The Big Bad To-Do List...Cut in Half

A little while back, I shared our list. It's big. And a lot of things that are on it need to be purchased. I am proud (well, actually a little horrified) that most of the things on the list have been accomplished/purchased. My mantra "that's what savings are for, that's what savings are for..." It's on repeat in my head. Continuously. Every day gets easier.

This is our first time buying a house, so sticker shock on things that you have never bought before is crazy. Blinds, ceiling fans, and curtain rods was an arrow straight to the heart. An extra long curtain rod will kill you. It's more vicious than the Hunger Games. Thank God for military discounts. We don't have that many windows in the house, but window treatments are expensive. The blinds, then the rod, then the curtain. Dang. But SO worth it. It is amazing how window treatments diminish echos and make the room feel more home-y. It's true love. Really. "That's what savings are for." Repeat.

We left Alamogordo on Saturday at 4 am.

Avery and Optimus did great. I'm terrible in the car. I'm all "are we there yet?" 15 minutes later. "are we there yet?" Every 15 minutes. It was 12 hours in the car with 2 stops. One for breakfast and one for lunch. By the way, the McDonald's maple oatmeal with fruit is AWESOME! We made it to Las Vegas in a total of 13 hours, with stops, which was AWESOME! Avery LOVES to read. My Mommy heart SINGS every time she walks up to me with a book and signs "read" and hands me a book. Then she turns her back to me and plops forcefully right into my lap. I love her.

So we pulled into town saturday night at 4 pm west coast time. All of the shopping occurred on Sunday. 3 hours at Lowes, an hour at HomeGoods and Tuesday Morning, 2 hours at Ashley Furniture, an hour at Pier 1. It was crazy. Even as I sit down to write this and again to read it again, I can't remember if/when/what we ate. I know we did. But I cannot remember. That's how much of a blur this day was.

Anyway. Here is a list update.

- Blinds - buy from selectblinds.com - DONE and installed - we ended up buying them from Lowe's because it was cheaper. We were also able to have them cut while we shopped and pick them up that day. We had to special order 2 of them because the windows were almost 97 inches wide. Can you say custom order?

- Ceiling fans - DONE and installed - we bought 6 of these. Don't even get me started on that nightmare. Actually I am going to tell you all about installation. Just not right now.

- Family room:

- rug - DONE - 8X10 from Tuesday Morning. If you haven't heard of this place, you, my friend, are missing out. It's more awesome than Home Goods selection wise, but not has well organized.

- sofa - DONE and delivered - we got 2 sofas is a charcoal grey from Ashley. They were having their huge stock sale so we jumped on that.

- curtains - DONE and hung - from Target for the family room. I also purchased curtains for the guest room from HomeGoods. The dining room curtains are also from HomeGoods. We are reusing (from Texas and DE) the ones hanging in the front room, Avery's room, the loft, and the upstairs guest room. We bought 4 blackout curtain panels from Tuesday Morning for a STEAL.

- buffet/sideboard (antique?) - hunting craigslist. No winner yet.

- sofa table/coffee table - DONE - I found one on Craigslist (needs some refinishing) that is going up in the loft and the storage ottoman from up there is staying downstairs. We are also splitting the side tables so one is staying upstairs and the other one is going down in the family room.

- Curtain rods for the whole house - DONE and installed. Also a nightmare with so many and Troy's awesome patience. Sarcasm. I will tell you about that too. We are still married. No worries.

- Patio furniture (adirondack chairs and I found a DIY dining table we are doing) - 1/2 done - my grandma sent me 2 white rocking adirondack chairs for my birthday. Troy and a friend put them together one night. They are SO gorgeous! We still want to get a patio table for some outside eating.

- Matching wingback chairs for the front living room (library area??) - DONE - my mom bought me a GORGEOUS pair of grey linen chairs for the front room. They are tufted and amazeballs.

- figure out something for the master retreat - for now, we are using this as an office/Optimus's room. For serious.

- TV stand for the loft - DONE for now - We have a temporary solution and we are using our old coffee table from before we got the storage ottoman. In Texas, it sat out in the garage the whole time. It is very happy to have a new home.

- New TV for master or loft - our bedroom TV is now in the loft. So we still need a TV for our room. Not a priority. Maybe in the next year.

- Furniture for the master (not a SINGLE piece of furniture matches, including the night stands) - this is not a priority right now. I on the craigslist hunt. If I find something awesome, I will be sure to let you know.

- toddler bed for Avery (or go right into a twin bed?) - we are going to get a safety rail and use her crib whenever she is ready to transition.

- Entry table by the front door? - still on the hunt

- Bench to make the breakfast nook table a 6 person table? - still on the hunt

- 2 bar stools for the island - DONE and in use - found these are Pier 1. They were having their end of summer "everything is 20% off sale." These were not marked down at all. I talked to the manager and was all "DUDE, the windows said 20% off!" She was all "these aren't on sale and aren't included". I was all "give me 20% off for false advertising." She was all "ok." WIN!

- Gas dryer - DONE and delivered - we picked this out from Lowe's. It was delivered the next day on "nightmare DIY day." The delivery guys did not find us in the best spirits. Especially since our gas wasn't getting turned on until wednesday. Oops.

- Backyard landscaping - this is definitely a priority but not right now

- Deep freezer for the garage (costco?) - we priced these bad boys at Lowe's and Costco. We are still trying to decide if we want to get the cheaper deep freezer or just get an extra refrigerator so that we can keep soda pop, extra juice, milk, and beer out in the garage. Will keep you posted.

- baby gates - 1/2 done - We need 2 of these. 1 for the top of the stairs and the other for the hallway between the kitchen and dining room/entry to the bottom of the stairs. We have installed one at the dining room/entry way wall to keep her away from the stairs. It looks awesome. It's a nice one with a locking metal door. Avery is super smart and is already trying to figure out how to open it. But she is too short to slide the button to the right, lift the door, and push it at the same time. She is obsessed and it scares the crapola out of me.

So there were 22 things on the list when we started. We have crossed off 12. I am counting the patio furniture as half because we still want an eating area and the baby gate as half because we still need another one. So a little more than halfway done! And a lot of the stuff that is left is not time sensitive. Or is Craigslist worthy. YES! We are feeling pretty good about it overall.

What is left do you ask?? Why I have a new list!

- Antique buffet/sideboard for the family room from craigslist
- Patio EATING furniture - BUILD IT
- Figure out something functional for the master retreat
- TV for the master bedroom
- Craigslist furniture for the master bedroom
- Avery's big girl bed
- Entry table for the foyer
- Bench for the nook table
- Backyard landscaping (pool)
- Freezer or fridge? The debate continues
- Baby gate for the top of the stairs

Pictures to follow of all the goods. And conversation play by play during DIY installation of blinds, ceiling fans, and curtain rods. Let me tell you folks, it wasn't pretty. It was pretty funny. Looking back on it now. Not so funny at the time. At all. Here is a preview of the goods:

Those are new dining room curtains from HomeGoods. OBSESSED! I love them :) "That's what savings are for...."