Who needs drugs when you've got siding to stain?!!

I think I'm still high from all the Cabot fumes. Last night marked my 3rd consecutive day of staining our brand new cedar siding boards that we received last week. I spent over 16 hours this past weekend staining, and thankfully the weather held out long enough on Sunday for me to do 54 boards all by myself. In 2 hours last night, 3 of us finished about 65 more and there's still 20 or so to go! I should be able to finish that last bit tonight, but after spending Sunday and Monday night in the garage surrounded by the fumes, I think it's starting to go to my head. ;-) And of course it's been rather humid lately so this stuff is taking forever to dry and I'm running out of place to put them to dry! They're spread all over the garage and many are even leaning up against the tractor to conserve space. So no parking in the garage for a bit longer! We're hoping that the carpenter will start the siding work in the next few days, but we still have more stuff to do before then like take down the outside lighting fixtures and getting a dumpster delivered to throw away the old siding. All I can say is thank goodness we're doing a significant part of the house with stone. No need to stain that stuff!

More work on the house and a new dress!

Ok, so the heat and humidity from about 2 weeks ago really tested the new AC system and we discovered that the upstairs wasn't cooling off as much as it was supposed to. So the guys are back at the house again today, as a matter of fact, to drop 2 more supplies in the upstairs bedrooms to balance out the air in the upstairs. So it should nice and really cool up there the next time we get 90+ degree heat! And to top it off, I asked them if they could look into the issue we have with the tub in the bathroom upstairs. We haven't used it in ages because of a leak which appears to be coming from the drain underneath. That issue has been on our To-Do list for about a year now, so if they can get that fixed we'll be golden!! Not to mention the fact that B will get to take a bath in "his" bathroom again.

In other renovation news...we received a delivery of lumber this morning for the siding. I have to admit - those cedar boards are beautiful! So we'll definitely have our hands full this weekend staining all of that before the carpenter starts his work on Monday. We have also signed with a stone mason and he will be starting his work as soon as our home equity loan goes through at the bank. Oh - and last weekend I borrowed a wallpaper steamer from a former colleague (Thanks J and I!) so that I can start the removal of the last bit of wallpaper in the upstairs hallway. Busy busy!!

Speaking of last weekend, one other task on my list of stuff was to get together with my cousin and her friends/family and go dress shopping! My cousin is getting married in October (finally - she's been with the guy for like 13 years!) and I'm one of her bridesmaids and I'm so excited! I haven't been a bridesmaid since my best friend Chel got married in 1997, but I think I remember the drill - LOL. Anyway, her only requirements about the dress was that is had to be black or brown. But of course we peppered her with so many questions about what she wants/doesn't want (can't have the bridesmaids outshine the bride now can we!) that she ended up caving in and showed us her wedding gown. It's absolutely stunning! So the 5 of us - 4 bridesmaids and her maid of honor started scanning the racks and I started trying on a bunch of dresses. This is the one we decided to go with. It will be a dark brown with a cream-colored sash. I have to admit, I didn't really like it at first (all that poofy-ness isn't really my style), but it's starting to grow on me.

And the maid of honor will have a slightly different dress. Hers will be a taupe/nutmeg color (more like the color of the sash in this picture) with a dark brown sash to match the bridesmaids.

So let me know what you think of the dresses!

Bring on the heat!

Cause we're ready! Last week, the first of several major renovations to the house was completed with the installation of central air conditioning. So long to 8 long years worth of window-unit nonsense! After growing up in a house with central A/C then moving to a house without it and having to deal with window units, I realized very quickly how much of a pain those things are to deal with. And after replacing all the windows over the past few years, well just say I'm glad I don't have to worry about those getting all scratched up anymore. So bring on the hazy, hot and humid weather! The crazy summer heatwaves that last for weeks! (Just not any droughts, ok? Food prices are high enough as it is!) Cause we are ready to sit back in a nice cool comfy house!

Next up - we need to secure a mason so we can secure some money and get the exterior renovations going. We've talked to 4 stone masons already and we have a really good feeling about 2 of them. One of them wanted us to measure for the square footage ourselves - what?? Isn't that what you're supposed to do? And another one quote a price that is way above the average. So stay tuned...