We are all moved into the new house now. On Saturday, we rented a truck and Jamie's cousins came down from Toccoa to help us move everything. Some friends met us over at the new house to help unload and everything was done by 3:00 Saturday afternoon. It really wasn't too bad (although the guys might disagree with me since I didn't carry a single heavy thing and they carried all of our furniture down a flight of stairs into the truck). Now we have to figure out where to put everything! Jamie of course made sure the tv was set up right away and the living room furniture is pretty much where it should be, but other than that it's a disaster zone. We have SO much space, which is great, but I can't decide what to do with it all. Hopefully over the next week we'll get everything put away.
This morning there is someone coming over to put in our kitchen appliances so we'll be able to cook in the new house. Which is good because I haven't really cooked a real meal in weeks. Now we just have to go get some groceries.
We went out last night to look for blinds for our back windows. They are very sunny and I love how big they are, but it does feel a little conspicuous to sit in our living room at night with a large wall of windows right there. We didn't end up finding what we wanted, but we did get a new comforter and shams for our bedroom. I was VERY excited about that because I wanted something a little prettier. It's still just a khaki color, but it has a bit of a design and the matching shams are nice. I'm hoping to convince Haley to help me make a couple little throw pillows to complete the ensemble.
Well there's a brief update. I know you probably want more pictures, but I got nothing for ya right now. If I did take pictures of the house right now, it would just be of the piles and piles of our stuff everywhere - not too exciting. But hopefully we'll finish up the painting and make it look all pretty soon and I'll have more pictures to share!
Monday, July 28, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Progress Photos
Well, a TON has gotten done around our house, but nothing is quite finished. So here is a VERY short slideshow just to show you some of what's been done. Mostly it's painting and the colors are a little hard to see online - with the exception of the kitchen. Still, I hope you enjoy them and I promise there will be a complete before-and-after slideshow once there's some afters. So for those of you who've been harassing me to keep putting new pictures up, here you go! (note: if you put your mouse over the slideshow, a few buttons will appear along the bottom. If you press pause and use the right arrow to advance the pictures, you'll have more time to look and read. They move kind of fast).
Thursday, July 17, 2008
New House Updates
Well, Shane and Dad Hotalen have been working their little hearts out on our new home! They have been here since Monday night and as of last night, they had spackled and painted the entire kitchen, hooked up the new fridge (all the appliances were delivered Tuesday except the washer/dryer which we'll get on Saturday), spackled and painted two of the living room walls, removed the bars from the windows (yayy!!), took out some bad outside wiring, got us into the bonus room (it had been locked from the inside by someone since we first looked at the house. They had to take it off the hinges to get in), got the water going, and I'm sure other things that are currently escaping me. It's AMAZING how much a little paint will do! I think once the cabinets get a good scrubbing and the new appliances are in, our kitchen will look great! I was nervous about the green color, but now that it's done I really like it and so does Jamie. The rest of the main living area will be tan and brown, so the green really adds a bit of sunny color to the room. The bars being removed makes a HUGE difference in the living room. The windows aren't in terrific shape, but they look so much better now that they're not framed by prison bars.
Last night Jamie and I finally got some time to go over and help (I am so grateful for Shane and Jamie's dad! All that they have done would have taken us weeks just working in the evenings). I caulked holes left in the siding by the window bars and Jamie and Shane removed nails and such from the master bedroom/nursery walls, spackled the holes and started priming so we can get those rooms painted.
Jamie set up an appointment to get the carpets deep-cleaned on Friday afternoon. I'm very happy about that for two reasons: first, they could really use it and second, I will be much more comfortable living there after the previous owners' cooties have been cleaned out of our carpet! We were considering getting all new flooring, but we all the expenses of buying and fixing up the house, we've decided that can wait. It will most likely get done next spring/summer when we get our tax refund (welcome to adult life - where you have your tax refund spent 9 months before you even file).
Last night we bought new locks for all the doors. Jamie took off work today to help his dad and brother so the three of them should be getting the new locks in and finishing the paint in the master bedroom/nursery today. We had hoped to move on Saturday, but that doesn't look like it will be possible. We could probably have enough done to the new house to live there, but we definitely won't have any of the apartment packed up yet! And we'll need to get the bathrooms painted soon in order to give them a lot of time to dry before we start taking hot showers in there.
Well, there's our latest updates! I'm sure I'm missing something but the guys have done so much it's hard to keep up!
Here's a picture I created to be included in the slideshow but had a hard time getting to work. It's a VERY rough, not at all to scale outline of the house. I just wanted to give everyone and idea of how the house is laid out.
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I'll post pictures of some of the rooms once they are finished! There has been a lot of progress, but there is still a lot to do. And though I definitely could take pictures of everything that's getting done, that would be a lot of pictures. So I thought I'd wait until there was a lot done and post new pictures all at once. Sorry, Mom!
Last night Jamie and I finally got some time to go over and help (I am so grateful for Shane and Jamie's dad! All that they have done would have taken us weeks just working in the evenings). I caulked holes left in the siding by the window bars and Jamie and Shane removed nails and such from the master bedroom/nursery walls, spackled the holes and started priming so we can get those rooms painted.
Jamie set up an appointment to get the carpets deep-cleaned on Friday afternoon. I'm very happy about that for two reasons: first, they could really use it and second, I will be much more comfortable living there after the previous owners' cooties have been cleaned out of our carpet! We were considering getting all new flooring, but we all the expenses of buying and fixing up the house, we've decided that can wait. It will most likely get done next spring/summer when we get our tax refund (welcome to adult life - where you have your tax refund spent 9 months before you even file).
Last night we bought new locks for all the doors. Jamie took off work today to help his dad and brother so the three of them should be getting the new locks in and finishing the paint in the master bedroom/nursery today. We had hoped to move on Saturday, but that doesn't look like it will be possible. We could probably have enough done to the new house to live there, but we definitely won't have any of the apartment packed up yet! And we'll need to get the bathrooms painted soon in order to give them a lot of time to dry before we start taking hot showers in there.
Well, there's our latest updates! I'm sure I'm missing something but the guys have done so much it's hard to keep up!
Here's a picture I created to be included in the slideshow but had a hard time getting to work. It's a VERY rough, not at all to scale outline of the house. I just wanted to give everyone and idea of how the house is laid out.
">I'll post pictures of some of the rooms once they are finished! There has been a lot of progress, but there is still a lot to do. And though I definitely could take pictures of everything that's getting done, that would be a lot of pictures. So I thought I'd wait until there was a lot done and post new pictures all at once. Sorry, Mom!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
New House Pictures!
Tip: if you place your mouse over the person icon in the bottom left corner, a box will appear with a link to Picasa. If you click this link, it will open up Picasa where I created the slideshow. Then you can click on "slideshow" above the pictures and see a fullscreen version of this show.
Enjoy!!
Enjoy!!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Closing Postponed :(
Unfortunately, Jamie and I found out yesterday that due to some unpaid home owner's dues and fees from the last resident, we cannot close on our house today. Big bummer. The good thing is the outstanding payments were taken care of yesterday and we are now just waiting to reschedule our closing. The mortgage company needs five business days between all the paperwork getting finalized and the closing date, so we are hoping for Friday. It may be next Monday before we can close. Either way, we will be happy! A Friday closing means we can get started on house projects this weekend and Jamie's dad and brother Shane might be able to come up and help. But closing Monday would give us a weekend off - something we have not had for several weeks due to all our traveling. We could both use it! I will keep you updated as soon as we find out!
Monday, July 7, 2008
4th of July Fun
Jamie and I spent the weekend with his family travelling up to Illinois for the Mueller family reunion (Jamie's maternal grandmother's family). Friday we drove up to Waterloo with Jamie's parents, brother Shane, grandparents, Aunt Judy and Uncle John and cousins Alex and Cameron and Alex's girlfriend Katie. It took about 10 hours to get there, but it wasn't a bad trip at all. It's a pretty area of the country to drive through.
Friday night after checking into our hotel and getting some dinner, we got a tour of Grandma Kerr's hometown. She took us past the house her parents had lived in, her old high school and the first home they had lived in after moving to Waterloo. It's such a neat town. The houses are so pretty and historic and people seemed to take a lot of pride in their lawns. There was a lot of very green, thick grass and gorgeous gardens. Back at the hotel, we played around with a frisbee and a giant rubber ball before heading over to St. Louis for the fireworks. Watching the 4th of July fireworks over the Mississippi River sitting under the Arch was a really neat experience. The light from the fireworks reflected off the Arch and looked so pretty. The sound bounced off of the high rises behind us in the city and made it probably the loudest fireworks show I'd ever been to. The traffic in St. Louis afterwards was insane and by the time we got back to the hotel, it was after midnight and we all went straight to bed.
Saturday was the reunion held at Camp Wartburg. We were there pretty much all day. In the morning, we met up with the family at the camp for family pictures and a LOT of introductions. There were 7 siblings in the Mueller family, so with all the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, it's quite a big group! The rest of the morning (and much of the rest of the day) was spent playing four square. After lunch, Jamie and I, Shane, Cameron and Glenn Tatum (a young relative...I could explain how exactly he's related, but is that really worth it?) went exploring through the camp. There was a high ropes course that we weren't able to use, but we went to have a look at it and found some low ropes elements in the woods nearby. So we played on those and then hiked through the woods. It's a really pretty piece of land. Later in the afternoon we went swimming at the pool (Grandma's brother had worked as a lifeguard at the same pool when he was in high school!). We had a family worship time (the Mueller family is very Lutheran) and then dinner followed by a talent revue. After the talent show and a little more four square, we went back to the hotel and headed to bed. We needed to get to sleep pretty early, because on Sunday we left at 6 a.m. Jamie's parents and Shane had to get all the way back to Orlando so that Shane could be in school Monday morning (he's taking a summer course to get ahead). I was really grateful we only had to get back to Georgia! It was probably right around 2 a.m. or so by the time they made it to Orlando. The travelling was a little bit exhausting, but the reunion and the time we spent with Jamie's family was definitely worth it!
Tomorrow is our closing! Look for pictures of the house soon!
Friday night after checking into our hotel and getting some dinner, we got a tour of Grandma Kerr's hometown. She took us past the house her parents had lived in, her old high school and the first home they had lived in after moving to Waterloo. It's such a neat town. The houses are so pretty and historic and people seemed to take a lot of pride in their lawns. There was a lot of very green, thick grass and gorgeous gardens. Back at the hotel, we played around with a frisbee and a giant rubber ball before heading over to St. Louis for the fireworks. Watching the 4th of July fireworks over the Mississippi River sitting under the Arch was a really neat experience. The light from the fireworks reflected off the Arch and looked so pretty. The sound bounced off of the high rises behind us in the city and made it probably the loudest fireworks show I'd ever been to. The traffic in St. Louis afterwards was insane and by the time we got back to the hotel, it was after midnight and we all went straight to bed.
Saturday was the reunion held at Camp Wartburg. We were there pretty much all day. In the morning, we met up with the family at the camp for family pictures and a LOT of introductions. There were 7 siblings in the Mueller family, so with all the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, it's quite a big group! The rest of the morning (and much of the rest of the day) was spent playing four square. After lunch, Jamie and I, Shane, Cameron and Glenn Tatum (a young relative...I could explain how exactly he's related, but is that really worth it?) went exploring through the camp. There was a high ropes course that we weren't able to use, but we went to have a look at it and found some low ropes elements in the woods nearby. So we played on those and then hiked through the woods. It's a really pretty piece of land. Later in the afternoon we went swimming at the pool (Grandma's brother had worked as a lifeguard at the same pool when he was in high school!). We had a family worship time (the Mueller family is very Lutheran) and then dinner followed by a talent revue. After the talent show and a little more four square, we went back to the hotel and headed to bed. We needed to get to sleep pretty early, because on Sunday we left at 6 a.m. Jamie's parents and Shane had to get all the way back to Orlando so that Shane could be in school Monday morning (he's taking a summer course to get ahead). I was really grateful we only had to get back to Georgia! It was probably right around 2 a.m. or so by the time they made it to Orlando. The travelling was a little bit exhausting, but the reunion and the time we spent with Jamie's family was definitely worth it!
Tomorrow is our closing! Look for pictures of the house soon!
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