And you thought I was slacking...

I know it's been quite a while since my last blog post. But rest assured, we haven't just been resting up here in Ithaca. In fact, there hasn't been much rest at all!

In between the daily life (you know, work, cooking, etc), and planning to host a major party for 250 people next weekend, we've managed to turn this:



Into this:




Sadly, at least on my computer screen, you can't tell the magnitude of the change from construction worker orange to rich, chocolate brown.


One thing you can see is the transformation of the wall sconces:


















After all of the manual labor we've done so far, it was fun to do a less intense home related project today...shopping! I have learned that one key to successful purchasing is to clearly define what I'm looking for prior to the shopping trip. (This is true in all cases except for the major purchase of this house itself, in which we met maybe 1 of our 5 key criteria - but couldn't be happier!) So, I embarked upon a search for a rug that was approximately 30" by 80", had a brown and green pattern, didn't look too much like an Oriental rug, was dark enough in color to handle shoe traffic.

Enter stage left:



(Excuse the less-than-great picture)

Aside from protecting our now-gorgeous floors, the new rug unifies the living room and den. I hope to create a little home entrance area.
For those of you who are not yet familiar with our house lay-out, the den is immediately to your right as you come in the front door. I grew up in a house with a foyer, so it's a bit of an adjustment to come in the front door and *bam* you're in the living room. Down the line, we'll have coat hooks, etc to make this a more useful entranceway.

For the short-term, we have this weekend to turn the den into a temporary master bedroom. This involves purchasing a bed (I vetoed Justin's half-joking "let's share my twin bed" suggestion), hanging blinds/curtains, and finishing the last remaining renovation tasks (painting the baseboards and installing the quarter rounds where the floor meets the walls).

We're pretty proud of our first room and the checks on the to-do list that got us here!



Hopefully next time I can provide a more step-by-step view of our progress! I suspect that once I have my own working computer (and don't have to mooch off Justin's when he's not doing homework), I can increase my blog presence. In fact, I have dreams of a daily lunch-break post (don't get too attached to the idea yet!) The next few weeks may be a little slow though - the wedding's right around the corner!


(That's all that's left of Justin's 365-day countdown chain I made him last year for our negative one year anniversary). Single digit countdown starts tomorrow!

A marathon kind of weekend

We had a really great weekend up here in Ithaca. It was the kind of weekend that reminded me that this is really the life God planned for me to be living. I've told a lot of people that I never realized how unhappy I was at my job in Harrisburg until I left. Granted, it was the best experience I could have had for those 2 years to develop my professional confidence and prepare me for what I'm doing now...but it's such a wonderful feeling to be in the career I really am meant to be doing, to have the work-life balance I never had in Harrisburg, and to be able to enjoy a really cool place with a great guy by my side!!

Friday night, we kicked off the weekend at the Chem-E grad picnic. Despite it being chilly (who expects to wear 4 layers of long-sleeved shirts the second week in September??), we had a great time playing soccer with a mixed group of grad students, professors, and assorted kids.

Saturday, it was up bright and early for another Chem-E activity: the inaugural 2010 lab group bike ride. While I was skeptical about a 25+ mile bike ride, I ended up really enjoying it (and, miraculously, woke up Sunday still able to walk - and even without pain!). The weather was absolutely gorgeous - perfect temperature, beautiful sunshine. Justin's advisor mapped out a great route (minus a few tough hills!) that led through the beautiful NY countryside. I was pretty proud to have completed a marathon (albeit on a bicycle!)

Sunday, it was more marathons - a catch-up of Office episodes from last season (we've gotta be ready for the upcoming season premiere!) to relax, then grading homework for Justin and painting in the den for me. The whole space is primed and the trim has been painted. Ready for some ceiling paint tomorrow and color on Wednesday!

Today, I took a break from home renovation to enjoy another aspect of "Former Glory." Being the traditionalist that I am, I took a course from the Cooperative Extension on canning foods. I'm still game for canning the yield from our dreamed 2011 garden, but I may be wooed by the other (easier?) methods (such as freezing) that are covered in next week's class.

Pardon the lack of pictures from anything; didn't want to leave you hanging without a post! I'll now tiptoe out of the kitchen/office/bedroom so as to leave sleeping Justin to his peace. Good times ahead when we have more than one computer...more than one room...etc! But for now, I really can't complain. Life is good - and will only get better. 26 days 'til the wedding!

Decorating the den

Today, we celebrated our negative one monthiversary (thanks, Maura, for the term!) by hanging woodwork in the den! The floors need just one more coat of polyurethane, but Sherwin Williams is out of the high-gloss stuff we need, so we're working on other things until they're able to deliver more from other local stores.

Here's the before, with the ugly remains of decades worth of different curtain holders:



And here's the after (not quite done because I snapped the picture before I filled the nail holes):



And check out those gorgeous floors in the "in progress" picture:



Based on the delays we've had, it's unlikely that the upstairs will be finished for our honeymoon return. That's ok, though - the den will make a nice temporary bedroom. Looking forward to being a resident of the house! The final countdown is on ~ one month to Mr. & Mrs.! :)

Oh, deer.

Today, as we pulled into the driveway after church, Justin suddenly could not believe his eyes. At first, he thought the neighbors had gotten a horse...but soon realized there was actually a deer in the small wooded area at the back of our property. For the first thirty seconds or so of this conversation, I did not see what he was seeing and didn't really believe that there was a deer in the backyard. (Side note: we have continually discussed that, although we frequently see deer all over Ithaca - including 10 at once in my apartment backyard, our garden will be safe because of our non-woodland-proximate location and near impossibility of a deer making it safely across major roads to our neighborhood).

Well, we were wrong. Deer can successfully make it to our yard. Not just 1 deer. 7 deer. Yes, imagine the shock of two Pennsylvania kids (one of whom has spent a significant amount of his time in the woods hoping to find deer) finding 7 deer in their semi-urban backyard. To add shock to the whole crazy situation, our next door neighbor was cutting the grass. The motor sound didn't scare them at all, despite being only about 15 feet from the mower. They also weren't scared of us until we were practically close enough to touch them.

Eventually, the majority of the group ran away (with a bit of prompting from the proud gardener Justin) but there was one doe (and we think maybe one of her fawns) that stayed in the brush all day. Although in the middle of Ithaca there's obviously not much he can do about it if she does eat his grape plants, Justin has repeatedly threatened the deer, reminding her that he's a hunter.

If anyone is doubting our story, here's a picture (look right in the center - one of the deer is facing away, and the other is turned slightly).



What a crazy thing to see - and yet so cool. They really are beautiful, and it was really nerve wracking to watch them run across the nearby busy road. Luckily, they all made it, as far as we could see!

Speaking of other beautiful brown things, you should see our wood floor in the den!!!! I pre-treated it and stained it today, and it's by far the most effective home renovation project I've tackled so far. I love when you can really see results. Tomorrow, we can put the finish on top and also move on to staining the living room floor. I'd show pictures, but I'm so exhausted from the day that I'm avoiding the trip outside to take pictures (due to our dust-control measures, there's plastic sheeting hanging in the doorways, and this requires walking out the backdoor and in the front door to get from the kitchen to the front rooms). I'm also giving my camera battery a good charge right now, so hopefully tomorrow both it and I will have the energy to photograph the amazing transformation that's underway in the den!

Is there a chemical engineer in the house?

Growing up, I always found it very helpful to have a medical professional around. When someone fainted in church, my dad was right there. When my uncle accidentally hooked another uncle (instead of a fish), again it was dad to the rescue. There's a certain security in knowing that there's someone there that can take care of things (or several people...given that I'm the only non-medical "black sheep" of the family). Between a surgeon dad, a nurse mom, an EMT / doctor in training brother, and a hospital volunteer / nurse in training sister, they really cover all the bases.

I've decided that chemical engineers are handy to have around, too. After the late-night sanding adventure (Justin saved money by using a 4 hour rental that spanned Home Depot's closing-opening hours, as opposed to the full 24 hour rental), we - ironically - found stains under the old stain. Confused?? What I mean to say is that after removing the old, intentional wood stain, we discovered some unintentional wood stains that couldn't be sanded. While I would have simply chalked it up to being an old floor and moved on with the new stain/coating, my chemical engineer realized there was something that could be done!

Enter "wood bleach" or oxalic acid. Check out it's success in the test areas (the screwdriver is pointing to the place where it was applied):



After applying this over all of the stained areas, we'll have an even colored surface to stain, so the finished product will look even more beautiful!

That chemical engineer is good to have around - I think I'll marry him :) That reminds me - today, we got an early wedding card & check in the mail addressed to both of us with one last name!  Seeing that for the first time was pretty exciting!

Here's another in-progress picture of the floor sanding. This is the living room, which has decidedly fewer spots than the den. You'll also notice our amazing shop vac (that thing is a life saver, especially with the dust we've been kicking up lately!) as well as our new kitchen chairs (thanks again, Craigslist!)




In closing, I'd like to give a brief advertisement for another great chemical. Scuffed wood furniture looks new almost instantly with a few rubs of Old English scratch cover. This stuff just fuels my Craigslist fire. Man, it's awesome! The results are pretty addicting, and I've been polishing our kitchen cabinets, the new desk, the new table and chairs, and basically any slightly worn wood surface I can get my hands on. (Yes, I'll admit, I even tried a tiny spot of the awful wood paneling in the kitchen, just because the bottle suggested it. Looks nicer, but still not enough to convince me not to paint over it). I'm not sure if the results of this amazing product would show in pictures...but try it! It works!

Life in a kitchen

Do you ever feel like you live in your kitchen? I'm pretty sure my mom does, especially when all of us are home - including my brother, Colin, whose huge appetite reminds you a little bit of a vacuum cleaner (yet whose figure reminds you of a pipe cleaner!)

Anyway....for those days when you feel like you just can't get out of the kitchen, think of poor Justin:



(That's his bed in the corner where the kitchen table should be). At least on the bright side, he doesn't have to go far for a midnight snack. However, the arrangement is obviously less than ideal. Things got a little better in terms of feeling less displaced when we purchased this steal-of-a-desk. (When the woman told us the asking price, I seriously thought she forgot a zero. Who sells huge mahogany desks in excellent condition for $60, then throws in a free lamp!? Craigslist is my new best friend)



What I wish you could see in this picture is that it is actually a home improvement action shot. Justin is working on the list of fuses to post near the electrical box - aptly titled "It's Electric."

Now that Justin has a manly desk, we're trying to finish his manly room. He's always wanted a den, and the front room in the house fits the bill perfectly - or at least it will, once the work is done. I've gotta run now, I think it's my turn to "drive:"



(That's right - sanding underway! Woo woo!)

We're practically Amish

Sure, the Amish roofers had an amazing work ethic (and quite the rigorous schedule!) but there were a few other secrets to their success...

We tapped into some of those today, and the results are paying off big time!

First of all, putting on our roof was the Amish guys' full-time job. After 8 hours at Cornell/Catholic Charities, Justin & I unfortunately can't accomplish a whole lot of renovation stuff in the evenings. A Saturday in Ithaca without other plans, however, is golden!

Second of all, 6 hands are certainly better than 4. We had extra help this weekend - another great visit from Justin's dad, plus our good Bucknell friend Mike. Justin's dad got us off to a great start Friday on the demolition of the old wooden slats in the wood bedroom (or, as my sister calls it, "the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln" - yes, it looked that primitive when she saw it last week).

Today, Mike and Justin went full-force finishing the demolition, removing the old, relatively useless insulation, taking the old stuff to the dump (we really are indebted to our kind neighbors who continually loan us pick-up trucks). Then, after [another] extensive Home Depot run, we had some pizza on the porch and went hard to work with insulation.



We're ready for drywall! It's hard to believe that much could actually be accomplished in one day. It was great to have a full day to devote to renovations, and literally taking a room apart and putting it back together again is very gratifying work. In addition to the upstairs progress, I was also able to spackle the cracks in the wall/ceiling in the den. Painting (and the infamous floor sanding) coming soon. It's full-force ahead all around! Good night; I'm off for some celebratory ice cream :)