The Real Felines of HoB

What the WaPooses are up to ...

In the bedroom

The guest bedroom, that is.

While Rich remains skeptical that I can pull off my plan to rip up the carpet in the guest bedroom and paint the plywood underneath, I am determined to make it work. Spending $100 for the entire project with the knowledge that it's not a forever solution will make it worthwhile, dammit!

Rich did, however, help me paint the ceiling after he got the carpet out of the house for me. So here we are before the ceiling was painted and after the carpet, foam, tack strips and staples were removed.

Straight ahead is the entrance; to the right is the smaller of the room's closets.

To the left is the door into the long walk-in closet. And here we are ... the floor.

Pet stains. Gross.

Here we go ...

Gettin' crafty

Let's take a break from the HoB, shall we?

It's no big secret that I ... oy. How does one say this tactfully but honestly?

Me and babies don't mix.

But despite the fact that my blood pressure rises when I hear a whining, screaming child -- one was in the office the other day and I swear, my head almost spun off my neck -- and I rarely hold a baby, I do not hate children. Or babies. I love my nieces and nephews and my friends' kids. I enjoy watching them grow up, seeing their personalities develop and change.

And when family or friends are expecting, I am truly happy for them. Then I go home and have a large glass of wine and hang out with my cats.

Or, in the case of Christine, the wife of Rich's best friend and best man at our wedding, I go home and make a diaper cake. See, their circumstances are a little more unusual, their journey a little longer and more arduous than most. And because Mike and Chris made it possible for me to pull off the yearlong project that was Rich's birthday scrapbook, making a diaper cake for her shower on Sunday seemed like a no-brainer.

WTF is a diaper cake, Brooke?

Heeeee.

I rolled five dozen diapers, built them into tiers and decorated it appropriately. I'll only say this once: Thank you, Woman's World, for providing a very cute craft project.

It took me a little while to track down the right ribbon -- emerald green and white. A few onesies, some socks, little Jets booties ...

I didn't have room to place the clothing into the tiers, so I just used double-sided tape to stick them on the corners.

A few little baby toiletries and a pacifier.

I don't think I have too many of these in me. Usually I give gift cards to baby mamas -- not because I'm lazy, but because I think new parents should use them for whatever needs they get surprised with after the arrival of the baby/babies. But for fellow sports fans ... eh, baby Jake will get gift cards for his birthdays from Crazy Aunt Brooke With the Cats and Uncle Richard.

... The after

So one of my biggest house concerns is now fixed -- turns out, some of that sand could go under the plastic, and because the previous owners left so many bricks and concrete blocks in the crawl space, they could be used on top instead of gravel. We now have vapor barriers (and no termites).

Yes, the sled stays!

There it is, laid out and clean and dry and shit-free. Yaaaay!

I have doubts that the two very-hard-working men will be able to finish the concrete work today ... and that's OK, considering they're killing themselves.*

*As it turns out, they did finish -- poor Billy paid for it by not being able to walk for two days. We should buy Billy more beer.

The before ...

It's a cloudy day in New Jersey -- but that just means it's perfect for Rich to recruit Billy to put down vapor barriers in the crawl space. Or whatever project comes up along the way.

Here's what our yard looks like at the moment. That ... tree ... with the purple flower-things on it is perfectly healthy and has really thrived since I did some deadheading a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, not everything is in such great shape. This week, another tree will be put out of its misery.

Anyhoo. Here we are, big litter box in the backyard -- wait, wait, wait: Billy reminds us that it can go in the crawl space under the plastic vapor barrier!

Dig, Rich, dig.

First, Billy and Rich open the door to find all sorts of CRAP stuffed in the space, including a wheelbarrow, the only useful thing in it. At least I don't have to buy one now. So they used it to transfer sand from pit to crawl space.

And now, my once-clean patio is full of shit again, including a useless old lawn mower, pipes, crap, roofing materials, crap ...

CRAP.

Billy then tells Rich that whatever concrete is filling the cracks in the front patio needs to go, so they chiseled it all out, started cleaning it up, and are now mixing concrete.

Freshly unfilled cracks. (Look, we'll replace all of it later!)

Boys cleaning.

More tomorrow.

Ready?

I took some photos today -- finally! (You're welcome, Mom, Aunt Connie and Lauren, our faithful readers.)

Rich and Billy are off to the Depot to get plastic for the vapor barriers and better parts for the recessed lighting, and I finished hanging more curtains a little while ago. We've started moving stuff out of the second bedroom to prepare it for painting (I'm really excited for this room).

Don't judge -- I haven't steamed the curtains yet. I'm just happy they aren't in boxes anymore.

The dining room. We'll get another leaning bookcase

for the other side of the window.

The ottoman's temporary spot.

Why curtains are a risk in this house.

A view into the living room from the dining room. (The frame on the ottoman is the frame and mat meant to be signed at our wedding. Oh, it was signed, but someone forgot to take off the glass, so everyone had to sign the glass. All it took was a shot of Windex for all of it to come off. I have new plans for that.)

The living room. The rug is meant for the office, but I'm still looking for a reasonably priced round black rug.

One of our favorite pieces -- the Frog's Leap poster I won at the winery. (Question: About how many bottles are in a barrel of wine? Answer: 300. Yes, I pay attention to some numbers.)

Looking into the dining room from the landing.

Looking down from the stairs.

A view into the kitchen from the hallway (Rich is "meh" on the curtains).

Not much has changed here, but say hi to Woody!

The office.

Stuff on the walls!

Stuff everywhere!

Stuff ... stuff ... stuff ...

A few little pieces in the bathroom I like.

Another piece I like.

Rich cleaned the glass -- it made him feel better.

The current state of the porch. All of this stuff will go into the bookshelves ... in the bedrooms, once they're painted.

And the current state of our bedroom. Sigh.

At least it's neat.

The second bedroom. Broken Rising Star awards included.

Rich's dresser, which he's had since childhood. I get to use it now. Yay?

I think everyone has that cat poster.

We never finished the ceiling in the stairwell. And I never got past priming the wall after the movers took a nice, long chunk out of it.

We've got our hands full this week, but it's still better than going to work.