A Weekend of Mishaps and One Exchange

When you move into a new house it doesn't take long to figure out things you want to change right away, things you may want to change over time, and the things you want to stay the same. Together, Tim and I have a list and each week or two we prioritize what moves to the top and is urgent to us. The list before moving into the house was like this:

1. Have a new doorway knocked out from kitchen to dinning room.
2. Build chicken coop.
3. Buy patio furniture.
4. Buy a queen sized bed.
5. Make the book nook.
6. Etc, Etc, Etc....

The list, as you may have guessed, changed after the big move. The patio area is where we like to spend a lot of time with friends and family, so making it a livable space became top priority. Getting my books out of boxes and put away was surprisingly at the top of Tim's list, so the nook also made its way to the top. Adjusting to a kitchen with very few drawers made a new kitchen island move its way into the top five. The new queen sized bed also crawled its way up. Here is the list now.

1. Patio Furniture. Done.
2. Paint book nook, buy bookshelves, and put room together. Done.
3. Buy kitchen island with built in drawers. Done.
4. Queen sized bed. Done.
5. Chicken coop.
6. Have a new doorway knocked out from kitchen to dinning room.
7. Etc, etc, etc.

Acquiring the patio furniture went smoothly. We found a great deal on some super comfortable swivel chairs that we love. Then the search was on for the right table. That took a little longer but was well worth the wait. After that there was no looking back. We absolutely love our patio and spend a good amount of time out there.
Putting together the book nook was a little more stressful. Choosing colors, painting, building the bookshelves, and finally getting the books on the shelves all added up to a lot of time and even a little bickering (yes, that is right, Tim and I can occasionally bicker and we even consider it healthy in small doses.) The end result is a room that we enjoy and even the neighbors come over to borrow books.
We thought the next project was going to be a new doorway, but after trying to get our kitchen settled we decided to get the new kitchen island. Having our silverware divide up into little drawers just wasn't working, not to mention the lack of storage. This weekend we made a trip to Ikea and picked up the chosen island. It looks very similar to the old one (which is now my project room table...woo hoo....it was nice to kill to birds with one stone.) Putting the island together was a different story. We made a MAJOR mistake and put holes where none should be. Lucky for us, Ikea swapped the parts out. It helped that the instructions weren't very clear at that point. Yikes.
We also picked up a queen bed and were so excited to put it in our downstairs bedroom. I guess we didn't learn our lesson when we initially moved in. Let me explain.
We have a matching couch and loveseat. The loveseat went easily into the basement. Then we tried to take the couch down. After removing three doors and one banister it was inches from fitting....INCHES. It now sits in the living room upstairs. We plan to give it one more try, but have to take a door off a shower first. It might be a lot harder than it sounds, so we are feeling a little intimidated by that project.
After several weeks we must have forgotten how awful it was to try and squeeze furniture down the stairs. So we bought our new bed, brought it home all happy and cheerful, then tried to squeeze the box spring down the stairs. Now the new bed is upstairs and we are still sleeping on our old bed downstairs until the nights get a little cooler.
I also took Tim to meet our chickens this weekend. He is even more excited to get the coop built after getting to know his new gals. Looks like we have a weekend of building coming soon.
So at the end of each day we have big lists and little lists of things to do. And yet at the end of each day I feel happy and content, knowing that our house is slowly metamorphosing into our home.

A Little Before and After

The last few weeks have been insanely busy.....moving into our new home, me working overtime at work, trying to get the yard in order, and finally making our own changes to the inside of the house. So here is a small update in photos.

This is the "bonus room" before. The previous home owner used it as a dinning room. Tim thought it would be a nice idea to have a place for me to keep my books.

I guess Tim and I were feeling brave when decided to go dark for the wall color.

Lady's effort to help us paint.

Definitely dark....and we LOVE IT.

Light bookshelves to contrast with the walls.
The final photos will be posted soon!

In the meantime, Lola A.K.A "Evil Princess" as Tim calls her, learned how to climb the pear tree two weeks ago. Then she looked over at the wires that are behind her in this picture and decided it would be fun to tightrope walk them. At that point I put the camera away and started swearing. She got about five feet before I ran to get a ladder and chased her back to the tree. She has since learned that she is NOT allowed in the tree anymore.

Lola's middle name may be trouble, but Charcoal likes to occasionally find it too. Here he is under the deck. Luckily for him he was able to squeeze back out so we didn't have to dismantle it.

Excitement all around.

Tim and I closed on our new home today! We had our final walk through this morning. Amber, our friend and real estate agent was supposed to meet us for closing this afternoon.

She had a good excuse for not making it. She went into labor and is having her little boy any minute now. Congratulations Amber! What a memorable day for both of us.

Did I mention that I love the Fourth of July?

Tim and I spent the weekend with family and friends. Saturday we celebrated Mom's birthday early because Sarah, Troy, and Breacy were able to come up from Vegas for the weekend. At night we would come home exhausted from playing all day and I would drag Tim out in the dark to have a little more fun. I bought some SUPER SPARKLERS and Tim and I would run around like little kids (unfortunately there are no picture of this since our hands were full.)

What a mischievous look!

Tim and I spent our Fourth of July evening at the Vala's having a delicious dinner and hanging out with some of the neighbors for fireworks. Somersaults and cartwheels on the lawn barefoot with the kids made me giggle and feel like I was five again. I took sparklers for the kids (the small sparklers, not the supersize) and we went through six boxes in under twenty minutes.
And an update on the house....we were excited to hear that the seller is leaving her gas dryer, along with a few other things, which will save us some cash for now. That means the money we were going to put towards a new washer and dryer can now go towards....patio furniture? A new couch for the living room? Or the chicken coop? We will have to think about that.

House Hunting or Daily Bartering

It is official. Tim and I are about to become certified grownup adults. We have spent the better part of the last several months looking at houses on the internet, driving by houses to check out the neighborhoods, talking to our agent, touring houses, and finally putting offers on houses. Yes, that is right, we put an offer in on more than one. No, it was not at the same time. Our agent, who happens to be very pregnant, was incredibly patient with us. The first was cute with a nice floor plan and a spacious backyard that was completely fenced including a dog run. If you know me well, at this point you might be wondering why I want a dog run.......more on that later. It had a great view from the east bench, easy access to the freeway but tucked away into a nice neighborhood, and near some great parks and schools. Things were cheery and bright and we put in an offer. The people rejected it and wanted the original asking price. We counter offered but they still wanted the original asking price. Their agent said they are upside down in the house but the husband is being relocated for work *we may have seen a paper saying he is a special FBI agent, but would probably deny it if anyone asked* and a relocation company is willing to give them fair market value. The problem is they owe more than the fair market value, or so they say. So we walked away and went looking at other houses. We spent several more days looking for the right fit. Finally we found what felt like home. We even spent a day walking through the first house we put an offer on and the "home" we wanted to get and both felt like we were making the right decision. Oh, by the way, the first home is now asking for less than what we first offered. We still like our "home" more. We both knew that if we were patient the right home would come along, and here it is. It has all the elements Tim and I wanted. A decent sized yard for Tim to play in, a nice floor plan, windows that let in plenty of light, not to mention friendly neighbors on both sides. And it is a two car garage, which is not very common in this area. I love the hardwood floors and the "old house" feel. Lucky for us, previous owners renovated and updated the wiring, plumbing, and air conditioning. Our inspector told us it was like we are buying what looked like an old home on the outside and a brand new home on the inside. That said, it is not perfect but perfect for us. I already have a list of projects to be done. Here is part of the back patio. Tim has plans for us to eat dinner out here nightly as long as the weather lasts. It will be great to have an "outdoor room" to enjoy. The back yard, a.k.a. Tim's space. Plenty of room for gardening, dogs, and hopefully hens. That is right, hens as in chickens. My boss has been spoiling us with fresh eggs the last year and Tim had chickens as a child, so why not give it a try. The Tour de Coops this past weekend helped further educate us on what type of coop might work for our hen house.

Let me get back on track and finish telling the story of our home. We spent several days bartering back on forth about a few things that need to be fixed. The former owner is a lawyer, so it was like going to battle each day, but we stuck we our guns and all parties came away happy in the end. In about three weeks or sooner we should close and have the keys to our new nest.


These are just a few of the ladies we saw on the tour. Can't wait to have a few of our own.