Adventures with the boys...

"We live in a world full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open."
-Jawaharlal Nehru

So, while the men built a fence, I spent the weekend entertaining Steph and the boys. Our fun adventures included:

Building forts out of extra moving boxes...

"Helping" build a fence...

Walking the nature trails and observing the rocks at Roper Mountain Science Center...

Making earth-friendly crafts in honor of the "Lorax" Earth Day celebration...

 Touching sea animals and listening to shells...

Making "oobleck" and bouncing it around the room...

Putting up a fence...

"Good fences make good neighbors"
-Mid-17th century proverb

The last three weeks have been absolutely crazy busy. Starting a new job, learning to balance my freelance work, and trying to unpack and organize our house... between all that, there has been little time for anything else. But, I couldn't leave you hanging without an update on our biggest home improvement project yet.

Up to now, our backyard has been wide open to the overgrown slope and ultimately to the woods behind the house, as well as open to our neighbors' yards on both sides... one of which has a habit of parking a truck back there(??). Neighbors' cats have called our grass home, neighbors' children have run through our yard, and once I even found a little girl sitting on our patio picking wildflowers.

But, none of that shall be a problem anymore. This past weekend we built a fence. Mainly Rob, his brother-in-law Dan, and Thomas did, but I unloaded and toted a few boards myself.

We sweated out getting approval from the homeowner's association in time (and, in fact, we actually started before we heard back) and were much relieved when the official signatures came in the mail on Saturday afternoon.

Dan has a lot of fence and general construction experience, and his knowledge was invaluable in purchasing the correct supplies, setting up level posts, and even troubleshooting when things didn't go as planned. While digging their first hole, they hit an irrigation line (hey, we learned that we have an irrigation system!) and while digging the last hole, they found a considerable amount of cement slab buried in the yard, but everything in between was pretty much smooth sailing. Rob might not quite agree with the term "smooth sailing" as this South Carolina clay is a beast to dig through (and, now Dan is out of work for the rest of the week due to pulled muscles).

However, I'm extremely grateful for all of their hard work. The result transformed our backyard. We will still have to stain it, build a gate, and probably replace a few warped boards, but in the mean time, I'll just sit on the patio and enjoy the view.

Digging out...

"If you look at your entire house as one unit of junk,you'll never do anything because the job is too overwhelming. Take it one drawer at a time." -Janet Luhrs

On Friday the movers came, unloaded the truck, and then left, leaving boxes upon boxes in their wake. I (and, Rob, too, when he wasn't distracted by March Madness!) have worked almost all day, every day since then trying to unpack.

There's been a lot of trashing and weeding out as well, but suffice it to say, we've got a lot of stuff. And, especially since we're downsizing a bit... where does all of this stuff go?

And, while it may not look like it (you still have to watch your step... there are boxes, both full and empty, everywhere), I promise we're making a little bit of progress.

More to come soon...

A towel conundrum...

“I only sing in the shower. I would join a choir, but I don’t think my bathtub can hold that many people.
”
-Jarod Kintz

As we're wrapping up the toilet re-install and bathroom stall makeover, we're ready to actually begin using our master shower. However, one thing has us stumped. Where do we hang our towels??? [Granted, I realize that this is totally a first-world problem... and we wouldn't die if our towels lay on the floor, but... a girl can't help but want some pretty in her house.]

So, all-knowing internet, help me out! How and where would you store at least two bath towels in this set-up?

The challenges are that the shower door opens clockwise, so that the 12" of wall to the left of the shower is behind the door, while the 12" of wall to the right of the shower is extremely short. The ledge is narrow... maybe 8". The wall of the shower that faces the tub is glass, so you can't exactly attach a towel bar there. That door to the left of the shower leads to the master closet, which I foresee rarely being closed all the way.

I'm hoping that there's some obvious answer that I've just overlooked... Please share any suggestions you have and/or ideas you've seen. Discussion begins... NOW!

Best seat in the house...

“The flush toilet, more than any single invention, has 'civilized' us in a way that religion and law could never accomplish.”
-Thomas Lynch

Rob's big project for the week was remodeling the toilet stall in our master bathroom. What started out as "let's check and make sure this stain on the floor doesn't mean a leak" turned into  "while we're at it, let's install new flooring, paint the walls, and rebuild the toilet itself."

The process via my Instagram feed: 1. It's fun watching them do all of the work; 2. A hair dryer works wonders; 3. The trash pile is growing; 4. Our toilet's in the middle of the bathroom; 5. Painting white trim white # ohtheexcitement; 6. No wonder I feel like im going crazy... I've been staring at a blue wall and sniffing paint fumes for two days straight.

It helps to see where we started. Just a nothing-too-special little room, with khaki walls, a stained linoleum floor, and a broken foam toilet seat.

And, here's what it looks like now. Amazing, huh? Hardwood-like vinyl floors, fresh new trim paint, blue walls (paint color: Olympic Smoke Blue), fixtures spray painted oil-rubbed bronze, and a brand-new toilet seat.

Not only does it have an updated look, but it looks pretty fancy inside the tank, too.. Rob installed a dual-flush mechanism to save water... press the flush handle up for liquid waste and down for solid waste. Hooray for a high-tech toilet!