Could it be????

Are we actually finished??!?!

No, not really. Hahah! Fooled you. :)

To be fair, we are pretty much finished. For real this time. I have to mop and put the new door handles on the bedroom and the music room. That would have been all there was left to do, but Paul Kitchen screwed up in a way we didn't even realize. There were 2 doors leading into the kitchen. One from the foyer and one from the dining room. Well, we wanted them taken off so that there would be more room and so it would be more open. He told us that he would haul them off for us. Tuesday night we realized that we still hadn't put on the door for the half bathroom. I went to the garage to find it. It doesn't exist. However, there is still one door left in the garage. One from the kitchen. Paul hauled off one kitchen door and one bathroom door instead of 2 kitchen doors. Unfortunately, the kitchen door was much bigger than our bathroom door, so it doesn't fit. So, we have to get another door and have it installed. Zach will be coming tonight to get a check, so we'll probably see if he can do it for us. Hopefully he can.

After that, we will be finished. :) Finally.

Saturday is Joe's 27th birthday. I had a really awesome idea for his birthday present, but I ran out of money and time. lol... I had to buy a bunch of stuff for the house and it took up all of my paycheck from last week (well, most of it... the rest went for my monthly charitable donations and my Netflix subscription which come out of my account the middle of the month). So, I have to wait until I get paid tomorrow to buy Joe's present.

And! Twilight comes out at midnight tonight. I wish I could be like the giddy teenagers lining up to see the midnight showing. But, alas, I already missed 1.5 days of work this week for house-related reasons, so I can't be late and or mentally gone tomorrow. So, I will either see it tomorrow night, or I will wait until Sunday afternoon to see it. Either way, I am going to see it this weekend! :)

The good, the bad, and the ugly of my weekend...

Joe and I got a lot accomplished. The house is relatively clean and organized finally. However, the wall that I was supposed to be repairing in the kitchen just will not work.

The cabinet people tore off some laminate that was the back-splash before. We were leaving it on the wall because it was glued on and the wall was damaged behind it. Well, of course, the people we hired can't do anything on their own, but when we want them to leave something alone, they don't ask and just do it themselves. They can't turn on a light because they didn't ask, but they can ruin the wall in my kitchen without asking. Their excuse for tearing it off? "We thought you wanted it torn off." Did we ever tell them that? No. Was there any reason for them to think we wanted it torn off? No. They're just stupid. And I better be getting a damn discount because now I have to have new wood or laminate put up there. I tried and tried to sand the glue off of the wall. I even bought an electric sander to try to sand it down. Nothing. I got a chisel and hammer. That worked-ish. It damaged the wall as much as it got the glue off. Zach is coming in to put in the new whatever hopefully today or tomorrow. It shouldn't be too expensive, but I know where I'll be sending that damn bill.

I thought that the countertops looked lighter than what they were supposed to. I figured that it was just because they looked different when there was a lot more of it together. Well, I found the sample in a box this weekend. It is definitely darker than what they put down for us. And that pisses me off. Can't these people get anything right?

At least we are just about finished. I'm done with all of this stupid crap even if it doesn't look right in the end. This has been absolutely ridiculous.

We paid a lot of money for tile that isn't right (the floors aren't even and the grout lines don't line up and it took FOREVER). We paid a lot of money for countertops that aren't right. We paid a lot of money for plumbing that isn't right. We paid a lot of money for electrical that isn't right (we paid Paul Kitchen to put in a vent fan in our bathroom. It doesn't work).

If I ever think about hiring someone to do remodeling work for me, someone please just knock the ever-loving shit out of me. I deserve it. I should NEVER forget this hellish experience.

Finally! Some real progress!

I am so excited! We actually have a fully functioning house! Everything in the kitchen works! Everything in the bathrooms work! Most everything is in our house! It's so wonderful!

Yesterday, the countertop people drilled the holes in the counters for the sink. Then, the plumbers came and hooked up the plumbing in the kitchen for the sink, the disposal, and for the dishwasher. I made dinner last night in my new, fully-functioning kitchen! :)

That's not to say that we are finished with the house. I finally found the right paint for the kitchen last night. Sherwin Williams had the right formula for the Slate Green paint that I wanted. So, we bought some and started painting the kitchen. It looks much better. I have to finish touching up the paint and finish painting one of the walls in the kitchen. I also have to do touch up paint on the walls where the baseboard heating was in the hallways. And then I have to do some cleaning. Then, I think we will be finished. :) It's so exciting!

I'm going to take some pictures tonight and I'll put them up hopefully tomorrow. I can't believe the end is in sight! Finally!

Other exciting news: Connecticut ruled in favor of gay marriage! Yay! One step back for California, but a huge step forward for Connecticut! :)

No surprise...

The countertops were not right. No one called us yesterday, so we assumed that everything went smoothly. We walked into the kitchen and still had no countertops when we arrived home last night. This is a big problem. The plumbers are coming today to hook all of the water up to the sinks (and also the dishwasher and the garbage disposal). They can't do that if THERE IS NO SINK!

We tried to get a hold of Steve, but there was no answer. He finally called us back this morning while we were on our way to work. They cut the countertops wrong, so they couldn't put them in. I was freaking out because we don't have time to wait another few weeks for countertops. No problem, says Steve. They ordered a new one yesterday and it will be put in today. What the hell!? It's taken us WEEKS to get these counters in, but they can get them in one day!?

This remodeling project is going to be the death of me. I'm going to end up in an asylum. Please come visit me...

Anyway, the plumbers can't get there until about noon, so they're going to get started in the bathrooms with installing the sinks and the toilets and the shower in the master bath. Hopefully by the time they finish with that, the countertops will be installed and they can finish up the kitchen. If not, Steve needs to be paying for the plumbers to come back out because it's his damn fault that we're behind. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I am so absolutely serious. Do not ever even consider remodeling your house. If you must, do NOT hire these fools: Paul Kitchen, Buddy Dyer (tile guy), Hensons Cabinets, or Bolton Plumbing. It will just end up being ridiculous. I am just about ready to go insane. I feel like crap, I'm not sleeping well, I have dark circles under my eyes, I cry at least every other day, and I still don't have a finished house. It is not worth it. I don't care about how beautiful this house is when we finish, I would not do it again. At least not with these assholes that we hired.

It's absolutely amazing. We hired people with empeccable recommendations. Now the people that recommended them are saying, "hmmm... they are known for X." It really pisses me off. If you knew that this person was lazy or sloppy or slow or known for never showing up, why in the hell would you recommend them?! I am not like that. I will never recommend these people to anyone. Because, even after it has taken over 3 times as long as it was supposed to, it is not as good as it was supposed to be. So, Fuck 'em.

If you need your hardwood floors refinished, I can give you a recommendation: Maurice. I don't know his last name, but I do have his phone number. If you need a handyman (woodworking, shelves, trim, painting, hanging doors, installation, etc.), I have two people to recommend: Sammy Hood, who is wonderful, and Zach (idk his last name either). I have phone numbers for both. Also, Sears did a wonderful job helping us with our heating and air conditioning unit. They cleaned up after themselves and did everything they could to make everything right as it should be. And they never wavered on cost, even though lots of things went wrong and it probably hurt their profit a lot. They took a little while, but we weren't in need of the unit with the way the temperatures were at that point, and we were too focused on everything else going wrong. So, if you need a unit and you have some time, definitely go with Sears. :)

Another day, another problem... with the house.

Yesterday, the vanities were installed in the bathrooms. The one for the master bath is wrong. Of course it is. Because nothing can go right with this damn remodeling project. It was supposed to be a really dark brown wood. They sent us a really red wood. So, it doesn't match the rest of the bathroom. And, because they took over a week longer than they were supposed to, we now do not have time to get a new one in before the appraisal. So, we will have a beautiful bathroom with a vanity that does not match. Wonderful.

The countertops for the kitchen are being installed today. Finally. If they aren't right, I don't know what we will do. I'm just hoping that they are perfect. Just give us this one thing! Because that would be it. That would be the only thing that didn't have something go wrong. It's really hard to stay positive while remodeling. I get more depressed the longer it takes. Not just in that it's taking forever, but in that absolutely nothing has gone the way that it was supposed to.

Tomorrow, the plumbers are coming back to finish up. They have to hook up the sinks in the kitchen and the bathrooms.

I still have to finish painting the kitchen. I have to finish hanging the doors for all the rooms. I need to replace the handles for all of the doors. We have to have the locks changed for the house. And we still have to clean the entire house. We've been cleaning, but it will need more cleaning. And then we have to actually move in. Almost all of our stuff is still sitting in the garage. Yay.

I will never, ever do this again. EVER.

If you're ever thinking about remodeling a house...

DON'T DO IT! It's not worth the pain!

Buddy has promised us for the 537th time that today will be the last day and our tile will be finished today. I'm not holding my breath.

Rudy came out on Friday to set up the electrical on our hot water heater because the plumbers lied and didn't hook it up how they were supposed to. We now have hot water. However, the plumbers messed something up when they were working on our house and so our shower does not work. The sink and the toilet work, but the shower has no water running to it. They didn't call us back until today. They're going to try to fit us in today. If I have to pour water into my tub via Solo cups from the sink again tonight, someone is going to pay for it. Well, actually, I'm just going to take it out of their pay. For my suffering. People sue for those kinds of things all the time! :)

Also, we were paying the plumbers over $4,000 to replace all of the cast iron pipes under the house (~$2,000 for the pipes going into the house and ~$2,000 for the pipes going out of the house). They told Joe that they didn't replace a few of them because they were in such good shape, so they offerered to take a few hundred dollars off of the bill. First of all, we told them to replace all of the pipes no matter what condition they were in (cast iron will rust and deteriorate and PVC will not... we didn't want to have to worry about it down the line... just get it all over with now). And next, when the shower didn't work, Joe crawled under the house to check to see if they forgot to turn something on. They haven't replaced ANY of the pipes going out of the house. So, a few hundred dollars is not going to cut it. Try a discount of over $2,000. I think that they were counting on Joe not checking to see if the pipes were replaced! I mean, anyone could look and tell that they haven't been replaced. They are still cast iron instead of being PVC pipe! These plumbers are obvious crooks. Also, we paid them to install a shutoff valve in one of the closets because we didn't want to have to turn it off from under the house. Well, they installed one but it DOESN'T WORK!!! Why is everyone we hire so damn completely incompetent!?!?! It doesn't make any sense at all.

The house is a complete mess. It's covered in a thick film of dust from all of the work that's been done. I sweep and I dust and it just doesn't help. Our stuff is still sitting in the garage until everything is finished so that we can actually move in. That should be by this weekend. Should be. Of course, it should have been over 2 weeks ago that we SHOULD have been able to move in. But here we are. Still living out of boxes sitting in our garage.

Also, I decorated my house like crazy for Halloween and our neighbors promised lots and lots of Trick-Or-Treaters. I bought over 30 pounds of candy. Good candy. We had 13 Trick-Or-Treaters. THIRTEEN. That is not lots and lots. I totally got jipped. And now I'm going to gain 10 pounds by eating that 30 lbs of candy. Hopefully it will make me feel better about the lack of Trick-Or-Treaters at my house. I also went to Walmart and got a lot of Halloween stuff half off on November 1. So, I will be prepared again next year and still hoping for lots and lots of Trick-Or-Treaters. :)

Also, one of my bestest friends came to visit me yesterday. :) Everyone needs to go see the play that he's going on tour with for 14 months. You can go here to get tickets: http://www.annieontour.com.

AAAAHHHHHHHHH!

That pretty much sums up my life right now.

Just a quick update...

1. The house is still not finished. Buddy is still not finished with the tile despite all of the promises to be done by the time we got back. I don't think he even started until yesterday. Buddy didn't even touch the tile in the half bathroom. The kitchen STILL is not finished. The master bath is starting to resemble a bathroom now, but it is probably going to take Buddy weeks to get any further. However, if he's not finished by this weekend, he should be hung until dead for being such an imbecile. The plumbers did not do all they were supposed to do and now we have no hot water (which is an absolutely wonderful thing to come home to... NOT!). Our hardwood floors have been refinished. They look wonderful. The countertops were delayed. Again. They're supposed to be in next week. They won't tell us an exact date. Jerks. The plumbing in the kitchen can't be finished in the kitchen until the countertops are put in, so we have no water in the kitchen either.
   
   
2. The GraphExpo was incredibly boring. I met some people. I wandered around and got blisters on my feet. Joe and I went to the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum while we were there. We also just wandered around the city. We had to do some shopping on Sunday when we arrived because we couldn't do laundry before we left (the plumbers cancelled 3 times in a row so we had no water), and therefore, we had no clothing to pack. I got some new clothes out of it, so at least something positive came out of it.
   
   
3. We are almost finished with the house in Crackton. I am leaving work early today to finish cleaning it up and to do some touch up painting (the power will be turned off at 4:30 today). All of our stuff is out of that house. And most of it is sitting in the garage in Shelby. We started moving some stuff in last night. However, there is only so much we can do when we can't use our bedroom, our bathroom, the half-bath, or the kitchen. It's so incredibly frustrating.

It was nice to at least have a few days away from it all. Now, I'm way behind at work, and only the tiniest bit further to being done. Yay.

Someone is going to get hurt...

Well, we had to call an electrician to get the kitchen ready for our new cabinets and appliances. No one would call us back until yesterday. He wanted to tear out walls to fix it and he was going to charge us $1,300. And then we'd still have to fix the freakin' walls! Rudy, our tech here at work, offered to do it for $500 and not tear out all of the walls. So, he came over last night to do it. We were there until 1:30 AM. He's still not finished because part of it has to wait until the cabinets are in. So, we'll be finishing that up on Thursday night. It's such a pain in the rear.

The drywall is about finished. Larry said that he was finished, but Sammy is making him come back to redo one corner of the half bath. It wasn’t as smooth as it should have been. Joe and I were just going to let it go, but Sammy didn’t want us to feel shafted. It’s the corner next to the door where there are just a few inches of wall. The floors upstairs still aren’t done. He went back and sanded them another time and he sanded the stairs. Then he had to pull staples out of the living room floor because Joe never finished his job. He’s going to be doing the staining today. And sanding the downstairs. He said that the staining upstairs shouldn’t take long.

Buddy didn’t show up yesterday. He didn’t answer any of Joe’s phone calls. He did tell us that he’d be working on another job yesterday, but it wouldn’t take all day. I’m ready to kill him. When he put in the tile in the half bathroom, it looked funny to me. I thought it was because it was dirty (there was dust from the drywall all over it). Well, last night I went in and swept it up so that I could get a real look at it. It’s 2 different tiles in there. There are 5 tiles of what we actually picked out (that dark brown tile), and then the rest of the bathroom is in a dark tile with lots of reddish colors in it. And then, I was sweeping up the kitchen last night (because there was sawdust from where Rudy had to cut some of the walls for the new sockets) and stuff kept getting trapped between the tiles. He did a shitty job of grouting the tile. There are deep holes in it so stuff falls into it. So, Joe is going to make him fix the grout in the kitchen. We have to talk to him about the half bathroom.

Joe spoke to Buddy just a little while ago. He argued with Joe about the tile in the half bathroom. He thinks it's the same throughout. It's obviously not. Even Rudy just glanced at it last night and said that it was different. You don't have to look closely to see that it's 2 different tiles!

Before, Buddy told Joe that he could finish everything by Friday. Joe spoke with him the night before last. The problem was that the floor guy (refinishing the hardwoods) would be in the way of Buddy. Joe told Buddy that he worked it out with the floor guy so that he will not do the foyer until Thursday. That meant that Buddy could continue working on the other bathrooms until Thursday or possibly Friday (depending on the speed of the floor guy). Well, Buddy told Joe that night that he had everything worked out with the floor guy. Since Joe had already told him what the plan was, Joe assumed that working it out meant that he was going to follow the plan. That was a stupid assumption. Buddy isn’t over there today. What he meant when he said, “worked it out” with Maurice is that he just isn’t going to show up again until next week so that he could stay out of the way.

Joe told him that it was unacceptable. We have to get our stuff moved in! We will be gone Sunday through Thursday and we have to be out of Crackton by Friday! He needs to be finished! Since he said that he could be done with everything by Friday, that meant that he should have been able to be finished with at least the master bath by Thursday! Which meant that we could move in! Now who knows how long it’s going to be. If one more thing goes wrong with Buddy, I’m going to call him myself and cuss him out. I don’t think Joe is getting his point across well enough. Why does this have to be so difficult? Joe told him what to do and he changed it. It’s stupid.

But, on the positive, our cabinets arrived yesterday. They were in boxes in our garage. We opened up one to look at it. It was hard to see the cabinet, but it looked pretty! It looked a little more red than I had anticipated, but right now it’s hard to tell. They’re in the garage and it wasn’t very well lit and it was still in a box. So, we’ll be able to tell tonight! :) I think they’ll look really good.

I'm trying to stay positive about all of this. No matter what, Joe and I have to be moved in on next Friday (Halloween). If everything is not finished, I am going to have a conniption. I take that back, I will accept it if the half bathroom is not completely finished yet. However, if anything else is still unfinished, someone is going to pay for it. We set it up so that everything would be finished last week. My mom left a week ago. They still aren't finished with the things that were supposed to be finished when she got here 2 weeks ago. I can tell you one thing. People asked us to give recommendations for workers after we finish remodeling our house. Buddy and Paul will be getting no recommendations. I will be telling people to stay as far away as possible. This is f*@#ing ridiculous.

ROOOOAAAAARRRR!

That's my angry roar. :( Things were starting to move along. The tile in the kitchen is almost finished. The kitchen cabinets were supposed to arrive tomorrow and the countertops on Thursday. The upstairs floors should be completely refinished today, and the downstairs will be finished this week as well. The drywall will be finished today which means that bathroom work can commence.

Well, bathroom work can't get started because people can't walk on the floors until at least 48 hours after they've been refinished. Well, you have to walk on the hardwoods to get to the bathrooms. So, they're on hold until probably next week. The electrician came in today to look at our kitchen. Stuff has to be torn out to rework the wiring for our new appliances. Thank goodness we haven't put in the cabinets yet. He is hoping to have stuff done tomorrow (HOPING), so that we can just delay the cabinets for one day. I hope that goes well. We can't afford any more delays.

We're supposed to be completely moved in by October 31. I'm really starting to lose hope that that is going to happen. If things get delayed anymore, we may not even be able to walk on the floors by then! :S

At least we have wonderful, fabulous, fantastic friends who helped us move in a bunch of our stuff this weekend. :) That stuff is waiting in the music room until the floors are finished and we can move it where it goes... Except for the couch. It's waiting on the screened in porch. Joe thought that this would be a good idea. I disagree, but oh well. It's out there now. We'll see what it smells like next week when we bring it in. lol

The tile guy was supposed to be finished by last night with the tile in the kitchen. He promised he could do it. He lied. He originally told us that he could be finished in one day with the kitchen. Definite LIE. He worked on it Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and yesterday. It still isn't finished. He only finished the place where the cabinets are going to be. He arrived yesterday at 7:00 AM. He didn't leave until after 11:00 PM. He finished like 3 more rows of the tile and he grouted what he had done. He did that much on Saturday when he wasn't there for nearly as long. What the hell is taking this guy so freakin' long?!?! I'm ready to scream and pull all of my hair out. I'm sick of all of this crap. Just do what you say you're going to do when you say you're going to do it! It's not that hard!!

Blahhhhhhhhhh

I am depressed. I thought I had a home for a pup that I fell in love with at a shelter earlier this month (a previous post is devoted to her), but it fell through today. Now I just want to cry. Her time is about up and if she doesn't get adopted, she will be put down. It's very upsetting. If you know anyone interested in adopting her, please, please, PLEASE, let me know. She's incredibly sweet and I'll pay for everything she needs to get started. :)

My mom called about an hour and a half ago. My sister is out of surgery. She was supposed to be in recovery for about an hour, so she's probably awake now. She had breast augmentation. She's only 20, but she's wanted this for a long time. And she paid for it herself. She worked hard to earn the money for it. I would NEVER in a million years do this, but I support her decision. We come from a family of large breasted women. I am a C cup and I am one of the smallest breasted women in my family (except for my sister). She is a small B cup. She just wanted some boobies... lol. Anyone who met my sister would tell you that she is a strong woman and secure in who she is. She doesn't take crap from anybody and she loves her body (she takes care of it). She is doing this for herself (ligitimately... her boyfriend and several of her male friends do not support her decision), and no one else. So, I say go for it.

In house news, we are no longer using Paul. He's about as worthless as handymen come. It was pathetic. But, we have someone who is doing an excellent job. The tile guy has finally gotten going and the half bathroom is about finished (he's slower than Christmas!). Joe gave him until Monday to finish the tile in the kitchen (as of yesterday, he hadn't even started on it). Our cabinets will be arriving on Wednesday. They will take all day to be put in and then the countertops will be installed on Thursday. Our appliances are in. As soon as the kitchen is finished, we'll have them deliver the appliances (so probably Friday). So, by this time next week, our kitchen should be finished. :) And then the only thing that should be unfinished is the master bathroom. I have hopes that even it will be finished, but it's not likely with as slow as Buddy is. We'll see.

This weekend is homecoming weekend at Catawba. Joe and I will hopefully be going. There is a wine party in Salisbury that we will probably be going to. Especially now that the dog thing has fallen through. :( And after the game tomorrow, we will be coming back to work on the house. I will be painting all of the doors in the house (except the entrance/exit doors to the house -- they will stay the way they are). The doors are ugly, so I'm painting them all white. We can't afford to replace all of the doors in the house, so we're just giving the old doors a new look. They'll go much better with the wood floors and white trim then. :) Also, I have to paint the places in the hallways where the baseboard heating was. Luckily it is low to the ground so it won't matter that the paint won't look exactly the same (no one will be looking that closely at the wall a few inches from the floor!).

Irritation...

So, remodeling isn't so bad. My mom and I got a lot accomplished while she was here. That wasn't the irritating part. The irritating part is that the people we are paying to get stuff done are not doing anything. My mom and I work for free and we got more done than what the people we are paying got done. They still haven't finished the stuff that they promised us that they'd have finished by the time my mom arrived. Well, she already LEFT and it's still not finished! It's so frustrating.

The house is painted. The living room looks great in Posh Red. The dining room and the master bedroom look great in Vanilla Bean (It's so creamy!). There was chair railing on the center of the wall in the work-out room, so we switched to a darker blue and just painted below the chair railing and left the top white. It looks awesome. Lowe's gave me the wrong color green for the kitchen. The formula is off, so I had to switch colors. It looks good now though. Mom and I changed the color for the music room. It's called Gray Teal. It's a pretty color and it's brighter. I think it looks more musical. :)

Yesterday, Paul finally put in the glass blocks for the window in the master bathroom. And Buddy finally got started on the tile in the half bathroom. Both of those things were supposed to be finished before my mom got here. They didn't get started on them until after my mom left.

My mom and I got the drywall up in the half bathroom and the drywall up where the door for the bathroom used to be. The plaster didn't dry in time, so I have to finish up finishing the drywall by myself. It's a pain in the butt, but at least now I know how to do it. :)

Jippy + Other Stuff in My Life

Joe and I picked Jippy up from the vet this morning. He is now testicle-free. :) He doesn't seem to be in any pain. He's on pain medicine though. He's mostly just scared/traumatized. And probably not because of the lack of testicles. Probably because he not only had to go to the vet, but he also had to spend the night at the vet. He's never spent the night anywhere other than at home (or at least he spends the night with us when he's away from home).

Last night, Joe walked by Jippy's crate at bedtime and freaked out. He demanded to know where Jippy was. It was cute. As soon as he said it, he realized where Jippy was and he tried to clear the emotion from his face. I rubbed it in that he missed Jippy and was worried about him. He had to admit that he does love Jippy. :) I think Joe has finally accepted Jippy as a member of our family. It only took him several months!

Unfortunately, Daly will be even harder for him to accept. She's such a pain in the butt. At first, Joe was more attached to her than I was. He had an easier time getting close to her. It took me a long time. But then, the more she misbehaved, the more she got on Joe's bad side, and now she's gone too far and it's going to take some growing up on her part before Joe will reattach himself to her and accept her as family.

More demolition took place at our Shelby house yesterday. I didn't get to see any of it because we didn't go up there last night. We went home and ate black bean soup and watched Pursuit of Happyness. It was pretty depressing. Joe was freaking out because we just bought a house and he's worried that the market is going to go to crap and leave us with a mortgage that we can't afford. So, that wasn't such a great choice for a movie. I thought with the word "happyness" in the title, that it would be a happier movie (P.S. It drives me nuts to have to spell happiness wrong for that movie!). Not true. There are 115 minutes of unhappiness and then 2 minutes of happiness. :( I could have used some more happiness in the end. Also, I wanted him to find that taxi driver and pay him back. I guess I was just asking for too much.

Joe is going to pick up the bed today after work so that my mom and I will have someplace to sleep while we're in Shelby at the new house. And then we're going to buy the paint so that we will be all set to get started on the house when my mom gets here. :)

Our house is a very, very, very fine house!

We had a frustrating first weekend. We spent a lot of time at Lowe’s but in the end, they didn’t have the kind of paint that we needed for the tile in the bathroom. Well, they did, but with the paint they had, it could only be tinted a very light color and we did not want to go with something that light. So, after all of that aggravation, Joe and I decided against painting that bathroom. Lol… I’m going to look around and see if we can find anything, but if I don’t find any paint that we can use, then there is nothing that we can do.

Paul Kitchen started on Friday and has almost all of the baseboard heating out of the house already. Luckily, the holes are in the walls and not the floor! :) So, that was good news. And they are just tiny holes in the wall. However, there were thermostats in each room for the baseboard heating and they came out leaving holes in the wall that have to be patched. :(

They will be back again today to finish demolishing the downstairs bathroom and to take out the rest of the baseboard heating units. I think the new A/C unit is being put in today as well.

Our doorbell started working! The inspector said that it didn’t work. Well, I pushed on it a few times and it didn’t work. Then a few minutes later, it rang. It scared me. It turns out that something was just stuck and it unstuck itself. Now it works perfect. :)

We cleaned a bunch. It was me and a crew of three men. :) Joe, Dan, and Philip. Lol… it was amusing to watch them scrubbing the walls because I don’t think they’d normally be doing that sort of thing. I got all of the caulk off of the tub in the upstairs bathroom. It was disgusting. Then, I tried to recaulk the tub. So far, it’s just a mess and I’m probably going to have to remove that caulk and try again. lol

The bathroom floor has stains in the grout. I’m still not finished in there. I couldn’t find a brush at Wal-Mart so I had to use a toothbrush to scrub it. That was working, but I wore out quickly. Joe went last night and got be a good scrub brush, but I was busy playing with the caulk at that point and then we went back to Gastonia. So, the floor in the bathroom still has grout stains over ¾ of the floor. Joe doesn’t want to go back over there tonight. I’d like to go back over and get more done! I understand that he needs a break though.

I found places where the wallpaper is peeling. I pulled and it came up easily. I think that we may be able to get it off there!! :)

My mom comes in on Wednesday to help me do the painting and the other stuff. She'll be here until the following Wednesday. It turns out that my ex-boyfriend and his parents will be in town at the same time. His parents have asked if we could go out to dinner on Sunday, so I'm hoping that they don't mean with Michael and his girlfriend. That could be uncomfortable. I'm not even sure they'd be comfortable this way (especially if Joe goes with me). And, they invited us to dinner at a Barbecue place. I checked out the menu. Not Veg friendly. So, I'm probably going to have to pass on that unless they don't have their hearts set on that restaurant.

The dogs were with us at the house in Shelby all weekend. They seem to really like it. It's quieter so Jippy seems to be quieter. Not as much to bark at, I guess. And that is awesome. Speaking of Jippy, he went in to be neutered today. He will be neutered between 12:00 and 3:00. He has to spend the night at the vet. It will be the first night that he's not spent at home or with us since he's been with us. I hope that he won't be too traumatized.

Oh! and Joe admitted that he'd probably miss Jippy if he were gone. It's a huge step. Joe has had a lot of trouble getting attached to Jippy and Daly. He's still not close to admitting love for Daly, but I have high hopes. They're doing well now, so it's easier to love them. Daly is still such a needy puppy that Joe gets annoyed with her. And Jippy isn't the smartest dog (Jack and Cody are really smart), so Joe has had trouble bonding with him. But, Jippy tries really hard to be a good boy (and Daly is a brat!), so Joe is getting closer. :)

Also, while we were in Shelby this weekend, we ate (again) at this awesome Mexican Restaurant. It's called Mi Pueblito. It's got a vegetarian section on the menu! :) And it's absolutely delicious, and FAST. It's a wonderful place, and should you ever find yourself in Shelby, North Carolina, I highly recommend it! :)

I'm a homeowner! :)

Joe closed on the house yesterday. We now are homeowners. :) It's so exciting!!

We went to the house last night. We were going to bond with it, but we bonded with our neighbors instead. ha! They are really nice, open-minded, senior citizens. They love to talk, and they're intelligent. Plus, they're animal people. They have 2 dogs. They said that they had an arrangement with the previous owners where if one couple went out of town, the other couple would take care of the dogs. He told us that he'd love to have the same arrangement with us. We agreed! We talked to them for several hours. Until I was finally so low on sugar that I was getting sick. So, we had to leave and get some food.

Tonight, Joe and I will be going to Lowe's to pick up supplies. Then we will be going to the house and I will be working my butt off. :) I have to get that bathroom painted this weekend. it should be interesting. I've never painted ceramic tile before. From what I've read, it shouldn't be too bad. It's going to be quite a bit of work, but hopefully it will be worth it in the end. Joe and I were originally going to paint the tile "grapolicious." However, Joe isn't so sure about the color anymore. So, tonight when we're at Lowe's, we're going to finalize a color and then Joe will be stuck with whatever we decide. Because I am NOT going to paint the tile more than once!

Today, Buddy the tile guy is ripping out the tile in the downstairs bathroom so that we can completely redo that bathroom (I'm just painting the tile for the upstairs bathroom and then re-caulking around the tub). Monday, the baseboard heating and the carpet in the living room are being taken out. And then on Wednesday, my mama will be arriving to help me do a lot of painting, and taking out wallpaper, and putting up drywall, and tearing out a wall. :) It's going to be great fun!

Samples

So... Since everything is already picked out, I'm putting up samples! :)


This is the color of our countertops (Dupont Zodiac Quartz in Black Forest).





This is the color of our kitchen floor tile (Ozark Sand).







This is what our dishwasher is going to look like.





This is basically what our microwave/vent will look like.

This is basically what our range/oven will look like.









This is basically what our refrigerator will look like.

I hope that everything is going to look nice together. We put it together on a small scale and it looked great (I don't have a sample of the cabinets, but they're cherry wood with a ginger finish and a chocolate glaze. Also, the paint pulls it together better... it's Slate Green but I can't find the color online). I'm worried that it won't look as good together on a larger scale. I guess we'll find out very soon.

Oh. Joe told me that we have to paint the upstairs bathroom immediately (I was going to put it off for a while since we have so much other stuff to do that's more important). Apparently that's on the list for the appraisal to come back correctly, so it has to be done. It doesn't look like we'll be going to Texas this weekend after all, so I will probably start on that this weekend (and hopefully get it finished!). Wish us luck!

Update

Well, we have the cabinets ordered. They will be installed in about 3 weeks. Our appliances have been ordered. They should arrive at the end of this week. The tile guy will be taking down the tile in the downstairs bathroom on Thursday as soon as we close on the house (Joe's appointment with the lawyer is at 11:00 am on Thursday. Once all the paperwork is signed by both parties, the will give us the key and we will be homeowners!).

Then, the following Monday, Paul Kitchen is coming in to tear out the baseboard heating (that will probably take a few days). Also on that Monday, someone is coming to tear out the carpet in the living room. Then, on Wednesday, my mom will arrive to help us out! She'll be here until the following Wednesday.

Once the tile guy finishes tearing out the tile in the bathroom, he's going to tear out the bottom cabinets in the kitchen so that he can start tiling the kitchen (the tile has been ordered, but it will take a few days to get it in, so hopefully he can start on the kitchen as soon as he finishes tearing out the tile in the bathroom). Once he finishes tearing out the tile in the bathroom, my mom and I will take out the door on the bathroom, put up new drywall to cover that hole and put in a new door on the wall that is shared with the master bedroom (which will turn that bathroom into the master bathroom. Once we finish that, the tile guy can put in the new tile and the new shower in that bathroom.

My mom will also be helping me tear down the wallpaper in the master bathroom. I've never done this before, but I hear that it's a pain in the butt to do. I hope that it all comes down easily. She will also be helping me paint all of the rooms. I hope that we can get it all done in the time that she is here. I'm going to try not to get my hopes up, because I don't know if it's possible, but hopefully we can at least get most of it done. We've got to start on the bathroom first because it is something that I can't do by myself. And then the wallpaper in the master bedroom. And then we'll do the painting in the rest of the house.

My mom and the boys and I will most likely be staying at the house the whole time she is here so that we won't have to waste time or gas (especially with this stupid fuel shortage) going back and forth from Shelby to Gastonia. So, if anyone wants to come see us (or help us!), you're welcome to! :)

We're going to own a house next week!

I talked to Joe just a little while ago. And there is good news! We are approved. And the house appraised for $175,000. :) (well, that's the appraiser's estimate of what the house will be worth when we finish the remodeling).

It's so exciting! We're going to start scheduling everything now! I can't wait! The bad news is that we won't actually be able to close on Tuesday. The bank said that the paperwork will take until Thursday to finish, so we will close on October 2 instead of September 30. Our realtor said that the current owners should not have a problem with 2 extra days, so it will not be the end of the world.

Joe just got back. We have a meeting with the tile guy and the cabinet guy today. :) I am so happy. And the guy who's taking out the baseboard heating is scheduled for Monday, October 8. And that means that I can get my mom and my sister tickets to come down! I am so excited. I talked to my mom and she said she'd stay for as long as I need her and she'd take off whatever days she needed to. She's as excited as I am.

Such good news! And now we wait a week. And then by this time next week, we'll be home owners. :) And next weekend (if we're not in Texas), we will be working on our new house! And then the following weekend, my mom and my sister will be here helping us paint! And then by the end of October, we will be all moved in. And no longer living in Crackton. Such great news!

Appraisal + Gas shortage

The appraiser finally called yesterday afternoon. It was like 3:00. And it still wasn't final. She had questions for Joe. At that point, she was at $165,000. That's very good. Joe flirted with her a little to try to boost it up a little bit. :) He wants it to be higher. The higher the appraisal, the more we'll be able to borrow for remodeling (we can only borrow a certain percentage of what it will be worth).

Joe is at the bank right now meeting with the banker and trying to get things set in stone for the mortgage so that we can close on Tuesday! :) I am so incredibly excited. So long as everything goes well with the banker (we don't expect any problems), we will just have some final paperwork to complete, and on Tuesday, we will own our very first house!

Joe and I were supposed to be going to Salisbury this weekend to hang out with some very cool people (They know who they are :) ), but this stupid gas shortage may cause us to cancel those plans. Last night on our way home from work, there was a gas station which actually still had gas (all grades), so there were lines clear down the streets at all the entrances to the station. My car is at about a quarter of a tank right now. Joe's truck is at like 3/4 of a tank, so even though it gets less gas mileage, we're driving it. They don't want people to get gas unless they absolutely have to, so we're trying to hold out on filling up my car. Besides that, Joe's truck is a diesel and diesel seems to be easier to find right now.

If we have to cancel our plans, I will be going to Lowe's to pick up supplies for the house... like paint and other such items. :) Also, I have to pick up some stuff to repair the house we're renting right now. Daly chewed on the cabinets in the bathroom and I have to sand and stain them again. :( Also, I have to replace the floor trim that she chewed on. And I'll probably start packing up the stuff that we don't use regularly. Joe and I have decided that even if we aren't finished remodeling the house in Shelby, we're moving in by October 31 so that we won't have to pay another month's rent at the house in Gastonia. I am so incredibly excited that I can't even find words! No more Crackton. It's the best news ever. :) Besides finding the love of my life, Joe, and the adoptions of all four of my babies, of course. :)

Anxious...

We are STILL waiting to hear back from the bank. They have to appraise the house as it will be after we finish the remodeling so that we can get a loan to do the remodeling on the house. It was supposed to take about a week. It's been over a week. Joe called yesterday and they said it would be later that afternoon or the following morning. Well, it's the following morning. I'm tired of waiting!

Not only is it stressful just waiting, but we can't schedule anything until we know what the bank is going to say. It will take 3 weeks to get the cabinets from the point that we order them. And then the installation should only take a day. The tile guy can't come in until the cabinets are in. And he can't do the bathroom until the door is moved from the hallway to the bedroom. And my mom is coming down to help us do that. And she can't come down (she'll only be able to stay a few days and then go back to Indiana!) until all of the baseboard heating units are removed (because she's also helping us paint and we can't paint until the baseboard heating is gone... otherwise there will be blank spots when they're taken out). And we can't schedule the guy to take out the baseboard heating until we hear something from the bank.

And of course, the tickets are outrageously expensive. It's going to cost me $300 to get my mom down here. And they get more expensive every day! I need to get it scheduled soon or I'll have to sell my liver to be able to get her down here!

Also, when she gets here, we're going to have to spend a lot of time on the bathroom and on the master bedroom. It's going to take a while because we have to move the bathroom door from the hallway to the bedroom to turn it into the master bathroom. Then we have to remove the wallpaper in the master bedroom. I've never done this before, but I hear that it's a completely awful experience. I am not looking forward to it. Knocking out walls, putting up new drywall and doors, tearing out cabinets, and painting an entire house: not scary to me. Tearing down wallpaper: SCARY beyond belief for me.

Wish us luck!

It's finished! At least the first part is...

The inspection came back fine. There were a few things that were problematic, but nothing that we didn't already know and nothing that is serious. The hot water heater is old. The inspector said it could go out next week or it could last for years. The windows are older and will need to be replaced eventually. Joe and I knew that already and have planned to replace them in the next few years. They did a great job repairing the wood and insulation, etc., under the house (so says the inspector). It passed inspection. There needs to be better drainage where the a/c unit is, which we already knew and have an estimate for.

So, yesterday Joe signed the final papers. Now we just have to deal with the bank to do the closing. Our closing date is September 30. :)

However, now we have to be in overdrive on picking out everything for the remodel and for finding the people who are going to remodel. The remodeling will start on October 1 and we have 45 days to complete it. It's going to be interesting, that's for sure.