Winner of the book giveaway, comment #34:
MamaWestWind said...
Awesome! We love these books and have a couple more to collect yet. Thanks so much!
Thanks everyone for entering! I encourage you all to run off and read some of Reg Down's collection of children's books. They are fantastic!
Here are a few images of the house. Right now it's MUCH closer to being home. We finished up installing our oven just a little bit ago, so now there are no more excuses to not have good dinners--so I'm told. Here I'm going to run down the appliances we got because they are SO difficult to pick and someone somewhere may be looking for suggestions. Skip it if you have no interest...If nothing else you may find some inspiration to save on your next purchase because, while we spent a lot, we saved in several ways too. My original plan was actually to get a vintage stove and fridge, but while there are several great places to find them refurbished, I couldn't justify the nearly 4x usage of energy it would take a year to power them. Bummer, 'cause they would have been amazing...
Fridge--this is the one I'm a little less than thrilled about. I wanted a smaller one, and we even bought one, but it was broken when they tried to deliver, I suppose on of the risks of shopping at the Sears Outlet. Anyway, I thought it'd be a more efficient use of the space and keep us from letting things go bad if we stuck to under 20 cubic feet, but alas, when it came down to it we couldn't wait for the one we wanted to be shipped up to 4 weeks. So, one morning I packed up the kids and went fridge shopping at the local H.H.gregg. I did save a bit because of a sale and because it was an 'open box', but, having gotten the fridge from somewhere other than the outlet I feel safer. Fridges have a lot of breakable things and parts that seem irreparable...Oh, and first tip on saving money. Haggle--nearly every place selling appliances or anything for that matter can haggle. Can't hurt to try, and I saved us about $200 just by asking.
Dishwasher--Now, we got a lot more than we bargained for on this. We've had it lined up for a few weeks, but we had no idea we were getting the Cadillac of dishwashers. Being from the outlet, sure there's the nagging feeling that anything and everything might go wrong in an instant (i.e. first fridge), but the price was less than 1/4 the sale price and there is a warranty, not to mention we went for the extended plan, so we're good for at least 5 years. And, this puppy is CRAZY quiet. And, it beeps and bops and shines lights in places I didn't know possible.
Oven--So, before we even moved I knew I wanted a Jenn-Air because I'd read they make models that have a dehydrating feature. Well, Sears Outlet had one, and we went back and forth on it because even though it was 30% off retail, it was still way more than we'd anticipated, especially since I'd been considering used/vintage pieces. Well, it came down to not having time to shop around elsewhere on this one, and boy am I glad it did. The girl at the store said it didn't have the dehydration feature--she was wrong. The girl didn't mention a built in meat thermometer--wow. It's got convection, which we knew we couldn't live without, and though we've only used it to warm leftovers so far, I'm really stoked. Oh, and it's got a modular cook top and a downdraft air vent. I'm not sure about the air vent, but the modular cook top--I'd forgotten, but it's just like my Grandma's. There's a grill attachment, a griddle attachment, you can get a smooth top and coil top cooking eyes. We can't run out and buy them all right now, but Grandma has had her Jenn-Air for over 30 years. Seems like a good investment, after all, unlike our last house, we know we will likely be here a while.
So, all these things in place really makes me want to bake and fill this house with warm homey smells. And, there's a hinting air of fall lingering about that excites me. Time to get some mums and gourds, time to prepare for the fall holidays, and time to really start in with some 'school' time. That's right, eventually these kids will need some sort of instruction from me, beyond 'empty that box' or 'go feed the fish'. There is some learning going on here. Lots. In readjustment there is so much to learn about ourselves, from our new surroundings, and about what's important to us and why. We've purged so much over the last few weeks, I can see even the girls reconsidering what they have as they pull it from a box that's been sealed and forgotten. We're all doing a lot of that, and taking breaks with a fishing pole...
