sidetracked

we were making such great progress completing rooms around here until we were sidetracked by a surprise project. you see, we discovered that our dishwasher only pretended to work, but didn't really clean dishes. that's a definite problem when you have sippee cups of milk around the house that need sanitizing.

so, progress stopped for an emergency purchase.

we had planned to replace the kitchen appliances eventually, but we really didn't expect to start this week. hopefully we can resume our regular programming very soon! on the bright side, the new dishwasher is remarkably quiet (and produces clean dishes)!

new digs: gameroom

the motivation worked! after relishing in our "finished" living room, brad and i were inspired to complete the gameroom tonight! just don't go expecting to see a new room every day...

on to the pictures...

before

why yes, that is a burgundy color on the walls with the
putrid orangy-brown on the stairwell

what, you don't like that?

yeah, we didn't either.

this is probably my favorite part of the room - too bad we almost had to kill brad to get those paintings hung in the stairwell like that... ;)

this room was fairly low key compared to the living room. we neutralized the paint, replaced the carpet, hung drapes and stuffed our furniture and most of mason's toys into the room. we still need to replace the fan (we miscounted when we purchased the others), so we're waiting for it to go on sale again!

new digs: living room edition

it seems to be taking us forever to "finish" rooms around the new house, so as a motivation for me and a preview for you, i'll be sharing before and after pictures as we complete things around here. first up: the living room.

we didn't take many "before" shots, and you'll see why. the house wasn't exactly in tip-top shape, but that's to be expected when you buy a foreclosure. we felt it had potential, though, and little-by-little, we're seeing glimpses of it come through...

enough talk.

before.

(please ignore the pile of junk in the dining room)

so, we still need a rug for the living room, but other than that we're pretty much calling it done. we neutralized the paint color, replaced the fan, ripped out the nasty carpet and replaced it with hardwoods, and tore out the fireplace surround and replaced it with mosaic tile. it's not nearly as impressive typed out as it is in my head! :)

one room done, 7 more to go (not including bathrooms).

a couple of firecrackers

with the extreme drought in texas, pretty much all fireworks in the surrounding area were banned. the fire district didn't account for these little firecrackers though...

we never "tire" of the backyard

daddy decided he needed a giant tire for the backyard so he could work on his muscles after work. mason thought he'd try it out first...

other than show off your muscles, roar like a barbarian, walk, skip and jump all around it, and finally sit in the middle, what else are you supposed to do with a giant tire in the backyard?!

one wild ride

the past few months have been one wild ride...

crazy traffic

we're still obsessed with cars these days. as i was cleaning off the camera from the last couple of months (sadly, there really weren't that many photos), i found these gems.

apparently traffic was the heaviest northbound at the corner of elbow and left side, headed toward mommy's shoulder...