Progress at the future Scott home!

So we finally closed on our home on May 14th and that's the day I realized just how much work needed to be done. But I'm super excited to make this house our home and do whatever it takes! And this weekend we are able to see some progress. Here are some before and after photos.

Don't you love the 80s blue carpet and the weird faux finishing? There is also this weird fake rose detail around the light fixture.

Weird mulberry cabinets? Not my fave...

Thankfully this was only on one wall. This has been removed.

No your eyes are not fooling you, that is wallpaper on the closet door. This has been removed. Door still needs to be painted

I'm super pumped about our sun porch.

Embossed wallpaper is removed from Kitchen. Now to tackle the other wallpaper. I swear these people wallpapered every surface in this house.

Embossed wallpaper removed from living room. Popcorn has been scraped. Now all that's left is the floors and painting.

You can't really tell but this is the dining room and a portion of the ceiling has been scraped. Also there are the dreadful roses around the light fixture.

This is what you look like after scraping the living room. It's probably best to wear goggles when doing this...

So it's not a lot of progress but we have 6 months to get it done and I cannot wait!

NOTICE - Rats and other Vermin

Attention all Rats, rat babies, mice, opossums and other vermin. You are NOT welcome at my house. I am a clean and most of the time tidy person...I don't leave trash out and I seal all my food so there is nothing you would want at my house. I have two VICIOUS attack dogs who will stalk you and then pounce on you without notice. Well maybe the big furry one will think you are a new friend but he plays rough and you will die. As seen this afternoon. Also my fence is not to be used as RAT Roadway or Opossum Passway. It is closed to thru traffic. So please, you are welcome to go to any of my neighbor's homes, I'm sure they will make you very comfortable. But if you choose to come to my house or yard anymore I will have to unleash the wrath of a giant Pomeranian and an angry Pekingese on your hind-ends and it will not be pretty!

Coming Home and Date Night

I went home this weekend for a couple of reasons: Mother's Day, get some wedding stuff done, get paperwork together for closing on our house...(ON FRIDAY - fingers crossed!!!!), and Nick had to work all weekend but we could still have a date night Saturday night.

I had a great weekend. First off I usually HATE the drive home. It's 3 and 1/2 hours of mostly 2 lane roads and I always seem to get behind the slowest drivers. However, at our half-way point after letting the dogs run around I was running through the McDonald's parking lot and what did I see??? A $20 bill!!! I was very excited and it made the drive just a little bit better.

Saturday was a very busy day. I got up and had brunch with my Mom and my Mother-in-law at my favorite bakery that also happens to be the only place that sells Starbucks in town. Then my Mom and I drove by our new house to discuss the landscaping. There are a lot of random plants, shrubs, and trees that need removed or re-arranged. Then she took me over to an Estate Sale shes been working at and I got a sneak peek. Nothing really caught my eye but there was a lot of neat things. Finally after a quick stop at my favorite BBQ place we went home to work on my bouquet. I've decided to use silk flowers for a lot of our flowers mainly because the flower I want (Orange Calla Lilies) are $10 a stem. Not happening. Mom and I made the bridesmaids bouquets and I thought they turned out great. So we made my bouquet and I I think it looks great!

Nick has been working some crazy hours and it seems anytime he is off I have to work or I'll be out of town for some reason. So this weekend he got off work at 6 on Saturday so we planned a date night. We drove to a town nearby to have dinner and hang out. It was really nice because we really got to visit instead of talking on the phone. Neither of us really like talking on the phone so it's hard when you have a long distance relationship.

Finally Mother's Day. For the first time in a LONG time our whole family went to Church together and went out to eat on Mother's Day. My sister and I don't have the best relationship for multiple reasons that I won't get into. However, recently we both have been trying to get along. Don't get me wrong she still drives me nuts a lot of the time but I'm trying and its going to take a long time. So it was a really big deal for us all to be together on Mother's Day. I love my Mom for many reasons and I'm so thankful for the relationship we have. I love you Mom and I hope you had the BEST Mother's day!

Running and Coupon Clipping

I am on week 4 of the 9 week 5K training and let me tell you it is ROUGH! I definitely feel this is helping push me through my weight loss plateau that I've been at since Thanksgiving...dang 2.6 pounds. Anywho, I keep pushing through even though I think I was very close to passing out on the last 5 minute jog. Do you know how long 5 minutes is when you are jogging? VERY LONG. Not sure how I'm going to jog for 45 minutes but I guess that's why it slowly builds you up. Still not one of those "Oh I LOVE running" ladies but hopefully one day!

Now I'm going to tell you about my newest obsession (If you ask my fiance he would probably tell you I have a ton of these) - coupon clipping. I feel I have always been a pretty sensible person...financially that is. I've been taught well by very frugal people...my parents. So at an early age I started a savings account and when it came to getting a credit card my parents taught me to only put a few things on it and make sure and pay it off every month. So that's what I've done and felt I had a pretty good safety net especially after my dog Bear ate himself to a VERY expensive stomach surgery. However I have never been more stressed about money then this year - buying another house, renovating said house, MISC wedding expenses (My parents are paying for the wedding but there are thank you gifts or other items not approved in the budget) and finally our honeymoon...oh and LIFE. Lately, I've been reading a lot of blogs and I came across a couple that talk about the art of coupon clipping. Some of them show examples of their savings. For instance some of them say they can double their grocery dollar and some even have been PAID by the store they go to because of double coupon days and other ways of saving. I find this to be incredibly fascinating. So I have decided to give it a go. It looks like another full time job but there are so many resources out there right now to help - I bought something online the other day and searched for coupons for the specific website and saved 20% that I wouldn't have saved if I hadn't read about this trick on a blog. So I purchased a Sunday Paper and clipped all the coupons and organized them. I will keep you posted on whether or not I see any substantial savings.