Washer and Dryer

We finally decided on a washer and dryer, the Maytag Epic 400 series. We got these at the same place we got the refrigerator and we only have to pay $30 total delivery for all 3 items, which is awesome. The sales guy we were working with said that now that Maytag is owned by Whirlpool and all their stuff is made and designed by Whirlpool they are a better brand than they were a couple years ago. We really liked this set and didn't have to pay our first born child for them. *whew*

Who'd have thought that I could be this excited about a washer and a dryer?



Since we did get the front loading washer and dryer Andrew is going to make his own pedestals instead of forking out $400 for the pair of pedestals.

List Crazy

I keep making lists of things that I need, need to do, want and want to do and most of those lists involve having the keys to the house or having something that's in a box in storage. *sigh*

I'm crocheting a couple of blankets right now and I'm planning on a lot of sewing projects once I have my sewing machine again. I was going to start with stuff for the baby's room but we don't have a crib yet (it's on the list), so I think I will start with slip covers for our couches. The couches were slightly mauled by our cat when we had him (he lives with my parents now), he discovered that there was foam in the arms and scratched through the upholstery so he could eat the foam. Stupid cat... I miss him (but that's another post).

Or I have a couple of quilts that I've started and need to finish, both are t-shirt quilts. One is a "normal" quilt with equal size squares of my old t-shirts. The other is the designs from my Grandma's shirts from when she participated in the Senior Olympics, etc. Perhaps I should work on this quilt first and then do the slip covers and then, and then, and then...

Andrew has decided that the best way to get the power tools that he wants is to volunteer to make stuff with them. Currently on his list of things to make are: the crib, a stand for the washer and dryer (since we are getting a front loading washer), a hope chest (thanks Megan for giving him the idea), a chest of drawers and a coffee table.

Apparently the tools that he will need for all those projects include: a planer, a router and router table, a table saw, a chop saw and a sander. Together they will cost around $800 or so for everything. We'll have to wait and see about this.

I want/need the sander so I can refinish our dining room table and chairs. Some of the chairs were left outside so the varnish peeled off and the table top has some heat "stains" from when I was 16 or so and let mini bread loafs cool on the table with not quite enough barrier between the loaves and the table top.

The point is we have a couple lists with about a bazillion things to do on each. I think I will use my lists to properly nest the house. :) Or at least get some unfinished/unstarted projects done.

Another House Update

We went to "check on" our house again today and we were very pleased with what we saw, progress!!! Hurray! :)

The front yard was landscaped with a tree and gravel and everything, most people don't "do" grass south of Phoenix, and the backyard was leveled out and most of the weeds are gone. The carpet is finally in and the sinks and faucets and toilets are in. It looks like all that's left to install is the electrical outlets/light fixtures, doorknobs, blinds, appliances and our stuff.

There's only 9 days until our walk-through with the super and then only 7 days after that until we get the keys!! We're so close and yet so far away. :)

Refrigerator

Our house is a spec house so we didn't really get to choose anything that went into it (we did get to choose our blinds and lighting fixtures), though there were 2 other spec houses we could have chosen but we chose the one that we did because we liked the location and the colors that were chosen for it already. The fridge wasn't one of the appliances already included in the house and we opted not to get our fridge from the builder because they were quoting us prices much higher that we wanted to pay for a fridge.

The other appliances in our kitchen are black GEs so we decided to find a black GE that we liked. This one below we found at place that we can get it for only $1500, shopping around they are standardly $1600. The other perk about where we are going to buy the fridge is, it is in unincorporated Pima County so the tax rate is 2% lower than in Tucson proper. So not only are we getting a good deal we're saving money on taxes too!!! Sweet.

I really like the freezer on bottom models but didn't necessarily want to pay the extra $500 or more to have the water dispenser on the door. We've lived 4 years and more without it so we're not really going to miss it. This fridge does have the ice maker in the freezer which is enough for me.



Now all we need to do is decide on which washer and dryer we want. We were originally looking at a mid-grade set from LG but the sales man told us that they weren't selling LGs anymore because it takes too long to get parts from the manufacturer (which makes them as an independent store look bad). He mentioned that since Maytag was bought by Whirlpool they have gotten much better (the whole Neptune fiasco really drug their name in the dirt). Either way we are trying to figure out what we want in our price range.

Crazy Pregnancy Dreams

I don't always remember everything about my dreams but I do remember how weird they are. I'm pretty sure they are connected to the little person growing inside my belly, because I may have strange dreams normally but the one's I've been having recently are totally bizarre.

The one I had last night/this morning I was at a huge church and we were all celebrating somebody's 60th wedding anniversary. It was done it 2 parts the first part only immediate family was allowed in and then we all filed out and watched as everyone else and their neighbor's cousins all filed in then the family went back in. I was seeing people that I haven't seen in ages and the weirdest part is I was eating, well they started out as chocolate sticks but somehow turned into really long skinny churros, like they sell at Costco. I had armfuls of these things that I wasn't sharing but eating all of them myself. I don't know I thought it was weird.

The theme for my dreams in the past couple of weeks have involved characters from Harry Potter. It wasn't everyone all doing magic, but randomly one character would integrate themselves into my dreams. I just re-read the series so that may have something to do with that but, I didn't dream about Harry Potter characters when I first read the series.

There have been other dreams too, all equally weird, that make me scratch my head in the morning wondering what my mind is up to.

Anyways, this was just a random thing that I thought I would share with you all. And now I'm sure you think I'm crazy.... Maybe I am... But probably not. :)

21 Weeks Along

So today I decided that I was tired of the clothes that I packed, which isn't all of the maternity clothes that I have with me. So I went through the large box of maternity clothes that I have living in my trunk and pulled out a bunch more clothes. This outfit I'm wearing I picked out because I thought that it made me look more pregnant than some of the other clothes that I've been wearing recently. I think I look more pregnant looking down at my belly right now than how I look in this picture which was taken about 20 minutes ago.

Update on the House

It turns out that the sales lady who said that we would probably be able to move in the 3rd week of August was mistaken. It is now the 3rd week in August and we are not moving in to the new house. In fact it is still unfinished, we stop by the house after church on Sundays to check on the progress.

We have a walk through on September 2nd to make sure there isn't anything that the builders might have overlooked that needs to be fixed/finished and then once those items are done we will get the keys which will be September 9th, which is 3 weeks from tomorrow. We're excited to finally have a house and we've got all the essentials lined up: water, gas, electric, internet, trash. We have the movers scheduled to bring us all our stuff on September 12th (Andrew has every other Friday off and that is his off Friday). It's the 12th and not the 10th because I didn't want to be alone with the movers.

My New Hair Cut

So today I decided that it was too hot and I needed to get the hair off of my neck so I found a place that was close to Macy's ('cause I needed new bras) and went for it. Below are pictures of my new hair cut. Andrew said that this is the shortest he's ever seen it. Which now that I think about it, I agree.

I think for fun I will do another post about all the crazy things that I've done to my hair, that I have pictures of. :) But for now here are today's pictures.



So this is a profile view of my growing belly. This is 19 weeks & 2 days.



And this is an "artistic" front view. Andrew was having fun with the camera.


This is the last time I got my hair cut. It is was done in early April.



This is how my hair looked before I got it cut today. (This picture was taken at Andrew's family reunion at Dash Point State Park).

Pictures of our Unfinished House

We went down to Sahuarita, the town we're going to live in, and took pictures of our house. We should be getting a call on Monday or Tuesday letting us know what the official date we can take possession of the house will be. Right now we only know it will probably be the 3rd week in August.

The first group of pictures are the front of the house.





This next group of pictures are of the back of the house. The backyard is actually quite large and there is only one house that can actually see into it and it's not completed yet. The rest of the houses around us are 1 story houses and we are at a slightly higher elevation than them. Plus the concrete fences are at least 5' tall.




This is bedroom #2 which will be the baby's room.


This is looking from the living room into the hallway. The main door at the end goes to the garage. The little door to the right is the pantry in the kitchen.

This is the kitchen with an island and to the right is the dining area.

This is the "library" it isn't called a den because there aren't any doors enclosing it. This is directly off the living room. To the left is the front door and to the right is the hallway then the kitchen. I'm excited because both of our desks will fit in this office area.

This is the entrance to bedroom #1. You can tell it's the master suite because it has a fancy door way. Our window opens up to the backyard.

This is the living room. The sliding glass door opens to a large covered patio in the back yard. You can see the arch way to the "library" on the right and just out of the picture on the left is the entrance to the master bedroom. Directly behind me is the kitchen.

This is bedroom #3. This will be the craft/guest room. I really like the bay windows. We will have to put some external screens or something on these windows because they face due west.


There's still quite a bit of stuff to be done but most of it is cosmetic: tile, carpet, lighting, doorknobs, installing the blinds, plumbing for the sinks, installing toilets, installing the kitchen appliances except for the refrigerator, and grading the ground outside. I'm pretty sure that the final paint color is on the walls, though they will need to touch it up. So all in all I'm pretty sure it will be done by the 3rd week in August if not sooner.