A snowy, haunted week

A few weeks ago, Mike uttered the damning words at our old apartment: "You know, everyone's been complaining about this winter, but I think it's been rather easy."

Let's rewind. 

... at our old apartment ...

Yes, you can blame this snow and bitter cold on us. Mother Nature quickly reminded us of the oh-so-fun parts of homeownership in the Midwest. After slogging through a snowy, slushy rush hour, we came home to discover that, oops, our snowblower was out of juice and we'd loaned our gas cans to Mike's dad several weeks ago. So, we grabbed the ol' shovels and went to town on the driveway and sidewalks, knowing that it'd drift overnight and be pointless. And it was. In sub-zero windchills. Yay owning a home!! We did miss the cozy apartment with free snow clearing and heat. Oh well. We still love you, house.

Last week I did a run through several stores on the hunt for some house stuff, namely a bed set for the guest queen. Along with finding something that wouldn't clash horribly with the uber blue walls of the guest room (and not look like a dorm bedspread), I came across some beautiful curtains for the master bedroom.

But because they were at TJMaxx and the first stop on my shopping loop, I decided to hide them and come back for them if I didn't find something better. Well, by 8 p.m., I was pooped and curtainless. So, I spent the next day crossing my fingers they'd still be under an ugly, clearance bath rug. 

They weren't!

The situation wasn't worthy of a Skywalker NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooOOOOooOOOOOO!! But I was disappointed. Then I found them under a questionable throw pillow one shelf over and merrily skipped to the register. They are silvery and shiny, which I think will be nice and bright in the cozy master. Interesting without clashing with anything we already know and should stay for the long haul, once we figure out our bedroom aesthetic. Unless we go Dracula Castle in the master. Always an option ...

Anyway, when I showed them to Mike, this happened:

Yeah, the house is haunted.

Tonight we were going to hang said curtains (yeah, yeah, they've been folded up in a corner for over a week, we've been busy) just in time for my dad and step-mom to visit from out of town. But we ran into a few snags.

1) Where be ye ol' hanging mechanism, known in some parts as a rod?

2) Ah-ha, the absent wayfarer as been found! But alas, 'tis but a stubby thing by colonial home standards.

3) Woe is us! The old bracket holes are far too low for the glorious height of these exquisite lengths!

Translation: We couldn't find the rod. We wandered around the house, discovering all sorts of things, and then finally found it about the time we said, "Screw it, what's on Netflix?" Then there was a debate if it was the right rod (it was), because Mike remembered the really lovely rod we had to leave in the previous house, according to the buyers' contract. THEN, it was baaaarely wide enough to cover the window width, and we didn't like the placement of the previous rod (too low). 

So after some debate, we decided tonight would not be the night for curtains. We were trying to force it to work, and we are trying a darndest to do things right, not cheap or easy **coughhalfassedcough**. So, we moved onto returning hardware to the master bath, now that Phase 1 is more or less complete. 

But.

The old towel rods just looked cheap and gross. If they were nice quality, we would just clean them up and pop them back on. But they were cheap and not aesthetically pleasing. Again, we want to respect and love this house, and as much as it pains us to spend $$ on towel rods, we're just gonna have to suck it up. Granted, we aren't going to spend Pottery Barn amounts of money on simple hardware, but we might have to go beyond the dollar bin.

So, we measured again, jotted it down. Then we had to face the plug and switch plates. Cheap-o beige, which was okay until we freshened the room up. Now they stick out like an old, warty thumb. Let me tell you, face plates for the plugs are cheap. Until you need to reface the socket part. And the light switches. Ugh. I just have to tell myself that the room will be so much more enjoyable without random floating rectangles of beige. And it's just the master suite. We aren't re-facing the whole house. Maybe eventually over time, as we figure out what we want with each room. Most of the hardware we're cool with, minus some mismatched and/or outdated cabinet pulls. We dig the handles on the doors. 

And I wish I had a sassy, clever way to wrap this up. But I don't. My thoughts were clearer about 20 minutes ago. Tonight we had a whole list of little, silly things to accomplish ... and List 1, M&Em 0.

Till next time ... I hope it's more exciting.