Storage unit be gone, and other ramblings

Two weeks ago, I spent most of the weekend moving everything out of our storage unit, which in turn gave me a sore upper body and a lot to think about.

We've had the storage unit for about three years. And in retrospect, it was stupid to have it that long. At the time we started renting it, we figured we'd be in the condo for another year or so and then move to a bigger place. But then we discovered how craptastic the real estate market was in our area (and nationally), and we knew it would be wisest to stay in the condo a bit longer.

The storage unit should have been a short-term solution. We never wanted to pay more in rent than what the stored goods were worth, and for a while, that worked out. We had a a bed, a sectional, part of Tim's Bowflex, etc. It was a great place to be able to put our Christmas tree and baby gear, as we don't have much storage space at the condo and Florida properties aren't known for having basements. We're also at a point where much of the stuff we were storing would likely not fit our current style, and we'd much rather start over with furnishings and home decor whenever we move.When I reorganized the storage unit before Christmas, it hit me that we could probably downsize enough to not need the storage unit anymore. (Oh, and I found some rodent feces on our sectional and in a box in the storage unit. That pretty much sealed the deal.)

Tidied up before Christmas.

I like to refer to the condo as the biggest, most expensive
mistake
learning experience of our lives. Tim bought it when he moved down from Ohio in August 2006 - right before the market plummeted, making it a good time to buy, and a time to never imagine selling for a profit again. We figured that it would be a good place to live for a few years before we moved back to Ohio, and we could build equity and then sell it when we left the state.

But there's not a prayer of selling it without a huge loss any time soon. And we're not back in Ohio. We're in Florida, with a mortgage that we curse on a regular basis.

I know we're not alone in this situation, and I know that many people have it a lot worse than us. I try to remind myself that we have shelter. We're living under our means, able to save each month for our future home. When we do finally move out of the condo, we'll know that it was because of our own hard work and sacrifices.

It does bother me that if we had just rented for a few months at first, this situation would be completely different. If we bought just a year later, we could have gotten much more for our money, and it might have been more marketable to sell (condo complexes in Florida have so many vacancies that there isn't much of a market for renting or selling). Or we could be renting, not tied down to a mortgage. But again, we chalk it up to an expensive and unfortunate life lesson learned, and we're trying to make the best of it.

The majority of the storage unit contents in our living room.

As he was helping me unload some boxes from one trip to the storage unit, Tim said, "I wish we were moving this stuff out of the storage unit because we had a house." I told him we were getting one step closer and would get there eventually - the money we'll be saving from storage unit rent will now go to our savings account, and we'll no longer have to worry about having our belongings scattered in several places.

But truth be told, it upsets me a lot more than I'd like to admit that things haven't worked out as "planned." In the last few months, I've realized that it tugs at my heart to see moving vans/trailers in our development or even our neighborhood, because for as much as I hate moving, I'd LOVE to move out of the condo. I was at Target a few weeks ago, and it made me sad to see all of the cute, new home decor, because I want to be decorating a new home with those pieces. I look at furniture ads in the Sunday paper, and the desire to shop for and decorate our new home hits me again. I have so many ideas Pinned and remembered and stored in my mind, and yet no need, space or funds to bring them to life. Again, I know it could be worse, and I'm grateful for what we do have - but it's hard not to dream, you know?

We rapidly exceeded a level of ideal occupancy in terms of space in the 1,000-square foot condo, and I often feel like no matter where I turn there is clutter. Tim tells me I would hate cleaning a larger space, wouldn't want to dust/vacuum/tidy up more rooms, more square footage. I disagree, as the fact that every space here is occupied to the max and means it is harder to clean and keep tidy. It's immediately obvious to me if the dining room table is cluttered or dirty. Or if the contents of the storage unit are stacked up in the living room until I can start sorting and decluttering.

Hours later, the contents had exploded.

As I've gone through all of our stored belongings, I've had flashbacks to different points in time, different places I've lived. And apparently I'm quite a pack rat, although I've gotten much better at sorting out the absolute necessities during subsequent purgings. I had photos that hung in the hallway of my last apartment. Framed snapshots of people I'm no longer closed to. Votives that were in my childhood bedroom. Souvenirs from a high school band trip to Disney World. A down comforter from my first post-college apartment.

Emptied out!
(I was not removing the rodent fece-affected sectional or a chair
that could have been rodentized as well, so they'll have to deal with it.)

I definitely have some more reorganization to do with the stuff we brought back from the storage unit (not showing a picture of that!), but I'm proud of the downsizing we've done and happy with what we've been able to sell and donate. This process has been way more emotional than I expected, and I think seeing the previously stored belongings on a daily basis, now in the condo, will be a constant reminder of where we've been, where we are, and where we're going.

Wordless Wednesday: Rub a dub dub

This week, we are getting a new bath tub, because the old one was rusted on the bottom and we were one bath or shower away from leaking water in to our master bedroom closet again.

The process (of course, a pricey one) was supposed to take two days. But like many things in our life, it couldn't be that easy. When they took out our old tub, they discovered a pipe that they needed to do something to (Tim was home, and aside from "this is more complicated and expensive than originally planned," I don't remember the details) went under the tub and in to where our washer connects to the water. 

The plumbers had to move our washer - by putting it on top of our dryer temporarily - and do whatever they had to do, including turning off our water for the afternoon. From Tim's report, it sounded rather involved and unexpected. Yay, fun!

The whole "pipe under the tub that they didn't expect" thing added a few hundred dollars to our bill and two hours of work ... which meant that the guy who was doing the tile work around the tub couldn't start on Monday. So we had a big chunk of wall/tile missing from our bathroom on Monday night:

On Tuesday, he came back and placed the tile, but he couldn't finish before Tim had to go to work, and he had another appointment today, so tomorrow he's supposed to come back and grout the tile and finish placing the new fixtures.

For the last three days, we've had a semi-workable bath tub. I'm guessing that the grout will need some time to dry, too, so I'm not sure we'll be able to fully utilize the shower/tub until the weekend.

While I'm glad we took care of this, and the new tub does look nice, it's kind of an expensive headache. I did buy a few new bath accessories (shower curtain, bath mat, wall hangings, etc.) to brighten up the area - I figure we don't put a lot of money in to the condo and haven't redecorated anything in the last 3+ years, the least I could do was spruce up the bathroom a bit.

Appliance meltdown. Literally.

So remember my tale of air conditioning woe? That issue was resolved with a chunk of change and a diagnosis of "overflowing drain pan." We were back in business. Until two weeks ago, when I was sitting at the computer and heard what sounded like something dropping or popping. The cats freaked out, too, and I headed down the hall toward the bedrooms when I realized that I smelled something weird and realized the AC unit was making a noise like it was struggling to kick in. (In hindsight, I'm not sure why the AC was on because a gorgeous cold front has finally moved through and cooled everything off.) I turned it off, and as I headed back to the kitchen to get a flashlight I noticed a light, hazy smoke - which was coming out of the AC vent. It was around 10 p.m., and like I said, we didn't NEED the AC, so we decided Tim would call someone to deal with it the next morning.

I feared the worst, though - I figured this would be some huge, thouands-of-dollars needed to replace the whole unit operation.

Tim texted me to give me the report the next morning - another few hundred dollars out the door, but it was "only" a partially melted circuit board:

Charbroiled circuit board.

I'm thankful that I was home when it happened and was able to shut the AC off right away - who knows what kind of electrical nightmare could have unfolded? Eek.

About 10 days ago, I was looking forward to my morning cups of coffee when I realized the coffee maker had decided it was done, about a third of the way in to the pot I was brewing.

I've had that coffee pot since my bridal shower in August 2008, so it's been a good run. It brewed a lot of coffee for me. When my sister heard the news of my coffee maker's passing, she asked if I wanted an early Christmas present in the form of a spiffy Keurig. I like to think it was a half-birthday present, too, as I turned 30.5(?!) on Saturday. We consulted about which one I would like, and on Thursday, I begged and pleaded with Tim to please answer the door if the UPS guy knocked. Initially, Tim didn't understand the gravity of the situation, but I crazily calmly explained that I NEEDED THAT COFFEE MAKER IN THE HOUSE ASAP, not sitting in the complex office or a UPS truck waiting to be redelivered on the next business day. Luckily, the coffee maker was delivered, and I was able to enjoy my Keurig all weekend. I feel quite spoiled - thanks, Sister Santa!

Isn't it pretty?

Apparently appliance angst comes in threes, because my iPod freaked out on my run on Sunday. This isn't the first issue I've had with it recently, but I'm just praying it keeps working because I don't feel like buying a new one. I do use it a lot, so it would stink to not have one. But for now, fingers crossed that it's just being a temporarily temperamental.

Perspective

Yesterday was a not-so-stellar day. Things at the new job are chaotic as they're transitioning to a new system and are still figuring out the most efficient way to do things. I ended up staying half an hour late and still don't feel like I got anything done. Elle and I went out to dinner with a friend and her daughter, and Elle was a little monster. We almost never have an issue with taking her out to eat, but yesterday, she wanted down, down, down. Did not want to sit still or be distracted. Did not want to eat quietly or babble happily. We ran a few errands after dinner, and Elle had a meltdown. Got home and Elle had a pooptastrophe. Got her cleaned up and to bed, and then I had no energy and decided on an early bedtime over a glass of wine (that should tell you something right there).

And with all of the schedule and life changes going on in this hizzy, one would hope that we'd score the good fortune to not have any major home or health issues. One would be wrong.

Our AC unit has been making some odd noises. For a while, actually. But for a while, I was able to chalk them up to "working hard in the summer months." I'm no longer able to go with that theory, as we've barely been running the AC at all and the noises are growing in frequency and intensity. Yay. We're having someone come out to look at it tomorrow.

Our bath tub is a nagging headache - we had it refinished about two years ago and have a nice warranty on it. It was refinished because there were some cracks and the water was seeping through to a rusted bottom of a tub, which then allowed the water to seep through to the floor and ultimately, our master bedroom carpet. Awesome, right? So now there are cracks coming back in the refinished enamel, and I am just WAITING for the water to start seeping through again. "But wait, Kristin - what about the warranty?" Oh, yes. That is a warranty from a company that apparently WENT OUT OF BUSINESS about seven weeks after I called them to initially inquire about the cracks. How do I remember the timing element? I was 38 weeks pregnant when I initially noticed the cracks. I called and talked to the owner but decided that being very pregnant was a bad time to schedule any kind of appointments. He completely understood and told me good luck, enjoy the baby and get back to him when the dust settled. When Elle was about six weeks old, I called him again. No answer. On any number I had. I filed a complaint with the BBB, and they were also unable to contact the tub guy. Fantastic. Thanks for the warranty, dude. So when the water starts to seep out of the bottom of the rusted tub again, we need to replace the tub. (Not cheap.)

In other parts of the house, there is a small tear in our couch that I want to get repaired - I blame the cats but have no proof.

So, AC unit, bath tub, couch. Great.

And then there is the fact that Tim had an abscessed tooth last month. FINALLY went to the dentist (my husband is more stubborn than me, which is saying a lot), and they need to do a root canal. Alas, they cannot find the root of my husband's special snowflake tooth. Apparently there was trauma (most likely in his adolescence) to the tooth/whatever else, and that's what has affected the disappearing root. So he goes to a specialist (specialist='pensive). And the specialist cannot find the root. So now he has to have a (costly) CT scan to try to find the root. If they can find it, it's a pricey procedure. If they can't, it's an even pricier surgery that sounds ridiculously painful. 

Add to these big things all of the small things that are going on, and I definitely need some perspective in my life. (Oh - and the Steelers aren't playing well right now, either.)

SO.

Here are some things I'm thankful for, that make the previous paragraphs a little less daunting:

Pretty views

Cooler weather!

An amazing husband who makes me laugh

Babysitters who bring dinner for us (a delicious casserole!)

Apple crisp (you must make this)

Jobs for both Tim and I, providing income and insurance
without which all of the headaches would be magnified

Supportive family and friends
who listen to me rant about everything

Snuggly, sleeping babies 

A warm cup of coffee in the morning

Playing peek-a-boo with Elle and hearing her crack up

Fun weekend trips we have planned to an amusement park and a pumpkin farm.

Another check off the list ...

One of the items on my before-baby-to-do list was to get blinds or curtains for our lanai. We don't use the lanai very much (because it is freaking hot in Florida, thankyouverymuch), but we do have some stuff out there (currently, lawn chairs and cat carriers).

I wanted to be able to put some other stuff out there if necessary, like a stroller, but I didn't want the world to see everything we have on our porch (we live on the first floor and in a back corner of our complex). We keep the door locked, but it is just screened in, so I wouldn't put it past someone to cut the screen if they saw something they wanted in the lanai.

So I started researching and brainstorming. I looked in to wooden blinds. But I kept coming back to this: One of our neighbors has some curtains that hang in their lanai. They flow in the breeze and allow just enough seclusion that you can't tell what they have in there or if anyone is sitting out there without staring. I checked with our HOA to see if something like that would be allowed. I liked that the curtains would be cheap and easy to clean. The woman in charge of our HOA was fairly vague on their legality, but she said I could put them up, and as long as no one complained, we'd be fine. (Wow, thanks. Glad I asked.)

So when my mom and brother came to visit a few weeks ago, my mom knew that I wanted her to try to create something. My mom assessed the area, took some measurements, made some sketches and then we headed to the fabric store. We bought some cheap, neutral fabric and then headed off to get some suspension rods. Over the next few days, she cut and sewed four panels (there is a window to the left side of what is shown in the photo, too). When I recovered from my deathly illness, I headed outside to hang them up.

The cats don't love that their "view" is quite limited, but I love that we have more privacy now and I won't worry so much about putting things out there that I don't want all of our neighbors to see.

Thanks for the help, Mom!

New carpet

A few posts ago, I mentioned that we were getting new carpet. I had seen three commercials for carpet sales while at the gym a few weeks ago, and I decided that with the sale prices, the least we could do was look in to getting new carpet and find out how much it would cost. Our carpet was worn and I have no idea how old it was, but with the baby coming, family coming to visit more because of said baby and the fact that I'll be at home for 10-12 weeks on maternity leave, I thought it might be nice to have nicer carpet to walk on/sit on/look at. We don't see the condo as our forever home, but even if we move in the next year or two and rent it out, it would be nice to start with a cleaner slate on the flooring front and enjoy it ourselves while we're here. And with the cats and a young child on the way, having some new stain-resistant carpet would be good, and financially, it worked to look in to it now.

So I contacted two of the companies mentioned in the commercials, and after a small series of scheduling issues, one of them showed up a few Saturdays ago. We had gone in to the meeting with the mentality that we weren't going to buy that day or make up our minds - just get an idea of how much we'd be looking at to carpet at least the nursery, bathroom, hallway, living room and dining room.

And - yay! - the price was a lot lower than I expected. I was excited that it was something we could at least think about.

But THEN the salesperson told us that it was a shame we weren't ready to buy, because the sale that I had seen on TV had been running for six weeks, and while it was the lowest price of the year, it ended the next day. We could get a reduced price on the carpet later this year, but it wouldn't be nearly this low again until next spring. AND the higher quality carpet was actually cheaper than the other carpet we were considering because they had a warehouse surplus.

I'm a sucker for sales. SOLD.

We had him give us quotes for the rooms mentioned above as well as the master bedroom and closet. We decided to wait on carpeting the master bedroom and closet because the area doesn't see much traffic, it is almost entirely covered by furniture and it is the area seen least in the condo.

But we decided that with the sale about to end and the timing pretty much right, we *would* go ahead with the carpet on the rest of the condo. We scheduled installation for pretty much the only day we had free in the next two weeks (which also happened to be the day before we went out of town AND happened to be two days after our year-and-a-half wedding anniversary, so happy anniversary to us!). We spent a few days clearing out bookshelves, packing up the desk, etc. to prepare for the carpet people to be able to move furniture and replace the carpet.

It was quite a disaster area, but luckily the installers showed up early on Monday morning, moved furniture, removed old carpet, installed new carpet and moved things back in less than three hours. We then spent part of the rest of the day putting things away (i.e. dumping all baby stuff in the nursery and moving our big, heavy desk from the nursery to the dining room) and reconnecting our electronics.

Tim, who had been a hard sell on new carpet, agreed that it looked great. It really does brighten up the rooms, and it feels really springy. The reorganizing of furniture that was necessary to clear out the nursery makes the place look cozy, and I'm excited to see the nursery come together with the new carpet, too. We aren't swimming in space, but things are fairly organized, and Tim likes the fact that the computer is now in the living room, so we can be in the same room whether we're blogging (moi) or watching TV (him).

So now, for some before and after shots of the carpet ... (as the rooms come together more, I'll post before and after shots of the decor as well).

OLD:

High traffic area from kitchen to doorway.

The spare bedroom/nursery, looking in to the bathroom.

That black spot is dust left over in the spare bedroom
from when the police investigated the condo break-in.

It had been covered by the couch in that room.

NEW:

With the bookshelves empty, Sidney did a lot of "hiding."
He seriously thought we couldn't see him.

New carpet in the nursery!

Mario explores the doorway.

High-traffic area from kitchen to doorway.

Sid escapes the bookshelf
and checks stuff out.

Transition.

Over the last two months, I have organized and reorganized my possessions and tried to mesh them with Tim's. We've trashed, donated and stored our stuff. We've sorted, stacked and tucked stuff. And we had one room where everything was dumped while we tried to make sense of the rest of the condo. A few weeks ago, it looked a little something like this:


I would have taken a better photo, but frankly, I couldn't get any further in the room. And this is actually a bit better than it had looked at some points. I've been working on restoring order and comfort to this room, and on Monday (our one-month anniversary!), we moved the sofa that had been in the living room to this room. On Tuesday, a new, fluffy sleeper sofa was delivered to take up residence in the living room. Over the last few nights, I've continued to finish off the room above (also known as the guest room, the office, the spare room, etc.). And here are the after photos:


Annnnnddddd, Tim on the new couch:

An open letter

Dear Anole,

I'm sure your day started as innocently as mine. I woke up, had my coffee, went for a run at the park with Tim and then settled in to do some stuff in preparation for tomorrow's road trip. As I was getting ready for work, you entered my day.

I had been in the living room earlier. I had noticed the blinds to the sliding doors were open, but I appreciated the natural light and didn't think twice about it. Then Tim told me that the nippers (that's what we call the cats) were outside. I looked outside, and sure enough, they were in the screened-in porch. I spotted you then. I mentioned you to Tim. I wasn't convinced the best place for the nippers to be was outside. But they seemed happy, and Tim was watching them, so I went back to getting ready.

I walked out of the bathroom 3 minutes later to Tim's cheerful call of "Mario brought you a lizard!" Yes, unsuspecting anole, it was you. I am so, so sorry I yelled so much and was so loud. However, imagine my shock. (And remember, I don't have the best track record with your kind. I had a clear view of Mario down the hallway, and I'm afraid you and I weren't properly introduced - all I saw was a tail and two legs hanging out of his mouth.

Tim kept laughing. He kept telling Mario to put you down. Mario didn't understand why I wasn't impressed. He didn't grasp that I was horrified and wanted a) you out and b) him out, but not in the same place. He just stood there, looking proud and defensive, with you dangling from his mouth.

You fell from Mario's mouth and scurried toward our bookshelf, but Mario nearly caught you again. Finally, Tim picked up a white gift bag and told me you were in it. Sadly, it was the gift bag that my engagement ring had been in before Tim gave it to me. Tim wants to keep it. I told him that it was no longer a keepsake, it's a lizard receptacle (sorry - nothing personal).

Mario never quite figured out that you weren't still in the bookshelf. He didn't realize Tim took you outside and shut the door. He sat there and meowed loudly and pathetically for a good 30 minutes, trying to draw you out. Tim said you sat in shock on the porch for quite some time. Again, my deepest apologies - I can only imagine how bad Mario's breath smells, and I would venture to guess that it's not exactly comfortable to be halfway down a cat's throat while he trots you around like a prize.

I can only hope it won't happen again. I've asked Tim to not let the cats out on the porch again. Aside from the obvious mess, Mario isn't supposed to have extra protein in his diet - he's on prescription food that eliminates the need for snacking on toads and anoles.

I've also asked that Tim brush Mario's teeth, because I really don't want to be head butted or nuzzled by a mouth that has been partaking in lizard delicacies. So far, he has protested on that point. But we'll see.

I hope you live a long, fruitful life ... far away from cats, and frankly, me.

Best wishes,
Kristin (and Tim and Mario and Sidney)

Where have we gone?

Oh, three loyal blog readers, we have been busy. Today I took some photos right before I locked my Florida apartment for the last time. In the middle of working 6-day weeks (thanks, Rays and World Series), trying to keep up with and getting ahead in my Web design class and finish planning the wedding, I've been moving to Tim's condo (I have some photos of the disaster area I've left there, too, to be shared later). I started slowly moving stuff down about a month ago. Today was the deadline to get out completely. On Tuesday, Tim and I loaded up a small U-Haul with my big furniture to take to his place and to our new storage unit. I spent the rest of the night unpacking some of my stuff. This morning, Tim came to get the cats and my precious essential electronics (microwave, computer, TV, printer, etc.). I spent the rest of the day before work (stupid idea, working on the day I needed to be moved out, but I had no choice) cleaning and throwing little odds and ends (plunger, step stool, printer cord) in to my car.

The biggest challenges proved to be throwing away my couch (I wanted to donate it, but the thrift store was unable to come when I'd be around) and temporarily keeping a lot of the stuff we'd like to sell instead of store. I've had some interest from people on craigslist, and I sold some stuff to people at work, but we're still the owners of some furniture and electronics we don't need. I caved yesterday and took some stuff to Goodwill, but merging the two households - and having Tim claim that everything he owns has special meaning and has been around longer than me - has proven to be a challenge.

Tim reports that the cats are curiously getting used to their new digs. They've never lived on a ground floor before - in Pittsburgh, we were on the first floor, but there was a porch and it was all elevated. This is a straight shot out the door and to freedom for the escape-artist Mario. It's also less protected from the outside world for shy, not-so-smart Sidney. I have a feeling they'll both sleep very well this weekend after tearing around the empty apartment for the last few days. Sidney often instigated the fast-paced chases - and then quickly regretted it when Mario cornered him, attacked him and Sidney realized there was nothing left to hide behind.

Oh, the joys.

When we moved the couch, I discovered a lost playground of cat toys. Sid got over his moving shock to explore them.

Hopefully now that my biggest priorities are school, work and the wedding, I'll have more time to keep up with the blog ... but don't be surprised if I fall off the blog-wagon until after the wedding. It's been a busy year!