Return
A little over three weeks ago, Kelly and I moved into our new home. Finally, after nearly three and one half months of actually owning a home and paying rent at the same time, we are full-time homeowners.
The actual move went mostly smooth. The movers did a decent job of getting everything packed up and moved out. The only lost item was a pressboard based armoire that’s top caved in somewhat. I believe I can fix it though. We ended up roughing it at the old house the night all our stuff was moved because it was already 8:30 at night, and it was too late to bring the dogs up. The next morning we packed everything up and started to leave. That is, tried to leave. My car wouldn’t start. We tried to jump it, to no avail. So after some swearing, Kelly repacked the van to have everything we really needed. We left the car there to be dealt with later.
I had it towed the following Monday, and found out later, that the battery was defective and was still under warranty, so the shop just went out and got me a new one.
The house has taken a while to unpack. I had a very poorly timed week of meetings at my company’s office building that I couldn’t avoid, and that slowed us down somewhat. But by now, most rooms are setup. The first day of unpacking I spent putting out office together in a neater way, while Kelly worked on the bedroom. We had to wait a few days to get out refrigerator set back up to use the ice maker and water dispenser. Never realized how much ice we used.
We also got out new Dish network package setup. We have it setup in 4 rooms right now, with two rooms being HDTV capable. Turned out I was lucky that I called the local place direct, and not Dish Network, who would have told me to go scratch once they saw the layout. The house is very long, and the dish needed to be over 100 feet from the house. From the dish to the farthest room, it’s probably pushing 220 feet, which is way more than Dish ever wants to run. Once we had the Dish setup, I realized that our TV didn’t fit the room. We needed a bigger TV. So one Saturday, I drove down to Sams Club, and picked up a 60″ Sony Grand WEGA DLP, a tv stand, and a “home theater in a box”. It has a newer 3 chip design and uses the same chips that modern digital theaters use. The home theater kit came with a good upscaling 5 disc DVD changer, full surround sound capability, and XM Radio capability. It’s a nice setup.
It also took us a while to find a vacuum cleaner that wouldn’t constantly scratch the floor finish on our concrete floors. We ended up with a Hoover WindTunnell cannister vac with a special floor attachment for tile floors. So far, it seems to work great. The wheels on the vacuum are rubberized so it is nearly impossible to scratch the finish. I actually tried to make a scratch, but all I could do was scuff the floor a little. I could rub the marks out with my finger, so I think we’re in good shape there.
Since then, it’s more unpacking an organizing. We’ve had a lot of mini projects come up. We’ve put new stylish trashcans in all the rooms, added 6 new pet beds for all the animals, bought new hampers for the laundry room, and put up all our knick knacks. Kelly put together our library, which looks pretty cool. With the colors, lighting, table, and wood stove, it really seems like an inviting place to read (though we need more furniture).
Right now, I’m working on replacing all the light switches, covers, and receptacles with a consistent color scheme. We chose stainless steel covers and back inserts. With all the different paint colors, we needed to go neutral, and the normal colors people use look boring. When I’m done changing everything out, it will look pretty cool. So far, I’ve only shocked myself once, and I believe that’s because a particular receptacle is wired incorrectly. At first glance, it looks like a typical receptacle in series. Except that, there is only one wired screwed into ground, and one of the screws for the hot screw, has two wires. I will probably have to ask a pro about this.
That’s it for now. When we get everything close to where we want it, I think Kelly will put some before and after pictures up. It’s gone from an old lady’s home to…you’d probably call it a dog home now, but oh well.
