Quick Update

We finished painting the living room/dining room finally! I've started washing all the dishes and loading up the cupboards. Tomorrow we finish bringing the furniture in and unpacking boxes. We have one dilemma: What type of bed should be put in the office? There's not really much room for my full bed in there, so I was thinking of a daybed instead. We also have a futon that is semi-comfortable. Should we do the daybed, futon, or squeeze the full bed? My vote is daybed, but then we really don't have a place for the futon. GRR!

Monday morning I am flying to Wisconsin for work. I'll have internet access in my hotel room, so I will be keeping you updated then...maybe posting more condo pictures. I will be there until Friday, then Steve and I are going to Lake Tahoe to visit my dad for Labor Day weekend.

Time to go order a pizza and relax this aching back!

Fingerpaint GREEN

We finally started painting the living room last night. We picked out a color called "Wreath of Green". On the color swatch, it was a dark forest green. We were going to go even darker with a deep dark pine green, but decided we needed a little bit of brightness to it. Originally, I wanted to do an olive/sage green, but Steve said it reminded him of the army so he quickly vetoed that idea. Anyway, with the first brushstroke onto the white wall, that little bit of brightness turned into a LOT! of horrifying brightness. We called it "Pre-school green" and then as we brushed it along, it resembled "fingerpaint green" - you know, like when the crazy 5 year-old pointer finger is going nuts all over the white paper? That's what we had on our walls. At first, we talked ourselves into how "fun" and "wild" it would be (denial!) Then we sorta panicked and crossed our fingers that we would "get used to it". But, then, the more we painted, the darker it got. The white started to disappear, and our Wreath of Green emerged!!! Thank you, Green Paint Gods!

So, here is a photo of an area with two coats, next to an area with one coat (especially the borders down at the bottom and fireplace). Also note my love letter to Steve - just trying to get in the spirit of pre-school walls. One more coat tonight and that should do it!

This is what happens when Rachel is Bored...

Rachel Cubbers

Jaime with better eyeballs

This is what happens when I'm bored at work...

http://www.faceyourmanga.com/

Declined!

Last night, I stopped in at the Circle K Mini-Mart near my house for a couple of ice cold bevs. In line in front of me were two women with a little girl (about age 7) trying to buy a pack of cigarettes and a gatorade. They had a $5 bill and a credit card. The total bill came to about $6.50. The woman swiped her card, but to her dismay and confusion, the card was declined. The mini-mart worker asked her to swipe it again. Still declined. The two women looked at each other, shrugged, and said, "well, I guess we'll have to keep the cigarettes and put back the gatorade." One lady snatched the gatorade bottle out of the little girl's hands who looked up at her mom with complete sadness and horror, and pleaded, "why do I have to put it back?!" Well, little girl, it's because your mom is a total white-trash scumbag who doesn't have enough money to feed her meth addiction, and is in desperate need of a cigarette to hold her over while she scours the entire trailer for spare change.

Poor kid.

Faces of Meth - An informative website about Meth addiction and before and after shots of meth addicts when they were arrested, such as the woman below:

"Remodel" Update

Yes, we are STILL painting. Still painting the upstairs. What's taking us so long, you ask? Well, a few minor things:

1. Both S and I are perfectionists. Each line has to be perfect, there can't be any missed spots larger than a pin head, no smudges allowed on the baseboards, and definitely touch-ups during the daylight since we only paint at night.
2. These rooms are pretty big, so taping every inch of baseboard, ceiling, and window is a chore in and of itself.
3. Not only are we painting, but we are cleaning up years of filth. Wiping every baseboard, door, doorframe, closet shelf, light fixture (there's bugs in them!!), window sills, blinds (I don't think they've EVER been dusted), etc.

See example of the filth passed down to us:

It's been a week and a half since we first unloaded the Uhaul and Sunday night was the first night we slept in a real bed. Last night we painted both bathrooms, tonight we're prepping the upstairs hallway, touching up the bathrooms, and cleaning the kitchen floor. (We've been having to put on shoes just to walk to the fridge). Later this week we'll start on the entryway, and the living room as soon as we can decide on what shade of green to buy.

This whole ordeal has really been trying on our relationship, but every night we still look at each other and laugh at all the crap The Universe has put us through in the past month. There's nothing that can tear us apart. The ONLY things we've been fighting about have been related to cleaning, painting, and moving stuff in. The only time I cried was last night when I smacked my face right into the shower door that was propped up against the wall. Fun times!!

The good news is that I found my camera! I'll be posting before and after shots [hopefully] within the next two weeks. I'm also going to post some of the nastier photos we took for our move-in check list that we submitted to the property management. They're in for a treat with those.

The other good news is that we're going to replace our old-fashioned electronic equipment with more modern technology. We're going to buy a stereo system with tiny speakers that controls the tv volume, the ipod, and plays DVD's, CD's, MP3s, and FM/AM radio. We're also going to buy a brand new flat screen LCD tv!! We've been shopping around looking for good deals and reading lots of reviews, but if you have any suggestions or advice, please comment!

P.S. We've begun to realize how hard it is to have a normal day without some of the luxuries that are still packed away in boxes. For example, we haven't had internet or cable for two weeks - we're like the Amish! I haven't prepared a homecooked meal for a month or been to the gym so we're getting real FLABBY. But worst of all - I've been using BAR SOAP to wash my face!!!!!!!!!!!!! UGH! Oh, and I haven't shaven my legs in weeks! I am so unbelievably sexy right now. :)

Should Marigolds Blossom in the Bedroom?

Here is a snapshot of our latest creation. Last night we finished this bedroom off with a bright yellow wall. In theory it sounded like a good idea. Dark grey and dark yellow go great together. In fact, it really does look pretty awesome. But here's my concern...this is going to be our bedroom. Do we really want an insanely bright wall? Or would we be better off with all grey, so that the bedroom is dark, cozy, and mellow? I'm thinking the latter, but that means we have to paint over the Marigold Blossom which means yet another night of work, and another day further away from moving furniture in.

What do you think? Should we keep the Marigold or paint over it with more grey??