Snow-pocalypse!

 So I'm sure by now you have all heard of the infamous Snow-mageddon. Maybe you are experiencing it yourself, maybe you have heard about it on the news, but here is a record of our experiences and what happened here. We are not perfect and sometimes a home can turn against you.

Greg was SUPER skeptical at first and I have to admit I was starting to have my doubts when that Tuesday all we could see was sunny clear skies and the snow from Tues morning melting away. Our weather people are not always accurate and they have a propensity for exaggerating. So here it is 2 am Weds morning on my 3rd round of pregnancy peeing. Just as I go to bed I check out the window and notice its snowing. Well, at least it was snowing, not big flakes, but it was coming down. I tell Greg who promptly tells me to go back to sleep. We wake up again at about 5:30 AM to begin our day of work and we awake to the first day of crazy town. The snow apparently hadn't stopped coming and there was a good 4 inches on the ground and still snowing, heavily. I first call my dad, who comes home from work about 4 AM and he essentially forbids me to go to work in "my condition." I laugh and call my work building and thankfully, they have closed for the day, Aiden also has no school. So we both get snow-days, yay!

Greg, however, true to his Spokane Valley roots, decides to risk our only car and try to get it to work. He barely makes it out of our driveway, and 15 minutes down the road and a witness to 4 accidents later he decides to come home.....

 

Greg decides its safer to work from home and help Aiden build a snowman on his lunch break.

And then Thursday comes.... Snowmageddon and the freezing rain. So again at about 4AM Thursday morning I get up and look out the window and notice it's raining ice! Also there is this crazy sheen on all the snow. Looks like Aiden and I will be having another snow-day. Greg, again, true to his stubborn Spokane ideologies, decides he is going to try. To make matters worse, as he starts his morning routine to get ready the lights go out. Seems like all that snow and ice has brought some power lines down, but greg warms the car and prepares to try. With no power there is no way he can work from home. This time 30 mins later Greg can't even get out of our driveway! 

So its official. We are stranded with no electricity. And though having our house being all electric makes for an energy efficient home, it proves mighty inconvenient when the power goes out. 

Lessons we learned that morning: 

1. You should always having a back up camping stove 

(which we wanted to buy but never got around doing it.)

2. Before winter comes, make sure you have gas for your gas grill

3.  Make sure you charge everything, cell phones, laptops, etc. the night before.

4. Make sure you have a cooler, so you can put all your perishables in it and outside

It was cold, very cold. Doesn't help that I had caught Aiden's cold. My adventures father and bored brother took pity on us and decided to venture over to bring us some hot beef stew. They made it! My dads salty beef stew never tasted so good. They also tell us that there are down trees and power outages everywhere. I knew highway 18 was closed from reading the news on my cell phone, our only mode of communication and news. However, by mid afternoon, not only were they running out of power but they were getting spotty reception and no internet. We also had been hearing our neighbors tree branches falling into his and our yard all morning. We were getting jumpy and paranoid that a tree was going to fall onto our house, which was a real possibility with all these trees around you.

 

It was time for us to venture out. With persistence we were finally able to make it out of our driveway. With our camara in-tow we went for a drive. 

 Here is our neighbors tree... falling onto his truck

The place Greg and I nick-named the "Bermuda Triangle of Cars" because of the many car accidents and breakdowns that usually occur here, was an eerie ghost road. We also saw this, another road closed. We found 124th open, unfortunately, so did everyone else in the neighborhood. It was a traffic mess, but at least we were moving. We finally made it to Target and Home Depot! Let me tell you, it is very unsettling to walk into a major retailer and see them with no power. Very odd experience. Poor Target, they had to figure out what to do with all the new groceries that need refrigerating. We got a few non-perishable items and decided to go home. 

 Coldest night of my life. At 7 & half months pregnant, with a raging cold, and a 5 year-old it was time for desperate matters. I called my sister, who had power and asked her if we could stay until our power came back on. And here are, making our post from her apartment living room.
Saturday morning, waiting for a phone call from Greg that the power in our house is back on. 

I do miss my house....

The Final Room

Since July of 2010, we have slowly but surely have been working on our little house room by room. On Sunday we can finally say we are done with the last room. Oh don't be mistaken, we still have a kitchen remodel to do, add shelves to all the closets, and don't even get me started on the exterior of the house, but the laundry room was the last room that needed to be sheet-rocked, sanded, painted and trimmed.

TA-DA! Isn't she pretty? (If rooms had gender, I think this one would be female)

So the laundry room has always been a little bit of a weird duck. When we first moved in, the room was only accessible through a side opening in the bathroom. 

One of the first things we did one angry night was create an opening in the wall of the closet in what is now Greg's man-cave. 

I really wish we had had the forethought to take pictures because it was really a site to behold! Greg and I took out a lot of aggression on that wall. We used some karate chop action with our hands and occasionally some hammers. Dust, sheet-rock, & bits of wall all around us, but let me tell you when we got to the wall frame it was seeing light at the end of the tunnel... beautiful. Greg removed the studs with his saw and we were able to finally access the laundry room properly.

*I do have to give a note of precautionary guidance here. If you plan on taking out a wall, first make sure its not load-bearing. No one wants the house to cave in. Thankfully, our wall was not and was the back end of a closet. It was already framed out for us at the front of the closet, so it was a natural opening. 

We eventually took up the task of closing up the opening through the bathroom. This was one of Greg's first sheet-rocking experiences in our house. I was very proud of the job he did.

Laundry room side                            Downstairs bathroom side

We left it like this for quite awhile, as other projects took more precedence. Finally, last weekend, with some newly-found free time we decided to start on the laundry room. First, there was some areas from the wall we removed that we had to finish up. There was also a strange area that the original owner had nailed up a piece of wood board instead of sheet-rocking to make the house look presentable for sale. Lazy on his part but easy for us to fix. Some sanding and texturing later it was ready for cleaning.  

Here is Greg cleaning after sanding.

 

We were then ready to paint the walls. Deciding it was best to save some paint, we went with a color we already had, a light blue green that we think was from the baby's room.

 When we did Greg's man-cave we had bought this bucket of glue on discount from the Habitat for Humanity outlet store ($5!). It's this crazy neon blue-green color that is supper sticky, perfect for gluing down laminate floor. 

We made the decision to do laminate because of the potential moisture and water issues that come with a laundry room. We got an 8x12 ft pre-cut roll from Home Depot and cut it down to size. Using a roller and the neon blue-green substance Greg just rolled and glued.

Finally Greg added some trim (FYI, Paint and trim make a room)

 

And it was done!

Nice and Easy! 

 

We do want to add some cabinets and some fancy drying wall racks from Ikea, but overall mostly done.

Indulging in Vanity

Awhile back we bought a desk for $20 at a thrift store. We used it as an actual desk until we repurposed this little treasure:

 Mini Bar/Office

So what do you do with a spare desk? You make your pretty wife that dressing table she's always wanted of course!

  Step 1: Remove strange attached mail sorter

 Step 2: Sand, sand, & sand until shiny varnish is all gone.

 Step 3: Cut down to size, especially with a wife who is not quite 5 ft....

Step 4: Paint Black

Step 5: Polycrylic. This adds that nice shiny gloss and protect it from getting dull from dust and water spots. 

*Note, always use the stuff you apply with a brush. The spray stuff provides a quick finish but it comes out spotty and makes your surface all bumpy rather then smooth    

Now to accessorize. We got a brushed nickel mirror ($30) & red ottoman ($20) both at Ross and some cute dragonfly hooks from World Market ($4.99 each). 

And Done! Now I have a fancy place to put my tiara!

 

A little Holiday Dry Walling

So remember our exposed heater, AC, and air duct?

It was hard to miss. Not only was it super ugly, but it was also super L-O-U-D. With the big screen across from the heater, it was super inconvenient to watch a movie. Since we finally mounted the TV, it was only natural to try and fix the background noise.

Unfortunately, we are still getting used to documenting progress so we don't have the in-between photos. 

To make a long story short, "we" (meaning mostly Greg) framed out half the opening for a bifold door so we could still access the filter we are supposed to change every year. Then we sheet rocked the other half and a lot of mudding, sanding, and painting later we have a sleek, much more quiet alternative.

TA-DA!

I must say Greg is getting very good at dry-walling. Nice right?

2011 Review & 2012 Possibilities

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

As we review this year's holiday photos and reflect back on all the changes that we did this past year,
I think... man, I'm tired! Haha, just kidding.

Schlaich family highlights of 2011:

Jayson turns 21
Greg gets a new job
Sophie the doggy
Housewarming Party & Aiden turns 4
3 Schlaichs become 4 Schlaichs
Sam & Heather Schlaich wedding
Marisa & Danny Miller wedding
Greg turns 30
Aiden starts school & soccer

Schlaich house party count: 4, new Schlaich family members: 2, house renovations: lots & lots!



Pretty good stats rewind, right? It was a busy year, but despite all the crazy times, it was worth it cause family is forever and the home is where your family starts.

2012 promises to only get busier, but we are excited about all there is to come. Jake, especially, will be the biggest change this year, but we are ready for his arrival. Aiden is anxious of being a good big brother, but he has already told me that he will help take care of the baby. He asks everyday when the baby is coming. It does feel like I have been pregnant forever. Thankfully, not too much longer. Here is a sneak peak of what is to come in 2012.

2012 Events

Jacob Rudy Schlaich!
Aiden starts T-Ball/piano/Karate
Lola Eng turns 50
Aiden starts Kindergarten

2012 Renovations

Laundry Room
Closet shelf building
Backyard Landscaping
New Kitchen counters

As you can see we have a full agenda for the house. With the new baby, all of Aiden's activities, and the events we have planned, it will be amazing if we get any sleep. Well, as they say, only time will tell.

Hope you all had a fantastic holiday season and we look forward to regaling you with all of our 2012 adventures!