Angie and Mike's Blog

While trimming a tree in our front yard tonight, I discovered these birds guarding their nest. I trimmed a couple of more branches then left them alone.

Labels: Bella Vista, homeowners, house

While Angie has been busy playing farm on Facebook I've been busy keeping the weeds out of our tomato plants. The work is finally paying off as tonight I harvested my first cherry tomato! Maybe tomorrow I'll pick another one.

Labels: Bella Vista, homeowners, house

My latest project has been to install an over-the-range microwave that I bought on Black Friday. (All by myself!) Yes, nearly two months ago. Granted, we've had a lot going on in that time but considering I completed the project in two days, I'm disappointed I didn't complete it sooner. We spent some time shopping for a new cabinet; a shorter one that would still line up with the top of the others. Ultimately, we just decided to save our money and use our existing cabinet. As you'll see below, it now accents that end of the kitchen.


This is the closest thing I have to a before picture. You can see our old microwave on the lower right. We have doubled the amount of counter space on that side of the kitchen.


I had some unexpected work to do. As it turns out, the previous vent hood was hardwired into the wall, so I had to install an outlet. That was, of course, after I'd already re-installed the cabinet at its new height.


We took the microwave for a test drive tonight by warming cups of hot chocolate. Angie warmed her water for 2:15 in the old microwave. The new one warms it to the same temperature in a minute and a half, which is good considering it runs kinda loud.

By the numbers:
89 dollars on sale
13 dollars spent on a saw that didn't work as needed
10 different tools used during installation
8 hours to install, including trips to Lowe's
3 trips to Lowe's, including the initial purchase
2 number of times I hit my head on the oversized ceiling fan while standing on the counter

Labels: Bella Vista, homeowners, house

I spent a good portion of my weekend raking leaves in the backyard. When I wasn't raking leaves, I was bagging them.

Click the play button in the lower left or use the arrows in the lower right to see the photos.

Labels: Bella Vista, homeowners, house, leaves

It's that time of year, we've been told, for ants. We've been living with the little boogers for about three months now. This morning they were so bad that I went to work late so that I could wage war with the angry army of ants that had infiltrated out kitchen overnight. They are thick as thieves and I found them covering a nearby tree, too.


I sure hope I get the last laugh. I bought some Terro at Wal-Mart and set about eight traps. The ones outside blew away throughout the day but they were mighty popular for awhile. I hope they're gone in a few days. Otherwise I think it's going to be "that time of year" for ants all danged summer!

Labels: Bella Vista, homeowners, house

I think it's safe to say that I haven't mowed grass in more than 10 years before Sunday, when, after seeing our neighbors mow for a second time this spring, I decided to borrow Angie's dad's mower to tackle the yard. As you can tell, I was pretty happy when I started.


Not so happy when I was finished.

Labels: Bella Vista, homeowners, Mike

Angie and I had a productive weekend. We accomplished quite a bit around the house. Today Angie got the urge to rake the front yard. She's sure of one thing: she hates pea pods.

If you look closely, you can see that Angie has a captive audience.

Labels: Bella Vista, Harley, homeowners

This would be the old, nasty faucet. In 17 years, it definitely left it's mark.


The view from above.


Where I spent most of my day.


The water lines which had the right size connections but were about an inch short in length.


Tryin' to make it work anyway.


Fine, I'll go to Lowe's. You try stuffing yourself in a box all day and see how happy you are!


The new faucet is installed! Looks pretty good with the blue agave paint! And, look who the shutterbug is!!! Angie calls this photo "The New Faucet and Me." I had two objectives for today: change the oil (see next post) and install a faucet in the master bath. I'm proud to say that I completed both. The faucet took a few hours, interrupted by a miserable K-State basketball game, dinner and an emergency run to Lowe's, but it's finished ... and I did it all by myself!

Labels: Angie, Bella Vista, homeowners, Mike

Today I changed the oil in the Camry. No big deal, really. I've done it several times. But in the past it involved driving to my parents' house, waiting for an hour or so for the engine to cool down and then driving back home. It was always a three-hour ordeal. Today, though, was the first time I did an oil change in my very own garage! I think I was done in under 30 minutes. I guess if KU doesn't work out, I can always work at Jiffy Lube.


This shot is important because it shows off the resourcefulness of a Shepherd boy. My father helped me cut down the 2x6 boards that were the bannister just a few weeks ago. They now serve as nice ramp extensions.


I new that socket set I got for Christmas several years ago would come in handy. I'm finding that I'm using a lot more of my tools on regular basis now that we're home owners.

Labels: Bella Vista, homeowners, Mike

After a couple of trips to Home Depot, we finally selected Blue Agave to replace Harbor Mist as the color for our master bath. We have the first coat up and already it looks better.

Labels: Bella Vista, homeowners

We have an unfinished wall surrounding our stairs to the basement. Of course, the stair nose to the flooring can't go in until the wall is done. We painted our master bath last weekend and the color makes us want to puke. So, instead of working on any of those projects, last night we decided to start renovations in what will be the office.


And it needs a lot of work. The poor kid who had this as a bedroom is a NASCAR fan. They went a bit overboard on the theme.


We had to remove a strip of wall paper border that cut the wall in half all the way around the room.


I like driving and the movie Cars but I can't really tell you anything about racing. They go fast and make left turns. That's about it. I've got a few ideas for this space. I'm going to decorate it to reflect my interest in Heartland Photography. I can't decide if I want green walls with a chocolate-redish accent wall. Or if I want to paint the top two-thirds of the walls green and the bottom third chocolate-redish. Or all green with chocolate-redish squares to serve as frames for the picture frames. Too many ideas. It can't get finished soon enough!

Labels: Bella Vista, homeowners

Angie and I learned a very valuable lesson today regarding home improvement projects: Do not buy paint based on its name, even if the name matches the theme you're trying to create. As a result of doing this, our master bathroom now looks like blue Pepto-Bismol. Or cotton candy. The color, produced by Valspar, which I'll never buy again for other reasons, is called Harbor Mist. We're trying to achieve a tropical theme and we thought it played well with the colors of our bedroom and linens. I had second thoughts as soon as I started trimming out but didn't say anything in hopes that it would look different after it was finished.

Not so much.

So as most weekend days have it, we made a second run to the home improvement store so we could get more samples. We only bought a quart of Harbor Mist the first time as we thought that would be enough. We came up just a bit short, which is fine with me.

What does this color of blue remind you of?

Labels: Bella Vista, homeowners

I found this image going through some images at work today. It's from the kitchen in the apartment after we took down all the snapshots we had displayed. Karen and Keith gave us the "Home" sign after we moved from Topeka two years ago. Now we've moved again, only this time just to the other side of town. The "Home" sign is one of the first things we took to the new house. We just haven't found a good place for it yet.

Labels: apartment, Bella Vista, homeowners

I've been telling myself for a week that I need to update this darn thing with some photos of our latest adventures. Angie, Harley and I finally moved from the apartment into our first house! We closed last Thursday, spent Friday repainting the living room and kitchen and, with the help of some friends, moved all day Saturday and Sunday. We've made some pictures along the way and I promise to post them one day. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at our living room. We've got to finish painting the entry way and hall way. New flooring does in next week. After that we start saving for a master bedroom and office remodel. Yes, the wall is orange. Yes, Angie picked it.

Labels: Bella Vista, homeowners, house