Peek-a-BOO!

As in..  What is a baby ghost’s favorite game? Peek-a-Boo. (har, har)  I am such a sucker for corny jokes.

So what do you have when ghouls, ghosts, and goblins surround your house?
It's Halloween!

In preparation for this most spooktacular day, we started our new tradition of carving pumpkins on Hollow's eve.  We've collected quite a few pumpkins in the last couple of weeks while going to several pumpkin patches, corn mazes, and doing general kid-friendly Fall themed activities.  It was time for our new pumpkins to get all dolled up for the holiday.

Here are a few pumpkin picking photos.  Olive has a pretty good eye for picking the roundest, most perfect ones, so we let her have at it.  All the decision making also took a toll on her, so we even let her nap for a bit (cute little stinker!)

So on to the slash fest-- (eek sounds morbid)

We had one really big pumpkin, and two tiny ones (Olive's picks).  We decided to have a carve-a-thon and cut up all three.  For the record, the big one was by far the easiest to carve.

I found this cute idea online to trace Olive's hands on paper and use those as our pumpkins flirty-lashed eyes and top it off with some pretty lips.  Very cute and easy indeed!

We started by taking our punkin' guts out and getting the 'kins ready for carving.  We saved all the seeds for baking and roasting later and thought we'd let Olive get all ooey gooey with the rest of the innards.  Most kids love squishy... or so I thought.  Little O didn't want any part of it.  So she sat back and watched as Mom and Dad dug deep to clean the pumpkins out. 

After a few minutes, I let Steve finish up with the pumpkin pillaging while Olive and I started tracing her chubby little hands. So cute.  I get all sniffly thinking about her little hands.  Sometimes, I wish she could just stay so small forever and ever.  sigh...

I cut out her little paper hands, scotch taped them strategically onto our big pumpkin so that they looked like pretty little eyes.  Then I drew the lady pumpkin’s lips and TA-DA! Easy-peasy..  Adorbs!

We also carved out lower and upper case J's for a simple monogram effect, to complete the carve-fest.  I think they turned out rather nice.  They are now prominently displayed on the bench in our foyer eagerly awaiting little trick or treaters!   How did you guys carve your pumpkins this year?

And now for a little more Halloween humor... 

Why was the skeleton afraid to cross the road?
It had no guts…

How do witches keep their hair in place when flying?
They use ‘scare-spray’.

How do monsters tell their fortune?
They read the ‘horrorscopes’.

Do zombies eat popcorn with their fingers?
No. They eat the fingers separately.

Why can’t skeletons play music in church?
Because they have no organs.

Why isn’t Dracula invited to parties?
Because he’s a ‘pain in the neck’.

What is a vampire’s favorite ice cream flavor?
Vein-illa.

What do ghosts use to shampoo their hair?
Sham-boo.

What kind of pants do ghosts wear?
Boo-jeans.

What do skeletons say before eating?
Bone-Appetit’.

What does a child monster call his parents?
Mummy and Deady.

What rides do ghosts like best at the amusement park?
The roller ghoster.

What kind of car does a ghost drive?
A Boo-ick.

What kind of streets to zombies like best?
Dead Ends.

Hope everyone has a FANG-tastic Halloween this year! 
Have a fun and safe one!

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Come and knock on our Moose...

...We've been waiting for you.. (sang to the tune of "Three's Company")

Ha, now that that's out of my system..

My husband, Steve, and I recently discovered a new home resale store in our area called New Uses.  We checked it out yesterday during one of our "house inspiration" trips (yes, we are that giddy about getting into the new/old house) and we're so glad we did.  Inside we found gently used furniture aplenty, knick knacks, whose its, whats its galore!  But most of all, we were glad to find this little gem..

Vanna, show us the goods...

Moose-y right BEFORE her makeover.

What is it? you ask.. Why it is a Cast Iron Moose Knocker.. for a jaw dropping bargain basement price of ten dollars!  Score!  Needless to say I was very excited for my new antlered friend and thoughts of fun paint colors started swirling in my head.

Alas, I came to my senses and settled on black.  After all, I already had thoughts of painting the front door a bright red (maybe yellow!) and a nice glossy black moose knocker would be so sharp against it.  I know what some of you are thinking, why not keep the rust bronzed and black look and love it just the way it is.  Well, I thought about that, but after much consideration, the faux bronzing just screamed "Paint me!".  So paint it black, it is!

Hammer Time!

We settled on Rust-o-leum Universal Spray paint in Black and a Hammered finish, per the suggestion of the handy worker at our local Lowe's store.  Then we set off to get started on Project Moose.

After finding a somewhat cleared area in our garage (Our garage is currently acting as a storage space for ALL of our packed/boxed items ready for the move), and finding some old cardboard as to not spray paint all over our lovely paint-chipped garage floor, Project Moose got on its way.  I do highly recommend spraying in a well ventilated area.

Unfortunately, my eagerness to get Project Moose going got the better of me and I just couldn't wait until daylight.  So I opened the garage a wee bit as to not let all the freezing winds in and let some of those toxic spray fumes out,  and in the flickering garage light, I sprayed on.

I also highly recommend covering your general nasal area with a respirator, since these fumes will get you higher than a kite.  I unfortunately did not have one on hand and in the interest of safety, went with my flannel collar and speedy spraying to get the heck out of dodge.  The project took a mere two minutes and I was breathing fresh air once more.

But even with one coat, I think Moose-y is looking much better already.  What do you think?

Moose-y AFTER makeover

I will update Moose-y's fate when she finds her permanent home in the new/old house.  I can't wait for her to fulfill her door knocker destiny.  Do you have a fun/quirky knocker adorning your front door?  I'd love to see 'em!

OH, I also found Moose-y's bizarro twin on Pinterest.  I'm kinda loving her in white, what do you guys think?  Steve will need some convincing to paint the door black/dark grey, but I think it looks pretty cool.

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How sweet it is...

Happy Sweetest Day everyone!

I know our morning just got sweeter when we got this text from our realtor..

Optimistically should have the approval on the second [lender] in the next 10-14 days.

We also got this yesterday as part of our updates.

[the house] is looking good. Just need 2nd lien approval. Working on it Daily

hope your day is just as.. well.. sweet! :)

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a little kitchen plum*bling*...

shiny!

The shopping spree for the would-be dream house continues..  Steve and I have always admired these semi-professional kitchen faucets everytime we see it as part of a big AFTER reveal when we watch DIY or HGTV.  We love its industrial look, the shiny polish, and functionality (yes, the spout is a pull-down sprayer..)  So last night, after watching another envy-inducing kitchen makeover episode of the Property Brothers (those guys are so kooky!), I decided to browse the interwebs and do some kitchen faucet research of my own. 

What I found was that these commercial kitchen looking beauties also come with a hefty price tag! (Think upwards of a grand for one of these puppies from Delta or Kohler. yipe!)  But determined as I was, I still held on to the dream and clicked on.  Lo and behold, American Standard's Pekoe Semi-Professional Single Control Kitchen Faucet in Polished Chrome.  At first, I was struck by her impossibly good looks (a little shallow, I know).  Then I quickly noticed the price... a whopping almost 50% off of its original retail price of $549 to $279.  A couple more clicks later, I noticed even further price reductions from sellers offering the same faucet in excellent condition with slightly damaged packaging.  I usually leave the unusual fascination of playing with empty boxes to my toddler, so slightly damaged packaging did not bother me one bit.  Here's a look at her in action.. (the faucet, not my toddler in boxes)

It was too good to pass up, I quickly snagged one for a grand total of $142.97, with free 2-day shipping (Score!)  Now if only we can get the house it belongs to already.

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Baby Talk

Since my last post left on a nursery note, I thought it appropriate to have the next post about how we transformed our guest room into a striped jungle paradise for our wee little Olive.

mocha. yum.

Unfortunately, I could not find any before photos of the 2nd bedroom.  I'll just have to do my best describing what once was a serene and cozy chambers for our guests.  Its walls were painted a nice mocha color, with crisp white cabinets and a matching glossy white dresser and bedroom chest.  And artwork, oh the artwork. We had a queen bed complete with a baby blue and deep brown bedding.  It was nice and inviting.  We had a bit of a beach house theme, I even had a lovely starfish that I brought back home from our Hawaii trip in 2009. sigh.



The Plan: Whimsical but classic
stripes and muted beige.



Ok, moving on..  Fast forward to May of 2010, fresh from our trip to the motherland in the Philippines, we find out we have ourselves a little vacation baby!  Long story short, our beachy guestroom is now our nursery.

I've unarchived the photos below, see it from conception (har, har baby puns) to its present day decor, slowly fulfilling its baby room destiny.

We started on the room early on, I wanted to start painting before I was literally as big as our house, so neutral yellows and greens came to mind right away.  (Looking back, I kind of wish I had thought of a pastel yellow and light grey combo, so chic.)  We also wanted to keep the baby's gender a surprise, so this fell right into our neutral plan.  We also added some chair rails painted white and carried the stripes only half way down and a solid beige below the chair rails for a wainscoting effect.

Being well versed in the art of Photoshop, I came up with a plan (if you look at the mirror's reflection, you get a glimpse of what once was the guest room-- in all of its mocha and baby blue glory)



 

The plan soon evolved to turn nursery into part-time guest room. This daybed with trundle from Craigslist matched our crib perfectly.  Linens with simple circle patterns from Ikea and fleece Euro shams, sewn with love, by yours truly, make it seem cozy and inviting.  The sad-eyed puppy was my loot from a local carnival made the daybed its home for a short while.

 

 Ladder bookcase from thrift store painted a glossy white housed baby's first iPod dock, complete with my very first iPod (3rd generation. Which is a brick in comparison to current versions, and also a fortune back in the day!)  and a few other cute baby accessories, including my karaoke Jollibee mascot, a nod to my heritage and the Philippines' answer to McDonalds.  We eventually went with a classic rocking chair in lieu of the yoga ball. The fun and colorful rug is from Target, I liked how the beige in the carpet tied in with the rooms neutrality, and the bolder colors picked up the colors from her toys (Jollibee in particular)


the whole shebang.

  I wish this picture did this room more justice, but I guess you'll just have to trust us, this room was sweet enough to eat.  And yes, we had a girl! :)



Baby au Lait, please..



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Status Quo

*WARNING*  This post will be heavy with pictures.

Since we are all in this short sale buying biz for the long haul, I thought I'd pass the time and spin some yarn about our current home and what we've done to her since we moved in in 2006.  Yep, the peak of the market.

Our current house was just a little 4 year old pup when we bought her, and suffice it to say, didn't need a lot of updating so there really won't be many posts to speak of about her.  That's not to say that she has not served us well, we love our current home for sure,  we just wish we had more of her to love (And in a better location).  Ol' New-ey is a 1,552 square foot Colonial style home with  2 bedrooms and  2.5 baths on a humble quarter acre of land.

We listed our house in December 2011 and received an offer, but alas with this horrid housing market, we just did not appraise to the sale price and had to bow out and move on.  We are going to rent it out instead, and luckily, rentals in this here area go faster than pancakes at IHOP.  Below is the colorful description she listed with:

Wonderful home with upgrades galore. Beautiful Kitchen w/granite counters, Maple Cabinets, hardwood floors, & Stainless Steel appliances and oversized Eating Area. Fenced in Back Yard w/paver expanded paver brick patio. Warm and inviting colors throughout. Comfortable Dining/Family Room & 2-story Living Room. Master Suite w/private bath. Awesome 3rd Bed/Loft provides flexible space. Easy access.

And since we are in the mood for sharing, here are listing photos of her cute little mug.  She's such a ham..

full frontal

foyer/living/family room

family/living room

family room -- steve's ginormo leather man cave couch
(the bane of my existence)

Our dwarfed Christmas Tree due to the 20 ft. ceilings! Gasp!

Dining Room

Kitchen View No. 1

Kitchen View No. 2

Half bath..  the only room with bold burgundy paint

Pavered Backyard.. There once was a cute little koi pond
where our firepit table currently reside. 

Our catch-all office/guest with pullout couch/hangout loft. 
She's a hot mess.

Elegant 2nd full guest bath turned kid's woodland splash pad..

Guest Room/2nd BR turned whimsical jungle nursery

Master Blah-room (never did get around to making her pretty)

Last but not the least, our Master Bath. 
I shall miss you the most!

Since we purchased 6 years ago, there were some changes, considering we also had some major life events while living here.  Namely, the birth of our bouncing baby girl, Olive.  But I'll save those for another post since we'll be here awhile.  Hope everyone had a great weekend.

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Man Up!

So I am late to the party and was reading a very popular house blog at work today, when I stumbled upon a post about a men's home decorating magazine.  Naturally, having worked in publishing in my former life, I read on.  My curiosity led me to google said magazine, mainly to see if it's still in publication, and find myself quietly LOLing in my present-day cubicle at the funny "man-centric" articles.  But one in particular caught my eye, and to my surprise, I found myself agreeing with a lot of the design philosophies featured in the article, aptly titled:  "how to decorate like a man"

I'm sure I rolled my eyes a few times, being a closet feminist and all (I did take a women's studies class in college), but I like the push for a vintage mindset, and repurposing obsolete items, and even the industrial look (orphaned manhole covers as coffee tables?? Brilliant!)  Ron Swanson would be proud.

Maybe it's just because we're in the midst of buying our own vintage home, but I guess it "behooves" me to look into differing perspectives to really discover my own sense of style.  ("Behooves" seems to be the "word du jour" at work.  my boss have used the term a bajillion times in the last week alone..)  I guess I could care less if it's labeled as manly or whatever, as long as patina and pockmarked, oil rubbed finishes makes a comeback, I am in!
Anyways, here's another article in the same vein, but is a bit more ridiculous and has hilarious merits ..(they are being ironic, right??) 
Puh-lease..as if just putting up draperies, will make us swoon.  (ack.. sometimes they do!)

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Halfway there..

Update.

We wanted to see progress. And today we got it. Today, my hubby Steve received this text from our realtor.

Hi Steve,

I have the first lien approved with [1st lender], still waiting for the second lien approval. The investor on the first lien cut some of the fees, namely the attorney fee and closing cost fee. We are short $500 of those combined. Other than that, it looked good!

...reason enough for a happy dance! Yay!

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Much ado about ... everything

Whoever said "Patience is a virtue" must have never had to wait for a lender to hear about a short sale.  Right.. so moving right along.. 

Although the house we are in the process of buying is sold as-is, hubby and I thought it would be wise to get an inspection done, just for our peace of mind.  As we followed the house inspector while he looked at every nook and cranny of said home, I couldn't help imagine myself already living there.

So I came around to wondering, am I setting myself up for disappointment? is my innocent daydreaming bad for my emotional health?  I'm not alone in this, hubby is so convinced that the deal is done, he started buying things for the house already!   

The other day at work, I found myself doodling about how I'm planning on opening up the kitchen and the finishes that I would choose... from the subway tile backsplash, open shelving, apron front sink and even down to the vintage adjustable barstools. 



dream kitchen... or just a dream.



Am I insane?  I've read countless blogs and internet articles about the  short sale process.  Buyer loves home, agrees to wait. Bank takes their time even acknowledging the sale. Buyer's patience grows thinner.  Bank finally begins the process.  Buyer's hope renews.  Bank goes through negotiations. Buyer's wait again. And again. And again.  Months later, Bank finally agrees and approves short sale. Buyer moves on, finds another home, and cancels bid.  --And that's a scenario where the bank actually approves.

And to this point, though thoroughly warned, I start to question my stamina.  How long can we really hang on? We love the house. I mean we really love the house.  Can I handle the rejection of not getting the house? 

Anyways, that's enough self-doubting for the day.  After the inspection, everything seems to be mostly in great working order, just a lot of maintenance type things that comes along with a turn of the century home.  Looks like quite a bit of a list, but manageable.  Here's hoping, we actually get to do any of it!

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The VERY long and short of it... a dream house pending

Call me Ishmael...

hi there, welcome to my new blog! :)  I want to share my adventures in buying our first "old house", turning those keys and living the American dream....  ...  WELL-- not quite yet.. 

So here's the rub.  Hubby and I are, and have been, in the process of purchasing this beauty of a short sale.  A 1909 Post-Victorian American Foursquare, a "prairie box" as they are sometimes called, in a lovely little New England Style town just outside of Chicago.  We've been searching for over a year now for an "in-town" home, in a great school district (for the tot), with vintage charm up the wazoo.  We've seen a lot, placed several offers, lost several bids.. and just when we were in our darkest real estate hours.. there she was, all shiny with a come hither look.  She is, for lack of a better term, our great white whale.  And just like that, our bid was placed.  Several days, and lots of grey hairs later, it was accepted. Huzzah!

We are hoping the short sale gods spare us with a very quick process.  It'll be one month this Thursday since the sellers accepted our bid and so far the bank has acknowledged the forms and is going through a processor right now.

Maybe this blog about fixing up a home, that isn't yet ours, is quite a bit premature.  Perhaps this will be more a blog about the process of buying a short sale that'll help someone out there thinking of suffering through the same.  Or maybe this will be just about life.. in general. ...  Let's just say that I will blog all about it either way and leave it at that. Stay tuned!

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