Books, Books, Books
This past weekend, Stephanie and I went to my company's warehouse employee book sale. This is where they lay out all the returned stock from bookstores and let us purchase it at a steep discount, which means that it doesn't need to get recycled or trashed. It's one of the great perks of my job for book lovers like us,...
House and Home
We own a 130-year old Victorian in Indianapolis' historic district. Sometimes it requires work. [140 entries.]
Wanted: Bottle Caps
Wanted: Bottle Caps Just to put this out there into the ether - my lovely girlfriend is working on an project(s) involving bottle caps, and is seeking as many as we can find. It doesn't matter what kind they are, or if they're new or vintage, (although colorful and rare would be treasured and appreciated). If you have a bunch,...
More Ebay Sales
I listed 8 more ebay auctions this morning for the Avon I'm selling for my mom - so I have a total of 11 auctions up, and the last of all the Avon I need to get rid of. If you're into collectible Avon — or if you just want to be really nice to my mom — check out...
Weekend Wrap Up
These wrap ups are turning into a long list of "finished chores" aren't they? Oh, well. At least we're getting shit accomplished. Eventually I'll write something that someone other than me wants to read. We've made some pretty major purchases lately (see dog fence and truck shell), so we're trying to stay and home and enjoy the house, and avoid...
Spike's Birthday Fence
We're having the backyard fenced in for Spike for his (belated) Fifth birthday present, since I promised him when he was a puppy that he could have a fenced in yard. I called around a few months ago and got estimates from a surveying company to do a boundary survey, and we eventually hired Site Line surveying, who just finished...
Weekend Wrap-Up
We managed to get a lot done this weekend, and not kill ourselves in the process, which is pretty good for us. Saturday, I put 7 sets of Avon bottles on eBay, which was pretty huge. I have somewhat of an assembly line going on for getting this done, because there are lots of steps and detail to capture. When...
yard sale - pretty much ready
The signs are all strategically placed around the neighborhood. We've got the tables set up, and the items out and priced. We're not too worried about people stealing stuff in the middle of the night; the porch is pretty enclosed and dark so I doubt people will wander up and take stuff. We have 15 lamps for sale. (I'm including...
Our Yard Sale - Sat. Sept. 22 - 8 a.m. (in Indianapolis, IN)
Books, lamps, board games, fun home decor, lamps, toys, Avon collectibles, lamps, clothes. Saturday only, September 22nd - 8 am to ? Email me at this address for directions to our house: Did I mention we have lamps for sale? We seem to have a lot of them. As you already know, we're de-cluttering the house, so lots of fun...
Post-weekend update
We managed to get a lot done on Sunday to the house. We spent the morning sorting through some of the garage sale pile. Our friend Jen came by with baby Sam to help us sort some clothes in the early afternoon. Later we hung a bunch of pictures that we just haven't gotten to yet, and in the evening...
Mid-weekend Update: Cleaning, Organizing
We accomplished a lot of sorting and organizing yesterday. In the morning, we cleaned out and reorganized the coat closet in the dining room and identified stuff that either needed to go in the garage sale or needs to be relocated downstairs in the space we liberated last weekend in the basement. Stephanie's dad came down and helped us get...
quote of the day
"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." -William Morrisqu...
Yard Sale - Saturday, Sept. 22nd
Yesterday we settled on a date for a yard sale at our house. 2 weeks from now on Saturday, September 22nd. We sorted out lots of stuff to put into the sale this weekend. It's a very small dent in the scheme of things, but it's a dent, and I certainly feel better. I'm not sure I've entirely cured the...
Budgeting Time
One of the difficulties in our getting organized process is our time management. We both have a tendency to think "we'll get to this" and we never do. We're always purchasing space for the objects in our lives with time we don't actually own. I find myself saying - "I'll hold on to this because I'm going to do X,...
Our Little Secret
Yeah, there's a reason why so many of my photos seem to be only shot in one or two rooms, or only show small, focused parts of our house. There's a reason why we never have people over to visit; why I've stopped having parties and game nights and overnight guests. There's a reason why I'm awake at 1:00 a.m....
Dust Allergies
I finally managed to get around to getting tested for allergies yesterday, in my ongoing quest to figure out what the hell is causing my repeated bouts of Pleurisy. In the case of airborne allergies, I am apparently allergic to 3 things: Household Dust (to which I have a particularly bad reaction) and the pollen from Hickory and Walnut trees....
For Rent: $895/month - 3 Bedroom house on Eastside, Indianapolis
For rent: Awesome Cape Cod-style home. 3 bedrooms, 1 bath. Beautiful hardwood floors, full basement, and 1-car detached garage. Contact: 317-442-7007 151 N. Franklin Road [Google Map] Available September 1st. Rent: $895 month, $500 security deposit. Tenants pay all utilities. Pets welcome with additional pet deposit. Easy access to I-465, 5 minutes to Washington Square shopping, 10 minutes from downtown,...
Weekend To Dos
Taxes - Stephanie is finishing these up. She's awesome. Hallway painting - I'm painting two walls in the upstairs hallway where the Beetle collectible display shelves will go. This will let us finally unpack and arrange those boxes. we've been delaying that unpacking because we didn't want to have to move the shelves when we got around to the...
Our Awesome Realtor, Sherry Soforic
I have been terribly remiss on one aspect of my recent home sale - in all of the celebration over getting the thing finished, and the tearing out of the hair that came before it, I completely neglected to mention how awesome our Realtor is. Spike helping Sherry fill out paperwork to sell my house. Her name is Sherry Soforic,...
Our Bedroom is Half Painted - A Contractor Review
Yep, we've had a fun day around Casa De Stephanies. Our roofing contractor's employees threw a fit and left, leaving our bedroom half-painted. Why is our roofer painting our bedroom? It's a long story. But don't worry, there are pictures. Remember back in October, when I wrote about the Worst. Roofers. Ever. ? Because we had hired the guys to...
I think I'm finally selling my house tomorrow
I haven't mentioned this before, because I didn't want to jinx it. But I think we're finally going to get my house sold. We have a closing scheduled for 12:30 tomorrow. My realtor let me know before my water aerobics class that that buyer's lender sent the package to the title company. So everything should be in place for tomorrow....
For Rent: 3 Bedroom Cape Cod on Eastside
We rented the house out. Thanks for looking, though!!! For rent: Cape Cod style home with beautiful hardwood floors, full basement, and 1-car detached garage. Big yard, mature trees. Easy access to East side and 465. Warren Township Schools. Washer and dryer included. Kitchen appliances are new, kitchen is large and has great retro look. Upstairs bedrooms are 17'x14'. Basement...
to do crap
The remaining stuff from last weekend, plus some more. Buy two truckload of mulch and spread on the flowerbeds Sweep/spray out the back of my truck Put my truck bed cover on the truck Clean the kitchen and downstairs bathroom Vacuum whole first floor Vacuum in the basement attach lattice to the back porch Add step to bottom of basement...
Worst. Roofers. Ever.
Our roofer was supposed to work on three projects: 1) Reshingling the roof. 2) Rebuilding the historic, built-in gutters and replacing rotted wood trim. 3) Redecking the balcony and repairing the roof under it to stop the water leaking into the kitchen. Project 1: We contracted with them for project one in mid-June, and their all-Mexican subcontracting crew finished pretty...
Projects Around the House (Revised)
Revised list of stuff I'd like to accomplish this weekend, if I have time... Help the neighbors clean up brush Sweep out the back of my truck Put my truck bed cover on the truck Rearrange the living room furniture We got part of this done. We still need to move my desk Rearrange the library and move my...
Projects Around the House
Stuff I'd like to accomplish this weekend, if I have time... Plant the rest of the bulbs in the flowerbeds plant edging pavers into side flower bed Add step to bottom of basement stairs Install coat rack bar in Dining Room Closet Install additional shelf in Laundry room attach lattice to the back porch install towel hooks and toilet paper...
Back Street and Alley Committee
In the minutes of our neighborhood meeting, I noticed that our neighborhood has a "Back Streets and Alleys Committee." Hee. I picture the committee slinking around in leather jackets like West Side Story. "When you're a Jet, You're a Jet all the way From your first cigarette To your last dyin' day...."...
My House is Still For Sale
Yep, my house on Pennsylvania Street is still on the market. If you know anyone interested in investing in a fixer-upper in one of the most desirable downtown Indianapolis neighborhoods, send them to this page (includes pictures and detailed description), or call my realtor, Sherry Soforic of F. C. Tucker -- 317-507-0089 (cell) or 317-846-7751 (office). Really, this is an...
Amending the Soil
Our flower beds have very depleted soil, so I picked up a load of compost this morning and spread it around the beds after overturning all the soil. It's amazing how much compost this requires, really. I'll need to get another load of crap for the front beds; a truckload only covered the beds on the south side of...
weekend updates
We had our shower plumbing worked on for the third time Friday, and they finally got it right. The "on" handle was leaking to start out with, then it was fixed but hard to turn on or get good pressure. Now it's awesome -- the kind of water pressure that almost knocks you over it's so strong. I love that....
Moving is Hard, Barbie
I think I've sorta hit the wall as far as moving and unpacking goes. My muscles are so sore that lifting boxes is infinitely harder. And there are boxes everywhere in the new house, including in front of the places we need to unpack stuff. My latent OCD is making me freak out at all the clutter and boxes sitting...
Caylor - Jenkins - Riddle House
Copied from the Old Northside Historic Plan, information on our house: Caylor - Jenkins - Riddle House c. 1876 Built by Joseph Caylor, who lived next door, this Italianate cottage has had its original frame porch replaced by the present brick porch with battered columns. The window sash has also been changed to four over one. These changes were probably...
weekend updates
We spent the weekend moving and unpacking, and unfortunately we missed both Pride and the Talbott Street Art Fair in the process. (We have our rainbow flag out at the new place, though! So we're trying to represent.) We did get a lot done, although there's still a huge amount to do. I think I have my house cleared out...
The Post Office Sucks
I filled out my change of address form last week online at the United States Postal Service website. I set up the date to begin forwarding as Monday of this week. The problem with that is this -- nowhere on the online form does it state that that is the day they start PROCESSING your change of address, which will...
The furniture is in
So I spent 6/6/6 packing my house, mostly. I got to mow the lawn at the new house! I love lawn mowing, and the grass was knee-high in the back yard at the new place. On the Old Northside mailing list, they announced a gardening contest -- you don't compete with the neighbors, (we're out of our league there) but...
Johnny Socko used to play in our basement
We found out the band that used to practice in the basement of our new house was Johnny Socko. I guess the drummer, Dylan Wissing, lived there for 9 years. That's pretty cool....
1876, not 1900
This weekend we met Pete Pappas, a long-time resident of our new neighborhood, Old Northside, who told us that our house was built in the 1870's, not in 1900, as it said on all of our house sale paperwork. And he was right -- he showed us a copy of the Old Northside's neighborhood plan, which is a written history...
Pod unpacked
With the help of our friends Jen and Mike, we got the pod unpacked and loaded in the house in record time this morning. Pretty freaking amazing. Then Dan and Doug came over, we all went to lunch at English Ivy's, and Dan and Doug helped us drag all the ratty carpet out of the basement where the band used...
My prediction is...
That someone will call and want to see my house today or tomorrow. Because that is the worst possible thing that could happen right now, so of course it will. I haven't done laundry, I haven't done dishes, the house is only half-packed. We have electricians, plumbers and locksmiths coming to the new house, and we have to finish painting...
Painting, Day Three
Carolyn came for the third day in a row to help us paint yesterday, and we got the library, dining room and living room all finished. Carolyn Elliot is certainly the woman of the hour in our book -- she did tons of work and was so helpful and amazing in a hundred little ways. We are so greatful to...
Painting, Day Two
With Carolyn's help, we managed to finish painting the library and get a first coat of paint on the dining room. Tomorrow we start on the living room and finish up the dining room. The colors we picked are exactly what we expected, and they look fantastic. The rooms look much bigger and brighter -- with the lighter colors, the...
Painting
The first day of painting was exhausting -- but we got a lot done. Our friends Dan, Elizabeth, and Carolyn came over to help, because they are wonderful people and amazing friends. They were awesome, and thank god we had their help. Painting 10-foot-high walls is hard, Barbie. The walls in my old home are 9 feet, but that extra...
For a very short time today, we outranked Lance Armstrong
The seller's agent for our new home was a bit late to our closing, because he has Lance Armstrong and Robin Williams staying at his house for race weekend. His house is a block and a half from ours, BTW. During our closing, he got paged that they had arrived at his house, but he had to stay for us...
Two Days
Stephanie and I close on the new house in just two days--Friday afternoon. We're so excited; it's like Christmas. We'll be at the new house all weekend painting, if you'd like to help out-- we could definitely use a hand, and we'll give you some food and drink. Plus you'll get a first look at the new place. Shoot me...
The Pod is Packed
We finished packing up the pod last night, and even got it mostly full. We managed to pack my entire library in it, as well as lots and lots of other stuff. It will get whisked back to the warehouse today, where it will reside for the next two weeks. I have to say this is a handy option. So...
The Schedule
Friday, May 19 - The pod gets picked up from my house. Friday, May 26 - We close on the new house. Saturday, May 27 through Friday, June 2 - Painting, painting painting at the new house. (help wanted) Saturday, June 3 - Pod arrives at new house to be unpacked. (help wanted) Wednesday, June 7 - Movers come to...
it went okay...
I managed to get the house in some semblance of order yesterday, despite still feeling a bit wobbly (and I still feel that way, actually.) I don't think either of the people looking at the house were interested, unfortunately. But it's in better shape, and if I do some more organizing, packing, and cleaning tonight, I'll be further along. I...
help wanted
Someone e-mailed me with a name of someone who would pack stuff for a reasonable fee -- but I can't locate that e-mail now. If it was you, could you send it again?...
When things go horribly wrong
I've been sicker than a dog this weekend; I spent all day yesterday throwing up. Today I don't feel much better, and I have two different sets of people coming to see the house tonight at 6. They will be seeing the dirtiest, most cluttered house in the city, without a doubt, because I didn't get much of anything done...
life updates
We've been really busy lately packing and cleaning my house in hopes of getting it ready to show, hence very little writing here. We took a truck load of stuff to Goodwill, and have been packing lots. This morning a Pod will arrive so we can begin unloading my house of all the clutter. They'll haul it away and store...
Furniture for Sale
In addition to my house being for sale, I'm also selling some furniture to "scale down" for the new place. Click on the link to see pictures of a couple of nice beds and a coffee table we won't have room for at the new place....
Organizational Automatons
The day we took a whirlwind tour of houses for sale to reinforce our idea that this new house was really The One, I noticed that some of the houses where people were still in residence had magazine-spread type homes that were picture perfect and even left little bowls of candy for the folks visiting, etc. Now that I'm frantically...
We have a house
We came to terms today with the seller of the house we want on the inspection terms. So, basically, we have a house. Woo hoo!!!!!!!!! We should close at the end of May. Which means I need to get my house up for sale ASAP. Holy, shit. I have to sell my house. Oh my f&%$ing god! I will be...
Julia Carson and Fall Creek Place
I can't believe that I forgot, in my endorsement of Julia Carson, to mention her involvement with developing Fall Creek Place neighborhood -- the now thriving neighborhood just north of mine, that is the threshold of an urban renaissance for downtown Indianapolis. Julia was instrumental not only in getting the federal funding to revitalized the blighted neighborhood of Fall Creek...
Current update on the home purchase
We got inspections done, and after received the inspection reports, our realtor wrote up the inspection proposal and sent it on Friday, while we were on vacation. We gave them to May 6th to respond, considering we figured we had asked them to fix enough stuff that they would need some time to have a contractor take a look at...
The Saga Continues...
We went back to look at the house yesterday, with a roofing inspector in tow, along with some friends. The full inspection will be on Wednesday, but we wanted a roofing guy in particular because we knew the roof was a problem. Unfortunately, it needs a new roof. We pretty much knew that, but for some reason having it confirmed...
Paint colors
Over the weekend, Stephanie and I picked out a few paint colors we want in the new house. I tried to find samples of these online to link to, but Olympic's color picking tool crashed my browser. Living room - Morning Fog (Olympic D61-1) Library - Two possibilities: Ancestral (D36-3) or High Society (D41-3) Dining room - Charade (Olympic C47-2)...
Huge Sigh of Relief
I finally bit the bullet and talked to my dad last night about moving, and he was very understand and supportive. Turns out a lot of the concerns I have about my current house, especially the amount of time and money required to renovate it, are things he was concerned about also. It's great to have those feelings validated, because...
Offer Accepted
So on Monday, we wrote an offer on the house we've been looking at. They countered our offer, and today we accepted the counter offer. So if everything works out with the inspection and we get the loan application squared away, and I sell my house, we're going to have a new house. I still have not told my dad...
This makes me feel a lot better
$764,900 for a 827 sqft house in Cupertino Um, yeah. This is why I live in Indy. The house we're wanting is a 2,300 sq. ft house for... well, a lot less than that. I'm not going to show off pictures of the house, or mention the address until we know we're going to get the house, but here's...
weekend updates
On the design front, I've been restructuring my cascading style sheets for this site; separating layout markup into a separate stylesheet than the one for design (color, font face, size etc.) and doing quite a bit of testing on that. That will help when I finally get my new design in order and start building. So I've been doing quite...
House Hunting
Sunday we looked at two houses. The first we've eliminated from the equation; it was a 802 N. Highland in Cottage Homes. I might throw up the pictures of it later, because we've ruled it out. It was a cute little cottage, but was too much work to update the interior. The second house we saw was pretty amazing. It...
house hunting ideas
Some notes we're making about hunting for a new house, that will help us narrow down our search and also help our realtor (yes we have a great realtor) find properties to suggest to us. Things about us we have lots of clothes we have lots of books we have 1 dog & 4 cats we have 3 cars we...
Weekend Update
The end of my vacation went out with a bang. On Saturday, we went up to Chicago to celebrate my friend Amy's birthday by seeing the musical Wicked at the beautiful Ford Oriental Theatre. Then we had dinner and Rainforest Cafe and drove home. Sunday my friend Kathy came over and helped Stephanie and I do a bunch of activities...
Working on Fireplace Tiles
For the past couple days, I've been working on stripping the paint and crap off the fireplace tiles and fireplace surround in my living room. See my flickr photo set for pictures of the project. My dad, as a Christmas present for me, crafted the fireplace mantel you see in the pictures. He found two old fireplace mantels that matched,...
Choosing the right cookware
Stephanie and I have had several discussions lately about cookware, including one with her dad, who's an engineer and who has tried cookware made from several different materials. Make Magazine posted this interesting article on cookware materials from an engineering perspective. About halfway down the page are charts comparing the various materials. I didn't have a chance to read through...
Refurbishing an Old Gas Grill
Having just finished (or almost finished) this task, I'm infinitely qualified to give advice on the subject. So here's a step-by-step guide on how to get the most out of an old gas grill: 1. Thow the old gas grill in the back of your truck. 2. Drive to the local landfill. 3. Give the attendant money to take the...
Weekend Update
We received a company e-mail this morning to tell us that one of our company's employees from their London offices has been missing since Thursday's attack. That's very distressing news. I was discussing in an e-mail with my sister, who lives with her husband in a town outside London, the terrorist's choice of targets. They're incensed at the attack on...
The Ridiculously Thorough Guide to Making Your Own Pizza
By Billy Reisinger, The Ridiculously Thorough Guide to Making Your Own Pizza is a great tutorial on doing it yourself, and although I made pizza from scratch for years in my mother's kitchen, this is an excellent refresher course and covers detail (such as moisture levels in cheese) I'd never thought of before....
I so need this: Rotating electrical plugs
Cool: from the site 360 electrical - outlet plugs that rotate, so if the plug you have is too big and blocks the other outlet, you can rotate the plug. I need this for practically every outlet in my house....
Making Your Own CD Rack
I've linked to the awesome magazine ReadyMade before, but they've got more back issues online now, including this article on how to build your own awesome CD rack. I think my girlfriend's dad would love the heck out of this magazine; he's a whiz at building his own stuff in the basement....
Vacation Update
So far... I rented a 60 lb. jack hammer, and with a great deal of help from my friend Kathy, we broke up the 6 foot by 9 foot patio and the set of cement stairs at my back door. I discovered that a 60 lb. jack hammer is pretty damned heavy. Yesterday, I loaded much of the concrete in...
Speaking of making stuff yourself....
Check out the ReadyMade site, for people who like to make stuff. This is great! They have a whole page on how to make iPod speakers out of Altoid tins and playing cards. That rocks!...
Weekend Update
Date on Friday night. News about it later. Saturday night I went to a very fun party at Troy's (beautiful) house and had a great time, and got complimented on how good I looked, which made me feel great. I had some great conversations, and also meet Troy's foreign exchange student Frederick, a German kid who really seems to dislike...
Weekend Update
Kathy helped me finish the baseboards on Saturday. They didn't come out as neat as I would have liked, and I was upset about it, but she helped talk me down. Then we moved all of my living room furniture in. The bookcases are partially moved in, and the rest will be finished later this week. By next weekend, I'll...
Power Out
I was doing a weekend recap when my power went out here at home. It was only out for an hour and a half, but that was long enough for me to realize I don't have my emergency procedures down. I have camp lanterns, but the batteries were dead, I don't have a battery radio, and I only have one...
Living Room progress
I've got all the baseboards stained, and 2/3rds of them completely finished. I just have one more coat of polyurethane to put on the last set of baseboards, then I have to install them. Then the living room is done; potentially on Saturday. And then the migration into the room occurs. I'm already planning that. I'm very excited....
Weekend Update
So, this weekend I learned how to use my miter saw and Kathy helped me cut the baseboards for the living room. Then we went out Saturday night to a open mike concert that was quite fun. We saw DJ and Chi and Tracy and hung out listening to some great music. I ended up buying some CDs. Then Kathy...
Happy Groundhog Day
Apparently, the critter saw his shadow, though. Stupid groundhog. I got three coats of polyurethane on the floor over the weekend. Looks pretty good. There are some things I wish I'd done better, but oh well. Now it's on to the baseboards, which I'm planning on purchasing this evening, if possible....