House update

We are having a real estate agent open house this Tuesday ... wish us luck.  We are going ahead with putting our house up for sale after a weekend full of ups & downs.  As I sit here tonight I am reminded that I must stay in the present & not worry too much about the future {since right now we have too many options to figure out life}.  I feel blessed that we still have options, have our jobs, can afford our house & everything in it.  We are blessed & always have been {even the bad times} & soon we will have figured out what 2009 has in store for our little family.  

If you are looking for a home in St. George, Utah you can see more photos here.  

Arrg to the market

Anyone watch Suze Orman on Oprah?

Holy cow - I thought she was going to cry over all the debt America & American's have accumulated! I felt totally guilty sitting on my new couches watching my ginormous TV in my new house. Seriously - I am exactly what I don't like ... I am all about THINGS.

So the last few months I have really had a change of heart about THINGS, especially my house. I have felt really guilty after we moved in a year ago to our home & it hasn't really gone away. I must say that our mortgage is at the percentage that is recommended for our income - so we can afford our home but that doesn't make it right.

So the question is ... do I really need this?

Of course I don't! Do I like it? Of course I do!!! So here is where the change of heart comes in ... after listening to a book on tape {you better believe it was Dave Ramsey - will I ever get over him - never} I heard something profound.

Are you ready?

Dave said that once you own your home you should throw a "Barefoot BBQ" in your backyard. The reason is that when you OWN your home you grass feels different than when you were paying a mortgage. OH how that rang true! I cannot wait to own my own grass, my own weeds, my own cabinets!!! So I decided we really needed to try to pay off our house ... yes it is possible but it is going to take awhile.

The more I think about it I realize I don't need to stay in this house. I am good with living in a less expensive home & paying cash for it {that will take a few years since the market is wicked awesome right now}. Of course we need to sell this puppy first which won't be happening anytime soon {so yes we will be here for a couple of years}.

It really is crazy to me that my job consists of making people's home pretty & then I want the same for myself. I just need to get to the point when I can accept other cabinets & appliances & be happy. arggg

Yard work

We finally got our front yard landscaped this past weekend. We have been waiting for 3 months for compostfrom the city since it is $20 a ton you end up saving hundreds of dollars compared to buying it at the nursery. My boss let us borrow his truck so we could load up which was our saving grace {now Coby is considering selling the hoopty & buying a hoopty truck instead}.

The cutest thing was that our new neighbors saw Coby out working & wanted to help ... they are 6 & 5 years old. They helped him for hours & then asked to help the next morning. So cute. Coby worked from 4:00 pm - 11:00 pm Friday & then 7:00 pm - 12:00 am Saturday! He preferred working when the sun was hidden behind the mountain since it was in the 90's. He just used a headlamp - such a hard worker.

Lucy & mostly watched - she loves being outside.

Hanging flowers

Wednesday night Erica & my dad came over to my house (Coby was off at a work dinner) & helped me hang some more pictures in the house & these hanging flower pots. I love them & they don't add much to the house, but it makes me feel like I tried - for now at least.

Help my house!

So the outside of our house is not my favorite - totally boring (especially without any landscaping). We have been trying to think of what to do to "spice" it up ... I need some help. What would you do? Shutters are too big for the room I have on the sides of my windows, so my only thought it window boxes. Yet where do I buy a good one?

Sneak peek @ the nursery

The nursery isn't complete (to my dismay) I am still looking for the 2nd silk window panel from Pottery Barn. I have a gal in Salt Lake City watching DownEast Outfitters for me ... so hopefully she can find me one. I have all the clothes ready to go, diapers & wipes organized & nothing hung. One day in the very near future it will be done & cute.

Bonus Room

This is the bonus room above the garage. It is wired for a theater if anyone ever wants to add that, but with the sweet set-up downstairs I don't feel the need to do it for ourselves. The little TV is hooked up to our X-Box that has 1,000's of old games from Sega, Nintendo & Super Nintendo ... the kids love this room best because of this one little thing! The room is bare right now, but one day we may have some furniture up there & some messy toys!

p.s. Coby is the vacuumer ... doesn't it look nice?!

Kids Bathroom

This is the kids bathroom (shelves in the shower seems to be everyone's favorite) set in between the bedrooms. I put a cabinet full of open shelves behind the door so there is more storage since it is a smaller bathroom. The cabinet & mirror & shelves were all built by Riverwoods as well ... I love the glass knobs.

Great Room

This is our Great Room (kitchen, dining & family room). The mantle & cabinets were designed by me (better be) & were built by Riverwoods Mill. Coby & I put the wood floor down, all 1800 sq. ft. of it. This room has been really fun for us, my dad put surround sound in this room so it rocks with movies ... thanks Dad.

Our kitchen photos

Since I couldn't sleep I decided to share some photos of our kitchen {taken at 4:00 am this morning so the lighting is obviously dark}. Here is what I love about my kitchen thus far.

• I absolutely LOVE my bake center area. I use it several times a day since I I have my toaster, mixer & blender in the bottom. I can seriously bake up a storm in this small area with everything I need in my reach! If you like to bake you need one of these. (Riverwoods Mill cabinets)


• I love my griddle on my range top! I have used it for making tortillas, pancakes, french toast & sandwiches. I love that I don't have to get out pans to cook a few at a time, I can cook them all at once! (Wolf sealed range top)


• I love my farmhouse sink, it is huge & really doesn't hurt my back when I wash dishes. They weren't kidding when they said they are more ergonomic. (Whitehaus sink)


• I love my hood - enough said.


• I love that my fridges & dishwasher are hidden away behind wood panels. (Sub-Zero 700 series fridges & Asko dishwasher)

• 

Roman shades

I finally got my window treatments for my master bedroom/bathroom! Only problem ... Coby isn't home to help me hang them. I hung the 2 bedroom ones last night & only one fell down this morning! I am not so good with screwing things into walls. They are pretty though & the color is chocolate ... yumm.

Officially UNDER budget ...

They said it couldn't be done but we close this week on our house & we are officially under budget! YEAH

Moved in ...

We got moved in over the weekend ~ thanks in part to our good friends & my bosses.

We were lucky enough to borrow a truck & trailer from the company I work for ... except I took the WRONG trailer! We showed up to the storage unit with everyone there waiting & I brought a trailer full of cabinets. So we had to take it back & get the other truck & trailer. It took awhile, but everyone was gracious enough to stick around & wait. It took about 20 minutes to load once we had an empty trailer!

THANKS FAMILY & FRIENDS FOR YOUR HELP ~ WE NEEDED IT!

Ta-Ta

I am off to Wisconsin for the week for appliance training (so I may bug you more about how cool the appliances are we sell). Cob y& I made a a 2 page punch list for the house so he can work with the builder to get the house done & we can move in Saturday ~ WAHOO!

wreaths

I bought these wreaths on my quick trip & hope they will hang on my kitchen hood ... I haven't measured yet.

DANCE

The dance room is ready for some dancing feet!

House as of September 20, 2007

The house is getting its first real cleaning on Monday, so bare with me on these dirty photos. Just a few things to get the house complete - YEAH. I am most excited about my kitchen, I can't wait to start baking in my bake center & cooking with my new built-in griddle!

House positive

Since I was negative about the house before I decided to share something I think is positive about my future house.

Everywhere there is a sink & faucet (kitchen, laundry, bathrooms) I put built-in soap dispensers. I have never been in love with any bathroom accessories so long ago I decided to just skip it so I don't have to buy them.

Simple & functional.

Stressed

Coby leaves tomorrow for Estonia & Poland & hasn't packed or finished his big presentation for the convention. He is stressed & I am stressed. His trips always turn out great, but this one has bad timing with everything happening in our lives.

The house is getting close & looking good, but I am getting to the point where I would be happy selling it to someone else. I am so excited to move in, but I am back to where I started in this process of building ... asking .... "what were we thinking!?"

I wake up at 3:00 AM worried about work, Coby's trip, the house & finding time to sign the closing papers. This is what happens when I can't sleep & I am tired. I vent.

House as of August 22, 2007

The house is moving now & people are working there daily - yeah! After many nights working at the house we may just finish the wood floor tomorrow! WAHOO