The Fixer Upper

Man, have I got my work cut out for me. Feel like I have spent a mint and we are only 2 days into the improvement projects. Thank goodness I have my friends Ronnie and Shannon helping. Shannon has been working on the colors and painting, as well as some decorating ideas. She has painted the living room, my bedroom and walk-in closet. Tomorrow, I start with the little painting jobs like the inside of some storage spaces and a couple of walls that will be located behind the fridge and stove. Ronnie just tears everything up :) Really, she's just working on the other projects that ironically do require some minor construction work - i.e. replacing the ugly tile back splash in the kitchen, fixing the sliding glass door so I can ACTUALLY come and go to my vehicle through it (like locking and unlocking the door), and redoing the master bath by replacing the vanity, medicine cabinet and lights (I don't care what you say, I DO like the new lights I picked out!).

Some unexpected costs came up like putting a new electrical outlet for the stove and replacing the outlet for the new fridge. My friend Roger came over and did that for a reasonable price. The fridge has to be smaller (to 35" wide) than the average width (36"). Since this is not a common size in the "use 'em again" stock at Habitat for Humanity, ended up spending twice as much as I intended. But I have to tell you - it's like buying a new car. It has all the bells and whistles and I'm REALLY excited for it! Just knock me upside the head. . .

So the two pictures you see are of the kitchen (uggh) and master bath (double ugg). I'll post the pictures of the transformations when they are done. It'll be like night and day!

Stay tuned for the new saga in my life. . .

FINALLY! (and the retirement party)

Got word today, able to close on the 14th of July! I'm scared sh@#$%ss!! Really, I'm excited but kind of nervous at all I have to do now. So much needs to still be done. . . I took all of next week off so I have the entire time to paint and do whatever else I need to do before moving my stuff. I really have the rest of the month to get a lot of it done, but would like to get my 1/2 month's money's worth and live in my own home. Have to fix some pretty minor plumbing issues, get some cable strung upstairs so I can hook up my TV and computer and work on the bathrooms. At least now I can go get that fridge and stove and tile and lights and such at the HFH store to start with - get the good stuff immediately before anyone else gets smart and buys it for themselves!

Have to mention this. After 6 months in a different job, my former boss, Skip, decided to retire. It was a shock to me, as I thought he'd stay at least 2 more years before he retired. My friend Sue (from our Salt Lake office) came out the night before so we could go shopping for Skip's gifts and get the scrapbook put together. After talking to his wife, Laurie, a couple of weeks earlier, we found that the best gift would be to outfit him with fly-fishing gear. Apparently 2 of his sons have really gotten into it and want dad to get started with it. Sue and I had fun shopping around the Bass Pro Shop. We had a great sales person who helped us stay within budget with a little $$ to spare - walked us through everything. By the time we got done that night with everything (including dinner), we were absolutely pooped.

I picked up Sue on Monday morning from the hotel and went to work. Since she had a bunch of reports to do, she took over my computer for a lot of the time, so I just piddled around and did little stuff that I had been putting off.

That night, we had the retirement party at Pappadeaux's Seafood Kitchen in Westminster. Boy, I really like that place! It was the second time I had been - food was great and so was the wait staff. It was about a 3-hour dinner with speeches, memories and unwrapping of gifts. We systematically gave items to Skip to open - I think it took him opening a few before he figured out what he was getting! I'm sure he thought "wow - more fishing gear" but didn't expect it to be so specific. It was a fun night, where I got a little crying off my chest and hung out with the folks from work without being AT work. That is always a good time. But again, by the time I left, I was just dead tired.

So - that is my update for now. House and parties. What more can you ask for?