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Tag: house

Making It Ours

Making It Ours

I just realized that it’s been exactly one year since we got the keys to our house. I enjoy moments like this when I stop and realize how much we’ve done instead of lamenting over all the to-dos that haven’t been crossed off our list yet.* The little girl that lived here before us was quite the artist.  I’ve painted over her artwork in several closets and just last week I finally painted over her permanent marker signature on the…

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Vacuuming the Lawn

Vacuuming the Lawn

Yeah, we have an electric lawn mower. (We couldn’t afford an electric car and this was almost as cool.) This baby was one of our first big purchases after we bought our house. Electric mowers are cheaper than traditional lawnmowers, don’t require as much maintenance (oil, gas, etc), aren’t as hard to start, and they don’t pollute the air next to your house. Win, win, win, win. Definitely worth dealing with all that cord in our opinion. The next level…

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Decorating: Cheap and Green

Decorating: Cheap and Green

There’s always a few things that are worth paying a bit of money to make your home more green (like insulating or installing an efficient cooling system like Noel talked about yesterday), but I’m always on the lookout for cheap ways to make my home a greener and more welcoming place. When I was working on Ellen’s bedroom I cam across a post on how to green your nursery on the cheap. A lot of the tips could be applied…

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Attic Monster

Attic Monster

For about two months we have had a garage full of these: and one of these: Yeah, that’s right. Instead of blowing the extra cash flow from our tax return on something fun like a TV or vacation, Audrey let me air seal and insulate our attic and install a whole house fan. I know, that seems pretty lame. However, I had a few good arguments working for me: Insulating the attic would save us about $80 on our gas…

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Easter/Blessing/Spring Break

Easter/Blessing/Spring Break

We had quite the busy Easter weekend. My family made the long drive from Utah, most of them sacrificing cooler Spring Break plans so they could cuddle the new baby,   play with a crazy little boy, generally infringe on each others’ space, install a whole house fan and lay insulation, watch a two-year-old collect plastic eggs, and be there for our sweet little girl’s baby blessing. It was nice to have our house full on such a special weekend….

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Energy Burst

Energy Burst

I’ve been pretty tired lately. More tired than I’ve been my whole pregnancy. You can tell by my To-Do list. Recently it has honestly looked about like this: Walk 1 mile Watch The Bachelor on Hulu Take a bath and listen to “Birthing Affirmations” (Hypnobirthing track that gets you thinking positively about birth) Nap Do hair and get dressed Load dishwasher Even with Noel making lunch and me letting Cooper stand 4 inches away from the TV while he watches…

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Five Star Hotel . . . or Something

Five Star Hotel . . . or Something

Back in July I was taking you guys on a tour of our lovely home and left off with a promise that the basement was up next. I’m sure many of you were continuously disappointed as you checked our blog week after week and we never made a second mention of it. Don’t worry, I didn’t forget, I just didn’t really know what to say about it. Even though the basement was 80% finished when we moved in (carpet, paint,…

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Baby, it’s cold outside

Baby, it’s cold outside

We got a new toy at work that I have been dying to try out. The infra-red camera lets you see and take pictures of heat. About a week and a half ago we had a real cold snap outside so I took it as an opportunity to borrow it and try it out. Here’s what I found: I ventured inside to get a better idea of where the problem spots were . . . The good news is there…

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Bright Idea

Bright Idea

In honor of Thanksgiving being this week, here’s a creative way to cook your turkey: Okay, so I really wanted to talk about light bulbs. I am a firm believer in doing things that are “green.” However, I am also a believer that those things should save me some green as well. As astute readers of our blog may have noticed, we bought an old house a few months ago. In an ongoing series of blog posts I’m going to…

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Commuting

Commuting

When we were house shopping, commute time to my work was a very important part of the decision. We were quite adamant about it and had even picked out a neighborhood. Nevertheless, our real estate agent found it difficult to believe. We were shown several houses that were “only 15 minutes farther away” and supposedly cost less. Ultimately, we got our way and paid a little bit more for a shorter commute. Now as I leave work and turn onto…

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