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Our Fourth of July Fireworks

July 5, 2012

Yesterday my neighbor asked me not to move out soon. I was at first taken back… Move? How could we move? We just bought our place and moved in! Shit we just spent the day off putting up curtains! But quickly I could see it was a lovely sweet little comment about enjoying our company (past crazy neighbor didn’t speak to her) and her hope that we wouldn’t feel out of place with the community or with the neighbors*.

 

 

Basically, the neighbors a few houses down spent the afternoon setting off fireworks (as well as the past week). We had been talking about various things, including her skilled counted cross-stitch pieces that I was inadvertently recruited to measure for a frame, and we had to contastly pause between booms. I am all for fireworks but please explain to me the point in setting them off during the day. You can’t even see them clearly. It really was maddening. I love me some naps but there was no way that was happening on my day off. So I would roll my eyes with every bang and boom and go about doing things around the house.

Thankfully, they didn’t blast through their whole supply during the afternoon since they did manage to put on quite a show for the neighborhood once the sun went down. In fact, its seems everyone, everywhere was setting off fireworks as there were booms and flashes that could be seen all over from the front were Price and I sat while swatting off beastly ants. There was lighting storm off in the distance so that put on a nice show as well. It was amazing to see fireworks being set 150′ away, hearing deafening booms, & large colorful explosions over our heads. Major safety and fire hazard, but that’s part of the reason we sat outside with my phone at the ready.

It was not the Fourth of July that we were used to but it was just as great with some massive donuts, grilled lunch, and cold showers to cool off at night. And best off was that we didn’t need to travel into Boston for a great fireworks display.

How did you celebrate Independence Day?

*Price and I moved into a tiny city that is largely Hispanic. In fact 62.1% of folks answered “Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin” on the 2010 Census. In comparison, the MA return for the same question is 9.6% and the previous town we lived in was at 4.1%. None of that matters to us, but it just means that we are densely packed together and there is a pretty consistent stream of Spanish music blasting from a neighboring house or yard on the weekends. I think I have heard every Shakira song, twice.
 

____________________

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive. 

Filed Under: Living Tagged With: census, chelsea ma, fireworks, fourth of july, home, independence day, neighborhood

How To: Labeling Your Garbage Cans

June 21, 2012

Since we moved in I’ve been saying that I would spray paint the garbage cans so there would be no mix up when we take them to the curb. Everyone else’s is marked so this is not a ‘this is mine, don’t touch it!’ sort of thing. You just never know if your garbage can will go blowing down the city block after it has been emptied. I didn’t just want to freehand spray paint the cans with our house number… I wanted to give them some curb appeal!!

  

Well, after weeks and weeks of saying I would do it I finally got around to doing it this morning before work. Thankfully, it is super hot now so standing out side at 6am was nice as it was already 80 (I love it!!). We were armed with the stencils I made with my Cricut, but you can even make a stencil by hand or just buy some. We also had some painters tape and some Rust-oleum spray paint. It was pretty easy job and I am happy with how it came out. Still there are some things I would do differently:

  1. Wear gloves. I only put gloves on for the last # and now part of my left hand is bright green even after scrubbing the crap out of them.
  2. Make more stencils. I only made one ‘7’ and one ‘fleur de lis’ thinking I would just reuse it. Unfortunately, it was getting tricky at the end to reuse them and not make a horrible mess on the trash cans & my hands (see above). Should have listened to Pricer!
  3. Mask the stencils differently. I would first position the stencils and then put the mask on. I think it would have allowed me to work easier and get crisper lines as the stencil would have been taped right to the can.
I’ve written out directions below on how I would do it next time. Once I sprayed on the first things I realized immediately the mistakes I made setting us up. Follow the directions below and you will have an easy time labeling your trash cans. 

Curb appeal… I was thinking of doing a pineapple on the trash cans but our mailbox has a fluer de lis already on it so I went with that. Pick a symbol that you like to enhance the overall look!

Damn… we look good!

Labeling Your Garbage Cans

Supplies

  • Stencils, sized to fit your trash cans
  • newspaper
  • scissor
  • painter’s tape
  • gloves
  • spray paint*
  • garbage cans
  • ruler, optional

*I really suggest getting Rust-oleum’s Painter’s Touch Ultra Cover. This works on a variety of surfaces, including plastic, and there were a lot of nice colors. I used Key Lime.

Process
  1. Identify where you want the number and/or symbol to go on the trash cans. Put a strip, or several, of painter’s tape on the trash can to create guides to position the stencils. Use a rule to help center or keep lines level, as needed.
  2. Tape the stencils(s) to the garbage can.
  3. Cut a piece of newspaper the size of the stencil in the center of the piece of paper. Place the newspaper shield over the stencil and tape into place. 
  4. While wearing gloves, evenly and gently spray paint the can at the stencil.
  5. Remove the newspaper shield and the stencil gently. Lastly, remove the tape guides from the trash can.

____________________

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive. 

Filed Under: Home Tagged With: curb appeal, diy, fluer de lis, fluer de lis garbage can, garbage cans, home, house, new house, painter's tape, plastic spray paint, Rust-oleum, spray paint, trash cans, trash day

Our House

May 2, 2012

Is a very, very fine house…

(back unit- furthest from street)

WE CLOSED ON OUR HOUSE ON MONDAY!!!!!

HORRAY!!!!!

We’re really excited about the new adventure at hand. We have been discussing where different pieces of furniture can go around the house. What new pieces we can get, what to get rid of. It’s all about making this space our own. I’m super excited about the kitchen and open first floor, Pricer is excited about a man cave, and we are both really excited to have an outside space again. 🙂

Exciting first purchase (besides something I ordered online) for the house were trash cans.

And these are some pics…

 

view of kitchen from front door // kitchen from living room corner

view of kitchen, closet, and stair door to basement

I realized I didn’t take any photos of the living room… imagine a room with 2 windows.

 

closet // door to stairway to finished basement

 

first floor half bath

  

view from bottom of the stairs up to 2nd fl // view from top of the stairs to 1st fl

 

 

big bedroom

 

 

smaller bedroom

 

upstairs bathroom

 

tub // closet

 

finished basement from bottom of stairs

 

finished basement- bathroom, laundry, stairs

big wall of finished basement (perfect for a projector!)

 

basement bathroom with shower stall

I can’t wait until we are all moved in and we get to start to make it our own!!

Filed Under: Home, Living Tagged With: Chelsea, chelsea ma, finished basement, first house, first time home buyers, home, house, MA, townhouse

spring… a new beginning

March 25, 2012

So if you’ve been following along you’d notice some posts about us looking for a place to buy. It’s been a rollercoaster ride for us with finding places online that look great but are not right for us for various reasons from location, work to do, utility costs, etc. The biggest thing is that it was hard not to get our hopes us for any one place because we had to look at the whole situation together.

Well, it seems like it is all coming together for us since seeing a place for the second time, putting an offer on it, getting a counter offer, and accepting it this weekend. Actually all in less than 24 hours. Crazy. It’s exciting, nerve-wracking, stressful, exhilarating, and so much more.

Right now everything is GO! GO! GO! since closing is scheduled for 4.30. eek!

Fingers crossed it all goes swimmingly. 🙂

Filed Under: Home, Living Tagged With: first time home buying, home, home buying

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