House, and other randomness

Before I forget, let me add to the list of things my HyVee does not have:
Plain goat cheese, graham cracker and Oreo cookie crumbs, jalapenos (well they did, but only like 10 and I needed more), bite sized gold and flour tortilla Tostitos. GAH!

So, the past couple of weeks have been pretty void of any sort of training with all the craziness of the holidays. It has been a lot of fun, but I am definitely looking forward to pulling myself away from all the junk I've been eating and getting back to working out. But, it's fun for now. I was all set to go run 12 on Saturday, but I woke up at about 3am to 100mph winds (that may ben a bit of an exaggeration) and the power getting knocked out. Then when my alarm went off at 6:15, I woke to the sound of thunder and lightning and pouring down rain. I have had just about ENOUGH of running in thunderstorms, let alone thunderstorms at the end of December, so I decided to just skip it. So I just went back to sleep and rode my trainer for a bit when I got up. Apparently I wasnt the only one who didnt feel like running in that crap, in Eladio's weekly email he said that only 13 people showed up. Out of 200-some.

So anywho, after my second Saturday in a row of not running, I spent all damn day on Sunday giving the house a thorough cleaning. Usually I spend about 3 hours cleaning on Sundays, but we're having a NYE party and I wanted the thing spic and span. I live in constant fear of people coming over and thinking my house is dirty, and being that we'll have 30+ people in the house tomorrow night, I just couldnt risk any filth. It's a bad trait I picked up from my mom. I never understood why she cared what other people though of how clean the house was, now I do. I used to actually really enjoy cleaning. Having an apartment, and then a 700 sqft house made it pretty easy. And I might even venture to say, fun. But not now! It's not like our new house is a mansion of any sort, but it's much larger than what I'm used to and what I grew up in. So it takes way longer to clean. And it's pretty much all hardwoods except for the stairs and upstairs hallway and the master bedroom, and hardwoods are a pain in my ass to keep clean. Especially when you have 3 mongrels leaving their paw prints all over. But, it's better than having filthy carpet.

While I'm on the topic of the house here are some pics of it since not many people have seen it yet. We moved in Labor Day weekend, so have been here a few months. It still feels pretty empty to me though, I guess I need to go buy more stuff to fill it up!

All houses are ugly in the winter, so I didnt bother taking a picture of the outside. So here's one from the summer:
When you walk in, the living room is to your left. This room is still pretty empty except for our old couch and the Christmas tree. I havent painted this one yet or hung anything on the walls because I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do in here, and I dont know what color I want to paint it. Also, my parents are trying to pawn their piano off on me, so it would have to go in here which would affect what I can do.

Beyond the living room is the dining room. I did get this room painted, but I still need to get stuff up on the walls besides the one lone mirror. After I painted, we put up the new light fixture. The one that came with the house was UG-LY, so it needed to go immediately. I am also wanting to get the china cabinet that goes with my table, which would go on the wall to the right. When you walk in the front door, straight ahead of you is the family room. It has dark wood paneling, which I hate. Dan, and apparently everyone else that comes over, loves it. I think it makes the room too dark and makes it look like a hunting lodge. It is really nice paneling, I just dont care for it. I would say this room is the most set up of any of them in the house. I still need to get a couple more things up on the walls, something above the love seat and something between the mirror and the window. I ordered an area rug which should be here this week, so that will help warm it up a bit too.
And of course, no family room is complete without the huge-ass 50" tv. Actually, it looks kind of small here. Maybe we should have gone for the 60"!



And here's where all the magic happens! No, not the bedroom. Pervs. My kitchen! This is the main thing I would change about the house. It's not a bad kitchen per se, just outdated. And I really dislike the layout. There is a U-shaped area between the stove, sink and dishwasher, then you have to walk to the other side of the kitchen for the oven. Just not a very efficient layout. I told Dan our first major project is tearing the whole thing out and making it bigger and better. But, that's going to be an expensive undertaking, so it will be a while. This is livable for now though. I painted that color, it was yellow when we moved in. I want a green kitchen. I'm still not sure how I feel about this green though, it turned out a little brighter than I was planning. I'm in no mood to repaint a room I just did though, so it will just have to do. And your eyes do not deceive you, that is in fact a sweet vintage parquet floor!


See my fancy washer and dryer back there!? I love doing laundry now! This house has a gas hook up for the dryer, so we HAD to get a new one since our old set was electric. HAD to. There's also a half bath over there across from the W&D. Three toilets in the house is a luxury when you are coming from a house with only one tiny bathroom!

I'm saving up pictures of food to put on that blank wall, I think it should look pretty nice. I just need to get a couple more. The oven is just to the right of the doorway into the family room (see, far away from the stove and sink!), and it is the tiniest oven I have ever seen. We barely fit the Thanksgiving turkey in it.

The house is a split level, so you go up half a flight and there is the master bedroom and another bedroom, then up another half flight for the other 2 bedrooms. This is on the landing in front of the master bedroom to kind of give you an idea. To the left is one bedroom, behind me is the master:

So, the front bedroom I have no idea what to do with. The guest bedroom is upstairs, and we only have one spare bed at this point. We're thinking about putting another bed or a futon in here or something for the dogs, but right now my bike lives here and we keep the dog crates in here. Oh, and Dan uses this closet, which means I have my own closet all to myself! I'm painting this room next, I'm thinking red. I have always wanted a red room, so now I'm going to give myself one.

Here's the master, I really havent done anything with this room yet either. It took me a while to figure out what color I wanted to paint it, and I finally decided. So I'll do this one after I paint the front bedroom. I'm kind of dreading it though, because it's goign to mean painting all the trim and doors since the previous owner had the brilliant idea of painting them green. Can't wait!

Here's the master bath, exciting I know. Gotta love the original green tile all over everything. We'll eventually gut it, but for now it's livable.
Note all the room in front of the toilet. If you saw our old house before we redid the bathroom, you know that you had to sit sideways on the toilet because it was so close to the vanity and there wasnt enough room for your knees. So this bathroom is huge in comparison. You could put a footstool there and just stretch out.
I didnt take a picture of the guest bedroom because I hadnt washed the sheets since the last person had stayed over, and I didnt feel like making the bed just to take a picture.

Here is the purple office! Obviously, I havent really set this room up yet either. We got the computer hooked up, so that was a major accomplishment in itself. I'll paint this room after the master bedroom, so once I get that done I'll figure out how I want to decorate and arrange it.


Here is the guest bath. When we moved in, it was BRIGHT yellow. I dont know who thought that was a good idea, because it wasnt. At all. This is much better I think.

And, there's your tour. Oh, there's a basement, but it has orange utility carpet and is kind of ugly, so I didnt bother taking any pictures. There IS a bar down there though, which is kind of cool. It's a vintage 70's model with the padded edge and all. Pretty sweet.

Good thing I enjoy painting, because I still have a lot of it to do!