RIP Dreads

Well, due to some unforeseen circumstanced that will most likely have me going to job interviews at some time in the near future, my dreads have been killed. They lasted one month shy of a year. I am very very not happy about this, but I know that I will have a better chance with interviews with 'normal person' hair. I had to send my husband off to the local store to get the conditioner because I started crying just thinking of it. It took a week of work to get them all out. We did a good amount on the weekend (starting in the back and working forward) and a few each day after that. We did not cut my hair short, because with how 'red' this state is, we figured long 'feminine' hair would also be more desirable. It hurt so bad, after a while I started taking tiny (like a half a teaspoon) swigs of rum after each one was done. We also broke my dread comb, loosing 3 steel teeth. Here are some before pics. Can you tell I am not happy about this?

 Take  a look at all the hair that came off my head (yes, that is a quarter next to the massive hair ball)! Even if I do get a job where I can have dreads, I am going to have to let my hair regrow so it isnt so thin!

I got a haircut after this because it was just too long. Nothing fancy though, just a normal.

House Update 3: Bathroom Mania!

One of our first goals finally got completed earlier this week.... we now have one functioning bathroom! The third floor bathroom now have a working vanity, toilet AND shower! How exciting! We even installed some lighting.We have two more things to finish in the bathroom, and they are prep/paint the walls and find a mirror to complete the medicine cabinet. It will be white with silver/platinum accents.

We also put in the order for out (few) kitchen cabinets AND ordered our granite counter top. It was sort of funny with the granite. We went to a local stone yard that had all their stone out so you could go around see exactly the slab you were buying. Once you picked one out they actually write your name right on it!  It was really hard for the three of us (husband, visiting mom, and me) to visualize the kitchen. The colors in the kitchen are going to be yellow/white/bronze/light browns. While the color scheme is going to be bitch'n', it isnt what any of us naturally gravitate towards. All of us naturally go for blacks and grays! Anyway, I had a small sample of the wood color our cabinets will be and I was going around holding it up to all the slabs trying to pick one out. I went up to one and it looks good, so I ask the guy what it was. "Golden Kashmir"... okay. I keep looking around and find another one that looks good. "Golden Kashmir" I actually picked out the same stone 4 separate times in four different places in the yard! I figured it was a sign, and ran with it. I cant wait for it all to go in and to be able to show all of you!

We also found a new flowering plant in our backyard. If anyone has any idea what it is... please let us know! It is very pretty and I plan on keeping it. It is actually growing in around the mulberry bush/tree.

Our new back and basement doors are in along with their brand new fancy smanshy locks. Hazzah!

Hopefully, we can get a lot done over the holiday weekend.... we shall see!

House Update 2: And so it Begins....

This update is probably going to be a little short. Work has begun, but a lot of it you cant really see.  We picked out the colors etc for our new soffits, which I think will go really well with the paint job. The work done on the roof/gutters seems to have helped with the water intrusion problems we were having in the basement! Our two new doors have been installed (along with some very fancy locks from Mul-T-Lock), but they arent finished trimming them yet. The Bilco door has yet to arrive, but the two other doors make the house a LOT more secure.
We met with the cabinet person this past week to talk about our options. We should get everything priced out next week... because price really is a huge determinate in our kitchen remodel. Cabinets etc. are coming out of pocket, so as we find more stuff that needs to be fixed (and we have) our kitchen budget shrinks.  Most of the pictures I have taken are of the nice and sparkly new pipes that have been plumbed. As of yesterday we now have one working spigot outside and one working utility sink in the basement!

Water means we can start prepping the walls properly! Scraping and peeling are the order of the day. Peeling latex paint is so much fun! Chipping away lead paint... not so much.

We also got a new light fixture/fan combo for the their floor. Isnt it awesome?! It took us like 3 tries to install it because we (I mean I) changed our minds on where it should go/fit...

Another plant decided to bloom in our back yard... and I think we may have a hyacinth bush. I didnt take a picture of it, but I will soon so I can get some second opinions. We did get our first batch of goodies out of our container gardens... some snap beans! We only harvested about 1/3 of the stuff growing, so we should have a couple more dinners worth of them later on when the rest get a big enough to eat. Oh, we also had a minor set back with the container garden though. One of the plumbers helpers decided to overturn one and use the bin as a waste receptacle. We called our contractor, and he replaced the beets with some seedlings and apologized. That was a super nice thing to do. We also got a small fire pit and had our first little mini fire today while we drank some pop and ate icecream. It was a great way to wind down... plus I am a fire bug and I was so proud that I got the little fire going on my first try. Thank you, middle school camp research project... I really did learn something useful!