What happens when you have:
- nothing to do
- a sharp knife
- a large lime
- a patient cat
- and too much tequila?
Cat in the Lime Hat
Year: 2003
When you’ve had a really bad day…and want to feel better!
When you occasionally have a really bad day, and you just need to take it out on someone, don’t take it out on someone you know, take it out on someone you don’t know…
I was sitting at my desk when I remembered a phone call I had forgotten to make. I found the number and dialed it. A man answered, saying, “Hello.”
I politely said, “This is Fred Hannifin. Could I please speak with Robin Carter?” Suddenly, the phone was slammed down on me… I couldn’t believe that anyone could be that rude.
I tracked down Robin’s correct number and called her. I had transposed the last two digits of her phone number. After hanging up with her, I decided to call the ‘wrong’ number again.
When the same guy answered the phone, I yelled, “You’re an asshole!” and hung up.
I wrote his number down with the word ‘asshole’ next to it, and put it in my desk drawer. Every couple of weeks, when I was paying bills or had a really bad day, I’d call him up and yell, “You’re an asshole!” It always cheered me up.
When Caller ID came to our area, I thought my therapeutic ‘asshole’ calling would have to stop. So, I called his number and said, “Hi, this is John Smythe from the XYZ Telephone Company. I’m just calling to see if you’re familiar with the Caller ID program?”
He yelled, “NO!” and slammed the phone down. I quickly called him back and said, “That’s because you’re an asshole!”
One day I was at the store, getting ready to pull into a parking spot. Some guy in a black BMW cut me off and pulled into the spot I had patiently waited for. I hit the horn and yelled that I had been waiting for the spot. The idiot ignored me. I noticed a “For Sale” sign in his car window…so, I wrote down his number.
A couple of days later, right after calling the first asshole, (I had his number on speed dial), I thought I had better call the BMW asshole, too.
I said, “Is this the man with the black BMW for sale?”
“Yes, it is,” he said.
“Can you tell me where I can see it?”
“Sure, I live at 1802 West 34th Street. It’s a yellow house, and the car’s parked right out in front.” he replied.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“My name is Don Hansen,” he said.
“When’s a good time to catch you, Don?”
He said, “I’m home every evening after five.”
“Listen, Don, can I tell you something?”
“Yes?” he said.
“Don, you’re an asshole.” Then I hung up, and added his number to my speed dial, too. Now, when I had a problem, I had two assholes to call. But after several months of calling them, it just wasn’t as enjoyable as it used to be…
So, I came up with an idea. I called Asshole #1.
“Hello.”
“You’re an asshole!” (But I didn’t hang up.)
“Are you still there?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Stop calling me!!!” he screamed.
“Make me,” I said.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“My name is Don Hansen.”
“Yeah,” Where do you live?”
“I live at 1802 West 34th Street, a yellow house, with my black Beamer parked in the drive, Asshole.”
He said, “I’m coming over right now, Don. And you had better start saying your prayers.”
I said, “Yeah, like I’m really scared, asshole.”
Then I called Asshole #2.
“Hello?” he said.
“Hello, asshole,” I said.
He yelled, “If I ever find out who you are!!”
“You’ll what?” I said.
“I’ll kick your ass!” he exclaimed.
I answered, “Well, asshole, here’s your chance. I’m coming over right now.”
Then I hung up and immediately called the police. I told them that I lived at 1802 West 34th Street, and that I was on my way over there to kill my cheating, gay lover.
Then I called Channel 13 News about the gang war going down on West 34th Street.
I quickly got into my car and headed over to 34th Street.
There I saw the two assholes beating the crap out of each other in front of six squad cars, a police helicopter, and news crew.
NOW, I feel better.
2003 USMC Birthday Ball
Tom had to take part in the ceremony with one of his friends. Of course they gave me their serious marine face.
So then I made them smile. 🙂
The 228th Marine Corps Birthday Ball was a unique experience: it was 100% different than the first ball we went to in 2001. Instead of a fancy hotel with a gourmet sit-down meal, it was held in a gymnasium with hors d’oeuvres. The best part was getting all dressed up (it is fun when it’s only once a year); the worst part was being by myself almost the entire evening since Tom was part of the ceremony escort (so I was with 1000 people I didn’t know). We did get to dance one song—Lady In Red, which was highly appropriate…
Promotion to 1st Lieutenant
Today marked the two-year anniversary of Tom becoming a USMC Officer. It is customary at this time to be promoted from 2nd Lieutenant to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. This ceremony took place at Camp Lejeune on 11 Aug 03 at 1000 hours with Colonel Smith presiding.
Wetdown!
WETTING DOWN: USMC Tradition
After a promotion, it is customary to celebrate by spending your first pay raise on your fellow Marines at your favorite tavern. Tradition has it that the new grade insignia was placed in the bottom of a glass of spirits, and the Marine drank the glass dry.
WETTING DOWN: Our Story
Tom and Neil (a fellow Communications classmate and current neighbor) were being promoted at the same time. Following tradition, they wanted to participate in a Wet Down. However, they both decided that it would be better (financially-speaking) to host the party at home, instead of at the Officer’s Club. (You may start with just a few people in your party at the O Club, but as soon as people know it’s a Wet Down, they ALL flock to you…thereby increasing your tab for the evening!) So we decided to go with a backyard BBQ, complete with beer, burgers, brats, and deep-fried turkey!
I just couldn’t sleep anymore (thinking about everything), so I was up by 7:30 (listening to the rain POURING down). I also wanted some time to be able to relax, if possible, so I wasn’t running around at the last minute. The only thing left to do to get the inside of the house ready, really, was clear off all the surfaces that were full of crap (i.e. the dining room table, the coffee table, the kitchen counters), so all that stuff went into huge Rubbermaid containers and into the guest shower! Voila! Instantly clutter free! There were also minor things like vacuuming, moving the dining room chairs to other seating areas, and moving a last few boxes. I also wanted to add some personality—but we didn’t really want to hang stuff on the wall in case we moved furniture anytime soon (we’re not sure if we’re leaving the couches where they are)—so I just put some framed pics and bamboo up on temporary shelves which are just sitting on the floor (crap, I just realized I don’t have a picture of that wall) and it looked pretty good (it might actually stay there for awhile!) and decorated the mantel/fireplace area. We had also installed two curtain rods earlier in the week. Let’s see, what next?
Oh, the turkeys. I was still defrosting the turkeys in the sink. Tom swore they were done, but I just couldn’t believe that a 24# bird was done in two days so I just kept both in water. Then I thought, you know—we should really research just how to deep fry the turkeys. I mean, I had asked the king of turkey frying (my cousin, Brian) how to do it, but I didn’t think to ask all the particulars. (You’d think we’d have learned just from watching him do it 20 times, but it was our first time and I wanted to make sure we didn’t screw it up—especially since many guests were involved!) So, in my research, I learned that you really shouldn’t have a turkey over 20#…so I didn’t even want to attempt the 24 pounder, but then we would have only had an 11# bird, which was not a lot of meat for the number of people we were expecting. Tom assured me it would be fine, although he’d really have to watch it (to cover the turkey, the oil would be closer to the top than recommended). We decided to inject the birds with marinade (I happened to have a pre-made Creole Butter mix which smelled heavenly) and then we did a cajun rub on the outside. Then they sat in the frig to marinate and dry off. Here’s my fridge-ful of turkey.
Then I had to make my salad. I was making KFC’s cole slaw (I chose that because it’s simple and doesn’t take long). The only bad thing was that with all the turkey in my frig, we had nowhere to put it so it was neighbors Tom and Karen to the rescue!
In the meantime, Tom was working on getting the outside ready (it had stopped raining and was overcast—actually very nice and breezy). Our neighbor, Roger, came over to mow the lawn for the second time (the first time the night before was to mow it, the second was to obliterate all the little grass clumps). We definitely owe Roger for that…but then, Roger just loves his riding mower—we think he’d mow the whole neighborhood if people would let him!!
Tom ran some last-minute errands…getting the propane filled (we needed one for the turkeys as well as for our grill, so I bought one the night before at Sams…except it was empty) and picking up just a few more plants and stones (to hide the cord to the fountain).
Oh, yes, the fountain. And the garden. That’s a story in itself! Before we knew we were hosting the party, we had decided to change our front contractor-provided landscaping to something more unique (every house has red mulch and the same shrubs). We were going to move all the shrubs to the front of the house (under the bedroom windows) and plant the front area with grasses and such—and fill it with river rock (a whitish stone) instead of mulch (moving the mulch to the shrubs) and edging it with red scalloped brick pavers. Well, earlier in the week, Tom had it laid out with the plants and grasses we had, and honestly, it was a little too barren for me. So, I told him as long as he was taking all the time and making the effort to do this, we weren’t going to do it half-assed…so I ordered him to go buy more stuff. (I’d much rather do it now then wait and try to do it later since it wouldn’t just be a matter of planting stuff. There’s a layer of weed-protectant sheeting that you had to cut through in order to plant, and once the stones were on top, it would be harder to add stuff later.) I also told him I’d love a fountain—it just looked like it needed one! Of course, when I said I wanted a fountain, I thought we’d go buy a small/cheap one and that would be it. Oh, I should have known better! Tom rushed to all his magazines and found a fountain…to build himself! So he ran right out and bought the supplies. (This was before we knew we were hosting the party. Had we known, we would have waited to start building it.) So, over the course of a few nights, he built and installed the fountain. It really does look great in the garden and we’re thrilled with it. The other major project was replanting all the shrubs and moving all the mulch—which HAD to be done before the party, since the mulch was covering the entire sidewalk! That was completed Friday night around 10pm (talk about last minute)!
Around 4, Tom was just getting ready for his second shower of the day and I was just getting ready to sit down and relax…when the doorbell rang. Turns out, it was one of Tom’s buddies! He apparently couldn’t stay long and had somewhere else to go later, so he just showed up early! Ack! It’s a good thing we were done cleaning and whatnot! So Tom talked with him while he got the grill and deep fryer set up. Shortly thereafter, Kate arrived (she would have been there earlier but got tied up in traffic).
About this time, I was starting to get anxious. I was worrying about simple things like how to arrange the table (where to put the silverware, napkins, and plates in relation to the food) and where to put the cups and how many cups to put out…stupid stuff, I know, but never having thrown a party before and wanting everything to be perfect, I was worried! Kate assured me none of it really mattered, and she took the role of just telling me what to do! (Thanks again, Kate!) We got the music started in the living room (gotta love the digital cable music channels—Party Favorites!) and on the porch (a large selection of compilation CDs—I had started to make some mixed CDs then thought ‘Why am I bothering? We have a ton of CDs ready to go’ so I dug them out and that was that). The volleyball net and horseshoes never got set up—which was just as well since everyone was busy chatting. (Although, I’m sure there would have been some good volleyball pics!) We could not have asked for better weather. It stayed overcast all day, so it was actually almost cool (compared to what the weather has been lately) and there was a nice breeze the entire time.
Then stuff just sort of started happening at once. The doorbell rang and one family arrived (whom I happened to know) and my first thought was…”Oh, kids.” Hmmm. Hadn’t thought kids would be here. I mean, we knew two of our neighbors had kids and they would be there, but we honestly had not thought about other people bringing their kids! (Can you tell we’re just SO not in that frame of mind?!?!) Then just as I directed them to beverages and whatnot, the doorbell rang again—and I had no idea who they were. So I introduced myself and they said who they were friends of…okay, cool. Then I happened to look out on the back porch and there were about 10 people out there (who just walked around from the front) who I didn’t know. Okay, the party was officially started! It was just really weird not knowing everyone. And they didn’t know who I was, either. When I introduced myself to people, it was “I’m Jen. This is my house.” It sounded weird, but everyone said “Ah, I was wondering who Jen was!” (We have a sign outside our front door that says “Jen & Tom Hudson, Established 2001” (a wedding present from my aunt). Everyone we talked to loved the house and we got SOOOOO many compliments on it…it was such a good feeling!
Then a plate of burgers came in and Tom said it was time to eat! I lovingly told him that I really wanted more than five burgers on the table before I invited all our guests to eat (probably numbering 20 by that time)! So, about 15 minutes later we had burgers and brats aplenty—plus the first turkey was done so that was being carved. It also turned out to be our first party foul—it wasn’t quite done. So, into the microwave it went and all was good (and no one even knew, until now that is!). Then dinner was announced and people filed in and all went well!
I stayed out of the area (giving little tours to people I knew) and then I filled a plate and went to sit down. Most people were outside, which was great, and only a few were inside. I walked into the den and felt immediately at ease—it was filled with our neighbors! I sat down and said “Finally, some people I know!”
Tom was the consummate host. He was literally busting his butt cooking and frying and running around. I hadn’t been out to the garage (where the cooking was going on, because it was too windy to do in the back yard) but when I did venture out there, there were another 20 people out there—much to my surprise! Then I looked and there were cars up and down the entire street! (I wished I would have taken a picture.) Tom’s best guesstimate is that there were probably 45-50 people there throughout the night.
Then things are a blur. There was visiting and hostessing and the time was just flying by. We had plenty of food, and everyone loved the turkey! The cool thing was the people who showed up… we invited our actual next-door neighbors that morning when we saw them outside (it seems they’re hardly ever home) and we didn’t expect them to come but they did! And she even brought a chocolate dessert!! We had a really good time visiting with them and it’s great that we now know them better. We also got to meet another set of neighbors that we’ve only seen in passing. The wives all talked and I got the scoop on our contractor and the development corporation (from the wives that have been here over a year). Then I turned around to someone else I didn’t know…turns out, it was our kitty-corner neighbor and his wife (with introductions like “Ohhh! So you’re the one on the riding lawn mower!”). You know, I honestly don’t know if they were invited or if they just came over…but it was all good. The really cool thing is that I saw someone I knew from Quantico—I didn’t know she was living in the area and she showed up at the party because she knew a friend of a friend who lived down the street! I was walking down the driveway and I saw her and I was like “Hey! I know you!” It was funny.
Things started to clear out around 11 (and I thought “Oh my! It’s only 11? I could have sworn it was later!”) and the music got a little louder and the guests a little rowdier! Roger was walking around with a bottle of Goldschlager trying to give out shots (so I obliged in a few), then later I was walking around with a bottle of Jagermeister to pass out shots—and there were more than a few takers!
Overall, the party was a success. I really do need to give a huge thanks to our neighbors—they all offered any assistance we needed and really came through… from Roger mowing the lawn and blowing off the driveway, sidewalks, and garage to Ursula (Roger’s wife) bringing two side dishes (as well as getting me some last minute lemonade)…from Tom and Karen loaning us the use of their refrigerator to Tom making a run for some Captain Morgan…and at the last minute when our grill went kaput, both Roger and Tom bringing their grills over! (And I do mean last-minute….there were burgers on the grill when it died.) Then, of course, Heidi and Neil (who are also neighbors, but they were also the co-hosts)…Heidi brought two side dishes and Neil picked up the keg and some extra tables!
We’re back online!
Hello all! We’re finally back online… Things here are hectic. Tom has been busy with yard work. It’s hotter than hell out there (I think today had a 110 heat index) and I think he’s insane, but he wanted a yard and now he has one! On a bad day, he showers about three times. I tend to stay inside where it’s nice and cool! The only time I stray outside is when I have to do laundry—and the garage is ALWAYS a sauna so I try to make it quick. We have a few trees to plant (there were on clearance at Lowe’s) in addition to the finding the perfect home for the new lilac bush (thanks again, mom). Tom’s next big project, aside from the little honey-do lists I give him, is to put up major shelves in the garage to hold all the crap that won’t fit in the house. Remember me saying we’d have enough stuff for a three-bedroom house? I was wrong. We have enough stuff for a six-bedroom house! LOL Seriously, if we had a basement, everything would be peachy…but we don’t—and we don’t want to use the guest bedroom as storage again—so things are still somewhat crowded.
We’re in the last stages (I hope) of getting settled. Most of the major things are put away (food, dishes, kitchen stuff) but there’s so much little stuff left. You know, all that stuff that never really had a good “home” to begin with. And all the stuff that just doesn’t happen to fit like it did before (this shelf is 1/2″ too short or that cupboard is 1″ too shallow). And, of course, there’s lots of stuff that will need to be rearranged once the garage shelves are in. Dad, you would be thrilled to know that I finally broke down and let Tom get the table saw he wanted (we even had to drive an hour, one way, to get it). I mean, I had to if I wanted shelves any time soon! He’s in heaven and actually putting it together tonight…wait, was that a saw I heard in the background? 🙂 We also have to figure out the dresser situation in the bedroom (it’s quite small once the king bed and headboard gets in there) and until we do, there are five huge boxes of clothes sitting there, waiting. It’s official: WE HAVE WAY TOO MUCH CRAP. The good thing is we’re having a community garage sale soon. There are about four of us who thought it would be a great idea—and we’re all looking forward to it.
Speaking of neighbors, we love ours. They’re all wonderful. We usually talk to them every other day, if not daily (one couple walks their dog and baby and stop as they pass by the house and another walks her dog and stops by). Last night, there was, let me count, 13 of us out there (8 adults, 3 kids, 2 dogs). I LOVE HAVING NEIGHBORS! We’ve had dinner at Neil and Heidi’s about four times…we’re just waiting to get our house done so we can return the favor!
I’ve been back to work two days and it feels like I never even had a break. Sad, isn’t it? The customers haven’t been bad and my coworkers are nice enough…but my feet and neck/shoulders are so sore by the end of the day I can barely stand it. It’s all I can do to not collapse when I get home. I apparently need to start my Motrin regimen again. Unfortunately, it’s the same store activity-wise as Stafford, which means I stand around a lot and try to look busy. It’s not bad overall (at least I’m used to it and at least I have a job) but the hardest part (aside from taking the pay cut) is not knowing where anything is in the store. Blech. I’ve looked in the want ads but they’re a joke. When a security guard position is being offered at $6.75/hour, there doesn’t seem much hope for me. I am, however, heading to the sign shop Thursday and begging for a job if I have to. 🙂 I’d even take a pay cut to work there!
The only other news is that I think this house is trying to kill me—or at least maim me. No kidding. Remember the painting weekend when I smashed my toe? Well, it still hurts so I’m sure I broke it or fractured it or something. Well, since then, in a span of two days, I injured three more toes. (I really need to start wearing shoes around the house.) First, I stubbed a toe on a cooler while doing laundry (Tom moved it unbeknownst to me). That ripped the nail half off my big toe. Later that day, I smashed another toe into a dresser and there was more blood. Hoo boy. I also smacked my head into the dryer door. Then, to top it all off… getting ready for bed and doing one last thing… Tom opened a door to take a box out onto the porch but it wouldn’t fit so he shoved another box out of the way…and wouldn’t you know it…there was a heavy cooling rack leaning against the box, which fell and smashed yet another toe (more ripped skin, more blood, more Band-Aids). I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry—so I did both. It was so ironic that it was sort of Tom’s fault, because he had been blaming me and telling me it was all my fault and I needed to be more careful. So, I started work the next day with four “broken” toes.
The biggest storm yet!
Last night, we had the biggest storm yet! We were actually worried it might be a tornado. It always starts with thunder rumbling in the distance, then it’s soundless lightning, then all of a sudden it’s raining and then raining harder. This time, it was raining so hard and so fast—and the wind was blowing so hard—that the rain was actually being blown UP as it tried to fall off the roof.
The scariest thing was that I was sitting at the computer (in the office) when I saw our neighbor’s trampoline (you know, one of those HUGE ones) come rolling right toward us from across the street! Luckily it stopped in the street (upside down and broken, of course)…but come to find out, it did hit another neighbor’s house and put a hole in their side garage door. Our side next-door neighbors lost about six sections of their huge 6′ fence. At our place, somehow the wind was blowing in through the screen porch and some piece of something came out of place, and we had insulation blowing around and covering everything on the porch. It looked like it snowed! After the storm died down, Tom and Joel hauled the trampoline back (those neighbors were gone for the weekend) and everyone in the neighborhood could be seen gathering all their stuff from across their yards. It was horrible. I can only hope we never see a tornado or hurricane weather. Ironically, our other friends who live down another street at the end of a little cul de sac, barely knew there was a storm brewing. We’re sure it’s because they’re protected on two sides by trees and a third side by a house. We’re pretty much out here in the open, so we got the brunt of it.
Our first really heavy rain
The storms here are unbelievable! We’ve never seen so much rain and so many storms in so short a time since we moved here! It seems like it’s been raining every day, with big storms at least once or twice a week. Here are some pics from the first really heavy rain we got.
The last of the painting.
Our last weekend of painting…the last thing we wanted to do, but best to get it done before all the furniture is there, right? It was such a wonderful feeling pulling into our driveway and knowing we were home…and of course, we felt just as home when we pulled into Lowes 20 minutes later (LOL) to get another gallon of paint and some odds and ends we forgot. We also ate dinner so we’d be fully prepared to paint when we got back home!
Tom did the first coat in the bathroom while I played with my bamboo. It apparently didn’t go quite as smoothly as he hoped, because there was some yelling coming from there. I guess that’s what you get with a TEENY bathroom and a LARGE body! I just stayed away! LOL!
Anyhoo, I was thrilled to finally be able to use the vases I bought shortly after the wedding…I bought them because they had a similar “square” pattern as our dishes—but they’re not going to be used in the kitchen! I thought they’d look stunning on the mantle, but of course, one of the vases is just TOO big, so it has to sit on the floor, but it still looks good.
We also got to meet another neighbor, Tom (husband of Karen, who we met the previous weekend). He’s another marine on the block—a pilot. He came over when he saw us outside, and proceeded to loan us a ladder! I LOVE OUR NEIGHBORS! Then we messed around the house some, not really wanting to start painting the living room because we were tired…so we decided hit the grocery store so we wouldn’t have to eat out the entire weekend. So as we’re walking out the door and turning off the lights, Tom says “Jen! Come here and look at this!” I rush over and OH. MY. GOD. There is a small green tree frog ON our window. ON OUR WINDOW! Weird. He was cute so it was okay, but still. A frog on the window??? Of course, I had to run to get the camera and take a few pictures (below)! North Carolina is a straaaaaange place. We were home and in bed by 10:30.
Tom was up early painting the second coat of the bathroom. Then tragedy struck. I had just gotten up and had just put my contacts in. I was simply attempting to walk out of the bedroom when I literally SLAMMED my toes into the door frame—WOW was that some intense pain!! The nail of my pinky toe was intact, but I ripped off a huge chunk of skin (although it’s still hanging on) and it was bleeding slightly. I could barely walk on it…how was I going to put shoes on and paint? Goodness. I eventually put socks and shoes on and it wasn’t too bad, but when I took the socks off, the toe next to it was really bruised (the pics I took were from the following morning when it doesn’t look quite as bad).
Then, just as we were about ready to start painting the living room, our neighbors showed up for our “mail delivery” (they’re watching it until we get there). I tell you, I like this neighbors thing!
So, painting the faux finish. Let me just say upfront that (1) it was a MAJOR pain in the ass, (2) it doesn’t look much like the pictures, and (3) I will never do that finish again, ever. It seemed simple enough: mix matte paint with wallpaper paste (for a sort of glazing effect), brush on the paint, stipple the paint (to get rid of the brush strokes), then rag the paint (with a chamois). They did mention you had to work quickly because it dried fast—and man, they were NOT kidding. We had planned on working right behind one another (one painted and one ragged) but it dried too fast for us to be moving ladders, so one person did everything. If Tom was on the ladder, I was handing him paint brushes filled with paint and if I was on the ladder, he was handing me paint. The chamois (one of two things they suggested using) was useless. I don’t know if we had too much paint on the wall (I didn’t think so) or a too-thin chamois (do they come in different thicknesses?)…but after two or three uses, it was FILLED with paint and seemingly useless. But we pressed on. After half the wall, we said “Are we sure we want to do the WHOLE room?” I said no way in hell. Then we agreed on doing two walls and seeing what we thought. Okay, fine. So we finished the two walls and it was okay, although it was not nearly what we expected. The second coat was another “glazing” coat which was supposed to be 1½:1 (paste to paint) instead of the 1:1 ratio of the first coat… but that still seemed too thick, so we added more paste and then even added water because it still seemed too thick. By the middle of the first wall (second coat) I had had it (I had done the majority of the work so far) so Tom took over and finished while I showered. Afterwards, we went out to dinner with our neighbors. When we came home, we decided that two walls WAS enough and we would just paint the remaining two walls with plain paint. That process went SO quickly, after the time-consuming finish of the other walls!
A funny thing happened while we were painting, though. Tom went out in the garage for something and I heard “Jen! JEN! Come here!” I had no idea what on earth it could be, so I went out there. Oh my goodness! Gold paint tracks all over the garage! He had left the paint lid off the can and on the garage floor. One of those little toads had hopped right onto the paint lid and then proceeded to hop around the garage! Tiny toad tracks everywhere! We laughed and laughed and laughed—it was so cute! I wanted to leave them to dry, but Tom cleaned them up! I did make him take pictures, though! Again, we were in bed by about 11.
Sunday morning, Tom was up early (he let me sleep in) working on the ceiling fan…so that by the time I got up, our new ceiling fan was in the newly painted room—and it looked awesome! It looked like it was made for the room!
Then it was time to start picking up and getting ready to go back to Virginia. I did another load of laundry and then we made another trip to Lowes…we had found out they were having lots of installation specials ($69 instead of $99) so we decided to go ahead and have them do the garage door opener. And of course (of course!) we bought some other stuff. Then back home, Tom decided he had to mow the lawn (it had been raining on and off all weekend so he couldn’t do it before then) so he borrowed a neighbor’s mower. I continued packing/cleaning/laundering. I tried doing some work outside, but it was SOOOO damn hot and humid it was awful! And the flies! Oh my goodness, the flies! They must have come out after all the rain, because we never had flies before…but they were all over and all over everything everywhere! Yuck! Tom took his shoes/socks off after mowing the lawn and they were covered by probably 100 flies! When I went to get clothes out of the washer, it would have 10 flies on it! Every time you get in the car to go somewhere, you get flies along for the ride! Oh, I hope they go away! Anyway, after Tom mowed the lawn, he decided he wanted the lawn mower we had seen at Sams Club…so off we went to Sams to get it (we’ll need it the next time we come down, and he was sure it would be gone by then).
Before we left, we returned the ladder…and got to see Tom and Karen’s house. I was really excited to see it because they have the same house as us—just in reverse. It was great seeing a house actually completed and decorated. I was afraid once we got the furniture and stuff in it would be a lot smaller, but they still seemed to have lots of room so I feel better now! Then it was back home (across the street!) to pack the car and head out. And of course, we hated to leave…
We are homeowners!
Wednesday (28 May)
Tom talked to our realtor and found out that the contractor IS NOT fixing any of the house problems before closing…including the MAJOR things the inspector found (like no insulation in the attic). HUH? The realtor originally told us that they typically don’t fix anything until [after] the walk-through, but since our contractor knew we couldn’t make it down during the week, and would not adjust his schedule for us, we had to schedule the walk-through on a weekday…and the only available day was closing day! (Typically, you would do the walk-through with them a week or so before, then they’d have time to fix the problems before closing.) So anyway, we were really ticked off. I mean, this is EXACTLY why we did our own walk-through two weeks prior—and faxed the list to the contractor! And our realtor, at the time, told us the contractor was going to fix the things! It was just a nightmare we didn’t want to deal with. We just knew we did NOT want to close on a house with major things still unfixed. We tried not to think too much about it.
Thursday (29 May)
It was a loooooong day for me at work. All I could think about was the house and what was going to happen. Of course, I was thinking the worst. We left town about 4pm and of course, had to stop by the house on our way into town. Since we had assumed some of our changes would have been done (especially the OBVIOUS ones), we were VERY disheartened to see that the shutters and front door—which had been brown but were supposed to be green—hadn’t been changed. We reasoned that if they couldn’t even change that one basic/obvious thing, what hope did we have of anything else on our three-page list being taken care of? Falling asleep that night, thankfully, was no problem…but we were both wide awake at 5:30am!
Friday (30 May)
We had checked out of the hotel before we even got our 7am wake-up call! We had time to waste but didn’t have anything to do, so we went and sat in our driveway and waited. The building supervisor showed up around 8 and chatted with Tom for a bit while he waited for the rest of his guys to show up. Apparently they were going to have painters and whatnot following us around fixing things as we pointed them out. That was all well and good, I thought, but what about the things that just couldn’t be fixed on the spot (like a broken drawer latch)? I did not want to close on a house that still had problems!
As it turned out, we had nothing to worry about. They had, in fact, been working on our list—and probably about 80% of it had already been fixed. We then walked through the house, room by room, with a painter and he touched things up (sanded, filled, painted, etc.) as we pointed them out. There were other guys there doing some of the bigger patching jobs, as well as our contractor, his son, and [what looked like] a buddy of his. There were about 10 people milling about—and I was a little overwhelmed. Things went smoothly, but I did feel a bit rushed. Then the supervisor walked us through the house and explained how things worked, we asked some questions (we found out that there was insulation in the attic—it just hadn’t been in when the inspector was there), and were done by 9:30. We did end up with a list of about five minor things that they needed to fix (including the shutters/door and shower rods) but it was nothing major (thankfully). Then it was off to the lawyer’s office for closing.
The closing went very smoothly. The lawyer was very nice—and funny. We signed about 30 sets of papers and were done in about a half hour. One good thing is that our mortgage is going to be lower than we first thought—at least until next year. Since the house wasn’t completed at the first of the year, we don’t get charged all the taxes—so our payment is about $75 lower per month than we thought. And next year, even after it goes up, it will still be a bit less than we thought. Bonus! We thanked the lawyer, thanked our realtor, then sat in the car saying “We just bought a house. We own a house. Oh my god.”
Then it was off to set up our water and electricity accounts. And eat a celebratory lunch. And head to Lowes for the first of many trips—we knew we had underestimated how much paint we needed, plus we had decided on the color for the main/guest bath (a medium turquoise). We went home (home!) and unloaded the car and got ready to paint! I taped up two rooms while Tom put the epoxy coating on the garage floor. Then our neighbors saw us so they came over and we stood in the driveway talking for about an hour. It’s so cool to have neighbors that we can talk to!!
After they left, we started. I had SO been looking forward to painting…but damn, I forgot how hard it was! And how painstaking it could be. And how frustrated I get when I can see roller lines. But I wanted it painted, so it was getting painted and I tried not to complain at all. It was after midnight by the time we finished the first coat of green (Misty Sea) and the first coat of red (Chilled Wine).
Saturday (31 May)
We slept in until 9, then I started edging the bedroom while Tom finished the garage floor. Then it was back to Lowes for more painting supplies…and a few other odds and ends (including a vacuum). I can’t recall what all we bought (it was mostly stuff we needed), but it was an expensive trip. The only bonus is that they had a 10% military discount until June 6! We grabbed lunch, then back at home it was more painting. Tom and I finally worked out a good system whereby he did the edging with a cool tool and I did the walls. Somewhere along the line, we took another trip to Lowes for more supplies—I wanted toilet paper holders—and we ended up getting a medicine cabinet (which he have to return because it doesn’t fit right) and a ceiling fan that we just fell in love with (that was a bonus because, unbeknownst to us, it came with a $25 rebate—but we had to get it because it will go PERFECTLY with how we want to paint the room). Then Tom was messing around with getting the washer and dryer hooked up and realized that we were missing a plug for the dryer (or was it the washer?) that was supposed to have been included. So, while he ran into town to pick it up, I started painting the bathroom. It was a small room, but it was a lot of work and I did most of it myself.
We had dinner at our neighbors at 6:30 (it was so cool to be able to just walk there!) and came home around 9…and started painting again! I didn’t want to AT ALL—I was SO dead tired and sore—but we had to get as much done as possible. And Tom kept reminding me that *I* was the one who wanted all the color! So, we got the second coats on both the den and bedroom, including edging. We also did a test run with the washer and dryer. OH MY. The front-load washer is the ultimate in cool. It is so quiet you would not even know it was running. Plus, it’s fun to watch! (Too bad it’s not inside so Fuzzy can watch it!) And the clothes came out almost dry! It was after midnight, again, when we finally went to bed.
Sunday (1 June)
I honestly thought I would die if I had to pick up a paintbrush or roller again, so Tom finished the second coat in the bathroom while I cleaned up, packed, and vacuumed the house. It was a GORGEOUS morning, so I turned off the A/C and opened all the windows! (I know there won’t be too many perfect days like that, so you have to take advantage when you can.) Tom planted our lilac bush (or, rather, lilac twig!) and I sat on the screen porch and made a few calls. We were done and showered and ready to go by 11:30. It was very hard leaving, especially knowing what we had to go home to (yucky apartment!) and that we wouldn’t be back to our house for three weeks!
Miscellany
Everyone warned us there would be bugs—lots of ’em. And believe me when I say they were NOT kidding. The mosquitoes are HUGE and they are all over. And in addition to the bugs, there are spiders (brown recluse, among others). And toads (those little mini ones). And bullfrogs (which are fun to listen to). One night in our garage, there were three mini toads, a spider, a cricket, and many mosquitoes. Lovely. I got pictures of them all just in case you don’t believe me.
Painters tape is a crock. We had two different kinds (brown paper with a tacky strip and blue tape) and neither worked well at all. The brown stuff actually came off on it’s own before we even got around to painting. It was actually pointless to use it—I did better hand-edging. Needless to say we have LOTS of touch-up to do on the trim and just a few spots on the ceiling.
After we completed our walk-through (and tested the facilities!) we went to visit Heidi and Neil and see their house. We loved it—seeing their vibrantly painted rooms confirmed our decision to paint our rooms! (Their living room is a wonderful golden color and their kitchen/dining area is a rich red.) Of course, the topic of conversation turned to “Where are you from?” and it turns out Heidi grew up in Michigan and lived in Traverse City for a few years! We knew all of the same places and hangouts—and she already put in an order for Traverse City wine when we come home! Then it was time to head home—saving money by not staying in a hotel for the second night!
One of the silliest things I am most excited about is having lights in every room! After six years of apartment living and having to have lamps in every room for ANY light at all, permanent fixtures are a wonderful convenience! But there are also quirks: There are cable outlets in the den and each of the three bedrooms—but not the living room! (And the one in the den is next to the fireplace?!?! Someone was NOT thinking on that one.) Along the same line, there are phone jacks in the kitchen, living room, and all three bedrooms, but NOT the den. Why??? And then there are the little things we can’t wait to find out what they’re for—like the pipe coming out of the house at about attic level!
Paint bought!
We finally decided on a few colors for some of the rooms so we braved the Memorial Day Weekend traffic and went to Fredericksburg to get our paint at Lowes (they had the brand of paint we wanted). The scans don’t do the colors justice, but are good enough for you to get an idea. (The blotches you see are the actual paint smears.)
Den (room with fireplace): We were leaning towards painting just the fireplace wall a maroon/reddish/wine color and painting the other three a light tan/suede color—to really draw attention to the fireplace as a focal point. However, we did end up deciding on all one color. We have a 6′ mirror for above the fireplace that I think we’re going to gold leaf or paint gold (depending on how expensive gold leaf is!).
Master Bedroom: We had planned on a sage of some sort to match our comforter, which was labeled as celadon…but NO paint samples named “celadon” even came close! We thought we had come to a decision, but changed our mind in Lowes. I hope it looks okay—the color was REALLY hard to match.
Master Bathroom: I knew I wanted some shade of lilac to match a shower curtain I just got (which matches the lilac accessories my Aunt Marge got us for Christmas). I wanted it light (because the bathroom is small) but dark enough to still know it’s a purple! The interesting thing about the purples is that I had picked out about 20 different cards—thinking any of them would be good…but when it came time to actually match them, there were red purples and blue purples and purple purples! I hope we succeeded.
Living room: Still deciding. No idea. I want it to go nicely with the Den and the Dining Room/Kitchen because you’ll be able to see both (all colors together, since it’s fairly open). And it also had to go nicely with our olive-greenish couches. We thought of a gold color, but our friends’ living room/dining room is gold and maroon and we don’t want to copy them! I am thinking a pumpkin-ish or cinnamon-ish color maybe…but again, it can’t be too dark. Tom is leaning towards a suede/leather faux finish in a light tan color. The more I think about it, the more I like that idea, too. I might also stencil something at a chair-rail level just for more personality.
Kitchen/Dining Room: Still deciding. But we’re thinking of doing a texture—either sand or something else. Originally we were worried we’d have to paint it SOMETHING in order to make the countertops look good (since we thought they’d be too dark or not matching) but they look okay so we’re not worried. We were thinking a light peach or rust???? Something sort of Mediterranean to match the floor.
Main Bathroom: A bright yellowish gold to match a shower curtain. I like the idea of bright since it’s an inside room with no windows. I wouldn’t mind a turquoise blue of some sort, but we want to use the same rug we have (which is a country blue) and I don’t think turquoise and country blue would go well. I’m taking the rug down to see if it fits. If it doesn’t, we will go turquoise.
The other bedrooms I’m not worried about at this point. I think we have our hands full with all the other rooms. We’re definitely doing the den, bedroom, and both bathrooms. The other rooms can wait.
Inspection completed!
We got our inspection results and overall it was positive. However, there were two WOWs. One, there was a lot of “average construction quality” and “generally good condition” type comments that worried me slightly because, well, this IS A NEW HOUSE and I would expect more than average and generally good…but Dad confirmed it was the typical inspection BS. Two, the one major thing found was that the attic did not have insulation!! When we talked to our realtor, he was shocked and was definitely going to talk to the contractor! We’re waiting to hear how it went, because we fear the worst. Why? Because the contractor has been GREAT so far (so we don’t anticipate any problems) but you never know. He could suddenly become the contractor from hell or the contractor we never see. I’m just paranoid because things have gone so well this far!
We saw it and love it!
We headed out Friday afternoon in rainy weather and ran into a few traffic jams on the way (seen in the first picture)—plus a detour OFF the highway due to a HazMat cleanup. Since we were so excited, we drove straight to our house (taking a back way we discovered, which saved some time). It was dark by the time we got there, but the electricity is connected, so we had lights. We loved it. Everything was perfect! Or so Tom thought until he saw the carpet.
He was determined it was the wrong color—it looked too light. I was sure it was right, but we decided to check it out anyway. Then I checked out the countertops—which I had been VERY worried about…and they were good! They weren’t as dark green/teal as I had been afraid of and they didn’t look bad at all. Truth be told…if I had it to do over, I would probably go with another color that more closely matched the floor. Also, I would go with beige or almond appliances, to also more closely match the floor. We only spent about 20 minutes there, because we knew we’d be back the next day for a more thorough inspection. We were also hungry and tired!
Saturday morning we went to Furniture Fair to upgrade our range. Our contractor agreed to switch ranges and credit us what he paid—we just had to find what we wanted and pay the difference. The range that was included was nice—but it was electric. And I decided that if I had to continue to live with an electric range for the next three years, it was going to be a flat-top (I HATE THE COILS!). But, since we had time, we first made a detour through the living room furniture to see if I could find some high back chairs that I liked. Not that we were necessarily going to buy any, but I just had to see if I could find chairs similar to those our friends have—they are the MOST comfortable high back chairs I have ever sat in and I would buy them if I could find them (except they were 20 years old). So, in the process of sitting in chairs, we ran into a minor snafu…as I got up out of a chair, my jeans were snagged by the chair in front of me—there was a wire sticking out! We called a manager over to show him, and they are replacing my jeans (well, sending me a check). So, although we were upset at ruining a pair of jeans, it was very cool that they’re taking care of it. So back to range upgrading.
Front Load WasherWe headed over to the appliances—but before we got to the ranges, we saw that they had a washer and dryer on clearance for $850. And it was a front-load washer like we wanted. So we looked at it, hmmmed and hawed (I wanted to run to a computer to check it out online), and thought we really wanted it. But we weren’t there to buy a washer and dryer—we were only there to upgrade the range! So we moved on to the ranges, saying we’d think about the set. There were only a few ranges in our price range (meaning cheap) so it didn’t take long. We debated over two ($50 difference) for about five minutes and ended up choosing the exact same range we had but in the flat-top. Then it was back to look at the washer/dryer set while the salesman did our paperwork. We looked more and talked more and decided what the hell—we needed a washer and dryer so why not get it now when it was on sale??? So, that was more paperwork. But then we noticed that they were running a “12 month/No Payments/No Interest” sale for purchases over $1000, so we had to add something else (the upgrade didn’t count). They had garbage disposals…so we added one and there we were! Now we have a year to pay for it all.
Then it was off to lunch (Texas Steakhouse, which I’m THRILLED with because they have my fried chicken salad that I miss from a restaurant in Lansing) and then to Sherwin Williams to check on the carpet. They looked it up and told us Pewter was installed and then showed us the samples—and it was indeed Pewter. Phew! Then it was off to our house. The first thing I did was to go outside to take a picture of the whole house. After the first shot, I saw a girl across the street, and we both yelled hello and then just walked to each other and started talking. She introduced herself and her husband (Brittany and Joel) and one of the first things I told them was that when we were deciding which house to buy, it was either ours or theirs and I really liked theirs for the inside washer and dryer and the master bedroom/bathroom (jacuzzi tub)…and her response was that they really liked ours because the washer and dryer were in the garage and they wanted our screen porch! Then Tom came looking for me and came over and we all chatted for awhile. We mentioned our mutual friends Heidi and Neil, who live down the street a few houses (Tom and Neil are classmates) and they said they knew their neighbors (also military) and they were already dog-sitting for them!
Then it was back to our house to do the unofficial walk-through. We told our realtor that we just wanted to see the house with everything done—but really, we wanted to do a walk-through on our own without the contractor there. We thought we’d be able to take more time and do a more thorough search for problems without him watching us and hovering over us. And there were problems. The only major thing was the shutters and front door—they are supposed to be hunter green but they are brown. We’ve already told him this and he was going to change it, but it obviously slipped his mind. The other things are minor, but there are lots…dings/scrathes/gouges in lots of the walls, mismatched fixtures (both silver and gold in the bathroom), misplaced fixtures (a light not centered over the mirror where it should be), drawers that didn’t sit right, carpet not installed nicely, painting errors, etc. I have about five handwritten pages to type up and fax to the contractor. I’m assuming (hoping?!) they had already planned to fix most of the obvious things (the huge dents in the wall). And, of course, we took loads of pictures.
IT’S OFFICIAL!!
3:40pm
Our mortgage guy called me at work to tell me the paperwork is done and the loan has been approved!! So, we’re FINALLY official!! Of course, I was totally geeked about it and couldn’t even think about working the rest of my shift, so my manager let me go home (it also didn’t hurt that we were overstaffed at the moment). The hardest part was not being able to share it with Tom right away—he’s out in the field for two days (most of you will probably have found out before he did!).
4:30pm
I got another call from our realtor to set up the actual closing time and to try and set up the walk-through with the contractor. That’s the only thing left, aside from the actual closing paperwork (which is still set for May 30). I called Tom and left him a message to call me ASAP because I was home early from work and had news for him! We’re still planning on going down in two weeks to see everything completed (and take pictures, before it all gets too hectic) and to have the inspection done. We really debated about having a home inspection (and when I say really debated, I mean REALLY debated) but decided “better safe than sorry.” So, we’ve got to get that scheduled. Hopefully it will work out so that we can do the walk-through with the inspector. If not, our realtor said he could do it.
5:30pm
After a flurry of calls from the realtor, we have finally set up the walk-through with the contractor. Since it’s nearly impossible for us to be there on a weekday (the only time they do walk-throughs), we’re going to do it right before the closing…so it’s going to be a busy day!
6:15pm
Tom called (on schedule, since he thought I worked until 6) and I told him the news. He didn’t quite believe me at first, but after I assured him the loan was a done deal, I admit I head a WAHOO from his end! Of course, he was totally geeked, too. HOMEOWNERS! OFFICIALLY! YIPPEE!
Going-away party!
A Staples co-worker and friend was moving away, so we had a going-away party at a local BBQ place. Fun was had by all!
The waiting game…
April’s theme so far has been paperwork and worry. Lots of paperwork for the mortgage guy to confirm the credit reports and lots of worry on our part. There hasn’t really been anything specific to worry about—just the fact that we both have this feeling that something is going to go wrong—we can’t be this lucky to get this house. We did ask what could possibly screw this up now, and the mortgage guy said not much, but was honest and said that my transfer to Staples was a factor—since they figured our loan amount based on my current salary and what I told them I would be making in Jacksonville. They have a letter from my GM stating my guaranteed earnings and my intent to transfer, but I’ll surely (eventually) need a letter from Jacksonville stating their acceptance of my transfer and a confirmation of my earnings. Overall, it’s not expected to be a problem…it’s just a slight worry that they won’t accept my transfer because I make too much money (from the other retail jobs I’ve seen ads for, the going rate is about $2 to $3 less per hour than I make)…and they don’t HAVE to accept the transfer. So, we’re taking one day at a time.
On the fun side, we’ve been researching appliances and paint and everything house-related. Friends of ours recently bought a house, so they’ve been a wealth of information—including a subscription to Consumer Reports which we’ve been taking advantage of!! Tom has been busily researching shed plans, fence plans, and workshop plans. I’ve been thinking and rethinking paint colors for all the rooms and trying to arrange the rooms before we get there.
Good news…and bad news.
So I get a call at work today from one of the managers at the Jacksonville Staples. He basically just called to say hello, let me know they were excited to get me, and let me know he got the paperwork—and to see if I had any questions for him. I asked about the letter for the mortgage company and he had no idea. Lovely. I said all the information was faxed at the same time as the transfer paperwork…but he didn’t get that part. Okaaaay. So I explained to him what I needed and said I’d refax the info to him and he said it shouldn’t be a problem. Then I explained about my start date—why it would probaly be July 1 and he was okay with it. He did tell me that they really need someone now, but they will hold the position for me until I get there. So, that’s good. But then he says “So, did Todd talk to you about salary at all?” and I said no. He said “I see here on your paperwork that you make $9.25 an hour. Unfortunately, the highest I can start you at is $8.00—which is $2/hour more than I normally start people at.” My heart almost stopped. I mean, I had known in the very back of my mind that it was possible, but I honestly didn’t think it would happen. He went on to tell me that the Specialists there make about that much (as I make now), so he couldn’t give me that. Then he said “How does that sit with you?” And I told him I didn’t really have much choice as I really needed the job. But man, that’s a huge pay cut for me. It’s like starting all over—back to when I was hired. And that really sucks. He gave me the song and dance about how the cost of living is cheaper down there and all, but still. That’s a huge pay cut for me. But what can you do? At least I can be thankful I have a job.
Staples transfer in progress.
Tom had called our mortgage guy the day before just to check in and see how things were going. Everything was going fine, except that he said he was still waiting for a letter from the Jacksonville Staples regarding my transfer. Um, excuse me? Still waiting? He had told me before that we would probably need the letter, but he would let us know for sure. We hadn’t heard anything so I wasn’t worrying about the letter. So, now I had to. I talked to my General Manager and explained everything, so he called the Jacksonville Staples right then. Of course, I was paranoid that they would say they no longer had room for me…so imagine my surprise when it was the total opposite! Long story short, they would take me today if I could be down there. When my GM told them my start date would probably be July 1 (a sensible date I gave him, since we’re moving on the 19th and are planning at least an 8-day trip to Michigan)—the manager said if I could get there sooner, it would be appreciated. Hoo boy. So, I’m not sure what I’m going to do about my start date, but at least it’s great to know they still do want me and are looking forward to me arriving. So the paperwork has been faxed, and I’m giving it a few days before I call to check on their letter to the mortgage company.
On an actual house note, Tom called our contractor to check and see when the house would be done (since no one has given us a date so far). He said it should be completed by May 13, which is about two weeks before closing. We are trying to decide whether or not to go down that following weekend to see everything, or just wait until closing. I hate to make two trips so close together, but I don’t think either of us will be able to wait until closing!
Shopping…and a phone call!
So last night we went to IKEA for “one last time” since there’s not one in NC…and we ended up finding the PERFECT dining room chairs. I’ve always loved the fabric covered look…and I absolutely HATE the ones that “came with” our table—they’re much too small and uncomfortable for my big butt and they’re not padded and they’re slippery. All-around yuck. But they matched the table and they were only $50 each (you get what you pay for). Sooo, anyway, as far as I’m concerned, they’ve served their purpose and it’s time for new ones. Anyhoo, I really only was looking for slipcovers (a la Trading Spaces!) but they didn’t have any good ones (just some 70s-looking stretchy tube-top-looking ones—not!) so we started looking at chairs. And I just LOVE these. They are birch, so they match our table (although they’ll be mostly covered up). And you can take the covers off to wash. They are a bit more expensive but they are SOOOO comfy and look so much more elegant! So, now I have to sell our current chairs. Hopefully someone around here will want to buy them. They’re like new, for pete’s sake, since we never sit at the table. Tom said to say “Used for 32 meals.”
So, while we were shopping, our cell phone rang. First, it scared the bejesus out of us because we didn’t know it was with us (it was in my purse and had been there who knows how long)—and second, who would be calling us on our cell??? It was Don, our realtor. He was just calling to say he was sitting in front of our house and wanted to let us know what was going on. They had put in the flooring, cupboards, and countertops—and the landscaping was done. LANDSCAPING? I knew they were going to throw down some grass seed, but actual landscaping? We must have missed that in the brochure. LOL So now, Tom and I are itching to go back down even more!! Unfortunately, the next few weekends are out—but we’re planning!!
Our second visit.
After a short night’s sleep (nastily interrupted at 3am by the alarm that the housekeeper apparently forgot to make sure was OFF), it was off to meet with the contractor at 7:45. He was an extremely nice and easygoing guy—we really liked him. As expected, we only had about 16 carpet samples to choose from—but I was immediately glad we had decided on color ahead of time. We knew we didn’t want anything in the brown family, so that knocked out about six colors right there.
We also knew we didn’t want major color, so that knocked out about six more (greens, blues, pinks, and black). So, of the few that were left, we chose Pewter, or a medium gray. Cool, one decision in 30 seconds!
Next we were handed countertop samples. Of course, none of them jumped out at me—and none of them even closely resembled any of the 20 we picked out at Home Depot. I wanted something granite-looking but it wasn’t meant to be. We thought we’d like some color, but not too much or anything that would possibly clash. I kept thinking about my purple dishes and what would go with those but that didn’t work too well, either. We ended up picking some boring gray stuff.
Next on the list was linoleum. Surprisingly, we had a huge stack of choices—and as an added bonus, we could choose different styles for the kitchen, bathrooms, and entryways!! We already knew we didn’t want anything that looked like typical linoleum for the kitchen, so that knocked out all but about 15 samples. Of the remaining samples, my favorite style came in about six different colors schemes, so it was just a matter of which one we liked best. We chose a Spanish/Mediterranean style tile-looking pattern in about 6″-squares in peaches, browns, tans, and greys. Surprising even ourselves, the decision took about three minutes. We also chose that pattern for the entryways. Bathrooms were next, and it took about a minute to decide on plain white squares, tiled in 1″ segments, for both bathrooms.
Then we wondered about our countertop laminate choice—it didn’t really go well with the flooring we had just picked (that we loved). It was okay, but nothing great. So it was back to the laminate samples again. I still didn’t really love anything, but we both sort of liked this greenish speckled stuff but I wasn’t sure it went well enough with the floor. But, Tom liked it—said it was a nice contrasting color—so I said “What the hell!” and went with that (although I’m still second-guessing that one). I can’t wait to see if it was the right decision!
Then, we got to pick cupboards—even though there wasn’t much of a choice: dark or medium wood (your basic oakish looking stuff). I would have liked something a bit lighter (more birch) or a bit darker (more cherry) but it wasn’t meant to be. Beggars can’t be choosers, right?
We also got to pick shutters—something I hadn’t even THOUGHT of. It was a good thing, too, since he said it was slated for brown slat-style doors (ick!) and we chose hunter green raised-panel doors.
The last thing we got to pick was appliance color. Since stainless steel wasn’t an option, we went with white, although thinking back, off white would probably have gone better with the floors. Oh well.
All in all, we made all the decisions in about 30 minutes. I think we really surprised the contractor, and he was impressed that we did some pre-planning before we got there. Of course, we were so wrapped up in making the decisions that we didn’t even think to take pictures of any of our decisions…so my descriptions will have to suffice for now. And the only new pictures you get are of the inside of the house. Oh, and we found out that the siding is apparently cream, not light yellow as I thought. It’s one of those “depending on how the light hits it” kind of things.
A Whirlwind Week
We were going crazy thinking about stuff we never drempt we’d be thinking of. I actually think we were on autopilot for a few days. Of course I, being the organizer, immediately created a hanging folder for all the information and paperwork we had…plus I started a notebook for any questions we had and thoughts that occurred. I didn’t want to forget or overlook anything.
Of course, every 10 minutes we alternated between “WE’RE BUYING A HOUSE!” to “Something has got to go wrong. We won’t get this house. It was too easy.” After all, we hadn’t bought the house yet. In our excitement over the whole thing (and our total cluelessness as to the actual house-buying-process), we actually thought we had already bought the house! Silly, silly us—we had just signed a contract for the offer to purchase the house! (Oh, the things you learn after the fact!) We did still have to gather lots of paperwork for the mortgage company, but our agent assured us he didn’t anticipate any problems with us getting the loan.
Just to calm our nerves a little—and to hopefully prepare for future decisions—we spent some time at Home Depot looking at carpet and linoleum so we’d hopefully get an idea of what we liked before we had to make any decisions. We’d rather spend unhurried time here looking at everything and hashing it out—than end up having to spend three hours with the contractor arguing over minutiae. As it turned out, it’s a good thing we did this, because our real estate agent called us mid-week to tell us it was time to pick out our carpet—the contractor was moving along quite rapidly and he was ready! This really caught us off-guard because we assumed we’d have a few weeks, or maybe we could even stop by Lowes to pick out stuff (if that’s the vendor the contractor used). But nope—less than a week after we were in NC the first time, schedules were rearranged and we were headed back down! Unfortunately, I couldn’t take off the whole weekend, so we didn’t get to leave until Friday around 4 and I had to be back to work Sunday at 10.
Our first visit.
After some research and contact with a real estate agent, we decided to finally bite the bullet and head to Jacksonville, North Carolina (Camp Lejeune), for the weekend to see the area and start looking for a place to rent. It really was too early to look at rentals (since everything we looked at would surely be gone by the time we were ready to plunk down a deposit) but we went with our real estate agent anyway just to get a feel for what was in store for us.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much…having pets really cuts down on the number of available options. So, what there was we either didn’t like (the first house we saw was absolutely gorgeous on the outside with a cute little driveway and front yard…but the inside was very old and in need of TOO much work—plus it was $850/month) or the ones that we really liked were just too expensive (the last house we looked inside was perfect—just the right size, great amenities, and much much newer [what we’re used to]—but it was $925/month—somewhat outside our budget).
Sidenote: For those of you who know what we pay now for our dinky apartment ($900), you may be asking “What’s the big deal about paying that much for a house?” Well…it’s a matter of how much Tom is allotted for housing. Since Quantico has a higher cost of living (pretty much the highest in the country), we get just over $900/month for housing. Camp Lejeune, however, has a much lower cost of living, and we’ll only get about $700—so anything above that comes straight out of our pockets. And while we could afford a BIT above that, we certainly couldn’t afford $200 or so above that.
We looked at many neighborhoods, and we didn’t like any of them. Most were very crowded (think cars parked on the road and houses an arm’s length apart) and were older buildings besides. The townhouses were nice—somewhat crowded but acceptable—but none had garages (something we really wanted for storage purposes, which is why we wanted to rent a house in the first place). So, since we weren’t finding any acceptable rentals, our realtor (of course) suggested buying a new house. After we got done laughing at him, we explained that we’d love to, but that we didn’t really think our finances were in good enough order to do so. He said “Let’s just go look at some new houses. You’d be surprised at what the rent would be…considerably less than what you’re looking at for rentals.” So off we went.
About eight miles out of town, we reached River Hills, a brand new subdivision (where, ironically, we saw neither a river nor a hill). And we looked at two new houses, neither of which was even finished being built (but one of which was the reverse twin of the house we loved earlier but which was too expensive). Of course, we loved both, but didn’t want to get excited about them…I mean, really. Us buying a house? What planet did we think we were living on? As we stood there falling in love, the agent whipped out his trusty calculator and figured our payments would be about $700 a month. What? That certainly got our attention!! On the way back to the office, we again explained our concerns with getting a loan, and he said “We’ll just have you call our mortgage agents and see what happens. We’ll go from there.” So we did. And to our surprise, we were pre-approved for a VA Loan!! So we decided to go ahead and buy a house! We quickly debated which one of the two we wanted and he started the offer-to-purchase paperwork! We came back a few hours later and signed!
It’s a three-bedroom, two-bath house with a two-car garage, fireplace, and a huge screened-in porch. Since the house isn’t finished, we will get to pick the carpet, flooring, countertops, and cupboards. It comes with some appliances, but we have to buy our own refrigerator and washer/dryer…along with some other things we hadn’t though of like a mailbox and garage door opener!
So, after we finished the paperwork, the rest of the night was spent saying “OH MY GOD. WE BOUGHT A HOUSE” about every 10 minutes. We are so very excited, yet scared to death. The whole process was just so sudden (we were NOT planning on buying and by the end of the day, we had bought a house!) and easy (I had always imagined the house-buying process to be looooong and very tedious).
After we had dinner out with friends, we decided it was time to call the parents! Tom called Marsha first and of course, she was thrilled for us. Ironically, she told us, she had recently bought a landscaping book for us, in the event we EVER bought a house. Then I called my dad and Linda—and the first words out of his mouth were “Without asking me?” Gotta love dad. Of course, they were also thrilled for us, and wanted to know every last detail (and you know dad is just itching to get here to make sure the contractor is doing everything correctly)! Then I called mom and David and after the initial shock wore off, they were thrilled for us, too!
We’re both excited to actually have space, space, and more space. For once, we’ll actually have too LITTLE furniture!! We’ll also have a dedicated computer room and a dedicated guest room (you won’t get a real bed, but you’ll get a blow up bed in your own room)! Tom is excited because he’ll get to have a workshop in the garage (which means he’ll have to park in the driveway, which he accepts!). I’m excited because I actually get to decorate—I’m already picking out paint colors in my head (master bedroom, light sage; main bath, golden yellow). We don’t relish the thought of having to spend a few grand on appliances, etc., but it’s a necessary evil. I also don’t really like having the washer/dryer in the garage, but we liked that house better overall (the floor plan felt more open and therefore bigger) plus we really liked the screen porch (or “The Fuzzy Run” as we’ve taken to calling it—he’ll probably get his own kitty door).
Closing is officially May 30, and we’ll be moving in shortly after Tom graduates on June 13!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?? WE STILL CAN’T!!!!
Northern Michigan Wedding & Event 2003 Magazine
Out of the blue (in March 2003), I received a package from my photographer. Intrigued, I eagerly opened it…she had sent me two copies of the Northern Michigan Wedding & Event 2003 Magazine, with a sticky note telling me which pages we appeared on! Our pictures really have nothing to do with the particular articles they appear beside–and they used the same picture twice–but our pictures are there nonetheless! Yea! We’re published! We’re going to be famous!!
I called the publisher to try to get some extra copies for everyone, but they were really no help. But, a friend came through for me…Annie searched out stores in Traverse City and got me enough copies to give to all the girls!
Our Katie Kid: RIP
Although we only got to love her for a year, we’re so glad we did. She was the most precious thing ever and we miss her terribly.
