Woo Hoo... we finally have some serious visible progress with the house and most importantly the scraproom.
Saturday we got our long awaited carpet installed. Yippie. The color is a bit lighter than I expected, and will be hard to keep clean, but I totally LOVE the look and feel.
Saturday night we got all of our bedroom furniture set up. We still have to hang the mirror, pictures, and unpack the cloths...but we were able to sleep in our bed (off the floor) for the first time in almost 3 weeks.
Sunday morning we started bright and early with building the furniture we got at IKEA last week. I am so impressed by those Swedish Engineers who figured out how to design and package their furniture. It did take us over 10 hours of work time yesterday to build the furniture, but for the most part it went smoothly. The directions (all pictures) were better on some pieces than others but once again I would say they were fairly good if you take the time to go step by step. All together we build 4 chests of drawers, 3 wardrobe cabinets, a table, a nightstand, and several floor lamps. The wardrobe cabinets were the hardest. They are bulky, heavy, and the hinges for the doors were a little hard to align. With the exception of the table all the other pieces are laminate covered press board...not exactly top of the line quality furniture. However I was really happy with the thickness of the wood and the overall look once they were put together.
So my scraproom is now very close to having all the furniture. I have two small chests of drawers under on window. Three wardrobe cabinets lined up on the longest wall of the room. The center piece of the room is a HUGE and I mean freaking HUGE table. I must not have read the dimensions correct because it was much larger than I thought. I actually bought 2 of them but there is no way that two will fit. So I am planning to take back the 2nd table. So the two most important things to me in a scraproom are work area and storage space and I now have BOTH!!! I'm sure the units will fill up quickly but right now it just looks so spacious.
It has almost been a month since I scrapped. All of my stuff has been in boxes for over 3 weeks now and I am going through some serious withdrawal here. I wanted to force myself to get the rest of the house unpacked and organized....because once I start in my scraproom I know I won't come our. After seeing all my new furniture I am even more excited to get started. So after I get the remaining cloths for the bedroom unpacked I should be ready to move on to my scrap stuff later this week. I so wish I have more time off work to stay home and get this done.
As soon as I find my memory stick adaptor I will post some pictures of before and after the scraproom!!! I am excited to share the pictures.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
I've been "Faruked"
This is now the most commonly used phrase at my house. Faruk (Fa-roo-k) is our carpet salesman. Jim and I were so excited about getting the old gross carpet in the bedrooms ripped up and replaced with the new stuff this weekend. When we called on Friday afternoon to see what time they would be starting on Saturday, Faruk informed us that the carpet was back ordered and they didn't know exactly when it would come. So now the term Faruked or Faruk is used in place of another commonly used F term.
Talk about a major bummer. We have been waiting to get that carpet installed to move anything into the bedrooms and planning on using this long weekend to make progress.
It looks like the carpet arrive until tomorrow so we are scheduled an install for Friday afternoon. At least this will give us both days next weekend to unpack the bedroom stuff.
Talk about a major bummer. We have been waiting to get that carpet installed to move anything into the bedrooms and planning on using this long weekend to make progress.
It looks like the carpet arrive until tomorrow so we are scheduled an install for Friday afternoon. At least this will give us both days next weekend to unpack the bedroom stuff.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
3 posts in one day!!!!
Is that even allowed?
Since I still don't have internet at home and all my scrapbooking stuff is still 100% packed away I attempted to get my sb fix last night by looking through the latest issues of Memory Makers and Creating Keepsakes. Over the last year I have gotten into a very bad habit of not reading or even opening my magazines. I was getting so many of them that I just couldn't keep up, so I just stopped looking at all of them - except for an occasional glance.
As a result I have decided to scale WAY back on the number of magazines I subscribe to and take the time to read them or at least look at the layouts. I am planning to drop all sb related magazines except for CK and MM. I will buy others from time to time but those are the only two I am going to keep subscriptions to.
It actually felt really good to look at the new magazines. I didn't realize how much the sb world was changing again. It seems like that ultra simple look that was so hot about 6 months ago is being replaced with a little more detailed looking layouts. I am loving the look of all the curves and swooshes, doodling just makes me happy, and I am so glad to see that the layered paper look is not out for good. Right before we moved I bought the Pazzels mini cutter and after looking at the magazines last night I am more excited than ever to get that unboxed and set up. I can't wait to make pretty flowers and connected titles....ooohh that is going to be so much fun.
More good news for me is that I ordered my scraproom furniture from IKEA this weekend. I am hoping that we have it delivered within 10 days or so. I was very disappointed that I will not have it for this coming weekend. After the carpets are in on Saturday we have two full days to unpack (with the presidents day holiday)...it would have been great to use this time to get my sb room organized, but I didn't order the furniture in time. Of course there is plently of other stuff to do, but I know you all will understand how much I want to get moving on my scrap room.
Since I still don't have internet at home and all my scrapbooking stuff is still 100% packed away I attempted to get my sb fix last night by looking through the latest issues of Memory Makers and Creating Keepsakes. Over the last year I have gotten into a very bad habit of not reading or even opening my magazines. I was getting so many of them that I just couldn't keep up, so I just stopped looking at all of them - except for an occasional glance.
As a result I have decided to scale WAY back on the number of magazines I subscribe to and take the time to read them or at least look at the layouts. I am planning to drop all sb related magazines except for CK and MM. I will buy others from time to time but those are the only two I am going to keep subscriptions to.
It actually felt really good to look at the new magazines. I didn't realize how much the sb world was changing again. It seems like that ultra simple look that was so hot about 6 months ago is being replaced with a little more detailed looking layouts. I am loving the look of all the curves and swooshes, doodling just makes me happy, and I am so glad to see that the layered paper look is not out for good. Right before we moved I bought the Pazzels mini cutter and after looking at the magazines last night I am more excited than ever to get that unboxed and set up. I can't wait to make pretty flowers and connected titles....ooohh that is going to be so much fun.
More good news for me is that I ordered my scraproom furniture from IKEA this weekend. I am hoping that we have it delivered within 10 days or so. I was very disappointed that I will not have it for this coming weekend. After the carpets are in on Saturday we have two full days to unpack (with the presidents day holiday)...it would have been great to use this time to get my sb room organized, but I didn't order the furniture in time. Of course there is plently of other stuff to do, but I know you all will understand how much I want to get moving on my scrap room.
Happy Valentines Day!!!
Happy Valentines Day everyone. I hope everyone has something special planned for this very lovely day. Jim and I are planning a nice romantic night at home. Basically what that means for us is we are going to stop obsessing over the house and all the giant to-do list and just enjoy spending time together for one night. We decided not to exchange gifts this year and since all of my scrapbook supplies are still well packed away we are not even doing cards. Honestly after that past few weeks I don't think either us need that stuff to show the other person how much we truly love and care about each other. I am so lucky to have Jim and I can't imagine loving him anymore. He is my true valentine.
It's been a week already!
It's so hard to believe that one week ago today at this very time I was doing the last minute packing before the movers came. I don't know what on earth made me think that once we were in the new house things would calm down and we could work at our own pace. That is such a joke....it's actually more crazy now than before we moved. This time it's all a good craziness, and we are starting to see real progress.
I will admit that I have never been a very patient person. I am always the first in line for the new CHA releases...in general I just don't like waiting for anything. The attitude is following me with respect to all the upgrades we want to do on the new house. Before moving in Jim and I made a list of all the things we wanted to upgrade. Of course now that we are in the list has grown quite a bit. Originally we talked about doing the upgrades in many phases over the next 2 years. My problem is I don't want to wait. I want it all done now. I know this is just not possible either logistically or financially, but it doesn't stop me from wanting done now.
The great news is that after this weekend we will be done with phase I. This included painting the bedrooms, new carpet in the bedrooms, new baseboards in the bedrooms, replacing the nasty toilets, and putting a new roof on the entire house. Even better news is that our bonuses are a bit higher than we expected and will be paid in less than 2 weeks. So this allows us to start phase II right away. This will include a complete retrofit of the family room (tear down the wood paneling, replace sliding glass doors with French doors, replace the wetbar with a closet, add a fireplace mantel, add baseboards and crown molding, repaint, and recarpet) along with completely gutting and rebuilding all 3 bathrooms (the third bathroom is just a tiny 1/2 bath that will be fairly quick to do). I have spent the past few days looking at marble flooring, countertops, cabinets, and most importantly the whirlpool tub (yippie). So things are moving forward and we are already able to see the results.....that feels so good.
I am planning to take some pictures very soon and should be able to share a few before and after on the bedrooms next week.
I will admit that I have never been a very patient person. I am always the first in line for the new CHA releases...in general I just don't like waiting for anything. The attitude is following me with respect to all the upgrades we want to do on the new house. Before moving in Jim and I made a list of all the things we wanted to upgrade. Of course now that we are in the list has grown quite a bit. Originally we talked about doing the upgrades in many phases over the next 2 years. My problem is I don't want to wait. I want it all done now. I know this is just not possible either logistically or financially, but it doesn't stop me from wanting done now.
The great news is that after this weekend we will be done with phase I. This included painting the bedrooms, new carpet in the bedrooms, new baseboards in the bedrooms, replacing the nasty toilets, and putting a new roof on the entire house. Even better news is that our bonuses are a bit higher than we expected and will be paid in less than 2 weeks. So this allows us to start phase II right away. This will include a complete retrofit of the family room (tear down the wood paneling, replace sliding glass doors with French doors, replace the wetbar with a closet, add a fireplace mantel, add baseboards and crown molding, repaint, and recarpet) along with completely gutting and rebuilding all 3 bathrooms (the third bathroom is just a tiny 1/2 bath that will be fairly quick to do). I have spent the past few days looking at marble flooring, countertops, cabinets, and most importantly the whirlpool tub (yippie). So things are moving forward and we are already able to see the results.....that feels so good.
I am planning to take some pictures very soon and should be able to share a few before and after on the bedrooms next week.
Friday, February 10, 2006
McBain on the Brain
Yippie, we are finally moved and getting settled in the new place. Our new street address is McBain...and even though I am back at work all I really have is McBain on the brain. I just keep thinking about all the stuff we have to do and all the upgrades we are going to make. It's all good happy thoughts but does make it a bit hard to concentrate at work.
The move went as smoothly as could be expected. The only major snafoo was that we didn't get the right key to the door at the closing, so we ended up calling a locksmith to get us in the house on Monday night. After we were in and had the doors re-keyed we were off and running. On Monday night Jim and I made 6-7 runs between the old house and the new house (taking valuables and breakable items). Lucky for us they are less than a 1/2 mile apart so there was very little driving time. We worked until about 2:30 in the morning when I finally told him I had to go to sleep. We only slept for about 4 hours and then got back up to finish a few things before the movers arrived on Tuesday morning. By 1:00pm the truck was loaded and we were on the way to the new house. At 4:00pm the truck was completely unloaded and the movers were gone, leaving us with weeks of work ahead of us.
Since we are having all 4 bedrooms repainted and carpeted in the next two weeks we decided to put all the furniture and boxes into the remaining rooms until those upgrades are finishes. So it is sort of like we are camping and not really moved in....but it is still loads of fun.
Even though we are not exactly unpacking yet we got so much done in the past few days. If I was this productive all the time I would be so on top of everything. We moved, scheduled the painting, ordered the carpets, had the washer and dryer delivered, the phone guy came out, the cable guy came out twice (and needs to come back one more time), had the gas turned back on, and bought a new kitchen table that was delivered last night. So it really is all coming together, and after we can get stuff moved into the bedrooms we will have our work cut out for us.
The only major gripe I have is that the kitchen was left NASTY. It was cleaned by a cleaning lady but she didn't wipe out the cabinets or clean the appliances. So Jim has been scrubbing his fingers to the bones getting that all cleaned up....he is so good!!!
Both Jim and I are so excited about the new place. We keep finding more and more things that we want to modernize. The previous owners were an older couple that didn't do much in the way of brining the house into the 21st century. We knew about all the big stuff before we moved in, but as we look around we keep finding more and more little things that we keep adding to the list.
So now I just need to figure out how to keep my mind off the house and get back to being productive at work.....not likely to happen for the next week or two.
The move went as smoothly as could be expected. The only major snafoo was that we didn't get the right key to the door at the closing, so we ended up calling a locksmith to get us in the house on Monday night. After we were in and had the doors re-keyed we were off and running. On Monday night Jim and I made 6-7 runs between the old house and the new house (taking valuables and breakable items). Lucky for us they are less than a 1/2 mile apart so there was very little driving time. We worked until about 2:30 in the morning when I finally told him I had to go to sleep. We only slept for about 4 hours and then got back up to finish a few things before the movers arrived on Tuesday morning. By 1:00pm the truck was loaded and we were on the way to the new house. At 4:00pm the truck was completely unloaded and the movers were gone, leaving us with weeks of work ahead of us.
Since we are having all 4 bedrooms repainted and carpeted in the next two weeks we decided to put all the furniture and boxes into the remaining rooms until those upgrades are finishes. So it is sort of like we are camping and not really moved in....but it is still loads of fun.
Even though we are not exactly unpacking yet we got so much done in the past few days. If I was this productive all the time I would be so on top of everything. We moved, scheduled the painting, ordered the carpets, had the washer and dryer delivered, the phone guy came out, the cable guy came out twice (and needs to come back one more time), had the gas turned back on, and bought a new kitchen table that was delivered last night. So it really is all coming together, and after we can get stuff moved into the bedrooms we will have our work cut out for us.
The only major gripe I have is that the kitchen was left NASTY. It was cleaned by a cleaning lady but she didn't wipe out the cabinets or clean the appliances. So Jim has been scrubbing his fingers to the bones getting that all cleaned up....he is so good!!!
Both Jim and I are so excited about the new place. We keep finding more and more things that we want to modernize. The previous owners were an older couple that didn't do much in the way of brining the house into the 21st century. We knew about all the big stuff before we moved in, but as we look around we keep finding more and more little things that we keep adding to the list.
So now I just need to figure out how to keep my mind off the house and get back to being productive at work.....not likely to happen for the next week or two.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Tomorrow is the big day!!!!
Yippie....we are finally moving tomorrow. The movers show up at 9:00am and I hope to be in the new place in the afternoon.
This weekend was spent predominately getting ready for our move. I wanted to pack all of my scrap stuff myself as I don't trust the movers to do it right. Well I can honestly say that for the first time since starting the hobby I am actually embarrassed by the amount of "stuff" I have. OMG, I just kept packing one box after the other and my stash never seemed to go away. Over the years my stash has spread from my scraproom to the garage, to the hallway closet, and recently has taken over under my bed.....but I honestly didn't know how bad it had gotten until I saw how many boxes I needed to pack it all up. I have always realized I shop more than most....but even I was in shock at how much I have.
So I am going to make it my mission to do a big time purge. I have done this many times before but always stopped when it came to getting rid of older stuff that I still liked. This time I need to go deeper. If that means getting rid of the original basicgrey collection, that's what it means. Something needs to be done.
Zee has mentioned the idea of having a scrapbook related garage sale...and I need to take this opportunity to collect my older stuff and maybe recoup some money so I can by the new stuff of course.
The good news for me is that I finished that huge DT assignment and put it in the mail this weekend. Therefore, I have plenty of time to unpack in the new place. I am going to go through everything piece by piece and force myself to purge what is likely not going to be used anyway. I need some moral support with this one ladies....I know you all understand.
This weekend was spent predominately getting ready for our move. I wanted to pack all of my scrap stuff myself as I don't trust the movers to do it right. Well I can honestly say that for the first time since starting the hobby I am actually embarrassed by the amount of "stuff" I have. OMG, I just kept packing one box after the other and my stash never seemed to go away. Over the years my stash has spread from my scraproom to the garage, to the hallway closet, and recently has taken over under my bed.....but I honestly didn't know how bad it had gotten until I saw how many boxes I needed to pack it all up. I have always realized I shop more than most....but even I was in shock at how much I have.
So I am going to make it my mission to do a big time purge. I have done this many times before but always stopped when it came to getting rid of older stuff that I still liked. This time I need to go deeper. If that means getting rid of the original basicgrey collection, that's what it means. Something needs to be done.
Zee has mentioned the idea of having a scrapbook related garage sale...and I need to take this opportunity to collect my older stuff and maybe recoup some money so I can by the new stuff of course.
The good news for me is that I finished that huge DT assignment and put it in the mail this weekend. Therefore, I have plenty of time to unpack in the new place. I am going to go through everything piece by piece and force myself to purge what is likely not going to be used anyway. I need some moral support with this one ladies....I know you all understand.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Tagged Again!
What scrapbooking lines/products/etc do you dislike?
I still have trouble working with really bright colors and simple geometric pattern papers. I am much more into the muted colors and shabby style papers.
What is the hardest thing you have ever had to scrap?
About a year ago I made a heritage album that has a number for pictures of relatives who I never meet. I found it difficult to scrap these because I didn't have any personal memories or stories to share.
What technique do you use more than anything?
Right now it is probably covering chipboard letters, bookplates, and frames with pattern paper.
Ever been published?
A few times.
What's the smallest scrap of paper you save?
I used to save almost all of my scraps big enough to a sizzix punch, but my scrap pile got way too big. Now I basically just keep pieces larger than 6x6.
Ever had any scrapbooking-related injuries?
Nothing serious but I did strain my arm trying to pick up my XXL once but noting too bad.
Finish the sentence "If I wasn't a scrapbooker, I would spend my money on....."
A new car.....OK, I don't spend that much money but it's not too far from reality.
Give us your best storage or organizational idea
I finally got rid of all my old fibers and reused my floss boxes to hold my Prima flowers. This saves so much room over just keeping them in the glass jars.
You just won a week long scrapbooking cruise for 5. Who's going with you?
Wendy, Danea, Susanne, and my mom.
I still have trouble working with really bright colors and simple geometric pattern papers. I am much more into the muted colors and shabby style papers.
What is the hardest thing you have ever had to scrap?
About a year ago I made a heritage album that has a number for pictures of relatives who I never meet. I found it difficult to scrap these because I didn't have any personal memories or stories to share.
What technique do you use more than anything?
Right now it is probably covering chipboard letters, bookplates, and frames with pattern paper.
Ever been published?
A few times.
What's the smallest scrap of paper you save?
I used to save almost all of my scraps big enough to a sizzix punch, but my scrap pile got way too big. Now I basically just keep pieces larger than 6x6.
Ever had any scrapbooking-related injuries?
Nothing serious but I did strain my arm trying to pick up my XXL once but noting too bad.
Finish the sentence "If I wasn't a scrapbooker, I would spend my money on....."
A new car.....OK, I don't spend that much money but it's not too far from reality.
Give us your best storage or organizational idea
I finally got rid of all my old fibers and reused my floss boxes to hold my Prima flowers. This saves so much room over just keeping them in the glass jars.
You just won a week long scrapbooking cruise for 5. Who's going with you?
Wendy, Danea, Susanne, and my mom.
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