Living Room is READY!

Well, ready except for the fact that it's not completely finished being built yet :)

But it's getting there! See?



Today Mom (kind of) volunteered to help us pick out fabric for the 2 La-Z-Boy chairs we are ordering to finish off our living room furniture. Isn't that nice of her? (Thank you, Mom!) It was a pretty long experience, but we were at last satisfied with our choice! This is the chair we are ordering with (thanks to the website) the fabric we picked out! It will recline, swivel AND glide! Mmmmm, sounds comfy :)



The colors aren't really represented very well in the picture, the browns almost look purple here, but we were all 3 pleased with it in person. We got this pillow (and another) to go on the couch to make the chairs blend a little better. I think we may have another 2 made as well since it's such a huge sectional. Doesn't it look nice next to the brown?



And although there aren't any photos to show you, we also bought these AWESOME lanterns that hold candles inside to go on the cedar plank mantle, and similar style lamps to go on the end tables. They are going to look sooo good!!

And finally, we settled on a rug!! It's about a 8' x 11' which is perfect for the huge size of our living room. Again, the colors from the picture aren't great, but it's going to look wonderful in person!



Thanks so much for your patience and help today Mom!!
Can't wait to see our living room all put together! Hurry builders!

*Discontinued*

It really all started yesterday when Bryan & I dragged Meemaw furniture shopping with us to get her opinion on the pieces we'd narrowed our search down to. Thanks for coming with us Meemaw!! Our adventure turned out a little more dangerous than expected when my CRV tried to float off on the feeder road on I-45, though .... turns out Houston REALLY floods when it rains that hard. And boy was it raining! Here's one photo we managed to get when the rain let up and the waters weren't so deep that I couldn't navigate:



However, the successful part of the day was that Meemaw helped us finalize our decision! Thank you! If only we'd known to order yesterday, though!

Then Bryan and I settled our nerves with a nice margarita and some fajita tacos at Los Cucos. Yumm.

Then Tyler, Collin, and Steven came over to play Apples to Apples, have a few drinks, hang out & watch Inception. I realize this is not necessarily related to my story, but it was fun! Tyler decided to spend the night and recklessly committed to hanging out with us today. I'm sure he regrets his decision now, though, haha. Sorry Tyler!!

We took ourselves off to Freebirds for lunch (Tyler can't get Freebirds in Colorado Springs - which is basically a crises situation) and then started the day of dramatics and rising stress levels. I should have realized furniture shopping couldn't possibly be as easy as making a selection and paying for it. Don't worry, though, I'm much wiser now.

I think what may have started things off on the wrong foot was that the guy at Rooms To Go we've been working with was OFF today! No! And this freaking crazy lady was determined to help us instead. I'm sure she's very nice, but the dramatic way she was talking about everything made me feel dizzy. First she told us that the wedge (just the wedge, of course!) for the sectional we'd decided on WAS DISCONTINUED THE NIGHT BEFORE! Can you believe that? I find that absolutely ridiculous. She claimed that if we wanted to purchase the sectional we had to purchase the ENTIRE "room" display - mind you, this included the sectional (sofa, love seat & wedge) PLUS the extra large chair, ottoman, rug, rug pad and random lamp. Really? And we couldn't get the fabric protection on it. And we'd have to take it home IMMEDIATELY.

REALLY!!?!?!??!? I don't think so.

After an hour of waiting around and arguing, I think she understood that we did NOT want the show "room" set, we wanted a NEW sectional (and yes that includes the wedge) that we could get the fabric protection on and that they could hold in extended delivery as we were promised yesterday, discontinued wedge or not.
And, miraculously, she got in touch with the buyer and he said he still had a few wedges, and could pass one along to us.... hmph.

Anyway, in the end Bryan & I bought our first piece of furniture for the new house! I REALLY wish they had not made a sale on us, but we do love this sectional! (Sorry the photos are a little dark. The lighting around it was kind of weird.)



And wouldn't you know it? The sectional wedge was taken off the website tonight. What kind of crazy timing is that? Absurd. I think Tyler was a little afraid.

We calmed our nerves and decided to head over to Star Furniture where they had the coffee table & end tables we loved. And wouldn't you know it?
THEY WERE DISCONTINUED TOO!
Good grief.

However, yet again, the lady was miraculously able to order them for us despite them being discontinued.

*Side note: I think this whole "discontinued" thing is fraud.*

They are gorgeous, with simple lines, solid wood, nice caramel oak finish, and will pretty much last forever. And even better - Bryan loves them! That always makes me happy. Check them out:

I was almost too scared to go to La-Z-Boy as planned. I think Bryan & Tyler were a little scared too - mostly for the sales person. If the man had told me the chairs we wanted were discontinued, who knows what I would have done?

And .... they weren't discontinued. Very convenient for the sales guy. However, as frayed as my nerves were feeling, I just couldn't handle picking out a fabric right then, so we left. Tomorrow Bryan & I are going with Mom. She's pretty good at that kind of thing. I took pretty good notes about which fabrics I was kind of leaning towards, so we don't have to look through EVERYTHING again. Phew.

But isn't everything lovely!? Even if it is "discontinued"?? :)

Now that it's almost New Years ...

... I think I owe a Christmas post!

(Why does it seem that I'm ALWAYS behind?)

Before you start to read this ... be warned that it is VERY long. And if you happen to know of better ways to manage photos on blogger than using it's normal interface, PLEASE let me know!!

First, on December 23rd there was a very merry early Christmas with my family, which this year included my parents, Bryan, Grady AND Marissa - my future sister in law as of about two weeks ago if you remember one of my recent posts :) We had a super time and got lots of really awesome gifts, including a KINDLES! (whoop) for Mom, Marissa, Grady & I, camo gear and a fire pit for Bryan, an Ipad (whoa) and all the gadgets that go with it for Dad, and more. Bryan also got me a beautiful necklace :) He's 2 for 2 with jewelry so far. Good job, dude! I would post a picture but I don't have one, so I'll have to get to that later ... sorry.







Then on Christmas Eve, all the Meloys got together and visited Papaw at the Rehab center! We had the full fixings for dinner - ham, turkey, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, etc. Yum! Then we exchanged gifts. I don't think many of us even really noticed while we were there and having so much fun that we were not at the M&M Ranch per usual. I think everyone had a blast.

First, Papaw had to make an entrance by walking in though :) And then we had dinner:



Then gifts:









While Dad played Santa:



And then we took group photos with the whole crew & the grandkids with Meemaw & Papaw:



And finally, on Christmas Day Bryan & I headed over to Meemaw & Paws' house for Christmas lunch and gifts with the Evans' family! And nope, we weren't tired of celebrating with family yet :) Lunch was wonderful, and the conversations with everyone were great. David & Beverly even made an appearance for a little while!





Somehow I didn't take as many pictures at the Evans'. I think my camera was running out of steam and memory space, haha. It was so good to see everyone. Ralph, Zulma & the kiddos - you were missed!

What a WONDERFUL 3 day Christmas :) Thank you everyone! We LOVE hanging out with family! What better time of the year is there?

(Unless it's summer with no school (*ahem* no work) and we get to hang out then too, haha)

Holiday Guests

I suppose a more accurate title would be "holiday tours" or "holiday visitors" since it's hard to consider people guests when you don't really offer them any kind of hospitality other than making sure they get nice and cold as they tour your partially finished home :) However, lots of people have visited recently!

First, was on December 24, Christmas Eve. Mom and Grady came to see the house and took a couple of pictures of Bryan and I as well!




Next, on December 25, Christmas Day, Paw, MeMaw, Roger, Lety & Maddie came out to see the house. Roger & Lety finished building a house not too long ago, so they're no strangers this process!





See MeMaws' pretty wrap?

And just yesterday on December 27, John & Janie Dullard (in town from Denver, Colorado) came by to check it out. It was very dark, so the pictures were taken with a flash. Both pictures are in front of the fireplace because that was really the only major advancement other than the fake window above the garage.





We saw Tyler too (also in from Colorado), but he wasn't feeling very well so he didn't come by the house.

The update we just got from our builder said that hopefully by next weekend our house will be dried in - roof and all! I'll be sure to keep the pictures coming. I also owe a blog about Christmas, so I'll be sure to get a move on that too :)

UP the stairs

Today Bryan and I SLEPT IN! Whoo hoo :) But much more interesting was the rest of the day! We ran a few errands: Target (twice), Steinmart, PayLess, & Jim's Hardware. PLUS we went by to see the house again! Bryan hadn't had the opportunity to actually walk INTO the house yet, and it's been 2 days since I last visited, so I was curious to see what all had changed in just that short time. Well, here's the progress:

The first thing we saw when we drove up was that more of the ROOF framing was done!
How cool does this look with the sky showing between the rafters? (Of course, I will be grateful for the singles later on....)



And in the spirit of the roof, the extended patio is now truly becoming the extended COVERED patio! whoop!



Once we walked in, no one was over by the stairs or directly in the bonus room, so we decided to brave the stairs and actually go look up at the second story! We were actually incredibly excited about this - see the smiles?



Once we reached the top of the stairs, our bravery failed - doh! We weren't sure if someone would get upset if we walked out onto the second floor without any walls, so we viewed from the top step. Here's part of the second floor - you can see the bonus room and part of the bathroom. The 4th bedroom is actually behind us. I'd show you a picture, but it's still looking a little un-bedroom-ish, so I'll wait until there's a little more progress in that direction before I show you.



And here's the house so far:



Lookin' good, no?

Then we went to my parent's house in Conroe to celebrate Christmas a wee bit early, since we'll be in the rehab center with Papaw tomorrow and then at Bryan's grandparents' house on Saturday. I have pictures, and I'll share all about it tomorrow! (Or maybe after Christmas?)

Happy Eve of Christmas Eve!