Mr. and Mrs. Z's New House: August 2009

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Uh Oh :-S

Last Thursday John and I were walking our dogs when we came back home and he was giving me the keys so I could do another lap and get in the house without having to call him (long story), when we noticed that there was a SINK HOLE on our front yard!!!

I'm surprised we remained so calm, but I took the dogs for their other lap and after getting back I called our Field Manager to let him know about it, he called me back first thing Friday morning after inspecting the site and he made me feel better when he told me it was just the dirt settling and that there was no water or sewer leaks!!!

When we came home on Thursday afternoon the sinkhole was fixed!!! Now we just need the new grass to get green :-)

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El jueves pasado John y yo fuimos a llevar las perras a caminar y cuando regresamos a la casa y el me estaba dando las llaves para que yo les diera otra vuelta y no tuviera que llamarle cuando regresara a la casa (es una larga historia) notamos que habia UN HOYO en nuestro jardin!!!

Estoy sorprendida de que permanecimos bastante tranquilos, todavia fui y les di la otra vuelta a las perras y cuando regrese le llame al Gerente de Campo de la constructora y le deje un mensaje, el me llamo a primera hora el viernes despues de haber inspeccionado el agujero para darme la buena noticia de que nada mas era la tierra asentandose y no habia una fuga de agua o de drenaje!!!

El jueves que regresamos del trabajo ya estaba arreglado el hoyo!!! Ahora nada mas tenemos que esperar a que el nuevo pasto se ponga verde :-)

BEFORE

ANTES

AFTER

DESPUES

Guest Bedroom 2.0

Our Guest Bedroom is ready to be used!!! We only need some decoration items and a table lamp or 2 but other than that, it can serve its purpose :-)

I'm pretty excited and can't wait to have our first out of town visitors!!! Who says me???

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Nuestro cuarto de visitas esta listo para ser usado!!! Solo necesitamos algunas cosas para decorarlo y 1 o 2 lamparas para los buroes, pero ya esta listo para servir su proposito :-)

Estoy emocionada y no puedo esperar para tener nuestra primera visita de fuera de la ciudad!!! Quien dice yo???

Dani, this one's specially for you! ;-)

Dani, este es especialmente para ti! ;-)

Target Purchases

I got a $50 from my credit card reward's program, so I went to spend it to one of my favorite stores, Target :-)

I wanted to get a few things: a few plastic totes for storage, some kind of broom/mop organizing rack and, when I told John I was on my way there, he put up his puppy eyes and asked for a lamp for the basement :-)

I had found other "tool storage units" online that were more expensive, and I originally grabbed 4 plastic totes (which were on sale at $6.44 by the way), but decided to leave 1 tote behind, get a cheaper holder ($7.99) since we really didn't need the extra storage space at this point (we don't have shovels, or anything like that yet) and buy my baby his lamp ($24.99 or so).

Grand total = $56 ($6 after the gift card, can't beat that!!!).

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Hoy me llego un certificado de regalo por $50 del programa de puntos de mi tarjeta de credito para una de mis tiendas favoritas, Target :-)

Queria comprar algunas cosas: unas cajas de plastico para guardar cosas, un estante para colgar las escobas y los trapeadores, y cuando le dije a John que iba a la tienda me pidio, con sus ojitos de bebe, que le trajera una lampara para el sotano :-)

Habia encontrado otras "unidades para guardar herramientas" en linea que estaban mas caras, y primero habia agarrado 4 cajas de plastico (que por cierto estaban en especial a $6.44), pero deje 1 de ellas, agarre otro estante para las escobas mucho mas barato ($7.99) y le compre su lampara a mi amorcito (costo como $24.99).

Gran tota = $56 ($6 despues de usar la tarjeta de regalo... Nada mal!!!).

Friday, August 21, 2009

More Decoration Items

I've been eyeing this picture frame arrangement for a while, but I was waiting until it was on sale ;-) It's only $10 less than normal, but when I also saw that the candle holder that I also like was also on sale ($40 less than normal), I knew I had to take advantage of it... before it's sold out or something, like it has happened to other things I've taken too long to buy in the past :-(

Can't wait to get them here and see them in person!!!

From: Red Envelope

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He estado echandole un ojo a este juego de marcos para fotos desde hace un tiempo pero estaba esprando a que bajara de precio ;-) Ahorita nada mas cuesta $10 menos que normalmente, pero cuando vi que el candelabro que tambien me gustaba estaba en especial ($40 menos de lo normal), sabia que tenia que aprovechar... antes de que ya no los vendieran como otras cosas que me han tocado recientemente :-(

Ya quiero que lleguen para verlos en persona!!!

De: Red Envelope

Picture frame arrangement - Most likely will be hanged on the loft

Juego de marcos para fotos - Probablemente lo voy a colgar en la estancia

Candle sticks - For the living room's coffee table

Candelabro - Para la mesa centro de la sala

Our living room is almost complete!!!

Our living room is almost complete, I think the only major thing I'm missing now is a painting :-)

I like how it turned out, but I think it's kind of funny that when I see it I still don't believe it's part of our house, not becasue I think it's gorgeous or anything like that but because it's so different than what I'm used to.

In summary:

Sofa and Chair - Macys

Coffe Table - CB2

End Tables - Target

Table Lamps - Crate & Barrel

Decoration - Home Goods and Marshalls

Curtains and Curtain rods - JC Penney

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Nuestra sala esta casi terminada, creo que lo unico significativo que me falta es una pintura :-)

Me gusta como se ve, pero se me hace chistoso que cada vez que la veo no puedo creer que sea nuestra casa, no porque se me hace que esta super fregona o algo asi, sino porque es muy diferente de a lo que estaba acostumbrada.

En resumen:

Sofa y sillon - Macys

Mesa de centro - CB2

Mesitas - Target

Lamparas - Crate & Barrel

Decoracion - Home Goods y Marshalls

Cortinas y Cortineros - JC Penney

Macys

You might remember that we purchased our living room furniture (sofa and chair) from Macys, we were supposed to have it delivered July 8 if I remember correctly, it was a Wednesday and even though I asked them to deliver it after 4, a few days before they called me and left a message that they would deliver them between 11 and 1 BUT they also gave John a call and told him they would be there between 12 and 2... Long story short, they showed up at 11, John was leaving work early, and had to take 4 hours of vacation to be a the house for that, but when he finally got home, according to the schedule that he was given, the delivery guys had left :-(

John was upset about having to take the vacation time unnecessarily, and I was a bit disappointed that we wouldn't receive our furniture until we came back from vacation... So when I got a survey regarding the furniture and the service I did mention those things... And we ended up getting a $125 gift certificate for the inconvinience!!!

So I headed to Macys on Monday, I originally wanted to buy this candleholders, and I saw that they had a cutlery set on sale for $39.99, so I figured I could buy both with my GC... But when I got there on Monday they didn't have the candleholder size I wanted and were no longer on sale and the set wasn't on sale any more either :-( So I paid the regular price for the cutlery set and left...

I went back today because I figured what else to buy with the GC (some kitchen utensils), and when I got to the Home Department I saw that the cutlery set was BACK on sale!!! I got money back from that and purchased 2 extra pillows for our new bed :-)

I'm a happy camper!!!

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Tal vez recuerden que compramos los muebles para la sala (el sofa y el sillon) en Macys, y se suponia que nos los iban a entregar el 8 de julio si no mal recuerdo, era un Miercoles y aunque les pedi que nos los entregaran despues de las 4, unos dias antes llamaron y dejaron un mensaje diciendo que iban a traerlos entre 11 y 1, PERO tambien le llamaron a John y le dijeron que iban a estar aqui entre 12 y 2... Para no hacerla larga, llegaron a la casa a las 11, John se salio del trabajo temprano (tuvo que tomar 4 horas de tiempo de vacaciones para eso), pero para cuando llego a la casa, de acuerdo al horario de entrega que le habian dado a el, los del servicio de entrega ya se habian ido :-(

John se medio awito de haber tenido que tomar tiempo de vacaciones para nada, y yo estaba un poco decepcionada porque ibamos a tener que esperar hasta que regresaramos de San Diego para que nos trajeran los muebles... Asi que cuando me mandaron una encuesta sobre el servicio y mencione esas cosas... Y nos dieron un certificado de regalo por $125 por el inconveniente!!!

Asi que el lunes fui a Macys, originalmente queria comprar estos candelabros, y vi que tenian un juego de cuchillos en especial a $39.99 asi que pense en comprar ambas cosas con la tarjeta de regalo... Pero cuando llegue a la tienda, no tenian el tamano de candelabro que yo queria y los cuchillos ya no estaban en especial :-( Asi que pague el precio normal por los cuchillos y me fui.

Hoy regrese porque ya sabia que iba a comprar con el certificado de regalo (unos utensilios de cocina), y cuando llegue al departamento de cosas para la casa vi que el juego de cuchillos estaba en especial de nuevo!!! Me regresaron la diferencia y con eso compre 2 almohadas mas para nuestra cama nueva :-)

Estoy contenta :-)

Had to be done

There's a few things that as a new homeowner you have to do that are not as cool, fun or enjoyable as others, but have to get done to ensure that the house you're paying for remains in good condition...

A couple of weekends ago, I tackled 1 of them: sealing the driveway. To the untrained eye ;-) these pictures of the house look the same as previous ones, but I know that I went to Lowes, bought cement sealant and later on, swept and hosed down the drive way, and once it dried I applied it with a roller (just like paint), you can't tell on the photos, but in person it looks a bit shinier... And hopefully this will help so that the salt doesn't get into the cement, and we can have a crap free driveway for years to come :-)

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Hay algunas cosas relativas a ser dueno de una casa nueva que no son tan curadas, divertidas o disfrutables como otras, pero que se tienen que hacer para que la casa que estas pagando se mantenga en buenas condiciones...

Hace un par de fines de semana, me encargue de 1 de ellas: sellar la rampa de la entrada. A simple vista estas fotos de la casa se ven identicas a las que he posteado antes, pero yo se que fui a Lowes, compre sellador para cemento y despues barri y limpie con agua la entrada, y ya que se seco le aplique el sellador con un rodillo (como si fuera pintura), no se nota en la foto, pero en persona se mira un poco mas brilloso que antes... Y espero que esto vaya a ayudar a que la sal (que echan cuando neva) no se meta al cemento, y tengamos una entrada libre de grietas durante anios :-)

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Decoration Ideas

Last Saturday John and I went to see the model homes in the next developement over, also by Centex, it's called Preston Woods Commemorative... John wanted to check out the layout and I wanted to see the decor, we saw the 2 models that they have open, here are some pictures of them:

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El sabado pasado, John y yo fuimos a ver las casas muestra del desarrollo de al lado, tambien lo esta construyendo Centex y se llama Preston Woods Commemorative... John queria ver las configuraciones y yo queria ver la decoracion, vimos los 2 modeos que tienen abiertos al publico y aqui estan las fotos:

House #1

The Belmont Model

Casa #1

Modelo Belmont