My Furniture Adventure

So, you know how I said I got new living room tables for my birthday? Well, it all came in a few days after we ordered them, which was a lot quicker than they had told us. Yay! Micky and my sister were kind enough to ride with me into Flint to pick them up at the furniture store. We ended up doing a little other shopping and kind of got behind schedule (we had to have my sis back to meet up with her boyfriend at a specific time), so we were hoping by the time we got to the furniture store, we could quickly load the stuff in and be on our way.
Well, that wasn't the case...The loading man ended up wanting to tell me his life story overtop of blaring radio music, which he insisted is usually on the Christian radio, but not that day...He talked about his furniture in his home, the radio stations, the tv show "Undercover Boss", etc...I stood there for 1/2 hour listening to him. He was extremely nice, just talkative, of course, on a day when I needed to hurry. He opened up all the packaging and we looked at just the tops of the tables for scratches and dents. All looked great! So, he repackaged them back up and loaded them into the truck for us. I thought all was good (even though my sis was maybe fuming a little bit for now holding her boyfriend up).
We got the furniture home and Brad started putting it together- we just had to screw on the legs of each table...He put the sofa table together first and it looked beautiful!! I was beaming!!
At this point in time Halle and I ran up to pick up our hot, delicious, Hungry Howie's pizza for dinner. When we returned, Brad was snapping a bunch of pictures of the table, still in the box. Come to find out, the coffee table was completely broken underneath. The whole front of it was broken, and the drawers were broken. We called the store and they said they would order us a new one, but we could use the broken one until it came in. Brad said it wouldn't even work to be put together. We opened up the end table and thought all was good until we tried to screw the last leg on. It wouldn't stay tight. And when we flipped the bottom piece over (once the whole stinkin table was put together) we noticed a huge gouge...My heart sunk!
We called the store back up and they are now ordering us a new end table as well. I was very impressed with their attitude and helpfulness. The manager ended up giving us a $20 credit for gas money (we live 45 minutes away from this store).
We will hopefully get our new furniture this week. I am going to make them take out every piece and show me before we leave the store this time. Brad is also going to see about working a deal for the broken end table. It really isn't horrible, just a shaky leg and the scratch (which is covered up by our Ipod dock anyways). We didn't originally think we could fit 2 end tables in our living room, but it's looking like we can now. So, I might end up with another table throughout this whole mess anyways.
I will let you know how it goes!!
Also, good news! We sold the washer and dryer that was left at the house we bought on craigslist and Brad said I could use the money for whatever I wanted!! So...now the question is...What to buy? The rug I like at Target? New bedding? More decor for the living room? Getting my hair done? Fun activities for the kids over spring break?
Only 2 more days until spring break! It honestly can't come soon enough!

My Birthday

My Birthday was this past Sunday! It was such a nice day, thanks to the most wonderful guy I know, my hubby. He let me nap while he cleaned, baked AND decorated the cake, figured out the decorations, and ordered the catering. I was incredibly impressed!

He invited over my in-laws and my family. Everyone could come except for my mom (in Chicago for work) and my borther (in medical school has no time for anything but studying).

Brad ordered Italia Garden's Mostaccoli Alforno, salad, and bread. There was quite a bit of confusion as after I checked my email on Sunday, I realized I had a 20% off catering coupon from Italia Garden's. Brad called to see if he could use it and ended up realizing that he had placed the order with the Italia Gardens that is WAY on the other side of town, not the one closest to us. They ended up being super nice about everything and even did all the calling for us to switch our order to the closer location. All was good, but Brad was sweating bullets for a few minutes. Everything tasted wonderful!!!

Halle and he made the german chocolate cake and Halle decorated it! I think it turned out really cute!

Everyone ate, laughed, talked, and watched some college basketball. We all jumped for joy when MSU made the last second 3 to win the game!!! (and we're not MSU fans, even though that's where my brother goes to medical school)

I got lots of gift cards to Hobby Lobby (Mom and Dad & Scott),

itunes (Andy & Todd), Marshall's (Jess),

a new Pandora charm for my bracelet (Al),

black shoes from Target (Halle), some much needed kitchen utensils (Parker), a glass vase made my Brad's uncle Jim DeLange and $$ (Mom and Dad D.),

and Brad bought me a new coffee table, end table, and sofa table for our living room!!!!!

I DEFINITELY got spoiled!!! Plus, part of my birthday gift from my parents was the tickets to see Beauty & the Beast a few weeks ago!!
I'm SO excited to go spend my gift cards and can't wait for my living room furniture to come in next week!!

It was another wonderful birthday for me! I am truly blessed and appreciate all the love my family poured on me to make my day special!

The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Go Calypso!

Yesterday, Halle performed in her class play, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Go Calypso." It was about a 25 minute long musical that her 2nd grade class put on. She was the "opener", in the chorus, a cheerleader, and a reader. She did a SUPER job!! We were very impressed with the production and with all the hard work this class did to put on such a good show.Thank you to her wonderful teacher, Mrs. L for her hard work and dedication to her students. We are SO happy got her for a teacher this year.

(I didn't take very many pictures because I videoed instead and Brad was on Parker duty--Just imagine a tropical themed Three Billy Goats!)

Beauty & The Beast

Last weekend, my mom, Allyson, Amber, Halle, and I all went to see Beauty & the Beast (the Broadway show) for a girl's night out. It was also part of our birthday present from my mom this year.

We met at Olive Garden for dinner and then wasted a little time at the mall before heading to The Whiting to see the show. We had really good seats. They were center stage in the first balcony. So, we had a great view of everything.

The show was really good! Good singing, acting, and LOTS of humor!! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes Disney! We had a lot of fun together!! The only complaint was the because of the people sitting behind us. It was an 8pm show, but they brought their little 2-3 year old daughter and she only lasted about 1/2 hour out of the 3 hour show. So, needless to say, they made A LOT of noise which was quite distracting and maddening.

It really made me want to watch the movie again. Beauty & the Beast was one of my favorite Disney movies growing up!

(Blogger is being weird right now and won't let me upload pictures. Will do so tomorrow)

Crazy Week

This has been a crazy week for Halle (and us)!!

Monday:

*Halle had dress rehearsal until 6:45 at school for her drama club performance.

*I ran down to the mall with Jessica to use up a 40% off coupon at American Eagle. Got GREAT deals!! Like at $44.95 dress for $3.58, a $39.50 dress for $1.78, a $19.90 perfume for $1.06, and MUCH more!! It pays to shop the sale rack sometimes!! Mine looks like this, except is a light blue plaid

Mine is a lot like this, but it has a little white thrown into it too!

Tuesday:
* Halle had her drama club performance after school. Thankfully, her play was the second one, otherwise I think we would have been there all night. She was the "Horse" in the skit, "The Cat Who Walked Alone."

* I did a little shopping with Micky during the day- I didn't have to work which was really weird, but I think it's because it's the end of the trimester this week and teachers are busy finishing up report cards and exams, so they don't want to miss work.

We went to two cute, unique stores. Elements in Lake Orion has a lot of unique house and gift items. We didn't buy anything, but it would be a great place to find a gift for someone that you couldn't find at your typical stores. We also went to The Saltbox, which is actually within walking distance from my house and is AWESOME!!! I found a lot of cool home decor things I would like. They actually had some of the kitchen decor I already have, which was cool. Plus, I LOVED the fun music they had playing, and it smelled delicious in the store. I will definitely be going back!!

Wednesday:

* Halle's school had Family Fun Night, which highlights literacy in children. It was actually supposed to be last week, but we had a snow day on the day it was scheduled, so it made for a busy week at school this week. They had community vendors set up promoting literacy, the school book fair, age appropriate activities, and an ice cream social. It was nice, but I actually thought Halle's school last year did a much better job at putting one on. Oh well. I still bought both Hal and Parker a couple new books for our collection.

Gotta love David Shannon! My kids LOVE his books!

This one just looked cute! Thought Parker might enjoy it!

Halle begged for this book. She read the entire thing when we got home. She kept asking us NOT to fast forward through our DVRed American Idol, so she could read during the commercials. HA!

Thursday:

We don't have anything planned after school today and tomorrow is NO SCHOOL!! So, hopefully, we can get some things done around the house because I've let it go to shambles for the sake of all these school activities, and maybe to watch American Idol too!

Best & Worst Feeling (All in One Night)

The other night, we decided to go to the mall with Allyson and Scott to do a little shopping. Since Allyson and I wanted to look in some girl stores, the guys and kids left and went to stores they would have more fun looking around in. BUT...When we met back up later on, Parker jumped out of his stroller, ran as fast as he could, yelling "Mmmoooommm" the entire way, and jumped into my arms and gave me the biggest bear hug ever!! It was THE BEST FEELING IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!! Nothing beats love from your kids!!
That same night, on the way home from the mall, we got a call from Jessica saying that someone was texting her from my phone saying "I think someone lost this phone." As soon as I realized I didn't have my phone, I felt horrible. It's like a part of you is missing and you don't know if you will ever see it again. All the pictures, texts, contact numbers, etc. I NEVER lose my phone, so it was really unlike me to have this happen. Brad ended up calling my phone and talking to the honest person that found it!! They were so nice!!! Since the mall was closed by the time she realized her daughter had it, she handed it over to a mall security guard and told them we would be down to get it. Since we live 40 minutes away from this mall, and we were almost home, we decided to just hold off until Thursday to go get the phone.
Thursday after work, my sister and I ran down to the mall to pick it up, only to sit and wait for 30 minutes until the mall security informed me that yes, my phone was turned in the night before, but, someone didn't follow protocol and THEY LOST MY PHONE!! They said they would tear their entire office apart to find it, but I knew that either #1. The threw it away #2. They gave it to the wrong person #3. One of their employees stole it.
Friday afternoon, Brad got the call that the phone was found. We don't believe their story that a random coat was turned in, and inside the pocket of the coat was my phone. What are the odds?? We think that one of their employees figured I wasn't coming to get it and took it home, seeing as how it is a newer phone, but felt guilty because we had called and talked to the management, and most of the employees were baffled as to where it went.
So, I guess they are shipping it to us. Let's hope it really is my phone. HA!!
So, all wrapped into one night was the BEST feeling and the WORST feeling I've had in a long time. I think I'd rather have more BEST feelings happen, than WORST!

Painting

My life is consumed with painting! Why is it once you get started painting, you find that the entire house needs to be painted. We just moved into our new house a month ago, and although the walls were all a very neutral color, they were all scuffed up and dirty looking. So, I decided to start painting.

1. Micky and Jess helped me paint my kitchen a very neutral brownish-tannish color

2. I spent an entire Saturday painting my living room by myself a very neutral tan color

3. I've spent various evenings/days off painting the entryway (not the 2 story walls, just the walls I can get with a step ladder- the high walls will come later), & the little hallway with the pantry, coat closet, and basement door

4. I've started going up the stairway, but have stopped at the wall that is extremely high (haven't mustered up enough nerves to climb that high on the ladder yet)

5. I got the top of the stairway landing done

6. My dad helped me paint my front piano/computer room and the small 1/2 bath off the kitchen a greenish color

7. Painted the ceiling in the small 1/2 bath after a few mishaps by my dad (I still love you though Dad)

8. Brad helped me paint the front room AGAIN because I just didn't like the color. I LOVED the color in my 1/2 bath, but it didn't look right for the front room. So, I painted it again. It's now a much richer green color.

9. I spray painted 2 curtain rods that were left here by the previous owner. They were a brushed silver and I painted them a deep brown, as nothing that I have has any silver in it...Brown will look so much better.

And it's only been a month...

I think I have an addiction to painting now, although I believe it is what might be causing my extremely bad headaches everyday...I do love the look of freshly painted walls and now I can start decorating!!

Still to come in the real near future:

The 2 story walls

The entryway coming in from the garage

The rest of the upstairs landing

Halle's room

The kids bathroom

Still to come in the somewhat near future:

The laundry room

Parker's room (his room is already a nice blue color, so I'm not in as big of a hurry)

Still to come in the near future:

My bedroom- won't paint it until I get new bedroom furniture and bedding

My bathroom

The kids playroom

The dining room- need to get a nice dining room table first

AND this summer...We need to paint all the white trim on the house and the front door!!

(all of our life-savings is going to paint-It's crazy!)

Will post pics of rooms tomorrow