We write to taste life twice

The furnace guys are here right now installing a new furnace. We're getting a nicer model than what we ordered for the same price as the one we ordered. We'll also be getting a $350 rebate from Puget Sound Energy and I think another rebate on top of that as well. So we'll save a lot of money on the furnace. Plus, it'll pay for itself in 4-5 years with what we'll save on our gas bill (our gas bill is still ridiculously high despite replacing the windows...probably because the old furnace was only working at 60% efficiency).

The good news is, we didn't die from carbon monoxide poisoning. There was a good chance it might have happened if Lance hadn't called someone for routine service. And maybe my headaches will stop now.

We had to cancel our weekend plans. No Olympic Peninsula for us. *sigh* Two anniversaries in a row that we had to cancel plans due to a major house expense. We will go out to dinner instead. Lance told me I could pick the restaurant. I think we'll be going to Claim Jumper. Nothing fancy, but the food is good and Lance hasn't been there yet.

Spring cleaning has begun! Today, Lance and I took our old dinosaur microwave to be recycled. It had been taking up space in the garage since we replaced it on Christmas Eve. Kent has a recycling event going on today - a good day for cleaning out garages and getting rid of old appliances, scrap metal, tires, batteries, etc. We didn't have much to take there (they didn't accept a lot of what we need to get rid of), but getting rid of that microwave and some of the boxes left over from moving is at least a good place to start.

After that, I coerced Lance into stopping at Big Lots. He had never been in a Big Lots store until today. I just wanted to look at their patio furniture and see what they had. We've had the same resin patio set since our first summer in Germany, and while I never liked it in the first place (I bought it because our neighbor had a pigeon coop and I didn't want the pigeons pooping on a nice patio set), it has served us well. But one of the chairs blew over during a windstorm a few months ago and shattered. So now we have a scratched up old plastic table and 3 chairs. No longer terribly useful or attractive.

So...tomorrow, when Big Lots starts its patio furniture sale, we are picking this up:
http://www.biglots.com/specials/item.aspx?cid=15&scid=49&iid=5717

It isn't exactly what I was looking for. I didn't want a glass topped table, for one thing. I wanted a tile top, and they have one, but it's very small. But $200 for a 5 piece patio set...come on! The price is irresistable. We looked at the table and it seems very sturdy and no worse in quality than some of the stuff you see at Home Depot or Lowe's. And this table can seat 6, if necessary. So we can keep 2 of those old resin chairs in case we need them and get rid of the rest.

We're getting the umbrella too.

I figure that we'd spend twice as much (at least) anywhere else. We have needed and wanted a new patio set for some time. And this will motivate us to get the backyard fixed up, because what good is having a nice, new patio set when the backyard looks like crap? And with the money we're saving, we can also replace the storm door, which is another project that is long overdue.

So yay! New patio set! And yet, it will be awhile before we can break it in. The weather isn't looking too fine and dandy anytime soon.

Also - Lance is now a Big Lots convert. I've never been a frequent Big Lots shopper, but the one here in Kent is actually kind of nice. It's clean and organized, which is more than I can say for a lot of the other Big Lots stores I've seen.

Good news for Reece - we left her out of the crate while we went out erranding this morning. We came home to a happy, excited doggie and absolutely nothing had gone wrong. Good girl, Reecie!

A year ago today, we signed the offer on our house and put down the earnest money, and it became ours.

Reading back on those entries, I had so much more optimism. That was before we knew that the windows were in horrible shape and needed to be replaced. That was before we knew that the fireplace, as it is right now, is not functional, because it's too dangerous (I want this fixed ASAP so we can actually start using it, but Lance isn't in as big of a hurry). That was before we knew about the poor quality of the water heater. How drafty the house is. How heat builds up in the summer so that it's almost unbearably hot. How the neighbors are loud and how we can hear the train down in the valley, almost like it's getting ready to barrel through our house.

(Hopefully the new windows will fix some of these problems, including reducing the outside noise a bit.)

This was before I knew how much work it would be to strip wallpaper. Before I knew that once you replace something in a room, something else suddenly looks old and dirty and needs to be replaced.

Ah...to look at things through rose colored glasses. It's great for a while, until reality begins to rear its ugly head and you see how flawed things truly are.

The other house that I truly truly loved...the one that was far and away my very favorite house...had we gotten that house instead, would I have loved it still? I would love to think so, but I'm not so sure. Lance and I still talk about that house, wondering what would've happened if we had bought that instead.

But we're in *this* house. It's ours. Flaws and all. And we have to make the best of it. We're making it more livable. We just have to make it lovable.

Our guest room isn't really a guest room right now, it's more of a catch-all for things we couldn't find a place for elsewhere in the house.

But that has to change. My parents are coming in early September. My brother and his wife want to drop by too, either at the same time as my parents or before that.

The problem is, the room is really too small to be a proper bedroom. We have a full size bed in there now, and it takes up nearly the entire room, with just enough space to walk around it. And we have a very small desk in there too, but that's more or less being used as a television stand.

So...the plan:

- get rid of the bed and replace it with a sofa bed. Since I know the room can accommodate a full-size bed (just barely), I can get one that folds out to full-size, but have it folded up during the day.

- get one of those desks that folds up into a cabinet. Then I can actually use the room as my own office, since there isn't really room for me in the office we are both using right now. The cabinet can also hold the small television and other odds and ends.

Of course, we have to clear out the clutter. And we need to fix the closet. The hanging rod broke away from the wall, so we can't hang anything on it now. Otherwise, the rest of the closet is being used for storage.

Lance suggested taking our current sofa bed, which is in the living room, and putting it in the guest room. But it's way too big for that. We wouldn't even be able to fit it through the door. It folds out to a queen size. But it's also horribly uncomfortable (you can feel the bed springs through the mattress). My mom has a bad back, so she couldn't sleep on it. The trick is to find a sofa bed that is actually comfortable. Not sure if such a thing exists. But I guess our first stop would have to be IKEA, to see what we can find. Maybe something like this (only one of the other styles...I don't particularly care for this one).

Lance came home from work about 2 hours earlier than usual. If you want to call it work. He was at a retirement party for a good chunk of it. So I didn't let him off the hook when he came home because he had a hard day...instead, I sent him in search of the spackle. He found it under the loveseat. Have no idea how it ended up there.

So he spackled the areas that needed it while I continued priming. We got most of it done right before dinner and then took a break. Lance wanted to get lottery tickets and cash in on our whopping $7 win from earlier in the week (woohoo!) and we had a couple of checks to deposit in our account anyway. So we headed to the grocery store (where we could accomplish both tasks, as our bank is located inside Top). He figured we'd grab takeout too. So I actually got some chinese food there at Top...some steamed brown rice with 2 entrees: beef & broccoli and some kind of chicken dish I had never tried before. Lance didn't like their other takeout food selections (it was mostly fried chicken), so we headed down the street to Burger King for his dinner.

Came home and ate. The chinese food was very very good...surprisingly so, for getting it at a grocery store. Also super filling. I'm still stuffed.

After dinner and watching a bit of the news, we set to priming the area over which Lance had spackled earlier. Now almost the entire wall is done except for a couple of spots in the corners that need double applications of spackle.

I took a shower and scrubbed and scrubbed, but still couldn't get all the primer off. I have big spots of it on my arms still. Got laundry started, although we're not bothering to wash our painting clothes.

Here in less than 10 minutes, I am going to sit back and watch the 2nd episode of season 1 of The Tudors. I guess it's on every night at 8 on The 101 (DirecTV). I watched the first episode last night and I am totally hooked already. Just need to make myself a cup of hot chocolate first and truly relax.

Tomorrow we have grocery shopping, and then we spend the afternoon painting.

It's been awhile since I updated about our redecorating project.

That's because there's not much to tell right now. We messed up the paint job in the kitchen...the ceiling is textured and some paint seeped underneath the tape and got all over the ceiling, so before we do anything else, we'll have to paint the ceiling.

It probably needed doing anyway, since it was dingy, but we couldn't be bothered. The vaulted ceilings make it pretty difficult and even dangerous to do ourselves.

But the walls in the kitchen are done, although we'll have to cover them up before we paint the ceiling.

The adjoining room - the den - is my current project. I started ripping down the top layer of wallpaper, so all but a couple of strips are gone now. No more annoying rooster border...no more cutesy pink hearts. The adhesive wallpaper layer is still attached to the walls, but I'm hoping to start scraping that this weekend. I want the walls to be clean before we do any painting, but obviously, the ceiling will have to be done in that room too before we start on the walls.

I started making a list of future projects. Lance is getting rather ambitious. He wants to extend our backyard by about 5 feet because we also own the small wooded lot that sits beyond our privacy fence. But that would involve clearing a lot of brush and planting grass...I think the project is just too big. But I have mentioned possibly enlarging the patio a bit, which I think is in the realm of possibility.

In a few months, we'll have to work on some outdoor projects. Right now, I just want to get this first room done and get the proper furniture moved in there. And eventually we want to replace the flooring, counter, add a backsplash, and reface the cabinets.

I took it upon myself to actually start getting the office organized, because it has been a disaster zone for 2 weeks now, and Lance has only done enough to get our desks and computers set up for internet. Boxes were still strewn everywhere...cords, cables, CDs...and we had all these empty bookshelves. Plus, I had to find a box of my own books (they were buried in the back of the office underneath a crap ton of Lance's stuff).

Really, both our desks are too big for this room. Lance bought a new desk a couple weeks ago and gave me his old one. But the room is small and he has to squeeze through a tiny space to get past me if he goes in and out. All the boxes stacked up around my desk didn't help matters any.

So anyway, two of these boxes are now eliminated...I unpacked them and put the stuff on the shelves. If Lance doesn't like how I organized it, he can reorganize it later. But I just wanted to get it out of the boxes and onto the shelves so that we can start seeing some of our carpet again. I managed to clear out enough space to put down the chair mat, so now it's easier for me to roll out of Lance's way when he needs to get through.

Anyway, I found a very ancient film camera. Oh my God. Where did this thing come from? Why do we still have it? The batteries in it expired in 2003...I'm actually surprised that they didn't explode or leak everywhere.

I can't get the film compartment open, but I'm betting there's no film in there.

Holy crap, this is hilarious. Maybe I'll save it as a toy for Eva. The sad thing is, I don't even know if this camera belonged to Lance or to me. It was in a case that looked like one I once had, but I don't really remember owning a camera like this. I'm guessing it's Lance's, before he switched to digital. But even his digital camera is a good 7-8 years old.

ETA: OMG...THERE IS FILM IN IT! HAHAHA!

The kitchen is coming along. Wallpaper is completely removed. The upper part of the walls still need to be painted, but we'll be done with the lower part once the second coat is put on tomorrow (and I need to do touch-ups on some areas). I made a run to Target today for a MASSIVE shopping spree, partly because Lance took down the miniblinds in the kitchen window and didn't want to put them back up, so he asked me to get something else. I got balloon shades from the Shabby Chic line...not actually what I wanted, but the best possible option out of what was available. Now that they're hanging up, I don't like them and I'm taking them back.

Oh, and I was working for SIXTEEN hours today. But Paula kept me company via text message...we texted back and forth every few minutes for nearly 2 hours.

( anyway...on to the photos! )

Today has been full of fail.

For starters, we missed trash collection today, and our trash bin was full. Oh, we had the trash out last night, since we didn't know how early they came. But I heard the truck this morning. I saw it park in front of the house. In Germany, the trash collectors get the trash on both sides of the street at once. Not here. They apparently collected trash across the street but not at our place, and I thought they had collected our trash, so I hauled in the bin. It felt light, but it's small anyway. So I had no idea the trash was still inside. And then I didn't realize that they hadn't collected it until they were stopped in front of my next door neighbor's house.

So now we need to figure out where to go to dump our trash. It can't wait until next Monday.

And then to make me feel even more stupid, I hung up on an incoming cellphone call when I was in the middle of texting Lance. I was on the text message screen, and suddenly a number popped up and I freaked out and exclaimed, "Oh shit!" and hung up. I have a bad feeling that it was someone calling me about a job. Well, consider that one lost. I was too embarrassed to call back. I have never gotten a call in the middle of a text message, but then again, I have only had this phone for 6 days.

Anyway, this morning lagged because I didn't want to start priming the walls until the fridge was delivered. It came shortly before noon, but there were some problems getting it in the house. The front door had to be removed. But the fridge is now in place and it's...big. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, since it's a 5 year old fridge and we paid $200 for it (and our agent paid the other half), but it's too big for our kitchen...depth-wise, not width-wise. And it seems to be working okay, but the ice doesn't want to come out of the dispenser (and perhaps that's because it hasn't had enough time to make a lot of ice yet) and I found water on the floor under the fridge, but I think that's because I spilled some when I tested the water dispenser. Will have to keep my eye on it.

(This amused me, but one of the delivery guys used to be a professional painter. He was checking out the paint job so far and said, "nice color!" Hehe. Lance isn't fond of it.)

Spent the afternoon priming the walls. Lance was at work. We texted back and forth occasionally, but I had to stop once I was in the thick of things. I was covered in primer. It splattered everywhere. Neither of us are neat painters.

Took a break shortly after 3, right about the time the mailman arrived with two packages: one from Lance's sister, which was a wooden loon wall hanging that was made by their grandfather. So I immediately hung that up near the front door. The other package was from Paula - her Christmas gift to me - which was a pair of sleep socks and a pedicure set from Bath & Body Works. It cheered me up immensely. I was feeling stupid all day because of the trash thing and the cellphone call.

I finished up the walls shortly before Lance came home from work. He called his sister to thank her for the gift, and while they were chatting, my cellphone rang. No, it wasn't the same number of the phone call I had gotten earlier. No such luck. But it was something good.

A request for a job interview.

It's a job in banking. I won't give any details right now as to not jinx things, but the woman I spoke with is the woman who will be interviewing me, and she seemed very nice and down to earth. I explained that we have only been living here for a week (has it only been a week?) and that things are a world of chaos right now, so I had to consult with my husband as to when would be the ideal time to come in for an interview, since we were sharing a car. She was very understanding. Once Lance was off the phone, I gave him 3 options for time slots she has open this week, and he chose Wednesday afternoon (as the movers are coming Thursday and Friday is still a question mark). I called her back to schedule, and I'm going in for the interview at 4:30 pm Wednesday.

What followed this was a frantic trip to Target to complete my business suit, as I only own a suit jacket. I found one pair of pants in my size that match my jacket very nicely, and they were on clearance for $7. I also got some makeup since dark circles under the eyes do not make for a professional, together appearance.

Lance and I are back here at the hotel so he can watch the Vikings game, and then it's back to the house to put on the first coat of paint. We just ate Arby's. I'm so SICK of fast food. Ugh. I can't wait until Thursday when we can have our stuff back again and I can start cooking normal meals.

Pictures later of our progress today.