And so begins the home improvement fun!

As I mentioned, we bought a house!  We love love love it.  It's perfect for our growing family & a place we can call home for a long time.

So with a house, especially one built in 1983, there are plenty of updates we plan to work on (over time).  We are very lucky in the sense that all three previous owners didn't do too many anxiety-inducing updates.  We'd both rather a house that's fairly untouched, something well-built that we can update, as opposed to a house with a bunch of hack updates poorly done.  I think it's PTSD from our house in Sheridan & the shoddy "updates" all the previous owners attempted.  So while a lot of things are outdated in the house, at least the house was well taken care of previously.  (We are very blessed with the fact the most recent owners already updated the kitchen & we love love love it.  No need to update a kitchen - they are expensive).

Master Bedroom
We couldn't escape wallpaper.  It's a given - someone at some point is going to think it's a good idea to have wallpaper.  False.  Wallpaper should be banned.  We are incredibly luck with this house...only two walls in the entire house had wallpaper!

 Even pregnant women can pull wallpaper.  Brewer thought he was helping but he was really just supervising.

 Ta-da!  Wallpaper gone, new paint!  We also installed new carpet in the master bedroom & the other bedroom on the second floor (nursery).  And by we, I mean we bought carpet from Home Depot & they installed it (they were running a special for free installation with a minimum purchase).  The wallpaper pictures have the old carpet.
The right side of the picture shows a strip of green/brown paint - that's where our master bath starts (& that's a whole other mess of a project that's down the road).

 The blue came from the "mistake" section...$9 for a gallon of Behr primer + paint?  You betcha!  That stuff normally costs ~$30/gallon.

Eventually we'd like to have "big kid furniture" (notice our dressers are those plastic drawers you can find at any big box store) but one day (& expense) at a time.  We also want to eventually have sage-color bedding, we think that will really tie the room together.

Nursery
The nursery also received a few coats of new paint (thanks for your help, mom!).  A Lipetzky baby wouldn't be complete without a Red Sox blanket.  And that's not a giant green monster trying to eat the chair - that's the lovely maternity/nursing pillow that has an odd resemblance to the Loch Ness.

We surprised ourselves when we picked the bright purple.  But you only have a baby girl how many times?  It's good to have some fun.  Girl also has a walk-in closet - spoiled!  :)  You can see the old carpet still in the closet.  Both master bedroom & nursery have carpets in the closets & we'd like to eventually switch that out for a low-maintenance flooring, so to save money on the carpet install, we left the closets alone.

 Eventually I'll tackle the floor trim in the room (you can see I stripped the first coat of paint & underneath is even worse - a horrifically bright red).  I can't explain it but I have serious issues with mismatched trim.  It borders on obsession.  So some day, in all of my spare time, I will either strip it back down to natural wood or buy/install new trim (matching the rest of the trim in the house).

2nd Floor Bathroom
In addition to the master bath, we have a 3/4 bath on the 2nd floor (next to the nursery).  We noticed a small water leak from the toilet (causing the floor to bubble) & although we weren't planning on tearing into this bathroom so soon, it just became more clear to us it would be silly to replace the toilet if we planned to eventually re-do this bathroom.

I failed on the "before" pictures but you get the idea of what we had in the bathroom...  The toilet was an old-school, short & wide tan toilet while the shower has lovely brown/mauve tiles & gold fittings.  The vanity sink was a recent update, so we'll be able to reuse that piece.

 Steve was tired by the end of the day - he broke out a lot of concrete from that shower pan.  We plan to keep it a 3/4 bathroom with a corner shower but we'll put down an acrylic shower base with tile walls.  And frameless shower doors, which cut way down on water being trapped in little nooks.

And with those projects complete, we've taken a day or two to breathe & NOT do any home improvement.  Luckily we enjoy doing our own home improvements - it's incredibly satisfying to see a project start-to-finish (except for plumbing & electrical - we leave that for the professionals).  Next up - finishing this bathroom...

Due date...come & gone...

We sit and wait for Baby Lipetzky to make her arrival.  Well, not really sit & wait.  Since we just purchased & moved into a house (more on that to come later!), we're keeping ourselves very, very busy.  Although it's tough keeping anxiety at bay, the home improvement projects fill our days (& nights) with plenty of tasks.

We slacked off on taking pictures recently, although we blame that entirely on the move.  With that being said, we managed, between an afternoon of showers, to capture a few pictures at our new place.

If you look closely over my shoulder, we captured a rainbow.  :)

 Guinness decided to join me for this picture, which he promptly left as his brother, Brewer, was investigating something & Guinness just couldn't wait to check it out.

 In front of the new house!  Don't mind the garbages; we're keeping those readily available while we work our way through home improvement projects.

Due Date: September 27, 2014 (womp womp, we're now past due)
Gender: Girl
Weight Gain: ~30 lbs.
Food Cravings/Aversions:  Hilarious question.  By full-term, the strong food aversions & cravings are almost disappeared.  I do find myself craving more vegetarian & less meat; I'm not sure where it stems from but if I lived alone & only cooked for myself, I probably would not be eating meat about 90% of the time.  Except for chicken nuggets - sorry folks, nothing will stop my love for chicken nuggets.  Throughout this entire pregnancy, certain meals simply don't sound good - hamburgers, steak, etc.  However, since hubby & I share cooking duties (& the poor guy would be reduced to skin & bones), we continue to eat meat as we did pre-pregnancy.  I'll eat meat if it's served but I won't be the one ordering a 1/2 pound burger when we go out to eat.
Symptoms:  Oh Lord, the hormones have hit & they've hit hard.  I will chalk some of it up to the stress of the move but I didn't understand the emotional roller coaster a lot of women complain about until this last trimester.  Whether it's choosing a couch or how to organize a closet in the new place, I can be reduced to a puddle of tears in approximately 10 seconds flat.  I can't help it & immediately after the episode passes, I can't figure out what the hell is my problem.  It's as if a crazy woman possesses my body & mind.  My dear, dear husband wins "Most Amazingly Patient" & "Best Husband" for a lifetime (X 100).
Physically, the last trimester has also been the most difficult.  My hips/back ache like an elderly rheumatic, heartburn is a common middle-of-the-night wake-up call, my bladder holds approximately 1 oz of liquid (also inducing regular nighttime interruptions), & I can't bend at the waist (making it fun when I drop something on the floor).
Otherwise, life is a peach!  :)
Ring:  Still fits...barely...  I wear it to work, otherwise it comes off.  Anytime we're doing any sort of chore, the ring stays off.  It takes very little time for my fingers to swell a bit & then I can forget taking my ring off.
Running/Workouts: Still rocking it with the workouts!  I'm taking walks around our neighborhood & have set up a workout room in our basement to lift weights.  I actually prefer weight-lifting at this point; even walking leaves me in need of a bathroom & sore lower abs.  I have also enjoyed days off because the closer we get to due date, the more tired I am & the harder my body is working (yes, cooking dinner leaves me tired).  This past weekend, we found a good deal on Craigslist for a decent treadmill, so we pulled the trigger & brought her home.  With the pending change in schedule (& weather), we know a 'mill will help us maintain our sanity.  Between hubby & myself, we will most definitely get our money's worth out of the new toy.

Hoop houses

We decided to experiment with a new method of growing a few warm-weather crops before the "proper" time - we hate waiting until after Memorial Day to plant, especially living in an area with a limited growing season.  After a trip to the nursery, we stopped by Home Depot to pick up supplies for three small-scale hoop houses.

A few feet of PVC pipe, zip ties, & barrier plastic (we chose one commonly used as a drop cloth that will last one season but it's possible to find more sturdy plastic).

 The bottoms easily detach from the sides, allowing us to break them down for winter storage.

I look angry because
1) My beer is empty
2) It appears I have a mustache

I look happier because
1) Steve is bringing me a refill
2) My mustache was just a shadow

Our new 'mater & pepper plants have taken swimmingly well to the hoop houses.  By day they soak up fresh air & sunlight, by night they turn into a warm greenhouse with the heat of the day trapped in the hoop house.  We cover the plants if it appears temps will dip below 40, otherwise they stay uncovered.  We'll report back at the end of summer if the new experiment worked...

Roofing

If your marriage can survive a roofing project, it can survive anything.

Then again, we haven't had kids yet, so you may have to ask me about that in another ten years.

Our roof was far past due time for replacement & before winter hit, we decided to buckle down & get it done.  We didn't bother getting estimates from contractors because we knew the price would be far outside our budget - we estimated $7,000 - $10,000.  Steve had some knowledge of roofing & we decided with the help of some friends, we'd be able to knock it out ourselves.  By doing so, after rentals (including dumpster) & materials, it cost approximately $3,000.  That, my friends, is far more friendly on the wallet.

When all was said & done, roofing turned out to be a fairly standard home improvement project.  It doesn't require a technical skill, such as electrical, plumbing, etc.  Paired down to the simplest of tasks, it's a matter of stripping the old roof off, laying paper (essentially a vapor barrier), & nailing down the new shingles.  Of course there's always variables that can throw it off - the pitch, size, complexity of eaves/dormers, quality of underlying materials - but for the most part, roofing is straightforward.

I failed to take any pics of the garage being stripped, but on Day 1, Steve stripped the garage.  Day 2, paper was laid & the boom truck delivered shingles.  The plan was to have both the house & garage stripped & papered so the boom truck could deliver shingles directly onto both roofs, but the house was much more difficult than the garage, so shingles were only delivered onto the garage roof (the rest delivered in the yard for the boys to haul up the scaffolding later).

 Steve & our friend Tara waiting for the boom truck.

 Boom truck.  This thing has some reach.

Apparently our house had two layers of shingles & made for very difficult stripping.  Not to mention the underlying wood was NOT plywood, but instead old strip wood from what we guessed was an old barn (it still had faded painted advertisements on it, like you'd see on the side of a barn).  I hate when people take shortcuts when they build/improve a home.  Some day that underlying wood will have to be replaced.  Today was not that day.

The shingles are beginning to pile very, very high.  I made the mistake of putting myself in charge of shingle clean-up because I refused to get on the roof (not unless there was a harness & a helmet involved).  Using our decrepit wheelbarrow (pictured above), I made a LOT of trips to the dumpster parked in our driveway.  I was also in charge of food prep, making sure to have several hearty meals ready for the guys.  They were helping us out of the kindness of their hearts - and maybe an ulterior motive with plans to ask us for help in their home improvement projects in the future - so without payment, the least we could do is feed them.

 Scrap metal from the roof (stuff that gets laid on the edges & the crevices of the roof).

 The only rule for the dumpster was no metal.  Otherwise, not only did we dump old shingles, we also took the opportunity to clean out our garage.  The table below was one such item that had to get tossed.

Look at that fabulous new roof!

Apparently I didn't take any pictures of the completed house roof.  Probably because I wanted nothing more to do with roofing.  Time spent roofing: Friday afternoon, all day Saturday, all day Sunday, after work through the next week (sans one day due to poor weather), the following Saturday, & half-day Sunday.  I guesstimate a total of 53 hours went into the roofing.  Not easy, but most certainly rewarding upon completion.

One requirement of the next house we buy: not in need of a new roof.

New bathroom window!

As you may recall, our bathroom window took a dive (literally) & we were left with a gaping bathroom window covered by a shower curtain.  Steve recently took an afternoon & installed our fancy-pants new window.

 Ooooooh, new window.  And it's frosted glass, so our neighbors don't call the cops when we're showering because they think we're nudists.

 Foam insulation

THE BLOB!

We have plans to use a curved threshold-style tile to "cap" the window frame & provide transition between the shower tile & the window, but the most important thing was getting in the window.  Thanks honey!

Is that sea foam green paint on the ceiling?

Since Steve bought the house in May 2007, he's been slowly updating it.  The previous owner, or owners, had trouble taking care of home improvement projects with proper technique.  A lack of caring was probably the biggest problem.  For example, when they decided to paint one of the bedroom's a gag-inducing sea foam green, they painted over an even more obnoxious pink.  But they didn't put enough coats, so it was sea foam green with salmon pink showing through.  Not to mention they dripped sea foam green on light switches, trim, and even better, the wood floor.  And didn't bother to wipe it up.  The BEST part of the whole operation was they loved the color so much, they painted the ceiling too!

WAY TO GO JERKS.

We finally had enough of sea foam green mixed with salmon pink.

At this point, we'd already painted the walls a warm cream color...but watch as the sea foam green is forever gone...

Another project has been replacing windows.  We're not replacing the entire window - frame and all - but are using a nifty product from Jeld Wen called the Zap Pack.  It utilizes the existing window frame (which thankfully we can do), but provides new sash & tracks...for WAY cheaper (approx $250 per window as opposed to almost $500 per window for the entire window replacement).  We had three windows left...two in the guest bedroom & one in the bathroom.  Unfortunately, the hurry to replace them became more apparent when one pane in our bathroom window fell out.  And the window is in the shower.  Awkward.  We've taped an old shower curtain over the gaping hole.  Sadly, the shower curtain keeps the bathroom warmer than the previous window.

Thanks, hon, for installing the two guest bedroom windows this weekend!  They look so much nicer.

Please excuse the bullet-proof running bra & piles of clothes on the bed.  The closets in the house are minuscule, so I took over the closet in the guest bedroom.  Although I have a tendency to use the entire room as my closet.