Now, we have lived in a “house” for some time (as opposed to a condo or apartment) so we are well aware of the difference in maintanance for a house vs. another type of living situation. However, we were not necessarily entirely prepared for living in our own house, much less a brand new one that no on has lived in before so they may not have been nice enough to leave a fan or something. We started our morning halting all ongoing construction on the homes around us when we turned up and the workers were running their saws and other electric items off of our outlets and our power. Negative Ghost Rider! That’s not going to work. They got very angry, stared at us until their supervisor showed up at which time they yelled at him, and then somehow found a magic generator that was able to power their electric stuff without having to run off our house. Technically our power doesn’t change to our name until Monday but we had to set a precedent today so we don’t get a huge power bill for the month we didn’t even live there yet.
We started our first full day as homeowners very early this morning. So early in fact that I am wondering why I am writing a post now instead of sleeping. We first stopped by Lowes to pick up some board to put in the attic so we can put Christmas in the attic. We stopped at Lowes before realizing that the specific board we wanted was at Home Depot. So, we trudged on over there (they are across the street from one another so really it wasn’t much of a trip).
We got the board and went on to the house. Steven put the board in the attic with the help of his parents while I did something inside that I no longer remember…. oh, I cleaned the windows on the inside and the inside and outside of the glass doors. Our front door looks so great! Thank you Mom and Dad Young!!
The blinds guy was supposed to be there at 10 but he was running a little late. He made it by 10:30 so it really wasn’t a big deal. I must admit that I am so glad that we hired a company to put the blinds in because we would still be there yelling about the first one. He finished in less than an hour and they look amazing! Thank you Mom and Joe!!
While the blinds guy was working we worked on painting the garage wall. We had primer and had to do two coats but it was worth it. It took us the majority of our day today to do that but it was the plan anyway and it looks really good now.
We had some lunch in between the two coats of paint and had a “picnic” in our garage. We even had fun background noise with them working on every house around us. Saws are not the best type of lunch time ambiance noise. It’s worth it though to have neighbors soon and you can’t hear it inside the house anyway.
After lunch, while we were working on the second coat of paint Sears showed up with our appliances. Those delivery guys were awesome! They brought in our washer, dryer, and refrigerator without even nicking a wall. It was great and our house finally looks closer to being “complete.”
After all of that we really hit a brick wall in home ownership. Thursday night we finally found a nook light and a bar light… somehow we were talked out of paying for installation through Lowes. Not good for us. After arguing for what seemed like forever this afternoon and finally giving up, I spent an hour in Lowes having them help me set up installation on the lights. From now on we always pay the extra for installation. My sanity is worth more to me than whatever they will be charging for installation.
This afternoon we also found out that our awesome tree must be kind of like some sort of lookout bluff were kids go to make out or something. We look out back and there are two high school aged kids “necking” under our tree. I went outside (very loudly so I would be noticed) and our conversation went something like this…
Me: “Hi… you’re hanging out at my house I see?”
Girl: “You live here?”
Me: “Yep.”
Girl: “Oh! We thought no one lived here.” (Did the house built on the lot throw you off… really? Of course someone would sooner or later…)
Me: “Yeah… so you can hang out for now but just as a warning: we will be putting up a fence and do have a pretty large dog too…”
Then silence… and they packed up and left as soon as I walked inside. They had a full on “picnic” going on themselves. Blanket, food, drinks… It was kind of crazy.
We sealed the garage floor after the appliances were delivered and after we argued about the light. It looks pretty good and I’m glad we did it now because we can’t put anything on it for about 3 days which gives us plenty of drying time before we move in two weeks.
We went to dinner tonight and Steven and his mom are out walking Jack now. My feet hurt too much for that. Tomorrow we have big plans too. Steven and I were supposed to go in the afternoon to Palatka to see my grandparents before they leave but my grandfather might be in the hospital for an extra day or so before they leave so we may not make it up. We have a ton to do at home though too so I’m sure we’ll be able to busy ourselves.
Here are some pictures of the happenings and new items in our house.

Our picnic in the garage


Our new blinds in the nook

The top of the blinds

Working hard