Happy fall

Well, we're slowly starting to be settled into the house. We're slowly correcting the issue (due to moving in and having limited finished space) Justin described as a fear of walking from point A to point B in the dark. It was, in fact, pretty scary due to the clutter. We can successfully navigate the bedroom, and all of the clothing has a (temporary) home. I spent last Saturday putting together a dresser from Target and we have a stand-up clothing rack that serves its purpose to hang clothing - for the most part, except when it crashed down in the middle of Wednesday night.

So, there are minor setbacks to getting set up, but I can still see progress. I could even get my sewing machine out this week, so naturally I felt right at home.

We also have been enjoying the fall, including the nice two Indian Summer days. Wednesday evening I felt like quintessential Americans raking leaves (my neighborhood growing up didn't have big enough trees for substantial raking, so it was my first real autumn adventure).

And, believe it or not, this is something I actually saw in the leaf pile - no set up by me! (I did move it so I could photograph it without it getting swept into the bag, but I swear this is how it looked when I saw it on the pile).

Happy fall!



Oh, and good news, our furnace replacement is beginning next Wednesday. It's starting to get pretty chilly without it, so we're excited for that step! Additional construction projects and really moving in coming soon.

Our biggest improvement yet

Now, our house is a home because there is a family within its walls.

I'm excited almost to the point of tears that I get to spend my first night ever in OUR HOUSE. No more drives across town! I just put our new sheets on our new bed...and, conveniently, the quilt I made for Justin for Christmas in '08 matches the brown paint of our temporary bedroom (the den). It was an exciting moment for me that even in our chaos (seriously, you should see the stuff everywhere) I could feel somewhat coordinated!

So, believe it or not, the best we can find for an old 1880 house isn't found at Home Depot, but at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church. This house needed (and still needs) primarily love - and we've got plenty of that to share. Thanks to all of our amazing friends and family who shared with us on 10.9.10.

<3

Productive relaxation

Fun fact: it is possible to reach the end of a weekend and feel both well relaxed AND well accomplished. Typically, these two have been mutually exclusive for me (perhaps because most of the Ithaca accomplishments to date have included a manual labor component).

We enjoyed the weekend immensely (Justin particularly so because we finally timed it right to attend our favorite restaurant on all-you-can-eat crab leg night) and I've got 25 checkmarks on my wedding checklist (fewer than half of that number remain). In addition, the quarter rounds for the den are cut & painted, and the heat vents are looking MUCH better.



Ironically, this simple task (painting the vents) was one I was looking forward to for a long time. It's one of the things that embodies what I love about restoring this home - a little elbow grease can go a long way. In this case, it was mostly just finger grease that got these looking good. After scraping the crusty rust with a wire brush, I sprayed them with high-heat black spray paint and they're looking several decades younger.

This isn't the same vent in the "before" picture, but they all looked equally as bad. Notice the carpet to wood change, as well!



Those pictures are about all I've got to show for the weekend, but in other home-related news, we purchased a queen size bed on Saturday, so we will NOT have to return from the honeymoon to share a twin.

A good weekend all around! The best part - as I said - is that despite all of the progress, I'm not going back to work with sore muscles or utter exhaustion :)