The Little Couch That Could

Between Patrick and I we owned 6 couches. Of course we were going to keep my 3 couches and get rid of Patrick’s. I’m no dummy. I’m the original owner of all my couches. I know their history. Patrick’s couches were like a giant science project and I wanted nothing to do with them.

Patrick agreed to get rid of one before we got married, but he really “liked” the other two. He knew they were ugly but did not care. They were “comfortable.” Now let me tell you a little something about these couches. Sure they matched and were in fairly decent shape, but they were the ugliest print ever and he bought them off of craig’s list years ago so who knows what’s living in them. I decided to take one for the team and agreed to keep them as long as I could reupholster them.

So there we are, driving down the freeway at top speeds, moving the couches into our new house when Patrick turns into a sailor and words start flying. I’m completely puzzled as he’s pulling over to the right hand lane. Apparently one of the couch cushions had flown out of the truck and went bouncing off cars down the freeway. Patrick was ticked, but I saw it as an answer to prayer. Now I was only stuck with one ugly couch because it was a seat cushion we lost.

I was so happy. Nature did not even want these couches in my house and it was all going to be fine. Later that day we looped back down the freeway and what do you know, that little cushion had made it to the bushes. The cover was torn to shreds, but there it was. I got a pretty good laugh watching Patrick run down the side of the freeway to fetch the dang thing.



Fast forward to 3 months later and you have one couch complete with one more to go. (I should mention the color in this images sucks. I took it on my phone, but you get the idea)

It HAD to go

We bought the house and before I moved in I refinished the hard wood floors and Patrick remodeled the bathroom. More on that later.

Saturday night I was putting things away in the basement and I had had it. The carpet downstairs HAD to go. The picture does not do it justice. It was red/orange/brown/yellow. I honestly don't know what color the original carpet was. It was no longer stretched, it was damp in places and I won't even go into the smell. I wanted to be able to watch TV without feeling like I might catch a rash. I wanted to walk downstairs without shoes on.


Sunday morning I talked with Patrick and we decided the carpet was a must do ASAP project. Sunday night we made an appointment for the carpet people to meet us at the house Monday evening. Oh stop judging me. No one had to work. We made the appointment online so the Sabbath was still Holly in this house.

Monday the carpet people came and today WE GOT NEW CARPET. It still smells, but it's new carpet smell and that WILL go away. I can safely walk barefoot and in fact just did! No more mystery science project growing in the basement. Now if there are any stains I'll be able to tell you exactly what they are from.

- oh that over there, I tipped over my Diet Coke as I was reaching for more yarn to crochet with.

- that one, Patrick left food out and Max got to it

- and yes, you made that one


Now to deal with the worlds ugliest couches that came with Patrick. Again I have so much to catch you up on. To give you a sneak preview, just know those couches involve a loose cushion and a freeway search and rescue.

Home Sweet Home

So we bought a house and let me tell you, it was an adventure.

We started looking for the right place and quickly got sick of looking at places. There were also quite a few stipulations behind all of this. We had to close before we were married since it would change our loan. This meant short sells were most likely off the table, but 90% of the houses in our price range were short sells.

Enter house #1
It was great and we put an offer in right away. We were going back and forth signing papers when the owner of the house filed for bankruptcy. We rescinded our offer and started looking again.

Enter house #2
It was huge, needed a lot of work, and was way out of our price range. We put in a ridiculously low offer after a few back and forths we all agreed. Inspections happened without any major surprises and we were moving forward.

We were 2 weeks away from closing and things started to get tricky.
1. I was offered a new job but needed to verify my employment under my old job or it would screw up the loan
2. The seller was really old so we were working with her kids, but the sellers health quickly declined and they were worries she would not live until closing
3. There was a leak in the bathroom shower downstairs and the bank would not approve our loan until it was fixed.

1 - I "told" my team I was leaving work but we waited to tell HR for a few days. Employment verified.
2 - We were able to close early and just in the nick of time. We closed on a Friday and the owner passed on that Sunday
3 - We arranged a lat minute plumber to come and cap the shower. We had plans to demo the entire bathroom so why make the owners spend time and money on the shower.

So for the next 30 years we have a mortgage and a never ending project but I could not be more happy with our purchase.



This leads us next to the new job and house projects...

Auto Correct

Sis. M just left me the funniest comment on my previous post that reminded me a great and hilarious text exchange I had with Patrick.

P and I were going to meet up at some Italian restaurant he wanted to try. I was leaving work and he was in the car driving there and "texted" me the name of the restaurant only auto correct changed it to "sexting."

At first I was so confused. Why would he text me the word sexting? I then realized what had happened and laughed so hard I cried. I quickly replied and told him sexting is not texting the word sexting, but good try and that I was just looking for a dinner date and nothing more. :)

Still makes me laugh.

Update

So much has happened and I really want to capture it all here if nothing else then for my own memories. But for now I'm beyond tired so all you get is a list of things to come.

-bought a house
-got a new job
-get a new roommate in 28 days (so people call him a husband)
-got my dress
-took a few trips
-gone through some sad family things
-crafted
-stressed myself into health problems
-refinished 1000 sq ft of floors
-showered

It's been crazy but I've really learned to trust The Lord, be grateful for my family and friends and know that somehow it always works out. I'm mean afterall, I am typing this while in a bathtub I own in a newly remoldeled bathroom that was made with love so it can't be all that bad.

Dentist Update

Remember how I HATE the dentist, but have been going every 6 months like a big girl and hating every minute of it. Today was rough.

In the name of marital vanity I decided that I not only wanted my teeth cleaned, but to also have the jagged ends of my teeth smoothed and to attempt to buff out the white calcium deposit on my front tooth.

I started sweating the minute I sat down in the chair, turned my headphones up as loud as possible, closed my eyes and opened my mouth. While it did not hurt and the music covered up the sound, I was NOT prepared for the SMELL. Yes, the smell of tiny tiny instruments spinning away, slowly shaving off the bottom of my teeth. It was a mix of burnt hair and burnt rubber....COMING FROM MY MOUTH.

I made it though and can't stop feeling how smooth my teeth are now. Glad I did it, but next time I'm bringing a nose plug.

COTD

Steph: Are those sculls on your running shoelaces?
Me: Sure are!
Steph: Ahh...when did you get those?
Me: When I bought the pirate pocket watch from Fred Meyer, duh.
Cara (from the back room): True story. I was with her when she bought them.

Never a dull moment at our house.

New York

Back in December I took a business trip to New York and decided to bring this dreamboat along with me. It was a great trip. We went to a basketball game at Madison Square Garden, saw a Broadway play, had dinner with some music cruise buddies, walked around Central Park and spent time with the Clays in Brooklyn.


Did I mention that it's FREEZING COLD in NY in December, but beautiful and still FULL of people.


Patrick was a trooper and went to the largest fabric store ever and even made a special trip to SOHO with me to visit the store of a blog I follow.



Now there are LOTS of crazy things and people to see in New York, but one of my favorite things was riding the subway. You never know what adventure awaits you.

A few highlights from the trip would be when I passed James Franco on the street and as we made eye contact I realized who he was and my face must have shown it. He smiled and winked. I think it's love. Or then there was the homeless lady who got off the subway with us and had poop dripping down her leg and into her boot. Both events were memorable.

Yes

August 6th. I can't wait.