Merry Happenings and a Noise Maker New Year.

As I was uploading pictures from the camera, I came across a few that Ed had taken at Christmastime.  I wanted to share this years Red House Nine holiday pictures as I did last years. This years holiday season wasn't one hundred percent different, but it was missing a chunk of family members. Marilyn & Tyler were out west visiting with Tyler's (awesome!) family (no seriously, his family is really, really fun - let alone some of the nicest people you'll ever meet). My brother Adam flew the Northeast coop for warmer waters of the Southeast with a big 'ol move to be with his lady love. Yes, that sentence was written with jealousy allover it.

The festivities began with Christmas eve being spent at my fathers 12-years-and-still-going party with amazing friends and family. Of course his neighborhood lit up the always gorgeous luminaries that line the streets.

On Christmas Day Cman tore through his gifts and Stella squeaked her way around the hizzy with her new loofa dog toy. For dinner the families came over -we ended up with 8 total at the table - and noshed on a delicious ham, mershed perderders - speaking of which have you seen that hilariousness that is mershed perderders turtle?! Let me enlighten you...

See? So funny! Ok, so some yammers were also present at this party and they brought along their green been casserole friend (well technically my wonderful mother-in-law did), plus we had lots of wine, biscuits, and desserts that were so good! Pumpkin brownies anyone? Thank you, Andrea. :)

After the chow-fest ceased, we opened gifts around the purdy tree.

 Let's visit how this room has morphed since last Christmas. Well, first off we purchased a new couch - of course it was on super sale plus an extra 25% off because that's how we roll. Then we switched out the rug for the one that was in Frumpka's room. We hung new (on clearance!!) curtains, moved the two blue chairs into the room, added a small side table and repositioned the TV.  It's still set up like this as of now, but we're forever changing it around. We need more color - as in NOT blue or gray. I'm thinking yellows and greens and corals. And we need artwork. It's quite sparse.

After we opened gifts, we all hung out just a while longer enjoying the company.

For New Years Eve we went up to Ma and Pa's hizzy to party it up with Ma & Pa, Daisy, and Mar & Tyler who arrived from the west coast a few days earlier.We enjoyed the evening with prosecco, rum & cokes, a few beers and Banangrams. Oh yes, Banangrams. We all get VERY competitive about this game and will play it hours on end; and I'll tell you that's just what we did. We rang in 2013 with noise makers, party hats and champagne.

So, that was the holiday season around these parts. It was wonderful, although some were missed and we can't wait to see them next year. We have been working really hard on the RHN basement and are half way there. The garage got a early spring cleaning and life with two dogs is proving to be both hilarious and noisy - oh and messy. But the two knuckleheads sure are adorable. Slobber and all.

Deck, Deck, Goose!

Well hello.  I wanted to introduce myself. My name is K and I am the author of this blog. Oh, you don't know me? Yeah, well, that's because I've been an absent blogger.  My apologies, but I blame father time.  He pushed the fast forward button. So, let's play catch-up, shall we?

Red House Nine is still Red. Yup, we haven't yet changed that. However, I should share that while we didn't change the color of the hizzy, we did build a deck. Ok, so we didn't build it from the ground up because the 'bones' were still sturdy and not rotted; however, the rest of the red decrepit flooring was wasted. So, let us revisit our deck building adventure.

 In the red deck pictures you'll notice a few things that are what we could label as 'wrong'.  We could start at the most obvious, the color. Not only did it match the hizzy, but it was peeling and moldy and just not pretty. The railings weren't up to code, but that's not the fault of anything but father time. Codes were different 25 years ago. The deck literally swayed when you walked across it - think earthquake - it needed a lot more support over and under. The stairs were all wrong in terms of location, railings and angles.  With all of those fails pointed out, we got to fixing this puppy up to good as new.

We started by ripping the old guy down hulk style. I kid you not. We started with the plastic lattice underneath. Then the railing tops and posts. Then the floor planks. Then the staircase. Taking down this 250+ sq ft deck meant a lot of old wood and plastic to be piled up in the yard. Originally we wanted to reuse the decking for two reasons: 1) save money 2) recycling which means less waste to send to a landfill. Buuuuttttt once we pulled up the decking it was far too warped, rotted, and rusted out (nails) to reuse. Wah-wah. That lead us back to the drawing board. (heehee get it? that was a pun.)

 So, now that we had it apart we had to draw up some plans - and by we I mean Ed and my Dad because math was involved. Anyone who knows me, knows math and I aren't BFF's by any means.

 Apparently the stringers for the staircase were a total bitch to calculate. See, we didn't buy the already cut stringers for the staircase because they weren't long/tall enough for the amount of stairs we needed to meet code...hence the math. We also used some of the old wood as braces underneath the deck to prevent/stop further earthquake shaking while walking and also added new and extra brackets and hardware to make sure this deck 'was built like a brick shithouse' as Ed would say.  Along with building it stronger came a slight redesign as well. The decking from the red deck was one-piece 20ft boards that ran from end-to-end. The stairs just jetted off the side of the deck to meet the basement door below. Ed and I decided that we wanted the deck stairs to spill out into the back yard instead of wrap around to the basement door area. So, what does that mean? It means that we (with the collaborative brainstorming of my Dad) decided to build a smallish platform for the stairs to dump off of into the back yard. It's one bajillion times better! We also decided on pressure treated wood instead of composite for a few reasons - the top two being cost and heat. Those composite boards get HOT in the summer in the sun. We changed the railings to make sure they were meeting code and also changed the pattern of the deck. We went herringbone. Sexy, no? Oh yes. So, my ever so patient darlings, I present to you our newly re-designed deckerooni. 

Isn't she a beaut? Of course she is! She's a beast, too. An elegant, blonde beast. I have to disclose that even though she looks as if she got made over and is looking as if she's going to attend the Oscars, she has yet to be accessorized with her Lorraine Schwartz jewels and Louboutins. We have her accessories waiting for spring time styling. You see, we had to wait to stain her for two reasons: 1) It's snowy here and cold. Obviously it would difficult for the stain to dry in 20 degree weather. 2) We had to wait for the still kinda new and damp wood to 'dry out'. No, she does not drink too much! She's simply needing to mature a little before donning such expensive jewels and shoes. When she's all gussied up, I'll re-share. Pinky swear. 

So other goings on around here are small and slowly progressing. We began working in the basement, we insulated the garage, and put the master 1/2 bathroom back together - added a little paint and artwork. In the basement we took down the icky paneling and took out the old insulation, added new insulation and holy sheet! rocked over it. We're still spackling the walls and new rock and debating what to do with the faux (pas!) rock surrounding the fireplace. 

Well, besides our visiting/vacationing 4-legged nephew, a new couch and dining room table, and the holidays out of the way, I leave you with a promise of another update NOT five months behind schedule.