100th post hooplah!!!

In honor of my 100th post I thought I would begin a series of posts it with a bunch of big things going on in our lives. I will be writing these over a couple of weeks to show some progress at our house and events that will be taking place.


**Sunday, June 6th, 2010.
On July 22nd it will be our 2 year anniversary in our house! We have done lots of painting, decorating, re-arranging, making over the laundry room... But nothing major. Our #1 thing to fix around the house is the backyard. It is a HUGE dirt lot that has been time-consuming and is just looming over our heads as a mega-task that we didn't want to deal with. I (and Matt) tackled the spider-housed bushes 2 years ago, roots and all. We planted a lovely garden, last year, with wildflowers that will bloom every year. This year, SOD!!! Tony has been working non-stop the last few days with the dirt and the tilling and the heat. He is so amazing. Here I am just sitting in different cities doing nothing (well, shopping and eating) and he is being wonderfully productive! My turn begins Monday-Wednesday.

**Monday, June 7th - Wednesday, June 9th, 2010.
By the time the sun came up Monday morning I was finally able to see all the hard work that Tony put into the yard... Partially tilled yard, a new garden with mulch and border, cleaned out side yard to discover yet another pathway.

So this week the job was tilling the entire yard, planting trees, planting a couple of other plants, and finishing off the new little gardens. We tilled our butts off. It is such hard work. The damn machine wants to go to the soft tilled earth instead of the hard pressed dirt, so it's constantly falling to the side. We planted our very first tree in the backyard, a smoke tree. They have a different look every season and it "produces pinkish, airy flower clusters in early summer that appear like puffs of smoke." I can't wait to see it in full smokey bloom next year! We also had to rake the yard to get it fairly smooth and level for the upcoming sod.

**Friday, June 11th - Monday, June 14th, 2010.
RAIN! We never get days and days of rain. It is so rare here in Denver. But it is also just a few days early since we hadn't put the sod down yet. Poop. It made the temperature quite nice though.

**Tuesday, June 15th, 2010.
SOD. SOD. SOD! The day has finally come! We drove to Brighton, CO to a sod farm (I don't know what they're really called) to get our sod. We decided on 2 pallets, knowing it wouldn't be quite enough for our enormous yard. Tony's dad brought his truck and 2 other friends with 2 more trucks. We bought 2 pallets, but actually ended up with over 2.5. It's always good to know people to give you a little extra. We also got it for a steal (under $300!!) With the 5 of us working we had all the sod laid in about 3 hours. I still can't believe that we actually have a wonderfully green backyard.

**Wednesday, June 16th, 2010.
So now that the sod is in and the backyard looks swell, we decided to put in a sprinkler system. Apparently backwards backyard is out motto. So right this second a dude is digging, laying, and doing all that is needed for a sprinkler system!! He has to dig all the way to the front yard to hook it up with that system and there were about 5 flower fatalities in the process :( But it will be worth it.


Now for some before and after pics of the yard...

Oh dear god! Just the most disgusting before picture.

And a glorious after!!

before. the back of the house. boring and gross.

after. the back of the house. lovely and not-quite-finished.

Stay tuned for the next big events to come...

our one year anniversary present...

I haven't been in the posting mood lately and it's been a very long time!

I wrote all the details of our burglary on a very long and very detailed post, and never posted it. I think I was venting or releasing our bad kharma into the universe. I thought anyone who read it would think "those poor kids" or "my god, I hope that never happens to me" or even "oh that happened to me." But I finally realized that it just seemed sad and depressing.

So I am not upset, anxious, depressed or stressed now, so here I go...

One year ago today we purchased our very first home! Our first year in our home was stressful, hard, and completely perfect and wonderful.

It's hard to believe what has happened to us in a year... New car, marriage, garage flood, burglary, grown-up-furniture, and our newest adventure is a DOG!! He is our house gift to ourselves!!!

Kafka is actually a guard dog for us but we are in love! He is a 5 year old German Shepard/Australian Shepard mix that we got at the Denver Dumb Friends League last week. He plays fetch, sits, drools, loves walk and car rides.

This is Tony and I loving our beautiful yard and happy anniversary at our house!!!

We spent the day with Matt, Carly, Elena and Shannon at the Rockies/Diamondbacks game getting sunburned and sweating. After naps, we rolled in the grass, ate pizza, and took Kafka for a walk.

Now time for bed in our very own house. Life is good again!

damn! i love my...

Tax return! Yes, I said it.

We have decided to make good use of the money we received from the government. The plan is to re-vamp the bathroom, buy a shed for the backyard and some new light fixtures.

Tony also decided to get a little something extra yesterday... A blu-ray player! Including the movies WALL-e and the Dark Knight. Oh sweet lordy, how wonderful! I refused to buy the dark knight until we could see it in hi-def on the big tv!

As for the bathroom, first off, the carpet has to go! So black or gray tile will be on the floors, the walls will be a nice seafoam green, and a new cabinet and sink to finish it off. I bought the paint 7 months ago, so its ready to get to work.

The shed for the backyard is needed desperatly. Our sad little one car garage is just too small with all my shit piled everywhere and the lawnmower and bikes and christmas boxes and a car! It will be wonderful.

Our light fixtures aren't quite our style, so they are going as well. They are fine and they work for lighting up rooms, but basically we are just snobs. We are in real need of a ceiling fan in the bedroom so we don't sweat our faces off in the summer. So that one makes sense to change.

Yeah for boring things to buy to make our house ours!!!

Nothing says romance like...

having a plumber at your house for 4 hours, just a mere 6 days after you get married!

Here's the whole story...

During the weekend of the wedding, with 6 people staying at the house, the plumbing backed up and basically stopped working. It was great. Tony went to Matt's house to shower and I went to my mom's hotel the day of the wedding! It was fantastic. The plumbing has been ok for the last few days. With all the people staying over, there are lots of sheets and blankets to wash. I took them to the laundromat yesterday, forgot detergent, so I brought my stuff back home. Like the total idiot that I am, I thought one load of laundry wouldn't hurt. Boy, I was sure wrong! I flooded the garage, as the laundry room is in the garage. I was hysterically crying and taking boxes of all my photo albums and negatives (and there are thousands of photos) in the backyard and unpacking them. None were ruined, by the way, LUCKILY!!! Tony raced home and we cleared out the garage. We have been needing to do it for quite sometime, and this was a really good excuse. We also decided to have an emergency garage sale with all the stuff we have been piling up for months now! I called a guy, who is a friend of a friend of the family, and said we could get a deal. He said he could come over at 7:30 the next morning.

So the plumber has been here since 7:40 and it is now 11:30!! I am wondering what kind of a deal we will get, or else what savings we will have to dip into to pay for this!!!

Isn't it the most romantic story?

I am typing this from the garage during the garage sale. I have made a whopping dollar, so far. Good old adorable neighborhood girl bought a purse from me!! I am going to sit out here all day and might even tomorrow. Although it's suppose to snow tomorrow for the first time this season, but whatever. We need this crap gone. I suppose Savers or Goodwill might get a really good truckload full of stuff.

It should be called "help-us-pay-for-our-plumbing sale!!!"

done, finally...

Wow. It only took me 2.5 months to get this stupid extra bedroom perfect and ready to be slept in, but its all over now! JEEZ! I have gone back and forth about the paint colors so many times. It could have practically been a rainbow, but don't worry, its not.

Because I couldn't sleep a couple of weeks ago (all from the stupid colors), I rummaged through all kinds of papers and found just what I was looking for... a paper torn from Domino magazine (an interior design mag, that I just love). It was a beautifully painted room with corals and light pinks. I have always loved it, but never thought Tony would let me paint something so lady like, but he consented (one of the many reasons why I love him) and I jumped on it.

The official colors are Indian Dance (coraly-salmon) and Pink Parfait (baby pink). It is beautiful! Two walls of each color and the doors in pink. I plan on keeping it very clean and tidy, when I am not crafting or wedding-ing, with funky shit on the walls. Good plan? I think so!

Again I will do the before and after, as it is a HUGE change!

before (yipes, so scary!)

yes there are 2 windows back there, if you can see them!

AFTER



Yes, I love the colors. It really makes me feel like an adult just by painting the walls! YEAH!!

yes my thumb is green and thanks for asking...

...But my fingernails are black. It only took me 5 hours and a great friend to get a ton of stuff done in the backyard today! Luckily the temperature was only a high of 70 degrees today, but the damn Denver sun is so blazingly close it felt like 90, then you stand in the shade and tis grand again.

before



AFTER



(I can't pull these tree roots, :( POO!)

There were three large bushes and their roots against the fence and today I pulled all 3!! Each took about an hour and Matt doubted I could pull it off (pun intended), but I showed him. Although each one was so difficult at the end that I needed his help. The last of the roots was the hardest to get out, but it could have been b/c we had been working in the sun for hours! The best part when we finally pulled it out of the dirt, it looks just like baby! Poor little baby roots torn away from its momma dirt! TOO BAD!

I also whacked all those 3 foot high weeds the other day, while tony mowed the front. It is really looking great around here, but, my GOD, there is so much yard junk to take care of! I think I will get it all planned out so I will know how much sod to buy. I want tons of gardens, too, which is all the better for not mowing!

We dug and dug and dug today until we could dig no more.

This is the baby root. Don't you see it? What a cry baby!


next up... ROTO-TILLER FUN!!!

update...

Now, I know you were all very very concerned about the loss of my dvd collection for the last 4 months, but worry no more...

They have been FOUND and safely returned to my dvd holder inside my house!!!

All is well and good in the new house, now that the movies are back.

What to watch first... Titanic, Casino Royale, Atonement?? Jeez, what a decision!

OMG!! It really did happen!!

On July 22nd, Tony and I closed on our very first house!! It was a long time coming for us to finally get our house, almost a full year passed with 5 offers on 4 houses, but it happened.



We stayed the night in our first house, directly after closing and a celebratory dinner at Mead Street. We brought our cat, our new air mattress, and an overnight bag to our house. It wasn't great...there is no a/c (and its been so hot lately), General Tokyo meowed all night, and we are retarded for forgetting pillows. Ok, so not the best night sleep of all, but it was really special!

Tony has worked all week, but we have gotten so much done with me at home unpacking and Tony helping with everything else when he gets off work. We officially moved the next day with the largest uhaul available, and it still wasn't enough for all of our crap. Luckily, Tony's dad, sister, and brother-in-law helped all day. Oh I guess I should say his nephews helped a bit too. They mainly complained that a sleeping bag or pillows were too heavy, but it was fun.

So far in the unpacking craziness, I have only found one box with broken objects, which is pretty good, I guess. I still haven't found our box of DVD's, and if you know me, there are a ton, and it will be very expensive and hard to get all our movies and TV shows back. I still have half of the garage full of boxes, so maybe I will stumble across them. Please keep your fingers crossed we will find them. I haven't watched my movies in 4 months now, and I am just dieing to watch Titanic!

I have painted the kitchen, and sure had fun with it. I haven't been able to paint a room the color I wanted in about 8 years, since I lived with my mom and painted my room purple for the heck of it, and I mean really bright, eggplant purple! The kitchen is called Rolling Hills, but it is a nice mixture of lime/avacado/aspagagus green! Tony is a minimilist, love neutrals and straight lines. I like bright, antique, and funky things. We are trying to blend our styles, but it is hard for both of us to do. He is deciding on the paint for the living room and bedrooms, with grays (stormy night), browns (coffee), and whites (arcitechural white), so I told him I got free range of the kitchen and bathroom and they were going to be bright and cheery. I do like the idea of the living and sleeping areas as soothing tones, but the kitchen and bathroom need to be crazy, in my opinion! The bathroom will be kind of sea foam/bright green. Oh I love green!!


Obviously we have tons of decorating to do and cleaning and unpacking to do.





Other photos on the previous blog post... OMG!!! Its actually going to happen

OMG!!! Its actually going to happen

Oh! Yes, this could be our new house!!!







We need to get it inspected this week and then we can move in after signing the paperwork. Tony and I have now been seaching for almost a full year with no sign of a house on our horizon. We put down 5+ offers and most were forclosures, with 10 offers to compete with for each house. We were also looking in an area thick with investors taking over houses for flipping not giving us first time homebuyers one bit of a chance. We finally moved our search to a lesser known neighborhood, named Sunnyside, which is supposedly the next up-and-coming neighborhood in Denver. A good investment for us for the future, if this is true.

How many times am I going to ask you to keep your fingers crossed?
Well, I am asking again...