The Joys Of Homeownership

[katieandalex]

We closed on our first home on June 29th at 10am. We got out of there and had out cars packed to the brim to move stuff into the house. We got to the house and unloaded everything and headed off to town to go and buy some things we needed for the house and grab a bite to eat before we went at painting and moving.

We hadn't gotten back to the house until almost 3pm. Every room had a wallpaper border around it and we were thinking we could paint over it...NOT! We started painting over it and it started peeling up. We were hoping to have the bedroom done by the time my parents got there at 6:30pm. We would have, if it wouldn't have been for that stupid border. My parents got there and we had half the room painted. My mom and I continued to paint as Alex and my dad unloaded my parents truck with the stuff they brought from their house. After that they left to head up to the apartment and get a load of stuff.

When they got back, my mom and I just finished up the bedroom and we moved on to the living room and office. We were up until 3am painting everything, but we got it done. The office was not fun because it was a wood panelling that was painted white. But when were repainting it, with all of the dips and stuff in the panelling...made it a treat to paint. At 3am and we all hit the hay on the floor at the house. We woke up at 8am. My mom and dad finished touching up the rooms as Alex and I took my dad's truck to head into town to buy over $400 in new things for the apartment. We purchased a new patio set (4 chairs, table & umbrella), new desk, and a bakers rack & microwave cart for the kitchen. When we got back we unloaded all of that and then Alex's parents showed up with their truck load from their house.

We unloaded all of that then the men headed to the apartment start loading. We had my dad's truck, Alex's dad's truck and one of our friends' truck with a trailer. Thank goodness for that trailer...otherwise we would have never gotten it all. While the men were off getting our things, us ladies, my mom, myself and Alex's mom, stayed at the house and started putting stuff away and building the new furniture. My mom worked on the office desk while I worked on the 2 kitchen things and the patio set. Alex's mom moved the boxes to the appropriate rooms and started putting away the kitchen stuff.

The men returned and we started loading the house up. Everything went well until the end of the day and everyone started getting on edge. My dad left the apartment before the rest of the guys because he was getting upset and didn't want to say anything....he was mad because it took them an hour to load the bed because Alex's dad has to always have things his way...and he thinks he knows what hes doing.....*shakes head*

After the furniture started coming in, a big argument broke out in the living room because I wanted the furniture one way and Alex's parents were fighting with me that it would be stupid that way and we should do it this way.....everything I said I wanted to do the whole day, his parents would make a comment about how it was wrong and wouldn't work that way....it was really starting to piss me off.

After the argument, Alex's mom started grabbing her stuff to get out the house and leave and go back to the hotel. It was probably around 5pm or so that both sets of our parents left. My parents were heading back home and his parents were heading to the hotel. We went back up to our apartment town to buy some stuff, get another load, take a shower and go to dinner. We got back to the house at about 10pm, and just left all of the **** in the car and went to bed....it was nice to sleep in a bed.

The next morning we got up at about 9am and unloaded our car with the stuff we got the previous night. Alex's parents were going to meet us at the apartment to get the last of the things. They were really ticking us off again because they didn't want to help move stuff at the apartment, but when we got to the house they couldn't get the stuff out of the truck fast enough because they wanted to go shopping.....ugh.

We spent Sunday at the house trying to put stuff away and get it organized. We had to make a run to town to get some more stuff that we forgot about and wanted.

Monday we went back to the apartment and got the last load of things and cleaned the apartment and turned in our keys....that was a nice feeling to know we no longer have to pay rent that goes towards nothing.

We drove into the cable/internet place to drop off our boxes for that and ate some lunch and headed back to the house again. The rest of Monday and all fo Tuesday were mainly putting stuff away and getting the house looking presentable.

Last night for the 4th, we had one of our friends over and had a big cookout for dinner.

This Saturday we are having a big party with a bunch of our friends to celebrate the 4th and our new home.

[katieandalex]

I'm at work right now, so I don't have any of the pictures from the weekend....but I will post them up as soon as I have internet at home and sometime! :)

[NicksBride]

Wow, that sounds like quite the time you guys had. But PHEW you are in, you are doing well and now you just get to have fun with friends and parties and decorating. Can't wait to see pictures!!!!

Family are amazing aren't they? They always have such opinions, they never just stay out. But it sounds like you handled it well. Good luck with it all.

[Dani]

Congrats on moving! Sounds like through it all, everything is coming together! i can't wait to see the pictures! when we moved, I think we were at home depot everyday picking up something we forgot.

[hummingbird521]

congrats on getting everything moved in. now the fun begins. finding a home for it all. lol. sorry to hear about the arguments, but i imagine everyone was tired and stressed out.

[mlm063007]

Congrats on getting all moved in! I can wait to see the pics of how the painting turned out!

[shawnsgirl]

Congrats on getting all moved in!!!

[rainbowtreat]

Congrats on the move. It soudns liek you had a good time for the most part of it. Sorry for the aruments. That seems to happen when a bunch of peole are together moving. A couple of out friends jsut moved into their first house and her dad and her husband got into it a couple of times and they are usualy really close. It happens. I can't wait to see seme pictures. Congrats again on the hosue, I bet it feels so good.

[katieandalex]

Yeah, we ended up changing all of our colors for the paint....but I really like how the rooms we painted turned out.

Another bump in the road. The cable company came out to install the cable & internet....I guess they couldn't install it because they need a new box to put in for the digital cable & internet or something....who knows. So they didn't do anything yesterday, they had to make another appt. to come out to install the part and then they need to set up another different appt. to get the cable & internet hooked up (thank goodness the basic cable is still going from the previous owners!). The installer told Alex to call and freak out today when he called to set up the new appt. He said to complain like there is no tomorrow and bust out the "Or we will leave and go to dish" because he said they will definitely give us a break on the install fee and possibly a few free months of service. Lets hope, that would be nice!

Yeah, yesterday I had to stop in the morning to pick up a few more things. Then this morning I had to stop and get some more things that we forgot. The initial move is always the most expensive part.....hopefully after these last few trips we will have all that we need....and we can start saving for bigger projects.

I think our first minor project (after painting the dining room) will be changing all of the light fixtures. The living room has an ugly chandalier and we want to put in a ceiling fan instead. Plus switch out the other ceiling fans and light fixtures throughout the house. So many ideas, so little money! LOL!

[lize566]

There is never enough money but more than enough to do!! Moving into a house is so exciting yet so exhausting! I can't wait to see pictures, and despite a few arguements, which are bound to happen, it sounds like you guys had a very productive and exciting time. Oh and it's good to know that about the cable company b/c we are having problems with ours and I want to complain and threaten to go to dish but I'm afraid they will say go ahead b/c I REALLY don't want dish lol!! Anyways, congratulations on moving!

[flyerso6]

Congrats on the new house. Isnt moving fun... not. We moved into our house about 3 months ago. We still have boxes in the extra bedrooms that need unpacked. We spent sooo much money that first week or so because we needed so many house things we didnt need at our apartment. We also had to change some light fixtures but did it right away as the ones here were horrid!! We took 20 years off our kitchen but replacing the light fixture, the thing looked like a latern. Oh and our garage is still pink, have the paint have had it since we moved in just havent painted it yet, at this rate probably never will. And our yard still looks horrible, dying weeds and dead grass (no rain in a long time).

[Jacklynn]

Congrats on being a homeowner!!!!

[katieandalex]

Yeah, we still don't have internet yet. :( Hopefully that will be installed today. Alex and I went out on Saturday and purchased a ceiling fan for the living room to replace the ugly chandelier that was up there....much better. We looked at other lights because we would like to replace all of them in the house at some point. But I think things will be put on hold a little bit now to get used to the house payments and slowly get back into doing stuff to the house. We have so many plans for it....but with everyone who has recently seen it says they really liked it. Our friend who was going to move into the basement of the first house we put a bid in on, is still thinking about moving in for a few months in the upstairs. It would be nice for him to get in there and help us with the payments a bit to just get on our feet, but if not, thats ok. But hes sounding really interested in helping us out, which will be nice.

Hopefully I can have pictures up sometime soon.....if only I can get internet!

[shawnsgirl]

Well, hopefully you have the internet soon! I can't wait to see some pics!

[NicksBride]

oh its so much fun shopping for a new house and its great to buy a place where you can have those ideas and execute them. Can't wait to see the new house!!!!

[katieandalex]

Thanks girls! We finally have internet! Woo hoo! They still need to do some work on it...but its working, just not as super fast as it should be, but at least we can get on and check stuff. Our pictures will be up soon.

[katieandalex]

Master Bedroom
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7265%3B7%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2568895ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7265%3B7%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A63ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7265%3B7%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2568896ot1lsi
*Our problems with the wallpaper border!*
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7265%3B7%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A65ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7265%3B7%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2568897ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7265%3B7%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A66ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7265%3B7%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A75ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7265%3B7%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A7%3Bot1lsi
Chewy's cat sill in the bedroom...she loves this thing!

[katieandalex]

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7265%3B7%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A92ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7265%3B7%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A%3B8ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7265%3B7%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2568943ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7265%3B7%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A%3C3ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

More to come tomorrow.

[katieandalex]

The Living Room
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A68ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A256889%3Bot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A25688%3A3ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A73ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp6%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327 %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A25688%3A6ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A25688%3A7ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A79ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

Final Product
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp6%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327 %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2568945ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A%3C%3Bot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3B9%3C%3Aot1lsi

[katieandalex]

The Office
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2568898ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A6%3Bot1lsi

The Final Product
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A256894%3Bot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3B34ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

The Bathroom...which we didn't paint.

All I plan to do in here is change out the valance and then eventually we are going to put in a different sink (pedestal sink) and new faucets.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3C94%3Aot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp6%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327 %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2574%3B57ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2575356ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

The Kitchen.
We also didn't paint the kitchen. We decided to wait until we had the money to redo the whole kitchen and paint it then. We want to change the cabinets, put in an island with a cook-top stove and move the fridge to where the stove is currently at. Add more counter & cabinets along the walls, take down the panelling and wallpaper and repaint everything.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A25688%3C9ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2568935ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A%3B3ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

Our new very awesome fridge.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2575362ot1lsi
And stove.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A257536%3Bot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2574%3B5%3Bot1lsi

[katieandalex]

More pictures to come tonight!

[NicksBride]

WOW Katie, it looks fantastic. I LOVE your master bedroom with your gorgeous comforter, it really makes the room. THe colors are fantastic. It looks sooo homey and roomey, you guys are really good at decorating and I love your style. It looks fantastic!!!

[lize566]

Everything is beautiful and it all came together so great! I love the comforter!

[katieandalex]

Thanks girls. The house is really big. We barely ever use the original part of the house (the living room, master bedroom, office & laundry are all in the addition to the backside of the house). WE only ever go in the kitchen for dinner and to get to the bathroom. We rarely go upstairs or into the dining room. Its a waste for that extra space, but its nice to have it when company comes over.

[shawnsgirl]

Well, you and Alex did a wonderful job so far..I have the same color couch as you do!! You will be greatful for the extra space...After living together you accumulate so much stuff! Plus, if you decide to have children that extra space will definately be extra handy!

[NicksBride]

It is nice to have extra space for storage and yes, a baby one day. :) Enjoy the space I am sure you will use it at some point. Its awesome

[katieandalex]

Yeah, the extra space is nice for company and we definitely filled the house up, we just don't use all of it all the time.


Now for some more pictures.


The Laundry Room...we didn't do anything in here really other than install our washer & dryer.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3C8%3B9ot1lsi

The Spare Bedroom. We are still waiting on getting a mattress and boxspring for the bed, but other than that, we have everything we need for it.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3C8%3C5ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3C8%3C8ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3B%3A36ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

The Workout Room
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3B%3A3%3Aot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3B%3A43ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3C93%3Aot1lsi
The last owners left the antique dresser in this room. I love it. We are going to refurbish it a bit in a while and put newer pulls on it and such, but I love the design.

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3C946ot1lsi
And this is my favorite part. When we moved in, we did a quick walk-through and we found this penny in the workout room on the floor...heads up! Yay for good luck in this house. We are going to keep the penny and frame it!

[katieandalex]

The Landing at the top of the stairs. We are going to change out this light fixture at some point.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2574%3B54ot1lsi

Chewy loves sleeping up here.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2575382ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2574%3B82ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

The Dining Room. We havent' done anything in here yet. We are going to paint this room a dark red. I decided to keep the curtains the last owner had up. I just took down her valances and tied back the panels with black ribbon.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2574%3B64ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2575379ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2574%3B74ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

A few before and afters of the main rooms.

Before
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734552%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E232384835%3C3%3C%3Bot1lsi

After
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp6%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327 %3DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2568945ot1lsi

Before
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734552%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E2323848364459ot1lsi


After
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A72%3A2%3B5%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A%3C%3Bot1lsi

[katieandalex]

Now for some before & afters of the major rooms.

Before
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734552%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E232384835%3C3%3C%3Bot1lsi
After
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A79ot1lsi

Before
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734552%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E2323848364459ot1lsi
After
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A25688%3A7ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

Before
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734552%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E232384835%3C433ot1lsi
After
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A%3B8ot1lsi

Before
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734552%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E232384836445%3Bot1lsi
After
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A2569%3B34ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

Before
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734552%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E232384835%3C3%3C2ot1lsi
After
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp6%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2574%3B57ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

And some pictures of Hahn....he loves the house and yard!
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A84ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A25688%3B9ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A%3A4ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A256%3B969ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A256%3C854ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A256%3B979ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A256%3C85%3Bot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A256%3C882ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A256%3B9%3B3ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3B9%3B%3Aot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp6%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3C8%3A%3Aot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3B9%3C5ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A256%3C8%3B5ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A734567%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A256%3B%3A4%3Aot1lsi
Hahn loves going to the top of the stairs and barking out the window! LOL!



And can you believe it? In our tiny little town, there is another American Eskimo running around. I took Hahn out one morning and a lady was out walking her full-grown American Eskimo. I told Hahn, "You have some growing to do." Based off of that one, Hahn is only about half the size he should be full-grown.


Ok, thats everything.

[Jacklynn]

Everything looks so great! You just seem so happy :) Congrats just on everything going on, AND I see you also have a weight loss ticker, good luck!!!

[NicksBride]

Hahn is such a beautiful dog!! What a sweet face. it looks like he is enjoying his new roaming grounds.
How funny, Hahn can have a friend just like him. :)

[KMS]

I just caught up on your new house adventure. I can't believe how much better everything looks. You've made such an improvement. Your dog and cat look like they're enjoying it as well! So cute.

[katieandalex]

Thanks girls. The animals love their new house. Chewy is still kind of skeptical of some things...but Hahn LOVES the yard. Anytime Alex is out in the garage Hahn is out on his tie out. He gets upset if we run outside quick and don't take him with.

AND I see you also have a weight loss ticker, good luck!!!
Thanks. Its kind of frustrating because I've been trying to watch what I've been eating for the last few weeks but I haven't really been exercising and I just keep going up on the scale. I figured with the move and doing all the hard labor and not having much time to eat that it would do something good for me.....not...it helped Alex though....*shakes head*

[NicksBride]

Just be patient it will happen. Check yourself on the scale once a week. Remember I know you have heard it before, but just because you are not loosing weight you can be loosing inches, so check your clothes to see the fit, not the scale. You are doing fine!

[katieandalex]

Yeah, I started today with taking pictures of myself once a week to compare what I've looked like in the past....so hopefully that will help keep me motivated.

[ger]

You guys did some amazing things with your rooms in your house. I love that you put before and after pictures. I always forget to take the before pics. LOL Good job!!

[katieandalex]

We just used the pictures from when we walked through the house for the first time.

I have so many ideas for this house. If we are slow at work today, I'm going to start making a list of the things I want to do to the house...and draw up a floor plan for how I want the kitchen to be after we remodel. I just want to have everything down so we don't forget stuff we want to do, when some of it we could do if we had extra money lying around some month.

[katieandalex]

Ok, our next purchase for the house is going to be a new faucet set for the shower. Ugh. Since we moved in the seal or something is bad in it and when you pull the knob to turn on the shower head, half the water comes out the spout still and then you get this crappy water pressure in the shower head. When I just took a shower today, its even worse...more water is coming out the spout than the shower head. We need to splurge and buy a new one.

[NicksBride]

Yea, we had to get one of those when we moved it. Just remember, what you put in you will get out of it as well. So just have fun and find bargains and enjoy decorating your house.

[rainbowtreat]

Katie I just got the chance to take a look at your picture. ( you posted them on the day I gave birth to my baby lol ). I love what you have done to the new house. It must be nice to have all that space even if your not using it. I know what you mean about the extra space. My friends who just bought a house has a 6 bedroom house that was used as a 2 family home before the bought it. And it is just the 2 of them. But in due time Iam sure your hosue will be used fully and it sounds like you love it alot. Congrats on the whole things, the buying and redoeing it all. It must feels o good.

[katieandalex]

Thanks girls.

Congrats on the baby.

Somewhere around the house here, I printed off this thing from HGTV's website that explains which improvements you get the most return on, for example, a minor bathroom remodel you will get a 98% return or whatever on it. So we are going to take that into consideration when we do our improvements as well. We will probably only stay here for a few years and then get a different house, so we want to get the most out of our money that we are going to stick into it.

One thing I thought of I want to do....replace a few windows. The previous owner replaced a lot of the windows. But there are 2 windows upstairs that are not replaced....now why would you do that? So I figure we will spend the money and replace those 2 windows so all of the windows match and are new for the next owner....so much we want to do, so little time & money.

[katieandalex]

And since I'm picture crazy....and I needed more pictures of flowers for a collage that I'm doing....I took some pictures of the flowers in our yard.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B39962ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3A2%3B4ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B39963ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3A2%3B8ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B39965ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3A2%3B%3Bot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B39966ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3A2%3C6ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B39968ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3A2%3C%3Aot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B39969ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp6%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3A335ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3A33%3Aot1lsi
And my gnomes of course.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3996%3Aot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp6%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3996%3Bot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3A348ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B39973ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3B954ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B39976ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3B962ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3997%3Aot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3B967ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp6%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B39983ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B39985ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp6%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3B976ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B39988ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3B979ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B835%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B39989ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

And some more pictures of Hahn.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B866%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B44569ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B866%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3C599ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B866%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B44574ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B866%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3C59%3Aot1lsi

[katieandalex]

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B866%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B44582ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B866%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3C5%3A3ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A75%3B866%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A3%3B44587ot1lsi
Hahn outside today. He loves his bottles.

[lize566]

I love close up pictures of flowers!! And lawn gnomes kind of freak me out lol! Hahn is adorable-he looks like a furry snowball!

[katieandalex]

Haha, gnomes freak Alex out too. He didn't want me to get them but I insisted that I have lawn gnomes. But one of my friends wants to punt one across the yard. :( I love my gnomes.

[katieandalex]

Went to Menards today after getting my new drivers license. I spent 2 hours there. Last night I went through the house and made a list of everything that I cuold think of that we wanted to do to the house fairly soon. I went and got prices and such there. I also picked up new switch and outlet covers. The ones that were in the house were the decorative ones, (which I hate) but they were also old lady style ones (which I hated even more) so I just got a bunch of the plain white and ivory ones to match the rooms. The only covers I didn't change out were the ones in the office because I liked those ones a lot.....and they were kind of stuck to the wall because I think my parents put them up too soon after painting....haha.

But now we have a nice big list of stuff to chose from to do to the house. I figured this way it would keep us in line on whats important. When we have extra money lying around we can say "Ok, this month we have $100 extra, so lets go out and buy these light fixtures because they will be in the budget" and then check it off the list. Now I just have to go through and type up the list and organize it a bit....since its pretty messy after all my notes I was making at Menards.

Off to take a shower. I came home from Menards and ended up planting a few flowers (ones I had in pots that I think would be doing better in the ground) and washed my car (what a joke....I hate black cars on hot days) and now I'm all sweaty and dirty.....eww.

[70707Bride]

Hey, I love all your pics!

[katieandalex]

Thanks!

Alex and I went into town last night and picked up a few new things for the house. Nothing big, but a modern key rack to use to hang my hot pads by the stove, a fan for the office, just some small things.

Our update list is now complete. There are a few things we need to get prices on, but those things are like cabinets and countertops...stuff that we need to get estimates on. But like Alex said, we are going to do the stuff that they say you get the most return on when you sell since we probably won't be here any longer than 5 years at most. I've found that minor bathroom and minor kitchen remodels give the highest return. Well, right now, the house would be worth more mainly becuase we would sell the house with the appliances where we bought it with no appliances. There is not going to be a minor kitchen remodel because it just needs a major one...no doubt about it. But the minor bathroom remodel will be a pretty easy thing for us to do. Before we moved in they installed a new toilet and new jacuzzi tub....we just want to install a pedestal sink, new medicine cabinet, put down ceramic tile and update the fixtures...so it won't be too expensive for us to do it and the bathroom will look a lot better. We've been trying to figure out a way to add a 2nd bathroom to the house becaus that would really increase the value of the house, but we just haven't come up with anything....

One thing that we are currently working on, updating all of the outlet and switches. The previous owners were the king and queen of buying stuff on sale and not paying attention to if it matched anything else in the house. So all of our switches are different sizes and colors from each other and a lot of the outlets are pretty old and stained. So when we were at Menards last night, we looked at the price, and not too shabby....we will be finishing that soon.

One thing that I want to do but Alex doesn't is replace all of the exterior doors on the house. I want all of the exterior doors to be the same around the house. Again, bargain shoppers, so they don't match. 2 of the screen doors match the other is different. The other is actually the style I want to put on, so we may be able to keep that one and just buy matching for the other 2 doors.

There is just so much that we want to do. But its a good thing that 4 times a year Alex gets a bonus from his job that we will usually put 1/2 in savings and the other 1/2 spend on house improvements. But come tax return time, I think we may start talking about that kitchen remodel. It needs to be done bad and after looking at some of the prices, won't be as expensive as we originally anticipated....but it does involve getting rid of our stove and getting a different one...so that may get pricey....

[katieandalex]

Well, we ended up buying all of our switches and outlets we wanted to replace. We went to Farm & Fleet today because there were a few things that Alex wanted to buy for the garage and we saw that they had packs of 10 outlets and/or switches for like $3.38....they were over $22 for the pack of 10 at Menards. So we cleaned out and picked up all that we needed to change out all of the switches and outlets in the whole house.

Alex will be busy for a while now! LOL!

[NicksBride]

hahaha that is funny that they do not match. That would be something that would bother me to no end, So I agree that they need to match as well as the doors. But again, slowly it will come together. You guys sound like you are the king and queen of DIY projects, its great you will get so much money back once you sell it down the road as well, it will all pay off. :D

[Jacklynn]

wow you really sound like you are getting a ton done! Congrats on getting so much done, so exciting :)

[katieandalex]

Thanks girls. We learn as we go. Neither of us are really home people....Alex and I have done some home stuff with our parents when we've lived at home....but we really don't know all that we need to know. But we are quick learners and we want to be able to do as much as possible ourselves.

I feel really bad for Alex right now. His 2nd assistant manager up and quit...he had to move out of state for family issues. And then the one guy they were hoping would stay around, ended up saying "Well my wife comes home in 3 days and I want to spend the rest of the summer break with her, so I'm leaving". So he lost 2 employees in the last 2 days. And him and his assistant (his best friend) are screwed, Now for the next 2 weeks they have to both work 7 days a week. But Alex told his boss (the district manager), you better figure something out for someone to come and fill in on the 28th because we have a wedding to go to and the assistant needs the day off as well. But one of Alex's friends wants to leave Target that hes work at right now, so Alex is bringing him over tonight to do a quick interview and have him fill out paperwork and hopefully get him hired on.......I just feel bad for him...hes just so stressed out right now....

[NicksBride]

That stinks about Alex and his job. It sounds like he is under a lot of pressure but handling it very professional. Hopefully his friend gets the job so that way someone will be able to help out.
Tell him good luck!!

[lize566]

Yeah our outlets were all mis-matched and old lady like, too! We just replaced all of them, and it took a while! But the worst part is unless someone who really knows electricity and that kind of stuff (unlike my FH lol!) sometimes they get wired wrong. There were like 5 or 6 that didn't work after they switched them all, so then it took even longer, and worried me b/c it's dangerous to have them wired incorrectly, b/c they thought it was done right but apparently it wasn't! So hopefully Alex knows electiricty lol! I think your plans sound great! Very organized and financially smart. Have fun with everything and I hope Alex finds some employees quickly!

[katieandalex]

It sounds good for hiring one guy to replace...which will be nice. Hes a bit happier today about his job.

Yeah, Alex knows electrical work, he just doesn't like to do it in teh house because it is so much more dangerous...he would rather rewire a car because if you get shocked its much less voltage. But he knows what hes doing, its just getting him to do it that is key.

Woo hoo! Tomorrow I'm sitting down with my boss with my year review. Which means I will probably be getting a raise!!! Yay! I think everything should be good (except I messed something up yesterday at work, but it really wasn't my fault. I entered it into the computer and set it aside...someone else took it back to teh back to send out and didn't check to see if their were labels on the specimen...whoops) so hopefully all will go well.

[NicksBride]

Good luck on your review, hoping for a raise!!!!!

Hope the guy works out for Alex!

[katieandalex]

Woo hoo! I had an awesome review. And I got my raise. Went from $18.46/hr to $19.11/hr. I officially make more money an hour than my dad now!

[NicksBride]

Congratulations!!!!!

[katieandalex]

Ok, so I'm really upset with our cable/internet company. Here is the story:
So, my husband and I haven't had cable or internet for the last 3 days at our house. WE thought it had something to do with our bad weather we had had the last few days. COme to find out that it was because our cable and internet were disconnected.

Someone screwed up and they never put through the disconnect on the last owners. So they did it to us! My husband called and threw a FIT about it....I'm so pissed off with this company right now...but at least we have cable and internet now.

[katieandalex]

When my sister came down to visit on Thursday night she gave me a great idea. Instead of changing out the stair landing light, just paint it and put a new globe on it. So I went out and bought the paint for it and painted it this morning. We still need to get a new globe, but it looks WORLDS better now!

BEFORE:
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E23238%3A256%3B%3A4%3Aot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E23238%3A2574%3B54ot1lsi

AFTER:
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E232394686%3B4%3B7ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E2323946873285ot1lsi

[NicksBride]

oh it does look so much better!!!

[katieandalex]

WE bought a new globe for it. Pretty plan, nothing exciting.

But we also bought new lights for our hallway. 2 for $12.99! And they look SO much better than the old ones. I'm not sure if I have pictures of the old ones or not....but here we go.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E2323946%3C%3A5959ot1lsi

You can see one of the lights in this picture...but not very well. But they were just HIDIOUS!
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E23238%3A2569%3A68ot1lsi

After going home today to take my dad out for breakfast for Fathers Day, I was talking to my parents about some of the improvements we want to do to the house. My dad came up with an awesome floorplan for the kitchen that I will need to draw up and post. And I also decided that we would paint the main doors and shutters red. I guess I can live with the doors we have and I saw a house today on the drive that has the same color siding as we have and have red shutters and doors and it looks awesome. Plus painting would be a whole hell of a lot cheaper than buying new doors.

But like my parents said, live here for a few years and it seems as though this town will soon start to build up because the main city is growing so fast this direction that we could turn and sell our house in a few years and hopefully make a lot of money off of it. But my mom said, do the few improvements that we want to do (and the kitchen will help a lot!) and then have a realtor walk through the house and see what they think it will sell for. If we could make $30K off of it, it woudl be stupid not to sell and get into a newer home. So we'll see what happens.

[katieandalex]

Well, we got ambitious last night again. We decided instead of buying new can lights, we would just paint the existing ones. So we pulled those down and painted them the same color as the stair landing light I just paint, and we also painted one of our floor lamps from black to the same color. Now all of the lights in the living room match each other.

Alex and I now have some plans for the house. We decided where we think a 2nd bathroom would work well and also serve as a master bath. We would only make it a 3/4 bath (with a shower stall only) but we have plans for residing the house to match the garage (which I have no idea why they didn't do that when they built the garage 7 years ago....) and painting the shutters and doors (which we will probably still do this summer...just not the siding). We talked about the kitchen and Alex really likes the idea my dad came up with, so we not going to replace the ceiling fan currently in the kitchen because we plan to put up track lighting and pendant lights with the new floor plan. The existing bathroom we plan to do soon because there is not much that we want to do in there, and it will be fairly inexpensive. We are planning on buying the new lights for above the mirror in the next week or so, because the ones we have up there...we replaced the bulbs with the energy bulbs and found out how jank the fixtures are....so we want to replace them soon!

[NicksBride]

wow I am in awe of the improvements you guys are making. Makes me want to redo our home. haha, it looks amazing. It is great how just some small things can make all the difference right?
Keep up the good work!

[katieandalex]

Thanks Katy.

I guess my sister told my mom "Katie put colors together in her house that I never thought would together. I really like how it has turned out." Its nice to hear that from my sister. We have very different taste when it comes to about everything but her style is very simple and I like that...I would just never do it in my house.

I came up with an idea today for the hallway up the stairs....but thats going to be a secret until its done. But I'm hoping one of these next weekends to go ahead and start painting all of that. We don't use it often, so it will be easy to just work little by little throughout the upstairs and since all we are going to do is paint, it will make it nice.

But Alex should be getting his bonus from work soon, which I've already figured out how we will spend the money. Put part of it in savings, let Alex buy this part for his car that hes been dying to buy for a while now and then spend the rest of it on the railing for the front porch & stairs and the current bathroom redo. It will be nice to be able to do a lot of the stuff right away.

We also have plans for the patio. Right now it is just a cement slab, we plan to stone it.....so we are going to wait for a bit and watch the summer/patio stuff start going on really good sales and do it then.

[katieandalex]

My sister gave me the idea to paint all of our heater/AC vents to be white (since most of them were the old style black) so I stopped at Menards tonight on the way home and picked up some white spray paint and I'm in the process of painting our vents now. Alex has to work until close tonight so he won't be home until almost 11pm, so he'll be pleasantly surprised when he comes home and sees all of the vents look like new! :)

[ger]

Wow, kiddo, you have been a busy beaver. What wonderful plans for your new home. I am so impressed. It is amazing how much a person can do to a home to change it. Good luck with all the work.

[katieandalex]

Thanks Ger!

I've been itching to start painting the stairway and the upstairs bedrooms. And Alex has to close the store again tonight and won't be home until late....I'm really thinking about stopping on my way home from work and buying some paint to get started on it.....I wonder if Alex would be upset! LOL!

[Jacklynn]

Painting is so exciting! It truly makes a place your own. Although it is a task, it still is a fun and exciting thing!

[NicksBride]

Painting is a huge task. I am sure Alex would love it if you got some of it done. I know Nick would. hahahaha Painting always just makes the place yours!

[katieandalex]

Yeah, I decided against it. If I started tonight, I knew I wouldn't finish and I won't be able to paint at all this weekend because we have a wedding to go to....so I'll save it for next weekend. Plus I had a really crappy day at work, and just feel like sitting at home and vegging out all night....sounds like a plan.

[katieandalex]

Got a few pictures!

I finally drew up the plans for our new kitchen idea.
Here is the floorplan now.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E2323948%3A23798ot1lsi

Here is the floorplan after.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E2323948%3A2379%3Aot1lsi
The space between the stove & fridge is counter space and then the space to the left of the stove (where the stove used to be) goes back into the pantry and will be all counter space with pendant lights hanging down and having a flat panel TV hanging in the corner.

Here is the kind of design I want to go with for cabinets and countertop colors.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E2323948%3A2379%3Bot1lsi

And here is a picture of what I would really like to do for our add on master bathroom when we decide to do it.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23239489%3B%3C%3A73ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

And I never posted pictures of our can lights that we painted in the living room. I don't have a before picture, but they were a brushed bronze look before.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23239489%3B%3C%3A86ot1lsi

[NicksBride]

Those look great Katie, that picture you put up is my dream kitchen and the sinks in the bathroom is what i want in mine as well. You have great taste!!

[katieandalex]

I'm not sure if I like the sink in the bathroom or not...but that similar idea is what I want.

I also notice that in the after picture of the kitchen layout, I left the door to the mudroom (top right door) and that will actually be gone if we put in the 2nd bathroom in the mudroom like we want to do.

I was also thinking about that, that we would have to do the 2nd bathroom before the kitchen since we will be deleting that door to the kitchen area...I wouldn't want to finish my kitchen and then have to put up drywall and have to repaint. But hey, it will be nice to have a master bathroom sooner! :)

But also, I wanted to point out in the before and after floor plans, the door to the dining room (top left near where the fridge used to be), we are planning on widening that doorway. Right now its just a normal door but we plan to widen the door so it goes to the chimney (the bump out next to where the stove is) to make it more of an open floorplan thru that area. And when we go to sell the house, instead of listing it as a formal dining room (which most people in our area don't really want anymore) we will list it as living room (the current dining room) and den (the current living room). I think it would work well that way.

[katieandalex]

We've been wanting to shave him and just haven't gotten around to it. When we went to a wedding this weekend we dropped our dog (Hahn Solo) off at my parents' house to dog sit...we came home to a shaved doggie! He looks SO hilarious now. He definitely pants less often now and seems a lot cooler...and definitely doesn't shead as much.....but he just looks hilarious!

BEFORE:
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3C59%3Aot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E23238%3A3%3B3%3C5%3A3ot1lsi

AFTER:
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E2323949%3A84%3A%3B9ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E2323949%3A856%3C%3Bot1lsi

[katieandalex]

And then another cute one of him riding in the car...he didn't do well in the car on the way there....he must have gotten car sick and threw up twice, but the ride home he did very well.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E2323949%3A856%3C7ot1lsi



Now time to go and start painting our hallway! :)

[katieandalex]

Here are 2 pictures of the hallway. Of course, not finished...but looks SO much better! I have to do a 2nd coat of paint after this one is done and then I plan to paint all of the woodwork and doors white, probably next weekend.

BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E232394686%3B4%3B7ot1lsi

AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E2323949%3B6%3C8%3C3ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E2323949%3B74%3B4%3Aot1lsi

[NicksBride]

ohh I love that color!!!!!

[katieandalex]

We plan on painting the stairs, both upstairs bedrooms and the laundry that color. Kind of plain but brings just enough color to make it warm. But after the stairs and upstairs bedrooms are done, we are going to do the dining room next...the laundry room will be last.

Our stairs have kind of cathedral-esk (sp) ceilings and I totally can't reach them, even with the roller extention....so Alex has to paint that section for me. But between 5:30pm and 9:30pm, I painted the whole stairwell (minus the part Alex needs to paint). Tonight I'm probably going to go back and do the 2nd coat that it needs. After that I'll go out and get the trim paint. I'm going to Menards on my lunch break today to see how much just new trim will run us and a new stair rail as well. We'll see what we do...either paint or get new....

[Goin2thechapel]

Wow...very nice color...Hanz is getting soooo big...He's jsut tooo cute :)

[katieandalex]

Wow...very nice color...Hanz is getting soooo big...He's jsut tooo cute :)

Yeah, I know...he is so hard to pick up now! He got into a barking match iwth the other eski in town again this morning...too cute. But he looked completely different from that one....that one had a full coat of fur! LOL!

[katieandalex]

The hallway is almost done. Alex has to do some touch ups to the ceiling tomorrow and I'm going to start on taping off the trim tomorrow and paint on Wednesday or Thursday. And then it will be completed, but the wall painting is pretty much done.

[ger]

You have been such a busy little beaver!! Let you loose with a paint brush and you never know what will happen!! LOL It all looks like wonderful improvements. When you get done, you can come to my house and do some painting. It could all use a touch up!!

[katieandalex]

Haha, once I'm done with my house, I think I'll be done for a while...or at least until we put in another bathroom and redo the kitchen! LOL!

Alex said when we were painting last night and he was painting the ceiling...."You better like this color because its not getting painted again." LOL! Its not fun painting a cathedral ceiling on super steep stairs...

[NicksBride]

aww sounds like Hahn likes protecting his new home hahaha. I can imagine that it is not much fun painting but once it is done it is done and it looks fantastic!! You guys have been so busy, hard work does pay off!!!!

[katieandalex]

I got my laundry room pictures I ordered today. LOVE THEM! We also put up the shelf my dad made and put up the decor on that as well. I took some pictures, I'll have to post them up later. But I have most of the taping done on the hallway. I found some other spots I need to touch up. But this week I'll probably start painting the trim.

[katieandalex]

Here are the pictures of what we did last night. Looks as though painting the trim will happen tomorrow night, Alex has to work late.
Sorry, really bad pictures...I took them quickly.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A3%3C437%3A78nu0mrj
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A3%3C4387%3A4nu0mrj
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A3%3C437%3A79nu0mrj

Well and it looks like we are now in a battle with our old apartment complex. They sent us a bill that I guess our deposit didn't cover stuff....and a lot of that was on our move in report as being wrong when we moved it....so now I'm fighting with them about it....ugh.

Since Alex and I bought the house we said that we wanted to get a truck to be able to haul stuff for the house and that sort of thing. Well, turns out, a guy Alex works with is selling his 98 Chevy S10. Its a really nice looking truck and has been taking really good care of. He said he would sell it to us for $3K. Well, we don't really have $3K just lying around to put towards a truck...but I told Alex to call and check on loans and insurance. Here, if we get a home equity line of credit or whatever through Alex's old C.U., we can buy the truck and pay off all of our bills and pay a TON less than we are paying now...and we don't have to have full coverage on the truck either. So we are going to talk about it tonight some more and I have to fax over some information to the C.U. tomorrow so they can let us know real numbers so we can make our decision.....it would be nice to only make 1 smaller payment than all of our other payments with a lot higher interest....

[NicksBride]

ohh I have that same box. I just love putting stuff in it, looks nice with your colors.
Good luck with getting the truck, they are nice to have and that is a great deal!

[katieandalex]

Yeah, i got the idea for the shelf from Pier 1. I liked the one at Pier 1 but I didn't want to spend $100 on it and it was much too large for what I wanted. I gave a picture of it to my dad and said "Make this." And he did a great job with it. Of course its not completely perfect like the one in the store, but you can't tell when its on the wall.

As for the truck....we are buying it. Alex called and checked on it. And the truck we are buying it for $3K but it is worth $7600 so the bank is going to give us the loan for $7600 and we are going to pay off all of our bills with that money. That way we are only making one payment and its at a much lower interest rate...and we end up saving about $125/month when its all said and done...which means more money in savings and more money to do stuff to the house. They also told us that we are approved for a $3K loan that we could put towards home improvements. We are going to wait a bit until we get my dad paid off (which won't be paid off with the other loan) and then maybe take out that loan to do some work on our house. Then get our house reappraised and lump it all into a home equity loan instead at a lower interest rate and payment rate. Its a big huge ordeal, but the bank said it would work out great this way and we will be saving a ton of money in the long run, and plus we get a truck out of the deal! :D


And tonight is painting night....but I have to take my hour break at 7pm to watch BB8!

[Doglover]

AFTER:
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp66%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E2323949%3A84%3A%3B9ot1lsi


OMG HOW CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO SOFT LOOKING!!!!

[Doglover]

I love your fireplace!

[NicksBride]

Is that a picture of Hahn that Doglover just posted? He got a hair cut, I must have missed that. hahahahha
That is fantastic about the truck, what a great purchase!!

[katieandalex]

Haha, yeah we went back home last weekend and my parents shaved him down. He is much cooler now...definitely doesn't pant as much. He looks like a dork, but its much better for him right now with the heat.

I painted majority of the trim last night. It still needs a few spots done and needs to be touched up, but Alex said he was going to try and do some of it today before he went to work.

Tonight, Alex has to work late again, so I'm going to go out on my lunch and get another gallon of paint and finish the stair well and move on into one of the spare bedrooms. If I stop I won't start again, so I better just keep moving throughout the house.

[NicksBride]

well Hahn looks very dapper in his new haircut. :)
Good luck painting, you must be getting super buff arms from all that painting!! Keep up the good work!!!

[katieandalex]

Good luck painting, you must be getting super buff arms from all that painting!! Keep up the good work!!!

Haha, I wish. We'll see how it goes. Looks like Alex didn't help at all with the trim this morning, so I'll be starting on that first thing and then moving to the bedroom....we'll see how much I get done. I don't know how late I'll stay up, last night I was up until midnight...so I may not be able to make it very long tonight...usually I'm in bed by 10pm at the latest. I'm a party pooper.

[katieandalex]

Ok, so I'm going crazy...with paint that is. I ended up putting the final coats of paint on the trim in the stairwell. Then moved on to the first bedroom I was going to do.....umm all the walls are painted already! The stairwell needs to be touched up in a few more spots, but I'm going to have Alex do that when he has that paint color out to finish the ceiling.

I asked for the same color to be mixed as the stairwell...and the new paint ended up being the exact color I was wanting. The stairwell has kind of an orange tinge to it at certain times, but looks much better with the painted trim.

Word to the wise....always get the better paint.

The paint for the stairwell, I got the cheap stuff because my mom said she never had any problems with it. It sucked. And went back to the same brand that we used for the rest of the house for the bedroom and it covered SO much better, which is why it got done so fast.


Picture time!
BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E2323848364466ot1lsi

AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp3%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A4326%3B4%3A8nu0mrj

BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E232384835%3C436ot1lsi


AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp4%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A4326%3B4%3A9nu0mrj

*The bedroom doors at the top of the stairs will be painted at some point....thats just going to be a chore, so I'm going to wait a bit to do that part of it.

[katieandalex]

A picture that shows the color and trim really well (outside bathroom door).
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp3%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A43273%3A53nu0mrj
*I still need to put another coat of paint on the stair railing.

[katieandalex]

Now for the bedroom...the after pictures the room is still a disaster, but I'm still planning on painting in there today, so I didn't move anything back.

BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E23238%3A256%3C8%3C5ot1lsi

AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp3%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A43273%3A54nu0mrj

BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E23238%3A256%3C8%3C8ot1lsi


AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp3%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A4326%3B4%3A%3Anu0mrj




We are planning on recarpeting both bedrooms upstairs and the stairs. We are going to use all the same carpet. I have the style picked out, but I haven't decided on the color yet.


Now I'm trying to find valances that I like in the colors I want for all the rooms. I want to switch them out in the master bedroom, bathroom, stair landing and both bedrooms upstairs. I'm looking for a black sheer or cotton one for the bathroom, red sheers for the master bedroom, dark brown for the stair landing, a perwinkle color for the first bedroom upstairs and haven't decided for the othe bedroom yet.....but its been SO hard trying to find what I want and not pay $50 for valances. So I might just have to teach myself to sew and buy fabric and do it myself.

[katieandalex]

So we've been busy this weekend with doing some more small home improvements.
Getting closer to finishing the one upstairs bedroom and almost ready to move onto the other bedroom.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp5%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A43%3A%3A8828nu0mrj
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp5%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A43%3A%3A679%3Anu0mrj
We still have to finish the rest of the ceiling trim and do some touch up and we'll be finished with that room.

We got new valances for the bedroom and bought some bamboo on clearance at Hobby Lobby to use as the curtain rod. We need to buy some more because we plan to do the same thing in the living room with new curtains that we just bought as well.
BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E23238%3A2569%3A%3B8ot1lsi


AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A43%3A%3A8826nu0mrj

[katieandalex]

We also updated the light fixtures in the bathroom and put up a new valance as well. Now the only thing left to do is paint the vanity mirror, change out the sink and put in ceramic tile and that room is done!
BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp69%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E23238%3A256%3C94%3Aot1lsi

AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A43%3A%3A6799nu0mrj

I don't have a before picture of the light fixtures...but they were really bad!
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp3%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A43%3A%3A6798nu0mrj


We also changed out the ceiling lights in both upstairs bedrooms to match the ceiling lights we put in the living room hallway. We bought another set as well to do the mudroom/soon to be bathroom and the laundry room as well.

[NicksBride]

Wow those curtains really brighten up the room. I love the colors you guys are using, very soft. Nicely done!!

[katieandalex]

Thanks Katy.

We have a whole new plan now for the kitchen. We wanted to do 50s diner really bad, but with the cabinets and countertops I've picked out, they won't really go with that theme anymore. So after eating at Olive Garden on Saturday, we decided to do a wine/vineyard sort of theme. We are planning on putting in our island and flat panel TV with pendant lights still. But off the one wall, we plan to put up a trellis (sp?) across the ceiling (we have a dropped ceiling currently, but its still really high) and have vines and such on it. And then instead of having actual ceiling lights or track lighting, we are going to use an idea that they had at Olive Garden as well. They used strings of Christmas lights (but not the little ones, they are like big clear balls on a string...they sell some at Target right now in their garden stuff) and they have them zig-zaged across the ceiling. So we plan to do that and wire it into a switch. We have a bunch of ideas for it, and hope it all comes together how we want it. But now the wall color will be a terra cotta color instead of the light blue.

I got my wall hangings I ordered for the spare bedroom upstairs today. LOVE THEM! So tonight if we finish up that room, we'll put those up and the room will be finished...minus the bed...LOL!

[katieandalex]

We put up our drapes in the living room and office tonight. Love them!
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp3%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A448%3B%3B93%3Bnu0mrj
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp5%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A448%3B%3B438nu0mrj
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp3%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNRCG %3D3232%3A448%3C5%3A43nu0mrj

[NicksBride]

Those look really nice. Its amazing what something small will do with the room!

[ger]

You have been working so hard. You have done a lot of neat changes. I still think you should come do my house when you're done. I'm needing my computer room done, my bathroom done, and my bedroom done. Oh, yeah...the kitchen could use a makeover too!!

[katieandalex]

Hahah, I think I'll be pretty pooped after doing everything to this house...and by that time, we will probably want to sell and move to something else, and start it all over again. LOL!

[BrideInCuffs21]

I know the feeling of home ownership... in about a week my fiance and I are going to sign on a contract for a piece of property that we are buying to build a house on in the next couple of years.... so excited!!!!! Its a great feeling.

[katieandalex]

Yeah, its kind of stressful at times but....I'm really happy that we bought this house and not another house.

[katieandalex]

Well, Alex and I might be giving Hahn to my aunt. My aunt's dog just passed away and since we've switched shifts at work and bought the house, we just feel like we are not being as good of doggie parents. Hes always caged up and we just don't think he deserves that at all. I e-mailed my aunt to see if she was interested since she wanted to get another dog since her's passed and she was really close to her. Hahn would be much happier with her and would be able to do a lot more things with than he would with us. We'd be sad to see him go, but he would be in a better place and we would still get to go and visit him and see him on holidays and such, so that would be nice.

We can still take care of him financially and we still play with him and love him a lot, but its just we have such busy schedules now that its just unfair to him. When we got him last year, we were working different shifts so he was only locked up for like 4 hours a day, now we are both working 1st shift and hes locked up 9-10 hours of the day, and thats just not fair to him.

if she does take Hahn, we are going to get a other cat for Chewy. Cats are a little more self-sufficient and we've been wanting another cat anyways. But with Hahn being a puppy still, we just don't have the time to train him like he needs to be and we don't have the time play with him and walk him as much as we need to.

[NicksBride]

aww thats kinda sad, but it is a nice gesture for you to offer him to your Aunt. I am sure you will miss him, and he will miss you but it sounds like your Aunt may give him more time.
Good luck with that, I know it probably is not an easy decision.

[katieandalex]

My aunt e-mailed back and she said she met Hahn the other weekend when Alex and I went to a wedding. She said that she liked Hahn very much and I guess my parents are picking him up on Sunday when they come to visit and taking him to my aunt. She said we are welcome to come and visit him any time during this transition.

[Dani]

I am happy to hear that your aunt is taking Hahn. You know he is going to a good home. Like you said, you can visit when you want.

[WebLady]

I am sorry to hear that you had to give up your dog; but I applaud you for finding him a good home and not just dumping him at the pound or something.

It sounds like he will do well at your Aunts and it is cool that he will stay in the family where you can still see him. I am not a cat person, but like you said, there are a little less "needy" that dogs (especially puppies), so a cat(s) might work out better for you guys right now.

All the best :)

[Doglover]

I love kittens. I wish they would just stay small, cause they are just so darn cute and playful! But i hate when they scratch the couch!!grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

[bichonlvr]

katie-I just checked out your house pics...Totally cute!!!! Goo job! How are things coming?

[WebLady]

FYI; The offending posts/replies have been removed from this thread and the instigators have been banned.

Now Katie can have her journal back ;)

ETA - Lets all remember to just play nice ... differing opinions is one thing, but to keep on about it and be rude about it is another.

[ger]

It wouldn't let me do the reputation thing, so....thank you so much. I hope Katy comes back soon.

[NicksBride]

Well glad everything is back to 'normal' hope to hear from katie very soon!!!

[katieandalex]

I'm glad I missed the drama. I've just been really busy the last few days. I'll be back with a fill in later this week.

[blueeyedbride]

I'm glad you missed it, I didn't want it to run u off.

[katieandalex]

Anyways, an update on life.

Hahn is off and with my aunt and uncle. My mom called me Sunday night when they got home and told me about the switch. Hahn did great and was very comfortable with my aunt, which I knew he would be. I guess my aunt was "giddy as a school girl" as my mom put it, about getting a new dog.
I just got and e-mail from my aunt updating me on all that has happened. I guess Hahn took to my uncle very well and helped him outside a lot in the last day. He even did well sleeping in their bed at night....I was very proud of him when I heard that. He will be off getting neutered tonight into tomorrow and my aunt will be picking him up tomorrow afternoon. I told her that in the next weekends after Hahn gets used to his new home, Alex and I would take a trip up to visit.

We feel terrible about having to give Hahn up and I know some people may say it was the "easy way out"...which really it was. But with my aunt's dog passing away, it was a blessing. We know he went to a good home and he will have a much better life with her. We love Hahn dearly, but we just couldn't give him the life he deserved anymore with our new schedules at work and everything with the house. It was unfair to him to be locked up for hours on end at the house, and this way he will be never be in a cage. My aunt wouldn't even take the cage we gave her with Hahn because she said that they have never put a dog in a cage before and they were not planning on with Hahn either.

As for other happenings in life, nothing much. No new updates to the house recently and no other big news. I talked to my dad yesterday about putting in a 2nd bathroom and showed him where we would like to do it. He said that he thinks it would definitely work there, so that will be our first big project and we plan to do that hopefully early early spring.

We did find out from my parents that next year for their 35th wedding anniversary in October that they are taking all of us (all 3 kids and spouses) on a big vacation. They are not sure where yet, but they mentioned it after I told them that Alex and I were planning on going to Myrtle Beach for a week. And my mom commented "Well you might be going twice." Myrtle Beach is where my family always vacationed every year, so it would be nice to go back with my family again. They are also talking about South Padre Island and there was some place else I can't remember. But I guess my parents can afford it...they told us this weekend that their car is paid off and now the only bills they have are utilites and insurance....must be nice! LOL!

[NicksBride]

aww it sounds like Hahn has found a lovely home. I am sorry it didn't work out, but at least you gave him to a happy home that will take care of him. I think you made the right decision, a tough one but the right one.
That vacation sounds like a blast!!! Thanks mom and dad. :)

[Goin2thechapel]

Awesome deal on the vacation. How much fun is that gonna be!!!I wish my parents would have an anniversary and take us all on a huge trip! Wahoo

[shawnsgirl]

I am so glad Hahn is doing so well! Good for you for finding him a home. You and Alex were right! It's never easy..I don't think you can say it really was an easy way out, you guys just noticed how unfair it was for him to be caged up all day! Good for you for taking the time to find him a good home! Cats are very self sufficient and congrats on getting another kitty! Hppefully, you'll get to go and visit Hahn soon!

[70707Bride]

Lucky you! A vacation paid for! Have fun!

[katieandalex]

Hahn is doing well at my aunt's house. She e-mails me updates all the time. They ranamed him to Han-cho to fit their family. I love the new name for him. I guess he gets along great with my cousin's 2 dogs. They were romping around together the other day and then my cousin left with the 2 dogs and Han-cho was wimpering because they left. I'm glad he found other dogs to be friends with. Everything went great with his neutering too. She said that you would never guess that he just had surgery. Alex and I plan to go see him one of these next Sundays, I can't wait to see him! :)

As for another cat, we don't have another one. We were thinking of getting another cat and we went out looking and decided that we would just wait for a while before getting another animal. Chewy would much rather be an only kitty, so we decided we would give her that. Shes back to her normal crazy self now in the house. And we're spoiling her like crazy. I told Alex that if we are only going to have 1 pet, she's going to be spoiled. So she just got a crunchy tent, a crunchy tunnel is on the way, a new feather stick, a new box of mice and a new collar.

As for home-improvements since I haven't been on in a while. I'm planning on painting the last bedroom upstairs today. Alex has to work a 12-hour shift, so I figured I could do that since I want to paint the room so I can unpack the boxes in the closet. We also went to Menards 15% bag sale last night. We picked up all of the door knobs we needed for the house. Now all of our door knobs will match!!!! And we won't have the ugly brushed bronze look. We were going to buy new faucets for the bathroom (the current one) but man was that a joke. We want to redrywall the bathroom (right now the walls are all tub surround) and then tile the tub surround in the tub. Well pretty much everything we want to do is riding on that redrywall and tiling. We can't find a single tub set that we like that will work in the current set up, we think we have to redrywall to put in our pedestal sink, we can't put up our medicine cabinet.....it just sucks. So we will be doing the 2nd bath first and then we will come back and redo that one.......not how I was planning on doing it, but oh well.

Alex and I also just bought a new TV. We've been dying to get a flat panel TV since we moved and we finally found an awesome deal. So we bought a 42" plasma. Its freakin HUGE! It takes up the whole wall we have the TV on right now. But we plan to buy a sectional for the room and hang the TV and it will look fine after that...but its just gigantic. We have our old TV sitting near it for now until we move it and our old TV we thought was big....yeah its just dwarfed by this new TV....crazy.

[NicksBride]

Happy to hear hahn is doing doing well. I love his new name hahaha.

[katieandalex]

I think Alex and I are going to visit him this sunday. My aunt and uncle are going to be at a car show this sunday, which they are taking Hancho too (his 1st car show, I know he'll love it!) And its on the way back home which we were thinking about going home to visit for the day, so we will probably stop by the car show and check it out and see Hancho!!! :) And hes coming to our party we're having at the end of the month!

[NicksBride]

Hancho, that is just so funny.
HOw is the house renovations coming? Enjoying your XL TV? hehehe

[katieandalex]

Well, all the door knobs are changed in the house. The 2nd upstairs bedroom is completed and I'll take pictures of both room upstairs later today after I get everything organized in the 2nd room. I'm almost finished with painting the dining room/soon to be sitting room. I'm really happy with the color selection for the walls in that room, and I think my plan will come together nicely once we get the new furniture for the den and move the existing furniture in the sitting room.

The XL TV is awesome. We've watched a ton of movies on it and its SO much better than our old TV. Our old TV is still great and was awesome at the time that we bought it (4 years ago) but its so much nicer to have a huge TV that has awesome picture!

Things are coming together and I can't wait until the 19th of this month! Because I'm off the rest of the month!!! Woo hoo! I can't wait. We are going to head to Kansas City for 2 days, up to our hometown for a day to go to the river museum and pick up a pumpkin pie & 2 caramel apples for our anniversary (Oh my gosh! Can you believe it? Our anniversary!!! Seems like just yesterday we got married!). Plus we are having a party on the 29th at our place...so pretty much our long vacation will be completely gone after all of that, but it will be nice to not be at work!

Hahn is doing well. My aunt said that him and the 2 other dogs found a big mud puddle behind their shop and they all were romping around in it, so they got to see what Hahn looked like as a brown dog! LOL! But she said that they've become the best of friends and I'm so happy that hes loving his new home!

[katieandalex]

Now for pictures!

I forgot to post pictures of our new wall hangings in the bedroom.
BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7265%3B7%7Ffp64%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2569%3A92ot1lsi
AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B7%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23239943%3B%3C898ot1lsi

And 2 pictures of Chewy!
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B5%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E2323994424592ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp333%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNR CG%3D3232%3A852%3C%3B993nu0mrj

[katieandalex]

The Dining Room/Soon to be Sitting Room. Once we get our new furniture for the den we will be moving our red sofa, tan chair, maple wood tables into this room. I'm planning on painting the trim around the ceiling white and refinishing the woodwork because its pretty beat up right now.
BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2574%3B64ot1lsi
AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B%3B%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E2323994424597ot1lsi

BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp67%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2574%3B74ot1lsi
AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23239943%3B%3C8%3A8ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

More Dining Room
BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp65%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A2575379ot1lsi
AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B6%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23239943%3B%3C8%3B5ot1lsi


The hallway...is finished! And I have my wonderful metal wallhangings up from my mom that read "Live Laugh Love" if you can't tell.
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23239944245%3A8ot1lsi

[katieandalex]

Spare Bedroom
BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E23238%3A256%3C8%3C5ot1lsi
AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B7%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23239944245%3B3ot1lsi

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp63%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXROQD F%3E23238%3A256%3C8%3C8ot1lsi
AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp333%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNR CG%3D3232%3A852%3C%3B9%3B3nu0mrj

*Edit also notice the new light fixture. We took the ceiling fan from the master bedroom and painted it and put it in the spare bedroom when we got a new ceiling fan for the master.

[katieandalex]

The Workout/Scrapbooking/Star Wars room
BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3 DXROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3B%3A3%3Aot1lsi
AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B8%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23239944245%3C3ot1lsi

BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/34%3A7344%3B2%7Ffp68%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23238%3A256%3C93%3Aot1lsi
AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B8%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E23239943%3B%3C8%3C6ot1lsi

[NicksBride]

I love the colors you guys have picked for your house. The dining room is VERY fresh and beautiful. I love the browns as well.

[katieandalex]

Yeah, when I first started rolling on the blue in the dining room...i'm like oooh I don't knwo about this. And Its very bright in comparison to the rest of our house, but I think it will be toned down a lot after we put the different furniture in it. The chair in the corner I'm planning on refinishing and painting the tan and then recovering the pad with red fabric. So once I get that done (which will be sooner than getting the new furniture) I can post a picture to show what the colors look like together. Alex is jealous....the room is my alum colors from high school...so hes fighting me for a green and gold room....no way ever in my house! LOL!

[Bradsgirl]

Well...I just read this start to finish and you have done a TON! That's wonderful! I am glad to see that Hancho has another happy home to be in, and that you made the decision to do that for him. Hope everything else is well and I hope you relax and enjoy what you have done so far:whoohoo:

[katieandalex]

Well, not much has happened this weekend. Just boring ol stuff. I can't wait until Friday and next Monday. I'm working in a different office that is super slow those 2 days to fill in for someone on vacation and I'm going to be able to get a ton of work done while I'm actually at work as well as a lot of internet surfing! :) Then next Wednesday I only work until 1:30pm and then I'm off until October 1st!!! Woo hoo!

But that week and a half long vacation is jam-packed with things to do. Alex and I are going back home for a few days, 1 day to visit and another day to spend together doing stuff we love in our hometown. We come home a day for a car show at Alex's work and then the next morning early we are off to head out of town again to get my car all tuned up and fast!!! :ura1: Then the day after we get back I have a dentist appointment and then 3 days with nothing planned...which we plan to do work on the house (pave a section of our patio, paint our doors & shutters, etc, etc) to get ready for our party we are having on the 29th. And then guess what?
The next day is our 1 year anniversary!!!!!
I can hardly believe it! This year has gone by SO fast and so many things have changed, it just amazing. We've made so many improvements in our lives....big purchases (2 brand new cars and a house), moving cities, me a job move...just all of these wonderful things all in the first year of marriage. It awesome! :D

[NicksBride]

WOw one year already???
Enjoy your time off, relax and ENJOY!!!!!

[katieandalex]

Yeah, I know...a year...its crazy...

[katieandalex]

Today I'm filling in at another office for someone whose on vacation for a few days. I'm at an office that is super slow...maybe a total of 6 patients a day on busy days. So I'll be online a lot today....

I talked to my mom last night. She got to see Hancho the other day. She said hes like a completely different dog. She said hes definitely not as hyper and he loves to ride in the car and she said that its great to see that hes so happy and with a family that takes him everywhere. I guess my mom and dad are going to be watching him for a week and a half next month, so Alex and I might take a trip back home to spend a day with him.

Yay! I can't wait until vacation. Next Wednesday I work until 130pm and then I'm off until October 1st!!!! Yay!!! I'm definitely ready for a vacation. I haven't really had a vacation yet this year other than the few days I took off to move, so it will be nice to have a couple days off.

[NicksBride]

Glad to hear Hancho is doing well and getting a lot of attention. Hope you guys get to see him soon, I am sure he will enjoy seeing you!!!
ENjoy your vacation I bet it will be a nice break for you! Sleep in, and enjoy it all!

[katieandalex]

I'll probably only get like 4 days to sleep in. :( Thrusday & Friday we are going back home. Sunday & Monday we are going to Kansas City and have to leave super early in the morning. Tuesday I have a dentist appt but not until the afternoon, so I can sleep in that day and also Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. But Friday night we are going to the track. Saturday we are having our party. We might sleep in on Sunday (our anniversary) depending on what we decide to do that day, and then Monday is back to work again...:(

[70707Bride]

Sounds like you're busy! I got to sleep in yesterday because I didn't have classes! Yay!

[katieandalex]

Alex and I got talking about going back to school again yesterday. I've really been itching to go back. The only schools around where we live now are either community colleges (which I want a 4-year degree now) and private colleges that are super expensive. I said something about moving back to go to ISU and we both go back to school. Alex was talking about how much money we would make after we were finished (he would go for his bachelors then masters in aerospace enginnerring and finish his degree he already has started) and he figured it out per week and its a **** load more than we make now. So I think I finally have Alex talked into us going back to school. Now for about 4 years we wouldn't have much money and be living off of loans, but hey, its worth it in the end.

We decided that we probably need to stay in our house for 2 years to be able to make good money out of it and gives us the time to take care of the things we want to do to improve the value of our house. My sister lived in her first house for just over 2 years (like 2 years and 2 months) and they made $40K off their house. Of course thats a different market, but anything is better than nothing. Now I don't know if we would buy a house right away when we move or not, we would probably have to with all of our stuff, but I don't know.

So it sounds like with talking, that fall 2009 we will be moving and heading back to school. Alex said that he wanted to take over the store in the town as manager and he might only go part time or barely full time for the first year, but I would go fulltime the whole time.

But after its all said and done, Alex would have a bachelors and masters in aerospace enginnerring and I would have my bachelors biology and chemistry with a minor in criminalistics and then I would like to get my masters in something, but I haven't decided what...probably biology or maybe physics.

Alex has a buddy that he went to ISU with that graduated and now works for Boeing in Seattle, so our hopes is that after we are done we move to Seattle and maybe Alex could get on with Boeing.....it would be nice money. His friend, right out of school, is making $200K/year without his masters.

[NicksBride]

Thats a great idea! Going back to school is an awesome idea. Seattle sounds like a great place to move as well, move where the money is. Good luck!!:whoohoo:

[katieandalex]

Alex still has cold feet about the idea, but he even said "I think by then I'll be ready to go back and I'll be mature enough to do it." He just thinks hes not smart enough for the program he was in and I think he can do it, so I think if I'm still there rooting him on, he'll be fine. But he also mentioned "Do you realize that if we do this we won't be having kids until you're like 35?" LOL! We won't be done with school until I'm 29 and hes 31, so if we want to work a few years to get money saved away, I guess we could start trying when I'm 31 or 32. But right now, I'm even thinking about maybe not even having kids....I just don't know if I want that...but then again, right now I don't want kids just because of our position right now, so my views may change in 10 years! LOL!

Alex and I got ambitious last night and started painting our shutters on our house. We've been wanting to change the doors and shutters from white to red. Here is a picture of the corner of our house, where one window still has white shutters and one has red shutters. The red is definitely more us now. Its a lot of work....I'm still painting them and taking a break right now...LOL!
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23239%3C8%3A%3B%3B%3B99ot1lsi

[NicksBride]

ohh those shutters look awesome!!!!! Well done. Did you see Hancho yet?

[4424]

wow!! the shutters make a huge difference, i love the red. great job on the rest of your house as well!

[katieandalex]

Nope, we havent' seen Hancho yet. It didn't work out the other weekend to see him and now they can't come to our party next weekend. :( So it will be a while, but next month my parents are watching him for a week so Alex and I are going to head home to hang out with him for a day.

I got the approval of the neighbors on our shutters. One of the neighbors (he is on the city council and his girlfriend is the daughter of the mayor) stopped by when Alex and I were working on them yesterday and he said that he really liked how they looked and they make the house pop more. Which I agree...before the house was so washed out with the yellow siding and white shutters, so people would just drive by and not notice, now you really stop and look at the house. The porch on the front of the house we are going to repaint all bright white, right now its bright white and the same yellow as the house, so again, it washes out.

All of the lower level shutters are finished, but the upper level ones we have to get a big ladder to get down, so those will get done after we go home and borrow a ladder. We are also going to cement in a flower bed that is in the middle of our patio (why anyone would ever do that to begin with, its beyond me) next week, as well as possibly change the exterior lights and add more solar lights. We want our house to be looking great for our guests when we have our party! :)

[70707Bride]

I love the red better than the white on a light colored house.

[katieandalex]

Thanks. We painted a few more tonight. Slowly working on them, but this time next week they will for sure be all done.

My mom made the curtains for our dining room. They look really good. I took a picture and I'll try and post it up tomorrow. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Shes working on a curtain for the office and valances for the spare bedroom...shes going to bring them to our party next weekend.

[katieandalex]

Here are the pictures of our new curtains. I love them! They are meant to be more decorative instead of functional....

http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B%3A%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23239%3C%3A%3A53%3A%3C6ot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp333%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNR CG%3D3232%3A%3B%3B964529nu0mrj

[ger]

I really like those. They add a nice touch to your living room.

[70707Bride]

Ooo, I love those curtains with that paint! Awesome choice! I found a bunch of curtains I liked at Ikea when we were in Minnesota. I love that store.

[NicksBride]

ohh those curtains add to the house so much! They are wonderful

[katieandalex]

Thank you. I'm glad others like my design. The true test will be this weekend when we have our party and all of our friends and family members see it....just to see what they have to say about everything in the house.

Alex and I took a little trip and ended up stopping to see an old friend of ours that we hadn't seen in like 2 years or so. So that meant going back to our old college town of Ames. So much has changed, but yet so much is still the same. Parts of it I miss and parts I don't, but I think in 2 years when we head back there to go back to school, I'll like it a lot more than I did before. There was so much that our friend showed us last night that I never really knew existed when I lived there before, mainly because we had no money to do any of the things we wanted to do. But our friend was telling us about the changes that they are proposing for the next years, and Alex and I will be living there in the midst of it all, which will be exciting. I really can't wait to go back to school...

[NicksBride]

That is exciting to go back to a college town you have been away from for so long. Did it spark something in Alex to maybe get more excited about it?

[katieandalex]

He was actually the one that brought it up first to our friend about us moving back there. He seems to be getting more and more excited about it....but it is still 2 years away....but he'll start getting more excited once we get our house finished, apprasied again and then put up on the market to sell the year we plan to move.

[katieandalex]

Well, my car is officially a POS. The supercharger went out on it, then when we went to take it to the dealer yesterday, it wouldn't start and we had to wait 4 hours for roadside assistance to get a tow truck to us and get it to the dealer. Turns out some crank sensor is out...so that will be 3 new parts in 1 week. So we traded it off. The dealer said it was going to be over a month to get the sueprcharger in to be replaced and they made a deal with us that if we found a car that we liked that was in the same price range, they would take to our loan company (which they deal with a lot) about swapping out the cars but keeping the same loan. We ended up getting it straightened out. So now I own a 2007 Mazda CX7. I'll get actual pictures of the car later, but here is one from the Mazda website of what mine looks like.
http://images.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/images/build_buy/redesign/2007_configurator/pho_bui_cx7_ext_white_glory.jpg

AS for schooling. We talkd again today about it. We are defnitely planning on heading back to school. Alex even mentioned that we start taking like 1 class a semester to get back into the swing of things. He needs some refreshers on math before he heads back, and I would like to take my english and math courses at a community college, since those are my worst subjects. So maybe this spring or summer semester we may head back to school.

As for home improvements....we finally got the patio filled in. After 16 bags of Quikrete, and 2 days later...its finsihed. On WEdnesday we dug out the flower bed taht was there, Thursday we started filling it and today we finished it up. Once its dry I'll post some pictures!

Tomorrow is our big party! I'm so excited! My BM and best friend is coming down to it and spending the night at our house. I haven't seen her since our wedding so its really exciting to be able to see her again!

[70707Bride]

Aw, I'm sorry about your car! You had a Cobalt SS right? Did you not have the 100K mile powertrain warranty? Ours does, I guess I thought it was for all Cobalts. But I like your new car! Mazdas are nice. I can't wait to see more pics of it. Is yours white or silver like the pic?

[katieandalex]

No, mine only had the regular 5yr powertrain. Mine wasn't built during the 100K mile thing. My Mazda is white, the picture is actually white too...but its like a pearl white so thats why the picture above looks silver. I guess its an extra $200 option to get the white....either way, its the color I wanted and all of the options I said I wanted.

Yay! Today is 1 year anniversary!

[70707Bride]

I like pearl white. Ours was an '07 that's why we have the 100K mile warranty. Happy anniversary! Have lots of fun!

[Jacklynn]

yay for a new car! And happy anniversary!!! Did you guys do anything fun?

[NicksBride]

I am late, but happy anniversary!!!! What did you guys do for your one year??
I LOVE your new car. :)

[katieandalex]

We didn't do much for our anniversary. We slept in, then ran some errands and went to a really nice dinner. Then went and took pictures of my new car (which I'll post soon) and bought 2 new movies and went home and watched them together. Nothing too exciting, but it was nice to spend some relaxing time together.

[70707Bride]

Ooo, yay pics! What movies did you get?

[katieandalex]

First for pictures:
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp333%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNR CG%3D3232%3B24%3A%3C%3B866nu0mrj
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp333%3Enu%3D323%3B%3E266%3E236%3EWSNR CG%3D3232%3B24%3A%3C%3B867nu0mrj
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B%3B%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E2323%3A33%3B%3B%3C77%3Aot1lsi
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E2323%3A33%3B%3B%3B9%3A9ot1lsi

I love my new car...its kind of different driving such a big car everyday after driving my small cars for so long, but its nice to have a more "grown up" car.


Movies, we got Hot Fuzz and Redline. We wanted to see Redline in the theatres and missed it....a good movie about fast cars, racing and gambling...has kind of bad acting but an overall edge of your seat movie. Hot Fuzz we had heard from quite a few people that it was hilarious, and boy was it ever. Alex and I were cracking up the whole time. It has a weird ending but it does keep you guessing.

[NicksBride]

LOVE YOUR CAR, I WANT IT!!!!!!!!!!
:) sounds like you guys had a nice anniversary!!

[Goin2thechapel]

Wow...I love your new car!!! I swear, You get more cars than anyone I know...I'm just jealous that's all..LOL!

Glad your anniversary was nice! I can't believe it's already been a year! Holy cow!

[70707Bride]

I love the car!

[katieandalex]

Yeah, I know people keep saying that I change shoes more than women change shoes. I just wish that I didn't have so much bad luck with cars recently, and I wouldn't be in this situation...oh well...

[katieandalex]

I'm slowly getting my schooling stuff figured out. I think this next spring or summer semester, Alex and I are going to start taking 1 class/semester to get back into the swing of things and get a couple classes under out belt before taking the plunge into university again.

I just e-mailed the admissions office for help on courses that I could take that would for sure transfer for the majors I want to do. I'm planning on doing a B.S. in Biology with a B.S. in interdisiplinary criminology and criminal justice...which means I can specialize my degree to what I want...which I'm thinking physics and something else and then minoring in chemistry....thats my plan at least.

But after talking to Alex, he said hes willing to move in 2 years to head back to school, but only if we can make a good chunk of change on the house we are in now. We for sure want to buy a house in the new town, but they are much more expensive, so the more we make on this house, the more we have to put down on the new house which keeps out mortgage payment lower...which is good since we may not be able to work as many hours or make as much money as we do now....

[NicksBride]

You do have a lot of cars.. Since I Have "Know" you I think you have had what three cars? haha its alright, I am the same way. I am jealous as well, I LOVE your new car.
Good luck with school, I was thinking this morning how much I wanted to go back to school!! I wish you good luck! :)

[shawnsgirl]

I love the new ride!!! Very Nice..I am soo jealous!!

Congrats on looking to go back to school...I'm going back full time in the fall of '08..I'm not looking forward to it but I don't want to work full time, be a mom full time, and go to school part time forever..I need to be able to just get it over with and graduate...Good luck and go for it!!

[70707Bride]

I just e-mailed the admissions office for help on courses that I could take that would for sure transfer for the majors I want to do. I'm planning on doing a B.S. in Biology with a B.S. in interdisiplinary criminology and criminal justice...which means I can specialize my degree to what I want...which I'm thinking physics and something else and then minoring in chemistry....thats my plan at least.


I'm in an interdisciplinary studies program too because I didn't get into the music program and I still wanted to take the classes. I'm starting to think that I still had a minor too. I dropped my minor when I went into this program. There are like no jobs around here ya know.

[katieandalex]

Still waiting for an e-mail back from the admissions office....*sign*

Either way, today I went out to buy some new jeans for fall & winter....even though it is like 90 degrees right now...*shakes head*...I always go to the same store and buy the same brand of jeans because they fit me in length since I'm so short....anyways, go in there today and there is an early bird sale until 1pm (I went in at about 11am) for 50% off any pairs of pants from that brand. So jeans were $16.99/each! Then when I went to check out I decided to use that stores credit card and we'd just pay it off when we got the bill...I saved another $11! I ended up getting 4 pairs of jeans for $61.80! How many places can you do that at?

Then on the drive home, I saw this really bad wreck...well the aftermath of it. There was this older pickup truck that was on its top and engine parts strewn all over the interstate....the only part of the truck that you could still tell what kind of vehicle it was, was by the truck bed....there is no way the person driving could still be alive. So many of these fatal accidents have been happening lately...

[NicksBride]

Wow that is a great deal on jeans, I got a new pair of jeans for $69.50 ONE PAIR... I am jealous. hahaha

I hate seeing accidents, it is very scary

[70707Bride]

Yay about the jeans! I need some new ones too. I saw the aftermath of a wreck on the 4th of July. We were coming home from Ft. Madison and saw this thing in the trees kinda down in the ditch, couldn't tell if it was a motorcycle or a really smashed up car. The next day or so, the article in the paper said it was a motorcycle/deer accident. The guy ended up dying and his wife survived. That was pretty scary to see.

[katieandalex]

Wow! Its scary what can happen when you are driving on the road.


Well, today I requested information for Alex for starting at the community college. We are planning on going to the same community college for our few classes. We both are going to take a foreign language...so maybe we will take our first class together to help us get back into the swing of things. We'll see...but we are planning on this spring semester starting back up. I hope everything works out.

[NicksBride]

That would be fun to take a class together, just to get used to it again. Sounds like a plan, hope it continues to go well!!

[70707Bride]

I've taken some classes with Chris, one our first semester of college right after I met him (what a coincidence that we randomly had a class together.) Then I had a couple with him here at WIU. I don't know if I like that though haha, because when he understands something and I don't then I feel stupid. I don't know why.

[katieandalex]

Haha, yeah I would definitely feel the same way with Alex. There are definitely some classes I wouldn't take with him....like math and english courses! Haha!

Alex and I just got done painting our front and back doors on the house to match the shutters. It looks SO much better now.

[NicksBride]

haha I could never imagine taking classes with Nick, he would take through the entire thing...
Oh I bet it looks great!

[Jacklynn]

I always go to the same store and buy the same brand of jeans because they fit me in length since I'm so short....

I do that too! I am just barly 5 foot. I go to Old Navy because their jeans fit me. Oh and Steve and Berry's.

[Jacklynn]

Matthew and I have a major in the same department, so we have most every class together. It's so funny because all of our professors knew us at Matthew and Jacklynn the dating/engaged couple, and this year my last name has changed and they are like just say our last name when talking about us haha

[katieandalex]

haha, thats funny.

[katieandalex]

Here are before and after pictures of our doors.
BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp6%3B%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E232384836445%3Bot1lsi
AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B5%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E2323%3A7783%3C%3A58ot1lsi


BEFORE
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B%3C%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DX ROQDF%3E23239943%3B%3C8%3A8ot1lsi
AFTER
http://images.photo.walgreens.com/232323232%7Ffp%3B8%3Dot%3E232%3C%3D357%3D327%3DXRO QDF%3E2323%3A7783%3B442ot1lsi

[NicksBride]

OHHH that door is beautiful. I love the glass on it. That is the color I want to do our door.. Will have to show DH how good it looks.

[Dani]

The doors look really nice! Red is one of my favorite colors!

[katieandalex]

The color we used is Dutch Boy's "Roasted Tomato". But we had it mixed in Kilz paint because I don't really like Dutch Boy all that much...I just like their colors! :)

[Jacklynn]

I think the door adds a ton :) I like it.

[70707Bride]

Love the before and after. I like what you are doing with your house!

[Diamend]

Hey, I have followed your posts since I started here, but I don't think I've ever actually posted on you. I must say, I look forward to seeing all of your pictures!!! I love seeing the updates you do to your house, I wish I had a vision or courage to do stuff to ours!

I also LOVE your car!! I just got a Mazda3 5-door in Aug... and we're a Mazda family... so I know we'll update to the CX7 when its time for baby making!!