“A house without books is like a room without windows. No man has a right to
bring up his children without surrounding them with books, if he has the means to buy them.”--Horace Mann
House Projects... for now
1. Buy living room furniture
2. Buy living room decor
3. Paint master's bathroom
4. Finish painting the kitchen
5. Buy new master's bed
6. Set-up guest room
7. Plant a tree in the yard
8. Plant flowers in the yard
9. Install a sprinkler system
10. Build window seat
11. Set-up nook
12. Get Dining and Kitchen decor
13. Set-up picnic area outside
14. Get patio furniture
and many MANY ZENY more...
I, Decor:
Where Feng Shui and Zen
come hand in hand...
Summer is near!!!!
Friday, May 23, 2008
I am reviving this blog. It's been way too long!
It's approaching Summer now and I can't wait to get a FULL tan. Also, it's time to touch up on the great many things that have been put on hold for the house because of a great many things.
First up, we got a new lawnmower! Funny story goes with it though. A neighbor of ours (his name escapes me), volunteered tomow our lawn. He was probably already itching to just shave our tall grass off so that when he saw Joen by the garage aboutto take Ate JOyce et al to the airport, he must've rushed out to "ask for his permission." Whaddyouknow, he mowed our backyard too! So before we got too comfortable knowing we had a neighbor who would jump at the chance to mow our lawn, webought our own at the Home Depot. Quite a deal too. $314 20% off. It's a pretty tough Toro. So it's been in our garage for awhole week now. Everytime Joen wanted to mow, it would rain. The weather is fudging with us so there you go.
We have had these lights for about 2 weeks now and I only thought of taking a video when it snowed out. How stupid is that. I fought for this animated buck. It's the up and down motion, you know. *wink wink*
This is my third winter but since we just bought the house this year, this was my first time to shovel. Lo and behold! I actually LOVE it! I shoveled half the time Joen did and he was in pain after. I was so warmed up we went straight to the gym after. Hehe
I don't know what it is with Hoen and myself that we seem to have had this habit of unplanned smart shopping lately. We went to NFM yesterday with the objective of just checking out their computer stuff since we're thinking of getting an iMac. Our Windows PC is 4-years-old-going-on-20 so it's in dire need of replacement. It has reached its maximum in terms of upgrades so the only thing to do is buy a new one. The iMac is a strong candidate because then my paranoid geek husband won't have to spend lots on Anti-virus and security software. The only thing that's holding us back is that with the iMac, Joen can't really program using C# or any other MS-only language UNLESS we get the dual boot plan which costs around $400 on top of the thing. And with the dual boot, since it CAN run on Windows, we would still have to spend for the Anti-virus and security software. So same binignit, same camote. We'll see.
Anyway, as we segued into the furniture section thanks to me (brava! brava!), we came across this storage ottoman. It's not that big, a little on the bulky side and it was black. It has two separate reversible lids which can serve as our dinner tray whenever we feel like chowing down in front of the TV at the basement. So after some minutes of thought, we bought it. We also got us a NAS (Network Attached Storage) because my external hard drive is about to need some CPR. My picture and song files increase dramatically every quarter so this NAS has been long overdue. So so so glad we bought it even if it was a bit pricey. Makes us feel more secure with our files. Oh and did I mention we bought a Wii game as well? Metroid Prime, one of the highest rated Wii games out there, is now soon-to-be wife rival. So Hoen is happy. REALLY happy. He got something to eat on or put his feet up on, he got something for his precious files and he got something for his Wii fingers. Aaaahhh. The bliss of a geek husband, hehe.
Last weekend, I sucked! I vacuumed, that is. It is usually Hoen's job to vacuum the house but since we got the new ShopVac, I thought it was but fair to have some division of labor. So he mowed and ShopVac'd our garage while I Dyson'd our entire house. That was my first time to vacuum the entire place and I regret not doing it before. I just love sucking the dust out of every corner of the room. If I have to leave it up to Joen to do this dust-sucking pleasure, it would take him ages to gear up. Whilst I, I wouldn't mind doing it once a week. Come winter and we might not have to do it as often
As part of my cleaning, I decided to organize our shoe closet slash basement stock room. It's been weeks since I've organized our shoe closet and it's frustrating having to wear the same shoes over and over simply because I neither have life nor limb to rummage through the whole pile of my dear sole mates. So I got every pair, took a picture of them in case I need to buy boxes in the future, counted them and opened up those closet organizers I got from Ikea. Very convenient and it makes me see all of our shoes. Aaahhhh. The beauty of organization. =)
Last week, Hoen and I decided to get this small 20 inch LCD TV at Best Buy. It was for the upstairs floor supposedly. Hoen noticed that I hardly ever touch the TV in the basement because what's the point? I am always upstairs. Furthermore, I have been carrying food from the kitchen to the basement because Hoen wants to eat while watching TV. Tip toeing over 2 flights of stairs with hot soup on your hand? Not so fun. So his pity paid off and we got the small TV to keep us company upstairs. Not too big that it will disrupt normal conversation but big enough to serve as both dynamic wallpaper and TV.But a stop at The Mart last weekend changed our plans. We saw this 42 inch LCD monitor (which is the size Hoen wanted. Me? I'm fine with 30, 32, whatever) and after clarifying with the sales person that this came with an ATSC/QAM turner and some other HD specifics, we decided to buy it right there and then, unplanned. It was even supposed to be delivered in 2 days! Hoen was ecstatic. We would cancel the small TV and just have this in the basement instead. I was cool with that especially with the really good price that came with it. But, as sigurista as Hoen is, he called The Mart again the day before delivery and realized that that sales idiot didn't know what he was talking about. We asked him right off the bat "Your tag says MONITOR. Does this come with a tuner or no?" "Yes, yes! It does abidi abidi da da da blah blah blah..." WHATEVER. We cancelled the order after talking to the manager who failed to come up with a satisfying alternative. So we decided to re-check Best Buy and saw something on their website. It was an even better model, a little pricier but still very good. Hoen triple-checked with the nearby branch and they had it in stock! We went to the store to check it out ourselves. The website price was lower than their in-store price but they honored it so we were happy. We got it and swore we had asked every little question there was to ask. We placed the TV inside the car and drove it home as clouds started turning charcoal gray and news reports sounding more ominous than ever. Since we drive a Civic coupe, the TV had to be lodged in the back via a rope, thanks to my Girls Scout knot-tying skills. The drive home was so suspenseful as it had started to drizzle. 5 minutes after we got home, there was a Tornado Watch and Thunderstorm Warning....serious Nebraska ones, ok? So there we were in the basement... no electricity, Pascal candles lit, Visas and passports in folder, newly bought TV inside the box, rubber shoes on our feet prepared for anything. We prayed for safety and had some potato chips. It was only then that we realized- we may have a nice big TV but we didn't have a radio and an emergency light inside the house! Haha! We felt silly over having this "luxury" and yet we lacked all those emergency gadgets. I am so buying those right away! That night, we did the assembling and installation ourselves. We had to rearrange the furniture into this awkward set-up because of the instant purchase. We had to move the old TV to our living room for now since it's practically empty. Hoen loves the TV. It's a wife rival again. But then again, isn't every Wii game out there to destroy our marriage?Here it is. Pardon the wires, we still have to get the long ones and keep them together at the back. We refused to spend for Best Buy's labor charge just yet because this one was enough investment for us.
It has been a loooong time since I've tapped on any house update. Not that there hasn't been any, it's just that I always seem to forget to blog about it. I have also \taken a break from doing too much around the house because the last couple of weeks have been both hectic, exciting and relaxing. You see, after I had painted our Master's bathroom, I swore off painting for at least when it's terribly necessary. We haven't seen a couch we absolutely have to have yet so no living room furniture yet. We got busy with our Omaha Fil-Am's Basketball League every Sunday and hanging out with our friends whenever we felt like it. But for the most part, we fell in love with a new gym.
It's called Lifetime Fitness and we can't wait to call it our second home. Bigger than a Walmart and with 2 storeys at that, Lifetime has hundredssss of cardio and weight machines, huge yoga and pilates rooms, 3 lapping pools, 2 outdoor and indoor waterparks, 2 basketball courts, 2 racquetball courts, 2 wall climbing studios, a sauna, a jacuzzi and steam rooms. And if that's not enough, it has its own cafe, salon and a Childcare Center that takes care of kids 12 and under for free for 2 hours each day. They have dance classes, martial arts classes, hip hop classes and what-not. Joen and I may have signed up at Fitness Premier just last May but we can't help but want to avail of LF's amenities. What's more, Friday basketball practice is held there.
Pros and Cons. Lifetime costs a lot more than Fitness Premiere and is 15 minutes away from our house. Fitness Premiere is 5-7 minutes away and their treadmills are TV-equipped so you can watch any channel you want right in front of you. With Lifetime, you have to have a tuner to tune in to the audio part of whatever's on their how many TVs. FP's machines are cleaned every half hour while Lifetime's isn't. The amenities of FP are a far cry compared to Lifetime but maybe that's what we need now(??) AMBUT. We have to decide tomorrow because our free pass ends today. All I know is that everytime I enter the place I become more alive and inspired to get my body moving. Tonight, I am playing Ball Girl to Hoen as he practices some hoops. I love fetching his balls for him!
Anyway, this may not be a house update but I guess I just wanted to point out what we've been up to while taking a break from house-setting. With all the rain, Hoen hasn't even run the sprinkler hoses in the last 2 weeks and it's been hard to mow a rather moist ground. I am sooo not ready for Fall Weather yet but with temperatures starting to drop in the 70s and 60s, hello scarves, jackets and closed shoes!
