Wednesday, June 29, 2011

All unpacked!

We love the new house and the feeling of being home. We love the already-painted decor, since it matches our style and the things we already have. I especially love the kitchen, because of the beautiful purple combination.

Now that the house is all unpacked and I still don't have a job, I've decided to focus on some things that I've wanted to get done but thought I had more important things to do.

So, one of the first things was to figure out how to actually use our new Nikon D90 and what all the fancy buttons are meant to do. I now can say with confidence that I love our camera, it's amazing! Some of the first pictures I took, with fancy settings, was the inside of the house.

This is the front of the house.

A very inviting front door, don't you think?

The entry way.

The entry way, from the living room.

The kitchen, see the purple!

The living room from the back sliding door.

The hallway to the bedrooms.

The hallway.

Laundry space.

My office.

Alex's office, did you notice the monster truck wallpaper?
He loves it...

Second bathroom.

Entrance to the master bedroom.

Another view of the master bedroom.

Master bathroom.

Stairs leading down to unfinished basement.

The unfinished basement
Storage and our new workout room... AWESOME!


The deck leading to the backyard.
There is an assisted living community behind us, they seem to be pretty quiet, no crazy parties yet... I wonder if they have a shuffle board?

Part of the backyard, just needs a little TLC.

The garage.

I'm glad I have had the time to actually read the full manual and get to know all about our camera, and plan on using the camera more often.

I didn't want to upload pictures with out having the house all settled, so uploading the pictures is a sense of full accomplishment, that we're now living in Colorado.

Amber D.

Monday, June 20, 2011

A day of days

I hit a wall today. I feel I've had pretty good luck in finding jobs to apply for, just no calls for interviews yet, and I had a hard time with that today. Alex was lovely enough to bring me store bought flowers, which I love. Oh, and he bought me Maple Nut Goodies, which, again, are my favorite! To say the least, he brought my mood right back up.

I made chicken with artichokes tonight, and the artichokes were delicious. I never had fresh artichokes before until I had them for my birthday dinner that Steph Martin made for me, and now I think about them all the time. Since I don't have a job and there's no grocery store like WinCo, I use the weekly ads from the grocery store and make our weekly meals around them, and artichokes were 2 for $3. Dinner tastes even better when you get a deal.

So all in all, even though the day got a little rough at the end, between dinner and Alex, my night came right back up. Even Wilson found a little patch of sunshine to finish the day out.

Friday, June 17, 2011

House found!

Well I'm excited to report that we found a house! No, it wasn't the one that I lost sleep over. That one ended up already having an application on, and the open house was for back up applicants... I was perturbed by this... so basically we didn't even have a chance before we walked in the door. Plus the young lady, who either was, just showing it or it was her house, wasn't very nice in the first place, so all for the best.

The house is located in Loveland, and is only about eight miles away from Fort Collins, so a good "in between" house. A little backyard for the dogs, enough to stretch their legs and go potty. We'll just need to walk them often, which the apartments have prepared us for.

It has nice vaulted ceilings in the living room and master bedroom. There is an awesome monster truck border in one of the spare bedrooms, so that will be Alex's office. It needs some paint, but the carpet is in pretty good condition, along with the house, considering that three young men were living in the house. It has a nice large unfinished basement, which Alex is excited to put a pool table down there. There's a large deck in the back, perfect for Norman to stand on and look into the surrounding area, which is our neighbors yard and the retirement community behind us. I'm sure the retirement home will appreciate that...

We start moving our stuff in tomorrow - again. We're hoping to have everything in the new house this weekend. I'll paint later, after I get a job...

Well, onward we go!

Amber D.

Friday, June 10, 2011

A night of sleeplessness

Well it's about 11:30 pm here in Loveland, and I just can't get to sleep. I've got a lot on my mind, and feel like it's the night before Christmas. Alex and I are going to look at a house in Fort Collins around 9 o'clock tomorrow morning, and I'm worried we won't get it. Finding a house in Fort Collins is appearing to be a difficult task at this time. It's definitely a renters market here, so that leaves us with little negotiating power, if any at all. This is difficult, since we just rented our house out in Boise, and I would say our tenant had a pretty smooth deal; well, thanks to Tammi, our property manager. The thing about Fort Collin houses is that we either don't like the location the house is in, it's not nice on the inside, they don't take dogs or they won't allow Norman, since apparently Great Danes are considered a restricted breed if the owner so chooses, or the house is four bedrooms, three baths and is $1600 a month. So we want a nice house on the outside and decent on the inside, at least the same quality as our Boise home, a fenced yard, they take two dogs that has a refundable pet deposit, around 2 - 3 bedrooms, for about $1200 - $1400, and we think we found this house.

We drove by tonight and really liked the outside, and the inside pictures looked good as well. They are having an open house tomorrow, so we're planning on being there sharply at 9 am, which is a task in itself for me to be somewhere on time. The thing is, I can be all stomach-in-knots tonight and the moment I walk through that door, my hopes could come crashing down. I feel confident about the house, but just afraid it'll already be spoken for by the time we are there. I know right?! Seriously it's just a house... it just would be nice to have one thing sorted out, because the apartment living is fine, just totally different from living in the house.

I'm missing Boise like crazy, especially my friends. I miss the atmosphere, the mountains that surround Boise, the weather, the close proximity to everything, the ability to get non-dairy sour cream easily (yeah, that really is an issue), my job, my family, and again, my friends. It being the first two weeks, the feelings are really intense, and I'm getting really down about it. I do enjoy Colorado so far. The food is good, the Fort Collins downtown scene is bustling, the clouds are amazing, the summer night thunderstorms (you were right Lindsey), being able to share this experience with Alex, and the ever so slightly summer breeze is enjoyable. The only reason Colorado is slightly less enjoyable is due to me missing Boise so much, and with the elevation difference, running is a whole heck of a lot harder, and being a home maker, which has been confirmed that Alex would not benefit from in any sort of extended period of time. Dinner is never done when Alex comes home and the house is usually a mess, along with laundry not being done, but Alex is such a good sport, so much better than I have ever been. I know I can love it here, it'll just take some time for me to find my niche.

So maybe the house isn't such a big deal...


Peace out yo's!

Amber D.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

So it begins!

I just arrived to Colorado about a week ago, and it already has been a journey. Moving our Great Dane, Norman, and Rat Terrier, Wilson to an apartment has been an adjustment, especially since they've grown up in a house. Every noise they hear or person they see, they act as if it's stranger danger. We've had to ride them pretty good about not barking, so hopefully the person above us doesn't complain. Also, we have to take the outside on leashes to have them go potty. Wilson gets side-tracked so easily it takes him forever to do his business and Norman won't go potty if he's on the leash.

I'll focus on unpacking the first week and just getting adjusted, then I'll start the job hunt. Having Alex gone since March then having him come back for the wedding and honeymoon in April and May, has made me thrilled just to live in the same place as him again. Well, onward we go!

Amber D.