Six Tons of Rock, Six Hands, Two Shovels, One Wheelbarrow

So...Memorial Day Weekend. Most people were enjoying a well-deserved day off. BBQs, drinks on the patio of their favorite bar, time out in the sun (as it rained here in Denver all week, strangely), etc. Well, we certainly spent some time out in the sun, and we did head over to our friends' house for a BBQ late Sunday (thumbs up on the Omaha steaks, Jesse!), but otherwise we were out in the sun trying to complete Landscaping Project 2007: Phase I. This included installing a rock pathway parallel to the driveway (so we can walk past our cars when parked instead of shimmy-ing between them), installing a rock path to the cabin in the courtyard, and finally adding a rock path on the north side of the house from the courtyard to the backyard.

Luckily, my brother Will volunteered to come up from Taos and help me out; I now know that it would not have even come CLOSE to being done if he had not shown up, so kudos for him. I'm not sure he realized what he was volunteering for, but neither did I! So we just took it in stride, and actually enjoyed ourselves despite 24 hours of labor to knock this thing out.

Things worth noting:

• It is hard to do anything worthwhile to your house without owning a truck of some sort. Luckily Will brought his. When I get a new car (no time soon), I think it will have to be a Nissan Frontier crew cab. I don't like the idea of driving a truck all the time, but it sure would make all this house stuff easier.
  
• We spent 3/4 of the time of this project removing, adding, and transporting dirt. And now, I have to borrow a truck from someone to transport the rest of the dirt/junk/leftover stuff from the project. (See bullet 1)
  
• Low-voltage lighting rocks. I was worried about the installation of the landscape lighting, but a child of four, hermedically-sealed in a jar, could have done it.
  
• Sawzalls also rock. Everyone should own one...which means I need to go out and get one and stop borrowing the guy's from across the street
  

Friday - Rock, Pavers, and William Arrive!

Saturday - Setting Pavers and Laying Down Weedblocker

Sunday - Laying Down Weed Blocker, Moving Gravel, and Planting!

Monday - Will Leaves Me to Finish the Rest While He Drives back to Taos

When I think Easter, I think SNOW!

That's right. Easter egg hunts, your parents waking you up shockingly early to go stand outside and freeze at a sunrise service, candy on Sunday morning for breakfast and...snow? Well, probably not that weird for anybody who didn't grow up in Texas, but it still kinda weirds us out. Anyhow... a couple of pics of some lightly fallen snow around the house. Not much. What Erica Soper once aptly put as "ambient snow".

In addition to enjoying the snow and chilly air, Jamie and I are going to celebrate Easter by drinking a beer for Jesus and seeing a rock show at the Larimer Lounge.

We're Adults Now...I Guess

So it was time for a real coffee table, and a rug to boot. Plus, my parents are showing up in a bit, so it would be nice to have the house looking as nice as possible. Still piecing it together room by room, piece by piece, weekend by weekend. Not house news, but we're happy with how they look in the den. I was thinking the cats would LOVE the new rug, but they're kinda skirting around it. Can't ever tell with them. "That's not shocking!" Next? A kitchen table that we can actually fit 6 people at.

Hi. Name me. Because my owners can't.

Let the Updates Begin!

Let the updates begin. We have roughly two months from the time we closed until we actually moved in, so our goal was to get as much done as possible before we move in. We know it won't all get done, but we think we can at least make some progress. The first things that had to be done were the stipping of wallpaper, the addition of some color, and the removal of the god-awful carpet. We weren't sure what the floors below would yield, but they turned out pretty good. We'll have to get them repaired/refinished, but they are definitely ok as is for now!

The Blizzard is Coming...Oh, and We Closed!

With the second blizzard in two weeks looming, we bumped the closing date up. It actually started snowing when we were doing all the paperwork, and we barely made it before the snow picked up. But the house is ours. Not sure when we can actually DRIVE to it, but when we can, there will be pictures and the updates will begin.

We Found a House!

Well, after a year of semi-seriously searching, and two years of casually searching, we found the house that is the one. It's a Cliff May-designed house built in 1955. The Ramsey family bought the house in 1955, so if we get the house, it will be from the original owners! Bad 70s remodel choices aside, the house is in great shape. Some pics below of the original state of the house—we're hoping to return it to something a little closer to the architect's original intention.



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