Green...with fatigue?

March Madness means one thing...all couch searching has been put on hold. In fact, everything having to do with getting the house in order has been put on hold. I was looking forward to a productive weekend due to the fact that St. Patty's Day turned out to be a lot tamer than I was expecting. After talking up the holiday for weeks, Bryan and I went to get some dinner at a bar close by, had A drink (literally, one each!), then headed home. I finished a Jodi Picoult book (that I actually had already read...groan...why can I not figure out with Picoult books whether I've read them or not until I'm more than halfway through!?) and Bryan fell asleep watching, you guessed it, basketball.

We had been looking forward to Friday all week since Villanova played at 2:15pm and Syracuse later in the evening (10:30!). Villanova's abysmal play and subsequent loss sucked the wind out of my sails (I know, I know, they had been playing terribly lately!!!) and we headed home to take care of Maggie with the intention of heading back out for the Syracuse game....never happened. I fell asleep before the Syracuse game even tipped off.

This has brought me to the conclusion that in less than 6 months, Bryan and I have become an old, married couple.

I woke with a start this morning and headed out the door to a Spin class at our local gym. Bridesmaid Megan also recently joined this gym, so I'm giving it a trial run for a week to see if I can manage to get some workouts in during the time that I'd normally be in commute to get downtown. My strategy is I'd just leave later, therefore reducing my commute time, stress, and gas usage and not be taking the time during the day to get to the gym while at work. Additionally, on days when I work from home, I have the gym nearby to go to (I hadn't been to a gym on a weekend in years due to this issue). So far, so good and Bryan's even debating switching gyms for similar reasons (although his commute is a lot more forgiving). And much like everywhere in Cumming, people are SO nice; just a really nice atmosphere.

When I got back from the gym this morning, I expected to find Bryan still in bed. Instead, I found him awake and planning his day around straightening a picture using the "laser" as well as talking about heading to Lowe's to buy a drill (I told him we needed one of these!). After brunch, as Bryan tried to accomplish things around the house - tightening the toilet paper roll holder in the 1st floor bathroom - he was finding he could only do things half-way until he obtained said drill. Then he realized the West Virginia-Kentucky game was close...after the game, he wanted to read a bit. I made the mistake of introducing Bryan to The Hunger Games. Compounded with his normal level of procrastination, we may not see a new couch until next year. (In his defense, The Hunger Games take over your life until you've read all three.) Now he's off running his errands - and I'm hanging out with a discombobulated toilet paper roll (although the aforementioned picture is now straight!).

So here we are, I am having a lazier Saturday than I expected - although I did clean the heck out of the kitchen today and vacuumed the whole house (for the 3rd time this week - I should do commercials for that vacuum).

Things are generally in order although there are a few "straggler" boxes that are still laying around. We haven't TOUCHED them in the month we've lived here. Sometimes I play a game with myself: I'll separate a bunch of things that I think I need into a designated area. If that area does not get touched within a few weeks, I conclude I don't really need those things anyways. I'm just about there with these boxes...

And P.S., there is life in the planter in which I had planted some irises last week. I'm pretty excited. I was even motivated to make a video detailing the life of the bud and stem peeking out from the soil. It's a start to my life with a Green Thumb (hopefully).

In closing, I took some pictures of some of the other rooms in the house. I think it's safe to say I do NOT have any promise as a Home Photographer. I neglected to turn on the lights in the office before I took the picture and I had to take two pictures of one of the rooms because my angling made the room look about 50 times smaller than it is. But nevertheless, here they are (with some of my witty commentary for your enjoyment).

Our "home office". Here is where I spend my "at-home" work days! I LOVE it! Unfortunately, you can't see the rest of the room from my camera work, but in both corners are piles of things that we may or may not need (haven't touched either pile in a month...trash!)

This is the eyesore that is currently our guest bedroom. The dead tree (Bryan swears it's not dead) has been moved into various rooms since we've lived here. I'm not sure if Bryan's got some kind of Feng Shui strategy that will motivate this tree to come back to life, or what. It will NOT be in here when my parents and M.I.L. are in town next month. Additionally, the mismatched sheets and comforter (which are wrinkled because Maggie sleeps on them) are from Bryan's bachelor days. He refused to let me put my old set on the bed because he HATES it, it's GIRLY! So the compromise is that in the next few weeks, I get to pick out a new set!! The boxes in the corner are actually not trash but lots of wedding stuff. The closet in the guest bedroom actually has most of our china in it. I'm thinking I need to move this into a different closet before Easter.

This is what's formally known as the "Man's Bathroom". Bryan's framed picture of Buffalo landmarks is in here as well as his collection of magazines about computers (now you know why I'm not exactly running into this bathroom). It's technically the "guest" bathroom as it's located between the guest bedroom and the office on the 2nd floor. I do love the irony of the Man's Bathroom having such a pretty shower curtain and matching hand towels!!

Here is my favorite bathroom in the house - the downstairs bathroom. The people who lived here before us did a nice job decorating it! I love the vanity as well as the paint!

Below is the abused toilet paper roll, left in pieces...

And finally, another bedroom that's located closest to the master bedroom. I love that one of the walls is lime green (although that will probably get changed...). It's the only non-neutral color in the house which is why I like it so much. For now, no one lives in this bedroom and it's being completely reserved for a special individual that doesn't yet exist.

I'm off to fuss with the boxes that may or may not have junk in them, then it's Saturday night at the frozen yogurt place with Megan while our husbands sit around and watch sports! Woo-hoo, crazy times!

March Madness

I want to blog, but I'm not sure what I want to say. I fear getting repetitive with the house updates so I probably will explain this week's couch adventures, picture-hanging adventures, and mix in far more introspective topics.

Saturday morning, we were up and at 'em early! We went to Woodstock Furniture Outlet based on a recommendation from our friend Joe. And keep in mind Bryan's requirements for this couch: it must be a U-shaped 3-piece sectional with a chaise. Driving an hour each way on a gorgeous Saturday wasn't the rough part of the trip - the fact that WFO only had 1 sectional that met our requirements (that although comfortable, Bryan didn't really like) was. On the hour-long ride back home, we made the decision to call-ahead to places in the future that take us longer than 20 minutes to get to (hearing on the phone, "We have ONE" would have definitely discouraged us from the journey). (In Joe's defense, the store had A LOT of pieces we really liked, but we had to deter ourselves from buying other things because first and foremost, we need a couch!)

But all was not lost, since there was a Trader Joe's on the way back. Additionally, we saw the CUTEST puppy up for adoption outside a PetSmart, but everyone else thought he was cute too and wouldn't leave him alone. This was a good thing since we don't want to get another dog on impulse. We've been talking about getting another dog for some time, but will probably wait until the Fall rolls around. Let's be honest, I need more hair to vacuum with the Pet Hair Eraser. (I'm kidding!) We just both really love dogs and want Mags to have a playmate. Yes, I'm aware that there is the hope of giving her a human playmate (that's the sound of my biological clock you hear in the distance - although faintly), but I can't imagine that will be anytime soon either as we can't even decide on a dang couch! Not to get too personal, but I'm told this sound will get louder as I get closer to my 30th...crazy! And here I thought the focus of my 30th would just be how crazy of a 90s party I could have!!! (The planning is underway!) Although I'm getting Baby Fever due to the fact that it feels like everyone is having one. And really, the fact that every pregnant woman I know on Facebook looks amazing is even more annoying. Sorry, but it is! And I do mean this in the most loving way possible. I have in my head that I'm going to be GIANT and swollen and making noises and smells. And everyone's got these pictures up and they look incredible and super happy! And those who have just had babies appear to have radiant, perfect little ones! They're so cute! I think I'll just sit here and repeat to myself "They poop and cry, they poop and cry, they poop and cry..." Much better.

After we got home from WFO, we waited for Sears to bring us...our new refrigerator!!!! It is beautiful and spacious! Bryan was also ecstatic due to the fact that the old fridge went in the garage and is now exclusively dedicated to beer - just in time for St. Patty's Day.

Saturday night, Megan introduced me to Yogli Mogli (I have no clue if I spelled this right). But it's a frozen yogurt place that came straight from Heaven and is located about 2 miles from us. I haven't stopped thinking about cheesecake frozen yogurt since. And this coming from the girl who gave up chocolate for Lent!!!...for a good few hours...I can still turn it around and re-dedicate myself I'm sure. But I've failed miserably this year although I've made valiant attempts to avoid chocolate (i.e. eating only cheesecake fro-yo and fruit!). I can't help it if people just GIVE it to me periodically!!! It'd be rude not to eat it! I've had chocolate 3 times since Ash Wednesday so that's not that bad....right??

Sunday, I had my quarterly freak-out. For those of you that don't know, once every three months, I randomly go on a tirade about what's not done in the house (for the last few years, it was the apartment, now it's the house). This freak-out usually takes place on a Saturday or Sunday morning after breakfast. I just start to notice what's not done and all Bryan hears is this (usually as he's trying to read the paper): "WHY ARE OUR PICTURES NOT HUNG UP YET?!? WE NEED TO DECIDE ON A COUCH!! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!! THE GUEST BEDROOM NEEDS A NEW COMFORTER AND SHEET SET!" Yes, these are things that bother me. And I am completely aware that there are people in the world that have serious problems, I am. I can't explain why I do this!! But something just gets triggered in regular 3-month intervals where I want stuff DONE and I want it done NOW.

What I love about Bryan is when this happens, he literally springs into action. A.) He tells me he has no interest in comforter and sheet sets, so I can enjoy picking that out as long as he gets final approval to decide whether or not it's too girly; B.) He begins researching more couches and actually starts taking measurements to determine how much room the couch may take up (we have vastly different opinions on this - know that if you come to the house and have to leap over the couch to get to the kitchen, Bryan won); C.) The funniest - Bryan explains, "I can't hang pictures without a laser".

What does that even mean? Bryan saw a device last week at Home Depot - a level (the thing with the bubble) that shoots a laser so you can line something up at a distance. Last week, because I like things with lasers, I suggested we get that one. It was $30 more than the level we ended up with, but this week, Bryan decided he NEEDED the laser (if you're keeping track, yes, we wasted about $10). Bryan's argument was that, without the laser, he would continue to hang pictures crooked (as he did Saturday night). So we parted ways - Bryan went to spend the day looking at more couches and buying lasers and I went to book club.

How many more pictures have been hung up since the laser joined the household? Effectively none - so much for springing into action! But I guess we've got three more months to get them on the walls. And by that time, maybe I'll be in a better mood about it since I'll be able to eat chocolate guilt-free!

Batteries not included

I'd like to tell you that I'm becoming more at peace with the fact that I will never be satisfied with things I want to do to this house, but I'm not. And that covers everything from how I'd like to arrange photos and artwork on the walls to where I'd like to put new bookshelves and what type of furniture I'd like and what types of flowers I want to plant. The list goes on...and I know it always will. I've even been told that once I have settled things where I want them, I'm going to want to replace the first things that I arranged. So as much as I love this house, I know it will be an ongoing project. Forever. So I thought I'd share:

Saturday night, I was so antsy I was beside myself. I was exhausted from a late night at the drive-in on Friday and an eventful day looking at potential pups for M.O.H. Nicole, but I couldn't sleep. I needed to accomplish things around the house. I wanted the toilet paper roll in the half-bathroom installed, I wanted to put pictures on the walls, I wanted to set up the guest bedroom and office...and the list went on. As I mentioned each of these things to Bryan (and no, this wasn't the first time I had brought these goals up), he rattled off the tools we needed. "I don't understand," I told him, "You don't have tools?" "Well, I have some," he said, "But not all of the ones we need."

Well, you learn something new everyday! I thought men were born with an arsenal of tools. I actually didn't realize they needed to acquire them from somewhere (and even if they did, I thought this acquisition took place when they were very young?). I guess it's as sexist as expecting a woman to know her way around a kitchen. But come on! How am I supposed to know you need something called a Studfinder to figure out where to nail up a picture on a wall?? If you asked me what a Studfinder was on Saturday before this conversation took place, I would've told you it's probably a matchmaking service or dating website.

So lo and behold, Sunday was spent in Home Depot buying things like studfinders and levelers (is that what 'the thing with the bubble' is called?) and looking at how to install shelving in a closet (we want to add shelving to a closet on the main floor). We got lots of goodies and debated continuing the fun at Lowe's, but decided to save that for next weekend. This brings me to Sunday night...when Bryan figured out that you needed a 9-volt battery to operate the studfinder. There are no pictures on our walls yet :-(

I've blogged about how much I love the Pet Hair Eraser and how crazed I am about keeping up with the vacuuming in this house. Well, Sunday night, Bryan finally assembled the desk in the office as well as the bed in the guest bedroom and we arranged it as much as possible (for the time being). This prompted me to vacuum the office and the guest bedroom at 10pm Sunday night...and I concluded that I may have an obsessive-cleaning illness. I also vacuumed the main floor of the house yesterday and just check out how much hair I picked up (after 4 days!!!)!

Is this crazy or what?? But gosh, I love that thing. Maggie was also promptly taken outside and brushed to the high heavens! When I do finally get sick of vacuuming so much, I may just have to either shave her or wrap her up in plastic. That'll be special.

I have plenty more to fill you in on, but I think I may save a topic of deeper consideration for another blog later this week. If you are in need of more of my writing though, you can check out www.whoyoucallinageek.blogspot.com.

It's a blog that I started with the 4 interns that work with me in my lab, so they will be authoring some posts as well. I've been giving a lot of thought to my professional development lately - where I want to go and what I'm really passionate about - and there's no question that I want to advance undergraduate Science education. I feel like I'm already making a positive impact with the work that I've been doing with these interns (and consequently, how we're implementing changes in the labs that Biology majors take). So rather than continuing to talk about how much I love my job and my goals for Science education, I figured I could just direct you all over to that blog if you're interested.

Now go ahead and ask yourself, do you know what's on your floor? Doesn't that picture just make you want to vacuum!? Have a great rest of the week!

Picture time!!!

As I write this, I sit outside in weather that's gotten dramatically colder in just a few days time. Today, there's no sun, only clouds and the temps are in the 50s. In my world, this is unequivocally frigid. This has no effect on Maggie; chilly or not, she still wants to play. If I do go back in the house, she approaches the door. "Maybe she wants to go inside," you'd think. But when the door opens, she just stands there as if to say, "Why aren't you out here with me? It's playtime!". And I just can't say no to her. So right now, it's always playtime in the Hoey household.

Obviously the first picture is the front of the house. I'll only be sharing a few pictures at a time since these rooms aren't quite where I want them yet. But what I'll tell you about every picture is just another reason why I love this house so very much. The front is obviously adorable in my humble opinion and quite traditional-looking (I want to get some cute chairs or a bench of sorts to put in our little porch area.

But above is the major reason why when I walked in, I said, "Yes, this is our house!". Look at those cabinets!!! As many as you can see in this picture, there are more! And this picture doesn't really do the island any justice at all. I'll take another picture from a different angle on another day. If you look at the left-hand side of the picture, there is a set of double doors. If you open those, that's the pantry!!!! That entire space!!! It's just GLORIOUS!!!

This next picture is the "bonus room". Bryan has dreams of knocking down walls and making it a massive bedroom. For right now, I'm just stoked that we have somewhere to put this foosball table!!! It'd be even more luxurious if it were set up! But more than likely, this will evolve to "play room" status while serving as a "workout room" in the near future.

And then there's Maggie. I took this picture yesterday when she stood outside for hours in the sunshine. Even when you think she'd be ready to come in, she's still just standing there with her head tilted towards the sun and eyes closed. But this is the backyard. It's flat and quite spacious. I don't know that we'll ever get tired of the space (although Bryan last night was talking about one day having acres upon acres...I think he forgets that at some points in time, grass has to get cut). For me, this is the perfect backyard.

We have quite a weekend ahead of us. Tonight, we're heading to the drive-in despite the fact that I'm freezing. Tomorrow morning, we'll be working on getting our home office set up. I'd really like to get some pictures and artwork on the walls. And we'll be spending some time with my B.I.L. Jon and his wife, Sonia. Tomorrow night, Bryan's got poker plans brewing in his mind. After our successful night last weekend in our house game, he's antsy to play again. Sunday, we'll continue our search for the perfect couch. I'm hoping to bring you some developments on that next week. But these things take time. Until then, I'll be emptying the contents of the last bins and trying to learn how to work my new iphone. Have a great weekend!!!

No Dyson

I am actually getting stranger by the day. The last time I filled you in, I was fulfilling my duties as a domestic goddess making broccoli rabe on a Sunday morning. The past 3 days have brought on a new type of madness: Vacuum Mania. I announced to Bryan on Sunday that I was in the market for a Dyson. This meant absolutely nothing to him. So you can imagine his surprise when we visited my favorite store in existence (Bed, Bath, and Beyond) and he noticed the price tag on these gems. "$600???!!!" he screamed. "Uh, YEAH, that's what they cost...we have a dog," I explained. "There is no universe in which it would ever be ok to spend $600 on a vacuum...pick another one, preferably in the $100-200 range. That's as high as we go in this household," he said.

I could've argued that I'd pay for it, but I really wanted to use our gift cards...with "our" being the operative word. So I vowed to do some research for a less expensive vacuum that wouldn't leave us living in Maggie's fur.

In addition to the BB&B visit that resulted in some great purchases: drawer dividers and a shoe rack (yes, I've become nuts with organization), Bryan insisted we go to Target to purchase a 40L simplehuman (the brand) trash can. This would've been great as we had a Target gift card to burn, too, but no Target within a 25-mile radius had this trash can. I know this because we went to ALL of them (for the record BB&B had them as well!).

We were also on the hunt for a couch. Bryan took the lead on this as he has very high expectations - a sectional that includes a chaise lounge, top-notch comfort, and no giant pillows that he'll throw on the floor (ok, that last one's mine). We made multiple stops, but ultimately fell in love with one from the Cindy Crawford Home Collection at Rooms to Go. Not one to make snap decisions, Bryan said he wanted to continue to shop around and think about it. (As of last night, he was still talking about that couch...).

The crazed hunt for the perfect trash can eventually came to an end at our 6th Target stop of the day when Bryan decided he might want to get a 6-pack of Gatorade (ironically at about 6 o'clock). This prompted me to cry, "THE RED CARPET IS ON AND I'M HUNGRY! FOCUS!". I get cranky when I haven't eaten and am missing celebrities on the red carpet. Dejected, we had no trash can for our kitchen. But I did get home in time for the Oscars!

By Monday, I had done my research and selected the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser vacuum. In price comparing, I found it for $150 at BB&B (compared to $190 at Macy's...Macy's is on my bad side anyways right now, so I had to laugh at the $40 difference). And don't forget, since BB&B is the best store in the world, I also had a 20% off coupon. And where did I get the trash can? You got it...BB&B! (I got such wonderful customer service, too, I could just go on about that store forever).

Yesterday, it was Tomboy Bride vs. Machine when I had to assemble the aforementioned vacuum. But assemble I did (with The Bachelor on in the background) and I was off and vacuuming!!! Two thumbs up so far for this vacuum. I cleaned the cylinder once after vacuuming the living room - after 9 days, there was already a ridiculous amount of fur. I've actually even started taking Maggie to the backyard to brush her daily. So I'm on it - the experiment is for me to vacuum today and see how much hair I pick up (I'm not expecting much in 24 hours...). Then I'll wait 72 hours and check out how bad it is on Saturday. If it's completely gross, I'll settle on vacuuming every other day.

I have gotten so nuts about this that I was even using the attachments yesterday to vacuum the stairs (and yes, I grew up watching my mother vacuum stairs and always thought it was a waste of time). Not so! I also read that you can vacuum Venetian blinds - why didn't I think of that?!?! So you know what I'm doing later....

Finally, in the most dramatic personal change that has occurred - even more shocking than morphing into a neat freak - is the fact that Bryan and I are going to Pike this weekend (the Garden store) and I'm am PSYCHED!!!! I have a LIST already made of the things I want there. Most notably, I'd like to pot a plant that our next-door neighbors brought over for us the other night to welcome us to the neighborhood (how sweet is that?!). They are gloriously fragrant lilies (my favorite flower)!

I'm hoping to get Bryan to help me set up our office this weekend (I've been asking him for days now!). I'd also like to get our artwork and pictures on the walls. Overall, we're quite set up! I did make a Dollar Barn run the other day for small baskets that I've now used to organize my bathroom cabinet (on my Mom's suggestion). I am feeling the compulsion to go back because I'd like to get our detergents/stain removers organized by baskets, too, in the laundry room. I may be getting less tomboy-ish and more Sandra Lee in my old age. Oh Heaven help us, I'm going to go read an issue of "Country Living"!