House Hunting - Day 2

So, we started off our morning at Blake's Cafe & Cupcakery. It's a "mom and pop" joint in Green, OH. They have breakfast sandwiches and wraps, muffins, scones, and cupcakes...cupcakes for breakfast, people! I had a scone. Precious had a banana and an "Elvis Cupcake" (peanut butter, bananas and it had bacon crumb toppings). He loved it. Totally going back tomorrow.

One of the ladies there gave us some info on a house. We went and looked at it, then we checked with a local realtor. Not a lot of luck. We talked a little and decided to go back to #1 from yesterday's post. We applied and waited. We went to lunch and drove around to check out the area. We found Chick-fil-A - YUM! We found a store called Mustard Seed Market. It's a lot like the co-op in Carbondale, but cheaper and with a LOT more selection. So, leasing agent from Summit Rise Apartments calls us to tell us we were approved and our credit was so good that we didn't have to pay a security deposit (woot!). Next step? Get her a money order or cashier's check for the 1st month's rent - that's what it would take to hold the apartment.

HA!

Went to bank down the street - "We're sorry, you don't have an account here. Can't help you. Go to ACME (which is a grocery store - kinda like Schnuck's)"

Go to ACME - "We're sorry, we only accept cash (which Precious and I don't have - didn't really care to take that much cash with us...hello!"

Call Discover - Nice Discover man helps me find a place to get a cash advance.

Go to place to get a cash advance (nationally recognized financial establishment). They are running a special (one that only takes place 2 days a year) where if you open a checking account you get $100 deposited into your new account. (NOTE: Precious and I had already planned to open a joint checking account this week.) So, we opened our account AND got a money order. Took FOREVER.

Lady from Summit Rise calls because she thinks we skipped town.

Go back to Summit Rise and paid for our first month. Tenant isn't supposed to move out until the end of September, but could possibly vacate early. Please pray she vacates early. There is a 5 day turn around after she leaves. Precious starts September 26th and we really don't want to have to pay for a hotel room for 2 weeks. Currently we can move in October 7th. EEK!

That's all for now. Maybe I'll think of more to tell you later. Right now? We're off to have dinner with Precious' new boss and his wife! Adios!

Housing Hunt - Day 1

So, Precious and I are in Ohio looking for housing. Day 1 was EXHAUSTING! We looked at 50 billion places. Things I am discovering: I like space - LOTS OF IT! Apartments don't really give you lots of space. However, we found a couple that might work. Here are our Top 2 from Day 1 of house hunting.

Summit Rise
This complex sits close to the freeway, but is on a hill and surrounded by trees. It's a lovely view from the patios AND it's within a couple of miles from all of the shopping I could ever want to do: Summit Mall, Archiver's, Bed-Bath and Beyond, Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Jo-Ann's Crafts, Wal-Mart, SAMS, Target, 2  Grocery Stores, a "whole foods" sort of store, and TONS of restaurants. The area reminds me of Fairview Heights.

Hunt Club
Don't get excited hunting enthusiasts - it's not that kind of rodeo.

This one is a little older, but it has extra storage space which I'm digging. This complex sits right behind Summit. Here are some really bad pictures I pulled off of the internet. The lady there talked ALOT!

Epic Failure of the Day
Timber Top Apartments. Oh. My. Goodness. Please notice the window units in the walls of the apartments. SERIOUSLY???? On top of that, the roads in the complex were nothing but hills that used to be paved but are now more like chopped up pavement. I'm sure that would be great fun in the winter. There were ant traps coming in the door of one of the apartments we looked at. It appears to be a place for area college students, but it's pretty much a dump! The end.



Come back tomorrow for more adventures of house hunting in Ohio.

Bridal Shower

This is going to be short because I'm trying to pack for Ohio. Precious and I are going to look for housing. Pray, people. Pray. We leave tomorrow. We have Tuesday-Friday to find something.

So, today was our wedding shower. Oh. My. Goodness. I am a little overwhelmed. So many people that I rarely get to see. So many gifts. So much love. So grateful.

Pics later. No time right now. Must go fit all of my stuff for nearly a week in a little bitty suitcase (that we got at the shower today - WOOHOO!) so that I don't have to check a bag!

Here It Comes....

Momma Update
Praise, Praise, and more PRAISE...Hey, did I mention that I have a little praaaaaaiiiiiisssse? Because I do! My mom got some really great news today. And while I don't feel at liberty to share ALL of the details, just know that it's REALLY awesome, God-intervening in the midst of cancer news. Here's what I CAN tell you: after today's treatment, we HAD BEEN looking at 12 more treatments, 1 each week for 12 weeks beginning Sept. 29. NOW we are looking at 3 more treatments, 1 time every 3 weeks beginning Sept. 29 AND 2 of the 3 lymph nodes can't even be felt and the other has shrunk by at least 60% already. The lump has also decreased SIGNIFICANTLY! WOOHOO!!!!

Moving Update
The schedule:
Tomorrow - Sub at AJ
Saturday - help mom at the house (it's her sleepy day - 2nd day after chemo, she sleeps for like 24 hours), finish packing at house, finish packing at studio, finish mom's scrapbook project (hopefully)
Sunday - Sunday School (last one as teachers *insert pout*), church service, lunch and BRIDAL SHOWER!
Monday - Fly to Ohio - Pray to Jesus for a nice place to live
Tuesday-Friday - Repeat Monday and fly back home (only I hope that we have found a place because when we come back, we need to load up and haul everything to Akron)

I plan to take pics while we're searching...we may need a little help deciding. Stay tuned.

Sideboard Project

Ok, let me begin by saying that I'm not sure that I will EVER refinish another piece of furniture as long as I live. Perhaps its the fact that it was 1000 degrees every single day I worked on it and I sweated away about 50 lbs (I swear I did) yet the scale didn't budge.

I had intentions of taking step by step pics of the process, but she didn't happen. I was so aggravated by day 2 that pictures were the LAST thing I was thinking about!

Before:

There were DAYS of sanding, painting and staining (and by that I mean sweating profusely). The sander worked like a dream. The new Wagner paint sprayer - not so much. I have never used one so it could have been operator error, but it was a pain!!! I did learn alot while working on this project - don't wear flip-flops while spray painting unless you like the speckled look, how to fill holes because drawer handles don't come in standard sizes, how NOT to shop for hinges (just paint the ones that originally came on there-they aren't standard either), how polyurethane dries a yellowish-brown color on white. I ended up rattle canning some of it to cover the stupid yellow tint. Nevertheless, here it is! The picture isn't the greatest, but the top is stained a dark mahogany.

Moving Update

Still packing. I was doing a little while I was getting ready Sunday morning and I injured myself. I was trying to take a picture off the wall, dropped it and it landed on. my. face! There was blood. But it actually doesn't look terrible. Vaseline (which my mom will always swear keeps things from bruising) and an ice pack saved the day.

I took a couple of days off, but resumed packing hard core yesterday - until I ran out of boxes...need to make a Lowe's run. Saturday was spent with my mom and bro and my girls. My mom and bro and I headed to the bridal shop to meet the girls. They have pics of my dress, but I have no pics of them in theirs, so you are gonna have to take my word when I tell you they looked stunning! SILTB cried - not because my dress is the bomb (even though it is), but because we're moving. It's still all new and I don't think the full extent has sunk in yet for me. I'm so busy packing and finalizing wedding plans that I don't have a lot of time to think about it (this is on purpose people - I have to get through the wedding and the move...I'll cry while Precious is at work).

Right now, Precious and I know that we will be flying to Cleveland on September 12 and coming back on September 16. We are hoping to be packed before we go. When we return, we will hopefully have a place to call home. Ideally, we will head back to Ohio and move our stuff. SO. MUCH. STUFF. (mostly mine). Precious will start his job around the 26th and then come back for the wedding.

So, wedding plans are coming along nicely--almost done. Pray that we find an nice yet affordable place to live in Akron and that we can find a church (we have a checklist people).

Sheena Talks About....Torque Vectoring and other racing stuff?

So, yesterday I decided that I was going to start doing posts about things I really have very little knowledge of but most certainly have opinions about. It's gonna be crazy, but perhaps we'll all learn a little something here. Today it's racing stuff.

It started with Precious talking about how the new Ford Focus has torque vectoring (which according to Precious is impressive because that's typically only found in expensive sports cars). I know. I know. You're thinking, "What the crap is that and why do I care?" Here's the scoop in Sheena speak: Torque Vectoring allows different amounts of power to be sent to each wheel - one wheel can practically stop turning while the others keep turning - it helps with the control of the vehicle in tight corners. A downhill skier shifts his weight through turns to help with balance and stability. Torque vectoring allows one wheel to get a little brakage (yep, that's my word) and keeps it from slipping in corners. Here's why you care: oh, who are we kidding? You don't care and neither do I except for the fact that my car doesn't have it and I NEED IT on the days that I want to pretend to be a race car driver! Hello.

So, the torque vectoring conversation led to him telling me that torque vectoring has been banned in Formula 1 racing...for very ridiculously stupid reasons....mostly Ferrari is a whiny, cry-baby racing team (my opinion after the conversation). The people who were complaining were the ones who were losing. Boo freakin' hoo! Get a better team. Build a better car.

So, there was this other thingy - looks like a HUGH snow blower fan on the back of a car.

This one actually makes me laugh a little. The car was designed by Gordon Murray (some important racing guy on McLaren's team - all unimportant information when Sheena talks...). It was a like a vacuum, sucking the car close to the track and making it faster than everyone else. Other teams whined that they were getting pelted with crap from the track blowing out of the ginormous fan on the back of this car. Result: BANNED.

I personally think that these teams should be rewarded rather than punished - like if they beat everyone else by a landslide, they should get a bonus or something. If they're smart enough to come up with a way to  make their car faster than everyone else's - good for them! They're gonna win...DUH! And I personally don't think that banning their ingenuity and creativity is just wrong!

Nascar - your "car of tomorrow" sucks! For the love of all things racing (which I really care nothing about), you have taken all of the artistry out of Nascar. Stop punishing smart people for being smart and creative. Let them make better cars and win and let everyone else suck it up!

Ok, Sheena's done talking now. Tune in next time. Crystal's hubby wants me to talk about astroid mining. We'll see.