I forgot to mention yesterday—
Brian was interviewed by the Triangle Business Journal about our neighborhood and house-buying process. Evidently they're doing a story on Wendy, the sales agent in the sales office, and she asked us if it was OK to give out Brian's name for an interview. The reporter called last night and Brian talked to her for about 10 minutes. I'm hopeful that the story will be online (as we don't get TBJ), so if you see it before we do, let us know!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Won't you be...my neighbor?
Yep, we actually have neighbors now...well, sorta. The people who were building a house at the end of the street moved in today. It's pretty cool to be able to actually see an occupied house from our driveway. The people across the cul-de-sac from us should be moving in sometime in the next week or two--they put their mailbox up today.
Also, to continue Centex's uberness, Chris stopped by yesterday to check on us and make sure we were problem free (we are!) and he also gave us a handy dandy (super nice) toolkit. It's really super.
We haven't done too much new with the house in the past week, except we did put an overhead light up in our guest bathroom and we put a touchlight up in the storage room under the stairs. We also got our $80 billion Pottery Barn key and mail rack (you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find one of those!!). We got the one in the middle with the three hooks:
http://www.potterybarn.com/pbimgs/ab/images/p2/products/200824/0005/img70l.jpg
It's pretty cool, but it was ridiculous because the "mounting bar" is sold separately and they're really vague about that important point when you order it; so we ended up having to make two separate orders and pay shipping twice (Pottery Barn shipping, btw, is outrageous). If we had any other decent choices for the mail thing, there's no way I would have bought it, but we looked everywhere and there's just no good mail/key combo that keeps your keys far enough away from the wall that they won't scratch the wall up. Regardless, it's done and it looks pretty!
Other than that, it's been pretty quiet on the house front because I was gone all weekend with Shan and Wes for Deanna's wedding in Nashville. We had the BEST time. It was great to spend time with the two of them and Deanna looked gorgeous! We just couldn't believe that it had been 10 years since we'd seen her (even though we've e-mailed probably once a week for ten years). It was a super weekend.
Also, my other super best friend Mandy had her baby (little Ally Lane) last Thursday. I haven't seen any pictures yet (Mandy's been kinda busy!), but, from what I hear, she's absolutely gorgeous. I'll try to get a picture up when Mandy sends me one! :-)
This weekend, we're staying home and I plan to do some more unpacking (it never ends!!!)
Also, to continue Centex's uberness, Chris stopped by yesterday to check on us and make sure we were problem free (we are!) and he also gave us a handy dandy (super nice) toolkit. It's really super.
We haven't done too much new with the house in the past week, except we did put an overhead light up in our guest bathroom and we put a touchlight up in the storage room under the stairs. We also got our $80 billion Pottery Barn key and mail rack (you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find one of those!!). We got the one in the middle with the three hooks:
http://www.potterybarn.com/pbimgs/ab/images/p2/products/200824/0005/img70l.jpg
It's pretty cool, but it was ridiculous because the "mounting bar" is sold separately and they're really vague about that important point when you order it; so we ended up having to make two separate orders and pay shipping twice (Pottery Barn shipping, btw, is outrageous). If we had any other decent choices for the mail thing, there's no way I would have bought it, but we looked everywhere and there's just no good mail/key combo that keeps your keys far enough away from the wall that they won't scratch the wall up. Regardless, it's done and it looks pretty!
Other than that, it's been pretty quiet on the house front because I was gone all weekend with Shan and Wes for Deanna's wedding in Nashville. We had the BEST time. It was great to spend time with the two of them and Deanna looked gorgeous! We just couldn't believe that it had been 10 years since we'd seen her (even though we've e-mailed probably once a week for ten years). It was a super weekend.
Also, my other super best friend Mandy had her baby (little Ally Lane) last Thursday. I haven't seen any pictures yet (Mandy's been kinda busy!), but, from what I hear, she's absolutely gorgeous. I'll try to get a picture up when Mandy sends me one! :-)
This weekend, we're staying home and I plan to do some more unpacking (it never ends!!!)
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
I really haven't forgotten about y'all
I swear!
We've been so insanely busy with house stuff, weekend trips, work, and everything under the sun! Tonight we put up a ceiling fan in our living room. It looks good...
...now.
After three trips to Lowe's.
God bless us--we really should have a reality TV show. It's pretty funny.
First, Brian went to pick up the fan and a light for our guest bathroom. After he got it home, he commenced MISSION FAN INSTALL!
First it was the mounting bracket...(as Brian would say) THIS <> SCREW WON'T GO IN! So after stripping the first screw, he took off to Lowe's (again) to buy some more screws.
Came home and then immediately preceded to strip 2 more. It was a major bitch to get the stripped screws out of the bracket. At that point, the screws were winning. We were down to our last one.
So, Brian went back to Lowe's (again, again) and got a friendly employee to help him out. This guy showed him this tool-thingy to help relax the threads on the screw. It worked like a charm!
Mounting bracket conquered.
So we ate dinner...at 9:15 p.m.
After "it's not delivery, it's Digiorno" we went back to fan work. It took a lot of trial and error (the directions seriously sucked!!), but we got it done...
...at 11:15 p.m.
Hit the switches and everything looked good.
Until...
we put the fan on high and something starts making a horrible noise. After investigating, we discovered that one of the blades was missing a screw.
Oops.
After averting that crisis (which involved taking down the light kit...and then putting it back up...), we tried again and VOILA, we have five fantastic rotating blades and two compact fluorescent lights.
All is well.
Last weekend (6/6) we got all our furniture. However, our headboard, dining room table, and one of the cushions on the couch were messed up. Oh, and they didn't give us support rails for the bed. So Brian took a field trip to pick some rails up--fortunately, they had some and we were able to get our bed set up.
Because of the damaged pieces, I worked from home last Thursday and we got our replacements, which look awesome. I'll take some pictures soon and get them posted. (I also need to post pics of our blinds!)
We also have grass growing in our back and side yards and the house next door to ours is framed (I was kinda digging the empty lot, but I guess there's nothing we can do about that!).
The weekend of 6/6-6/7 was the Jimmy Buffett concert, which freaking rocked.
Last weekend we went to Morehead City to visit my parents.
This weekend I'm going (and when I say going, I mean driving) to Nashville with Shannon and Wesley for Deanna's wedding.
It's unreal how much we've had going on! More updates are forthcoming...I promise!
We've been so insanely busy with house stuff, weekend trips, work, and everything under the sun! Tonight we put up a ceiling fan in our living room. It looks good...
...now.
After three trips to Lowe's.
God bless us--we really should have a reality TV show. It's pretty funny.
First, Brian went to pick up the fan and a light for our guest bathroom. After he got it home, he commenced MISSION FAN INSTALL!
First it was the mounting bracket...(as Brian would say) THIS <
Came home and then immediately preceded to strip 2 more. It was a major bitch to get the stripped screws out of the bracket. At that point, the screws were winning. We were down to our last one.
So, Brian went back to Lowe's (again, again) and got a friendly employee to help him out. This guy showed him this tool-thingy to help relax the threads on the screw. It worked like a charm!
Mounting bracket conquered.
So we ate dinner...at 9:15 p.m.
After "it's not delivery, it's Digiorno" we went back to fan work. It took a lot of trial and error (the directions seriously sucked!!), but we got it done...
...at 11:15 p.m.
Hit the switches and everything looked good.
Until...
we put the fan on high and something starts making a horrible noise. After investigating, we discovered that one of the blades was missing a screw.
Oops.
After averting that crisis (which involved taking down the light kit...and then putting it back up...), we tried again and VOILA, we have five fantastic rotating blades and two compact fluorescent lights.
All is well.
Last weekend (6/6) we got all our furniture. However, our headboard, dining room table, and one of the cushions on the couch were messed up. Oh, and they didn't give us support rails for the bed. So Brian took a field trip to pick some rails up--fortunately, they had some and we were able to get our bed set up.
Because of the damaged pieces, I worked from home last Thursday and we got our replacements, which look awesome. I'll take some pictures soon and get them posted. (I also need to post pics of our blinds!)
We also have grass growing in our back and side yards and the house next door to ours is framed (I was kinda digging the empty lot, but I guess there's nothing we can do about that!).
The weekend of 6/6-6/7 was the Jimmy Buffett concert, which freaking rocked.
Last weekend we went to Morehead City to visit my parents.
This weekend I'm going (and when I say going, I mean driving) to Nashville with Shannon and Wesley for Deanna's wedding.
It's unreal how much we've had going on! More updates are forthcoming...I promise!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
LeBlancs - 1; Wake County - 0
Yes indeedy! We appealed the property value of my car because of the high mileage (more than 130K on an '01 Civic). I just looked online and our appeal was granted. Our tax went from $107.59 to $82.51. I'm pretty pleased with the savings--a 23% decrease! If you have a high mileage vehicle, be sure to appeal the value when you get your bill!
We also got a copy of our house deed from Laura M. Riddick, who, conveniently, granted us our marriage license. She must be a busy lady!
OH! And, our newspaper came today!!
Happy day!
We also got a copy of our house deed from Laura M. Riddick, who, conveniently, granted us our marriage license. She must be a busy lady!
OH! And, our newspaper came today!!
Happy day!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
"Bubbled In" Aux Etats Unis
(I couldn't think of a better subject.)
Some of y'all know that I am a tutor with the Literacy Council of Wake County (http://www.wakeliteracy.org/). This is a really cool organization that offers free services to adults who want to learn to read and speak English. There are two main categories of adults who seek services at the LCWC: Adult Basic Education and English as a Second Language. ABE students are native English speakers who never learned (or have limited education in) English reading and writing. The ESL program is pretty explanatory. :-)
I meet once week for two hours with a lady who moved to the United States five years ago with her family (husband, son, and daughter). Her husband is an international accountant and both of her kids are in school. The three of them are all fluent in English, but my student is not. She works here, but at her job she only speaks Spanish and gets little practice at home. It's very frustrating for her because her kids can speak English to each other and she doesn't know what they're saying. Also, her family members get frustrated with her in English and find it easier just to speak Spanish so that they can communicate more efficiently. It's a neverending cycle.
Anyway, we've been meeting since November and she's really doing fantastic. She was a lawyer in Colombia and she does very well in written English, but struggles with pronunciation and conversation (like many second-language learners). So, anyway, today, all we did was sit and talk for her to get practice. We mainly talked about Colombia and we went to two Colombian news Web sites and she explained to me about the news stories. (As an added bonus, I'm getting pretty good at reading Spanish.)
As I was driving home from the library, it dawned on me how insulated we are in America. I would have had no idea if I hadn't seen it today, but there are horrible floods in parts of Colombia right now. There were pictures of houses covered up to the roof. More than 100,000 people are homeless and there are major problems with disease and clean water. It's really, really sad. (If you're interested, I found a story buried on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/05/28/colombia.floods/).
As an apt juxtaposition to America's insulation, the front page of the Colombian newspaper is a story about Barack Obama locking up the democratic nomination.
I think I'm going to make it a point to check out some more international news sites going forward... I occasionally read some Canadian stuff and Le Monde from France, but I think I'll branch out :-)
Some of y'all know that I am a tutor with the Literacy Council of Wake County (http://www.wakeliteracy.org/). This is a really cool organization that offers free services to adults who want to learn to read and speak English. There are two main categories of adults who seek services at the LCWC: Adult Basic Education and English as a Second Language. ABE students are native English speakers who never learned (or have limited education in) English reading and writing. The ESL program is pretty explanatory. :-)
I meet once week for two hours with a lady who moved to the United States five years ago with her family (husband, son, and daughter). Her husband is an international accountant and both of her kids are in school. The three of them are all fluent in English, but my student is not. She works here, but at her job she only speaks Spanish and gets little practice at home. It's very frustrating for her because her kids can speak English to each other and she doesn't know what they're saying. Also, her family members get frustrated with her in English and find it easier just to speak Spanish so that they can communicate more efficiently. It's a neverending cycle.
Anyway, we've been meeting since November and she's really doing fantastic. She was a lawyer in Colombia and she does very well in written English, but struggles with pronunciation and conversation (like many second-language learners). So, anyway, today, all we did was sit and talk for her to get practice. We mainly talked about Colombia and we went to two Colombian news Web sites and she explained to me about the news stories. (As an added bonus, I'm getting pretty good at reading Spanish.)
As I was driving home from the library, it dawned on me how insulated we are in America. I would have had no idea if I hadn't seen it today, but there are horrible floods in parts of Colombia right now. There were pictures of houses covered up to the roof. More than 100,000 people are homeless and there are major problems with disease and clean water. It's really, really sad. (If you're interested, I found a story buried on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/05/28/colombia.floods/).
As an apt juxtaposition to America's insulation, the front page of the Colombian newspaper is a story about Barack Obama locking up the democratic nomination.
I think I'm going to make it a point to check out some more international news sites going forward... I occasionally read some Canadian stuff and Le Monde from France, but I think I'll branch out :-)
Monday, June 2, 2008
Brian is an ice cream connoisseur
I highly recommend homemade ice cream made with Splenda!!
Actually, it's more like gelato, but it's still the heat! (I mean, the freeze!)
Actually, it's more like gelato, but it's still the heat! (I mean, the freeze!)
The First Supper!
Tonight we cooked our first dinner Chez Nouveau LeBlanc! We blackened up some chicken tenders and put them over a yummy Caesar salad. It was very good; we totally love our kitchen!
And, now, for dessert, Brian is making some chocolate ice cream in the ice cream maker that Kevin gave him for Christmas. We're using Splenda, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.
I spent the day doing more unpacking and Brian spent the day at work. I have to go back tomorrow! :-(
Still no newspaper and the mail lady forgot us today, which sucks because we had our flag up!
And, now, for dessert, Brian is making some chocolate ice cream in the ice cream maker that Kevin gave him for Christmas. We're using Splenda, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.
I spent the day doing more unpacking and Brian spent the day at work. I have to go back tomorrow! :-(
Still no newspaper and the mail lady forgot us today, which sucks because we had our flag up!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Today was the shortest day ever!
OK, seriously, I must have been making up for yesterday because I slept like a rock last night and didn't get up until NOON! It was fantastic; our bedroom stays nice and cool and is SOOOO dark at night. The streetlights out here are low and not too bright, so there is very little light pollution. Before we went to sleep last night, we finished up the kitchen and it looks really awesome! It's amazing how much more counter space we have now!
Because the day was half over by the time we woke up, we pretty much went straight to the apartment to finish up the cleaning over there. It took a little while, but at least it's done! We turned in our keys; so we are now officially done with apartments!!
I even have a FreeCycler coming out tomorrow to pick up the boxes that we've unpacked so far.
Because the day was half over by the time we woke up, we pretty much went straight to the apartment to finish up the cleaning over there. It took a little while, but at least it's done! We turned in our keys; so we are now officially done with apartments!!
I even have a FreeCycler coming out tomorrow to pick up the boxes that we've unpacked so far.
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