Carpet Be Gone

Raise your hand if you spent your anniversary tearing apart your house....no one?  We did!

The carpet in our living room/office was nasty and that's an understatement!  We decided to tear out the nasty, stained, smelly carpet one morning thinking 'we can do this' and 'it will be so much better when done!'  Let me tell you, we were so right!!  We took out the carpet, padding tack strips and hammered any stub-worthy nails down. 

We are now living on the underlayment flooring (think this is what it's called) until we put down hard wood flooring, which will have to wait until after the holidays.  Plus, my mom passed along some throw rugs and they work perfectly in the space! 

Time

I feel I lose ALOT of time everyday...figuratively and truly.  I have so much I want to put up here and say...so many things I want to document and remember in just the right way...not rushing it but truly reliving the moment each time I read it.

I create a lot of these posts in my head...while I'm driving, while I'm 'doing', while I'm thinking... I come up with ideas and 'write' the post in my head, rethinking the beginning and how I want to intro something.  Redoing the sentences until they are just right, portraying the perfect image.  I think about the pictures I'd post...who'd read it...  Needless to say, most of this happens while I'm in the truck on my way home in the dead quiet (outside of my grumblings at the traffic)...it's perfect and then I come home and forget the perfect way to say it.  It;s deflating to say the least...  I feel there's never enough time to truly write (type) it down for myself and others to read down the road. 

I have a bunch in my head, so instead of waiting and stock piling them so there's something to post always (what a good blogger would do)...there will probably be a good flow in the next week - mostly things that have already happened, which makes me sad I wasn't able to post them in a more timely manner, but that's the story of my life it seems...never enough time...

Water and grass

The above puddle is the representation of ALOT of hard work!!  ALOT of unexpected work!!  This is our front yard obviously...  To make a long story short, each time it rained we would have this lovely frog swimming pool in our front yard.  Our clay soil (if you want to call it soil) is so rock solid that it wouldn't soak up any water, so the water would end up in our basement :)  Oh, joy!  Yep, within six months of buying the house we had water in the basement.  I still can't believe it.  When we knew the rain would come and we'd stand watch, checking the basement every so often; if water came in, we sopped it up with towels, sucked it up with the shop vac and squidgy the hell out of the lovely laminate tile flooring, always hoping it was the last time.  

In order to stop the issue, we gathered friends and family - you fabulous people know who you are - and we dug that shite up!  Jay had busted up one section of sidewalk to help October 2009 - Halloween day actually - and realized we needed more manpower.  So in June of this year, we recruited help in the nicest way...pretty please...  Jay and I got up early busting up the sidewalk and once help came the men tore that sidewalk apart getting out all their aggressions, while we dug up all the millions and millions of pebbles.  We used the dump cart and made a nice mound in the back beside the workshop to use for a future patio project.  In between trips to the dump - surprised we don't know them by name now - we'd stop and get a yard of dirt to fill in the vacant space.  Our plan was to regrade from the flower bed to the grass so the water wouldn't puddle and sit.  It was amazing that day and great to get good and sweaty being able to see our progress from the morning.  

Before Jay and I started that morning...

 After the sidewalk and good portion of pebbles are gone...

 

In the end, Jay and I tore out the flower bed also to grade from the house out.  We probably have about 8-10 yards of dirt (thank you Lee Highway Nursery) and tons of shoveling experience it's insane!  Now that it's level, I'm proud to say that we haven't had water in the basement since mid-summer... 

We planted grass in the dirt area almost a month ago.  The Husband meticulously researched the correct grass seed to buy and lay...we leveled the area (it looks like a magician's hat to me) and pulled all the weeds...bought just a bit more dirt and laid some seed.  It's growing - some places better than others but it's coming along. 

We are supposed to get a frost tonight, so this is what a Wife does for her Husband's love of his grass...

Yes, those the original curtains from our living room - glad they can be used for something!

We have fabulous friends that have helped along the way of this journey....truly magnificent friends and family! 

The extension of this front yard project is the basement...more on that later.

Like a picture frame

Written a few weeks ago...

Our new window is spectacular!  I love it...  Who knew one window would make such a huge change in our house.

This old house is filled with the (what we believe are) the original casement windows by Anderson.  In never having casement windows, I was intrigued by the cranks and the latches.  I love how they are long - almost floor to ceiling in length!  There are no internal 'grids' or the normal middle obstruction from a double hung window, letting lots of light in and giving a feeling of being closer to the outside.  They are old school; each having their own second pane of glass that snaps in or out, in addition to an individual screen too.  When we moved in we realized that not all the windows crank correctly - major drag but at least one, two or three in each sectional open.  In order to keep track of which work and which don't, we keep the top open/close latch in the open position.  We would love to replace all the windows in the house, yet there are far too many so we are prioritizing by energy efficiency and use.

Along those guidelines, the first and largest sectional to be replaced was the living room.  Originally being five separate casements with only two of them opening, we decided it was our best option with the sunshine beating in a good portion of the day.  To help with energy efficiency, we bought thick, insulating curtains from Wal-Mart to keep the heat out and the cool in during the summer months and vice versa during the winter months.

We originally wanted Thompson Creek to come out but we are outside their district.  Therefore, our next option was HD who sells Renewal by Anderson windows.  A rep came out and priced it all out for us...being crazy expensive, we settled on the living room first.  In replacing the five separate casements, we chose a three pane window - large middle 'bay' window with a casement on either end.  This would be perfect to remove the vertical obstructions and frame our Japanese Maple perfectly, yet still have the option to catch a breeze.

The window was installed on Sept 18th by sub-contractors we were told are legal and professional.  In preparation, we had 'fenced' off the hydrangea and two grasses in the front yard, took down the window treatments and moved all the furniture off that wall.  Two men arrived - a larger, younger man and a smaller, older man - neither spoke english very well.  Jay, Hunter and I sat on the couches and basically watched what they did...curious to see how it was all going to work and to make sure we understood what was happening.  I had the camera also to take pictures along the way and document the momentous event - in a covert manner. :)

Everything was going smoothly... they took the old window out and hauled it away... tore out the rotted wood bottom frame, which I thought was nice of them... they then proceeded to replace the rotted frame with a 2x4 piece of wood - makes sense, but seemed strange to us... next it was time to install the new window... they stood outside for about 20 mins just looking at it... tried to cut down a seam to see if would truly become 'sections'... they tried to carry it sideways, but it started to buckle at the connection points between the three windows and realized that wasn't going to work... Jay and I were wondering what they were doing (?!?!)... we walked outside to get the mail and a stray piece of trash that had drifted into the court... once out there, we stood talking to our neighbor and just watching the spectacle... finally we realized the smaller, older man could not lift his end of the window to carry it into the house!!!!  You have got to be kidding me!?!?  I asked Jay if he was going to help them, but he said no way because if something goes wrong, it's our problem then - makes sense but it was torture watching them.  Finally he used a rope for leverage on his end and carried it inside.  The larger, younger guy lifted his end into the empty frame and then they switched places - the smaller guy held it in the window while the larger guy hoisted the other end...the entire time the window is perched on the current sill!!  I am in shock that he couldn't lift the window - how ridiculous!!!  The window is in place and we head back inside to keep watch on the situation.  There obviously are gaps between the old frame and the new window; they filled the side gaps with thin packaging foam...  I am sure this is fine, but I was again in shock this was happening.  At this point, Jay started to look up online about replacement window installation...nothing too comprehensive online, but everything seemed legit.  They used shoe molding to hide the gaps and then caulked the seams on the inside.  The outside needed some coverage due to the 2x4 for a bottom frame and the gaps on the side and top.  They used brown metal which he bent and cut on site.  It turned out to match as well as can be expected.  Yes, there were times we had questions about what and why they were doing things, yet didn't ask questions for obvious reasons - they do this every day so they should know what and how to do this with their eyes closed.  At least that's what you would think...  In the end, we are happy with our end result - a beautiful picture window!!

Original five windows

Hunter keeping watch :)

Like a picture (try to ignore the ladder)

Torn in strips to fill the surrounding gaps after new window in place

2x4 as new base with no insulation stuffed in the cracks

Beautiful window!

From the outside

UPDATE
I am glad I documented all of this because there is are two unfortunate middle chapters.  1) The trim on the window sill had to be replaced due to the Chinese fire drill of putting the new window in the frame.  It was wrecked pretty bad, so I called and they replaced the bottom trim molding.  2) Now the window is leaking water into our house!!  The caulking looks to have pulled away or deteriorated from the outside of the window around the metal casing.  We noticed this Tuesday evening and realized it's probably been happening for a while.  There's water creating a small puddle in the living room and creeping along the wall edge, plus damage in the basement joists below the window.  Fun stuff!  I called HD again and someone was supposed to come today and is now coming in the morning - see below post.  Hopefully they will be accommodating because who knows what is happening behind the dry wall or above the basement joists (between the underlayment floor and sub flooring).  I will let you know how it goes...

In retrospect...

We are going thru a water issue (I hate water!) with our month old HD living room window as of Tuesday evening. 

I left work early today for an appointment with a field inspector to come check things out.  I pulled into my neighborhood and he calls saying he's going to be late - after dinner late - so we rescheduled for tomorrow morning!  Glad since Jay will now be home to stick it to him, but I had worked myself up to being mad and angry, to not take 'this is all we can do for you' as an answer...then he goes and reschedules - relief and frustration.  Completely let my fences down as I said goodbye and he came back with one more question...'where is the water coming from since we haven't had any rain lately?'  Stupid me answers, 'since we are trying to grow grass, we do have a sprinkler that hits the windows, yet there is extensive water damage in the basement, so since we just saw the puddle on Tuesday in the living room the water damage could be from previous rains.'  IDIOT!  I should have just said 'I'm not sure.' and left it at that but I opened my mouth....  I mean, he will be able to see the sprinkler set up towards the house when he arrives in person, but he hasn't even seen the window and I feel like I've blown it already.  I'm going to beat myself up about this for hours...

Happy Dance

Yep, I did the Happy Dance this morning while getting ready!  Been living on two (technically three, but third pair isn't super comfortable) pairs of work pants when I have five doubled-up hangers in my closet swinging with different choices. 

What was the cause for my Happy Dance you ask??  I am wearing pants to work today that I haven't worn in over a year plus!! 

I just did the Happy Dance in my chair...  Wahoo for 'new' clothes!

Mason the Dog...

Oops, I mean Mason the Cat but truthfully sometimes we wonder with him!

He lounges in Hunter's crate at times...

 He has taken to drinking out of Hunter's water bowl, when there is a water bowl not even three feet away which has been there since we moved in and was his previous drink of choice. 

He plays with Hunter's toys too!

He is a lovable guy who can't sit still when you pet him and is always getting into something...  I love his kitten face and his beautiful coloring...  I got Mason (named for my alma mater) and his brother, Chase on October 15th, 2005 from the Fairfax County SPCA.  They were a BOGO free deal :)  I had planned on running a sprint-tri but my wisdom teeth surgery was still bothering me, so to cheer myself up I visited the SPCA...dangerous!!  Look how stinking cute he was...

 

  And today, five years later... 

He has a few nicknames - Bengal Cat (for the Cinn Bengals - Jay's team), Mason the Dog, Bird Cat, Invincible for practically dragging himself across the yard and inside with a hurt paw and most recently 'Rambo' since he now has a nice scar across his nose from a scuffle over the weekend.  Love you Mason the Cat - wouldn't be the same without you!

Chase the Cat and his tribute tomorrow...