Tonnage

We bought these fancy bed-lifters from Bed Bath and Beyond. They're cool. They let you store all kinds of crazy things under your bed. Plus it makes your bed really tall, so that you have to climb up rather than flop down. But, jumping, oh no. Don't jump onto your bed. Or if you plan on jumping up onto the bed make sure you have some extra lifters around the house. Otherwise when one of them shatters into tiny pieces you'll have to go to the store and get more. On a Sunday. During the game. Otherwise the bed's going to be so lopsided that even the cat won't sleep on it.

A Civilized Houshold

It's back- and now in three rooms with two DVRs! Television!
We finally got tv service - DISH network - installed on Saturday. Once the satellite guys left, we spent about an hour watching tv in different parts of the house. The 1st thing I watched: Raising Arizona. Classic. Other omens were mixed - I got to watch the Hokies lose, but the Redskins win.

We most likely would have held out on the tv service until after the holidays, however we are hosting Christmas at our place this year. My mom, currently overseas, prefers watching Pittsburgh games in the afternoon, instead of at 3am. Also, my sister needs tv to fall asleep. While her exhausting job has lessened this dependency she prefers to unwind in front of the tv before bed.

The Inverse Law of Installation

A conversation I had today at the Giant:
Me: 'I always get motivated during the holidays, right when I am at my busiest."
Berry: 'That's when you can get your best ideas. You just gotta act, you know?"

True.

Especially with the house. We have undertaken many projects, both large and small these last weeks. It is from that experience that I propose the 'Inverse Law of Installation'. If, for example, you buy a modestly priced item, say a shelf from IKEA, it will take you almost 3 hours to install the item. However, if you buy two fancy curtain rods at Crate & Barrel, totaling $100, you will have them installed in less than 60 minutes.

Aside from curtain rods and shelves, the other tasks that have kept me from posting were:
Organizing the shed
Hanging up pictures
Shifting through and unpacking 6 boxes of junk
Clearing out and arranging the basement furniture

The List

A list of what we've personally repaired/replaced at our new home:

1) new coat of paint in the bathroom, both bedrooms, living and dining rooms
2) cleaned (bleached) all 11 blinds in the windows
3) replaced washer/dryer
4) replaced front and back door locks
5) cleaned out gutters *
6) replaced cold water facet *
7) replaced garbage disposal
8)....

* denotes item was repaired/replaced by a service provider, i.e. not us.

Come a'haunting

Well so much for the below post where I claimed that I'd keep separate blogs.

Halloween in the new house was a smash. Lots of little ones came a'haunting. We went through 5 bags of candy, although someone left an almond joy on our trash can. We didn't decorate, but we did put out jack-o-lanterns. We took pictures but since we are now down to my Nikon 8008 (non-digital camera) I can't share until we finish the roll and get it developed. Developing film instead of uploading - now that's scary!

Happy Halloween.

I pay the Homer tax

A new blog - the alter ego to my other one. I think it will be fun to have a separate blog about our experiences as homeowners. With this blog I hope to accomplish the following things:
1) create a record of all the work we've put into the house
2) allow our friends - whether far or near flung - to keep up with our 'goings ons'
3) encourage others to consider homeownership and/or the d.i.y. approach to home repair/improvement

Even if no. 3 isn't immediately relevant to most my readership, one day it will be.