Here's a cruddy before picture:

Note the dappled grey/green/white "plant bed".

When I was about half way into the project Marc came into the front yard from the back yard (he was working on his own project)

Marc: "Babe, what are you doing?"
Me (Chirping cheerfully): "Washing rocks!"
Marc: "Are you serious?"
Me: "Of course I'm serious! Come here and admire my ingenuity!"

• Kill cactus in back yard (on purpose)
  
• Kill cactus in front yard (on purpose)
  
• Transplant ferns to back yard. Kill ferns (through a combination of zero human attention and too much canine attention) (accidental)
  
• Cut down yucca in front and back yard (truthfully Gunther and Marc did this.. but I was an agent of the destruction.. I told them I wanted it done)(on purpose)
  
• Cut down pine tree in front yard and make it into a Christmas tree (on purpose)
  

Before we bought the house I was an apartment dweller and then a house renter. The last house I rented... let's just say that I let the yard go to seed until it was utterly embarassing.. and then hired a gardner to clean it up just before I moved out (best $75 I'd spent that year).

So I've never been faced with this kind of problem before. That is.. landscaping rocks that are lost under all the schmutz and weeds.

The big ugly bushes had been there for years and years. When we removed them we found that they had dropped -tons- of dead dry needles. The "plant bed" is lined in sparkly white rock. Over the eons that the bushes had been there, time and the elements had managed to turn the dropped needles into dirt. Dirt that interleaved the sparkly white rock. Dirt that was sufficient to support weed growth. Weed growth that was UNACCEPTABLE! Weed growth that made our house look like an abandoned experiement in horticulture... or someones "really bad idea". So it had to be fixed.

So keeping our parameters in mind (Dirty rocks, weeds in rocks, no knowledge of landscaping) I'm thrilled to share my ingenious solution to clean the "plant beds".

Reasoning that plants float in water.. and dirt settles lower in water than rocks.. I set a washtub of water on the incline so one end was lower than the other.. then I ran the hose into the washtub. I would grab a large handful of rocks out of the "plant bed" and drop it in the washtub... then stir it around until all of the plant material floated off the low-end of the tub. Then grab the rocks out of the high end of the tub and put them back into the "plant bed".

I got about half way done with one side of the walkway (before my hands got too frozen to work). I figure I'll just keep plugging away at it on the weekends until I'm back to having shiny white "plant beds".

Then maybe I'll consider adding plants.

** I keep saying "plant bed" in quotes because I'm pretty sure that at this point there are -NO- actual plants in the "plant bed". But I can't think of a better name for it.

Last Saturday Marc proposed to me... and I said yes.

I was head of court for Rolf and Aurora (the King and Queen) and had attendants setup for first court. I was sitting in the audience following along as court progressed (close enough to help if needed but far enough away that the -actual- attendants didn't feel that I was hovering over them). I was feeling pretty good. Everything seemed to be going as planned, everything seemed to be setup for court. I couldn't think of anything that needed to be done.

Then the Herald called Marc up into court by his SCA name "Fearghus". I started to (mildly) panic. Why was Fearghus going into court.. and more importantly why didn't I know why he was going into court. I turned to Edith (a very good friend of mine) and asked her why he was going into court. Edith just smiled at me and took my notebook out of my hand. I'm pretty sure I gave her a blank look.. and then realized I'd just been called into court also.

As I walked up to court my head was spinning. What was going on.. Why was this happening? Then, almost up to the stage.. I -got- it. Oh my. I knew what was happening.

Fearghus asked their Majesties if he could use one of the pillows from in front of them. With tears in his eyes, he got down on one knee, grabbed my hands and said "You said you wanted a story."**

Then he said "Sylvie, will you marry me."***

The populace went wild. Cheering, clapping, hollering. It was quite hard to hear yourself think.

So I'm standing there. On stage, under a spotlight, holding the hands of the man I love. Thinking to myself "I want to answer.. but if I did no one would hear me. I'll just wait a minute for the populace to quiet down". Not even thinking that poor Fearghus is kneeling there thinking "Gosh, she's taking a long time to answer. Oh crap, what if she says no. GOD, she's going to say no. Oh shit".

So I waited.. and still the crowd didn't quiet down. So I let go of Fearghus' hands and turned and "shushed" the populace, with my finger over my mouth in the "be quiet" pose. Finally they quieted down enough.. and I leaned forward and said "Yes". Again the crowd went wild.. and this time it was ok.

**About a month after Marc and I got together he started hinting around about proposing. I told him it was too soon and he wasn't allowed to ask. Last October, our two year anniversary, I told him that it was no longer "too soon" and he was now again allowed to ask. One morning, not too long after that, we were lying naked in bed warm and comfortable in a nice afterglow he rolled over to me and said "so, it's no longer too soon?" I immediately said "Nah-huh! There are rules!". He had permission to propose.. but someday when I told my children about the proposal I didn't want the story to start with "One morning when your father and I were lying naked in bed...". So he was instructed that he had to come up with a good "Story". I think he did well.

*** I'm a little weirded out that he proposed to "Sylvie". SCA is my hobby. "Sylvie" is my alter ego. I accept that I am Sylvie.. but he's going to be spending the rest of his life with ME and Sylvie is only a part of me. In the end I'm ok with it.. but I'm still a bit weirded out by it.

The plan is for a long engagement. We'd like for Marc to graduate college before the wedding. Also gives a good long time to get the wedding plans all set.

There will -not- be an SCA wedding. SCA is a hobby. It's pretend. This is my life. There -will- be an SCA reception to celebrate our wedding. But it will occur after the happy affair.

Our bathroom floor plan currently looks like this:

Plan made with HGTV room planner http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/pac_ctnt_wide/text/0,,HGTV_17897_23822,00.html.

Horrible, aweful, tiny. The backside of the bedroom closet intrudes into the bathroom space. As mentioned in the past Marc says he can't stand in front of the toilet when he pees because the sink is in the way.

In addition to being poorly laid out our bathroom also completely lacks storage space. Currently our towels, toilet paper, extra shampoo, etc is all stored in a box in the front coat closet (it's a little pathetic.. but we refer to the box as the "linen closet").

A remodel is definately in our future.

Here was the original plan:

Demolish backside of closet that intrudes into bathroom. Retain enough closet to make a linen closet inside the bathroom. Move sink to other side of room.

It's little bit complex. Putting the linen closet in the bathroom seems logical.. but it also steals space from an already cramped room.

Enter brilliant idea! I stumbled on a new idea... one I'd never thought before... why not add a closet in the hallway. I know it's a novel concept... but our hallway is tiny.. hardly big enough to call it a hallway. Up until this point it'd never occured to me that we might be able to actually use it for something beside an awkward, poorly laid out pause before you end up in the bedrooms.

House plan:

Originally I was thinking a nice basic armoire looking thing. Marc suggested a corner closet and I think that's the better idea. See new (not yet constructed) corner hutch in hallway.

EVEN better this gives back tons of space to the bathroom. Viola: new bathroom plan:

Suddenly we have a simplified workable bathroom with tons of space and character. I'm uber psyched to get started on this.

Ta-da:

Before:

After:

The insides of the bushes were totally filled with dead branches and black widows. I'm utterly freaked out by the spiders. Thank God they're gone now.

Closerup this time:

Before:

After:

The second time I was out mowing the lawn (yes, mowing.. it's December in California and my lawn needed mowing)(yes, it's rough to live here). This time they didn't have time to ravage the tree... but it still ended up on the ground.

Evil Tree Stand

Yesterday I OD'd on HGTV. I'm just finding all of the Ho Ho Ho Holiday specials very compelling. Maybe I'm ill. Anyway, yesterday one of the decorators used a big pot filled with pea gravel in place of the usual tree stand. It was lovely.. looked stable and possibly worth trying.

Ta-da:

Ta-da.

So far we've only cut down one of them. I want to cut down the other two but I don't have room for them in my house. I may offer them for $20 each on Craig's List.

Ok, I have to admit this Christmas tree makes Charlie Brown's christmas tree look lush. But it's decorated with love. I think it makes a perfectly lovely first Christmas tree for our house. It also benefits from the magic of Christmas that takes a perfectly scraggly tree and makes it look beautiful when you turn the Christmas lights on. *happy sigh*

Annual things to do:
- Schedule termite inspection
- Replace batteries in smoke/fire alarms
- Check/clean out gutters

Here's our progress so far:

2. Northeast bedroom remodel
- Refinish floor Feb. 2006
- Paint March 2006
- Fix electrical/phone
- Fix mold problemFeb. 2006
- Replace east window
- Add new closets

3. Garage
- Fix garage leak May 2006
- Paint
- Re-roof

4. Add workshop to back yard

5. Kitchen remodel
- Move water heater onto back porch or into lost-space in ex-closet
- remove back-side of bedroom closet.
- Widen kitchen/dining room door (add light switches to left of entry)
- Add light over sink
- remove walls between kitchen/laundry area
- replace back door with a door that lets in more light
- Add drain under washer, recess water faucets, add fuse for dryer, down box for dryer
- move current exhaust fan switch into laundry area (move exhaust opening into laundry area)
- wrap kitchen counter around from stove-side into laundry area
- Add kitchen-style sink in laundry area
- update kitchen/laundry cabinets
- Add hood over oven
- Add dishwasher next to current sink
- Add under-cabinet lights and electrical outlets

6. Backyard
- Add taller fence around yard
- enclose dog run (1/2 covered)
- Add doggy-door from living room
- remove concrete slab from back yard
- Run sprinklers to the back yard
- Add nice patio in place of icky concrete slab

7. Remedy house moisture problems
- Vent dryer to house exterior May 2006
- Add exhaust fan/light combo over shower Feb. 2006
- Regrade around house to get water to drain away(esp. west side)
- Add gutter to back of the house
- Add on-site drain system to move gutter water away from crawlspace
- Condition Crawl space (?)
- Insulate exterior walls of crawlspace
- Add black 6-mil polyethylene (plastic sheeting) vapor barrier to crawlspace
- Add exhaust fan
- Add grills to living space to push warmed air into crawlspace

8. Replace/repair siding

9. Front fascade
- Replace front door with a door I can see out of June 2006
- Fix front porch(Replace tile with redwood, add hand rail to stairs, replace steps)
- Add Bougainvilla next to dining room window (balance out front) May 2006
- Remove front fence Oct. 2006
- Eliminate pathetic trees
- Eliminate pathetic bushes
- Plant tree

10. Living room/dining room
- Add sealed-combustion direct-vent fireplace to livingroom
- Trim doors/windows to resemble bungalow
- Add plate rail around dining room
- Update dining room light May 2006
- Replace Humphrey the cranky furnace
- Replace windows

11. Northwest bedroom
- remove carpet April 2006
- refinish hardwood floor
- Paint

12. Insulate
- Add blow-in insulation into exterior walls.
- Add insulation to attic

13. Electrical
- Replace all wiring in house

14. Plumbing
- Replace all galvanized piping in house

Yesterday I scraped and sanded and dug madly at the bathroom tub grout and removed the funky caulk that had black mold growing on it. Today, for the first time -ever- I used both grout and caulk. The tub looks 100% better.

I feel accomplished though. I guess that's all that matters.

Things to do:
- Get final paint color for diningroom
- Paint Diningroom Ceiling
- Paint Diningroom walls
- Fix "3A - Wood rot, Front of house, rafter" from Pest Report
- Fix "3F - Wood rot, rim joist" from Pest Report
- Dig funky grout and caulk out of bathtub and re-grout/re-caulk

She offered to lend me the pillow (gasps of unimaginable joy!!). So early next week I'm going to paint match a friend's pillow.

The next room we're going to paint is the living room. I want the color of coffee with lots of cream. I wonder if they can color match a liquid.

As usual for the course he did a piss-poor job at it.. and the color before (bright mint green) shows through in places where he didn't get in all the nooks and cranies.

I'ts butterscotch. In the family of beige. Meaning it was ok enough to live with for a while.. but evertime I thought about the color it made me grind my teeth. Too much orange I think. I've intended to paint the diningroom since we moved in. I even got paint chips when Mom & Dad were visiting in May.. but none of the colors seemed perfect. I've finally decided I don't care. Even if it isn't perfect, it'll be tons better than butterscotch.

AND I'll get a white ceiling. I know designers think ceilings should be painted "to bring another color element to the room" but I think that's just WRONG. Ceilings should be white. White and only white.

Pictured above are our two paint samples. Note the subtle differences in the tone. The one on the left is .. um.. green.. and the one on the right is .. um.. green. Ok so the picture doesn't do the colors justice (isn't that always the case?).

Let me just say that we're going with the darker of the two samples.. and it comes closest to my vision of silvery-grey-green. Let's hope I still love it after we have it on the walls.

Oh, I also update the "Dining Room Project Page" so you can at least see the before pictures.

So this year is totally different from any other year. For the first time -ever- we'll be putting-up/decorating a Christmas tree.. and decorating the house and baking Christmas goodies (still struggling with this one... goodies are the polar opposite of "getting into shape". I may have to research Christmas goodies that are actually good for you).

For T-day I'm conflicted. I really feel an urge to "cook a full carcase of beast with all the trimmings" but I can't justify a whole turkey+stuffing+cranberries+riced potatoes+brocolli cassarole+pecan pie for just Marc and myself. I'm kind of leaning towards rockhen. Hmmm or maybe duck.

For Christmas we talked about having a party. That sounds like a blast.. but I'm having trouble finding a good time for it. We have stuff going on up until the weekend of the 23rd.. and it seems presumptious to plan a party for two days before Christmas. It also seems presumptious to plan a New Years Party for the 30th. Seems like we'd be in a lot of competition. Hmmm Must discuss with Marc.

Before:

After:

At the same time we also added another towel bar over the toilet, next to the shower. It makes me happy.