House Work

What a busy week it's been.  All moved in so it's appliance time.  We chose an LG and got 10% off at Home Depot. Our refrigerator was the first appliance to be delivered on Wednesday.  We love the bottom freezer design and the fact that we no longer have to constantly buy water because it's filtered and comes straight out of our pipes through the refrigerator.  I have no idea how that happens but I am just glad that it does. 

Then, we finally decided on a washer/dryer which for me was the hardest.  I over researched to the point where I had no clue what to do anymore.  Installation charges vs warranty and delivery fees vs shipping charges and on and on.  I wanted the best deal and the best product but on the same brand one review would say it broke down the first day and another would say it was the best thing that ever happened to them.  I was over it and we really had a lot of laundry piled up so last week on my lunch break we met up at Sears and bought Whirlpools in less then an hour.  We got 10% off for using my Sears Card.  They were delivered on Thursday.  They are Energy Star certified and the washer is supposed to cut down on our water bill.  We qualify for a $100 mail in rebate and I think they are pretty darn cute too!

Whirlpool Duet

Saturday morning we were out of the house by 9:30 am taking stuff to goodwill and finally going grocery shopping after months of getting by on what we had.  Our bedroom set, mattress, and sectional that we picked out a couple weeks ago were delivered that afternoon.  We basically ordered out of a catalog in the store and hadn't actually seen the bedroom set in person and we were so pleased when we finally saw it.  It is real wood and you can see the quality.  It was my bright idea to get white and it turned out to be a good one.

We got this sectional in "Oyster."  We LOVE the modern look to it.  I am hoping it will give me some inspiration on how to decorate the downstairs.

I think there is a very good chance that our neighbors have seen me naked so it's great that we have also ordered window coverings. We had two companies come out and do quotes and went with the one that was cheap enough to allow us to do almost the whole house.  They won't be here for about 2 weeks.  This house has lots of windows which is nice but they are even in places you wouldn't expect like 2 in the laundry room and one in the closet.  There are 12 upstairs and 7 downstairs.  We are doing all blinds and I'll have to come up with window treatments only for the sliding door and kitchen window downstairs.  After that it was out for some more errands.  We got our paint supplies at Lowe's and went hunting for a bedspread.  We got an Eastern European King size bed and apparently it's next to impossible to find that size in the stores.  After Penny's and Macy's we gave into hunger and took a break.

We did something we haven't done in a long time.  Ate in the food court at the mall.  After being busy ALL DAY we were exhausted and hungry, which seems to be the theme of the week.  We happily took a break from shopping for some good old fashioned food court junk food.  Sbarro's Pizza to be exact.  After refueling we went to Walmart where we managed to find some king sized sheets [with a high enough thread count to satisfy Mj] to sleep on for the night.  The bedspread will have to wait.

My Very Own Sexy Pastry Chef

Mj is crazy a dedicated cook and he insisted that he make his Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake from scratch that night even though we didn't get home until after 9pm.  He said he'd do it within the first week of moving in and so he did.  The very first thing ever cooked in our new house was that and he was up until 2 am doing it.  I was up too of course since I can't seem to stop myself from working on organizing and doing things around the house.

So what's next?  Painting of course.  That project consumed our entire Sunday.  Mom was kind enough to come down and help.  She was our very first guest.   Here she is walking in the door.  She was so excited to be here and see us IN our house for the first time.  We immediately put her to work.  That's how we treat our guests around here apparently!!

Maybe I was rushing things by trying to paint so soon after we moved in but I really wanted to get it over with and thought it would be good to take advantage of the 3 day weekend.  I felt the longer we waited the less likely we would be to get it done.  I told Mj a week ago that we'd be doing this.  He was surprised but took the news well and went along with it.  We started around 10 am with taping everything off and laying down plastic.  

Mom came around 12 pm and we went to Home Depot to get the paint.  Our total for painting supplies was about $240.00.  Mj and I did a pretty good job on choosing colors.  We were right on in picking our colors for the Great Room (light green) and Master Bedroom (pale grey).  We got one set of samples and that was it but after seeing our furniture in the loft we decided brown on the walls would be too much Brown.  When mom and I went to get paint we found this great blue color and without even getting a sample we just bought the whole can and slapped it on the walls.  Luckily Mj liked it too and it turned out to be one of my favorite colors that we used.  

 We probably started actually painting around 2 and didn't finish until about 6:30 pm.  We worked so hard but it was awesome that we all just pitched in and did it together.  When you look at the finished product it is  completely worth it.  And now.  It's DONE!!  We did the loft, downstairs great room area and the master bedroom.  Anything else, I can worry about later.  Or not!

Our reward for all of our hard work was pizza and beer.  That was only just to get to Mj's homemade cake which was absolutely delicious.  He really should have saved us $500 and just made our wedding cake himself because it was better then any of the cake tastings we had.  Seriously!  I will be asking for it every year from here on out for my B day cake.  Never mind that I haven't had nor wanted a B day cake in a couple of years but this magnificent cake changes that.  It was moist, tasty, perfect and with an also from scratch Peanut Butter Mousse filling, Chocolate frosting and crushed Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on top-it was the perfect way to end a fun but long, exhausting productive day.

Home Project:  Backyard Landscaping

Moving Marathon

CLOSING
Oh boy did we ever cut it close on this move.  We were told that it's basically a two day turn around from doc signing, bank funding, and county recording that would signify close and allow us to get our keys.  We planned to move Friday and so Wednesday was to be the big day.  We waited and exchanged e mails all day with the loan processor hoping to hear from the title department that we could go and sign our closing documents only to get home and find out from Jenn at the sales office that there was no way in hell that was going to happen because they didn't even have them.  Thanks BofA for leading us on and causing us to hang onto our cell phones all day hoping and waiting for a call that was never going to come. 

Then we were told that as long as we sign docs and the bank funds they would still allow us to get our keys on Friday even if we did not officially close yet.  Thursday came and there was more waiting and several phone calls back and forth with Jenn.  FINALLY, we get the call that we can go to the title company and sign at 3pm.  We are relieved but still anxious because the bank still needed to fund and it was clear that wasn't going to happen Thursday.  We woke up at 6 am Friday morning to call and wire our closing money to escrow and then walked to U Haul to pick up our moving truck around 10:15am and started moving.  Thankfully, they allowed us to move in since they had our money even though the bank didn't actually fund us until after we moved all of our things in.

MOVING
The marathon began Thursday night when we started boxing things up.  I was so unmotivated.  The very concept of having to pack up every single thing you own and transport it to another location is so ridiculous exhausting.  I looked around at my cramped studio with all of it's stuff and it felt so impossible to accomplish such a feat.  I was glad to be moving out of there but  I hated every single second of packing. 

The words on our truck said "U Can Do It" but there were moments when it sure didn't feel like it.  Up and down the stairs.  Back and forth to the moving truck.  We did not stop until the truck was full and the condo was basically empty.  It took the two of us about 3 hours.  We drove the mile to our new house and started the whole process again but in reverse.  As we drove into our neighborhood in our big U haul I looked around in awe and sheer relief.  This is finally happening.  After all of the months of being put through the ringer and those final anxious days we finally get to live here.  And, we weren't the only ones having fun.  There were about 4 different moving trucks crammed on the street as our new neighbors were doing the same.

The unloading process was infinitely quicker then the loading process and thank goodness because we had only 1 1/2 hours to get it done and get the truck back by 3pm.  We drove it a whopping 3 miles and didn't even have to re fuel which saved a lot of money.  Once the truck was turned in we walked back to our condo and drove our fully loaded cars to the new house and kept right on working.

The place was an utter disaster with everything dumped haphazardly in the great room but I was so glad to be there.  We were finally HOME!!  We didn't stop to eat until about 8:30pm that night.  We called Pizza Hut for delivery only to find out that our development is so new that it isn't even in the system yet.  I was so hungry that I didn't care that I had to go get it even though I was completely worn out.

We worked all weekend non stop-3 days straight.  Clean the condo, run errands, organize, sort, move furniture, throw things away....it just went on and on and on.  We finally got the room cleared out so we could see the floor on Saturday night then Sunday all of Mj's things that have been in storage since 2008 arrived and we started all over again.  I was so incredibly sore.  My body ached from the soles of my feet right on up to my neck.  It was hard work BUT WE DID IT!!  I was once again struck by what a great team we make.  I believe that the way a couple handles stressful situations and hard work together is an indicator of the health of the relationship.  We know when to defer to the other on things and if he is adamant I pull back and vice versa.  We both just pitched in and worked hard.  We did what needed to be done and made decisions together effortlessly.

Monday at work was HELL!  I was exhausted, pre occupied and overall annoyed.   I couldn't focus and I was basically useless.  Today I was better rested and felt a bit more settled.  The refrigerator we picked out will be here Wednesday and we still need to order a Washer/Dryer once we can freakin' decide on a brand.  Our bedroom furniture is on back order and our sectional is still being made so I don't think we will have any of that until June.

There is still so much to do and BUY!!  But the hardest part is OVER and I'm lovin' our new house already.

Home Building Progress:  Lot 55

Home Buying Journey:  Part I Getting Pre Approved

If I Can Dream

I am under a lot of stress lately being smack dab in the middle of closing.  I am just tired of the whole process am beyond ready for it to be over already.  I feel like I've been living in limbo all year and it's really getting to me.  Buying a house AND having a wedding within the space of two months means a boatload of money is being spent and if there is one thing that's been stressing me out aside from my cramped 400 square foot studio and so much uncertainty over the house it's that.  We just spent $500 on a cake.  I still don't have a renter for my studio and so I'm considering taking on a 2nd job.  I don't even know for sure when we are getting the keys to our house and I have a moving truck scheduled for Friday.  The bank has been so slow getting our documents out for us to sign.        

So, let's just say it didn't take much to get the waterworks flowing.  I've been watching this web only show called "If I can Dream"on hulu.com.  Amanda has made a decision to leave the dream house because it's not working out for her to be there where she feels she has no control over her personal life living in a house with cameras 24/7.  When she made her announcement both she and Cara were crying and the next thing I know I was crying too.  This is not unusual considering I have been moved to tears by a 30 second Cotton commercial before.  Watching that outpouring of emotion just kinda touched a nerve in me partly because of my personal stress and partly because I found it so sad that she was literally walking away from her dream.  As one who once had a dream myself I can only imagine how difficult that must be.  It is next to impossible to make it in that industry.  For every Julia Roberts, Miley Cyrus or Megan Fox there are thousands upon thousands of talented people that couldn't make it.  She is giving up a once in a lifetime opportunity to live in a house rent free, not have to work, receive free acting classes, and support from the management team that handles all the American Idol winners.  The chance to pursue her acting dreams was handed to her on a silver platter and she chose to walk away from it.  In my opinion there must be more to the story then what she is saying that would cause her to do that.  I don't know what it's like to walk in her shoes but from the shoes I'm wearing....I think it's quite a bizarre choice and I can say with certainty that if I EVER had a chance like that I would jump at it in a heartbeat and don't think anything could make me walk away.

Crying has always been a tension reliever for me so it was good for me to just let it out.  In my darker days I used to do it A LOT and not be able to snap out of it but thankfully those days are over and I now have the ability to brush myself off and keep moving.  Today is a new day and I'm off to a good start.  I forgot to put on a bra today [no worries, they aren't that big] but other then that I'm at work and I'm getting on with it.  At the moment the only dream I have on my mind is getting those keys and becoming a homeowner with Mj.  There is still a possibility that we can sign docs today, close and have our keys by Friday so we can move.  I'm just waiting ANXIOUSLY for that call from escrow. 

The Question Of Cake

 

Our 4th and final tasting took place from the comfort of our own home.  We had a wagon wheel assortment of about 8 different cake flavors and 10 different fillings from bakery #4 to mix and match with along with our specially made sample of 3 layer white and chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse filling and a layer of fudge from bakery #3 and went to town.  Bakery #4 had decent cake, but was the 2nd most expensive and I felt their $150 charge for an extra sheet cake was exorbitant.  We both agreed that we wouldn't choose them and that bakery #2 although the cheapest of them all wasn't as tasty.  Much to my dismay After all those tastings Mj still favored the flavors from bakery #1, the very first place we went to which also happens to be the most expensive.  I on the other hand wanted to marry am in love with the special sample from bakery #3 and I really liked their Marble cake too.  I also prefer their prices-they were the next cheapest.  Mj liked them too.  Not as much as bakery #1 but even so I thought they might be a good compromise.  So, what to do? I liked bakery #1 as well and the only reason I continued the cake hunt is because I was hoping to find a more reasonable price-which we did-just  not quite up to Mj's standards.  I decided to go with bakery #1 that  Mj preferred and we will use the the pink with black ribbons around the bottom design that we both liked from bakery #3. 

We will not be freezing our top tier.  Out of all of the other places we went to bakery #1 was the only one who pushed that as standard.  They get more money that way because now the couple has to purchase extra cake to feed their guests if the whole top layer will be frozen and preserved for later.  I would rather get more out of the most expensive cake I will ever buy in my life on the day of especially since I don't even want year old freezer burned cake.  If we really want to, which we probably won't we can go back to the salon in a year and order the same flavors for much less money.  Tradition is just going to have to take a hike on this one.  They are also the only bakery to have a deposit for cake holders.

I feel like I've been had a little ill after booking it today because to me it is absolutely ridiculous insane to spend $431.25 on a cake.  We will be getting a 3 tier round with Peanut Butter Chocolate on the bottom and Pudding Chiffon on the top two layers with butter cream frosting.  There is a $40 delivery fee and a $50 refundable cake holder deposit for a grand total of $471.25 (not including the parts deposit).  If we need an extra sheet cake that feeds 25 it will be an additional $50.00.   Bakery #3 was only going to charge us $375 + $42 for an additional sheet cake.  If I truly had it my way I probably would have gone with least tasty but not bad bakery #2 which offered $275 for a 100 person cake and called it a day.  Admittedly, their cake wasn't as good as any of the others but at the end of the day it's really just cake and I'm not convinced that it matters all that much. 

This puts me about $71.25 over my planned cake budget which I'm not happy about and I can't help but wonder if the cake we ordered is really THAT much better then the cheapest one.  I tend to be extremely budget minded and will often settle or accept sub par at the expense of price.  This is OUR wedding so I have decided not to make a big hoopla about it and defer to the groom's more expensive tasty and less budget biased preference.  I have plenty of opportunities to be cheap frugal in other areas of my our life so I will just let this one go.

Overpriced wedding cake:  CHECK.

He's Gonna Look Hot In A Tux

We finally made it to Men's Wearhouse to choose tuxedos for Mj and the groomsmen.  Mj is pretty quick and easy to please when it comes to making decisions so we had the whole thing booked in about 45 minutes.  I already knew going in that the groom would be wearing a silver vest with a silver tie.  I have some silver beading in my dress and as much as I would love to see him in my fav color pink I decided to have him match me. We put Mj into a 2 button jacket that looks like the one pictured here.  There were really not too many pinks that were the exact shade we wanted so it didn't take too long to narrow that one down for the groomsmen.  We went for a 3 button for them so that the pink vest will just barely peak out from the jacket-so it won't be too much.  It takes a confident man to wear pink and I think the groomsmen are up to the task.  Mj has already broken the news to them that they will be wearing pink and no one seems too bothered by it. Not that it matters right?  I'm running the show here!

I told Mj if he pays for my dress then I will pay for his tux!  Let's just say he didn't agree to that one.  Not exactly a fair trade.  So much attention is paid to what the bride will wear but if I'm the star he is my co star and he's got to look good too.  I've never seen him in a tux and I have a feeling he is going to wear it well. We booked our party choices with a $40 deposit that will go towards Mj's rental which will total $124.00. They gave us an exact order by date and order number to give the groomsmen and the tux will be available for pick up 2 days prior to the event at whatever location they choose.

Just one more thing to check off my list.  Other then the cake that was the final thing we needed to get done. Speaking of the cake.  We picked up our last set of samples yesterday and will definitely taste them and make a final decision tomorrow.  We need to book it and put down our deposit, ideally before the utter chaos of packing up all of my worldly possessions into boxes and starting the moving process.

After that we went to the movies and watched Iron Man 2 (which was very good) while eating copious amounts of candy from Target which is infinitely cheaper then buying a thing from the Theatre.  We hadn't eaten much all day and were hungry starving.  We have some food in the house but if we need more ingredients to put a meal together we aren't getting them sine we'll be moving soon.  We're not cooking until we get set up in our new digs.  We went to a Mexican restaurant on the way home where they have happy hour all day on Sunday. Gotta love it!

Hmfff....I really enjoyed my beer but now it's time to get ready for Monday.

So Close To Closing

Our final walk through on the house is THIS THURSDAY.  During this time we will walk through the house with the builder and note anything that needs fixing up.  A lot of people don't hire independent inspections on new builds, but we are and he will be meeting us there.  Once we determine everything is A OK they should have our loan and closing documents ready for us.  Once the documents are signed that signifies closing.  The bank funds, the county records, and about two days after signing we get our keys making the house officially ours. 

The main changes from April 25th to now that I can see are that the sinks, toilets, carpets, and plumbing are all in and the garage door has been painted.  It appears to be pretty much done.  I was so worried that we made the wrong choice with the grayish flooring because it didn't seem to match our tan counter tops but once I saw it with the carpet next to it I could see how it all ties together.  We plan on re doing the counter tops and all downstairs flooring in hardwood later, but it's nice to be OK with how it looks now.

May 5th

We chose a nice sectional, beautiful King size bedroom set, and a comfy pillow top mattress on Saturday so we are already on track for furnishing the place.  The other must haves when we move in are refrigerator, washer, dryer, and window coverings.  We have already  decided on what colors we want the walls and I have all of these ideas about how I want to decorate.  It's so much FUN, but my oh my how everything adds up.  It's SO expensive to set up a house.  I am totally blown away by the amount of money we are spending this year.  It just dawned on me that we are literally planning to move NEXT WEEK.  It's no longer some far off possibility.  I need to schedule a moving truck and a carpet cleaner for my condo ASAP.  We will also need many, many boxes.

Not only are we getting closer to our new home but we are also getting closer to our wedding day. July 10th will be here before we know it.  It's ONLY TWO MONTHS AWAY!!  So much is happening and I'm so excited.

Cont'd:  Moving Marathon