“So you think you can homeowner”?

Instead of “So you think you can dance”…we are going with “So you think you can homeowner?”  We have not yet reached a verdict.  We closed on our house on March 8th and weren’t able to move in until just a few days ago.  Since owning the home…we have spent 2 weeks painting and 2 weeks refinishing the floors.  When we’ve told people that we are refinishing our 1500 square foot home where the bathrooms, kitchen, and backporch are the only rooms without hardwood floors….everyone’s reactions have been that of shock and awe and then “Well you guys are young and have lots of energy.”  Well…I have to tell ya…the energy left before we got to the floors.  But we had to press on and press on we did.  After doing the floors….I think a more accurate line should have been….”Well you guys are young and naive because you have no idea what you are getting yourselves into…but best of luck!”  Haha.

The floors were quite the project.  I think it was good that we didn’t know what we were getting into.  If we did…I don’t think we would have made the attempt.  We bought a DVD from Lowe’s that shows a woman refinishing floors.  It looked so effortless!  Well….we rented the sander that is in the DVD and went to town with it.  We knew that the sander wouldn’t be able to get the edges, so we bought a small hand sander for that.  After sanding with the large sander….we soon realized that we would be doing a lot more sanding with the hand sander then just the edges.  Our house was built in 1928 and has been through a flood….which those two things appartently leave a floor slightly uneven….just enough that there are a lot of spots that require you to get down on your hands and knees….and that’s just what we did.  Inch by inch we sanded away….painfully.  Our wrist got so soar that we taped them up like boxers to try and help.  Then….after sanding….after we thought the worst was over…it was time to stain.  We put the stain on and quickly realized it would not be as easy as well.  Some spots drank up the stain….other spots didn’t like it as much.  We got finished staining the first room and thought we would have to sand it and try all over again because it looked so bad.  In a panic we called James’ sister-in-law, Megan and asked her advise since she had refinished floors before.  Apparently we were suppose to put water on the wood before the stain…..but why didn’t the movie or the can say that?  Grrrr.  Well…the water worked great….so on we went.  There were also a couple of rooms that we stained and when we went back to look at them the next day…they looked aweful…so we had to do some more touch ups.  Well…after completing the upstairs with stain, the first room started looking better….so that was good.  Then when it came time to put the sealer on we were not thrilled to find out that you have to sand between coats.  What?  More sanding!!!!!!  Everything just took twice as long as we thought it would.  So our week long project ended up taking 2 weeks.  But eventually it was finished and hopefully looks better then when we started.

I’ve heard people say that with homeownership you will encounter unexpected repairs and that you will always have something to fix.  So I expected that.  What I didn’t expect was for so much to break and need fixed before we actually moved in.  Since closing on the home and while working on the walls and floors….a water spot has increased greatly in size on the backporch….the downstairs bathroom has a leak in one of the lines (yeah…we fixed that by just turning off the water…but that won’t solve that problem for long)….wasps have come through the holes in our screens….a cord has broken on one of our windows….the outlet has stopped working in the bathroom upstairs….a spot has formed on the back lawn that looks like the grass is rotting….and I’m sure there is more.  And if that wasn’t enough…we created more work for ourselves when doing the floors.  We decided to take some pieces of wood that looked to be on the stairs from when they had carpet on it….and in doing so….we cracked one of the boards on the stairs…so it might now need replaced….sweet!  Also…when washing the large blinds from the stairwell…I broke some of the ribbons and now that needs fixed before it can go back up….wonderful!  And this is all on top of a list of things we already knew about before moving in.

So you think you can homeowner?  Well…hopefully we don’t get kicked out before we can learn to become professional homeowners….or at least talented enough to fake it! So it looks like we have our work cut out for us for the next few years.  It’s going to be quite the learning experience.  Hopefully down the road we can turn around and see positive improvements and not a home that needs to be on a HGTV special where the homeowners have destroyed it so badly that they need to bring in special reinforcements!  So stay tuned!

Well this post hasn’t turned out the way I think it was suppose to go.  I think James wanted me to write more about our lovely bed and breakfast that will soon be opening….oops.  Well the Baldwin Bed and Breakfast WILL soon be opening.  I guess I didn’t make a great pitch for it….maybe the pictures will do a better job.  We would love to have company so please…make your reservations now and get in on our early bird specials (please see below for further details on the B and B)!!  I’m positive that when you see all the love and hard work that is being put into this place…that you will grow to love it as well and want to return time and time again.

Here’s pictures of the transformation of our house.  The homeowner before us decorated really nice….so the before pictures are really nice….hopefully the after pictures (which won’t be for awhile since we don’t have all our furniture) will be just as nice:

http://picasaweb.google.com/james.becky.baldwin/703JeffersonAve#

Here’s before and after shots of the walls and floors:

http://picasaweb.google.com/james.becky.baldwin/BeforeAndAftersOfJefferson#

Special note:  The Baldwin Bed and Breakfast will not be an actual B & B for just anyone.  We only take VIPs (family, friends, acquaintances of family and friends, etc.).  So you know you are special when we accept your reservation!  The cost of your stay:  priceless.

On the Move Yet Again!!!

Wow!  So I just read what our last post was….moving to a new apartment.  Well….we’ve moved yet again!!!!

That’s right….James and I have ventured from Georgia and have landed in Huntington, West Virginia. James got a job as the city planner for Huntington…and big infasis on THE. He’s a one man wrecking crew and is working at getting his first week under his belt. He’s even already been to the Mayor and City Counsel meeting, where he was introduced! I’m excited for him and his new role. Huntington, watch out!

Right now we are renting an apartment and only signed a 3 month lease. Our plan is to buy a house in the next few months!! We actually put an offer on a home already and are in the middle of counter-offers.  Yike!

We leave behind in Georgia great friends and family. It was really hard to say goodbye and feel blessed beyond belief from everyones love. But we rejoice in having met those friends and having gotten closer to family and we are excited for future visits to the south to see everyone and reconnect like old times! Of course, our mountain door is alway open in the great Wild and Wonderful West Virginia!

So I’m predicting the next post to be about us moving again…into our first home. Hopefully this time we’ll be staying a bit longer.

Our Third Floor Apartment

James' First Week as The City Planner of Huntington, WV

New Georgia Home

So our lease was up at our place and James and I decided to move!  This is the first move that we’ve made where we didn’t move due to a big life changing event (marriage, graduation, new job, etc).  Instead, we moved 4 miles away and went to our same jobs the next week.  We decided to move because our old place was giving us problems and we found a cheaper option.  So far…we are pleased with our decision.

This was by far the easiest move we’ve ever made.  It helped that we moved from one ground level to another.  Also, our new place has 3 different entries.  But this biggest difference was all the muscle men that came to help!  We had 8 strapping lads, 1 celeb visit, and 2 supervisors (me and little KJ-James’ co-worker’s son).  With everyone’s help, our stuff was loaded…moved…and unloaded in less than 3 hours!  Wow!  When we got to our new place, I barely had time to run to Papa Johns to get pizza before they had everything unloaded.  

We are still half way between both of our works.  We are also right across the street from a National Park…which makes evening walks great!  So far we have not had too many bug encounters…a huge plus.  Though…James and I are getting really good at attacking the intruders!

We love visitors….so feel free to reserve your spot at the Baldwin Bed and Breakfast!

Pictures of our move and new Georgia home.

Summertime in Georgia

 Hey Ye’all!

So…Georgia has still been treating us well.  We have been enjoying the weather.  We have definitely felt the Georgia heat…but are grateful that we have been experiencing a milder summer for this time of year.   With the heat, we haven’t been as adventurous with our hikes.  Instead, we were able to take a couple of fun road trips. 

In May, we checked another state capital off our list.  This time, Montgomery, Alabama.  This was a really fun city to visit.  It was a small southern town with a ton of history!  It was really interesting to see historical landmarks that we’ve only read in history books.  It really brought the civil war period back to life when we saw the “White House” for the Confederate states.  Well…we kinda saw it.  We drove right past it and didn’t realize what it was until we were told about it on our tour of the capital.  It also brought the recent history of the civil rights period to life.  Again…so much of this period we’ve only read in our history books.  It was very sobering to be on the streets where the Bus Boycott took place or to stand on the square where a famous civil rights gathering took place (sorry, blanking on the details at this moment).  Our tour guide also had a lot of history to him.  He participated in the March from Selma and was actually standing so close to Martin Luther King, Jr. when he was shot, that he couldn’t tell if he was shot as well as he was covered with so much blood.  On our road trip to and from the capital…we also had fun counting the armadillo that were on the side of the road.  Yes…it was road kill…but still kinda cool to see armadillos!  You don’t see that in the midwest!

In June, we celebrated our 4thAnniversary with a trip to Savannah, GA.  This was also another neat southern town.   On the first night, we enjoyed a quick swim in the ocean…and dinner down on the river walk.  Now…when I say a quick swim, I mean we were able to enjoy about 5 minutes of swim time.  When we went down to the beach, we were just planning on walking along the water and not actually get in.  It was such a beautiful day…with not a cloud in the sky!  That is…until we decided to go to the car…put extra money in the meter…go change into our swim suits in the hot stinky bathroom…and then take a refreshing dip.  Well…as soon as we made our way down to the beach with our swim suites on…we saw a huge storm coming.  People in the south must not be as afraid of lightening as those up north because we saw lightening in the sky and the lifegaurds still didn’t blow their whistles.  James and I decided that they were nuts and made our way back to the car.  That night we ventured down to the river walk where we had a great dinner with lots of fresh seafood.  Yum!!   We also saw dolphins swimming in the river…what a bonus!  The next day we did more sight seeing.  We went to an old cemetery that was apparently written about in a book called, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”  James and I had never read the book…but decided to check out the cemetery anyway.  After our cemetery excursion, we took a trolley around downtown Savannah and listened to our tour guide tell us about the history of Savannah.  One of the things Savannah is known for is all of its squares.  There are 40+ squares all around the city.  This was done for military reasons…but I won’t go into that.  Besides all of the beautiful squares, two our of main highlights were being reminded that Forest Gump took place in Savannah (including most of the army scenes) and James discovering who Casmir Pulaski was (originally only known to James as the guy who got him out of school every February on Casmir Pulaski Day!).  It was a great weekend getaway!

In July, we were excited to be able to host my parents and sister Susan!  They came down to run with James in the PeachtreeRace, the largest 10K race in the world!  They ran with 55,000 other patriotic runners on the 4thof July!  My dad and I were there for moral support, along with my cousin Kary and her family.  It was so great to have family around!  While they were still in Georgia visiting, we took them to Stone Mountain, the Georgia Aquarium, The Margarett Mitchell Home, Centennial Park (where we found Grandpa and Grandma Murray’s brick), Amicalola Falls, and even a trip to James’ Aunt and Uncles home to check on their animals!!  Again….so great to have family visit!

Finally, we kicked off August with a friendly Kidnapping!  We kidnapped our friends the Corbetts and whisked them away for a day in Gatlinburg, TN!  We gave them the clues of:  Hillbillies, salt and pepper, jelly, and bears.  Needless to say, they didn’t guess where we were going or what we were doing.  So what did we end up doing?  Well….”bears” was for the scenic route through the Smokey Mountain National Park.  “Hillbillies” was for the game of Hillbilly Golf that we played on the side of a mountain.  “Salt and Pepper” was for the salt and pepper museum that we visited.  And “Jelly” was for the jelly store where we sampled different kinds of jelly…including Moonshine jelly!  We returned them safely that night.  I would like to say we returned them without a scratch…but that isn’t true.  Chris somehow scratched his cornea and had to where Sally’s sunglasses the majority of the trip.  He was a good hostage though as he held out the whole day!

So…September is soon approaching and where will we be heading next?  To a new apartment complex!!  Our lease is up on our current place and we are packing our bags and moving on!  We are doing this for a few reasons.  The main reason is that our current apartment has a huge penalty if we were to break our lease.  As this is a huge possibility as James has been keeping his eye open for other job opportunities, we decided that we needed a place that was a little more friendly in that area.  The other reason why we have decided to move is that we have been having problems with our current apartment (things not getting fixed, etc.). 

We’ve been in Georgia a year now and we’ve enjoyed our time.  It’s been a little hard at times to be so far away from family and friends…so we have enjoyed all of our visitors.  This summer we actually had a pretty hopping Baldwin Bed and Breakfast!  Our friends Jeremy and Jessica Johnson (and Layla) stopped by while traveling to and from Florida, Jennifer and Josh Frizzel paid us a surprise visit (and I do mean surprise!  They made their way to our front door by looking at pictures and information that I’ve posted on the Internet and facebook!!  A lesson well learned.  Don’t worry Jen and Josh…you’re not the reason we are moving!), and Josh Constable (a college friend who was on his way back from reffing in Florida).  You may think that we favor those withnames that begin with a J.  Well…we would love to have a Jenny, Julie, Jen, Justin and Jessie down to visit…but we do like to have other letters of the alphabet stay with us as well!!  (sorry…I’m sure I got many eyeball rolls with that one…haha.)  So right now we are at a little bit of a cross roads.  Where will God take us next?  Will we be in Georgia another year?  Will we soon be going somewhere else?  Only time will tell.  Until then…we just keep plugging along.  God has put so many special people in our path and we are so thankful! 

Here’s some pictures of our summer adventures:

Savannah and Montgomery

http://picasaweb.google.com/james.becky.baldwin/SavannahAndMontgomery#

The 4th of July Weekend

http://picasaweb.google.com/james.becky.baldwin/070709#

Corbett Kidnapping

http://picasaweb.google.com/james.becky.baldwin/20090804CorbettKidnapping#

Front Porch Grub!!

After venturing through Providence Canyon, James and I worked up quite an appetite.  As we were in the middle of nowhere in southern Georgia, we were delighted to see a sign for barbeque!!!  But this wasn’t just any barbeque restaurant!!  This was a front porch dinning experience.  Let me tell you….they were not stretching the truth when they said FRONT PORCH!!  Check out where we got our grub in this 2 stop sign sized town!!!!  It’s hilarious and their butts really did smell good!!!  

      

Classic!

Reclaiming Our Throne

“Oh, my!”  ”Jeepers” “Can you believe it?”  ”Uhhhhhhhhhh.”  All these express our reaction when we tried to take the ants of our apartment complex into our own hands.  So…my friend Marci told me about this great ant bait…Terro.  She said it works great….and she wasn’t kidding!!  What she forgot to mention….is that you’ll take care of all the ants from miles…or several apartments…away!!  Like with our other blogs….we’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

    

We had a steady stream of these guys for two or three days.  Then they slowed down so I cleaned up all the ants off the floor…all to have them come back the next day!  They weren’t as bad the second time….but they won.  We gave them the bathroom!!!!  We’ve been using the other bathroom for the past two weeks.  But as they’ve pretty much stopped their steady stream and I only see the occasional “drifter”….I think it’s about time to go back in and reclaim our throne!!

The Magical Land of North Georgia

Before James and I embarked on our magical journey through North Georgia….we went downtown on New Year’s Eve.  We gathered with a large mob of fellow Georgians.  I guess you could say that it was the start of our magical journey….after all…it’s not every day that you go to see a peach drop.  But that it just what we did.  When we got down town…it was so crowded that we had to walk up to the 4th floor of one of the castles…..locally know as a parking garage.  From this tower, we were able to watch the peach slowly descend.  As we were just above the top of some of the buidlings…we had to wait until we heard our fellow Georgians to know when to actually start the count down.  Once the peach finished dropping….we celebrated with a New Year’s Kiss….fireworks…and the sweet aroma of what our neighbor Georgian’s were smoking….haha.

    

 

So that was on Wednesday Night/Thursday Morning…..after a short trip back to reality (aka…Becky’s job on Friday-which was only a magical 3 hours long…woohoo!)….on Saturday…we stepped back into our fairly tale land and with our new stallion (The Rondo) we rode off into the North Georgia Mountains.  

An hour on the journey we entered Cleveland, GA and noticed a sign that read “Babyland Hospital, the original Cabbage Patch Kids.”  Could this really be it?  Did we stumble upon the one and only Cabbage Patch Land?!!  Why yes we did.  They were very friendly.  They let us tour their hospital, meet with all the kids up for adoption, and even watch a cabbage patch be born!!!  They even cleared up the story about the birds and the bees for us!

      

After that eye opening experience, we continued our journey.  Next stop….Germany!!!  That’s right…..we are just a hop, skip, and a jump from the land of the Germans….I think Hansel and Grettle must have vacationed here in Helen, GA a time or two because there were a lot of candy shops in their honor.  We’ll let some of the pictures explain.  You will be proud to know though…that James’ adventurous spirit lead to him actually ordering and eating a bratwurst with sauerkraut and German potato salad!!

   

After saying Goodbye to all our new troll friends….we continued on.  Next stop….the Waterfall of Transcending Dreams (aka Ana Ruby Falls).  We’ll just let the video speak for itself.

So how do you end a trip like this?  Hmmm…..How about a quick trip to the end of the world and back!!!!  Yup…to the end of the world and back!!!!  We each accomplished this in roughly a minute!!!!!  Check it out:

As you can imagine….this magically journey wiped us out….especailly since the intense fog (magical fog of course)…didn’t want to let up for us as we winded down the mountains in search of our apartment in the Sandy Springs.

For more pictures of this magical weekend….please click on the magical link….right about…….here….and continue on the journey………..but be sure to be back before dinner!

A Murray Christmas

A Murray Christmas

by Becky Baldwin

Christmas in Atlanta began for us on Tuesday….with the arrival of James’ parents!!!  It was great to have their company for the holidays!!  They left this morning…and we already miss them.  I especially will miss the coffee in the morning as I am too lazy to make coffee for myself….it was great having a pot full every morning!!  Here’s a snapshot of our Murray Christmas (as it was also spent with Uncle Rob and Aunt Monica…and their honorary guests Grandpa and Grandma Murray).

Food.

  Family.

   Fun.

    And farm animals.

 

I had to work the day after Christmas, so James took his parents on a tour of the city….which consisted of a trip to the International Market, a drive past our church, Wal-Mart (for a new airmattress for us…as it kept deflating!), a stop by my work in Midtown, and of course….The Varsity!!  The evening was capped off with a visit to Chan and Pam’s old college friends!! They lived near each other in married family housing at Purdue.  Since then, they have talked off and on with each other over the years and haven’t seen each other for over 20 years!!  After James’ parents decided to come down and visit us for Christmas, they found out that not only were their friends living in Georgia, but that they lived less than a mile from where James works!!!!  They were lovely hosts and it was a special moment to be a part of!  One way to highlight how special this reunion was is when we first arrived, their daughter had a video camera on us as we entered to capture the moment of everyone seeing each other for the first time in a long time!

 

They were able to share pictures with each other of their families and reminess over their memories of each other at Purdue.  James and I enjoyed meeting everyone, eating yummy dessert, and drinking Indian tea!  We kept thinking of how special this moment was….and dreaming of being able to experience a moment like this in the future ourselves.

 

Saturday came way to fast.  We don’t know where the time went!  Saturday….we enjoyed sleeping in….as we stayed up late on Friday night talking.  So after slowly waking up, we took James’ parents for a little stroll by the Roswell Mill….where Roswell first was started.  Mom and Dad….we need to take you here when you come down next!  We just discovered this a few weeks ago and know you’ll enjoy it.  Don’t worry mom….I’m pretty sure you’re not allowed to take anything!!

            

 

Well….the wonderful week was ended with a last reunion of the “Southern Murray Christmas Clan” at Macaroni Grill.  We…yet again…enjoyed our time together….especially at the end where we were able to have a little cake celebration for Grandpa and Grandma’s 55th Wedding Anniversary!!!!!

 

Happy Anniversary!!!!!! 

 

Well….we hope you enjoyed this story of a family and their very Merry Murray Christmas!  If you enjoyed the Christmas tale….we invite all family members (Barth and Baldwin…and other tree extensions)…as well as friends…to come down south to experience a very Merry __________ (enter your name here) time.  

Home for the Holidays

Christmas this year was spent a little different than past years….but still VERY enjoyable.  Christmas with my family consisted of flying home the weekend before Christmas for a quick visit.  We enjoyed “fighting” over who got to lay on the new dog pillow.  Don’t worry….Sammy (the family retriever) never won the fight.  Actually, Susan picked out the pillow…as it looked like a perfect pillow to lay in the middle of the living room while we watched TV…and it was!

 

I also had time to help make some Christmas candies (turtles and buckeyes)….which were very much enjoyed by the Murray’s in the south!  When we flew back to Atlanta…we were only charged parking for 2 days and 2 hours!  Quick Trip!

“Baldwin Trails” Hit the Georgia Trails

So this past weekend James and I went to Red Top Mountain State Park.  It was a perfect day…especially with the temperature….just perfect!  We only wish that we would have went a little earlier in the day so our pictures would be more vibrant…also…some are a little fuzzy because of the dusk setting in.  We did the 5.5 mile hike!!!!  We were definetly feeling it…but I’m very proud of James for trucking right along.  We got a good sweat and a good workout and it felt great!  I don’t like to push  myself everyday…but every once in awhile…it feels great to really work hard and push yourself!

The other thing that was great about the park…besides the beautiful trees and lake and wonderful weather…was that the paths were wide and we could see through the woods….as the trees are tall and the brush was low.  I especially liked this because I didn’t have to be afraid of things popping out at me.  Yes, I’m a scardy cat!!  So I enjoyed the open spaces.  There were also a lot of people on the trail…which made me happy because I didn’t walk through a single spider web….I’m assuming everyone cleared them out of the way for me!  How very thoughtful.  So…here are some of the pictures.  If you like what you see….we would love to take you there when you come and visit…..(wink, wink).

The water is really low.