What I did over my summer vacation: Home Edition.

For those who don't know, I moved from my second floor, one bedroom apartment into the first floor two bedroom condo my parents own here in Vegas. On a list of my 100 least favorite things to do in the world, moving would come in hmmmmmmm somewhere around #3 after teaching Sophomores to write research papers and gall bladder attacks (Have I mentioned that Summer '09 was the summer of the gall bladder attack? No? Oh well, that's another post for another day).

Anyway, moving in required rearranging furniture, figuring out what went where, painting, and cleaning. Luckily I had two things going for me:

1. My sister Christy took some time off work to help me get started, and

2. I'm a teacher, and therefore have the summer off.

I painted the main area of the condo a pretty medium spring green. It's really serene and lovely, and I can use some serenity in my life.

I've added a few new items to my decor, and I'm pretty pleased with them all. First of all, I moved out of an apartment that had wall to wall carpeting into one with laminate floors. That meant that I needed area rugs for the living room and master bedroom. At first I thought I could wait awhile for those purchases, but after two weeks of watching the corgi hair monsters chase each other around my living room and Austen's pathetic attempts at jumping on the couch I was convinced otherwise. If I waited any longer Austen and I would have both needed therapy.

I planned on buying this rug:



for $220. I like it a lot and it had the right colors, plus I loved the pattern. But, in my shopping I found another rug with similar colors for $65. I like the second rug even more than I liked the first one and it was WAY less than half the price. That made my stingy little heart sing, and Austen's neurosis recede a bit.




Additionally, right before I moved out of my old apartment I was sitting on the floor in front of the table I was using as an entertainment center and because of my gimpy foot, I needed help getting up. I put my hand on the table to use as support and stabilization so that I could stand, and as I stood I heard "CRRRRAAAAACK!" and immediately began to weep. You may ask yourself, "Maury, why you cry? It's just a table!". But, you see, this table is not "just" a table. It's a table that my grandfather created with his own two hands out of cedar that he himself harvested (probably illegally) from the foothills of the Bighorn mountains, planed in his shop, and then carefully pieced together. Additionally, this table was in my home as I grew up making it important not just to me, but to my entire family. I was also crying because here was obvious proof that I am a big fat fatty. My body weight alone killed a family heirloom.

Luckily, my father is an incredible at wood working, so my table is sitting in his shop awaiting the end of cabin season when it will emerge phoenix-like and take its rightful place in my livingroom.

Long story short, I needed a new console table. I bought this one:



That cost me more than I've spent on any one piece of furniture in my life. I resisted spending the money, but my mom told me that I needed to grow up and buy big girl furniture. Thank you Mom. It was an interesting experience to buy furniture that didn't come in a box and need to be put together with wooden pegs and an allen wrench.

Of course, now that table makes my dining room set:




look kinda silly. I think I'm out of my "Early Chewed By Austen" phase(Luckily for him, so is Austen).

All in all, I'm really happy with the result. I have a few things left to do, but for the most part it's done.





Pretty, huh?

Next time: The Bedroom.....