Bathroom fix

Awkward space filled one corner of our bathroom. Our neighbor told me the previous owner of our house renovated the bathroom shortly before we bought it, and that the contractors were supposed to put in a closet, but never finished. They certainly didn't leave room for another door in that tight space.

We used to keep our hamper there, but decided to move that to the bedroom and use the space for storage.  I really liked this shelf from Pottery Barn:

Making one ourselves would be much more involved than installing a few shelves and offer half the room, so we opted to save this idea for another time.
Over the weekend my parents came to visit and Daniel got started on building some shelves. I am very happy with what Daniel put up, and with my Dad's idea to angle the wood supports. Because this area had plenty of studs in the wall, the shelves are very sturdy.

I gladly de-cluttered the linen closet and re-arranged items in the bathroom. Now, Mari will have a convenient place for bath toys and guests will not have to ask where to find the towels.

Yard Work

After two years of wanting to get it done, we finally started. Last month I got the soil tested at NC State. Last week we bought the tiller. Over the weekend Daniel and our neighbor tilled the entire backyard so we can redo our lawn!

We expected the tilling to take a few days, because the Craftsman tiller we bought is a front tine and not made for speed. The dirt was very hard clay. However, our neighbor heard us tilling and came over with his heavy duty, rear tine tiller. Between them both, it was finished by lunchtime. It's a good thing too, because our tiller's engine broke halfway through. Daniel has is all apart in the tool-room. Being old, finding parts is challenging! We drove all around Raleigh trying to find belts and filters to get it ready to use. He finally did find the part online and it should come in a few days.

After lunch I went (in borrowed truck from the same neighbor) to get some compost to mix in with our dirt. I spread about 4 yards of it. We also put down some lime. By 7pm Mari needed to go to bed. So, I forced myself to stop spreading dirt and took her inside for a bath. 

My favorite part of the weekend happened after 7pm. Once the baby fell asleep and we got cleaned up, I made enchiladas and we watched old episodes of the Rockford Files on Netflix. After working so hard, relaxing feels great!

Labor Day

With an extra day off from work, we had a lot of fun over Labor Day in SC. It was Mari's 2nd or 3rd time visiting Daniel's grandparents at Lake Murray. We went for rides on the pontoon boat and swam a lot.

Monday morning my two sisters in law and I had an adventure.The usually calm lake was perfect for sailing with a strong, steady wind. Leaving the men with the children, we leisurely sailed the small man-o-war out of the cove. Surprisingly, no other boats were out on the lake and having so much space to ourselves was rather nice and relaxing. Until we hit the middle of the lake and our rudder fell off! At first it only detached from one side. Realizing this was bad, we turned around to sail home when it decided to come off the other side as well. Unable to steer and in the middle of the lake we contemplated our options. My first thought was to swim for shore. But shore was far away and we couldn't all leave the boat. We tried to paddle, but with just one small paddle and wind blowing us in circles, that didn't work. After that, we tried to use the paddle as a rudder and unfurl the sail just enough to blow us to shore without losing control. It worked! We couldn't steer this way all the way home, but we made it to a dock. A couple guys saw us tying onto their dock and came out to see what happened. They invited us in to call home. Then gave us towels and bottles of water as we introduced ourselves and waited for Daniel to arrive with the pontoon boat. The wind continued all day and into the next day. With the boat needing repairs, Daniel, K, and I were kinda bummed that we couldn't sail for the remainder of our visit. However, we did enjoy that brief sail, even though it ended in a rescue. Seeing someone else's lake house was cool too!
Monday night there was a violent storm. Strong winds blew the dock away, boats and all!

Daniel and Grandpap ran out in the middle of the downpour to tie a rope around the dock to prevent it from colliding with other boats or getting too far away. We lost power for 4 or 5 hours that evening. We enjoyed playing games by candlelight, although the kitchen heated up fast without AC.
Tuesday morning put the dock back.

We always have a wonderful time visiting Grandma and Grandpap. We are looking forward to going back soon!

Best yard sale find ever

We spent some time this weekend playing around with a recent yard sale find that I am so happy about. Back in July (while in Alaska), I bought this typewriter at a yard sale for $15. It didn't have any ribbon in it, but thanks to Amazon, I found some that works and we finally had a chance to try it out. It is a Royal Quiet De Luxe from, I believe, 1939. The serial number is A-904527, and based on the internet typewriter database, that's my guess. I don't have any specific plans for it, other than type an occasional note to Daniel or do-to list, but it's the kind of thing that makes me happy just to look at. A piece of history that's just as functional today is it was 70 years ago.
To get it home, we borrowed an extra bag from Daniel's parents and carried it on the planes. The security guys seemed pretty surprised when they saw it on the screen, and had us open the bag so they could examine it closely. The guy looking it over said it had been a long time since he had seen someone come through with a typewriter.

 

Scrap exchange

Today Mari and I visited a place I have been wanting to go for awhile: the Durham scrap exchange. I heard they have fabulous deals on fabric and I've been looking for some cheap pillow and curtain material. While the prices exceeded my expectations (at $1-3 per yard!!!), most of the prints were ugly and not suitable for our living room. However, I did buy an old white window with 6 panes of glass in it for $8. Since moving in two years ago, we have yet to hang something on the bedroom walls. I figure we can repaint this window, mount prints of flowers behind the panes, and hang it over the bed.
Some other neat stuff we saw included vintage patterns from the 50's, woodworking magazines from the 40's, barrels of corks, safety goggles and business cards, and some pretty cool artwork by local artists made out of reclaimed material. I was really hoping for a barrel of buttons! Oh well, maybe next time...



Update on 9/16/11- the window has been sanded, primed, and repainted. For now I have it on the mantle, which is in need of some help. I thought the mantle would be so fun to decorate before we bought the house, but nothing we put there seems quite right. Soon, I am going to do something about it, hopefully involving fall decorations!

Goodbye Miata, Hello 529 plan

We sold our red Miata yesterday. We felt sad watching it drive away with someone else, knowing we had driven it for the last time, but ready to move on with this next stage of life. We bought the red Miata to replace my Jeep (the one that kept breaking down, got 15 mpg and eventually exploded in the parking lot) about 4 years ago. I never thought Daniel would agree to get a convertible, but he did, and we both enjoyed driving around Raleigh with the top down. My sister and I even took the Miata on a road trip to NY one summer. Maybe someday we will get another one. In the meantime, I am driving a 2007 Toyota Matrix that is the perfect family car for us.