Would you like to come stay with us?

We have an extra room to stay in now and it is awfully cute! Well, we have had the room since we moved in but just this weekend we finished the painting the the picture hanging and clearing the out the clutter from the move.

We're training our kitten to do home improvement projects so we can have an extra set of hands. So far, we've taught her to climb ladders which is important because she's pretty short. All the climbing tuckered her out so we caught her cat napping on the ladder of all places!

Justin did most of the painting this time around (although Cricket got her whiskers into it).

Here's the makeover of the awkward walk-in closet in the guest room:

And the final product. Doesn't it look cozy?We're all ready now for a house guest. Would you like to come stay with us?

It's a girl!

We have a new addition and her name is Cricket.

DOB: 4/28/09; 2.25 lbs on 7/9/09

She loves to play!

Well, it's a start.

The plan this weekend was to go on a hike up Mt. Pilchuck, an all day affair, but our hike leader canceled the hike due to iffy weather. So, I had an extra day burning a hole in my pocket. I decided to maximize it. I was up at 8, painting the kitchen on Saturday morning. I wrapped up around 9:30 and changed into my spandex bike gear. My friends came over with their bikes at 10 and we cycled around Mercer Island and back. I had a quick lunch and pulled out the blue paint to do all the touch-up. Finished that, decided the iffy weather was going to turn out to just be sunny and cool so I got out my gardening tools and dug in (literally). I weeded one of the planting areas in the front of the house and trimmed up the lone shrub, a lanky euphorbia. The OCD started to kick in and I decided to go for some of the more obnoxious weeds in the backyard too (it's full of them). So, it's a start. Summer isn't the best time of year to plant a new garden so I will just be defending my fresh bed against weeds until fall when I can get to planting. My yard waste bin is full until Thursday when I can get started on the blackberry bramble behind the garage.

Painted and ready for service. Next up: a tile backsplash and crown moulding for the kitchen

My freshly weeded flower bed. This is where my witch hazel is going.

I can see clearly now...

Sad to say but this year I am really only container gardening. We need a plan before it makes sense to tear up the front yard and install something more ecologically friendly and attractive than a lawn and a plan we do not have-yet. It seems that we've just had a few too many other things to do besides create a landscape plan. I did start a plant list though and I'm trying to stick to 80% drought tolerant plants, especially in the full sun areas. I think I'll have a lot of lavender and spirea which I love. I am going to try a rock rose or two as well as some ornamental grasses and yarrow. I know from my last yard what I'm not going to install (sumac trees! Stipa gigantica!). I'm also going to splurge my water budget for a hydrangea or two and definitely a beautiful witch hazel tree. We'll be putting in a cherry tree and apple tree somewhere in the yard but I haven't a clue what variety yet. Something prolific...it is all about the fruit.

My container garden:

We have new windows in the basement! Seriously, the old ones were bad. Panes were broken, there were no latches on some and you could see through the frames to the outside. Someday we'll get around to framing out these walls, insulating and creating a more livable space down there but in the meantime, we'll just have one that is more air-tight.

Slowin' down

Well, the sunny spring days have been a major distraction from home improvement projects. We've discovered a nice walking route through the Cheasty greenbelt and bike-to-work month got us onto our saddles again, peddling to the daily grind. So, our progress at home has slowed down. Aside from some incidentals that don't matter much, we can say we're officially done with the living, dining, and master bedroom. We're all painted and moved in and things are looking done. The kitchen is up next for her trim-out. But this is pretty much where we've stalled on the painting front.

Instead of painting, we've been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing. This last weekend we hosted a baby shower so we got the place dusted and prepped and gave the ol' oven a workout. I got busy filling our built-in cabinets in the living room with books and other curiosities. This weekend we had nothing going on except a visit from our internet provider to fix our ever-failing connection. So, we decided to tackle the basement. Before we moved in, Justin and I built some shelves for convenient storage. But, we didn't build enough shelving and we installed the shelving in front of one of the basement windows. Tomorrow, we are having new windows installed throughout the basement so we had our excuse to address the chaos down there that we created on moving day.

A place for everything and everything in its place (almost).

We also picked up the cabinets for our desk space that we're building. Two out of three were correct but the third one was the wrong dimension so back it went and a new one is ordered and on its way. Here are the two in the approximately correct location. We have a bunch to do with the attic access before we can officially install these.

More progress has been made in the war on blue trim. The battle in the living room was completed yesterday and the results are pretty dramatic. We finished up the painting around noon and headed out to a volunteer activity with a few friends. We returned home pretty pooped. Laura crashed on the couch while I pulled the blue tape and put the furniture back together. My mom was coming over for brunch today and a little motivation seems to move us along towards wrapping up a major task such as this. Of course a few lessons were learned that will be applied on the next painting task in the living room. Another event is coming up at the end of the month so that goal seems pretty achievable.

We also received the blinds for the bedrooms on Friday so the master bedroom is now equipped with window coverings. I'm sure the neighbors are just as excited as we are.

Looking into the dining room from the living room you can see the blue paint and the new and improved white.

The fireplace built-in less the cabinet doors.

The master bedroom complete with blinds. A few more items to go but now way more livable.