Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire….

Monday, Quint, my Dad and Mike, removed the 2 ton elephant from the room. No more fireplace insert!  It is now sitting in the driveway, waiting for a buyer to hit me up on Craig’s List. Anyone interested??

Yesterday, Advanced Chimneys, came and installed a new chimney cap & damper. We can now have a fire. hooray! I will also say that this was my very first successful transaction with a contractor!! Double hooray! Things are looking up.

So, last night I had to scour every home improvement store to find a decent fireplace screen. Everyone was wiped out. I settled on the one below. Not 100% sure about the sliver finish, but I can always spray paint it later to make it more inconspicuous.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Before:

After:

December is flying….

It has been a busy month and I have a feeling nothing is going to calm down until after Friday. I had a great weekend, spent Friday night catching up with Andrea & Mandy at El Ran and Saturday & Sunday in Ellijay with Quint’s family.

I love to decorate for Christmas and this year is even more exciting now that I have my own home. However, I’ve found that I need many more decorations to fill the space…

Let me share with you my decor now that Christmas is almost come and gone….

My tree, color scheme is jewel tones. So pretty. 

My pickle ornament collection with stick man sporting his festive ribbon scarf. (The bandana and pom-pom shoe bling are from Quint’s craft time)

My mantel: Note to self, real garland is messy and hard to manipulate though it does smell nice. Next year I’m buying the fake stuff. The ‘Fa La La’ is a DIY project, inspiration Better Homes & Garden. Do you think I need another La? I also need to figure out how to get the “F” to stand-alone, he doesn’t like to stand tall like his brother & sisters.

I decided this year to join the handmade bandwagon or partially join. Since, I finally broke the sewing machine out of the box, I decided to sew (knitting was obviously out). I created wine bags and then decorated them. It was a lot of fun and great practice. Nothing too extravagant but it works.

My loves are ready for Santa…

V-i-c-t-o-r-y

After the rampage I was on yesterday the war is over (or partially over). If you are a big enough bitch justice will prevail. (sad but true)

My home warranty company pulled through! Who believes it? Yesterday, I e-mailed the Account Executives for Georgia and by 5:30pm someone had contacted me to take care of the situation. I am receiving $365 in the mail by next week. They are going to investigate and see about refunding me the entire $665!

We had to take ole’ Mave to the vet today. Not sure that is wrong, will keep you posted.

I will fight to the death…

…if it’s required. Well, maybe that’s a little dramatic. BUT I am fighting.

Like I said before service people seem to hate me or just suck. Friday the technician came back out to fix the heating problem (attempt # 3). Instead of fixing the problem, he left us with no heat. Luckily, Quint & I both spent the night out because when I arrived home on Saturday morning the thermostat read 50 degrees. The technician was scheduled to be back at our house between 9:30am – 12:30pm (attempt #4). Of course, he arrived at 1:45pm. He was there for about 15 minutes and in that time told us he did not have the correct size part. Excuse me? I’m I getting punked? Why the hell do you not have the correct part when you were here yesterday? When we questioned him about having no heat till Monday, his reply was, “I can’t help you” & “I am tried of cleaning up other peoples messes today” oh, AND “I don’t have heat at my house either.”  This clown is definitely winning employee of the month. I don’t want excuses, buddy. I just couldn’t believe his lack of customer service, it was incredible!

I immediately got on the phone with the warranty company and got real ugly. They got another company to come out on Sunday. This company fixed the problem in one visit. So, we now have heat but I am out $600 and want a refund. This is turning out to be a battle. I called the incompetent company this morning and spoke to the manager. She apologized but said they could not refund my money. Therefore, I hung up on her. I have since then filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau….and big shocker they already had an ‘F’ rating!

and the saga continues….

Friday and still no fix.

Well, luck would have it the heat & air folks have been to my house 3 times this week with no success at fixing the problem. They keep fixing things but somehow it still isn’t working properly. This headache is no surprise to me because service people suck. (Or at least from my experience) I’ve had to have words with all of them, the fence company, the blind guy & now these jokers. I seriously think these people sit at home plotting their tortuous plans of bleeding me dry…..

On a happier note, last night I went to my very first book club meeting. It was a fun time, thanks for the invite Stacy. 

Let’s get heated.

Well, I knew it would happen. I have an old house and old houses need repair. I was just hoping that some magical power would protect my little bungalow from malfunctions. Not so much. Last week, Quint noticed that our heat wasn’t working correctly. So, I called my home warranty company, Old Republic to schedule a service call. In pretend world I thought everything would be covered under warranty and all I’d have to pay out-of-pocket would be the $55 service fee. Again, not so much! I have to pay $605 for all the retrofitting not covered because my furnace is so old. I guess I’m lucky because it would be $1500 if I didn’t have a warranty. Again, I knew this day would come, things falling apart, I just didn’t consider it happening 4 months into homeownership.

And, since we are talking about the house….. Here is the update on my home improvement to do list… It is going pretty well.

1. Save $2,000 for rainy day
2. Aerate & seed front/back yard (completed 10/26)
3. Landscape front yard (remove bushes, create proper drainage, mulch etc.)
4. Gutter work (clean up, reattach fascia, correct slope)
5. Purchase Dyson vacuum (removing from list)
6. Paint hall bathroom
7. Decorate hall bathroom (purchase towel racket, window treatment, artwork, bathroom rug)
8. Crawl space work (install plastic vapor barrier & ventilation fan)
9. Purchase leaf blower & weed eater
10. Purchase rain cap & bird screen for Chimney chase (Advanced Chimneys Inc. scheduled to come out this weekend)
11. Remove existing wood burning stove from fireplace & replace with new

Tis the season for ugly sweaters.

This past Saturday was the Kirn’s annual Ugly Sweater Party. This year I ditched my Mom’s closet and went shopping. I found the perfect outfit at Goodwill for only $5! And this thing was fugly!

Am I a teacher? Cult member? Mormon? Marry Poppins?

It was a great time, eating,drinking, socializing, flip cup (girl’s rule). Another success.

And the party continued on Sunday. We drank mimosas and hung out all day. Mandy & I watched Twilight while the boys played cops & robbers outside. It was so nice and relaxing.

Once we got back home, we watched Jersey Shore. Has anyone seen this? Whoa! It is mind-boggling. Really a guido or guidette? I can’t figure it out. I feel like these people are from another planet, it is like watching a National Graphic special. If you’d like to see what your Guido or Guidette alter ego is there is a website called The Jersey Shore Nickname Generator … Danielle = Joanie Mortadella.

Finally FINISHED!

I introduce to you calorimetry, they head scarf!  And it only took what? 3-4 weeks to complete.

I am so glad I stuck with it and didn’t give up, now I can rest at night. Seriously, I had a few haunting dreams of bamboo needles. 

Take a gander… (Don’t be jealous of my ponytail)

Lessons Learned: Well, I’m still working on this…imperfection is beautiful and mistakes give character.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Why does paper cover rock? But rock squashes scissors? Wouldn’t you think scissors are stronger than paper? What is the secret to papers success?

Thanksgiving Wrap Up

So, it is Monday and I am officially on the computer again. It was a nice little break but here we are The. Daily. Grind. Like any time away from work it was too short and I’m already counting down the days till my vacation (23 to be exact).

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My favorite things occurred – eating & shopping & relaxing!

Let’s see…what to share?? I had a small cooking disaster on Thanksgiving. I am a semi decent cook, but had a serious brain malfunction. The plan was to make ‘home made’ mac & cheese (recipe: here). I had a moment of dyslexia when reading the recipe because instead of 2 CUPS COOKED macaroni noodles, I used 2 POUNDS of UNCOOKED macaroni.  Therefore, I could have fed an army; it was anything but cheesy, brick hard and gross. Needless to say it became dog food for the pals. Next time, I am going to slowdown and reread the directions (AND there will be another attempt).

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Black Friday was another successful shopping experience. My mom and I got our happy butts up and out by 4:45am. Yes, we are those people. Our first stop was Wal-mart then the mall. I got some great deals! Nothing too major, just clothes, Christmas gifts, decorations…

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For the past few years when Mandy’s grandmother is in town from Florida, we get the girls together for afternoon tea at Tea Leaves & Thyme. It is always wonderful; we all wear funny (and very unattractive) hats, eat scones, drink hot tea and enjoy one another’s company. It was a great way to spend Saturday!

Hope everyone had a great holiday. See you in December