The shuttle launch scheduled for early Saturday morning was scrubbed late Friday night due to a pesky problem with the fueling process. This same issue delayed the launch of STS-119 for a week in March, so hopefully the delay this time will be similarly short. On the plus side, if we’d launched on Saturday morning I would have spent the better part of my weekend on console in Mission Control. Since we didn’t, it was like I suddenly found myself with a whole extra weekend! And I made the most of it.
On Friday afternoon, I met some BAM people at our new open water swimming location. There’s a guy who lives off 96 here in League City who has a large lake on his property, and he’s nice enough to let club members use it for open water swim practice! All he asks is that we keep the place clean and put $5 per person in a locked mailbox. It is SO nice to have a place to swim that’s only 10 minutes away, as opposed to driving 45 minutes or more to Twin Lakes.
The bad news is that everyone else had gotten there at 4:00, and by the time I got there after work at 5:00, they were all nearly done. I only got to swim one lap before everyone finished, and part of the agreement with the property owner is that no one will swim alone. So I got in a real hard core workout…yeah…a grand total of ~650 yards in 12 minutes.
I got up super early Saturday morning to watch the launch, since I hadn’t heard the news the night before. It was ok though, since I’d arranged to go riding with a few BAM people at the ungodly hour of 6:45. This was my first ride in at least three months, and it was a great one. My legs felt pretty good for the whole 23 miles at a nice and easy 15.5 mph pace. (My butt, on the other hand, was ready to be done after about 5 miles.) It felt good to get back on the bike. I’m signed up for the Y Freedom Tri in Pearland in two weeks, and that will be my first tri of the season. I know I won’t be able to beat or even match my time from last year, so my goal is just to get back into the swing of things.
Jose and I spent Saturday afternoon browsing for furniture and appliances at Best Buy, Macy’s, Rooms to Go, and La-Z-Boy. (We just picked the stores that were in the area where we already were.) We don’t plan to buy anything until we’re in the house, but that is imminent enough that we decided it wouldn’t hurt to get an idea of what we want. And since we’re moving from a 1000 sq ft apartment into nearly 3 times that space, the “what we want” list is long indeed.
First Tier, i.e. Things We Need As Soon As We Move In:
- Refrigerator. I like the french door style with the freezer on the bottom.
- Blinds. For the bedrooms, at a minimum, though we’ll do all windows eventually. If you have a suggestion as to a good place to purchase them, please share.
- Lawn mower. Unless we want to hire a lawn service.
- Paint. Lots and lots of paint.
Second Tier, i.e. Things We Need/Want Sort Of Soon:
- Guest bed. This either means buying a guest bed OR buying ourselves a king-size mattress and moving the queen-size to the guest room. We’re leaning towards the second option, which means eventually buying a new bedroom set…though that could come later. All we’d need is the mattress and frame to start.
- Large couch(es) or sectional. We need something bigger for the family room, and to have more seating now that we actually have room to invite people over.
- Dining room table. Until we get one, we have a small 4-person table for the breakfast room.
- Sod for the backyard
- Gutters for the back of the house
- Washer and dryer. To start, we have an old beat-up washer and dryer we got for cheap from Becca, but I don’t know how long they will last or how well they work.
- Desk. I have one, but Jose doesn’t.
Third Tier, i.e. Things We Need/Want But Not Badly Enough to Prioritize Them Higher:
- Bookcases
- Patio furniture
- Grill
- Bar chairs. At least two of them, so people can sit at the island. I have two stools, but I want chairs, with backs.
Fourth Tier, i.e. So What If We Don’t Need It, We Just Plain Want It:
- Decor. Curtains, small tables, art, etc.
- Surround sound equipment.
- Aquarium
- Telescope
- Basketball goal
- TV for the bonus room
I figure it will take us years to get through all of those items, especially the “fourth tier” stuff, and the list will only grow. Still, I’m sure I’m forgetting some necessities. Those of you who have bought houses can let me know what I’m missing! What will we need immediately? What can wait?
Hey Sarah,
Just bought that exact kind of fridge from Lowes. There have been some great sales going on saving us about 400.00. I learned that it is really important to verify that there is a repair place that will work on your brand of appliance before buying. Otherwise, it is worth buying the extended warranty which will, additionally, cover spoilage and a rental fridge if needed. We got a Samsung RF266AB[WP] – highly rated in Consumer Reports and the largest REAL interior space of this kind of fridge (what manufacturers say is cubic space is not anywhere close to what is usable space).
Consumer Reports also rated very high the Whirlpool Gold GX5FHTXV[Q]. We went with the samsung because of the larger usable space and the better sale price, but had to get the extended warranty as no one within 30 miles repairs them. Good luck!
For the appliances, check out the Sears Outlet on Griggs road. They have varying degrees of dents & dings, and are marked down accordingly. You can certainly find some great deals there, but of course, their selection is limited to what’s available and is always changing, and finding what you want also depends on how important aesthetics are to you; maybe more so with a visible refrigerator or stove, less with an out-of-sight washer/dryer.
I recommend putting ALL blinds high on your list. Even if all you do is at first get cheap ones. Keeping them closed during the day will cut down on your a/c costs. My house is staying remarkably cool without the a/c running all of the time. Then, when you’re ready to replace them, you can sell the old ones on the swap shop, or give them away. I’m sure someone’d be happy to take them. That’s what I plan on doing when I get around to replacing mine. Becca and I bought our black-out blinds at blindsgalore.com. I also found muslin curtains at countrycourtains.com, which I’m sure someone will call old ladyish, but I’m used to it. 🙂
One other thing, which you may already know, when you find a style that you like, whether it’s a bedding or bathroom set, or whatever, buy it all because if you piecemeal it, then when you go back to finish it out, it might not be carried any more.
Consumer Reports is a good resource for appliances.
I totally love the ones with the freezer on the bottom. Too bad they were like $500 or more. I couldn’t justify that after all the money I spent on the house and the other purchasing expenses. And I was trying to budget to make enough extra priciple payments to pay down the more expensive section of my mortgage faster and get to 20% equity.
Visit the Hidden Treasures consignment shop, I had never been there before I went with Cari a few weeks ago – it had some amazing furniture at great deals. And was worth the trip for some entertaining vintage stuff too. Their inventory changes weekly.
You may want to upgrade the sodding requirement, if you don’t do it by the end of the summer, you’ll probably have to wait until next spring. Check your deed restrictions to see how long you’ll have to sod before you get letters.
I am a huge fan of internet purchasing of blinds. I think I told you we ordered from blindgalore.com, it was about 50% of the Home Depot or Lowes price, and they make them to order. Again, check your deed restrictions, because they probably require some sort of window coverings for your front window (my neighbors told me they complied with this the first year by hanging sheets from their front window!)
Not sure what you got for your wedding, but things I needed right away included a ladder, larger cleaning supplies, large garbage cans, tree trimming equipment, along with the lawn mower you need an edger at least, light bulbs. Plus you’ll need things to clean your tile floor (mops, bucket). You have new grass so it will need to be watered a lot – sprinkler and hose. I would recommend a lawn service for a couple months through the hottest part of the summer then you could delay that purchase a littler.
I’ll look for blinds online. Guess that means I need to go over and measure the windows, since I’d like to be able to place the order asap after we close on the house. Even if we just did the bedrooms, that would cover the front of the house — all 4 windows there are bedrooms. But Cari’s right, we should probably do the whole house at once.
The sod is second tier, meaning we don’t have to purchase it immediately. And remember the front yard will be sodded already so from the street things will look fine. But we do plan to lay down sod in the back in time for it to take root before summer ends.
Also, on paint, do yourself a favor and stick to quality. Benjamin Moore, all the way. Forget the home depot stuff.
sarah, when i bought my house, i called 3 day blinds and it was inexpensive and they were indeed fast! i even had 2 huge areas of windows along the front and back of the house where i had to get the vertical ones (the ones that are wide and slide open…i know you know what i am talking about. anyway i was very pleased with them
You will need a ladder sooner than you thought. you will also need a variety of additional lawn-care equipment.
We already have a ladder, courtesy of the wedding’s best man.
Thanks for the blinds suggestions — I’ll check out Blinds Galore and 3 Day Blinds.
One of the things I have that I like the most is a couple of lawn chairs I got at walmart. They’re folding, cost about $10 apiece, include drink-holders, don’t mind rain, and are very comfortable. We sit in them all the time out in the yard.
Looks like you have a good list Sarah. I don’t remember if you have a covered patio, but having a ceiling fan out on our patio was a big must for us. Then again, we have a 4-year old who loves to play outside. But, it’s been great when we have company over and are grilling. I also agree on moving the sod and blinds up on the list. I have a similar list but with my 1-year, 2-year and 5-year tiers. 🙂 Somethings I am taking my time with just to make sure I get what I really want.
WTF? Grill needs to be moved up to First Tier! How else are you going to enjoy your new backyard…
levelor blinds from lowes were the best I could find. Cut to fit at the store, and they close tightly. No sagging. Nice finish. About 50-75$ per window.
honda lawn mover