TV and The Olympics!

The 2012 Summer Olympics are here! I missed the opening ceremonies because I was working (gotta pay the bills!) but was able to catch some of them tonight.
Before today, if you turned on our TV you would see a blank screen until you either turned on the Blu Ray player or hooked up the laptop. We mostly get our TV watchin' done through Netflix that we can watch on our Blu Ray or online from shows that stream live or that we've downloaded. Today, however, I went to Best Buy and was going to get a converter box. I learned that you don't need a converter box if you have a newer, digital TV. We just needed an antennae. Did you know that those can cost $70? They have all kind of crazy technology like "omni-directional" and "amplified" that add $$ to the price. The guy working there asked where in town we lived and what kind of house we lived in. I guess if you live right by the towers you don't need one that's as strong. Also, if your house if older, like ours is, you can get a lot of interference from old wires and such. According to him. I haven't done really any other research on this.
I ended up getting one that wasn't quite the most expensive but also not nearly the cheapest. When I had the TV scan for channels, it found 26!! We got really excited that we could again watch TV for "free" (minus the cost of the stupid antennae). We didn't get all 26 channels though. About 8 or so of the wouldn't come in well, even after adjusting the device.
In the end, we decided that it would be worth it to pay $70 for the top of the line one to at least see if it gives us the other channels. Tomorrow I'll return this one and we'll try the other one. Worst case scenario, we end up buying this one again. We already know it works for the most part.
It was so great to be able to watch Olympic gymnastics again! I did gymnastics for awhile when I was younger and have always enjoyed watching it. In fact, that's how I broke both the bones in my left arm. Oops! My mom even stood in line for hours with me to get Dominique Moceanu's autograph after seeing her perform. What a mom! I think I may have Dominique Dawes's and Shannon Miller's as well. I would have to double check. It's on the Wheaties Box in my old bedroom at my parents' house.

Wow! It's late! Almost 2am already. I better get to bed. Tomorrow our neighbor is going to take us over to another neighbor's house and show us her garden. We've been hearing a lot about it so I'm excited to see it. I'm imagining something like the Secret Garden :)
Night, all!
-E

Ikea and Our Mattress

First- let's get the not so great stuff out of the way so we can talk about the fun stuff!

This is our new couch. We didn't want a new couch. We wanted a new cover for our current Kivik couch from Ikea. T surprised me one morning by putting the new cover on. What a doll face :) This is why I love him! I was fast asleep, cuddled in bed and he was hard at work in the living room tugging at the new cover. Unfortunately, it was harder than it should have been. Way harder. In fact, the back frame of the couch splintered down the entire length of the piece. I know what you're thinking, Solidly built, this couch. We agree. T was terrified that I was going to be a raging meanie and punch him in the heart for breaking our couch. Anyone could see that it was not his fault. A couch should not break when you are changing the cover. Unless you are doing it while drunk. With donkeys. Anyway, we called Ikea and they said, "Good news! It's still under warranty! We can probably help you. It doesn't matter that you can't find your receipt because I have all the information in the computer because you had it delivered. We will start a case file and someone will call you within 48 hours."
Sweet! Except they never did. So 72 hours later I called them.
"Yes, we looked it over and you can just bring the entire couch to the Portland Ikea and they will replace it for you."
The entire couch? It's a modular system, so I reiterated that it was just the back. We don't need an entire couch. Surely that's a waste of money.
"No, ma'am. You have to bring the entire couch. We can't do just one part of it."
Um. Okay. I asked what I had to bring with me. I like being prepared.
"Bring a photo ID and the couch. We have your receipt information on file. All you need is the ID and the couch."
Got it. So we rented a Budget pick up truck, took the cover back off the couch, disassembled it and hauled everything the Ikea. We told them the case number, who we talked to and that we were here to exchange the couch. They wanted the receipt. I'm sorry, what? I was told by both people I talked to that I didn't need by receipt. Then they said they weren't sure if they would exchange it. I was told over the phone that all I had to do was bring in the couch and it would be exchanged. The associate called her main manager down and they talked and hemmed and hawed a long time together. So there we were, sitting on the little benches in the waiting area like we were waiting to hear back if we had Mono or something. We may have driven this broken couch (in pieces) in the back of a rented truck to Ikea, only to have to drive it back home. I was about to go off. Luckily, the main manager ended up saying that she would allow the exchange like the people on the phone originally told us. They took our old couch, gave us a new one, and we were off. Trust me when I say, they are glad they took back the faulty couch. We are all glad.

Now for the happy part :) Our mattress! We had been sleeping on my full size bed that I'd had for years. It wasn't bad but it just wasn't quite enough room. Moving to the new house seemed like the perfect time to get a new, bigger bed. We bought our organic latex mattress from Cotton Cloud Futons which isn't just futons. We ended up getting a Queen Latex Green 6in firm. We are normally more medium density people but with latex we needed to go firmer than a regular mattress. If you know much about latex, you have two methods of production, the Dunlop and the Talalay. On the Cotton Cloud Website it goes into detail about the methods, but basically, the Dunlop is more dense and the Talalay is more airy. Ours is made using the Dunlop. Latex is awesome because it's supposedly naturally hypo-allergenic, dust mite & bed bug resistant. Also, it reduces pressure points because it molds to your body. We also got a 3 inch wool topper. We LOVE our bed. We also really liked the people at Cotton Cloud and would go back any time. Plus, they gave me a free pillow because I fell in love with it. Holla!

Just the 6in latex mattress

With the wool topper added

Showing the height with the topper

If you have any questions about mattress just ask. There are definitely some differences between latex and inner spring mattresses but it's nothing all that daunting, I promise.
Love you guys!
-E&T

Shopping!

Aside from getting our deposit back, we are officially done with things at the apartment. We had cleaned it and turned it over on the 17th and now we have paid the closing utility bills. Feels pretty good!

Travis has been working full time lately because of some staffing issues at his store. We do not like this. He hasn't really been able to use his writing room much or do any hiking because he's been working. If you know T you know how important these things are to him. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon!

I had a great day shopping yesterday. I tried the new Watermelon Splash Fruit Refresher at Jamba Juice that's made with coconut water (with a coupon! And a free energy boost!). It was really, really good. Like their smoothies but not quite as heavy. Not that their smoothies are really all that heavy to begin with but still, it's lighter.
I finally had my engagement ring checked at the jewelers. My prongs have felt sharp for a while and I kept putting of getting it looked at. I wanted to make sure my diamond wasn't going to fall out. Turns out one prong needs to be rebuilt at some point and the tips of the others need to be balled (sp?) to smooth them out. My diamond is not in imminent danger of falling out, though, thank goodness.
Then I headed to Home Goods and found great deals on bathroom decor, kitchen towels, and sheets. Not the organic sheets we were looking for (if you have an organic mattress and pillows wouldn't it make sense to have sheets, too?) but we need some and these were a great deal (and soft, too!) At Best Buy I found a cheap home phone- nothing too exciting there- and then was looking around a bit. I can't help it. I have my grandmother's genes. That woman could spend an entire day in WalMart just looking. Guess what I found?? Season 4 of True Blood! I was super excited until I looked at the price tag. $55. I couldn't exactly justify that right now when we need things for the house. I put it back on the shelf and noticed, however, that the tag under it said $29.99. Could it be? I asked the associate, who told me that the first week it's out they have it on sale. That's right, baby. I giggled like a weirdo and snatched that DVD set up so fast he probably thought I was going to steal it.
Lastly, to wrap up my day of awesome shopping-ness: Target had curtains for our bedroom, misc items for our guests (coming the 16th!), greeting cards and popcorn from the concession area. Have you ever had their popcorn? It's almost like movie theater popcorn. Very yummy!

That's all for now. Travis is home and made butternut squash ravioli with brown butter sage sauce and french bread for dinner. No way I'm missing that. :)
-E

And We're In!

We slept in our new house last night!!

We have been boxing up and carrying things over from the apartment to our house the past few days. I think I have burned a crap ton of calories going up and down the stairs over and over again. Friday we loaded the cats up (Pepper went easily, Penny was NOT happy) and headed over to the house. We put them in the bathroom with the essentials plus a scratch pad, a toy, and their favorite blanket from home so they might feel more comfortable. Penny jumped out of the carrier right away but Pepper was very apprehensive and decided to stay put where he knew it was safe. Then we left to get the Budget truck & go back to the apartment to meet the movers. We were very nervous that we wouldn't have a spot that was convenient at all for them & the truck but thankfully, there was a good spot. Whew! There have been times that we have had to park a block or so away during the day and even more at night. Can you imagine lugging a couch 3 blocks up a hill? I don't think so. They would probably quit on the spot. Anyway, they got things loaded up while T packed up more in the kitchen and I swept up the massive amounts of cat hair that kept magically appearing. Then we all drove to the new house. While they unloaded, we had the terribly difficult job of telling them where to put things. This was actually a little difficult because we hadn't decided on some of the things. I was proud that we only changed our minds on 2 things. We had mentioned to the movers in passing how the seller seemed to have left in a hurry and we were looking forward to hearing all about him from the neighbors. Before they left, one of the movers, who is actually a medicine woman (remember, this is Portland) gave us advice on how to clear the old owner's energy from the house and infuse it with our own. I thought that was really nice of her. We used August Movers. I think they are by referral only so if you need movers, let me know. They were great!

Pepper & Travis say "Hello! We're tired!"

Penny says, "I've been on this chair for hours since moving in! It's my favorite!"

So, tonight as we were eating dinner at our dining room table, I was looking around at this house and just smiling. This is my house. This is my family's home. This feels right.

The Original Listing Pictures

They're all we have so far but at least will give you an idea!

From the front

Living room (T hates the all white fireplace!)

Looking towards the front door

Dining room- the seller left these things! Guess we have a piano now...

The side door off the kitchen plus the door to the laundry room

The arch to the right goes to the dining room, to the left goes to the hallway (towards the guest bedroom)

Guest bedroom (Where you will be staying!)

Bathroom for the guests

T's writing room. He would like to pull up the carpet and put in different flooring at some point.

The stairs and the hallway back to the front of the house

My craft room at the top of the stairs

Our bedroom (no, it's not a weird angle, the closets are kind of short)

Our bathroom

The blank slate! T has so many ideas for the back yard.

That's it for now. It will be fun to post pics after we move in and personalize it :)

It's Official!

We did it! This morning we met with our realtor, Jenny and the title company representative, Ruth to sign about 200 pages of paper. I think they told us 40 separate times that we must maintain insurance on the home. I did feel slightly smug because, even though I felt like much of the whole process was in legalese mumbojumbo, our realtor AND T thought that our loan was an FHA and I knew it was a conventional. Doesn't really mean anything in the long run but I was proud that something stuck :) We ended up needing to bring less to closing that we thought, which was a nice surprise. Soooo- heart attacks were averted by all!

Then, more fun started. T went to work. I got busy switching over the utilities into our names and getting them ready to turn off at the right time at the apartment. A little after 5pm, I met Jenny at the house so she could give me the keys. She's funny. She handed me the keys and said, "Well, shall we look inside and make sure there's no hobos living in it now?" Haha! She even offered to take us for a beer after we get settled. I thought that was nice of her.

I got started looking around the house checking on what we had asked the seller to fix. Pretty much everything looked good. When T got off work he made his way over. We figured out exactly which keys went to which doors and then- all of the sudden it hit me. I got so excited and started jumping up and down and clapping- we get to live here!!! For as long as we want!! We get to raise our kids here!! We can do whatever we want to this place! For someone who, since moving to college has only ever rented, this is super exciting!

Of course, we also made a list of things that need to be done- getting rid of the cobwebs taking over the back door, reinforcing the railing at the top of the stairs, changing some light bulbs- but still, we are basking in the excitement. We will never buy our first home again. That's worth celebrating :)
-E