A Growing "To-Do" List

As we are about to embark on the new experience of home ownership, my mind has begun racing with possibilities for what we will do to make our new place "ours." True, no one has ever lived in this place before, but we still want to make it our own nevertheless. So, here's a short list of things I want/need to do once we finally get the keys:

1. Seal all the grout on the tile floors
2. Blinds for the windows so people won't see us shower/sleep
3. Curtains
4. Paint
1. Kitchen/dining room--green
2. Living room--shades of navy
3. hallways--linen white
4. banister--dark brown/black
5. master bedroom--perhaps a nice red accent wall with the rest white?
6. bathrooms--light blue?
7. other bedrooms--tbd
5. Kitchen back splash
6. Lights under kitchen counters
7. Get stools for bar
8. Landscape
9. Install water softener
10. New rug for living room?
11. Headboard for master bedroom
12. Get a real bed for one of the guest rooms--queen?
13. shelving around the garage
14. shelving in the laundry room
15. pull out drawers for the kitchen
16. closet organization systems for bedrooms
17. Christmas decorating
18. puppy proofing

Suddenly part time employment seems like a lot of extra work...

The thing about house buying is...

it takes FOREVER,


                   but I am thankful to be able to at least attempt it.

House Hunting (Take 3)

Soooo I think I might have mentioned this before, but if I haven't, we *were* in the process of buying our first home. Everything was set to go and then due to reasons beyond any one's control, the property we wanted could basically only be purchased with cash. We do not have that much cash (relatively speaking in comparison to how much the property cost). So, we did could not buy the place we wanted. LAME.

Therefore, I (we, but let's face it: he works 60+ hours a week and I work maybe 25) am about to embark on house hunting take 3. Take 1 had us with a seller that declined our rather generous offer. Take 2 left you just read the conclusion to. Take 3 is off to a rocky start, but at least this time I've narrowed down where I want to live. Now I just have to find a place that fits our ever-so-strict requirements.

Things I am looking forward to: getting this done with for the next 4 years or so. Potentially having a place to decorate and make my own. Possibly finding a place with a pool.

Things I am not looking forward to: realtors, moving, and making an offer/loans/negotiating/etc.

Good think the ocean is near by and I've found a knitting store. I'm a gonna need me some stress relief and nothing spells stress reliever like ocean breeze and a ball of yarn. :)

We Made It!

A few quick thoughts before I resume the arduous task of unpacking.

1. After 5 days of travel (some were short days and some were rest days), we pulled into our new place in California.
2. I called the ward when we were in St. George to see if we could get help unloading the truck.
3. About 6 hours later, at least 10 people had shown up and our truck was unloaded in an hour.
4. That means we got to sleep in our bed the first night!!
5. With the exception of my friend's boyfriend in Wisconsin, we loaded the truck ourselves. Having people to help is waaay better.
6. There is an abundance of Mexican food here and we are loving it.
7. Also, you can get horchata everywhere and we are both totally addicted.
8. We still have too much stuff.
9. Next time we are going to pretend to be gypsies and just leave everything instead of moving it. Except maybe the couch. And the books. And the kitchen gadgets. And the...oh, well. You get the picture.
10. Fridges are expensive, but having one makes life oh so much better. Eating out only maintains its charm for so long before you're just plain sick of it.  

Well, there you go. The house is getting slowly unpacked. We are getting slowly settled in. I am getting to sleep in and may or may not be still in my pj's at 10:30 in the morning. (I know that last one sounds kind of lame to all you stay-at-homers who are used to being in them all day, but as a recovering work-aholic it's a big deal). We love it here so far and don't expect to stop. Unless it hits 100+ degrees, which it's quickly on its way to doing...

Moving Realization(s) #4

Image from here.

A few brief (and random) thoughts while I'm supposed to be working...hehehe, what can they do, fire me? :)

1. We are leaving in 3 days. 3. Wow. How did that happen?
2. The closer we get to moving, the less nostalgic I get about "stuff."
3. Hopefully, I won't later regret this temporary "declutter bug" that's taken over.
4. How is it that I'm still dealing with crazy projects at work when I only have 2 more days?
5. Wisconsin is getting humid. Perfect time to leave for dry heat.
6. I gave my hamster away (the demon one). I am both elated and sad all at the same time.
7. I am probably not going to get another hamster since I just gave away all of his hamster "stuff."
8. A dog would be nice. Spencer, can we please get a puppy? Pretty please? Yes? Awesome.
9. I'm about to join the ranks of the unemployed and I feel {mostly} calm about that.
10. We are about to embark on a 36+ hour car trip where we will both be driving the WHOLE time.

Life sure is full of uncertainty. Isn't it exciting?

Moving Realization #3

I have less stuff than I thought I did. At least, that's how it seems. Maybe our current place could more storage or maybe I was just really, really bad at storing it. Whatever the case, I'm glad since we rented a kind of smallish truck. Here's to hoping that everything fits...

Moving Realization #2

I'm beginning to see the logic in e-books and e-book readers. We started packing the books first. We are using fairly small boxes since they tend to get heavy pretty fast, but we have already packed about 15 boxes just of books. And that's only about half of them. Plus the DVDs and Wii games....

I've tried to pare down our inventory. Believe me, I have. It's just--there's nothing quite like the smell of a book, the feel of the pages, and the sound the pages make when you turn them. Some people never re-read their books; I do. To me, that justifies keeping them around, even if they do take up space and weigh ten tons.

On a brighter note, after the books we pretty much just own clothing and kitchen wares.

PS: 3 more weeks to moving!!

Moving Realization #1

I have way, Way, WAY too much stuff.

But I will never have enough yarn. Ever. Even though I totally just filled two 35 gallon Rubbermaid containers with it....hehehe. :)