My House is My Boyfriend

Plumbing woes.

2008-08-04T15:24:00.002-05:00

I have been absent from the blogging world because well, not much new to report about my house. The dog days of summer are here, and when it's 105 degrees outside, I don't really feel like working in my yard. Everything out there is dead, fried and crispy now.

I did have a plumbing nightmare this past weekend. I should preface this by saying that yes, my house is an old house. Supposedly built in 1950 (I suspect earlier). I've had smallish plumbing problems before, like the bathtub draining slowly. The last time I had to call a plumber out was about a year ago.

This past Friday, my washing machine backed up into my bathtub not once but three times. This would happen when the washer was on the rinse cycle, and then when the washer drained, the bathtub drained with it. Innocuous enough, I figured. There wouldn't be a problem so long as I wasn't doing laundry.

Saturday, the toilet started making gurgling noises when I was showering. Then the bathtub stopped draining, and the water level in the toilet bowl started slowly raising. I guess the bathtub was backing up into the toilet. I STUPIDLY flushed the toilet, and yeah, it overflowed. It sent water ALL over my bathroom floor and under my sink cabinet. Every time after that, the shower would do the same thing and the water level would rise in the toilet. I could only flush the toilet if I'd plunged most of the water out of the bowl. And I could hear water sloshing around in my pipes behind the walls. Nothing was draining out to the sewer!

My mom just met the plumber over at my house, and I'm set back $207 for the roto-rooting job. They had to go in through the drain in the backyard, and supposedly pulled a whole mess of roots out of my lines. The plumber says that if I start having to do this two or three times a year, then it's time to replace my entire sewer line to the alley. Which would run me around $2500. I don't have that kind of money, and won't anytime soon...

I found on roto-rooter's website that they have this stuff called root destroyer? Anyone familiar or tried this stuff? Depending on the cost, it might be worth it to use it regularly, if it would help.

Rejuvenation, how I love thee

2008-07-07T23:04:00.002-05:00

So this is what life is like when all you covet and lust after are lighting fixtures and bathroom hardware. I got a fancy schmancy new catalogue in the mail today from Rejuvenation, and I think I fell in love...

Hello, Lombard.

Wouldn't it look pretty in my dining room? I have one of those hideous straight-out-of-the-70s tray light fixture things. You know, the kind that screws in in the middle, and bugs fly into and collect in the tray? So nasty.

And hello, Chandler bathroom accessories.

In black, so perfect for my art deco bathroom.

All told, it would cost me about $232. For some bathroom parts and a light fixture. Maybe someday...

Surprises in my yard

2008-06-22T23:01:00.003-05:00

I did some yardwork in the backyard today (as usual on Sundays), and came across some accidental happy things:

1. The "weed" in my deck pit. I had noticed this "weed" growing about a month ago. It grew very quickly and kept getting taller and taller! I was kind of amused by it, and decided to let it go to see how big it would get. A few days ago I noticed some buds on the top of it. Well lo and behold, it's a sunflower! Like an eight foot tall sunflower plant! Just poking up out of my deck pit. One sunflower is already blooming and there's about four more buds on it.

2. Next to the sunflower, I noticed some type of petunia looking flower. Now, to my understanding, petunias are annuals, right? And I certainly didn't plant this there. There are about three purple petunia-looking flowers.

3. Last summer I had about three big containers in my "courtyard" area (at the foot of the deck) that I grew herbs in: basil, catnip, and sage. When the ice storm hit last December, huge tree limbs fell on all of the containers and busted them, and knocked what was left of the dead plants out. Earlier this spring, I cleaned them up and salvaged the containers as best I could. Apparently the herbs re-seeded themselves in the ground where the containers fell in December... Because I have a ton of baby basil plants, a flowering sage bush, and several catnip plants growing in the ground *next* to the containers!

Just goes to show, I guess, that good, beautiful things come from accidents. I assume the flowers are growing in the deck pit because the previous owners had those things planted there before they built the deck... And now that the deck is gone, and light is shining on that area again, the flowers have returned! How beautiful is that? That deck was there for three years. These plants were dormant for three years, then just sprung up as soon as sun hit that soil again.

Kinda gives you hope... That if an eight foot tall sunflower plant can spring up after living under darkness for three years, then all kinds of things in life are possible.

Spoke too soon

2008-06-18T16:01:00.005-05:00

About that "no monsoon this year" thing.... Ug. The past two weeks we've had on and off bouts of severe storms, complete with torrential downpours and high winds. My poor garden is suffering and my backyard is a lake.

My neighborhood is just not good for drainage at all. Yesterday morning, as I was leaving for work, a HUGE severe thunderstorm moved through and turned my neighborhood streets into rivers. Literally. Rivers. I drove through higher water than I should have and almost floated away! I got washed up onto a curb and had to drive over some downed tree limbs. That was on a street just two blocks south of me. I'm soooo lucky my street doesn't flood like that.

More garden pics!

2008-06-05T14:57:00.007-05:00

I've been spending at least one afternoon a week in my garden for awhile now. I'm trying so hard to keep up with all of it! So far I'm doing a pretty bang-up job, I think. And the weather has been cooperating. It's been dry and hot here (low to mid-90s). No more monsoon, like we had last year (last year it pretty much rained for a month straight in June). So, I've been actually watering to help things out. Here's a bunch of pictures!

It is very hard to capture the "big picture" of my garden. Too many big green leafy things... So this is an attempt to show some scale.

Brown-eyed susans! Wow, the bushes got huge like overnight. There are even more blooms since I took this picture about a week ago. I'm worried about their survival, though! Severe storms are forecast for tonight.

Purple coneflower! This is actually a native Oklahoma wildflower. I don't have too many blooms of this yet, but I think it's improving. They just got a slow start this year.

Another variety of brown-eyed susan. I have two or three varieties, as best I can tell. There's the big bushy type pictured above. Then this type, which is just a single stalk that shoots up from the ground, then there is another type with a black center, which I don't have a photograph of, because they weren't blooming a week ago.

I don't know what this is, but it's pretty! Also, check out my camera strap in the frame. I'm clearly a professional photographer.

More stuff that I have no idea what it is... It's also a native Oklahoma wildflower though, because you can see this stuff (the white stuff) blooming everywhere.

Cannas! Growing big and healthy, and looking much better than last year, so far. I think the monsoon hurt them last year. They are tropical plants, but too much rain makes them rot.

My asiatic lilies! My favorites.

I wish I had time to take more pictures before the storms arrive tonight. Unfortunately I'm working at both jobs today, which means I won't make it home until after dark. Oh, and I've even spotted my zinnias coming up! Last year I'm pretty sure they didn't emerge until July. I just don't know, I'm so new to this gardening thing! I guess things are just different every year. I purchased three more bags of mulch last week, bringing the running total for this season to 20 bags.

In other, completely unrelated news, I've decided to forego any additional "big" projects this summer and freakin' take a vacation. I haven't had a real, get out of town for a few days vacation since September 2006. I am overdue. My mental sanity and peace of mind are every bit as important as my house. Hopefully I'll be going to Austin with a friend for a few days in July.

P.S., I think I'll be givin' the ole blog a makeover soon. I've grown tired of my weak-ass header. Just as soon as I get some spare time and can sit down to fool around with (read: be clueless with) photoshop, I'll crank out something new.

On mortgages, insecurity, and men.

2008-06-02T11:27:00.016-05:00

I'm a single female, in case you were unaware. I'm 25; I'll be 26 in August. I bought this house when I was 24. By myself. I had modest help from my parents- they paid off my car loan so I could better afford the monthly mortgage payment (roughly $2000, at the time), and covered the half of the closing costs I was responsible for (roughly $600). Beyond that, I did this on my own. I used first-time home-buyer assistance and down-payment assistance, and got a special FHA loan because I'm part Native American.

So now I am a single, female, 25 year old property owner. I pay all of my bills every month on my own, and haven't received monthly financial assistance from my parents since I was 20. Sometimes I wonder, how does that look to men my age?

I have a lot of friends who are getting engaged, getting married, and are even starting to have babies. Some of them have purchased homes or had homes built for them. But I don't know anyone else in my position. It seems a more natural thing, at least a more traditional thing, for a married couple, or even a cohabitating couple, to purchase a home together. And beyond that, it is *far* more traditional for a single man my age to purchase a home on his own. He meets a girl, they get married, she moves in, they make the home together. This is customary.

So what on earth does it look like to single men my age, when they know I already have my house? Does it make them feel useless? Since I don't really need their financial help? How many men does it scare away?? How many men would feel emasculated by moving into their girlfriend's, their fiance's, their wife's house, and having the mortgage and title be in her name?

I wonder. But I also know, that this is pretty much the way it has to be with me. The entire time I was with my ex (of five years), I kept one toe out of the relationship and always made sure to maintain my financial independence. We broke up, and I emerged pretty much okay. I'm not ever going to tie my financial security to a sinking ship of a relationship. So either it has to be this way, or I'll have to go into something new with a boyfriend, fiance, husband completely equally. But even the idea of doing that makes this Feminist slightly uneasy.

My ex had the tendency to make me feel like a selfish self-preservationist when I acted this way. It's just not romantic to insist that everything be divided completely equally, or that ownership be kept track of, or that new purchases which are to be enjoyed jointly in the relationship are fairly negotiated and divided. (Example: When my ex and I decided to purchase a washer and dryer for our apartment, we decided that I would buy the washer, and he would buy the dryer, instead of jointly purchasing the two appliances and splitting the cost down the middle. This way, it was clear who owned what. And when we broke up, you bet I moved that washer home with me to Oklahoma. Just one fewer appliance I had to buy when I set up my house.)

From my perspective, that's the only way a smart female can behave in a relationship today. Women start out financially behind men in most relationships, and most of the time, they finish financially behind men when the relationship is over. Add marriage and children into the equation, and the likelihood that the woman will be severely negatively financially impacted at the end of a relationship goes up even more. (And statistically, men's financial outlook improves after the end of a relationship or a divorce.) I see how this point of view could be viewed as "gaming for the end"- planning everything based on the idea that eventually, this too will fail. But does anything last forever? I don't think so.

So maybe this house really will be my boyfriend for the foreseeable future.

(P.S.- Incidentally, this blog is the sixth hit on google out of 47,000 when you search for "single female twenties homeownership.")

Painted kitchen!

2008-05-26T17:17:00.007-05:00

I finished painting the kitchen! I figured it took me about 15 hours to do, including the priming. And cost around $60 in paint and supplies. Not bad, right?? The color I ended up settling with is called "tame teal" by Sherwin Williams. I absolutely love it. It was a weird color to work with. In the can, it looked very light and almost too "cotton candy" blue. I was scared. Going on the wall, it was super light and translucent, and hard to tell what I'd painted (like the bathroom paint). But then, it dried super dark! Almost too dark! I was scared again. But, it appears to have dried and set to some sort of happy medium- *just right.* I'm very pleased. I want to spend tons of time in my kitchen now. Previously, it was probably my least favorite room in the whole house. Hopefully this will inspire me to cook more!

On to the pictures!

Next on the slate is refinishing/cleaning the cabinet hardware. They are original to the cabinets. And a fairly common atomic age design, I've learned. You can buy reproductions of this exact design on rejuvenation.com. But, stupid owners before me painted them, and they're rusted. I'm not sure what to do about the drawer pulls. I don't think they're original. I might try to find a reproduction that's more suitable to the age of the house, and also of higher quality. Then I'd also like to install some chunky white shelves in the spaces above the stove and washing machine. I could really use some storage for those spaces, and I think that would be a way to bring in more storage area without installing additional cabinets, and therefore making my teensy itty bitty kitchen feel even more like a cave.

Yay? Nay?

2008-05-22T13:38:00.003-05:00

I've been looking for a smallish table lamp for my living room for months. I've looked just about everywhere, and not found much that I liked. Part of the problem is that it really needs to be small! My living room furniture is on a very small scale, and even smallish normal table lamps seem too large for the space.

Today, however, I found some promising candidates on etsy, from seller Mariposa Avenue! The lamp shades are made from recycled tin cans, painted and with designs punched in them. Very unique, and I appreciate the "green" aspect of them. They're small, too. But are they ugly? I can't decide. You tell me. I think they're cute, but I'm not sure how well they match with my other decor... Which is mostly vintage. Here are the couple I'm considering.

They look pretty cool lit up!

I think the colors of the blue one would go better in my living room, but the flower design is almost too chintzy. The third option is to contact the seller, and ask for a custom lamp... White base, blue shade, and some sort of retro/mid-century modern-inspired pattern stamped in the shade. Boomerrangs, maybe?

The return of the toads!

2008-05-21T08:31:00.005-05:00

Last night I spent a couple of hours working in my garden. I was mulching the big middle garden, because the weeds (mainly the evil, evil bermuda grass which I want to KILL) were really taking off. When lo and behold, what should creep out from under my yarrow?

A LITTLE BABY TOAD!

The toads are back! Last year, I had a family of toads living in my garden. Two big fat ones and one or two smaller babies. They would hop around and hide under the bushy plants. One time, one hopped into my storage shed. And I couldn't get him out. And I had to close him up in there in the July heat. I worried I had killed him. But I've yet to find a toad carcass (gross) in my shed, so I guess he escaped!

I love that my garden provides a natural habitat for animals big and small. I don't mind them. The butterflies are already coming around. The neighborhood cats (we have a lot of strays) like to come in my backyard to munch on my sage plant. Last night this beautiful Siamese that I see around all the time was hanging out near my sage, waiting to munch, but I scared him off. Oh well. At least he knows it's there!

My garden is doing pretty well. The only thing I'm slightly concerned about at this point are the coneflowers. Last year I had white and purple coneflowers that were absolutely beautiful. So far this year I can only find very small upshoots. My mom thinks they might not be very big yet because, until recently, we've had cool-ish nights. So perhaps the ground temperature has been slow to warm up this spring. The brown-eyed susans and lemon basil are all emerging. My lilies are a few days away from blooming.

Even though sometimes my garden makes me feel really overwhelmed, gosh. I still love it. I will take more pictures later in the week. I ran out of daylight last night.

(P.S., I want to keep a running tally of how many bags of mulch I use this year... Last year I lost count, but I think the total was around 30. So far this year, I've purchased 17. And loaded, unloaded, and hauled them ALL by myself in my Civic!)

As kind of promised...

2008-04-22T20:39:00.024-05:00

So, I haven't had time to clean my house enough to post pictures of it here. But, I have been working on the yard, and I think it's gorgeous right now! All I've really done so far is weed, and put mulch down in places where I didn't last year (already used ten bags).

It really makes me happy to see things doing this well in my yard. Last year was pretty rough. A month of torrential rain, three weeks of standing water, the deck collapse, and then the ice storm. I let the garden get out of control last year, and spent most of my time just trying to catch up. When all the lemon basil came up, I didn't know what to do. When all the rudebeckias came up, I didn't know what to do. When all the zinnias came up, I *really* didn't know what to do. This year, I know that's all coming, and about when! So I can be prepared! Things will be a lot better this year. Really, this does wonders for my mood and outlook on life and being a homeowner.

This week marks the one year anniversary of closing on my house.

So here's a bunch of pictures of my backyard!

I chopped this garden in half this year. Previously, it ran all the way down my fence. But there was nothing growing down there. And it floods. None of the things pictured here bloomed last year, as best I can remember.

This is a yellow "Lady Banks Rose" vine. I think last year, the previous owners must have planted some clippings from my neighbors.

So pretty! I love them.

Also, there's this thing. I think it's a trumpet vine! It's sticky.

My Japanese Maple tree, which has grown *a lot* since last year.

Blooming irises!

My clematis vines are already blooming, and they look a lot bushier and healthier than last year.

I have no idea what this is, but it's cute!

In a few days, those clusters will open up into white flowers. It's a yarrow plant!

Last year, I pulled this up, because I thought it was weed. Then I saw a bunch of it growing plentifully at a local restaurant known for its gorgeous patio garden. Oops.

Here is a close-up of the flowers. I didn't edit this photo, that's the actual color! So vibrant.

My lilies, which are still growing, and will soon bloom in red, white, and purple. They multiplied like crazy over the winter! Last year, there weren't even half this many. These are asiatic lilies, and I have trumpet lilies on the other side of the garden.

Poor tree. This is the damage from the ice storm. I think this is the oldest tree on my property, and he fared the worst during the storm.

Looking out from the deck. I'm giving up on weeding that "courtyard" area, as I call it. I need to plant some ground cover there.

Yes, the deck pit is still there. Oh well.

The clumps of green leafy things are my coneflowers and rudebeckias. They'll start to bloom in May, and last through July or so. They've still got a lot of growing to do. Last year, some of the coneflower plants came up past my waist.

Coming soon: pictures!

2008-03-31T13:44:00.005-05:00

I realized the other day it's been a good long while since I last posted pictures of what my house actually looks like. My house is really starting to feel like a home, with the addition of artwork (local and independent!). So sometime this week I'll take some pictures and post them. Oh, and of my yard too.

Speaking of the yard, I am deep in the process of researching square foot vegetable gardening.

I honestly don't know if I'll have the time or energy this spring to get it all set up in time to plant; our last frost here is April 15 and seeds would need to go in the ground no later than two weeks after that. But, maybe! The hardest part would be improving my soil. I'm learning about soil composition, and as expected in most Okie locales- my soil is super, super clayey.

(On the right is an example of clayey soil- pretty much what my backyard's soil looks like, and on the left, an example of "amended" clayey soil- with compost and organic matter added in. P.S., I'm beginning to feel like Dwight from The Office with my knowledge of *soil types.* Maybe I'll grow some beets?)

I would need to really work the soil down to a depth of a foot, adding in compost and other organic matter, to make trying to grow vegetables even worth the effort. I read in one book that soil is considered clayey when water stands on it for several hours after a rainfall. Several hours? Try several days! The southwest and northeast corners of my backyard can hold standing water for up to three or four DAYS after heavy rainfall. Of course, I won't be trying to grow vegetables in those locations, but it's probably indicative of my soil's overall quality. I don't understand how my big middle garden flourishes as it does. The previous owner must have improved that bit of soil before planting all that stuff.

In semi-related backyard news, severe weather season has finally began in Oklahoma. I love it. :) Just so as long as the hail, tornados, and flooding rainfall stay away from my house.

Fabric for dining chairs?

2008-03-28T11:00:00.004-05:00

I'm still on the hunt for the perfect fabric with which to recover my dining chairs. I think I might have a winner:

It's Amy Butler's Midwest Modern Fresh Poppies. And here's a reminder of what my table and chairs look like:

Yes? No? I like it a lot.

In unrelated news, I worked some more in my yard last night. The phlox in the front yard is beautiful; I have a singular, solitary daffodil in the front and I don't know where it came from and I don't remember it blooming last year; and in the back, my clematis vines are beginning to grow, and ALL of my day lilies have emerged from the ground... And there's like a ton of them. Do those things multiply like irises? I'm wondering if I should thin them out.

Won't be getting much done this weekend, because I've got to help a friend pack and move...

The taxman!

2008-03-26T13:48:00.004-05:00

Being a homeowner is stressful!! It's that time of year, when the county tax assessor updates their records. I got a notice that the "taxable value" of my home had increased by some $20,000! I wasn't aware that I had sunk $20,000 into home renovations lately. And that's because I didn't. What happened, seemingly overnight to raise the "taxable value" of my house by $20,000? IT SOLD. Yes, I bought it last year. Unfortunately that little transaction caught the attention of the tax assesssor, and they re-valued the property for the first time in ten years. Ouch.

I'm just holding my breath over how much this will raise my monthly payment. See, even when you don't have some predatory-lender-backed ARM, your monthly payment can still rise!

Boo.

A little bit of saving grace from this letter that informed me of the $20,000 valuation hike, though: I get an extension in filing for my homestead exemption. I goofed. I thought the deadline for applying was April 15, since that tends to be a widely popular tax deadline... No, apparently for county property taxes, the deadline is March 15. So I missed it. But I get a 20-day extension. That lowers the amount the county can tax by $1,000. So, kind of a big deal. But I can still file! Whew.

Finding the good things

2008-03-17T23:33:00.006-05:00

1. Yard work. With the aid of my bestest guy friend, I FINALLY finished cleaning up from the ice storm this weekend. The ice storm was three months ago. And finally, save for one huge dangling branch, there are no visual reminders of it in my yard. This is a good thing, for my mental health. Now if I can just stop freaking out every time the electricity flickers during a severe storm (hey, you'd freak out too if you went 120+ hours without).

1a. Also, I got my hands in my garden for the first time this spring, and YAY! I didn't kill everything last year! I was so terrified that my neglect and abuse (and the monsoon season we suffered last year) killed off all my perennials. Not so! My rudebeckias and coneflowers are already emerging, as well as my day lilies! Even my miniature rose bushes look healthy! The only thing not emerging yet are my cannas, but I've read that those are slow to come up here in Oklahoma. So maybe my garden will be absolutely beautiful again this year, like it was last:

My big project in the yard this summer is going to be a vegetable garden. I'm determined to grow my own vegetables. It remains to be seen whether or not this will involve building a raised bed (a.k.a., lots of hard work), or just working out of a few containers. Either way, I plan to grow tomatoes, peppers, green beans, okra, and zucchini. I'm still evaluating my site and planning the layout.

2. This.

Yes, I'm a member of "the cult." And I highly recommend this etsy seller! She included a bonus print, for free! So I got the one in blue AND the one in yellow. How nice. It will hang in my dining room, once I get a nice mat and frame.

3. Planning paint for the kitchen. I'm so excited about working with my kitchen in any way I can- who cares if I'm poor and can't afford new cabinets or a new dishwasher yet! I can paint, and I can re-contact paper the shelves and drawers.

4. My cat. A.k.a., my sweet kitty boo. My boo-bear. My Dante. He turns two years old this Wednesday! I love him dearly, and overall, he's a pretty good cat. Most of my friends say he is the BEST cat they've ever met. Even my friends who normally hate cats *love* my Dante. Happy birthday, boo-bear!!

(here he is passed out on his catnip scratcher, shortly after I moved in last year)

5. Spring time, which leads to summer time, and Oklahoma sunsets.

(as seen on the drive back from Okie Noodling last June)

6. Approaching one year. The end of April will mark the one year anniversary of closing on this house. Looking back at all the changes I've made so far makes me feel good. I feel proud of myself. I don't often give myself credit for my accomplishments, but damnit- I'm 25, single, and I OWN THIS HOUSE. That really is something to be proud of.

On spring and new opportunities

2008-03-10T15:15:00.010-05:00

I realize my posts have been few and far between lately, except for over the ongoing saga with the slumlord next door (if you were wondering, the city's code inspection department finally decided to do their jobs and had ALL of the junk outside removed- wow, it only took two months!). I've been quiet because there's been a lot going on in my personal life, and well, this was supposed to be a blog about my house, not about ME.

Today's been a good day, though. I found some kindred spirits online, of all places. Finding community on the interwebs isn't a new concept to me; I was a 16 year old geek cruising a Smashing Pumpkins fan site's forums until 3:00 AM, after all. That community was very important at that time in my life, and I still call several people I met there good friends. A couple of years ago, I became involved in the Colorado political online community. I was a regular blogger on the Colorado version of DailyKos. But I left that world behind, and all of the friends I made through it, when I moved home just over a year ago.

Today, however, I found GenPink. I found it via decor8, which I read every day. Holly Becker of decor8 wrote today's post about the trials and tribulations of making your own first place, well, your own:

"For nearly two weeks, I pretty much stayed in my apartment depressed to the core. I cried and slept all day, remaining wide awake at night since I feared the bugs finding their way to my bed and coating me in my sleep like some weird Alfred Hitchcock-ish film. My friends kept calling and knocking on my door but I didn’t answer. I just cried over my ex-boyfriend, lack of employment, the list grew as I isolated myself. Then something in my head snapped. I woke up after two weeks of extreme poor-me syndrome and decided to kick my own self in the butt. I wasn’t about to make the first official month in my new apartment a miserable one. I opened all the shades, played some music, and decided to get a life. I couldn’t just lay there and cry over love lost and bugs found. Sure I lived in a crappy beat-up roach coach, and okay I had no job and no man, but I did have ME and that had to count for something. I also had a few bucks left in my savings account so I did what any sensible depressed girl wanting to make a change would do. I shopped. But not at the mall. I headed to the one store that always made me feel better. The hardware store....

It’s vital to live in a place that supports your emotional well-being. One that motivates you and keeps you focused on moving forward in life. If I hadn’t renovated my apartment back then, who knows what would have happened to me? I may have become consumed in pain, I could have fallen into a deep period of depression, who knows? And though I made the choice to purchase paint over groceries (I lived on ramen noodle for 3 months), all that renovating, cleaning, and decorating kept my spirits very high. It kept me busy. I had friends over frequently to help me, including the hot guy friend with his power tools. You find what needs to be done, take ownership over how your apartment looks and feels, ask for help, find cute boys to do the hard stuff, don’t diss the dollar store (and curbside finds) and skip a few meals sometimes to buy a can of paint if needed. When you put your all into something, when you sacrifice to have the things you want putting your entire heart (and sometimes your last $20) into fixing up your home - then your confidence starts to soar, you feel empowered, motivated, and that you are just one extremely unstoppable human being. You feel like an adult, and that’s a good feeling. Progress is power. It’s empowering to take control of what you can control and forget the rest."

This is what I've been grasping for, for awhile now. My house might not have roaches or holes in the walls, but I do have a hole in the ground for a deck, a backyard that floods every time it rains, a kitchen door that lets rain water in, etc. etc. etc. It's easy to feel overwhelmed when I'm not rich, and I'm alone.

But finally, spring is coming. It might even be just around the corner. Yesterday was a beautiful day, and I got some crafty things done around the house for the first time in months. Small things, sure, but things that had been on my to-do list for awhile. And it felt good. To quote Toby from The Office (another reason to love spring! New episodes next month!!!), "I'm gonna chase that feeling."

Still waiting.

2008-03-04T14:52:00.002-06:00

Some two weeks later, I'm still waiting for all the crap at the house next door to be picked up. I'm waiting to pursue the issue with city council until after the election today; I don't want to keep emailing the guy I like if he's not going to win. I hope he does, though. I voted for him this morning.

I had hopes that this would all be resolved, because there have been people at the house working, constantly. Every day a different car is parked in the driveway. But the pile of crap outside remains. I was told today via email with the city's "Action Center" that Code Compliance had dropped the complaint, because they were told the property owner had hired someone to complete the pick up. Yeah, they picked up some of it, but not all of it. Why would the city just take a slumlord's word that he would get this done? Again, I keep coming back to the fact that the property owner is a prominent business man in town. Why do I have to keep prodding Code Compliance to complete their job??

I'm trying to get the straight story from the Action Center, and first thing tomorrow when I know who my city council person will be, I'll be emailing them the entire exchange. And if the candidate I voted for wins, I'll also be sending in pictures of every property this slumlord owns, because I believe he'll help me pursue substandard housing violations. If the other candidate wins, I'm not so sure I'll have help from my city council.

On being a good property owner.

2008-02-27T15:20:00.005-06:00

I have just about had it with the slumlords who own the house next door to me. As I wrote about before, the renters moved out a few weeks ago. Ever since, there has been a large pile of Stuff in the alley (outdoor table, folding chairs, futon frame, charcoal grill, boxes of clothes and paper items, etc.), a pile of stuff on the side of the house (two side tables, linens, more boxes of stuff, a gallon of gasoline, a license plate that has since been stolen), and a recliner sitting in the front yard.

I called in a code violation on it over a week ago. I finally heard back from the city's Action Center, and they said they were immediately turning the violation over to the city's contractor, because they knew this homeowner would not take care of the situation himself. They typically give the property owners ten days to respond to the violation, and then the city turns the issue over to a contractor, and they have ten days to clean it up. But apparently the city's code compliance division is just SO familiar with my neighbor, that they already know it's worthless to contact him.

They own TEN houses in my neighborhood alone. They own over twenty city-wide. They paid less than $30,000 for all of them in the late 1990s, and paid as little as $5000 or $10,000 for a few of them. And they live in a $300,000 home in my city's poshest neighborhood. And he owns a prominent local event ticketing website. And he is a son of a former football coach at the University of Oklahoma. So, I just wonder if the city gives him a pass or two because he's obviously such a big wig.

I've been in contact with my city council person about this issue. Basically, I'm really, really tired of having to call code on this house. I know now that it wasn't the renters' fault, it was the property owner's fault. Starting last summer, I've called countless times. All of the complaints were over items left outside that don't belong outside. I don't understand why the city can't, somehow, further penalize the homeowner for these repeated violations. I'm also trying to pursue a "substandard housing" violation against them, because of several exterior cosmetic problems with the house. It's a slum, basically. And anyone can see that. But it's difficult to get the city to do anything about it.

I've also contacted my council person's election opponent. We're having elections for city council next week, and I thought it would only be fair to give him a chance to respond, and see what he suggested I do. I liked his response much better, and he'll be getting my vote next week. He suggested "making demands on the property owner" and "documenting the violations and then educating" the property owner "as to the financial loss he might sustain" if he continues to violate city code. Sounds good to me! I'm waiting for his response as to how exactly we go about this.

In the mean time, I've called the property owner myself. Yes. Twice. Once last week. I got the number from the For Rent sign that was in the yard. (I could also easily obtain it by googling his name.) Last week I asked very nicely when they were planning on removing the garbage, and his wife told me it would be taken care of that day. That was last Friday. I called again today and wasn't so nice. I feel bad about it, but these people are obviously jerks. I let them know that I had city council investigating what could be done, and that I would be photographing every property they own in my neighborhood to document possible claims for "substandard housing" violations. They've already rented the house out again, and have had someone over there making interior repairs for the past two days, and not one bit of garbage has been removed. I've also seen the owner's wife, the woman I spoke to, at the house twice, and she also couldn't be bothered to even put the boxes of trash in the polycart. (Also, did I mention she's driven TWO different huge, expensive SUVs to the property?) I fear they are just hoping the new renters take care of all the garbage at their new house, or maybe they think the new renters will want to use the garbage furniture that's been sitting out in the rain and elements for nearly two weeks now. That's not going to happen, because I'm fairly sure the person they've rented to is a young man in a wheelchair. Obviously they are taking advantage of low income, even *disabled* renters. (Nevermind that the house is NOT accessible, as every entrance point is accessed via STAIRS. What they plan on doing about this is beyond me- their solution will probably just be a sheet of plywood thrown over the stairs.)

I am also considering forming some sort of "young homeowner's association" in my neighborhood to combat these problems. There are quite a few young people who've purchased homes in my neighborhood in the past few years, and I'd like to see us all work together to help make the neighborhood a better place. Most of the "problem houses" are rented, and I don't fault the students or lower income residents who live there. It's a landlord problem. I'm discussing how to maybe start such a group with my council person, as well.

I'll be out taking pictures of the ten houses he owns this evening. I'm curious to see exactly what state some of them are in, because most of the pictures on the county assessor's website are three years old.

Resolved!

2008-02-25T13:32:00.003-06:00

That if I can't do a "big" project this spring, I will do a couple small ones!

Paint is cheap. Painting is easy. Therefore, I am going to paint my kitchen and office this spring and/or summer, and finally be done painting EVERY room in my house.

I wanted to wait to do my kitchen until I got new cabinets, but that's a long ways off. And I really can't stand the pukey tan color its currently painted. The kitchen will be aqua. I think it will look so much bigger in a brighter color.

The office, I'm not sure yet. I've got a couple gallons leftover of the beige I used in the living room, dining room, and hallway. So I could just use that. Or I could come up with something new and different. I have no idea what, though.

Other small projects to consider: updating the drawer hardware in the hallway, fixing/painting the door to the water heater closet, and painting and prepping the closets for closet rehauls a la The Container Store.

They're gone!

2008-02-18T19:13:00.005-06:00

I do believe that at some point during this past weekend, my neighbors moved out! They left behind a recliner in the front yard, and a futon frame, "patio" table and chairs in the back yard! Oh, and the swan figurines are still on their front porch.

I'm wondering, should I freecycle these items for them? Maybe I'll wait a few days... But I really don't think they're coming back for any of it.

Here's hoping that even worse neighbors don't move in soon. And here's hoping that the slumlord who owns the place spiffs it up a little before new renters do move in.

In other news, I am having some artwork commissioned for my living room! Yes, commissioned. I'll call it that. I'm expecting some Lichtenstein-inspired paintings on vinyl records. Pretty cool, huh? I can't wait to see them! My friend Paul is painting them, and you can see a test run of his interpretation of Lichtenstein here.

Oh and... All of the projects that I possibly had planned for this spring are hereby ON HOLD. The taxman raped me this year. Because I was stupid and filled out my W-4 for my second job incorrectly, so I guess in this instance I was asking for it. Those little economic stimulus checks we're all supposed to get will just barely cover what I owe the feds, and the two states of which I was a resident in 2007. Live and learn, I suppose. In the meantime I'm just going to save my money, and maybe this summer I can do it up big with an even nicer dishwasher, screen door (or two), and new deck. Sometimes I feel like an ant climbing a mountain, living in this house. It's very hard for a goal-oriented person such as myself, to have to keep postponing these things due to issues like taxes, unexpected ice storms, etc.

And yeah, it would still be nice to have a house husband. Even if he only just stuck around long enough to clean my gutters. (....No pun intended? I think?)

New bathroom hardware

2008-02-03T19:19:00.003-06:00

Last week I got my hardware in from rejuvenation.com. I'm pretty pleased with the results!

Here is a close-up of the knobs, which are black glass.

And here's a shot of them with the new switchplate cover, which is an oil-rubbed bronze finish.

I think they're a classy addition to the bathroom, and definitely add some "gravitas" to an otherwise girly and very light space. I am still on the hunt for a new towel ring and towel bar.

In other random news, the house to the east of me has a "for rent" sign out. Looks like I'll be getting new neighbors soon. I've got half a mind to call the number on the sign, and ask when they plan on moving their branches from the ice storm. There are still several *huge* branches that fell in their yard during the storm, that are all right up against my fence. Considering our recent fire danger, it's kind of dangerous! I'd also like to ask if they plan on making the necessary repairs to the house before new renters move in. They have an exterior door on their kitchen like I do, but this door is a wood door that is obviously not meant to be an exterior door. It is painted in white paint that is obviously not meant to be weather-proof exterior paint. The paint has chipped into large sections that run the length of the door, and they're completely loose from the door, so they actually flap in the wind. It's quite ugly, and very visible from my front porch. The un-protected wood door is a lovely termite draw, roughly ten feet from my house.

Holy renovation, batman

2008-01-29T13:24:00.001-06:00

Via livejournal's saucyhelp community, check out the vertical house. Truly inspiring.

Obsessed with!

2008-01-17T08:52:00.000-06:00

This!

It's from etsy seller almost famous. The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my most favorite films, and these two characters are some of my most favorite characters from any film, ever. This could work in my dining room. I'm not sure where, or how, but GOSH I really want it.

Dining goodness!

2008-01-16T14:05:00.000-06:00

I bought the table! It's mine! I love it. Here are some pictures of it in my dining room.

Quite a steal, I'd say, for only $115. And it's in really good condition. Only a couple water rings and other marks on the table top. It feels like a *real* table, compared to what I had before. It's also the perfect size for the room. I'm finding that to be maybe not such a coincidence- I realized the other day that all of my vintage MCM furniture is the perfect scale for my built-in-1950 house. I think I'd have a tough time maintaining the appropriate scale if I were buying all new, contemporary furniture.

Anyways, now the real fun begins. I want to recover the chairs, obviously. That icky brown leather doesn't do much for me. I'm having a tough time finding a fabric I like in an upholstery weight. So far the only contender is this print by Alexander Henry:

And I'm not sure I even like it all that much. It's hard to tell if the green would be right. I'm trying to make everything go with this marimekko fabric I have hanging on the walls:

I really want something BRIGHT on the chairs, so preferably it would be white, aqua, or lime green, or a mix of these three. Some brown as an accent would be okay. I guess I'll keep looking!

Potential craigslist dining table, part deux

2008-01-11T13:22:00.001-06:00

Look what I found.... Again! It's a different one, and this one looks better.

It's listed for $115. The chairs are kind of oddball, with three without arms and one with. Obviously some have gone missing or been broken, over the years. But, if the set is in as good of condition as it looks in the ad, I would be willing to put some work into it, if need be. Refinishing, reupholstering. It's quite a bit bigger than the dining table I have now, and I'm not sure how I'd feel about so much dark wood in the room, since the walls are beige and chocolate brown. I might paint the whole thing white. Would that be a sin? I've painted all the other mid-century tables I have in my house, so maybe that's just like, "my thing."

I'm going to look at it this afternoon, with a truck in tow! So if I like it, I'm getting it.

All quiet on the home front.

2008-01-09T08:35:00.001-06:00

I just thought I'd check in and say that I am, in fact, alive. Other things besides the house have been on my mind lately, that's all. I'm struggling with trying to decide whether or not to go to graduate school next fall. I'd much rather spend my days fantasizing about new furniture and remodels, believe me.

And a quick note, in that vein: I'm still considering getting a new dishwasher soon. I'm also considering a small "retail therapy" shopping trip to Rejuvenation, for some switchplate covers and new house numbers. Just some small little things to spruce the place up.

Bathroom paint: part deux

2007-12-29T22:39:00.001-06:00

Tomorrow I tackle the second coat in the bathroom. My motto this time is: Tape tha Shit Out the Motherf-cker. I think it was so exhausting last time because I had to go around so much *stuff* on the walls, that it was all very painstaking and slow going. Well, I've covered just about everything in there with tape, so I am ready to paint with abandon. I hope that makes it quicker and easier, at least.

I'm learning from experience in other ways, too. I checked my supplies tonight and did my last minute trip to Ace *tonight*, so I wouldn't have to tomorrow morning. I've got everything laid out, set up, and ready to go.

I'm also going to work in sections this time. I'm going to start with the tops of the walls, since they're heavily textured. I will finish that before I even think about starting the lower half of the walls, which are covered in that weird vinyl thing. I might not even do that part tomorrow, depending on when I finish the top half and how tired I am.

I'm ready to have it finished!!

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

2007-12-20T09:25:00.000-06:00

Okay, that's enough about the ice storm. My pile of branches (which I will take a picture of this weekend) will most likely sit in front of my house for a month or longer, as the city tries to find a private contractor to handle the $8.2 million worth of damage in my city alone (FEMA says it's equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane and Bush says we're a federal disaster area), so I will just have to live with it for awhile!

But look what I found on etsy.

This item is from another recently featured seller on decor8. I think this would look excellent in my living room! Maybe if it's still available after Christmas I will treat myself.

Ohh, there was another one I liked that she had for sale but it sold out yesterday! Darnit.

This is my last week at work until 2008, and I'll have plenty to do around the house during the break. If the weather cooperates, I'll do that second coat of paint in the bathroom. I'd also like to go to this cool looking local hardware store we have in town, because I think they sell the hardware I want for my bathroom. And if Santa is very nice to me, I just *might* be getting a new dishwasher soon.

Backyard, post-ice

2007-12-18T08:44:00.001-06:00

The major clean-up is all done. Here's what remains of my backyard.

I wanted to take a picture of "the pile" out front, but it started getting too dark. It's easily as tall as me, though (and I'm 5'2"). I'm really lucky that it wasn't any worse than this. I'm considering my options on the fence. It would be great to have a privacy fence on that side (you can see my view beyond the fence is not that great), but I don't know if I have the money for that now. Replacing the chainlink won't be expensive, though.

Oh, and my power came back on Friday night. So it was almost six full days without power. The house was 40 degrees on the inside when my thermostat kicked back on. It had warmed up to 70 about four hours later.

Still waiting.

2007-12-14T09:38:00.000-06:00

108 hours. No electricity. No sign of electricity trucks even in the neighborhood. At this point, my reaction is wavering between rage and amusement. I don't know whether to punch something and scream, or roll on the floor in insane laughter. I'm the only one left at my workplace who doesn't have power.

108 hours.

We're still supposed to get that snowstorm today, but after watching the weather, I think it might just be more of a rain event. And there could be freezing rain.

I went inside my house last night to check things out, with a huge industrial flashlight so I could see. Everything inside looks fine. I had some water collected in my bathroom cabinet, under the sink pipes, but I think it was just condensation. That pipe does that sometimes in normal weather. I wiped it down and put a towel down there, and with the water running, I can't feel anything coming out of the pipe, so I don't think it's a leak. If it is, it's just a very tiny one and not a big deal.

My neighborhood is nearly deserted. It's like a ghost town.

The city has announced they will be picking limbs up for the next TWO MONTHS. You only have to put them within five feet of the curb, and they can be as long as 12 feet. This is good. I already have most everything from the front dragged to the curb, and I don't think there's anything dangling in the trees in the front.

Maybe today. Maybe today is the day and my power will come back on.

Approaching 84 hours without electricity.

2007-12-13T09:27:00.000-06:00

I am still one of my town's thousands of people without power. My sister got her power back last night, and she lives only one block north and two blocks east of me. So hopefully today will be the day. It had better be, at least, because the snowstorm arrives tomorrow.

I had an extremely kind offer from an old, old friend to help clean up my yard. Her brother is assembling a crew and will be helping people out, free of charge. I feel strange about practically begging people for help, but sometimes leaning on others is a necessary part of life.

This is why I will need so much help. I took these pictures Monday afternoon, when the ice was still on the trees. And the damage is WORSE now, keep in mind. I haven't seen it since the ice has melted, and I kind of don't want to.

Looking at the front yard from the side of the house. The front is not nearly as bad as the back and won't take long to clean up (still though, it's worse now than in these photos.)

The backyard.

I'm very lucky that these limbs never collapsed on my line and ripped my meter box off. That happened to a friend of mine who lives a block north of me.

Stupid ice storm.

2007-12-11T23:35:00.000-06:00

I haven't had power at my house since Sunday night at 11:00 PM. I've lost one whole tree in my backyard, and most of the other two. The front yard isn't so bad. So far no structural damage to the house, as far as I can tell. There was no freezing rain today, but it rained all day long. So not only is my backyard full of tree limbs and parts, it's also flooded. I've been staying at my parents' house, because they have power.

If I think too much about the clean-up that awaits me, I feel paralyzed. So I'm trying not to do that. I'll do what I can, when I can. The house will eventually warm back up (it's hovering around 40 degrees right now). New food will fill the fridge. Everything will be okay.

This town looks like a warzone, though. Last I checked, still over 24,000 without power. And I'm one of them.

This has been a very trying first year as a home-owner.

Ice Storm 2007!

2007-12-09T21:52:00.000-06:00

These little ice storms are a different experience when you're a home-owner!! I've got nearly half an inch of ice outside. It's been *thundering and lightning* and raining ice at the same time! It started yesterday and will continue through the night tonight. I've got my first "snow day" off work tomorrow for the first time in over two years! I lived in Denver for a couple of years before moving back home last January, and not once during our fourteen to eighteen inch snow-blizzard storms did I get one snow day! Ahhh, it's good to be back home, where people are wusses about ice and snow. :) And I can laugh at all of them, with my mad ice-scraping skills and treacherous road driving skills.

But anyways, I've lost power five or six times tonight. It just flickers off and flickers back on. My trees are coated in ice, as are my gutters. I've heard a couple mysterious thumps, so I'm hoping I haven't lost any big limbs.

Before the storm arrived Friday night, I did manage to finally get some raking done! I hadn't raked leaves since I was a teenager, when I used to help out my mom. I forgot how tiring it is! With the aid of two friends, I finished the backyard. Twelve bags of leaves!! I didn't even get to the front yard, where the leaves are still ankle-deep and now frozen over. And, I still have my pumpkins... from Halloween... on my front porch and they're also frozen solid.

Everything should clear up by the middle of this week, then I can *finally* start Christmas shopping.

Eek! Etsy lust!

2007-12-07T23:36:00.000-06:00

This item is from a featured seller on decor8!

Ohmygosh I want that birdie soooo bad for my dining room!!! There is a whole mess of cute and unique things in this seller's etsy store! Like...

And...

I bought some stripa shelves at Ikea to hang in my dining room to display things on, but I haven't hung them yet because I don't have anything to display! And I want just the RIGHT grouping of items, you know? Things that I love.

Grr, if it weren't Christmas season, I'd splurge on these items right now! Maybe I will anyways. My present to myself. :)

Contemplating a "holiday" party.

2007-11-30T22:55:00.001-06:00

I'm a little scared to have another big party at my house. This is why.

That's what was left of my deck after my housewarming party in July. I know it wasn't my guests' fault (OH! She Who Shall Not Be Named is apparently not a realtor for the same prestigious brokerage anymore...I can't find her on the website. I assumed she would quit her job and begin life as a Fat Housewife [yeah, I said it, you should see all the Lane Bryant and fat underwear catalogs I get here for her] as soon as she unloaded this house.), but... Still. Scared.

Here's my tree! A lame picture of it, with the lights in my living room off. It is very difficult to photograph a silver tinsel tree when it's all lit up in broad daylight! Especially with my crappy camera. (Attn, Santa: please bring new digital camera this year.) It is a completely secular tree, well, as secular as a "Christmas" tree can get, anyways. Santa sits on top of it.

Dante keeps knocking the ornaments off and chasing them all over the house.

Painted bathroom!

2007-11-29T12:19:00.001-06:00

I've been sick this past week, so I kept forgetting to take pictures. Finally did. These are pretty true-to-color.

The dizzying array of color options I had, laid out on my beautiful tile.

Here are some pictures of the old color, for prosperity. Ick. So ugly. Not even Dante liked it. :)

I'm learning a bit about this light fixture. I assumed it was original to the house, since it looks old. Turns out these things are all over ebay, and listed as "Art Deco 1930s" light fixtures! Unless a prior owner of this house retro-fitted the bathroom with that fixture (and considering the acknowledgment given to other areas of the house in terms of "historical accuracy" or "period detail," I really don't find this likely), then I have a 1930s vintage fixture in my supposedly built-in-1950 house. That doesn't make a lot of sense. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm on to something here.

Ooooh, SCARY. Look at that hot pink that the walls used to be painted. At least I didn't have to deal with trying to prime that color.

Primed! But not primed well enough, I'd soon learn.

The sheet of vinyl that covers the lower half of the walls was very difficult to paint, especially with the primer. It did not want to cover evenly.

New color! "Mauve Tinge." It needs a second coat. You can see the blue through it in a lot of places, and I'm thinking that's effecting the way the color looks.

I think it highlights the tile really well. I'm still adjusting to the overall brightness of it. It's just such a big change in a very small space.

Ignore the sage green towels! I'll be getting new ones soon. Just can't afford to buy everything at once for it. I'm either going with dark gray or black. Don't know what I'll do for a rug; I WILL be getting rid of the two mangy white ones. I've settled on new hardware, and discovered that a local hardware and home renovation store here in town (not a big box!) actually carries what I want, so I don't have to pay for shipping through Rejuvenation! And just tonight, I won an auction on ebay for one of my 1920s "nudie girls." Now I just need to find a frame...

Deep into the transformation.

2007-11-23T19:01:00.000-06:00

My whole body hurts. Painting a bathroom, it turns out, is a lot harder job than I thought it would be. It's all primed now and ready for some new color.

On a last minute whim, I decided to go with the lightest color on the paint swatch I'd chosen. Previously, I was going to use the second-lightest. But after I got all that stark white primer on the walls, I was a little shocked at how much more OPEN the space seemed! My bathroom is tiny, people. (I just measured! It's 5'x7.5'!!! Holy cripey that is tiny!) I hadn't realized how dark that ugly purple was. So, I got scared and didn't want to put an as equally deceptively dark color on the walls, and opted to go for one shade lighter. I opened the paint can and looked at it, and it looks... well, a little TOO pink. Hopefully it will go on the walls better. The color is called "Mauve Tinge," and that's pretty much what it looks like.

But yeah, um, I hurt??? Painting behind the toilet was pretty difficult. Luckily I am a tiny person and have tiny hands, though.

Also, I learned my lesson on painting a smooth, vinyl surface. You can't use nappy rollers!! This seems obvious and kind of duh, but it didn't occur to me until I tried to use one and was left with a textured, nubbly surface. I guess it's just a rule that you can't paint a room without having to run to a hardware store for unexpected supplies.

I'm planning on tackling the rest of it tomorrow! Many pictures will follow. I'm really glad I decided to do this; it already looks SO much better in there.

Also, I've began considering the rest of the immediate transformation (new light fixture, new cabinet hardware, etc.). I found this light fixture at Target:

What do you think? Not a bad price, and it looks kinda 50s-ish.

Ready to paint!

2007-11-16T15:52:00.000-06:00

It only took me about two hours to prep the walls for painting in the bathroom. I cleaned 'em, sanded 'em (only where they needed it, to whittle down bumps), and patched some holes/loose plaster. I took some pictures, but I'll save those for the "after" post so you all can truly appreciate how nasty it was before.

I think it's going to look SO much better when I'm done... Can't wait!

I'm sore from stretching to patch the plaster above the window in the tub.

Miniature bathroom remodel!

2007-11-08T16:07:00.000-06:00

Last night I settled on a color for my bathroom walls! Finally. Sherwin Williams has the best colors. I've chosen one called "Wallflower," that is best described as a smoky, warm, pale gray-mauveish color. I'd post a picture, but Sherwin Williams' website won't let me grab an image.

So, the game plan right now is...

1. Prep the walls for painting. They're dirty and bumpy. I'm going to try to sand down the bumps on the lower halves of the walls, which are I *think* sheets of vinyl. Not sure at all about that.

2. Prep the caulk for painting. I've got a "baseboard" of plain white tile on the bottom of the walls, and the caulking on the joint of the walls and tile is in horrible condition and just plain ugly. I figure if I'm going to paint the walls I should re-do the caulk, too. I know that removing caulk isn't the funnest thing in the world, but my bathroom is so small, there's really not a lot of it.

3. Paint! Yay.

4. Re-caulk.

I hope to accomplish all of this by the end of Thanksgiving weekend. I've got a few days off between now and then, so I think it's do-able. Then eventually as part of my "mini remodel," I'll re-caulk the tub and clean this goop off the bottom edge of my tub. I don't know what it is. It's probably just old dirty caulk. But it really uglifies the front of my gorgeous art-deco-ish tub. Ooh, I might also paint the big cabinet on the wall and change out the hardware. Then eventually (when I have funds), I plan on changing the light fixture, putting a new mirror on my vintage medicine cabinet, removing the gas heater from the wall, and buying a new sink faucet. Whew.

If these walls could speak!

2007-11-06T23:07:00.000-06:00

Every once and awhile I remember this GREAT website that our local county tax assessor has. You can plug in any address, and it will give you all these details about the house. The last sales, the square footage, a floor plan, and even pictures! Today I decided to check out the details on my neighbors' houses. I learned a few things!

1. The people to the east of me DO rent. This explains several things.

2. The people to the west of me have a *huge freakin' house.* 1800 square feet. In my neighborhood, that's like... dinosaur-huge. They built the add-on themselves. He's a fireman and very handy.

3. Most interesting (hah, to me!), is that both of these houses on either side of me were built in the 1930s! And here I thought I was living in a post-war neighborhood. In fact, most of the houses on my street were built in the 1930s. Mine was built in 1950. Doesn't that seem odd? That a house would be built some 15 years later, *between* two existing houses?? I wonder if mine really wasn't built in 1950? I don't know, I thought that was very strange.

I suppose I could just ask the people across the street, as they are the original owners to their 1944 bungalow. They saw my house being built! I learned from my kind-of-nosy to the west neighbor that the people across the street got married when he was 21, and she was 12! He's 95 now. And they've lived in that one house since it was built. Can you imagine?

I just find my mind wandering off to strange places during the day, like, "I wonder if the grout on my bathroom tile was always that dark, or what color it was originally..." or, "I wonder if all the baseboards were painted aqua like that one in the living room...."

I know that, since the 1990s, I'm the third owner of this house. I wonder how many there were before that? Today I looked up another house that I had considered buying, and holy moly! That poor house has had no fewer than seven owners since the late 1980s. And more than two of them were quick flippers, buying and selling it in under three months' time.

I guess it's just the historian (and the geek) in me that wonders how this house effected other peoples' lives.

Checking in.

2007-10-15T15:00:00.000-05:00

I didn't get the mid-century dining set, for a couple of reasons. First of all, the ad was misleading (as things can sometimes be on craigslist), and it actually wasn't located in my town at all, but in a rural area kind of far away. I've been very busy the past week or so and just haven't had time to go out there. Plus, I'd have to use my dad's truck to pick it up, and they've been in and out of town. Sometimes things just don't work out! Oh well.

But, I think I've decided to buy a couple of things for my house in the next couple of months.

First, a screen door for my kitchen door. I have a steel door in my kitchen that leads directly to the driveway on the side of the house, and it has a doggie door in it. She Who Shall Not be Named had a doggie. Well, the doggie door leaks when it rains, when it's raining JUST hard enough and the wind is blowing at JUST the right direction. After I moved in, it took a long time to figure out where the water was coming from in my kitchen after it rained. Then one day I happened to be at home during one of these storms (Summer Monsoon 2k7), and saw the water coming in through the doggie door. It did this again last night as a rather large storm moved through. I don't have a gutter on that side of the house, and I think that would help some, but the wind could still blow it in. So I need a screen door. These are pretty cheap at Home Depot and installation is only something like $29. Can do. Should do. Because I'm not always home to towel up the rain, and it gets under my wood laminate floors, and that's probably not a good thing. Unless there's some attractive way to board up a doggie door? On a steel door, I'm not sure there is.

The second thing, definitely a dishwasher. My kitchen does a neat trick. If you touch the metal top of the dishwasher and a wet part of my stainless steel sink, you get electrocuted! Not a lot, just a tiny jolt, but man, that doesn't seem right! Or safe. I discovered this one day while cleaning. I wonder what causes it? I assume the wiring on the dishwasher is messed up.

So yeah. And still planning to paint the bathroom. Maybe this weekend I'll have time to go look at paint chips. I just don't have much time to get things done.

Potential craigslist score.

2007-10-11T08:33:00.000-05:00

Look what I found!

http://oklahomacity.craigslist.org/fur/445907495.html

Stuff like this is SO hard to find in central Oklahoma. I am so excited about the possibility of owning this. The water stains the lister mentions in the ad might be a concern, but for that price for both pieces, I would be willing to refinish them. Especially since a darker color wood would look better in my dining room, anyways.

But wow.

One time I went to an estate sale here in town, and they had a complete set of mid-century modern dining furniture. The table, buffet, hutch, chairs, all in perfect, pristine condition. And they wanted something like $800 for the set. Too rich for my blood. I'd mostly given up on the idea of having this type of furniture in the dining room, and was going to probably settle for an IKEA tulip table knock-off or something. I hate my current dining room table. It's that standard blond wood and white legs country style thing you can get at any furniture store for $100, with the four chairs. It's a leftover from college days, and was given to me for FREE by a friend when I moved into my first apartment on my own. I've only kept it thus far out of necessity.

But if I can get two pieces for that price... I think I should, don't you? Both pieces look like they have good bones, just maybe some cosmetic issues. And I'm no stranger to refinishing furniture. I would have to find some type of chairs to go with it, but that wouldn't be urgent.

I hope the lister responds to my email!! Wish me luck on scoring this awesome find.

Design lust.

2007-10-10T15:07:00.000-05:00

I want.

http://www.crestviewdoors.com/index.htm

Just a few weeks ago, I was wondering if something like this existed. (Back when I thought I was in dire need of a new front door.) Because I was quite unhappy with the selection at the big box stores. They seem to offer two categories of doors: cheap, cookie-cutter solutions that you see on every other house in the neighborhood, and amazingly expensive, unattractive wood Granny-esque doors.

But this: http://www.crestviewdoors.com/index.htm? That is awesome.

And expensive. But rightly so. Custom labor, built to specifications and period detail? Absolutely worth the money. Someday, someday.

Oh, in case you were wondering, I'm most in lust with the "Woodrow," for my own post-war bungalow.

New ideas and projects

2007-10-01T13:42:00.000-05:00

So, I've changed my mind. I'm not sure if I'm going to rebuild my deck this month. I have this (perhaps irrational) fear that there will be a lot of unexpected/hidden costs. Yeah, the lumber will only be $300. But what about tools? Paint? Sealant? Etc.? I'm just not sure. Maybe I would feel more compelled to do it if my backyard were a truly nice place to hangout, but it's just not. Too many mosquitoes.

Here are some fall projects I'm mulling over right now.

1. Repair all of the plaster cracks in my walls and ceilings. I was stupid and used that putty compound stuff to fill cracks with before I painted my dining room and living room. It's already starting to break apart. I've been reading up on plaster repair, and it seems simple enough. Hard, time-consuming work, but simple.

2. Paint the bathroom. The color the walls are now was actually one of the least offensive colors I had to deal with when I moved in. It's not bad, and goes alright with my lo-ve-ly vintage pink and lavender tile.

This is a picture I took when I looked at the house. That's a non-functioning gas radiator. She Who Shall Not Be Named told me the gas line running to it was capped. But you still won't find me playing with open flame in my bathroom...

The color is alright, but it's a *horrible* paint job. I suspect she used cheapo Wal-Mart brand paint. There are missing patches everywhere, and in some places, blue drips? I don't know what happened. I think the whole space would just look much fresher with a good paint job. I've been inspired by this post at SaucyDwellings to maybe do some sort of creative paint job. Maybe one color on top and one on bottom? There is a sheet of vinyl, I suspect, on the bottom and then regular walls on top. You can just see it, barely, in this photo.

I'm thinking about finding two colors that more closely match the tile. But would that be nauseating and too much? Maybe. I like the idea of vertical stripes, but I think that would just make my already small bathroom feel smaller (taller and more narrow). Anyways, it is small and there's not much to paint, so this wouldn't be that big of a project. Working around the toilet and above the shower would be the toughest part.

3. New dishwasher?? HMM! Maybe. I found a cheap one on craigslist, only a couple of years old, but then I called a plumber to see how much they would charge for installation. Almost $200. Yikes. That makes buying a used one completely not worth it, when Home Depot will install for only $20. And since brand new ones can be had for as cheap as $200. My current dishwasher?

(Nevermind the bizarre stuff on the counter and the paint-y rag hanging near the sink, this was right after I moved in!) You can see just a slice of it here, and believe me, this does not do justice to its oldness and disgustingness. I have no idea how old it is. 20 years? It's all rusted out on the inside. The cycles are about five minutes long. It's very loud. You have to wash every single crumb off the dishes or else they'll end up stuck on the glasses for all of eternity. The heated dry sometimes misses entire corners of the racks, and doesn't dry anything at all. I hate it. Maybe $300 on this instead of a new deck would be a more satisfying purchase.

I don't know, just more ideas to consider!

It really is a love/hate relationship.

2007-09-19T15:43:00.001-05:00

Sometimes, I get SO ANGRY over the fact that the woman who sold my house to me- a licensed REALTOR who works for one of my town's most prominent brokerages- was such a no-good, filthy liar. She took advantage of me, and flipped that house on the cheap over a period of ten years. I've learned quite a bit about deck construction in the past two months (wow, has it really been that long?), and the more I learn, the more obvious it becomes that a) her brother had no idea what he was doing and b) she outright lied to me about the materials used. Did you know that pressure-treated lumber is supposed to be stamped with all kinds of markings, saying where it was treated, how it was treated, etc.? Only TWO pieces of lumber that we pulled off that deck had any kind of stamp on them- and both of those pieces were ledger boards. The rest of the lumber was used, and some of it was even painted, from whatever prior life it had led. And all this, in a backyard they knew was prone to flooding. Sigh. Nevermind that the joists were not hung at proper spans, nevermind that they used rust-able nails in the joist hangers, nevermind that the support posts were not correctly set or spaced or utilized....

But, what's the use in whining and feeling victimized, right? It will all be fixed soon enough, and even better. My dad's design is going to be so strong that I could have 50 of my friends (do I have 50 friends?) out on it, and it wouldn't so much as creak. For those curious about this Hulk deck, it will have 2x6s spanning 16 inches on-center, with only five feet between the ledger and the rim joist. I'm not even concerned really with what it looks like, I just want it to be strong and built to last.

On the other hand, I really do love my house. I know I bitch a lot about it here, but that's just a by-product of the stress I feel in trying to manage it all on my own. Most nights after a 12 hour work day, I love coming home. A friend who is also young and owns his house told me I would find that my house would make a good companion. I didn't really get it back then. I think I do now.

Knowledge is power.

2007-09-18T15:30:00.001-05:00

Thanks to an Amazon rebate I got from Cox, I will soon be the proud owner of:

Because, you know, my to-do list wasn't long enough already. Now I will have all the knowledge I need to tackle the miscellaneous, small things that bother me about my house, like the cracked hallway ceiling and the dirty grout that holds my beautiful vintage bathroom tile together. If I get really adventurous, I could even attempt becoming an amateur electrician and upgrading the outlets in my house to GFCIs.

I should probably also get this one:

But eh. One ADD scatter-brained list at a time.

Dreaming of what might be

2007-09-11T15:19:00.000-05:00

Organizational porn, for my Virgo/ISTJ brain:

Elfa's decor shelving.

The two (yes, a whopping TWO) closets in my house are woefully dysfunctional. I am thinking of holing up in my house for the rest of the week and designing two new closets. And just seeing how much it would cost. Just for fun. It probably wouldn't be that much, since my closets are so small. I'm thinking I could do it for $150-250 per closet.

Speaking of holing up, fall is here in central Oklahoma. Experiencing the changing of the seasons in my house is kind of fun. I keep realizing different things I'll get to experience. Wondering what colors my trees' leaves will turn. Having to rake leaves (or not). Carving and displaying my own pumpkins on my own front porch for Halloween. Having actual trick-or-treaters. Hanging lights outside my house for Christmas. Putting up political yard signs.

The changing weather and the peacefulness of my own abode have also rekindled my knitting bug. I haven't actually picked up the needles again yet, but I keep staring at my yarn stash (and oh, what a glorious stash it is- full of merino wool, mohair boucle, handpainted treasures), thinking of the coziness that could be.

Picture time!

2007-09-09T22:04:00.001-05:00

Proof that, sometimes, I get things done.

My new front porch, courtesy IKEA.

And zinnias, from my garden, which continues to grow beautiful things, despite my woeful neglect and abuse.

I love my doormat! It's from Target.

My new fixed door lock! You can see the part on the door where the old lock sat, just to cover up that gray area, for no good reason.

My jerry-rigged but functional strike plates.

I bought these wall decals from IKEA, and I wasn't sure about them at first. But they're GROWING on me. Oh man, I kill myself. I do need to do something about the huge blank wall they're on, though. Still figuring that one out. (And don't you dig my awesome estate sale find mid-century modern chair? 25 smackeroos.)

It's good to remind myself of things I've finished.

House drama

2007-09-09T16:40:00.000-05:00

1. A huge tree limb fell off one of my trees in the front yard this morning, for no good reason. There was no storm. No rain. No wind. It just fell. My dad came over to help me chop it up into tiny pieces. I guess it was just dead. There were huge ants and crickets and weird millipede things in it. It was gross.

2. Discovered this morning that the french door in my living room has ceased functioning. Needs a new lock. Needs sanded. Spent $40 this afternoon at Home Depot on another freakin' lock.

3. My dad, who works in the construction industry, can get all the lumber I would need AND lumber decking boards for my deck for only $300. Worth it? I'd have to do all the labor myself, well, with my dad and whoever he and I could find to help. Right now, I'm leaning towards doing this. Originally I thought I wanted to redesign the entire area and do something different. But, I am not a rich woman and this won't be financially feasible for probably a couple of years. My dad insists that the lumber used by She Who Shall Not Be Named was UNTREATED, even though she told me it was treated. Obviously she is also a Big Fat Liar. He thinks that with good grade, treated lumber I would get another ten to fifteen years on the deck- but would have to keep up with the maintenance, with washing, sealing, etc. So, $300 to buy me some time until I decide what I really want to do? $300 to make my back door usable (as long as it opens and locks) again and to not have a huge hole in backyard? I'm starting to think it's worth it.

Accomplishment!

2007-09-06T11:32:00.000-05:00

Guess who has a fully functioning, fixed front door lock?? That would be ME. Guess who did it completely by herself?? That would be ME! I'm pretty proud of myself.

And just like everything else in this house, I discovered what had gone wrong while I was fixing it. The reason my front door lock was all gunked up and stuck half the time?? The damn hole where the deadbolt went was completely filled up with WOOD PUTTY. And was gunking up the parts of the lock that needed to move in order to, you know, operate. The hole was filled with wood putty because for some reason, even though the door holes were drilled correctly for the locks, the surface of the door was chiseled off in a wider circumference- so they had moved the deadbolt casing around to cover that up, and had to fill the hole with wood putty to get it to stay in place! Oh my goodness. She Who Shall Not Be Named was truly a moron.

Anyways, the whole thing is fixed now and everything fit on correctly. I even have four keys now to my front door! Previously, I only had one that worked all the time, and another that worked half the time.

I'm pleased with myself!

Back from Dallas

2007-09-05T23:41:00.000-05:00

I had to leave the humble abode for a couple of days for a short trip with my mother to Dallas and Ft. Worth. I am back, with IKEA purchases in hand, and exhausted. And an extremely messy house. It looks like an unfinished project bomb exploded in here.

Tomorrow: I buckle down, and GET SHIT DONE. Install new door lock. Clean-up front porch. Hang my bedroom lantern finally. Do massive loads of laundry. Maybe try to fix the kitchen door lock.

I need a house husband...

Damnit.

2007-08-27T13:59:00.000-05:00

Why are plumbers so freakin' expensive?

In other news, I'm on my way to having a fixed front door lock. Just one more trip to Ace tonight for a different kind of screw. Then it will be time to tackle the kitchen door.

In addition to having Home Improvement ADD, I think I'm starting to get Home Improvement Guilt, or something. I imagine it's how most new mothers feel- like nothing you do is good enough, like there's something better you could always be doing, like all the other mothers are looking at you and thinking, "She's a horrible mother!" I feel this way about my house. I've really let my garden go, because I'm LAZY and hate watering (also, it probably has something to do with working 50 hours a week). I've killed a few mum plants, some vines, and even some bushes. I can excuse it by saying, "It's horrible for the environment to waste water on plants!" And while this is true, it also makes for an ugly garden. The whole thing is just TOO MUCH to take care of. I feel overwhelmed just looking at it from inside my house. It doesn't help that my next door neighbors have an absolutely stunning garden and yard, complete with koi pond, hand-built gazebo and arbor, and window boxes. Even though I've always made fun of it, I can totally see how people get roped into competing with their neighbors on things like this. It's easy to feel inadequate! I know I shouldn't care what my neighbors think. But I do wonder if they're mumbling under their breath, "Wow, she's really let that place go..."

I could also use this failure of mine as an opportunity to turn my backyard into something *I* want. I'm not crazy about the boring design, or the complete random mish-mash of flowers scattered here and there. I want something more environmentally friendly. Something more suited to Oklahoma's climate. Something easy to take care of.

Home Improvement ADD

2007-08-22T11:26:00.000-05:00

I have a problem. I am unable to commit to any one home renovation project. This is partly why I started this blog. I thought, it will help me to write about the plans I have so I can get them out of my head, where all they do is swim around. This is not happening.

Here is a list of the projects swimming in my head.

First, there are the things necessity dictates I must do:

Fix the front door lock situation. Either repair the existing door and lock, or get a whole new shebang.
Fix the kitchen door lock, and possibly install a screen door to prevent water from coming in when it rains.
Call a plumber. My bathtub and bathroom sink are draining very slowly.
Do *something* about the hole in my backyard where my deck used to be. Rebuild a deck, make a patio, do something completely different, whatever.

Then, there are the things that I would like to do:

Install new light fixtures in the dining room, hallway, bathroom, and possibly kitchen. Rejuvenation will be my friend. I am fairly sure the fixtures in the hallway and bathroom are original to the house, because they actually look like the "Modern America" fixtures from Rejuvenation. But, She Who Shall Not Be Named ruined them by painting the bases. Quel dommage. The fixture in the dining room is from the 1970s and hideously bland.
Update the exterior facade of my house. I'd like to paint the shutters a different color, and do something different on the porch. I know I at least want to remove the chintzy, cheap trellis stuff. Get new house numbers from Rejuvenation. Remove the peeling paint from the porch, and either stain the concrete, or lay something down on top of it...Pavers, tile, FLOR's outdoor carpet tiles, whatever
Do *something* with the windows. My house has, except for one, all of the original built-in-1950 sash windows intact. Only one actually opens in each room. Some are missing the pulleys, some have broken rope, and most are missing the handles. I could spend a lot of time and money trying to "restore" them, or I could just get new windows. This will be very expensive and will most likely, when the time comes, be done very slowly over a long period of time.

I'd say that is a pretty sizeable list of things to do. Not to mention expensive as hell. It's weird being (almost) 25 and thinking, "I really shouldn't go shopping for clothes. I need to save for a front door." I think it will take me a long time to get used to not having a landlord to call to fix any little thing. Also, I am someone who thrives on working towards a goal and finished projects. Living with this much in flux is very difficult for me!

But, it will all get done...eventually. That's the other thing that will take a long time to sink in. This is my home, for the forseeable future. I have moved ten times since I was 18, and since then, I haven't lived in one place for longer than 21 months. And I am only three months into a 30 year mortgage...

Attn: robbers, murderers, and rapists!

2007-08-20T23:06:00.000-05:00

I discovered tonight that my front door has not been locking AT ALL. My deadbolt was already out of commission, because the bolt wasn't lining up with the hole. So I had just been using the door handle lock. And I thought I was locking my door. As in, you couldn't get in from the outside. When it was "locked."

Apparently all this time a simple shove would've opened the door, even with the door handle locked from the inside. At least a rapist didn't teach me this lesson, right?? I guess that's a positive way to look at it.

Oh, how I love the previous owner of my house. She Who Shall Not Be Named did so many FABULOUS things to my house. Tonight I discovered another one. See, the problem with the door was that both of the strike plates were not aligned properly with the locks on the door, and sticking too far out, not leaving enough space for the locks to "catch" inside the door frame. I saw this and thought to myself, "Self, this could be a simple fix. I just need new strike plates, or at least ones that are installed correctly." So I took them off. And oh lordy me.

I think the door frame is the original door frame to the house, and I think it was retro-fitted for this particular door and these particular locks. And I think She Who Shall Not Be Named had her genius brother or father do this (for further examples of her brother's genius, see: deck collapse). There are giant holes chiseled in the door frame to allow for the locks. So big, that a normal size strike plate cannot be properly screwed in place. At least, not that I can discern.

The temporary good news is that with both of the strike plates removed, BOTH locks work properly! Tonight my deadbolt is locked for the first time in months. But, the locks are sitting in an old wooden frame, which I know is not safe. Someone could kick it in pretty easily. But, at least the door is actually locked now.

And also lucky for me, I purchased an entirely new lock set at Home Depot last week. So I just have to figure out how to install it. Or have my dude friends help me figure out how to install it. :) Looks like I have a weekend project. And I need to tackle my kitchen door too, because the deadbolt there doesn't work anymore, either. Oh, the joys of owning a 57 year old house.

Like Lichtenstein, but not!

2007-08-15T21:34:00.001-05:00

Perhaps now would be a good time to explain the VERY rough idea I have for my living room. It all started with this picture I found in domino magazine's gallery archives.

This seemed perfect. I wanted red and black in my room, and I already have a lot of heavy mid-century modern furniture. But it always seemed too serious and...boring. Plus I'd been trying to find another color to bring in, and aqua was a new idea.

So this has been the image I've kept in the back of my head for sometime now when trying to decorate my living room. I don't want to re-create it perfectly; I don't like the silhouettes, for one, and while I like the *idea* of the black trim on the walls, I'm not sure how hot it would look on my heavily-textured walls. It seems more suited for the type of walls shown here.

Anyways, I looked at Lichtenstein prints and even Andy Warhol prints, and came up sort of empty-handed. They all seemed old and too familiar and over-done.

Tonight, though! I found some pretty awesome stuff on etsy. I've tried to find original pop art before on etsy, but never had much luck. Look what I found tonight!

These are perfect and I want them. If only I had $300 for original art...

Fait Accompli!

2007-08-15T20:58:00.000-05:00

I did it. Not perfectly, but I did it.

I quite like them. Here is a close-up of the pattern and my lovely red walls (which need a third coat, I'm well aware).

I'm also pretty crazy about the Marimekko prints I have hanging in my dining room. I stretched the fabric around the canvasses and stapled them myself.

RIP Mitch Hedberg.

2007-08-13T18:23:00.001-05:00

"I went to the Home Depot the other day, which was unnecessary... I need to go to the Apartment Depot, which is just a big warehouse with people standing around saying 'Hey, we ain't gotta fix shit!'"
- Mitch

I just got back from returning something at the Home Depot. The lady at the return counter said, "Let me guess, it was for an apartment?"

What, you mean I don't have home-owner written on my forehead? Damnit.

Sometimes it is hard.

2007-08-12T21:31:00.001-05:00

The first entry to "My House is My Boyfriend," this here blog, will be a documentation of a sad, sad evening.

Being a single, female, YOUNG home-owner is overwhelming, most of the time. Sometimes even the smallest of tasks turn into an ordeal. And to someone used to having a man around to fix that or do this, it's doubly difficult. This does not contradict the fact that I am very independent and always have been. So yes, I can be terrified of my mortgage, frustrated I don't have a man around to just FIX THE DAMN THING, *and* be disappointed for not just bucking up and figuring it out myself, all at the same time. It's a triumvirate of failure, in my Type A/ISTJ/Virgo perfectionist world.

Tonight the task was to hang my new curtains. I bought some awesome new curtains on sale at Urban Outfitters, that perfectly match the 50s/pop art vibe I'm trying to go for in my living room:

Pretty awesome, huh? I love them. Anyways, I went to Home Depot this afternoon to buy some hardware to hang them with. The "invisible rod" I bought to hang them on from CB2 didn't come with hardware. I knew I needed drywall anchors of some sort, because my built-in-1950 walls are pretty brittle and don't support much weight with plain ole screws or nails.

I brought my friend Randy with me, because I don't know, I feel better in Home Depot with a male by my side. Yes, I am really a feminist. I promise. Randy's an engineering student, so I figured he would know his stuff when it came to...drywall anchors. I don't know. He insisted I buy this kind I'd never used before. The anchor part was metal...The little instructional picture on the side of the box showed the whole thing being hammered in, and the screw being unscrewed afterwards so you could hang something on it. Alright.

Well, that didn't exactly work. I don't know why. Hammering the entire thing completely destroyed the little holes for the screwdriver on top of the screw (like I know what those are called), so it was pretty damn hard to pull the screw back out so I could hang the bracket on it. So then I tried hammering the whole thing in with the bracket already screwed to it, and nope. Wouldn't work. I ended up pulling one out of the wall completely, so now I have another giant gaping hole in my poor, poor old walls. After already patching and painting over holes earlier this afternoon.

Day 3 without curtains. Hopefully tomorrow evening I can finally figure it out. After I call another boy I know for advice. Hah.