You should see the other guy...

What've you been up to?

I've been grossed out by my carpet for awhile now. I could just TELL that there was all sorts of nastiness going on in there. Having two spoiled rotten dogs that can pretty much come and go as they please had really taken a toll. I steam clean my carpets three or four times a year, but it never helps for long. Jerod and I both love hardwood floors, so we decided to take out the old nastiness and reveal the beauty beneath. It's been a work in progress for almost a month, but the result has been awesome. I just LOVE my house right now. I just want to hang out here and roll around on the floors and maybe even lick them a little....because they are THAT clean. I've been taking pictures along the way, and posted them here for you to see the progress.

THE LIVING ROOM

This is the entry way before. Oh, and Honey saying "Hi. I love you. Can I have some food?"

This is a shot of the living room before. Sorry for the blurriness. This is the only shot I got of this angle.

Another shot of the living room.

Carpet pullin' time!! Jerod, Jerod's Dad and Cache all working hard. Getting that linoleum entry way out was a BUGGER!! (Sidenote: Jerod's dad is a Supervisor for a living. Can you tell? Seriously though, he was a big help.)

Yes. That's dirt. Or more like really really fine sand. THAT is the nastiness I could sense. I knew it was gross, but I had no idea. This kind of makes you want to go tear up your carpet and look, huh?

Are you gagging yet? Because I am. Yes, that's the WHOLE living room floor covered in sand after the carpets are out. On the plus side, look at the pretty wood floors!! And the way cool egg-boxes!

"Guys, please don't tear up my carpet. Please? Pretty please?"

Yeah...we're newlyweds. Painting wasn't fun enough, so I had to write a message to my husband.

Post paint. Post tearing up baseboards.

Post sanding.

Post polyurethane-ing.

Our friend David helping put in the baseboards.

A really hot guy putting in baseboards.

Our finished entryway!

Our finished living room!

Again!

THE DINING "ROOM"

Before.
First round of painting and also ripping out baseboard.

Stripes!

We faux painted a darker gray glaze over the stripes and it had a really cool effect. Then, Jerod put up a chair rail.

Post sanding.

Putting in baseboards. Isn't it just gorgeous?

My dining nook transformed into something downright ELEGANT.

Here's a close up shot of the faux paint and how well it goes with the dining set. This was a complete and utter accident. Dumb luck, I tell ya.

THE BEDROOM

Before.

Before again. Take special note of our "vintage" Wilcoxson's ice cream bucket trash can.

After pulling the carpet.

Different angle. And a goober-head.

Post sanding.

Finished!! Shiny floors!

Wilcoxson's ice cream trash can still there. It's way too cool to get rid of.

THE OFFICE

This was after we had already started packing it up. I absolutely hated this room before.

After pulling the carpet. That plastic bag hanging from the window contains our cable modem and wireless router. We couldn't bring ourselves from disconnecting it. We DO have our limits.

Post sanding.

Finished! I think it may now be my favorite room in the house.

Another angle of the office.

Ok. I'm tired. My back is sore. My fingernails are all broken down to the skin. I'm still covered in paint. But, it's worth it. I'm going to go enjoy my house now...

I'm decorating my house for Christmas...

...and the first thing I put up was my birthday present. My friend Marlene gave me the base Nativity set last year and my mom finished off the extras this year. I love love LOVE it.

Random Venice Pictures

See the first posts here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

To finish off the Italy posts, I just wanted to post a few random Venice pictures I took on our many walks around the city.


Gelato!!









This was us before dinner on our last night in Venice.

Well, that's it! Sorry if you got bored about 15 posts ago, but I had a zillion more pictures to show you that I didn't, so just be thankful suckas!

Boat Rides and Murano

See the first posts here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18


Ok, I have to tell you about our gondola experience in Venice. I can tell you about this and laugh now, but at the time it royally ROYALLY sucked. We booked a gondola ride through our travel agent simply because that is the thing you do in Venice, right? It's like the ultimate romantic experience. PERFECT for honeymooners. And add a serenade onto it? You can't get any better then that, right? Well, we went to meet the boat about 20 minutes early and they told us to wait in line by this rope. We got in line and waited and during the next 20 minutes, the line kept getting longer and longer. We kept thinking that maybe all the boats take off at the same time. No big deal. Then, we noticed that there was only one boat that had an accordion in it. We started getting nervous just because we wondered how this was all going to work. Then, we saw them hook up a large speaker and microphone in the boat with the accordion. Um...? Well, the time came for us all to load up. They loaded the boat with the accordion first because it was a little bigger and there was a large family that all wanted to ride together. They then loaded the other smaller boats until they were packed full. When we got on our boat, they wanted to put me in the front on a cushion on the steps and Jerod in the last remaining seat which, might I mention, was three or four feet away from each other. We tried to tell the driver that we were on our honeymoon and we would at least like to sit next to each other, but we just got yelled at that we didn't pay for the private ride. We both felt like arguing that we didn't want the private ride. We just wanted to SIT NEXT to each other, but it all got lost in translation. We were stuck with either walking away and eating 150 bucks, or just getting in the freakin' boat and going on the dumb gondola ride. We finally just got in the boat and Jerod took the cushion on the step while I took the chair. So, off we go on our little caravan with one large gondola piping loud serenade music out over the canal while SEVEN little gondolas ride alongside. Now, tell me. Doesn't this sound like the epitome of romantic?


Let us tell you how we really feel about this gondola crap...
At this point, we were both fuming, but were left with the only option of to laugh at the ridiculous situation. Jerod was stuck watching the ride in reverse and I got to sit in my dumb chair all by myself. I tried to quietly scoot my chair up closer to Jerod so we could at least hold hands, but I don't think the driver was happy with us for throwing off the balance of the boat.


These were our neighbors. They were from Minnesota and were also not exactly happy at the situation. I only posted this picture to show you exactly how far apart they sat us.


The Rialto bridge seen from the middle of the Grand Canal.


Our pathetic little caravan...

So, if you go to Venice and looking for romance, I have the name of a gondola company to NOT go with. Let me know and I'll email you the name.

Our other experience with boats was much easier to deal with. One afternoon, we took the Vaporetto boat out to the island of Murano.


Here we are (in the mirror) in a much better mood then when we were on the gondola.


Here is a picture of a Vaporetto. That is the island of Venice in the background.



Here are a few pictures of the tiny island. It was such a nice break from the crazy busy streets of Venice.


Murano is known for its glass making, so they had this giant tree of glass on display. It was pretty impressive. We would have like to seen it at night when it's all lit up.

Tomorrow I have just a few more random shots around Venice and then you no longer have to put up with these monotonous Italy posts. Thanks for sticking with me so far!!