Shut the Front, I Mean, Shed Door!

That's right, our shed officially has a door!  That means we can start storing stuff in there and begin to clear out the garage.  This makes Adam very happy, especially since his car has been the one booted to the driveway until there is more room in the garage.  

Adam built these double doors from scratch and I love how they turned out!  He had the brilliant idea to paint the doors the same color as the front door of our house.  I think it's a charming nod to our house and helps tie the two structures together. 

Adam went with black for the hinges and door handles, which is a nice contrast.  He also included a bolt at the bottom, which keeps the doors shut nice and tight.  No animals or weather is getting past these doors!  There's also a place for a lock to keep any people from trying to get in.  We're not overly worried about someone trying to break in, but we can rest assured we made it more difficult for someone to do so.  

The main structure of the shed is complete.  All the windows and doors have been installed.  All that's left to do is add a few pieces of trim, add the final shutters and window boxes to the windows and put on the final painting touches.  We are going to save the painting for spring when the temps are warmer.  We've also talked about investing in a paint sprayer which will make painting the lattice at the bottom go much quicker.  

We already have some items stored in the shed, but plan to fully organize it in the spring, as well.  I'll be sure to share our organizing tips once we figure them out.  

I am so proud of Adam's hard work!  For the rest of winter, Adam is going to work on some indoor projects. Now that I've seen his full scope of work, I plan to keep him very busy with other projects!  

One of the Many Joys of Home-Ownership

As anyone who owns a home knows, there is always something that needs to be fixed or updated or replaced. And it never seems to end!  But I suppose that's a small price to pay to get to live in a cozy home that's all yours.  

Recently, Adam and I got to experience one of the scarier parts of home-ownership: termites!  It all started when Adam noticed a tiny hole in our dining room wall.  It looked like a nail hole, but Adam and I couldn't remember hanging anything up in that spot.  We don't have any of the paint we used in the room leftover, so we are very cautious to put any holes in the wall that might need refilling and painting over. So we were a bit perplexed about why there was a random nail hole in our dining room wall.  We decided to ignore it after scratching our heads. 

 

A few weeks later, Adam randomly asked me if I remembered the termite company that we had come to the house after our inspection prior to buying the house.  The house inspectors found a dormant termite tube in the garage and the previous homeowners paid to have it spot treated as part of our negotiations. As it turns out, Adam found some new termite tubes in the garage.  If you are wondering what a termite tube looks like, it's like a little raised line and looks kinda like a vein.  Here's a shot of one of the lovely termite tubes in our garage.  

Adam also noticed some spots on the garage wall that had paint peeling away with little dots underneath. Apparently this is also a sign that termites are around.  

Of course I started to worry at this point.  Have termites infested our house?  Were they gnawing on all the support beams as we speak?  Will the house cave in on itself any moment?  Then I started to worry about how you even treat termites.  Will they have to rip down the drywall?  Spray toxic chemicals all over our house?  Adam told me to knock it off and that he didn't think it was a big deal after doing a little research online.  He said it seemed like we caught it before the termites could do any real damage.  

Adam made an appointment right away to have a termite and pest control company come and scope out the situation.  After looking around the inside and outside of our house, they didn't notice any other problem areas besides the garage and the dining room wall, which happens to back up to the garage.  So it's a good thing Adam notices these random things!  I sure wouldn't have known to look for termite tubes in the garage or what they even look like.

It turns out that it is fairly simple to get rid of termites.  The termite and pest control company is going to come out and install a termite bait system.  Apparently, small cylinders filled with something termites love are placed in the ground around the perimeter of our house.  They couldn't reveal to us what the bait is made of, but assured us it was safe for pets and humans.  Of course it cost a chunk of change ($750!), but we can now rest assured that our house will remain standing.  Here's what the bait cylinders will look like once they are installed.  

Now go check your garages for termite tubes!  Happy Home-ownership! 

Jazzy's DNA Test

One of the Christmas presents I am most excited about is Jazzy's DNA test that my mom got for me and Jazzy!  I've always wondered exactly which breeds make up my sweet little Jazzy.  The organization we adopted Jazzy from believes she's a Shih Tzu mix, but that was just their best guess based on her coloring. Adam and I definitely think she has some terrier in her and her sweet little face reminds us of a Brussels Griffon.  But now we'll get to find out exactly which breeds are in Jazzy's DNA with the Wisdom Panel test. The Wisdom Panel is a DNA test for dogs that can tell you information about your dog, including their breed(s).    

It was very simple to do the test.  It comes in the mail and all you do is swab the inside of your dog's cheek and mail back the swabs.  You also activate the test online so they can email you the results as soon as the DNA tests are complete.  

Adam and I are pretty pumped to see what the results reveal!  Jazzy seems like she already knows the results.  Look at that face!  She's dying to tell us!  Too bad she can't talk...  

I'll be sure to share the results as soon as I get them emailed to me in 2-3 weeks!