Our First Renovation

So we bought the house, an old house, built in 1896. I expected there to be quirks, and things that would need some TLC, but I guess it was too much to except it to be free of West Virginia ghetto rigging! We are redoing our upstairs bathroom and it was a complete gut job. We are four days into what we were hoping would be a week long renovation (we get all of Thanksgiving week off, because of hunting season). I think we will be lucky if we get the wall up, the bathtub installed, and the start of a tile floor! Nevertheless, it is exciting to think we are going to make this a better place and we love it!

This is a picture of me "Raising the Roof." Basically after we demo-ed the bathroom we found a hole in the ceiling/roof, so before we could really address the bathroom we needed to figure that out and fix the roof that had dropped. So it was a process today. Actually I didn't do much of the work, thanks to my wonderful husband and my dad. I was given the task of pulling out nails on the old trim that we are going to try to salvage. Plus, I pulled staples out of the staircase, for a future project. Tomorrow while they work a little more, I will be making pumpkin pie, jello, and peeling potatoes...for Thanksgiving! I just can't wait to have the final reveal of our bathroom!

Bridge Day, New River Gorge

The 3rd Saturday of every October is Bridge Day at the New River Gorge. One thing I have really love about living in Fayetteville is all the festivals and outdoor adventures that we get to experience, but still live in a small town. The highlight of bridge day is the fact that base jumpers come from all over the world to legally jump off the bridge. It is pretty cool to see. However, this year, it was really cold. Unfortunately we missed the first chile cook-off, but I am thinking that I might particpate next year. So here are a few pictures and maybe next year, we will get some visitors in our new house to see the Bridge day festivities too!

I posed in front of this backdrop...doesn't it look like I am going to jump?!

A view from the bridge looking down to the New River.

Can you see where they were jumping in the middle of the bridge?

Base jumpers packing up their parachutes. It is a very careful process. We asked and they said they had hopes of jumping three times. Apparently jumping off this bridge is one of the safer ways to base jump.

My husband is all bundled up because it was freezing outside!

Lots of goodies to eat along the way to the bridge...

Did I not capture the coolest picture ever? He was jumping off with flippers! And below is some video footage of base jumpers. It was a fun, but cold day.

I'm a home owner!

All the paperwork was signed this morning! Joe and I are officially puttinng roots down in West Virginia...who knew this would be the way everything would turn out. We are so excited. And the bonus: I took the day off too! YEAH

It has been a long while since I last posted anything. We have been busy with moving in, visiting family and friends, new jobs, and now our new house! We officially close on the house on November 2nd. It has been a long process, but the date is set, the loan is approved, and all I have left to do is get home owner's insurance. That is on the list to do today!

So I took a few pictures of our place right now. We don't have a lot of furniture, so it looks plain. Plus, if you haven't noticed, it is a fixer upper! So through the coming months and years we will be updating with all the new things that we would like to do on our house. At this point we have plans to update the upstairs bathroom, redo the hallway and staircase wood floors, get rid of ceiling tiles, fix the walls in the dining room and living room, and put in a whole new kitchen and downstairs bathroom! Plus, there are lots of little things that just need to get done, because it is an old house. Officially it was built in 1896, and it is even on the historical records! So exciting for us. I cannot wait to start buying rugs, curtains, and all the extras to make it into our home.

We've Moved!

Well, we are finally in Fayetteville, West Virginia, since I started working this past week. School starts for students on August 26th, which is this Wednesday. I have a crazy teaching schedule, as I will be teaching four preps. How I get myself in these messes is beyong me. However, I really seem to like the people that I am going to be working with. It will be tough to teach so many subjects at once, but once I have done it, then I will be able to teach anything in the county! Bring it on...well, I say that now, but in a week a might be crying.

Hopefully this house (pictured above) will be our new home!

As for the updates on a house, we put a contract on a house and now we are in the process of waiting. We ordered an apprasial and hopefully it will be done this upcoming week. Once that is out of the way, we will now for sure if the house is going to be ours. It is really exciting, and sometimes we drive by the house just because we want to see it. So I really hope it works out, because our little hearts are set on buying it. Until then, our friend has been generous to let us stay at his place. He actually owns two little small houses in Fayettevill, which sit side by side. He has fixed up one of them, which he now lives in. The other, which was orginially rented, turned into a storage unit, as he found that he needed more space. Since it was basically available, we are using the space for a simple rental price. It works for us, because there is a kitchen, bathroom, and a small room to sleep in as he has things stored in the rest of the house. It might not be much, but about 10 days ago, I thought we might be camping!

We are staying here for about a month!

My husband Is So Great!

As I was cleaning up around the apartment, I came across this really cute To Do List that my husband put together. Just four simple things, but it is definitely our goals, but I just love it!

So, as a head’s up, we will be moving. Again. And soon. I was hired to teach in Fayette County, which will bring us to the New River Gorge area of West Virginia. This should be a permanent address for us, at least for a few years. Joe should also be getting hired as a teacher as well.

We are also on the hunt for housing. It is not exactly a town known for rental spaces, which is fine for us, since we are ready to put some roots into a place and create a home. So this next week we will start the house hunting and hopefully have our sites set on a few locations. So we are doing good on this little list that Joe has created. After a few months I would hope that we can work on the second one and isn’t the last goal really just a life long process?

My Projects!

So let me preface this by saying, "I am not a person that sews." I have never really formally learned, except maybe two or three months of it in middle school. In addition, I don't measure things well and I rarely cut straight lines. If someone that knew what they were doing saw my work, then would be able to point out countless mistakes. I don't care though, because I did it. I made it! How cool is that? It is special to me and that is the whole point. So here are my two projects, my purse made out of old jeans and my t-shirt quilt. I also made a pot holder with the back pockets of another pair of jeans that is so cute. Let me know what you think!

Summer Update

So as my summer started I made a list of ten things I wanted to accomplish this summer. So I thought it might be nice to give an update on my progress. Here was the original list:

1. Annual climbing trip (this year we are headed to the Adirondacks and making stops in between in Virginia and Long Island to visit friends and family)
2. Make a t-shirt quilt
3. Create a scrapbook for our wedding (either through Kodak or by hand)
4. Take a cake decorating class
5. Start running on a regular basis (I'm going enter a race in September)
6. Make two trips to my grandparents house, which is by the beach
7. Make a purse out of my old jeans
8. Find summer employment
9. Find permanent employment
10. Hopefully figure out the best place for my husband and I to live for a very long time

This is what I have done so far:
1. Annual climbing trip - it was so much fun to see our friend's and family. Plus the trip was great, as you might have noticed from our pictures.
2. Make a t-shirt quilt - it is not perfect, but I have enjoyed working on my sewing skills and I like it. Pictures are soon to come!
3. I am half way through a wedding picture/scrapbook of our wedding.
4. I'm running weekly, but I need to improve it. Unfortunately though, my right knee is really hurting, so I think I might just have to bike instead.
5. I made a purse out of my old jeans. It is so cute! Pictures are soon to come!
6. Find summer employment (my husband talked me out of it, at least for the month of July and if we get teaching jobs for next year, then well, let's be honest, I am not going to find work, since I might be moving).
7. Applications are in and we are hoping for teaching offers. I don't want to get my hopes up though, because it might just be too perfect to be true. I am so worried about it that each day I don't receive a call is saddening for me. I just hope we know by the end of the month. Of course I will explain it all then, but I don't want to jinx anything!

I haven't done so bad though, right? I might just have to take on some other projects. Plus, I am so excited about the cake decorating class that I plan to start in August! It has been a good summer.

True Story

Each morning while vacationing in the Adirondacks, Joe and I would drive over to a parking lot that had an adjacent picnic table to make our breakfast. Since we were camping, it was the nicest place to be able to sit together and make oatmeal. Another connivance was the "port-a-potty," near the table. This is always a better option then using the outdoors. So one morning after eating my breakfast I thought I would, "take care of business" before heading out to rock climb.

Well, while I was in the middle of the whole process I look down and notice something in the space between the floor and the wall on the right side. At first I thought it was a rope, then I looked closer and realized that is was moving. Um, it was a SNAKE. A very big black snake with a white speckled belly! And I was a bit stuck, since I had to finish the business! Fortunately for me, it did not decide to come fully into the John or I would have been screaming and running out butt naked!

One of my favorite things that we did while vacationing in the Adirondacks was a kayak trip on Saranac river. We decided to take a double kayak, which was a smart move, because I let Joe do most of the work! Plus, we did a pretty good job in terms of telam work, which was nice since we are horrible at canoeing together! In the middle of our trip the wind really started to pick up and there were two foot waves on the lake which dumped water on us. At one point we even had to pull over to an island, because we thought we might be dumped overboard.

In the end we were cold and wet and ready to be finished, but I still think it was a good time. I would like to do this again. In fact, we were both thinking a kayak or canoe trip where we camped on the islands would be perfect, especially if we have children one day. Below are some of the pictures from our day off from climbing!