The Unexpected Hiatus

I realize it's been a little more than a month since my last blog post. I have thought about blogging each one of those days, but life simply got in my way; it wore me out. In the last month I have not even opened my laptop. I've missed blogging, but like I said, life literally wore me out.

The past month has been full of so much, both good and bad, which overshadowed the good.

The good? Boyfriend and I closed on a house just before Labor Day weekend (the last weekend of August). We moved that same weekend and the house is still in disarray. We closed about two weeks early and life had severely limited how much I had been able to pack up. So the weekend we moved was the weekend everything got packed. Boyfriend's Mom came and spent the weekend with us to help us get stuff packed up. My parents came up to see the new house and got roped into helping a little bit. My Mom came and helped me clean the rental a couple weeks ago.

We love our new digs. It's old and it's dated and needs a lot of work inside. But there's great potential. In fact, my cousin and her husband are on their way up to give us a quote on doing drywall - he's a contractor. The inside of the house boasts not one but four different colors of wood paneling from the mid-70s. I shit you not. It also boasts two kinds of yellow wallpaper in the kitchen. The carpet definitely needs to be replaced, and the owners told us that there is red oak hardwood flooring under the carpet upstairs in the living area. The basement needs a coat of paint as the walls are filthy and the carpet was torn by the renters as they moved out.

The good about the house? It feels like we're camping. There's no traffic that goes by the house as we're the last on the road. There's a retaining wall/terrace out back that needs some love. We're on our own private well and the water is great. We no longer live next to our customers in the water district. We have a basement with a kick ass laundry room (it's so big!!). We have a nice back deck made of Trex Decking, and Boyfriend has a place to put his BBQ. We have half a dozen fruit trees. We have just under 8 acres of peace and quiet. Granted most of it is up a ridge, but that's okay. We got a brand spankin' new propane tank as the service valve was found to be leaking - and that was the propane company's cost, not ours - haha! The kitchen is a real good size and we have counter space again (the rental had none). I have a nice full-size pantry and lots of cupboard space. Most importantly? We can do whatever we want to this place and make it ours.

To start that off, we went to Home Depot on Labor Day for their big sale. We shopped for a new refrigerator and found one that was reasonably priced and just what we wanted and needed. (Fortunately, our landlord was kind enough to let us borrow the fridge from the rental until our fridge was delivered! It's currently in the garage). However, Home Depot said it would delivered in 7 days, and when we didn't hear from them, we called them and said it wasn't even in yet. Then when it was in, it came off the truck damaged. So they wanted to reorder it, which would be another 10 days out. We were very unhappy and let them know it so they gave us a $3,500 fridge instead - the one we wanted and purchased as $1,600. Holla! We also spent time furniture shopping and decided just yesterday (Saturday) on a couch - we sat on it and loved it. And Boyfriend was able to haggle the sales guy pretty well and got a decent deal on it. It's a large chocolate colored sectional with a chaise lounge on it. OMG it's soooooo comfy! We have been enjoying it since the moment it arrived. My rule is that we don't eat on it. That's what our recliners are for. However, with the huge-ass couch and two recliners, our big living room is suddenly much, much smaller. lol

Lacey and Wyatt (the kitties), also love their huge new play house. Unfortunately, while Boyfriend and I were living in the basement - hoping we can get drywall and carpet done soon, every time the cats are upstairs it sounds like a herd of horses running around.We had to lock them in the basement with us every night or they'll keep Boyfriend up all night playing. Although, they did still get in trouble by making noise. I wear ear plugs because Boyfriend has a tendency to snore loud enough to wake the dead, so I don't hear the cats. Which just pisses him off. On the carpet and drywall, well, that's going to take awhile, and after the fridge and couch, the practical me says to hold off awhile. Besides, my cousin's hubby is behind on his projects as he has a part-time job as well because of the economy. So we moved all of our stuff upstairs.

Lacey has decided that she much prefers it outside. She's finding all kinds of lizards and things to eat. I think that once it gets real cold outside, she will be more willing to stay inside. Wyatt doesn't mind being outside, but he seems to prefer the house, especially for snoozing during the day.

Boyfriend brought home a new kitten a week ago. He was in a lot trouble for doing so. But he put her on my shoulder and she just sat there and he kept telling me that she's never done that before and that she usually hates being held. I decided to name her Katniss. However, up until the last couple days, we've been calling her Shitty Kitty because she has taken it upon herself to shit all over the house. With diarrhea. I took her to the vet at the end of last week and he gave me some medicine for the diarrhea and also a ton of food samples that were grain free. The medicine seems to be helping and I won't change her food until we're done with it, because if I don't need to, I won't. She is actually Wyatt's half sister. Their mother really needs to be spayed.

The bad that happened in that same time . . . well, I will leave for another post. I don't want to end this on a sour note.

What we really love about this place is the peace and quiet. That and we no longer live amongst our customers. Because, trust me, it was not turning out well. We can come home and relax a little. And I'm hoping that Boyfriend will be able to immerse himself in the house and the property and the projects and forget about work for a little while. He already has someone that has asked him to make a bar top.