There's One in Every Family...

There's one in every family.. or so I've been told. One of those rough-around-the-edges, hard-to-understand, easy-to-take-for-granted, and easy-to-love kind of guys. Matt's uncle Mike passed away and I found out during my second English class of the day via email from Matt. I did the math and figured that it was far too late (or early) for an April Fool's Day joke. I was beyond shocked and still am.
I remember the first time I met Mike. We were playing poker at his dad's place in Nahant. Mike was rude and crude and dirty. (So was Matt's dad, Rick). I didn't take to him right away, but it didn't take long for him to grow on me. I made sure Matt and I remembered him on his birthday, Christmas, and especially Father's Day. I felt especially close to Mike and I think Mike looked at Matt as though Matt was his son, as opposed to his nephew. Matt and Mike got along well and they had a closeness that I found endearing. Mike has been at our house quite a lot lately doing work for us on the basement. He was just here on Sunday working all day on our drop ceiling. It's hard to believe that he won't be back here this weekend to bitch at Matt and I about the way we did the flooring or something else in the basement.
Today I broke down in tears quite a few times... Because I thought about how much I loved Mike as my own uncle. Because I remembered going to visit Mike and his bird, Crackers, in his apartment in Danvers and seeing all these crazy pictures all over the walls - from Seinfeld to bears in Alaska to his wife. Because I thought of how happy Mike will be to be in heaven with his love now. Because I thought how in the world can something so awful happen to someone so young. Because I feel terrible for Matt and his family. And because I'm sad that such a great guy isn't with us any longer... and won't be here for Matt and I's wedding.
In the end, Mike's probably much happier up there, playing poker around some table with people that actually know how to play, with the love of his life behind him. We'll miss him terribly but he'll be with us in spirit always.
If there's such a thing as reincarnation, I'm convinced that he's coming back as a bear... or maybe a moose... but definitely one of those animals that he thought of as his "brothers". In every family, there's one that throws you for a loop - that's odd and different and hilarious and wonderful and, though I don't know all of the Morrisseys, I think Mike was it. We'll miss you Mike.

A Brazilian Cherry Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend proved to be a very busy weekend for us. We spent Saturday celebrating Zosia & Eric's new home with them at a cookout and spent Sunday celebrating the newly crowned Dr. Marissa A. Fast, M.D. However, the house did not stop just because we left! While Matt and I were at this fabulous brunch in Malden & then Josh's house for a cookout in Melrose, Rick (Matt's dad) and his uncle Mike were here putting up the drop ceiling grid. I don't know how long they worked on Sunday but they got the larger half of the basement done and we're so psyched. We got home from Josh's around 8:30 on Sunday night and did the second coat of paint on the walls, just a bit lighter in color. We finished the paint close to midnight and called it a night.
On Monday, Marissa's boyfriend Josh came over and he and Matt began laying the new Brazilian Cherry hardwood flooring in the basement. While they were working, I went and bought a new router at Lowe's and decided to router the edges of some 1x3s for the trimwork in the basement. After one trip to Home Depot and two to Lowe's, as well as a lot of frustrations and two routers, the new router that I finally got figured out was great and I loved it. After all the aggravation though, my head cold was bad and I only got through one piece of trimwork before I had to throw in the towel and stop using power tools. My eyes were blurry, my nose was runny, my head was sneezy and pounding, and things were overall, not looking good. My dad kindly came by and took over and routered all of the rest of the trim for me. Mom helped me to stain it and we put that to the side.
Matt, Josh, and my dad did a pretty good job. They made it as far as they could on the floor before quitting. I've got to get out to Woburn to Lumber Liquidators and get some more vapor barrier so they can finish it this weekend. In the meantime, I love how the basement is finally starting to take shape and I can not wait to get my crap put away!

Is There a Doctor in the House?

This past weekend was a great celebration. Our friend Marissa graduated from med school at Boston University and is now a doctor! I can't believe that we're this old... that we have had enough time to complete med school... that we're adults with careers... Ugh. It's scary! Regardless, I am so very proud of my Marissa and all that she has done. I know she'll be a wonderful doctor!

Paint by Numbers

Matt spent the entire day on Sunday sanding the basement. I [conveniently] had to go to PJ's baby shower and couldn't possibly avoid that to help Matt sand. In truth, I felt pretty awful that I wasn't here helping Matt but in the end, I was glad. I hate sanding! Anyways, Matt sanded everything Sunday and I went down Sunday night and helped him clean. Monday morning, my cousin Tony came over while we were at work and primed the entire basement for us. It took him most of the day but it looked great and we were psyched to have one more thing done down there. We decided to go with a beige color, Stonington Beige, for the basement. It's the same color in my mother's living room and we both like it so I picked up the paint and called in the troops. I was lucky enough to have one of my favorite college friends, my roommate Mal, come out and help us out. Between her and my family (my parents and my cousin Tony), we were able to get the entire basement painted in less than two hours. Apparently painting by numbers really does the trick. I'm not sure about the color yet. It's hard to tell without good lighting down there. Matt didn't like it at first. He and I perceive colors differently and he was sure that at the top of our stairs, the color looked to brown. I saw green. Regardless, I think I might go have them lighten the other two gallons just a little so that when we do the second coat we can lighten it up a bit. It is a basement, a movie room, and a bar room so I don't want it to be too bright, but maybe just a little lighter will be nice.

The Newest Addition to Our Family

In all the shopping I've been doing for all sorts of stuff for the house, I've tried to be really careful NOT to waste money on things we don't need. However, I found a much needed addition to our family at Wal-Mart the other day and I couldn't say no. This little guy was on sale for 50% off and he was so darn cute, I just had to have him!

Rocking the House

The sheetrock in the basement has been the thorn in my side since we bought the house. I'm not the most patient person but I've built houses before from the ground up and I know these things take time... but I can't remember the last time I wanted something done as bad as I want to be done with this damn sheetrock! I just can't quite believe how bad the dust is from the sheetrock. It's everywhere! Even when I hung plastic and sheets and the like in doorways, it seems they disappear before I know it and in comes the dust. There are footprints in every room of my house. I don't know how, but they're there. I make it a point to change my shoes when I go downstairs and I make it a point to put out rugs to wipe your feet on and still.. still there is sheetrock dust in every corner of my house.
That being said, the basement is coming along quite nicely. The sheetrock is now, for the most part, done, but I'm almost scared that suddenly they're going to do something else. Suddenly more dust is going to appear - I just know it. In the meantime, I spent some time on my hands and knees washing the floors and every nook and cranny of the first floor in an attempt to rid myself of the dust and hoped for the best!

Regular Old Wine-Os

I originally had hoped to do my kitchen decor in that of the fat Italian chef. As it turns out, he must no longer be very cool because he is nowhere to be found. I've tried all over the place and basically, I lose. I've given up on the search and decided that the wine bottles will be the theme. Matt and I don't drink wine but the wine seemed to go so well in the kitchen that it just makes sense. Wine bottles, apparently, are pretty in, because everywhere I turn, I find them. My mom and I went to Kohl's and Homegoods on Saturday night and she and I accomplished a few things for the kitchen. I picked out some trivets at Kohl's a few weeks ago and I finally hung them by the doorway.We also found some placemats for the table.
I got a few dish towels to hang on my oven door that would be more decorative than useful.
A few more details here and there...
And lastly, we found this picture on clearance at Homegoods that I think is really nice.
Now if I can just find the time to fight a path through the tools to get to the wall that the wine clock will hang on...

Thank God for Moms

Sometimes we all take our moms (and dads) for granted. Since today is Mother's Day and I did spend it waiting on everyone else's moms and thinking about how much I would prefer to be with my mom & grandmother, I feel like I should mention how lucky Matt and I are to have two of the most fantastic mothers in the world. I can't really speak for Matt but I know how much he loves and appreciates his mother. It's absolutely endearing. She's a fabulous woman, very strong, intelligent, independent. She's very thoughtful and sweet, and she's very giving and selfless, especially with her kids. I know that she's a top-notch mom because she raised Matt and I can see that she raised him to be the man he is - the man I love. I think I'm pretty lucky to be getting a mother-in-law like her. She's been nothing but wonderful to me since I stepped foot in the Morrissey family and she's been a fantastic help since we bought the house.

As for my mom, I can't imagine being the woman that she is, but I sure hope I can be. I've never seen a more strong and caring person in my entire life. I see the heart and soul she puts into everything she does, whether it has to do with the house, the daycare, or our family - she puts 110% and feels guilty when she can only put 100%. I love talking to daycare parents and having them tell me (as if I don't already know!) what a great person my mom is. She's been here, at the new house, more often than not doing everything she can. I wish there was a way that I could repay her for everything she does for me (for us). I'll never understand how someone can be hurt so many times but people and still continue to love them and do things for them. Last year, when she was in the hospital... I don't think I have ever been more scared in my life. It wasn't just about me, either. It was about the whole family. I can't think about what would happen to my father without my mom; it's too scary. My mom is everyone's rock - my grandparents, my cousins, my aunts, and more than anything, mine. I can't imagine my life without her and I don't want to. She's mi madre and my best friend. I love her with all my heart and I am so thankful for her everyday of my life.

Washington Cherry

So the basement is at a standstill while the mud is drying so we decided not to blow off a day of work and instead to switch gears and work on the sunroom. There was a greenish carpet in there that we had to get rid of. On top of stains and discolorations from the sun in the room, I can't have carpets; my allergies are awful. On Saturday, Matt tore up the carpet, and he and my dad spent the rest of the afternoon and the evening laying down a new laminate hardwood floor in Washington Cherry.

It was about 3/4 of the way done when my dad and Matt quit for the night. I headed off to Hilltop to spend my Mother's Day waiting on everyone else's mothers & when I got home, the room was done. We still have to add trim and rearrange things, but I love the flooring. I can't wait for this room to be finished and useable so that we can spend warm nights (or cool ones) out here on the couch relaxing.

Mission Living Room Furniture: Completed

I'd like to be able to say the entire living room is done, but that would be a lie. I still have to find window treatments for the living room/dining room and I've also got to find wall decor for... well.... the entire house. In the meantime, so far, so good. The living room furniture is complete. Matt has almost all of the wiring done and all of the entertainment stuff set up. If you remember, when we first looked at the house, it looked like this:
When we moved in, we spent some time getting rid of the mirrors and whatnot and ended up with this.
The [close-to] final product looks like a big improvement to me. We were scared that without the mirrors, the living room would look much smaller, but I actually think it looks pretty big still...

Day by day, the rooms are coming along quite nicely. I really can't wait until we can spend one night relaxing around here!

The Writing on the Walls

We've acquired quite a bit of trash through all of this demolition. I don't know if I'd be exaggerating if I said that we had about 50 or so contractor trash bags full of drywall and plaster, nails, dirt, and dust under our sunroom. Fifty might even be an understatement. My Uncle Bobby has been awesome enough to get rid of a ton of the trash for us, and so he was here for a few hours today helping out with that. While he was getting rid of the trash, I put my cousins to work. Tiana tested out our new lawnmower. She did a fantastic job on the front of the house, but I think it was a little more tiring than she expected. We'll get to the backyard later in the week. At least our neighbors won't think we're slobs!I decided to put my godson Cory to work as well. I brought him down in the basement to the half bath and let him go to town.

He did such a good job, we even let him write his name on the walls. This may be the only time it is okay, right, and appropriate to write on a bathroom's wall.

Tiana wanted to do a little as well.... get out some aggression, so we let her take a hammer to the wall a few times, too.

Besides Uncle Bobby, Tiana, and Cory, we also were lucky enough to have my mother here cleaning the entire basement out once again, Matt's parents and Uncle Mike working on the basement for a while, and my Uncle Paul and cousin Anthony doing the electrical in the basement. Once again, we've been so lucky and so blessed to be able to count on so many people. We even had our new neighbor, John, come by yesterday and offer us the use of his lawn mower until we bought we one. I told him we had bought one just a few hours previous, but if this was his way of telling us our grass needed mowing, we'd get right on it!

Stained

Everything about me is now stained. Friday night, my mom and I took a ride to Mill Stores in Malden while my father and Matt put up sheetrock in the basement. We brought my kitchen drawer with us so that we could match a stain as close as possible. We bought one quart of Zar Rosewood stain; John at Mill Stores promised me that it would cover two end tables, a coffee table, and a TV stand. He didn't lie. I got everything done and still have almost a quarter of the quart leftover.
Since late Friday night, I have been sanding, prepping, staining, and polyurethaning (is that even a word?) everything in our living room. Little by little, I've stained each piece, my hands, my arms, my legs, my feet, and parts of my sunroom (where luckily the carpet will soon be torn out). I think the dark coloring looks much better than the light against our Benjamin Moore Putnam Ivory Eggshell paint. I'm just about finished with the television stand, which I think looks awesome. I'm pretty excited about it. I can't wait to be able to purchase a new kitchen set and stain it to match the rest of the pieces. It was a lot of work, but I think it was worth it.