New Roof

Today another large project from my list was completed -- my house got a new roof. This was one of the things that I knew my house would need within a few years of buying it. The garage and the house (except for the addition) had two layers of shingles so it needed a complete tearoff.



Before



Before

They arrived at noon and when I stopped by at 1:30 they were already putting the tar paper on the garage and had the front half removed.

While I was there the foreman told me each of the front corners of the roof needed new plywood. They were rotten enough that if they had stepped on them, they would have fallen through.

 When I came home again about 5:00, they were just finishing up.

  On the picture below you can see that the three roof vents were removed and a ridge vent put in for better ventilation. Well, you can't really see the ridge vent, but you can see the others are gone.

 There was also a board that was soft right along where the addition was put on that was replaced. Not sure how I'm going to get up there and paint it??!!

After

Here's another shot of the before and the after. The picture makes the shingles look like they're kinda blue, but they're grey.

  

 They did a fabulous job in less than six hours!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Lisa!! 

Applesauce

I recently got three grocery bags of apples and decided to make some applesauce. I kept a few out to make a couple batches of apple crisp later. They were beginning to get soft so I knew I had to do something with them quickly.

They were Jonagolds and were huge. The one on the left is an apple I had just bought at the store...and I thought it was a decent size. 

One thing that I couldn't do without is my apple peeler. It comes in quite handy when I'm doing a lot of apples at once.

I sliced them up and added some water and cooked until they were mushy. And I'm sure that's the technical cooking term! 

 I love chunky applesauce so it didn't take long at all.

I ended up with 12 containers for the freezer. It will be a wonderful treat throughout the winter.

Microwave

When I bought my house, I knew one of the things that I wanted to add was a microwave above the stove. The existing stove had to have been from the early '80s and was all one piece but had two separate ovens and no vent. I knew I would wait at least a year before doing anything because I had gotten a home warranty when I bought the house, and if anything had happened to it, there was a chance they would replace it. 

So in the meantime, I had to buy a microwave. There was a built-in shelf that I put it on.

A few months after my home warranty expired, I purchased a new stove and got rid of that ugly, big beast. Up next was the microwave.

"Up next" being another year or so. I willing admit that I am a procrastinator on some things. On this project it was finding and hiring the electrician to put in an outlet above the stove for the microwave. I was getting along fine without a vent above the stove, and it was just as easy to leave things the way they were. 

But this summer/fall, I'm tackling several large projects and this was on the list just waiting to be crossed off. I finally got the name of an electrician from a co-worker (and then also found out he was the son-in-law of a co-worker from a previous job so I was really happy). So a little over three years later, I now have the stove and microwave I want.

I moved the toaster oven to the shelf where the microwave was, but I'm not sure I like it there so there might be more re-arranging going on.

Start Somewhere Walk

Iowa is currently ranked the 19th healthiest state in the U.S. The Healthiest State Initiative was created to make us the healthiest state by 2016.  Yesterday the Start Somewhere Walk was held as the kickoff of the initiative. Iowans gathered at businesses, schools, grocery stores and other places all over the state for a 1K walk at noon. It was a great day for the quick 10-15 minute walk. It was held to inspire Iowans to improve their health and happiness.

Check out the website and pledge to help Iowa change.

Bedroom Painting Project

The spare bedroom was in need of some color after I took the wallpaper down. I think I looked in every store in town at least twice before I finally found the shade of purple/lavender/grey comforter that I wanted. Then it was time to pick out the paint. I decided on Olympic Timeless Lilac.

 It's always such a shock (but exciting) when the first strokes of a darker paint go on, but I loved it right away.

 I knew the white furniture and curtains would really lighten up the room.

It was the blue carpet that was the problem. So while I still had some ambition, I ripped it out the same day I painted. It was held down by double stick tape. In the other bedroom that I took carpet out of, the tape was so dried out it wasn't even stuck to the floor. 

I wasn't so lucky with this room. Only about half of it came off, and the rest is very, very sticky. I haven't come up with a way to get it off yet, but I'm sure it will be time-consuming whatever it is. Ugh!

I really wish the bed would fit with the head on the wall without the window, but there's no other place for the long dresser because of the floor vent.

I still need to find an area rug and accessorize, but that's a project for another day.

There Is No More

All of the wallpaper in my house is finally gone...and it only took me three years. I think I lived with it that long because it was a fairly neutral color and not pink metallic fish. One day last winter I decided to work on the last two rooms - the spare bedroom and the basement bathroom. I knew that if I didn't do them both at the same time, I'd get one done, and it would be several months before I got to the other.





This was the room on the weekend I moved into the house. That great looking light was left behind by the previous owners and later sold at a garage sale.



The teeny, tiny basement bathroom.



I peeled the main layer of paper off and then started to work on the backing. I only had to spray it down with water and then scrape it off. Both rooms only had wallpaper on one wall so it didn't take me long. It only took me a fraction of the time that the main bathroom did. I hate even thinking about that...it was ugly.

 

I got such a crick in my neck working behind the toilet. Someone told me I should have taken the tank off, but, wow, that was more than I knew how to do or wanted to mess with. 

 Such a great feeling to have it all down and gone. The work is done. Now the fun part of painting and decorating.