Gettin' Away

With the new home looming in the near future, we really wanted to take a couple of days to get away, visit with friends, do some caching and relaxing. We are heading out this afternoon to grab some caches in the Lansing Area with our friend Jim (Boomerbear), and have dinner at our favorite resturant, Cheddar's (it's the only one left in the State). We'll then be traveling over to the East side of the State on Saturday and Sunday. There we plan to do more caching and hanging out with our friend Tim (Rattrak), as he shows us some new geocaches in the area. We'll let the girls swim in the hotel pool and just kick back for a few days, knowing that we have some serious work ahead of us!

I told Mike that I wanted to hit the magic # 4,000th Geocache by my birthday (Monday) and he said that he was happy to comply! We'll probably go over that number by then but I know that once we get started on the moving project, caching is going to take a back seat. Luckily, we are going on vacation in mid-April with our friends Deane and Linda (DeRock & The Psychic Cacher), which should come at a great time for us. We'll really be needing a break by then!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Merging the Old with the New

As my mind races with all that needs to be done with the new house, I have been trying to figure out how to incorporate a lot of the items that are in our current home with the future one. I DO NOT want it to become a replica of what we have now. We obviously don't have the funds to just start all over from scratch and that would be wasteful anyway. With that in mind, Mike and I have been working hard to try to take inventory of our furniture and find a way to make it all work, while investing in some new pieces as well.

I love shopping so this should be fun!

The majority of our cash will go towards new flooring. It will definitely be our biggest up front expense, followed closely by the kitchen. We still have not made a decision as to what we want to do there. It seems that the home originally had some pretty quality cabinetry but it was painted over several times and ruined (well, not ruined, but really messed up!) when past owners put the handles right in the center of the doors. We were thinking about just getting new doors and hardware but have learned that we might be better off just starting over, getting all new cabinets, and rearranging it differently for the same price. Since the kitchen alone holds so much of a homes value, this is a big decision for us. Funny, since it's the one place in my house I try to avoid! :)

With any luck we will be able to close in the next 2 weeks and get started on this bad boy! We did more packing this weekend and went "shopping" for ideas at Lowe's-for 3 HOURS!-and didn't buy one single thing! I was really proud of us for that. There will be plenty of trips to the store to spend our precious savings in the weeks and months to come. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted as things progress!

Inside

Bedroom #4 N.W. Corner

Bedroom #3 N.E. Corner

Master Bedroom Makeup/Sink Area and M.Bath

Another view of M. Bedroom with 2 big closets. (It also has a door to walk out onto the upper deck and you can see the Thornapple River through the trees)

Main 2nd Floor Bath-needs serious updating! :)

Living Room with a good perspective on it's size!

Family Room with Fireplace and Wet-bar

Kitchen (I'm standing in the eating area)

Looking into the Kitchen from the Dining Room

Dining Room

Double doors and Foyer area

I'm going to post a few of the inside pics of the home. All the walls will need cleaning and paint, all the flooring is being replaced, a new counter in the kitchen as well as many fixtures and little things here and there. The home has been winterized so that's why you'll see tape in the bathrooms and such. The bathrooms will all have to be remodeled (maybe not the main floor one) too at some point but it's not our first priority.

Not pictured on the first floor are the study, main floor laundry, bathroom, pantry, eating area and main part of the foyer. The second floor Bedroom #2 has some drywall issues and a busted door and it also has it's own bath. That will be the twins new room. Upstairs has a nice window in the hallway that lets in lots of natural light and a decent linen closet as well.

It also has an unfinished basement that is completely open and untouched. Maybe in a year or two we will start working on that-so many possibilities!

We just can't wait to get started!