The Money Pit

We spent this weekend split between hanging out with friends and family and shopping for house stuff. On Friday, we went to dinner at the Park Chalet and to listen to the Pimento Project again. This is the same band we saw a few weeks ago at the tiki bar in Alameda. On Saturday, Edwin went snowboarding while I ran errands and shopped with Matilde. Jon and Jeannette were also visiting here this weekend, so I met up with them for a Cambodian dinner in the Mission. It was my first time eating Cambodian food. It seemed a lot like other Asian food. A cross between Thai and Vietnamese. Not bad, but I'm not sure that I would seek it out again. After dinner, we went to this dive bar to hang out. It was really loud and it would not have been much fun had I not been with good company. Jeannette and I chatted for hours until the wee hours of the morning- 3AM. I can't do that stuff anymore- I'm way too old. It hurts too much the next day. Anyway, it would be really cool if they moved here so that I can stop losing so much sleep!

We also did a lot of research for the house this week. We have been looking for flooring for the kitchen and we think that we have found it. It's a porcelain tile that is made to look like slate: Edilcuoghi Rocks. We are getting the blank for the floor, but the actual tile looks more black than this photo. The photo makes it look like a tan color. We're also going to be using this type of tile for the backsplash as well. We also decided to buy the same dishwasher that Laura and Alex have at their house. It had some cool functionality in that it has 3 racks and 1 of them being adjustable and the price was pretty reasonable. We haven't ordered it yet because we're waiting for it to go on sale at Lowes. It's the Maytag MDB8601AWS. Am I boring you all yet? If not, keep reading. That movie Old School really wasn't that far off when Will Farrell's character said that he was going to the Home Depot as his "plans for the weekend." You can spend a LOT of time looking at this stuff. We're thinking about painting the kitchen walls yellow. I kind of like the idea of having a sunny kitchen. Kind of a Meyer lemon yellow. We have been looking at granite counter tops and will probably go with one called China Black which doesn't really have a lot of specs in it. Wonder why they call it China Black since the granite looks all black- thought the stereotype was that Chinese looked yellow. Sinks, door pulls, and recessed lighting- oh my! It's funny, I feel like we keep going to the same 4 stores- Home Depot, Lowes, Sincere Hardware, and Home Expo. If you don't have these stores in your area, where do you look for this stuff? There's a few stores here that specialize like Lamps Plus and some kind of supply shop in Oakland Chinatown, but then is that it? I can't wait until the remodel begins so that it can end! It's funny, Laura and Alex will be here to help us clear out the kitchen since demolition begins on 2/13 and my parents will be here when they complete a month later.

We also got our washer fixed this week. A few weeks ago, our washer started flooding the kitchen floor with water. It was just spilling out of the detergent drawer like the water was plugged up from the inside. We were lucky on 2 fronts. First, we haven't started our kitchen renovations yet, so I don't care so much if we flood the kitchen. Second, since the washer is still brand new, it was still under warranty, so we called and they came out to fix it without any cost to us. The issue? Edwin's sock got stuck and was blocking the hole where the water fills into the washer. You know how everyone eventually loses a sock in the washer? Well, now we know where to look!

More house stuff- I was dismayed to find that in 2 of the corners of the living room we have these small cracks forming. It's not like we didn't know that they would return, but I just thought it would be longer than 2 months after we just finished painting it! To our friends that are looking for housing right now- we can't wait until you all experience the joys of home ownership! Though maybe they'll be smarter than us and just buy something that is move-in ready rather than a fixer upper.