We are hoping to get the project done in a few weeks. I will try to keep the blog updated with our progress.
Here's what we've done so far:
Saturday, September 01, 2012
Those who don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. ;)
We must be masochistic, I only say that because we are once again under construction. However, this time it is really fun! We wanted to have a more open feeling to our house, so we are knocking out two walls and replacing them with a more open feel. This was all inspired thanks to an unexpected but very welcome surprise that will arrive in December. He (yep, it's a boy!) will be taking over the office so it will be moving more central in the house.
We are hoping to get the project done in a few weeks. I will try to keep the blog updated with our progress.
Here's what we've done so far:
(Pictures are worth a thousand words)
We are hoping to get the project done in a few weeks. I will try to keep the blog updated with our progress.
Here's what we've done so far:
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Introducing Addison Kay Howell
Having her at home is quite a change. Mary and I have felt like zombies the last six weeks. But unlike normal zombies, we feast on any and all the sleep we can get, which isn't much. Things are starting to calm down a bit. We're on the verge of a normal routine. We hope to regain some sanity soon.
Of the 300+ pictures we've taken of her already, here are some of my favorites.
I love how tiny she looks in her car seat.
Being able to hold a human being in one hand is an amazing feeling.
She's going to be just like her mama and have a craving for foot rubs.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Too much to talk about (part 3)
So if major home renovations and the announce of our first baby isn't enough to keep us busy....
We just bought a real house!
That's right. A real, single family, suburbia home in Saratoga Springs. Mary and I have been looking to move out of Provo for over a year now. We're kinda done with all the students and our tiny apartment and always worrying about being too noisy for the basement tenants.
Mary has been on the look out for a house that would suit us best. Well she found one in February. It was a short sale in Saratoga Springs. The drama involved in this house purchase is too long for this blog.
But the tl;dr version is that because this house is a short sale, the banks (yes, there were two with liens on the house) were very unwilling to cooperate or be lenient in almost any way. So our realtor and our mortgage broker and we have been fighting with the banks and jumping through their stupid hoops to finally get to the closing table on May 19th. And just to tell you how close we were on this, our broker had to personally courier the docs up the the corporate offices in SLC in order to process them before the deadline. Our mortgage was funded about an hour later.
I only hit the tip of the iceberg on the drama that happened during this purchase. But we're soooooo glad that it's all over and we persevered and fought hard and got it.
I'll have to post pictures of it soon.
We just bought a real house!
That's right. A real, single family, suburbia home in Saratoga Springs. Mary and I have been looking to move out of Provo for over a year now. We're kinda done with all the students and our tiny apartment and always worrying about being too noisy for the basement tenants.
Mary has been on the look out for a house that would suit us best. Well she found one in February. It was a short sale in Saratoga Springs. The drama involved in this house purchase is too long for this blog.
But the tl;dr version is that because this house is a short sale, the banks (yes, there were two with liens on the house) were very unwilling to cooperate or be lenient in almost any way. So our realtor and our mortgage broker and we have been fighting with the banks and jumping through their stupid hoops to finally get to the closing table on May 19th. And just to tell you how close we were on this, our broker had to personally courier the docs up the the corporate offices in SLC in order to process them before the deadline. Our mortgage was funded about an hour later.
I only hit the tip of the iceberg on the drama that happened during this purchase. But we're soooooo glad that it's all over and we persevered and fought hard and got it.
I'll have to post pictures of it soon.
Too much to talk about (part 2)
The next big event in our lives is...
We're expecting our first little girl at the end of August!
We're very excited about this. We both feel ready, but a little anxious, about this next big step in life. But we'll be just fine, I know.
We're expecting our first little girl at the end of August!
We're very excited about this. We both feel ready, but a little anxious, about this next big step in life. But we'll be just fine, I know.
Too much to talk about
So, since our last blog update 8 months ago, it seems like a decade's worth of events have happened to us. So I'm really sure where to begin. But being prodded by enough family and friends, I shall attempt the impossible.
So our last post was about redoing the electrical in our old house. That project went more or less smoothly.
In September (a week or so after our last post), we had a guy come and replace our old breaker and electrical meters. So with the really hard parts done, I just had to go room by room and run the wire, switch out the old and put in the new.
I didn't really know anything about electrical and I kept stalling on it, waiting to get some know-how help with it. (I was super busy with work and school as well). So when the Christmas break finally came, I was resolved to get this project done while I had the time. Eddy came down and helped a ton too.
I forced myself to learn it. I started with the most simple circuit: the fridge's dedicated circuit. It has one plug. After that was done, my confidence was boosted a little (residential electrical is quite simple really), and Eddy and I worked on next circuit.
We continued doing one room at a time, and we were able to get the entire upstairs apartment done. We pretty much ran everything through the attic, which made this project much more simple. I spent several days up in the attic, pulling wire from below and wiring various circuits and such. Eddy spent a bunch of time cutting in new plug boxes in the old lathe and plaster walls.
Eddy helped us out a ton during this job.
This is the finished product. A new breaker with new wire!
In the end, we now have five plugs in the kitchen (instead of just one), and a lot more plugs in each room in the apartment. And we can run the toaster over and the space heater at the same time! Looking back, I'm quite amazed and proud that I was able to figure it all out and get it done. And honestly, it was fun.
Not wake boarding fun, but still fun.
After the electrical was finished, we finished that room that we tore down, which wasn't as fun as the electrical. We put in a new floor, new paint, and put a carpet top on that laundry box, so now it's a comfortable reading nook.
Here's Eddy and me working in super cold weather, cutting the frame for the wall.
Mary helped out a lot with the mudding and sanding. Unfortunately, we neglected to take a picture of the finished product. Oh well.
So our last post was about redoing the electrical in our old house. That project went more or less smoothly.
In September (a week or so after our last post), we had a guy come and replace our old breaker and electrical meters. So with the really hard parts done, I just had to go room by room and run the wire, switch out the old and put in the new.
I didn't really know anything about electrical and I kept stalling on it, waiting to get some know-how help with it. (I was super busy with work and school as well). So when the Christmas break finally came, I was resolved to get this project done while I had the time. Eddy came down and helped a ton too.
I forced myself to learn it. I started with the most simple circuit: the fridge's dedicated circuit. It has one plug. After that was done, my confidence was boosted a little (residential electrical is quite simple really), and Eddy and I worked on next circuit.
We continued doing one room at a time, and we were able to get the entire upstairs apartment done. We pretty much ran everything through the attic, which made this project much more simple. I spent several days up in the attic, pulling wire from below and wiring various circuits and such. Eddy spent a bunch of time cutting in new plug boxes in the old lathe and plaster walls.
In the end, we now have five plugs in the kitchen (instead of just one), and a lot more plugs in each room in the apartment. And we can run the toaster over and the space heater at the same time! Looking back, I'm quite amazed and proud that I was able to figure it all out and get it done. And honestly, it was fun.
Not wake boarding fun, but still fun.
After the electrical was finished, we finished that room that we tore down, which wasn't as fun as the electrical. We put in a new floor, new paint, and put a carpet top on that laundry box, so now it's a comfortable reading nook.
Mary helped out a lot with the mudding and sanding. Unfortunately, we neglected to take a picture of the finished product. Oh well.
Sunday, September 05, 2010
We're masochists
Yes. No doubt about it. We apparently love giving ourselves more work than we need to. Our new project? Updating the electrical. Last winter, we realized that the electrical in our house is really really old.
We learned all the fine combinations of electrical appliances that, when run at the same time, would pop a circuit breaker. It was a daily adventure for us. The rule of thumb basically came to "Don't run more than one thing at once."
Mary and I decided that we couldn't go another winter without updating the electrical in our old house.
So we got together with a friend and we are taking the plunge on Tuesday. We got the permit required, got the new circuit breaker box and breakers, and all the wire we could possible use. I must say, we are both very excited to have updated electrical.
But that's not why we're masochists. We're masochists because yesterday we decided on a whim to rip out all the lathe and plaster on the walls in the back room where the breaker is. We really didn't need or want to do it, but we figured this would be the baby's room when the time comes and we've been told babies don't like drafty rooms. ;) Plus, doing it now has its benefits. Having the room torn down to the studs will make the electrical work much easier. We will now have complete unobstructed access to the old breaker, the new breaker, and several plugs in the bedroom and kitchen, including to the stove and fridge.
So now that we're down a room, it's just like we are living in a two bedroom apartment again! Ugggh.
And now for some pictures....
This is just one of me being goofy. Demolition is my favorite part of home improvement. Especially when I'm tearing out old crappiness that has cause us much grief in the past.
I must say, tearing out lathe and plaster is quite therapeutic and fun. It really allows one to release all that stored up frustration and stress.
Behold, the lovely circuit breaker that I'm pretty sure came from the 50's. Side note, the wires in the top right of this picture are the old old nob and tube wiring from the 20's. It looks like when they took out the fuse box and put in the breaker, they didn't bother to remove the nob and tube wiring. (It's actually pretty hard to do, so I can't blame them).
We filled Mary's truck with all the debris. It's amazing how much lathe and plaster you can pull off of two walls. We also had a nice thin layer of dust all over the whole house as well.
That is all for now. We'll update everyone when we can again say that we live in a three bedroom apartment.
We learned all the fine combinations of electrical appliances that, when run at the same time, would pop a circuit breaker. It was a daily adventure for us. The rule of thumb basically came to "Don't run more than one thing at once."
Mary and I decided that we couldn't go another winter without updating the electrical in our old house.
So we got together with a friend and we are taking the plunge on Tuesday. We got the permit required, got the new circuit breaker box and breakers, and all the wire we could possible use. I must say, we are both very excited to have updated electrical.
But that's not why we're masochists. We're masochists because yesterday we decided on a whim to rip out all the lathe and plaster on the walls in the back room where the breaker is. We really didn't need or want to do it, but we figured this would be the baby's room when the time comes and we've been told babies don't like drafty rooms. ;) Plus, doing it now has its benefits. Having the room torn down to the studs will make the electrical work much easier. We will now have complete unobstructed access to the old breaker, the new breaker, and several plugs in the bedroom and kitchen, including to the stove and fridge.
So now that we're down a room, it's just like we are living in a two bedroom apartment again! Ugggh.
And now for some pictures....
This is just one of me being goofy. Demolition is my favorite part of home improvement. Especially when I'm tearing out old crappiness that has cause us much grief in the past.
I must say, tearing out lathe and plaster is quite therapeutic and fun. It really allows one to release all that stored up frustration and stress.
Behold, the lovely circuit breaker that I'm pretty sure came from the 50's. Side note, the wires in the top right of this picture are the old old nob and tube wiring from the 20's. It looks like when they took out the fuse box and put in the breaker, they didn't bother to remove the nob and tube wiring. (It's actually pretty hard to do, so I can't blame them).
We filled Mary's truck with all the debris. It's amazing how much lathe and plaster you can pull off of two walls. We also had a nice thin layer of dust all over the whole house as well.
That is all for now. We'll update everyone when we can again say that we live in a three bedroom apartment.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
My wife is awesome
Just some random thoughts about Mary.
We've been doing a lot of work on our house trying to get it ready to sell. During this time, I've also been coming up to a big deadline at work. So I've been very strapped for time.
So during those days when I'm stuck at work, Mary has accepted the challenge and done a lot of non-girly things around the house. Like framing, putting up drywall, mudding, and even messing around with some electrical stuff.
She is an incredibly hard worker. She can rattle off a huge massive of list of things that she got done that day and I just feel so grateful, and a bit lazy.
At the same time, she's no tomboy. She loves loves loves shopping, the color pink, heart-shaped anything, animals, getting her hair done, and being romanced.
We've been doing a lot of work on our house trying to get it ready to sell. During this time, I've also been coming up to a big deadline at work. So I've been very strapped for time.
So during those days when I'm stuck at work, Mary has accepted the challenge and done a lot of non-girly things around the house. Like framing, putting up drywall, mudding, and even messing around with some electrical stuff.
She is an incredibly hard worker. She can rattle off a huge massive of list of things that she got done that day and I just feel so grateful, and a bit lazy.
At the same time, she's no tomboy. She loves loves loves shopping, the color pink, heart-shaped anything, animals, getting her hair done, and being romanced.
Sometimes it's hard to believe that these two pictures are the same girl. How lucky am I!
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
A busy summer...
So busy in fact, that I don't have time to blog. :)
That's my cheap cop-out for being lazy.
Actually, we really have been quite busy this summer. So far we have
* torn out and remodeled our laundry room,
* redid some walls in the basement bedroom,
* hiked to Lower Calf Creek falls near Escalante,
* went hiking in Natural Bridges National Monument in So. Utah with the fam,
* went biking ^^ there as well (fun downhills, but the climbs *suuuuucked*)
* looked at lots of boats for Mom and Dad,
* test drove several boats with Mom and Dad, (one of which they purchased!!)
* been out on the water several times since then,
* taught Mary how to back a trailer in the Novell parking lot (she's actually better at it than me, I think),
* perused KSL classifieds for a week to procure some wake boards,
- and finally -
* went with the Fam to Yuba lake on our first family boating trip in over a decade.
I may or may not provide pictures. We'll see. I've probably fulfilled my blogging quota for a few months now. Stay tuned for our next post, "Rusty passes out after Thanksgiving turkey".
That's my cheap cop-out for being lazy.
Actually, we really have been quite busy this summer. So far we have
* torn out and remodeled our laundry room,
* redid some walls in the basement bedroom,
* hiked to Lower Calf Creek falls near Escalante,
* went hiking in Natural Bridges National Monument in So. Utah with the fam,
* went biking ^^ there as well (fun downhills, but the climbs *suuuuucked*)
* looked at lots of boats for Mom and Dad,
* test drove several boats with Mom and Dad, (one of which they purchased!!)
* been out on the water several times since then,
* taught Mary how to back a trailer in the Novell parking lot (she's actually better at it than me, I think),
* perused KSL classifieds for a week to procure some wake boards,
- and finally -
* went with the Fam to Yuba lake on our first family boating trip in over a decade.
I may or may not provide pictures. We'll see. I've probably fulfilled my blogging quota for a few months now. Stay tuned for our next post, "Rusty passes out after Thanksgiving turkey".
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Christmas Shopping
I think this picture says it all, but just incase your wondering this is how I feel when I try to go anywhere during the Christmas season. Normally I enjoy shopping but the herd is just a bit to crowded for me around Christmas time.
Gingerbread Mansions
The Howell tradition of Gingerbread construction was alive and vibrant this year! for those that aren't aware Rusty's family has a tradition every year of making gingerbread houses from scratch. This year Mom and Dad Howell did all the hard labor and made the pieces, the rest of us joined them for the candy fest and decorating. We literally had over 20 different types of candy, it was heaven for a candy-o-holic. We all ate way to much sugar but had a blast doing it. We may not be artists but at the end of the night I was really proud of our creations.
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