Resolutions

Wow, it's been a while since I've blogged, but since it's a new year I think it's time to start anew and make a conscious effort to blog on a regular basis. So, I'll start with my resolutions for the year.

1. Blog at least once a week.
-I (we) have been really bad about blogging. The thing is that I don't really feel like we do enough on a regular basis to blog daily, but we could do a blog a week.

2. Get healthy.
-This is more than just "lose weight" or "exercise". This is all of the above. Lose weight, exercise, change the way I eat and what I eat, take my vitamins, get enough sleep, and so on. I'm going to be 30 this year and I want to make sure that I start the next decade of my life off right.

3. Practice yoga at home.
-I take a yoga class once a week and I love it, but I think I've only actually done yoga in the house once. I really need to change this (part of the whole getting healthy thing) because yoga is just so good for me in so many ways. I have a couple of yoga DVDs and the WiiFit. I just need to use them. Also, my yoga instructor is offering a workshop in a few weeks all about how home practice and I think I'm going to go and see what she has to say about that.

4. Come up with and use a chore chart.
-I have a tendency to let certain chores go far as long as I can stand and then I spend a whole day cleaning. I really need to get in the habit (and get Joe in the habit too) of doing things on a regular basis so we don't have to scramble to clean the house if people are coming over and so I don't get so fed up with how things are that I spend the day cleaning like a mad woman.

5. Finish the "Year of the House" list.
-We're close, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades so there's a lot to be done. I'm looking forward to our house being done.

I think that's enough for now. And I think all of these resolutions are things that I can accomplish.

The Year of the House

Welcome to "Houdini Lives Here"...


A little bit about us - we're Katie & Joe and we're newlyweds who live in suburban Maryland. Both of us have lived in Maryland our entire lives, we went to Catholic school for 1st-12th grades, we both went to college in the Baltimore area, and we both have jobs related to the federal government. A match made in heaven, right? We thought so which is why we got married September 19, 2009. A few months before getting married, we bought a house. And a few months after getting married, we adopted a cat named Houdini. He's pretty awesome so when we decided to start a blog, we knew he would be talked about a lot and so would our house so we decided on the name "Houdini Lives Here".


We closed on our house almost a year ago and it was pretty much move-in ready. Sure, there were things we wanted to change about it, but the only thing that was so offensive we had to change it before we moved in was the wallpaper in the master bedroom. You can see why below.





So, over the course of 2 weekends, we removed wallpaper, cleaned the walls, spackled, sanded, primed, and painted the bedroom. Many thanks to Jake, Liz, Justin, Bernadette, and Katie's parents and brother Jonathan who helped us out those 2 weekends. We should really take some pictures of what it looks like now. We'll do that and post a side by side compairison sometime soon.


So after we got settled in and got Houdini settled in, we decided to come up with a list of the things we want to do to our house and we decided that 2010 was going to be "The Year of the House" so that we could enjoy as many of the changes we wanted to make for as long as possible. A lot of what we'll blog about will probably revolve around this list so here it is:


1. Update Master Bathroom - new paint, flooring, fixtures, sink, vanity, mirror, medicine cabinet, lighting, vent colvers, toilet, and ceiling fan.


2. New windows and sliding door.


3. Update Office (3rd bedroom) - new paint and carpeting, organize closet, put artwork up on walls.


4. Finish Master Bedroom - new blinds and maybe some valances, put up pictures and/or artwork.


5. Finish off Main Floor - valances for kitchen & possibly porch door, put together DVD shelf for living room, find a side table for living room, put artwork/pictures up in living room, dining room, kitchen, powder room, replace TP holder in power room, get new towels, rugs, soap dispenser, etc. for powder room, replace brass light domes, fix living room couch.


6. New appliances - dishwasher, dryer, range hood, washer (?), back-up power source for sump pump.


7. Finish off Guest Bedroom - go through boxes in closet and get it organized (totally Katie's job since all of those boxes came from her apartment or her parents' house), put up curtains and put some things up on the walls.


8. Basement storage - organize crawl space & storage area, get some additional shelving.


9. Update basement - new carpeting, paint paneling, put stuff up on walls, get new blinds or curtains, big TV & stand, possibly surround sound, get CD on shelf, organize Katie's office/craft area, electric fireplace (?)


10. Outside - new pots for front porch, power wash concrete in front and back, get a lawnmower, fix up planter areas.


Yeah, we know, "The Year of the House" might end up taking more than 1 year. So we'll be posting blogs & pictures of what we've already done in between blogs about what we're doing, blogs about Houdini, and blogs about life in general. We hope you enjoy!