2 cats in a car = TMTH!

and we're moved! we sign the keys over from our aparment this afternoon and then we are officially LIVING IN A HOUSE. holy moley. it kind of hit me last night after we got the cats there. they really adjusted quickly. of course, the car ride over was fun. it's a good thing we didn't move too far or i'm not sure aiko would've made it there alive. i had both the cats in the car by myself. they both don't fit in the carrier, so kiley had the privilege of being the caged kitty, and we put aiko on top of her carrier, free to roam the car... i was under the impression that he would be too freaked out to roam, and would instead sit there quietly like a good boy... which he almost never is. boy was i wrong. two seconds into the car ride, aiko thought he'd make a run for it and jump out the front windshield. too bad for him there was a big sheet of glass there. for those of you who know my car, you know the dash below the window is a very narrow space, and you also know how big my kitty is. he barely fit and started sliding down the side by the glove box. while driving (in the snow, with no defrost i might add) i had to hold him down while i drove to the house. needless to say, it was a very fun ride.

when we did finally get to the house, the kitties headed straight for the basement. good thing too, since that's where we put their litter box. task #1 complete. kiley proceeded to walk around the basement in circles and mewed the entire time. it was a good thirty minutes of meow meow meow meow meow meow meow. nonstop repetitive chatter. i wonder what she was saying. when they finally got the courage to come upstairs, they explored every room and after about an hour they were finally all settled in and laying in the middle of the hallway under your feet like usual. i was very pleased, as i was a bit worried that because of all the chaos they would be too freaked out to function.

speaking of chaos... it sure would be nice to see the floor of our living room. since we had to move in so quickly and some of the rooms aren't quite finished yet - we had to pile everything into the living room in hopes of sorting it out later. i think the biggest part will be bryan putting his desk up in the office. once that's taken care of the boxes should dwindle down quickly.

we were able to unpack most of the kitchen. i LOVE our cabinets. we really have a lot more room than we had at the apartment, which i was worried about, and the new stove and microwave look beautiful too. i can't wait to have everyone up for the 4th of july to celebrate.

i do have more pictures we took this weekend, but since we don't have internet at the house yet, i'll have to wait to upload them when i have access to my laptop and a fast signal. there are still pictures (some of which have been updated since the first batch i posted) at lduffield.shutterfly.com (the password is still abcdefg).

another super exciting bit of news - my sister in law is having a baby! HOORAY! bryan is excited to be an uncle and i'm excited to be an aunt of a little baby again. i've been an aunt for 19 years already and i know how fun it is to spoil someone rotten and then return them to their parents. i think bryan will be a really good uncle and rebecca and peter are going to be awesome parents. i'm so flippin' excited!!

well, i think i should probably get back to work. i AM on the companies dime and all... i can't wait until we get internet run to our house. these past couple of days being cut off from everything has been nice, but i'm no fool and i know what a technology-crazed person i am. it will be good to get back into the groove of things.

adios!

day 4, or is this 5?

just as suspected, bryan hated the curtains. i think he's learning to give in a little bit on the things that don't really matter a whole lot though, and the curtains are here to stay. we've gotten a lot of work done in the last day and a half. all three bedrooms are painted now plus the hallway and all the closets. the dumpster should be arriving today so we can start cleaning stuff out. that'll make it much easier to clean the floors enough to start laying the wood flooring in the next day or two. the carpet guy comes on friday, so i have a feeling its going to be a couple of late nights in the next few days. we were there until 1230 or so last night and today i'm exhausted. i might try to sneak in a nap between picking up bryans clothes at the apartment and heading over to the house after work. i just need a nice 30 minute power nap and i'll be ready to go.

work has been really slow today for some reason. i have work to do, but its nothing really pressing that has to be taken care of right this minute. and frankly, i just don't feel like doing anything. i'm so burnt out from yesterday i'm finding eyelids droop as i sit at the computer. i've tried caffiene and nothing is helping.

in other news, i have developed quite a crush on my boyfriend david cook on american idol. i have previously been proud to declare that i have never voted on american idol in the past... it's never really been my thing. this year for some reason (i blame it on the tivo) i've made it my goal to watch every episode for this season. i must admit, i plan on voting my little heart out tonight for david cook. wish us luck.

day 3...

so it's day 3 of the house renovation and i'm feeling a bit sore. i know if I'M feeling sore, the guys must be dying. either that or i'm a really big wuss. let's go with that. so far, we've accomplished the following things, give or take a few:

drywalled the closet out of existence
flipped the basement stairs around
ran the electrical for the lights
painted the guest bedroom and main bedroom
cut 1/2 of the interior bathroom wall out
ripped up the kitchen flooring
removed all the cabinets
did something or other with the kitchen plumbing
a million other little things that i probably wasn't a part of

i must say, bryan and his dad are hard workers. they're pulling 16 hour days and are happy to do so. i'm just happy i don't have to pay them to work. life is a lot easier when you're married to a do it yourself kinda guy.

i've managed to do some fun stuff. i picked out a deep purple for one of the accent walls in the bedroom. i also found some really pretty curtains for the living room:





bryan has yet to see them, and i'm sure he'll hate them and i'll hear about it for the next 5 years of my life but i love them and hearing about it will be well worth it. i also got some pretty curtains for the bedroom but i couldn't find a picture of those, so you'll have to use your imagination.

we still have quite a lot to accomplish and only about 2 weeks to do so. they were able to re-rent our apartment, and now we have to be out by the 24th. that means not only do we have to make the house move in ready and kitty proof -we also have to pack up and clean our apartment. talk about a stressful couple of weeks.

so much to do...

the days are going to go by more quickly now. bryans dad comes up tomorrow to help us work on the house. we were hoping to have more done by this point, but i think we're starting to realize how the smallest tasks can take a lot longer than planned. it took us nearly 2 hours last night to put in a box for the ceiling fan. let me clarify; when i say we, i mean bryan. i was just the helper. once mr. p is up here, i think the most helpful thing i can do is stay out of the way, cook, and begin to pack up the apartment. we need to be out by march 30th so they can hopefully re-rent our apartment early. that doesn't leave us with a lot of free time. i can't wait until the month is over, the house is almost complete, and we can move in. i've been a lot happier lately. i don't know if it has to do with being constantly busy with the house, or if its finding a friend i feel like i've known for a long time. its good to have a girlfriend to hang out with. i think its a mixture of all that plus the feeling of spring being right around the corner. snow is depressing after awhile.

and with that... the american idol results show is on... GO DAVID COOK!

6 inches is kids stuff

this is how my day started:

745am - i realize the heater on my car isn't working as i'm driving into work. i turn the fan all the way up. nothing happens.

755am - i get to mcdonalds to order a couple of breakfast sandwiches for me and my buddy. i get to work 5 minutes later and realize they gave me the wrong stuff. i was really looking forward to that sausage biscuit too. fuck.

8am - i try and walk into work through our parking lot that resembles a war zone right now. i nearly fall and hurt my side strainging to stay upright.

815am - i can't do anything until an error in our software program gets fixed.

9am - i realized i have to re-process every invoice i did yesterday due to an error in our program. roughly 1000 invoices. i'm not a happy girl.

12pm - my dad decides he's going to take himself to the doctor in the snow and ice, even though he can hardly walk on his own. there's nothing like being 400 miles away and feeling completely helpless.

1230pm - i get ahold of my oldest sister to try and get her to drive him. i never realized how 6 inches of snow in st. louis can simulate the end of the world. what do we have up here in madison? OH THATS RIGHT. 85 inches. i feel really bad for you if you think you can't get out of your driveway because of 6 inches. perhaps you should invest in a snow shovel.

1235pm - i start to think everyone who thinks praying for something will make it happen or not happen needs to get their head evaluated.

235pm - i give up and open my box of thin mints. 3 down, 17 more to go.

in any case, i'm looking forward to picking up some more stuff for the house tonight. our countertop is in, and we're planning on running over to American to pick up our stove. i can't believe how good the house is going to look when we're all done. we realized the other day after taking out the old cabinets, that they desperately need to be replaced. we picked out some beautiful cinnamon maple cabinets that are going to look amazing with our brazillian cherry wood floor. buying a fixer upper is the best thing we could've possibly done.

i can't wait for summer.