Bittersweet October

Sixth Wedding of the Year
Wombat and I attended our 6th wedding of the year, following one in May, two in July, one in August, and our own in September.  (Wombat was also able to make it to a 7th - his best friend's wedding in NYC last minute, as they eloped before the groom joined JAG and received orders to move to Korea).  The wedding was in Akron, and the groom was a former classmate of ours from law school.  Our other law school newlywed friends were there, so we brought them souvenirs from Thailand and thoroughly enjoyed being a guest for once.  The bride and groom were beautiful, the ceremony was sweet, and the reception was fun.  Sadly, we heard that the bride's father passed away just days after the wedding, while the bride and groom were on a mini-moon in Vegas, I believe.  How tragic!

Grandma B
Shockingly, wombat's grandma took a turn for the worse shortly after our wedding, and we returned from our honeymoon to discover that she'd been in the hospital for kidney issues.  While undergoing tests, doctors found that her previous cancer had returned, this time, all over her 87-year old body.  It was unknown how serious her condition was until she began taking a sudden turn for the worse, at which time wombat took 2 days from work to quickly go see her, oddly enough, the same time his friend eloped.  Grandma B passed away just a week after wombat saw her.  We immediately drove out to NYC the day we heard, joining his family for the funeral and sitting shiva.  She was an amazing person, and I was honored to know her.  She was always so happy to see us, excited to play cards, enthusiastic about the possibility of "gi-gi's" someday, and a fan of jokes and stories.  She had a very loving and successful family and will be deeply missed.

Dirty Thirty Bike Race
We returned from NYC in time for the local education foundation fundraiser, but not in time for me to make it to my Medicaid conferences in Columbus the previous Thursday and Friday.   Luckily my cousin was able to make it and take notes for the office.  The same cousin organized and created the bike race fundraiser, the "Dirty Thirty," which consisted of 3-4 races for 30 minutes apiece on the fairgrounds track.

Since our law firm was a sponsor, wombat and I gladly went early to help set up and volunteer.  We were planning to race in the team relay later, and wombat and my 43 year old cousin had a bet going on who would have the fastest split.  After the kids race, however, not enough entrants signed up for the individual race, so wombat and my cousin jumped in without prior training, and ended up placing 3rd and 4th, respectively!  My cousin led the entire way until wombat passed him in the final 200 meters haha.  $1.00!  As for our team, we placed 3rd after Lancaster Bicycle and donated our share to Sanderson Elementary.  Go us!

Date night
After such a crazy, unexpected week, we again accomplished absolutely no work on the house.  We also had no time to ourselves, as we collapsed exhausted every night, too tired to be romantic.  Thus, we scheduled a date night mid-week this week, and treated ourselves to a night at Easton on Wednesday.  My friend from high school, Jeremy, happens to be a new chef at Northstar Cafe, so we went to see him and try it out before a movie.  It was fabulous!  Wombat had an organic chicken and avocado sandwich, and I had onion soup and salad, all were excellent.  Then we went to see The Social Network, a highly rated film about Facebook haha.  It was actually really good!  Afterwards, we met up with Jeremy and his boyfriend, Matt, for drinks and good conversation briefly.  We plan to see them again Saturday at Mamta's Halloween party, along with another good Columbus friend, Catherine.  Can't wait!

A good kind of busy

It's hard to make a dent in our to-do list with so many spontaneous events happening right now.  This post is more of a journal entry than entertainment, but I want to remember these first couple months of newlyweddedness.  

Saturday, my dad gifted us with 4 tickets to the Ohio State - Indiana game since he couldn't go, so we invited two great Columbus friends, Catherine and Mamta, to go with us.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and the game began at noon, so we parked at Mamta's house in the Victorian village and walked to a pizza place for lunch before the game.  On the way we discussed costumes for Mamta's upcoming Halloween party; Catherine and her friend are going as video game characters from Katamari, an obscure Japanese game with rainbows, cows, and a sticky rolling ball.  Dorian loves the happy little game, so we might have to join them.  Otherwise, we are considering a couple costume, like the Princess Bride, or something from our honeymoon (monkey and tiger?).  

Ohio State obviously crushed the Hoosiers, so we all decided to leave at the end of the third quarter, when the score was 40-3, especially since Mamta was planning to drive to Chicago to visit her boyfriend that day.  Afterwards, Wombat and I headed to Home Depot to quickly spend one of the gift cards from our wedding on our very needy house.  We picked up a rake, a gardening gloves, pruners, and replacement light bulbs.   We also stopped by Bed, Bath, and Beyond (with gift cards) to pick up some kitchen supplies and ran into Cousin Jeff and Liz with Justin and Colin.  It was Justin's third birthday, so he was very happy, but going through a shy stage.  Jeff tried to get him to tell us how old he was, but ended up tickling him instead to get him to make any noise at all haha.  

By the time we got home, I was tired, so we made dinner and decided to take it easy and watch more college football.   Wombat is such a UW fan that he actually went to BW3's to watch the UW game at 10:30 pm; I went to bed.  UW lost.  Wombat was sad. 

Sunday was gorgeous so we worked outside most of the day; Wombat cleaned the gutters, I weeded the garden, we both pruned and made a brush pile.  We also planned an attack on the Elder Box bugs that suddenly appeared on the front of our house (the sunny side) on Friday afternoon.  They swarmed our house in the hundreds, trying to find a winter burrow in our shutters, siding, garage door, and front door.  Wombat had fun sucking them up with the wet-vac (leftover from the previous week's basement flood) and drowning them by sucking up a gallon of water with them.  It was interesting until we realized we could no longer use the front door, as so many would dart in if we opened it to let out Jack, or more importantly, greet the neighbors that we invited to visit for cookies and cider.  We planned to call a exterminator Monday morning but then.......they disappeared!  I don't want to think about where they might be......we'll just put it on hold for now and buy a new light fixture instead.  

Monday, Wombat made a last minute decision, with my encouragement, to drive to NYC after lunch in order to surprise his best friend, and one of his best men, at his hastily scheduled court-house marriage ceremony.  This friend was engaged the day returned from our honeymoon after dating his sweetheart for several years, partially because he just obtained a JAG position in Korea and I suspect he really wanted to take his live-in girlfriend with him.  Anyway, Wombat made it and successfully surprised them Monday night, which worked out well since he took the groom out for some final bachelor drinks while the bride graded papers.  They were hitched on Tuesday morning as planned, and Wombat celebrated with them over lunch before heading to the hospital to visit his grandma, who has not been doing well.  She was thrilled to see him, but unfortunately he could not stay long, since it was beginning to be rush hour and he had to make the drive back to Ohio.  Since he left during rush hour, the 9 hour drive ended up taking 12 hours, and he came home at 5:15 am, just in time for me to get up and leave for my CLE conference in Columbus.  

While he was gone, however, I had very productive evenings and I managed to strip the wallpaper in both the kitchen and the bathroom, huzzah!  I also hung the large painting that my step-dad gave us over the stairwell, but got distracted from taping the walls (in preparation for painting) by 4 neighbor children that decided I was the youngest new person in the neighborhood and needed to provide their entertainment for the evening.  They were really nice and REALLY talkative, and I enjoyed them until it got dark and felt I should walk them home.  

Anyway, now that we have neighbor friends, neighbor bugs, and ugly stripped walls, we are going to spend tonight visiting the County Fair for the Combine Demolition Derby!  I can't wait to show Wombat how cool Lancaster is.  Til then, cheers!

The Nest

Wombat and I have SO many plans to update and expand our new place.  We purchased our home primarily based on the location, a private .8 acre lot at the end of a township cul-de-sac, so it has quite a bit of potential, but the home itself is 40 yrs old and the previous owners jerry-rigged so many things that it will take awhile to remedy them.  Despite these set-backs, we still love that our newlywed-nest has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, hardwood floors upstairs, a finished basement, a two-car garage, and a laundry room.

For those of you who have not yet seen the inside, here are several "before" (seller's brochure) pictures:

DINING ROOM:  Beautiful hardwood floors, but we need to paint the unfinished back door, replace the light fixture, paint, replace the window treatments, and build a china cabinet into the corner.

FINISHED BASEMENT, aka WOMBAT'S MAN-CAVE:  We have plans to paint the two half-walls purple (for wombat's U-W), fix the surround sound, and replace the windows (to the right). We also want to remove/replace the cheap half-wall thingies.  I forget what they're called right now.  There is a great fireplace to the left that we need to clean, but it's brick, so we're happy with it for now. Unfortunately the mantel is not big enough for our tv, but it's great for some of the art we brought back from our honeymoon in Thailand.

KITCHEN:  So much to do here.  First, we're definitely removing the wallpaper, ugh.  I'd like to paint it a warm coppery-orange to brighten it up.  The cabinets are not our style, but we'll probably keep them awhile since they're fairly nice.  The appliances all need replaced since neither the oven or built-in microwave worked upon move-in, but we may be getting the replacements for free with our warranty (yay!).  I'd like to replace the ugly floors with tile, and add some backsplash tiles behind the counter, which also needs updated. The lighting is ok, but eventually, we may want to open up the area above the cabinets to display pottery, so I'd love indirect overhead lighting.  We'd also like to open up the side wall to the dining/living room and put a serving counter there.  I will admit that the amount of storage space in the pantry is fantastic and we still have room leftover after putting away all our wonderful wedding gifts.  

GUEST BATHROOM - UPSTAIRS:  This bathroom looks ok, but the previous owners updated it cheaply, and also ignored a leak under the far sink, so the cabinets need replaced.  I pretty much want to gut this entire thing and start over, but for now, we'll repaint it, replace the ridiculous window covering, update the fixtures and mirrors, and possibly replace the tub/shower and flooring.  I guess that's nearly gutting it haha.  

UPSTAIRS LIVING ROOM:  The giant window and beautiful floors already make this room very inviting, so I don't want to do much beyond give it a fresh coat of warm cream paint, change the window coverings, and replace some of the light fixtures.  Someday we'll sand and refinish the floors, but definitely never carpet them.

BEAUTIFUL BACK YARD:  Speaks for itself.  Jack loves it and finally has a papillon-sized territory to defend.  We plan to add a tractor shed and woodpile soon, as well as rip out the old patio and build a double-level deck for grilling and entertaining. We have a weeping willow tree to the right that is gorgeous, even if it will be a little messy in the fall.  I love our yard and private country estate.

LANDSCAPING - FRONT ENTRANCE:  The previous owner was a landscaper, so the front yard is quite nice.  Unfortunately, we'll need to move some gutters so they stop eroding the concrete driveway, but we'll knock that out in a weekend. I'd like to add some daffodils in the spring for some more color.  We need to add railings along the front steps, and once we paint the exterior of the house grey, Wombat would love if we used a dark purple as the accent color on the front door, mailbox, and shutters.  

Check back often over the next year for pictures of our progress and updates.  We'll also be turning the guest room into a nursery and updating the office, so I'll add those pictures when the weather gets colder.  Our to-do list is long, but Wombat and I are excited to get started; it's romantic to work on it together and play around while doing it.  More later!

The First Month

Wombat and I have just spent the first married week in our new house.  It's been fantastic and annoying at the same time.  Our first month of married life has been better than we had ever imagined, especially after already living together for nearly 2 years.  There's a sense of comfort, security, and achievement that seems to come with the official wedding day and marital house.   We were lucky enough to be in perfect position to buy our first house at nearly the same time as our wedding, so it makes the newly-wedded-ness seem even more old-fashioned and fun.

The annoying parts only come along with the great deal we got on the new (old) home, including broken appliances, pests, and endless updates.  We were savvy enough to request a warranty with our contract, however, we have quickly learned it is not an end-all solution.  Yesterday we finally fit into the Sears home-warranty schedule for our oven, microwave, and washer/dryer, only to have the agent inform us we need to wait another two weeks to check for parts.   Additionally, the agent told us our washer/dryer just needed to be run with white vinegar to clean it, but when we did, it flooded the basement and soaked our carpet, bathroom, drywall, and boxes of wedding gifts that were still sitting unpacked on the floors.  Sears has already admitted fault, but we know it's never easy to have every cost reimbursed as easily as it should.

More fun parts:  My brother and sister-in-law surprised us with a visit last night, during which we made eggplant pasta and steaks, followed by playing Mario Party and our new "Things" game; fun!  Mom and my step-dad joined us, so we made a special tomato sauce for him, since he's "allergic" to vegetables haha.  This morning my dad and step-mom stopped by with the left-over plants from our wedding (succulents!) planted in beautiful porcelain pots on their way to get pumpkins next door at the Neely's farm.  We also got pumpkins and can't wait to carve them and bake pumpkin seeds (once our oven is fixed)!

Yesterday morning, we returned several duplicate wedding gifts and exchanged them for things left on our registry.  Since we were in Columbus, we were lucky enough to time our trip with Catherine's yard sale in the area.  She is a great friend from law school and was selling things from her former apartment, so we made out like bandits!  Wombat got a game, I got decor for the guest room, paintings for the office (one she painted herself!), and curtain panels for the dining room, all for $45!  While there, we also opened her wedding gift, which was an AMAZING quilt that she made us in the short month between the July Bar exam and our wedding.  I had a hunch she made us something since she's so talented like that, but a 700-piece green and purple queen-size quilt, complete with a copy of our invitation stitched on left me speechless. It is truly gorgeous and one of the most meaningful gifts I've ever received.  I can't believe what wonderful friends we are lucky enough to have.  They are so amazing to us, and I hope they know how special they are in our lives.

Our current to do list:  clean gutters, caulk windows, dead-head flowers, WRITE THANK YOU CARDS, finish putting away gifts, rip up deck, build new deck, build fire pit, clean and repair chimney, build back-yard shed for tools and tractor, HOST NEIGHBORHOOD BBQ and meet neighbors on our dead-end road.  Good thing I'm sitting here blogging while watching TiVo'd shows instead haha.  Pictures to come soon!