Seating for 10!

Today we drove all over Eastern NH picking up specialty items: mainly lead abatement supplies and dining room chairs (Craigslist, of course!). Despite spending most of the afternoon and evening in the car, the girls and I had fun. 

We happened upon a Claire's and Yankee Candle Co. next to Starbucks, and as a reward for being so patient during the work parts of our trip, I took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese's for a late dinner on the way home. We closed it down!

After unloading all the goodies, I am so thankful to be sitting down in a comfortable restaurant-sturdy Windsor chair after a fun day with my sweet girls, happy that they had so much fun as well. 

Less exciting, but still satisfying, is noting that even with the cost  of gas, coffee, snacks, and the big cheesy mouse, the chairs cost $15 each.

Archer's New Skills

We are both learning a ton about home improvement (hurray for YouTube!) but I have to brag on my hubby's shining moments, since you'll never see this stuff just by walking through the house or superficial photos.

First off, he took a certification class on lead-safe renovations, and is now purchasing the necessary equipment to save us from paying $50k to a lead abatement contractor... (who can afford that?!!) and protecting our munchkins from deteriorated paint. I can't wait to show photos of him in his white coveralls.

In the meantime, however, he's fixed several minor plumbing issues, the most significant being the transformation of this leaking bathroom faucet: 

With this elegant, dry replacement:

Externally, all you notice is how pretty the new faucet it, and that there is no odor from standing water/mildew (he removed the damaged wood as well).

Kitchen Before & Afters

I've had a lot of requests for all the "Before & After" photos, so here I will begin with the first major DIY project: removing the kitchen carpet and painting the plywood floors. Which led to the decision to paint the ceilings and walls first, which led to the decision to add a bead-board backsplash.

Fun Things We Learned:
* Nail through formica backsplash rather than tear it up. It's sharp.
* Cheapo blue painters tape sticks to the paint and pulls it off. Get the good stuff.
* Caulking is fun and fast!
* Freshly painted floors are way more inconvenient than walls.

Before:

Project Steps:

1. Remove carpet, nails, staples, padding & tack-strip.

2. Unpregnant adult saturates stained plywood with mildew/mold inhibitor.

3. Unpregnant adult fixes warped plywood that bubbled when saturated.

4. Remove appliances to the dining room. Eat out.

5. Fix mouse holes, especially cleaning out the best under the dishwasher. 

5a. Install panelling over old backsplash.

6. Clean trim, walls, and ceiling, tape up edges.

7. Prime trim. Dry. Repeat. Paint trim. Dry. Repeat. (Learn lessons about painting with small children.)

8. Prime & Paint ceiling. Dry.

9. Paint walls. Dry. Repeat.

10. Clean floors, tape edges. 

11. Paint your way out of the kitchen floors. Don't forget to block all entrances for dogs and people. Try another local restaurant.

12. Rejoice in the fact that you cannot get to the laundry in the basement because the floor is wet and the exterior basement door is locked from the inside.

12a. Second coat of floor paint.

13. Reinstall appliances.

14. Level drain board with 1x2 shim.

14. Replace all outlets and switches.

15. Hunt for vintage knobs on internet. Find one for trash/milk chute.

16. Reinstall antique knobs & hinges.

17. Caulk backsplash.

18. Reinstall cool old can & bottle openers.

19. Repair (glue back together) butcher block cutting board, then sand it down and finish it with mineral oil.

206. Install battery powered LED under mount task lighting under cabinets. (Found at my favorite store: Costco!)

207. Find cool vintage curtains on eBay, tension rod from Walmart & install.

208. Finally unpack china and pretty serving ware, reorganizing the entire kitchen in the process.

220. Wait a week until the kitchen is cleaned up to take photos.

So cheery! Is anyone else having Sunnyside flashbacks? 

Rainy Day Family Time

Playing our newest game from the Melvin Church Fair: Guess Who?

Small Town Residency

So barely within the 60 day time limit, we have established our residency in the Granite State. This week we tackled the DMV and Town Hall. Honestly it was only the DMV that required any effort, the town hall is a block away and took all of 10 minutes for me to go down and register to vote and get a dog license for Padme. It took Arch another 10 minutes to get the car and himself registered. The girls thought the town hall staircase looks like it belongs in a castle - just a beautiful old wooden stair.

When we got the car inspected we had fun chatting with the owner (I think) of the service/gas station (the only one in town?), who of course knows Gram, and was very interested in our political leanings, especially since his father was in the state legislature with her back in the day. HILARIOUS.

The Milford DMV, not so hilarious. A room about the size of a large bedroom, 8 total chairs (mostly filled will elderly folks who couldn't stand in line), line out the door (only open 2 days a week): Big Mama and three tots standing in line holding their backpacks full of books and colors, because they were prepared to sit down and wait. Anyway we made it. Poor Arch had to make two trips, however, because the first time he stood in line he discovered that his copy of our homeowners' insurance does not quality as "proof of residency". He needed a utilities bill!!?! We don't have any paper copies of utilities (thank you, internet banking), so he came back to Brookline Town Hall, and the clerk made him a notarized "proof of residency" paper as he registered the car and his vote. Back to Milford, DMV satiated, and we are all (including the dog and car), legal residents. Live Free or Die.

Mama hearts Craigslist (and sweet smelling laundry)

Arch drove to Londonderry yesterday to pick up this brand new washer/dryer set for me- for half the cost of new. 

Happiness in the basement.

2 years old, but in someone's second home = still has stickers on it!

If you know how much I love doing laundry (not at all), you will appreciate how much more enjoyable (joyful?!) this makes the neverending cycle... soon to increase with baby burp rags and diapers!! Whoot!

Newest Residents of the Big House Basement

I've heard lots of requests for finished kitchen pictures, but I have a few details to finish before taking real "after" pictures. 

In the meantime, we are trying to handle a lot of little things around the house, and taking a few days off here and there to jump in the Lake.

Tonight as he was setting up the dehumidifier in our riverbank/basement, Archer discovered a couple of new critters:

After getting these good shots, Arch proceeded to remove the two frogs (toads?) from the basement, as well as this guy:

Here are some action shots:

Happy Herping!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herping