Day 3...down

Wow, wow, and wow again.  I cannot even begin to describe the level of filth that covered this house.  Now I totally understand the concept of "we're moving anyway so why clean" but these people had a small child and 4 animals...you can't just not clean for two months!!! It took my mom and me 3 full days to clean and tape the house to be painted.  It was slightly longer than I had anticipated, and let me tell you...I am absolutely sick of cleaning.

Needless to say I am grateful and relieved that Orchid is now clean from head to toe, and we can move onto the painting.  I picked a lovely "pecan sandie" as my base wall color throughout the whole house, and a beautiful "smokey blue" for my accent wall in the great room/kitchen/dining room.  Today the focus will be getting any carpeted rooms and the laundry room painted, because APPLIANCES ARE COMING TODAY! I cannot wait to see how the black looks in the kitchen after being painted!

My mom (being how she is) wanted to replace the blinds in the house because she couldn't stand the color that was already there, and wanted to put in white wooden blinds.  Thankfully, because my mother is wonderful, she offered to pay for them...and lemme tell you, it totally transformed the look of the house!  I am very grateful for her wonderful taste...

Goal for today: paint and get appliances!  Tomorrow: tackling the horrendous backyard...

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT: a picture of something you are afraid of...

Spiders. I'm creeped out just looking at it...

Merry Maids have nothing on us!

After over a year of waiting for my own home, I finally got my keys to the lovely house on Orchid at 6:00pm Friday!  Given how late everything went through, we weren't able to start tearing into the house as much as we wanted to.  I was able to show my mom the house, and we exterminated the property.

Yesterday was the first real day of terror.  We spent over 10 hours cleaning and disinfecting this house, because it was absolutely filthy.  The master bathroom took almost 3 hours in and of itself, and we still have to finish taping the baseboards to paint!  After all day, we only got through both bathrooms and the master bedroom!  The bright side is Cox came and installed the cable and internet, and he even put an extra cable outlet in my living room for me for free; this is awesome because now I can rearrange a few different ways.  Even better, ADT screwed up my install date and came yesterday, so I was able to kill two birds with one stone!

Today will be the remaining cleaning and taping, and we have a full day ahead of us.  I'm very much crossing my fingers that we can begin painting first thing in the morning tomorrow, but it will be a close call.

DAY TWENTY-SEVEN: a picture of yourself and a family member...

I have the coolest little brothers in the world

Hours...

I am officially less than 24 hours away from getting my keys and walking into MY house!!!  I drove out to Los Angeles today to sign all my loan documents, and after 157 pages and 3 hand cramps later, all is said and done. They took my money gladly, and now all we have to do is wait for the sale to be recorded and I get my lovely house on Orchid!

DAY TWENTY-SIX: a picture of something that means a lot to you...

My Family + Barkley, Mia, Kobe & Jackson

signing my life away...

Tomorrow is d-day people! I am signing my life away to a loan and mortgage, as well as several other extensive monthly bills.  My final signing is at 10am, and then it's just a 24 hour wait for the keys to Orchid!  Whoo hoo!  Thursday can't be over quick enough...

DAY TWENTY-FIVE: a picture of your favorite day...

Christmas...it doesn't get any better!

THREE DAYS!

Holy moly I am three days from closing on my first home!  The closing documents were sent through today, so I should be signing tomorrow or Thursday... The thought of being a homeowner is both exciting and terrifying for me...

I've definitely started to realize that Barkley and Mia are going to go through quite an adjustment, especially being without my parents' dogs!  I have a feeling this is going to cause a handful of sleepless nights due to some canine anxiety...

I have also realized that I am about to drop an obscene amount of cash in the next month; however, I am quite the bargain shopper, and have already saved myself a good chunk of money!  Let's not forget the 30% off total purchase at Bed, Bath and Beyond back in November, the dining room table on sale at Fry's Marketplace, and more recently 30% off total purchase at Kohl's that led to some beautiful Food Network serving dishes.  Additionally over this weekend, I racked up more super savings when I "purchased" a 16-piece glassware set from Food Network (also at Kohl's) for nothing! Yep, that's right, I got them for free thanks to some Kohl's cash and what I'm assuming was a register malfunction; nevertheless I ran out of the store with drink-ware in hand and never looked back...

Also on the list, a Groupon to Mattress Firm that I paid $50 for and got a $200 credit!  The best part is that they price match with their competitors, even up to 100 days after purchase!  Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

DAY TWENTY-FOUR: a picture of something you wish you could change...

I wish my dad could find a job... luckily my parents are fortunate that they are financially savvy, but two jobs is always better than one

phone calls and such...

Today I got my carpet cleaning scheduled, appliance delivery for my washer/dryer changed to a few days earlier, AND got my utilities set-up to change to my name this Friday!  I can't believe how many "one-time fees" and "deposits" there are for all this crap!  Definitely expenses that I am glad I found out about now...

This week is going to be very exciting, stressful, chaotic, etc, etc, etc... but I can't wait!

DAY TWENTY-THREE: a picture of your favorite book...

the perks of being a wallflower...dark but amazing!

oops...

While Vegas was a blast, it did not yield financial benefits for myself.  However, it was worth it to take one last carefree vacation before I have to turn into a grown-up and pay a mortgage.  A little birthday money from the grandparents was much appreciated, as I know these next few weeks are filled with multiple swipes of multiple credit cards...

I'm a few days behind on the picture challenge, so I'm going to do some catching up to keep in time with move-in!  Originally, the picture challenge was to serve as a countdown, so I want to stay on track!

DAY NINETEEN: a picture of a letter...

the best letter in the world...

DAY TWENTY: a picture of somewhere you want to travel...

Hawaii! While I have traveled across Asia and Europe, I have never been to America's best vacation destination... someday!

DAY TWENTY-ONE: a picture of something you want to forget...

Heartbreak

DAY TWENTY-TWO: a picture of something you wish you were better at...

Fashion, Art, Design, Style...

vegas will be a good distraction...

I leave for Vegas tomorrow (whoo hoo!) and I am getting a much-welcomed 5 day break from work before a crazy week and a long-awaited move.  I got my security system installation appointment scheduled, as well as the Cox Cable (thank goodness!) Now I just have to schedule carpet cleaning and appliance delivery, and we will be set!

DAY EIGHTEEN: a picture of your biggest insecurity...

being doubted...

10 DAYS!

Quite a bit happened today, and I'm starting to feel the stress!  I called around to two cable companies and carpet cleaning companies today, and decided who I am going to use (Cox and Stanley Steemer in case anyone was really interested...).  I also spent about 45 minutes on the phone with my home warranty company trying to get the policy transferred and renewed; unfortunately almost every person that works there is an utter idiot, so it was pretty complicated process (plus, this is the third time I've called in a week!).  Either way, everything got squared away; now just have to find an alarm guy and get the utilities switched over...

I also turned in my massive amount of credit card points in for a $50 Home Depot gift card (for paint, etc.) and a $50 Kohl's gift card (for kitchen/bath stuff...or clothes haha).  $100 isn't much, but it will help!

I keep going back and forth with the bedroom furniture and new bed; this is something I want, but not something that I need to move in.  My mom keeps urging me to wait at least a month before forking over a grand for all this stuff, and she is probably right, but I WANT IT NOW!  Anyone who knows me well knows that I: 1) have an impulse purchasing problem 2) have zero patience to "wait" for things I want and 3) do not want to put anything off, especially with this house.  However, I need to be careful, because money does and will go quickly if I'm not careful...  I really need to make a priorities list, but it just seems so hard to figure out what is more important that something else...

DAY SEVENTEEN: a picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently...

my little piece of real estate...

I think we all saw this one coming, right?