Around the house

Andy and I have been pretty busy over the past few days.  Mowing the lawn, working on the landscaping, organizing/cleaning up the house, cleaning out the garage, fixing up the spare bedroom, and the list goes on.  We don't have much time left before our lives become super busy with our jobs.  It will be nice this year that Andy doesn't have a fall sport and specifically won't have cross country meets on Saturdays - yay!  I will definitely miss going to the meets, but it will be nice to have two days for the weekend instead of one.

Andy cleaned out the garage so that eventually my car will be able to park in it.  He moved all of our boxes that will stay in permanent storage (Christmas décor, keepsakes, etc.) into our extra bedroom until we can lay plywood down in the attic or rent a small storage building for it.  We then fixed up our guest room.  It's still not ready for pictures yet, but hopefully those will come soon.  Andy also made his kayak rack for the wall in our garage.  Andy's kayak is about 14 feet long which can take up a lot of space especially in a garage.  Andy is always great a researching new DIY projects for the house or the kayak, and of course he found one to hang the kayak on the wall.  It actually turned out quite awesome.

 

 

Today we worked on the landscaping in the front of the house.  We dug up the old plants that we didn't want, took out all of the old mulch that had been there for who knows how long, placed new edging around the flower bed and tree, put new mulch in, changed out the rocks next to the garage and dug up another plant.  My back is currently screaming at me.  I am thinking some Advil before is going to be necessary if I want to be able to move in the morning.  Overall, we are quite pleased with the work we got done.  There is still a lot more to do, but the front of the house looks much cleaner now.

Before

After

I am hoping we don't get in trouble for changing the landscaping.  Apparently, we are supposed to submit a form to the Architectural Review Committee to approve any landscaping changes we make.  Oops, we totally missed that one.  I really don't think they'll make us dig it all up.  It definitely looks much better than it did before!

He's a sweetheart!

Andy decided to surprise me the other day...  It doesn't happen often, but when it does he sure does know how to make a girl cry.  Andy went to have his truck washed on Friday, and when he came home, he surprised me with a bouquet of tulips (my absolute favorite flower), a massage gift card to Massage Envy, and the sweetest card ever.  My love language is words of affirmation which I think is due to my low self-esteem.  So Andy could have just gotten me the card with his kind words and that would have been enough.  But oh no, he goes above and beyond.  I love him so much, and he really does know how to make me feel better.

Here's a picture of my tulips... They are opening up already! 

With the flash

Without the flash

Lake Time!

Yesterday Andy and I met up with our friend Rick at Lake Conroe.  Rick is our parents' age, but he's a total bachelor.  I know it seems kind of weird since we're much younger than him, but I really think he just took us in as his own children.  Andy met him about 5 years ago at the YMCA because they played on the same men's league basketball team.  Then we just started hanging out outside of the gym, and now we're friends.  We had actually lost touch with Rick for a couple of years, but he had been contacting us this summer wanting us to go out on his boat with him.  With packing, moving, and unpacking, we hadn't had a chance until yesterday.  It was really great to catch up him and his girlfriend.

Selfie!

Eating at Sam's Boat for lunch

Clean Teeth and Astros Game

Last Monday we had our teeth cleaned, and it had probably been about 10 years or so for the both of us.  Unfortunately, we have been paying for dental insurance for the past three years and just used it for the first time.  We are usually not wasteful with our money, and it makes me embarrassed to admit that we literally wasted all that money on dental insurance.  Either way, it doesn't matter now.  We are now on the right track to getting our teeth cleaned every six months.

My checkup went well.  The dentist did recommend that I get my permanent retainer put back in on my bottom teeth.  It broke off in pieces several years ago, but I never went to have it put back on.  Andy needs to have a deeper cleaning done on his teeth due to the tartar build up between his retainer and gum line.  Plus, he needs to have a teeny-tiny cavity filled.  We are holding off since we will be getting new insurance in a couple of weeks at our new jobs.  Overall, it was good to go and make sure everything is going well.

Also on Monday, we went to my high school to put our school things in my classroom.  The teacher who had my room last year still had his stuff in my room, so I couldn't really work on my room any.  Bummer.  Andy's stuff is now in my room as well since his school is under construction, and teachers won't be able to get back until the work week before school officially starts.  I did talk to the secretary today, and the teacher in my room did pick up his keys.  She said she would notify him that I would like for him to get his stuff so I can start officially making the room mine.  I am going to the school on Monday regardless because it will stress me out if things aren't in order by the time we have our back to school meetings and work days.

Tuesday evening we went to the Astros game with Doug and Wendy.  It was actually Wendy's idea to take Doug to the game and then surprise him when we showed up.  So, he had no clue that we were going to be there.  And yes, he was surprised and pretty excited!  Andy and I aren't big into professional sports but especially baseball.  If we're going to an Astros game, then it's to hang out with someone because we are definitely not watching much of the game.  The Astros ended up losing in the end, 10-15.

Before we left the house

At the game

Two peas in a pod!

Doug and Wendy - cute!!

The whole gang!

We were going to leave in the bottom of the 8th inning but decided to hang out on the first level and watch the rest of the game.  We ended up witnessing a verbal altercation between an Astros fan and a Red Sox fan.  It was actually quite comical and that's what happens when you drink too much beer.  The cops ended up getting involved and escorting both gentlemen out of the stands.

Arguing with the cops...

 

More pictures of us before we left...

 

I hate rugs!

Why do rugs have to be so gosh darn expensive?  I mean, seriously.  Do people really spend thousands, and I do mean thousands, of dollars on one rug?  What makes them so expensive?  I was thinking about $200 for a rug, but as always the price in my mind is never right.  My living room is in desperate need of a rug, and I am super picky.  At this point, I am so tired of looking at rugs that I want to scream!

We have purchased two rugs and taken both of them back.  The first one we bought from Ikea, and I loved it!  I still do love it.  It's the perfect color and design.  However, it's too small for our space.  I need at least an 8x10 rug and this one was only 6x9.  At this point, I am so devastated because I really loved it.  It felt good on your feet and it was priced exceptionally well at only $100.

You can also see our new leather couches in this picture.

The second rug we bought was from Garden Ridge.  Once again, it was a great price of $100.  It looked much brighter in the store, and I really thought it would work.  Our furniture in the living is dark and our laminate wood floors aren't light either, so I really need a rug with some brightness to it.  I don't want rainbow or neon bright, but something in the rug needs to pop.  Well, this particular rug just fell flat and the brown seemed too dark.  It wasn't as soft as the rug from Ikea either, but it was the perfect size at 8x10.  Also, the green color in the rug didn't match my bright green accent wall.  I really don't want to settle on the rug because I feel like it's an important part of our living room to tie everything together so we took this one back as well.

Apparently, I deleted the picture of it in the
house.  So I only have this one from the store.

I have spent countless hours browsing the internet for rugs.  I have looked at random rugs websites that Google suggested.  I looked at Wayfair, Zulily, Kohl's, Walmart, Target, Amazon, Overstock, Rooms-to-Go, and probably several others.  I have found very few that I liked, but they were $500+ and I refuse to spend that much money on a rug.  I considered buying a beige rug and painting it, so I did some research.  I don't think I'm patient enough to paint an 8x10 rug for my living room hoping that I don't screw it up.  So, I'm stuck in a rut, and right now I hate rugs!

Here are a few of the ones I have seen recently that I like, I think.  Unfortunately, I don't know if I'm head-over-heels for any of them, but I haven't seen them in my living room.  It's so hard to tell from pictures if they would work, if the colors are bright enough.  Thankfully most of these places offer free shipping, but what about shipping it back if I don't like it?  Ugh.  I wish I weren't so picky.

$250

$300

$500

These two I threw in as extras just because I am so tired of looking at rugs, and they seemed similar to the previous rugs.  I don't even know their prices, and if I did they would probably be out of my price range.

This next one is, of course, the perfect rug.  But it's priced at a lovely $1100.  I am definitely not spending that much money a freakin' rug!

Maybe I should just find a solid colored rug instead of trying to find something with multiple colors and designs.  I don't know.  This has been a very frustrating process.

Sewing Machine

As Andy and I have been slowly (and I do mean s-l-o-w-l-y) settling into our new home, I had this random thought that I wanted to learn to sew.  It really was only a thought until I opened my big mouth.  It wasn't even a serious thought.  You know how you see those really cool things people pin on Pinterest and you pin it too knowing full well that you will never even begin to tackle that project?  Well, that was my thought about sewing and buying a sewing machine.  But then Andy started doing research on how much a sewing machine would cost.  Then I started doing research on sewing machines.  Then I asked Andy's mom about her sewing machine, and that folks is when my thought became a reality.  Yep, I am now the owner of a Singer Confidence Stylist sewing machine.  Apparently, I can make button holes, zippers, and 70 different types of stitches.  Here she is...

She doesn't have a name yet...

I have never touched a sewing machine before.  Ever.  My babysitter when I was growing up sewed.  My Granny sews, like makes clothes and stuff.  I have seen the basic, very basic, operation of a sewing machine before, but I didn't even know what a bobbin was until I started researching sewing machines.  I ordered my machine off of Amazon because it was the lowest price by $20.  We had some problems with the UPS delivery, but they eventually found our house.  I read tons of reviews and most everyone said it was extremely easy to use.  They weren't kidding.  The instructional DVD it came with was super helpful.  I will probably have to watch it a few more times before I can "thread" my machine on my own, but that's okay.  Andy's mom had given me some scrap fabric and black thread.  I have now sewn a line eight different times.  I'm pretty good with the straight stitch, but the zig-zag needs some work.  I know I will get better at it with practice.

First to last goes left to right.  I did get a little better in the end!

Making clothes with my machine is not a priority for me.  I would really like to make things like curtains, small decorative things around the house, maybe small gifts for friends, and anything Andy needs.  Andy already has a list going for me, or so he claims.  He has been asking me to make him a fishing bag without a zipper because they one he has now has a zipper and it's rusted due to the salt water.  That will probably be my first project to tackle.  I want to make some doilies for my coffee table and lamp table in the living room.  I have read about several scrapbookers who use their sewing machine for their scrapbook pages.  Now that would be really neat instead of sewing by hand.  My machine will actually sew a button onto something, so I'm pretty excited to use that.  But for now, I shall stick to straight stitches and easy projects.

Trip to Galveston

Andy and I really didn't take a "vacation" this summer.  We usually take a big trip with just each other and then a camping trip with Andy's parents.  Honestly, we thought neither would happen due to us completely moving our life to Katy.  We decided we would take a short trip to Galveston last week for some alone time away from reality before school gets going in full swing.  Andy's parents watched Maddie and Lonestar for us while we were away, and even volunteered to keep them another night so we could spend an extra day and night in Galveston.  It was a very relaxing and much needed trip after the craziness of moving.

We are convenient store junkies when we travel.  It
never fails we stop somewhere to get a drink, candy,
and some chips usually.

Fred Hartman Bridge on the way to Galveston

Welcome to Galveston!

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and headed to the hotel to check in.  We decided to go to the pool for a little while before dinner.  We ate at Fish Tales, which normally has delicious seafood.  This time around we a some problems with our meal.  Typically we order salads with our meal and request that they come before the actual meal.  A young girl delivered our food before the salads, and I told her that I was not ready for my meal because our salads hadn't come yet.  Now Fish Tales has a open kitchen area so we can see when the cooks put the food out for the servers to pick up.  Andy watched her walk over to the salad area and pick up our two salads to bring back to us.  We are assuming that they had been sitting there for a while.  The girl left with our meal and put it under a heat lamp.  Andy called our waiter over and told him what had happened and that our food was sitting under a heat lamp.  Andy asked him to have our food re-cooked.  I mean, who wants seafood that's been sitting under a heat lamp!?!  Yuck.  This is when it gets really good... Andy watched our waiter speak to the cook about our food, he watched the cook make the motion like he was going to throw our food into the garbage, and then he watched the cook put our food back under the heat lamp!  He even looked at our table as Andy was watching him.  Seriously!?!  After that, we spoke to a manager and she comped our food which I find highly embarrassing.  I hate causing a big scene and I hate people giving us things for free.  But, our request was not abnormal.  I would understand if had been eating at Chili's where our meal would cost 20ish dollars.  This was a seafood restaurant where our bill was going to be over $50 for just two people, and the behavior of the cook was wrong.  Unfortunately, I really like Fish Tales, but I don't know if we'll be eating there again.

At Fish Tales
Andy always makes fun of me because
I always take self-portraits of us. Oh well. :)

After dinner we went to the local putt-putt golf course.  Andy usually kicks my butt, but I did have a 4-stroke lead over him at one point.  Then I choked and he ended up beating me by 2 strokes.  It was really crowded, but we definitely had a good time.

Thursday we spent the whole day in the car.  Well pretty much the whole day.  We woke up early and went to the fitness center.  Then we headed over to Bolivar Peninsula because I had never been.  That's the part of Galveston that was mostly under water from Hurricane Ike.  It amazes me how quickly coastal towns bounce back from natural disasters.  We had to ride the ferry to get to the peninsula, so that was pretty cool.

The wind was a little crazy on the ferry!

We ate lunch at Stingaree's seafood restaurant.  This was the meal we were looking for at Fish Tales the night before.  We shared a seafood platter of fried crab, stuffed crab, shrimp, crawfish, stuffed shrimp, fish, and shrimp etouffee.  It was very yummy.  I was not a fan of the stuffed crab and stuffed shrimp, but everything else was really good.

After lunch, we drove around on Crystal Beach and headed back to the main island.  Then Andy drove me down to the San Luis Pass and showed me all of his fishing spots when he takes his kayak out.  We saw some large (and really I mean massive) beach houses!  Of course we talked about what it would be like if we could afford a beach house.  I told him that I would never want to live in a coastal town but a beach house is not a bad idea.

All of the driving around made us pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel to hang out at the pool again.  The hotel bar was having happy hour so we had a few drinks.  Then we had a quiet dinner at Chili's.  We also decided to go to the movies.  I can't tell you the last time I went to the movies, maybe a year or maybe two years.  We went to see Grown Ups 2.  I was disappointed.  There was no plot or goal for the movie to get to.  Were there funny moments?  Absolutely, there were several.  But overall, I would have rather saved that for the $1 rental from RedBox.

When we left Chili's this was the Salt Grass sign...
Or should I say "Sal Ass."  It stayed like that for the
next night as well.

Friday we headed to The Strand to browse all of the shops.  We stopped at this super cute old-fashioned themed ice cream shop.  It was so adorable.  All of the workers dressed the part of the ice cream shop workers from the 1950s.  I wanted to spend some time actually laying out at the pool to get some sun, so we headed back to the hotel mid-afternoon.  After the pool, we rented a bicycle to ride on the Seawall.  Ha.  We had to ride into the wind going down the Seawall, and that was probably one of the most difficult bike rides ever.  The wind was brutal.  It was much better coming back when the wind was blowing with us.

Saw this at one of the shops on The Strand.
Cracked me up!!  I know, I know...
you're thinking "math nerd."

Hanging out at the pool

Our bicycle!

This night was going to be our night out on the town since several places had live music on Friday night.  We went to this restaurant called The Spot.  Well, it's not just a restaurant... It's one restaurant and about four bars all crammed into the same building.  It's crazy!  The whole building is about three stories tall and there are so many little nooks and crannies throughout.  You order your food at the counter and then find a seat.  Your food is ready when the buzzer goes off and you walk back to the counter to pick it up.  Trying to find a seat was ridiculous.  Remember, there are three stories.  You don't have a waitress or hostess to find the next available seat for you.  You are on your own.  This kind of stuff really stresses me out because it's just mad chaos.  Thankfully Andy found us a table.  I mean, there were groups/families of 15+ people trying to find tables, and the entire group would walk around which just made it more chaotic.  Despite all the madness, the burgers and fries were delicious.  I would eat there again, but maybe like middle of the afternoon since it might be less crowded then.

After dinner, we headed to one of the bars located in the same building.  We had to wait for a little bit to find an open table.  We were there about an hour before the live music started.  It really started to get crowded, like abnormally crowded.  And we were the youngest people by like 15 years.  Ha.  Little did we know, there was a class reunion from 1983 happening at that exact same bar.  That explained why I felt so young.  I thought it was hilarious to watch all these "old" people.  Oh yeah, I did have a frozen strawberry mojito.  It was probably the most interesting tasting drink I've ever had.  Not sure if I would get another one.

At the bar with the 1983 class reunion!

Saturday we headed back to Tarkington to pick up our animals and have dinner with Andy's parents.  Overall, it was a great trip and some good quality time before the craziness of work starts back up.

This will sound so conceited, but I really don't mean it that way...
I think I love taking selfies of us because we're just too darn cute!