Magnificence

Behold the new granite countertops in all their wonderment and glory...

And in the bathroom...more beauty:

That's all. Sweet dreams.

Take it Off!

As I posted on Tuesday, our goals for tonight were to paint behind the vanity and remove all of the countertops in the kitchen. Easy peesy.

So, the island countertop came off super easy. The corner piece to the left of the stove was a little difficult. They had a ‘backsplash’ piece that was glued to the cabinet, but it took like 10 minutes…not bad.
We then move on to the biggest countertop, the one with the sink in it. We emptied everything out from underneath the sink, unscrewed all of the screws that were holding the countertop to the cabinets, and then proceeded to disconnect all of the sink plumbing. Wow – now we know why plumbers cost so freaking much!

I’ll play this debacle out like a how-to/how-not-to:

• First, turn off the water supply, and have towels on hand to catch the water that is resting in the pipes.
• If a garbage disposal is involved, turn off the power that runs to it…this machine is hardwired to your house. SURPRISE!
• Take a razor and score the caulk/sealant around the sink.
• Be aware that porcelain sinks weigh approximately 13,763 pounds, so you need to prepare for this by eating Wheatie’s for breakfast, a high protein lunch and dinner, wear gloves, and shy away from that beer with dinner. Do not slide the sink around just so you can ‘see that it is really coming out.’
• Do not forget that your garbage disposal is still connected to the sink - that would be just plain silly. Prepare to remove this machine by, again, getting towels to catch the run-off water, and grabbing a SARS mask to protect yourself from the rancid smell of filth and rot.
• There are three metal pieces that connect your disposal to your sink…I don’t know what they are called – you can google that part. Unscrew the three bolts that are holding the three metal pieces together.
• Do not start to spin the garbage disposal around, that doesn’t do anything. Do not grab onto the middle metal piece and try to unscrew it – that doesn’t work either. Do not then have a conversation about just busting up the porcelain sink, it will not be easier to carry out if you did that.
• Do not proceed to lay a towel on the sink and hit it as hard as you can with a hammer. This is very dangerous – and does not work. Again, porcelain is indestructible…and I believe that it could be used in body armor.
• Do not then go back to unscrewing the garbage disposal, I told you that didn’t work.
• Do not get frustrated and decide to remove the garbage disposal from the sink by bending in the metal part that sits in your sink. This is dangerous.
• Always be prepared for the garbage disposal to just fall off after 30 minutes of desperately trying to remove it.
• However you may choose to remove the garbage disposal, be prepared to purchase a new one. We will be.

I hope you enjoyed that play by play, and also found it useful.

We then removed the sink and the countertop, and found a few issues (note the wires that are laying on top of the counter). But nothing that a drill and mortar bit couldn’t help. Ahhhh….mortar bit. Funny story about the mortar bit – but I’ll save that for another day.
More pictures to come of the new granite countertops! Stay tuned!

And We Are Still Talking About….

Granite! But this time the bathroom granite...I really like to keep my topics diverse.

We are obviously keeping the white vanity in the bathroom, but I don’t think that I ever shared the stone color – so here ya’ go:

And how about that ‘sample?’ It looks more like the whole sha-bang rather than a sample, but we could potentially use this as a weapon in case a burglar were to crack our state-of-the-art security system, or we could use it as a paperweight, or even as a decorative boulder in our front yard landscaping…I don’t know.

What this also means is that I have to paint over the silver. After all of the back and forth about the metallic paint, I have wound up living with it for six months before deciding to paint it back to something neutral. Enter Olympic’s Pony Tail or Bread Basket:

So, our plan for the remainder of the week is:

• Wednesday: Paint the portion of the bathroom that will be covered by the vanity; Remove kitchen countertops
• Thursday: Granite is installed
• Friday: Backsplash is removed and new is installed; Paint the remainder of the bathroom. Maybe even paint the kitchen? Yeah, that’s right – I’m painting it too.

Preparation

This weekend was full of preparation…minus our outing/drinkfest on Friday night. We went to this place, called ‘The Place’ in Woodstock – this is apparently where 40 year old, and above, divorcees go to pick up, well….anything. It also appeared to be the place for underage boys to flash fake ID’s and get into…case in point, one young buck who looked younger than both my brothers would not stop hitting on my friend, Mandy. He really wanted to share the ‘last dance’ with her…But it was fun – we drank and had fun and danced like we were the only ones in the place…ha ha, get it? The Place? But all this fun made our Saturday morning/afternoon a little difficult, at least for me… Shane was up and at ‘em like a champ.

Saturday: We had recessed lighting installed in our kitchen! Surprise! I appreciate everyone’s feedback and participation in the poll. But once Shane and I did some measuring we realized that our ceilings aren’t really high enough to do any kind of drop lighting…so recessed lighting was our only option. And you know I don’t mess around, so we measured Thursday, I called around on Friday, and they were installed on Saturday!

First off, I didn’t realize that these little lights that sell for around $10-$15 at Home Depot cost an arm, leg and first born to install. The electrician arrived really early (about 9:30 a.m. ;)) on Saturday and proceeded to walk us through the specifics of the install. I ask ‘So, how many lights do you think that we will need?’ He says ‘Ummmmm….I would say probably (counting in his head)…9.’ I all of a sudden was not so scared about this process, as I realized that there was no science to the installation and/or design of this type of lighting…this guy just pulled a number out of his butt. So, I say ‘I think that is a little bit too many…I don’t want it to be THAT bright in here.’ We decide on four – far cry from the nine that were initially proposed. He then says that it won’t take that long, and I’m like ‘Good, because I have a really bad hangover, so I’m going to be on the couch.’ Won’t take that long? It took him until 5 p.m.!!! Geez. But the lights do look REALLY good…here are some before and afters:

P.S. Shane and I also had to brush up on our sheetrock repair skills this weekend. When the previous fixtures were taken down, some of the sheetrock crumbled out from around it. But with a little bit of sheetrock tape, spackle and paint – they were like brand new!

Just in case you ever need it, here is a little how-to:

1. Cover holes and/or cracks with mesh tape. You can purchase mesh tape in a roll (like masking tape) or in sheets for bigger holes. (Do not overlap the tape when putting it on your wall or ceiling.)
2. Once you have covered your hole/crack, slap on the spackle. Don’t be afraid…pile that stuff on. You would rather have too much rather than not enough. And Shane and I like to buy the kind that goes on pink and dries white. We are impatient. The ‘no pink, all white’ color change really helps us.
3. Once the spackle is dry, sand everything down using a medium grit sand paper. I find it best to sand in different directions to ensure that you are smoothing the surface evenly.
4. When you think that you are done sanding, sand a little more.
5. Wipe with a moist cloth to get all of the dust off of your repaired area.
6. Paint and…Voila – Like new!

And funny thing about the ceiling paint…I thought that it was the same color as my ceiling. Ha. Ha. Ha. It wasn’t – which means that I have to seriously paint the entire kitchen ceiling – which involves cutting in – which I hate.

Also, the granite and backsplash should be going in this week, so we demoed the guest bath in preparation for the vanity top in there. Behold my purple pain – again!

But let’s all count down the days until the hideous brick kitchen backsplash is gone!!!!
Does anyone know what I can do with all this junk that we are tearing up out of our house? Like the bathroom vanity? Or the track light from my kitchen? I may not love them, but one man’s junk is another man’s treasure!

Still…Needing a Light

Seriously, I know that only about 5 people read my blog (although analytics show that 11 people viewed the page yesterday, but that’s neither here nor there) but I seriously need some help deciding on a light. So here are the options…(I’ve posted a poll to the left for you to cast your vote.)

A: Contact an electrician to install can lighting in the galley part of the kitchen, take down the track lighting over the island and have them install two pendant lights. I know that I said that this wasn’t an option, but I’ve now decided that it is. Hmpf!

B: Have the electrician install can lighting throughout the kitchen, and forego the special island light.

C: Install Shane’s choice of a chandelier type light.

D: Install Stacy’s choice of a ‘billiard-style’ island light.

E: Install a large pendant light, like this one:
Please help, seriously…can anyone hear me? Hello out there?

Need a Light…

Shane and I have been looking around to find a new island lighting fixture. We currently have a very modern looking track light above the island,
But we are looking to install something a little heavier and rich, but really cannot decide on what we want – and haven’t seen anything so far that really knocks our socks off. I'm kind of liking this one:

Can you help? Peeeeezzzz?!?

Things to consider:

• There is only one electrical junction box over the island, which means that we cannot do two drop pendant lamps…already thought of that.
• We cannot have anything too heavy because the ceiling has not been braced for something like that.
• The island is approximately 4 feet long x 2 feet wide.
• While I don’t want to spill the beans on the small improvements that we have made thus far (I’m saving it for the big reveal next week) – we are steering away from the stainless/brushed chrome and incorporating the Venetian bronze finish.

Shane has the idea to hang a small chandelier over the island…but I’m not sold. This is similar to what he likes:

Are there lighting faux pas that I should be aware of? Is there anywhere else besides Home Depot and Lowe’s that I can get decently priced lighting that doesn’t look like it should be hung in the Governor’s Mansion or the family home of the Adam’s Family? Please help!

The Weekend Update

We had an extremely busy weekend…here is the play by play:

Friday: Shane and I went over to Kel and Austin’s for some drinks and fun time. It has been too long since I have played ‘Thumb Princess’ (a.k.a Kings, FUBAR, etc.)! But before we could get there, drama ensued. We dropped Shane’s car off to get some work done, and then went to grab a quick bite to eat. When we were done eating, Shane gets in my car and starts freaking out about his Ipod…he couldn’t find it. He was sure that he had it and said that it was sitting in his lap while he was in his car and he thought that he put it in my backseat. So, we leave the restaurant and go back to the car place. We are looking in his car, in my car, around the cars…nothing. We decide to go back home and get the spare key and then come back and open up the car (maybe it fell under the seat). We pull up to the car again, Shane gets out to look in his car and I get out to look in my car again. As I step out of the car, I see his Ipod sitting on the ground. ‘Shane – here it is! Man, we are lucky we didn’t run this thing over.’ Well, we did run it over. I turned it on and the screen was completely busted. Needless to say – Shane was extremely upset. I asked him to let me take a picture of him looking sad with his Ipod, but this was the best that I could get:

This is how he explained his devastation: ‘I have three very important things in my life: #1 you, #2 my dogs, and #3 my Ipod.’ I told him that he could have mine, or he could take advantage of this opportunity and go buy a brand new one…but there was just no consoling him.

Saturday: We picked out our granite slab! It wasn’t exciting as I thought that it would be. I guess I envisioned myself wearing a hardhat, scaling through a rock quarry to find that ‘perfect’ piece…but then I remembered that this wasn’t an episode of Man vs. Wild. We also picked out our granite for the bathroom, although I really can’t remember what I picked. I know the name is ‘Gallo Napolitano’ – but who knows what it looks like. We also picked out our backsplash and decided to go with the 1x2 subway tiles:

We then headed over to Shane’s little sister, Katie’s, gymnastics meet. Man, that really brought back memories…I swear, if they offered gymnastics for adults I would be ALL OVER that! Katie did great, by the way!

And, oh yeah, it was Valentine’s Day (that’s how I felt because we had so much going on) so we went out for a nice dinner at Harry Bissett’s in Buckhead. Then went home and crashed…exhausted.

Sunday: I love IKEA. When the store first opened, I really didn’t understand all of the craze around it, but it has become my one-stop shop for everything home related. And the sad part is that while everything is very cheap…we can’t get out the door for less than $150. Anyways, clearly we hit it up again on Sunday…I went ahead and got everything that I needed to finish up the bedroom décor (minus a new, smaller TV and curtains). We’ll be putting everything up tonight, so be on the lookout for pics tomorrow!

We then headed to Home Depot to pick out a new kitchen faucet and cabinet hardware. I want to own a company that sells kitchen and bathroom faucets…those things are outrageously expensive. I just love how the brass faucets are like $100 less than the venetian bronze faucet – that is EXACTLY the same. If I were anything like my dad, I would buy the brass and spray paint it. He once spray painted one of our refrigerators back in the day…I think that some would call that ‘bootleg.’

So, plan for the week is that the countertops are being templated on Thursday. They will take exact measurements and will create a digital copy of what my countertops will look like in my kitchen…very exciting and high tech. And they will then come back next Thursday to put the countertop and backsplash in…can you believe it?!?! We are less than two weeks away from the completion of my mini kitchen reno!!!

The Decision Has Been Made...

We have charted our course of action and are ready to move forward with the granite AND backsplash renovation! Yay! We have been dealing with Superior Granite and Stone and they have definitely exceeded our expectations. Our salesperson, Jennifer, deals mostly over email (which I love), is very prompt in responding to my laundry lists of questions, and was very willing to work with us on pricing (as in she gave us an extra dollar off of our square footage price because she had two slabs of the Tropic Brown in stock).

Since she was so great, we have decided to let her take care of the removal, repair and installation our new backsplash, kitchen granite, and threw a curveball in and will let them replace the yellow-y marble top in the guest bathroom (and that was a steal at around $25 a square foot!) We are going on Saturday to pick out our slab and then hitting up Floor and Décor for our tile backsplash.

And on to the backsplash….it is with a very huge amount of joy that I will watch my heinous brick backsplash come tumbling to the ground. Well, not the ground – I don’t want it damaging my floors – but to maybe a catch-all drop cloth laid neatly on the countertop and floor. I have decided to move forward with a travertine subway tile, but want to use the smaller tile size (1 ½ x 3 – I think?). But I am loving this look too…

Oh, and BTW – the dishwasher is broken. Has been for over a week. I’ve been washing dishes by hand. Yeah, I said ‘by hand.’ The repair guy is coming on Monday, finally, to fix it…so let’s just hope that there are no screaming phone fights and that he actually shows. (fingers crossed)

Granite Estimation Situation

So, as I mentioned yesterday, we had a contractor come out last night to give us a quote on the countertops. In my post I mentioned a rough price of $40 per square foot…but those who know me well (Shane) know that I low-ball EVERYTHING! And apparently, with this guy’s products I low balled by about $10.

I also learned that they getcha’ with the sinks. We currently have a cream colored porcelain sink and I hate it. It scratches so easily and it’s cream – so it’s a nightmare to keep clean. AND – it has two bowls, but the bowl with the garbage disposal is really small (like a bar sink) and the other is extremely oversized…makes no sense. Well, I told the guy last night that I wanted a stainless steel undermount sink with two equal size bowls. ‘No problem.’

Here is the breakdown:

• 36.8 square feet of kitchen countertops x $48 square foot for Tropic Brown/Desert Brown granite = $1766.40


• Stainless Steel undermount sink with two equal bowls = $200


• Installation of sink = $249


• Demo and disposal of old countertops = $147


• TOTAL: $2362.40

Huh?!? I’m paying almost $500 for a sink??? No ma’am. He told me this was standard pricing, but that if I could find one for a better price, then I could bring it to him and he would only charge me the install.

After Shane and I talked, I decided that I was going to get a couple of other quotes and just see if it was the company that was overpriced, or if it was the granite that we chose or whatever…So, I did an online quote today with a granite company in Kennesaw, and someone responded immediately. They quoted me $37 a square foot for Tropic Brown, bringing the total more in line with what I was looking to spend.

Here is their breakdown:

• 37 square feet of kitchen countertops x $37 square foot for Tropic Brown/Desert Brown granite = $1369


• Stainless Steel undermount sink with two equal bowls = $250


• Installation of sink = $150


• Demo and disposal of old countertops = $0


• TOTAL: $1769

Still getting me on the sink, but we’re saving so much on the square footage price.It pays to shop around!!! So stay tuned for my 'befores' as we plan to make a decision by the weekend! Who knows, we might even demo that backsplash this weekend!

We’re Rockin!

I am very excited to announce that someone is coming to quote the installation of granite countertops tonight! Oh, how I cannot WAIT to be rid of my horrible Formica countertops that have nicks and cuts in them…and that are just ugly.

Shane and I did some rough measuring, and we approximated 40 sq. ft. of countertops in the kitchen. If you take an average price of $40 per square foot (fabricated and installed) that is only $1600…which isn’t that bad - especially since they say that you will double the money that you spend in kitchens and bathrooms. I also mentioned the heinous backsplash that I have hated since we first looked at the house in April 2008. He said that he had seen it done and it looked ‘pretty cool,’ but I quickly let him know that mine is not so ‘cool.’ He doesn’t do tile work, but said that he could recommend some people and could give me a rough estimate on how much it would cost to take down the existing and install a new backsplash (with average costing tile).

So, now I’m looking to you for opinions…do I want a tile backsplash? That would probably add on another $500, and while I don’t mind spending that – I wonder, will it be too much? Here are a couple of kitchen ideas that I found…

Beadboard backsplash: Very clean, and it's somewhat comparable since I also have white cabinets. But I will NOT be getting black granite...I've heard it's a nightmare to keep clean.

Tiled backsplash: This seems very boring to me, but again, it's comparable since the granite countertops are similar to what I like and it has white cabinets.
Subway tile: I love the look of this, and also like it with the white cabinets...My choice would probably be something more in the cream family, rather than the red family.

What do ya’ll think? Plain drywall backsplash? Beadboard? Subway tile? I’m open to all suggestions…except for brick pavers.

Yard Demoliiiitttiiiiooonnnnn!

Instructions: When reading the title, the word ‘demolition’ should be yelled and drawn out for a very long time. Thank you.

We had a great weekend! Had a little play time and a little work time…it made for a very productive two days.

Saturday: Shane and I got up pretty early and started our weekend house cleaning. When both of us pitch in it goes so much faster. I know that my house isn’t a mansion, but with the dogs and having to pretty much wipe down or vacuum every surface, it can be a very daunting task. One which I love every second of. :) Ahhh...the smell of bleach in the morning - but I digress.

Before we got started cleaning, we did watch Friday night’s episode of Friday Night Lights. I love that show!!! Does anyone else watch it besides me and Shane?

Saturday night we made the trek to Doraville, which didn’t turn out to be very far from my house (maybe 15-20 minutes). We went to this karaoke place, Karaoke Melody, and had a blast! You got your own private room that came with a couch that lined three walls, a big screen TV and a pretty good sound system. There were six of us, and while I thought that that might not be enough people, it was just the right number. We had a lot of fun and will definitely have to go back! Check out the pics in the Picasa link to the left. I have some video, but can't figure out how to upload it - I'll keep you posted.

Sunday: While we like our Sundays to be pretty chill, we figured that we should take advantage of the awesome weather (my car said it was 70 degrees!) and get outside. My brother was coming home from Athens and volunteered (for a certain price) to come over and help Shane with some of the yard demo. They got started at noon and by 6:30 our yard was pretty much picked clean of every shrub, dead tree, vine, and bush. Here are the befores:
And the afters:
This is all in preparation to hit the ground running in the spring. Our plan for the spring is to outline most of the yard with mulch, lay sod in the areas that get sun, lay river rock over by the driveway and into a portion of the yard that is completely shaded by a big oak, build a new deck, and (drum roll, please) install a shed. I have very strong opinions about sheds – being that they breed snakes, rats and evil. You don’t ever hear of anything good happening in a shed…dead bodies-found in a shed, something chewed through my machinery-that I left in a shed, I got bit by a snake-in a shed…see where I’m going here? But to my surprise, they actually have some really cute little sheds at Home Depot! And with our house having NO storage, this is pretty much our only option. But my stipulations are that it has to be small, I don’t want hobos or too large of vermin living in it, and it has to be landscaped around it. That’s it!

On a side note, here are a couple of other random happenings from yesterday:

Brother rode in the wheelbarrow:

I cut down this tree (yep, all by myself) and it had a really cool stalk...and it smelled minty.

Crank That

I swear we love our house, but it seems like every dang time we turn around there is something breaking or being broken.

As you know, our 1960’s brick ranch was purchased knowing that we would have a lot of work to do….old HVAC system, old electrical system, old roof, and old windows, just to name a few. And I just thought that the original crank windows were ‘just so cool’ when we moved in…in the summer…when most of them were in working order. For those of you who may not be familiar with crank windows, basically you turn a handle and the horizontal panes of the window flag open and shut.

Right as the weather was beginning to turn cold, the crank on our bedroom window broke. It was my fault, I’ll admit it. My dogs were digging in the backyard (which if you have seen our backyard – you would totally NOT understand why I even gave a crap) and I hurriedly cranked open the window to yell at them to stop. They stopped and I cranked the window shut. Then they started it up again, and I hurriedly cranked the window open again…well, that was apparently the crank's last crank. I go to crank the window shut again and it doesn’t do anything. What do I do? Impatient Stacy reaches her hand out and just pulls the window panes back in, losing whatever kind of resistance was left in the panes. After that they just flapped in the wind. And this is more than just an annoyance and a heating/cooling issue – we are talking safety here folks. S-town is safe, but let’s just face it that ‘up and coming’ areas sometimes means people ‘up and coming’ into your home when you aren’t there.

But as I mentioned, I did this in the morning. I, being perpetually late, didn’t have time to mess with it and just went on my way to work. Shane had to leave early too, so the window was left flapping all day. That night, Shane had a work dinner, so I go outside to try to screw the window shut (which is what a window repair company recommend that I do…after he told me he would charge me $400 to replace the window), and that didn’t work. That night…window still flapping. That’s why we got big dogs, isn’t it? Finally, the next day Shane screwed the window shut, and it is still that way today.

We seriously do need to get the windows replaced. You can stand a foot away from them and feel the cold air coming in…not to mention our $220 gas bills for the past two months. We got the first bill, freaked out, and lowered the temp to 68. Got the second bill and realized that that saved us a whopping $2. What SHALL we do with our savings?

Dishwasher Scare!

So, I'm sure that you are all OVER hearing about my appliances...and it's actually kind of funny to look at how many posts I've written concerning them...but we just had a serious scare with the dishwasher! You know the little compartment that you put the soap in? Well, I went to unload the dishwasher last night and noticed that the dishes still looked a little grimy. Turns out that the soap compartment didn't open during the cycle...hmmm...that's weird. I started them again, and when I got home this evening Shane had already unloaded the dishwasher. I walk over and open the door and the soap compartment was still closed, meaning that the dishes still weren't washed - yet put away anyways. So, we put more dishes in and started them again, monitoring them every 10 or 15 minutes. When we looked after the first 15 minutes, the soap still hadn't opened up! Oh god...I'm envisioning writing my scathing complaint to Fridgidaire and then turning around 5 minutes later and asking them to send another person out to fix the dishwasher.

Well, it was all a scare. Turns out that a small measuring spoon fell into the bottom of the dishwasher and blocked the spinner thing (don't know or care what it's called). Since that thing wasn't spinning, the dishwasher didn't know to release the soap. Shew! That was a close one.

What does the picture have to do with the post? Nothing, but she looked scared too. So seriously, no more appliance talk.

Washer = Fixed (For Now)

As I eluded to in my previous post, the washer repair situation got a little heated. As we have previously discussed, the repair person came over on Thursday. He took a look at the machine and said that he usually kept that part in his truck - but unfortunately just didn't have it today! Of course. So he makes a call to his office on speakerphone and the guy says 'Yes we have it.' The repair person tells us that he will go to the office, get the part, and will be back out on either Friday or Saturday. Great!

No call on Friday. That's fine...Saturday would actually be better for us. So, Saturday...10 a.m....11 a.m....noon. I decide to call the repair guys cell phone. No answer, and some girls crazy voicemail. So I look back through my phone log and I am dead sure that this is the number that he called me from. So Shane and I just take turns blowing up this guys' cell phone. At around 12:30 he finally answers...and it goes a little somethin' like this:
Guy: Hello?
Stacy: Hi, is this All County Appliances?
Guy: Go ahead.
Stacy: Um, okay. Hi, this is Stacy and you came out to our house in Smyrna on Thursday to repair our washing machine.
Guy: I'm listening.
Stacy: Hmmm. Okay, well you said that you would be giving us a call yesterday to let us know when you would be coming back out and we haven't heard anything. So, I just wanted to see what time you would be coming over today.
Guy: Ma'am, I'm not going to be coming to your home today. I never got the part.
Stacy: Well, you said that you would call us and let us know - you didn't think that that warranted a phone call?
Guy: Well, I don't call customers. I'm sorry if my office didn't call you, but that's not my fault.
Stacy: Not your fault? You said that you would come, worst case, today and now you are telling me you aren't. Our washer has been broken for over a week - what do you recommend that I do?!?
(This is where it gets a little heated.)
Guy: Ma'am...I can't come to your house today because I don't have the part to fix it! What do you want me to do?!?
Stacy: I heard you when you said you didn't have the part, but I don't understand why no one called me to tell me that the plan had changed!!
Guy: Well YOU broke the washer - this isn't my fault!
Stacy: No, I didn't break the washer...the washer just broke. And we contacted YOU to come out here and fix it on Tuesday! It's now Saturday and nothing has been done other than peices being ripped out of the machine!
Guy: Ma'am - WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!? (this was full on yelling)
Stacy: Excuse me?!? I believe that you need to watch your tone and watch who you are talking to!
Guy: Geez, ma'am - what do you want me to say?
Stacy: You don't need to say anything. Here is the deal, if you have ordered the part for my machine well then that sucks for you because you will not be stepping foot back into my home to do anything. Furthermore, I will be contacting your corporate office and speaking with your manager about the way that you have spoken to me, as well as filing a formal complaint with Fridgidaire.
Guy: Well, good luck finding anyone else in Smyrna to come out and fix that machine.
Stacy: You watch me. Somebody besides you will be fixing this machine TODAY.
Guy: (click)

(As you can see from our conversation, he didn't really have an excuse - so he just kept asking the same question over and over again. Annoying.)

Yep, he hung up on me. Very professional. So, I called the corporate office and left them a voicemail saying that I expected a phone call first thing Monday morning to discuss the situation and also let them know that I was going to be filing a formal complaint with Fridgidaire regarding their service. So, I get a call on Monday morning and wasn't able to answer it - so I called back a few hours later. It was the moronic receptionist/scheduler girl wanting to know if I wanted the repair guy to come out to fix my washer that day? Are you eating glue over there? My response was 'No, I do not want anyone from your company in my home again. I'm not sure if you got my message, but your service man was extremely rude and screamed at me over the phone.' Her response was 'Oh...sorry.' What a moron. No customer service these days. So - for anyone reading, do not use or call All County Appliance Service, 3595 Hiram Douglasville Highway, Ste 225, Hiram, GA 30141, Phone: 770-593-8881. Oh, and check out my comment on Kudzu.com (I'm slc7273)! Ahhh....every little bit helps. :)

Well, needless to say, nobody came out on Saturday to repair the machine, but someone did come out today and has fixed our washer....again. In my many phone calls on Saturday to appliance repair companies - I spoke with a guy who said that these machines are such lemons that he doesn't even fix them anymore. He said that he has seen so many issues with this model that it isn't even worth his time anymore. Well, that makes two of us!

Who is looking forward to doing at least ten loads of laundry tonight??? Not this girl.

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.