Rain, Rain, Go Away...

I have to admit, as a homeowner I hate the rain. Everytime I hear it coming down I envision a slow leak somewhere in the roof that remains undetected and will eventually rear its ugly head. There is absolutely no basis for my paranoia, but alas, there it is. So rain, if you hear me, please be kind.

Running with Anchors and Screwdrivers

I've actually never read the book Running with Scissors. It's supposed to be depressing, isn't it? This wasn't depressing. So perhaps that's not a relevant tagline. Forget it.

In addition to painting during the snow break, there was a lot of hanging of things. A wine rack, this ironing board/iron getup, and the medicine cabinet for the basement bathroom. These projects have been on the to do list for a while not and you know what? It all took about 15 minutes to complete. Sweet.

Oh yeah, and Laura sawed off the bottom of one of the basement doors. It resulted in tons of sawdust in the dining room. A mistake that we will not make again.

I Believe the Children Are Our Future...

Sexual Chocoloate everybody. They sing so nice, won't you agree? That's another Coming to America reference. Perhaps one I've made before. But that's neither here nor there. What is here is this brown color that we used on the ceiling in the study. We liked it so much that we've put it in the hallway as well. Some touchups are still needed in both places, but don't hold that against us.

In case you were wondering how we painted the brick wall above the stairs...it consisted of my balancing on the bannister and hoping that I did not slip. Safety has never been my strong suit.

I'll post pictures of the paint job in Laura's study once we've finished. For now, we've only put down the top layer.

Pants Party, Part Deux: Revenge of the Pants

I'd like to let the pictures say it all, but a few choice words are in order.

Our goal for the bedroom was a dark grey, highlighted by a white ceiling, white trim, a white closet, etc. Editorial notea: Words like highlight and accent are a direct result of reading numerous design blogs. It's something uncomfortable to admit, but alas, it's what I've become. Back to the story...the guy helping us settle on Benjamin Moore paint colors, we'll call him Pretentious Old Guy, informed us that a straight grey is not the way to go. In his words, paitning the room a dark grey would make the room like the inside of a battleship. Instead, we went with Deep Space. In the end, the color is growing on us but it's has a stronger blue hue than expected.

As a result of all of this painting my painting pants are now a disaster. It all started with spilling the paint can on them and culminated with using them as a hand rag.

A follow-up painting post to come...

Pants Party, Part I

Needless to say, shoveling has dominated our lives over the past few days. Sidewalk, check. Steps, check. Basement, check. Cars, check. But when our neighborhood listserv suggested shoveling the snow off our roof, the list needed to be revised.

The suggestion came across our path early enough in the day that I figured, yeah, sure, great idea. Not a problem. But you know what? This suggestion needed a footnote. Something along the lines of, "Warning: Muscles required." Instead, both I and my muscles found out the hard way.

So, fast forward and I've set up the ladder in the bathroom, ready to climb up on to the roof. I should have known what was in store for me as I struggled to even push open the hatch. Keep in mind, this was roughly 30 inches we're talking about. Now I'm not sure what the square footage of our roof is, but 30 multiplied by anything is a lot of snow.

Broom (I did not use this at all) and shovel in hand, I began with the edges and rear of the roof. Two hours later, perhaps 1/4 of the roof had been cleared. 4 hours later, perhaps half of the roof. Thankfully adrenaline kicked in and I forsaw no problem in finishing the job. That is, until I looked over the side of the house.

Something I never even considered was that all the snow from the roof has to go somewhere, right? As I wasn't about to kill any passing pedestrians, that somewhere was around the various sides of the house. So, when I looked down, it was to a mound of snow covering the entire front door and the entire basement rear exit (see the pictures above). Not only would I be required to shovel this snow again, but think about how compact that snow is. Our house is two and a half stories. A straight drop from that height equals a painful experience.

In the end I shoveled roughly 3/4 of the roof and spread the rest out evenly. I re-shoveled the entire front of the house (sorry, no pictures), and shoveled out the basement exit until I reached the drain. Tomorrow I'm contemplating shoveling even further to retrieve my spleen that I seem to have buried.

Editorial Note: I'm happy that we chose to clear the roof, despite all of the difficulty. In talking with neighbors and reading through blogs, it seems that a number of roofs have collapsed (including a fire station) and gutters have been ripped off of houses as melted ice turns into heavy icicles.

What's cold, white, and hates DC...

Anne Coulter. I'm kidding, but I do have anotheer joke (although admittedly it's not my own). If pro is the opposite of con, then the opposite of progress is...Anne Coulter. No, it's Congress. And the answer to the first riddle is snow. Approximately 40 inches of snow.

For those that haven't watched the news or doesn't love Laura and I, DC has been bombarded by snow over the past week. Friday into Saturday saw a 4 hour early dismissal from work and anywhere from 30-40 inches of snow. It also saw me on the roof drinking tea and having tears frozen to my face. Sunday into Wednesday saw three straight days off from work (here's hoping for four), and another 10-20 inches, including 2-4 foot snow drifts.

What does all of this mean? Laura and I have accomplished many a miscellaneous task around the house which I would be so pleased to share with you all (assuming anyone checks the blog after weeks upon months of inactivty). You have a slew of stories and pictures to look forward to, from painting to drinking coffee to setting records for length of time without a shower. Hold on to your pants because I'm about to blow them off.

Living in America

Thankfully Laura and I checked out a house across the street with Chris the Realtor on Saturday. I should explain...

A house across the street (1835 North Capitol Street) recently went on the market for $450K. We aren't looking to move, but simply wanted to see the house and track it...and perhaps understand what our house USED to look like. This way we can gauge the current market value of our house.

The house was very well maintained and had many of the old fixtures/fittings that ours lacks. However, the kitchen was smaller, there was no form of A/C, the basement had yet to be worked on (or so we assume from what the top stairs showed us), and all of the radiators were still in place (this probably means that the heating hasn't been updated). From what we could gather, the plumbing WAS updated, as was the electricity, or at least parts of the electricity.

Either way, none of that really matters. What does matter is that Chris the Realtor provided us with contact information for his go to HVAC guy, Dale. Dale the HVACer was able to stop by on Sunday and I was able to see the inner workings of our furnace. Watching him run through checks of the heating circuit and listening to explanations of how the system works was actually great. I don't understand these things, and while I will likely never perform any of the furnace work myself, it's nice to know why, and how, the work is being done. Thankfully, when all was said and done, we had a problem with a switch in the furnace rather than the circuit board.

Dale came by yesterday with a replacement switch and serviced the furnace while he was there. All in all it only took about two hours and everything looks, and feels, good. The whole thing cost just shy of $300. A small price to pay to no longer wear onsey pajamas all over the house.