Small Updates

Tomorrow is moving day and I am super excited! While I'm taking a break from packing I thought I would post a few pictures I took on Tuesday. I'll post more after the move.

Oh Sh*t! Literally....

Not such a funny story, at least for me anyway, but here is how it went.

Josh: Babe, we have a BIG problem.

Me: What now?

Josh: There is a, well, a leak or something...It's, well, cover your nose when you come down.

Me: What? Great, I'll be down in a minute

This is what I found...

Lovely. No not the smell. The smell was gross. Is there anything else that wants to break, not be in stock or not be ready to install so I can postpone moving another day? Please do it now.

Luckily, this didn't push us back that far and after talking with MSD at 11:00 at night they came to the conclusion it was a backup on our end. Which is nice terms for "It's your problem, not ours". We figured out the backup was pretty close the the surface because it wasn't taking more than about 10 gallons of water to make it rush up. The problem came about when I let water out of the bathtub too fast. The water would drain back down after coming up which was nice because it was getting to our furnace and it would have been bad news had it not gone back down.

We had it snaked this afternoon and they found dirt, debris and roots. $100 later we are back in business. The smell is gone too.

5 more days!

Until we move. Allriiight!

Budget Check

As we hit the home stretch on the house it's time to take a look at where we are budget wise. I'm home sick today so I thought i'd take a look. This is just an estimate as a lot of extra merchandise hasn't been taken back. We have been putting almost everything on the Home Depot card with the exception of a few things but all receipts have been added up and accounted for. Here is the breakdown:

Home Depot Card Limit $12,500.00

Home Depot Card Balance $6,546.73

Total Spent on HD Card = $5,953.27

$1,509.08 total for Kitchen Cabinets and Countertops

$1,821.45 total for the Appliances (rebates have not been deducted from this total yet)

$292 for Dumpster

Total Including First House Payment and Down Payment for Insurance = $7,660.95

Budget for Timberlake House = $19,313.00

5% Buffer = $965.65

Grand Total = $20,278.65

Grand Total minus What's already been spent = $12,617.70

I'm glad to see we are so far under budget. We still have yet to touch the outside of the house. We still need to install all new windows and siding. The driveway needs to be poured and landscaping needs to be done. We also had the furnace and AC installed today and though I am not sure exactly what it's cost us yet the estimate was less than $3,500 and that included the labor. So far so good though. It really helps put my mind at ease. I have been really worried we may not have enough for the driveway and we haven't even begun to get an idea of what that may cost us. I hope it isn't too much.

A sad day in CSI History

CSI Losing Its Main Man

By Natalie Finn Tue Jul 15, 1:34 PM PDT

Apparently it's all gotten to be too much for Crime Scene Investigator Gil Grissom. Or, it will.
Calling it an actual signoff rather than yet another sabbatical, EW.com reports that William Petersen will be leaving CSI sometime midseason.

"Billy is leaving," series executive producer Carol Mendelsohn said. "But he will remain throughout the run of the series an executive producer. And he will, whenever CBS asks, come back. I don't think you've seen the last of Gil Grissom."

"My biggest problem with leaving the show at any point isn't leaving Grissom," said Petersen, whose previous leave of absence came when he took five weeks off to do theater in Rhode Island. "I'm an actor, it's time to do other things. "[The hard part will be saying goodbye] to the cast and crew. [So] I'm going to stay as involved as I'm allowed to be throughout the remainder of this show. Until they turn off all the lights."

Petersen's exit will mark the latest blow to the procedural's original main lineup, which lost Jorja Fox and Gary Dourdan last season—although both will be making appearances in coming episodes (one more posthumous than the other).

"We do have a plan," Mendelsohn added, assuring fans that there will be blood—both new blood and the regular DNA-filled, splattering kind—to make Petersen's pending departure less painful.

In addition to Dourdan's brief appearance in September's season premiere, Fox will have a multiepisode arc brimming with romantic possibility, The L Word's Lauren Lee Smith and as-yet-unnamed manly type will be joining the team as new CSIs, the Miniature Killer will show her face again, and The Exorcist helmer William Friedkin will direct the series' 200th episode this spring.

"Billy will definitely be on the set for Mr. Friedkin's episode," Mendelsohn told EW.com, "whether it's behind the camera or in front of the camera is TBD."

My thoughts? I'm devastated. I love Grissom and think that without him this show would not be what it was. CSI is my all time favorite show and I've seen every episode to date. I'm interested to see how his demise or exit plays out but I'm heartbroken that he is leaving.

Now, if David Caruso leaves CSI Miami, I may think about boycotting.

Progress on the Hardwood Floors

First let me start with my Inspiration Photo. A photo that I pretty much modeled the house after. Not just the kitchen but the bedrooms and bathrooms as well. The floors are not the main focus of this picture and are almost hard to see but they are key in the design. We took a risk with these floors and we know it. We designed the home around what we loved versus what we thought everyone else would love. We hope it pays off ::crosses fingers::

Next is the photo of what the floors looked like the day of demo. In all their ugly glory:

Next is how they look after the hours of sanding we did. All the black stains did not come out. We would have had to dig down MUCH deeper to accomplish this but we knew we would be doing a dark stain so we didn't bother trying harder.

Now the next two photos are the floors after the first coat of stain. We plan to do two coats of stain and two - three coats of Poly but we may need to do more. We used Minwax brand stain in Ebony. The darkest stain we could find. I am so happy with the way they are turning out. I hope potential buyers will be too.

Weekend Re-cap

This weekend was full of relaxation and hard work. I haven't been feeling good so I initially planned on being lazy all weekend. Saturday night the kids slept over with their Nana so Josh and I decided to pig out and watch movies. We stocked up on 3 pints of Edy's Ice Cream, Hot Wings, Fried Mushrooms, Chips and Dip and Fitz's Cream Soda. I gained 5 lbs. during the movies. We rented Sweeney Todd

and

The Assassination of Jesse James.

I loved both movies. Both very different than what I imagined when I rented them. Jesse James was painfully long but worth it for me. I'm not sure I believe how they portrayed Jesse James in this film. As a hero, an American Celebrity of sorts who was undeserving shot down and murdered but it adds to the legend of Jesse James. His story intrigues me.

Sweeney Todd was brilliant (and bloody) and I love Tim Burton. I love all his movies and I am a devoted fan. This movie was hard to understand if you can't read lips because at times the musical portions get hard to understand. Johnny Depp and Sacha Baron Cohen were dark and comical. I'm not a gore freak by any means and Tim Burton did a wonderful job of making the blood look just real enough to gross you out but made sure you didn't forget it was fake at any moment. I would love to see this movie made into a musical.

After all the vegging out on Saturday night we drug ourselves out of bed to go work at the house. I had no plans to go but it was the day we planned on re-finishing the floors and I wanted to see how it was done. I planned on doing some gardening. Ya, right. We ended up renting TWO sanders and guess who "manned" the other one? Yep. Bre did. I'm exhausted. Everything hurts from head to toe. It's Tuesday and I still hurt. I definitely burned off all the calories I took in the night before...and then some. We also did a lot of landscaping including riding the back yard of poison ivy. Very productive weekend.

Small Projects

The last few weeks have been chaos. Good chaos but chaos all the same. We have been working and working on the house. I switched offices and kick started my Real Estate career at the new office. More to follow on that. Also, my Mom, Brother and Sister came in town for a week. I also had my other Brother, his Girlfriend Kayla and my new niece Nadia here too! Whew. The house was packed but we had a lot of fun! As soon as my Mom emails me some pictures I'll post them. My camera is acting crazy so I used hers all week.

So, after all the chaos I have really been taking some quiet time. Reading, organizing etc...One of my little projects was painting the barn stars my Mom got me.

Before:

After:

They were a Chocolate/Rusty color. Of course I had to paint them black. I lightly sanded them and then gave them a couple good coats of Rustoleum Painters Touch, Black, Semi-Gloss Paint. I really like how they turned out. Now I just have to figure out where to hang them inside and outside of the new house.

Market Watch

As with any of our other Investments I am always on market watch. Even though we plan on living in this one for awhile I still am interested in what other houses that have been listed look like and what they have sold for. Things are really looking good so far especially with the recent sale of two houses only a couple blocks down on our street. I can't help but get excited.

The first is almost exactly like our house with with a carport. It sold in 6 days for $141,970. It has a fabulous kitchen, amazing hardwood floors and some really great updates. It's bathroom is lacking and so is the curb appeal. I am super excited. Our house, when done, should measure up nicely. I also paid about $40,000 less than they did when they bought it to rehab it.

Second is the home right across from the first. Priced at $125,000 and Under Contract in 15 Days. It's pretty out dated though. If I only got $125,000 for my house I would still be happy.

We have one more house right down the next street (you can see it from our house) that is also under contract. Woohoo!

House Update

This update is way overdue. As I look at the pictures I realize these pictures are almost 3 weeks old. We have since installed light fixtures, appliances have been put in and we have tiled the floor. We have also finished the rest of the house with the exception of the bookcase, closet shelving, baseboards and doors. But since I haven't taken pictures in forever it will have to do. We start re-finishing the floors this weekend. We planned to move last weekend but we stopped work and took a vacation when my Family came to visit from WA.

As long as all goes well we should be good to move in 2 weeks. I'm so ready too! The neighbors we have now are stuck up and frankly it's getting on my last nerve. My Aunt has owned this house for almost 16 years. You think these people would treat us with a little more respect. I guess it's because we are young. Whatever. I put my pants on the same way they do, pay my taxes and keep my yard immaculate. I'm in no way a bother to you. I have every right to a little respect. Please refrain from letting your mutts pee on my mailbox, tell your brats to quit stealing my kids skateboards and a "Hello" once in awhile won't kill you.

At the new house our neighbors are amazing. One neighbor cuts our yard for free and wont even accept a soda or beer as a thank you. He even does it when we aren't home so we don't make him accept payment. The others say "Hello" and wave and the neighbor girl even bought bouncy balls for the boys to play with. A couple down the street brings their dogs up to see the kids every weekend and the lady behind us always has the nicest things to say. They watch our house so no tools get stolen and if we needed anything I know they would be quick to help.

Just proof that living in a upper class neighborhood with $500,000 houses doesn't mean the people who live in those houses have any type of class.

Rant Over :) I promise more pic's will come soon!

Dear Cowboy,

Cow Cow, You are a huge Pain in the Ass. I wish I had the ability to speak puppy so then I could tell you so. How could such a little thing with such sweet eyes be such a terror? I have no idea.

So far you have chewed up hundreds of dollars worth of clothes, shoes and furniture including but not limited to Mercedes' $50 pair of A&F sandals, 3 pairs of my shorts, my favorite pair of black peep toe heels, a Webkinz, the corner of our Pottery Barn rug, the bottoms of the Drexil Heritage lounge chairs in the sun room and the corner of the cabinet in the kitchen. You won't stay off our bed. You won't come when your called. You have been raiding the dog food bag since you were 6 weeks old. You harass Madden constantly. You have an amazing knack for opening our trash can that we have to open with our foot and pulling out all the trash and distributing it all over the house. You refuse to let me give you a bath. You chew up your pee pads instead of peeing on them AND when you don't chew them up you pee right NEXT to them instead of ON them. You climb on our table and eat off plates and your Nana has even caught you red handed and managed to take a picture of you in action. You bark at me and run so fast you make me feel like an old lady when I try to catch you. By the end I am panting you and are yawning as if I'm so easy to beat.

You are a mess. But you are so freaking cute. Madden and Remy caught onto training fast. I only hope you will to. At this rate, you will have eaten the whole house by Christmas.

Please behave. You are driving me crazy.

Love, Momma Dog