Holly’s Happenings

With the location of our house, enough mosquito’s to carry a large elephant away, and having 4 dogs that bark at every tiny noise, let alone people coming to the house, having a garage/yard sale here is not something that’s possible! My kids have both changed clothing sizes a few times in the past couple of years and we have an overabundance of clothing that they can’t wear any more. On top of that I have stuff that I haven’t used for a very long time.

So, what does a person do when they have stuff that they can no longer use or no longer want? They have a yard sale! And since we really can’t have one here, we’re going to have one at my sister’s house this weekend. I’m telling you I have so much stuff here that I can no longer use, and it’s time to SELL IT! So I’ve spent the past few days packing up things like clothing, lamps, computer monitors, keyboards, mice, printers, outgrown pet beds, roller blades and some of the strangest looking knick knacks on the face of the earth…LOL!

I’m SOOOOOOO ready to get rid of some of the clutter that we’ve carried with us through the past few moves we’ve made! It’s true that you collect things over time that you really no longer need or use and frankly, I’m just really tired of seeing it lay around taking up space! Come heck or high water I AM going to get the rest of this house organized before the kids come home!

With the recent discovery of one of the handles being broken on the kitchen sink faucet, there’s no denying that we have to replace it sooner rather than later. The one thing that I’ve noticed while checking out faucets online is that there is a HUGE variety of choices and styles!

Personally, I’ve become quite fond of the many beautiful Danze faucets I’ve found online! They have so many different options as far as finishes and styles and many of them are even in the price range that my budget is in, which is always a plus! I really like the ones that have the pull out sprayer heads built right into the faucets!

Now I just need to find or order the one I want so that I can get it here and get it installed so we won’t have to use the vice grips to turn the faucet on any more…LOL

Well hello there! How was your weekend? I figured I’d better stop by here and give you an update as to how things went yesterday with the kitchen cabinets as well as how the rest of the weekend has gone. First, WOW, is it just me or did this weekend just completely fly by? It honestly does not seem possible that it’s Sunday evening already!

Anyway, back to the cabinets, sorry, my train of thought just isn’t what it should be some days! Amazingly, without doing ANY measuring before hand, the cabinets that were given to us fit PERFECTLY on the wall that we put them on. I questioned the method they decided to use to hang them because I knew that it would damage the wall and cause more work for me after they were up, but the guys wouldn’t listen to me. They used a 2 inch strip of board to use as a guide for the bottom of the cabinets and they put it up with screws, and sure enough, I now have several holes in the wall that I have to patch from where they first put the screws in, then realized they missed the studs and put a second set in that did hit studs. Other than that, the cabinets look FANTASTIC and I can’t wait until I get the time to get them painted!

My sister, of course, just HAD to go into town while she was here, and wouldn’t take no for an answer when I said that I didn’t want to go. Just because she has to run into town and pick up things does NOT mean she needs me to come along and hold her hand! I swear she’s just not happy sitting still, every time she comes down here she has to go to some store or another. It’s not like she never comes down here, she’s in this area at least once a week. But since our niece is due in a little bit more than a month she wanted to go to a new baby boutique that she had heard about. Yes, I did enjoy myself, but I’d much rather have been able to stay here and help the guys with the cabinets and keep an eye on the kids and the dogs!

It was a VERY smelly ending to the week last week…LOL! We discovered some “problems” with our septic tank and leech field a week or so ago and our landlord finally got around to getting someone over here to look at it Friday. Thankfully it was an easy and inexpensive fix, they just had to pump the septic tank and then cut four to six inches off a pipe that runs from the septic to the flow “valve” for the leech field. Since doing those things, we haven’t had a single problem!

The landlord came down while the septic guy was here to see what needed to be done. After they finished things up be showed me a couple of brochures that he had picked up. He had narrowed his options down to a couple of different bathroom vanities and wanted my opinion about which one I thought would look and work the best for the bathroom he wants to remodel. One of his choices was almost identical to a vanity that I myself had looked at online, so I let him know that I thought that would be the best one. Amazingly, it was the same one that he was leaning towards! Next up is deciding on the bathtub, and I don’t think we’re going to agree as well on that, but we’ll see.

Well, the landlord is supposed to come here today to check things out and see whether or we have a broken pipe in the leech bed. I know that there is definite water leakage out where the “crock” is that comes up in the yard because when we get decent snowfalls, like the one we got last night, the snow in that area of the yard is the first area to melt. And the other night, when I took Sage out to go potty, my son was taking a shower and you could hear the water almost as if it were gushing out of the crock. But I’m not sure, with as much snow as we got over night, if he’ll be able to come down and do anything or not, he might have to wait a day or two for the snow to melt before he can do anything.

He also talked about the things that he really wants to get done on the house this year. He said his main “goal” is to get the kitchen done since it’s so outdated and just does not have enough storage and cabinet space! He said that he had used a guest pass for our local directbuy to see if it would really be worth his while to go ahead and join. He was impressed with what he seen, but considering that he wants to be as cost effective as he can when he does the remodel in the kitchen and other rooms, he thinks he would be better off just going to one of the local home improvement stores. I also suggested the company that my sister works for and told him that they have an “Open to the public” sale every Saturday, so he thought he might go check that out as well. He’s not trying to be cheap, he just doesn’t want to put major money into the remodel because of the fact that they already owe more than what the house is worth, and I can’t say as I blame him. I wish we could get a loan and buy the house now, before any major work is done on it, because I know the more work that is done, the higher the price of the house will be. Then again, the hubby was telling me last night that he wants to move close enough to town that we can actually get cable service and have other options for TV, internet and phone.

Good morning everyone! TGIF and Happy Good Friday to those that celebrate it! In true NW Ohio fashion, spring is starting on an ugly weather note this weekend. The weathermen have changed their minds 3 times over the past two days about the storm that is heading our way. Initially they were saying that our area was going to get hit with about 6 inches of snow. Then they changed it from 6 inches to right around two inches. This morning all local stations are now saying we’ll get anywhere from 5 to 9 inches of snow. I’m so ready for the snow just to be GONE, as in FOREVER! Yes, I know that I always have the option of moving somewhere that it doesn’t snow, but I’m not ready to do that right now!

What I am ready for is getting things taken care of outside! We moved into this house in October and didn’t have the time to take care of things outside before winter reared it’s ugly head! We didn’t even have time to rake up all the leaves and debris that were in the lawn, but considering that we’re surrounded by acres and acres of woods, I doubt we’d have ever truly gotten the leaves taken care of..LOL! So to say that the yard is a mess it a complete understatement! On top of that we need to fix and expand the deck that is outside of the sliding glass door. It’s totally unstable, one of the corner support beams broke, and it’s way too small for my liking. We’ve built two decks before, so I know that putting one up here won’t be a major task. I just want a deck big enough that I can set a nice patio furniture on. And speaking of patio sets, I found some GORGEOUS teak patio furniture that would look so nice and fit right in with our wooded surroundings!

But with the way our winter weather went, I have the feeling it’s going to be quite a while before I’m going to be able to rake and clean the yard, let alone worry about building the new deck. It’s not even April yet and we almost always get smacked with at least one heavy snow storm in the first half of April. can you say UGH!

Yup, it’s just a few minutes past noon and my first batch of cookies is all mixed and waiting on me. I wanted to take a break and get a few things done online before I started baking them, since I mixed a double batch and it will take the better part of an hour to get them all baked. This batch is Oatmeal Scotchies, which is my personal favorite type of cookie! I remember making these as a kid with my mom…..MMMMMMM!!! Only difference is that she would put coconut in them and since no one else here likes coconut, I left it out!

I’m telling you, I LOVE my new mixer, it makes doing stuff like this so much easier! But the more I do stuff like this, the more I really wish we could do a MAJOR overhaul on this kitchen. I love my little house in the woods, but the kitchen is your typical 70’s style kitchen, with little to no counter space. With the way we rearranged the appliances a few weeks ago, it’s even more obvious how nicely an island would be in the kitchen! I honestly think we should consider a directbuy membership! I would need two walls of upper and lower cabinets as well as the island and counter tops for all of it. And if I were to replace the cabinets and counters I’d definitely want to replace the appliances as well and with the cost, it might just be worth it to look into something like that!

But, the reality is that even if we were to do something like that, it won’t be happening right away. So for now I just have to work with what I have, which honestly isn’t that bad. And speaking of reality, I’d better get to that cookie dough! Back after this batch is done!

Yes, I know, barely above freezing is not even CLOSE to Spring type weather. But when you’ve had an average high temp in the teens for almost 2 weeks, twice that temperature feels warm…LOL! On top of that I’ve been watching The Travel Channel today and they’ve had a few shows on about warm, tropical vacations.

But in all seriousness, once the warmer weather is here, we REALLY need to get busy on the outside of the house! The yard and flower beds were let go for a very long time, so we’re not going to have much of a choice except to pretty much start from scratch with them. And since the yard is nothing but sand, we’ll have to have several truck loads of topsoil brought in.

I also want to build a deck off the side of the house and have it lead down to a patio type area in the side yard. That way we can build a nice fire pit and put the patio furniture around it. Eventually I’d like the patio area to be screened in, but that will mean building a roof with an opening above the fire pit that will allow the smoke to escape, so that definitely won’t happen this year!

Our landlord stopped over this morning to talk to us about the things he wants to do with the house this spring and get some ideas and input from us. Besides this house, he’s also in the process of putting on a huge addition to his own house, so he’s trying to think of ways that he can do both remodels with the best amount of savings. He asked us if we knew anything about the local directbuy warehouse, which we didn’t. He said that a friend of his had told him that with all that he needs to buy, he might want to consider a membership at one because it could save him some money. I don’t know anything about them, but I told him I’d ask around. So if any of my readers here have bought from any of the places like this, please let me know!

The one thing that really bothers me about this house is that the front living room does not have some type of lighting on the ceiling. Every other room in the house does, but for some reason that room never had light fixtures installed in the ceiling. After we get the bills caught up and Christmas with the kids done two weeks later, we’ve decided that since we have full access to the attic that we’re going to install a ceiling fan with a light in the living room. Even with two table lamps, the room just gets so dark at night and it drives me nuts! And adding a ceiling fan will also help with heating and cooling too, which is definitely a plus!

The majority of the things that I’d like to change in the new house are simple cosmetic changes. Things like painting, new window treatments and area rugs. The next painting project is the small bathroom off the family room. It’s currently painted a green color that is somewhere in the middle of lime green and pea green, and I really don’t like it! It also has a medicine cabinet placed oddly beside the sink making it very inconvenient for my husband to shave, so I’m thinking one of those wall mounted makeup mirrors might be just the thing to make that bathroom a little more workable!

I wasn’t too thrilled with the outdoor lighting that was on the house when we moved in, so I insisted that we get something that would light up the area around the house a little better. My husband was wonderful and installed motion sensor flood lights at both the front door and the patio door that is near my desk.

Last night I had one of those “I can’t sleep” nights, so I ended up playing on my computer until around 3:00 a.m. this morning. At one point I ended up closing the blinds and pulling the curtains across the slider door because the flood light by the patio kept coming on. Although I’m thrilled that our new exterior home lighting choice works well, it sure is freaky when you are the only one awake and it keeps going off right behind you…LOL! Maybe we need to adjust the sensitivity a bit?

Yes, that’s right, we’re moving again. We had so many hopes and dreams when we moved into this house, many of which we now realize simply aren’t going to happen. Fortunately, we’re going to move into our new home with the blinders off. We know up front about what is going to happen and what needs to be done. And with great websites like DoItYourself.com knowledge is power! Their informational DVDs will give us all of the information we need to help us finish off the work in the new house that needs to be done!

They offer DVD’s on every kind of do-it-yourself project you can think of. Some of my favorites include basic home remodeling, floors and ceilings and kitchen remodeling. You can even order the entire set of 10 DVD’s that includes DVD’s on floors & ceilings, wall treatments, plumbing & electricity, kitchen remodeling, basic home repair, exterior projects, basic home remodeling, woodworking 1 & 2 and their DVD giving you tips on how to buy & sell your home.

Their website is full of all kinds of information on every type of do-it-yourself project that home owners will need, as well as a very informative forum for people to ask any questions they might have. I wish I had known about their forum when I tackled painting my kitchen because it could have saved me a lot of hassle if I would have had somewhere to ask the questions I had. At least now I know where to go when we’re working on the new house, especially when we replace the kitchen cabinets and counters, which the new landlord plans on doing in April.

I’ve been on a mission that I was hoping to complete before I started back to school this semester. Unfortunately it won’t be completed, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up. I’ve been working on sprucing up the bathroom. It had ugly glossy paneling that seriously needed to be gone. So I’ve sanded and primed most of it and have chosen my colors for paint and my window coverings. But I’ve still been searching for light fixtures that would not only match the paint colors that I’ve chosen, but that would also suit my style and taste!

In my search I’ve found many gorgeous types of home lighting that I liked, but finding one that matched the paint colors I am going to use in the bathroom has proven to be a challenge. I even removed some of my “limitations” while looking and started looking at kitchen light fixtures thinking that maybe I could find something that would work better if I opened up my options a little more.

After what feels like weeks of searching, I finally found a bathroom light fixture that not only suits my taste better than anything else I’ve seen, it also goes very well with the paint colors and other items I’ve chosen for the bathroom. So I’m a happy camper with this find! and it’s such a gorgeous fixture, I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s hung!

I’ll admit it, I’m not shy, I’ve always been different from other people. Most people shop online for things like clothing, furniture, computers, etc. But not me, I’ve been looking at mailboxes! But I’m not talking your plain run of the mill mailbox, I have been looking for mailboxes that are out of the ordinary.

I’ve always been one to want to be different than everyone, to stand out from the crowd so to say. Around here everyone has your run of the mill plastic or metal mailbox, just like the one that we have now. But if I had my way about it I’d choose something out of the ordinary! While looking for mailboxes I ran across some made by Gaines Manufacturing that caught my eye. They carry a full line of mailboxes that range from keystone mailboxes to their Gaines classic mailbox, that is, in my opinion, anything but ordinary.

I know that when I do finally replace my current mailbox with something that suits my personality better, Gaines mailboxes will be at the top of the list for ones that I make my final choice from.

I still have enough time left before I go back to school to do some painting and sprucing up in my bathroom. One thing I know for sure is that when I do get it painted I want to replace the lighting fixture that is in the bathroom. I found a gorgeous Tuscan fixture made my kichler lighting that I not only love, but would also match the colors that I’ve chosen to use in the room.