Mud, spackling, and Primer

The house is a shambles, our nerves are holding out, and the paneling is nearly gone. The walls are mudded, sanded, and part of the first coat of primer is on the walls. Hopefully by the end of the weekend the Living Room Renovation will be complete.

Here's the south wall (before)

The southwest corner (before)

and the north wall (with primer)

The bathroom renovation

The pepto bismol pink gets to stay, but the faucets are leaking and the moisture has bubbled part of the wall in the bathroom. We already painted in here and put in a new light fixture, but there is more to be done! Thank God (and I really mean that as sincerely as possible) for Butch the plumber. Not only did he do a great job, but his prices are excellent.

Bubbling wall repaired!The new faucets! (no leaking!)

New shower head - nice stream, but we miss the wand

Amy's 1/2 birthday!

Tonight was a special day for Amy! It's her 28.5 birthday. We weren't able to celebrate her birthday in the traditional fashion in August, so I planned a surprise party for her! Some friends came over and we wore 1/2 birthday hats, hung a 1/2 birthday banner, gave her 1/2 presents and 1/2 cards! It was really fun.












Then we granted her 1/2 birthday wish and spent 2.5 hours ripping wallpaper off our living room walls. Yikes. Here's photos:

Home Renovations

Today was an important day. I got to do some work on the house. Amy and I have been struggling a little bit figuring out how to work our schedule...

We really want to be together as much as possible (I think that's what happens when you're on different continents for 11 months), so we're doubled up sometimes when we run errands or just try to get things done (like going to the grocery store).

Well, we just had to separate. I can't really help her do her Russian homework... I kinda get in the way a little bit and help too eagerly... she has to do it by herself to learn. So I headed off to Lowe's and bought the hardware to install new handles on our screen doors. I only messed up one door!

So now we can get in and out of the house easily! Yes! We've been going in and out of the garage door for nearly three weeks...

... I've already become one of those husbands who fall behind in home projects.