“Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames” Rumi

NO the house didn't burn down, we aren't that lucky to have an insurance claim to build new....we just aren't.  But you know what we are lucky at??  S-A-L-E-S

The Man asked me what I wanted for Mother's day and I happened to be looking at the Lowe's advert and said "why don't we do a joint gift and buy a fire pit kit?"  I peaked his interest and lets not lie made it easy for him to get me a gift.  So off to Lowe's we went and walked around looking for a fire pit kit and when we found it were super underwhelmed by it. 

I walked over to the retaining wall areas and said "hey why can't we build our own?" holding a installation guide.  You could see the sheer non happiness on The Man's face but when we did the math decided to give it a go.  We picked out this stone 

We already had sand and pea gravel from other projects that were just laying in the grass by the detached garage so we decided to give it a go. 

Yes The Man is wearing a D.A.R.E shirt, that sums up our humor on pretty much everything. 

It really wasn't a bad project when you look back at all the other projects that we have done.  We essentially filled in the shitty hole we were using before with rocks, gravel, sand and leveled it with massive hate fire.  From there we just started building a ring and calling it good.  Whole project took about 2 hours.  We know this cause the little Terrorist was down for his nap and we were able to complete the whole project before he woke back up again.  We glued each ring to prevent slipping if we were to put our feet on it (which gives us a few beers or Buffalo Trace and you can bet we will) and only did three layers vs the four we had originally measured for.  Four stone high would have been one hellva fire and difficult to put out when needed. 

Total dimensions

12 inches high by 54 inches wide (interior is 44 inches)

We had a BBQ the same night and wowza were the little heathens pumped to try it out.  Temp dropped really quick so everyone go just two s'mores and back inside we went. 

It so nice now in comparison to everything else on the top of our hill I see a lot of renovation happening up there this summer....neat-o! 

Actual Cost

$2.08 per stone X 33 stones = $68.64

$5.33 landscaping caulk

**We owned everything else (shovel, hammer, tamper, sand from the back of the truck for the winter) caulk gun and level. **

Lowe's cost for Fire Pit

$199 and it comes with a metal ring 

We are going to have to get a lid for the pit eventually but for right now it works for us. 

The return after some much needed time away for my sanity and marriage

Our ugly dream house became the Money Pitt.  If you have never seen the movie and are in house repairs it will either give you a much needed laugh or you may end up sobbing like a toddler before nap time realizing just how parrell your life is to theirs.

That's what I kept thinking when we had to do something else to the house.  However the strain that it put on our marriage was unbelievable.  Any chances of us putting anything in savings went right out of the 1980's aluminum windows that I still have cause its not cheap to purchase new ones folks!

We have done little things to repair the house but there are A LOT of stuff that still needs its final touches that we just put off for the sake of our sanity and family.  There are things that still make my eye twitch (that damn board above the microwave) but we haven't won the lottery and NOBODY in our families are giving us 100k in the next year to do it all.

Where are we as a family/couple???  There are moments that are still filled with strain when we both see something that we feel is hideous or we want to go somewhere but you know our savings is at like .17 after interest.  I try to focus on the fact that we are healthy and that the house is safe and build our love around that.  I also remind myself that to get a brand spanking new house with the same acreage we have now would cost over 800k so as long as my house doesn't turn into the image below, I guess we are good right?!?!?

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“Even miracles take a little time” -Fairy Godmother

“Sleeping in a tinfoil suit keeps me warmer and helps prepare me for my voyage to the moon. Would you care for some licorice?” ― Jarod Kintz,

We came close a few times to needing a tin foil suit and we weren't going to the moon but just trying to stay warm.  There is no amount of licorice that makes that OK.  Our furnace had been repaired twice already and a couple weeks back on a non windy/cold day it died...again!  This time the warranty company finally decided to replace it.  In the process discovered that the water heater was leaking and we decided to repair it as well.

Here is what we use to have....yes....it was nnniiiiiccccceeee

And here are the awesome pictures of the water heater

I would persoanlly like to thank Lou at Air Serv, he has made cookie list for life!!  He was wonderful to deal with and got everything replaced and done in less than a week and on a day it started to snow.  When they got here to when they left was right at 4/5 hours.

Here is how it all looks now

Pretty sure our home warranty isn't going to renew us when the time comes :)

“Live out of your imagination instead of out of your memory.” ~ Fortune Cookie

Damn that cookie was good and boy oh boy did we buy into that optimism when we created out house priority list.  Reality hit in 30 days later but from time to time I like to look it over and think "SILLY FOOL".  My priorities have greatly changed and I'm at the point of picking and choosing battles in rooms.  Can't redo entire kitchen??? Awesome...lets do the sink instead, small victory.

Here we go, slashed out means we have done it:

Priority Blocks

Summer

Paint - 2500

Front Door - 1400

Gutters - 850

Repair eaves - 350

TOTAL =  5100

Fall

Driveway (main) - 5000

Garage Doors - 3000

TOTAL = 8000

Winter

Master Bath - 6000

Back Porch - 6000

TOTAL = 12,000

Spring 2015

Windows - 7000

Stone Exterior - 3000

TOTAL = 10,000

Summer 2015

Play set - 1000

Retaining Wall - 5000

TOTAL = 6000

Fall 2015

Carpet (Basement) - 1000

Basement bath - 2500

Laundry - 1500

TOTAL = 5000

Winter 2015

Countertops - 3000

Kitchen Cabinets - 6000

Kitchen Floor - 3000
TOTAL = 12000

Spring 2016

AC - 5000

Way later!

Detached Garage - 5000

This list isn't the actual working list anymore but again, I like to look at it from time to time and remind myself where we were and where we are going.

So much to do that you forget all that you've done...

Yes that indeed has happened.  I was cleaning the house today and just thinking about all the things that have been done to the house and there are a few things that I forgot to post about cause something else took over.

Case in point, the basement.  That hideous nasty basement that was freezing cold and don't get me started about that bathroom.  I originally wasn't going to do anything with it until we could do it all at once...then reality kicked in and that would be 5 years!  So we put up some paint, few rugs and brought in the furniture from the detached garage and WALA looking fancy!

Before

Seriously...that red was H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E.  

We took out the door right next to the stairs to allow easy access into the closet from the garage.  A must when you have 2 kids in the winter!

Here is how it looked after

This is the only place where our master bed fits as well as mirror.  The sofa set is the one from AL and on the opposite wall is where we put the TV and there is surround sound.  If there was enough room to build in a closet this would most likely end up being our master suit....but oh well.  One step at a time :)

We bought a playset...really who needs the gym

I forgot to post this cause really with this house I honestly forget weeks.  Found this great playset for the kids on CraigsList.  Was located in Denver, had to bring a trailer and take it apart myself.  No issues, we've got tools!  Get there and the owner didn't realize that every bolt was essentially glued on due to the previous owners painting over them.  They had just bought the house and didn't need the set.  So what ended up being "easy breakdown" took 4.5hrs.  with him staying to help!!!


My Mom went with to take pictures and bag bolts which thanks be to God on that one cause if not it would have been an expensive pile of wood to burn.  There was no way I would have been able to get it back together.

And it was nearly 100' in Denver that day too

Will say that truck is a beast...100% utter beast!

My life is my gym

It took about a week to get it together and I had to go and get new metal (15' stakes) to hold it down.  There is no doubt that it is a huge hit in our house.  Probably should have dug out the grass to prep for mulch...but eeeehhhhh that's a next spring project!

1 Step forward...85 back

I can't even express how much I lost my every loving mind the other day.  We ordered patio doors from a company, that I'm not even going to list cause that letter to the corporate office is still pending, and were told 11-14 weeks for door to be put in.  Well....that would have put us into October...sucks but okaaayyyyy...its "how things are".  Our neighbor also ordered windows from the same company and told me that they were extremely back logged and to call them.  Needless to say when the lady told me 16-20 weeks I was not a happy camper.  Especially with the excuse "its cause of all the hail damage..." my response was "we ordered our door afterwards so that's bad planning on your part!"  Jordan even called from Afghanistan is how bent I was about things.

So fast forward, door is here, someone cancels their install we get in a stand by list.  Now when I ordered the door I SPECIFICALLY asked the sales guy if the rot that I noticed on the frame was going to be issue (outside) and how bad the patio was too.  The door was sagging/bowing and aluminum with no handle on it so I was clear that there was going to be issues.  Cause lets be real everything that "should" be easy with this house hasn't been.  I even gave the electrical incident as the example and was told that it wouldn't be a issue...blah blah blah.

Installer shows up...first thing out of his mouth "ummmm Ma'am we have a problem"  no kidding no power tools plugged in and that's what he says.  He suspects there is rot but this is going to take more than the hour they had him slotted for.  I said I know that, I told the sale guy to plan for F-O-U-R.
Installer cracks it open and we find THIS

no wait...gets better (or worse) 

yes that is his hand in my door frame...his 6'7 hand in my f-ing frame!!!

So the E-N-T-I-R-E 2x8 was rotted where the old door use to be.  Oh oh oh and he said that there was not way there wasn't water damage on that basement wall.  We walk down and what do you know...its been patched and skimmed.  Was hard to tell with the color the wall was but explains why there was always a musty smell downstairs. 

Thank you sweet baby Jesus laying in the manger that the installer was a contractor and was able to frame the door in cause you know it only SNOWED that night!!!!  I think the hysterics is what caused him to work till nearly 11pm...yup 11pm...I was a hot ball of pissed off I was.  Think I might have terrified him into staying for fear of what would happen if he left me with a gaping hole in my kitchen...while it was snowing.

The door is really nice and even Jordan noticed the difference on skype.  He said he could actually SEE the trees instead of just the green blob from the previous doors.  

1 step forward...sigh...really terrified what is behind that wall in the basement now!