House Shopping

Last week, Rich and I spent Friday off from work "shopping" for things for the new house.  Its really insane how many different choices there are.  Who would have thought something as simple as a toilet had so many options (color, tank type, bowl shape, height, style...)!

It was a very busy day, but I think we made some pretty good progress.  While the choices aren't FINAL yet, we were able to make some decisions on:

• toilets
• bathroom faucets (for all baths)
• kitchen faucet
• kitchen sink
• hardwood floors
• molding
• kitchen countertop
• kitchen hardware (for cabinets)

So we did pretty well.  For the bathroom faucets, our primary choice right now are these:

They are the same faucet, just different finishes.  Depending upon the final counter-top choice for the different bathrooms, we'll pick either the stainless (1st picture) or the oiled bronze.

Its exciting to be making the choices now and to see the picture in our minds starting to come true.  :-)

Goals - Week 12

Last week's goals:

Goals for Week 11:
- Test quilting panto on "Tumbler" quilt -- Completed
- Make 4 pinwheel blocks for quilt class -- Completed
- Sew "Starry Night" needlepoint and photograph -- I did do some sewing, but no photos.
- Complete quilt top for commission quilt -- Completed piecing this, but not quilted yet.
- Purchase backing material for commission quilt --Completed

This past week was very productive.  In less than a week, I got a complete quilt top made and ready for quilting.  Unfortunately, I ended up breaking part of my MegaQuilter sewing machine, so its in the repair shop and I won't be able to do the quilting on the commission quilt until I have the sewing machine back.


We also passed our house inspection this week, including the radon tests.  So now we just have to make sure the mortgage for the other people goes through.  We've started packing up a few things at this point, but part of us doesn't want to get too far down the packing road and then have something fall through.


We also checked out a rental property.  We've been having trouble finding a house rental because everyone wants at least a year lease, but we only need 6 months.  We don't really want an apartment because it will mean storage for everything.  However, an apartment may be the answer.  The house we looked at belongs to our builder's dad.  The layout is kind of wonky, but the biggest worry is that there is no central air and the place smells kind of musty/moldy.  Since I have pretty bad allergies, we really don't know whether the place will bother me or not.  If it does...it will be a VERY long 6 months.


Goals for week 12:
- Sew "Starry Night" needlepoint and photograph --
- Wash fabric for cousin's baby quilt --
- Clean up and pack extra fabric/quilting patterns.

Goals - Week 9

Goals from Week 8:
- Sew 6 baby bibs --  Done!
- Sew 4 hours needlepoint "Starry Night" --  Done! Will post a picture soon.
- Load eBay "Tumbler" quilt onto frame --  Done.  I even started quilting it, but only have one row done.
- Pick out panto for "Shine on Bayou Cane" --  :-(  Didn't even look this week.


I think the biggest goal I have right now is actually to sell our house.  We've been trying to sell for 2 years now and while at the beginning we were over-priced (with a bad real estate agent to boot), we have a very competitive price at this point but people are just afraid to do anything.  We had two showings on Sunday.  One was a couple who are relocating to this area, but need to sell their house before they would even entertain buying one here.  The second showing was very promising.  The wife had been to the house earlier in the week and loved it, so we had a 2nd showing for them with the husband being present.

The verdict at this point is that they may put in an offer tomorrow.  What it is...we don't know...will they actually do it....another question mark.  We've been here before where we've been told an offer is imminent, but nothing came in.  We're trying not to get our hopes up, but we really want this to work so we can start building.

So goals for this upcoming week:

Goals for Week 9:
- Finish quilting "Tumbler" quilt --
- Sew "Starry Night" needlepoint --
- Wash and prep backing for "Shine on Bayou Cane" --
- Finish quilting "Purple Squared" --

Here's a snapshot of the partial quilting on "Purple Squared".  The white on the quilt is Miracle Chalk that I haven't removed yet.  The beauty of Miracle Chalk is that you don't have to wash it out.  Just a steam iron and the chalk disappears.  Love the stuff! ;-)