Home repairs.

So I have been told that am have been a slacker for not updating my blog. First, I want to say that the only reason I created my blog was to keep everyone up to date during my trip and to post photos when I returned. But this being said, I have been told that many family members look forward to reading about my happenings here in the frozen land so I will try to update it a little more often.

What have I been doing the last few months? Painting, painting and more painting. While in Taiwan a water pipe that connects to the building just north of my building burst. Of course, it was right under my living room. I did not learn about this until after I had been home a week. I had not noticed the bubble in the floor because it was under the coffee table. I had to go to work a few hours after we landed so I was playing catch up on my sleep. I had stumbled a couple of times over it but thought the rug was just messed up. My sweet neighbors told me about it after telling me that I have great friends to come and clean up the mess. Thanks Shannon and Adam for taking care of my mess.

So needless to say the floor had to be completely replaced. I figured if I was going to have someone come in to fix it, I would just get the 25 + year old linoleum replaced in the kitchen and bathroom at the same time. And it would be a prime time to paint. I could make a mess and not worry about getting paint on the flooring. So after picking out the flooring and paint, which took forever, I started to paint. It took many weekends and evenings after work to complete the task. Yes, I painted every last drop myself. I had many offers for help and told my friends I'd love their help, but of course they always found something more fun to do. It was summer, so I can't blame them for wanting to take advantage of the little good weather we had. I learned I have muscles in places that I didn't know about.

I had to paint the ceiling 3 times. That might seem excessive but it was necessary. It was originally cream and one coat of white just didn't cut it. I finished the second coat and was feeling quite impressed with myself when I saw a big bubble in one of the corners. Come to find that one of the many previous owners did a sloppy patch job. aka - slap some wallpaper over it and paint. So I had to fix it. When I was done patching and painting the hole area it was too noticeable. Which meant painting it again. You can still tell where the patch job is if you know where to look, but it is much better than having a hole the size of my hand covered by wallpaper.

I can't wait to get my house back to normal. Yesterday I cut about 1/2 of the trim. It needs to be painted and and then get the rest cut. Once it gets mounted I will be ready to do the final touch ups and move back some of the furniture. Minus running the saw to cut the trim and a little help moving furniture I have done it all myself. Lowes and I have become great friends. I think I spend all my money there. Between supplies, new washer and dryer (of course the old one decided to leak when it was reinstalled), trim, etc, etc. For a while you would have thought that I had a part time job there because I was there every day.

After the trim is up it is time to put in the final touches. I might even hang up a picture or too. Now I just have to find a new couch. I have a very old one that was given to me when I first moved here. It is time to actually grow up and get one. Unfortunately, we have a lack of stores here. And the ones that we do have don't have much variety. I am not in the market for a brown leather couch so it might take a while.

I will take photos of my living room once I get the trim up. Hopefully this weekend.