Adventures in Moving and Satellite

This has been an eventful week. Last Sunday my parents arrived from South Carolina to help out with packing and moving. On Tuesday the movers came to take all of our big items, which wasn't very much - enough to fill the smallest U-Haul truck. I called around Charlottesville to find the best deal. AAA Movers charged me $25 less than others and were also very nice and careful with our things. As far as the heat goes, it was probably the worst week to move. Everyday this past week has been in the upper 90's or low 100's. Thank goodness it wasn't us doing the moving... oh wait, we still had car-load after car-load of random crap.

I love a move for the simple reason that it allows you to truly see how many unneccessary things you have. Or, in our case to see what bad dusters we are! The apartment looks like a dingy dungeon compared to our new home. Dusty, dark, dirty, used. The remainder of the week was spent unpacking, cleaning, painting and doing other random jobs. Thanks to my Dad we now have faux-wood blinds (from Home Depot )along the whole front of the house. They have already proved to be a necessity. Next time they come we will do the back of the house ;+)

Master Bedroom

Upstairs Living Room

I have been handling all of this change fairly well and it wasn't until yesterday that I had a moment of weakness. Friday was spent twiddling my thumbs whilst waiting for the Direct TV installer to come and set-up. He never came. It turns out he had had am all-day nightmare of an install on Friday that required using bum equipment and many drilled holes. Thankfully the poor guy called yesterday morning and came to set up yesterday afternoon. At the same time, our Wild Blue satellite internet guy was setting up his dish. Anyway, Direct TV had to drill a hole through our wall and now we have two satellite dishes outside. All for being connected! Yay. Now to get used to all of those wires and dishes! 

Our set-up... not so bad.

I suppose country living requires that we make sacrifices.  They look like eyes don't they?

Curtis (from Direct TV) did a fabulous job and entertained us with his bold sense of humor the whole time. Gotta love a 20 year Navy veteran who goes into installing satellite dishes. It was refreshing to have someone carry on like a sailor! Otherwise, I think I would've had a breakdown - this week's events were heavy and the thought of someone drilling into our new wall was stressing me out. 

He did a nice job.  Apparently, it's the "butt-plug" that gives it this clean look.  I think I'll put a plant in front of this!

The guest bathroom turned out beautifully. All it needed was about 3 coats of paint. "Dovetail" blue is elegant but bold and looks nice against the bright white trim and bath. The blinds also look great! Thanks Dad and Mom for your DIY skills. Oh, and never underestimate the power of paint splatter! Goof-Off is great for that... careful on the light switch plates though - it eats right through ;+) Not an expensive mistake though, thankfully.

Can anyone spot the carboy? 

Finally Feeling Like Home

Today as the refrigerator, washer and dryer were being delivered and "installed" I began to feel like this house I've spent a lot of time in this week wasn't just a domicile but also a home.  "The beast" protrudes well beyond our countertop and barely squeezed into the space even though we measured.  It is huge compared to what we are used to and has presence in our kitchen.  However, I don't care.  We got a really good deal on this Kitchen Aid at around $700 off the original price because it was a floor model.  And, it's an "Audi" fridge.  When you open it, the sound of an operatic soprano sings a nice tune as the LED lights slowly light up bright!  The front has these cool digital push-button thingys to regulate temperature, choose your ice preference or simply program exactly how much water you want to get out.  Yes, I can tell it to give me .25 litres and it does it.  I am excited about this needless to say.

                               

The washer and dryer also arrived today.  Just your basic Samsung front loaders.  But they are high-efficiency and very quiet.  It also plays a song for you when the cycle is finished - this time I'm not making it up.  It really plays a song.  Quite nice actually when you are upstairs doing stuff.  All of a sudden this lovely little tune begins to play and voila, clean clothes!

This whole week I have been slowly painting the master bedroom and bathroom the color "Lambswool" which is a Valspar color.  However we use Behr paint, apparently it's better.  Even drove over the mountain for it.  Anyway, the color has turned out so well and I am ready to paint the whole house "Lambswool".  Even the name is warm and fuzzy.  Aside from some minor touch-ups on the ceiling (where I rolled it by accident) and the trim it is finished!  The bedroom that is.  I need a partner for the bathroom to make sure I don't break myself by falling.  There are some hard-to-reach places where I can't fit my ladder.  Here is the finished bedroom.  I can't wait to get the furniture in there on Tuesday!

I am very happy with the results.  This week's sore arms and back are worth it!

Step 1: Getting Started with Paint

Step 1:  Picking out the paint color.  Wow, could there be more shades of tan or brown?  or blue?  or white?  After many hours of deliberation we decided to go with a Valspar color - "Lambswool" over Behr's "Barcelona Beige" in the Master Bedroom and Bath.  In following the advice of my DIY Guru (my Dad), I had Home Depot match the color using Behr paint.  I think it's a very nice warm color that will match with all of my various quilts, none of which really follow the same color scheme.  The house has already been painted a two-toned off-white walls and white-white trim but I don't think it has enough pizazz.  

This picture was the only one I could find that used the actual "lambswool" shade, but you get the point.  It's going to look really nice with a bright-white trim and outlet covers.  

We set out early this morning to Home Depot over the mountain to get paint and have breakies at Cracker Barrel before having to take Al to work.  Several more minutes of talking in circles and we had our paint.  

My task today was to remove all outlet covers, tape up the necessary spots around the bedroom and bath and begin painting around the outlets, corners and trim.  What I didn't know was that my Ipod had no battery power.  Three hours later and I was done.  I think that painting is not a job that I want to do when I'm sleepy.  Sleepy = Sloppy when it comes to the way my body works.  Anyway, tomorrow is another day - and Al will be there to help and keep me company!

The upstairs bath will be painted blue...

"Distance"

I'm very excited about this one!

Also, this 90 degree temperature is killing our grass!  The poor little sprouts are dark brown.  I am thinking we've got to start budgeting to get that taken care of in the fall when it's not so hot.  Either that, or we'll have to water like crazy.  For now, I'll focus on the paint - may not be smart to plant new seed until it cools off a bit!