Over the weekend we finished up some loose ends with some help from my Mom and the Mr's Dad. Thanks guys! You're real troopers.
We also started some painting. Well actually, just cutting-in, on the office and baby's room. I'm really happy with our color choices and can't wait to see the finished product.
The Mr. began rolling the vaulted ceilings over the dining and living rooms last night and I think the "Wild Porcini" is the perfect color. It's so warm and cozy. Once the wall color is on, I'm sure it's going to be amazing!
Sorry to keep this update so short. The last few days have been a blur, and there's so far left to go.
I have taken before pictures of the house and will continue to document our progress. Although, it may be a while before I'm able to share them. My home computer decided to blow up and it's repair has been placed in a holding queue of things to do after the move is complete.
***MASON UPDATE***
He's continually growing stronger and his kicks are sometimes visable from the outside. From time to time, you can see my whole belly shift as he tries to get comfortable. I am obviously pregnant now, and when the low back aches get to me, I definately have a pregnant waddle. Very humorous to those around me, but not so comfortable for me. Our next appointment is November 10th, for a general weigh in and check up as well as a Glucose Test to make sure I'm not developing Gestational Diabetes. I'm sure everything is fine as Mason seems to like his vegetables. :)
10.25.2006
Na, na, na, na. Hey, hey, hey. Good bye!
Bye bye you wretched fleas! The little beasts seems to be evicted from the house, but they may be lurking nearby in the back yard. We'll have to spray or something before we move in and our kitty comes home.
Mr. & I have been steadily working to clean the house. I again stick to my theory that the previous tenants were a bunch of college bachelors, whom their mothers would be ashamed of.
The master bath shower stall grout was black, (Yes, black as night!), with mildew. Fortunately I heard of a trick on a message board that Easy Off oven cleaner works wonders on grout. Unfortunately, being pregnant, I couldn't witness the miracle myself, but the Mr. gladly accepted the challenge. Basically, you spray the oven cleaner all over the tile and grout, let it sit and work for 10-15 min. Scrub at the grout and then rinse away all the mucky mess. It's recommended that you let it air out before attempting to clean up any oven cleaner residue, or you may become a little dizzy from the fumes. Let me tell you, it's amazing the difference. I thought the tile was pink with a pale pink grout, but couldn't be sure because so much of it was covered in grime. Turns out the grout is pale pink! Bye bye mildew!
Next up on our list of things to do is to clean and line the kitchen cabinets, wash the walls in preparation for new paint, and to re-caulk the bathrooms. Then we can start painting & cutting in.
Mr.'s Dad is coming out on Saturday to help clean and set up the garage, and whilst they are busy out there, I'm going to start cutting in around the trim and transition walls at least as far as I can reach. I'm suffering from some balance issues due to the pregnancy, and I'm afraid to get on a ladder. Best that I avoid that accident waiting to happen altogether.
Meanwhile, Mason is growing steadily and becoming stronger every day. He seems to be most active about 10-15 minutes after I eat, and some of his kicks have made me jump outta my seat. He's no longer that shy when the Mr. places a hand on my belly, but he does stop for a minute to, I think, figure out that it's Daddy. :)
Mr. & I have been steadily working to clean the house. I again stick to my theory that the previous tenants were a bunch of college bachelors, whom their mothers would be ashamed of.
The master bath shower stall grout was black, (Yes, black as night!), with mildew. Fortunately I heard of a trick on a message board that Easy Off oven cleaner works wonders on grout. Unfortunately, being pregnant, I couldn't witness the miracle myself, but the Mr. gladly accepted the challenge. Basically, you spray the oven cleaner all over the tile and grout, let it sit and work for 10-15 min. Scrub at the grout and then rinse away all the mucky mess. It's recommended that you let it air out before attempting to clean up any oven cleaner residue, or you may become a little dizzy from the fumes. Let me tell you, it's amazing the difference. I thought the tile was pink with a pale pink grout, but couldn't be sure because so much of it was covered in grime. Turns out the grout is pale pink! Bye bye mildew!
Next up on our list of things to do is to clean and line the kitchen cabinets, wash the walls in preparation for new paint, and to re-caulk the bathrooms. Then we can start painting & cutting in.
Mr.'s Dad is coming out on Saturday to help clean and set up the garage, and whilst they are busy out there, I'm going to start cutting in around the trim and transition walls at least as far as I can reach. I'm suffering from some balance issues due to the pregnancy, and I'm afraid to get on a ladder. Best that I avoid that accident waiting to happen altogether.
Meanwhile, Mason is growing steadily and becoming stronger every day. He seems to be most active about 10-15 minutes after I eat, and some of his kicks have made me jump outta my seat. He's no longer that shy when the Mr. places a hand on my belly, but he does stop for a minute to, I think, figure out that it's Daddy. :)
10.23.2006
Getting Started
Keys were in hand Thursday night, and we didn't hesitate to start work. In order for us to habitate the place, first we had to evict some uninvited guests, so we bombed the place. Flea bomb that is. My, my there were a lot of little critters hidden in that house, but I think we zapped them all.
We headed back to the house on Saturday to start cleaning and prepping for some minor modifications before the big move. First and foremost was some bathroom duty. I, being pregnant had to use the facilities, but was able to hold it long enough to clean the facilities. Boy was it a mess!
The house had been a rental unit for some time, and given the cleanliness of the place, we can only assume that some college men were the occupants. Nasty!
A good friend stopped by to clean up some messy wiring, which has since fixed our oven/stove problem. You see, if you turned on a couple burners, and then the oven, nothing would heat up. After the repairs, those burners and oven elements got red hot! Whoo hoo! We won't have to live off of micro-waved meals!
There was also the business of dusting and vacuuming. Not only to be rid of the flea bomb residue, but the place probably hadn't been vacuumed well for at least 6 months. Again, yuck!
Saturday was a long exhausting day, but a lot was accomplished. And not to worry all of you, I rested plenty and continued to eat snacks throughout the day. Not to mention a fabulous lunch of All You Can Eat Shrimp at Red Lobster. I saved up 2 weeks of not eating seafood so I could enjoy to my hearts content. Mason seemed to enjoy it as well, he was bouncing all over the place.
Sunday, we got a late start and took our time getting out of bed. First stop, Home Depot. What an insane place, but we got what we needed and headed back to the house. My feet were killing me, but I started in on the Master Bathroom. I hadn't realized it before (don't know how I missed it), but the shower stall had clumps of dirt, and I don't know how many layers of mildew in the grout. I got about one third through, and gave up. Too much work for one preggo lady to handle.
Meanwhile, the Mr. was busy in the kitchen vacuuming out the kitchen cabinets, and cleaning out the fireplace. Great job Mr.!
Then came the fun part. :) We had purchased paint samples at Home Depot and got to try them out on the walls. We did pretty good selecting the colors, and only one of them wasn't at all what we expected. I think we've figured out a good alternative and we'll just trust that when going to purchase the bulk of the paint. Wearing a respirator is quite an experience, and I feel much like Darth Vador. "Mason, (chee-haa) I am your Mother. (chee-haa)"
Speaking of Mason, he's becoming quite a strong little one. My stomach now bounces when he gets in a good kick. It's pretty funny to watch. Almost like the movie Alien. Creepy, but in a satisfying way. :) Oh, and he's started to get hiccups. So cute.
The next few weeks are going to be packed full, so I don't know how often I'll be able to post updates. I'll do my best to fill you in with the highlights, and occasionally some low lights. :)
We headed back to the house on Saturday to start cleaning and prepping for some minor modifications before the big move. First and foremost was some bathroom duty. I, being pregnant had to use the facilities, but was able to hold it long enough to clean the facilities. Boy was it a mess!
The house had been a rental unit for some time, and given the cleanliness of the place, we can only assume that some college men were the occupants. Nasty!
A good friend stopped by to clean up some messy wiring, which has since fixed our oven/stove problem. You see, if you turned on a couple burners, and then the oven, nothing would heat up. After the repairs, those burners and oven elements got red hot! Whoo hoo! We won't have to live off of micro-waved meals!
There was also the business of dusting and vacuuming. Not only to be rid of the flea bomb residue, but the place probably hadn't been vacuumed well for at least 6 months. Again, yuck!
Saturday was a long exhausting day, but a lot was accomplished. And not to worry all of you, I rested plenty and continued to eat snacks throughout the day. Not to mention a fabulous lunch of All You Can Eat Shrimp at Red Lobster. I saved up 2 weeks of not eating seafood so I could enjoy to my hearts content. Mason seemed to enjoy it as well, he was bouncing all over the place.
Sunday, we got a late start and took our time getting out of bed. First stop, Home Depot. What an insane place, but we got what we needed and headed back to the house. My feet were killing me, but I started in on the Master Bathroom. I hadn't realized it before (don't know how I missed it), but the shower stall had clumps of dirt, and I don't know how many layers of mildew in the grout. I got about one third through, and gave up. Too much work for one preggo lady to handle.
Meanwhile, the Mr. was busy in the kitchen vacuuming out the kitchen cabinets, and cleaning out the fireplace. Great job Mr.!
Then came the fun part. :) We had purchased paint samples at Home Depot and got to try them out on the walls. We did pretty good selecting the colors, and only one of them wasn't at all what we expected. I think we've figured out a good alternative and we'll just trust that when going to purchase the bulk of the paint. Wearing a respirator is quite an experience, and I feel much like Darth Vador. "Mason, (chee-haa) I am your Mother. (chee-haa)"
Speaking of Mason, he's becoming quite a strong little one. My stomach now bounces when he gets in a good kick. It's pretty funny to watch. Almost like the movie Alien. Creepy, but in a satisfying way. :) Oh, and he's started to get hiccups. So cute.
The next few weeks are going to be packed full, so I don't know how often I'll be able to post updates. I'll do my best to fill you in with the highlights, and occasionally some low lights. :)
10.19.2006
Drum roll please...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
As of 3:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, we are homeowners!
The keys are available to us to basque in the glory of owning our first piece of crap. But, by golly, it's our piece of crap!
I cannot believe that this whole process has gone as smoothly as it has. Everyone involved in our success as homeowners has gone above and beyond what we'd ever expected and the Mr. & I will be forever grateful.
A toast to all of you for your love and support! And here's to many happy years to come as we begin our family in our first home. Cheers!
Bartender, make mine a virgin please. No need to get Mason started on the sauce at this age. :)
As of 3:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, we are homeowners!
The keys are available to us to basque in the glory of owning our first piece of crap. But, by golly, it's our piece of crap!
I cannot believe that this whole process has gone as smoothly as it has. Everyone involved in our success as homeowners has gone above and beyond what we'd ever expected and the Mr. & I will be forever grateful.
A toast to all of you for your love and support! And here's to many happy years to come as we begin our family in our first home. Cheers!
Bartender, make mine a virgin please. No need to get Mason started on the sauce at this age. :)
10.17.2006
And so the life of a homeowner begins...
The Mr. and I did our last walk through of the house last night. Who knew that preparing to move into a home that's yours would require so many little things to be taken care of?
We've got a list of about 20 things that need attention before we move in.
First thing is first, new door locks. Well, we decided that since so many of the door knobs in the house are broken or mismatched, that we'd replace all of them. We now have a complete matching set for the house, and really, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that expensive, but it sure does add up quick. Geesh!
We also picked out some preliminary paint colors and it was a relatively easy agreement. We're going to shop around for the best price, and will probably buy some sample canisters this weekend to try out.
Oh, and we definitely have to flea bomb the house. The Mr. was bit again! Twice! And with the impending transfer of my dear baby cat Artie, we can't have fleas in the house to begin with.
One major downside to closing on the house this weekend, is the Mr. and I are both sick. I got the bug first and was out from work on Friday and Monday. Being pregnant and sick is no pic-nic. I'm pretty much not allowed to take any over the counter remedies and basically just have to suffer through it. The Mr. was away on business over the weekend and returned just in time for me to share my illness with him. Sorry honey! Hopefully, it won't keep us out of commission for long and we can get moving on this whole moving thing.
We've got a list of about 20 things that need attention before we move in.
First thing is first, new door locks. Well, we decided that since so many of the door knobs in the house are broken or mismatched, that we'd replace all of them. We now have a complete matching set for the house, and really, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that expensive, but it sure does add up quick. Geesh!
We also picked out some preliminary paint colors and it was a relatively easy agreement. We're going to shop around for the best price, and will probably buy some sample canisters this weekend to try out.
Oh, and we definitely have to flea bomb the house. The Mr. was bit again! Twice! And with the impending transfer of my dear baby cat Artie, we can't have fleas in the house to begin with.
One major downside to closing on the house this weekend, is the Mr. and I are both sick. I got the bug first and was out from work on Friday and Monday. Being pregnant and sick is no pic-nic. I'm pretty much not allowed to take any over the counter remedies and basically just have to suffer through it. The Mr. was away on business over the weekend and returned just in time for me to share my illness with him. Sorry honey! Hopefully, it won't keep us out of commission for long and we can get moving on this whole moving thing.
10.12.2006
We've signed our lives away!
I'll first apologize for not keeping you all updated with the day to day news. The last week has been a whirlwind and I'll try to remember everything to keep you up to speed.
Most importantly, the Mr. and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary of marriage. The Mr. was scheduled to work a car show in Sacramento(with my blessing), so I drove up to help him out and to be able to celebrate together. We had a great time at the show and our booth was next to some rowdy native Georgian girls. They were so full of energy and so happy, you couldn't help but have a good time hanging out with them. The car show went well, and we had excellent dinner fare the whole time we were up there.
Unfortunately, I think the long drive there and back, the long hours at the car show, and the uncomfortable bed at the hotel have all contributed to my catching a little head cold. I haven't got a fever, but my head's all stuffed up and throat is sore. Mason doesn't seem to like my coughing very much because after every fit, I get a swift kick. :)
As most of you have read, over the last few weeks the Mr. and I have been trying to get everything in line to purchase our first home. With much pleasure, I'm happy to announce that we signed the title paperwork for a home in Rohnert Park last night. The sellers are scheduled to sign their portion of the documents next Wednesday and we anticipate the whole deal will close by Friday, October 20th. We couldn't be more excited for this new chapter in our lives and cannot wait to have all our family and friends over to bring a warm welcome to our home. We do have quite a bit of cleaning, painting and minor labor to get done, so it won't be immediate, but we do anticipate opening our doors in the near future.
Thank you again to all of those who have lent an ear, shoulder and so much more! We could not have come this far without your blessing and support and cannot begin to thank you enough.
Most importantly, the Mr. and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary of marriage. The Mr. was scheduled to work a car show in Sacramento(with my blessing), so I drove up to help him out and to be able to celebrate together. We had a great time at the show and our booth was next to some rowdy native Georgian girls. They were so full of energy and so happy, you couldn't help but have a good time hanging out with them. The car show went well, and we had excellent dinner fare the whole time we were up there.
Unfortunately, I think the long drive there and back, the long hours at the car show, and the uncomfortable bed at the hotel have all contributed to my catching a little head cold. I haven't got a fever, but my head's all stuffed up and throat is sore. Mason doesn't seem to like my coughing very much because after every fit, I get a swift kick. :)
As most of you have read, over the last few weeks the Mr. and I have been trying to get everything in line to purchase our first home. With much pleasure, I'm happy to announce that we signed the title paperwork for a home in Rohnert Park last night. The sellers are scheduled to sign their portion of the documents next Wednesday and we anticipate the whole deal will close by Friday, October 20th. We couldn't be more excited for this new chapter in our lives and cannot wait to have all our family and friends over to bring a warm welcome to our home. We do have quite a bit of cleaning, painting and minor labor to get done, so it won't be immediate, but we do anticipate opening our doors in the near future.
Thank you again to all of those who have lent an ear, shoulder and so much more! We could not have come this far without your blessing and support and cannot begin to thank you enough.
10.03.2006
So much to do, so little time...
The Mr. & I are officially in escrow for the home in Rohnert Park. Mr.'s Dad stopped by the place and gave it a thorough look over and has provided his thumbs up. Some of the things we had noticed at first glance, aren't as bad as we thought, and fixing the things we are aware of so far is going to be a synch. We are currently awaiting the Appraisal, and a formal home inspection before we remove our contingencies.
I've already checked out Mason's future elementary school, and what I've been able to find out online, I'm impressed with. They have placed a cap on the number of students for grades K-2, and have one teacher for every 20 students. This means less chance for a problem to slip by, and more chance for each student to get one-on-one time with the teacher. This makes for a happy Mrs. They also have numerous before and after school programs and seem to have a strong sensibility for family/parent involvement in education.
I also ran a search on the Megan's Law web site, and was happy to find that there are no registered sex offenders on our block or even our neighborhood. Those that were registered within a mile, all seem to have relocated recently.
The next few weeks are going to be packed full of things to do in preparation of the new home. The Mr. is going to be away on business for a few days over the next two weeks, so I'm left alone to handle business. Not to worry Mr., the Mrs. will have it all under control by the time you return. :) Besides, I have a secret weapon. Mason! :)
Speaking of, he's been very active lately. I can definitely tell when he's awake and when he's sleeping. I have yet to feel him get the hiccups, but I imagine that's waiting for me in the next few weeks. He's been rather shy, and when he is really active, I call the Mr. over to feel. Then he stops. Crazy kid, why don't you show off for your Daddy?
As of today we are officially at the half way point. Only 20 more weeks to go before Mason is considered overdue. And I can't count the days fast enough. I cannot wait to meet my little boy, and I'm sure he cannot wait to meet all of you either.
I've already checked out Mason's future elementary school, and what I've been able to find out online, I'm impressed with. They have placed a cap on the number of students for grades K-2, and have one teacher for every 20 students. This means less chance for a problem to slip by, and more chance for each student to get one-on-one time with the teacher. This makes for a happy Mrs. They also have numerous before and after school programs and seem to have a strong sensibility for family/parent involvement in education.
I also ran a search on the Megan's Law web site, and was happy to find that there are no registered sex offenders on our block or even our neighborhood. Those that were registered within a mile, all seem to have relocated recently.
The next few weeks are going to be packed full of things to do in preparation of the new home. The Mr. is going to be away on business for a few days over the next two weeks, so I'm left alone to handle business. Not to worry Mr., the Mrs. will have it all under control by the time you return. :) Besides, I have a secret weapon. Mason! :)
Speaking of, he's been very active lately. I can definitely tell when he's awake and when he's sleeping. I have yet to feel him get the hiccups, but I imagine that's waiting for me in the next few weeks. He's been rather shy, and when he is really active, I call the Mr. over to feel. Then he stops. Crazy kid, why don't you show off for your Daddy?
As of today we are officially at the half way point. Only 20 more weeks to go before Mason is considered overdue. And I can't count the days fast enough. I cannot wait to meet my little boy, and I'm sure he cannot wait to meet all of you either.
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