Big Accomplishments!

I feel like so much got done today. First off, I finished consolidating and moving everything over to this new blog today. At first I was worried about the design, as Blogger has changed their formatting options since the last time I created a blog. But I think it has come out quite nicely, and I hope everyone else does too!

My second personal accomplishment for the day was completing my dresser. I know it probably doesn't seem huge to most people, but I am quite proud of my building skills. Though I have to give most of the credit to Target Home, because the dresser came with instructions written in perfect English and with complete illustrations. I was quite impressed, since most of the furniture I have put together over the years didn't have any instructions, or with directions very poorly translated over from Chinese. I think before I get behind Target Home completely, I'm going to have to build another of their products, but I can honestly say that this dresser was possibly the easiest piece of furniture I have ever built. The best part about my new dresser is that it matches my bedroom furniture in design. The finish is a bit lighter than my other furniture, but for a little over $200 compared to over $1000, I'm not going to complain.

I wish I had a picture of my expensive chest of drawers for comparison!

Lastly, and probably the most exciting, my kitchen is almost done! The counter was delivered and installed today, and I am absolutely thrilled! I have wanted this counter for five years now, since I bought my old house. And I am happy to say that it looks fabulous with my yellow walls, but still gives me the option of repainting in a few years if I get tired of my sunshiney kitchen. I'm hoping that won't happen anytime soon, because painting it was a pain!

All That Jazz is really "all that"!

No, the sink isn't functional yet, but I'm anticipating that I'll be able to wash dishes very soon!

Overall, I had an excellent day. We are so close to being done that I can hardly bear the anticipation...and I can't wait to throw a huge party at the end!

Getting Ready to Move!

Lots of accomplishments at my new house, mostly thanks to my mom and Jim, who have been so busy there doing molding, and walls, and tons of other stuff. I'm a little sad to leave my old house on Seward Ave, because I really love it here. But I think the new house will be better for my puppies, and it's closer to work, and there will be lots of projects to keep me busy for quite some time! I haven't had much opportunity to document the changes, but here are a few of my favorite things that we've done:

This light was originally intended for my old house's dining room. But I loved it so much that I decided to put it in the dinette at the new house!

My bedroom is officially done, and my favorite picture (of old buildings in Geneva) is already on the wall. Notice the gorgeous baseboards that Jim cut and Mom stained. They are not traditional molding. We bought 1x4 pine boards, routed one edge, and then stained them. I think they look great, and match the floor perfectly. It was such a good idea, and much less expensive than fancier molding!

Still working on the living room wall. It desperately needs to be painted, but I still haven't found a new (non-watermelon) red, nor has the mudding been finished. Soon, I hope!

Just a "before" picture of the garden in front of the house. All weeds and raspberry bushes and spiders. It's taking me quite a while to get it cleaned up.

In other new-house news, I did finish my little garden at the entrance, but can't find a picture. I planted Stella d'Oro lilies, some daisies, and a nice tomato plant. I have decided to try combining veggies and flowers...and I didn't have the time or energy to dig a real vegetable garden this year! I can't wait till I can eat a nice BLT in my new kitchen. My full bathroom is completely finished, and looks great. The master bath still has some work, but it's all stuff I should be able to handle with no problem. The countertop people are coming to measure for the SECOND time (that is another story) in June, and it will be installed July 2. At that point, it will be almost like a real house!

Paint Preview

My charming brother has been making fun of me lately, because the new house is being decorated with primary colors. Of course, considering my brother thinks that shag carpeting is the coolest floor covering ever, I listen to his opinions and then continue to do as I please. Here is the result so far:

Did I burn your retinas?

The laundry room is now a springy green color, compliments of the Walmart "Oops" paint shelf. (Seriously, $6 for a gallon of paint. Even if it doesn't work out, you're only out $6 instead of $40.) The kitchen/dining area is bright yellow so far, but that white wall on the left is going to be a rosy red accent wall by tomorrow evening. And the hallway and foyer are bright blue. So far the master bedroom is pale green, and the larger guest bedroom is purple. The third upstairs bedroom is going to be a random tan color that I found, since I figured it would go well with my retro blue and red furniture set. And my living room is going to have that red accent wrap around the other side of the wall, and then dark blue everywhere else. Probably not to everyone's taste, but I like some color to pep me up! I mean, the countertop I picked for the kitchen was actually named "All That Jazz." No, there is no glitter in it...

Updates

I feel like I haven't been very good about keeping updated on our progress at the new house, so here goes!

FLOORING
The flooring for upstairs (laminate in living room, kitchen, bedrooms and hall, and vinyl in bathroom and laundry room) will be installed on Monday. As in four days from now. Prior to installation, the kitchen cupboards have to be installed, since laminate has to 'float' so cupboards can't be installed on top of it. The cupboards are still in their boxes in my garage. And I have to work 11-9 on Friday, and 9-6 on Saturday and Sunday. So my mother and brother are going to have a very exciting weekend installing my kitchen for me! Fortunately, they only have to set the lower cupboards into place, so the flooring people can work around them. So I think it will go well! At least I hope so, because once the flooring is in, I can move in, and sell my old house...so I'm really hoping it gets done soon!

PAINTING
I have seriously been painting my butt off...I've lost about 20 pounds, but I've also been running as practice for the Bolder Boulder, so it could be due to that and not the painting. But either way, I've gone through about 10 gallons of paint so far, and still haven't finished the upstairs! I have two of the three upstairs bedrooms done, as well as the hallway and the entryway, and all the ceilings. And let me tell you, I will NEVER paint another entryway as long as I have money to pay someone else to do it. The kitchen and living room are 'half' done, as in I've done around the ceilings and the trim, but have to paint the walls still. And the laundry room, bathroom, and third bedroom are still waiting to really be started. So far, I have used light and dark blue, light green, purple, and yellow. Still have green and taupe to go. I really do love to paint...I can't wait to start finishing off the basement, so I can get some new colors. I found some really pretty orangey colors at Lowe's today!

MOVING
The moving part of all this business is not going well at all. I have decided that I really need to simplify my life. I own over three closets full of clothing, some of which I can't remember buying. I packed away 5 huge crates of knick knacks, and my house is still fully decorated. So my new plan is to pack up all my crap, shove it into my new basement, and then sort. I'm talking some serious sorting! And then I am going to have a ginormous garage sale next summer. You're all invited!

Demo Doggies

No, the girls were not present for the actual demolition of Ugly Kitchen Wall, or construction of the new wall, but they did come to visit shortly after:

Casey (aka K.C. Masterpiece, ChubChub, or Squirrel)

Izzy and Emma (aka The Perps, Eejits, or Black and Brown)

I love my puppies!!!

Moving the Great Wall...of Sarah's Kitchen

After weighing the pros and cons of moving my kitchen wall (pro: bigger kitchen, con: moving a wall), I decided to go ahead with demolition so the wall could be moved 22 inches into the living room. It really wasn't a horrible process, although who really knows what we inhaled during the destruction!

Ugly kitchen wall that offers no structural support, thus proving my theory that it was a totally random location to put up a divider.

Luke, the official Kitchen Wall Demolition team leader.

Luke really got into the destruction...I think he may have some unresolved anger issues!

Finally, the skeleton of my new wall!

Thanks to Mom and Luke, who helped tear it down. And George and Greg, who put up the framework for my new wall in just a few hours! Now, if I can just figure out the electric, and throw up some drywall, I can start painting!

Smudging on Rocky Road

After visiting my new little trashed-and-then-abandoned house, Aunt Paula determined that there could very well be evil spirits of some sort lurking there, especially in the high corners of the rooms. Once she got home to Colorado, she engaged the services of a reputable shaman, and got a bit of Mountain Sage smudge that is supposed to drive the evil spirits out.

I don't know much about mountain sage, but this looks suspiciously like SOMETHING ELSE to me...

Well, now I know a little bit more about Mountain Sage, aka Desert Mugwort...it's going to get the negative energy out...and there is A LOT of negative energy in this house!

I would like to note that this not only looks like but also also smells suspiciously like SOMETHING ELSE, as well...and it gave me an asthma attack.

Wheezing and sneezing, I bravely soldiered on, and got into every corner of every room in the entire house!

I decided to drive out the negative spirits of the ghetto front door twice, just for good measure!

Overall, I would say the purging of the negative energy from my house went rather well. I didn't die from wheezing, and the house didn't burn down during the procedure. I would like to note, however, that two self-proclaimed experts (my mother and my cousin Amanda) both felt that Mountain Sage and Desert Mugwort could both possibly be more politically correct names for SOMETHING ELSE. Very suspicious! But once the smell of SOMETHING ELSE cleared out of the house, it did seem a bit fresher. Not sure if it was the negative energy being dispelled from my new home, or the gross carpet being removed and icky paint being covered...or just the fact that we were all being affected by SOMETHING ELSE. Regardless, things are shaping up on Rocky Road!

**UPDATE** Upon asking Aunt Paula about the Mountain Sage smelling suspiciously like SOMETHING ELSE, she just laughed. Very suspicious, indeed!

Sarah Bought a House!!!

Okay, let me clarify that...I bought another house...down the road from my parents...sight unseen...at a foreclosure auction. So naturally, now that I own 10% of it, my mother and I felt the need to snoop around a little bit. Because who doesn't want to see if they made a huge mistake? Or start making plans for all the remodeling they are going to get to do? Certainly not me! And of course, my camera came with me, to document the experience that may or may not have been legal.

And our journey begins!

We decided to take the long way, walking all the way down to camp, and then hiking back up the gully path, which gave me ample opportunity for my daily picture taking resolution:

One the way down to camp, we saw wild asters, which happen to be my birthday flower!


Scary caterpillar...this guy was freakin' HUGE and trucking across the driveway like nothing I've ever seen...


Camp!!! (So sad that summer is over.)

Queen Anne's Lace

The secret road between camp and my new house...

My new house, from the top of Secret Camp Road...

Very deep gully that I apparently own as well...

The back of my new house!!!

Someone's abandoned hot tub...any ideas on how I am supposed to dispose of this?

An unlocked door, begging us to go inside...

My future movie/billards/mini bar entertainment compound...

Random toilet within what I can only imagine was a 90% unfinished bathroom...

Tiny Basement Bedroom #1

Tiny Basement Bedroom #2...

Sarah's Future Scrapbooking/Crafting Nook

View from foyer...

View of dining area from stairs...

View of Owasco Lake from dining area...

Very dirty living room...could this house be Sarah's Folly???

Tiny Upstairs Bedroom #3...

Incredibly Bright (even by Sarah Standards) Bedroom #4...

Barbie Bedroom #5

Barbie Bathroom off Barbie Bedroom...now I know this is not Sarah's Folly...I have finally found where I belong!

Rather messy, but ultimately kick-ass, ginormous garage so that Sarah's Sea-Doo doesn't have to sit outside all winter anymore!

SARAH'S GREAT PURCHASE, from the front...

My beautiful lake view!

My new neighbors' gazebo...some day I will have one too!

So I know, it looks a little ghetto, especially compared to my current house. But it's a great project for me, since I get to pick out all new flooring (I'm thinking Pergo), paint the walls, and install a completely new kitchen. Oh, and let's not forget the entertainment room in the basement! And it's on two acres in the country, so Izzy, Emma, and Casey will have plenty of room to play with their future yellow lab brother! And once it's done, I can sell it, and buy my condo in Ithaca! As Tracy would say, "Whoot!!!!"

Autumn Decor Is Up!!!!

The Mothership decided to come to town today because Walgreens was apparently having a killer sale, and she had a 50% coupon for ACMoore, so she decided while she was here to help me out putting up the rest of my fall decorations. I have to say, my house is absolutely gorgeous! Of course, I had to take pictures. (I really like to document my various achievements!)

I think, considering my awesome fall decorations, I am totally going to have a beautiful house come Christmas. That is, if I can convince poor Luke to get up on my roof to attach my new icicle lights. We'll see! (And post photos, too!)

Fence and Driveway in Progress!!!

To add to my excitement over my new fence, the people who are paving my driveway decided to come this week too! I woke up this morning at 7am to see the fencers already in my backyard dumping cement down the post holes so all the pipes stood straight and tall. Really, it's a beautiful sight, all those posts so straight, waiting for fencing so my puppies can run free! I'd tear up, but I'm suffering from some severe dry eye secondary to my Zyrtec and Claritin combo today! Anyhow, the fence people left and a mere half hour later there was a backhoe, a bitty steamroller, and a huge dump truck in my driveway excavating! How awesome is that? I'd put up some pictures of my yard-in-progress, but I'm kind of tired and have dishes to do. So more in a few days, when I'm hoping the projects will be complete. I can't wait to start all my landscaping!

Our Fence is Coming!

I am so excited! I've been waiting all summer for my new fence to be put up in the backyard so Izzy and Emma can run free, and I can finally have a (sort of) secret garden type thing! Yesterday the fence company finally called and said they would be arriving Tuesday morning. Serendipitously, my partner at work had asked if I would work Thursday and take Tuesday off instead, so I was able to have them come today!

No, the pool is not part of my yard, so don't even ask.

Now I know my yard looked pretty beforehand, and it's going to look a little ghetto afterward, but I'm confident that with some landscaping I can charm it right up. I'm already planning to put up an arched trellis over the gate and plant some clematis, and my lilacs are coming in September! It'll be a sweet little oasis in the city. (Feel free to gag now!)

Who knew dirt came out shaped like a rectangle?

As you can see, my backyard is apparently filled with bricks instead of dirt. Strange, since there wasn't ever a garage on the property. Maybe someone had a secret lair in my backyard at one time. How cool would that be?

Soon to be my new 4-ft gate, complete with arched arbor!

Anyhow, the day ended with a bit of work left to be done. Which is why I was a little dismayed that the company that is putting in my new driveway decided they wanted to come tomorrow as well. I'm not seeing that happening, and I'm kind of sad. I really want to get started on some of the landscaping.