Brian scares me...

Brian scares me all the time. He thinks it is funny and cute. I am a big scared-y cat so he doesn't have to try too hard. Usually all he has to do is say boo while talking to me and I will scream.

A little over a year ago he scared me really bad. He was hiding in the closet and I walked past him and he jumped out at me. My reaction was EXACTLY Sheldon's (from The Big Bang Theory) except I didnt pee my pants....Brian says I haven't done that yet....

This whole clip is funny but what really represents Brian and I starts at about 2:18 or so. I would be Sheldon, Brian would be Leonard (the guy in the mask)

Enjoy!

The House: 10.29.11

Wow this has been  a very busy Saturday. I had overtime until 1pm and then Brian and I had to visit the house and get groceries. The house is well on its way but the meeting with Heather did not go well. We have been waiting on pricing for the wiring for 3 weeks now and if we don't get one in the next day or two it will delay the house. First one person was on vacation, the next week someone else was and now we have gone a week with both people at work and we can't even get a price. The poor wiring guy is wanting to know what to do and we cant tell him because the builders wont tell us a price. Also the head builder continues to refuse to stay late, come early or come in on the weekends to do any walk throughs with us. He still expects us to take time off work (neither of us have the vacation time or flexibility) to meet with him even though we are the customer. Everyone else has been able to meet with us whenever. Our bankerman is the head of the mortgage department for our VERY large, national bank and he has met with us at 7:30pm without batting an eye. Other people that work for the builder have stayed late, came in early, came on their day off. I do not understand why we, the paying customer, have to take unpaid leave for a meeting when he could just come in on  a Saturday or stay late one day. Everyone has to work extra hours to get things done sometimes. I have, my father who works a typical 8-5 lawyer job has been known to stay late and even come in on a Saturday, Brian has. I do not know of ANYONE who has the kind of job where they can dictate their own schedule and refuse to meet with someone because they don't want to especially when it is relates to customer service. If the housing market was good or even half way decent maybe it would be different however we are the ONLY house they are currently building, I haven't seen anyone in the model home or drive around when we have been around, and well our market sucks right now (only real reason we are able to do this in the first place). The company  and head builder should be bending over backwards almost to help with the sale/purchase of a home and we aren't even asking them to bend over backwards. We are just asking for some flexibility and stay late or come in early for a 30 minute meeting. Because of the head buildermans poor customer service/professionalism it is making us doubt the quality of the work. If he is so lazy, undedicated, and unprofessional how can we trust that he is keeping a close eye on things? That things are being done the correct way and him not skimping? If he can't spare an extra 15 - 30 minutes of his day how can we trust he will help work through/fix a problem or issue that arises?

However, lets forget that and move on to the pictures. Roof and roof paper is up, windows are being put in....still now estimate on completion date so can't tell landlords anything yet though I am going to email bankerman and let him know what is up since are within the 45-60 day window he needed us to be in to finish the paperwork. The builders are saying sometime in December and we are hoping for December 12ish. If it is finished after that it will be hard as we cant move until after Christmas which means renting  the apartment for another month. I think it could be done for December 12ish if everything goes well from here on out and we get the pricing for the wiring Monday as promised.

Center view and yes people are actually working on a Saturday

Diagonal view from right

Right hand side yard

Diagonal view from left

Left hand side yard

Backyard from left

Center view of back of the house

Right hand side yard taken from back of property

Back yard from right side

Left hand side yard from back of property

Left side of the house

We are getting closer!

Christmas List!

So yes, I know it isn't even Halloween yet but if the stores can start decorating for Christmas can't I compile a list for what I would like? As always, no one is ever obligated to get me anything let alone what I ask for but I do know several family appreciate my lists as they tend to want to get me something more then cash but also want to get me something I actually want/need. I may be adding on to this but I don't think I will. My Christmas list is short because most of the material things are on our registry.

More footed pajama's! I have one pair with penguins with a blue background and I love them and to keep them in good condition I should have another pair or two! I would still want a size 6 and I don't necessarily care about drop seat.

Hoods are amazing and so are rubber duckies!

My preferred footed pajama website is Pajama City.com


I do need a fair amount of clothes. I need new work clothes and work out clothes and should update my regular wear clothes. However, because of my new found activity level I am not sure on sizing. So store specific gift cards are great. Some specific stores would be Victoria's Secret, Old Navy/Gap, and Dressbarn, footlocker or another store that sells New Balance sneakers (I don't know size, my feet have also shrunk) and Express. Probably the easiest outfits to buy and send me would be work out gear. I do know I am a medium in yoga pants which are my preferred workout pants long or short. I am a medium on top as well especially if it is a tank top type shirt. I also need socks! I like the ankle cut socks.

Any Visa/American Express gift cards or cash will be used to for house projects. Maybe tiling the floors, maybe painting a room. Any and all would be appreciated and great but if you want to give a universal gift certificate/cash for me to spend on the clothes above just know that it won't be. I have an awful time spending cash on myself. Once I get cash it goes into savings and never gets touched. It will be tough for me to spend it on the house so it definitely will not be used for clothes, etc. However if you want to help towards making our house a home, cash or Visa/American Express gifts cards would be greatly appreciated.

The House: 10.22.11

They have already started the framing! My friend at work boyfriend does framing and says this shouldn't take more then two weeks if that.

The builders still don't have the pricing for the wires or an eta on when the whole house will be finished. They say sometime in December but Banker Man needs 45 to 60 days to do the closing paperwork and we are currently 57 days from December 19th which would be the last week the workers would work until maybe January 4th due to the holidays. We also need to let landlords know. So hopefully we will get the answers to those questions soon. We would hate to delay the house being done because they cant/wont get us the pricing for the wire upgrade for us to make a decision and I would hate to have the paperwork messed up because the builders didnt let us know when the house should be finished. I don't know that many people who can be told a week before that the house will be done and get everything in order in that same week.

Anyway on to the pictures (again left is the electrical socket side, right is the fire hydrant side):

Center View

Diagonal view from left

Diagonal view from right, Brian and Gary sneaked into the picture

Center back view

Right hand side yard

Left side yard

Backyard, much larger then we thought it was going to be

Diagonally from back left

Diagonal view from back right

Different view of back yard

View of the entrance from the "will be" screened in back porch

Side ways view of the kitchen

Garage

Looking out the front door

Half bath and utility room??

Sideways master bedroom

The electrical box they did in fact have to move

Master bath and walk in closet

Second floor

The house looks and feels so tiny when it is just framing. We figure its just because the walls aren't up and the view of the outside is making it look smaller. Very disconcerting though when you walk in and feel like there is NO space whatsoever.

Today was a great day!

Today was an amazing day!

I got inspired to step on a scale after another woman and it appears I lost 6 lbs so not only am I below 160 I am below 155! I am now 154 if the scale is correct. Not sure why I weighed 160 a couple days ago and will weigh myself again in a week or so but I am very excited!

Then I found out that I was able to do overtime this Saturday AND next Saturday! I know most people wouldn't be excited about doing overtime but the extra money will help with house projects and it is a sign of how far I have come within my training at the new job.

Then I was given some very precious gifts. One of our fitness trainers is moving to Florida for a change of pace and I will miss her. However, as she is moving she was getting rid of a lot of stuff and had brought some things to class offering it to us if we wanted and if we didn't she was going to donate it to Goodwill. I looked at the list and fell in love with 99% of it and I was able to get all of it because no one else wanted it! I got 2 things which are going to be Carley's and Xavier's Christmas presents, a cabbage patch doll because it will go with my other one at home and would be cool to keep around and the rest was Christmas presents.

Remember my post about wanting to decorate for the holidays? Well Christmas is done except for the table cloth/napkins. I got about 7 pieces that make up a Christmas Village set which I think will be fun to put on a table. Some battery operated candles to put in windows and a Christmas themed Afghan and pillow. I also got the best thing ever! Christmas dishes! It is a set of 12 with glasses that aren't part of the set but go beautifully! These were her Grandmothers  and I am going to email her thanks for everything and let her know that I am going to use them with care and if she changes her mind and wants them back I will get them to her. If not, great for me but I don't want her to regret a decision. 

Here are some pictures:

Salad Plate

Bowl

Dinner Plate (12 Days of Christmas...12th plate)

Cup (this is the 3rd day of Christmas)

The back of the cup which has the verse related to what day the cup represents

I didn't unpack everything since it is packed really well but the dishes consist of a table setting for 12. The dishes are also dishwasher, microwave and convection oven safe! Can't get easier then that! SO excited for Christmas this year!

Brian wasnt too happy, we are ourselves moving and have to go through our own junk and here I come in with this but how could I say no? SO exciting and saved us SO much money!

Weight Update: September

This is very late....ooops!

Not much has changed since August in terms of the number but I did lose inches. I attribute most of that for being out of commission for most of September and the first half of October due to my attempt to give blood. I did think, at one point, that I had lost another 2 lbs but that was just muscle weight that I lost so I am still stuck at 160.

Classes were switched up this month. On Mondays we have Strengthen and Stretch (which has a really good premise but I am just not into yoga) during lunch and Armed and Dangerous (weights focusing on arms) in the afternoons. Tuesdays have Step class during lunch and Zumba is back for the evening class. Wednesday is Triple threat (weights focusing on all body parts) in the afternoons and then I do treadmill in the afternoons. Thursday is Zumba at lunch and power sculpt in the evening (weights/activities focusing on the lower half mostly). Friday is Strike during lunch and I do treadmill in the evening.

I am excited for this Thursday's afternoons class we are doing a demo for a new class they are thinking of adding. It is called Boot Camp and we will lift tires, plays with large ropes and other activities one might except within a military Boot Camp. This class would cost extra so I do not know if I will be able to participate in the class but I am looking forward to the demo.

On to pictures. (please note: the pants are a medium. I cannot tell you the last time I was a medium)

Forgive my face, class was tough tonight and I am on my tippie toes to get the shot

And yes I still have my bottom, Mom doesnt call me J-Lo for no reason

I took a moment while these pictures were uploading and one of the main, noticeable, areas where I have gotten smaller is my chest. That is probably why I feel like I do not have an hour glass figure anymore. Still have my hips (those will never go away) and my waist is still tiny (and even tinier) but my upper half is so much smaller that it doesn't appear to be that much bigger then my waist. :-\ I also have more tone in my arms/back/legs then what you can see on camera.

Goals when we get into the new house:

1) Keep house better. I really need to get better with cleaning. A lot of our issues with the current apartment is that we don't have a lot of space so not everything is in its own spot. This issue should improve with the new house. If we had more things in it's place it would make it easier and less of a chore to clean. I also have plans to schedule the chores throughout the week so I dont have to do them on the weekends. Like laundry on Mondays, vacuuming on Tuesdays, Mopping/steaming floors on Wednesdays, etc.

2) Get more holiday/seasonal decorations. Yes the South has started to get to me. I think some Southerners can go over board but I love the idea of putting a couple things up around the house come Fall, Spring, Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentines Day, etc to welcome the season. I think it would be fun and a great tradition to start for the babies. However it can get expensive so I am going to do one thing for each season a year. My first thought was get table clothes and napkins and start there. Buying those can be expensive so my thought on that was that I could make my own! However I think if I just bought some fabric in the theme in would get very busy and almost tacky. So I thought I would get some solid fabric for the top of the table and some themed fabric for the part of the table cloth that falls off the table edge and for the napkins. The solid color would match the themed fabric. From there I think I would just get some themed items to place around the house.

Wow this sounded like more in my head!

The House: 10.15.11

Brian and I ran to the house early Saturday morning. Not much had changed but some did. If they didnt have to start over I would be disappointed in the progress but they did and I was surprised by what progress was made.

In terms of what is right or left:  Everything is based on if you were looking at the property head on. Left side is the side of the house with the electrical box, the right is the side with the fire hydrant

Center view

Front right to back left view

Front left to back right

Back left to front right

Back left to back right

Left side yard

Center view from the back

Back right to back left

Back right to front left

Right hand side yard

South Carolina foundation

Some piping

I wonder what we will see next week!