New base boards

We had to rip out the old baseboards which were't very high and so we thought it was a good time to replace them with wider baseboards. It has made SUCH a huge difference. The room just looks so much fresher too.
The hardwood people are coming back on Wednesday and it will possibly be a several day job of sanding down and finishing the floors.

A very weird conversation

Our door bell rang today and it was the guy that normally cleans out our gutters. He said it was time to clean them out.

Mark responded with "Before the leaves fall?"

The gutter guy's response: "Yeah, cause that stuff just gets in there and clogs them up"

Uhm, am I missing something here? Isn't that the point of getting them cleaned out? To mostly get dead leaves out? We think the man must need some money, so we're letting him pseudo clean them out today. Guess he'll stop and want to clean them out again once the leaves fall. He came in March too and didn't get anything out when he cleaned them, but got a bunch out in December. Oh well. We got a pretty good laugh out of it.

Improvement!

The floors are now down, but have to "sit and relax" for two full weeks before they'll be sanded down and finished. At that same time they will sand down and refinish the entry hall, half bath and dining room as well and all will be the same/matched.

Renovation Station

We have been giving our home quite a face lift. Right now we're doing probably the biggest renovation so far: replacing the carpet and linoleum with hardwood floors. We really should have done this when we first moved in, we are realizing now. We have to move everything out of the kitchen (yes, this includes the refrigerator and stove), the toilet, breakfast suit, living room suit, formal dining suit, all curtains, pictures and such. Almost everything is being stored in the study which also is being a makeshift kitchen at the moment. The toilet and stove are living on the deck until we get a listing on Craigslist for "free to you if you come and haul it away" ad. Additionally, on a whim I decided that I didn't like nor use the kitchen desk and wanted to replace the area with something more functional, so Mark ripped it out. Hate to waste the granite from the top, but maybe I can think of something else to do with it.I also realized that I didn't like the kitchen island because it was placed weird and wasn't as big as I wanted it. So, Mark ripped that out too. And we found a custom island builder on the internet and ordered one from there. Seems as though it will take forever to get it, but I'm getting what I want at least.The entry hall and formal dining room (neither in any of these pictures) already has hardwood flooring. And while I'd like the stain to be just a tad darker than it already is, I'm sticking to the original color because it's the color of the bannister and I'm not ripping that out and re-doing it too.
Stay tuned for more renovation updates!

September Dinner Club

Our September dinner club event was at the Harris' home. It was a beach theme (and I'm sure you see the beach balls hanging from the ceiling). I wanted to post on here some photos of all of the members of the group. Below left to right is Paul (Jean's husband and for some reason I didn't get Jean in a picture), then Mark, then Karen and Will.Randy and Dawn:Kate and Gill:And you know us:Craig and Jessica who are expecting their first child in December:
And apparently I didn't get pics of Theresa and Steve either......but I will. It's at their house next month.

Cleveland (Day 2) Pro Football Hall of Fame

The second day we woke up after sleeping about 10 hours! We were totally worn out. We went downstairs to eat breakfast at the hotel and then off we went. First we simply could not miss seeing the stadium where the Cleveland Browns play.Or the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame:And then we drove about an hour south to Canton, OH to see the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Mark was very excited. I'll admit I wasn't that excited, but I thorougly enjoyed it as it was incredibly interesting.Here's the Lombardi trophy. Woo-hoo!Me looking at the replicas of the heads of people in the Hall of Fame:Some plays from I forgot whose play book:So excited to see the Titans helmet that the vein in my neck is about to pop out:The Rotunda where the tour began:
What a fun day! It was a quick weekend but so glad we went.