Updates coming soon

As predicted, I pretty much abandoned this blog (and updates to the house, for the most part). But school (read: work)'s out, so we have lots of time on our hands and have been busy around here.

I'll post some pictures later. Here's a little sneak preview of what to expect (because I know you totally won't be able to sleep until you get a hint of what's to come):

• we painted (some of) the living room and switched out the beige dirty-looking outlets with crisp white ones
  
• I got a start on my gallery wall
• the master bathroom is (nearly) complete. Just a couple more pieces of trim, 2 doors and vanity to paint.
• our garden overfloweth.
  
• Dustin is working on sealing the driveway. Not very interesting, so there won't be any pictures of that probably.

We're slow-moving people, so it probably doesn't seem like a lot (especially since none of those bullet points are actually completed projects) , but we're impressed with ourselves.

But wait! There's more! Here are some more tasks we have on the ole' agenda for the coming weeks:

• paint the trim in the living room, including the large beam that divides the living room and dining room
• paint and decorate the guest bedroom
• hang plate wall in dining room (and procure said plates). Much to Dustin's dismay.
• hang new storm door and replace rotted trim on front door

Fascinating, right? Wait til you see pictures! (/mild sarcasm)

Springtime at the Burdicks!

Well, well, well. I've been quite neglectful, just as I predicted. I'm back to update about all the spring goings-ons around here because I have a sneaking suspicion that most of my facebook friends don't care about the plants in my yard or the birds at our feeders.

I have to find my camera to take some updated pictures, so here's a general update:

A coworker at the high school library had to ton of plants she needed to divide (she's trying to sell her house and tidy up the yard). So I got FREE hollyhocks, tiger lilies, hosta, ornamental grass, echinacea and various ground covers she didn't know the names of. I've planted most of them, not sure how they'll hold up in my yard but we'll see.

I'm also in the process of double digging my garden, which is a lot of physical work. But supposedly it makes a big difference. All I have in the ground so far is lettuce and pea seeds...the rest has to wait until the last frost later this month.

We bought two inexpensive bird feeders last week and are already getting a lot of birds (I think we're the only ones feeding them). There are about a million yellow finches, some blue jays, orioles and a red winged blackbird. No hummingbirds yet (we got 2 nectar feeders for them).

I hung an American flag on the front of the house along with some hanging baskets of impatiens...the house is looking like someone actually lives here! (I just wish we could afford to build a front porch and/or a back deck. Because with all the work I've been doing in the yard, we don't have anywhere to sit out there to enjoy it!

Here's a quick picture of our front bed in late-April:

Looking a Lot Like Christmas

I haven't been feeling the whole Christmas thing, but nonetheless, I put up the tree this weekend.

In the process, I learned that a 6.5 foot Walmart tree is fine for an apartment but is seriously lacking in out new cathedral'ed ceiling living room.

I also really hate this particular tree. You can see right through it! It's pretty much shouting, "I'm fake!"

Unfortunately we aren't in the position to go out and buy a bigger, better tree (especially when we're kinda "eh" about Christmas anyway). So we I put the thing on a spare coffee table and called it a day.


The table is great Russell-proofing too. Because since he is still wearing his post-neuter cone, his lack of peripheral vision causes him to bump into everything. Everything.


Here are some more pictures of our mediocre tree:

dwarfed (dwarved?)

pre-lit is the way to go!

Close-ups!

I'm really happy with our jewel-toned theme, Love it.

Kelly, circa 1985:

This was part of a wedding gift package we received.


I got this so there would be a Dustin element to the tree.

Look, it opens in to a comic book!

Russell got a spot on the tree too, to celebrate his first Christmas.

(You eagle-eyed readers may notice that's not Russell. I'm getting around to getting a small picture of him printed out to fit in there.)

And there's perennial favorite, Super D hanging out up top!


On a random wall. Needs a bigger picture for the middle!

Here are some more Christmas-y shots from this weekend:


Backyard

Cone Russell in the snow

More Office!

After Dustin agreed to indulge my crazy inclinations help me move furniture around between rooms (again), I got to work on the office again.

Most exercise equipment was moved to a seldom-used corner of the sunroom (best put seldom used stuff in seldom used places, eh?) and the love seat that we placed in the sunroom to sit on and watch deer in the field but ended up covered in perpetual junk was moved into the office.



Now I have a little reading nook in the office! Love it! I actually sat in there tonight and looked through my 2002 senior yearbook (ten years next year--eek!).

The only thing this office is missing is a desk. I'm really trying to stay away from particle board box store furniture from here on out. I'd rather save and spend more on a solid piece I'll have (intact) for years. Or better yet, buy a used piece at a thrift store for a song and refurbish it a little. I'm looking for something more in the "table desk" style rather than a boxy style with a million drawers or shelves. I know I'm sacrificing storage, but it's just my personal preference.

This is where the desk will go. Check out the crooked diplomas!

Office Bookshelf

After finally deciding that the bookshelf is best placed in one of the bedrooms we're calling "the office," I wanted to try my hand at some standard-issue home decor blog diy fun.

Here's our basic cheap Target bookshelf:



And after I lined the back with wrapping paper:

I would have preferred to use fabric, but I didn't have enough of any one pattern. Oh well.

And this is a 'relatively' 'easy' prjoject, but that doesn't change the fact that I nearly bashed this POS shelf into a million little particle board pieces.

Changing subjects now....

Look! Snow!

We got quite a bit on Friday. I wish I had taken a picture then, as it nicely framed the edges of these windows; classic Christmas scene. Others pay for that look, woot!

My next project will have to be the master bathroom. It's looking a little plain.



Imagine how much better it would look if those walls were an actual, you know...color.

First task

One of the first things we had to do when we moved in was get some sort of covering for the bay window in the living room. I'm really weird about people seeing in my windows at night, so this went up:


It's an orange sheet tacked up over the window.

We found a heavily discounted curtain rod at Bed Bath and Beyond (it had a faint scratch) and my stepmom gave me some curtains.

Dustin got to work:

(Erin won.)

Viola. Instant hominess.



The curtains aren't exactly what I would have picked out (and she knew this when she gave them to me), but they were free and they look better than thumbtacks and a sheet!

Moving Day

Moving is one of the most hated tasks in my life. Hopefully this is the last move for us in a long time. Special thanks to Rich for doing most of the packing. He and Dustin did most of the heavy lifting that day too (I got the smaller stuff!)

The UHaul about half full.

Some of our stuff in the apartment's "lobby" area.

Dustin carrying a chair (aren't these captions so helpful?)

Rich

Russell, wanting desperately to "help" with the moving.

How did we acquire all this crap?!