Thursday, April 29, 2010

A good Home Depot run and a great dinner

Tonight, for the first time in over 7 months, I drank real sweet tea. Not only that. I had southern cornbread, mac and cheese, and cole slaw...all while reading an old Tuscaloosa magazine and staring at a picture of the Bear. You must be asking yourself, "when did she fly back home?". And I have to answer, this encounter took place in downtown Fort Collins at the new Moe's Original Bar-b-que.
Yes, the same Moe's that started in Alabama is right here in FoCo. And I can purchase as many gallons of that deliciousness as I like!

To top it off, Nate pretended to give a rat's behind about paint color and escorted me to the local Home Depot to check out paint samples.
I am considering "Blackberry Farm" as an accent wall in the living room and "Fresh Pineapple" for the kitchen. I am so excited I could pop!

A New Home (in one day)

Nate accepted the head S1 position at the armory the beginning of April. Alot has happened in a short amount of time.

So, let me break this down for you by date:
April 20: Find buyer's agent
April 21: Pre-qualification
April 23: House Hunt
April 24: Offer on House
And, yes, the offer was accepted. We will be closing and moving in on June 15, 2010....(we are the one with the big red door!)
God has hooked us up, no?




A shell ready for construction!

Months of: November 2009 - March 2010
The bus project had to be put on hold due to a few military schools this fall. Upon Nate's return home, we finished gutting the sucker. During the month of November, we had a completely hollowed out shell.
1) A new ceiling: foil insulation (soon to be followed by decorative tile)

2) New walls: 4x8 rigid foam insulation, 4x8 plywood

3) New floor: this one was a doozy!












For hours the floor was sanded by my diligent hubby to remove pesky rust spots. The hundred tiny holes left from the screws were patched with plexi-fiberglass sheeting and this really hard stuff...seriously, we had less than one minute to smear the crap on. If not, the goo hardened into a baseball on the paint brush.

Finally, we were able to lay out a plastic barrier. Rigid foam insulation was next, followed by the plywood. We are waiting to lay the indoor/outdoor carpet until the walls are painted.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Demolition 1: The floor

Months of: June 2009 - August 2009
There really isn't a nice way to put this. Pulling up rubber matting and wrotten floor is hell. And just when you think there is light at the end of the tunnel, turns out, you were only seeing the shiny heads of BOLTS. Hundreds and hundreds of bolts...

All about the paint.

Month of: June 2009
Brown primer: check
Awesome, patient neighbor, Rhea (the best taper in the world): check
Red roof rack and porch: check
Let the silver begin!












Exterior transformation: yellow block to silver spaceshuttle

Month of: May 2009
Here she is, in all her glory! We really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into when it came to priming the exterior. So, we started with warm soapy water and scrub brushes!



Nate doing his thing with the grinder to remove one of thousands of decals. I spent 5 tedious hours using a hot gun and scraper to remove the caution tape and stickers....After a beautiful trip down to Mexico (honeymoon), we headed back to Huntsville for the long haul to Colorado. Here is a picture displaying the many wedding gifts going along for the ride.

Time to head out! Paul, Nate's brother, decided to surprise us with a new hood for the road! The giraffe fits my personality to a tee. Plus, this was our first glimpse of the final, silver coating. She is SHINY!














The 1994 International School Bus



What: 1994 International 7.3L Diesel Shortbus


Purchased: May 2009




So, here is our weekend project. For over a decade Nate has dreamed of owning one of these babies. Initially the bus was to be used to haul around a punk band. Fortunately for Nate, he fell in love, got hitched, and is now turning his beloved band machine into a road trip shuttle!


Never the less, we have put alot of blood, sweat, and tears in to the thing, and its shaping up nicely.