it, I'm gonna have a heart attack" etc.  What happens when the race starts?  She zooms past not only me--the meatball of our trio--but also past our other friend, whom I consider to be a "runner", as she does so regularly and actually finished a, gulp, 10 mile road race just a couple months before!)

A shot taken right after the run in question ;)

In all seriousness though, it's always nice to set goals and challenge yourself, and this is just one of those things.  My goal is simply to finish the 10K, ideally without having to stop or walk...which is something I was not able to do for the 5K.  If I can do this without any major calamities, especially those of the gastrointestinal sort (oh, don't laugh.  the last time I tried to run "far"--i.e. 4 miles--there was an...incident.  But that's a story for another time...) I'll consider this a major feat!

-We put an offer in on a house today!  Normally I wouldn't even say anything about it, as I'd be afraid of "jinxing" it...but considering how little my superstitions have assisted in the house buying effort so far, I'm just going to let it fly.  And I'm not even going to pretend to be nonchalant about it...we LOVE this house!  

It's our favorite style (turn of the century colonial), with most period details intact, a really nice 1/2 acre yard, and a quick walk to the town commuter rail station.  It's in one of our "B" towns, needs some cosmetic updates, and has a slightly odd kitchen layout...but I'm in luuuuuuuuuurve.

Yes, yes...I know better than most that the cruel I-can't-believe-we-didn't-get-that-house heartbreak monster is lurking in the bushes, just waiting to jump us.  And he's got a good shot at crushing us, since the house already has multiple offers after only 3 days on the market.

But you never know, this could be the one.

That's all for now!