Vacation

So Jeff and I have a hoarding problem. We hoard vacation days. We are always so worried about running out that we often have a bunch to burn before his year resets in May. Usually it is only one or two days, but this year we had six days to burn. Jeff took five of them this past week and just stayed at home to work on projects around the house. We also got away for a day and went to a lovely resort in Branson without the kids. I made an effort to keep the kids out of the house in the mornings so that Jeff could work undisturbed on his projects and then we spent the afternoons together. He worked a lot on the basement.

As many of you may remember out house has a full basement, a rarity for this area of Arkansas, and it was finished at one time. The previous owner who foreclosed on the house was trying to remodel by; adding a laundry room, (which I hate and will take out as soon as my washer and dryer die,)closing off the big bonus room, sorta adding a giant window, and removing all the carpet. But the guy never finished so it has been a slow work in progress for us. Jeff has removed a wall, we had a professional remove the window and Jeff has been moving light fixtures and filling holes. Lots of sanding and patching and just yucky dusty work. So I don't really have any pictures of that since it isn't finished, but heaven help us some day.

The week actually started with the preceding weekend and an impromptu trip to my favorite place, the associate store. We went for plants, which we got, but it turned out they were having a furniture sale. Normally everything there is half off retail price but that day the furniture was half off the half off. So we got a dresser, which we had been shopping around for, for only 50 bucks and enough wood laminate to re floor the playroom, (which currently has weird industrial grade outdoor carpet.)
The dresser Jeff put together on Saturday, and man was it bigger and heavier then we thought it would be; really nice and matches our bedroom much better then the previous one which will now be Spikes.


Monday and Tuesday Jeff worked mostly on the basement, taking some time out to mow the lawn. Wednesday was my day. Jeff replaced the faucet, shower head, and shower curtain rod in my bathroom. I love my house, but there is a distinct disadvantage to buying an older home. Items like the faucets, hinges, handles and towel racks are all old and ugly. Now you would think that would be an easy thing to change, and it is, but it adds up to be a pretty penny.

They had a deal on faucets at Lowes a few weeks ago and and we picked up a few. They are pretty, but I am a bit sad that the they must be LOW FLOW!
Same for the shower head. I need me some water pressure stat, but if I can just get used to it then it will be a good thing cause out water rates in Bella Vista are insane.
The shower curtain is one of those nice bowed ones which really makes the shower feel larger. It did take a lot more work then we had intended though, Jeff had to drill some holes?!? But it is all good now.
The rod and the head were both associate store purchases that I had been holding on to for some time waiting for Jeff to get the time to install them, (I will soon post as to why I leave the Home Improvement up to Jeff, or as to why I suck at projects. It will have lots of funny/pathetic picture.)

Saturday after our trip, next post, we took a trip to Lowes and Jeff bought me my birthday presents; shelves for my bedroom, and a strip of wood for my kitchen. That is actually what I said I wanted. We have a full walk in closet in the bedroom, but then we also have this weird closet of almost wasted space in the room too.
We really hadn't been using it to its full potential, but then Jeff installed these shelves and now I am good to go.
Now when our washer and dryer give out one day, I want to convert this closet into the laundry closet with a stack able washer and dryer so I can stop hauling laundry up and down the stairs! Now the wood thing sounds weird, but the previous owner was working on the kitchen when he foreclosed and you can tell he did the cabinets himself. The cabinets under the sink have had this nasty open space below that just collected yucky dirt and I could never keep it clean. It just looked bad. So Jeff got the piece to fix it and it just feels good to have it taken care of.

So looking at all the pictures I can tell that it probably doesn't look like much to anyone else, but I feel like I am in a whole new house. It is all these little things that add up and take us one step closer to having the house the way we want it.