We Don't Waste Time

So.

Remember the old rhyme, "first comes love, then comes marriage. Then comes mama with a baby carriage"?  Yeah, add baby carriage to our future!  Charlie and I are expecting!  Our new addition will be here in February 2014.

I haven't blogged because, well, I'm bad at keeping secrets and we wanted to wait to share the news until I was thru the first trimester. Of course we told parents, siblings and close friends as soon as we knew.  We finally had our housewarming party over the weekend and used it as the perfect time to tell everyone else in the family about our wonderful news.  It was fun answering the usual question "how are you?" with "pregnant!" rather than the usual "fine."  Our already happy home was christened with excitement and happy tears.  I don't think my dad could have had a bigger smile every time someone referred to him as grandpa. Love!

Of course mom has already pulled out the family tree and shared with me the number of twins in the family. Which is a lot.  We have heard the baby's heartbeat and so far the doctor only found one.  Of course, he was only looking for one which, according to him, is a girl.  I told him there was no way he could know that!  His response?  "That was the most fun I've had all day!"

We are going to get along GREAT.

My Creative Time is Lacking

Every time I think that we're done moving things around in the house I'm wrong.  Today I unpacked the last box which was full of obsolete CDs that are now stored in the basement.  I haven't done anything creative in over a month and it's driving me a bit nutty.  However this will change things.

 

NOW I can get back to making hats.  Huzzah!  Oh, and also cooking.  That's important too...I guess.


We're really lucky that we didn't need to buy much to fill the house.  The only room that needed some furniture was the study.  We had a chair and a bunch of boxes in there for a while.  What a great impression for visitors.  I went searching for a chaise and luckily found the perfect piece.

 I bought it at Home Goods.  It's an $800 chaise that I got for less than $200.  Score!  It fits perfectly with the room and gives me the opportunity to counsel people in comfort.  By comfort I mean I'll be on the chaise and they can sit in the chair.  What??


Tomorrow mom and I are headed out in search of a rug for the room that will partially cover the gorgeous, newly shiny hardwood floor.  Oh, she also bought us a housewarming gift.

This umbrella stand which is great since I have a ton of huge umbrellas.  However the color has to go.  Stay tuned for a spray paint fumes fueled post about this antique umbrella stand.


She also bought a lamp at an antique store, the same place where she got the umbrella stand.  It's...hideous.  Sorry mom!  The shade has fringe on it much like the leg lamp in A Christmas Story.  Now if she had actually bought a leg lamp then heck yes!  It would be put in a place of prominence.  But a fringed lamp with a lace pattern on the lamp stand?  Um, not our style.  I've lost count of how many people she's tried to give it to.  Poor lamp.  She's stuck with it in her studio, a constant reminder that a) you can't decorate other people's homes and b) her life would be easier if she had a cell phone that takes pictures.  Just saying.

Happy Hearts, Happy Home

Oh hey this thing is still on.

Sorry for the lack of posting.  Things have been bananas ever since we closed on the house.  We've spent the past two weeks cleaning, painting, and moving.  Let me give you an idea of what's been going on.

 We started the painting extravaganza in the master bedroom.  Before it was a dark blue/gray color.  This color is called vineyard.  It's a purplish brown shade.  I want the job of coming up with names of paint colors.  Better yet, nail polish colors!  I swear they come up with names by playing mad libs.

 Next we moved onto the entry room, now known as the study because it has books and also because we're sophisticated like that, yo.  Here's a shot taken before we tackled the walls with rollers.  Notice the depressing tannish before color.  Blah.

And now after, complete with two coats of...paint.  I can't remember the name of the color.  Too many fumes.  Just enjoy the bright, calming light blue.

We painted the living room the same shade.

Please note the painters tape still in place.  Also the lawn chair.  At that time we had two and that pretty much was the sum total of our furniture in the house until...

The movers arrived with all our stuff!  Holy crap, hiring movers is the way to go.  These dudes did not mess around.  Wait, that's a lie.  They did lock two of their buddies in the attic.  It was awesome not having to lift anything.  I made a grab for a small piece of furniture just to take it upstairs with me and the guy in charge quickly admonished me for doing so.  My only job was to tell them which room to take stuff.  Awesome.  They had the truck unloaded in a little over an hour.  Moving dudes, I salute you!

We also had an excellent painting crew made up of various family members.  It was great coming downstairs and seeing who had joined the party.  My dad stopped by and asked, "mind if I paint?"  Mind?  MIND?!?  Hereisarollerpleasestartovertherebeforeyourealizewhatyou'resaying.

Since the movers came life has consisted of getting things unpacked and into their new, proper place.  We've officially been living in the house four days now and the only rooms that have some semblance of order are the master bedroom, guest room, and living room shown here with Charlie modeling his yard mowing attire.

I will get back to hat making soon but first I have to find said hat.  Also the stove gets delivered Monday and since I need boiling water to continue with the hat the stove is rather essential. 

There's no way we could have accomplished so much so quickly without the help of our parents aka painting crew/wiring specialists/plumbing experts.  They're so happy to help and ecstatic that we moved closer.  I did get a nice break over the weekend when I went to my niece's baby shower.  Love that girl and am so proud of her.  She's about to pop and is still working at her job where she's on her feet constantly.  Can't wait to be a great auntie again!

Happy Homeowners

Hey, look what we got last Thursday!

After a marathon session of signing papers we were finally handed the keys to our new house.  Which we are not renting.  We are actual home owners!  It felt really good to check the box marked "owner" instead of "renter" on various utilities contact forms.

I couldn't be happier, especially knowing that it's home for me and the love of my life.  I can't wait to start a family and fill the house with many years of happy memories.  It's funny how things come full circle.  I've loved Charlie since we met at the summer camp where we both worked in 1995 and for close to three years we've been making dreams come true for each other.  This new chapter of our life is another dream come true.

So for the past week I've been cleaning the new house and putting away the fragile stuff we don't want to entrust to the movers.  Plus I'm not alone in the cleaning and painting departments.  My mom is helping with the cleaning and my mother-in-law is bringing her expert painting skills to transform some rooms.  We're so lucky that we have such supportive families and that they get along so well.  I'm looking forward to hosting many holidays and parties at our house.  God knows we have the room for it!

Of course I'll post a house tour featuring all the oddities we've found in the house.  And if you have any idea why the sellers put a lock on the attic door which enables us to lock people INSIDE the attic, please let me know.  Weirdos.

Cloche Hat 2: Progress!

And I'd happily show you the progress if I could find the hat in the sea of moving boxes that has become our current home.  We close on the house this week y'all.  And it has all come together really, really fast.  It seems like the mortgage and title companies got everything they needed on the same day and we were setting up the closing date for less than a week later.  We're actually closing on the house three weeks sooner than planned.  Yay!  So now it's a race to get utilities switched over and work out a moving date with the moving company.  Yes.  We do not have to recruit people to help haul heavy stuff into a Uhaul!  We have actual professional movers.  SO LUCKY.

You don't really care about that, do you?  Fine, here's a couple of pictures just to get you off my back.

Anyway, after the super crappy month that was March I decided I needed a pick me up.  A change.  And what says change better than going red with the hair?

That picture was taken the day the deed was done.  Also in a brightly lit place.  Bye bye brunette.  It has calmed down a bit.

Taken in a low light room.  So there you have it.  I don't think I'll be going back to brunette any time soon.  Red is fun.  Also, as an added bonus, it drives my dad bananas.  Muahaha!