Late February

In between moving into the house and unpacking boxes we've done a few more things. We're replacing switchplates, outlets, and outlet covers as we go. We also added a turn knob to the dining room light fixture, since all it had was the turn post before. We replaced the old mail slot, because it was letting in HUGE drafts of air, and added door sweeps (the metal and rubber pieces that keep drafts out) to all of the exterior doors. It has also helped a ton in getting rid of the last few drafts the house had. I am amazed but with those few small changes (and hunting down the last couple of windows that didn't have the storm windows tightly fitted into the track) we have a toasty warm house. It's amazing how much the storm windows do. Most of the windows appear to be the ORIGINAL wavy glass, but with the storm windows in place there are no drafts! It's only cold if you put your hand right on the glass.

We also put in the curved shower curtain rod (so worth the 40 dollars we got it for). We also convinced one of Anthony's old co-workers to sell us a rainfall shower head (one of the large diameter type) for 10 dollars! Major score there. So we have a nice comfy shower, even if the rest of the bathroom looks like electric blue butt.

The weather was decent enough to work outside for an hour or so. We removed the awnings on the house and it looks SO much better. They were hideously ugly. And while I understand that they were probably put up to block the tons of light that comes in the south and west windows...I would much rather use curtains to soften/block the light. They're more attractive and much more adjustable. The only good thing about the awnings is that they're aluminum, so we can take them to a scrap metal place and get money for them! Woot!

We also ripped down the wild grape vines that are attacking the side of the garage. They're doing some damage to it, so we wanted to get them down as soon as possible. We left them on the fence, they'll be very pretty there, without doing damage. We also took down the weird ugly metal medicine cabinet box in the bathroom. The wall looks crummy underneath, but it's still an improvement. I also got the rest of the kitchen cabinets cleaned out and some more kitchen things unpacked. We're not unpacking everything until the kitchen is done. But we realized that we'd never be doing anything but dishes unless we had more than 4 plates and 4 forks and 4 spoons. We also took down the hideously ugly cover for the doorbell chimes. It looked like something straight out of 1974, and we aren't crazy about any of them out there, so we took off the cheesy metal "decorative" scroll on it, and spray painted the yellowed plastic. It's black now, and while it doesn't look great, it's tolerable. My dad is going to make a nice 4 sided wooden cube to hang on the wall to cover it eventually. But in the meantime, it's gone from hideous to unnoticeable.