We Got On A Jet Plane...

...And for me, that is a feat in and of itself. Yup, I am one of those anxiety-ridden-terrified-to-fly-freakerouters that shakes, turns white, tries not to cry and vomit all at the same time. This fear sucks; there's not other way to put it. However, even though I suffer through air travel, it's necessary because we have family on islands that require a cruise ship, an extremely long swim, or a jet plane to get to - I refuse not to visit because of a silly fear. So, on a flight to St. Thomas we boarded and what a fantastic vacation was had.

Ed, Cman, my brother, father and I all ended up in the USVI for a week of awesomeness to visit my sister and brother-in-law, Marilyn and Tyler. This trip was was planned on a specific week on purpose; it was Cman's 14th (!!!! say what?!) birthday. This trip became quite special right off the bat due to three things: 1) It was Cmans burfday 2) We got to spend quality time with Mar & Tyler (and Blixie, Misha and Scrub) 3) Mar & Tyler were personal tour guides with the keys to the city. See, Mar & Tyler are Marine Biologists & Professors at the University of the Virgin Islands. They have access to cool things like kayaks and snorkel gear and know the best places to see amazing sea and land life without all the crowds.

The beginning of the trip didn't go to well. We missed out direct flight to St. Thomas and ended up being resecheduled for a connector through Miami. This didn't mean that the boys (Cman excluded) weren't going to start vacation the right way at 9am. Yup, brewski's and a coke at the airport pub. Kegs and Eggs indeed.

We finally made it seven hours late - safely and happy to smell the ocean as we disembarked our aircraft. Since it was dark when we finally arrived, all we saw were lights on very steep mountains. All Cman saw was the bed and a new friend, Blixie.

The next morning we woke up to this:

 

It's ok to be jealous, really.  We know we are!

The first few days we were there Mar introduced us to some island gems that I still get cravings for... Udder Delite being one of them. Folks, this is a milkshake stand that's mom-and-pop owned that serves alcoholic milkshakes (to those of age) in so many different delicious flavors you want one of each.

Along the way we ran into some friends:

These suckers all all over the place down there. The parakeets were gorgeous, but so loud and obnoxious. The iguanas just laid in the sun usually in the trees and Cman tried to catch the little anoles, but to no avail.

Downtown Charlotte Amalie is really cool because of the historic buildings and proximity to everything - the rum-on-every-corner didn't hurt either.

While we were exploring around Charlotte Amalie, Cman found this joint call Magic Ice. At first we weren't 100% what it was - it turned out to be an ice bar. We all suited up and embarked on a one rum shot filled freezing cold adventure. 

 I have to say, this place was definitely cool, but really? If the power goes out that's a whole-lotta melty ice!  Over the next few days we visited the Aquarium on the island and snorkeled and drank bushwhackers amd Cman ate bacon, and snorkeled and visited St. John, Annaberg Sugar Mill ruins, Blackbeard's castle, the 99 steps, Cman ate bacon, went to about ten different bays, snorkeled, went to chihuahua races, saw the cast of the real world filming, ate delicious pizza at the pie whole, Cman ate bacon, drank bushwhackers, went to pueblo supermarket and too much more to list. We had the pleasure of dining at Mar's favorite place on St. John, Skinny Legs. Their blue cheese burger is to die for - as is their mango mojito. Ohhh...take me back!

St. John

99 Steps

It was time to go back home too soon...like waaaaay too soon. We thank Mar and Tyler for allowing all of us to take over their home (and cats) for eight days. We had a blast and cannot wait to go back!! Cman was already asking when we could go back and we weren't even on the plane to go home yet! I'm so glad we had an opportunity to go visit Mar and Tyler. Next stop(s) Montauk and Bermuda! 

Progress?

We have been making slow and (somewhat) consistent progress on the red hizzy. I say slow because well, it's slow. We have been trying to squeeze in as much physical labor as possible, but as of late, we have been oot and aboot (as the Canadians say, eh?) gallivanting all over the place! We went on a VERY much needed vacation to St. Thomas (I promise I will share deets in another post), I went on a loooooong ass road trip with my father to move my not-so-little little sister out of her dorms, we've been in Woodstock, Woodstock (my fabulous in-laws) have been to us, and now it's the end of May and I'm shaking my spinning head wondering where time has gone. So, what have we done in the one-day weekends we've managed to salvage?

We have been working on the deck, trimming trees, and decorating at a snails pace. Yup, decorating. Doesn't sound like a huge task, but holy hell peeps! It's even a bigger, more complicated task than I thought. I guess it's that way because I have VERY expensive and picky taste. What?! You?! you ask. Oh yes, my darlings, me. Sometimes my need for perfection and a specific 'thing' will drag me to the ends of the earth  interwebs before I will even remotely consider or begin to say yay or nay to what it is I want to greet us everyday in our home. Which, actually, is quite hilarious because whatever I do end up loving is usually white or light colored. Why is that so funny? Two words, one equation: Teenager + Dog. What does that equal? You're all so smart you don't need a cheat sheet. So, throughout my quest, I sometimes have to bid a fair adieu to the lovelies I so badly would love to have grace our home. It's cool though. I happen to really like both the teenager and the dog. So you're probably curious as to if/what we have purchased for RHN. Well, so far, we have scooped up three area rugs - one for the master bedroom and one for Cmans, and one last one for the living room. The deals I've scored are AMAZING (and yes I yelled it and yes I meant to) on a website called rugsusa.com. They have had some serious sales.

For example:

Yes, that's our receipt for two area rugs. Yes, that says $235.20 (before tax). And yes that's for one 8x10 and the other a 4x6, both of which were shipped for free. When we get them, inspect them, and lay them out, we will share their glorious selves. That's not the only thing we've scored for a hell of a deal this past weekend. Have you folks ever heard of Bradsdeals.com? No? Well, go. I am ordering you. Ok, how about you go after you're done reading. Yea, totally a better idea. Anyway, I got an email from them outlining deals for the holiday weekend. As I was scrolling down I saw the holy grail beaming at me though my iPhone.

OH. EM. GEE!! STFU! That's the patio set I have been coveting for months!! But really? At $400 it was a little out of budget considering the other fun things (like vacationing in the USVI and rebuilding a deck) we have been up to. Well, let me tell ya sumtin', when I saw that the set price was slashed in half and shipped for free the happy dance that ensued was grand (albeit dorky) and involved me yelling for Ed to come and approve my kill. Oh the cold beers and glasses of wine sodas and glasses of water that will be consumed on the new deck will now look even more lovely because of Martha. Thanks, Martha! Camp cupcake did wonders for you and our new deck!

Speaking of the deck. Peoples, this deck rebuild has been....interesting. And frustrating. And expensive. And delightful. And Hot. Yes, hot. With temps around here topping 85 with 100% humidity, you do nothing but drip sweat and drink water. But, I'll tell you what - our container garden looks fab thanks to the rain and warm weather. Yuuuuum, veggies. Ok, so, the deck. We originally had a plan to reuse the boards and just spruce those old guys a bit, however, they were beyond sprucing up. They were so beyond warped, cracked, and full of old rusty broken nails there was no saving the ol' boys. Remember how it used to look? 

So, while we slightly (but not really) wept about 86-ing the money saving green tree hugging idea of reusing the old boards and just installing new railings and steps, we ultimately decided to buy all new decking, too. See?

As you can tell, we went with pressure treated wood. We weighed the pros/cons of pressure treated wood vs the composite decking, and the pros of pressure treated wood outweighed the pros of composite. And in all seriousness, while we weighed price (yes, you know we're bargain hunters) it didn't out weigh any other pro/cons.

So, we are about 3/4 of the way done with the decking floor board installation and it's looking amazing! We still have to go purchase railing materials and stair stringers and steps, but we are almost half way there. I will post a teaser pic or two for you to sneak a peek, but I will totally encapsulate it's glory with the fancy camera when it's all done. So excited! 

We still are deciding on a color to stain this giant, but are in the process of narrowing it down. So, for now, that's all we have to share. When the deck is finally complete (hopefully within the next few weekends) I will share ALL details including budget breakdown. Exciting. I know.

Happy One Year Own-niversary!

Peeps, Ed and I have officially owned RHN for 52 weeks and 4 days. That's 370 days (with leap year and all). That's 12 whole mortgage payments. That's one zillion cuts, bruises, hand smashes, bumped heads, ewwww's, gross!, WTF's, OMG's, and are you kidding me's. It's also 65 blog posts.  I cannot believe it's been one entire year!


I was just looking back at last years 'what were we doing at this time last year' and holy crapola! We had the kitchen tore completely out, the closet ripped down in the front hallway AND the main bathroom gutted. Damn, one year ago we were ambitious! 

So far this year our ambitions haven't completely subsided, but have rather taken a breather. When looking back at how insanely busy we've been since 2009, a breather is well deserved and is treating us well. Now that we are back from an amazing vacation - post coming soon! - we are amped up and raring to finish the deck and start on the back yard. Or the basement. Or the windows. Or the master bathroom. Or new furniture. Or new screen doors. Or landscaping. Whoa Nellie. I better cease the list before I pass out.

So, to all the readers of this blog-er-ooni, thanks for reading and sticking with us. We will have a lot more to share in the coming months.

Happy one year own-niversary!

...And Down Goes Frazier!

(Written on Monday.  Sorry for the delay!)

It is seriously 90 degrees out today and yes, it's only April. Poor Mother Nature is either entirely confused or really pissed off. However, that dosen't mean I'm upset my this confusion or madness - actually I'm quite alright with it - it has made working outdoors stripping RHN of her moomoo simply enjoyable. So, what did Ed and I accomplish this weekend? Well, we have a nekkid deck. Yup, she's bare bones and waiting for her partial makeover to be completed.

Let's revisit what the sad, sad wobbly looking deck used to look like. This lil lady of a deck didn't want to give up the boards, railings, nuts, bolts, and rotted nails easily, that's for sure. But being how carefully we planned this project, we decided that going all willy-nilly would cost us a lot of money that we didn't necessarily have to spend. C'mon! You know how we operate here at RHN: savings are king!

 

So, how did we git er' done? Two words: Power Tools. Ok, maybe two more words: Brute Force. This deck didn't give up the boards, railings, nuts, bolts, and rotted nails easily, that's for sure. We started to try and take the bolts that held the railing on off with a socket wrench and an adjustable wrench. Yea, no bueno friends. Those suckers stripped like nobody's bidness...plus Ed wrecked his pinky knuckle and we had a bleeder! It's never a legit project at RHN if someone doesn't walk away bleeding. 

After the knuckle wrecking we decided to bring in the big guns - power tools. We invited Sawzall, Circular Saw, Mr. & Mrs. Crowbar, Big F'n Hammer (BFH), Splitting Maul, and Sledge to join our party. They all gladfully oblidged and yes, we utilized every single one of those honorees. After Ed's blood letting, we decided to try using the sawzall to chop off the railings. No go, Joe. That's when we broke out the serious and decided to cut off the railings using the circular saw. Don't worry, sawzall wasn't totaly left out. We had ackowledged that the boards on this girl are of the kind that no longer are readily available for purchase - they're even Steven 20 footers. Since we want to keep the length of the deck the same, we had to figure out how to save as many boards as possible (plus at $24 a pop, repurchasing all these puppies would cost a small fortune and I've run out of kids to sell). So, what is a Brandt to do? Well you all know we are geniuses budget aware and promptly came up with a solution. Re-use the old boards. I can see multiple question marks above your heads and your eyes staring at me as if to say 'How? You crazy lady? Those boards are crap!' Ahhh...but wait! The underside of the decking is in fabulous condition and all it needs is a good sanding and sealing. Savings = $$$. Genius I tell you. Look!

Ok, back to wreckin' shit. In order to save the 20 foot facia board on the front of this girl, we had to use the sawzall to cut the bolts off. Once those were off, we took the board off set it aside and began prying the top boards off with a crowbar. The stair stringers are another item we will be salvaging along with the floor boards. In order to get the stairs off it took Ed a lot of prying, cutting, grunting, cursing, and beating, but they're off in one piece! We will be replacing the railings, moving the stairs, adding detail, re-securing (supa dupa style) all of the wobbly parts, and extending the overall size. Hopefully once we get the wheels in motion we can realitivly quickly put this lil lady back together - we all miss the deck a whole lot, especially Stella.

Ouch.

The backyard is clean and we are sore. The sheer amount of work we completed in one 10 hour period could have killed a horse. Ed, Cman and I all took to cleaning up, moving, taking down, raking, splitting, and burning the junk remnants that once filled the backyard. 

So, what did we do exactly that took 10 hours? The posts with electric that were installed (poorly I may add, but really? it's RHN. What would be right?) for the pool that was once existent, took down the plastic lattice from under the deck, cleaned up and burned a whole lot of rotted wood and tree limbs, raked about 3-5 years of leaves left for the next sucker, took out the blue stone stepping stones, took out the bazillion and one rocks from previous 'rock gardens', finished cutting up the giant fallen tree, mowed the front lawn, raked the side path, and last but not least raveled in the beauty of an actual back yard while drinking a Brooklyn Ale. Like a fantastic (not so much) blogger that I am, I forgot to take 'during' pictures, but seriously, it was all chaos - like a bomb went off; we even had a fire going to give it all a life like war zone feel. 

BEFORE

AFTER

Next on our list we aren't sure if we are going to begin the re-decking process or rent a mini-excavator and stump grinder to grade and level out (and bury that unwanted 3/4 stone gravel) the yard. We HAVE to get rid of the railroad ties and that will be a challenge. We have, however, come up with a plan of sorts of what we want to do in the yard. In the back right corner we are going to build a fire pit area much like this: 

pinterest.com

Isn't it beyond fabulous?! Yes, we are thinking of planting tall-ish bamboo along the back fence for pretty much two reasons: 1) to hide the 'dumping grounds' that have become the back woods 2) Privacy from the Toll Brothers community of McMansions they're building behind us.  

The deck we are hoping to look something like so:

CAD on Lowes.com

We would eventually like to have a fully as-level-as-a-slightly-sloping-yard-can-be level yard with lush green grass - NOT dirt, 3/4 stone and sand!, a nice stepping stone pathway from the side to back yard, a re-decked deck, a re-roofed and painted/fixed up good as new shed and trimmed back trees (ours and the encroaching neighbors) and the trash heap has spoken old fire pit needs to say hasta la bye-bye.

The front of the hizzy is looking like she got a face lift as well:

We have plans for the front, too. Trees and bushes are coming down, bare patches grassied up, gardens mulched... It needs an update bad and we know it. We have our sites set on about 1-2 years on new front steps and walkway, and 3-5 years out on new siding and a roof, but for now we need it to not be a friggin' eye sore. I have to say though that it is quite rewarding to see progress after the soreness my body is feeling. Getting old sucks. No longer can we pull the all-nighters and all day hard labor without feeling major consequence. Ah well, we will be back once we decide what we want to conquer next.

C'Mon 'N Get Your Rake On.

We worked our booties off this past weekend. Seriously. Through the cold, wet, ickyness that Mother Nature bestowed upon us, we cleaned up the front yard quite nicely by raking, weeding, clearing, moving, chopping and cleaning this not so giant space. For years this house has been slightly ignored in terms of appearance. Even though the trees are overgrown, the bushes half bare, the years of leaves thatched into the ground, hidden garbage strewn about, and items left behind to rot, we know that RHN has curb appeal and a sexy side just waiting to gleam to every passerby. This medium sized lady wants to strut her goods!

Let us visit the ugly ducking from the front this time.

 

So, what you are looking at is chaos and it's not very becoming on a lovely lady such as RHN. The row of bushes in the front are heavy, some sparse, and boring. Think a moo-moo on a svelte model. Then there's this front and center mess with rocks, daffodils, two rose of sharon, some crazy vine, and two rotting stumps. Yes, the non-fashionistas who once inhabited RHN before put a moo-moo on RHN and then added crazy make-up and more spray-tan and cover-up than one could shake a stick at to 'hide' the rotting stumps. Really? Why not just rock the natural skin tone and go to the dermatologist? Why are we rocking the Jersey Shore look? Here's a better idea: get a damn stump grinder and take out those stumps. Genius I tell you. Genius. Anyway, moving on. The 'rock garden' makes no sense. I cleaned it up, but still look at it going 'huh?'. The Japanese Maple that's located in said garden is huge. It also had Christmas lights wrapped around the bottom of it and on one of the branches. The lights have been there so long that the tree actually grew around the lights - almost like it ate them for a snack. This tree, when fully leaved, smacks everyone walking up the walkway in the face no matter how far we seem to trim it back. Ed is thinking it may be time to bid this tree farewell. I wish we could transplant it, but it may be just too big.

While I was up front workin' away, Ed was partying in the back with a chainsaw. Ha! We sound like a mullet! Bidness up front, parrr-taaay in the back! The reason I said Ed was partying in the back was because he was wreckin' shit and playing with power tools. Case and point:

 

This may sound gross to all Ed's family members (and hell, probably some friends), but 'hubba-hubba!' Heehee. What?! C'mon ladies, don't you tell me there isn't something even remotely attractive about a man (especially your own) using power tools. Anywhoosle, Ed cut up and partly split the old fallen down tree in the backyard. We are planning on having the chimney cleaned soon so we can use that awesome fireplace in the winter (help supplement the oil cost a little). 

While the parr-taaay was happening in the back, the bidness up front was digging up random items in the front. 

 That's a squirrel sprinkler who is missing an ear and a high game bowling trophy of sorts. This seems par for the course for RHN. I also took out that chaotic mess that was obstructing the middle of the lawn. This hot mess still needs a stump grinder, but it looks better already - well, as good as a circle of dirt can look I guess. 

We also bought a grill, yo! No, no, not the gold dental kind, the gas kind you cook on. Ed and Ihit up quite a few different brands and stores, but this Brinkmann from Home Depot (obviously our break-up didn't last long) won out over the others because of looks, size, value, and of course price. We have used it a few times and LOVE it. There's just something about grilling we love. Ahhh, the sweet smell of spring/summer is here. 

This weekend coming is supposed to be gorgeous and around 65, so you know we will be working our tukases off finishing up the front (which we didn't because of the rain) and really hitting the back yard with a vengeance. Hell, we may even begin buying deck supplies to start re-decking that awful looking wobbly deck.