New Floor - Day 3

Well, it's day 3 on the new hardwood floor, and we got a lot done today. We were very fortunate to have our friend, Sean R, come over and help with the floor. He's done a few hardwood floors before, so it was awesome to have someone that knew what they were doing! Both guys are completely exhausted, and I imagine they will be very sore tomorrow. Especially Sean S's leg - he did a swing and a miss with the mallet and got his leg pretty good. I did help out, but I didn't do as much physical work as the guys, so I'm not as exhausted. I just placed the planks and got them whatever they needed.

Here are some pictures! We still have about 3-4 hours left to finish it up, but it looks awesome!!

Sean nailing in a board

Me placing boards, and Sean R nailing in a board (proof that I did help!)

A close picture of what the floor looks like and also, see that really 'blonde' piece in there? That keeps cracking us up. We didn't realize how blonde it was until we got all the other wood surrounding it. I'm sure it will get darker with time - there is a word for that, starts with a P...but I can never remember what it is...

While Sean was prepping the floor last night, I decided to tackle the two upstairs bedrooms that have been 'crap rooms' for the past year or so. If you've ever been one of the few people to have seen these rooms, you know what I'm talking about! We usually keep the doors closed to hide our messiness! Here are some before and after pictures. It's been quite a productive weekend!

My sewing room BEFORE (overwhelming, isn't it?!?)

My sewing room AFTER! Goodwill should expect a big donation this week!

View from the other angle.

New Floor - Day Two

Day two of the family room floor remodel...Sean ripped up all the carpet and I helped him carry it out to the curb for garbage day tomorrow. He then started to remove the tack strips, and I opened all the boxes of wood so that they can "breathe' and get acclimated to our house before installation.

Carpet is gone and wood spread out to acclimate!

No need to worry about the dogs, they found their pillows and got comfy while we worked. :)

Is January over yet?

It's been quite an eventful few weeks around here. I took my test last Monday morning, so right now I'm on a study hiatus...until next week. Then I have to start studying for test #2. I don't know if I passed the test I just took, hopefully I will find out in the next few days.

Sean just installed a humidifier on our furnace last weekend. It was a lot of work - but he did it and it works great! No more dry, static house!

Our adventure this week is clearing out the family room, ripping up the carpet, and putting down hardwood. Most of this work will be done by Sean (I did help move furniture!), and I will be working on our two very messy rooms upstairs. I'm in the process of moving my sewing/craft room to a different room - hopefully I can get it done this weekend!

Some before pictures below of the family room...stay tuned for the after pics!

The carpet doesn't look too bad in this picture...but trust me, up close, it's N-A-S-T-Y

You can see more of the stains in this picture...beige carpet and two Rottweilers do not go well together.

15 boxes of wood flooring

Here's a sneak peak at the wood!


All of our HEAVY furniture being stored in the living room

Snow day and lazy day...

Here are a couple pictures of Jada playing in the snow last Wednesday. She loves to catch snowballs mid-air, but she wasn't interested in playing too long since it was below zero degrees.




And today, since the house is quiet with me studying and Sean running errands/hiding in the basement, the dogs are passing the time snoozing.





Sadie has her own pillow, but she prefers to be as close to whomever is in the room. I got a chuckle at how she has her paws all tucked up under her!

Recycling

My New Year's resolution this year was to start recycling in our home. The reason we haven't recycled in the past is pure laziness - the Town of Normal doesn't do curbside recycling like the City of Bloomington. But, now that I've matured with my recent milestone birthday, I've realized that it is important for the Earth and our well-being to recycle as much as possible, even if that means I have to take tubs of recyclables to our nearest recycling center. I'm happy to report that I've been a recycling maniac for the past three weeks - I actually think it's kind of fun! I stalk our trash cans to make sure Sean hasn't thrown away something that can be recycled. And the best part - we have only ONE and a half bags of trash this week (the half being the bathroom trash)! Before recycling, we'd have around 4-6 bags of trash - for TWO people - for ONE week. Ridiculous.

So, if you haven't started recycling in your home - START NOW!

Snow!

Wow, we got some snow last night. It was enough for State Farm to delay opening the offices, so we get to stay home until 10:00 this morning! I'm going to be good and use that time for studying...right after I get done with this post.

Sean finally got a chance to use our new awesome snow blower. He did our drive and sidewalks, and then, the nice kid he is, did our neighbor's driveway. He's still out there, and hopefully his extremities aren't icicles yet because it's only 12 degrees out there (and that doesn't include the wind chill). I better go make sure he has some hot coffee waiting for him!

Bad Blogger...

I'll be the first to admit - I'm a lousy blogger so far in 2009! My excuse is this excruciating insurance exam that is lingering over my head. The test is in less than two weeks, and I'm only on chapter six. *Sigh* Eleven more chapters to go...then I'll try to memorize 800 pages of information on legal insurance contracts, then do a major brain dump on the test. If all goes well, I'll earn at least a 70% on the test and I'll never have to think about what specific characteristics a contract needs to make it enforceable. :)

Other exciting upcoming events in the Schick household - a new hardwood floor in our family room! Our carpet is getting grosser by the minute, thanks to the two dogs that think the carpet is a great place to get sick. Sean and I picked out the flooring on Sunday, and it should be delivered this week. We won't actually install it until the end of the month, so sit tight for some awesome before and after pictures!

Spring cleaning

Now that the Christmas decorations are down and put away, spring cleaning is starting early at the Schick house! Yesterday my wonderful husband put together three very large shelves in our unfinished part of the basement. What was once a cluttered mess is now organized!

I'm ready to update my very tan living room. To start, I'm selling my coffee table and two end tables. They have metal frames, glass tops, and a stone base. I really love them, however I'm ready for a change. If you know of anything that would be interested in them, send them my way! I'm asking $200 for the entire set. Here are some pics:

Coffee table

One of two end tables

The lamps are negotiable as well...but not until the tables are sold!