Eureka!

We have coldness! Our refrigerator and dishwasher were installed today and they are awesome. My favorite feature of the 'frige is the internal filtered water dispenser and on the dishwasher the delay feature. We are forever getting the dishwasher all ready to run and then forgetting to do it when we go to bed. They look freakin' awesome and make the kitchen look much better. Now we just need a stove and we will be set. Woot! We also have started the process of moving some of our stuff in, which is super exciting. The movers are coming on the 30th to move the big stuff that we can't, so I'm hoping to get some stuff moved by myself so I don't have to have it all packed at once. Somehow it is easier to do a little every day and this time I don't have to move it all down three flights of stairs. That was tiring. Plus this time Roland has a little more free time and can help which makes a world of difference.

I also purchased some more stuff from Ikea. This time it is the Kvartal rails which I'm hoping to put in Craftytown and the guest bedroom as closet doors. They will replace the bifold doors I took off before painting. I'm a little concerned about hanging them but hopefully it will be doable for someone of my skill level. Then I need to pick out fabric to make the panels from. Maybe Julie will come with me to give me her opinion. I'm sure if I asked Roland would come, but he doesn't really care one way or another. All in all things are moving right along.

Garage lizard

Garage lizard
Originally uploaded by Sirelroka

While my mom was here we went out once and this guy was hanging out on our garage. I think he is a Knight Anole and apparently they aren't very nice. They turn black when they are upset and will bite. Their bite often becomes infected due to the bacteria in their mouths. I thought he looked a lot like the lizards from the Sobe Life Water ads.

Painting

Painting
Originally uploaded by Sirelroka

I am so lucky. My mom called me last week and offered to fly down for a few days and help me with the house! Of course I took her up on it. I picked her up on Wednesday and she left this morning. Together we painted the library, rented a van, went to Ikea and bought 5 Billy bookcases and put them together. Here we are almost done painting the library. It was a big job and I'm glad she was there to help me.

We now have new carpet in the bedrooms. While it isn't the color I really wanted it works fine and is so much better than what was there. Our refrigerator and dishwasher are supposed to be delivered tomorrow so that will be awesome. It will be nice to have cold beverage while we are working on the house/moving in. Originally I thought we might be able to keep the old 'frige in the garage or whatever, but it was so bad that we ended up getting rid of it completely.

Clean at last

A lot of things have come together in the last week, most of it today. There is now new paint in all the bedrooms and the main rooms. I still have to do the trim in the master bedroom and then paint the library. Having new paint really changes the feel of the house to me. The walls are fixed (no holes) and everything is a color I like. I'm also happy about not having white walls...or maybe just not having to worry about getting fined for doing something to the walls. Either way...woot!

We picked out carpet and it will be installed on Wednesday. I'm a little nervous about it because it is not the color I wanted. The color I wanted wouldn't be available until mid-July and we really want to get it done sooner (we are moving in before the 30th so definitely before then). But I'm hopeful that the second choice will be fine. After that the bedrooms will be totally done. Well, we still need a ceiling fan or light for the master bedroom, forgot about that.

Our washer and dryer were delivered and installed today and they took away the old pee smelling ones. We also ordered a stove and microwave/hood but it wont be delivered until July 2nd. I'm a leery about this, not because it is after we move in (we have a microwave and a toaster over that will be fine for those couple of days), but because if something goes wrong with the order or it doesn't fit or something then it will be more complicated. Ah well, such is life. We are in the process of getting the refrigerator and dishwasher with thanks to Roland's brother. His work has a deal thingy with Whirlpool so we are hoping to save some money there. Hopefully we can work it out soon!

We also had our house powerwashed today. It wouldn't have occurred to me to do it, but the homeowners associated left us a list of things we needed to do to meet code or whatever and powerwashing the roof was on it. So while he was out we had him do the roof, the vinyl fence, the front porch thingy, and the sidewalk. I had no idea our roof was so dirty. It was truely disgusting to watch the sludge rain off the roof. But now the roof, fence, and sidewalk are a whole new color! I'm not sure which thing looks more changed, what a difference! I forgot to take a new picture of the front to show the different. I'll try to remember to take one tomorrow.

Color!

Guess what I'm going to write about today? That's right! Work on the house. Things are moving along now I think (hope). I picked out colors for paint in the house which is a large deal considering my lack of decision making skills. I sure hope they look nice... Given the vast amount of connected space that will all be painted one color I think I am going to go get one of those tiny jars of paint and give it a try first. Then spring for the giant 5 gallon pail of paint after I see a bit of it on the wall.

Man that makes me nervous. I mean in the bedrooms if I don't like the color its like a gallon of paint or whatever, but the rest of the house is all one color; the living room, dining room, family room, kitchen, and hallway! Plus we are having someone do that painting for us (I'm doing the bedrooms and the Florida room myself) so it isn't going to be as cheap as doing it myself. On the up side I think I'm ready to start painting the guest bedroom and craftytown and the painter will be starting on prepping the walls of the main rooms tomorrow. The pressure washer guy will be around either this week or next (depending on the rain). We need to get a move on getting carpet for the bedrooms but we can't do that until they are painted so that is my priority. So much to do!

Down in the mines

Feeling a tad overwhelmed at the moment. Its not really how much there is to do so much as how little time I have to do it in. So far I've got three rooms washed and I started on the wall repair this afternoon. I probably should wash the master bedroom before moving on to the wall repair, but I need a change of pace. Dave finished mowing the lawn today which is awesome although there are some spots near a couple of trees that I'm not sure how we are going to mow. Probably need a weed whacker at some point.

I found some shoddy workmanship on the walls as I was washing and repairing. Places where they spackled but didn't sand at all and one place where I think they painted over some left over stickum (from some tape maybe?). It makes my job harder that's for sure. I started that in the afternoon so that by tomorrow the first layer will be dry and I can start sanding (no shortcuts here). But I think I'm going to have to go back to the Home Depot and get some courser sand paper. I wasn't expecting to have to go through a layer of paint to get to some of this stuff. Ah well. I think I'm going to start with the three bedrooms and hold off on the Florida room until last because the bedrooms need new carpet. So if I get done painting in those three rooms we can get someone in to do the carpet sooner. Plus the faster we get carpet the faster I get to create craftytown!!!!

Circus Ole!

I think I've decided to repaint pretty much the whole house. I was going to leave what will be the library alone, but as I was washing the walls yesterday I sort of decided that maybe we should do it now while there is nothing in the room. The walls aren't bad, but they aren't great either. I also bought a lawn mower yesterday, after visiting three Home Depots to find it! It is the same model my sister has and she likes hers, so I took her recommendation. It is a Homelite cordless electric model which I have no experience with, but I'm hoping that it will be easier for me to mow the lawn if I can actually get the thing started in the first place. Plus it is supposed to be quieter and better for the environment. So we plugged it in yesterday afternoon and if the rain quits for long enough for the lawn to dry out I will be giving that a go today.

I also got to go to a Cirque Du Soleil show last night! It was a traveling show called Saltimbanco, and it was pretty amazing. Lane bid on tickets at her work to see it in the DHL Global Mail seats which are in the special section where you get food and beverages as well (impwessive). They also gave us a parking pass which was really nice as parking was $20!. Plus the parking was pretty much right up front. The food was really quite good with a lot of choices. I especially enjoyed the pot stickers. It was nice to go out with the girls and have a great time. Plus the comments being made about the performances as they were going on were hilarious. I really enjoyed myself.