Clearing the haze

I promise my blog isn't going to become solely about the new house. I'm still gonna torture primarily with stories about the kids and my netheregions.

But right now a lot of my time outside of work is occupied by house-related things. Tonight, for example, we're meeting with one of our prospective contractors to review his bid.  {butterflies in my tummy}

And last weekend, I spent all day Saturday at the new house trying to undo some of the damage that was done either intentionally -- albeit innocently -- or through neglect. For example, the previous owners' daughters apparently loved stickers so much that they stuck them on nearly every surface, including many of the plantation shutters, the leaded-glass front door, and many of the interior doors.

I didn't have any Goo Gone with me, but I tried a few other things. Nothing worked, because these had been baked on by the sun over several years, so I went to Home Depot on Sunday and bought some Goo Gone, and I'll try again this weekend.

The other big project I tackled was cleaning the bottom floor of windows and casings. I think I told you that the house has been vacant for two years, and they really deferred all of the basic maintenance of the property during that time.

I mean, when you were inside the house looking out, it was as if you were trying to see through a swamp. I just couldn't take it anymore.

So even though it will eventually get a good pressure-washing and painting, I spent four hours out there scrubbing and wiping and swiping as best I could to get them in a little better shape. I didn't have a ladder, so I couldn't get the very tops, but here's a look at the difference it made. The left window is untouched, and the right is after I'd worked on it.

A different window before:

And a different window after:

The French doors before:

And the French doors after:

I mean, they're still rotting. There's nothing I can do about that with my paper towels, sponge and Windex. But at least we can see through them now. And it makes a HUGE difference in how it feels to be in the room, looking through to the outside.

Every time I'm there, giving this house a little love, I can practically feel it thanking me. I'm so happy to have the chance to give it a new life ... I don't understand how someone can let such a beautiful home fall into such a state of disrepair.

But I hope she's ready! She's about to get new dancing shoes.