Odds and Ends

I neglected to tally up my expenses from the weekend in my last post, so I figured I'd do that now.

First, I bought a work jacket ($29.99):


and a nail puller($4.99):


The nail puller was invaluable for removing the staples that the previous owner of the house used to tack the carpet to the floor.

Then, it was off to Walmart, where we purchased sponges, mops, cleaning agents, a paint scraper, a heat gun,

scented candles, a sander, and a Brita water filter. The total was $99.37...eeep!

Aaannd today my dad picked up some 2x4 studs and a "flexspout" from Home Depot. I'm not even sure what the latter is, but these things cost me another $31.24.

$2396.47 is the new dent in my budget.

After work today I rushed over to Sherwin Williams. Those stores close at 6, and when I came in at 5:45, the clerk was pretty rude. I told him I was picking out some colors, and he said, "You know we close in 15 minutes, right?"
"Yes," I told him. "Your hours are inconvenient for people who work. But don't worry, I'll be fast."
I chose some chips, just in time for the clerk to say, "Ma'am, you know we close in 1 minute?"
"Yes," I responded. "I'll buy these elsewhere tomorrow," and whisked myself and my paint chips out the door triumphantly.

I took the paint chips home, and agonized for close to two hours over different shades of tan, green, and blue (I'm going for neutral earth tones). I'm terrible at making decisions (as I write this I'm debating swapping "Sleepy Blue" for "White Truffle" for the guest room), and I often rely on input from others for such decisions. Unfortunately, Adam is one of those "Whatever you think, honey" decision-makers, which I was NOT finding helpful. His only real input was "Nothing purple or yellow. Oh, and nothing girly." Great.

Anyway, after much deliberation, we did finally choose some lovely (albeit innocuous) colors, and we are ordering them from Sherwin Williams tomorrow.

I really, really hope they look okay up on the walls.

By the way, because a couple people have requested that I do so, I'm adding a Donation button to the blog. Every penny counts and will go towards improving the house and making it livable. :)