October: The Fall of Temperatures , The Rise of Monsters, and the Riddle of All Ages

October is here! October is my favorite time of the year.  It brings giant pumpkins like so:

I can't wait to carve these like last year's.  So much fun.  October also brings monsters. Check these out:

Why yes, those are scary bobbles.  Why yes they are special Halloween edition bobbles of Star Wars characters. How fun is that? We have zombie Stormtrooper, werewolf Chewbacca and evil Yoda. I am just missing Darth Vadar, but I will get him this weekend.

In other news, remember when I saw that werewolf walking down the street?  Well, he looked kind of like Chewbacca up there. Also I saw him again while on the phone with my mom so now she can vouch for me. Well, she didn't see him but she did hear me scream "IT IS THE WEREWOLF GUY BUT THIS TIME HIS SHIRT IS CLOSED." Hell, I think werewolf guy heard me. In fact, I can almost guarantee this since I saw him yesterday walking down the street carrying a gas can and he looked RIGHT AT ME even though I was far away.  I am not sure yet what this means.

Other things that have happened since October began? The temperature dropped like crazy. We are freezing. Yet it is October so we don't want to turn on the heat. Hell, even I think it is too early. I am now attempting to keep warm by candlelight. Guess what? That doesn't work. At all.  Good thing it is supposed to be 80 on Saturday. Damn weather.

I also got a speeding ticket.  First one in MANY years and second one ever. Yes, I did have an immediate thought of running again, but decided against it.  Maybe in 15 more years I won't even think about running. Ha.  Also, could you give a girl a break? Apparently no. I wanted to shout I AM A GOOD DRIVER!!! But since I got pulled over that wouldn't seem entirely true would it?

I also had a first in my professional career the other day. A deposition in a church.  I have had some strange deps in my life (a post should really be done on that), but a church? I had visions of the videographer aiming toward the altar and the witness seated under a giant cross with Jesus insuring she told the truth.  Then I somehow turned that into a haunted church and walked around the house with a blanket over my head telling B that I was going to depose a ghost.  He looked at me like I was nuts, but who decided the next morning to talk about how difficult the dep would be if the person just kept saying "Booooo"? That is why we are in love people.

Speaking of ghosts, my main computer might have died. B thinks I killed it.  Perhaps because two others have gone to premature graves. I know that I am the common denominator but it is an Apple! It is not like I am running around getting viruses and things.  One has to wonder though, why do the computers just happen to break AFTER the warranty expires?

Riddle me that, people.

If It Ain't Broke, it Can't Be Fixed

As I have shown you time and time again, B likes to GET THINGS DONE around the house. He paints, he pulls up carpet, he fixes showerheads, he starts fires (in the fireplace of course), he fixes the stairs, he hangs blinds...you get the picture. He is a fixer. Hence, he has the tool room that debuted yesterday.

Where am I in the grand scheme of things? Apparently I am the breaker. Not intentionally of course. Just by happenstance. I am the one that will say at any given moment:

"The shower pressure is too low. I think it is the washer" (it wasn't)

"I cannot get my blinds to work. They are stuck" (they were not stuck)

"The door won't open with my key" (I was turning it the wrong way)

"I need a hook to hang things on"

"The wireless isn't working"

and the list goes on. B always comes to the rescue and then some. Then there came the day I really broke something and B wasn't around to fix it.

I came home from work and it was absolutely freezing out. The new house can be quite drafty so I am always checking the thermostat to see what the temperature is. If it is anywhere near 60 or if I cannot feel my fingers, I turn it up. I had just walked in and was aggravated about how cold it seemed to be so I went over to the thermostat and attempted to turn it to see what the temperature was.

Let's stop right there. At that point in time, the thermostat was hanging from the wall because B was in the process of putting it back together. There is also no good lighting in that spot to see what it was, hence the turning it.

Satisfied that the thermostat was at a good temperature and hearing the heat, I headed upstairs. An hour later I was absolutely freezing like nothing before so I went back downstairs to find that the temperature dropped. And I did not hear the heater. Strange.

I tried to turn the heat up but I never heard that "click" that comes on when you set it to a temperature higher than what it is at. And the furnace never came on. Back upstairs I went. Another hour passes and I find that I am wearing a thermal, two turtlenecks, a sweatshirt, long johns, pjs, socks and my Uggs and I am STILL freezing and I realize something just isn't right.

Back downstairs to discover that the temperature has dropped even more. Fearing that the furnace has died, I start to panic. That is when I notice that one of the two little wires coming from the thermostat is not coming from the thermostat anymore. It is totally detached. Huh, I wondered. Was that supposed to be attached? I text B:

Me: Are both wires supposed to be attached to the thermostat?

B: Yes

Me: Damn! I pulled one out. Do you know where it goes?

B: No, but there should be a little hole that is slightly pulled out

Huh? I look and there are about 10 holes and none of them look "slightly pulled out". Concerned for my safety, I type:

Me: If I try to put this back will I get electrocuted?

B: No

I then instant message my sister in law:

Me: If I try to put a wire back in the thermostat, will I get electrocuted?

Jenny: No*

Meanwhile, B is texting me again:

B: Get a small Phillips, make sure there is no wire stuck and put it back in.

And that is just what I did, minus the "check to make sure there is no wire stuck part". I was too petrified when sparks were there. Me and the tiny Phillips found hanging on the tool room wall fixed the problem. The problem I created, but I fixed it. I don't think I have ever heard a sweeter sound then that furnace firing back up.

Maybe I am a MacGuyver after all. Or not. I don't recall MacGuyver ever breaking something.

That he admitted to, at least.

*Don't ask why I thought my sister in law needed to confirm that I would not get electrocuted. I just needed confirmation.

Cover Me...

We have been slowly but surely procuring window coverings for the new house since you know that the previous owners left us really nothing to work with besides the ugly curtains in our bedroom and various cheap blinds. Right now, with the exception of the dining room, most windows have thermal roman shades, as you will see. Even the drapes in the dining room are thermal to help us save on the heating bill by keeping a little warmth in. Sure isn't helping today though. You would never know it is March with these temps.

Anyhow, our goal is to get drapes for most of the windows, but we are working in baby steps at this point. So here are your "befores" and "afters":

This is the only picture I have that shows the before of the top of the stairs and that window looking down. As you can see, the previous owners left us a light white dainty type curtain that let in all of the drafts.

BEFORE

AFTER

Much better and the hallway color looks great as well. We do plan on having the stairs carpeted. Maybe then I wont slip and fall on them (did that), trip on them (did that) or hear each and every creak even when the cats walk on them.

Next is the stairway looking up. Again you can see that lovely dainty drape.

BEFORE

AFTER

Don't worry about those little pieces of wood that you see. Those were placed by B to see how much work would be needed to fix the stairs so they dont make as much noise.

Moving on to the dining room. I really do not have a very good picture of the before window but I will give you what I have.

BEFORE

AFTER

Yes, we have not painted this room quite yet. We have, however, placed a few color choices, none that we are going with, next to the drapes. Since the drapes are so dark, we will go lighter than the colors up on the wall currently. This is the second pair of drapes that we purchased. The first pair were a bit too gold. Do you know how hard it is to order drapes online? Luckily these were in the store and thermal and now they are ours.

Moving on to the living room. You all remember that bay window right? I still love to have the shades open on a sunny day to let in the light. Apparently, the previous owners thought we could just live like that all of the time since they took all of the window treatments with them.

BEFORE

AFTER

Next up is my office. If you will remember, this was their master bedroom and although they left us window coverings, they were those cheap blinds you can buy at any store:

BEFORE

AFTER

I don't know if you can get the full effect from these pictures, but those shades did wonders for this room. I am in love with them. In fact, I have to go tomorrow to get the one for the second window. This shade was the last one in the country in that size. They seriously traveled all the way from the other side of the country. They were a returned item but it does not appear that the prior owners even opened them as the packaging was all intact. I was afraid to the buy the shade for the other window in case this one didn't work out, but now I am safe.

Finally, the kitchen. Another beautiful bay window to let sun shine in, but also to let in drafts. So coverings were obtained.

BEFORE

AFTER

There you have, most windows covered, more on their way. I feel so behind in these renovation posts but I can barely keep up. Things change every day and I try to wait until they are somewhat "finalized" to show you.

I think that may never happen.

A Sea of Boxes

In the midst of the renovations which resulted in this:

The basement of the new house went from looking like this:

and this:

To this:

and this:

Then came the arrival of these guys (yes the wall is still that hideous yellow but you will see the transformation in an upcoming post I am sure):

And then, just a few days later, to this:

And this:

And this:

Man we have a lot of stuff! 

This happened in just three short days.  In fact, B's parents remarked about how quickly we had piled stuff up.  I had not realized at the time how quickly we did it, but looking back it does not surprise me. You see, B, is not one to just sit idle.  Every time one of us thought about going to the new house in those three days, our vehicle had to be packed to the brim with boxes.  In fact, for the closing, we both drove separately with vehicles completely packed to the top. It would be the first of many trips in those first few days. It reminds me of when we decided to move in together. I was living in an apartment with a few weeks left on my lease. We made the decision and I decided it was great that I would have a nice long time to pack up and get prepared. Nope! B started moving my "little" stuff the next day.  Whatever wasn't nailed down or did not require heavy lifting was gone.  Finally, after finding him measuring my desk to move and my exclaiming, "but what will I put my computer on if you take THAT", I just broke down, hired a mover, and was out within days.  If not for the refinishing of the floors, I am sure it would be the same now.

Oh, and did we move all of those boxes in nice balmy weather? Of course not.  This is a snapshot of what we experienced:

That's about how I felt too when all was said and done. Good thing I have gloves.

Last Night I Slept with Mittens On

Remember I told you how cold I get in the winter? How B can tell that it is winter by my nose and fingertips? Last night, they were like icicles. So I got the idea to sleep in my mittens. It was brilliant actually.

Now before you think B is a cruel husband* and refuses to heat our house or something, it is generally not freezing in our house. It does tend to be drafty though which just chills my bones and, apparently, my fingertips. This is especially true if I am typing on the computer. I should probably invest in one of those heated mouse (mice?) for my computer. Maybe then my fingers would be toasty and I wouldn't have to wear mittens. The thing is, when our heat comes on, we both get really hot. Lately, in the morning, it is on when I get out of the shower and it is like a sauna in there - and not in a good way. So last night, when B said "can you turn down the heat, my face feels flush and on fire", I knew what he meant. I could relate. Heat went down, mittens went on. Even the cats do their part by cuddling with each other and laying on our feet at night, sometimes even going UNDER the covers and heating us with their little bodies.

So I tell B of my brilliant plan. He already thinks I am a fashion disaster because my usual "in house" and nighttime outfit is a thermal shirt, flannel pants, a big hoodie and Ugg boots. With the gloves on, I look like a hobo. He recently told me I was not able to wear my Uggs to bed. Now THERE is an idea. Not very practical, however, too bulky.

The mittens do not have that problem. You see, when I get to bed, I am usually freezing. Off come the Uggs and on go knee high warm fuzzy socks, usually in some obnoxiously bright striped color. See? I am truly a hobo at heart. B does not understand any of this. He sleeps in shorts. And, the fact is, I usually get hot in the middle of the night. At that time, off come the socks, the hoodie and sometimes the shirt and on goes the ceiling fan. In light of this, B doesn't understand why I bother with it all at first. Seriously? A girl cannot fall asleep chilly!

So last night I slept with mittens on. I don't even know if B knew since I went to bed first. Just because I told him I was going to do it, doesn't mean I really did. But I did. And in the middle of the night they came off with the socks and the hoodie and the shirt. And the fan went on. And the heat went on during my shower this morning and I got mad and turned it off.

Mittens in bed is a brilliant idea. Now if I could just come up with something to cure the chilliness when I am up and typing. Wrapping my fingers around a candle while wearing the convertible mittens just isn't cutting it.

I know! A new less drafty house.

Now that is truly a brilliant idea.

*I know I have called B a cruel husband in the past, perhaps when he was trying to trip me on the covered bridge, playing into my fear of falling in the water. But I usually say such things in jest. Usually.