SNOW!

Ah, the joys of living in Upstate New York.  It wasn't even Halloween yet and already we had a few inches of snow come down.  In a way it's depressing that I already have my heat turned on at home.  And, of course I wasn't ready for any of that white stuff to be flying around.  I had to have my snow tires put on this weekend.  And do you remember that tree we had taken down only a few weeks ago?  Yeah, that puppy still needed to be split into firewood sized pieces and stacked.  For those of you who don't know me, manual labor is probably my least favorite part of home-ownership.  Yeah, I'm a whiny baby  and I'm okay with it.  My arms (mostly in the forearm area) and my lower back are still protesting today from the splitting and stacking that needed to occur before the snow fell.  Not to mention I hadn't yet swapped out my summer clothes for my winter clothes so this was a must seeing as how I only had a few sweatshirts in my drawers.  Side note: for those of you who do not have to swap clothing out by season, let me explain. We own a 1950's Cape Cod so our closet sizes  unfortunately make this a necessary chore. 

Aside from the nuances of getting ready for winter, I can say that I enjoy the snow moreso now that we have a snowmobile.  The last two winters have resulted in a decent amount of snow and we've made the most of vacation days and weekends to get out and about in it.  Last year we went as far as Utica, which is quite a ways from us by car so you can imagine how long of a day it was via snowmobile.  The great thing about getting out and snowmobiling are all the little bar/pubs along the trails.  There are some real gems that we look forward to stopping at along the way.  The Pleasant Brook Hotel, for instance, has the best honey-mustard wings.  The Red Barn in Summit has awesome texas style bbq, and Jack's has a humongous burger and sweet potato fries.  All relatively cheap, but equally delicious.  The only downside is snowmobile season does not open until December.  So you can imagine my dismay with snow in October and November.

Do you partake in any seasonal sports?  Do you snowmobile?  Any little places you recommend?

Self Sufficient

Every day my husband and I become a little more self-sufficient.  Home-ownership, in all its glory, hasn't exactly been easy for two twenty year olds who have no prior background in home improvement projects.  Since we've bought the house we have become quite adept at wallpaper removal, painting and trim work, texturing ceilings, building mail boxes, installing sump pumps, and switching out electrical outlets.  We've dabbled in some light gardening, both flowers and vegetables, but haven't really enjoyed the weeding and upkeep. This weekend we have entered the uncharted territory of tree removal.

When we'd moved in there was a beautiful Elm tree next to the house.  Unfortunately since we've moved in, it decided to die.  With the last few storms we've had and the sorts of winters upstate NY goes through, we opted to take it down prior to it taking out a portion of our roof.  A friend of my sister's offered to assist us in the removal as it's sort of his thing, and Saturday was slotted as doom's day for Mr. Elm.  Well, this tree didn't want to go out without a fight and decided to bend a few gutter clips on the way down.  I guess it could have gone worse, but now we'll have to add "mending gutters" to our repertoire of skills.   Justin purchased a chainsaw (insert manly grunt here) and together we managed to dismember the tree into firewood and dispose of the less useful branches in a matter of a few hours.  

As sore as I am today, it does feel good to look back on one more household item we've managed to tackle successfully.  Now to get the guts to demolish and reassemble the upstairs bathroom on our own.

Do you have any successful (or unsuccessful) home-ownership stories to share?  Any tips or tricks for do-it-yourself bathroom restorations?