Mulch Anyone??

This has been the scene outside my kitchen window ALL summer. I called last April to have the "tree" removed and that is just how long we have been on the waiting list.

They finally showed up to take it away and we were left with the giant decaying stump for a few days.

Now we have a lovely mountain of mulch. I filled half the garden by the garage though it hasn't really made a dent. Fortunately I can do behind the garage, beside the neighbor's garage, the side of the house, under the deck...and the list goes on so I think I will be able to find a spot for all of it.

The birds are cranky and confused now as they found it to be a great hang out spot in the evenings. They will probably move over to our roof now and poo all over to show their anger.

There's a bathroom on the right?

Warning: The following images may be disgusting and shocking. Shocking in I have been able to live in a house with this bathroom for so long. Another shocking thing I will admit is this bathroom may have sold me on the house. It is approximately 9'x9' and has the original medicine cabinet, clothes chute, sink and tub.

A reminder of how it looked when we first moved in.

If it wasn't for the cute peg leg sink this picture would have absolutely nothing going for it.

First I had to knock some ceiling down. As you can see the previous owners got a little creative in their patchwork. From what I hear, part of the tree fell on the roof and I'm not sure if it went all the way through but it resulted in a large portion of plaster falling off the ceiling.

Someone built this odd cabinet around the clothes chute. It is handy to store things in but it just doesn't fit the cute vision I have for this bathroom so it had to go away.

The clothes chute is free from its confines and what do we see? Apart from the fact it appears a previous cabinet had also been built around the clothes chute, we spotted some 60's flower power wallpaper!

Of course I had to carefully peel it off the wall and then put it through the scanner. I love the colors and the little lady with the flower hair is my favorite. Fortunately for Mark, these small portions were the only remainder of the wallpaper.

Yes! faux subway tile! Both houses I grew up in had it. It must have been standard if you didn't have enough money for tile you could simply have it stamped into the plaster. Though my parent's house was built by a doctor and not only was it found in 3 bathrooms but it was in the kitchen as well. We suspect he was just too cheap or he told his wife if she really wanted 4 bathrooms (the maid's room didn't have the fancy plaster) in a place and time when 1 indoor bathroom was a luxury, he wasn't going to pay to tile all of them!
Anyways, I would keep it but it is cracked and impossible to repair (I made the attempt at my parent's) plus I believe the wall by the bathtub has been completely replaced so it doesn't exist over there at all.

So my parent's left Sunday night and this is what it currently looks like. The wiring is still the knob and tube here and FYI, yes, yes they did rig up four outlets together using this wiring. The wiring is fine though not meant to have a hair dryer and what, wait? how/why would you have to plug in 4 things at once in here above a single sink?? Anyways, my dad is rewiring, putting in a safety plug and moving the awkward light switch down (see my test plate) plus he will hopefully get rid of that horrid Hollywood light bulb concoction above the sink. I do have a replacement fixture which I'm excited to get up. Also note the random boards under the fixture. What once was knotty pine paneling is 1/4" thick so the mirror doesn't fit flat on the wall. All in all, one giant mess!

Welcome Billy!

Billy the Bookcase that is!

Of course, since we had to drive through Minneapolis why not spend the day at Ikea? (after a quick run to the Lego and Sanrio stores across the street)
My mom has been pining over the cube shelves since she first laid eyes on them last year. We only had the PT Cruiser so my dad and I literally had to tear her away from the shelves as she decided to give them a hug and then refused to let go. Since this year we brought the van and left my dad at home I too decided to jump on the organizational unit bandwagon with a Billy Bookcase. Yes, the line is called Billy. I do not name my bookcases despite the fact that does sound like something I would do.

Cammie wanted to help...or claim the boxes. She currently has a fort she made for herself out of the empty boxes in the dining room.

Yay! I did it all by myself and it only took about 10 minutes to put it all together and get to this point.

To differentiate this cheapy bookcase from just a cheapy Target bookcase I got glass doors to classy it up which extended my 10 min assembly to approximately 2 hours. I was too lazy to run down to the basement and find the electric screwdriver plus I figured I would crack or drill right through them. Mark's short bookcases look silly now so I guess I will have to get a Billly #2 and a Billy #3 to match.

What do I currently have on Billy?

I thought this shelf turned out cute and I also know I will just keep piling on little critters so I better get a picture now.

Ninja? Wrestler?, Hamsters? Mice? Del Taco. And Nicolette (I know you secretly stalk my blog) I now have a good spot for my mini mug you gave me. Good as long as Mark doesn't get too excited when pulling out one of his outdated Almanacs.

No, there are no longer any Cookie-Crisps or trolls inside this box. They were removed and eaten probably close to 20 years ago now. *gasp* Now I feel old and am wondering why I think a cereal box is appropriate to use as a decoration

Giants Up North

Last year on my trip to Minnesota I discovered the joy of posing next to ridiculously large statues along the road.

I mean, who could resist the call of giant ice cream or a monster viking??

This past week I was back and decided to see what else I could find. I tracked down Paul Bunyan in Bemidji

His native friend across the street (my picture with him must be on Mom's camera)

Some guy with no feet in Big Falls

Smokey Bear and family in International Falls

Husky the Musky in Kenora, Ontario

a Dala horse in Cloquet

and Lego Woody at the mall - a bunch of Japanese girls were pointing towards me (I'm hoping towards the general direction of the Lego store and not me) so this will be my excuse for my awkward pose though I do see my pant leg is all bunched up so maybe those girls were pointing at me.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Fourth of July!! I was messing with my fireworks mode on my camera so these are some of the pictures which I thought came out kind of nifty.

Hot Water is Nice

Why do I have a picture of a shiny new hot water heater? No, it's not to contrast with the disgusting basement floor. It's because the other one died. I was very excited to come home from work to find this one all installed and ready to use!
Monday night I unknowingly used the last bit of hot water to wash a load of sheets then Frankie went to take a shower. Oops!! We lit the pilot light and went about our business until I went to do dishes an hour later and still no hot water at all. It was then we discovered the pilot light was not staying lit. So it was time to decided whether it was an easy fix or worth making a warranty request. We first decided it was just the little piece telling the gas to stay on when the pilot was lit and was an easy fix. But then we heard water dripping and Frankie checked the inside bottom, yep, it was rusting through. Mark turned of the water to it and tried to drain it just in case it rusted completely out. The last few days have been spent heating up water the old fashioned way in order to do dishes and take old tyme baths. I am very much delighted to be back in modern times with hot water from a faucet.

However, it appears with this water heater I have to watch out for human-sized, flame throwing gas cans along with flesh eating Hot Burn coming from the faucets.



I also got the dining room furniture arranged...on the opposite side of the room from where it should be but that means the floor is getting closer to being done. Ugh, the curtains! The curtains are still ugly circa 1994 but what can I say, they are curtains at least.

The current status of the dining room floor.

The closer to the ugly, yet unfortunately handy back door, the more the floor looks like this. Carpet tape and shoe crud.

Cloud Pictures

The scary cloud pictures need an entry of their own plus I have to make up for my lack of postings! I didn't want to go outside and risk a hail injury so they are taken through the window and they probably look scarier as a result.