Archive for the year 2012
Fall 2012 Parade of Homes
Posted on October 16, 2012 by Ching under Things to Do.
Misty, Brian, and I had a great time looking at houses on Sunday. We even ended up in Benton purely by accident. By the time we realized we were headed to Benton, we were already committed and it was too late to turn back. On the plus side, we got to check out this beautiful house situated on 2.5 acres at Stone Post Farm.
Brian enjoys checking out the houses on the Parade of Homes for ideas. For instance, he wants to do something like this in our basement because we have a huge storage area behind the bar that has great potential.
Our favorite house, out of all of the houses that we saw on Sunday, was the waterfront house on Driftwood at Harbor Isle. As soon as you walk in the front door, you’re greeted by the amazing view of the water.
Incidentally, it was at this house that we found an invitation to a Halloween party down the street. Brian and I are already going to Hideki’s Halloween party that same night (and he throws amazing parties) and also RD’s County Line in Mulvane for The Fabulous Fleshtones’ Halloween party, but I really want to go to this other Halloween party also mostly out of curiosity. I really want to see the people’s house down the street and I’m very curious what kind of people live in these amazing lake houses.
Brian says that seeing the invitation doesn’t mean that we’re invited to the party. Although, I think that was clearly the intent of leaving the flyer there for the public. What do you think? Do you think Brian is right?
By the way, if you haven’t checked out any of the houses on the Parade of Homes yet, you have one more weekend to do so. The Parade of Homes continues this Saturday and Sunday. We may visit some more houses that we had to skip on Sunday in the interest of saving time so maybe we’ll run into you.
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Ching Plays Fifth Wheel
Posted on October 15, 2012 by Ching under Confessions, Food and Drink.
I had a great time hanging out with the Dills and the Phelpi at The Port of Wichita on Friday night, despite being the fifth wheel since my hubby was out of town on business. The Fabulous Fleshtones performed out there on Friday night and were awesome as always. I hadn’t heard them perform in a long time and it was very nice to see everyone. Doug’s wife Tammy was even there that night.
I was very bad that night and ate like a pig. I inhaled chips and salsa, and scarfed up my crispy chicken sandwich like I hadn’t eaten in days.
I don’t know what it is, but I’m inclined to pig out when people around me are actually trying to eat healthy. What is wrong with me?
The food wasn’t bad, but I was very disappointed that they no longer served the fried veggie platter, which was my most favorite appetizer to get over there. I had my heart set on stuffing my face with battered and deep fried broccoli, but I was denied. What a bummer! I had to settle for chips. That might be a sign, though. Someone up there is looking out for me and keeping me from getting fat. They’ve got their work cut out for them, though. LOL.
The Port of Wichita is actually a fun place. I used to think of it as a biker bar, but lots of different types of people go there. Not just bikers. Unlike other bars, the food is actually decent. And, the live music on weekends is a bonus. Show up before 8:30 PM and you won’t have to pay cover.
We almost had to pay cover on Friday night because Jay and Becca got lost picking me up. We got there at 8:29 PM and Jay managed to talk them out making us pay. LOL.
April hadn’t seen the house yet and, even though Jay, Becca, and Cory had already seen the house, it was everyone’s first time coming over since we moved our furniture in, so we decided to all hang out at my place. It worked out great because I conveniently live down the street from The Port now.
April, Becca, and I headed home first around 11-ish. The guys followed an hour later. They took forever because Jay got lost again. LOL. We talked to Brian who was watching us through the home security system.
We spent most of the time hanging out on the back deck because it was a beautiful evening. The fireplace provided enough warmth to make the deck cozy. Except, we realized that our house is not kid-friendly at all when I singed my hair. I was standing in front of the fireplace and I guess leaned back just enough for my hair to land on the fireplace. The metal is so hot that it singed my hair. It made a sizzling sound and made a disgusting the burnt hair smell. I had no idea that the metal would get that hot. I can just picture kids burning their hands on the hot metal of the fireplace. Good thing Brian and I don’t have any children or we would be in such big trouble. We’d probably be frequent customers at the local ER.
Anyway, thank you to Cory, April, Jay, and Becca for keeping me company on Friday night. Although you guys did keep me up so late that I felt like poop the next day and never made it to Zumba (thankfully my own Zumba class was canceled that day, but I did want to go to Gina Ann’s class — unfortunately, I didn’t feel well enough to be be able to go). So yeah. Not only did I eat horribly all weekend, but I also skipped my workouts. I was a total bum. =P
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My Reading Chair Got an Upgrade
Posted on October 14, 2012 by Ching under Home Ownership.
When we moved in to the new house, we weren’t really sure how to configure our living room furniture. Our living room set consisted of a couch, a loveseat, a chair and matching ottoman, a sofa table, an end table, a media table, and a large storage ottoman that we were using as a coffee table (because Brian and I aren’t coffee table kind of people). We like the tufted storage ottoman because that’s where we store most of our toys and board games (to keep them from cluttering up the place), we can prop our feet on it and our guests are welcome to do the same (next time you’re at someone’s house, try propping your feet up on their coffee table and watch the look on their face), and it doubles as seating when we have more people than we do chairs. We love, love, love our ottoman. We’re actually going to opt out of the coffee table thing when we get around to furnishing the basement a year or two from now.
But I digress, all of our living room furniture was pretty much clustered together as you can see in the photo below. It was a little tight, but it worked for us. (You can’t see the sofa table because it’s behind the couch.)
With all of the space we have at the new place, you’d think we’d have enough room for everything in our living room but our formal living room area is actually quite tiny. We were able to put the couch and the loveseat facing each other (perpendicular to the window so that no one has their back to the front door and the window/view of the pond is the focal point) with the storage ottoman (that serves as a coffee table) in the middle. The end table is next to the couch which is along the wall that separates our bedroom from the living room. We couldn’t put the sofa table behind the couch so it’s now against the short wall that separates the kitchen from the living room. The wall and the sofa table are the exact same length so it worked out well.
After getting most of the big pieces situated in the living room, we didn’t have a suitable place to put the chair and small ottoman but I had this idea of putting it in front of the fireplace in the hearth room and turning it into a reading area. I actually love going out there to read or play on my Mac when Brian’s still sleeping (so I don’t disturb him). Here’s a picture of my special reading chair:
We got a soft, 5′ x 8′ rug (we probably should have gone with a 6′ x 9′ rug, but we already spent more than we actually wanted to — I budgeted only for a 4′ x 6′ but we agreed that would be too small for the space) from Pier 1 last weekend to make the space more cozy, but we kept thinking that there’s something missing. We didn’t have a table to put your drink on, whether that be a morning coffee in Brian’s case or a mimosa in my case. LOL.
Lucky for us Slumberland still carried the same line of tables that we got almost three years ago. They don’t carry our living room set anymore, but they still had the Kenwood tables. We agreed that the small “chairside” table would be perfect, not only for its function but it would actually match the rest of our living room furniture. So we got one. Here’s an updated photo:
It’s no longer just a reading chair, it’s now full fledged reading area!
Speaking of Slumberland, I’m done buying furniture from them for a while. Besides the fact that I’m now completely broke, I just wasn’t impressed with the level of service they provided this time around. I’m not sure what happened in the span of three years, but it’s like dealing with a totally different company.
When we bought our living room furniture and our counter height dining table for our townhouse in February 2010, I was so impressed with the service that told Brian we would have to return to Slumberland for furniture for the new house when we moved. So we went back there to get furniture for our master bedroom and our formal dining room, but the experience wasn’t the same. I’m not grumpy because I didn’t get a thank you letter from the CEO this time around (even though we did spend more money than we did a couple of years ago — maybe they raised their cap — who knows?). I don’t know if I’ve changed (I think going through customer experience training with Roy Barnes has ruined me for life — I had high expectations before but now I’m really paying attention to all of the details) or if it is Slumberland that’s changed. It may be a combination of both.
There wasn’t really anything major that happened this time around (except I didn’t get that thank you note from the CEO — maybe that’s it — ha!). Delivery delays are not out of the norm when you’re buying furniture. For instance, we had to wait a really long time for our living room furniture to be delivered because we wanted it a specific upholstery fabric instead of the green color that they had in the showroom. Yet I was still happy and more than willing to give them my money again almost three years later. This time around I think I was paying attention to all of the little things that made me realize it’s time to give my business to someone else that is more proactive and attentive to their customers’ needs.
When we purchased this last table, we told them that we wanted to pick it up on Saturday (rather than having it delivered) because it’s only one item and it’s relatively small. We were told that they got their deliveries a certain day of the week and that it shouldn’t be any problem, “but call us later in the week to make sure it’s here.”
I didn’t get this at all. I’m giving them my money. Why am I doing their work? If the table doesn’t arrive at the store as planned, shouldn’t they be the ones to call and tell me that? Whatever. It’s not a big thing, just annoying especially to a couple of busy people such as Brian and me.
We follow instructions really well so, like clockwork, Brian calls on Friday to confirm that our table is there and ready for pick up and to tell them what time we will be by. They told him that our table is there and ready for pick up, but we need to call an hour before. Why can’t I tell you know what time I will be there? Why do I have to call again? Are all furniture stores like this? I guess I had no idea that this was their process because I’ve always had my stuff delivered to the house. Although if they kept good customer records, they would realize how much I’d spent with them in the last three years (and how much more I’d be spending in the next few years — I still have an entire basement and two more bedrooms to furnish) and probably would have offered to deliver the table at no charge. LOL.
Again, nothing to really complain about, but enough for me to take my business elsewhere. I guess I expected a little more. Surely there are furniture stores out there that can meet my expectations. Thank you, Roy Barnes, for ruining my life forever.
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Bringing The Wedding Gown Home
Posted on October 10, 2012 by Ching under Life.
Mom had been asking me when I was taking my wedding gown home over the last few weeks. She figured that she no longer had to store it for me now that we had plenty of storage space. I picked it up and finally brought it home over the weekend.
I would take it out of the box for you guys, but it’s in a special wedding dress preservation box so I can’t take it out. Otherwise, the whole preservation magic spell will be broken. I actually wish I could take it out so I can try it on. I’m curious if I can fit in it again. Probably not but a girl can dream, can’t she?
Speaking of stuff stored at mom and dad’s, mom said we could take our old Christmas tree back also. I figured that I’d wait until Brian returned home to get it because the box might be too bulky. Mom said that the tree is pre-lit. I told her that I didn’t think our old tree is pre-lit. I hope she’s right, though. I wouldn’t mind getting a pre-lit tree because that means I won’t have to buy several strings of Christmas lights.
Brian doesn’t think that our old tree is pre-lit either, but we’ll take the pre-lit Christmas tree because it will make life easier for us. Anyway, we were trying to figure out what else we could have mom store so that we can get it back five times better. LOL.
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FREE TV
Posted on October 10, 2012 by Ching under Home Ownership.
This is the FREE TV that we got from Best Buy (courtesy of Slumberland), which actually caused some bickering on Friday. Not how I wanted to spend the 8 hours of vacation that I took that day, but Saturday was better. LOL.
One would think that it would only take a couple of hours to mount this tiny TV, but it took all day (about six hours and a couple of trips to Lowe’s). Anyway, I’m just glad that it’s finally up.
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