Day 212 – 214: Catching Up (again) with Photos – Lots of Packing, Moving and Hardwood Fun!

So Thursday (AKA work-from-home day) went well. I (almost) got caught up on work. Instead of working out during lunch I packed and loaded the car to the brim. I know – I can’t help it – I’m feeling behind and that feeling makes me queasy! After work I made pita pizzas and hit the gym for a quick 3.5 mile walk, then ran upstairs, grabbed Reuben and the pizzas and we headed to the house to meet Austin! He had the oven ready so we popped in the pizzas, set a timer and unpacked the car! We got everything in it’s new place, ate and headed back home – woo! Great day! I ended up at 1,699 calories, 256 carbs and 34 fat grams – here’s what I ate!

Friday was pretty hectic at work – and instead of working out during lunch I had a much-needed and much-enjoyed lunch with my girls! (M & Stacy) We went to Outback – yummy salmon and a baked potato – fab! It upset my stomach though. Boo. Had to go straight home from work instead of the gym… once I got here there was no going back – I was sucked into packing, packing, packing. Austin was feeling the bug too (or perhaps he was finally feeling my kicks in his ass) and he packed a bunch too – then we headed out at 8 p.m. for Home Depot for a bunch of lame stuff. We got there and got to work on getting a blower, hedge clippers, a weed eater, a vacuum cleaner, 2 hoses, 2 hose boxes, a lawn mower and an extension cord. We were barely halfway through when the store closed – WHAT?!! We start racing around trying to get the rest of the stuff and had a hard time in the vacuum cleaner section. We finally buy one at random (i.e. one not on my list of ones I researched; figured we might just have to take advantage of the 30-day return policy) and head to the front. We’re checking out (yes, the power is off and they’re having to pry the doors open to let you out) and the guys like, “Wow kids, you got everything but a lawnmower.” We’re like yeah… we ran out of time. He’s like, “oh no – let’s go get one now!” So he has the girl put our stuff ‘on hold’ then we run over and he very helpfully walks us through all the brands and talks it out with Austin and we leave with a cute red Toro hehe... all I could think of was Bring it On! We check out, they load up the car (by the way – our biggest car is my PT cruiser hehe – but I can make that thing WORK – the seats aren’t even in it!), shake our hands (so nice!) and tell us to come back! We tell them we WILL – great experience! Afterwards we head to Wal-Mart for a few things we didn’t have time to get (hoses, hose boxes, gas container, hose nozzle, etc.) and check out lawn furniture – then it’s time to go back to the house to unload then back home to SLEEP! Wonderful, productive day – and now Austin has tons of shiny new toys! I ended the day exhausted at 1,529 calories, 196 carbs and 27 fat grams! Here’s what I ate!

Austin's New Toys!


My New Toy!



Saturday Austin insisted I sleep in so he left at 7 a.m. to meet the hardwood installers at the house. I slept in “as long as I needed to” which ended up being 9:30 a.m. I got up, had a breakfast burrito and got to work loading up what we packed last night, and packing more. I finally headed up to the house sans Reuben – I couldn’t wait to see the floors! When I got there it was so exciting! The yard was full of machines and vans and wood and people – they had a 6-man crew there working quickly getting those floors IN! Austin had put together all of his toys and started on yard work. I got out the cleaning supplies, the chicken/white bean chili and diet pepsis ready to work! I headed upstairs and Austin helped me put together the vacuum cleaner (he did it; I watched and chatted). Then I vacuumed the entire upstairs, used an attachment for the stairs and all the baseboards and fans. I wiped down all of the mirrors, cleaned both bathrooms, cleaned all windows, etc. It took forever - but I KNOW it’s super clean – I’ve never seen so much nasty come out of a vacuum cleaner (and the place was professionally cleaned – you could tell – but still – this Bissell is AMAZING!!!) When I got done Austin had finished mowing, edging and clipping the hedges, and the guys were wrapping up the hardwoods – they look great!! We were worried – match jobs don’t always turn out right. But this one sure looked great and we’d highly recommend Emperial Hardwoods!! They were courteous, clean and quick – they even helped us pack up the PT with debri (we didn’t want to pay the $250 charge) and gave us gloves! Haha So at 7 p.m. we headed back home – we needed to get the debri out of my car, go buy boxes and packing paper and get ready to go have a few drinks at Hudson Grill with Mon and Andy. Well… we drive up to the 4th floor trash shoot, open the door and VOILA – a room full of broken down boxes with three tidy Pottery Barn bags of packing paper – SCORE! We took out there stuff, threw in our stuff and raced down the hallway to get showers. We finally got to Hudson at 9 or so but it was so fun to see them and catch up and Lauren and a few others were there – blast! I had a high day (I mean really – could alcohol have more calories and add up more quickly?) but it was worth it as always – great night!! I ended the day at 1,956 calories, 226 carbs and 27 fat grams. Here’s what I ate.

Our Day in Pictures!

This is how I pack... hehe


The wood is in and ready to go!


Yay! Laminate and carpet are gone!


An aerial shot. hehe

Living Room: BEFORE


Living Room: DURING

Living Room: AFTER!!!

Dining Room: BEFORE

Dining Room: DURING

Dining Room: AFTER!!!!

Den: BEFORE


Den: DURING


Den: DURING

Den: AFTER!!!

Shot towards whole kitchen!

Pretty trees are coming in!

We took this picture from the master bathroom - I just think the backyard is so pretty!

That's it so far you guys! It's going so well - we're VERY excited!! Just can't wait for the big move with movers Saturday - woo!!! I must go do my monthly assessment and April goals now! Eek!