10-31-11 Monday (Metallic Art Perversions)

Wow.  I think I've been busier now than when we started the move.  Jim's family is coming for Thanksgiving so that has given us some incentive to get our asses moving on setting up the house.

I started unpacking all the decor boxes on the 28th.  Pictures, crystal, etc.

I cleaned the hutch glass shelves and doors.  I used Windex and coffee filters.  The best combination ever.  Coffee filters have a great texture to help scour off dirt while being gentle and lint free!  Yes, way better than newspaper.  Softer too.

 

Friday night, Jim loaded up the hutch:

I must tell you that when we packed stuff up over 3 years ago, we used tons of towels.

That pile above only represents a SMALL portion of towels we used.  I've already washed another pile similar in size to that.

Here's all the towels we're donating to either goodwill or preferably an animal shelter:

3 years ago we bought cheap throws from Big Lots.  I used a bunch of them for the cat and dog.  We've amassed quite a collection now that I've unpacked them all.  I washed them, folded and stuck them in the linen closet until I figure out how many I want to keep.

I took the pink ones to work for a friend, Amy, who absolutely adores anything pink.  She was thrilled.

The towels below are hot tub towels.  Yeah, I'm not sure how many people we ever thought could fit into the hot tub at once.  We over-did it at the time I guess.

Saturday arrived and I had off from work for a Community Service day so that Jim and I could give testimonials for NACA.  Community Service.   It sounds like I'm a criminal with a sentencing in hand but my company will give me two days off a year for volunteering.  I took that opportunity.  We had to stand up in front of about 100 or more people with our testimony.  Jim more or less stated that he wouldn't recommend Adams Homes.  He went on to say that NACA is a wonderful program but their customer service was lacking and to not let them push you around.  We found that they acted as they were doing us a favor rather than treating us as a customer.  The representatives from NACA happened to have stepped out of the room during our testimony.  Funny.  We answered a few questions from possible future members.

After all that we left and went shopping!  Oh, also returning too!  The Jeep was very full.

At Garden Ridge we returned hundreds of dollars worth of stuff we didn't use.  We filled up 2 carts with new purchases.  1 cart was full with 75% off items.  We truly scored.  That cart was under $100! 

Next off to Bed Bath and Beyond.  We returned $500 of stuff.  I spotted this artwork, had Jim hold it up and snapped a photo.  What do the wine bottles look like to you?

You did see it right?

Speaking of seeing things, our new fireplace has a haze on it.  I tried cleaning it but it's on the inside of the glass.  Looking at it and the directions, I  don't see anyway to get behind the glass.  It's an allen & roth by Lowe's so I went to their site and emailed them the situation.  They emailed me that it was referred to a local store and then later another email from an actual store employee revealed that we'd have to remove the unit to get behind there.  That doesn't make me happy.  What DID make me happy is that they actually responded.  Kudos to them!

Anyway, back to organizing the house...

We stopped at a ginormous Rooms To Go clearance center/warehouse that we're lucky to have here in town.  We were on the hunt for a dinette sideboard/server.  We found one for $300 and it was perfect.  We paid for it and were to come by later (once the Jeep was emptied) to pick it up.  When we came by later, there were 4 chips on it.  I wasn't happy.  They'll refund the price up till the point that we actually take it.  It was the only one they had so we negotiated and they offered $50 off.  Sold.  Jim did a pretty good job at touching it up.

Above: Jim "installs" it.

Sunday we continued with the decor.  Here's the new piece with our Garden Ridge clearance (Tuscan art, clock and wine metal art) finds.

 

Below: The fireplace mantel and art to the left are in place.Above: The right speaker wire in the wall wouldn’t work so it’s outside the wall until Jim buries it.

Above: Dasher.  Just cause he's so darn cute.

 

Below: More cuteness:  Dasher and Clea.

Jim installed more shelving in the pantry!



For an odd twist, Jim came up with a solution for dead space.  We don't want nor really have the room for bar stools but the space under the bar was looking pretty plain so he hung up these plaques.  Creative isn't he?  Do you like it?  Is it strange?



A new comforter for the master bedroom: