Light Update....

Okay, so we got home from dinner tonight, and I felt the urge to fix the random lights that are burned out throughout the house. I decided to try to tackle the master bedroom light because it is really, really annoying me. When you turn it on it isn't even bright enough to light your way to the bedside stand where another lamp is. It's pathetic. The picture below was taken at night, without a flash, but with the room light turned ON. Can't see a whole lot, eh?

The light fixture is connected to the ceiling fan which seemed a little daunting to deal with just to change a light bulb or two...but I decided to try. After unscrewing and rescrewing several screws I gave up. Jehn was here, though, so she offered to take a look. She was able to get a little panel off and discovered that all the lights are indeed working.

So why is it so dark if all the lights are working, you ask?...are you ready for this?!? It is so dark because the room is being lit with FOUR CHRISTMAS LIGHTS.

You read that right. Whoever the idiot was who created this crazy contraption thought that putting four Christmas lights behind a thick pane of glass would be sufficient to light an entire room. You have got to be kidding me.

Okay, so it's not like this is the end of the world, right? We already have two lamps in the room that provide a good bit of light...so really, as far as light in the room is concerned it's fine. But I want to meet the person who designed this crazy light fixture/fan ensemble...and tell them to their face what a complete idiot they are.

PS - Kristin thinks the light fixture is beautiful.

Our House

We've been in the house for a week now, and I'm discovering cool things (and a few not cool things) about it every day.

Some favorite things:

- Mail slot - it makes getting mail exciting :)

- Laundry chute

- Blinds - a pleasant surprise since I thought I hated them before we moved in

- Tree in the front yard

- Street sign - I don't know why I like this...it's not like it's OUR street sign...but I love it

- Basement - not that I would just go hang out down there, but I'm so glad we have a non-scary basement

- Mysterious writing on the wall in the secret bomb/tornado shelter downstairs. Seems some girls had some fun down there in the 40s.

- The overall feeling of the house - it reminds me of my grandparents house (which is full of good memories), and just feels homey...which is a good thing!

Some not so favorite things:

- The light (or lack thereof) in the master bedroom - we need to change some bulbs but it looks like such a hard job neither of us has decided we have the energy to deal with it as of yet

- Tiny bathroom

- Tiny Closets - we realized this before we moved in, but once you start to put clothes in them you realize just how small they are!

- Empty wall in the bathroom - still not thrilled the previous owners took the mirror off the wall, but what do you do?

Undecided things:

- Hardwood floors - I've never had hardwood floors before...and while I think maybe I'll learn to like them for now they just seem cold and hard

- Rose bush - The previous owners clipped all the roses before they left, so it's a little sad looking right now

- Garden in the backyard - I hate it right now, but maybe after I spend some time out there cleaning it up I will have a change of heart

Okay, that's all I can think of off the top of my head...I have a lot of thoughts about the home buying experience...hopefully I'll have the time in the next week or two to write them all down and share them!

Goodbye Bushes!

Today we had a guy come and do an estimate to do some trimming of everything overgrown at our new house. He gave me a quote this morning which was just too good to turn down. He said he would come next week to do the work but called a bit later and said his afternoon had opened up and he could do it today!

I was so happy to see the bushes come down and the tree trimmed up. He even did some extra trimming to other bushes and overall it looks great! There's one part that seems a little "naked," but it will grow and I think it needed to be cut back so much because of how overgrown it was.

Anyway, here are some before and after pics for your enjoyment :)

House Before

House After

Side bushes before

Side bushes after - these are what I think look a little naked...

(sorry for the poor quality of picture...I was losing light fast :))

Tree before...

Tree after!

Auden!

A few weeks ago we got to watch Auden, the son of a friend of ours. We did all the fun stuff like go to McDonald's, swim in the pool, and watch a movie (we started with Cat in the Hat but after 30 seconds he freaked out and wouldn't watch anymore so we put in The Fox and the Hound). It was so much fun!

Mold...

So the other day Kristin was starting to clean out our closet in preparation for the upcoming move. She picked up a suitcase that had been in the corner of the closet for the past two years to find mold growing all over the place - all over the suitcase, the carpet, the wall, clothes...ew.

Drying it all out after the carpet had been pulled up...

A bit blurry, but look at how nasty!

Dory checking it out after the "fix"...this is how the closet currently looks. Yuck

The apartment management didn't seem too concerned about it, but it STUNK. We ended up moving the mattress into the living room for a few nights. Kristin couldn't really smell it as much as I could and eventually she said she wanted to move the mattress back (mostly because it was taking up our entire living room making it difficult to get around and pack). I slept on the couch.

Finally the maintenance guy came in and cut out the carpet and cleaned the wall a bit. He said he would be back to replace the carpet...but that was 4 days ago and he hasn't been back since. I have loved living here...but I can't help but be happy we're moving in 6 days. :)