House Complaint #1

Terrible cell phone reception.

Brent was ordering Chinese food last night, and he had to call back 3 times because of dropped calls. Not cool.

So we are sucking up the money, and buying the airave. I'm not too thrilled about spending the money, but really, there's nothing else to do. I love my cell phone, and my cell phone deserves signal. Plus, we lack a landline.

The price is $99 plus $5 a month.

I will do a product update, once I make up my mind on the new $99 purchase.

This just in: Brent just called Sprint and they said since we are such good customers, they are waiving the monthly fee for the first 2 years. Yea!

What I've Done

The kitchen (Valspar's Homestead Resort Olive) and the master (Blue Arrow) have both been painted. The guest bedroom is also finished, and the office has been started (PS – Sherwin Williams, you have pissed me off for the last time with you shitty interior paint. I am no longer a customer of yours).

Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: Bring the boxes from my parent's basement into the garage.
Sunday: U-Haul day! (aka: the day of soreness)

Then Brent and I are off the following week so we can start unpacking.

Kitchen Update

Well, clearly the kitchen is still a mess and nothing has been unpacked, but this is as close as it will probably be for awhile. I love how much brighter the kitchen is now that the ceiling isn't green.

Before:
After (I forgot to take the painter's tape off the track lighting):

Flatware Deal

Lately, I've been rather disappointed with Web site's daily deals, but I thought this one was too good not to post. This 47-piece flatware set from JCP is on sale for $24.99; regularly priced at $119.99. Enjoy!

Happy Move-In Day!

It's finally here! The POD arrived this morning, and now I'm basically giving the clock the evil eye.

Unfortunately, it's rather nasty outside. My goal is to get the mattress out, so Brent and I can sleep there tonight – and that's about it. Paintwise, I want to do any necessary touch ups to the kitchen, master and guest bedroom (the ceiling is done!), and then start painting the office. Once that is done, I am on a paint break. (To be painted later: full bath, half bath, living room and dining room).

Brent vs. Chair

When the living room chairs arrived, Brent tried to put them together several nights ago. How the seat cushion screwed into the back piece though was quite a mystery. The cushion was solid, so there was no area to actually do any screwing. This resulted in Brent putting the screws into the back piece and then trying to push them into the cushion, and then eventually giving up and asking me to call customer service. (And go figure, the paper directions were terrible).

Last night we decided to move the chairs because, well, we didn't want to look at the failure that was. Brent picked up the cushion and was halfway down the stairs, when he came back up claiming he was an idiot. Apparently, the bottom of the cushion has velcro on it, and that's how you get the screws in.

I had a good laugh at his expense, but more importantly, we now we have chairs!

Possession: Day 1

Yesterday, my mom and I started our painting battle with the kitchen. We primed with entire kitchen (walls and ceiling) with Valspar's High-Hiding Primer. I have used with primer before, and I cannot say enough good things about it. The hunter green was gone after just one coat, and the room brightened up instantly.

After one coat of ceiling paint, the ceiling started looking like a normal ceiling. Unfortunately, ceiling paint is so thick, you can through it in about 2 seconds, so naturally, we ran out. So I'm getting more ceiling paint today (along with wall paint), and the kitchen should be done tonight.

Check out how much better it already looks though:

Spray paint madness

Before and afters....

Saturday

Accomplishments:
- Patio furniture power washed and sprayed painted
- Bed Bath and Beyond for towel rods
- Best Buy for a microwave
- Time Warner box exchanged
- Lowe's for paint supplies
- Home Depot for more supplies

Paint colors

The first paint color has been finalized! This will be the color in the guest bedroom. It's Valspar's Woodlawn Juniper.

I am so excited about this color. I want to have a modern, beachy vibe going on in there, and I think this color will be perfect.

Happy Birthday Macintosh!

My big guy is 4. :)

And another map

What I Bought Today

Two chairs for the living room.

A deal for today

I usually avoid all things Wal-Mart, but I thought this sofa table was too good not to post about. I love the lines and style of this piece. It looks like something from Pottery Barn, but with an $89 price tag. That's right, $89. And the reviews for it are really good.

If I didn't already have 2 sofa tables I have no idea what to do with in the new house, I would so add a third.

One Week!

One week until possession is acquired. The countdown is on!

What I Bought Today

A sofa for the living room:


I special-ordered it in a gray mircosuede. I am super excited about it. I also bought a coffee table and 2 end tables. Pictures of those to come when I pick them up next week. Since the sofa is a special order, it will be about 8 weeks before it arrives.

Brent and I did have plans of also buying a new sectional for the family room (since our current one is too wide for the space), but surprise, surprise, Brent's car had to go into the shop again. And the $1,150 spent on that trip canceled out the new sectional.

Sigh. Maybe one day his car will be happy, and not a pain in the ass.

Maps Galore

I have been cranking out the wedding maps recently. I have done 4 in the past month, which is a lot for me considering clients only find me by word of mouth. I have 2 more to maps to do, which I can hopefully finish up before the move.

Books #69, 70 and 71

#69: "Wedding of the Times: A Parody" by Robert Baedeker
This book cracked me up. The book is just a play on wedding announcements and the random details some people focus on. It's such a short read, it's definitely worth spending a night having a good laugh.

#70: "Fourth Comings" by Megan McCafferty
This book was by far the worst one in the series. I just wanted this book to be over with.

#71: "Perfect Fifths" by Megan McCafferty
I was a little nervous to read this book, after the disaster #4 was, but I really enjoyed this book and Jessica and Marcus' reunion. This book made the series complete for me.

What I Bought

Yes, I'm buying a lot lately. But Brent and I are getting ready to move into a house 3 times the size of the old one – so of course there's things to get.

My mom and I made the journey to Nebraska Furniture Mart last night. I went there with the purpose of buying the living room coffee and end tables, which of course means I left the store with nothing. I could not find those tables anywhere. I saw them there only 6 weeks ago, but they not anywhere to be found last night.

After that unsuccessful trip, we went to JCP Home Store, whereI got a rug for the guest bathroom. It's a double-length rug, since the vanity it there is longer.

I also bought a really cool, round stainless soap dispenser. I would post a photo, but apparently it's too cool to be online.

In other news: Brent's parents bought a house in Manhattan, pending inspection.

Competitor's House

Just an update on the former competitor's house – it is finally under contract. It took them 51 days...wow.

What I Bought

I made an executive design about the living room colors – the yellow just wasn't working for me. While I love the yellow, it was way too much of a pain in the butt finding accessories in that color. Because of this, I decide on plum. I figure it's a rich color, and will play well with the modern-elegance look.













I got both these great living room accessories at Z Gallerie. With the 20%-off coupon I got when I walked into the store, I got the middle-size vase and one pillar for under $35. I say that was a major success.

In other news...
- Brent's parents got a contract on their house, so are now looking at houses in Manhattan.
- I am taking a Web design class, and am loving it a lot more than expected.
- The houndstooth fabric has been dropped off with the seamstress, so the panels are now in progress.
- FU to stores not open on Sunday. Seriously.
- Less than 2 weeks until we get possession!

Earlier Possession Date!

The sellers (well, I guess now "renters"), will be out of town from Aug. 26 until the end of the month. Because of this, the possession date got pushed up a week early to Aug. 24. I am so excited about this.

I am still trying to work out all the details though, because Brent and I cannot actually take off work the new week of the possession date, so our time off will still be the following week. This will give me plenty of time to get some painting done in the evenings though (and I think I might be switching my Valspar loyalty to Behr, because of the all-in-one paint and primer).

I think I'll push up the POD delivery, so that way everything can be unloaded and left in the garage until later. And that would also mean that we'd have our mattress, so we could move out of the parents' house quicker. Yes please!

Today's deals

1,000-Thread Count Sheets – $56
Shag Rug – various sizes
Red Sofa – $234.99
Black cabinet – $64.99

What I Bought

1. My first yellow accessory for the living room. I found it at Hobby Lobby for $5. I also only found my black-and-white houndstooth fabric for the curtain panels there, which is in the background.

2. Hand towels for the half bath

3. Queen-size microfiber sheets for the guest bedroom. JCP was having a sheet sale, and all microfiber sheets were $20. Can't beat that. That ones I got were the ornate pattern.

Weekend Update

- Brent and I now own house #2. The closing went really well, and since I knew the process, I didn't feel like I was signing my life away this time around. Even better, we somehow managed to receive a check at closing, so we didn't owe anything.

- Because of this check we received, we paid off the new roof.

- We have been living with my parents since Wednesday night, and I am managing fine at the moment.

- Brent and I drove by the Fairway house 3 times over the weekend, because we are apparently stalkers.