Here are a few photos and adventures that we have had since summer has started!
Summertime Sunshine
Tag: Dogs
Housewarming Party & Carl’s Surprise 30th Birthday Party
About a month ago, the weekend before Carl’s birthday; we had our housewarming party with our friends and I used that party for a dual purpose as a surprise 30th birthday party for Carl. I invited family and they showed up and surprised Carl! We had so much fun, lots of food, friends and laughter. I cooked the main meat-pulled pork sandwiches and grateful enough that our close friends and family brought sides to pass, we had plenty of food! My brother made layered jello shots and he made a layered jello shot birthday cake for Carl. It was intense and delicious, I think there were about 80 jello shots, they were all gone by the end of the night and the cake. 🙂
We really want to extend our love and appreciation to all of our friends and family who came and gave us a great housewarming party and helped celebrated Carl’s birthday! Many of our peeps were close but a handful of them had to travel in a distance so we are so glad you could join us!
We are grateful and love you all!
-Blondie & Carl!
Hello….
We were watching TV and Carl was sitting on the floor and was throwing the ball. He was not paying attention and Arie was waiting for him to throw it. When Carl turned around, this is how close Arie was to him.
Arie,”Throw it already”!
 A boy and his dog!
Arie is very tall that him and Carl are looking at each other eye level!
Feeling A Little Shaggy
A few weeks ago we ordered a area rug from Overstock. I got an email an hour later saying that there was an inventory error and they didn’t have the rug. Which stinks because it was our first purchase for the house. I put the name of the rug into google and it popped up on amazon. So we ordered it from there. I was anxious to get it.
 
We love the rug! Its nice and soft and fits in the area perfectly. Arie did not like laying on the hard floor but loves the rug! Little by little it’s coming along.
Two Saturdays ago, we went to go see my father-in-law as he is retiring and closing the family jewelry store. It is bittersweet for the family; however, a great adventure is ahead of my in-laws now that they both will be retired. We went Friday so we could see him and then went back Saturday with my sister and friend so they could check it out and we helped with customers. After, Carl, Me, my sister and mother-in-law went out for dinner and went to the local winery! That was a lot of fun and the wine was good! Carl and I had pizza, my sister had a panini and my mother-in-law had oven baked parmesan what was amazing and I am still trying to find a way to re-create it! I am drooling just thinking of it.
 
We had a beautiful day!
Flowers, Chocolate & Cupcakes
We had a nice Valentine’s Day. We went to church, ran a few errands and then we cooked supper at home. Carl surprised me and we made shrimp scampi.
Flowers, GF cupcakes and chocolate! YUM! Carl also made me a CD as well!
I think Valentine’s day is pretty cheesy. Why do we pick just one day to tell everyone that we love them, we care more and we are kind. Shouldn’t we really do that everyday.
Tell those around you that you love them and you care all the time.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
-Blondie!
Details Details…
Here are some of the details of the house.
Arie Finding Himself.
This transition has been interesting for Arie. He’s trying to find his “spots” in the new house. In the townhome, he had certain spots he would lay while Carl was working or when we were home. There were certain “lanes” where the ball was thrown.
In the new house it is different for Arie. The floors on the main floor are laminate which aren’t comfortable for him to lay on and downstairs we are still unpacking and putting boxes away. And of course we need to find a “lane” for ball throwing.
Carl sent me this photo.
 he is sitting at the top of the stairs.
He did this same thing at the townhome; however, the stairs were outside of Carl’s office, not in the new house.
The Monday after we moved, I drove to the townhome to pick up our canvases and other odds and ends. When I walked into the townhome, this is what I saw. It made me sad a little, Arie left his mark in the townhome! What great memories we had!
Can’t leave the tennis ball.
We are trying to fit in at the new house. Sweet Arie!
       
Coming To A Close…
I would like to think I’m a pretty patient person, but waiting to hear if you are approved to close on a house is HORRIBLE! We weren’t told until the Friday before we had closing. We were scheduled to close on Thursday January 21, 2016. Most people said it would be pretty good if we could close in 30 days from when we put in our offer, apparently that doesn’t always happen that smooth. We wanted to be out of the townhome prior to January 31st so we didn’t have to pay rent for February and then we wouldn’t have to start mortgage payments until March 1st. The week before closing is when all my co-workers and friends decided to tell me all the horror stories of their house experiences. NOT COOL and it only made me more anxious. I was relieved when my signature was on the last page.
 Outside of the house.
We closed on Thursday January 21, 2016 and had all the papers signed by 10:00am that morning. We have great families and friends. One of my sisters came Thursday with the big suburban, you don’t know how much they hold until you pack them full. She also helped me clean the kitchen so everything was all clean and ready for my mom to put all the kitchen stuff away. We made 4 trips total on Thursday. We brought Arie and his stuff that night to let him be there without the distraction of everyone else.
The next two days were crazy busy, we were up by 5:30am every morning, packing and moving boxes. Carl’s parents came on Friday morning with both vehicles! We were able to pack a lot in both vehicles. My friend came to help move all the precious wine making things-very important plus we packed our vehicle. We got a lot moved that day, my friend was on her game and started unpacking kitchen boxes to get stuff in the cupboards-thank goodness, I would have been lost! lol My parents showed up later with lots of yummy food for all of us to have lunch! Which was nice to have our parents there. My mom started really helping to unpack the kitchen was beyond helpful and my Pa and Carl were looking at what they were going to need from Menards. Then we went back to the townhome and finished getting everything ready for Saturday for the movers. I was really sad on Friday night because we were leaving a place where we had lots of memories, we loved our neighbors and our pond.
On Saturday morning, the movers were coming to move all of our big stuff/furniture. It was really nice of my parents to come Saturday morning as well! The movers rocked, they had all of our stuff packed up and moved to the other house and unpacked in just under 4 hours, so our quote and final price was much cheaper! 🙂 We did more unpacking, two of my other sisters showed up to help. One helped set up the beds and make them, the other was awesome and cleaned all of our bathrooms. My brother showed up later and helped Carl with wiring a few things for the computer for his work.
We are beyond blessed and thankful for all the help from our families and friends. Now to get settled!
-Blondie!
Mama if that’s movin up, then I’m movin out- Billy Joel
The last month, was nothing short of quiet; that is a LARGE reason for my absence. Carl and I had been looking at houses on and off for the last year, which felt like forever. We found a house that fit us so we put an offer in in mid December. The house had been on the market for a few months and it’s winter here. So the odds were in our favor.
This house was exactly what we were looking for: 4bd 3ba, just over 2,000 sq ft, a fenced yard, open layout and close to work
Friends with kids kept saying  a house with 3bds on one floor is a big deal for having kids. We had a hard time finding a master bedroom that had a master suite was hard to come by. We wish the yard was a tad bigger with acreage; however, we have one of the bigger lots. It is a quiet neighborhood, which we like, close to highways and literally EVERYTHING! We can get to any store or place within 10 mins or less. That is a big change because in our last home we were at least 20 mins from the nearest highway. We are much closer to family, friends and my work, which is a huge plus.
Arie, was very unsure of what was going on with all the packing and moving of boxes. He definitely knew something was up.
Here are a few pictures.
We literally moved up, north of the metro and moved out; as Billy Joel said it best!
Stayed Tuned for many house photos!
-Blondie!
A Few Things I Love
Here are a few photos of things I love! 🙂
I saw the two sayings and they are quite true. The photos of Arie are just sweet. I follow a few of the musicians websites so I know when we can catch a concert. So I follow Griffin House a musician Carl introduced me too and that we have grown to really enjoy, we saw him live a few years back. He was having a “in home” live concert that we were able to stream, it was so cool! I think more musicians need to do this.
Go Blondie! 