Let there be tile

We just bought a ton (literally, probably) of this porcelain tile for the basement.



The plan is to heat it. I figure with heated tile, we will always know where the cats are!

Christmas cheer

We decorated the tree tonight. It all turned out well in the end, but Fred did have to make an unplanned Target run for more lights.

Harvey managed the whole affair:

I know what Ginger's thankful for today

Christmas tree in the house

We got our tree tonight (thanks, Home Depot!) so that we can put Annabelle to work decorating it when she's home for Thanksgiving:

The work continues

See this wallpaper?



If they have wallpaper in hell, I'm pretty sure it's this kind. We went out today though and bought a steamer, and that seems to be doing a pretty good job with it:



Meanwhile, we had to make some tough choices in the man cave. There were gorgeous built-ins at either end, but ultimately we decided that these needed to come out to make room for Fred's office furniture:



Fred has started dismantling them:



We also decided to pull up the carpet in the man cave, and look what we found:



I hope he doesn't come alive at night!

Proud of our boy!

Mike has spent the weekend in Orlando coaching the Special Olympics powerlifting team from Tallahassee in a meet. His lifters were successful in the competition, and tonight Mike was nominated as Leon County's inspirational coach of the season:

Another cool feature to remember

I don't think it's going to survive the renovations, but how cool is it to have a toile-phone?

Greetings from the home office

One of the great things about being done with my 6-month probationary period at work is that I now get to work from home 2 days a week. The future is looking bright:

Best lot in the 'hood

I love the house that we're renting, but it's set on a corner lot where every car that enters or leaves the neighborhood has to go right past. The new house, however, is tucked away at the end of a pipestem, and you likely wouldn't even notice it unless you were looking for it (that's it, way back and to the left):



The yard itself is just lovely (these pictures were taken a couple months ago):









I love the double porches on the front and the big deck in the back:





And we are just over the moon with excitement that we are getting a double garage (most of the garages in our neighborhood are singles, and no garage at all is more common than you might expect in this area):

An unpleasant discovery

Fred is hard at work stripping away all the wallpaper. Today he was working in the kitchen/family room and discovered some mold underneath the paper:





It's nothing that would have been discoverable during the inspection, and it's not like the seller put the paper up (with matching draperies!) to disguise the mold. It's just one of those things but likely means we'll be putting a new roof on sooner rather than later.

Another IRL meetup

Had a great but too quick visit with my friend Melanie this weekend when she and her family came through town for college visits and a sports tournament:

A potty this pretty deserves its own post

I did not even know that it was possible to buy such elaborate bathroom fixtures:





They will be replaced by something a little more sedate. Also on the get-rid-of list: the mirror that runs the length of that wall, thus allowing the menfolk to watch themselves pee. You're welcome, menfolk.

Time to say goodbye

Before one can decorate, one must first undecorate. There are a lot of curtains, mirrors, wallpapers, shutters, and light fixtures that are on their way out. I would have loved this stuff in 1989 when I was at the height of my Laura Ashley phase, but I prefer a less fussy look now.

Never forget:

Football Saturday

Got my lucky shirt on:



Annabelle and a pep band friend seeking warmth in a sousaphone at a Rochester game:

Goofy Harvey

First timer

Today was my first time voting in person:



I've always wanted that sticker!

Let the games begin!

Fred has a spreadsheet and is ready to get to work:



Upstairs carpet is ready to go to the dump:

Funny Snapchat

Fred and I went to a party tonight. There was a baby there who just couldn't get enough of Fred. I used Snapchat to send this to the kids:



Mike sent this back:



My response: