Our McHome to be now belongs to we

Just in case you can’t tell from the title of the post – we’re now officially homeowners! Well in the sense that we now own something that the bank owns 95% of …literally. We actually just own a very tiny percentage of the home, but in 30 years that baby is all ours!



We ventured to the big city to the attorney’s office to sign away the next couple of decades of our lives. The lawyer went over each paper and told us what we were signing. I had no idea what he was talking about for the most part, but I do know that between the two of us we probably signed 1.5 forests worth of paper (Sorry Laura – I thought of how wasteful all that was). I tried not to think about all of the responsibility that I was actually signing for.

Instead I just tried to think about all the fun decorating. He may have been saying “number, number, APR, mortgage, title, deed” but I was hearing “classic platform bed with glamorous soft linens and a plush headboard.” He said “appraisal fee, closing costs, insurance, something something” but in my head I was thinking “beveled oak veneer table top with solid warm-stained wood legs finished in deep rich mocha.”

The closing was actually pretty anticlimactic, considering it has sort of felt like ours all along. I mean you don’t go in someone else’s house and tear down walls and stuff – except we kind of did. McNest has seemed like a vacation home of sorts, because we pretty much just visit it on weekends, but then again not like a vacation home since I’ve never been on a vacation where I’ve worked harder than trying to get tanning oil onto the middle part of my back that I can’t reach.

We’re homeowners. Though we look (mainly me) and sometimes act (mainly him) like we are seventeen years old (just kidding ed), we’ve done made ourselves into grown ups and entered into the rest of the homeowning world. And we did it without having to sell all four of our kidneys to afford the closing costs!


So yeah – McNest is officially ours. We’re indebted to the bank, but we have a backyard. Since neither of us has become independently wealthy in the last couple of months, we’ll continue to work on McNest with our trusty team of non-professionals and provide you with more updates as they come along.

But for the rest of 2008, we’re gonna relax...what a concept!

Goin to the chapel...

Update

It's not that we've been purposely neglecting the blog. It’s just that we haven’t been working really. Well that’s not true – work has been done…so what it comes down to is what we’ve been doing over at McNest is so mind-numbingly boring that not only do we not want to do it (touch up paint with a paint by number brush) – we don’t even want to talk about doing it either. Honestly, when we’re not even fascinated by what we’re doing – we know you won’t be. The blog silence is for your own protection.

I find myself facing a slight motivational crisis everyday when I come home from work. I have found that there are many evenings where there is ample time and opportunity to do some sort of project at McNest. Yet I am only mentally prepared to take a nap and possibly watch an episode or two of John & Kate Plus 8. Therein lies my dilemma…what to do…what to do…

I vow to do better people.

In list form, here’s what I’d like to get done soon (or prior to our union as man and wife… or by the year 2012)
-tile in the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room
-paint kitchen cabinets and walls
-buy appliances (refrigerator, dishwasher, oven)
-buy furniture (couch, recliner, loooove seat, dining room table and chairs, bed)
-win lottery or sweepstakes that would allow me to do all of the above with minimal to no effort

I actually hope to have a real update by the beginning of next week for you all :)

First Impressions

Why Good Day Readers!

It is with great giddiness and cheer that I make my debut as guest contributor on this sweet page.

For months and from a great distance I have eagerly watched the evolution of McNest - from sticky kitschy wall borders and vomit-inducing colors to its freshly coated and newly floored self. It's been fun to see, but of course I can say that because I have not been charged with a mortgage payment. And while Nikki and Eddie insist that there is still much to do, like the trees in their backyard, their efforts are already bearing fruit. It's going to be a home sweet home indeed.

And so I want to share with you my first impressions of McNest. For those of you who don't know me, I prefer (quite often) to share my worldly observations in the form of haiku.

Beginnings

A work in progress
comes into its own in time -
like they love y'all share.

Home Improvements

Walls come down. Ideas

begin to take shape. Your home -
there's no place like it.

Why I Heart McNest

Home sweet home awaits

visits from me and game nights.

My room is so sweet!

A First Home for All of Us

A place to gather

to eat, to play and to nap.

Our grown-up hangout.

First time was a great time...second time was a BLAST

From the lack of posts, you can all probably use your brain power to deduce that we have not done a single thing on McNest to warrant any sort of update. Sad – yes. However it has provided us with time to do other things that are equally as noteworthy. And by we – I mean me. One of those things being – a trip straight back to 1989. Kristen & I went to the New Kids on the Block show in Charlotte the other nite. That’s right. I said it. NKOTB. Otherwise known as the five hardest working guys in show business.

Kristen and I fall directly in with the New Kids fan demographic – that being 25-30 year old women who were all around the impressionable age of 10 years old when New Kids struck gold as a boy band. We were accompanied by a few other thousand 20-30 year old females who all wanted to hitch a ride back to a time when neon colors were all the rage, side ponies rocked the hair scene, and sweatshirts came off the shoulders .

I’ll guestimate that approximately 20 guys were in the crowd. Total. And no I’m not kidding. It really shouldn’t surprise anyone that so few males were in attendance – who can blame them though. Manly men probably don’t get any kind of thrill from watching the vintage choreographed smokin’ hot dance moves of five white guys from Boston singing to their girlfriends and wives. The lack of guys did provide an awesome benefit though. Most of the men’s bathrooms were changed to women’s for the nite. Only at a NKOTB show folks…

There were many groups of girls walking around with some trashtastic 80’s gear on…leggings…leg warmers…big tshirts…neon colors…and some even crimped their hair (I remember those days). I rolled my eyes at first and then I contemplated reworking my own outfit to fit in. Peer pressure – gets to ya everytime. I wasn’t the only one. By the end of the show Kristen’s hair was in a side pony and I think I threw out a “rad.” If the New Kids were trying to give us a blast to the past – Mission Accomplished. I was surprised that we weren’t handed a slap bracelet when we entered the arena.

I was trying to figure out what exactly to write about in this post. Do I tell you about the crazy time we had getting there – including getting lost in downtown Charlotte’s one way streets, pulling into a parking lot straight out of Poltergeist, voluntarily getting in a line of cars to go thru a license check, leaving my camera in Kristen’s car, and paying fifteen dollars to park (after spending six to get out of Poltergeist parking lot). Or do I tell you about how the song “Step by Step” changed my life. I decided to just do a stream of consciousness blog of my thoughts about the show.

Though I do remember being a big fan of the group when I was round about the age of 9, I wasn’t what you would call an uber fan. Sure – I had the sleeping bag, trading cards and the lunch box, but I didn’t have the dolls nor did I have ripped out pages of Tiger Beat covering every inch of my bedroom walls. But when I had no trouble at all remembering (and singing outloud) all of the words to Cover Girl after more than 15 years, I realized maybe I was more than just a big fan.

For five guys knockin on 40s door – the New Kids definitely were like some fine wine (from what I hear) – they only got better with time. Though I laughed at the silliness of being there with the dressed up crowd…I was fully committed to enjoying myself for at least a few hours. And I did. Though I may have regressed back to my 9 year old self during some highlights of the show (Tonight, Hanging Tough, You’ve Got the Right Stuff), it was such a fun time. What made the show even better was that the New Kids seemed like they genuinely were having a good time and were sincerely appreciative of the crowd that showed up.

One confusing part of the concert was some sort of video homage to people who have died since the last time New Kids were on tour. Some of their family members were listed but also Tupac, Biggie, Kurt Cobain, Heath Ledger. I guess it was a good idea in theory, but it was a bit of a mood killer if you want me to be honest with you. When you go from a spinning stage to that – it just confuses the crowd. They should have slowed us step by step…. Oh that was good and you know it.

And just like in the late 80’s the New Kids encouraged us to stay positive when they sang “Games.” Joey Mac and a small choir of black folks encouraged us to have high self esteem. Those of us who drove multiple hours to get there and who are closer to celebrating 30 than we’d like to admit really appreciated this attempt to distract us from our current reality of actually being at a New Kids On The Block show. Also just like times past, Jordan decided to sing his solo song with an artificial breeze from a wind machine blowing open his white shirt. Talk about cheese-tastic. But fun.

I am so glad Kristen invited me to go with her. I think only we could truly enjoy this experience together. Sending us straight back to a time when my bangs were teased, my socks were slouched, and life was pretty much only as difficult as my next social studies quiz. Thanks Kristen. So even though it was around 3am in the morning when we got back home…it was all worth it! Like they say in one of our favoritie movies…“That was the most fun”

Me and My Boo at the Zoo

Saturday was a date day and dates days are my most FAVORITE days. Since it was a day I was looking forward to, I of course woke up not feeling well at all. This tends to happen to me for all important events. Stomach virus two thanksgivings in a row which not only prevented me from having a turkey sandwich but also prevented me from shopping the day after. You know that it was serious if I wasn’t shopping. There’s no joking about that.

Eddie got me a ginger ale and I packed a baggy full of saltine crackers and we decided to give it a go. So we headed off to Cola to the zoo. Yup – the zoo – a place where they keep the animals in captivity so that the public can stare at them from behind a fence. Of course I totally prefer this option over seeing them in the wild – mainly because in the wild there is a higher possibility that the animals can run after you and eat you. I’ll take my chances at the zoo thanks. Another reason to visit the zoo – they have animals from other countries – and since I don’t have a travel budget – nor do I ride airplanes - I’m sort of limited to possibly ever seeing US, Canadian and Mexican animals. I really wanted to see the Koala (originally from Australia) so we probably saved thousands of dollars in air fare and hotels by seeing the fuzzy little thing two hours away from home at Riverbanks instead of going to Sydney.

I bought Eddie a behind the scenes tour last year as part of his Christmas and we decided that since this was the only free weekend we’d have before it expired then why not head on down. I made it through the car trip and once we arrived I still felt kind of crappy, but I forged on. It was sort of hot and the sight of two hundred billion other people all wandering through the gates didn’t help matters much. Eighty degrees, lots of hot sweaty people and lots of hot sweaty animals. Awesome – we maybe should have just stayed home and watched Animal Planet.

We had some time to look around before our tour started so off we went. Now that I look back, I realize that the highlight of the day for most people had to have been at the Riverbanks farm where we not only saw a cow but could pet it too. Some of those kids about lost their minds over the cow. Never mind about the endangered birds or the lion cubs right down the path – the cow was awesome. And we could have seen it at home.

We also went through this really weird enclosure thing where there were flocks of birds just flying around inside. The good folks at the zoo allowed regular joe people to go in and feed them or interact with them. I would have rather pulled my eyelashes out one by one than walk through that enclosure where the possibility of having my eyes pecked out was more real than not real. However, being the awesome fiancée that I am, I gave it a try. But you know what? Those birds didn’t even go on about their birdy business. They just kinda sat there looking bored. Thank goodness we didn’t buy the food to feed them. That is when they would swarm near you. I’m not into that. They were however really really pretty (as seen here). PS – thanks Lisa for the use of your camera for the day.

We were able to get up close and personal with the giraffes – they are so pretty – no wonder Dooney & Bourke wanted to use them to make purse patterns from. Seriously – this picture is not zoomed in at all. He (or she) was just right there all up in my face waiting for me to feed him (or her). I would have liked to have gotten there a little earlier so that we could have actually fed one. Did you know that giraffes can lick their own ears? They can. Regina told me, and as you all know she is an ocean of useless knowledge. She is the reason that I also know that coke was originally green in color.

Our behind the scenes tour was with the elephants. We went to the elephant barn and were able to meet the elephants and their trainers. The elephants are always behind those bars. The trainers never have free interaction with them like at the circus. It’s all about safety folks. I mean they weigh a ton. They did a few tricks for us though. They are so well trained, and we learned loads of interesting facts about them. I don’t remember any now that I’m writing this, but there were some I promise. On our way out we saw a painting that one of the elephants had done. They give them giant paint brushes which they can hold with their trunk, and then they can swirl the paintbrush on the canvas and make some pretty cool art work. Who knew elephants were so creative and artistic?

After the tour in the barn...I got to ride one of the elephants! It was all I ever dreamed it would be. Eddie got to hang out with some monkeys. All in all it was a good time. Our little group of 10 got to do some really neat things in "Employee Only" accessible places. It was definitely nice to not be in a crowd, especially when that crowd is standing really close together in hot weather.

We also got to feed some meerkats. They were cute little things, however don’t let that cuteness fool you. They eat worms…and centipedes…and other gross things. Oh seriously we get to feed them? Awesome. I tried to just take pictures of Eddie feeding them, but I didn’t want to be outshined by the 5 year old in our group so I let our guide put a worm in my hand and I tossed it to the meerkats. Gross :) Last stop of the tour was the animal hospital – or as Eddie and I would say Animal Doctor Movie. It was definitely interesting seeing the charts for the animal patients (whose ailments varied from arthritis and diabetes to hairballs). We also got to see some xrays. The craziest one by far was of a monkey that hasn’t been eating and was acting pretty sick. They brought him in to check him out and what do they find inside….41 pennies…. Isn’t that crazy!

I think it was after the tour that we had a dippin dot break – but I honestly can’t remember an actual timeline of events. I do however remember that the dippin dots were quite tasty. We decided to finish seeing the animals. A lot of animals must have sensed me and Eddie’s presence when we approached – because they would lay down and take a little nap to show that they were kindred spirits with us. We appreciated that. The little koalas slept practically the entire day away while lounging on their eucalyptus branches. Too cute right? I wanted to take one home. The turtles also put on quite a show I must say. Since neither of us paid attention that day in Biology when the teacher went over reproductive skills of turtles, it was the perfect day for us to see a real life demonstration. Parents were ushering their little kids right on past that “exhibit.” I’ll not be posting a picture of that action, but I will post one of Eddie hitching a ride from one of them.

I think our last stop was the bird house. I actually enjoyed the bird house since the birds were behind glass. I hearted seeing the little penguins diving into the water and knowing that one wasn’t going to run after me and attack me below the knees. I also really enjoyed seeing the peacocks. They were so pretty. One of them stared me right in the eye. I didn’t dare look away because I read or heard or maybe made up in my head that if you break eye contact with a mountain lion it will attack you. I’m not sure if the same applies to peacocks, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

I think the last animal we saw was the tiger. It was also one of the first we saw. It was asleep both times. I wanted to see it being all ferocious and GGGGGGGGRRRREAATTTTTTT! But alas, it was chilled out on a ledge in the shade. So instead I had to be all ferocious, and then I had to get Eddie in on the action too (but he won’t let me put his picture on here) :) There is one though…for blackmail purposes … just kiddin love! We had such a fun time. I think I’d like to go back and do a different animal tour next year – like an animal that doesn’t weigh over 900 lbs or something – maybe a penguin!

Sheet Rock My World

So the sheetrock guy rocked – literally! I told you people earlier that this was the first time we hired someone out to complete a project for us and needless to say – he got that project done way faster than we would have. It was lovely to see progress happen so quickly and at such a steady pace. Things like that don’t usually happen like that here.

I feel that over the course of this sheetrock project I have learned a thing or two or twenty about the topic and I’d like to share my findings with you. The whole sheetrock process pretty much consists of the following…smear mud over tape seams and screws…let it dry…sand it….smear on some more mud…let it dry….sand it….smear on even more mud…you get the picture. It sounds easy and honestly the mud looks like a huge container of cake icing….but there is nothing easy or delightfully tasty about it.

But guess what? Sheetrock guy finished up the bathroom and the den and now I can go to sleep at nite in McNest without worrying if the walls will fall down on top of us while we watch tv or take a shower. Bonus!

Moving on…our progress sometimes seems slow – painfully slow. I did some mental calculations this weekend to determine whether or not we’ll be able to live in McNest by March. I got confused converting project time into days and months, so I pulled out a Magic 8 ball and asked it instead. Of course it gave me a non-committal answer (reply hazy – try again). So I shook it again and got an affirmative answer that I liked better (It is decidedly so). Of course this is the same ball that told me that “yes definitely” a perm was a good idea in Junior High and boy was that ever a bad idea. So I’m not sure how reliable it is.

I’ve been struggling to emit any sort of productivity in regards to McNest (as evidenced by the lack of renovation posts). I got a small surge of energy from my Bagulful this morning(mmm thanks Kraft!) which inspired me to blog and tell you all something to keep you coming back for more, but that’s pretty much all I am good for. I’ll need more than a little carbohydrate high to do something productive house wise. We did meet up Monday evening to do a little painting of the orange persuasion. I feel like I’m the slowest painter on earth – I think it has to do with being a perfectionist. Eddie on the other hand is a speed painter. I’m almost afraid to stand still in front of him because he might slap a coat of Autumn Rust right on me.

Last night we started to put down the flooring in the dining room, and by we I mean Eddie and Cheryl. It may come as a surprise to you, but I’m not exactly qualified to put down a floor. I know right?! Reason 1 – I have no idea how to do that. Though I could google a “how to” article on putting down flooring I just really don’t think it would qualify me to put together a structure that is so complex and that people will actually use. I mean I could google how to perform open heart surgery but would you trust this face to do that? No. Reason 2 being it clearly falls under the realm of construction. Construction is not only hard but it’s dangerous. I’m used to sitting behind a desk all day. Not risking injuries. And construction sometimes involves wearing a hard hat. Oddly enough, that does little for this girl’s looks.

We still have a lot ahead of us, but I feel confident that it’ll all work out eventually. We may or may not be able to complete ALL of the things that we’re hoping to do (so I’ll be vague about future plans as to avoid embarrassment later). But soon I have the feeling that we’ll be joining the ranks of proud home owners worldwide! The Magic 8 ball says “without a doubt” :)

When Do Nothings Do Something

In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth… From dust He formed man… from the creation man, man in his infinite wisdom began to screw up… When man brought sin into the world man was punished by having to work hard for the rest of his existence… And here we are today suffering the consequences of “free will”… (no charge for the short and sweet theological discussion)

I started working at the young age of 14… I have had various jobs, of which have not always been my favorite, but they have given me little patches of knowledge that I randomly use today… I tried construction the summer after I turned 14… Boo I hated that, I quit that job every morning when Cheryl woke me up…

I learned rather quickly that I’m not very builder friendly, not that I couldn’t lift heavy stuff or drive a nail, but rather that heat and physical labor wasn’t for me… So we moved on to electrical wiring… This lasted perhaps 2 weeks because of how awesomely thrilling it was not… And let’s just say that my boss (AKA Scott) was less than desirable to work with…

I did manage to lay hardwood floors for a year, but even that paycheck lost its luxurious luster after a while… The rest of my time has been spent in and out of restaurants… Needless to say I am a huge winner in life can’t ya tell??? I’m sure that you aren’t interested in a biography of me, so I’ll get to the point…

So here we are all grown up and ready to embark on a new journey… Full of ambition and fairytale beginnings, hopes and dreams of what life has in store, eager to start a family and make a home… I found the greatest gal who accepted my proposal, and loves the house that we decided that we could make our own… We just forgot probably the most important thing… “We are poor”… Oh and neither of us dig the manual labor…

We are those people who like to conserve our limited amounts of energy by taking a nice nap or catching up on a TV series by watching the DVD because we hate commercials… Oh its true people… We have some awesome plans for the house, but no one to fulfill them for us because free labor is so hard to find these days… Therefore we are faced with the worst possible scenario… “Do it ourselves”???? Are you kidding me?

After a long day at “The Office” (awesome show if you haven’t seen it you should give it a try) who wants to deprive themselves of relaxation to do more work… As active members of the “We do nothing club”, we think there should be a petition to the government for the free labor of those people that we pay for all year long who have an “excuse” for not working… (And he steps down from the soap box)

At first it was hard to get used to, but as things are progressing and looking more the way we’d like them to, I must say that the times we spend working on McNest are the best for us… We’ve not only started our life in a sense, but we have also created many memories that we’ll cherish for a life time… Although we may not agree on everything (picking colors and décor), at the end of the day we’ve realized that we make a great team… You never know what might happen through this crazy process, but I kinda look forward to it… We are not sure what the end product will be exactly, but “When do nothings do something” who could tell anyway???

Hubby2b

Waving the We Want Wedding Wand

So apparently my public desires more posting of what’s going on with me and Ed – but where are you in the comments section public? How am I to know these things unless you tell me directly :)

I guess I’ll fill you all in on what we did the other weekend. We ventured into the world of wedding registries. What is the point of this you ask? Well the point is to imagine how good McNest is going to look one day when we put something in its empty rooms :) It was a little overwhelming, but I guess that is to be expected when you’re pretty much starting from scratch. Eddie and I both live at our parents houses so basically we’re coming to McNest with nothing more than clothes, shoes, and dvds – and when I say nothing more – I really mean far more than the average person should have.

We decided to go to Target first, where we met with an unenthusiastic girl behind the customer service desk who told us in monotone about the rules of registering. Honestly – show some excitement here – I’m getting married! I didn’t really hear the rules, because I was already picturing myself running off down the aisles with the scanner gun zapping bar codes and beaming things to our wedding wish list. I pretty much had one goal – look for something understated and mid range that didn’t put off a vibe of overinflated sense of self worth. I think Eddie’s goal was to look for anything that looked like it could decorate a safari room (just kidding love!). Our tastes and styles are different but I guess that’s all part of what makes us interesting together :)

Since I’m practicing the art of sacrificial love, I let Eddie have the scanner gun. I figured he would understand how it works better than I did anyways (it has buttons just like a remote – so he should totally know what he’s doing). Plus I wasn’t sure how into the whole registry thing he would be, and I thought maybe the scanner gun would remind him of the Nintendo Duck Hunt game and he’d think it was fun like video games.

I think we probably should have done some homework before we ever started. Not knowing the difference between non-stick, stainless, copper and anodized (I had to look up the spelling on that one) pans made it hard to know which ones we would choose. However , knowing each others cooking habits did help out in the end. My cooking habits consist of not cooking, while Eddie’s consist of master culinary chef skills (hands off ladies – he’s all mine). So basically it was all me when it came to picking out a toaster and microwave (yes baby I can make you toast and heat up a Hungry Man meal for you in just a couple of minutes). When it came to actual cookware, that was all him. Eddie also took care of the coffee maker since I hate coffee, but he finds it a necessary part of life.

I didn’t find a cake stand that I like yet (which is essential since I plan on wearing an apron and doing much baking), but I did register for many knives and other food accessories that I vow to figure out how to use and will think of whoever bought me that vegetable peeler each time I use it. Eddie graciously let me scan a few items. Bad idea. I was completely overcome by the combination of power and desire that the scanner gun gave me. I went from being simple and understated to …what a waffle iron ? YES!!! A self service ice cream maker? YES! We must have it! A juicer? -Wouldn’t be caught dead without one! SCAN IT ALL EDDIE SCAN IT ALL! !!

I’m kidding by the way. We didn’t scan the waffle iron, the ice cream maker (sadness) or the juicer. I came down from my registry-high, and we went on our way buying classic registry items such as dish towels, knives, glasses and wall art (pretty see?). Later on I started getting nervous about the registry. Why? Well because this is all some people will ever know about me. They will judge me for eternity based on what sort of blender I chose and what the thread count is on the sheets I picked out. It was almost enough pressure for me to delete the whole list, but I didn’t. Mainly because I didn’t know how.

We thought that the whole registry thing would be a piece of cake and take about an hour. Three hours later when Target closed for the evening, we weren’t even done, and I have no clue what is on the list. I’m not sure if Eddie scanned stuff when I was turned around or not. If there are TV seasons on DVD listed on there – he did it!! If there are items of clothing – my bad!! Just kidding :) We still have to go modify the list (thank goodness you can do it online – I’m computer savvy to say the least), and figure out what should have been on there and maybe what’s not supposed to be. We’re new at this ya know.

It really was fun imagining how things would one day look in McNest and what kinds of food he…I mean we…will make in our new cookware. I can’t wait til our happily ever after :)