house updates...

We met with the insurance adjuster yesterday and they are likely going to cover almost all of the expenses, hooray!!  We still have to pay our deductible and the plumber bill...and possibly a few small things here and there...but what a relief.  The entire floor and trim on the first floor will be replaced, along with the bathroom vanity and door.  Water had soaked into the bathroom vanity and the door jam, so the bathroom door doesn't close anymore.  We also have to replace the end cap on the kitchen island cabinet, which also had water damage.  I seriously can't wait for this whole fiasco to just be over, ugh.

We had a nice weekend.  Saturday we had Christmas with Joe's dad and watched the Packer game, WOOHOO!!  Such an exciting time to be a cheesehead.  Sunday was relaxing with football, laundry and cleaning.  My hubby also took me out for a movie Sunday afternoon, we saw The Dilemma.  It was pretty decent...it was funny but kinda predictable.  Joe had yesterday off for MLK day, so I took a PTO day.  After we took care of the rental house, we had lunch at Noodles and went to Shane Co to have my ring cleaned/inspected and dropped off Joe's to be re-dipped since it was starting to turn gold...just one of the many joys of owning a white gold ring...at least the re-dips are free for life :)

We don't have too much going on this week, which will be a nice change.  I should have a relatively normal work week, unlike the past 2 which have been insanely busy. Hope you all have a great week and stay warm...it's going to be a COLD one!!

crazy week...

What a week, so glad it's over!! I had to travel for two days this week and got NOTHING done...I logged into my email on Friday and there are over 100 emails in just two days...and I haven't touched them, I have no motivation to do anything work related this weekend! The trip went well, I didn't get lost and my GPS got me where I needed to be. I also finally met my manager, who I've been reporting to for almost 2 years. It was nice to meet a lot of the people I work with in Pittsfield...and they look NOTHING like I had pictured them to be!

We got our new sump pump installed on Friday, so we can finally shower without rushing to get out to conserve the water. And I'm slowly getting caught up on laundry again. I had enough jeans and work pants to make it worth setting up the clothes line yesterday, so all the hang up stuff dried super fast and is now waiting to be ironed, ugh. Mark & Melinda came over yesterday afternoon to put lights in the garage, it looks so great and now Joe will be able to see what he's working on in the garage now! We also installed our new counter tops and sink last night, so flipping excited!!





Today, we are staining the trim and will probably put that in tomorrow...it's getting there!! :)

Hope you all are having a great holiday weekend!!

just another day in paradise...

I want to go back to the days of renting...home ownership is SO overrated, especially when you're stuck with two mortgages you no longer want but can't do anything about them. I had such big plans of being productive and painting the window trims in our kitchen today...but as I stepped into the laundry room to get the supplies, my sock was drenched after one step. Awesome. What's even more awesome, Joe is up north visiting his Dad this weekend. Joe luckily has some old friends who work for their dad's excavating company and were able to come pump our septic tank this afternoon...unfortunately that won't solve the problem, our sump pump is completely shot. Double Awesome. They had to go empty their truck quick, so I don't even want to know what the sump pump damage is. And we can only use limited water until it's replaced, which will be this coming week sometime...this should be fun. Oh how I long for the days when you could call the landlord and they would have to worry about fixing and paying for the repairs...it was their problem, not yours. It seems like whenever we've recovered from the last disaster, another one pops up and pushes us even further back...do you ever get ahead or do you continue your whole life just recovering, only to fall right back down? So instead of painting, I'm sitting on the couch, sulking. I'm so over owning a home AND being a landlord AND being an adult.

updates to the house...

The past month or so, we've been busy updating a few things in the house...

First, I painted our kitchen this lovely green color (it was MUCH needed)...


We also decided to save some money and just keep the existing cabinets (we may paint or refinish them eventually though)...we updated the very dated hardware with these:
Then we bought appliances and we FINALLY got a DISHWASHER!! It's been heaven ever since, I absolutely love it!! We lost some cabinet space but completely worth it. And the best part is Joe can no longer use his usual funny line of "but I already have a dishwasher" when I complain about not having one, LOL.

We owe Joe's brother Mark and my Dad so much...Mark (along with Melinda & Brandy) spent many hours at our house to install/fix 3 outlets for our new appliances...everything takes a while when you live in a house this old...we are learning that nothing is ever quick & easy!! Then my parents came over the following weekend and my Dad installed the garbage disposal and hooked up our dishwasher.

We also replaced the old stove with these...


Today, Joe took out the nasty broken, gold fan hanging in our entry way (I swear it had 20 years of dust on it, it was so gross and probably a health hazard for anyone with a dust allergy) and we replaced it with this:


I also took a stab at filling the beautiful glass vase I got at one of my bridal showers with flowers...it's quite large and I could never afford to keep it filled with real ones on a weekly basis...and although I'm not normally a fan of silk flowers, I think it turned out pretty well :) Gotta love dollar days at Micheals!!


Next on the list? Hopefully by fall, new counter tops and sink...and eventually some new kitchen flooring. We also need to stain and install trim on a few walls. But then the kitchen will be complete!! No worries though, Joe will still have PLENTY of other projects to keep him busy :) We have a LONG way to go yet...