time for a comeback

Apparently houseblogging and grad school don't mix in our house.
Fortunately, grad school is almost over, so we can get back to the important stuff.

Way back in August when we last posted we were in the middle of a bathroom renovation and planning for a housewarming. We did manage to get the bathroom 95% finished before the housewarming party -- and it has remained 95% finished for the last 8 months. Of course the remaining 5% is installing trim and sealing grout, tasks which are not nearly as motivating as something more functional like re-installing a toilet. Someday we will finish - I swear.

In November we had a new addition to the family:

Bishop was one of our foster dogs, but we just couldn't let him go.

Over our break in Dec/Jan we were full of good intentions when it comes to the house -- and we did manage to relocate the fridge, which makes our kitchen 20 times more functional. We also installed some new shelves in the kitchen and painted over its lovely green sponge paint.

Over spring break we transformed our basement from a disorganized mess into an organized mess. We are currently in the process of undoing that work.

This month we have been doing some work outside. J re-routed a gutter on the back of our house so that it doesn't drain directly on to the patio, right in front of the back door (yes, that was a genious arrangement). We also put in a gravel & rock drainage area on the edge of patio so that water has somewhere to drain other than gathering at the edge of the grass, on top of the concrete. Last Friday J aerated the lawn, as he is determined to resurrect it after several years of neglect. We (ok, mostly me) are also having a great time watching all of the irises and lilies that we took from my mother-in-law's gardens last fall emerge in our flower beds.

We have big plans for this summer:
Repainting the outside trim
Re-roofing the garage
Removing the indoor/outdoor carpeting from the front and side steps (finally!!)
Repairing the windows in the family room
Replacing the carpet in the family room
Hanging pictures, etc. somewhere other than on existing nails/hooks (fancy!)

So we're back in the saddle, with big plans ahead.