one piece at a time.

Last night we celebrated Dad's 49th Birthday!  Family dinner style.  I have a precious family, so nights like these are always memorable.  Last night, my older brother took the cake with his one-of-a-kind homemade birthday card.  Its adorned with a portrait of him and Dad golfing. Stu is actually portrayed as a giant next to dad with gold hair and a lime green v-neck (which he would never wear in real life).

Believe it or not, Stu is 23.  Precious, huh?
Through this buying house journey, I would say  I have learned a lot.  Even though it's not all said and done, we've made incredible progress.  I can now educate you on interest rates, mortgages, home insurance, school loans, sewing drapes, piking paint colors, and the list goes on.  And on.  As I mentioned earlier, I have also become an avid DIY project-er.  So the adventure has only just begun.
I have been shoppings Craigs List, well, everyday, three times a day.  In need of living room furniture, I have been extremely frustrated with the fact that everyone selling their old couches thinks their product is gold plated or something and wants to sell it for an arm and a leg.  Well, I finally came across a link for something that seemed extremely nice and well priced.  The posted included words like "smoke free", "newly cleaned","couldn't tell we had two children", "new", etc. Upon sending the link to my parents (who were in FL at the time), they called back immediately, insisting that I get over to the house ASAP and buy the furniture. So i enlisted my co-worker Lisa to join me in my trek across town (you just never know what you're getting yourself into with these things) and called my big brother Stu to meet us there with his truck in tow.
Well... Lisa and I arrived on the scene first.  The house was... not in the nicest neighborhood.  And the front porch was adorned with 4 young adults.  Smoking.  Lisa and I lapped the neighborhood, stalling until Stu was closer (in case we needed protection or something).  When we finally gained the nerve to pull up, we were greeted by a lady in her upper 20's rocking her pj's.  Mind you, it is about lunch time.  And she is expecting me.  She warns us that "the house is a mess and we are moving in two days".  Mess was not quite the word I would have used.  I would have picked a stronger term like, wreck. Or turmoil.  Or atrocious.  Regardless, the couches that I came to see were buried under boxes and children's clothes.  She quickly made room for Lisa and I to test out [of course, we sit on the edge of the seats for fear of the unknown].  Stu then showed up with a look of terror on his face.  I tend to be a "glass half full" kind of girl and saw loads of potential in the pieces. Not to mention, I tend to be frugal. So somehow [against what Stu would call my better judgement], we purchased and loaded the living room furniture with the help of our new smoking, pajama friends.  Turns out the "newly cleaned" meant they ran the seat covers through the washing machine.  Surprisingly, this worked and eliminated all affects of 2 children, which were def NOT eliminated from the rest of the house.  I really wish I took pictures.  That would make this post a lot more affective.  BUT, i did take before and after pics of the end tables they threw in.

Before.  You can't tell, but the color actually seems like a dirty cream. 

After.  1 can of Ballet Slipper Pink.  

There are two of these and boy am I excited to get them into my new living room.
Okay, I could go on, but work is calling my name and it appears that I have gotten quite wordy.  And I know from experience, the best part of blogs is typically the pics.  So, I'm out!