Labor Day Weekend 2011

For Saturday we were invited to Ruby's for dinner. I had to work but decided to leave early to attend. I mean who can resist steaks on the grill?

Jim dropped off his car to Tire Kingdom to get his strut mounts replaced due to a rattle noise on bumps that they had previously diagnosed. Beth picked him up and off to Ruby's they went.

I arrived at Ruby's a little later. What an appetizer spread! There was so much food and more importantly, delicious food. Oh and guzzling down some sangrias. All so yummy.

 

Sangrias plus the Wii equals insane fun!

Above: David on the Wii.

Above: Beth (center) and her siblings Annie and Dave.

Above: Who took this damn photo?  That’s me, sorry you had to see that.

Above: Ann

Above: Jim

On Sunday Jim called to check on the status of his car. It had been 24 hours since he had dropped it off. The guy told Jim he couldn't confirm the noise and suggested he come in for a roadtest tomorrow (Monday) after 11am when another employee will be there because he's leaving for the day. Wow.  24 hours for nothing.

For the rest of the day we did more furniture and appliance shopping.  We settled on couches from Haverty’s.  A plain, clean line sofa… we bought two reclining sofas.  Naturally we’ve delayed delivery until we move.

Here’s the picture from the other day:

At Home Depot we took advantage of their Labor Day sales and bought a new side-by-side fridge. 

Later that evening, Mike and Billy came over for some burgers on the grill.  Jim mixed the ground beef with some minced garlic, a little panko breadcrumbs, mustard and Knorr’s Onion Soup mix.  Strange stuff, I know but they taste good.  He made them flat and extra large figuring they’d shrink.  They puffed up like a frickin’ balloon and took forever to cook.  They were tasty though.

Monday rolled around and Jim and I were both off for the holiday.  We again went shopping, mostly just looking, and had brunch at Mimi’s. 

Here’s some photos I snagged over the weekend:

Above: How cute.

Above: Jim spotted these arrows facing the wrong way!

Above: A neighbor’s rabbit yard sculpture complete with broken ears.  It’s been like this for months.  People… it’s time to let go.

Above: Unfortunately the camera-phone delayed too long to photo.  There is a lawn mower on the back seat and a stove severely hanging out of the trunk.  Oy.

8-31-11 Wednesday (It Sucks, But It’s Very Good At It)

Hello.  It’s me.  It’s Wednesday.  I was off.  Here’s what you missed for the week:

First off, the vacuums story.  Yes, plural.  You remember I purchased a Roomba, right?  Well, I use it just about every other day.  Vacuuming so often can be tiring… to Roomba that is.  Not so much for me.  Every time I tell Jim I vacuumed he says it doesn’t count as work just to push a button.  What about the time involved in emptying the debris cup?   Or carrying lugging it upstairs?  No credit at all?  I was asked what the pets think about Roomba.  They don’t care.  Sometimes they even get bumped with it.  Clea tries to attack the bristles on the side.  Here’s what I found after Roomba completed a cleaning cycle:

Above: Is Clea cuddling with it?  Guarding it?  Waiting for her next play date?

I thought Roomba + our existing Hoover upright would solve all our vacuuming needs but then we decided we’d need something better for the stairs.  Truth be told, the very heavy “self propelled” Hoover we bought 7 years ago kinda sucks.  The suction isn’t all that great and the air powered hand tool barely works.  So what do we do?  Well, we consult Consumer Reports and buy an Electrolux Oxygen. 

I will tell you that we used this model to clean the RV while visiting Jim’s Dad.  We thought the suction to be amazing.  I researched pricing.   The average price $325(Walmart) or more.  I got a factory refurbished (with a 2 year warranty) for $180, no shipping charges through eBay.  I ordered an $80 powered handtool from a separate vendor for $20.  Although the power tool hadn’t arrived yet, the vacuum came today and worked extremely well on the tests we through at it.

That’s a lot of info about vacuums, isn’t it?

OK, so Monday I made salads for the week:

Not nearly as exciting as vacuum talk is it?  Hmmm, that’s what I thought.  Let’s talk about my hair… or lack of… or actually growth.  The backstory: Several weeks ago I got razor rash/burn or whatever on the back of my head and couldn’t get rid of it.   I’d constantly irritate it when I’d shave so I decided to take a break from shaving my head.  I’ve been getting compliments and may leave it.  What do you think:

That was Dasher in the photos too.  It’s hard to see but I was feeding him pieces of cat food, which he loves.

So what do you think?  Shave it?  Keep it as is?  Grow it longer?  I took several angle shots so you could keep in mind the bald spot on the top.

Wow, this is going to be a long post.  Mainly because of all the photos.

I met up with Ruby, a good friend, excoworker and travel agent extraordinaire.  She actually manages the AAA Travel center in Huntersville.  We had lunch together and then returned to her office to talk about vacations.   Call her at 704-897-0592!  Anyway, she put together several trips for Jim and I.  I was interested in a Europe tour, Alaskan cruise, Hawaii or perhaps San Francisco.  Europe was well over $5,000 and had to be put aside.  Since Jim and I hate the beach and laying out for a tan, we thought we should probably cross out Hawaii.   San Francisco is awesome.  Maybe we’d even see the Naked Tat Man again?  Much more fun than Big Foot or something…

Jim and I went out for dinner last night and talked about the possibility of going on an Alaskan Cruise as the most probable vacation.  We’re thinking June 2012 or June 2013.  Any suggestions, must-see’s, ports of call, ideas, tips, tricks, feedback?   Jim’s grandma has been on an Alaskan cruise so we’ll pick her brain.  I’m in research mode…

Today we had a NACA inspection at the house.  Minor problems included the dishwasher hitting the kitchen drawer knob (we knew about), 2 cracks in concrete (garage floor and exterior side) need sealing, drainage ditch is trip hazard (we’ve been trying to resolve the driveway/grading issues), and the stove isn’t in it’s anti-tip brace.  These issues have to be resolved, reinspected and then we can close. 

While we waited for the inspection, I took more photos:

Above: Loft-office space.

Above: Guest room #1 of 2.

Above: Taken from upstairs looking down into 1/2 bath.  To the left would be the dining room and front door.  To the right would be the living room, dinette, kitchen and back door.

Above: Upstairs guest bath.

Above: Master bath.  Tub is on the left behind the door.

Above: Master bath, sinks are on the right.

Above: Downstairs 1/2 bath.

Above: From the middle of the kitchen.  Left door = pantry, middle = garage, right = coat/extra closet.

Above: I know I take a lot of photos of this but I love it.

Above: View of the loft/office area from the master bedroom door.  The door to the right is the utility room.

Above: “Honey, I’m home”.

After the inspection, Jim and I went to Growler’s Pour House for dinner.  He bought a Living Social certificate which is very similar to a Groupon.   The place is a bar, limited seating and a very limited menu:

What we had was good but we weren’t expecting such a limited menu.

Oh, and just in case this entry wasn’t long enough AND you’re not tired of hearing about the house, here’s two walk through videos I filmed:

 

8-28-11 Sunday (Huge Bird Cages)

We went to lunch and then stopped by the house.  I had wanted some photos of the damaged floors and other things (I included in yesterday’s post).  I guess I had forgotten to snap a photo the other day.  Maybe I was still in shock? 

Above: Aside from an unsatisfactory paint job on the front door, we also found several dents.  The builder filled the dents with some sort of Bondo.  I hope it comes out nice looking, otherwise Jim has already warned them that we’ll be requesting a new door.

Above: I never took a photo of this wall when it was extremely crooked.  We never noticed it until we had a wood line to compare it with.  The builder corrected the wall’s angle and now it’s awaiting moldings.

Above: It’s a bird.  A dead one.  It was in the house.  90% of the rooms had bird shit on the window sills and/or walls.  Some on the floors.  Poor thing got trapped inside.

Above: This shot was taken for our insurance policy but you can look too.

We then began a day full of disappointing furniture shopping.  Ashley Home Furnishing, Rooms To Go, Haverty’s, Furniture Row, and Value City Furniture (American Signature).  We’re looking for several things.  Some we’ll get right away and others we’ll have to save for.

Master bedroom furniture: I’m just tired of this high lacquered, plastic handled furniture.

Living room furniture: In our previous house, we had a traditional/formal living room and a modern silver/red family room with completely different styles.  In this new house, we have one living room and we’d like it to utilize the formal pieces we have.  It’s difficult to find comfortable, reclining, traditional pieces.  Most reclining pieces we’ve found are either family-room-ish or terrible uncomfortable. 

Above: This might just be the set we purchase from Haverty’s. We like IT but not the price.

Dinette furniture: We need a new style, more traditional and we’d like a smaller round table with a pedestal base so when needed, we can use it for cards/games.  This is our current set:

 

I think we’re out of furniture stores.  It’s sad.