Too Many Choices

Okay, so you buy a house, what is the first thing you do?

Pick out paint, of course!

I've always been a fan of color - I've got a collection of paint chips that would rival Lowes - I can't walk into a home improvement center without walking out with about 50 colors in my pocket (I've got big pockets). So now that I had to choose some colors I was finding it a bit difficult to make a choice.

I had a basic idea in my head - a latte / tan / coffee color for the "great" room, kitchen, and bathroom and Tiffany-ish blue for a wall in the kitchen:

I narrowed my tan choices, taped those suckers on the wall - and then made my little sister hold up the blue chips next to them until I found a combo I liked.

With the help of my mom and said paint chip holder I finally found the hopefully perfect colors. . .

Now I just have to remember where I picked up those paint chips. . .

Those Darn Cats

So, I come home from an extremely exhausting day at work, and all I want to do is crash out in the big comfy chair in the living room and put my feet up - but wait I can't put my feet up 'cause Mr. Shaft has made the ottoman his bed. . .



Well at least I can sit in the big comfy chair, right?



Wrong! Miss Lola has taken that over. So okay, no big comfy chair in the living room, I'll just go rest in one of the club chairs in the t.v. room. . .



Nope! Coco has decided to that she needs the rest more than I do. But wait, there's two club chairs, I'll just sit in the other one. . .



But no, little Dibbers has taken that one. . .

Some days I wish I was a cat. . .

the brown towels are on the chairs to keep the cats from scratching the leather
as you can see, keeping the cats off the chairs wasn't really an option

Who Just Bought a House?

That would be me! I just thought I'd share the "I just signed my life away so I have to bust out the camera and take a silly picture of myself" picture

About Darn Time

I am now the proud owner of a "mid-century cottage" home!

Quick Update

12:17 . . . still nothing

Quick Update

I was suppose to hear something by 10am today . . . it is now 10:31 . . . so . . .

Free Trees

The city of Pompano Beach had a tree give away this morning.

Gumbo Limbo / Live Oak

My mom and I were there first thing at 8am, and we weren't the only ones. The line went quickly, they gave you two ticket for two trees, and then they let you free on the city nursery. I knew what I wanted before we got there, so we made quick work of it. I got myself a Gumbo Limbo and a Live Oak.

Gumbo Limbo is also known as the Tourist Tree because the bark on the mature tree is red and peely. My grandfather spent most of his retirement working at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton - so I also refer to it as the Grandpa Tree.

Now all I need is a place to plant them!

A New Date, Maybe?

July 29th. . . I think this one might stick. . .

Here's to hoping

What I (Don't) Got

While I was making a list of all the things I need to buy for the soon-to-be-mine house I realized that I don't have any canisters!

Canisters are a pretty big deal, cause, well, I love to bake and cook. . . I just love the kitchen, it's the most important room in a home. . . I have pots and pans and dishes and gadgets galore - so the kitchen was the last place I thought I would need to buy anything for. In fact I thought I would have to purge some of my kitchen lovelies, so it came as a shock when I realized that I don't have canisters.

My stainless steel canisters that I had in my college apartment stayed in my college apartment. . . so now I need something new in their place.

I really like the look of clear glass canisters like these:

but, I have to be very careful to find some with a very tight seal. This is south Florida after all and ants and their buggy friends tend to a problem.

All canisters can be found through Target

Banks Lie

So, after promising that by the latest I would be closing today, July 25th, am I closing?
Of course not!


As of yesterday afternoon I have no faith in the mortgage industry. . . The bank still hadn't sent over the paper work to the title agency, which has stated from the beginning that they would need 48 hours, yet the bank was still trying to tell me that I was going to close today - HA!

Oh, and the emails! I will share some of those little gems with you after I close, they are just so professional.

I'm sorry I'm in such a grumpy mood, it just doesn't look like it's going to be a good day. But I promise I will make it up to you, I have some fun posts planned for later today, this weekend, and the beginning of next week:

• Kitchen Plans
• A new "What I Got"
• Paint Colors
• Free Trees
• and a few more

House Warming Suggestions

if anyone wants to get me a house warming gift for my soon-to-be-mine house, this will do:

Only $19.99 @ Urban Outfitters

Really Friday? Maybe?

My bank has been reassuring me that I will close tomorrow. . . While hearing them say it 100 times does make me feel somewhat better, I still highly doubt that I will be a homeowner by tomorrow night. . . Everyone keeps emailing everyone else and it's just getting confusing - I know email is a wonderful tool, but in this case it is not being used correctly: one question (or statement) going out to 20 different people, and an hour later a simple response that leads to multiple other single questions or statements and four hours later you are still on that first question! A simple phone call would be a much better use of time, and a lot more information could be shared!

And as far as I know they may have not sent over the paperwork to the seller and the title company yet. . .

So, again, here's to hoping

Bathroom Peak

One of the first things that caught my eye and made me fall in love with my soon-to-be-mine house was the original peachy-pink and black tile bathroom straight out of 1957!

*picture is taken from bank appraisal

That sink is the first thing gone, a nice simple pedestal sink will go in it's place.

Processing or Identity Theft?

I don't know if this is normal or not (I've never bought a house before), but it seems kinda strange. . .

I understand checking my credit (flawless, by the way), and I understand verifying my employment (though did they really have to do it 3 times?), but why do they want a copy of my college diplomas?

Maybe a Closing Date

July 25th? Maybe?

My bank said it would be this Friday at the latest, but I'm not putting much faith in that.
Here's to hoping

Tears

of relief!

All clear on the FINAL inspection!!

I read the email and I burst out in tears. . .

Now we are just waiting on the processor. . .

I think there is a very good chance I will have a mental breakdown before this is all said and done.

Bring on the Fans

- no autographs please. . .

No, not those type of fans! Ceiling fans, silly!

We hit Lowes yesterday just to take a look around. I know I'll need three ceiling fans for the soon-to-be-mine house so that's where we headed first. It's a good thing I didn't pick any up, cause my dad would have made me turn around and return them. Silly me, I was reading the room size recommendations on the box and I thought you should go by that, but no. Bigger is better. . . According to dad we will be getting 52 inch fans, not the dinky 30 inch fans that the box suggested for our rooms.

We also hit the lighting section (which is basically the same as the fan section, but let's not get caught up in the details). I found my kitchen light -

I know, not at all fancy or even pretty, but I am in love with it. Plus it so goes with age of my soon-to-be-mine house (51 years young). But again, I didn't buy it cause I need someone else to tall me they love it too.

However I did buy two outdoor light fixtures. Super cute Jelly Jar Lights, one for by the front door, one for the carport. They are the same fixture that lights up the front porch over at the Erwin House -

Thank you Mr. Erwin for letting me know where to find them.

Virtual Shopping: Danish Modern Tables

@ Urban Outfitters

While these aren't what I'm looking for they would look great in a mid-century reno



If you are looking for new reasonably priced pieces for your modern home Urban Outfitters may be the place to go. . .

Cali

My little sister is coming back from her California trip tonight! She's been gone for 10 whole days - she has never been away from home this long without us. I can't wait to see all the pictures. . .

I hope she got me some squished pennies!!

Banks are Stupid

You heard me right s-t-u-p-i-d, stupid!

After all the hoops we've already jumped through, they've added another. It's already two weeks past scheduled closing and now they want a final inspection! Why did they have us made that booklet of all the before and after work that was done if they wanted to go look at it themselves?!

And now I'm terrified that they are going to find some new completely blown out of proportion flaw and deny me my house!

I feel sick, and I can't tell if I'm getting a cold or if the stress is just getting to me.

Bush Wacked

A trimming we will go. . .


My dad is a little crazy - when he decides to start a large (very large in some cases) he doesn't just start them, he finishes them in record time, drags the rest us into him madness, and completely ignoring the long list of projects that he has already started. Now, this isn't a bad thing, but he generally makes these decisions at 5:30 on a week night after we've all worked 9 hours days.

Monday night was no exception - the task that night? Take about 150 linear feet of 8-9 foot tall ficus bushes down to 5 feet tall, in an evening. . . You can't really tell in the photo above, but that pile was 7 feet high about about 25 feet long. . . and to top it all off, I got bit by a spider :(

I can't wait for my dad to turn some of his energy on to my soon-to-be-mine house, until then he said that this was just a practice run for my place (also surrounded by ficus). . .

yeah, I think I might just have to hire someone for that part. . .

Oh So Random

I'm trying to get Starbucks out of my system before I close on the house. So this morning while I'm getting my free Vivanno smoothie (would not get it again) I spot someone who looks familiar. . . Everyone knows everyone in this town, but it wasn't someone I knew. . .

It took me a second, but then I realized it was Dani from MTV's A Shot at Love, aka the let down lesbian. She's much more petite than I thought she would be.

Well that's it on my run-in with a R-lister (I'm guessing that's where they group the reality television people)

Thank You Sandra!!

There are a few perks to my job, and this is one of them:


Homemade strawberry shortcake from scratch made just for me!! If I was Rachael Ray I would be saying "yum-o" right about now. Thank you so much Sandra!!

Back to Waiting

I hate that I am back to waiting again. Everything has been turned into each respective bank, we're told over and over and over again that things are moving along and that everything is going well, but still I don't have a new closing date!

As it has been said many a time before, I am not good a waiting - I am just not good at it. . .

Give me a closing date already!!

What I Got

Birthday Edition!!

Because every girl needs one on her birthday -

And cause I have a soft spot for deer -

And cause I really needed a pink can opener -

(no, really, I do need it)

And cause my little sister rocks -

And cause my Mom also rocks -

And finally, the super cool present my cousin picked up for me at the GLCC flea market last weekend -

A set of 2 vintage school chairs!!

Thank you all - I loved my birthday, even if I can't hold my margaritas!

Distractions

I already apologized once for being a bad blogger, and here I go again, less than a week later asking for forgiveness once more. . .

I am sorry that I have been a crappy blogger this past week, and I am even more sorry for the that lame excuse of an Ikea post I gave you (a day late no less).

I really didn't take into account how much of a distraction having family in town and taking time off from work could be. . .

I have good news and bad news. The Bad news first, as you can probably guess by now, I did not close on the house last week, but my birthday was far from a bust (What I Got - the Birthday Edition will be posted this afternoon). The good news is that all the work that the bank wanted done before closing is complete - a nice not so little report was hand delivered to the mortgage department this morning. Hopefully we will have a closing date some day this week, fingers crossed!

I - K - E - A

I think the Swedish word for heaven is Ikea, cause that's where I wanna go when I die!

On with the pictures!!

It was overwhelming and wonderful! All and all if was a wonderful day and I got a plenty of ideas for when I have the soon-to-be-mine house!

Field Trip!!

Did you get your permission slip signed?

Well, did you?

Cause we're going to Ikea!!

Woohoo, Oh Yeah!

Now, for all of you that grew up with Ikeas nearby, this may not be exciting for you, but Florida got their first Ikea on October 17, 2007 (yes, I remember the date). . . While I considered camping out for the opening, the more rational side of my brain won out - and I haven't been yet!! I am an Ikea virgin! So my cousin (also an Ikea virgin) and I are making a day of it. . .

Now I have my Ikea dream list:






but, I am most likely just picking up the more practical Ikeas I need like

and

Pictures will be taken, fun will be had!!