Raze the Roof

Last weekend we got a new roof after we sprung a leak the week before.  

To refresh your memory, this is what our old roof looked like--the original roof!

Here are some pictures of the new roof (excuse the finger in the shot, its not mine it's the roofer's :)

They had to completely strip the old tin roof and replace it with new (modern) material

These pictures were taken when the roof was nearly done.  After these shots were taken, the roof was painted.

Anyway, I'll let the pics from my roofer's website do the talking since I'm not expert:

Here's hoping that our new roof will last us another 100 years!

New Year's Resolutions

With 2012 right around the corner, I've started thinking about some New Year's Resolutions. I know that resolutions are often broken, but I figured I should have something at least to strive for in the new year.  Here are the things topping out my list:

1. Lose weight.  30 pounds to be exact.  Yes, yes...I know the whole weight thing goes without saying for new year's resolutions, but I'm serious this time. I really need to start giving a damn (excuse my language :).  For some reason I'm in some type of "I don't care mode" that I haven't figured out how to disarm.  Hopefully, training for the DC Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon in March will be the kick in the butt that I need to get started.
2. Wear high heels once a week.  That sounds like a weird resolution but I have a whole closet of heels that I don't wear (see above "I don't care mode" for the rationale).  I drive to work (as opposed to riding the metro) and my job doesn't require me to be on my feet.  I have an awesome collection of heels that I don't wear out of sheer laziness, so I figured it would be a good time to blow the dust off of them and show them off!
3. Style my hair once a week.  If you know me, you know that I've worn my hair long for as long as I can remember and I really don't do anything to it.  Bor-ring.  I spend so much money highlighting, coloring, and cutting it, the least I can do is make it look its best.  My styling tools (hair curler, rollers, and flat iron) will probably have to come out of hiding as well.
4. Learn how to braid.  Not simple braids but, you know, the more complicated ones (e.g.: french, fishtail, inverted, etc.).  Kind of related to resolution #3, but a bit more specific.  I honestly have no excuse since there are so my instructional videos on YouTube that can show you how, like this one:

What about you? Have you started thinking about your New Years resolutions yet? Do you make a resolution (or two) or since most resolutions are broken do you forgo the idea?

When it Rains, It Pours...

Apparently in my closet :(

Let me start from the beginnning. 

Unbeknownst to us, last Tuesday night/Wednesday morning the DC area was about to experience some very heavy rain fall.  We are no strangers to the weird weather.  From Snowmaggedon two years ago to the hurricane winds of this past summer, DC weather runs that gamut and our house has been able to handle it all...until now.

While Justin and I were sleeping I woke up at 5:00am when I heard a noise.

plip, plip, plip

I smacked Justin to to wake him up (I swear between him and Louie, they can both sleep through anything!). He turned on the light and we looked around. It wasn't Louie, but it was coming from the room.  I walked toward my closet and sure enough there was water dripping from the ceiling, which was obviously coming from the roof. Arrrggghh!  This was something I defnitely didn't feel like dealing with especially at 5:00am.  After finding the leak, we moved all my clothes into the next room, put wastebaskets and towels in my closet, and hoped for the best--after all, we had to go to work. 

This a view of the leak in the closet looking up

While I was at work I imagined the entire ceiling caving in on our bedroom, but luckily the rain didn't seem to get any harder as the leak was contained in that area.

Over the weekend we got a roofer to check out the damage.  When he arrived he didn't even bother to look at the leak.  He brought out his super tall ladder and went straight to the roof.

When he came down I asked him what was wrong with our roof.  He basically said that it was the original roof and the entire thing needed to be replaced. Wow, since our house was built in 1910 I'm surprised that the roof has lasted that long!

This didn't really come to a surprise to Justin and I because when we did our home inspection, the inspector said that our roof was "at the end of its useful life"  and that it would have to be replaced soon, or given the current situation--now.

Here's a picture of our roof taken from our home estimate last year:

The roofer then gave us an estimate, which all things considered was cheaper than we thought.  We were expecting a new roof to cost somewhere in the $10K range, but let me just tell you that the number that he gave is definitely no drop in the bucket!

Water Damage Repaired?

Remember a few months ago I told you guys about the leak in our bedroom room (from our air conditioner) that dripped all the way down to the living room?  Well, it looked like this:

After a few months of tolerating it (yes, we let it go for months, don't judge!), Justin was able to patch the water damage to make it good as new.  Sorry, I don't have any "action" shots of Justin repairing the wall, but just imagine him spackling, then priming, and then yelling about how the paint wasn't adhering to the newly spackled areas.  Despite his frustrations he was able to fix it. Yay! Sorry these aren't the best pictures.

But it looks like nothing ever happened right?

Justin even fixed the paint chipped areas behind the recliner.  I don't have any before pictures of the damage, but apparently when you would rock on the recliner it would chip away at the wall behind it. Whoopsy.

You would think that this would be the end of our "leakage" problems, but it's not.  Just when we thought we were in the clear, another problem had to rear its ugly head...more on that later...

UK Basketball Can be Hazerdous to Your Health (and Home!)

Not much has to be said, but the following statement speaks for itself:

Kentucky:  72  Indiana:  73 

I'll the pictures speak for themselves...

Top-Shelf or (Hand) Rail? Our Homeowner's Insurance Saga

Last month we received a letter from our homeowners insurance company stating that they wouldn't renew our policy because our home wasn't up to code on certain things.  We were shocked to hear that since we had just moved in earlier this year.  What could possibly be wrong?  For one, our back stairs leading into the house didn't have a handrail.  It's only about four steps; however, since it was over 30 inches high, and more than three steps, it requires a handrail.  Because our policy was up at the end of the month, we needed to make sure this got done ASAP.  Justin (with me and Louie's moral support) went on to tackle the making of the handrail.  With some supplies and helpful instructions from our local hardware store, Frager's, Justin was up and running...

Here's Justin sawing the the 2x4's...He basically needed three 2x4's to be sawed to the right length.  Two would be the supporting posts and one would be the actual handrail.

Here's Louie doing his job, making sure the extension cord doesn't get tangled...

Here's Justin drilling holes into specific places in the 2x4's.  He drilled these holes so he could place long screws and bolts into the holds to secure the wood in place.

 

Here is an up-close shot of the screws and bolts.

And these are the places he put the screws and bolts in.  He also put them where the 2x4s meet the stairs to make sure that it was secure.

Here's the before (with my Redskins hoodie on the doorknob): 

And here's the after:

 

Here's Justin demonstrating its functionality.  Yay!

I know it's not much to look at, but honestly it's not like we really needed something to hang on to when going up those stairs (being two able-bodied and relatively "young" people).  We basically did it so we could keep our homeowners insurance, so now we are compliant!  We'll get around to painting it or staining it eventually.

Since Justin built the handrail, our homeowner's insurance has been reinstated; however, they also said that we needed to get rid of the bricks in our backyard, which were leftover from our kitchen renovation.  (You can see the bricks in question below.)  We'll probably try using them in our treebox or maybe as a small fence for our front yard, but that's for another day...

  



My First Foray Into Fall Bulbs

Did I ever tell you guys that I lack a green thumb?  Yup, I'm a plant killer (not intentionally, of course).  Last winter I grew a beautiful potted amaryllis and it grew super tall.  Unfortunately, it died because I forgot to keep watering it.  A couple of months ago I won a potted plant at a raffle and it died because I forgot to water it before Justin and I went out of town for the weekend.  With my plant track record you could imaging Justin's surprise when I asked him to pick up our free bulbs.


Crocuses and Daffodils

I heard about the bulb giveaway from one of the Capitol Hill blogs that I read.  It announced that the Capitol Hill Garden Club would be giving out free flower bulbs for planting in the Fall for bloom in the Spring.  The only catch is that you have to plant them in public areas (e.g.: tree boxes) or places that can be seen from the street (e.g.: your front lawn) and you have to live within the Capitol Hill boundaries (e.g.: Ward 6). 

Note:  Louie on the porch overseeing my work

Since I had never planted bulbs before (I saw my parents do it once a long time ago) or anything else for that matter, I thought this would be a cost-effective (meaning: free) way to improve my black green thumb while helping beautify Capitol Hill!. 

Me trying to put some elbow grease into it

Last weekend, after purchasing a bulb planter, I was on my way planing nearly fifty bulbs in front of our bushes.  There wasn't an exact method behind the way I planted them.  I guess I kind of made a zig-zag pattern with the daffodils and then put little bunches (about three per hole) of crocuses in between.  The best part is that daffodils and crocuses are said to come back every year!

After planting all those bulbs, my wrist was really sore (maybe I was doing it wrong?), but I can't wait to see what comes up at Springtime!

To find out more about the bulb giveaway for next year click here.