As I began the last year in my 20's, I started thinking about some of the things I wanted to do & accomplish before I turn 30. Being an avid list maker, I thought I would compile a 30 under 30 list! This is separate from my bucket list & I only included things that would be attainable in the next year (RH & I will be going to Italy & Greece, but we're not sure if 2011 will be the year, more likely 2012). In no particular order:
1. Run a 5k
2. Sew a button on & it stays
3. Blog about 30 under 30 - post pics & update my progress
4. Eat Indian Food
5. Master 3 or 4 Greek dishes – Saganki, Passtiso & Moussaka, Baklava
6. Take a cooking class
7. Cook a whole chicken/turkey
8. Plant/grow tomatoes
9. Host a formal dinner party
10. Have a murder mystery dinner party
11. Host a family holiday
12. Paint a painting
13. Paint pottery
14. Take a self defense class
15. Learn/invest in the stock market
16. Read the One Year Bible
17. Go camping
18. Take a road trip by flipping a coin
19. Plan & take a cheap weekend getaway
20. Sell $6 million in RE in 2011
21. Pay off HH Loans
22. Get my Broker’s license
23. Get CRS Designation
24. Get Concealed Handgun license
25. Find a facility & start volunteering for the Delta Society with Nickel
26. Hang a light fixture
27. Add curb appeal to our house
28. Take at least 1 picture of RH & I every month
29. Indoor rock climbing
30. Learn to sew a quilt & apron with Michelle & Jenica
On FB there was a lot of baby discussion. I didn't include/exclude because no one knows what this next year will bring. I tried not to include things that I have already done that otherwise would have been on the list (graduate from college, buy a house, travel to Australia & New Zealand, swim with stingrays, see a broadway play, etc). I'm still open to suggestions! I have 347 days left...better get busy.
Being surrounded by attorneys here's the fine print: This list is subject to change at any time without notice or agreement. All blanks will be filled in, attempted or completed prior to 12/05/2011.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Home Improvements
When we bought our FW house in November there were several projects that we wanted to do. Our house was built in 1938 and has a lot of original features. It's been updated and we don't have a lot to do inside, but it's the outside that needs some help. The power lines from the utility pole to our house were smoking when we moved in and one had electrical tape wrapped around it! Not safe! Turns out they were the original lines to the house when it first had power. It's strange that Oncor wasn't called by the previous owners, because they had just replaced the entire fuse box. We called Oncor & they replaced the lines to to the pole and raised them up. There were two phone lines coming to our house, so we had AT&T remove one of them. There was also a cable line coming to our house, that we weren't using, so we took it down. One neighbor had a phone line & cable line running through our backyard that I could reach up & touch. They weren't using the cable line, so they cut it and had the phone line moved. Our other neighbor had phone & cable lines resting on the roof of our garage. AT&T was great! They came out right away, gave our neighbors a new line, moved it to their property and raised it up. Charter on the otherhand, was horrible! It took 4 calls to even get them to show up. The third time I talk to the manager and he didn't even try to make a new appointment or apologize. All he said was if I was unhappy to call the BBB. I was shocked that the manager would rather have a customer call the BBB and complain rather than fix the problem. I waited a couple weeks and called again. This time, they were very helpful and a tech came out the next day. The tech was very rude and eventually moved the cable line to their property. This was more of a headache and time consuming than costly. Now, we have very few cables running through our backyard. It's looking better.
Our first big project was to have a driveway poured and get the garage set up so we could use it. We had a partial driveway up to the front porch but once it stopped, there were deep tire tracks/gravel leading up to the garage and our small cars would have bottomed out. A family friend, Ben, owns a concrete company (mostly does commercial - this was a big favor) so that's who we decided to use. Since he was doing the driveway we decided to go ahead and fix the grading/drainage issues we were having in the backyard by changing our sidewalk. The water would pool up to our ankles on the old one, which was close to the house and potentially cause foundation issues. I had no idea there were so many choices when pouring concrete! The finish, the shape/curve, the height, position of the sidewalk and more (but now I've forgotten :) ). Once we changed the sidewalk, we had to change the position of the gate. At this point, Ryan & I were so done making decisions...it is just concrete after all! Ben did a great job with the grading/drainage of the sidewalk and now water doesn't pool at all. We had to have our air conditioner condenser moved and raised since we will add dirt and grass where the old sidewalk was. We also had a strip of concrete added where we keep the trash cans.
Once the concrete work was completed, we started on our garage door. James came as a referral from one of my clients and did a great job. The old garage doors were similiar to sliding barn doors and were rotted so bad that a cinder block was held in front of them to keep them in place. There was a load bearing beam that was off center which would not allow both cars in the garage. Our garage guy added a header, removed the beam, replaced all the rotten boards to reframe the new door and installed the new garage door & opener. When we went to test the garage door opener, it didn't work! Turns out, there is not enough electricity running to our garage. I'm starting to gain a better understanding of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie!
Our next project will be to add more electricity to the garage and add dirt/grass to finish the backyard.
Before:
After:
We also restored the hardware to the doors. This is before, during & after.
Our first big project was to have a driveway poured and get the garage set up so we could use it. We had a partial driveway up to the front porch but once it stopped, there were deep tire tracks/gravel leading up to the garage and our small cars would have bottomed out. A family friend, Ben, owns a concrete company (mostly does commercial - this was a big favor) so that's who we decided to use. Since he was doing the driveway we decided to go ahead and fix the grading/drainage issues we were having in the backyard by changing our sidewalk. The water would pool up to our ankles on the old one, which was close to the house and potentially cause foundation issues. I had no idea there were so many choices when pouring concrete! The finish, the shape/curve, the height, position of the sidewalk and more (but now I've forgotten :) ). Once we changed the sidewalk, we had to change the position of the gate. At this point, Ryan & I were so done making decisions...it is just concrete after all! Ben did a great job with the grading/drainage of the sidewalk and now water doesn't pool at all. We had to have our air conditioner condenser moved and raised since we will add dirt and grass where the old sidewalk was. We also had a strip of concrete added where we keep the trash cans.
Once the concrete work was completed, we started on our garage door. James came as a referral from one of my clients and did a great job. The old garage doors were similiar to sliding barn doors and were rotted so bad that a cinder block was held in front of them to keep them in place. There was a load bearing beam that was off center which would not allow both cars in the garage. Our garage guy added a header, removed the beam, replaced all the rotten boards to reframe the new door and installed the new garage door & opener. When we went to test the garage door opener, it didn't work! Turns out, there is not enough electricity running to our garage. I'm starting to gain a better understanding of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie!
Our next project will be to add more electricity to the garage and add dirt/grass to finish the backyard.
Before:
After:
We also restored the hardware to the doors. This is before, during & after.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Getting Started
I have officially joined the blogging world. I'm not exactly sure if our life is that interesting for others to read about, but if you're reading this obviously it is (well at least a little).
Ok to catch up on the past few years of our marriage.....
RH & I lived in San Antonio while he went to law school and I taught elementary school with some of my best friends (whom I miss dearly by the way). We bought a brand new DR Horton spec house and absolutely loved it, but were not crazy about the location.
Our SA house
St. Mary's Crawfish Boil. RH is wearing an A&M hat to irritate me...it worked!
Law School Graduation & RH's parents
Nickel
We moved from SA after graduation and are living close to my parents. We recently bought our second home that is in a fantastic location. It is a charming brick cottage that was built in 1938 and is updated but still has the original hardwood floors, picture frame windows, crystal doorknobs, etc.
Needless to say it is the complete opposite of our first house and we are learning what it takes to live in an old house! Nickel has had to adjust to the "new old" house also. The hardwood floors were a first as well as the squirrels in the backyard. RH is now a great attorney and I switched careers from teaching to selling real estate. We are both happy and love what we do.
Ok to catch up on the past few years of our marriage.....
RH & I lived in San Antonio while he went to law school and I taught elementary school with some of my best friends (whom I miss dearly by the way). We bought a brand new DR Horton spec house and absolutely loved it, but were not crazy about the location.
We moved from SA after graduation and are living close to my parents. We recently bought our second home that is in a fantastic location. It is a charming brick cottage that was built in 1938 and is updated but still has the original hardwood floors, picture frame windows, crystal doorknobs, etc.
Needless to say it is the complete opposite of our first house and we are learning what it takes to live in an old house! Nickel has had to adjust to the "new old" house also. The hardwood floors were a first as well as the squirrels in the backyard. RH is now a great attorney and I switched careers from teaching to selling real estate. We are both happy and love what we do.
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