Settling in.

It didn't take me long to start organizing my kitchen.  As soon as the group left I started to get to work on my kitchen.  My mom stayed behind and helped me unbox some things.  I saved the boxes to everything that I had, and I put everything into it's original packing before we moved, and I'm happy to say nothing got broken during our move.

 

 

Here is my kitchen.  I was so happy to get this unpacked and settled.  You can see that our glasses are located next to the fridge.  This has proved to be very handy!

 

 

Our pots and pans are next to the stove... also very convenient.

 

 

Here is my cabinet full of storage boxes.

 

 

This has all be filled in a little bit more now that I got all of my Celebrating Home cookware put into there.

 

 

We finally decided on a spot for the toaster oven and knives.

 

 

This is underneath the island.  These are some of our bulkier pots and pans that we don't use on a daily basis.

 

 

I was excited that most of my cabinet space in this part of the island is still available.  I still have plenty of storage space after unloading EVERYTHING!  Yippee!

 

 

Here is what our tv looked like before we got our new stand.  You can't see all of the wall in this picture, but it seemed tiny.  Our wall was huge, and there was so much extra space there.

 

 

 

Here is our brand new tv stand.  We love it!!!  I'm so excited by how it looks in our living room.  I can't believe on how much nicer our living room looks with it instead of our old tv stand.  It sits up a lot higher, and it makes a big impact on how that wall looks.

 

 

Here is our new coffee table.  Our end table is currently on back order so we won't be getting it until next week. 

 

 

This is the matching sofa table.  We moved this into our morning room.  You can see our pictures on it, and my dragon from China.  Cody actually placed those there, and I super excited because I thought it looked great.  That was the perfect spot for my dragon!

 

 

Here is a shot of our living room.  :)  I'm digging it!  But Cody and I are already talking about getting rid of our couch soon and getting a nice sectional to put into the room in a couple months. We weren't really hoping to spend the money, but with our fireplace and new end tables/tv stand.. the stuff we have now just doesn't seem nice enough.

 

 

Here is our fireplace.  There has a been a long debate on what was going to go on our mantel.  I'm pretty happy with it so far. This is the vase Hannah Shepard got me for Christmas, and then pictures of Cody and I... then on the other side we have some pictures of the kids up.

 

 

I absolutely love how this picture looks in here!  Our wall color goes perfect with it.  When Aunt Dar was over she held up the picture, and held it against the wall and she told us she found the spot where we were going to hang the picture... and I absolutely agree!!  I love how it looks there.  :)  Thanks Aunt Sherry for the picture!  I've always liked it, but it looks perfect in the new house!

 

 

Well... after the couch fiasco we had to change our order at Value City.  Instead of getting the sectional we were going to put into our living room... we got this one for the basement.  It is super comfortable and Cody and I have loved it since day one when we started looking at furniture at all.  Originally we didn't think we were going to really have a place for it, because we didn't want it as our main furniture in our living room... but I think it fits in quite well down stairs where it is.  It makes our morning room area really feel like a media room.  We will probably eventually get a bigger tv for down there.  Three of the five chairs recline, and Cody already loves it down there.

 

 

Here is a different angle.  You can see how each area is it's own chair.

 

 

Look at him... happy as can be to be down there in his "man cave" area.  He wanted a leather couch... so now he got it.  I guess everything worked out good.  We are super happy to have this particular couch, because we like it a lot... and it fits great into our basement, and in this area.

Move in day!

 

Last Sunday was probably the nicest day of the year so far.  The skies were blue and it was about 70 degrees out.  We couldn't have asked for a better day to move into our new house.  We were really scared, because originally the weather stations were calling for rain, but I'm so glad on how everything worked out!

 

 

Here is our great group of movers!!  We appreciate every ones help so much!  We couldn't have moved in without everyone.  Bethany isn't in this picture, but she did a fantastic job taking pictures throughout the day.  When the day first started I told her that I had an important job for her, and I had her grab my camera.  At first I was scared that she wasn't going to be too into it, and only take a picture or two...  but she was everywhere getting all the great action shots!  I think I have about 250 pictures of us moving from North Olmsted into the new house.  She did a great job... I'm super excited to have all of these pictures.  And I'm even more excited that I'm actually IN the pictures.  You can tell that the picture taker new gets in the pictures, because this whole day I think I only got one picture of Bethany, but I'm really appreciative of all the pictures we have.

 

 

Here are just some of our action shots throughout the day.  You can see dad and Cody loading up our dining room table.

 

 

Here I am with my two aunts that came to help.  :)  Thanks ladies!!

 

 

This is the big trailer getting loaded up with all of our stuff.

 

 

Special thanks to my uncles that showed up to help!  Here you can see my uncle Jack, and Uncle Johnny.  They were a huge help getting everything into the house.

 

 

Here is my Uncle Bobby.  As usual Uncle Bobby was a huge help moving in and out.  I think he and Uncle Johnny carried up a lot my heavy dressers into my bedroom.  Thanks guys!

 

 

Getting packed up!

 

 

We even put little Bailey to work carrying down all of my Christmas decorations!

 

 

 

I think in the end my car, Cody's, Becky's, Mom's, Aunt Dar's, Bobby's truck, and my dad's trunk were all full of our stuff!!  And we had already taken our clothes to the house!!  Haha!!  It's crazy to think of all the stuff we had.  I'm so glad that we were able to just make one trip.  There are a few small things that we still need to get from the house, but mostly we are fully moved in.

 

 

 

We all left to go to the new house.  Here we are rolling up and getting ready to unpack!

 

 

We pulled my car in first, then we rotated Becky's, and then my mom's car up to get all of the stuff out of them.

 

 

We only had a couple of hiccups happen throughout the day.  We were extremely sad that our current couch couldn't fit downstairs. We had hoped to move our current furniture into the basement, and then get a new sectional for our upstairs.

 

 

But as you can see... no matter which way we tried to turn it or move it... we weren't able to get it down.

 

 

We tried taking off the legs and doing everything, but there was no getting it down.  I don't know why Ryan Homes designs homes with such narrow door ways.  It was pretty annoying.

 

 

Here is Uncle Jack's... "There ain't no way" pose.

 

 

The only"near disaster" involved this safe.  I'm pretty sure that this safe weighs about 500 pounds.  We wanted to put it in our basement, and it was really hard to get it down.  Cody and Uncle Johnny tried to get it down.  They ended up losing it and it barreled down the stairs.  Thank god, Uncle Johnny was able to get out of the way, because it could have crushed him.  I wasn't there when it happened, but I know Cody was pretty shaken up over it.  I'm glad no one got hurt.  The only damage is a hole in our carpet from when it crashed into the floor.  I wouldn't be surprised if our concrete has a dent in it too.  We were just lucky and that it stopped here, and it didn't bounce and go through our wall.  My Uncle Johnny said later that he felt like the road runner running from an anvil coming at him.  I'm glad that he was able to use his cat like reflexes and get out of the way in time!

 

 

 

Once we were done I said goodbye to everyone and as they were leaving I was like "Oh wait!  My bed!"  They almost left without setting up the bed haha.  I'm sure that Cody and I would have been able to figure it out, but I was glad that dad and Bobby could help him do it.  It's been so exciting to sleep in and live in our own house!  :)

 

Then I had them put my basement door back on too!!  Haha gotta get them while they are there.  Cody has been all about looking at power drills now so that we have one in the house.  Everyone was joking that everyone else has a drill and no one brought one with them.  We could have used it throughout the day.  It looks like we are going to have to go out and get one.

 

 

 

In all it took us about 3 hours to get everything from North Olmsted and into our house in North Royalton.  Thanks to everyone who helped us move!  I made a joke at the end of day that it's a good thing that I decided to move before everyone was too old to help me.  Hopefully we'll be living here for quite some time.  I'm hoping to not move again for a long time.  :)

Time Warner Hell...

You might have noticed the lack of blog posting since we moved in to our new house.  There is a simple explanation for that... Time Warner sucks!!!  Here is a description of the 6 appointments that we made to get our internet correctly working...

First appointment was on March 30th (yes today is April 12th) and the guy comes out to install the internet and tells us that our house isn't wired for internet.  I guess new houses need a special wire run in order to get internet.  He told us that they couldn't bring out an operator until April 15th to run the wire.

So we called Time Warner to cancel our internet service.  And the customer service guy told us that the guy installing our internet was wrong and they could send someone out on Wednesday between 5 and 6 to do the service appointment, and run the wire.  Then they would send guys out on Saturday to install our internet.  So we weren't moving into the house until Sunday so that was fine but we had to make a special trip out on Wednesday after work to meet the guy on Wednesday.  He never showed up...  We called Time Warner and apparently we did not have an appointment scheduled at all.  We were talking to a girl in India who said she couldn't help us further so she transferred us on...  Only thing is she transferred us to the START UP MENU!  That is the most frustrating system EVER!  They try the hardest to not let you get to an actual person...

But finally we get a hold of another customer service rep... this time a guy from India and we ask him about the appointment.  And he says "Oh no, they will come.  They will run the wire before they do the internet and then guys will come on Saturday to install the internet"  And we were like ok... so are the people that are going to do the service call going to come on Saturday then?  And he said oh anytime between now and then.  And we were like... well... do we need to be here when they come to run the wire outside??  And the guy was like oh yes oh yes they will need access to the premise.  And we said... Soooo we need to be here when they come but there is no time frame as to when they will be coming?  And the guy was like don't worry they will install it.

Needless to say I was skeptical.  I was ready to give the installer guys an earful when they came... However, I was surprised to find that they came and installed the wire and then installed my internet.  We hadn't moved in yet so I didn't have my desktop at the house yet.  I had Cody's laptop, and the guy pulled the Ethernet cable into it and it didn't work.  He told me that Cody's computer must block Ethernet cords, but that the wifi was working so obviously we had internet.  Well.... I came the next day after we moved in with my computer only to find that the Ethernet cord wouldn't work for my computer either...

So I called Time Warner and went through their STUPID menu.  I tried getting hooked up directly to a technician but their menu wouldn't work right and it never transferred me over. So I said screw it, I'll just say I'm a new account and I'll get ahold of a customer service rep and have them transfer me over.  So I get to the guy, and I tell him my situation and he goes well do you have a few minutes to review your account?  And I said no, we just got our package a couple days ago I don't want to change it.  And he's like "Oh but this is the best time for you to change or upgrade" and goes on for 10 minutes about their products and services...  I didn't want to be rude so I kept saying no... we don't want it, I'm not interested... ect... until finally I go "Look, I know you're just trying to do your job, but I don't want to hear about any additional products that I can get from you until my internet works.  I tried directly getting transferred to a tech rep, but your menu wasn't working so I figured I would get ahold of a customer service rep that could transfer me over."  His response was "well that's not very smart, the techs always take longer to answer when they see you're transferred from a customer service rep anyway."  And then FINALLY he transferred me over...

Of course, the tech rep picks up right away... (idiot) and the woman goes "Hello..."  And I'm like "Hi I'm so glad to have finally reached..."  And she goes "Hello...??   Hello???"  And I'm like OH MY GOD... "HELLO!!!  HELLO!  I'm here, can you hear me???"  And the only response I get was a click...  and I literally screamed out loud.  I couldn't BELIEVE it!!!!!

So I call again... mad as a bull... get a customer service rep... all politeness forgotten... I'm like just transfer me to a tech!  So I get ahold of a girl and she's really nice and starts trouble shooting with me.  After going through her process... do you know what her response was??  "Hrmm well since you are able to get wifi, it's clearly not an issue with our service.  I think that there is something wrong with your computer that is blocking your ability to get internet.  You should get a friend that knows about computer software to help you, or just take it to the geek squad."  And I was like lady I used this computer 3 hours ago at my old house...  and I had Time Warner internet there and it worked fine... how do I have an software issue??  You don't think there is any correlation with my having just gotten new internet installed?  And she was like sorry, I don't know what to tell you... we can't do anything if it's a software issue.

And I'm mad as can be at this point.  So I'm like screw it... I want them to send someone out here.  I call back and go through the process again and finally make it to a tech rep.  And I'm like look... just send someone out here.  This was 3 hours into this process and finally he agreed to send someone out in two days between 4 and 5.  It's a little hard for me to get home by 4 so I went into work early and skipped lunch to make it home in time.  NO ONE SHOWED UP!  I guess they called Cody at 3:30 when he was at work with a restricted number.  When he didn't answer they automatically canceled the appointment...  BUT there was no way for him to call them back if he just missed it and then tried to call right back because the number didn't show up!  AH!!! So they say that they'll send someone out the next day... which was yesterday.

So the guy shows up and he was here for two hours working on the computer.  He could get wifi with his laptop but when he pulled the Ethernet cord in it didn't work on his laptop either... So HA tech service woman... it wasn't my computer!  So he switches out the cords, and modems... and he works on it for over two hours last night, and he didn't have a clue as to why it wasn't working. So he says that he is going to come back today with his lead at 5.  Well... at 6:15 no one had showed up...  And I was like... WHAT THE HECK!  I call Time Warner up... get to a customer service person who transfers me to the repairs person, who says she'll page the guy to call me and tell me where he is.  So I guess he was running behind because of some emergency call. They get here at 6:40 and the lead just starts doing some basic stuff.  The guy plugs the cord from yesterday into his laptop and it works.  He plugs it into mine and it doesn't.  The lead guy goes... hrmm.. it must be an issue with your computer.  And I was like well why didn't it work on my computer, his laptop, or Cody's laptop yesterday??  And they were like... "I don't know..."  So they have Cody bring in his laptop... it works on his.  So they reboot my computer and start it back up... and the internet MAGICALLY started working.  They told me that if it stopped working again to call him directly so that they didn't take a hit for having to re-do work out here.  So they say... "thank you magical internet god who decided to let this work" and they ran out the door to end their day.  It was about 7 when they left...

At this point... I'm like... what in the world.  I have no idea why it didn't work originally or what was done differently to make it work... but for the time being I have internet...  And for all our trouble we got $25 off our bill this month.  Ugh...  I hope we don't have anymore issues or I'm going to be really mad.

Getting ready to move in!!

We are coming down to the wire!  It's almost time to move into our new house.  :)  We are super excited.  We are having a big group of people coming to help us tomorrow.  We are packing and packing to try to be ready in time!  We'll be packing all kinds of stuff tonight too.  We didn't want to pack up our kitchen until after we ate dinner tonight. 

 

 

In the mean time we have been working on our house.  Here you can see the gray that we painted the basement.  I was excited with how this came out, because I really like the gray we picked more than I originally thought I would.

 

 

Sorry this picture is a little bit blurry, but this is heading towards the media room.

 

 

Here is the other wall in the basement.  I'm happy with how it all came out.  We are still doing touch ups and we have one more hallway to paint, but other than that we are just about done painting!!  Yippee!!

 

 

We went to Value City Furniture and we told them that we wanted our couch delivered next weekend.  We also bought this tv stand.  We loved how it looked and how solid it was.  It was an expensive tv stand, but I don't want to buy a cheap junky one that we won't like right after we buy it.  Plus this one will match the end table, coffee table, and sofa table we bought at Levine's last weekend.

 

 

Time Warner Cable came out to our house today.  I was very concerned that they weren't going to be able to hook up our internet for us.  A guy came out last week and said he couldn't do it because we didn't have the proper wiring to the house, because we are a new home construction.  He said we'd have to wait until April 15th for a service call to be made to our house and then Time Warner would install the line and then the internet.  Cody called Time Warner to just cancel our services with them, but the customer service guy told Cody that April 15th was the incorrect date and that they would send someone over on Wednesday April 3rd to put in the line from 5 to 6 pm.  So Cody and I went to the house on Wednesday and around 6:30 we had the feeling that no one was coming.... so we had the joy of trying to get a hold of an English speaking customer service person.  The first girl (from India) flat out said she didn't see a service call scheduled for Wednesday and that she had to transfer us to someone else that could help us.  She transferred us back to the start up menu which led us to another person from India.  He told us there was no appointment scheduled and that they would come and install the line before Saturday.  And Cody asked him if we had to be home when the people came.  And the guy goes "Oh yes oh yes you do.  They need access to the house."  And Cody was like "Sooo we have to be here and there is no time frame as to when they will come?"  And the guy said don't worry they will install the line before Saturday when the guys come to install the internet.

 

 

Regardless to say, I was a little bit skeptical.  I was prepared to give the installers an earful today if they weren't able to hook up our internet.  But shockingly, the guys that came today ran the wire and then hooked up our internet without any issues.  I don't know what the guys deal was last week.  I don't know why he couldn't do what they did.  It seemed like it wasn't an issue at all. 

 

 

The guys were really nice about it too.  They gave me a short cord for the modem and then they gave me a longer one encase we ever decided to relocated our desk.

 

 

This cord will reach my outlets on either side of the room.  It was really nice of them.  So now we have working internet.

 

 

After that I started to get the house ready for the move tomorrow.  You can see where I was trying to protect my carpet from getting all dirty.

 

 

 

Here are the upstairs steps.

 

 

Here is the path leading into our bedroom.

 

 

Here is the tarp covering up most of our bedroom.

 

 

Here is a trail leading into our other bedroom that is going to have our other bed placed into it.

 

 

Here is the entrance way from the garage.

 

 

Our basement. I also added some walking paths after I took this picture leading into the morning room area.

 

 

Here is our first wave of packing. I brought a carload of stuff here today.  This was mostly things out of our cabinets that we don't need tonight.

 

 

We have brought most of our clothes to the house too, and I also brought everything that will go into our pantry there today too.  :)  We are doing good.  I can't wait to get a lot more stuff tomorrow too.  We aren't going to be moving absolutely everything from our house in North Olmsted over tomorrow.  I am going to keep my Christmas, Halloween, and Thanksgiving decorations, and most of our pictures here from the time being.  I have to figure out where we are going to put everything in the new house before we bring it over.