The Move (Part 3 of 3)…

Sunday began with a call from Lowes telling us they were going to drop off the missing piece for stacking the washer/dryer and then redelivery of our units. Our landlord informed us we needed to drop off our keys so Jedd and I decided to split up. I dropped off they keys and went to purchase a split queen box spring because we needed to get the bed set up so we could start organizing the stuff that was in the room. We also had someone come over to fix the a/c because after two nights of sleeping in a house that did not drop below 85 degrees we were getting grouchy.


I was super lucky in the fact that the place I purchased the box spring from was right acrossed the street from the Container store. I’d been having some troubles because we had two shoe racks in our closet that are stackable and after putting them up I realized I really needed four but had been to the Container store I originally purchased them from and one a 50 minute drive away looking for the shoe racks and hadn’t found them. I really wanted matching ones but after talking to someone who worked at the NW containers store I figured the two I purchased were the last two because they were discontinued so I got two different ones. Now you’ll need to remember all this because I plan on posting about the shoe rack saga more indebt later and you’ll want to just think back about how I casually mentioned that I’d been to three different Container stores for them.

So anyway I dropped the keys off, purchased a split box spring, several under the bed storage bins and made it home in time for these lovely people to be our first visitors.

Our patient friends who were supposed to stay with us only to return to the country, they’d been in England, to find out they absolutely could not because we had no bed for them (we were using the spare) and no A/C decided after days of us putting them off that they would come and make us/pick us up dinner. This was great because we wanted to see them and because I absolutely did not want to cook dinner or get dressed (I’d been wearing nothing but sweats since Thursday night…not that this is a big departure from how I normally dress at home).

Having them come over was great for many reasons. The first was because it was great to have someone come over and rescue us from leftover microwave pizza and endless conversations about how we absolutely needed to do whatever home task we absolutely needed to do that night. It was also nice to have someone come by and be as enthusiastic about the house as we were before the 9 week stretch of trying to get it move in ready. We enjoyed excellent conversation, excellent homemade guacamole, and some wonderful take out from across the street. Also they brought us wonderful housewarming gifts:

Praline truffles from London are so worth it. I might require them as an entry fee should we decide to have a housewarming.

I went to bed that night happy and content and excited to do my first load of laundry in these:

Happy Hour: The Ricky (DC’s official cocktail)…

So DC finally (finally?) got an official cocktail this past July. Let me say two things about this 1. Lawmakers have nothing better to do and 2. I prefer sweet drinks. Jedd tells me at dinner in the beginning of July about the news along with some facts about how most Cities/States do not have an official cocktail. I don’t know if I’m supposed to think DC is either really cutting edge or if I’m supposed to be worried it’s a district full of lushes. Who am I to judge I do have Friday Happy Hour at my house, so I thought this might be the answer to the finding my own go to cocktail (cause remember that was the whole point of all this). I mean think about how convenient that would be. I would never have to explain to local bartenders what was in a Ricky because anyone worth their salt would know the “local” cocktail, right?


So in July we pick it as Jedd’s first contribution to Happy Hour. When we get home I get in the bath and request he bring my Ricky to me (yes I do drink in the tub). Knock, knock “um we don’t have the exact ingredients” I’m told. What we do have are lemons not limes, and seltzer not soda water. I’m in the tub so I deem that it’s good enough…

Um, yeah. This won’t do. It’s just lacking something. It taste, well it taste weak I say. After a few more sips we determine you must really need the lime and the soda water.

So fast-forward two weeks and I actually find myself at the grocery store on a Friday night and decide to get the ingredients needed for the “Official Ricky”.

Well, that was not really all that different. DC I’m ashamed. The drink to me, well I described it to Jedd as “tasting like dirty water”. He thought that was a bit harsh. Maybe you should decide, here’s a link to the recipe we used.

http://cocktails.about.com/od/ginrecipes/r/gin_rickey.htm

Happy Friday!

Ethan Allen Style Quiz…

Shelly from “Young House Love” posted an Ethan Allen survey that’s supposed to aid in finding your style. You can take the survey here:


http://www.ethanallen.com/style_quiz

According to Ethan Allen my signature lifestyle is “Explorer”:

The results are in – your Signature Lifestyle is Explorer. Explorer channels a sense of adventure through furnishings and accessories that conjure images of world travel. The feeling is relaxed eclecticism. It comes to life through textural variations, intricately detailed woods, global-inspired fabrics, and natural fibers. Whether in rural or urban settings, the spirit of this lifestyle fits right in.


I tend to think that the phrase “relaxed eclecticism” may be Ethan’s way of saying “random”. There are five lifestyles in all; Elegance, Vintage, Modern, Romance & Explorer. If I looked at the pictures I would have thought I was vintage or a combo of vintage and modern.

I think Ethan Allen should include a sixth category labeled “junky” cause that’s what the house is right now.

I kid you not…

So last night we’re taking the huge grill out of the back of a u-haul truck we got just for the purpose of moving the grill six blocks and a guy comes up and goes:


Guy “Hey you need some help”. (People in our neighborhood are super friendly)

Us (in unison because we are morphing into the same person “No we got it, thanks” (Ok Jedd said thanks, I just said no we got it).

Guy “Are you guys new to the neighborhood, just moving in?”

Jedd “Yup”

Guy “Where are you coming from”

Jedd “Oh a few blocks that’s all”

Me “Down the street”

Guy “Oh, ok, how’s the weed on X Street”

Um, huh what?

Me “I wouldn’t know”

Guy “Oh ok you guys have a nice day”

Um, really? Living in the city always provides good stories if nothing else.

Pulled Pork Tacos…

The pulled pork Mom made this weekend ended up being the gift that kept on giving. Last night was a late one, we had to go pick up the grill from the old apartment and clean the stove (which I had forgotten). Because of this we did not end up having dinner until 9 pm, so I had to put together something fast.

Dinner was a hardship for us, we had pulled pork tacos which were damn good.

It’s an aswesome idea for left over bbq pulled port. I used corn tortilla and then for the veggie topping I made a cabbage slaw using the Zesty slaw recipe from The Neely’s (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/neelys/pats-pulled-pork-tacos-recipe/index.html).

 Because I’m lazy I used red cabbage that was already cut up and carrots that had been shredded already ($1 per bag you cannot beat that). I also used vegetable oil because that’s what we had. So the next time you make a huge thing of pulled pork instead of eating a million sandwiches make these:

The Move (Part 2 of 3)…

So Saturday ended up to be the hardest of the three days in my opinion. I think one reason was because on Thursday night I fell when coming down the back stairs of the old apartment and I don’t know if it was all the moving/lifting from Friday but when I woke up Saturday morning my ankle had swollen a bit and my back was killing me. The mission of the day was to clean up the old apartment which was made harder by the fact that there were random little things in every room waiting to be packed. That and I really had no desire to do any more cleaning/packing after Friday. Lucky for us my Mom came down and gave us a helping hand. That being said it still took four people four hours. Fast forward to Monday and the property manger sent an email telling me I forgot to clean the oven (ugh, will this ever end).


Saturday was also made complicated by what we thought was a tight schedule, we had a delivery from Lowes scheduled to occur between 1 and 3 pm. We had another appointment to get cable and internet with Comcast between 2 and 5 pm. When I woke up Saturday morning (at 6 am) I just knew the day would go smoothly because I had confirmed with everyone. Around 12:30 Mom heads back to the house to wait for Lowes and I swear they must have waited for it because at 12:45 who calls to tell me that the delivery schedule is pushed back because they are behind. New delivery time is 5 -7, which is super annoying because we were supposed to meet our friends for dinner who were supposed to stay with us but didn’t. I end up calling them to reschedule for the 2nd time (I’d also rescheduled on Friday). I’m like ok, no biggie; at least I should have some cable to watch while I wait.

Once home I realized that there is a big old plus to moving, a memo must go out to your loved ones saying “we need food” because mom had prepared a huge amount of pulled pork, which covered us for lunch which I didn’t think about until I got home at 2 pm starving.

Clearly she made enough pulled pork for the week. The pic you see is after we had three large sandwiches of pork. We haven’t even made a dent in it. If I was smarter and more organized I would have frozen half of it. As it is we’re going to have to eat a lot of pulled pork this week so it doesn’t go bad. Not that it’s a hardship.

We also got a special delivery from Jackie, which was the best surprise house warming gift that came just at the right time. We had been sitting in the house and I’d run out to let out a friends dog I watch sometimes and when I came back, hot and tired this cool little treat was waiting for me:

It’s one of those edible arrangements, which was a first for us. It came with perfectly chilled ripe fruit in a cute little house vase. Jedd and I tore into that thing like the greedy people we are. I’m torn between which was the best part, the pineapple or the little chocolate balls you see. What those ended up being were bites of banana dripped in white chocolate and milk chocolate. I don’t know who invented that combo but it was superb and I don’t even like bananas. I actually had pulled a similar recipe recently to make for Jedd, but since I don’t like banana I never got around to it. Now that I realize bananas dipped in chocolate are a whole different ballgame I think I’m going to do it (because I’m not selfish at all).

So something around 4:15 said “call Comcast” I make the call only to find out they are running behind schedule and do not expect to be out until 6:30 pm. I’m a bit annoyed but what can we do. At 6 pm Lowes finally shows up. They come in and tell me they cannot install the new washer and dryer because we are missing a stacking kit, which is hilarious since the people at Lowes who sold us the washer and dryer specifically told us what we needed to have on site to ensure the washer and dryer would be hooked up without incident. After calling and speaking to a manager at Lowes it was determined that they would bring us a stacking kit (free of charge thank you) the next day and redeliver the washer and dryer at that point. This made the most sense because there are liability issues. Let’s say the washer and dryer sat at the house for 24 hours and when you have it installed it doesn’t work. Well there is no way for anyone to know whether it did not work when they delivered it or did something happen within that 24 hour period. I hate game playing, so after 5 hours of waiting for Lowes we were faced with another 2 hour wait the following day.

Then 7:30 pm rolls around and still no Comcast. Finally right when I’m on hold, but giving up on having any cable the installation person shows up. I cannot tell you what a difference cable makes. As I was sitting on the couch enjoying the TV I thought to myself “now if only we had a/c”, haha. One thing at a time I suppose.

The Move (Part 1 of 3)…

We did it, we are all moved. I’ve decided the best way to cover the move would be a three part post that basically covers Friday, Saturday and Sunday separately. But before I start in on Friday’s post I wanted to post a message to three lovely ladies who I know read this religiously, going forward they will be known as “The Mom’s” it’s basically my mom, Jedd’s mom (Dorinda) and my god mother (Jackie)…


“Ladies, I know you love to shop and buy us things but do not take my posts as a secret message to you to make any purchases. NO shopping, no sending stuff unexpectedly to the house. I thank you for your desire to provide us with everything our hearts desire, I love you/we love you all, but absolutely NO shopping.” I must also follow this up with “and yes that does include the “Just a little something” you’d planned on mailing out this week”.

I have to post this because after my post last week my mother send a bazillion links to aged leather dining room chairs and when I got home Jedd was like “my mom wants to get us dining room chairs as housewarming gifts”. All I thought was uh oh, why didn’t I see that coming. So now on to the move:

Friday I took off of work and hired some men off of craigslist to come help me move because Jedd couldn’t get off of work and I’d become concerned that giving ourselves just Saturday to move and Sunday to clean the whole apartment wasn’t going to be enough time. As you’ll see it was a good idea because with all the hiccups this weekend having that extra day proved to be crucial. I also rented, picked up and parked this bad boy myself:

If you know what a notoriously bad driver I am you would understand what a huge accomplishment this was. I’m not sure if you caught it or not, but I also parallel parked that bad boy myself, right in front of the house, which should provoke all of the loyal readers to do jazz hands while saying “WINNING”. I didn’t think to get those signs from the city that zone off parking temporarily in front of the houses so it could have gone either way. Someone must have been looking out because I got parking in front of both places numerous times throughout the day which made the move better than it could have been.

Of my four craigslist hires, all of which confirmed the day before, one was a no show and one I realized after 1.5 hours wasn’t planning on doing any actual work. He was one of those stands around and observes the other guys type of mover. Or if I asked him to get something and move it, he took one thing at a time and took as long as possible getting it where it needed to go. I think he thought it would spread out the move since he was being paid hourly. Little did he know that’s why I hire more people than I need so after 1.5 hours I paid him $20.00 and sent him on his way.

The last two movers were able to get all the large items from the apartment to the house with only two trips. The only hiccup was this:

Yup that would be our queen box spring sitting on the floor in the hallway and then to its current resting place behind the couch. It absolutely did not and will not fit up the stairs. The movers discussed pulling it up the outside of the house through a window, but we would have had to pull the entire window out and it wasn’t 100% guaranteed that the box spring would fit. So needless to say we’ve got to buy a new split queen box spring (which I did on Sunday). It’s a great thing we bought that sleeper sofa last weekend and our house guest passed on staying with us this trip because we are now sleeping in the spare bedroom until Tuesday.

The other little hiccup that was the breaking point of having house guest was the air conditioner went out. Our first two nights there were rough, no a/c in 100 degree weather does not make for a happy first few nights. The best part of Friday was that when Jedd got home we went and picked up the boys who had never been to the house. It’s funny the things that make a house a home. I’d spent a few hours before Jedd got off sorting things out and waiting for the pickup and it really had not sunk in that the move signified us moving to our home. Fast forward to bringing the jerks (that’s what we like to call the boys when they are bumming around acting all moody) and it really hit me, this is the place, no more house hunting, no more waiting to get new furniture because we don’t know how big the house is going to be, no more landlords and maintenance companies. The dogs were not concerned with the mess at all and settled right in:

So Friday night ended with a lot of stuff in piles around the house waiting to be put away, a semi empty apartment needing our attention, and no A/C or cable, but when I went to sleep that night I was definitely very happy and content.

Happy Hour: Strawberry Basil Margarita…

I know it sounds weird. This is my first attempt at creating my own cocktail and I must admit, it wasn’t half bad. It basically came about because Harris Teeter had a sale for buy one get one on strawberries this week and because I bought basil for one purpose and thought I’d like to use it before it went bad. I was inspired by an article in this month’s Food Network Magazine about homemade ice pops. They had all these interesting combinations and I thought it would work for cocktails too. Plus I thought strawberry basil margarita’s seemed a bit classier than just a regular margarita.

Do you have a nontraditional margarita recipe?

Happy Friday!

Things that make me happy…

Oh I can’t wait until these two get to see the house.

Would it be too much if I put them in these? I want them to make a good impression on the neighbors.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/71042437/sage-honeycomb-bow-tie-dog-collar

Roughin’ it…

So I go through these phases where I get on these weird food kicks. I think because we’ve been eating so poorly I have developed a strange, intense hatred of potatoes. I’m also a bit melodramatic and since I consume beef with most of my potatoes I’ve also determined that the sight of beef would make me sick. It’s been really rough for Jedd dealing with my potato/beef allergy (I’m calling it an allergy because when you tell people you’re allergic to foods their sympathetic rather than thinking your strange or picky). The night I decided on the new “we can’t eat potatoes or beef” I fixed him this:

Fresh fish and corn from Harris Teeter along with a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad.


The next morning I thought why don’t people make breakfast tacos. I always hear about the breakfast burrito, but never breakfast tacos. The corn tortilla killed it. I used pork sausage, because pork does not make me think of potatoes.

I think lunch was good enough that he didn’t even think about the fact I seemed to be on a seafood kick. It’s my version of a shrimp po’boy. I grilled the shrimp, tossed in tartar sauce, and for creaminess added avocado. Yum.

Dinner that night had Jedd questioning my new love of all things seafood but in a good way. I explained to him since we’re now poor (cause we bought a house) we have to eat “what’s on sale” and this week mussels were on sale.

Jedd thought being poor might work out for him.

This is really happening….

30 minutes until I break free of this place and go see the floors. Yes the floors which has stopped me up until this point from moving all this…

Into the house. But tomorrow is D-day, or should I say M-day, we’re moving baby we are MOVING!!!!!

If you don’t hear from me it’s because I have to get all my stuff out of the apartment and the apartment completely clean by Sunday night. OR ELSE.

Pottery Barn how could you…

As you may have noticed I am the type of person who becomes completely consumed by things. By consumed I mean obsessed. When I become enamoured by something it’s all I think about. Since getting the dining room table I have become fixated upon what type of chairs we need to get for it and on a recent outing to Pottery Barn to look at something else I’d decided I just had to have I unexpectedly found them.

All the chairs Jedd and I had seen didn’t seem quite right. I’d determined that what would be appropriate for the dining room chair would be aged leather. I’d had a long discussion in the car with Jedd about how though I hadn’t seen it I knew it had to exists, the aged leather dining room chair. I’d even talked to him about if it was possible for us to buy a new chair and age it ourselves “I don’t know with like a blow dryer or something”. I’m sure he found this conversation riveting.

So Saturday after dragging a friend who was in town through several states to find a Pottery Barn with “the perfect end tables” as we were leaving I saw the chairs and was totally unprepared because I left without writing down the name, thinking they’ll be easy to look up online. I love furniture names by the way, I’m going to stop referring to the dining room table as the dining room table in posts by the way I’m going to refer to it as Phoenix. So today I go to look it up online and can’t find it. Hum, how could this be, so I do what all sane people do and I call the store and go into great detail regarding when I saw the chair, where it was in the store, etc. Pottery Barn employees are now familiar with me because I call them often and go “hey in the new catalog such and such came out on page such and such and I want to know do you have it in the store cause I want to come see it in person”. So I call and my new P.B.B.F.F. (Pottery Barn Best Friend Forever) goes “oh I know EXACTLY what chairs you’re talking about, you can’t find them online because Pottery Barn has discontinued them. Furthermore we only have two, we used to have six but someone came in and bought four today”.

Oh this is bad. Now every chair will be compared to the one that got away. I wonder can you call Pottery Barn headquarters and get them to start selling a discontinued item again?

Tearing down the House…

Don’t get alarmed, we’re putting it all back together: