the yard previously (c. april 2005). sodded and pretty. we did not know that it was sodded. thus, come august, with no waterings, it shriveled and dried, like the old bag on the lara croft game i'm playing. notice the gravel path. after two months with the dog, the gravel was scattered across the yard. we didn't like the boring brick patio, either. i also wasn't big on the 'log' flowergardens. 

and the work begins...

ken has spent the past two months replacing the rotten, ant-bloated fence, picket by picket. we managed to grow back some of the grass, too (this time by seed).

the fence progresses...

i dug up most of the gravel path, down to eight inches, in order to fill the hollowed path with dirt with sand. then i laid down colonial grey flagstone (notice the removed bricks on the right).

my forty-five dollar honeysuckle bush. pretty then. now struggling to survive powdery mildew. i treated with fertilizer and fungicide. now it's a waiting game. that's what i get for buying forty-five dollar plants.

a free flower (perennial) that popped up in the side yard.

my ten-foot lilacs. actually, they're only about seven feet tall here. i cut them back by one-third, hoping to get lower blooms and new shoots next spring, rather than blooms ten feet in the air.

the construction zone.

my long-awaited hydrangea bushes. still puny, but they'll get there.

the rose bush, hanging off of our ten-dollar home depot trellis. i cut it back and shifted it around, and now it's blooming like a thirteen-year old.

the patio...dug out and filled in and tamped down and leveled.

i planted 'steppables' (creeping thyme, miniature stone crop, etc.) that will spread between the stones.

the filled and tamped patio, with interspersed astilbe and salvia and delphinia.

my tomato and pepper plants. blooming, but no fruit, yet.

the sweet basil (ppppeeeesssssstttooo) and a bucket o catnip.

Well, it's been some time since I've graced the joint, but here goes (Alice, you'll have to help with pasting photos here, until I figure this shit out, and get my own blog going.)

Ok, some of the latest news here at the Nuthouse at Perrin:

Here's a almost final look at the parlor, complete with curtains (thanks mom for sewing them for us):

We have spent the last few weeks working over the "office" room. Originally, this is what the place looked like:

After removal of the carpet, installation of bamboo flooring, a reversal of color for the trim and walls (dark trim to light, yadda, yadda, yadda), a bit of organization of furniture & such, and a relocation of the fish tank, we have arrived at this:

The walls are BRIGHT. I don't hope I burn out the retinas when the sun comes out on a regular basis. A startling change, to say the least. Strangely, I'm not terribly bothered by the scheme: I've seen  couple renovated homes that have used the bright yellow/off white on the exterior. Somehow, it makes a statement... what statement, I've haven't the slightest yet. And we haven't made a screaming run back to Lowes or Home Depot for another change.

On a side note, I hope everyone has an excellent Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever. Travel safe, and see y'all soon.

Also, I'll give a big thumbs-up and A-ok to the US Judge who ruled against the Dover, PA school board. I don't know what the heck those board members were thinking. ID is a faith-based notion, no way about it. My father was president of the school board in Canastota back in the day. A religious man, but regardless of his moral/ethical/religious beliefs, he would have never signed up for this scheme. Separation of Church & State, that's all it boils down to in Dover, not some long dead monkey. If you want your hankering of ID, go to a private school. But enough of that, for now. Thanks Dad.... see you in a few days. And Mom and the rest of the fam too.

lounging in the bedroom while the sheets are getting washed

puttin' down the bamboo floor.

jake looking like the cat in the home depot book

ken's parents and sister graciously traveled about 800 miles to help us with the house for the past week, and we are forever indebted. watch the evolution!

the previous post....

ken's mom sorts out a sticky situation

the molding...the horrible, horrible, $&*(ing MOLDING

locked away in the utility room. sorry, dog. (he still managed to get red paint all over himself, regardless).

the pseudo-end result. we need to break out the laser to hang the pics.

the fireplace is cooooolllll (in more ways than one!)

need....curtains....

powertools and pets

the pocketdoors, which ken's dad labored to set back on track by vacuuming huge chunks of plaster out of the grooves and track.

moving onto the ... um... middle room. we can't quite call it a dining room, since we don't have a dining set and eat most of our meals glued to some oft-repeated episode of l&o: svu. so, this is the middle room. and this is the firt piece of pre-painted moulding tested out on the one-hundred-year-old plaster that crumbles if you look at it cross-eyed.

moe is threatened with the well-practiced 'nostril miner'

but ken is quickly put back into place by the head supervisor.

with a deep-tinted primer gracing the walls, the installation of ceiling fan two begins.

...zzzzzzzzz....

putting the second coat on the moulding

vacuuming away the sanded wood hump in the floor with style

the moulding...the moulding...the $&*(ing MOLDING!!!!

lasering in the first bamboo board

the progress. molding...almost...complete. need...new...glass...for...bosch...print...bought...at...louvre...because...ken...played...frisbee...golf...with...it...

the burger king-colored kitchen (not our fault!), al capone's vault, and the ceiling fan, pineapples and all

pretty moulding!!

the next shots will include the tri-colored bamboo floor and a completely moulded ceiling

over the past week, we've been doing some mega-remodeling of the house, and here are some shots:

the evolution of the living room:

still in progress...

the drum sander vs. the bathroom floor (which doesn't look too much different YET)

the hardest worker of all....

lasers shooting from his eyeballs (actually the camera flash reflecting from the panes of glass, but more fun seeing it the other way)

it's almost that time. the day of reckoning is nigh. we have paint (i'll finally get a red room), new ceiling fans, and twelve boxes of bamboo wood flooring to install (in addition to a thousand feet of wiring). the first three weeks will be spent removing the paint from the moulding and staining; installing the floors; rewiring the house. then comes the move, probably just by us (which will be interesting). later comes the new fence (so the dog doesn't give the neighbors strokes), a repaint on the house, and maybe a one-car garage. i figure we should be completely broke by next march.

borrowed from derek

Well after four days of hell, we got our house. At asking price, but whatever. Closing is on June 30. We have inspection on Thursday, and I'm none too excited to meet the people who made our lives miserable for the past week. YES!!!

Well I feel like complete crap. I just wrote a long email to dr. b., and I still don't feel purged, so I'm going to bitch some more. I was introduced tonight to the oh-so-ethical joys of house hunting. A house across the street went on the market last week, and I immediately called regarding said house. Made an appointment to view it. Walked through the horrible paint job and blue and green destroyed woodwork. And we went to the bank, paid the $80 for a mortgage application, found ourselves approved for the sum of the house, and placed an offer that was 6k below the asking price around 6PM on Tuesday. We received notice the this morning that another potential buyer had placed an offer higher than ours, and in seemingly "good faith," the selling realtor "gave us permission" to rebid, since we were first bidders. So, Ken, in love with the house, bid the full price. And stapled another $500 onto the earnest deposit. The company called at 5PM, asking if we would wait until Friday and hold our offer, so that they might return to it after "dealing" with the other buyer. So, in other words, they asked us to rebid and hold onto the price in order to pressure the other buyer with the greater "collateral" to throw up some more cash. We told them no-thank-you, that they had done enough damage to our trust in this business bullshit. So we spent the past few hours driving around to different houses, to no avail--most are rundown, have no yard, and destroyed the interior. This will probably amount to us not buying a house while we're staying in Indiana.