Happy Halloween!

Holy cow!

I have a halo made out of a wire hanger... kind of hard to see in the picture. I had no time to plan a costume this year, so I had to work with what I had. And I had cow pajamas. Don't judge me.

The fabulous spiders are courtesy of my mother-in-law. I love them. In dim lighting, the large one really looked like it was coming down the stairs.

This picture also gives a glimpse of the work Steve has done painting the porch. It'll look amazing when it's all done. Bright and colorful like a proper Victorian.

Absence makes...

October has been a sparse month for blogging due to a confluence of factors.

First, I have spent three out of four weekends this month in Southern California. Largely San Marino to be more precise. First weekend was my grandpa's memorial service. Along with one of my cousins, I did some readings about Grandpa's life. I thought I did fairly well... I only lost my composure once and my mom stepped in to bridge the gap. My parents are on a well-deserved vacation, so I've stayed with my grandma two additional weekends (currently at her place as I write this, Steve stayed home to watch bunnies and look after the house). 

The individual tax extension deadline expired October 15th, so I was frantically doing taxes for procrastinators until then. Then there were third quarter payroll taxes to do for about twenty clients. And then a bunch of audit clients dropped off their information seemingly all at once. I have eight open audits right now. So I've been really busy at work.

Finally, I've had a bunch of doctors appointments over the past month. After three years of trying on our own to have a child, Steve and I have brought the medical profession in to the mix. We've done one (unsuccessful) round of IUI. Trying to get two more rounds in before the end of the year when our insurance changes since the UC cancelled our health plan. Still don't know if the new plan will cover any infertility treatments. I guess we could always just get a dog if we really can't stand not having something to demand attention and require housebreaking. 

I consider myself resilient (and, really, my concerns pale beside those many others face), but I find that I have a fairly high stress level of late. I have been unwilling to spend every free moment on house projects. However, things are still progressing thanks to Steve's dogged efforts. I hope to have an update soon.

Paint it Black

I continue to be thrilled with the way the house is coming along. Of course, I should be since it's 1/2 my house and I've had primary creative control over the design. The one room in the house that we hadn't touched in our approximate year of occupancy was the bedroom. In the couple weeks since Steve and I moved our bed into the living room, things have changed dramatically in the little bedroom. 

Before:

I have always wanted a black ceiling. Steve making it happen:

Grey going on the walls (good riddance, horrible faux-finished purple!):

My parents were in town to help with this project. My dad helped me with the somewhat harsh sanding required on the poor, beat-up floors. Though the edge sander was a little too unwieldy for me to handle, I did as much of the drum sanding as my arms could take.

The untouched living room floor provides a dramatic comparison:

I knew the floor would be beautiful. It's not without imperfections, but flawless floors in a house as old as ours would just be silly.

My dad helps Steve wire and hang my little chandelier:

Finished! Well, there are still several projects going on in the room, but I took the best pictures I could to give an idea of the final look. As usual, the pictures don't do it justice. The room is absolutely beautiful and I adore it.

I am planning to paint that green dresser a color that will go better with the room, just so you know. Steve and I are currently building a storage bed frame and finishing up some little touch-ups. Crown moulding still needs to go up. The door hardware needs to be fixed up (parts arrived in the mail yesterday). And so on...