Running Around

This weekend the kids and I ran some errands while Hubby did a short round of golf. It was chilly, but some of the courses were open for the weekend, he needed it.

The kids and I headed to Wal-Mart to scope out the home decor section (I like Wal-Mart for that over Target any day). We wandered around the store getting ideas and looking at colors. I will have a kitchen and bathroom to pain if all goes well (the rest of the house is fabulous color wise).

I wanted a light yellow in the kitchen, some thing to brighten up the mornings but not blind me as I walked in. We found the perfect placemat to pull the colors from, is that normal? It is three different blues, tan, red and yellow. Most likely we will pull the yellow and tans for the walls and use blue as the "accent" color for towels and such.

We also took a look at the bedroom furniture that Wal-Mart carries. They have great Captain's beds, with and without the headboards. Hunter loves his loft bed, but if he moves into the basement his bed won't fit...darn drop ceilings. So we are on the hunt for a new bed for him. He loves the Captain's bed he has at his Mom's house, so we told him we could find one for him.

But I found this one online this morning and LOVE IT! I don't know if he would, but I think the cubes are a cool idea. I like this one too, with the double levels of drawers, yet still a Captain's bed.

We will be keeping a watchful eye on CraigsList, my favorite website EVER, to see if we can find one for a better price. I love finding great deals on Craigslist.

What in the World...

Hubby and I have looked at a ton of houses over the past few weeks, some great. And then there are the ones that would be great, but need some work. I wanted to show you some of the "What in the world" pictures from house hunting, they are just to good not to share.

This one was a GREAT house, but the exterior was just too damaged to put it into real contention. It looked like hail damage that never got fixed....all over the house.


We liked this house a lot, but there was to much work that it needed. The layout was great, and the location was perfect. The backyard had a large hill, but that wasn't a huge deal. If not for the extra work...

But, the reason this one is on here is simple. The furnace...it is on it's side. It is suspended from the ceiling of this little room where it couldn't stand upright no matter what. Look at the light bulb...I kid you not!

The inside of this house was our favorite, and would have made an offer if something didn't stand in our way. But, the inside was also full of stuff. This is the trend right now, especially with all the foreclosures in the area. The bank didn't clean it, and won't until it sells. Doesn't make sense to me, especially when you walk in and see this:


This last house is wonderful. Hardwood floors throughout, a large kitchen and lots of garage space for Hubby. The windows are newer, along with the roof, and the siding was in great shape. It would need a little work, but not as much as most of the others.

One thing that had us all tilting our heads and saying "What in the world..." was in the laundry room. There are two doorways to this room, and on one end is storage and the old well room. On the other is...well...


A fully functional toilet.

Overlooking the washer and dryer.

Random.

We are still on the prowl, and not rushing this. We want to make sure we find the right house for us. I will share more "What in the world" pictures as they come...and I am sure there will be a few.

Nag Nag Nag

There is something to be said for my nagging tendencies...even Hubby is saying that now.

Yesterday I was home with Boo, she still wasn't 100% and I used my Mommy Power of Veto and overrode her choice to go to school. And as of yesterday morning...still no knew door. That picture above, that is what my front entryway looked like. Boarded up, with no way to use it.

A week after the break in.

Not cool.

At all.

Tuesday we were informed that our door wouldn't be here until late Thursday or Friday. 9 days. Really? Not okay at all. And this was on a rush order...I don't think so.

So being the "nag" that I am, I called the corporate office of our leasing company. Waiting over a week for a new door is not acceptable, especially when Menards had them on sale this week, $39.99! Our door is a standard door, not over sized or small, standard size.

Yes, the entire door frame had to be replaced, yes the wall had to be patched. I know that. Guess what...they sell that stuff at Menards too.

What was I told when I spoke to the local manager "We don't do that, it won't match and you have to just wait. There is nothing we can do."

Those were words that are coming back to haunt her now, I promise that.

I hung up with her, called back and asked for HER supervisor.

She called me back first thing yesterday morning. She agreed that we shouldn't have had to wait a week for a new door, and 9 days was unacceptable.

By 12 our new door was being installed. By 2 it was done.

My question...if the head lady at corporate could get the door here within 3 hours of talking to me, why did it take a week? Why didn't our leasing office call corporate to get the ball moving faster.

Now, our leasing office is "upset" with us, giving us the cold shoulder. I don't care, except that they have no right. I talked to them over the past week and no other option or resolution was given. I know my rights, so I know I CAN call corporate when things don't go right.

Did I talk to anyone else? Yes, the tenant board for Minnesota. They have a complaint on file now.

I can't wait to move.

A Violation

I was all ready to get my Wordless Wednesday post up this morning, but that is not going to happen anymore.

There is a new feeling of violation today. One that I have never felt before, and hope to never feel again.

Someone broke in last night, and now I don't feel 100% safe in my own home. That is a feeling I can't stand.

They kicked/broke in through our door. The deadbolt was completely taken out, the Police have it now (hoping for finger prints, but doubt it. The intruder picked it up and put it on the book shelf.). Our door is ruined, along with the door frame.

I am angry, scared and feeling very vulnerable. It is not a feeling I like, and never want to feel it again.

We are waiting on our maintenance guy to come jerry-rig the door until the new one can come in, it will take a couple days. We have flags put on our accounts, and are watching them like crazy. Hopefully nothing will happen there.

Hubby is mad, and I don't blame him. Not only did I sleep through it all, he wasn't home to take care of it. He wakes up at the drop of a hat, he would have been downstairs in a flash.

Now, to run to the bank, the leasing office and then finally to work. It is going to be a long day.

Can we move now???

The first day

Today was a first. Well, a first since I was like 7. Hubby, Boo and I spent a majority of the afternoon looking at things like this


Oh, and this.


Can I tell you have wonderful a built in hutch is! I never knew it before today, but it is lovely.

We looked at two houses today. One was a instant NO and the other has major possibilities. We also drove around with our realtor guy and looked at what else was out there in our area and price range.

Tomorrow I am going to an Open House with Big Sis. This is a great way to get ideas and see what else is out there. Plus, I am addicted now...it is fun to look at these houses and imagine what you will do with them.

Did I mention that I still and terrified, and felt a bit like vomiting this morning. Oh well.

Just thoughts

I hit a brick wall today.

There are so many things that I would LOVE to talk about, but have decided to wait on them.

I have thoughts on the rapid climb in unemployment in my state, but can't seem to put the thoughts together.

I have so much sorrow for the families feeling the recession, especially the ones that feel they have no other option.

I worry about the security of my loved ones jobs, hoping and praying that they are safe.

I wonder what will happen to my job when all these severance packages run out.

There are so many thoughts and worries going through my head. I don't know how to sort them out, or where to begin.

Hubby and I have been so blessed. We both have jobs that are as secure as they could possibly be in this economic climate. When companies are slashing jobs left and right, we have the knowledge that we are going nowhere for the time being.

I can only hope that my friends have that same feeling. We have one friend whose last day was today at his job. While he has known about the lay-off for sometime, almost 6 months, it is still a hard.

No one knows what the future holds, no one knows what will come. I can only pray that when things happen we are prepared.

Once again

I am home again this afternoon...I will give you two guesses, but you might only need one.

Boo is sick again.

Crap!

I got a call from the nurse not even 10 minutes into the day. I don't think she even made it to class except to drop off her stuff.

So Hubby went and got her, and I came home at lunch time. Not my idea of a good time, but it seems like the bug has left her already for the most part. Hopefully it stays that way.

But, since I am home I am taking the time to purge a ton of stuff we have laying around. Things we never touch, never use, but they still seem to have a home.

Wish me luck! If I go missing, I am under a pile of paper!

But really I don't want to do it all

Boo was up bright and early this morning. A sure sign that she is feeling better. Another sign was her running around like a chicken with her head cut off yesterday, but that is normal when she is sick too.

Today is brimming with projects around the house. So many things to get done, but no motivation at this point. Yesterday a lot of things were worked on, but today is the gross stuff. The stuff I always put off until the end, the few things that no matter how much I bed Hubby will NOT do them for me.

- Clean out of the fridge and scrub it down. Thanks to I Want a Minivan I really feel the need to do that now. It has been too long, and it scares me.
- Both bathrooms needs a good rub down. Deep cleaning can wait, but me and the bleach wipes will be making a stop there.
- Bleaching all the door knobs and handles in the ENTIRE HOUSE. Strep is not something that I want passed along, so we are working to stop it in it's tracks.
- More Laundry. This isn't exactly a bad thing, but we did a ton yesterday so it is a bit old.
- Keep our garage clean. This is a chore in itself. Whenever the kids play outside the garage gets trashed, so it is always a lot of work.

Plus, I saw a movie last night and I CAN'T WAIT to talk about it. I caved in, and it was worth it. Plus, it has an amazing soundtrack!

I better get to work, where do I begin...

Oh yeah...that is why

Things I love about Minnesota:

- The Minnesota State Fair
- The beauty when the snow falls
- Snow days...when they happen
- The wonderful weather in Spring and Fall
- The VIKES!!!
- Having my family (mostly) close by
- Being able to play outside with the kids (almost) all year long
- Snowmobiling
- Cabin time!!


Things I HATE about Minnesota:

- Mosquito's the size of a VW
- Tornado season
- Drivers who forget how to drive when we get one inch of snow
- One hour commutes to to 8 miles (see above)
- A Senate race that JUST WON'T END

The good out weigh the bad...sometime I just need a reminder.

Busy Boo

The weekend is over, and man it was a busy one. After bowling on Saturday Boo and I went to see a movie with Leopard and Cub for Cub's birthday.

We saw Bolt, and I laughed a ton. The Hamster, Rhino, was hilarious and so was the cat Mittens. I didn't know that John Travolta was in this, but did know that Miley Cyrus played Penny.

I wasn't sure what to think prior to the movie, but it was cute. The story was sweet, and the characters are wonderful. The running cross country was predictable, but still worked for this movie.

Boo and Cub sat in front of us, since they are both 6 now we wanted to give them a little freedom while still being in control. Both girls did great during the movie, with only a couple "Sit Down" reminders. I was impressed, and I think Leopard was as well.

After the movie Boo had another birthday celebration, a slumber party. When I dropped her off, I wished the parents good luck and drove home. Boo had a blast, staying up way to late and getting up way to early. The poor thing fell asleep reading a book at 5!

Even though Boo had a long busy weekend, it was nice to have some alone time with Hubby. Things have been so chaotic with work that we don't hardly get to see each other. This was a wonderful treat for us.

Tomorrow, back to the busy week. Thankfully there are only about two more weeks of chaos. Then one quiet week, and then a week off! I can't wait for the last week in December!!!

Bathroom Part 2

Work moved right along in the bathroom. The old floor is up, toilet and vanity are out.

Hunter's room...the worst site ever!

At least we can still take showers, since it was Boo's normal night. But, we had to lay double towels down so the wood didn't get wet.


The toilet...that's where the vanity was...

And the vanity is in the hallway.

And the big hole. I made Hubby go up there, since I was at work. He said it was pretty cool to watch. The did clean up down there,which is good since that black stuff does not look good.

Tomorrow the new linoleum gets laid down, and there is now a chance the vanity might get put in too! It all depends on how far they get.

I can't wait!