The Housewarming...

On Saturday we had our first party, a combo housewarming and my 30th birthday. Of course we got so excited neither of us took pictures.

We had 20 people in the house and it felt more like 5 - 10. I can't remember the last time I went to a house party and didn't feel totally cramped. If anything we picked a good party house!!!


And yes, I'm now 30 years old, yuckity yuck!

Introducing the Great Room

And it is done! I cannot tell you the joy we feel. We've been able to clear out the sunken room as well and get that set up. If you can't remember the before, go back to the Jamestown Court post from September (http://muscolinofam.blogspot.com/2008/09/jamestown-court.html)...all the before pics are there...
Every morning is full of excitement and wonder when we wake up to our new house.
There's still so much more work, but we're ready to take it on now that we've accomplished our first room...here we come yard!

The housewarming party is on November 15th, if you're in the area feel free to stop by...it's a combo housewarming and Dirty Thirty for me...I'm planning on wearing all black.

It's good to see Little Mookie enjoys the new set up just as much as we do!!!
Can I just tell you how comfortable the bay window seat is?

Ceiling Fan...

So the only thing that was holding up the Great room was the ceiling fan...what a pain for hubby! There's not crawl space access above the great room addition so he had to cut a hole in the ceiling to mount the bracket since the big beam was taken down and we couldn't hang the ceiling fan from that as it was originally.


Then he had to patch the hole which involved joint compound and spackling.


Then it had to be re-painted.


Then he could finally hang the fan.



We bought one of those remote controls so you can control it wirelessly and don't have to use those awful pull chains (I really don't like them!).


During the process we realized the receiver is quite large and has to be stored up in the ceiling...hubby had to cut back some of his beautiful patching job to mount it. He now has to spackle it back up. Luckily, he didn't have to cut much back.


Didn't he do a good job?

First Fire...

We cranked up the wood burning stove and then learned the flue was broken, the arm has come off...the smoke wasn't too bad, but no fires for us this winter until we get it fixed.

*sigh* and it gets so much colder in the new house than in Point Loma...we're talking 50's!

Election Day!

OK, I screwed up. I'm an absentee voter and I never changed my address with Voter Registration so I never got my ballot. It's probably the single most important election of our lives and I won't get to vote...


Whoever now lives in good ole' Poe Street #3 probably voted for me...jerk.


Hubby never changed his and he's just going to the old polling place...lucky.


It's POURING down rain on Election Day in San Diego, I can't help but wonder if that's an omen?

Almost there...

It's almost done!

We still have some small things to do here and there, but Saturday night hubby and I opened a bottle of champagne and drank the whole thing down and started moving furniture in. It had been 2 long months of blood, sweat, and tears, all built up to that one moment...and it was satisfying.

The installers have to come back this week and fix the hallway leading to the master bedroom. It's high in the middle and low on both sides (about 1/4 of an inch) and somehow they thought we wouldn't notice. So they have to come back, pull the floor up and then level it, prepare it, and then re-lay the floor. I feel bad because they have to buy extra supplies and eat the cost, but they should have done it right to begin with!

Hubby and I got nice and buzzed off the champagne and then started moving furniture in while we were drinking more beers. We're so grown up now, we spent a whole Saturday night doing this!

It's kind of hard to see it, but as soon as we moved the recliner in, Little Mookie jumped up in it. He's always got to be up in our business!

Once I hung the curtains, Little Mookie started exploring them...can you see him in this pic?I've hung the curtains (except for the center bay window since it needs some touch up paint). I'll post pictures next weekend of it completely done...here's some "in process pics" hubby took while I was gone...You're going to have to wait for the lighted "complete" room look early next week!

Small Penis Man in Omaha, NE

I think I should quit my job and write a book about my travelling adventures. I've had so many that I have to just laugh when things go bad.

Never stay at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Omaha, it's on Dodge Street. I'm a VIP Gold with the Hilton family (which included Doubletrees). This particular hotel has a separate parking garage attached to the hotel which is independently run. This was only the second or third time I've been at this particular hotel so I couldn't remember the parking specifics.

I arrived after 12AM at the hotel on Monday night, took the ticket to get into the garage and headed to the lobby to check in. The girl checking me in gave me a pass to get in and out of the garage and told me I wouldn't need the ticket I got driving in and took it from me.

I had to be at work by 7:30 AM that morning (yes, 5:30 AM San Diego time). I was running late and rushing to make it on time (those who know me, know that even if I got in a car accident, I would do ANYTHING to still be on time). I drove to the little exit in the parking garage and gave the man my little hotel pass.

He asked where my ticket was.

I told him the front desk person took it from me when I checked in the previous evening. He told me I owed him $7. I told him I was paying the hotel $7 to park. He said that I lost my ticket, I had to pay him, show the hotel the receipt and they would reverse the charge on my bill.

I tried to give him a credit card.

He pointed to sign that said, CASH ONLY. I asked if he would take a check, he pointed at the sign. I told him I had no money. He sat back and said I'd better imagine some up because I wasn't going anywhere until I gave him $7 and what was my problem anyway? Didn't I know that I was supposed to hold onto my ticket.

I turned the car off and go out. He asked where I was going. I said to the front desk. I had a problem, he wasn't helpful and I needed help. He said I couldn't leave my car there, look at the line (there were about 5 other cars trying to leave).

I told him it wasn't my problem he only had one exit. He said he'd have my car towed. I told him to do it and walked away.

I made a very lenghthy complaint and told them I was sorry, I was upset, I wasn't paying $200 per night PLUS $9.95 for internet connection PLUS $7 per night for parking to be verbally abused by a man with small penis syndrome. The lady at the front desk said it wasn't the first time they had a complaint about small penis man, but the hotel did not own the garage or employ the man.

She gave me $7 out of petty cash. I went back to my car where small penis man was waiting for me fuming. He told me I was lucky the tow company hadn't shown up yet. I told him AAA takes an hour, what tow company would come any sooner?

I threw the money at him and he let me go. He said, "Have a nice day" I told him, "Learn some manners!"