Month: February 2007

I was determined to finish things today. I put the last coat of paint on the door frame, put up the last polished hinge on the front door, moved my monitor/tv to the kitchen, got the last of the tax documents together, took two trash bags of packing peanuts to be recycled, sent emails out about a home for Jack, and then I took something off Wade’s list. Last year my mom came to visit and we mulched all the beds around the house – 13 cubic yards of mulch. At the time, we noticed that the paving stones in the side yard were pretty much buried. It became Wade’s job to dig them out, but it never got done. I decided that surely I could do it with a shovel. I had trouble with a few – they were much bigger than I thought. I couldn’t dead lift any of them, but I did get all fifteen of them dug out. Now they need a little bit of mulch around them to flatten them out. The funny thing is that no one ever sees the side yard. It is a small space between our house and our neighbor’s. I can see the bushes out our windows, but not the stepping stones. At least now I will have a path when I go to fill the hummingbird feeder.

This project wasn’t really mine, but I helped with the painting and it turned out great. Here are the before and after pictures of Michelle’s guest room.

Wade’s Aunt and Uncle came for lunch today. They brought pictures of the new puppies they are getting – a German short-haired pointer and a springer spaniel (not the one pictured to the right). I think the plan is to use the German short-haired pointer as a hunting dog for Uncle John and the springer spaniel as a companion for Aunt Louise. We even played a game of bowling on the Nintendo Wii.

Wade spent the rest of the day working on his shop. He now has a router table and a dust collection system. Maybe he will get started on some of my big projects now – like a coffee table, desk, and a dining room table! Wade and I did drive by a house we like. We aren’t really house hunting, but who can pass up an awesome house. Maybe we’ll go see the inside this week. I spent most of the day laying on the couch with a splitting migraine headache – darn head! I was even in bed for good by 7 pm.

My sister and her husband were supposed to come for a visit this weekend, but Melissa wasn’t feeling well. Instead of visiting all weekend we got projects done. We polished a few remaining pieces of hardware, sanded the back door frame, replaced some shoe molding, patched a whole in the hallway, etc. Michelle and Nate came over for dinner and a game of cards. I think that was one of the longest games of Spades I have ever played. We eventually decided to take an ice cream break in the middle and made a quick run to Diary Queen. We still had a good time and the girls triumphed over the boys. Jack spent half of the night chewing up things – such as Wade’s new Ipod remote – and the other half in Michelle’s lap.

I think I mentioned that Wade and I found the original screen door for the back door to our house. We removed the screen and refinished the wood. Wade bought glass and is setting the glass in the frame. The other night we removed the metal screen door and it’s door frame. We were worried about the condition of the original wood frame under the metal one. The wood was all there, but it was in pretty bad shape. I spent today removing all of the cracked and peeling paint. Tomorrow I’ll start putting on a few new coats of paint.

I have taken a nice long break from painting so I decided it was time to start another project. Michelle had mentioned painting her guest room and I offered my services. I got to her house around 9:30 am. We went to Lowe’s, picked the paint, ran a few errands, and spent the afternoon painting. We didn’t quite finish, but we got two coats on the top and one on the bottom. I don’t have a picture of the finished product but here is a before picture – the top is lavender and the bottom is mint green. The new colors are a cream on top (named Brandied Pears) and a brown on the bottom (named Pony Tail).

I had both dogs inside with me today and Jack just looks adorable. Anybody want to adopt a puppy? Preferably someone close by so I can visit.

All of the Wii bowling has made me want to go bowling for real. Wade and I had dinner at Michelle and Nate’s and then we all went bowling. This is the first time I have been bowling in a smoke free environment – how nice! Michelle also had the great idea of reserving a lane, which I didn’t know was possible. We would always go on the weekend and have to wait. Halfway through our three games, it became Extreme Bowling – black lights, fog, loud music, etc. We had several injuries – a couple bruised thumbs, a sore ankle – but we all had a good time. I used to bowl every week and I realized how much I miss it.

I woke up early to put one last coat of paint on the trim for the back door to find that the trim was still wet from yesterday. Darn the cold weather. I spent most of the day in Greenville with Michelle. We ate lunch, went to the library for a talk on Alzheimer’s, and then did some shopping. I arrived home as Wade was walking out the door to get dinner (we always cook or do take-out on Valentine’s Day). I got to the living room and found a roaring fire and candles everywhere – perfect for relaxing and reading on the couch. Wade and I had dinner and exchanged gifts. Then we worked on the backdrop for the next sermon series at church (this has been eating all of our free time lately).

I have always recycled and tried to at least be environmentally conscious. My latest thought is simply to reduce what needs to be recycled, such as shopping bags. When buying at the mall, I simply tell the people I already have a bag or can reuse one I used to carry in a return. At the grocery store, I like to check myself out so that I can use fewer bags. At Home Depot, I often just carry the item and the receipt without a bag. A lot of sales people have issues with this. I have had people insist that I need to put the item from their store in a bag even if that bag is going inside another bag (Dillard’s).

Today I was at Lowe’s and bought a replacement water filter for our fridge. It is a small item and would easily fit in my purse. As I was checking out, I told the woman I didn’t need a bag. She insists and shows me that she even has a small bag. A small one is no better than a big one, but she obviously missed my whole point.

Today was one big social hour. I talked to Michelle on the phone for a couple of hours. She and her husband are looking for houses and I was stressing how nice the Anderson area is. I managed to squeeze some painting and laundry into my day before we left the house for bible study. But bible study turned out to be dinner at Brixx. We had only four people (two couples) and there was a mix up with the DVD. In the end, we decided to just have dinner and spend time talking. Daniel and Wade must live on the same random planet because they just start a crazy conversation and keep feeding off of each other. It makes for a lot of laughs.

My favorite line of the night: The waitress asked Wade if he wanted Parmesan cheese on his cheese and pepperoni pizza. He told her, “No Thanks. I am allergic to cheese.” She just smiled and walked away. We all looked at each other and laughed – she definitely didn’t get the joke.

The Wrights’ had invited Wade and I over for lunch and we gladly accepted. We were told to expect chili and instead we had Kentucky Fried Chicken (one of our favorites). We heard all about their trip to Ethiopia – now I’m jealous and want to go. Wade and Jim had planned to talk about the dining room table they are going to build, but that will have to wait till next time. We were there quite a while, but were interested in other topics!

Mom and I woke up early and were at Hobby Lobby when they opened. We picked up the last few things we needed and put them in place before heading to the airport. I waited with mom till she boarded and about that time Wade landed. I wasn’t sure if Wade would like everything we did to the house, but his only complaint was the new pillows on the couch.

I spent the rest of the day asleep – or four hours of it anyway. Mom wore me out!

My Mom and I had a great visit. Wade was in Orlando for the week so Mom and I would leave the house at 9 am and not get home for another twelve hours. We found antique stores, junk stores, rug stores, knick knack stores, and a mall. Below is the finished product. Mom even helped me use almost every single piece of furniture, knick knack, lamp, and picture frame I own.
My favorite – the living room. We used Meme’s old steamer trunk, Aunt Viola’s Desk, and Aunt Viola’s knick knacks. We bought the small table between the two chairs and the antique dumbbells (which are hidden behind Wade’s twizzlers).

My sunroom. We added stuff to the mantle and knick knacks to the bookshelves.

Our bedroom. In the first picture, we used replica metal ceiling tiles over the bed. Too bad we couldn’t find old ones.

We moved a bunch of pictures around on the walls and added old pictures of Meme and Papaw to the bookshelves.

The dresser has a new lamp and we bought an old Victorian letter box to hold my makeup and jewelry.

Wade and I have had quite a round with Budget Rental Car. We used them when we took our trip to LA last July. When we got the receipt we realized we didn’t agree with all of the charges. Wade called and had quite a round with a customer service rep and then their manager. Evidently neither of them was very happy when they got off the phone. (Thank goodness Wade will make these calls – I hate confrontation.) The end result of the conversation was that Budget would give us back half of the disputed money. A month later the refund had still not appeared on my credit card and I still wasn’t happy with the whole situation so I wrote a complaint letter. I never heard back and wrote off the whole experience. Then I was cleaning my office a few weeks ago and found all the paperwork. I found a way to file a complaint on their website. After a week, I got an email from customer service saying they had reviewed our case and half of the money had been offered, but Wade had declined it and the case was closed. I had a fit and emailed back. I got an email a week later apologizing and promising the money in 48 hours. I got the money credited to my account today. Thank goodness that is all over. I definitely will not be using them again. Geez!

My mom is visiting this week. I have a lot of free time and so does she. Mom also hasn’t seen my step-grandmother since my wedding and Atlanta is only an hour away. Mom commented that flying through Chicago was probably not a smart idea and she was right. She was supposed to get in Greenville at 5:50 pm. I picked her up at 1 am (Wade stayed home and went to bed early). We were just glad she made it. Now sleep, lots of sleep.

Talk about an unusual bible study. Wade and I arrived on time to find that we were down to six people instead of our usual ten. Laurie and Wade had ice cream on the brain so we watched the Nooma DVD at the Pickens’ house and then had discussion over ice cream at Maggie Moo’s. I think Wade is lobbying to make this a weekly event.

Church Sundays are always busy days. Wade and I tried to get to church on time but we were our normal 15 minutes late. We still got there before the host team and I got my part set up in Waumba Land. Wade bombarded Michelle and Nate and informed them they were going to lunch with us. They’re easy going people so they said that worked for them. You know you are on the road to becoming good friends when – we all arrived at the previously chosen restaurant (McAllister’s) and we realized two (from different couples) out of the four people didn’t want to eat there but hadn’t said anything to be nice. We walked out the door and all happily met up again at Schlotzsky’s.

Wade and I left lunch and drove to Uncle John and Aunt Louise’s house. We borrowed their trailer and dropped a hint about the new puppy we should be getting next week to foster. Then we headed for Atlanta. We arrived at the furniture store just in time to pick up our new couch before they closed. Our next stop was Brad and Ryan’s superbowl party. A lot has changed since the last time I saw the guys – they both have girlfriends and Brad has a new car. We watched the game on a 60″ flat screen and ate all kinds of goodies. We got home and then had to get our new couch inside. Wade and I did it by ourselves and didn’t even mess up the couch!

Wade and I had a nice lazy Saturday – or rather I had a nice lazy one. I read all day and Wade worked in his shop. Lindsay and Robert, a couple from church, came over for dinner and then we let the Wii do the entertaining. Everyone seems to love it. We bowled, played tennis, golfed, and boxed. Each of us seemed to excel at a different sport which worked out nicely!