Making Our House a Home

When B and I first started talking about becoming homeowners, I was excited. I couldn’t wait to paint the walls and decorate everything. When we ended up buying his childhood home from his parents, I was a little disappointed. Actually, a lot disappointed. As much as I love certain features of the house - specifically the chunky wood trim accents and the built-in shelves and cabinets/entertainment area in the living room - there are quite a few flaws. The previous-previous owners (you know, before my in-laws) installed the gypsum wall board that is used in trailer homes all throughout the house. The walls that remain beneath the gypsum board and the remaining walls that weren’t touched during remodels (aka every room except the bathrooms and the kitchen ceiling) are lath and plaster. Ugh.

In order to redecorate the house how we I want it, nearly every room in the house will eventually need to be gutted down to studs, the insulation will need to be refilled, the electrical should probably be updated, and then drywall will be installed … it’s going to be a giant mess (not to mention how ridiculously expensive it will be).

Remodeling the entire house is my long-term home owning goal, but I have a few short-term goals to keep me satisfied in the mean time.

One of the main things I’d like to do is add some personality to our rooms. We have a total of 5 things currently hanging on the walls. Two wedding pictures in our stairwell, two farmhouse/country style signs that we inherited from the in-laws (aka they forgot to take them with when they moved out - at some point I’ll stop being lazy and take them down … and probably donate them to Goodwill), and a really cute print that I recently found on Pinterest (original location here). Eventually, I’d like to have a photo gallery in the stairwell that covers most of the walls. I just love the look of them - I think the pictures and prints used in photo galleries say a lot about the family who lives in the house.

New furniture is really high on my list as well. We have an oddly shaped living room, and I think a sectional sofa would make the room configuration a lot less awkward. We even found one at the Cash & Carry store that we both really liked … it’s just a matter of saving up $800 to buy it :-/. I’d also like to replace our coffee table and end tables with ones that weren’t $20 for a set of 3 at Target. Yeah, our current coffee/end tables are those cheap-o MDF ones that college kids buy. And I broke the coffee table (on accident. I wanted to play Dance Central, it was in my way … I slid it out of the way, a leg got caught on the carpet, and now that leg is at a really awkward angle - but it still works … I guess). I’d like to get a coffee table with a lot of storage (to make up for the loss of storage that will happen when we no longer have the crappy futon). Our mattress needs to be replaced too. There are pieces of the springs (again) poking out of the mattress on B’s side of the bed, and it sags in the middle, so I can’t help but to lay in the middle of the bed rather than on my own side. It has definitely seen better days, and although the memory foam mattress pad we have on it is nice, it doesn’t make the bed any more comfortable (because it’s impossible).

Finally, I’d like to do a temporary remodel of the girl cave. I’d like to re-attach the wood paneling to the wall (there is one corner where the bottom of the panels have become detached from the wall), paint the wood paneling, and get rid of the ugly two toned carpet. I think there’s something about the house that screamed “put ugly carpet in me!” First we had to get rid of the rust-orange carpet in the small bedroom (there’s still some in the hallway and down the stairs mocking us), and the girl cave has blue/purple carpet with brown spots. Not dirty spots, but random patches of brown mixed in with the blue/purple. B’s parents (his mom) picked that carpet. I don’t know what she was thinking. (edit: B says I’m wrong, that carpet was already there. Either way it’s UGLY!) In order to do anything in that room, I’d need to clean it. Odds are, it’s never going to happen.

Hopefully within the next year or so we can start crossing these things off the list, and make our house a little more “us” and a lot more comfortable.

Road Trip!

It has been way too long since I’ve posted on this thing.  I blame work.  Work sucks.

Moving on …

In about a month, B and I will be going on our first vacation since our honeymoon last spring, and I am so excited! And to make the 14 plus hour road trip to Atlanta even more interesting, we’ll be joined by my brother and (soon to be) sister-in-law!

B deserves all of the credit for planning this trip - he was the one who noticed that the Braves home opening series was against the Brewers (he checked the MLB schedule as soon as it came out), he took the initiative to invite my brother and sister in law, and he planned all of the other activities we’ll be enjoying while on our trip as well.  Great job, babe!

This is our itinerary for the vacation:

Thursday, April 12 - travel day - we’re looking at about 16 hours (give or take … I’m including food and shopping breaks in this estimation) in the car, all the way from Wisconnie to ATL

Friday, April 13 - our first full day in Atlanta.  We’re going to the Georgia Aquarium in the morning, eating some real Southern Barbecue, and then heading to the Braves home opener against the Brewers.

Saturday, April 14 - zoo day!  I’m so excited, we didn’t have enough time to make it to Zoo Atlanta last year - and they have PANDAS!!!  (“RICK!  I killed a Panda!” - just for you B lol).  Post-zoo festivities include *hopefully* eating at Antico Pizza, and Braves vs Brewers game 2.

Sunday, April 15 - our last day in Atlanta :( - eating at The Vortex, Braves vs Brewers game 3, and then … hitting the road to come back home.  We’re planning on stopping in Nashville for the night.

Monday, April 16 - finish the drive from Nashville to home.  Boo!

It’s not going to be a very long trip, but we have a lot of things crammed into those few days, and it should be a very fun time.  I’m a little worried about the weather - it’s already 80 degrees here … it’s going to be like 100 degrees in Atlanta next month - yikers!  Regardless of the temperature, I am certain that we’ll have an amazing time.

My Hubsie is Amazing

… and now he’s going to have a major ego.

Seriously though, he’s really gone above and beyond lately.  Sunday, we went shopping and he let me buy another tin bucket at Target to use in the gray bedroom (this one is gray, so now I have 2 circle buckets - a white and a gray, and 2 oval buckets in aqua).  He also bought me an amazing (or awful) book - Tyra Banks’ “Modelland.”  I can already tell it’s going to be ridiculous. I suggested reading it together at bedtime - one chapter a night, so we could enjoy it together - he wasn’t very interested.  Instead, B mandated that I give a full book report when I’m finished reading.  I can only imagine the hilarity that will ensue.  Along with these other amazing purchases, I was able to snag Cadbury Mini Eggs and Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs.

Some time later this week, I should be receiving my new The Sims 3 Expansion Pack because B pre-ordered it for me a lonnnnnnnnnnng time ago when it was first announced.  I friggen love that game - I can’t wait to play it!

But B’s generosity doesn’t end there!  He’s also been buying tickets for various shows.  We’ll be seeing Aziz Ansari (for the second time) in May, and this coming Saturday, we’ll be going to Chicago to see “Bring It On:  The Musical” as an early birthday celebration for me.  I haven’t been to a real play in a long tine (like since 6th grade), so I’m super excited.

All of this amazing stuff, along with booking different things for our trip to Atlanta in less than 40 days!  Seriously, what a guy!  It feels really good to get spoiled a bit, and I appreciate everything he’s doing for me.

Charting Revisited

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about my experience charting my BBT on Fertility Friend. That’s because there isn’t much to tell. I quit doing it.

I had done a pretty good job of taking my temperature first thing in the morning (at approximately the same time every day) for almost 2 months. In that 2 months, I found out that my temperature doesn’t really follow normal patterns. Aside from the time I spiked a fever (I got the flu the Thursday before Christmas), my temperature ranged from 97.3 to 97.8 - never more, never less. After seeing that every morning for a month and a half, I decided I would stop charting until after visiting my doctor. While at that appointment, she asked if I had been charting and what I had seen, and she came to the conclusion that I had expected - my cycles during that time were anovulatory. Bummer. She briefly brought up using medication to help regulate things after a few months (if things don’t sort themselves out), but I wasn’t really given any more instruction.

Now that I’ve started taking the prenatal vitamins that I was prescribed, I am thinking about starting to chart again (after I replace the battery in my thermometer - I can’t believe it died already!). Maybe things will change (my NP said the vitamins might help somewhat in making things more normal). And if there is no change, then I’ll at least have my chart as proof that nothing is happening the next time I make an appointment, and at that point, we can further discuss the idea of using pharmaceutical help.