AHHH! Fresh Air!

 During the house inspection, the inspector told us he could not get any of the windows open. Awesome, because the house has the typical 60 year old house smell...musty, stale cigarettes, and no telling what else...probably  mold.  At the closing of the house we were able to talk to the previous owner, a sweet elderly woman. She said, "oh the windows don't open,  many years ago my husband put nails in the windows to keep people out."
 Immediately, we took out all of the nails. Not being able to escape through a window is a little bit of a safety hazard if I must say so myself.  We went to open the first window (excited about letting the smell out)...it did not budge. Come to find out all the windows were painted shut not only on the inside but the outside as well.  After a long days work, elbow grease, utility knife, and a good working husband, open sesame!

The first one open! It was monumental.

That is as far as it will open for now. We have air, everybody!

Here comes the storm...or maybe just rain

We haven't really seen anything so far that is really messed up in the house. Until, in the lavender room, we removed the ceiling fan and had a big surprise. All you can do is laugh at situations like this because if I think about the danger of it ...I panic just a tad.

Let me explain this; If you look to the right of the electrical box you will see the white material. Can you guess what it is? That's right TOILET PAPER! Yes, toilet paper is a great material to stuff in the ceiling next to old wires! Great installation! (sarcasm of course). Luckily, this has been the biggest problem.

THE FLOORS!

As we were debating on purchasing the house, we constantly heard rumors about there being the original pine wood floors under the carpet.  We were so nervous about the shape of the hardwood, only because it is 60 years old! ekk.  Right after we got those lovely keys to the Aurora house we knew what we had to do...look under the carpet.  WE COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! The floors looked awesome, we were "floored" hehe! Also, found out it was oak instead of pine, even better. Pine is a softer wood, so that is why the floors were in better shaped than we thought.
Check them out!

The only problem we can see is the carpet pad residue. We have no idea how to get it off!

--So I have tried the following products on this so called carpet pad residue:

-Murphy's Oil

-Goo Gone (this has never failed mee!)

-Bona (all natural floor cleaner)

-Vinegar

-Mr.Clean

-Borex

-Baking Soda

-Kitchen Cleaner (got desperate)

We heard that if you rent a floor buffer and put a sanding screen on, it will take the carpet pad residue off without sanding the wood.  WRONG! It sanded the wood and did not take the residue off. So what are we doing now, after all these attempts, redoing all the floors! Professionally. Ohh see we were going to do it ourselves but after my husband got a throat infections from sanding with the buffer ( he gets sick pretty often), professional was the way to go.

THE AURORA PROJECT

In the last post I let everyone know we bought a house. Sorry it has been awhile, we have been moving and doing some prep work. Here are some pictures of what the inside looked like when we bought the house.

This is when you first walk into the house. You walk into the living room and see the opening for the dining room.

As you can see the carpet has a wonderful design...ekk.  We heard there are wood floors underneath  but have no idea of the condition. (yay!)

This is the view from the doorway of the dining room. As you look to your left you see a wonderful wallpaper reminding you of a daydream in a park in 1990... blue sky and a border with what looks like leaves that are blowing in the wind...

The view from the dining room to the living room. Don't forget that chandelier, it seems as though it may belong to the presidential library, for it is sprouting wisdom. 

Ohh the lavender room, you may feel relaxed as you are encompassed with purple walls and a purple ceiling. or you may feel like royalty... of the garden club of course.

And here is the gold faux room. It is the only room in the house that has crown molding??  Really cant think of anything to say about this room...hmm the ceilings are a peach color.

The green hallway, looks like they were thinking lavender for royalty, green for money as the pathway to gold... maybe? My favorite part is the telephone shelf. I love that feature, that is something that I am not changing. 

I love these vintage hexagon tiles. All they need are some elbow grease and a good cleaning!

 Can you believe it, maroon and yellow with those awesome blue tiles. Don't worry ladies we are changing it quickly!

Here is the super long garage, which we are hoping to turn it into a bedroom one day. What is cool about this garage, is all the old and handmade tools of the man that once lived here is still in the garage. There are even the old screens for our wooden windows.  When I opened one of the cabinets, there were glass condiments filled with mismatched screws and nails. Aww it reminds me of my grandfather's shop! I love those little things that always seem so precious. 

Lastly,  a small room added to the back of the kitchen. I have no idea what the purpose was for this room. The smell of water damage when you walk in is overwhelming.  Hopefully, I can make it into my sewing room once we figure out what the smell is. 

We finally got a house! YAY!

The same family has been living in this house since it was built in 1950. It was a great find for what we were looking for in buying a house.  My husband and I love to fix up things, therefore we were looking for a home that was livable but needed some TLC. We started looking for a house in a quaint historical area in Houston.  This area is known for its craftsman style bungalows. There are parts of this area that has already been renovated and now named as an historical district in Houston.  Our house is a little north of that area, where people are now buying up houses and renovating.  Perfect area for us! This house is a simple bungalow style, doesn't have the craftsman details on the outside, and that is exactly what we want to add! This house is a blank slate and we can not to get started! We get the Keys next Wednesday! I will be posting pictures and giving updates on our daily projects!

Our goal in renovations is making the home more energy efficient and environmentally friendly, while also adding features to the house the resemble the time era of when the house was built. 

House Hunting

The last couple of weeks we have been looking at houses to buy in the Heights area of Houston. We have narrowed it down to two so far. A little background, we are looking to buy a house that we are able to completely renovate but it has to be in livable condition. Here are the two so far:
This is House #1. This is like a blank canvas for us. Pros: Big Back yard for adding sq ft to the house and could make the front look like a classic heights bungalow style. Cons: sort of location but still great.

This is house #2. It is everything you think of when you say Heights. Quaint, white picket fence built in the 30s. Pros: Locations! great walking trail everything. Cons: small lot size really dont have any room to add on.

DMV Experience

I have been needing to change my drivers license since I got married. Well it is not fun at all in the gigantic city of Houston.  My first attempt was three weeks ago. I went to one location about 10am on a Tuesday, the line was out the door wrapped around the building. Since this was the week I lost my blackberry I was unable to google for another location. Wow how dependent I am on my phone! So I had to drive 20 mins home to google which DMV was a fast one.  So I read yelp and found out there is a south location that is super fast. So I thought around 1 o’clock I would get dolled up and run down there. I arrived at this location, not going to lie it was sketchy, well for Houston normal looking.  The older I get the more I have an uncomfortable feeling being a woman by myself in what looks to be a “sketchy” area. That day I ended up not getting out of my car because I did not feel safe going in there alone. 

WELL TODAY WAS A NEW DAY!  I decided why am I so uncomfortable, everyone else has the same reason why they are going into the DMV? So I held my head up and walked in like I owned the joint. I had to or else fear would have got the best of me. When I walked in, the line was super long wrapped around the wall.  I am about to be real…Sometimes I despise society, or how I learned about races growing up. I walked in and being a Caucasian I was a minority in this small building being the only Caucasian, which is what made me uncomfortable at first.  I wish I didn’t feel this way. It frustrates me why most people feel this way. Why is the world more globalized than ever yet still so segregated. I started to watch everyone in the room and was thinking why is there fear of another human being. Everyone in this room loves, breathes, eats, smiles, laughs, and cry the same way. We all have families!  No matter how hard I try to feel like I fit in this little DMV place, I still have this little feeling that I am not the same Human as the woman standing in front of me. Now do I want that feeling? NO.   I look around to realize we all have love and pain, we are all so sweetly broken.  I am the same as everyone in that room.

Funny stuff, of course I am new to Houston, and I thought that the phrase “homegirl” was not ever used in a regular sentence. Man am  I wrong.  The woman behind me and the woman in front of me carried on a long conversation which I will share only because it was super interesting.  Let’s call woman behind me “behind” and the woman in front of me “front” (I know it’s clever).

Behind: “girl I like your piercing all over your face”               

Front: “thanks girl you should see my home girl she has pin point balls all over her face.”

Behind: “no way girl, see I have this one (pointing to her eyebrow piercing), I had a lip ring like yours but it fell out. I sleep crazy (putting her forearm to her face while she rubs her face back and forth as if she is sleeping) see how rough that is its crazy I knocked my lip ring out so now my pillows on the floor cause they’ll knock my (points to her eyebrow ring again).

Front: “ummm hmmm yeah yeah see I don’t sleep on my bed I be sleepin on air mattress cause I don’t rub my face in that. Cause I keep losing all my balls (pointing to her two lip rings) that’s why you got to have extra all over the place cause you lose yours balls all the time, they just come off.”

Behind : girl that’s why you got to go to debo’s to get that stuff done they clean safe and everyone gets them done there, last time cause I know debo he told my 40 for my tattoo on my arm and I said no I am paying 25, see that’s the way you got to run it.

Front: “I heard about that place my homegirl got hers done there but the ball got lost in her lip, she has really big lips though and they had to dig it out.”

Behind proceeds to lift up her shirt and show us all her tattoos she got done and what they mean.

This convo went on quit awhile the whole time I was standing in between them looking back and forth smiling laughing when they did , lol probably look like I was trying so hard to fit in cause secretly I really wanted to lol.  In a sense it is so cool how they can just start up a conversation and talk like they have known each other for ever. I have respect for them no matter what the conversation was. It was weird but this conversation these two ladies had made me feel so much more comfortable being in the DMV.

I was there for two hours! Picture turn out good. 

Where the blog got its name

My husband and I have this awesome cat Simon. He was raised by an urban pack of dogs in Fort Worth, TX.  In order to become alpha dog he had to walk up to a truck in a college parking lot to try to get a human to take him home. He jumped in the truck as soon as the door opened and curled up in the back seat like he owned that bitch. He then went to college with my Husband’s older brother, where he was known as the evil Simon. He would knock over people’s water glasses when they talked smacked to him. He would even fetch a small ball and bring it right back to the person to show them he is the boss so he then demanded to be held like a baby. Later he was back at the parents house ruling the dogs and the other cat. He would scratch up wood furniture only to prove he only has the house the way he wants it.  Long story short he doesn’t have his front crawls anymore and he lives in an 850sq ft. apartment with us. Ohh but that didn’t stop his alpha dog syndrome. He will use all 100 vocal ranges to get anyone’s attention.  He will get into the pantry to bring his minions (my husband and I) his bag of treats. He will use a different vocal note to signal he wants to be brushed and then roll over when he says your done with a side. If you pat your leg he comes running and stretches his paws out for you to hold him, carry him, and love on him the whole day. If you try to put him down he wraps his paws around you, because he is the boss and he doesn’t walk on his own or else you will hear about it.   The picture is of him today finally getting his way with the window. He meowed for five minutes, no lie, until I open the window.  So I opened it, well I guess I didn’t open it wide enough. He came and laid by my feet with his back facing me and I said “Simon was it not open wide enough” his tilted his head over his shoulder and meow while looking at me until I got up to open the window.  

Quote of the day: “Bloom where you are planted”

First off, I am not a writer nor have I ever blog in my entire life.  That being said if you are a stickler on grammar then stop reading now! P.S. Sometimes I even like to make up my own words. The reason I am starting now is because I really don’t know where I am in my life. Well frankly interested things keep happening and since being married many adventures have come my way. I figure I am just going to post everything and anything that happens to me, around me, with me, etc. me.  Why? You may ask … well no reason.

This is like taking the first step to what I want to do with my life. See putting my words in a semi public light means I am letting the world into my thoughts and my heart…THAT IS FREAKIN SCARY. This gives so many people the ability to judge my thoughts and action. Why I am doing this again? Oh yeah because if I let fear live for me and I don’t take this first step I may never get to where I really want or where I am truly happy.

I just moved to Houston in late November. I have been here for three months. I have not found a job yet because I can’t make up my mind as to what I want to do in this big world of Houston.  I’ve had my own Wedding coordinating business for four years now. It was based out of College Station and now that I have moved to Houston I really just want to be done with it and not start it off here. Not because I am lazy and don’t want to take the time to network all over again, it’s because is that what makes me happy?  I mean managing Brides, Mother of the Brides, and Maid of Honors isn’t really the easiest life. Also, staying up till 2am most Saturday is not really great for the body either.  What I like about it is having my very own business and not having to worry about when to ask off. I think I fell in love with the entrepreneurship of it all. Basically I have wasted three months trying to figure out if I should do that or not.

I have been looking for things that I enjoy and seeing how I can make that a career. Sometimes when I talked with my father (who is in the oil business), my husband (also in the oil business), and see oil crisis on the TV I want to become a geologist.  I have always been interested in it. Why I am not doing it? FEAR, fear I won’t be smart enough to pass the courses and fear that I won’t be the best.  

Music is a passion of mine, I love singing and dancing. Again, I can’t get myself to do something about it. I am thinking maybe take acting/vocal lessons someone? Or take more guitar lessons to become better? Or just enter contest? 

I took one chance at this about three years ago and tried out for American Idol. Ohhh myyyy  awful experience! One of my sisters went with me, thank the lord,  poor thing she was miserable. It was in the Texas August weather…SO HOT!  It was held at the old Dallas Cowboy stadium. We had to go Friday morning at like 4 am to get an audition ticket. We ended up getting there at 4am and there was already a huge line just for the ticket which tryouts weren’t even till Sunday!  We finally got the ticket 3 hours later!!  Then when Sunday came we got there again at.

Now I am thinking why not try to be a licensed contractor?  What sparked this idea was that my husband and I have been looking for houses in the Heights. We want one we can buy and fix up. I love redoing things, I always have to be doing some sort of little project.  We live in an apartment now which drives me crazy because I don’t have the space to do tinker around.  I got to the point the other day when I realized that it is an addiction. My hands were aching to fix something, paint something, hell anything!  I can’t figure out if maybe that is my way of escaping from the world or is it something I love doing and could make it a career.   Us buying a house also sparked my interested in starting a blog. A couple of my friends wanted to see updates on the house we bought and the renovations that we would do.