Category: home improvements

And I didn’t even cry this time. 🙂

I attended the HOA ARB meeting tonight, to discuss how one might go about building a Japanese rock garden that would meet with HOA guidelines, and was surprised to find that they all thought my garden was beautiful. One of the members, seeing me on the agenda, even came to my house to check it out, and was surprised to find a flowerbed filled with dirt.

The problem seemed to be, however, that they had turned down tons of other people for having rocks in landscaping. Because, really, what they want to have a rule on, is “no white trashiness.” Since that is not quantifiable, they instead made a rule of “no rocks in landscaping.”

They have allowed people to have “foundation” rocks, within the first 18 inches from the house. And they would like to see “more green” in my garden. I’ll certainly try with the “more green” part, but I was not blessed with a green thumb – nothing I plant will stay green for long …

So, I got some … tips … on adding more green, and making things more zenny, so I’ll make up another design, resubmit, and see where it goes from there.

I also told them I want to participate in the HOA. That should win me points, right? I actually really do want to join some HOA board, because someday, I want to work my way up to be in charge of sending out letters to “offenders.” Because the letter they sent me made me cry. (Now, I didn’t even cry at my own wedding. I wasn’t one of those teenage girls who ran to my room in tears all the time. So the fact that they brought me to tears is an impressive feat.) Nine times out of ten, the offender isn’t going out of their way to be offensive or neglectful. It’s just an oversight or a lack of knowledge about rules – so there’s no reason to get snippy and make people feel like criminals and not give them any options other than “comply in 10 days or you will be fined.”

So, if I’m on the board the next time my application comes around, I’ll be just one step closer to my own personal zen.

That’s the number of burnt out light bulbs in my house. Well, actually that number is now down to 12, because I replaced 5 of them. The other 12 will have to wait till it drops to 90 outside (I’m hoping about 6 tonight) and I make a Home Depot run to buy the appropriate bulbs: 6 giant round bulbs, 4 small round bulbs, 1 small spotlighty bulb, and 1 of those small, oblong, pointy bulbs.

17 burnt out light bulbs. You may very well be wondering: “have you been sitting in the dark??” And the answer to that question is no. There happen to be 80 light sockets in my house. (That’s right, 80 light sockets and 3.5 bathrooms for 2 people. It didn’t seem so excessive when we bought the place …) With 63 bulbs still burning bright, it’s easy to miss the 17 burnt out ones. Until all the lights in single fixture go out – which is what happened, and what prompted me to start on this light bulb escapade.

Thursday morning, I awoke to find that I had no light in the Master closet. Which is troublesome, as that is where I pick out my wardrobe for the day. And that’s hard, when you can’t see much. So this morning, on my errand-running-before-it-hit-100-degrees trip, I purchased 2 4-packs of regular 60 watt bulbs, thinking I’d replace a few other burnt out bulbs I had noticed, and then I’d have a few to spare. Because bulbs are always burning out in my house. Or, rather, it seems like bulbs are always burning out, but when you’ve got 80 to keep up with, it’s not surprising.

So, when I told my husband I was replacing the Master closet lights, he mentioned that of the two light fixtures in the upstairs hall, there is only 1 light bulb providing light. 1, tiny, 40-watt, oblong pointy bulb. Lighting the staircase to the upstairs. And it is sure to give out at any moment, plunging the staircase into treacherous darkness. None of those fixtures takes regular bulbs, however, so that requires a trip to Home Depot. Once the temps drop below ‘instant death.’

(Ok, I know 100, by itself, isn’t instant death. I lived in the Phoenix area till I was 8 years old, and survived just fine, with plenty of running around outside in ridiculous temperatures. But, that, as they say, is a dry heat. Virginia, on the other hand, has a miserably wet heat, a heat that makes you wonder why you even bothered taking a shower if you were going to go outside, because you are sticky-sweaty-wet the instant you step into it. That sticky-sweaty-wet stays with you, even when your car’s AC finally cools the car, even when you make it to the freezer section of the grocery store.)

So, anyway, since I have to go buy specialty bulbs, I decided to take inventory of the whole house. Which is when I realized that all the bathrooms have at least one burnt out bulb. And that one of the recessed lighting bulbs in the living room is burnt out. And that … well, you get the point. I never knew I had so many different kinds of bulb needs! I don’t even know what, exactly, these bulbs are. Which is why I will be taking them with me to the Home Depot lighting center, to play a little game of ‘match’.

Sometime, later this evening, I will have 80 functioning light bulbs. And I will have a stockpile of bulbs, in 5 different sizes, in preparation of the next burnout.

For people who know me in real life, they know I’ve been talking about building my rock garden for over a year. After 6 months of backbreaking work to build my raised flower bed (all I can say is, that thing better last FOREVER), I was sick of the endeavor, and my flower bed sat empty. Finished, but empty.

Until this last Saturday, when I woke up and decided that it was time. It was time to embrace my sliver of Japanese heritage, and build my rock garden.

All in all, it only took a day to complete. 3 trips to Home Depot, but only an afternoon of work. And I have to say, the completed project looks pretty nice.

I’ve got all my ‘after’ pics in the kitchen album. For dramatic purposes, though, I just wanted to post the pics side by side. Enjoy!

The kitchen is coming along swimmingly! My husband is stressed because everything is a mess – and we can’t watch tv in the living room due to a dining room table being between the couch and the tv. Which means we have to watch tv upstairs, without the benefit of a tivo. Which means we actually have to watch shows when they come on! And with commercials. It’s quite a sacrifice, but I think maybe we can tough it out for a few more days.

In my attempt to converse with the tile guy who doesn’t know much english, I think I may have told him to work 10 hours tomorrow. 🙁 That really wasn’t my intent – I just wanted to know how much longer it was going to take. I really don’t care if it takes 2 more days or 4 more days, I was just curious. I think he asked me how long he could stay tomorrow, he pointed to his watch and suggested 5 or 6, and I said 5, to try to minimize stranger-in-the-house-stress on my husband. Then I think he asked how early he could come, and I said 7 was fine, we’re both out of the house by then. He seemed very happy about the prospect of coming at 7, so I hope that means he’s excited at the prospect of being able to leave at 3.

The countertop guy is coming tomorrow, to give me a quote on new countertops. Which means I should probably decide on a color. I’m the most useless girl on the planet, I have no eye for color whatsoever. (Back on the west coast, my interior-design-degreed mother is wondering where she went wrong …)

I have another dilemma, with the lighting in the kitchen. Santana suggested recessed lighting, which I think will look really nice. ($$$Resale Value$$$) The problem is, is that recessed lighting is not as bright as the existing 2-tube flourescent light fixture we have in the kitchen now. The flourescent light fixture that my husband LOVES. Because it is so bright. I found a picture at homedepot.com of a kitchen with a flourescent light, as well as recessed lighting, so I’ll see if Santana will do that. I just got back from a trip to the real home depot, where I found the flourescent light fixture that I hate the least. It turns out, I hate all light fixtures. A lot. I think they are all ugly. Why can’t someone make nice light fixtures? Maybe THAT will be my new job. Light fixture designer …

I’m getting a new kitchen! At least, I’m getting as much of a new kitchen as my tax return will buy. At this very moment, iPhoto on my mac mini is uploading the pics I took of my ‘before’ kitchen up to my gallery – and you will get to see the very … interesting … decorating choices that were made by the previous owners. Actually, you won’t get to see ALL the choices. The matching curtains and canisters have long since met their maker.

Day one of the renovation is over, and the wallpaper is GONE!! The linoleum with the little bitty flowers is hidden forever under a layer of those concrete-tile-base things. (If I woulda known they were just putting everything OVER the linoleum, I totally woulda mopped. There’s a gross sticky coke spill that has now been immortalized …)

The bad thing about the renovations, is that we have to lock the kitties up. And they hate being locked up. Especially when there are evil creatures banging about in the kitchen. We both stayed home today and discovered that Havok seems to have discovered how to remove slats from the basement utility room door – so we have decided to lock the kitties up tomorrow in the master suite, upstairs. I’m not entirely thrilled about having a litter box in our master bathroom, but I am even less thrilled about the idea of our kitties running out the open front door to escape from the evil kitchen-mongers. So there will be a litter box in my master bathroom tomorrow … even though I am sure Forge will prefer the bathroom sink. (He’s a sensitive pooper. sigh.)

But the GREAT thing about the renovations, is that I will soon have a new kitchen! At the end of this week, I will have beautiful tile floors and wonderfully clean, freshly painted walls. And did I mention crown molding? And NO hideous frou-frou ceiling fan ceiling dilly bob. And then will come the new appliances. And – if there is money left over – we will get new countertops. And THEN I am going to take up cooking and entertaining in my new kitchen. Ok, so maybe not that last thing …