Floors ah here, yeah!

(Did you say that like you were on Jersey Shore? I hope you did.)

When our floors arrived from Lowe's, we were expecting a team of people to unload the three extended pallets of flooring and one pallet of underlayment.

Nope. Just one lonely dude plus a forklift. He dropped off the enormous amount of beautiful floors, had us sign, and then peaced the eff out.

So, husband, patriarch, head of the family, what should we do next?

Start hoofing, he says.

One box at a time, while the painters were busy giving us the world's perfect wall color, we hauled all that laminate into the living room. I got burned out after one pallet, so Art continued with the laminate while I switched to the underlayment. I decided to race Art, because everyone knows the strongest of marriages are built on competition. I had a pretty nice grid going on inside, until I walked in and spotted this curious gap:

How odd. Not thinking anything of it, I was pretty pumped that I only had six more bundles to go. Outside, pick up a bundle, inside, rinse and repeat. A shameful four trips later, I noticed that I still had six more bundles, the painters were dying laughing, and Art was running with his last two boxes of laminate.

I obviously lost on purpose to pump up Art's ego.

One hour later....

122 boxes of laminate in their new home, acclimating to the temperature of our house. Metaphorically and literally crushing the soiled carpet underneath.

Justice.

Battle scars from the intense laminate hauling.

I'm holding off on posting photos of the aftermath of our install because we are still waiting on some trim molding to be installed. Plus, we recently added a new furry friend to our family (more about him later, too!), and I am still gawking at how quickly he dirtied up the floors in 24 hours. Currently stalking some new solutions for that, because you know keeping a spotless house has always been my number one priority.

Not.

The Many Faces of a Chiweenie

For our second anniversary, we got a new camera. A Nikon D3100 to be exact, at the recommendation of my photographer cousin and MOH, Julie. I'm still "addicted to auto" as they say, and I just have the standard lens for now, but I'm pretty pumped about the photos I've been taking. Now that I'm back from Wedding Deployment 2012, I'm also pumped to get back to blogging. And YOU should be pumped to be rid of my junky iPhone photos!

Naturally, my favorite photography subject has been the dog. Wouldja just look at it. (name that YouTube!)

Pensive Peanut.

Wise Peanut.

Frightened Peanut.

Grumpy Peanut.

Sleepy Peanut.

Vogue Peanut.

Obsequious Peanut.

(I have a confession. I just wanted to use obsequious in a sentence. He's more Erudite Peanut in this one.)

(Yep. Did it again.)

I've got a lot of crafty posts planned for this week, plus a tour of the house in progress, and maybe a canine photo here and there, so stay tuned!

Let there be... greige!

Some exciting news in the life of the Bulls: We got a NEW CAMERA!! This is a real camera now, not the rinky dink one on the iPhone. For your vision's sake, I'll actually be taking photos with proper white balance and exposure and light and all that other stuff.

I mean, not right now, but when I figure out how to use it. Until I can repost about the paint color that I love so dearly, I'll just talk about it.

It brings light to my life.

It is the world's perfect color.

It made me tear up (not kidding).

Ready for some before and after action?

So, it's not a perfect before/after shot. That will have to wait until after the whole shebang (including the floor!) is over. But what do ya think? I'm in lurve.

Here's an up close shot so you can see the difference between the old, builder beige ugliness that was there and our inspired new color:

It makes me want to sing.

The paint is Kelly Moore, but the color is matched to Glidden's Wood Smoke. It is the perfect gray. Not too blue so that it looks like newsprint, but blue enough that it makes the trim pop. It matches our granite perfectly and makes the whole house feel cozier and more... Bull. We love it!

Wait, did I already say that?

Hello, gorgeous.

If you'll forgive me, I'm about to overload today with posts. There are several reasons for this:

1. I have a lot to say.
2. I only have a computer, two week's worth of clothing, a Chiweenie, and a deck of Uno cards to keep me entertained until Monday.
3. I like purple.

Not sure where that last one came from. It just felt right.

Anyway, us Bulls have been tinkering a bit with the house since we got to actually sleep in it. We're on an air mattress, we have no window coverings, and the house is completely covered in dust, but we are HERE. Because it's kind of a hurry-up-and-wait situation, we've been figuring out ways to entertain ourselves while waiting on contractors. While the painting was being done (because we hate painting AND had the budget for it, score), we had to vacate the house for a few hours. Art was at work and I had Peanut, which limited my entertainment possibilities.

So what did the pooch and I do? Drove to Tahoe. Natch!

Please. I live two hours away from this?? I wish the photos did it justice.

 You see there... Beach. Dock. Snow. Mountains. All of my favorite things in one location! I can't believe I live here. I mean, I don't live here... you know what I mean.

Peanut thoroughly enjoyed his FIRST walk on a beach. He also assured me that those big honking tracks on the beach were just a really big dog and not a really big bear.

It was still pretty chilly when we went, but I hear amazing things about the lake in the summer.

Hello, gorgeous.

No matter where you go along the water, you can see mountains. Amazing.

On our way back, we passed the most adorable little sign that said, "Dog Bakery." Pardon? I have a dog. So of course we stopped and little Peanuts trotted himself right on in to see this beauty.

Yes, those are all for dogs.

P-Brittle got a cheese straw...

... which he didn't really like.

He also got a chocolate covered squirrel (dog-friendly), which he ate so fast I didn't get to take another photo of it.

See ya around Tahoe, we will be back!

Maybe just for the dog treats. Maybe not.

Things we've done..

We closed on Rawlings! Yippee!! After a brief moment of buyer's remorse (What have we done?? I barely know how to hang drywall, how am I supposed to renovate a whole house??), we are back to being really excited. It's strange, we've only been in the house for four days, and we're sleeping on an air mattress and living out of suitcases, but it already feels like home. Floors are our their way, and painting commences tomorrow! Here's a little rundown on how we've spent our time:

We took lots of walks from the hotel to the house, wondering who that was parked in our driveway:

We "broke" into the backyard, Peanut chased a tennis ball, and I wondered what kind of landscaping would make the house look less like a prison:

We learned that rattlesnakes are in our neighborhood. I unexpectedly learned that I'd rather have rattlesnakes near a pond than scorpions in my curtains.

We ate sushi. A lot of sushi. Cuz we can.

We saw sheep.

We found a Mexican restaurant made totally of sunflowers!

We sampled some local beer (and wine!):

We saw more sheep.

Peanut decided he liked sheep.

Art got punched in the head at a thai restaurant.

Twice.

I tried to learn about "undertones."

I live in wine country, and still prefer $3 wine.

I made a quilt top!

We went to beautiful, breathtaking Napa.

Once we finally got into the house, I quickly realized that it looks eerily like my parents house in Ohio.

On day 2, we begun demo! Goodbye weird mantel/desk/particle-board-nailed-to-the-baseboards

Art got his aggression out by kicking down said mantel.

See? Nailed into the baseboards.

Boom. See ya.

Peanut asked to go home.

And hid.

Our painters arrived, commenting on how weird the previous homeowner was, and also how crappy of a job Fannie Mae did hiding the crazy. They started fixing all the ate up walls!

And the house just kept getting weirder. We found this...

And this...

And... this...

Before the painters came, we had the superfun project of taking everything off the walls... outlet covers, light fixtures, blinds, and all. Art wasn't home, so I took the power drill and went to down. I noticed one of the outlets was upside down, with the ground on the top, and that bugged me. I grabbed it, tried to turn it, and ZAP. Apparently those things have an electrical charge. I quit, and Art thankfully finished the job when he got home.

So, among the many things we've done since moving in, we also learned not to stick your fingers in a light socket. I wish someone would have told me that.

Still loving California... but stil homeless.

When we bought this foreclosure, we knew it would be a long while before we actually got to move in. We could have bought a brand new, hot-off-the-presses house and have our stuff already settled and organized. Instead, we chose a little money pit of a house and it's taking forever. We have a projected closing date of Tuesday, possibly Wednesday, before we can move in. Then, we have to have the house patched and painted, rip out carpet, wreck tile, and have new floors installed in the whole house before we can even think about moving anything in. Phew.

The military only pays for 10 days of hotels once you PCS, and our 10 days were up yesterday. In an amazing stroke of luck/fate/divine intervention, we met a fellow pilot out at Beale who just moved into a house half a mile away from Rawlings and who happened to leave for a week's vacation this morning. He offered to let us stay in his house for the week while we wait to close! Amazing. Beyond feeling extremely grateful for his generosity, I can't tell you how GOOD it feels to be in a house and not a hotel room. I love my husband, I love spending time with him, but I find myself getting antsy and frustrated when I'm 2 feet away from any person 24/7. Plus, it's the end of our restaurant fest that we've had going on since we got here. I also love eating out, but man I was getting sick of it. I just got back from the grocery store and I can't wait for a home cooked meal this evening!

While I don't mean to make this a blog post about finances, I will say this: California is expensive. California is even more expensive on one income. California on one income is even more expensive when you are trying to gut a house. Gutting a house in California on one income is very expensive when you expect to eat three meals a day.

My newest project, while waiting to destroy all the floors in my house (yippee, DIY!), is to figure out how to make a reasonable budget for grocery shopping and stick to it. In Del Rio, I tried to stay under $400/month, which I was usually able to do no problem, because we had lots of leftovers and I made a lot of my own stuff (chicken stock, bread, etc.). Everything in California is more expensive, but we're on a single income, so I can't raise that number. Because I am trying as hard as humanly possible to never set food inside a Walmart again, I'm also going to need to get into couponing and Costco-ing.

Oh, and I also need to get a job.

Does anyone have any tips for me on how to get started? With the budgeting thing, not the job thing. :)

Rawlings Mood Board

We are here! We are here!

After three full days of driving (Art drove all 30 hours, can you believe that?), we are here in Lincoln! We absolutely love it. The weather is crisp, but not too cold, it's sunny every day, and we have a beautiful view of the mountains everywhere we turn.

It took me, oh 10 seconds of being here before I started thinking about getting my hands on our new house.

I created this mood board to show my visions for our first floor. It's a really open floor plan, if you remember from these photos. A few of these things, we already own (couch, rooster), but the rest are things we will need to purchase or DIY. Most of what I found comes from Pottery Barn or Restoration Hardware, but please. We're on a budget here. There's a great little consignment shop in town where I hope to find some steals!

The Deets:
background color - (wall color in the entire house) "Wood Smoke," Glidden
solid pillow covers - Textured Linen in Blue Dusk, Pottery Barn
sofa - DuraBlend Cafe from Ashley Furniture
patterned pillow - "Iznik," Pottery Barn (no longer available... eBay?)
yellow rooster - MINE, from Hobby Lobby. Worth every penny!
pendant light - 13" oiled bronze vintage pendant light, Destination Lighting.
stone - image off Google, wanting to reface the fireplace
cabinetry - pre-existing, but I want to paint it ivory with a glaze, like this one
mug - Square Mug in Sunflower, Fiesta
tea kettle - Red, Le Creuset
drapes -Basket Weave Drapes in Linen, Restoration Hardware
hardware - oil-rubbed bronze bin pull, Bosetti-Marella
flooring - Hand Sawn Oak laminate, Home Depot

Closing should happen next week, then painting, then flooring. Hold on to your staple guns, we're about to get serious!