Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day and while I know several members of the current armed services (We Love You Jess! Be Safe!) they are all alive and kickin' so by definition they don't qualify to be memorialized. My grandfather Fleming is probably the closest relative that I know that counts. He fought in World War 2 and his name is on a really neat War Memorial in Richmond, UT. If you are ever in that city you should go find it. Because he is buried in Richmond I wont be able to go to his grave so this is as close as I will get today.

The Sink

When we ordered our counter tops they came with our choice of three sinks. We could choose the 50/50, the 60/40 or the Smart Sink. The 50/50 is just what it sounds like. A sink with 2 even sized tubs. The 60/40 has one tub slightly larger than the other side. We have one right now with a tiny side and a huge side. We don't love it. So the obvious choice would have to be the Smart Sink. Hello, even the name just proves that it is the right choice. The Smart sink is a deep sink with 2 even tubs and a divider that only rises half way up the sink.
Like so:
Now I can put large pots (or maybe someday babies....) into the sink and it wont matter if it fits into one side or the other side. The divider comes up 4.5 inches and so if we wanted to fill the sink with some water to do dishes we still can and if we want to fill the whole thing up and have a pool party in our kitchen we can do that too! It's almost deep enough for a diving board.

We knew we needed an awesome new faucet to go with it, none of my DIY blogs had a homemade faucet craft, so we went and bought one of these:
We were really excited about the pull down sprayer. It was going to be like getting to do lunch duty in elementary school every day! The night before the counter tops were to arrive I had this terrible feeling. I was afraid that the beautiful plantation shutters wouldn't be able to open with the taller arc faucet. We went over to the house to measure and, wouldn't you know it, it was tall enough to be in the way of the shutters. So we got another awesome faucet that has a wand instead of the pull down. Still very nice. No interference from the shutters.

The first big change

I'm so excited about our new home and we have already begun the process of making it our own. We liked this house when we first saw it but there was one thing that we felt like didn't match the rest of the house. The counter tops.

We've been getting some flack for talking about how much we don't like these counter tops. They could be fine. If they were in a different house. The pink color would be better in an adobe house with cactus and sandstone surrounding it. But that wasn't our house. Our house was built in 2004 and it has the standard cream with white trim walls and, as you can see, it has brown and tan flooring. We talked about putting in laminate flooring but decided to wait on that project and we'll see if it happens. It turns out once we removed the pink counters the flooring doesn't look so out of place. We found a killer deal on granite counters and we paid as much as we would have paid for laminate at any of the chain stores.

The color we got is called Venetian Gold. In the words of my uncle/Realtor it took the room from Grandma to Yuppie. I don't know that Yuppie was what we were going for but we got it away from Grandma and that was the hope! Unfortunately I've caught the bug and so even though Brad thinks we're done with the kitchen I think that maybe I've only just begun.

Becoming an addict

I've always loved looking at peoples houses. Buying our home has given me the chance to walk through lots of peoples homes and I loved it. Since the touring portion of the process has ended I have found a new way to continue looking at peoples homes. Blogs. I love looking at Design Blogs. I may have to quit my job so I can sit and look at all the crafty things other people are doing. I don't even have time (or the real talent) to try to make the crafts myself because one blog leads to another and there are so many cool things to look at.
But despite the lack of time and talent I've been trying some of these projects and I'm excited about the outcome. I'm going to keep trying things (I've got to have something to do during the summer vacations) and I'll be sure to keep you all updated, whether you like it or not, on how those projects go. I will also be updating the house with new things that I wont be making myself because there are people who make things, that I like, for a living that are willing to sell said things at stores for people like me to buy.

Things I've learned through this...

We just bought a home. The experience overall has been a good one. I have learned a lot and we have been blessed along the way with a good Realtor and with good representation from our mortgage loan person at Wells Fargo. We also have had many blessings when it comes to the payment for that home. We don't think we will live in this place for the rest of our lives. It is a starter home. So at some point we will be doing it again. And I don't shudder at that thought. Unfortunately one thing that was out of our control was the realtor that the sellers chose to use in selling the house. I'm trying to take the advice that you all gave me when I posted this over a year ago. But even with over a years worth of growing and maturing, holding grudges is still something I struggle with constantly. So instead of going on and on about how much I dislike this realtor and how much I really would advise all of you to never use Century 21 just because of this one idiot.... I am not going to. Instead I'm going to offer you all some advice for when you buy a home or are selling a home and so that I will remember it when it is time for us to purchase another home.


#1: Pick a Realtor that you are comfortable with and that you are comfortable complaining to. If something isn't just how you want it to be you don't want to be intimidated by your Realtor and just let it go. Tell them.

#2: Ask any question you can think of. Some important questions you may not think of but that you will want to ask BEFORE you sign the papers for the house include: Where are the rest of the keys to the house? Where is the key to the mailbox? Why is there a giant cat house/tree thing in the garage and when are you getting rid of it?

#3: If you are selling a house CLEAN IT. If you are buying a house and it isn't cleaned as well as you want it to be, don't assume it will be done and don't be worried about asking for it to be done. (If the carpet not being cleaned was the only thing this realtor hadn't taken care of I wouldn't be so upset, it's just getting lumped in with everything else because he's made me that upset.)

#4: Don't assume that just because you consider yourself a good decent person that everyone else is. Some people will do the very minimum amount of work possible and will still be happy to take your money.

#5: Don't ever let someone talk down to you or belittle you. Stick to your guns and don't be apologetic if someone doesn't do what they say they will, insist that other people do their jobs.

#6: Don't think about the fact that 30 years is a really long time and that you have just entered into the most debt you will ever enter (that is until you upgrade to a bigger house when your family size demands it). Instead focus on the fact that you have just purchased a place where you and your best friend can really begin the next phase of your lives together.



p.s. I know that in proper English the word Realtor is capitalized because it is a proper noun. However, my elementary teacher told me you capitalize the nouns because people are important. In my own mind by not capitalizing it every time it has to do with the realtor who sold us our house I am showing that he is not important and I don't need to let his actions continue to make me feel so down. This is how nerds get revenge.

Still Renting...

Amy: "We own our own home!"
Brad: "Actually the bank owns it, so really we're just renting it from the bank."
Amy: "Yeah but the bank will let us paint the walls!"
Brad: "This is the most expensive paint I've ever heard of."

Despite the completely overwhelming feeling of being in serious debt (our first debt of any kind really....) We are the proud new owners of a townhouse. More pictures will come but if you can't wait for them to show up here I already put most of them on facebook.

Killer 'Stache dude

I teach ninth graders during my actual "teacher" hours at the school I work at, but the rest of the day I work with the resource teacher and I work with students from all three grades. It's amazing the difference between the 7th grade and the 9th grade. One thing that they all have in common is the hilarious things that they say and do.

When learning about Stalin I had a student raise his hand and ask "Mrs. Dimick, do all dictators have to have a mustache?"

This question got me thinking about mustaches and it reminded me of a funny story that I forgot to share with everyone.

One day while I was working with a study skills class with both 7th and 9th graders in it and a small (smaller than me even) 7th grade boy came to the desk and asked me if I had any lotion. I gave him a little dab of lotion and he began to rub it on his upper lip. I asked him what was going on and he said "well last night my brother and I tried to dye our mustaches black and now my lip burns."