The appraisal!!

Yesterday started just an any usual Friday does during Winter in Michigan.  There were massive amounts of snow during rush hour, I drove 25 mph the entire way to Ann Arbor, and it took me 3 times as long to get to work.  Whatevs, that has become a custom on Mondays and Fridays it seems this winter.  Once I was THIS close to getting to work, traffic came to a screeching halt.  Soooooo I did what any technology addict would do.....I picked up my phone and checked my email.  There it was, an email from A at Greenstone.  At that moment I thought I was going to puke in my lap!  I clicked on it and she said I have the appraisal, call me when you get this!!  Then traffic started to move and I did the responsible thing and put my phone down and put both hands on the steering wheel.  It was the longest part of the drive as the anticipation was KILLING me!!
Once I got off the expressway I couldn't handle it anymore.  I picked up the phone and called Greenstone and braced myself for the news in case I really NEEDED to puke in my lap.  I gotta tell you that I was VERY shocked with what I heard next.  The house appraised for $30K more than I was HOPING it would appraise for.  Yiiiiipppeeeeeee!!

Don't get me wrong, the property itself didn't appraise for as high as I would have hoped but eh, you'll have that.  That just means we need a bigger wheel barrow to bring the ginormous pile of cash to closing.  So we should hear from the credit department on Monday as to the exact amount we will need to bring to closing and we will start working towards getting this party started :-)  Whew, I am glad that craziness is over.  Now if we can just get rid of this damn snow and dig a hole....

Cuz I am ready to put these little munchkins to work :-)

I like sleep!

Not that I am counting but we are now officially 29 days into the appraisal that was supposed to take 3 weeks.  I know, I know good things come to those who wait (Tracy!) but there is one problem.  I am now dreaming about the appraisal and LOSING SLEEP OVER IT.  I woke up many times last night dreaming of that "magic number" I am hoping for.  Now, once I start losing sleep, I start to get a little cranky cuz I like sleep.  When I was updated last Tuesday, the appraiser said he would have the appraisal done "early next week".  I gotta say that today is officially the last day that I would consider "early next week".  Don't you agree???

As I said I like sleep.....however Zombie kids likes turtles.  Go check him out!!

I like turtles!

You want a good laugh?

It just so happens that I have had TWO, not one, but TWO broken teeth for the last year maybe TWO (insert your favorite redneck joke at this point!).  UM has great health insurance.  Dental insurance?  Not the greatest!  Ya'll know that I am a bit of a tight wad and hate to spend money on "stuff" like that.  Well I finally got with the program, decided to break down, and got an FSA set up.  Well yesterday was the day that I was getting one tooth fixed.  I have never really ever had a filling so I hadn't been numbed in a long time.  I was so amused, with my lack of facial expression control, that I couldn't help but take this picture once I was finished!

Foxy, I know!! 

Big shocker!

I know I really shouldn't act surprised but you know I am not the most patient person put on this earth!  Yep, Greenstone ordered the appraisal exactly 3 weeks ago on yesterday.  The appraiser said he was figuring on a 3 week timeline to complete the construction appraisal. A full construction appraisal consists of an appraisal of our property and then a full appraisal of what everything will be worth in the end once the house and barn are up on our 10 acres. 
I (of course) was stalking my email inbox on Monday hoping he might be a day early.  Then finally come Tuesday when I hadn't heard anything I couldn't take it any longer.  I emailed A at Greenstone and asked her if she had heard anything.  I gotta believe she has caught on to the fact that I am OCD because she had already emailed the appraiser THAT morning (exactly three week as I am SURE she figured she would hear from me :P).  His response?  He SHOULD have it done early next week.  Uggghhhhh whatevs, I guess I'll just wait longer.....

Would you conisder these furniture??

I got a gift card to Home Goods for Christmas and I responded just like a kid would on Christmas day!  That was the ultimate gift in my house obsessed world!  It is possible I was running around doing this.....

Well consider yourselves lucky!  I was going to try to upload a video of myself doing the hillbilly happy dance but it is hard to videotape myself on my own on my lunch hour in my office so...YOU'RE WELCOME!!! 

And in usual fashion it was burning a hole in my pocket.
SIDE NOTE:  My dad on the other hand NEVER spends his gift cards and you can often find several lying around.....maybe I should start looking through the house a little better and see if I can help him out by spending a few!!

Sooooooo a couple days after Christmas I couldn't take it any longer and mom and I took a road trip to Home Goods (for the record there weren't any dudes trying to get us to "go drinking" with them that day).   Back in the day I wanted these to go on each side of our bed over the night stands but they were pretty effing pricey!

 However I found these at Home Goods and fell in love.  Not only were they only $30 bucks each but I also had a gift card to offset the costs!

Good lord, could somebody (ahem Denny) find me a Groupon for some photography classes?!?!!

They are very simple and just plain perfect!  Soooooooo now to my point.  When Ryan came home that night he said, "I sure hope those are your mom's lamps in the loft."   Uhmmmmmm nope those are ours honey.  He followed that up with, "I thought I told you not to buy anymore furniture until the house is done."

So, my question to you is this.  Do you consider lamps to be furniture or is it a dude thing???

What do Larry the Cable Guy, dirty rice, and travel size Hamburger Helper have in common?

Well the Dollar General.....OF COURSE.  Duh!! 

Little buddy had basketball practice in Blissfield last night and I decided to drop and run  take him into practice and then go peruse the Dollar General down the road.  For the record (I know I've said it before) Dollar General is no where near as fun as Dollar Tree.  True statement. 

Anywho I was really wandering aimlessly as I didn't really NEED anything but was sure I could kill some time instead of sitting on the hard gym floor for an hour. 

Then I found THIS!

Uhmmmm really?  Ok.......

Uhmmmmm as tasty and CLEAN as that sounds, I am gonna have to pass!

Finally I came across the "travel size" hamburger helper box that, according to Mrs. Crocker, serves about 3.  Well apparently she has never seen buddy eat Hamburger Helper cuz if she had she would have thought about that statement.....serves 1 growing 9 year old.

I am such a sucker for the dollar stores however I did NOT buy any of the above 3 items.  I did however buy some iced animal crackers, 4 deodorants (for a dollar of course), and some cleaner.  I got so caught up in the magic of The Dollar General that I ALMOST bought these!

Don't you fret, thought, this fashion disaster was avoided!

Grandma Peg is banned from buying beer!

Apparently when my mamacita buys beer, the dudes start coming out of the woodwork! 

Grandma Peg and I made a pit stop on our way home from work the other night to pick up some steaks.  Well I bought mom a couple things the other night and in her usual fashion she was insistent in buying something of mine to make us even.  Sooooooo she grabbed this out of my arms to pay for it.....

As we were walking out there was an explorer full of questionable dudes that said to my mom, "you ladies lookin' for somebody to drink with?'  Bwwhahahahaa I am soooooooooooooooo sure!!

Annndddd here is mom locking the door as fast as she could.  I really wished I could have captured the looks on our face when they said that. 

As you can tell I was rather amused by the situation and told mom that she needed to stop trying to pick up random dudes while we were out and about.

All I know is mom is not longer allowed to buy beer......she better stick to the white zin!

I am back to granite....

I've gone from granite to quartz, and quartz back to granite!  Who knows, I could still change my mind yet but I think I am back to being sold on the granite.  I have passed this place called Royal Granite several times on Michigan Ave. in Ann Arbor.  I decided I was going to hit the showroom today and see what they have.  It seemed like an especially good idea since we were under a winter weather advisory (I don't often think things through).

The place is very small and I didn't know what to expect but I was very pleasantly surprised.  I believe the guy I was working with was the owner and he was very knowledgeable and helpful.  The thing I loved the most about this granite stop (believe me I have priced MANY granite places) was that they had full slabs onsite.  Believe me, that makes a HUGE difference.  You can really get a good feel for what the actual full size counter top will look like.  Adrian sold me on this color.  It is a premium granite but since the distributor sells alot of this color he can get it for the same price as the cheaper granite.....installed of course.

This is the color I picked out for the kitchen:

They also carry marble and that is really what I want for our master bath and he had just what I was looking for:

I don't love the veins in this slab but I could pick out my slab.  Then for some reason the owner was trying to talk me into this granite color for our bath instead of the marble.

Eh, it is pretty but I really want the marble.  This picture makes it look pretty light but it was a bit darker in person and I was worried that it would be too dark with the gray slate floor and black vanities.
HOWEVER, those of you that know me well enough know that money talks....soooooo if that granite was WAY cheaper I might be able to be convinced.

Anybody have any experience with the carrara marble?  He said it was a little more fragile......

Get your saws fired up.....

I went to Lowe's a couple weeks ago to price out some marble for our master bath and I stumbled upon a screamin' deal!  I know, I know hard to believe right?  (Ryan is really tired of me stumbling onto deals).  My bringing home deals days are numbered.....since I REFUSE to pay for another storage unit. 

Ok, back to the point.  While I was at Lowe's I noticed these granite composite counter tops that were all one piece.  They had the sinks nicely molded in and I loved the look.  As you know I already have the kids' vanities ( I don't think I ever shared a picture though) and I have just been waiting to buy the tops until I found a good deal.  Well, while my Lowe's BFF (Eric) was pricing my marble he saw me eyeing the other vanity tops.  He then kindly pointed out a $1,200 special order granite composite double vanity that had been returned.   As I got closer I realized that they were the perfect color.....

Here is the wide view:

Now here is an up close and personal view of one of the sinks:

Obviously I was NOT paying 1,200 bucks for this double vanity but the clearance price of $150 was my kind of deal!  However there was one little catch....this baby is just shy of 9 feet long.  The kids' vanities are each 30 inches wide sooooooo that means get your saws fired up b*tches!!  Now Eric told me what kind of saw I would need to use, but do you think I could actually remember?  Eh, that's Ryan's department.

Since I couldn't fit it in my Jeep I had to wait for Ryan to get his truck and come back with me.  Of course they told me they would put it on 2 pallets and shrink wrap it and have it waiting for us on Saturday morning.......

I'll save the trip to pick it up for another post ;)

Any infinite wisdom on what kind of saw we should use?????