I know this seems like a trivial thing to blog about, but Jared and I are just so amazed with our new vacuum that I figured I'd write a quite note about it.
For the past 7 years we have used Jared's old Eureka vacuum that he bought in college. I'm pretty sure it worked well when he first got it, but the past few years we have been loosing our battle against cat hair in the carpets. I've never owned a pet that shed before and I just assumed that you can never get all the hair. . .oh I was so wrong. What really pushed me over the edge to get a new vacuum was when Daniela was helping me unpack/clean the house when we first moved in. She was using our vacuum and I believe her exact words went something like "No wonder you hate your cat so much with the shedding, this vacuum doesn't get s***!"
Even though I knew she was right I put off getting a new vacuum because there was so many other things that we needed for the house. After all, we did have a vacuum, so we didn't really have to get a new one even if it didn't work so well.
Today Jared and I splurged and bought a new Bissel Pet Vacuum. It was on sale at Kohl's and Jared got a 20% off coupon from Dan and Steph so we figured it was a good deal and it was time to buy.
All I'll say is this. . . .just in the family room alone we had to empty the canister for the vacuum twice. It was SO gross. And now are carpets look brand new. Totally worth the 117 dollars. Every penny!
Anybody want to buy a slightly used Eureka vacuum for cheap? ;D
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
10 Year Reunion and a Grill
Last weekend was quite a busy weekend for the Butler household. Friday afternoon we made the long drive down to Jared's hometown of Henderson Kentucky for his 10 year high school reunion. Jared was a little disappointed at the reunion since not many people showed up, but the weekend was still a ton of fun seeing family, Lucas and Mary, and Amanda and Stephen.
Henderson County High School Class of 1999!
Saturday was spent with the Couch family seeing our ever growing 3 nephews. I can't believe that Sam is going to be 5 years old in October. It's really true that once you have a child (even though it's a nephew) you really see the years going by faster as you get older. My childhood and teen years felt like forever to me, but my 20's are flying by!
Another fun recent event was our Beatles Rock Band/Inaugural Grill party. We didn't think we were going to be able to get a grill this year, but my parents surprised us with one as a house warming gift! So we decided to break in the grill by throwing a small get together with our close friends and of course Pat brought the video game entertainment. I'm not a huge Rock Band player (my attention span starts fading after about 4-5 songs) but Beatles Rock Band kept my attention the entire night. All the songs are so fun to sing, and it's really cool how 3 people get to sing together to try and make harmonies. We didn't harmonize that well, but it was a blast anyway.
Greg loves to grill. . .a lot :)
This was going to be our mock "Faith Plus One" cover shoot photo (it's a south park gag) but I think I made Jared and Matt laugh right when I took the picture. It still came out cute.
Henderson County High School Class of 1999!
Saturday was spent with the Couch family seeing our ever growing 3 nephews. I can't believe that Sam is going to be 5 years old in October. It's really true that once you have a child (even though it's a nephew) you really see the years going by faster as you get older. My childhood and teen years felt like forever to me, but my 20's are flying by!
Another fun recent event was our Beatles Rock Band/Inaugural Grill party. We didn't think we were going to be able to get a grill this year, but my parents surprised us with one as a house warming gift! So we decided to break in the grill by throwing a small get together with our close friends and of course Pat brought the video game entertainment. I'm not a huge Rock Band player (my attention span starts fading after about 4-5 songs) but Beatles Rock Band kept my attention the entire night. All the songs are so fun to sing, and it's really cool how 3 people get to sing together to try and make harmonies. We didn't harmonize that well, but it was a blast anyway.
Greg loves to grill. . .a lot :)
This was going to be our mock "Faith Plus One" cover shoot photo (it's a south park gag) but I think I made Jared and Matt laugh right when I took the picture. It still came out cute.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Car Issues
This past week has been quite a stressful week for Jared and I. It all started the Friday before Labor Day when my car started running loudly. We took the car to our local mechanic around 3pm on Friday. The mechanic took a quick look at it and said he wouldn't be able to really diagnose the problem until after the holiday weekend. Boo! So Tuesday rolls around and we get the dreaded phone call that it's an engine problem our mechanic doesn't work on, and we should take it to the dealer. To make the story short the timing chain and the fuel pump needed to be replaced resulting in a $2,100 dollar bill from the dealer. Ouch. . . .it's just been a hard decision on whether or not to replace my car with a newer one. It's not something that we really want to do since we just bought a house and don't really have a down payment for one. So we took the chance, crossed our fingers and fixed the car. Hopefully we won't have any more major issues for at least a year (2100 dollars is probably around 6-7 months of car payments, so we better at least get that much out of it). As for me I'm done with this car and I'm going into super saver mode to save up enough to get a new-ish car. I think it's pretty safe to say the next major thing that goes wrong with it, it's going to be replaced. It's been such a head ache for me specifically having to drive Jared to work and pick him up. I'm in the car for like 3-3.5 hours a day, which makes me really grouchy/road ragey with Chicago traffic in rush hour AND all the construction that's going on right now. I'm not sure what I want to replace the car with yet, but I think Jared and I have agreed it's going to be a hatch back or a station wagon. I really want an SUV, but I don't think that's practical with the gas mileage since this will be our primary car (especially when we have a family). So keep your fingers crossed for us blog readers! Maybe we'll get lucky and the car will last 2 more years w/out problems. . .you never know :D
On an up note we had a wonderful Labor day with a visit from Jared's mom, step dad and little brother. It was great to have a nice low key visit with no major plans. The weekend was spent eating lots of yummy food and enjoying each others company. Pretty perfect if you ask me :) two of my favorite things.
On an up note we had a wonderful Labor day with a visit from Jared's mom, step dad and little brother. It was great to have a nice low key visit with no major plans. The weekend was spent eating lots of yummy food and enjoying each others company. Pretty perfect if you ask me :) two of my favorite things.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
The Deck Project
When I originally thought of sanding and staining the deck I imagined it being a small project taking only a full day of work, maybe two. Turns out our deck is rather large and it's been quite an undertaking.
Jared started sanding the deck last Sunday and Monday. Then it rained the rest of the week so we couldn't work on it. We resumed our work on Saturday and spent the entire day with the two of us sanding the deck. I thought for sure with both of us working we would get the deck stained on Saturday, but it took the entire day just to finish the sanding.
Today is Sunday and we were going to spend the entire day staining the deck. Again I thought with a full 8-10 hours of two people working on it, it would get done. We only bought a gallon of stain, thinking that would be plenty for our deck. My parents stain our cabin with only about 2.5 gallons so surely that would be enough. So when 5pm rolled around not only were we physically running low, we were also running low on stain. We used the entire gallon and got some of the railing and all of the floor done. I think we'll need at least 1, if not 2 more gallons to stain the underside and the rest of the railings and stairs.
Jared was also excited because he got to cut a portion of the deck off. One of the floorboards was sticking up a little because of a support that was too high. He borrowed Dave's reciprocating saw, cut a little of the post (about a 1/2 inch), and voila the board is now flush.
The weather is supposed to be nice the rest of the week so hopefully we'll finish before Friday when Jared's family arrives.
This was before when we started sanding:
And here is what we finished today:
It looks finished but the stairs, underside, and outside of the railings (only accessible from a ladder) still need to be stained. . .oye! :)
Jared started sanding the deck last Sunday and Monday. Then it rained the rest of the week so we couldn't work on it. We resumed our work on Saturday and spent the entire day with the two of us sanding the deck. I thought for sure with both of us working we would get the deck stained on Saturday, but it took the entire day just to finish the sanding.
Today is Sunday and we were going to spend the entire day staining the deck. Again I thought with a full 8-10 hours of two people working on it, it would get done. We only bought a gallon of stain, thinking that would be plenty for our deck. My parents stain our cabin with only about 2.5 gallons so surely that would be enough. So when 5pm rolled around not only were we physically running low, we were also running low on stain. We used the entire gallon and got some of the railing and all of the floor done. I think we'll need at least 1, if not 2 more gallons to stain the underside and the rest of the railings and stairs.
Jared was also excited because he got to cut a portion of the deck off. One of the floorboards was sticking up a little because of a support that was too high. He borrowed Dave's reciprocating saw, cut a little of the post (about a 1/2 inch), and voila the board is now flush.
The weather is supposed to be nice the rest of the week so hopefully we'll finish before Friday when Jared's family arrives.
This was before when we started sanding:
And here is what we finished today:
It looks finished but the stairs, underside, and outside of the railings (only accessible from a ladder) still need to be stained. . .oye! :)
Friday, August 28, 2009
Settling In
Lots of little things have been going on lately so I thought I'd update the blog.
Last weekend we purchased our first lawn mower! We were hoping to wait until September to purchase it (after all the big bills from the move have been paid) but the weather did not cooperate and it rained so much that the lawn needed to be mowed. Yes we could have borrowed my parents lawn mower but September was only a week away so I caved. I'm pretty happy so far with it. We opted for a Honda self propelled mower. It was a little pricey but it has a lot of nice features, of which my favorite is the blade brake over ride. This feature allows the blade to stop when you take your hand off the handle (that's a federal law) but instead of killing the engine to do this which happens on most mowers, the engine stays on! It's really nice if you need to stop and move something in the yard while you are mowing. We have a lot of trees, terracing, and these little plastic covers on the gutter drains in the yard which I'm sure would get sucked up easily in the mower. It will sure come in handy.
We also got our first mortgage bill in the mail! dum dum dummmmmmmm! It's exactly the amount we expected. . .so no surprises. We also paid 100 dollars over the balance. In the long run this will cut 4 years off the mortgage and save us 40 something thousand dollars in interest. I feel so responsible :) Now I'm just on pins and needles waiting for our first utility bills. Hopefully they won't be too bad since the weather has been cool. We will also be receiving water and gas bills as well, which we never got in the apartment. I used to spend at least 40 bucks a month in laundry money at the apartment, I'm sure that will cover at least the water bill. . .so really the only new bill will be the gas. Oh the joys of home ownership! It's so worth it though.
Jared and I also started our first house project last Sunday, sanding and staining our deck! Unfortunately with the lawn mower shopping we weren't able to start until late in the day so we only got the stairs and a few boards sanded. It's rained this whole week so I'm crossing my fingers it's dry tomorrow so we can finish. We borrowed my dad's belt sander and our neighbors lent us their circular sander so that's really sped up the process. Thank you Daddy and Dave!
My next small project is going to be painting the downstairs half bath. We don't have the spare cash to decorate the larger rooms so I'm starting with something small. The room just looks so bla with the cream colored sink and toilet and cream colored walls. . .yuck. So depending on weather and how the deck goes I may start working on that this weekend too!
Last weekend we purchased our first lawn mower! We were hoping to wait until September to purchase it (after all the big bills from the move have been paid) but the weather did not cooperate and it rained so much that the lawn needed to be mowed. Yes we could have borrowed my parents lawn mower but September was only a week away so I caved. I'm pretty happy so far with it. We opted for a Honda self propelled mower. It was a little pricey but it has a lot of nice features, of which my favorite is the blade brake over ride. This feature allows the blade to stop when you take your hand off the handle (that's a federal law) but instead of killing the engine to do this which happens on most mowers, the engine stays on! It's really nice if you need to stop and move something in the yard while you are mowing. We have a lot of trees, terracing, and these little plastic covers on the gutter drains in the yard which I'm sure would get sucked up easily in the mower. It will sure come in handy.
We also got our first mortgage bill in the mail! dum dum dummmmmmmm! It's exactly the amount we expected. . .so no surprises. We also paid 100 dollars over the balance. In the long run this will cut 4 years off the mortgage and save us 40 something thousand dollars in interest. I feel so responsible :) Now I'm just on pins and needles waiting for our first utility bills. Hopefully they won't be too bad since the weather has been cool. We will also be receiving water and gas bills as well, which we never got in the apartment. I used to spend at least 40 bucks a month in laundry money at the apartment, I'm sure that will cover at least the water bill. . .so really the only new bill will be the gas. Oh the joys of home ownership! It's so worth it though.
Jared and I also started our first house project last Sunday, sanding and staining our deck! Unfortunately with the lawn mower shopping we weren't able to start until late in the day so we only got the stairs and a few boards sanded. It's rained this whole week so I'm crossing my fingers it's dry tomorrow so we can finish. We borrowed my dad's belt sander and our neighbors lent us their circular sander so that's really sped up the process. Thank you Daddy and Dave!
My next small project is going to be painting the downstairs half bath. We don't have the spare cash to decorate the larger rooms so I'm starting with something small. The room just looks so bla with the cream colored sink and toilet and cream colored walls. . .yuck. So depending on weather and how the deck goes I may start working on that this weekend too!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Eye update
I was going to put this in my last post but for some reason it wouldn't let me type below the pictures I posted.
I went to the eye doctor yesterday for my 30 day follow up and he said I still have the blepharitis in both eyes. Ugh. I actually am getting used to my glasses, but I really hate not being able to wear make up. I told the doctor that I have Jared's 10 year reunion to go to September 19th and I'm also standing up to a wedding October 17th and I'd really like to be able to wear make up and contacts to both those events. So now I'm still on the Azithromycin ointment and I'm also on an oral antibiotic. I don't know how much you know about doxycylin but it's a pretty yucky antibiotic. Here is a list of just a few rules/restrictions that go with it:
-No prolonged sun exposure (it's summer! ick)
-No dairy (you all know how much I love cheese and ice cream. . . . )
-Has to be taken on an empty stomach, no eating an hour after or 2 hours before taking
-No getting pregnant (we are not trying to have a baby, but apparently it mutates babies which is scary for accidental pregnancy)
-Drink with at least 8-10 oz water, this one isn't a problem I drink tons of water already
-No laying down for 30 min after taking
-Lots of bad GI side effects
So I have to be on this for the next 30 days at least. The good news is, is that it doesn't seem to be getting worse. The other ointments/treatments he had me doing after about 2 weeks it would start to get worse again. With the Azith ointment I seem to be just slowly getting better. You really can't see any redness anymore it just feels a little funny still to me. Also the doctor apparently could still see these "soap bubbles" in my eyes still which indicates the infection is still present.
The "empty stomach" rule and the no dairy rule are going to be the hardest. I'm trying to look at it positively. . .I've been meaning to cut back my cheese and ice cream eating to help with my cholesterol, this is the prefect time to start. :)
More good news is the doctor said although my tears were "mildly turbid" my eyes seemed to be tearing ok and he sees no reason why I won't be able to be in contacts once we kick the infection! So far so good. I also think I'm going to try disposable soft contact lenses instead of my gas perm ones. The doctor said the blepharitis is going to be a chronic reoccurring problem I figured I didn't want to worry about disinfecting hard lenses and if it was ok I'd like to switch. He asked me why I was wearing hard lenses and I told him my eye doctor told me they'd stabilize my vision (my vision is really bad). At this point he went off about how he "strongly disagrees" with that statement and it's a fallacy that hard contacts promote good vision. He said my vision would change whether I wore hard or soft lenses. Hmmmmm makes me wonder who is right. Since I went into hard contacts I felt my vision didn't change so much, but maybe that was just a coincidence? Maybe I will get a third opinion. What do you guys think?
I went to the eye doctor yesterday for my 30 day follow up and he said I still have the blepharitis in both eyes. Ugh. I actually am getting used to my glasses, but I really hate not being able to wear make up. I told the doctor that I have Jared's 10 year reunion to go to September 19th and I'm also standing up to a wedding October 17th and I'd really like to be able to wear make up and contacts to both those events. So now I'm still on the Azithromycin ointment and I'm also on an oral antibiotic. I don't know how much you know about doxycylin but it's a pretty yucky antibiotic. Here is a list of just a few rules/restrictions that go with it:
-No prolonged sun exposure (it's summer! ick)
-No dairy (you all know how much I love cheese and ice cream. . . . )
-Has to be taken on an empty stomach, no eating an hour after or 2 hours before taking
-No getting pregnant (we are not trying to have a baby, but apparently it mutates babies which is scary for accidental pregnancy)
-Drink with at least 8-10 oz water, this one isn't a problem I drink tons of water already
-No laying down for 30 min after taking
-Lots of bad GI side effects
So I have to be on this for the next 30 days at least. The good news is, is that it doesn't seem to be getting worse. The other ointments/treatments he had me doing after about 2 weeks it would start to get worse again. With the Azith ointment I seem to be just slowly getting better. You really can't see any redness anymore it just feels a little funny still to me. Also the doctor apparently could still see these "soap bubbles" in my eyes still which indicates the infection is still present.
The "empty stomach" rule and the no dairy rule are going to be the hardest. I'm trying to look at it positively. . .I've been meaning to cut back my cheese and ice cream eating to help with my cholesterol, this is the prefect time to start. :)
More good news is the doctor said although my tears were "mildly turbid" my eyes seemed to be tearing ok and he sees no reason why I won't be able to be in contacts once we kick the infection! So far so good. I also think I'm going to try disposable soft contact lenses instead of my gas perm ones. The doctor said the blepharitis is going to be a chronic reoccurring problem I figured I didn't want to worry about disinfecting hard lenses and if it was ok I'd like to switch. He asked me why I was wearing hard lenses and I told him my eye doctor told me they'd stabilize my vision (my vision is really bad). At this point he went off about how he "strongly disagrees" with that statement and it's a fallacy that hard contacts promote good vision. He said my vision would change whether I wore hard or soft lenses. Hmmmmm makes me wonder who is right. Since I went into hard contacts I felt my vision didn't change so much, but maybe that was just a coincidence? Maybe I will get a third opinion. What do you guys think?
Feels Like Home
This Saturday will be the 2 week mark of living in the house. It has really been a dream come true I love it so much. Even the hard work is fun because we are working on something that is ours and it's something we've worked, saved, and sacrificed for for the past 5 years.
Everything is pretty much unpacked. The only big thing we have left to do is organize the kitchen and pantry again. After we put everything away some stuff just didn't seem to be in the right cabinets. The pantry is nice because it's so big, but the problem is the shelves are so deep if you push stuff to the back and it's impossible to see or reach. I think we are going to try and purchase some small shelves for the shelves. . .heh.
Here are some before pictures
And here are some after photos.
Everything is pretty much unpacked. The only big thing we have left to do is organize the kitchen and pantry again. After we put everything away some stuff just didn't seem to be in the right cabinets. The pantry is nice because it's so big, but the problem is the shelves are so deep if you push stuff to the back and it's impossible to see or reach. I think we are going to try and purchase some small shelves for the shelves. . .heh.
Here are some before pictures
And here are some after photos.
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