REI Garage Sale and A Quiet Start to 2012

After having family in town for a week, we opted for a quiet New Year's Eve.

The day started out with a 5:30am wake up to get my parents to the airport for their 7am flight.  We decided not to go back to bed, because we wanted to check out REI's garage sale I had heard a lot about.  The sale was set to begin at 10am and tickets were to be given out 2 hours beforehand.  We considered going straight to the store to wait in line after dropping my parents off, but opted instead to come home and eat breakfast first.

Arriving at the store around 8:15am got us #s166-167.  The first people in line had arrived at midnight and slept in tents outside the store.  Granted it is fairly mild in Raleigh, the overnight lows were in the upper 20's to low 30's.

Instead of waiting around until the store opened and then waiting some more inside the store until our number was called, we used the time to go grocery shopping and run a few errands at Target and Sam's Club. 


Back at the store, our numbers weren't called until close to 11:30am.  We managed to find some pieces we needed for a Yakima rooftop car rack (since 1 tower of the 4 that was supposed to come in the box was missing, we got 3 for $40) and picked up a few other small items.  Some people got amazing deals on things like kayaks, bike frames, and electronics.


By the time we got home, unpacked groceries, and ate lunch it was already late afternoon.  We managed to enjoy the rest of the beautiful afternoon outdoors with Darwin.  By 8pm, we knew it would be a struggle to make it to midnight.  We baked some oatmeal raisin cookies and made our own buttercream frosting as a special treat for the New Year and played some rock band to keep ourselves awake. 

Oatmeal Raising Cookies

 Colin's homemade buttercream frosting

 Delicious cookie sandwiches!

 Colin was the first man down.  By 10:30, he was failing on the guitar and we were losing fans.  We turned off the xbox and flipped through the channels (yes, we finally got a TV - but no cable), alternating between Ryan Seacrest/Dick Clark and the other New Year's show.  I don't know about you, but it pains me to watch Dick Clark since his stroke.  Colin fell asleep on the couch and decided to hit the hay not long before the ball dropped.  I stayed awake to see the countdown, Gaga's kiss with Bloomberg, and a few minutes of 2012 before putting Darwin in his little apartment (aka his crate) and heading to bed myself.


It was a quiet night after an eventful week.

One of the benefits of a quiet evening, is that you get to enjoy your first day in 2012 without being hungover or tired.  January 1st reached into the 60s in Raleigh/Cary and there was not a cloud in the sky.  We enjoyed a huge portion of the day walking and jogging through new areas of Cary, NC.  It was even better to have another day off after the first (extending my vacation to 10 days!).  I hope this year is filled with lots of great things for us and for all of you!!

How did you spend your New Years Eve and day?

A Vacation Week of Playing Hard and Working Hard!

I had lots of things I wanted to get done during my week off between Christmas and New Years.  With family visiting, I knew it would be difficult to find time to get projects completed.  Thankfully, my parents love to help!  Even with less days of working, we were able to get so much accomplished.  Though my dad has no training as an electrician, plumber, or general contractor - he helped (ie- did it himself) complete some serious projects.

Before we got down to business, we enjoyed the Christmas holiday, eating lots of yummy holiday food and rocking out to Rock Band on the Xbox.  We also burned off some of those calories by dancing on the kinect!

My parents were pretty good

 But my brother and I were on fire!

The first project we my dad tackled was the broken valve to the water dispenser on the refrigerator. Colin had worked on it for several hours with no luck, and my dad solved the problem with some thread tape and 5 minutes of his time!

Yea for having water and ice from the fridge again!

He quickly moved on to fix two broken towel racks in the guest bathroom.

Other quick projects included adding thread tape to a leaky shower in the master bath, fixing the "Darwin destroyed" fabric on the bottom of the couches, and showing Colin how to re-screen windows (which Colin says he knew how to do).  I missed that lesson, but hopefully we'll be able to get all the screens with holes fixed up before spring.

We are hoping the thread tape solves the problem of water leaking into the crawl space 

- it could be an expensive fix otherwise.

The new screen gives the window a much cleaner look!

Two projects I've wanted to work on for awhile were also completed. With a brick facade, Colin and I were at a loss as to how set up a motion activated flood light on the driveway.  We asked people at Lowes and Home Depot, but didn't receive much help from them.  When I told my dad what we were trying to do, he helped me get all the necessary tools and supplies (over the course of a few visits).  After a few attempts (and over several hours) of drilling through the brick, we he finally got the light up and working!  It is so nice to walk or drive into the driveway and have the light come on now.

My other project included getting things on the walls in the house.  Colin and I bought a few small mirrors at a yard sale this summer, and wanted to put them up in the hallway to open the space a bit.  Getting these on the wall really was a group effort with both my parents helping Colin and I.

I like how the mirrors came out, especially when the sun reflects through the window above the front door.  Hopefully, we can decide on some paint colors soon, because I am getting tired of the cream walls all over!

By the end of the week, the weather really warmed up and we all enjoyed walks with Darwin between working on house projects and playing games on the Xbox.  While my dad helped Colin fix the automatic garage door (a big project on Colin's to-do list), my mom and I took care of some landscaping.  It has been difficult to grow grass, but we managed to get rid of the leaves and debris for now.

I'm hoping to plant some flowers in there this spring!

I also pulled a bunch of weeds from under the mailbox and changed up the brick pattern.  It was quite a task without garden tools.  

As you can see, the mailbox still needs adjusting
and we'll have to plant flowers this spring!

  

For every project we completed, there are so many projects left!  I guess this is the wonderful world of home ownership!  I really want to paint some of the beige walls in the house, but I need some inspiration.  Because of our indecision, I haven't put much on the walls and I'm hesitant to buy more furniture.  

On the topic of furniture - we still have the formal living and dining rooms to furnish and the bedrooms still only have beds.

I am also ready for the yard to look nicely landscaped!  Right now, everything is so brown (I know - it's winter).  But, even in the summer, we didn't have much grass.  

One thing about home ownership is certainly true - a lot of money can be spent on home repairs and maintenance!!  My dad saved us so much money by showing us how to fix things ourselves.  We do need to invest in some pricey tools - but they will certainly pay for themselves in the long run.  We just need to find the right tools and take time and have some patience to do the work ourselves.  

We knew there would be pros and cons to buying a house that was fairly new without all the updates.  A house without a lot of updates gave us bargaining power, but now we need to invest in updates ourselves.  I'm so glad we didn't buy anything that required a lot of work to live in.  I would be so stressed about all the projects that really NEEDED to be done in a house like that.  I am impatient and want all the updates done now, but I know that it will happen in time and can live with bland walls.  For now, I will try to celebrate each small success - even it if is just hanging one new photo.

Where do you get your interior design ideas?

What tool(s) was/were your best investment(s)?