Another house project nearly complete

As all of you who read this blog know, our home has been a work in progress for quite some time. We've recently been working on the third level of our four level split. This room actually was the garage when the house was built and we aren't too sure what the previous owners used it for, but for us it will be an office/rec room for when we have parties. This room had the most water damage/mold and four feet of drywall had to be ripped off and the walls insulated. Here's the start of the project a few months after the house was purchased.

As you can see, it wasn't pretty. There was a "wood" floor in this room too but had to be torn out because it was never put down properly and was coming unglued from the cement. There was quite a lapse in time before we started working on this room again since other projects became more important, but we had to get the moldy drywall out. Next step was insulating the walls.

And after all that was done we were finally ready to paint the ceiling and hang drywall back up.



This process also took a long time because Andrew had never done this much drywall work before, but he did a really great job!!! And now to reveal the finished product......


All we have left to do is put up the baseboards and put some wood on the window sills and then move in the furniture!!! I can't even explain how much pride I feel that Andrew was able to do most of this work himself (though we did hire someone to put down the carpet) and that he's worked for so long to get this done!! Up next, is the downstairs bathroom, located just next to this room, and the mudroom so stay tuned!

2011 - Looking Back

I cannot believe how fast time has passed and that I'm sitting here (in a Snuggie of all things) writing up my post about how 2011 has been and all the things that have gone on.

Big Events that happened in 2011:

1. Andrew and I went to look at engagement rings early in the year, just before our anniversary.


2. We celebrated our three year anniversary with a lovely dinner at Buca Di Beppo and a trip to West Virginia go to to Cabelas.


3. Tried lots of new recipes including made-from-scratch eggplant parmesan, Chicken Cordon Bleu, Chicken Parmesan, Beef Stroganoff and finally perfected making a lot of things totally from scratch.


4. We did a lot to our house this year: repainting the trim and shutters, finishing the 3rd level which will be an office/rec room, hooking up a transfer box to plug the generator into when the power goes out, getting new living room furniture and probably tons of other little projects I can't remember.


5. In April, we got engaged, the BIGGEST event of this year by far. We were at Buckeye Lake when Andrew proposed and although I kinda knew he had my ring I had no idea how he would ask me. We went to tell my parents, did a shot of whiskey with them to celebrate and had a lovely dinner at Olive Garden that night.


6. We had our annual Memorial Day party with even more people and fun than the year before. I am happy to have this tradition and hope that we can continue it for many years to come!


7. My brother also got engaged this summer and is planning to get married in 2013.


8. Andrew got a new boat, new to him at least and sold our old one to my brother. We took it out quite a bit despite me having to work every other weekend and though we didn't catch many fish we still had lots of fun.


9. Finding out my grandpa had lung cancer was not a happy moment in this year, but he seems to be doing a little better. He has two more chemo treatments before they do another scan on his tumors. His hair started growing back and he's gained back some weight, but the neuropathy (numbness in his feet) makes it hard for him to walk. I just keep praying that he will make it through this, he's a pretty tough guy.


10. I learned how to knit (even if its just on a loom for now) and its been a nice distraction for me in the evenings.


11. I spent a weekend in Pennsylvania with my mom and we had a wonderful time together. I'm glad that our relationship is maturing after all these years of fighting and not getting along.


12. I've been getting better at using my DSLR camera and have been really impressed with the photos that I can take and I've been getting better at photoshop as well!

There are a lot of exciting things to come in 2012 as well!!

Our four year anniversary in February.

Our new niece should be born in February as well.

Our wedding in September.

Andrew turing 30 in October.

I am sure there will be other exciting events but these are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head!

Wishing you and yours a very blessed and happy New Year!!!

Christmas

I can't believe that Christmas is over, it seems like this year has gone by much too quickly. It was wonderful to spend so much time with family laughing, exchanging gifts and having fun and I wish that it could have lasted much longer.

Christmas Eve is the traditional Polish dinner with my parents, which this year was late because they sang at 6pm mass at our church. The food was wonderful and Andrew and I managed to score some pretty great gifts during the exchange: a gas card and home-made Christmas decor and muffin/cookie mixes. When we arrived home Andrew and I exchanged our gifts. We didn't do much this year because we had just bought new furniture so I received a new bird feeder, more tupperware for my set, lots of chocolate, gloves and candles.

Christmas morning we had breakfast and exchanged gifts with my parents, brother and his fiance. Things are so different now that I don't live at home, its strange to not wake up to my brother standing over my face telling me to get out of bed and then proceding to throw a cat on me, sometimes I miss that. Dinner that day was at my grandparents house and it was more relaxed than years passed with a nice dinner and exchanging gifts afterwards.

Yesterday I hosted the holiday gathering for Andrew's family and it was really nice to have everyone in our home. I don't realize how tiny our house really is until there are more than four people in one room, but no one seemed to mind. We snacked and ate far too many cookies and did the gift exchange as well. I have to say the gift Andrews mom gave to me (and the other girls in the family) was hands down the best of them all. She gave each of us two rings (she loves rings and has been buying them constantly since she got out of college) that were either hers or belonged to another family member. I received the first sapphire she had purchased as well as a beautiful aquamarine solitare that belonged to Andrew's fathers mother. Gifts like that mean more to me than anything else.

Though I'm sad to see Christmas is over, I'm excited to see what 2012 will bring and to get back into high gear with my working out and wedding planning. I'm sure that September will get here really fast!

Christmas Prank

Last night Andrew and I went Christmas shopping after he got off work. As we were walking to the front door, arms loaded with gifts, I heard Andrew yell, "Whats all this $%*@ on the porch?!"

Someone had left us a lovely Mr. & Mrs. Claus with some cryptic notes....now we're trying to figure out who the culprit is, though my parents and brother are claiming it was not them, my parents neighbors might be the pranksters. Regardless, they are kinda cute and shockingly, Andrew the outdoor light Grinch, wanted to leave them outside!

in my life

Things have been crazy since I last posted, I feel like I'm always making excuses about this blog and not keeping up on it....so from now I'm just going to post when I have the time. I'm not going to stress out about posting once a week or whatever....right now my life needs my focus I guess.

I just spent the last two weeks training a new person at work, which was super insane and difficult for me. Even though I don't love my job, I'm very OCD about how it gets done and its hard for me relinquish my control to someone else. Watching the new gal struggle and figure things out was really making me crazy and I was so mentally exhausted every night. I didn't work out much in those two weeks, which made me more tired and moody and gain back a pound or two that I lost. I figure this whole month might be a wash with the holidays and all. I'm back to working every other weekend and I'm working Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. Only benefit to that is the holiday pay and the fact that I have three paychecks this month!

Andrew finished painting the "lower room" on Sunday night and it looks so pretty, a nice grey blue shade that we both love. All of the recessed lights are installed and they are measuring for carpet on Saturday afternoon. It should be installed after the new year and my brother will do all the trim and finish work. I cannot thank Andrew enough for all the time he has put into the house and all the hard work he's done, all that drywall, insulating, light installation has been a ton of work for him on top of his 40 hour work week. He's pretty awesome and sometimes I just need to step back and realize that for a moment.

Christmas is fast approaching and we've only bought one gift so far due to a lack of money. I'm hoping to get a ton of shopping done this weekend between working Friday-Monday (thankfully I'm only here till 3:30 all those days). I'm hosting Andrew's family Christmas on the 26th and I've been trying to decorate and clean like crazy. Having four days off in a row just didn't seem like enough, but it was nice to come back to work and feel mentally stable for once.

I'm hoping that soon things will calm down a little, but for now I'm going to focus on me a little and I'll try to check in here when I can.

home progress and christmas decorations

For the first time I really feel like Andrew and I are adults, we finally got new living room furniture last week and its really been amazing. We had a couch that his sister gave us and it was literally falling apart. The side where Andrew normal sits was caving in and the side where I sat had an armrest that was falling off. The loveseat was in okay shape, but we hardly used it because it was really uncomfortable.

We had been to every furniture store in Columbus and finally found something we both agreed on that was a price we could afford. I'm still getting used to having such nice furniture and I think Andrew is too. We're using our same TV stand and end/coffee tables as well as lamps since thankfully they all still match.

Andrew has also tirelessly been working on the third level of our four level split and its really coming along. The ceiling is all painted and no longer yellow. The new drywall is primed for paint (a blue gray that we both like) and we still need to shop the carpet price at a few more stores. We also installed a new back door this summer since the other wasn't insulated/let in tons of cold air and painted the walls in the mud room a pale yellow. We'll be using this room as Andrews office/lounge area when its all completed.

We jumped the gun a little this weekend and bought a piece of furniture for said room as well, an art deco curio cabinet that we've made into a liquor cabinet. Its currently in the living room (and I sort of wish it was going to stay there because I love it so much) and I really like how everything is displayed inside. Of course, this might be something we need to get rid of when we have kids, but for now its something nice and adult for us.

I also got out most of my Christmas decorations this weekend and found myself feeling very sentimental. I have the nativity my mom used to put out when we were little, our advent calendar from childhood and some neat pieces I've picked up myself along the way.