Home Sweet Home

We are officially moved in to our new home. Well, the home isn't new, but it sure is new to us! This weekend was one of the most exhausting, exciting weekends I have ever had. I am so amazed at how much we were able to accomplish in those 3 days (I had Friday off work to allow us to get some extra stuff done at the house before move-in day).

***Be prepared for a very long post.........

Thursday night, we headed over to Lowe's and finalized our paint color choices and bought the paint for our master bedroom, living room, dining room and family room. Then, we stopped by my parents house to borrow their suburban and painting tools in preparation for the painting marathon that would happen the next day.

~ Friday ~

Marc and I woke up early (8am is early for us)! I had a doctor's appointment then I grabbed some coffee and bagels for us on the way home. While I was gone, Marc made about 50 trips to load up my parent's truck with some of our belongings so we could take a load over to the house. By the time I got home, he was ready to go so we just ate our delicious bagels and I changed into my painting clothes and off we went. We arrived at the house at about 11. While Marc unpacked the truck into the garage, I opened all the windows to get some fresh air in the house and started washing the walls in the master bedroom and prepping the room for painting. We took down the blinds, the closet doors, etc. My dad rolled up on his trike (a super cool recumbant trike with a motor assist that he uses to get around town and ride for fun since he doesn't drive) and brought us some putty to fill the holes in the wall. Luckily he called us that morning and said he was headed to Home Depot and asked if we needed anything, he knows us too well! Meanwhile, I made 2 trips to my parents' house for tools and a vacuum. It's less than 2 miles away so it's a short drive. :) We began painting our bedroom a pretty grey-blue color and were hurrying since the carpet cleaners were scheduled to come at 3:00. I was the edger and Marc was the roller, we are a great team and got the room done just in time to clean out the room when the carpet cleaners arrived. My dad even rode his trike down to Wendy's to grab us some lunch which we enjoyed sitting on the floor in the middle of the living room. :)



Painting the master!

 The carpet cleaning really made a big difference, there are a few pet stains in the carpet as the previous owners had 2 small dogs. There are still a few stains that probably won't come out, but we are working on getting the smell out, I can't wait until the house smells like "us." The carpet cleaners were great until they dumped the dirty, gross smelling water out of their vehicle right onto our driveway... that was just rude. Marc said, "That smells nice." and the guy responded with, "You get used to it." Really? I'd rather not get used to the smell of sewer on my driveway, thank you anyways. End of rant.

My dad headed home around 4 to get a few things done then he and my mom came back over and brought dinner (Los Panchos, yum!) and we were back to painting the living room. My parents were a HUGE help! We were able to finish painting the living room, which has vaulted ceilings! and the dining room. We finished up at about 11:30pm so we were all exhausted, but we are so glad we got it done. The living room is a light earthy green color, and the dining room is a medium brown color, it's called Cafe Ole, so that gives you an idea.



Look at those vaulted ceilings in the living room!

We finally got back to our apartment at about midnight where we quickly showered, climbed in bed and fell asleep to rest up quick for the next day.


~ Saturday ~

Marc and I woke up at 7am to finish packing the apartment. We were literally RUNNING all morning to try to finish up and get another load of stuff into the suburban. We met his parents, brother and friend at the house at 10:30. They brought a 20' Uhaul with lots of furniture for us from his Nana's place and from his parents. It is really nice not to have to buy any furniture right off the bat, the house is full and we get to focus on making other small improvements to it instead of buying furniture. Thanks everyone!! Right after we all got there, my sister-in-law arrived to help too. While the boys all began unloading the Uhaul, the girls and I started in on cleaning, or should I say, bleaching the house top to bottom. Shortly after, my sister and her boyfriend arrived, carrying the cutest mini-Christmas tree as our housewarming gift!! We put them straight to work! Within an hour, the Uhaul and suburban were unloaded and the kitchen, bathrooms, linen closet and window sills were all clean and ready to be loaded. Like I said, our families are AMAZING!

Marc and I still had all our big furniture at the apartment that needed to be loaded into the Uhaul and I needed to do a final cleaning of the apartment before our walk-through at 2:00. Again, we were running around like crazy people trying to get it all loaded. I had no idea how much stuff can fit into a 700 sq. ft. apartment.... we filled the Uhaul again! I cleaned much too thoroughly because the property manager just opened one cabinet, the fridge and oven and then glanced at the bathroom and she was done. Did we really need to clean the ceiling fan, microwave filter and scrub on our hands and knees for days?! NO, we did not.

This is when Marc and I said our final goodbye to our first place together. It was a perfect place for us, but after a year and a half, we outgrew it and were ready to take on a new challenge together. We loved our time at Spring Meadow, but we were not exactly sad to say goodbye ;) that place was tiny! 700 sq. ft. is not enough for two strong-willed people, no matter how much love there is! So we closed that chapter and opened a new one on that sunny Saturday afternoon.

While we were gone, I left the rest of the crew at the house to do some more cleaning, line the kitchen shelves, etc. and my mom did a Subway run for everyone. By the time we got home, my mom, Marc's mom and my sister-in-law had completely unpacked our kitchen! Those women can work!!! After lunch, we unloaded the Uhaul from the apartment, Marc's brother and friend put our bed together, my mom raked the leaves, my brother tore out some overgrown plants from our porch area, everyone was busy busy busy all day long. We finally stopped working and ordered Chinese for dinner. Just as it arrived, so did our beautiful refrigerator, washer and dryer!! That fridge is amazing, it's a Samsung with french doors and the freezer on the bottom. Thank God for Black Friday or else we would never have been able to afford that thing!! That experience is a whole post in itself...

My mom and I decorated the mini-Christmas tree and set it up in front of the big window at the front of the house. It immediately makes the place feel like home :) We are going to get a full-sized tree too, but this one is so cute!! Note the mini-rocking chair that Marc's dad snagged from our apartment dumpster, that place was a gold mine for goodies that people didn't want!! It wasn't actually IN the dumpster, people would just leave their unwanted things next to it for the taking. He said it's for "little Elizabeth" someday :) It's a keeper!!




After dinner, Marc's family headed home and mine hung out to watch a movie. We were in bed and asleep by 9:30pm after the longest 2 days of our lives!

~ Sunday ~

After waking up several times to the new house's noises, Marc and I were up for the day around 9. It took us quite a while to find towels and shower stuff... but when we finally did, we discovered the shower had a temperature limit on it.  We toughed it through some luke-warm showers and headed out to Target to pick up a few essentials and some much needed FOOD! Sunday was spent unpacking random boxes of things we would actually use in the next few days. We did lots of laundry which was actually fun to do with our very own washer and dryer. My Grammie came over to see the house and brought us lunch and some homemade blueberry bread. She approved! A big deal if you know my Grammie... Marc and I washed some of the blinds out on the driveway so we could have some privacy at the front of the house at least for the night. Those blinds were so dusty!! And do you know what dust is? Skin. Other people's skin. That just grosses me out so bad we had to take care of it ASAP. My sister came over in the evening to drink some champagne and share some design ideas; she even let me borrow her Domino book, "her life" so I am sworn to protect it with mine!

That basically sums up a crazy busy weekend of moving, fun and excitement. We are SO glad to finally be living in our home and cannot wait for all the memories that are to come. We know we will be living there for a very long time. :)