Back in Utah?

I'm back in Utah, I know some of you maybe thinking, "Wow, time sure has flown!  Seems like you were there just a week ago!"  Well, I was here just a week ago!  I got back to Texas on Sunday the 13th and then began driving back on Saturday the 19th.  All in all, I will have spent about 8 days in my own home and with Jeff, for that matter, in the month of September! Hmmm....I wonder why we haven't gotten pregnant yet?!?!?!  :)

So here is the story:

Jeff's littlest sister, Angie, and her family are going to be moving to Texas!  This will bring the tally up to 6 out of 7 kids in Texas, plus Jeff's Mom, Cami.  Ok, so Wendy???? when are you coming down?  This means that Wendy has to start visiting Texas more often!  The totals are: 1 in Dallas, 2 in Austin, and in a little bit there will be 4 in Houston.

I called Angie on Tuesday, September 15th to congratulate her on the good news, asked her about the plans for selling the house, when do they have to be in Texas, are there movers, is she doing it, how is she going to stage the house, getting it ready to put on the market...the basics.  Angie tells me that they are going to be driving down on October 5th, when the house sells - they are going to be "moved" by the Church, and she will start cleaning and staging (um, what is staging?) the house about 2 weeks before they leave, right now she is doing a few things here and there to get ready....."Ummmm, Angie, you do realize that it is about 2 1/2 weeks before you have to report down to Texas right now, right?" I replied.  Dead silence and then a little panic!  I asked if she needed/wanted my help, that I had a doctor's appointment the next day, but knowing the process, I had about 2-3 weeks before I would start anything with the doctor and I think that Jeff would spare me so that I could help his baby sister.  So my new adventure began!

I got here Monday night, I made a detour in Cirlceville & Clinton to drop things off to them - since I had a car to bring them up.

Tueday, Angie & I made a list and headed out to Lowe's!  Ahhh Lowe's I have now made I am not sure how many trips.  It seems as if when you have a big project, and you make your list of every possible thing that you will need, you always forget 3/4 of the things to put on the list.  And those things on your list don't fit and you have to return it at least 3 times before getting the right one.  I have now perfected Angie's signature for her credit card.  It is easier for me to run and leave her with cleaning a closet, etc.

Let's see what have we done?..... Scott replaced their dishwasher - it had been broken for about 4-5 months - moral of the story? if your dishwasher breaks, cut the water off to it and remove the drain line, otherwise whatever was left in there when the dishwasher breaks, stays in the line for months (mmm, good) and then spills everywhere when you move the line.

Here is picture of Angie clearing the line before we try moving it again.  I had to stay far away from the mess, I have a very sensitive gag reflex and the smell....just think Ghost Town! :)

Instead of calling a locksmith out to rekey all the locks in the house (all the doors had different locks and they only had a key to one of them) we went to Lowe's and bought new locks and hardware and had Lowe's rekey the new locks to the only key they had of the house.  Well, this would've been a brillant and easy job, except the backdoor to the garage is a very old door and the placement of the doorknob hole was right inbetween the two settings on the lock.  I tried drilling the door, but that didn't go over to well - the door is wood, with metal on the outside.  So Angie & Scott had to buy a new door.  Scott measured it 32" x 79", but Angie and I opted to try one other type of lock just to be sure .... nope it didn't work.  So we were going to have to buy a new door.  Putting the old hardware back on wasn't even an option for 1 thing, we didn't have the key to it, and the other, I messed up the door pretty good when I was trying to get the other lock to fit it.  Angie and I measured the door again and we measured 31 3/4 x 80 - whoo hoo, that was the measurement of the cheaper door!  So we bought it, brought it into the home, put it next to the other door and you guessed it...it was too narrow and too tall!  So I had to return it and buy a new door.

Angie & I have hooked up the washer/dryer - first time for both of us...and they actually work and don't leak! 

Angie took an exacto knife, cut a piece of the wall off so she could color match the paint.  We didn't realize until after her friends had painted the rest of the huge laundry room (using 1/2 of the gallon) that the color didn't match exactly.  In fact the texture of the paint was different even though both of them were supposedly satin.  So after taking the paint back 3 times to have them "lighten" it for us and it not working, we did an experiment - I mean the paint is too dark, we can't use it to touch up the walls, so why not experiment with it.... The new color had a more "flat" feel to it even though the can says satin.  The walls look shinier than the walls with the new color on it, so I began to think - luckily it wasn't friday (I had terrible ideas on friday that didnt seem to work like they were suppose to!)  So if we want it to be lighter, add white.  If we have a "satin" that seems "flat" so we need a little more gloss to it...why not add more gloss and more white by adding "semi-gloss ultra white" to the mix!  Angie got a pallet and paint brush and went to work mixing them together, and whaa laaa!  we have a perfect match!  We were even able to duplicate it in the big can - after much testing and mixing!

We have moved furniture, soooo much furniture around.  Scott and Angie have been kind enough for many years to store pieces of furniture, bedding, clothes, tools, you name it, and they have probably stored it for their family.  With Scott's family staying in Utah, and Scott and Angie moving to Texas, we had to go through the house, storage room, mud room and separate all their stuff from the families stuff.  Once that was all done, we started rearranging the furniture that is left and "staging" the rooms. 

All we have left now is the detail work - we have been trying to wipe down baseboards and blinds as we go into each room and purge/stage it.  We have a few rooms left - bathrooms to clean - showers to regrout... DI is coming on Wednesday to take a bunch of stuff.  Then it will be a matter of packing for Texas and then sell the house!  Whew!

I know Scott and Angie have been questioning me on "how many doors have you hung before?" - none, theirs was my first one! "how do you know this, how about that?"  I must say that I am grateful for my parents in that department.  I have sat many a day out in the garage watching my Dad do different things, talking with him, troubleshooting with him - I think I actually learned some problems solving skills that way!  See, I was listening Dad and not just looking at the bugs!  And I cheated when it came to "how do you get hard water stains out of the toilet?"  I called my Mom!  She said very simply, "pumice stone".  And sure enough!  She did teach me how to clean house and the importance of the details - wiping down the blinds (use a swifter duster) getting the gunk out of the window sills, toothbrush around the faucets to get the grime.  It has all come in handy at my house and now that I am able to help others.  I will say that I think when I get home I need to look at my blinds, window sills, and window tracks......I may have been neglecting them!

See, and here again, I have a wonderful husband who is understanding and caring and has been supportive of me leaving him again to come help out another family member.  He even decided to help out around the house and pay our bills....so now we have credits on a lot of our bills cuz he ended up double paying after me!  Ahh well.  I love him!  Thank you Jeff you are a wonderful husband!  What is nice is that I know when I get home the house will be clean and the laundry done, not because he will scurry around the night before I get home to make it look presentable, but because he helps keep the house up on a daily basis.  Whether it is taking his dishes to the sink and even putting them in the dishwasher to vacuuming while I am out swimming with friends cuz he knows it needs to be done.  He knows the importance of a clean house and is willing to pitch in a do his part to keep the house looking nice all the time.  He does this without me asking.  He is truely a wonderful husband!  How lucky am I?!?!?!  I can't believe sometimes that he chose me!  I am blessed!