Post-Holiday Recap (Recoup)

What an eventful couple of months!

We had a wonderful time catching up with Chris and Julie and meeting Ada:



Who spent the majority of her time rocking back and forth on hands and knees and exclaiming, "WOW! WOW! WOW!"

We spent Thanksgiving at Aunt Cherri's house, and for the following five weeks my life was entirely dominated by The Nutcracker. More on that to come.

We did manage to put up our modest little tree. In the old apartment, it took up half our living room.



A sleepy present:



And we hung stockings on the [window] with care...



For Anne, Bren, and Chevy.

Also, we finished tiling the kitchen, and Bren grouted the whole thing.

He also scored us the most amazing range! A discontinued model that had been on display. It was originally $2,000, and we got it for $650 (That's less than the price of the lower-end oven we were saving to buy with Bren's discount). And it sings a little song when it's done preheating and cooking.



ALSO, I decided the whole renovation thing wasn't enough work, and started making a quilt for our bed, and bought silk for curtains in the living, dining, and master bedrooms. Pictures to follow soon.

Christmas came and went really fast, but it was great. Thanks, everybody!

Now, Bren and I are trekking to the nearest IKEA (Draper, UT) on Saturday in the hopes of purchasing some kitchen cabinets. We can't afford to get them all, but it will be a good start. Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

Happy New Year!

The Great Holiday Hurry-Up-And-Get-Things-Done

In that Halloween post I mentioned that drywall was going up in the kitchen.



It was hard, dusty, chickeny work.

Some of you may remember the "nook" area, which used to look like this:



And shortly thereafter, this:



Turns out putting things back together takes longer than bashing them in with a sledgehammer. But now, things are looking up.



We laid the most awesomest tile floor this weekend, despite the fact that both Bren and I came down with the Black Lung on Friday night. And painted all of the walls a light gray (Misty Raindrop or something) except for that dark one, which is blackboard paint. As of tomorrow it will read: "Welcome, Deulens."

I also started a Hall of Fame upstairs.



Guess you'll have to come over to see who all's up there.

And we hung the chandelier in the dining room.



I can't believe how far we've come!



That's all for now. We're BEAT!

Edit: Anne forgot to mention the finished bookshelf, so here it is.



We've worked really well together on all the projects we've done so far, but I did worry just a bit on the kitchen tiles working as a duo. Maybe it was our shared sickness but I thought it might end up like this:



(Art by Al Jaffee.)
-Bren

Happy Halloween!

Chevy is in disguise. As El Pollo Loco!



In this one, you can see drywall going up in the kitchen! More on that later.



Now, more candy!

Turf War

Remember our post-apocalyptic-looking backyard? Or, more properly, post-ridiculously-expensive-sewer-line-replacement?



Well, Bren tilled, seeded, fertilized, and ever-so-tenderly nurtured it back to life.



There are still some patches that didn't get the memo, but it's worlds better looking. Just in time for the first frost.

In his adventures in watching grass grow, Bren came across a homely little squirrel. He thought he was some kind of mutant squirrel, in fact.

Sunday, I swore all morning that I heard a rustling in/around the heating duct in the basement. Then Chevy started acting all weird and looking up at the ductwork. Bren didn't believe either of us until he came down later in the afternoon...only to find Chevy in a tussle with THE MUTANT! (Bum bum BUMMMMM!)

The best documentation I could manage amid the ensuing chaos was this:



He's behind a paint can in the bookshelves that are currently serving as our "garage" in the basement.

Bren and I eventually shooed him out the back door, after several minutes that might have fit well in a Chevy Chase movie. I thought to myself, "Well, he'll never want to do THAT again."

But yesterday, he seemed to think otherwise.



He peered longingly through our kitchen window. We named him Douglas.

We still don't know how he got in. We're taking bets on Chevy vs. Douglas in the event he tries again, though. The staring contests they engage in through the windows are so intense I keep waiting for a tumbleweed to roll by.



"Do you feel lucky, punk?"

Breaking News: The Swedes are Coming!

IKEA Opening First Colorado Store (Denver Post)

Since they haven't gone through all the red tape for the land yet, and construction takes an estimated 15-18 months, it may be a while. Nevertheless, I'm excited!

In the meantime, we can all take our cues for frugal and fabulous living from my excellent ladyfriends Arwen, Mary, and Carra at Dirt Chic.

Still Life With Pumpkin

The bookshelves are a work of art, though I do say so myself.

Now I get to dive into a pile of...



Books! Chevy is particularly interested in Nabokov and Vonnegut.

FYI, here's how Real Simple magazine (which I love -- thanks, Mom O!) suggests people with a "lot" of books should display them:



I think we're on the right track! Although, if Real Simple calls this a lot of books, my life is more complicated than I thought.

Allow My Shelf to Introduce...My Shelf

Those book shelves are coming along. Of course, when neither wall, floor, nor wood are perfectly straight or level, it's not as easy as it looks. There's some shimming here, some planing there, and a lot of wood filler.

Getting the bottom shelf in was the hardest part.



As of tonight, they look like this:



Pardon our mess. There's something pretty to look at in the living room...



Some bling courtesy of IKEA and CB2. The black things are tealight troughs. Now all we need is a dining table.

I also spent some tedious hours meticulously planning out our kitchen (to the inch) on graph paper. Alas, it's just barely too big for our scanner. Maybe I can do it at work.

Incidentally, work is definitely picking up. Just for fun, I'll leave you with a glimpse of what that looks like: