Update: The basement

Ah, the basement -- the project I once thought would take me a couple of weeks is stretching out to almost a year. But now, there is progress. First, the before:

Inspection day, May 2010 (!!!)

And here we are today...

June 2012

Always a kitteh (he sort of follows me around like a dog)

Section by section ...

Look at my super-neat and clean laundry space!

Woody absolutely loves his rugs

Blackout curtains for all four windows

Runners from Crate and Barrel

Getting closer to finishing ...

Fun corkboards (also Crate and Barrel) for above the laundry table

Kitchen overflow (anything I don't use often -- keeping it dust-free)

Shelving

Benny checks out the kitchen unit

Who, me?

Update: The bedroom

OK, OK, OK -- I'll get back to blogging already. (You're welcome, Mom.)

I'm still angling to get new bedside tables, and Leeza has been commissioned to paint a piece for above the bed, but otherwise, it's just about done. Ricca came in and installed new plates, switches and plugs, as well as our new (itty-bitty) ceiling fan. I put up curtains, more pictures, and generally made the room look less like a spare room we barely live in. 

Of twitchy little noses and rocks

Sometimes I'm too ambitious in my house projects for my own good.

Example one:

I ordered two cubic yards of Delaware River stone to create two rock beds in the backyard, upon which I will install planters and grow ... stuff.*

*It should be noted that Rich calls me the Lizzie Borden of botany.

This is just one of two rock beds, which we installed because grass simply doesn't grow very well in the one above, and for the other (example two) ...

... it's on the side of the house that does not get direct sunlight.

On Saturday, I did this one by myself. (Yes, I'm milking that one for all it's worth.) I spent Saturday night in a hot Epsom salt bath with a book and a glass of wine -- it did work, as I was actually in pretty good shape Sunday morning despite hauling more than a yard of rock to this corner of the backyard (ignore the rest of it -- still mulching).

Now, instead of mud, there is rock under the hose-keeper. (Or whatever those things are called.) But as I was pulling out the garden hose to water the backyard -- which I had just seeded -- a flash of fur crossed my vision.



Itteh bitteh bunneh!!

Unfortunately, bunnies are not good for lawns. They destroy gardens. They're basically extraordinarily cute rodents.

Extraordinarily cute rodents I can't bring myself to kill.

Well, where there's one ... so I took a glance to the left.

Brothers and sisters. And later, we found another by the garbage cans, so they're mobile and not that helpless anymore. This morning, they were all gone (hopefully not now under my shed).

At least now I can put down rabbit repellent without feeling guilty.

In any case, today, I hurt. A lot. For multiple reasons. My hands are killing me from all the shoveling, and I'm walking a bit like a 90-year-old woman. But at least they're done. Perhaps when I'm done whining, I'll take better pictures.

Where the magic happens ...

It's still a work in progress, but at least it's down to the finishing touches. I still have to put in new plugs, plates and switches, find the right curtains and wait for the curtain hardware to be delivered; there are a few more pieces for the walls that I'll know are right when I see them. And the blinds have to go -- they are terrible.

Still, it's a massive improvement.

Before:

Inspection day, May 2010

August 2010. Unfortunately, it had been this way pretty much ever since.

And after a long Presidents Day weekend ...

Need to find the right ceiling fan 

... and a headboard

Gratuitous cat pictures!!!

Paris: Our last day

Sigh ... our last day in Paris.

We packed our bags and headed for a cafe to fill up with coffee and something warm before we headed to Charles de Gaulle.

Just here for the view, folks.

It was no great shakes, but we did get a last view of Notre Dame as we had our croque monsieur and onion soup. And then we finally had to grab a train.

Aeroport Charles de Gaulle was something out of the '60s, or "2010: A Space Odyssey," or any number of cheesy settings.

Our very last picture in Paris.

Our way home was quite the adventure ...

We found out as we got to the gate that we'd be making an unscheduled stop in Goose Island, Labrador -- eastern Canada -- for fuel. Turns out, the plane was carrying too much cargo, and it was too windy in D.C. (our layover was at Dulles) to land with the amount of fuel the plane would normally carry. (I blame the couple who brought six full pieces of luggage with them. Overheard: "It was our first time in France and we didn't know what the weather was going to be like!" Ever heard of Google?!)

So our flight turned into an 11-hour affair. Perspective: It took us five and a half hours to get from JFK to Heathrow.

On the bright side, movies are free these days -- Rich watched five -- and I managed to get us an exit row, which was almost as good as first class, honestly. But by the time we got to Dulles -- where they made us sit on the tarmac for another 45 minutes because one staffer wasn't at the gate to let us in -- the entire plane had missed their connections to either Newark or San Francisco. So they put us up in some resort half an hour away.

All I wanted then was my kittehs.

We managed to pull into the House of Bich around 11 a.m. on Jan. 2, where we were greeted joyfully by three kittehs. We then headed to our local bar to watch Penn State get their butts kicked in whatever bowl the Nittany Lions were playing in.

And we were happy to be home.