Changing it Up

Lately, I have been reading all these articles/books to help make your living area more functional.  

So Friday night while watching the Shark Tank (oh how I love this show) with the help of my husband, we rearraged our living room.  

Let me start by stating, I love our house but our living room is an interesting room because it is so big.  Over the last year, I have just grown to hate it.  Primarily because when we have people over, it is so spread out that you feel like you are yelling at people across the room. 

So when we moved in, this is how we arranged it. 

What it looked like before

Then after Friday Night...

Where the blue chair use to be we are going to place a desk there (add that to the to-do-list).  

I am hoping having our computer in a more convenient location will make our lives easier.  

Yeah for making our house more functional!

Peeling a Pineapple.... Can it be done?

I love pineapple!

I hate peeling pineapples because it is so messy and just a pain.

I purchased a pineapple peeler on Clearance at Bed Bath and Beyond.

5.99 with 20% coupon with gift card= $0 spent

So I picked up a pineapple at Costco last week and 

decided I would peel it for my fruit this week for lunch. 

Cut cut off the top of the pineapple and then place the device with the whole over where the center core of the pineapple is.

You then put pressure downward while turning the nob. 

At first I just put light pressure but I would recommend medium to hard pressure.  

You then pull the hand out and the pineapples comes with it.  

Inside of the pineapple- pretty cool!

You can see that it made a little mess because of the juice but was not nearly as messy as doing it the old fashion way. 

The you just pull the pineapple of the device.

Awesome!!!

Empire Today.... no no no!

As you might remember, I made a list of things that I wanted to get accomplished around the house this year. 

So far I was able to check off a couple things:

1) Installing flooring for attic

2) Move bush out front

3) Install Storm Door

Number 4 on my list is Carpet for the downstairs.

See picture below... 

Down stairs is comprised of two rooms- family room and a spare room in the back. 

 I am going to be making the spare room into a bedroom and want to have the carpet replaced prior to doing this just because it will be easier since there is very little furniture. 

The carpet that is now in our lower level is probably the originial carpet and it is a Burbury and is coming up.  I have been putting it off for over two years now and I finally decided to bite the bullet. 

 I got a couple recommendations and so I decided to get a couple estimates. 

The first place I went to was Carpetland in Springfield. 

It was the easiest trip ever!!!

I told him what I was looking for- he pulled out three samples that ranged in the price I was looking at. 

The nice thing about the Carpetland is their pricing is all inclusive-  so for $2.99 to $2.25 a square foot- that includes the carpet, the pad, the installation- the whole thing!!  (Home depot charges you for the carpet, then the padding, and then an installation fee- no thank you!  I hate being nickled and dimed).

He arranged for someone to come out and measure Tuesday and by Thursday I had pricing estimates. 

I decided to look into a second place because I am always a firm believer of getting two pricing just to compare and also to give you leverage in negotations.  I already had priced Home Depot in my head based on what their sales rep had told me when I went into to get color samples. 

However, I knew we did not want carpet from Home Depot so...

Enter... Empire Today

I scheduled them to come Monday. 

The sales lady arrived and was very pleasant at first but it just went down hill from there.

The lady showed me the carpet samples, measured the room for me, priced it (keep in mind that it was two room getting carpeted, and I was getting one room from free- according to their deal).  Way expensive!  Like 600$ more than the rough estimate that I did in my head from Carpetland. 

When I told her this, she because very upset. 

She kept going on and on trying to get me to sign a contract, asking me to call my husband at work and get his permission (not that I ever need his permission but I was using him not being there as an excuse because I do like him to be involved in purchases for the house.)  She went on to ask my why I had her come to my house today if I was not going to sign a contract today- "Because I wanted to get a quote!"

OMG!  It was the worst experience ever and made me feel so uncomfortable.

I was so happy when she left my house- even if there pricing were better, I would still be going with the Carpetland just so I never have to deal with that woman again. 

Talk about agressive sales!!!

So coming to a Fairfax Town Home near you..... Carpet

Las Vegas Baby!!

So last week I went to Las Vegas for a medical Conference.  

This was my first time in Vegas so it was exciting and interesting.  

After spending 4 nights there I was ready to come home.  

3 nights probably would have been perfect.

Couple things I learned about Vegas:

Vegas is a party city- no arguments about that.  

Vegas is expensive- thank God my work was paying for it!!!

Vegas is a dry heat which my hair loved!

Vegas has tons of things to do!

I arrived on Wednesday afternoon prior to my friends who were also attending the conference.

So I soaked up some sun at the pool at Harrah (which I would later start calling Horrids!)

I discovered Miami Vices again- ahhhh Junior year spring break flash back. 

Harrah was a basic hotel with a price of $99 a night which was getting paid for by my work.  

It was definitely one of the low ended hotels but its location was awesome and it was also were the conference was held which made it convenient.  

Wednesday night we took it easy since everyone else did not get into late.  

We have a small bit to eat and hit the slots.  

My friend who has been to Las Vegas Multiple times took me around and showed me some of the sites at night.  

Someone dressed as Bumble Bee

Bellagio Hotel Entrance!!!

Love the glass!

Cesars Palace!

Paris anyone? 

Thursday we woke up and went to the conference all day!  8 am till 4 pm. 

Hard life.... 

We then hung out at the pool and managed to get naps in prior to going out to dinner at 

Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak &Stone Crab Restaurant. 

Most excellent!!!  

My meal which included Scallops and a Mojitio was $40 included tip!

We then shopped for a while and saw the sites again.

LV shop! 

OMG!!!

Friday we had the conference again from 8am till 1pm.

Then we headed to the pool for some much needed relaxation!

Margaritas!

 We then headed over to the Bellagio to see the Monet exhibit which was amazing.  

 15 different Monet in one room!

Picture of one of the Monet done in flowers at the Bellagio in the conservatory right when you walk in. 

Then off for a nap and over to the Venetian Hotel to meet up with some midwife friends for dinner.

We relaxed in their lovely room at the Venetian (OMG!) while drinking wine and eating a cheese plate they thankfully got for us since our dinner reservation at Enoteca Otto Pizzeria was not until 8:30 pm. Dinner was amazing!!!

 I have a mushroom pasta which OMG!!  

Cost-  Entree + 1 glass of amazing wine= $34 with tip included

We then walked around some more and saw the famous Bellagio Water Show, played some slots, and called it a night. 

Saturday again we had the conference from 8 am till 1 pm.  

One of our friends has to leave early so we ended up pooling it for a while and them meeting up with some other people for dinner at New York New York Chin Chin Cafe which again was very good.  

Dinner price $25 including tip. 

Sunday I headed home with my travel gift for my hubby in my hand...

He totally loves The HangOver!

All in all Vegas was a great trip and am glad that I did it.

That being said I checked the box and am ready to move on to a different location for my next conference.  (Oh by the way - the conference was awesome!)

And I lost $3 total from playing... not too bad!

Man's Work

Joe and I have been putting on power washing/stealing and staining our french for a while now.  

We know that we needed to do it but knew that is was going to be a long project.  

Our fence is huge because we have an end unit and our deck is bigger because we have walk down stairs.  

Not my idea of fun.

That being said Joe on Friday quickly finished his homework and spent the rest of his day off power washing.  I was not home for this so I missed all the fun- shucks!

We purchased a TROY-BILT Power Washer last fall when they were on clearance for the end of the summer.

I think this is something that we pay off considering we have needed to borrow a power washer at least 3 times since we have been in our house.

Saturday, we got up and I ended up going for a long run with Clemson while Joe went to work on Stealing/Staining.  We ended up picking a Terra Cota color because to be honest it was the only color we both liked.  We ended up getting a Semi Transparent Premium Behr Stain that the gentleman at HomeDepot stated would last for 6 years- my hope is at least 3-4.   

We thought the red would look nice with the brick house and it would also look nice with our patio red accents.

Joe worked all day on it while I planted and did other things in the yard.  By the end of the day most of the deck was done.

Sunday morning, we got up bright and early again.

Joe went to staining/stealing while I put stuff back on the deck, and planted our veggies.

It is done and I am so glad, but also it looks great!!!

Honey Do List

So I headed off to Vegas on Wednesday for a medical conference. Wahoo!

Prior to doing so I made my honey do list and left it on the counter prior to leaving. I love my hubby but he is terrible at forgetting stuff so I have found that is the best way to make sure he does what he needs to get done like putting the trash out, or getting dog food for Clemson because we will soon be out.

This way I do not have to remind him while I am busy at the conference, ie laying out by the pool :)

Soda Stream Update

You might recall a while ago I posted about a SodaStream we received for a Christmas present.  

Basically, Joe and I are using it for making seltzer water.  

We love seltzer water!!!

We were going thru so much of it that it was starting to add up.  

We love that we do not have to buy and lug home seltzer water.

This weekend our SodaStream CO2 container ran out.  

After making almost 8 1 liter bottles a week-  8 x4= 32 bottles a month

32 bottles a month x 3.5= 112 bottles!  

This is a rough estimate because some weeks we would make 6 while this week we made 12.  

112 bottles divided by 12 

(that is how many come in a pack when we use to buy them at Wegmans)

 =  9.3

9.3 x $7 (the cost of a 12 pack)=  

$65.33 (excluding sales tax)

So I headed with my CO2 container to Bed Bath and Beyond because they are actually a designated container exchange site.  I went into the store handed them my old container and a 20% coupon and the rang up a new container at $15 dollars minus the 20% = 12$ for the next 3-4 months.  

If you do not exchange the container then the cost of a new one is $35 dollars. 

So it worth exchanging. 

12 dollars compared to 65 is a big enough savings to make me a fan.

But the best is not having to lug home the big bottles.

Happy Water!!!