Today we made progress in the dining room. Cutting pieces of drywall to fit wasn't easy. 

The boys... 

Banchi. 

Todi. 

Breakfast was waiting for me when I got home from working overtime. :)

So sometimes projects don't turn out like you want. I thought an exposed wood ceiling would be nice. But I didn't realize the crawl space above the dining room was missing floor boards and my original had to be scrapped. Instead we took out the old insulation and re-insulated in a better way to keep the house warm. We sealed and added a floor to the crawl space. We will be adding drywall back up soon and I learned my lesson. 

The insulation was a pain to clean up. 

We added strapping after I took pictures to hold it in place. 

Floor is up and can actually hold weight.

I liked this saying so much I decide to draw it free hand and paint it with similar colors. I would have bought a print but wasn't sure where it was available. This was my inspiration.

My handiwork. Boyfriend watched me sketch it out and said he was surprised how my handwriting isn't girly at all and I agree not the best. But I tried to do my best. I like how it came out. 

Saturday we went trick or treating in downtown. I was so distracted by the cute kids in costume I didn't take any pictures until the end. Peyton was spider girl and despite the lines and rain she had fun.

Painted bathroom to fix plaster wall. Better. Not perfect but better. 

We played "it's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" game tonight. It was fun :)

Today

We spent time at the playground after school. She loves the swings. 

We had to do some work to the bathroom due to getting new washer and dryer. They wouldn't fit with the cabinet on the wall. I'm glad we took it down because we found evidence of a mouse living up there and a hole to the outside. Always something when you make any changes to an old house. 

Before

The wall is plaster. No fun. 

That's a little better. :)

The door Banchi damaged this summer is finally fixed. It took some work but it's fixed now with some new trim and a lot of wood filler. 

Today Peter worked on the bathroom door. Soon it will be all patched up and looking great. We think maybe banchi did us a favor since it may look better than before. 

Today we worked on the barn. We moved things around and ripped down shelving that wasn't spaced well. We reused the boards to build a new work bench. I also had Peter take down a cabinet that was too high to use. I found a cool key behind it. I made into a space to keep the yard tools. Soon we will organize all the tools and find a home for everything. 

It wasn't easy getting the shelving down. The person who built it used longer than needed nails. Let's just say there was no chance of it falling down on its own. We had to use pry bars, sledgehammer and hammers to get it apart. 

We will build shelves adjacent to it soon. We only used the lumber we had available. It's a work in progress but I'm very excited already. 

Used the stick to keep the doors closed when we were trying to take it down. Someone had nailed it up. 

Shovels and rakes have a home now. 

And we took the time to play with sparklers. :)

Today we did three trips to the dump and got rid of rotten logs and the old front steps. My car seemed tiny compared to the large trucks at the dump but it does ok moving large loads. Peter found a case for a dart board he was excited about. He can't give me crap anymore for picking at the dump. ;)

Peter's find today at the dump. There was a cool trunk but couldn't reach it without some climbing. Should have made an attempt. 

Peter worked on the door that Banchi damaged. Soon it will be all fixed. 

She had fun jumping in the leaves over and over again. 

Not sure what our plan is tomorrow. Maybe more work on the barn that may result in a real work bench and a designated area to put tools. 

I'm conducting an experiment. I'm trying to grow tomato plants inside the house. So far it appears to be working. I was given the plants though not sure what type they are. Maybe cherry though friend thought they were big boy. 

At work we celebrated Customer Service Appreciation Week. It was super hero theme. We helped guide "Batman" through Gotham to save civilians and capture villains. I made mini donuts for the potluck. 

I love decorating for holidays. I think I need more. Lol 

Was crafty last night and made some Halloween decorations. 

One of the projects we've started at home is replacing the front steps. They had been crappy stairs that seemed to be thrown together that weren't level. We ripped them off and replaced them with pressure treated wood. The steps are a lot wider now at 6ft and level. Soon we will add railings and in the spring will stain and paint them. I need to let the pressure treated wood dry out before painting. I already love how it looks. We don't need to rush the project because we rarely use the front door. 

Before

I broke the stairs apart myself with a sledgehammer. 

We had to cut out the stringers because we needed six steps. 

Steps all together now!

Before and After. Will post more once we do more to the steps.