Our Bedroom...it's awesome!!!

Our bedroom is done!!! We finally painted our bedroom and purchased our new TV to hang on the wall. YAY! Here are the pictures:

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

The view from the bed :) Isn't it nice???

We're Back!!!

We're back!!! Our wedding was FANTASTIC....the honeymoon was PERFECT!!! Now it's back to normal, so back to blogging too :) (I will blog about the wedding and honeymoon separately)

We will be starting our new home improvement project tomorrow....mounting our new TV in our bedroom!!!

TJ and I bought a flat screen TV as our wedding present to each other. We could not afford to buy a large TV for the living room, so we bought a 32' TV to mount on the wall in our bedroom (as well as a blu-ray DVD player and Harry Potter 1-6 on Blu-ray). Before we mount the TV I figured we should paint the bedroom. So, tomorrow we will pick out a paint color and paint the part of the wall where the TV will be mounted so that hopefully we can have it mounted by Sunday.

Hopefully everything goes as planned and we can enjoy our updated bedroom!!!

The Engaged Groom

I don't really know how involved typical grooms are in their wedding planning. Maybe some help with addressing invitations, or the typical transportation/honeymoon/music tradition. I have an "Engaged Groom" on my hands.

TJ has been involved in EVERY aspect of the wedding, ok, I take that back, I picked out my wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses. He has been to every vendor meeting (over 10 so far), had input on the flowers, centerpieces, chair covers, and attended a wedding invitation class held at Archivers. We have worked on invitation wording, fonts, and margins. He has researched the honeymoon, booked the flights, and found the average weather forecast. I don't think there is one aspect of the wedding that he hasn't helped me with (or am I helping him?).

We both have strong opinions and we make sure to let each other know :) Plus, we want the wedding to be awesome! I guess it's nice to have someone as involved as TJ is...then I can always take a break if I need.

Wedding plans & life

Yes, I know I have been lacking in my blogging...sorry! We are a little over 3 months away from the big day....that crazy!!! The time went by so quickly! We still have some things to plan (flowers, cakes, and invitations). All of these things are not my favorite. I like flowers, but I don't like flowers enough to spend boat loads of $ on them. I don't even eat cake, but since we are having cake as our centerpieces, I guess I care how they look. As far as invitations, I am making them myself (and no, I'm not crafty, and I hate any type of "scrapbook" activity), so that's not super fun for me.

On the upside, I tried on my dress and I had forgotten how awesome it is! I think I've found my jewelry, and I already have a borrowed veil and new shoes. I think I know how I want to wear my hair. Now all I have to do is get in shape before my first dress fitting next month!

TJ and I have merged the houses (minus a twin bed frame we couldn't fit in the moving truck that is left at the condo). It's kind of bittersweet. No, the condo is not sold, and no we haven't had any offers, and I'm listing it for less than what I owe on the mortgage. We are really stuck between a rock and a hard place. I can't afford to drop the price because I can't bring 10's of thousands of $ to closing. I don't have that kind of cash sitting around, especially paying for a wedding. It's been on the market for more than a year, and has been a stressor for me since then. I can't do a short sale because you have to prove you don't have any money. Well, I have money to pay for it monthly, I just don't want this property anymore. I want to move on and be done with it. TJ and I have a new life in a bigger home that I love.

Some people have said that I should just go into foreclosure and let the bank take it. I would never do something like that. It's just not who I am. I would prefer to take out a loan so I can drop the price to where it will sell, and use the loan money to bring to closing. Then I could just pay the loan each month versus a mortgage on a vacant property. I have asked my condo association for me to be able to rent out the condo, just a temporary provision while this housing market recovers. I wouldn't make $ off of a renter, but a least it would give me some financial relief in this situation. They said "no" and did not offer any explanation.

So, this is what I continue to work on, selling the condo and planning my wedding.

If you know ANYONE who is interested in a 2 bedroom, 2 full bath, private garage condo, 1.5 miles from downtown Naperville....please let me know!!! Here the link to the listing:

http://weichertkingsland.com/Search/PropDetail.aspx?listingID=87-2-07415181&publicSearchID=7255575&pso=listPrice%20DESC&referrer=http%3A//weichertkingsland.com/Search/Results.aspx%3FsearchID%3D7255575

Question????

Hey teachers out there......what should I do about changing my name with my kids that I see? My name with my kids in EI and at the clinic is fine, it's "Miss Amber". However, I see kids at the school and they call me Miss Knott. I see some kids for 3 years in a row, so some of them have known me as Miss Knott for 2 years. I'm getting married in October, so do I start the year as Miss Knott and then change to Mrs. Hardy? I usually see kids in pairs of two, and it could be a mixture of a new kid with an old kid. So, I can't have my old kids call me Miss Knott and my new kids call me Mrs. Hardy. What should I do????

An improvement

TJ installed our new garage door opener on Sunday. I have really been looking forward to it. He finally has a clicker and we can have the cleaning ladies come while we are at work! I'm so excited!

The Little Things

I have been reflecting lately on all of the little conveniences that I forgot how much I really appreciate.

• Ice maker-As long as I can remember I have always had a freezer with and ice maker. In the condo I didn't have one and had to use ice cube trays. A few months after living there I bought a new refrigerator and my dad ran a water line to the freezer so it would make ice cubes. Now being in the new house our refrigerator is old and it's back to the ice cube trays. I cannot wait until I can have an ice maker again, or better yet....a water dispenser on the front of the fridge with crushed ice and everything!!!!!
• Garage door opener-We have a VERY old garage door opener. It only has one clicker for it (we've tried to get another one, but our unit is so old~32 years, that there is not one that will work with it). So, TJ is very nice and lets me have the clicker. I feel bad for him because he does not have one, and if he gets home first he has to go through the front door and open the garage before he can pull it. Not a terrible thing, but annoying. We would also like to have the keypad outside of the garage. Then we could give the cleaning ladies the code and they could come and clean while we are at work. Currently they come around 7am on a Saturday morning once a month. It would be nice to be able to sleep in and not have to move around rooms so they can clean. I'm sure they would appreciate an empty house too.
• Car clicker-I'm lucky enough to have a clicker for my car (unlock/lock the doors). This is the first car I've had it on and have loved it. It's so nice to not have to fumble with my keys, and I've never locked myself out. Again, I feel bad for TJ because he does not have one (his car has seen better days). So, he has to always find his keys, unlock his doors, and make sure he locks the doors before he closes them. Not a terrible thing, but a little inconvenient.
• Heat-I feel bad for picking on TJ's car, but he doesn't have much heat in it in the winter. He's had it looked at, but I guess it's really expensive to fix. So, he just deals with having a freezing ride in the car to work. That stinks :(

So, sometimes it's nice to appreciate those little things that can make our day easier.

Resolutions

Well, it appears to be that time of year again....resolutions. I do have a few things this year that I would really like to improve upon.
1. I would really like to exercise more. I'm shooting for 3-4 times a week of the gym and/or home workouts. Not only do I want to shed about 15 pounds for the wedding, but I want to make some time for myself to feel energized. I would like the workouts to be an hour, but I won't be disappointed if it's only 20-30 minutes.
2. I want to do a better job of meal planning. I hate coming home from work with the "What's for dinner?" question in the air. I have started using my google calendar to help me plan it out.
3. I want to start more home improvement projects. I LOVE home improvement projects. We have a lot of things to do on our house and I would like to start moving on them instead of just sitting on my couch.
4. I want to start spending more quality time with TJ. Sometimes we just get so caught up with "things that need to get done"....probably more me than him. So, I would like that to change.

Wish me luck!