so consider this a 30% chance of update with thundershowers.

lots going on otherwise, so hopefully it’ll all be good news soon (despite the fact the microwave is now screaming when you turn it on and mosquitos are in the yard despite the fact there is no still water anywhere).

hope all is well on your end of things. keep the hope alive!

noir was waiting for the bedding to finish being washed, so she hugged onto one of my scarves until fresh linens were ready.

and how was the dryer fixed? with steven and his dad taking it apart and figuring it out. in all honesty though, the dryer was kind of falling apart when the previous owners left the house (oh… those previous owners make me so angry) so it was no loss to them, but then it seems like they never tried to repair anything or do regular maintenance.  the dryer was already missing one of it’s tumble bars, and another one was loose, and the third seemed okay. it turns out it was the third one that was the problem. a screw that holds it in place had snaked it’s way back  from it’s place and was knocking around on the outer rim of the drum, making that horrible noise and the force was making it rock. they had to totally take out the loose tumbler, but they fixed that one. we are now drying with just one tumbler.  seems to work okay yay for steven and his dad!

so while they were doing that, the goblin was nice enough to get an extension cord out and hook up electric the weed whacker i bought at a yard sale for 5$ and give some of the yard a go. steven then tried to give the lawnmower a go but it kept dying and when the goblin looked in the house, it seems the extension cord was drawing too much power and the breaker needed to be flipped. this happened twice before he gave up and steven cursed at the lawnmower (now working because he’s mowing the yard today on his day off).

at the end of the day, steven and i went to go take a nice refreshing shower together only to find the hot water was quickly becoming cold. the next day steven checks it all out with his father and it seems the hot water heater is working just fine. the goblin had no problems when he took a shower.

but last night, man oh man, it lost it’s scalding hotness again.

like Roseanne Rosannadanna used to say “it’s always something.” oddly enough, my hair looks like hers currently just not as poofy. he he he.

tomorrow will be about the laundry room cabinet i scored from steel rod’s grandmother and how the install went. have a good monday!

okay, so it doesn’t look as all bad as that picture, but last night there was an incident. let me set it up for you:

the guys left to go gaming at a buddies house and i’m munching on dinner and lazing about the house with the dogs when i get the gumption to do like … 5 things at once (which is normal for me. either on idle or full throttle). i get a load of work clothes and undies in the wash and i start making this horrible concoction called a kool aid pie. while doing this, i’m cleaning up here and there around the house and piddling with some commissioned artwork, and picking up a book every few minutes and reading 3 pages at a time (i told you, idle or full throttle). once the pie is in the fridge, the artwork frustrating, and counters wiped, and a chapter ending, i go to put the wash in the dryer.  once done so, i set the time and then hit the button.

the poor dryer moves like the load is unbalanced and is making some horrible noise so i open her up and re-arrange things and close it back and start it up again. i stand and watch with a finger tapping my bottom lip as it continues to make the horrible noise and move side to side. i open it up and can smell some faint burning rubber. i take out half the load and close the door and try again, maybe it was too large despite the fact i honestly didn’t think that. same thing. frustrated i put it all back in and turn it off.

i go to turn the satellite radio onto station 4 (40′s on 4. i love love love me some big band music) and try to think as i pace. eventually i get really sleepy and go lay on the bed reading my book. while reading said book about serial killers, i come to the conclusion it must be a busted belt of some sort. it would explain the faint burnt rubber smell, the horrible noise, AND the wobbling. yes, my mind clears more when it’s busy than when i’m pacing. i fall asleep face first at a diagonal on the bed, drooling on poor steven’s pillow while dogs walk all over me.

the boys come home and i wake up because the dogs love to cause a welcoming commotion. it is their way of saying “i love you! i missed you! oh i missed you! welcome home! love me back!” so i get half awake and inform steven of said dryer affairs. this is where it gets from frustrating to making me mad.

the goblin pipes up with “oh yeah, it’s been doing that. it still dries, you just  got to deal with the noise.” he is named goblin because of such things. this gets steven riled up and i would have been as well of i was more than half asleep.

now i have a dryer full of wet clothes i need for work and all my undies… despite the pair i am currently wearing. oh, the misery and the woe. if it’s not one thing, it’s another. maybe i should put up a laundry line just in case of incidents like this, but do i really want the countryside and rabbits in the feild next door to be able to see all my polka dotted unmentionables? i dare not think so.

so man tests to take tomorrow! agh! including boobsmashing and bloodwork and inside pinching… oh my orifices will be probed and new ones made. i want to just curl up in a ball and whimper.

time to put the big girl panties on. the ones with polka dots.

wish me luck!

so, now that the storage shed has moved and i have the majority of my art making/crafting/creative endeavor supplies stored in there, a LOT of work needs to be done.

granted, this isn’t my dream studio, but it was an unexpected bonus to the house i’m going to take advantage of. we can’t afford what i want (one of those little house looking dealies with the teeny front porch on them and window boxes for plants or maybe make it look like a church), so i best make due with what we got! being the creative sort, i usually don’t take something and leave it as it is. it’s just something creative people just can’t do.

for one thing, there is no windows in this sucker and boy howdy that makes me antsy. there is nothing i love more than natural light when creating. oh, it is ever so important to get your vitamin D and see things in actual light. plus i am very proud of my house, my yard, and the beautiful field next to us. i got some lovely old windows from a fellow home improver on freecycle. she gave me 4 windows from her 1940 built home on a lake. mine is a 1938 built home that was once a farm. i thought it cute and fitting, but how to fit those windows into the actual walls of the storage shed, i have no clue. i am not that handy and will likely need help. i would love some skylight as well. as i said, i am window crazy. if i had my way, half of it would be windows but that would be a bad idea on my materials inside, greenhouse effect and all.

the doors to the shed are going to get a revamp as well. i am going to cut out the middle of the doors and replace them with plexiglass and then hang curtains up so that when i am not inside i can cover them up, but if i am inside and the weather is not to my liking, i can still see what is going on in my yard.

the outside will also get a makeover! if i can get the windows put in, i might put some window boxes on them or some shelving underneath for gardening tools and the like. one day i would love a teeny porch just cause it’s cute. it’s most defiantly getting a new paint job. the cracked and peeling white has it’s charm, but the red slapped over some blue trim just looks tacky. it’ll more than likely be some muted blue color cause that is what i like best. muted tones, even if my art doesn’t reflect that.

also, my not-quite-my-father-in-law said he is going to dig and run a line to the shed for power so i can get a fan and lights going to paint at any time: day or night. being i get inspiration at the oddest of times, this is most wonderful he knows a good number of people and one guy is selling him/us equipment for cheap and maybe helping install. i am not privy to all the details at the moment, but i am VERY excited.

i will be painting the walls white as to not conflict with whatever i am painting. color and light bounce, so when i am painting, i find it best to have white around as to not add color into my vision that isn’t actually the paint i am using. this gives things a nice even keel and its actually quite calm and clean in appearance, but hard to KEEP clean in appearance.

for the flooring in there i was given two big boxes of very pale grey ceramic tile. being the person that i am, i can’t lay just plain tile in an studio i need constant inspiration from and i plan to collect broke tile from many sources and make the floor into a broken tile mosaic! oh how amazing and beautiful i think that can possibly be!

i already have a shelving unit in there; the now discontinued Enetri shelving unit from ikea. it’s on the back wall and hold so much stuff so nicely, neatly, and perfectly. eventually i would love to have everything so beautifully and magically organized. i would also love to run down to the ikea in charlotte and get stuff to organize with. they have wonderful selections of stuff in the kitchen area i could easily implement into easily accessible storage space.

there is just so much potential in that tiny space and i am excited about using it. this is all just wishful thinking at the moment but as it slowly become reality, i will take pictures and tell you about it.

being somebody who deeply believes in recycling and upcycling and sharing the wealth, if you are local and know of any thing i am wanting/needing for free (used or otherwise, i’m not picky and can fix things up) don’t hesitate to let me know! i do encourage people to look at their local craigslist and sign up to their local freecycle mailing lists if you are looking for, needing, or wanting to give things away rather than them end up in one of our many already overflowing landfills. links are the right!

the run down front in the march sun

while thinking about whether or not we wanted the house, we decided to see what kind of loan we could get IF we did want the house. i did some more research online about assistance in down payments and living in rural areas.with that info, we planned to go to his bank and see about a first time home buyer’s loan and the different assistance we can get in conjunction.

we went to his bank to get a loan. his bank is wonderful and totally amazing, except for one fellow there. as soon as we sat down to wait for a loan officer, we saw the guy and steven goes “oh please no…” and yep, that is who was taking our case. we’ll spare the fellow’s name but he wasn’t helpful in the least, didn’t really look up much of steven’s information and suggested we  go someplace else. this is the same response steven got the last time he had an interaction with the guy and it gets him really angry. when steven was last looking for a loan, it was to purchase a newer car. he got this fellow, left the office mad and  then came back later and talked to another guy who praised steven for his good credit and said his bank is more than happy to give a loan to a responsible and trustworthy fellow. seeing as we got the guy that ticks steven off, i had to calm down my sweety when we got in the car and discussed our options. we headed off to talk to a lady The Agent had suggested.

we head over to bb&t and the lady sees us to talk about his money matters from the past, present, and future. his standing at work, if we’re going to live there and a million more personal questions that are linked to money. she looks up his info, get a credit report and is blown away. she more than happy to offer him a loan with her bank. with only doing quick figuring she gives us a number around 7% interest. -we- are blown away. she tells us she’ll do more figuring and get back to us and also gave us some homework to do with his end of stuff.

it was only a few days of contemplating when we got a phone call from The Agent, Polly Leadbetter. she informed us that that morning 3 more people were shown the house and if we wanted to put a bid in, now is the time. that is also when we were informed that the cost of the house dropped 10k the week before and that is why there is suddenly so much interest in it now.

biting my lip i hung up the phone and told steven that if we wanted the house, we had to act now. we needed to pull AT LEAST 500$ out of the air as a good faith down payment along with a bid.

steven hates asking for money. ever. at all. he’s a very proud fellow who feels that he should be abl eto take care of himself and never ever need help from anybody and he usually doesn’t need any help, but he did just do his taxes and he does know how much he has coming to him soon. we borrowed the money from his grandmother with promise to pay it off ASAP and wrote up the bid on his counter at work.

our hands were shaking when The Agent left with both the bid and the check. our future was changing oh so fast.

did i mention that all of this is happening in less than a week’s time?