Excitement!

Today we met one of the previous owners of our home! It was so neat, Dan had just pulled in the driveway when he noticed a black car driving slowly by the house. At first he was a bit cautious, but they pulled into our driveway and introduced themselves. We learned so much about our home! They were such nice people, so we let them come in and take a look at what we were up to. They seemed to love everything we'd done so far which was nice.

It was so surreal to me, and kind of nerve wracking. I used to watch that HGTV show where they'd follow new and old owners of a house and then show them renovating and then bring in the old owners and see their reactions. I was so scared I would have ripped down something they loved. Not so, such nice folks!

So we learned that the original owners built the house themselves. And that the wife had a lady over to play cards and that lady several times said if you ever sell this house I'd love it. And she did! One day they called her and offered it. When she owned it, apparently is when they renovated the garage into our now family room, but they used it as an office, which explains the immense ammount of outlets. They also added on the back bathroom/laundry room and must have installed the stupid septic tank, and built on the new garage.

Then this couple purchased the house and lived here for about 10 years before his father moved rural and they moved to be closer to him and help with the property. In the time they lived here they built the shed, but didn't have a permit, so they call it a barn ;) After they moved they rented the home to a couple of teachers with several children. They are the ones who built our raised planter boxes. The funny thing is we asked about who had the giant dog (we found ginormous dog toys in the trees), He chuckled and told us they originally had the dog, but when the renters came in they took on the dog and had him until he passed. And that he's burried in our backyard. He also mentioned that the dog had at one time had a fight with our backyard bunnies and eaten one! The renters eventually purchased the house from them, but were unable to keep it, and we are now the lucky owners of a very loved house!

We found out some great info, heard some great stories, and they gave us his business card. I emailed him the website and told him to check out our progress! What an exciting day!

Quick Change

Mr Brick Ranch went back to work this week so nothing much has been happening on the home front. Except a few things that were severely annoying me. The first of which was the plywood blocking the fireplace from our two year old. You see, it's an odd size, and we haven't been able to find an inexpensive set of doors that will fit. It seems we'll have to have them custom made, and that's just not in the budget. The other fireplace works fine, why would we need two? Especially in summer. So I painted the plywood. It made me feel all artsy and relaxed.

The second problem was our bedroom. The first problem being, the bed was moved to the left and hubby's dresser was on the right side. Well he kept hitting his shin on the corner of the bed trying to squeeze into his side, and crying about it. ;) So I rearranged. The second problem. Well, I hate to say it, but I'd been using my wedding quilt my Oma made us for bedding. And it was so pretty and flowery. But I am sooo not a pretty and flowery kind of girl. So I put the old comforter back on and hung up my B&W Marilyn posters. Yes I love her. I wish I had frames for them, but again not in the budget right now. I also am still dying to replace those hand me down curtains that don't match anything! But right now I'm at least feeling more comfortable in my space. Do you see my wedding boquet hanging from the left side of the curtain rod? :) I even threw an old black sheet over the peach cushy chair on the left so it would match the room.

Things I'm hoping to work on this week: I'm dying to find an old church pew or build a neat bench from old chairs or a door or headboard for the entryway under that gorgeous Ethan Allen mirror/rack we got last weekend. And I think a big old tin for umbrella's would be nice next to it by the door/window. Oh, and yes those white end tables are covering up a small hole in the wall that the baby likes to shove toys into. They are going to be sold in our garage sale in a couple of weeks. Because of the bedroom rearrange the rug had to be relocated, it no longer fit in the bedroom and now it's cozying up the entryway. Unfortunately it's making me have second thoughts about the red walls! Do you think I should paint them tan to match the rest of the hallway and rug???

Garage Sale!

Today was a garage sale kind of day. And I'm not the only one who thought so. There were garage sale signs everywhere! On every corner! Calling to me. Pleading. I found a huge one early in the morning and stopped by. It was a group effort raising money for breast cancer awareness. I called my girlfriend and 5 adults lugging two babies all piled into two vehicles in search of the perfect deal. We found them. Oh did we find them.
My favorite find of the day? This Ethan Allen mirror and coat rack! We came late in the day and they dropped their price of $25 down to $15. I came home and did some reasearch... Check out this ebay listing! My hubby told me I should sell it, but I'm too in love.

These are a work in progress. We found this buffet earlier in the week for $35 up the street at a garage sale It does have a hutch that goes on top but we removed it to be used later for another project. We also purchased another Hutch today for $20 that is gorgeous and will go in the family room when it's finished. I've also been accumulating frames for a wall collage project in the living room. I need a lot more, but I'm steadily growing my collection from odds and ends I find at sales and thrift stores.

I am also finding little metal ones and bronzing them to hang in between the mirrors in the bathroom. Here's what I have so far.

After I dropped my friends off back home and they stored my hutch in their garage for me to pick up later when we had our truck, we started off towards home. Well... we got detoured, first when I saw the local highschool was having their huge rummage sale! They gave me a bag and told me to stuff it as full as I wanted for $5!!!! Here's what I stuffed into my paper shopping bag.

This great real silver teapot with matching sugar and cream dishes! And the silver frame behind them.

This was a tacky gold tissue paper holder but I saw it's potential and quickly spray painted it bronze to match the bathroom fixtures.

My husband is in love with all things wood, and I think a love of clocks runs in his family. So when I saw this solid oak clock I had to have it for our mantel. Into the bag it went! All 4 of those items for only $5!!!


So remember that garage sale I already hit twice? I passed it again on my way home. They had packed up and put everything they hadn't sold on the corner with a free sign!!! I saw some things I'd been eyeing but didn't want to afford and stopped a 3rd time to snag them. Including this frame.

And this little octagonal end table my hubby had his eye on.

We also scored this cute butter dish for .50 cents.


I am still wowing over our success today!!!! Incredible!!!
Oh, we also scored 3 full size Care Bears for baby girl at $1.50 for the set, lots of baby clothes for almost nothing, and a cute little cactus at the farmers market.

Bathroom Tile

This week we finally got some flooring laid in the bathroom!
This is what we started with. There were still remnants of old nasty tar paper.

The first step was to make it nice and smooth by sanding the floor down.

Then Mr. Brick Ranch laid new tar paper. I helped cut ;)

Ooooh. At this point I was just excited it was all one color!

Then we laid the backer board and sealed between all the seams.

After this Dan set to work marking his area with chalkline, then set the tiles!


And this is where we left off last night! Later today we should be able to grout!

Meanwhile...
We've been spending some time at my hubby's grandma's house. Her porch needed to be repainted and the banister on the porch steps was so rotted from the damp river air that he decided it needed to be completely replaced.
Here's a picture of the old rails.

And after a test fit of the new one he built.

We then took them into the shop and rotated out applying layers of primer and paint. After he installed them they looked beautiful. I also repainted those 3 little boys the last time we were up visiting. I think they look nice and cheery now.

Overgrown Garden

I will apologize for my lack of posts. But I promise I have a good reason. You see, I had a fight with a curb. I've decided to tell all my friends that Ninja's attacked me. So please don't tell them I was just walking and stumbled off of a plain old curb and tried to break my ankle. Pretty please? You see, I've been in a wheelchair and cast for two weeks. Then after another round of xray's and another radiologists opinion, I finally got cleared to walk yesterday! I'm still incredibly sore, bruised, and now my muscles are rejecting walking again for very long. But I'm up and about!

Unfortunately my yard suffered.
So today we went out to give the trees a well deserved trim. This is part way through the process.

Can we play Where's Dan?

I was so sad to learn that only one carrot seeded this year, but was so looking forward to that one carrot. I've babied it's tiny sprout for months. Then today I hobbled out to the garden to see what was left alive and was shocked to see a giant top. I pulled it and gasped in awe at my beautiful carrot.

Then I turned it over :( You know what's the most shocking? Something did not try to eat it. It got so big it split!!! It's a perfectly split open and mutilated carrot! I'm super bummed. Ah well. There's always next year? Stupid curbs.

I did however squeal when I picked my first ripe zucchini!!! I am very very proud of this one! I can't wait to eat it!

My peas are doing really well also.
And on to our other news. Our stove is not working again. 2 weeks ago it just stopped turning on again. Do you remember our horror stories? Well here's a short recap. We bought an Electrolux cook top on sale at Sears. Our countertops were on back order, so we didn't get to install it until after the 90 day warranty. When we installed it, it was defective. I called Electrolux. They gave me a local repair shops info that is certified through them. They made us wait a week for parts, sent a guy out, and he promptly broke the glass on the cooktop. Waited another week for the guy to order a new one, only to break it the second he put it on. Waited 2 weeks screaming furiously at the company that it also didn't turn on anymore again. Contacted the BBB, who finally got them to send a manager out who finally repaired everything. For about 2 months. Then 2 weeks ago it stopped turning on again.
Caught up?
Okay, so this time I call Sears, Ohhhhhh. Nobody told me they had a 1 year repair on every single appliance they sell! Problem is I can't tell them I went through another company, cuz that voids my warranty. So I have to hide how irritated I am. Anyway. They send a tech out, who says... big shocker. We have to wait a week for parts. So we do. Then they send out a guy the following week. He gets here and says what? the parts aren't here? Well I'll reschedule you for next week...... Ugh. The parts get here. We receive a call on the date of our appt that our tech called in sick but they'd send another one out. Fine. She calls much later than our appt and says she's on her way. Fine. an HOUR later we call her like where the heck are you? Oh, I'm not going to come. He only ordered the circuit boards. I've worked on one of these before and that didn't fix the problem. I had to end up ordering all the wiring harnesses and everything too. So I'm just going to do that and reschedule you for another week. Fortunately my hubby made the call. Because the cuss words were flying out of my mouth across the room and since I couldn't walk I was unable to hobble to the phone to chew her out. I mean really? I can't cook! How does nobody understand the importance of food?
Ugh.
Well, she told us she promises if she can't fix it and keep it running they will give us a full refund.
So that's where we are at. We've borrowed a camping stove with 2 teeny tiny burners, and are eating pretty much gross prepackaged microwave dinners. I feel so unhealthy. But hey, I can hardly stand long enough to cook anyway right? That's my silver lining. Sigh.

Wow I wrote a book!!!!! Here's a pic of my battle bruises. From the Ninja's.

Backsplash!

We started the backsplash this week in the bathroom!
Mr. Brick Ranch spread the Mastic.

Laid some tile.

Got sick of me taking tons of photos.

Backbuttered in some cuts.

Spread some Grout the next morning.

Cleaned the counters.

Lightly sponged, then waited 5 minutes.

And started a slow process of cleaning the excess grout up.

When it was all finished I squealed. Then told him I think we need to do the sides also.

He squirmed at the cuts he'll have to make around the outlets on either side.
Oh but won't it look gorgeous when it's all done? Yesterday we went to The Home Depot and purchased all the supplies to mount the mirrors in the frames and on the walls. So those pics will hopefully be coming up shortly.

My grandparents will be here from Michigan in 8 days. I'm hoping to have a completed bathroom to show them by that time!!!

Bathroom

We are finally nearing a finish line with the main bathroom! This week I finished painting the ceiling and walls.

Mr. Brick Ranch installed the lighting.
I had a cute idea, and sewed this little cafe curtain, which I think is adorable.

And tonight we installed all of the new towel bars and toilet paper holder. There are two of the hand towel rings by our Jack and Jill sinks.

I can't wait to get the mirrors hung and wish I had some big fluffy brown towels!