Home Makeover, For real.

Just as we finished up our first real decorated room in the house...we get some pretty nasty news.

We've got Chinese dry wall. Fan-friggin-tastic.

What does that mean? Heck, I'm not sure exactly. I'm sure it means a whole lot of stress in my near future.

Our neighbors to the left have it. My cousin and his wife two door to the right have it. 5 houses down to the right is clear. and across the street and to the left one, is clear. At least we won't be at it alone.

We're on our 3rd AC coil, we've got smoke detectors that beep constantly, bloody noses, irritated eyes... And I'd like to think my computer problems are somewhat related. There's no real known long-term effects, they just know it's not good for you.

Awesome. I wanted a new house, but not like this. Another inspector comes Friday. We either get a whole new different house, or this one gets gutted. I'm hoping for a whole new house, but I don't have my hopes up yet. Will keep the blog posted...

My Home Makeover

I don't think it's a huge secret that I don't like my house that much. It's plain. It's boring. You can only layout the rooms one way. I want tile. I just want one extra room in the form of a formal dining room or another bedroom!!! bleh. We've been talking about painting...since I can remember. I'm happy to say, we finally started. I wish I had a picture of the room before...It's so tiny. But we had a queen bed and a shelf and a nightstand. I really loved the bedding too...which we got as a wedding gift. But alas, our office/mustang/gaming/music room is just overflowing and something had to be done. In the last 3 years, we've only had 2 people visit that had to stay the night. My sister Liz, and our mustang friend Brandy. So we decided the guest room just really wasn't needed at this point. It'll be replaced with a futon or something of the sort. This room will now be what we're calling a media room. Justin's xbox and the dvd player and the surround sound will all be moved into here, as well as the guitars, and most of the mustang stuff. I think some mustang stuff will have to stay in my office area, and I'm cool with that. I have my eye on a shelf already. No idea what the paint color will be tho. But im here with my 100th post to show you this new little journey we've started. The color is Sherwin Williams' Windy Blue.

After the room was emptied:


Taping:


Justin made me come home and help during lunch today:


Watching paint dry:

Furniture Shopping - Madness.

Can you say stressful?

It probably wouldn't be so bad if we hadn't decided to put BLACK in the living room. It's so hard to find. Everything is wood. or espresso. or cappuccino. or dark cherry. or some other variation of the color brown. And even some black pieces are considered distressed black. with a brush of espresso. No thanks. I dont understand why Best Buy sells so many black tv stands when the market is so saturated with non-coordinating items! And then when you actually DO find other black pieces that look half way decent like they arent made of cheap flimsy material... you can only purchase these items online, and not actually see them in person. Another big no thanks. It's really frustrating.

I'll have to take pictures of our living room before and after once we actually remove the current tables, but...

Last weekend we went to Ashley Furniture in hopes we'd find some new coffee/end tables. Our entire bedroom is an Ashley collection, but it was purchased at Hilton. Anyway...my husband is picky. Picky picky picky. And while we do have similar tastes, he has more distinct preferences, and voices them. loudly. However, we found a set we agreed on (we didnt JUST go to Ashley...). Here's the set we picked...tho the color says dark bronze, it actually did look black in the store.

So we bought it. It would've given the living room some nice touches of color with those dark tiles. It's in stock at the warehouse. Where's the warehouse? Sugarland. Could we go pick it up? Yes. Off we went. We get there in the pouring rain, and one of the guys comes up to me and says that their computer systems are down. So just kinda looked at him and said...well what does that mean exactly? Are you telling me I can't pick up my furniture that I just drove all the way over here for? And he said basically, ya. So we were a little angry. I said, I dont care, just go pull our stuff, input the data when the computers come back on or whatever, just give me my stuff. All he was gonna do was keep a signed copy of the piece of paper I already had anyway I'm sure. Computers back on 5 minutes later and they go to pull our tables. 15 minutes later they come back and they can't find them. They don't have them in stock. I. was. livid. It's not like these are pens or shampoo they had to keep track of...these were large items. How do you screw that up. We call the store, because the warehouse won't, and immediately get the manager on the phone, who offers free delivery...on Thursday. Wasn't gonna work. We said how 'bout Friday? And of course he couldn't give us a time...that's....semi-normal. Yesterday Justin gets a call saying they still don't have these tables in. And deliver would have to wait. We ask for a refund. They said it's gonna be 4-5 days. Ok, so they take the money out the same day, but can't give it back to us as quickly because they have to fill out numerous forms. What a joke. Justin called and disputed the original charge with the bank and told them what happened...We had the money back within 24 hrs....   and have continued shopping since.

I spent all day Thursday shopping for furniture online. I had so many bookmarks to get home and show Justin, most of which he vetoed immediately. There's 4 table sets on the list of possibilities. Only one of which is in a showroom...in Beaumont! And another one, sold at 2 stores locally, which may or may not be a showroom. And the other 2 are online only (ick). I'll check back in when we pick one and show you all of them.

Don't get me started on black shelving/book cases. It's not even worth talking about until we actually buy some. Which may be never, because it's all online only too. Good grief...

The Great Toilet Paper Debate

Toilet paper oh toilet paper. not a big deal...right?! I'm not talking about the over or under thing..that's a whole other thing on it's own...and frankly, i dont quite care...i just care that it's ON the rolly thing it's supposed to be on...as I am continuously putting it back after Justin takes it off because he says...it's easier to use that way. and i havent yet been able to get him to put it back on the holder when he's done.

When i moved in...I brought my Angel Soft with me. It's cheap. It works.

Apparently, Justin is much more picky when it comes to what touches his bum.

He insisted we buy something else. He picked Charmin.

I hate it.

You see - Justin had gotten sort of used to the Angel Soft and it being...thinner, he says. But when we got the Charmin...he used the exact. same. amount. of tissue. Which led to the toilet being clogged. all the time. i think we're finally getting somewhere and improving that tho.

Until yesterday.

The weather here is AWFUL right now, and has been for weeks, if not months on end - and there was just no way we were going to the grocery store to get toilet paper last night. But...we needed gas in one of the vehicles for me to drive today - and i made Justin run into the convenient store and grab some TP. They must not have had Charmin.

He came back with Quilted Northern. I think this is a brilliant compromise between the cheap thin Angel Soft and the too freaking fluffy Charmin. He agreed we could buy this one from now on.

Hallelujah.

Baby Fever (ha, not quite...maybe.)

Ok here's the breakdown - im 24, Justin is 28, we're newlweds, and neither of us have any kiddos. He's an only child. I have a sister with 2 kids and a stepson. Most of the time - I see my niece and nephew, they're a terror (cute tho), and im all good for awhile.

Until recently. (warning: most of the things in the next paragraph may be frivolous)

All my friends have kiddos. There's some new kiddos in the family. And im a little saddened that if/when we have a kiddo, they arent going to have any close playmates cause all the kids we know will all be older. I'm attending all these 1 yr birthday parties, and i get all sad when im the only one there without a kid. Like really...im the only one? Unless my bestie goes with me and then there's 2 of us, but that still doesnt make me feel real good. Ok, stupid reason ahead - holy crap i want a kid to take pics of ALL the time. Stupid but true. All my friends had kids before i really got into the photography stuff and now nobody has any newborns. I get to take pics of cute toddlers tho. But if I had my own kid, i wouldnt have to borrow everyone elses when i get an idea. Oh and all the knottie/nestie girls and their signatures dont help either. If i want to post I have to go stare at cute kids.

Ok seriously tho - I'd like to experience motherhood before the end of the world. (i wont exaggerate further on THAT note - well basically i just want to experience it in my lifetime. just want the experience period. maybe i shoulda just said that). Id also like my children to know their great great grandmother (my GREAT grandmother obviously). I was so, so thrilled she was able to make it to the wedding. Her husband is gone, and all of his siblings are gone, and she only has 1 sibling left. But she's amazing. And I know if she does not make it much longer, my child will still have it's GREAT grandma (my grandma), but it just wouldnt be the same. And i know Justin's grandparents would love to see him with a kiddo too. I'd hate for any of them to leave this world and not get to see that.

Issues:

Being pregnant freaks me the hell out. I know having children is "natural" - but it doesnt look natural to me. Dont get me wrong, there's some super cute and beautiful pregnant women out there, but it doesnt really ease my mind any. And childbirth just looks like pure pain. and then boom, there's a kid outside of you and im like HOLY SHIT! that JUST happened. freaks. me. out.

and i have a small house (well it's not too small. it's 3 bedrooms, and id prefer 4). and i dont really want to move right now. and no matter how bad i want to decorate a nursery (thanks nesties...), i dont really have a room for one. it'd prolly turn out boring anyway, and then id be an emotional wreck. And financially speaking, well at the moment, there's just other things id prefer to spend my money on than baby stuff.

So conclusion is : i'm totally not pregnant.

Justin wants a kid before he's 30. My bestie wants a kid now - but realistically in the next 2 years. So my plan is - when she gets married in April - we all start trying. LOL

Beep!...Beep!...Beep!

Ever since I moved into our house, the dang smoke detectors would not. quit. beeping. We just thought heeeey the batteries must be dead. Let's replace them! And i would hold the chair still while Justin changed the batteries. Not too much longer we'd hear the beeping again. We thought ooooh it must be the cheap batteries. Like really cheap batteries. Rayovac or something. Justin's dad made a big deal out of it when he saw them haha. But he also pointed out - that the reason they were still beeping was that the detectors had to be reset when you replaced the battery. Holy crap. My house is quiet again. I never learned how to maintain a dang smoke detector! I thought it was like everything else : battery goes dead. Open battery compartment, replace battery, close compartment. The object works again. But that's apparently not the case on smoke detectors. I'm sure there's probably a manual with the homeowners packet, but we never even thought to look. Instead, we endured a year of the dang thing going off every 20 minutes or however frequently it was. Sheesh.

Building a Patio = Let's Sit in the House & Do Nothing All Day

All week long we'd talked about starting the back patio today. We wake up, Justin's dad calls, and he's set to come over at 8:30 to begin laying it out. 8:00 rolls around and Justin decides that it's not getting done today. He never really said why? The heat maybe (which aint getting any better til Halloween...). Either way, today was full of laziness. Good for me - I got to catch up on the DVR (So You Think You Can Dance, Extreme Home Make-Over, and stuff). SYTYCD - killer episode Wednesday and I agree with who went home this week. Extreme Home Make-Over - Absolutely THE saddest show on television. I'm serious. How can you not just cry your eyes out every time it comes on? I think this season's the worst too. They just get sadder and sadder. One i watched, was this little 8 year old boy that this family had adopted who has a dwarfism and breaks his bones waaaaay easily. He was the most cheerful boy I've ever seen! And you watch that kind of stuff and you just sit back and take a good long look at your own life and go wow. Wow. and Wow again. Between watching that makeover episode and The Dizzy Feet Foundation announcent on SYTYCD, I'm like, totally inspired. Or I wish to be inspiring. Something. I mean, i do the whole donate to Goodwill thing, and done my fair share of volunteer work in the past, but what am i doing now? nothin. I need/want to change that.

My hand is feeling a tad better - but i think it's only because i sat on the couch and did nothing with it until i started typing this. I've had it all wrapped up and stuff and it really helps. I hope if feels 100% better by Monday, cause i dont want to see a dr. haha. who does? I'm like...ill go in for this..and he'll tell me something entirely different is wrong that i dont see coming. I think that runs in my family. lol

So it's Friday. I've had the whole day off. And accomplished nothing. It feels kind of nice on one hand, til the other hand comes along and im like....ugh what a waste of a perfectly good day to get chit done. But tomorrow - tomorrow...We will hang curtains in the bathroom. And i will order my prints for the walls. Yes. If you go to my knottie blogger links at the bottom of the page, you'll see one called Making Baby G. Her latest post is about the flower photos she's hanging up in her nursery. i've been meaning to have my flower photos printed since i took them back when Hurricane Ike rolled through, and i had nothing better to do while the electricity was out, but to take photos of anything and everything i saw within reach of the 100mm macro lens. So it's been awhile. So im taking her post and using it as a kick in the butt to finally do it. Thanks Z! haha

But now i gotta go make dinner (AH!!!)

Here's a photo i've been meaning to take for awhile and finally did today, where i was outside a total of about 10 seconds, thank you hot cement and bare feet and texas summer.

I'm so sore, but i think it was worth it?

Well i think we totally missed the planting/gardening season...but i figure better late than never? maybe? unless you live in texas. and it's 104 degrees outside in June. and you're actually probably better off just leaving your flower beds perfectly alone and dry. but anyway. we worked on ours all day yesterday. like all day. it probably would've only taken about 2 hours. but we were only outside for about 10 minutes at a time. 10 minutes outside, 20 inside. or something. and we each drank a whole bottle of water at each inside break. i think we went through an entire case of dassani. But that's better than a heat stroke... and I can't believe we dont have any sunscreen in the house! I looked and looked and there's none here. My face moisturizer has spf 15 in it, so i dabbed some on...it helped a little. Justin's dad was playing golf at 11 AM yesterday. He was wearing spf 100. I didnt even know they made spf 100. But we went to eat with his parents last night, and there wasnt a smidgen of a clue on his skin that he was out in 104 degree weather for 4 hours. awesome. Justin's neck on the other hand...looks like a tomato. Not quite as bad as when we floated down the river 5 years ago and it looked like someone painted his legs with red paint. that was awful. but his neck is still pretty red....I'm not burned, but that's probably because i tanned for about a month before the wedding, and im still ok over here... My body on the other hand, feel like i slept on a bed of nails. I'm so sore. and my left hand is extremely cramped. i dont even know why my hand hurts. but i cant make a very tight fist. It's mostly my thumb. meh, enough rambling. here's some pics of the flower bed. I didnt expect it to take allllll day. maybe i can mess with the inside of the house today. hmph.

Here's some before (only it's not reallllly completely before...we had already planted a couple of the shrubs since there was a big dead spot)





And here's some afters.