Day 4: On the evening of day 4, last Monday, Eddie and I finished cleaning the basement. Well, finished for now. We left a handful of hallway cabinets to be cleaned, but really, under a technicality they're in the hallway leading to the basement, not actually in the basement, so the basement is D-O-N-E (being cleaned). The vintage GE refrigerator was delivered with the help of Eddie's workmate, Greg. It is a beauty!

Day 5: Lani came over, and after some delicious Pho, the three of us got to work. Lani and I began scrubbing the walls on the main floor, while Eddie got to work in the "Master" bedroom (pretty tiny to be a Master, but it does have the most awesome closet, so Master it shall be). We scrubbed, rinsed, and wiped the walls until nearly midnight, then I returned Lani home to Emily's house.



Day 6: Tidied up a bit, continued to prep the Master bedroom, brought home a gas stove and the bowling alley lane, both from Craigslist. Geoffrey helped us unload and truck-in both finds. We're going to use the bowling lane to make our main-floor kitchen countertops.

Day 7: Rich and Eddie showed the Master bedroom wall paper who was boss. Wall paper: 0, Eddie & Rich: 1. I pulled a strip or two, but primarily prepped the the bedroom closet for painting, and spackle the holes in the living/dining room walls. Per Lani's advice, we saved a strip of wall paper to make something out of it, in memory of Zara, the former homeowner. Zara lived in the house nearly her whole life. It was her parent's house before it was hers. She passed away this past March at age 94. R.I.P. Zara, we love your home and will take very good care of it.

Day 8: Let the painting commence! With Lani, some snacks, some ELO and some adult beverages, we prepped the heck out of our living room and Master bedroom. It took a good four or five hours to do, but was rather enjoyable. Thankfully Molly and Geoffrey lent us the mother of all inventions--an electric paint sprayer, so we were able to prime both rooms in about 45 minutes! On the evening of Day 8 we had our first impromptu get together. Laura, Sam & their pup, Cuba, joined the three of us, plus Geoffrey and Arthur, and then later, Emily and Matt (another friend in town from Phoenix) for a game of Apples to Apples, and some pizza. Turns out most were feeling pretty literal, so I didn't do so hot.

Day 9: After some much welcomed Acupuncture with Lani & Kim, I met Eddie, Rich and Itzo EZ at the house to paint trim. By the time I arrived, Eddie had already painted the living room and Master bedroom with the first coat of the real colors: Gold Metal (bedroom) and Mexican Spirit (living room)! Ez and I painted trim and picture rail, while Eddie and Rich sprayed the day away. We listened to our wedding playlist, to which every song I squealed "ooooh, I love this song!" Ez and Rich left in the early evening and Eddie and I continued painting trim and the closet until 1 or so in a.m., when we finally ripped up the bedroom carpet, high-fived and headed back to M&G's house.

Day 10: Eddie and I painted all day. Cherry Lipsmacker came by for a bit and helped with the trim; it was really nice to see her (and EZ the day before), as I haven't seen many derby folks since our last game in June. She filled me in on injuries and her critters, which include three chickens and a sick kitty. Eddie and I took a break for take-out from the Delta. It was delicious, as was the view of the night sky from our backyard. We took some time to enjoy the view, the smells, the feel of the air, and then got back to work until midnight, when we closed out the day by pulling up the carpet in the living room! Yeeeehaw!!

Day 11: Wood floors, how you warm my heart.

Another week's past at Parker Manor, a week filled with scrubbing, mopping, scrapping, removing, ripping, prying, hammering, spackle-ing, sanding, prepping and painting. We've finally pulled up the carpet to discover beautiful Oak wood floors.

Day 4: This is going to be epic

Pure potential--that's what we're sitting on ladies and gentlemen. Possibility of epic proportions. . .at least that's how we both feel in the afternoon glow of home-ownership, day four.

Day 1: Eddie picked up the keys to Parker (or Parklock) Manor on Friday afternoon at 4:55pm. He toured the compound with the lovely Halseys and Justin, had some adult beverages & took a ton of before pictures. I was camping with Emily, Lani, Laura, 7 mo pregnant Gina, and Cheryl, so I missed the initial unveiling, but if you're worried about the threshold, worry no more. 

Day 2: When I returned on Saturday at 5:30 pm all gritty and stinky from Trillium Lake, Eddie scooped me up and carried me over our threshold. Me being pretty dirty and smelly seem to be sensory criteria for the dawn of big events in our life. After group ahhing and oohing, Eddie and I got to cleaning, starting in the far SW corner of the basement (idea is to work our way N & E and then move up to the  main floor). We broke for Chinese food and Champagne at 8:30pm and were joined by Molly, Geoffrey, Arthur, Teaberry (the dog), Emily, Lani and Laura. After dinner and some group chicken dancing (instigated by Arthur) we followed Laura through the house as she burned Sage to make peace with whatever energy the past owners left behind. We closed out our second day of homeownership with a pretty competitive game of UNO; Lani orchestrated a number of solid alliances via draw-two waterfalls, but in the end turned on us all to lay down her last card--foiled in our own home. . . 

Day 3: While I worked on a final paper for Monday's class and met with my thesis group, Eddie shop-vac'd, scrubbed, swept and mopped the back room, cold room, furnace room and bathroom (all in the basement). By the time I arrived, a little before 5pm, he was drenched in sweat, but still radiating energy. 

I got to work in the laundry room while Eddie finished up "the head" or his "office" (possible nicknames for our basement lavatory). I must have changed the water bucket I was using six or seven times without evening touching the canning pantry (located in the laundry room). Yowza. You can imagine how many bucket changes Eddie had working ALL day in the basement.

During my scrubbing I came upon a curious glass object hidden at the back of one of the deeper laundry room cabinets. I was too nervous to reach all the way back into the darkness to retrieve it, so I borrowed Eddie for the big reach. I imagined a container with a preserved human organ, or a jar of jewels, something intriguing and possibly disturbing. Eddie, sans rubber glove, reached right in and pulled out an empty pickle jar. So there. My imagination will likely continue to run wild as we turn over our home's many figurative stones. Findings like this support the ole imagination. . .an itty bitty mouse skull found by Eddie!

I  retired early to finish Monday's paper, and Eddie continued scrubbing until the laundry room was sparkling. Now all we have left to clean in the basement are the second kitchen & the stairwell walls. Almost to the mainfloor!