Week two - Moving, a new car (perhaps), and reno updates

Well, another week has gone by and more work was done. This week was CRAZY as we had the movers come to Bloomington on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m., much to our surprise as the arrival time wasn't clarified well by the moving company. On Tuesday, half of our stuff went into storage. On Wednesday, the other half of the house was packed and on Thursday, it was delivered to Bedford. There was a frantic race to keep one step ahead of the movers. Before they could drop off our stuff, we had to finish cleaning the garage and the kitchen. When they were packing, Tiff had to make quick decisions about what would stay and go. Sadly, the air guns were packed away, which means Ben can't shoot at the stray cat that likes to visit our back patio. Also, the cookie sheets were taken unexpectedly, but it's o.k. We'll live.

The movers were great, but they weren't in charge of moving Ben out of Jasper, so he had to do that by himself. Ben and I cleaned the house in Bloomington and were free and clear of our other two residences by Friday. On Saturday, Ben and I put the house on hold for a second and focused on taking advantage of the government again by participating in the cash for clunkers program. The Landy and Passat are old and tired and it's time to downsize from three cars (two of which aren't reliable) to two reliable cars. We didn't leave the dealership with a new car on Saturday because the salesman wouldn't lower the purchase price to what we wanted, so we are working with a new dealership in Jasper. The owner's son is a ND grad who sold Ben's boss a Toyota Camry and works deals for ND grads. We would have gone to that dealership in the first place, but couldn't make it there in time on Saturday. Hopefully, we'll have this wrapped up this week. We're trying to get a 4 cylinder all wheel drive Rav4, which Consumer Reports ranks as the number 1 small SUV in their testing. It gets 28 mpg on the highway, which is great, and retails for a bit more than we want to spend, with 4,500 off for the Landy (the clunker) and trade-in Tiff's Passat ($1300) we should be able to make a deal. If we have kids, the car will be a good for baby toting as well, so it's an investment in the future (and can also cart every piece of wood that Ben buys at the home center).

NOW for some updates on the house. During the evenings and on Friday, we've done the following:

1. The water heater was replaced and now we have an AMAZING device that delivers more hot water than we could possibly need. It's outstanding.
2. The fridge was delivered on Friday and Ben hooked up the water supply. The fridge, though awesome, takes up a SERIOUS portion of the kitchen. The kitchen redesign will be such a challenge given the size of the fridge, but we can handle it.
   
3. Ben installed the following:
   

• Shower head
• Shower rod (the old one was too narrow, so we bought a curved one instead)
• Garbage disposal
• New faucet for the kitchen sink (as our old one had threads that were totally decayed, making it impossible to use the portable dishwasher)
• A new light fixture for the bathroom vanity
• A new backboard to Ben's Ikea dresser (as it had totally fallen off after three moves).
  

As Ben installed stuff, Tiff would help hold/align things and calm Ben down if he was cussing. Tiff lined all of the house cabinets (which takes longer than you think!) and put away all the stuff in the kitchen and bath. Ben thinks that Tiffany is obsessed with organization, and he's right. Everything has its place, as Tiffany learned from her mother.

What else. . . The yard still needs to be finished and we have to get the bedrooms painted asap. Somehow we'll have to celebrate our anniversary (it's tomorrow), but who knows. . . . we may be at the car dealership instead! We'll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading our little blog and I will post pictures once the camera is located (as Ben placed it somewhere and Tiff can't find it).

Love,

Tiff (and Ben)

P.S. -- Ben also removed the baseboards from one of the bedrooms last night and shocked himself when he removed one of the switch plates. PLEASE keep us in your prayers so the house doesn't light on fire during the renovation process.