The house.

STARTED THIS A WEEK AGO......

I realize I was quite harsh on ASU's fashion sense but hey, sometimes you've just got to be straight up honest and it seems like no one ever is these days.

BUT.... I'm moving on to a new topic!!!!!

12 days ago my house officially closed. Yes, after months of drama drama drama.... heads banging against walls, dreams pulverized to fine powder and set on fire, I found a house I wanted and one that I get to keep.

Here it is:

I've never seen this picture with tacky little statues scattered about the yard but I just realized I did not have an outside picture so google provided.

This house is TRASHED. I am not one of those people that goes, "ew gross there is dirt on the floor. I'd better keep my shoes on so I don't get dirty!" No. That is not me. I have been through enough extremely dirty houses in my house shopping that I hardly even notice it anymore.

But this house. . . . . oh my. I cannot even figure out how a house could become so absolutely tragic. Let's start from the moment you walk in the door.

Not too bad, right? A normal hallway with a closet, wallpaper, and ceramic tile. . . . . totally typical. But then I tore down the wallpaper. All three layers. It was quite an adventure. In fact, weeks later I still have not finished the last touches because I had such an absolutely fantastically fun time doing it before that I wanted to save the best for last. I found a few holes in the drywall that they had wall papered over too. One of which was covered up with duct tape. I couldn't stop laughing.

On your right you look through this archway into the dining room and sunken living room. See the beautiful carpet? This is my favorite spot of carpet in the whole house. It's not worn out really. It's not dirt. It is oil. Still haven't figured that one out but I wished I would have worn gloves when I ripped it out. 

Here's a view of the whole dining room and living room. With my grandpa inspecting the window sill. Yes, my REAL grandpa :)

And in case you were confused, there is indeed an entire wall of mirrors. It's amazingly strange.

Then one day. . . I began ripping out the carpet. . . . . . . . . . .

and discovered this! 

But moving on. 

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My kitchen: 

Not much to say about it other than it now has been mostly scrubbed and has a new black fridge and oven in it :)

Here is my bedroom. It also has a full mirror on the 

wall. I'm kinda in love with the ideas of what I can do with it. I love my window/mirror markers and now I have a huge new space to attack. I ripped down all the wall paper and ripped up all the carpet and am planning on dousing the room in blue and green.

This is the bathroom/closet side of my bedroom. I'm a little bit in love. I bought one of those string doorways to hang over the doorway in. I have a walk-in closet on the right, sink on the left, and toilet and shower behind that. 

This is the fireplace in my family room. As you can tell from the wall paper it is at the end of the entry hall. The thing I am most excited about is that I can pretend to have a real Christmas and build a fire and hang stocking on the mantle place. And maybe pick up some snow from work to made it complete. 

Here is a lovely side view of it looking in at the kitchen and front door. 

Here are the bathrooms! First is the hall bathroom in which I finished taking down the wallpaper and took up the tile. Never again do I want to chip out tile adhesive. NEVER.

Do you see this not lovely tile? It severely worried me and up it came.

Oh and here is the window. We're still working on getting this situation solved.

Both bathrooms have shell sinks. It kind of makes me happy. But then again I am a little bit ocean obsessed.

Now on to the master bathroom. We spent a few days scrubbing the brown tile in the shower and it miraculously turned yellow but for some reason I am not finding the photographic evidence of that today so we will move on.

The floor had linoleum on it that simply would not do and was curling up around the edges and worn out in the middle so once again I started another floor project. It's not the tile that is the problem pulling up. That part is actually quite easy. It's the who-knows-how-many-years-old adhesive underneath that you have to chip out with chisel and hammer. And no, getting the floor wet did not work. 

This is Trogdor the dragon. Can you see him?

Tabitha dear came and scrubbed the floor of my shower while I chipped out tile. 

She also pulled up the bottom track for the shower door and cleaned that out. Let's get a closer look :)

Yes... mmmmmm yummy. Somehow I think that after years of water penetrating beneath the shower door along with a numerous amount of cooties, the caulking just didn't survive. 

Brianna dear helped me scrape "popcorn" off the ceilings. We got 3 bedrooms mostly done in about 4 hours or so. 

See? Look how lovely they are without black dusted popcorn and black spiderwebs. And by black, I do indeed mean black. My house's spider webs are extra special. 

This past week we finished scraping all the ceilings. Hooray!!! Also took down the big shelf in the family room which you can see from the last paint job. My house has signs of this everywhere. I mean, the shelf I almost understand painting around. But there are other places where they didn't even move whatever was in front of the wall out of the way. Half the wall will be painted and then it will randomly stop. For example, beneath the bookcase there is a tan square where someone was not moved. I just don't understand. 

The thing with scraping off white ceiling texture is that the texture gets EVERYWHERE. One day when I was especially covered in an excess of powder I felt like a vampire with ultra pale skin. Made my day and was a nice laugh in the middle of monotonous spraying the ceiling and scraping it off. 

I've begun walking around my house barefoot now that the carpet is all gone and the floors have been swept and mopped at least once. I failed to remember that my feet were covered in ceiling when I stood on the fireplace to change a CD.

After the ceilings were finished the next step was to wash walls with this solvent called TSP (tri-sodium phosphate). I often refuse to call it that though. My mother must have forgotten that I am a chemistry nerd. Or was but I terribly miss it sometimes so I still believe I am. Let me break this down for you less nerdies. . . tri: 3 + sodium: Na + phosphate: PO4 = Na3PO4. Tri-sodium phosphate :)

My beautiful Stephannie and Brianna friends started this washing adventure with me and helped me out one night. Right after the second AC unit died. Yes, the day after the house closed the second AC unit died. What luck. 

Any guesses as to which half of this wall has been washed? 

Perhaps you need another view. Let's just say that when my mother saw this she commented on how the walls didn't need painted as bad as we thought. Just needed washed off. 

After the walls were painted I started marking some of the places the drywall guys needed to fix. You see, in addition to bad paint jobs, my house has an incredibly large number of bad patch jobs too. 

So current status of my house at this moment: 2 new AC units, inspected for termites (the company that fixed the problem in April will be coming back to hopefully get rid of the termites a little bit more permanently) carpet is gone, bathroom tiles are gone, shower is scrubbed, ceilings are scraped and retextured (and from what I heard from my grandma on the phone yesterday apparently they are painted too. Wish someone would have informed me that my house was being painted without me.), walls are washed, kitchen cabinets are mostly scrubbed clean, most holes are patched properly. . . . I think that is it for the moment. 

Goals for this week: 

1) finish drywall

2) paint all ceilings

3) paint kitchen

4) finish kitchen (appliances, cabinets)

5) sand baseboards

6) begin painting ? 

more updates later.

Check out my old fashioned dress off of 5th Avenue I was rockin' last week:

And appreciate the blonde hair.... 

Because it should be a lot-a-bit darker by tonight.

Feminism

I am sorely disappointed in my Women's Studies book. Their argumentation is horrible. They drag out data to support their ideas and opinions and compile them to create what may appear to be a solid convincing argument. False. My English 102 class taught be better than this. My favorite thing to do was to write my rough draft arguing one side and then switch everything around so that by the final copy I was arguing the entirely opposite opinion which I usually didn't agree with. But the point is that I covered both sides. I not only told why one side was good but proved why the other side was lacking in comparison.


Poor women's studies.

Poor feminism.

What have you come to?

Let's hit up some real liberal feminism

And read Mary Wollenstonecraft instead.

Because truly, her writing is lovely.

And intelligent.

Which my text book is not.

The End.

I fight for things that matter.

Time ain't on our side

Don't wanna leave this world with

"Why didn't I? Why didn't I?"

Yeah why didn't I?

Sometimes I take on this world by myself

Thinking I got all the answers don't need anybody's help

Well God was right there waiting for me all along

To fall down on my knees surrender all

Things that matter things that don't

Fashion Advice Take 3

SOOOOOOoooooo I found a million more things that irritate me about the way people dress here at the devil's university. 

This first picture includes three pet peeves. 

1) Flashing it all. You should not ride a bike in a mini skirt. Some people do not want to see what shows.

2) Sun glasses. Your Ray Bans look douchey and tell me that maybe college is financially a little bit too much of a party and not enough work. Maybe you should get a job selling them instead of buying them. Even if they're not designer sunglasses you look like an idiot wearing them inside or on a super cloudy day. 

3) Less clothing when it's cold. In this picture it's obviously cold outside yet this girl has no pants on. ASU-- when "winter" comes out come more low cut tops with open jackets and mini skirts and leggings and Ugg boots. Then you wonder why you're freezing. *face palm* 

4) Bike boob cleavage. Along with not wearing a mini skirt while riding a bike you should not wear a low cut shirt while riding a mountain bike that causes you to lean over and temporarily blind all the traffic you are dangerously riding into. 

And I sure as heck hope this poor woman is not actually this disfigured. I've never prayed more for photoshop altering a picture in my life. 

5) Shirtless men. It should be required to wear a shirt to class. YES, I have seen a few males here and there shirtless walking to class. Their teachers must be female and not mind enough to kick them out. But really, none of you are as attractive without a shirt on as Jacob Black and even if you were, school is not the place to show that off. 

6) High heels on school days. School is for learning and not a dance club. Why in the world would you wear heels to school?? I walk a few miles every day easily at school and can't imagine how bad that would hurt by the end of the day.

7) Umbrellas at every moment of every day. The sun will not kill you. OK maybe if you spend enough time out in the sun you will get skin cancer and die but you will not die if the sun touches you walking between classes. Sunlight is actually good for you believe it or not. Haven't you heard about the poor Jews getting sick from lack of sunlight back in WWII? My teacher just told me to make sure my feet don't get sunburnt because they're propped up in the sunlight right now. How ironic. You prove my point exactly. 

8) School clothing. T-shirts, sweat pants, hats, bags, notebooks. . . . the bookstore even has ASU fire pits and Tiffany lamps you can buy for heavens sake. Just because you go to ASU does not mean that you have to wear their colors all the time. The occasional t-shirt is fine but an entire outfit of ASU branded maroon and gold is overkill. 

9) T-shirts from other schools. Ummmmm who cares if you went to Idaho state? Nobody. And you obviously don't care much either if you're at ASU now. So why are you wearing another school's shirt? Or a school's shirt that you haven't even gone to? So you went to Harvard one day . . . . OM why do you need to wear a shirt to show that? It's not like you'll have a very good chance of making it there for actual education.  . . 

10) Alcoholic shirts. Just because you attend one of the biggest party schools in the United States doesn't mean you have to blatantly proclaim that you'll be passed out drunk all weekend or be high in class next Tuesday afternoon. 

11) Dressing like you're going to the gym. I've never understood this. Are you actually going to the gym after class and are just too lazy to bring a change of clothes? Or have you already gone and just not worked out hard enough to break a sweat so you still look gorgeous. Or are you really not even going to the gym today at all? Which again leads to the question as to why you're in your cute little booty shorts and tank top. 

12) Huge gaudy flowers in your hair. I'm not sure why people think this is attractive. It is especially gross when your hair is not even attractive and you are under the impression that sticking a huge flower on your head will solve that problem. 

13) Ugly hats. This hat is actually super ugly in case you didn't know. Do you know who wears these? Gay men and people in the drama department.

14) Nerd glasses. If you're going to wear fake glasses at least make them cute. Why would you wear ugly old fashioned glasses? It does not actually make you hott. I'm sorry but deal with it. I can't even accept them on Taylor Swift and was sad to see she fell into this fashion trend. 

Well that's it for now. 

Fashion Advice Take 2

So my lovely Stephannie friend posted a blog on some of her pet peeves about ASU's dress appearances. I would like to add. Just walking to one class this morning I saw so many indiscretions that I feel I must speak. Even if it is only to a computer screen. But first I ask you to read her lovely post. Here's the link: Fashion Advice

Let's start with the thing that made me gag this morning. Oh.... and every single other morning at this naked school.

1- COTTAGE CHEESE. No, not the food. I am talking about that pasty, jiggly, pudging-in-crinkly-lines-on-your-fat-thighs-because-maybe-you-drink-more-than-you-study-legs.

Okay. . . . so maybe it's not nearly this bad at school. 

But below is the usual with the occasional even worse situation. But really, your shorts could be 2 or 3 inches longer and people would never know about what ya have hidden

2- Just because you fit into a group of people doesn't mean you have to look like them.

Enough said by the pictures I think. Yes I am Mormon, have been an engineer, and am a geologist. Doesn't mean that I have to wear dresses with sweaters, have bad hair, and dress in clothes from the 80's. 

3- Just because you have a tattoo on your upper back does not mean you have to wear a halter top every single day.

At least this tattoo is somewhat attractive maybe in some way. I sat behind a girl last semester that had an ugly tat on her back that I got to see every other day. I still haven't figured out why it was attractive. Maybe that's why she got it on her back so she wouldn't have to look at it.

4- Your massive boobs should not jiggle that much. 

To keep this blog semi-appropriate I have provided a Zelda figure to exemplify what I see every single day. Time after time I see this at school. Big boobies with big exposure. No joke just this morning the girl sitting across from me in my ASL class looked like this. She is beautiful and has a great body without being a trashy blonde but this morning I could see almost everything. And if I'm sitting there staring at her chest almost the entire class period I can't imagine how much more distracting it gets to the other half of the homosapien population. 

5- Your makeup budget should not exceed your food budget.

I look at this woman and think, "Wow look at her blue eyeshadow and ugly smile." HELLOOOO people do you not know that makeup is made to enhance your beautiful features???? Not to draw character lines on your face. The point of eyeshadow is to enhance your eye color or the shape of your eyes. Not to make people notice the eyeshadow itself. This woman is beautiful. Or would be with $30 less makeup products on her face. BALANCE. SIMPLICITY. And no, lip liner is not needed. Maybe if you're a model. Not every single day. Chillax people. Just chillaxxx

6- Ugly sunglasses that most people hand out for free do not make you sexy.

I'm pretty sure I can find ten pairs like this at home that I was handed with pencils and cheap water bottles at booths where everyone wants you to be their friend. Just because your frat gives them to you and has their name written on the side does not make everyone think you are cool and want to become a NCMO interest. Oh look:

I just googled cheap sunglasses and this was the first thing to pop up. How funny never saw that one coming............. 

7- Second grade was a long time ago. 

Now that you're in college maybe one piece outfits are not needed so your little hiney won't stick out although apparently from the looks of this picture there will be a lot more than your hiney sticking out. This particular dress peeve was suggested by Stephannie to me moments ago. Maybe what happened back in elementary school should stay in elementary school. 

For now, I will leave my pet peeves about ASU's dress appearance at rest. Not promising there won't be more later. Any pet peeves of your own?