The Upgrade

So, to update some of you out there, we bought a new house. Yes, you guessed it, it was a good deal and is definitely an upgrade so we couldn’t pass it up. So NOT only did I start school for my MBA, but also decided to tackle a new home. ;o)

Now that that is clear, I would like to tell you about our weekend. This weekend can easily be an example as to why my parents watch King Of Queens on TV and SWARE that it is a glimpse into our lives nix animals. However, I am BY FAR, no Leah Remini but there is definite story-line potential in our lives.

So with the new house being an upgrade, we decided that we needed to “upgrade” some of our stuff. Considering that we will now have a “rec” area that will be perfect for a couch and TV and an actual dining room (without an eat-in-kitchen so this is a step down from a formal dining room where you only eat on fancy occasions but a step up from our current eat-in-kitchen). So we were in the market for a possible new couch and dining set. To pass the time before closing and to settle the excitement, we have been window shopping in our spare time.

This weekend’s fiasco started about a week ago when we went to the Sofa Express and More store near our house after seeing an add on TV about a “Clearance Blowout.” We pondered the show room floor but only came up on this BEAUTIFUL dining set, perfect for what we wanted and we both liked it BUT it was sold. We waved our rather RUDE salesman over and he said it was sold everywhere and cut us off when talking about it. Table was no-more. We left.

Fast-forward to this weekend. After a LOVELY and MUCH NEEDED morning with my girlfriends, I go home and husband and I decided to hit up some more stores. After a few more TV ads, we went to a couple places with no avail and decided to retire the day at the NEW Gengi Japanese Steakhouse (WITH WHITE SAUCE) in Dublin for a late lunch. On the way, we passed another Sofa Express and stopped in. We pondered the floor and found a good deal on ANOTHER dining set and inquired about it. I was excited. It would be my FIRST dining set….given the fact that the other eating areas that we have had in the past were hand-me-downs and our current set in our kitchen that we bargained for with our house who’s fate now lies on craigslist.com. My husband went back to the table to look at it and decided that we were settling just because it was a decent price and he said that it still looked cheap. He was kinda right and we went back to talking about the table we initially saw that was sold. So we went back to the NICE saleslady we had to talk to her about the one we saw at the other store. We wanted to MAKE SURE that there were NO MORE in existence before admitting to defeat since the rude man in the other store never looked it up. So we jeopardized this lady’s time for about 45 minutes to an hour, trying to first, find out what this dining set was called and secondly, trying to see if there was any more in existence. After one false description and name, we nailed down the design name, found out it was “discontinued” and existed ONLY as floor models in 4 stores; 2 in Indiana, one near Cincinnati and one near Akron. Now armed with the info we needed, we left the nice saleslady, which we plan on writing a letter about since she was SO nice and didn’t make a sale with us, and headed to the first store to JUST BE SURE that we were talking about the CURRECT table set and had the right name. OF COURSE, rude man comes to help us and when we just asked about what the name of the table was, he said “It’s sold, don’t even think about it” NICE HUH? So another salesman confirmed that we had the right one and we left now knowing that I needed to write a SECOND letter regarding the rude salesman. (Yeah, I have become one of THOSE people, but honestly, where has customer service gone lately? I think it is nice to see it again once and a while and like to spot-light it when I do. Similarly, I like to do the same for the opposite offenders.)

We have ALL the phone numbers for the stores that carry this set as a floor model and begin to call each store to find out more information about this set. We DID eat at our Japanese Steakhouse between our investigating of Sofa Express stores and went to bed Saturday night with this information: The stores in Indiana are not marked down quite as much as the Ohio Stores and one was sold and one was in bad shape, the Akron store had the table but could only sell it as a set with the matching hutch and buffet. (We have NO IDEA what the “matching” hutch and buffet looks like and you’d think the internet would be our answer but after each of us surfed on our laptops, we came up with NOTHING). The Cincinnati store HAD the table AND the hutch and buffet and would sell them separately HOWEVER, the table was missing the inserts. We also could transport the table and chairs for $75 from this store in a couple weeks with their “floor move” which it would be picked up, taken to Groveport, and then brought to our house. We decided to sleep on it.

Sunday morning, I woke up early and let the dog out, fed him then crawled back into bed. I then awoke a couple hours later to the Blizzard of 2007 outside. It appeared to dump 3” of snow in a couple hours. (OK Blizzard is over-exaggerating, but it caught the city of guard and we didn’t see ONE plow on the road that morning) NICE, just when we had something to do! My husband made the grand decision that we would go see the table in Cincinnati since we may not even like the hutch & buffet and also said that we could get a moving truck and pick it up today for maybe about the same moneys as having it delivered and they said if it was delivered, since it was a floor model and NOT in a box, it was being sold as-is and they couldn’t guarantee how it would handle the move. So hubby called Penske and secured us a truck for $10 more than the delivery fee and plus, we wouldn’t be putting any miles on any of our cars. SO we geared up and head out to pick up the truck. The roads were HORRIBLE, it seemed that NOTHING was plowed. We were crazy, all this over a damn table. But it was a good deal! So we get to the truck place and we get into our truck. We tried the windshield wipers but the windshield squirters didn’t work. We go back in and they try to fix it but the lines are frozen. He said that there is another truck, just like it that he can give us and said he’ll pull it around. He was missing for about 10 minutes when my husband decided to see what the hold-up was, this other truck’s back door was frozen shut. NICE. So my husband tells the guy that we’ll take anything, even this truck and points to a 25 foot moving truck. The LARGEST truck you can rent before needing a CDL. He agrees so we pile into the 25 foot diesel moving truck for a table and chairs in Cincinnati.

We get to the sofa store and don’t like the hutch & buffet so we made the right decision about coming to this store, we load up the table and chairs (which took up about 1/8 of the truck) and we head home. We decided to hit up the outlet store on the way back (Pottery Barn Outlet) in addition to the Sofa Express Outlet across town since we have a truck to pick up anything we may find. Pottery Barn had nothing and was quite picked over, so we grab a bite to eat then head back on the road to Sofa Express Outlet. We have about 45 minutes to shop before they closed and it is starting to dump frozen ice from the sky. We scramble across the showroom and found this cute loveseat, chair and ataman set for cheap. My husband talks them down more and we close the deal and load them up in our truck. 2 good deals and an ice storm later, we head home. I help husband back the truck into the drive and he gets stuck between the street, completely perpendicular to the road. Luckily, our street isn’t busy. I walk to the drivers side to see what is up and I walk on the patch where our car WAS parked during snow but moved before ice storm. I WIPE OUT. Hard. Apparently my feet went higher than my head at one point. My husband passed the test though and came running to my aid, actually sliding into me to make sure that I was ok. He only laughed at me AFTER I confirmed my well-being, as did I too. So we unloaded the truck into the garage, took the truck back and slid into bed more knowing that my aches and pains were only to get worse.

Queue credits.

One Year Later = Lost

Today marks the first day of the 2nd year of marriage for my husband and I. Exactly one year ago today, we were most likely in the Fort Lauderdale Airport finding out that our cruise ship was running late and we would be in a “holding pattern” until it arrived.

One year anniversary means paper. I thoughtfully put together my hubby a shutterfly calendar of our children (doggie and kitty) for his work office as well as 3 framed pictures, one for each of us. I must say, his present to me tops this random collection of paper.

We went to New York City for the weekend, leaving on Thursday night, October 5th. I am not quite sure what counts for the “paper gift.” It could be the receipt for our hotel room in Times Square, or the theatre tickets or the MANY receipts we accumulated throughout our trip. Either way, this trip can be summed up as amazing!

It began after work on Thursday, when we piled the good old gas hog Suburban with our stuff and stuff for our dog. We secured the house, patted the kitty goodbye and headed on the road. We left at 4:30 to get into Youngstown (where my parents would be watching the G-Dog) about at 7….we dropped him off, got him settled, gave the grandparents the OK to spoil him, and then headed back on the road. We arrived in Tannersville, PA (home to my brother-in-law) at about 1:00AM and stopped for the night. We crashed hard and awoke at 4:30AM to head into the city.

We got through the tunnel at about 6:30AM and parked at our hotel. It was in PRIME location. We were a block away from Times Square and across the street from the Gershwin Theatre where Wicked was playing. We parked and checked our baggage and headed on down to the Today Show. This was a crazy morning here at the Today Show. That wedding was going on that they voted on and about a MILLION people were outside trying to be a part of these random people’s special day. We just got some breakfast at Dean and Deluca and then headed to the NBC store. Shopped a bit and then headed downstairs in Rockefeller Center to have a pit stop and catch the subway downtown.

After much deliberation on the platform, we got on the correct train downtown and got off near Soho. We walked through the ritzy area with no celebrity sightings since it was UBER early and headed to Chinatown. This was our first occurrence of getting lost. I wanted to do some shopping. For those that know me well, I am a HUGE purse junkie. Love them, gotta have them. I was out for some new satchels. I just planned on hitting up some stores along the way to see our “ring guy” (the place Dan bought our wedding rings in the diamond district who also happens to be the “jewelry guy” for the infamous Flava Flave). Dan was a bit disturbed that we were not going to go to the same shop we went the last trip. Well, I did not have this information on where this shop was and if you’ve ever been to Chinatown, all the stores look alike and pretty much sell the same crap. Back and forth up Canal Street, it starts to rain and I cannot take the smell of passing any more seafood shops. We admit to defeat and call information to get the phone number of my buddy that recommended this place. We disturb her at work for her to direct us just a jaunt over from where we were to the store and we thank her profusely….Trish, still sorry about that call but you were a lifesaver. About 10-15 minutes later in this TINY store, we emerge clutching a bag of 6 purses and a HUGE smile on my face. (yes, it is a sickness, I understand that but they ALL are not for me, one is a gift, one is for mom and one MIGHT be for a co-worker of husband’s, I haven’t decided yet)

After this accomplishment, I pretty much skip to Vinny’s, the “ring guy.” We get our rings cleaned and hubby pulls out just about ALL of his watches before he finds one he likes and purchases it. He couldn’t stop raving about his new Swiss Army Watch. So we are both happy and we catch a cab to the Seaport area where I get to see the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time and get to stand in line for the TKTS store in hopes to get some show tickets for the night. We make some friends in line and chat up a storm until the store opens and the line begins to move, we score some ½ price tickets to see “The Producers.” I was bummed because I was dying to see Chicago but this show lived up to the hype and more and I think it was more hubby’s speed.

We mull around the pier a bit before catching a cab to Katz’s Deli (where Harry Met Sally once for lunch) and ate and ordered WAY too much food. We looked at the pictures on the wall and then caught a subway back to our hotel. We got our room key now, since our room was ready and I was EXTREMELY excited to see that we were on the TOP floor (11th) AND facing the street (7th Ave.) What a view! The room was SUPER nice and we curled up and took a much needed nap. I got a shopping itch 1/2-way through my nap and took to the streets on my own and bought some “street pashmina’s” (one for me and one for my mom) and that seemed to satisfy me. I got back to the room to get ready for dinner and our show.

We had 5:30 reservations at Carmines on 44th street which I mistakenly led us 2 blocks down too far and mis-typed the address to be 40th street. All dressed up and arriving at a comic book store on 40th street, we AGAIN, call information to get the address and have to trudge 3 more blocks BACK the way we came, through millions of people in Times Square to make our reservations. We make it and dinned on Caesar Salad and Chicken Marcella and washed it down with a bottle of wine. For dessert, we had strawberry short cake. We then have to waddle back down the street, which I directed us the wrong way again, to St. James Theatre. We were one of the first in line to get into the theatre and we wait to see The Producer’s. Two thumbs up from us! It was hilarious.

Even though the city does not sleep, we had to after the show, and headed back uptown (the correct way) back to the hotel to soak my feet from wearing heals and slip into bed.

Rise and shine, nice and early, and we load up the car and head to IKEA in New Jersey. Much to my husband’s disliking. We follow my mapquest directions to Elizabeth, NJ and we see the store from the highway but end up circling the Newport Airport for ½ hour trying to find the service road that takes us there. 2 toll booth ladies directions later, we find it and park with ½ hour before the store opens. The door is open though, apparently for some AM Swedish Meatballs and we head inside, jump a rope to look at what we were there to get, get yelled at, and wait until they officially opened. We load up the car with 2 bookcases, curtains and a couple baskets. Now, we are ready to head back to PA for some family time.

We meet brother-in-law, sister-in-law and niece at a Pumpkin Festival and visit for a bit, have lunch and do some country shopping. We hit a couple more pumpkin farms and an apple farm before we retire to their home. We get home for the guys to plop down to watch some football with a frothy beverage and the women itching to do some shopping at the outlets a couple miles down the road. We load up the baby, stroller and head to the Crossing’s Outlets. Here we minimize the diaper bag to only the necessities since it would be taking up prime real estate in the stroller and head to the stores. We get some clothes for the baby and I find a Coach collar for my poocher, a couple sweaters at the Gap, a shirt at the Gap, 2 new wallets to match my previous purchases, some cologne for hubby and yes, one more purse. We run back to the car, now realizing that we had 6:30 dinner reservations and it was now 6 since we never thought to look at our watch, we run home and load up again for a nice steak dinner with family.

We hit the hay hard to get up, again, much early in the morning to hit up breakfast with the family and then head on the road to pick up the poocher and head home to eat year old wedding cake.

Pup had a good time at Grandma and Grandpa’s house since they have a lot more noises, leaves, wildlife and such at their house than we do at home and he came home EXTREMELY sleepy and EXTREMELY spoiled. Kitty somehow locked himself in the spare bedroom sometime during our trip and was relieved for me to rescue him. Good thing everything he needed was in there.

So we made it….back from our amazing trip and one year of marriage later. Wonder what we are gonna do next year?

Our Circus

Some of you know that we coined our 1st floor in our house the “circus.” See, I got all excited when we decided to buy a house that I already thought about what I wanted all my rooms to look like. WELL, for any homeowners, you know that this doesn’t work. You need to see what the rooms look like before you start planning and decorating. This is how our circus came about. I knew I wanted a blue living room and a yellow kitchen. This was decided BEFORE the viewing and purchasing of our house. Our house has a VERY open floor plan with a kitchen that opens up to a breakfast area and then our living room. The previous owners had the living room painted maroon along with the common wall between the kitchen and breakfast area. The other kitchen walls were covered in this brick wallpaper. I don’t DO wallpaper. That came down and we took the same approach but with blue and yellow. We painted the living room and common wall a dark, dark blue and the kitchen walls a yellow. Husband was EXTREMELY skeptical from the get go and said that we should just paint the ceiling red and we’d have our own circus…..thus the nickname, the circus.

Well, it has been 2 years since the purchase and circus overhaul and we decided that we needed to change it. It was real bad when I’d be a bit embarrassed to let people inside for fear they’d want to know when the next show started. So began the bickering about re-painting the living room and kitchen. We ended with plans to do it our next free weekend.

We planned it for the last weekend. Operation de-circus would be commencing. I was a bit leery about it actually happening since it was talked about for a LONG time now, with no action and we had a bit of a "color blow-out" on the Wed before. Husband is afraid my decorating skills will suck like they did the first time. Since, the “color blow-out” I didn’t see him much until Friday. Nothing was said about the plans. I have a 1/2 day of work and I was planning on taping off the walls and getting it but we haven't picked out a color yet; even though I’ve strategically placed the color swatches ALL OVER the house for his opinion. After work, I had my mental plans for what to do, go to the library, post office, Target and Home Depot to get some materials and Husband called me. He was going to pick up some lunch and I said I would meet him just to see him. He then asked me if I was going to start painting today.....what??? ok, cool. When I went to see him, he was actually all a-go about it and told me to go get the stuff to start since we would have to prime the CRAP out of our blue walls to make it cream/beige.....color still to be determined. So the de-circus-ing starts.

I prepped the room on Friday....moving all the furniture, wiping the walls down and taping off all the trim.....vacuuming, the works. With white primer in tow....we started one coat on Friday. Husband helped when he got home and grumbled a bit about a few things and was still upset about my blue color choice in the first place so it was a grueling 1st coat. He let off some steam by painting bad words on the wall. Coat one down.....still can see some blue but the HD guy said that one coat should be enough. Husband didn't agree and griped some how I didn't buy enough paint and he wanted a 2nd primer coat.

Gunther's (our ALMOST 1 year old Weimaraner) crate was moved to the basement and for safety reasons, spent most of the day down there. Only 1 mishap with the animals this day. Our cat, Howard, was trying to get into the closet he is not allowed and almost knocked my paint tub over and got some white on his paw. Husband had to chase him and throw him into the small bathroom to wipe the paw as I took care of the white on the carpet. NICE.
Friday-we go to sleep tired and sore.

Saturday morning, we get up nice and early to go to Home Depot. Picked out a color.....Cozy Cottage (Behr) It is a nice cream color. Was kind of a hasty decision since we picked it 5 minutes before we left for the store but there are just TOO MANY damn colors to pick from and they ALL start to look alike! Got the paint and stuff and had a tiff about how much to get. My calculations called for 404 ft² of walls to paint and OF COURSE, the gallon covers 250-400 ft². I said 2 would be enough.....Husband wanted 3 but I won with 2. Get home and painted a 2nd coat of primer on the walls and realized we needed more primer. This lead Hubby to go to HD to get more primer and came home with a 3rd gallon of color paint (which we didn't use.....MEN) anywho....today, I wanted to be good parents, so the night before, I stuffed Gunther's bones with wet dogfood and treats and froze them. I did 4 of them and they occupied him for about 2 hours!!! During the 2nd coat of primer, he managed to get paint ALL OVER his tail, on a round spot on his ass and a bunch on his ear. HE NEVER TOUCHES THE WALL UNTIL WE PAINT!!! Back into the basement for him but it was his naptime and he was quiet. He started to snatch things he shouldn't have and running with it. Paper towels, rags….you name it. Husband was trying to retrieve one of these items and Gunther turned his head real fast, not realizing the couch was moved to where he was headed and BAMMM....smacked right into the corner. Didn't phase him but the next morning, we noticed a HUGE bump on his nose with a bit of dried blood behind it. He is fine....I think he broke a blood vessel and his sniffer still works. These damn animals!

Saturday - 2nd coat of primer and 1st coat of Cozy Cottage....watched the game OSU Football game while color and some spackle dried......still tacky so we went out to a REAL NICE dinner.....rented the Rug Doctor that evening and came home and pushed out 2nd coat of color. I DO NOT recommend doing this on a full stomach. Painting now done.....SCORE and we LOVE the color. It really brightens up the room.

Sunday - up early AGAIN.....removal of tape and preparation to clean the carpet underway. Wanted to move the EXTREMELY heavy entertainment center my dad made out of wood (or should I say steel) outside in the garage. Husband was cleaning out a “spot” in the garage to make room for the unit because I don't want to part with it yet. Hours later, I am still inside, cleaning the carpet, removing tape and touching-up paint and no husband.....he's in the garage. This is snowballing and he is cleaning the CRAP out of it. A TON of garbage sits on our curb and we now have a garage that cars can go into!!!!

Finished cleaning the carpet and started moving the room back....plan was to bring the big screen TV from the basement upstairs. I am tough, I can do it I moved the entertainment center outside. We started to move it and got it over the steps and it was wedged on a step and at the end of the basement steps and the wall with husband holding it up, propped on the step. ALL I had to do was lift it one stair at a time. YEAH RIGHT! I realized I couldn’t pick this thing up an INCH. I had to run over to the neighbors to borrow some muscle. Neighbor came over to see husband wedged behind a big screen TV at the base of our basement steps and he helped bring it up.

SO, that was the weekend. I couldn’t wait to get to work to relax!

We now have a Cozy Cottage colored living room.....HOWEVER, it is still a hint of circus since the kitchen is STILL 1/2 blue and 1/2 yellow. The grand plan is to paint this the darker color on the color card thing in the kitchen (Oat Straw) No room for error if we are using the card right?
We have clean carpets, a big screen with all our electronics nicely stacked on top INCLUDING a surround sound system father-in-law gave us we never hooked up, AND a clean garage. Whew. We were NON STOP all weekend.....our feet were burning that night.

The grand plan is to paint the kitchen SOMETIME the coming week.

Any questions?