TOMORROW!

We move tomorrow.  I. Am. So. Excited.  About the moving. . . not about the packing that still needs to be done.  One would think that tonight I'll spend my time packing and organizing.  One would be wrong. 

Instead, we'll be going to see John Hiatt at Cheekwood.  

I don't know if I'm more excited to see John Hiatt or the Chihuly exhibit. 

Next blog entry?  Shall be entered from our new house. . . with us actually LIVING in it!

Almost There. . .

What sucks worse than moving?  Moving with three children and two dogs.  Ideally, I would take a month off from my job to pack and move.  And have a live-in nanny during that time.  For each of my three children.  And a cook.  And someone to do my laundry.  (Oh wait, I have a husband for the laundry part!)  Since that's not happening, this moving business blows.  We're almost there.  We got a lot done over the weekend at both houses.  The boys played for about 2 hours with the little boy who lives across the street from "my new house", as Jack calls it.  He woke up this morning crying and saying, "I want to go home.  I love my new house."  Poor little thing - he is exhausted!  Friday is moving day!

Internal Debate

OK folks, here's my debate.  Our new move brings me to a new county.  What's the problem?  How can I call myself "The Real Housewife of Rutherford County" when I don't live in Rutherford County anymore?!  I will still work in Rutherford County, but that hardly seems to count.  Should I switch it to The Real Housewife of Bedford County?  Leave it as Rutherford?  (Even though that would be living a bloggy lie?!)  Give it a new name all together?  Scrap it and not blog anymore?  I kid.  How could I let down my 17 followers?

Perhaps instead of blogging about my silly internal debates I should be packing up this Rutherford County house. . . 8 days to moving day.

What's Cookin?

In an attempt to eat what's in our freezer, this week I'm trying to only make meals with what we've got.  This is what I've got so far:

Monday - Mediterranean Salmon, rice, and frozen veggies
Tuesday - Spaghetti and meatballs, salad, and garlic bread
Wednesday - Baked potatoes with chicken taco topping and some frozen veggies
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Chicken taco salads
Saturday - I haven't gotten this far yet!

What's for dinner at your house this week?

Slowly but Surely

We're slowly but surely getting things moved to the new house.  We closed on Tuesday and went down several times this week.  We spent the majority of the weekend there, getting as much done as possible.  Shall we take a tour?

In the breakfast room we've hung curtains and moved in a hutch.  I may paint this hutch down the road, but for now this is the current state and finish.

In the kitchen we've hung curtains that match the breakfast room and started unpacking and washing dishes.  A lot of dishes.  (Forgive the lighting. . . these were taken with my phone.)

It is nearly impossible for us to get things accomplished while the kids are there.  It's very difficult.  We started setting up their playroom a bit to give them something to do while we're there.

Looks nice, right?  They've started settling in nicely. . . as has Thomas.

We've hung some bamboo blinds in the living room.  And put down an area rug.  

And have placed some nice folding chairs. . . 

We hung some more blinds in our room.  And made a pile of pillows.

We've moved our buffet and a small china cabinet into the dining room and I've started unpacking some of our china.  I love china and glassware, and I've got a lot.  I love it, but hate packing, unpacking, washing, and putting it away.

We put some area rugs in the hallway. . . And some boxes.  This will be our little office space.  

The boys' room essentially has nothing in it, except headboards.

Oddly, the guest room is the most organized.  And will see the least use.  

It's going to be quite a process, but we're SO excited about it, and it's coming along nicely.  I'm going to spend a lot of time this week packing up things in our current house.  And may scrap the yard sale and just try to sell some things on craigslist instead, and give the rest to Goodwill.  I just don't have the patience for a yard sale right now.  Or the time to have one.

Back to Massachusetts

I went to Massachusetts for the wedding of one of my good friends, Jenn.  We've been friends since junior high school, and I'm so excited for her and her husband Kevin.  Going "home" was interesting, as it was abundantly clear that it's not "home" anymore.  I think, other than the obvious that my husband and children weren't there, because my parents don't live there anymore it really isn't home.  My dad went too, but did his own thing.  Really we just flew together, because I saw him when we got there and I saw him when we left.  We did have a layover in Philadelphia on the way.

This was on the menu. . . served "with Whiz"?  Really?  This is the best description?

When in Philly. . . 

I stopped at Priscilla's Candy while I was there to pick up some candy for the boys.  And some French rolls for me.  The French rolls are heaven in a box.  They are amazing.

The boys had fun while I was gone.  As they say, "Dada is good at playing."  They made a very elaborate fort with blankets, boxes, tables, and chairs.

Jenn's wedding was nice, and I took exactly one photograph.  And it's not of the bride, it's of my friend K and me.  K and I have been friends since we were very young - like three years old.  It was great to see her and several of my friends from high school.

I also drove past the new wind turbine in town. . . this photo does not begin to capture how freaking enormous it is.  

I had a great trip, but I was happy to get back home to my husband and my babies!

May I Please?

That is, may I please have approximately 24 hours additionally per day?  That is about what it will take me to get everything finished that is on my very extensive list.  For the next month.  Some of the highlights?

• We need to finish going through our belongings.  By tomorrow.  We're having a moving sale Friday and Saturday.  I haven't even touched the attic yet.  Or the boys clothes.  (E.T.A. I'm not that crazy.  We're postponing this sale for a week.  Because I am so not prepared for it.)
• The rest of our house needs to be packed.  And quite possibly moved to our new house incrementally until the end of the month.
• I need to find Wednesday child care (in a very small town where I literally know NOBODY; not one person) for my children for this semester while Chris has a night class.  And day classes.  DONE!
• I need to find a new pediatrician for my children.  And a new vet for my dogs.  Preferably one that does grooming so I don't need to find a groomer too.  And a new grocery store, since there isn't one in my new town.
• The boys must be withdrawn from their current schools.  And the mountain of paperwork (x2) must be filled out for their new school. DONE!
• New school supplies must be purchased.  I love me some school supplies, but this is getting ridiculous.
• I need to figure out telephone/cable/internet service at our new house.  (Telephone?  Internet?  Done!)  While this shouldn't be difficult, keep in mind that it's not exactly *ahem* in an urban area. . . Needless to say I can kiss my fabulous AT&T U-Verse service goodbye.
• I need to figure out window treatments.  For my 23 new windows that currently have nothing on them but glass.  At the very least, we need something preliminary for the bedrooms.  The rest of the rooms I'm not super stressed about.  Yet.
• Oh, and the normal work, school, etc. will clearly be mixed in with this list.  

Although it's a daunting list and we won't settle down until, realistically, probably Christmas we're so excited to get into our new house!!

CLOSED!

It's official - we closed today on our new house!  We are so excited, and thrilled we got the house.  It's going to be a great space for us.

The boys are very excited, and were v.e.r.y. wild tonight while we were there.  David was a little disappointed that the sign didn't say sold, but he quickly got over it.  We will most definitely  need to bring some toys down for them, and possibly a tv/dvd player for next time, because they were insane with excitement.  That prevents me from getting much done, as I was constantly chasing them.

Stay tuned for renovations. . . 

Their version of "everyone get together for a photo".  

I love those faces.

Take a Seat

Seriously?  I know I've said it before.  I. Love. Craigslist.  It's like a hunt for me to find something great at a really good deal.  I think it's an illness.  My latest find?  Eight dining room chairs.  For $80.  Total.

There are two armchairs and six without arms.  I will recover them and eventually probably make the wood a little darker.  They are going to look fabulous in our new dining room.  I can't wait for you all to see the transformation!

Bye-Bye Neighbors

Why do you suppose my neighbors house looks like this at 5:00 in the morning?

Who keeps their garage doors open all. night. long?  With the lights blazing, pretty much a neon sign flashing to say "PLEASE STEAL OUR STUFF!  PLEASE STEAL OUR STUFF!"  We don't live in a bad neighborhood, but come on.  

My garage, on the other hand, has the doors down all night.  Not so people don't steal our stuff.  So they don't see what a mess it is!  Moving and yard sale boxes have taken over our lives.

Weekend Roundup

We had a very busy weekend.  Saturday Chris met a contractor at the new house to get some estimates.  While he was there, David did this.

After that, we did this:

Then we did this:

Then we came home and Jack took a nap, I packed, and David and Henry did this:

A cardboard box is the best invention ever.  On this excursion, it was an airplane.  Clearly.  Why else would Henry be wearing swimming goggles while he was "flying"?

Sunday I took zero photos, other than those in the previous post of all of the treats we got while running all over creation (in the really nice parts of Nashville, by the way *said with a huge amount of sarcasm*) to pick up our Craigslist finds. 

Yesterday was our furniture extravaganza.  Here's some of what we got:

We spent under $500.  Significantly under $500.  We also got a china cabinet-ish piece for the breakfast room and a drop leaf table for our dining room and will be *hopefully* picking up some chairs this afternoon to go with.  I. am. so. excited.

My children?  So exhausted.  They spent the night with Chris' parents Sunday night, after playing all afternoon and no naps.  His parents live on a farm about an hour from here, and there is a lot of fun boy stuff to do, like play in a huge dirt pile, ride the golf cart and four wheeler, play in the treehouse, and run around in a field for the whole afternoon.  You can imagine the ride home.  It looked like this:

I hope you had a great weekend!  This is a short work week for me.  I leave Thursday morning to fly to Massachusetts for a long weekend to go to a wedding.  I start to itch when I think about everything I'll have to do when I get back, but I know I'll have fun!

I Heart Craigslist

I heart Craigslist.  I don't know Craig, but I promise I love him.  Moving from a home of approximately 1600 square feet to one of approximately 2600 square feet, we've got a bit of a furniture need.  And going from a home with carpet to one with all wood or tile flooring, we've got a bit of an area rug need.  And I'm, ahem, sort of cheap frugal.  Because really, we don't have a choice.  But I don't want something that looks junky, and I sure don't want it to look cheap.  Enter, Craigslist.

We went this morning to Old Time Pottery (home of the frugal decorating playground) to look at area rugs.  My most immediate need I think will be the boys' room and playroom.  I didn't see anything I loved and wanted to spend at least $100 on.  David found plenty - things like indoor/outdoor carpeting and some crazy LSD-ish geometrical thing.  Um, no.  We left with a paper towel holder and two initial door mats similar to this:

But mine are $4.99 each.  Clearly they're not exactly the same as the Pottery Barn version, but they're an acceptable substitute.

Leaving OTP, I was looking on Craigslist to see if they had any braided rugs, because that's what I really want for the boys' room and/or playroom.  I found this little beauty, for "name your price".

It's enormous - probably 7 feet by 11 feet, I would estimate.  I named $40 as my price, and it's in my garage now.  $40!  It's in excellent condition and will look fantastic in their room.

I'm putting all three boys in the same room.  Right now Jack is in a toddler bed and David and Henry are in bunk beds broken down to twins.  I wanted something more cohesive, and to take Jack out of the toddler bed when we move so I can sell it at our yard sale.  Finding three matching beds, without buying them from a furniture store for way more money than I want to spend, will be difficult.  Introducing, our new beds.

I know, I know.  They're a wreck.  They won't be.  Some spray paint goes a long way.  I'm not willing to pain their bedroom walls red, as David would like, but I'll paint a bed red.  I'm going to spray two of them red and one of them blue and line them up dorm style.  I'm debating if I want to try to find another similar bed or just get the adjustable metal frames and attach these without a footboard.  I'll use a bedskirt on them all anyway, so I'm not concerned with being able to see the frame.  These beds are O.L.D.  Like, perhaps as old as our new 110 year old house.  We paid $50 for them.

The next little beauty I have my eye on?  

This coffee table, for $45.  We're moving our mission style love seat and coffee table upstairs to the kids' playroom and doing a white slipcovered couch and the mission style chairs in our living room downstairs.  I will recover the mission chair cushions.  I like this table a lot, and am going back and forth with the seller.  

The kids slept at my in-law's house tonight.  And I'm sure they were exhausted and asleep before they even got there.  We went this afternoon to a friend's house, and the boys went CRAZY playing with their two kids, swimming, and playing outside.  They were, I'm sure, exhausted.  Chris and I went to pick paint colors for our new house.  I'd love to have it painted (living room, dining room, and the kids bedroom and playroom at least) before we move in.  We're doing the living room chocolate brown.  This is a window treatment from Pottery Barn that I fell in love with for that room:

However, given the 105" length of the windows and the $109.00 per panel price of the curtains, that won't be happening.  I did find this fabric on the Online Discount Fabric website.  (And tried to upload a photo for a comparison, but am seemingly unable for some reason.)  I am confident that I could make a reasonable facsimile of the PBK curtains with that fabric.  

Tomorrow?  I'm so excited for our project.  A friend of Chris' parents recently lost her aunt.  Her aunt had no children and left her home and contents to Betty.  She's going to have an estate sale, but has generously opened the house to us to go through, and we can purchase any furniture that we're interested in.  She's emailed me some photographs, and it looks like there are some very nice pieces.  And she's told us some of the prices she's thinking of.  Are. You. Kidding.  They're exceptionally reasonable.  After we go to her house, we're going to drop off our findings at our house and venture to my in-laws to go through the furniture they've got in storage.  Oh, and pick up our kids.  I'm very excited to see what we can find.  I'll keep you posted!