The Trend

So the trend is that I am back! Yes I am blogging... I finally updated the links on my homepage to reflect the new rides (removed NX pics) and someday I need to update my personal site.. details details. My Home Page

Anyhow today I wanted to rant about the heat here... so our house doesn't have AC. It is an old house, and to put ducts into an older all brick home with real plaster walls would cost a ton and ruin all beautiful walls. However when it is consistently over 90 degrees with lots of humidity it makes me wonder... should we start saving for AC?

So other haps around the house lately. Well we are finally getting our roof repair done. After dealing with two contractors that bailed on the job I think we got a winner and also a good price. The benefit of the slate roof is that it is easier to repair in just portion and it has lasted for nearly 80 years and still has a few more years left.

I do have the room addition bug though... yes we bought a big four bedroom house to grow into... but one of our neighbors is putting on a HUGE addition to their house (nearly doubling the size). It has me wondering how much it would cost, how long until we have equity to get an improvement loan or how much our house value has gone up from all the updates and repairs we have already done.

It is August now... so I am half way through lawn mowing time I think... don't remind me that leaf time is coming but I have enjoyed trying to nurse our backyard back to health. It was a jungle when we got the house and it is slowly coming along.

Anyhow... just a random blog about the house. Peace.

Happy Anniversary

Well it has been one year... wow time flies. It was on August 1st, 2009 that Heather and I got married. I unfortunately have not kept up on my blog like I used to, but it has been a busy year.

So I had to write today a little about this year in review.

We had our first Notre Dame Football season together. Even though the two of us didn't go to a game together, we enjoyed some tailgating and knowing that our tickets were put to good use for each game by friends and family who visited. Looking forward to WMU vs ND this fall. I commit this year to making sure that D and I get to see a game together.

Heather survived living with me as I travel a lot. I think she secretly loves when I am gone and she gets the house to herself. I visited I think 14 states and drove countless miles. I did start the habit of sending Novali a postcard from all the new cities I visited and I am sure Heather will someday help make Novali a scrapbook.

We painted our first room... I got Heather to finally pic a color and we painted below the chair rail in our dinning room. It is a lovely Summer Memory (the color name) now and started our journey on home improvement.

Unfortunately our journey on home improvements was steep after the painting. In November when I was in FL for a conference Heather calls that the house is cold... our boiler died. Lots of hassle, negotiations with insurance and warranty people, and laughs from contractors about our 70 year old boiler... we now have a grand spankin' new one. Add that to new windows and our house got some nice improvements this year.

Heather survived our first fall at the house... and all the raking and raking... and more raking, and hire fraternity brothers to come and help raking... and then there was a little more raking.

This spring it was dandelions... and then our first landscaping job. We did the southside path around our house. Preen, mulch, wood chips, step stones, bench.... it was a big job but turned out well and my back is still recovering from the trips to Menards for more mulch.

Now we are back at the home repairs... we are prepping a baby room upstairs and luckily my parents were here to help start the job. We painted my childhood dresser white with new knobs and you would never guess Andy and I shared it growing up, or let alone that it followed me through college from place to place and color to color. Novali got in on the job and helped with some painting.

So obviously in our second year we have a lot to look forward to... Yes I am sure more home repairs (stupid slate roof) but a new addition to the family will make the hardwork we put into our big old home worth it all.

Today is a low key anniversary. We will celebrate next weekend as just the two of us... (well Lemon is coming as well) but for today Heather and Novali are coming to watch me race my Z. Then we will run out and buy a camcorder to start the video journal of the Life of Lemon and come home and assemble the crib.