Halloween et cetera

Here is what our house looked like on Halloween:

I must say the scariness of our house was lost in the picture due to my flash. There are no street lights, so the only light was from the green lights on the railing. And we played The Candyman soundtrack (thank you Ryan). It was very scary. Little kids had serious hesitation in coming up the stairs. We hope to add to our Halloween decorations over the year and eventually develop a haunted house of infamy. This year on decorations I spent less than $15. The lights were purchased for 90% off a couple Christmases ago. The two paper jack-o-lanterns on the bottom were 2 for $5 at Walgreens regular price. They are battery powered and resuable, so that's exciting. The top two are actual carved pumpkins costing $4 each. The black thing was a Martha Stuart project I found online made out of black garbage bags. I told Richard it was $40 marked down to $30, so I had to buy it. He actually believed me. Then I asked him to please have more faith in me than that.

I dressed up as Sarah Palin. It was very last minute.

I should have gone all out and cut real bangs. It only cost $9 for glasses in which I could not see and $11 for heels in which I could not walk. I was stumbling around all night. And it didn't help that Richard made up a really fun drinking game in which the four of us each picked a costume accessory, and anytime a trick-or-treater came with that accessory the other three had to take a shot. Mine was crowns, Genny's was wings, Richard's was anything Star Wars, and Ryan's was blue jeans. Ryan was losing terribly until all the teenagers found out we were giving out full-size candy bars. Good thing we were only taking shots of Boone's Farm*. Halloween was a blast this year.

Genny went as an 80s girl, but I thought she kinda looked like Bristol. Teens are dressing 80s now, aren't they?

The contractors came back for a day and got a lot more work done. I think they only have one or two days left. Namely they are going to install a gutter on the south side of the house and install a shower enclosure on the claw foot tub. After that, we will be totally free of our 203k commitments and be able to tackle things at our own pace to our own standards. I am greatly looking forward to that. The next big project we are working on is the back porch. Here it is from the outside:

Here it is just after we moved in. By the way almost none of the dates are correct on my pictures. I finally learned how to just omit the date altogether.

Here's what it looked like for the next two months while we lived in a construction zone:

And here's what it looks like at this very moment:

The contractors moved the washer and dryer to make it a more usable space. They also built a ramp which keeps them level, which is a big improvement. To finish the space, I need to scrape and paint the floor, put down some rugs, touch up the paint around the windows, scrape the paint off the transom glass, and replace the screen door hardware (it is very difficult to lock and shut). I also want to put a UV-blocking screen over the screens that are currently there to keep it cooler in summertime. And I want to put a shade over the light fixture, install a ceiling fan that is currently in the bathroom, and buy a large enough table to have coffee and breakfast comfortably. And I will probably add a utility sink where the plumbing was for the old washer, but I'm not completely sure yet. I hope I have some type of progress to report tomorrow.

* I don't really ever drink Boone's Farm. And I especially wouldn't shoot it. I'm all about true martinis or fine tequila neat. The last time I had Boone's Farm I was in high school, and it was with my mother. This was in accommodation of our guests. Please don't judge.