The Early Days

Frustrated doesn't even begin to describe how I'm feeling right now. It's nothing life-critical, but the video we made with the FAQs is . . . just . . . totally . . . GONE. I thought I had stored it safely away in a folder . . . but I actually put it in the WRONG folder that I swiftly threw into my computer's trash can. And I have the settings on my computer set so that trash is automatically deleted.

Time. Energy. Wasted.


We will re-record this weekend, but that means the post we had scheduled for today (the ACTUAL day of our blogiversary) won't go up as planned. But it WILL go up sometime next week. I'll make sure of it. You all asked some great questions -- and though we weren't able to answer them all, we hit on the most frequently asked.

We were even a little charming and funny, too. And we're typically super awkward on camera!


Ah, memories.

I thought it'd be fun to link to our first week of posts. There were quite a few of them, too! We took some from our old blog and added a few new to get this site up and running.

• The "B" Word: Budget
• Whole Wheat-Cranberry Hazelnut Stuffing
• Irresistible (VEGAN) Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Cookies
• Chocolate Chunk & Banana Cookies
• Peanut Butter Cupcakes
• Roasted Eggplant Lasagna
• Easy Tofu Marinade
• Wheat and Oat Pancakes
• Quick and Crafty Wreath
• Sick Chick, Sick Chic
• A Twist on Apple Crisp
• DIY: How to Rip Up Old Carpeting
• Furniture Hunting Success Stories
• Kitchen Glamor on the Cheap
• Chocolate-Blueberry Tart

Even the word "overzealous" doesn't adequately describe the way we flooded the internet with posts that first week. What can I say? We were finding our groove. And over time, we've shifted focus to closely align with what comes most naturally to us: Running, Vegan/Vegetarian recipes, Healthy Living, etc.

(So, note to all you bloggers out there: Write what you LIVE. Then, coming up with content is easy!)


Now, those of your long-time readers may remember our monthly Blog Love Fests. The link list tool we used has undergone some changes, so we noticed the other day that all the old lists are -- GASP -- gone! For the Blogiversary, we thought we'd bring it back.

Just click below to enter your NAME, BLOG NAME, and BLOG ADDRESS (see my example for how it should look). Also: If you're reading this post from your favorite feed reader, you'll need to hop onto www.neverhomemaker.com -- the list won't show up unless you're on the site.




From the bottom of our hearts: Thank you for reading our blog. We mean it. That's why there isn't our usual "!" after the statement. Because we're serious, folks. Your comments and emails make our days brighter. And we hope we're able to do the same for you!

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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Our House -- The Early Days: Part II

I know you all enjoyed our "man cave" photos. Though, one of our Twitter followers argues that it's more of a "grandma basement" -- and I think I agree. And if you haven't already, check out Part I of Our House: The Early Days.

I came across tons of old photos this weekend. Photos I didn't even remember we had! I'm so happy we do, though. Because they're bad. They remind of us exactly how much we've done to this place in the just-shy-of 2 years we've lived here.



The kitchen was one of the first places we tackled. At least the wall coverings. The first photo of this post is of Stephen holding a sample of the old floral wallpaper that hung on the walls. It really was that bright. I ripped it down the morning after we moved in. The rest pulled together over several months to a year. And if you'd like to see what she looks like now, head over to our Kitchen Tour.



And we certainly enjoy the cluttered kitchen photo -- showing how crazy it was here as we moved in. As I remember, the kitchen was the place we put everything we didn't know what to do with. Sorted. Repeat. Same thing happened on the back porch. Luckily, we had pretty good weather while moving in.


The front entryway, as you may know, had a major makeover last fall. Definitely an improvement from this sparse, white-walled room.


Gotta love a Bath Fitter bathroom. I think that everything old was just covered with a new layer. We haven't removed them all yet, but in the bathroom, we've re-floored, put in a new pedestal sink and toilet, removed the shower door, painted, and other stuff. It's our only bathroom, and the way it looked when we moved in was crammed. Ick.




Ah, the living room carpet (and, really, all the carpet). We, of course, realize how intense this project was. Not only did we have to rip up the old, but the carpet pad was SO old, it was stuck to the floor. And not just stuck, cemented almost. The pad had turned to a solid, stone-like texture over the years. And we had to carefully scrape it off the floor with whatever we thought wouldn't ruin the finish. In my case, this meant a wooden kitchen utensil. To read all about our carpet eradication, check out How to Rip Up Old Carpeting.


If you'd like to see the progress we've made on the house, check out our House Tour and Kitchen Tour. There's certainly more work to be done! Have you ever taken the time to reminisce and look at old photos of your place in the early days? See anything that shocks you? We definitely had forgotten about how bad some of these rooms were. They were live-able, but everything was covered in carpet! My favorite carpet-wall-color-combo? The orange upstairs hallways and steps carpet and sherbet walls leading to the puke-green downstairs carpet.


But we can't fault the original owner. It was the style in the 1960s. We're probably doing thinks to the house now that will make 20-somethings cringe fifty years from now. Well, hopefully not. But, who knows where the styles will take us?


Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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