When It Rains, It Pours!

A lot has been going on the last month! We have settled into our new house and gotten into a sort of routine with Pepper and are enjoying being homeowners.

Before we moved in, I got a haircut. Nothing too exciting, just a much needed trim. Since it is easier for a pro to straighten my hair after cutting, I let them. I wore it straight to school the next day and I had some very concerned students ask if it was ever going to go curly again.

Before

After

Before we moved everything into the house, I changed the locks. I did it all by myself, and they look great, if I do say so myself!!

Before

After

The day after we moved in, our appliances were delivered. We got a fridge, range, and washer and dryer. When the washer was installed we were told that we have some leaky valves and need to get those fixed. After two trips to home depot, one at 9:30pm, almost flooding our basement, and me almost falling down the stairs on my face, we got the new valves installed.

Dryer on left, Washer on right (the dryer cord wasn't long enough to be on the right

Before we bought our house, the inspector told us the base of the faucet was leaky, so we got a goose neck faucet and installed it ourselves. Tim did most of the work under the sink, while I helped and cleaned above the sink.

Before

After (l-r: soap dispenser, faucet, handle, sprayer)

Our backyard was basically just a patch of weeds, so we wanted to get it fixed and having a dog put a time crunch on it. We rented a tiller and Tim got to work. Right now, it is just dirt, but we are debating whether or not to put sprinklers in. In other words, I want to put sprinklers in and Tim doesn't. No verdict has been reached. Because Pepper is a Jack Russell and originally bred to dig and hunt foxes, she likes to dig. We want to put metal chicken wire along the perimeter of the fences and possibly plastic chicken wire along the whole yard so she can't dig very deep. After that process, we can then put in sod and let it take root and go dormant over the winter. I also want to plant a peach tree, so we are trying to decide how to move forward before it is too late in the year to do any of this. We basically have a week to be done. No pressure....

If the yard wasn't a big enough expense already, let's throw in some car drama.

A week or two ago Tim told me his car is dying and that we need to look at getting a replacement. We bought a car last year to replace mine that I wrecked and have a year left on our loan, so I began looking at different options a little bit. Then on Friday, I get a call at 6:40am from Tim asking if I can hurry and get ready faster than normal so I can pick him up off the side of the road and take him to work because a tire blew out. I pick him up, take him to work, then after I picked him up from work that evening, we were on our way back to his car, when I hit some unidentified but very solid object on the freeway. By the time we exit, the tire pressure light goes on and we pull over less than half a mile away from Tim's car. We change my tire in record time. We made a really good pit stop team! Then we drive over to Tim's car, change his tire and jump start his car since the hazards were left on all day. We drop off his car at the house then take my car to Big O to get the tire repaired. That was when we found out that it wasn't my tire that caused the flat but a hole in the rim. That's right, the metal rim was damaged. I didn't get a chance to look at it so I don't know how big or where the hole is. So that is being sent out to be repaired ($100) instead of getting a new rim ($300-400). So I'm driving on a donut right now, with a cracked windshield from July, registration that expires at the end of the month, and in need of an oil change and trying to find a new car to buy pronto. After we bought our house, I was so worried that the house would start falling apart, I didn't think it would be the cars causing so much grief!

Back to house stuff. My dad received a lot of furniture after my grandma passed away and it has just been sitting in the house's basement for a year collecting dust. My dad was here this past week and on Saturday (the day after the car drama), we moved it into my house. So our two guest rooms upstairs are now ready for guests!

And to end on a happy note, here are some of the most adorable pictures in the world!

Tim and I babysat Goober overnight and at first he didn't want anything to do with Pepper or Tim's parent's dog, Mercy. In the morning, though, he sat on the counter to be safe from the dogs while I made German pancakes. He kept looking around for and saying Pepper (who at that point rarely ever went into the kitchen). After the pancakes were in the oven, I put Goobs down and he played with Pepper on the floor. This picture is of Simon "hugging" Pepper. What you can't see (or hear) is Pepper's feet sliding on the floor trying to get out of the headlock that Simon had put her in!

Tim and Pepper napping. Pepper is such a good napper and snuggler.

Pepper napping again curled up against my leg. She's even napping while I am blogging about her napping!! I think we bore her...

All pictures taken with my iPad.