Yay for New Bedding!

Shane and I finally got all of our new bedding on! And we also found two small pedestal tables to sit by the bed as nightstands...I only wanted something big enough to accomodate an alarm clock and glass of water - and that is DEFINITELY all that these will hold!
And if anyone has any tips for making your pillows look fluffy for pictures - please pass that along! I fluffed my dang pillows for what felt like an hour and they still look sad...This room is in no way finished, I still need to hang some stuff on the walls, get curtains, get a smaller TV (boo), and a rug...and that should be it. But I have a plan! Mwah ha ha.


Also, stay tuned for LOTS more drama on the washer debocle. Needless to say, it isn't fixed, the repair person didn't show up on Friday OR Saturday...but he did scream at me on the phone on Saturday afternoon. And I screamed back. That's All County Appliance Services...check out their ratings and comments on Kudzu! I'll share all the dirt once the machine has been repaired, that way I don't have to keep thinking about how we wasted hundreds of dollars on this lemon of a machine.

So finally....a note from the man of the house!!

So as we were eating our Papa John's (shameless plug-even though I am sure it will not lead to any free pizza) and I told Stacy that we should go room by room to write down future plans. I wanted us to group these plans into two categories, pipe dream (later on down the road) and immediate. I have self-diagnosed myself with a mild OCD for organization, therefore I should get a card at The Container Store. She agreed that we should proceed on Saturday, which means that she will take over and dominate my list and nothing that I wanted to do to help us get more organized will find itself on the immediate plan. As you can clearly see by her many postings, we have put a lot of work and love into this house and will continue to do so. We are very fortunate to be able to work on this house and look forward to continuing the improvements. I would be remissed to not give a shout out to the real men of the house, Beau and Brother. Look forward to seeing everyone soon!! Shane

Fridgidaire Drama…Yes, again

I’m having washing machine drama…again. While this sucks, it does give me something to write about so that I don’t have to post updated pictures. Is it bad that I still don’t have anything else done in the bedroom? I was out of town all weekend, so I have an excuse. And while we are on that topic – here are a few things to note about my trip to New Orleans:

• First, Bourbon Street is CRAZY! Crazier than Panama City Beach during high school spring break in 2000 kind of crazy. And conveniently enough, our hotel was on Bourbon Street. The second that you stepped outside, you were either harassed or molested by some crazy drunk man…ugh. It got really old by the fourth day! Actually by the second…
• Second, while we’re on the topic of Bourbon Street, it is amazing that at 1 a.m. the street is packed with people and completely trashed out, but when you come back out at 8 a.m. (yes, that’s right – in bed at 1:30 a.m. and leaving the hotel to go to work at 8 a.m.) the street is spotless. No smell of vomit, no trash, no nothing…I wish that I had that kind of service for the morning after parties at my house.
• The French Quarter is great. There is so much history and such a unique feel…I definitely want to go back with Shane (who will beat me to death with the history stuff) so that we can have a little bit more of a chill experience.
• Which leads me to my next, and last, highlight - I drank extremely too much…and was pretty much hungover every day except for Friday. Have you ever flown hungover? Not a good decision on my part.

Here is a pic of Jackson Square – very cool little area. It was off Bourbon Street and near more of the hole in the wall type bars and unique little shops…

And here is me and my co-worker, Sue, on Bourbon Street. I thought that the guy taking the picture was going to steal the camera…he was wearing a kilt. Enough said.And back to the washer drama: A few weeks ago, I was doing laundry and had the washer door open. I was shoving clothes in and I look over and Beau is gnawing on this little piece of plastic on the door. Well, that piece of plastic, when you shut the door, goes into a slit that signals to the washer that the door is shut and can be locked once you turn on a cycle. I know that he wasn’t chewing it hard, so when it broke – I just chalked another one up to Fridgidaire for making my life hell. But fortunately, I grabbed some super glue, glued it back on and it was in tip top shape until last Friday. Shane texted me and told me that it had broken again, but he called someone to come out and fix it. Well, something was lost in translation (right, Shane? ;) ) and no one came out. So we called again on Tuesday morning and they couldn’t come out until today. They came out today and told us that the entire latching piece on the door and on the machine have to be replaced. The service guy said that he ‘usually’ has this spare part in his truck, but true to Stacy/Shane luck – he just couldn’t find it. He now has to order the part and will have his office call us to set up another time for him to come out and install it. Seriously? I’m not really sure who I’m mad at – Beau (I could take him to the pound for a week…kind of like he’s grounded or something), Fridgidaire (yep, definitely mad at them for making such a primadonna machine…come on – I used to wash small children in my top loaders at the townhouse and nothing ever happened!), or the service people (well, no, because they aren’t making a dime off me…I can assure them that. And the guy did mention that this isn’t ‘typical’ warranty repair.)…Sigh. So we should be hearing from “Amber” later this afternoon to schedule a new time. I’ll keep you posted.

And P.S. there is a load of wet laundry in the machine. Yummy. We might just have to hit up the laundrymat tonight, or tomorrow, or both!

NOLA Bound!

I leave today for New Orleans, where thankfully the weather is going to be in the 70's! Yay! So excited to get away from all this cold weather...but not so excited to leave home where I clearly have a ton of work to do on my bedroom! I haven't had time to get the bedding on so the bedroom still looks the same as it does in the pictures below. :(

I hope that you all have a great weekend, and hopefully I'll get some time to say hello this weekend!

Weekend Update

No more 'blues' for Casa de la Shane and Stacy! (p.s. This has got to be the most neutral and boring color I have ever painted.)

The Before:

The After:

Do I like it? Ehhhh...it is definitely neutral. BUT - I didn't mention that I also bought new bedding and this new dresser:

Not the best photograph, but you can clearly see that the room looks bigger, that the 42" is back in the bedroom (yesssss!!!) and this will give us much more space to store clothes....okay, duh on the last one - but I was going for three benefits.

We also moved the headboard over 14 1/4" from the wall with the window so that I can fit a small pedestal table over there and on the other side by the door. I only want them to be big enough to accomodate a small alarm clock. For lighting, I plan to get wall mounted lamps to hang on either side. Any ideas for art? Should I do white frames or dark brown frames? Would it look stupid to hang them on the wall to the right of the TV (centered between the window)?

You will have to stay tuned for the new bedding! I'll give you a hint - it is a very 'clean' look.

Weekend Plans!

As we have now been in the house for a little over six months, I have come to the conclusion that I must have been under the influence when picking some of my paint colors. Specifically my bedroom color....definetely drunk.

So I've decided to break out my gear and repaint the bedroom this weekend! This not only includes the walls because when the floors were redone, they splashed stain all over my white baseboards (which had just been freshly painted). And did I mention how bad I hate painting trim???

And by taking a tip from This Young House, your house can seem bigger by picking lighter, more neutral tones, and keeping that consistent throughout the house. It may not be as fun, but it will make our space seem bigger (which we need!) and seem a little more grown up. So I'm going with a very safe color for the bedroom: Glidden's Water Chestnut. There may be some deviation of the color based on your monitor, but you get the point.

I also got Shane's buy in for us to buy a new dresser and get the HUGE living room armoire out of our bedroom. And when I say buy-in, I really mean that I wouldn't shut up about how awesome it was, and how cheap it was, and how much it made sense until he caved. Mwah ha ha! Behold the new dresser, or at least it will be sometime tomorrow...
Nothing too fancy, but i like the super clean look of it. And it is less than $300 - so we can't go wrong there.

Stay tuned for some painting before and afters! I'm off work on Monday (yay!) so I really have no excuse to not get this done this weekend...we shall see! Wish me luck!

Merry Belated Christmas...

I probably shouldn't have posted my New Year's post before my Christmas post, or better yet, I should have posted a Christmas post in December - but whatever! Before this topic gets to be REALLY old, here is a little glimpse of our first Christmas at Honeysuckle Drive!

This is Beau and Brother's first Christmas, and they obviously loved the tree! I know that this picture looks super cheesy and staged, but I swear that they just walked over and assumed position! It was too good not to snap a pic...


Our tree with lots of presents...


Our Christmas mantel...


One of Shane's gifts (the best one too) - a basketball signed by the entire 2008 Phoenix Suns team...I got the hook up. :)


We had a great Christmas holiday and hope that you did too! If you can even remember it!

How Old Do You Act?

So, per usual, I read my friend Kelly's blogs every morning.... and she had this really cute quiz up today that I thought that I would share! It's quick, only 10 multiple choice questions - How Old Do You Act?

Here is my 'age analysis' (very on target, in my opinion):

You Act Like You Are 30 Years Old

You are a thirty-something at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!You're responsible, wise, and have enough experience to understand a lot of the world. You're at the point in your life where you understand yourself pretty well.You are figuring out what you want... and how to get it!

I just love the clip art that accompanied - so pretentious looking. Ha Ha!

A New Year!

I'm only about 13 days late on this 'New Year' post...but Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a great holiday and is getting into the 2009 swing of things! One of my resolutions this year is clearly to stay more on top of this blog and start posting regularly...we'll see how that goes.

Shane and I have gotten some 'here and there' types of things done since my last post....which was...umm...on December 5 - so I would certainly hope so! Here's the recap:

Oak trees are beautiful, such history, such a grand presence, such a pain in the butt when the leaves decide to fall...

We raked leaves (only because using a blower was SUCH a waste of time) for hours! And talk about sore...nothing like a rake to work out those back, ab, arm, and leg muscles.

And my mom also got us a fabulous new showerhead for Christmas! We have two pretty big dogs-here are Beau and Brother (yes, that is his name...):

So, as you can see, it is pretty difficult to bathe them with just a normal showerhead. This would consist of me holding a Solo cup up to the showerhead, waiting forever for it to fill with water and then dumping it on my dogs. Ridiculous process, but I am too picky (and cheap) to pay someone else to give them a bath. So we asked Santa to bring us a new showerhead that has a spray handle...and that is what we got! Check out the before and after:

Shane is so proud of himself...can't you tell? And the best part about these projects is that we find out about all these fun, new tools -- for this one we used a 'Vice Grip.' Ahhh....Vice Grip. And Plumber's tape - although we probably should have been using that on several of our other projects...hmmm.

A Much 'Cooler' Ceiling Fan...

We are making progress...slowly but surely. We made a HUGE impact in the bedroom this weekend - a new ceiling fan!

We removed this little brass hideosity with 12" blades:

And replaced it with this luxurious Hampton Bay 52" blade fan:

So much better...and so much more our style. It's the simple things in life...:)

Forgot to Update: Washer and Drain Lines are Great!

Oops...forgot to give the update on what happened with the washer and drain line situation! Per my post about the laundrymat, someone was scheduled to come out the following Monday to repair the washer - AGAIN. He did just that and pulled out another hunk of my rug. I told Shane to make him stay and run a full cycle to see if it would work after that - he did, and he did. Everything was in tip top shape! Shane and I were able to slide the set back into the microscopic laundry corner and we were a functioning household - once again!

And my drains are draining better than ever! No water backups on Honeysuckle Drive!

However, I have done the quick math on this situation:
Rug from Garden Ridge (paid for with a gift certificate): $14.99
Paying a plumber to dig that rug out of all of the drain crevices in my home: $380
Knitting a sweater out of the rug remnants for my first born child...Priceless.

Moral of the story - don't wash rugs. And if you do, destroy the evidence immediately and play dumb.

Time to Redecorate!

Now that I have been in my house for about six months...it is time for some redecorating!

Regrets:

• Painting my bedroom a shade of blue that is fit for a toddler boy. I swear it looked gray on the swatch...and even when we first got it on the walls. I need to tone it down a little.
• Painting the kitchen and the sitting room the same color. Once I get my new countertops, and...drum roll, please...new backsplash - I'm going to re-evaluate the kitchen color. Is that bad to have the living room, kitchen, and sitting room all different colors?
• Partial regret about the silver bathroom...but I think that I can salvage it with some new artwork, a new granite top instead of that yellowy marble thing, and a new mirror. We'll see.

So, I have prepared a few inspiration boards to work off of...see below:

Bedroom:

Living Room:

Office:

Let me know your thoughts...

Frigi-Dare You to Buy One...

So, this story picks up with my washer not working at all, but my plumbing seeming to be fine...

I contacted Frigidaire about my washer not working, and told them that it just stopped draining and spinning...what caused this - "Well, I have no idea, it just stopped working." So they send someone out on Thursday between 9-12 to fix it. The guy came out and pulled the pump out and it was filled with...you guessed it - my freakin' rug. So it's fixed - yay! We run a couple of test loads with just water and drain it into a big cooler. Still pumping out red fuzz.

The plumber came back out on Friday to test the washer line, now that the washer was working, and to replace the toilet. After about 45 minutes of digging in the drain line, he pulls out...you guessed it again - my freakin' rug! We put the washer drain line back in the washer drain and try a couple of test loads and everything is working great!

Friday night, I'm thinking that I will go ahead and start getting caught up on my mountains of laundry. I put in the covers to Beau and Brother's beds - just two pieces...just in case. The cycle runs for about 25 minutes and then just stops. I'm, of course, just sitting in front of the washer watching it spin and do its thing, so when it stops AGAIN - I have mental flashes of slitting my wrists with the dryer vent or maybe bashing my head in with the bottle of washing detergent. I can't believe that this is not fixed! I had plans to go to Athens today, but clearly that didn't happen since this needs to be done with...the sacrafices that I make. :)

I call the washing machine repair people this morning at exactly 8 - no answer. Okay, maybe they don't get in until 9 on Saturdays...so I wait until 9. Still no answer. I call Frigidaire again and they put me in touch with another repair company. I beg the guy to come today, but he insists that 'their schedule is full' and tells me he will be here on Monday between 10-2. At this time, I break down...yes...I cried.

Okay, Stacy, let's act like an adult and stop freaking out. You need to wash your clothes, being that you are down to your last pair of undies. What do people with no washers and dryers do? Laundrymats. Wow. That is a big step.

I pull up to Glad Rags on Spring Street and unload my 8 loads of laundry. I kind of wander around for a second, not really knowing where I am or what I should do. I see 6 washing machines that are open (and looking really decrepit) - so I set up shop and start cramming my laundry in. Including two more rugs...hee hee. :) I carefully read the instructions on the machine and follow them precisely. I also, for the first time, used liquid fabric softener - love that BTW! Then I go to pay and get everything going, and it is $2 a load to wash...well, of course I grabbed some change at the house - but not enough. So I have to ask a fellow laundymattian where the closest ATM is - she is very nice and helpful - and very fluent in English - so I'm off. I take out $25 and head back to the Glad Rags.

I'm standing there, next to the rolling baskets like you see in the movies, and I'm thinking - this is freakin' awesome. I'm getting six of my eight loads of laundry done and it's only going to take me the time of one load. And the dryers there are huge - and industrial! They only take like 20 minutes to dry a load! Freakin' amazing. I get everything done, folded, and loaded back in the car and head home feeling very proud of myself for going to the laundrymat. :) I think that I may even open one...hmmm a jewelry boutique/laundrymat...or a jewelry making boutique and a laundrymat. So many options! And I spent all of my $25 there - what a gold mine.

Bad News: Everything is Falling Apart!

Well, I didn't mention the drain line because we had no intention of replacing it until Sunday rolled around...

I'll start this story by prefacing that Sundays are not normally my cleaning days. Due to travel schedules, I was forced to do it this day or wait until the following Thursday - which was completely out of the question. So, Shane and I are cleaning and I ask him to put a couple of small rugs in the washer. 'Babe, do you want to wash some clothes first before the rugs?' 'No I do not - I want the rugs to be washed and dried before it is time for my shower later.' So Shane throws in three small rugs...fast forward 30 minutes...red water is quickly seeping from under the washer. It also contains a lot of peices of my rug. So I stop the washer and wipe up the water. Shane pulls the w/d out of the closet (next house WILL have a laundry room - BTW) so that we can get the water and stuff from behind. Well, we can't pull it far enough out, due to the angles of the room, to get behind it so we have to do it Ringling Brothers style and climb on top of the dryer (which sits on top of the washer) and use various house tools (swiffer, broom, vacuum hose, etc.) to try to wipe up the water. So what is wrong with it? I don't know.

So Shane and I just decide to move on. I'm going to go ahead and take my shower and we'll just get out of here...abandon ship. So I go to take a shower, and the water is not draining AT ALL. After the water has been on for 30 seconds, I'm already standing in an inch of water. So I yell for Shane and ask him to bring me the Drano. Shane arrives with the Drano and asks 'Is there a reason that the bottom of the bottle is wet?' 'Umm...not that I'm aware of. I guess the kitchen sink is now leaking.' Shane goes and there is now an inch of water under the kitchen sink. Meanwhile, I pour the remaining half of the bottle of Drano in the drain - and does it work? No. I continue to take a shower and figure the water will drain eventually. We go along our merry way and just chalk the day up to a wash (ha ha, no pun intended).

The next morning, I go to take a shower before work (it's nice to do that sometimes :)) and there is red fuzz covering the tub. So...everything is connected...got it. I turn the water on and it still is not draining. Well, I am not stepping in there with all that gunk - so I clean it - and take another shower in an inch of water. Miserable. Shane decides to take the day off so that we can get this mess figured out - and heads out to Home Depot to buy some good drain cleaner. Like meth-making material type drain cleaner. Meanwhile I'm sitting at work freaking out....those who know me will not be surprised by this. So I call Shane and tell him that I've had enough and I'm calling a plumber. A plumber comes out and tries to snake the washer drain line - but can't even get the snake in. He does some other stuff and gets under the house and comes to the conclusion that our drain line needs to be replaced. It is cast iron and original to the house - so about 50 years old. It has corroded so badly that water can barely make it through. When we had our inspection, we didn't realize that 'main lines' don't include the drain line...so we assumed that everything had been replaced. Not true. And want to know what his quote was - $3800!

I immediately contact my home warranty company, and they tell me that they are sending another plumbing company out to take a look. They come out yesterday, and tell me that they are now going to snake the main lines, instead of the washing drain line, in hopes to get some of the gunk out. Who knew that your drain lines were also vented on your roof? The plumber gets on the roof and shoves this snake-type electrical thing down each of the three roof vents. It is so loud and you can hear it coming down the walls inside...freaky. Once he does this, he comes in and we do a walk through - to find that the pipe made it's way up into a toilet and busted the porcelain. So - new toilet added to the checklist. He did volunteer to pay for it (umm...yeah!) so that was nice.

Next step, test the washer. Oh, wait - did I forget to mention that that doesn't work AT ALL any more?? Yeah, when it rains it pours. Getting in touch with Frigidaire was a whole other story - which I will save for another day since this post is turning into a thesis instead of a short story. Stay tuned to see how it all 'bubbles' up! Still not funny.

Good News: Pictures!

Well, here I am - a week later with not only pictures, but some super awesome updates on the house. Good news first, here are the updated pics:

The sitting room-where I reflect on...stuff.

The living room (there are more pics of the LR in the Picasa link to the right):

The kitchen (again, more pics in Picasa):















Guest bath:

Completed hallway!:

Master bedroom:















Guest bedroom:















So...everything is pretty much wrapped up, except for the major things that we want to do: replace the god awful backsplash, countertops, new roof, build a carport, new deck, landscaping, paint the house, etc., etc., and so on and so forth. But wait - I didn't mention a new drain line in there!!!!

Where Have I Been?

Wow...where have I been? I'm looking at my blog and am embarassed of how neglectful I have been....A friend of mine started a blog for her son today and has once again lit my blog fire!

I have lots of updates - but I'm not nearly as fired up about them now, so no use in sharing. One comment though - Charter Communications is apparently looking for someone to do their accounting and billing....like their customers! They have messed my bills up so bad and have the worst customer service. I dearly miss Comcast...:(

And these pics are O-L-D...I'm going to take some new ones tonight and upload them tomorrow.

Hope that somebody still reads this thing! I'm going to have to work overtime to get all my readers back! I love blogging!

Oh My God....

We have actually made progress and have pictures to prove it! Enjoy...

No more purple bathroom...behold the silver metallic paint that I finally committed to!

The guest room walls are no longer covered in putty-filled holes! Final pictures to come on this room...

And no more purple in our bathroom...we really branched out and went with a brown/gold color...

And for the grand finale...THE VENETIAN PLASTER! Disclaimer...this is only the first coat, so it will look more polished when it is completed. And who wears short shorts - obviously me!

And one more small improvement - no more kitchen ceiling fan! Yay!

Things are finally taking shape - now the next task is to get rid of the Hobby Lobby dining room table and get some decor put up...stay tuned for more pictures!

The Redemption of Rent-A-Center...

So, blogging, while a very useful tool to keep friends and family up to date of our progress and useful to bash those who do us wrong, can also be a little dangerous...

My post about Rent-A-Center was apparently viewed by a RAC employee...ouch. Good for me, but bad when I have to go in and see them face to face. Not that my story was untrue or over exaggerated (as I am famous for)...but still, you get my point. So I must retract my previous post, because they did right by me. They refunded my money and went above and beyond to make sure that I was a happy customer. Kudos to Mike and Chris...just in case you are reading! :)

So no more talk about RAC. I promise. :)

Shane and I are going to be working on the house hot and heavy this weekend...seriously this time. We have got to get into a routine and get stuff put up and away if we ever want to have anyone over! Hopefully we will have pictures from this weekend of some of our progress...just pray that we have progress! Those Lifetime movies can just suck you in....

Death to the Rent-A-Center

So, as we are all aware...Rent-A-Center, while a VERY lucrative organization, is a sucky business. My goal for this blog post is that I say Rent-A-Center so many times that when people Google it - my blog pops up first...so here goes.


We rented the rent-a-fridge from Rent-A-Center after not having the refrigerator left with our new house. I mistakingly thought that it would be cheap to rent a fridge - but that was just not true. So when I got to the Rent-A-Center, I told the worker that I would pay a month upfront because I do not have the time nor the want to visit the Rent-A-Center store once a week. He was 'impressed' by this...I know, I'm rollin' in it. So I asked the Rent-A-Center worker the question that if I decided to turn the fridge in before the month was up, would I get a refund for the money that I paid that was not used. His response was Yes.


So, we keep the fridge for about 2 1/2 weeks and then decide to buy the great stainless steel side-by-side that you see in the pics below...Love it, by the way! So I call Rent-A-Center and ask for my rent-a-fridge to be picked up on Tuesday (7/8). The Rent-A-Center workers come by, tell me that they didn't bring their handtruck to take it out the front door - so they will NEED to use my handicap ramp. The handicap ramp is already a sore spot with me...let's not act like you really need to use it for a 20 pound fridge. My puppies could carry this thing on their back all the way to the Rent-A-Center...but I digress. So they are rolling down the ramp and I ask 'Hey, do I need to sign anything?' 'Nope, you're good - have a good afternoon!' 'K! Good riddance!' And it was done.


Fastforward to the following Thursday...I receive a call from Rent-A-Center reminding me that my next payment was due that day and that I needed to be at the Rent-A-Center before 7 p.m. to make my weekly payment. I'm immediately thrown into a fit of rage - so I call them back. I tell the Rent-A-Center worker that the fridge was picked up the previous Tuesday, but that I was glad that he called, because Rent-A-Center actually owed me money. He does the 'oooohhhhh...let me check' and then comes back and tells me that they don't do refunds. I ask why and his response was...(drum roll please)...that isn't Rent-A-Center policy. So I tell him that when I came up there and paid for the fridge I specifically asked that question and was told that I would get my money back if I didn't keep it for a month. He tells me to hold on, and then comes back and says that his manager says no refund. So I tell him to let me speak to his manager...which was standing at the same counter as the other Rent-A-Center worker when I was renting the monstrosity 4 weeks ago. He tells me that it was in the contract that I signed...okay, well who really keeps their Rent-A-Center contract?? Mine as well had been written on a bar napkin in my opinion...He then tells me that he pulled up my contract and there was a section that said "There are no refunds if you choose to return the property before the end of the term." So what is the term? You wanted me to pay weekly...which in a way I did, I just paid 4 weeks upfront. He couldn't tell me what the 'term' was...And I'm not a lawyer, but the 'term' is not stated anywhere in the contract...which seems like a really loose contract.

So he finally tells me that he won't be able to give me my money back...he said that he totally agreed with me (yes, he did!) but that his manager would have to give me my money back. Okay, so tell me your manager's name and give me his number...he then proceeds to rattle off 1-800-blah blah blah...press option1 for customer service. Okay, so your manager is a customer service operator?? 'No, that is just the best way to file a complaint.' I didn't say this, but I was thinking it really hard, 'So you just lied to me again? First I can get a refund - and that was a lie. Now - you are going to give me your manager's name and number and you direct me to a customer service center...probably in India.' No thanks. So I eventually get a regional office number - which I haven't called. Rent-A-Center, Rent-A-Center, Rent-A-Center, Rent-A-Center.

In all actuality, they owe me $18.23...in the grand scheme of things - this is a trivial amount - I know. But in the minutia that I like to live in - this is my money and I want it back. In this day and age, people that work for company's can say whatever they want to sell a product, but are never required to pay for their actions. I'm getting my money back...it might just be after I get back from Cabo. :) Sianara for a week!

Rent-A-Center, Rent-A-Center, Rent-A-Center, Rent-A-Center.

The Look and Feel of Stainless

Many thanks to Jimmie Carlisle and Debbie and Manny Llerena, who have made this blog post possible.

Sit back and admire the new stainless...and W/D...

Bugs...Ewww.

So, I was reading back through my previous blog posts and saw that I mentioned bugs. I also posted the funniest Orkin commercial to the right - but then never addressed it. So here goes...

Once upon a time, there was a very beautiful girl and her very handsome boyfriend who thought that it would be a fabulous idea to buy a fixer upper in a beautiful wooded neighborhood. They greatly admired all of the foliage in the backyard, including the 100 year old oak tree, the Japanese maple, and over abundance of monkey grass (there must have been a special at the landscape store because the previous owners put it EVERYWHERE!). So they move in...and then all of the earthy stuff just became a little too earthy.

Rewind to four years ago, the beautiful girl moved into an apartment during college. It was great...doing whatever her and her roommate wanted, beer and cockroaches in the fridge, eating pizza topped with silverfish...yeah that's right. The apartment was infested with cockroaches. The silverfish was just visiting, but the roaches were there for the long haul. Well, 3 or 12 bug bombs later we realized that our apt. was infested with German cockroaches - the only infesting cockroach in the southeast. Luckily these are not the huge ones, but they are the little ones that can lay on your plates, cool off in the fridge (because they can fit through the sealing), and wait in your bathtub to scare the living bejesus out of you. My roommate and I pretty much retired to eating, sleeping, and hanging out on the back porch. Our apartment was treated for pests weekly (probably not healthy) and we never really got rid of the roaches. We fondly referred to it as Joe's Apartment (the old show on MTV where the roaches were Joe's friends and they talked...disturbing.)

Now, fastforward back to the present. The first instance, of course, was when I had Gretchen come stay with me when Shane was out of town. We get home from dinner and a palmetto bug (not a roach, but they look like one...) is sitting on the door handle to get into my house. Good thing that we hadn't taken the trash out, because there was a little 1x2 peice of lumber in my trash (random?) and we thought that that would be a good extermination tool. So I hit the handle and it just crawls on the windows of the door. Then crawls down to the bottom where the sealing is...oh, good old sealing. About the only thing that sealing does is keep the wind out...because it certainly doesn' t seal the grossness out. Gretchen takes the lumber and tries to kill it, but what we inevitably do is show it the gateway to the interior. So it gets in. We go inside and it is just chillin' by the back door....on my new tile. I don't want to squish it because I just ate and don't really want to hear that crunch - so I go for my safest option...bleach. It won't like it, it will poison it, and it will clean my floor at the same time! So I bleach that little bug out the backdoor.

Next time I see one, Debbie, Katie, and Maria are over to look at the house. The dogs are playing under the couch, Katie is trying to referee them, and another palmetto bug just comes strolling out from under the couch. Then the dogs see him, and that looks fun to them. Katie screams 'Ewww! A cockroach!' Stacy has a flashback to her apartment, and then wonders if she has a minor case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder...and contemplates getting into the fetal position. I totally wussed out and couldn't kill it - I just can't handle the crunch. So Katie mans up, good thing for the brave 11-year-old, and steps on it and cleans it up. Embarassing for me - all the way around.

And then one more occassion, this is when I realized that my palmetto bugs were quite the social butterflies. We have the repair man over to fix our microwave, and what happens? Oh, well that little bug crawls right out of the sink and makes his presence known! Again (this is becoming a pattern) I freak out, freeze, and so the microwave repair man had to kill it and Shane had to clean it up. Absolutely mortifying...they only come out when people are at my house and then I act like it has 5 foot fangs and a fully loaded pistol. Ridiculous.

So...the funniest part was that I was all the while doing research on pest control. I wanted to make sure that I was getting the best service for the best price. After the microwave man left, I just called Orkin. As I'm sweating and breathing like I have just ran a marathon, I agree to whatever price, whatever date, just get out here! I make it sound really dramatic, but it was a good price and I have only seen one more since. He was outside - and I only saw him through the window. But I could tell that he was afraid...and he probably was only there to get the last of his things before he moved out.

So now they are gone...but I won't say that loudly or confidently because these things can smell fear. And I've got enough of that for everyone...

Plans have changed...

So, the rent-a-fridge is officially gone! Good riddance. Shane are I are the proud new owners of a new stainless steel side by side refrigerator and a stackable, front loader washer and dryer! We are so proud...never have I been so excited to do laundry! Probably because I didn't have any clean clothes...but nevertheless excited! No pics yet....my camera batteries are still dead. I really don't have an excuse for why I haven't changed the batteries...that must just be linked to laziness.

We have also changed some plans as far as the TV mounting goes. Like I mentioned, I don't know that I am quite ready to sacrifice $1000 and one of my kidneys, so we have decided to just have it mounted on the wall. But by doing that we have to get a new sofa. And yes, we HAVE to. We will need an L-shaped sectional...check out the poll on the right and vote on which one you like the best! I haven't gotten updated pricing on mounting the TV on the wall, but I'm sure that it must be cheaper. Maybe Shane could even do it...dun dun dun! :)

Other new topics are that I have decided to Venetian plaster the hallway. Unfortunately, even after all of the plaster and evening out on the walls (remember the layers of wallpaper that had to be stripped?) the walls are not even enough for just paint. They are showing every single flaw in the drywall. So Venetian plaster seems like the most difficult and annoying task - you know that's why I picked it! Always shooting past the stars...aiming more for Pluto. Here is a pic of Venetian plaster for those who may not be familiar....

Pretty, right?

Well, no more updates for now...I'll take some pics (I swear) of our new appliances, the guest bedroom, and the master. We moved some furniture around in the guest and master and it looks much better than before! Stay tuned...

Different Look

Looks different, huh? I figure that since I can't get any immediate results at my house - I can make some quick, free fixes on my blog...so there.

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be TV installers...

So, what seemed to be a simple task of having our TV mounted is turning into a major initiative.

When you walk into a new home these days, a standard has become the flat panel TV that hangs above the fireplace, right? Well, I know that those people didn't sell their first born, one of their kidneys, and pay $1000 for it! I may be exagerating, but that seems to be about what they are asking!

I've had three quotes, and they go a little something like this:
#1: Well, it could be a whole day job and cost $750, or I could be done in 2 hours and it cost you $250. Not sure. So Stacy asks, well do you want to come out to my house and take a look? Contractor replies, no, I wouldn't know until I started cutting holes. Yeeaaahhh, no. Anyone who has seen the movie 'The Money Pit' knows that I am not looking to hire The Shirk brothers....
#2: Yeah, we can knock that out for $350. Really? You want to come out and look at it? Naaahhh. And then the contractor proceeds to call me twice a day, every day and schedule the service. Whoa Nelly...unless you want a bad check - back off! We aren't exactly rollin' in it right now!
#3: Well, I could hang the TV, but I couldn't move the cable or install the electrical. Well, perfect - because I actually just wanted to idolize the actual television by placing it above the fireplace - not watch it...What kind of crazy idea is that?!?

So, another problem to roll up into what I like to call 'Home Ownershi*.' Along with: appliances, bugs (oh, that is a totally separate blog post), yard stuff, boxes, lack of storage, over abundance of decorative knick-knacks (We could seriously open our own Hobby Lobby), so on and so forth, etc., etc., etc.