Home Ownership - A Series of Unfortunate Events (Week 1 Recap)

So, a few weeks before we closed on our house, I mentioned to Jason that I wanted to start a blog about interesting things in our neighborhood and about the fun adventures of being a new homeowner. Our house is located in the Southeast side of town, and not many people appreciate the hidden jewel of a neighborhood that it is located in. Anyhow, I hadn't planned on starting the blog until several weeks after we were settled in, but then again, I hadn't planned on home ownership being so exciting in just the first week. So, before we head out into the neighborhood (which might not happen for a few more weeks) here's a recap of just our first week of being homeowners.

Day 1 (Hours 1 & 2) - Happy Homeowners:

Jason is excited to be in the house!

One of the many dorky pictures we took in front of the house.

The living/ dining room. Our rugs were delivered yesterday. I'm looking forward to when we finally get all of our furniture in there.

The kitchen. We will be updating the refrigerator and dishwasher with stainless steel appliances. We have also done some research on painting the laminate cabinets, but that might have to wait to be a summer project.

The sunroom. We will put bookcases and our records in here.

The secondary bedroom. Notice the freshly vacuumed carpet.

The bright green hall bathroom. We bought a new shower curtain (not pictured) and bath rugs from Target that I think will help tone the color down a bit.

The master bedroom.

The master bathroom. The shower has a retractable shower head that really helps when it comes to washing Radar.

Day 1 (Hour 3 and Beyond) - The Beginning of the Demise:

As I sat on the master bedroom floor trying to close a loan over the phone with work, I looked down at my socks and noticed they were covered with fleas. Playing it cool, I threw my socks into the corner of the room and calmly remained on the phone for another hour. As soon as I hung up, I called Jason and had him call an exterminator over ASAP. The exterminator came and sprayed inside, and indicated that all of the fleas should be gone in about two hours.

So, in two hours, Jason and I loaded up our cars with a second batch of all of our belongings and headed over to unpack. At this point we had Radar with us, because, after all, the fleas were all supposed to be gone...

This is what I looked like when we found out that the fleas were in fact, not all gone. I'm sure I'll someday regret posting a picture of this sad, pathetic face on my first blog post, but I really want y'all to feel like y'all our there with us - raw emotions, grubby clothes, and all.

We dusted the bedrooms with Diatomaceous Earth. Before we left, we checked Radar for fleas. He was covered in them. We had to give him a flea bath and carry him to the car before we headed back to the apartment.

Day 2 - Flea Bombs & Carpet Removal:

Jason and I headed over early in the morning and set off flea bombs in every room. We left them in there for two hours while we ran errands and met Ferryn and Steve for lunch. I think Ferryn and Steve felt sorry for us (probably because I was on break-down number two of the week) and came over to help assess the situation. Even after the bombs, we still had fleas. Ferryn suggested ripping out the carpet and I thought destroying something might make me feel a little better, so ripping we did...

Do I look a little more excited? We found out that there were hardwoods under the carpet, but there had been some previous damage patched with fiberboard.

There was also a lot of pee stains under the carpet.

Ferryn and I went to a couple of floor stores to price carpet vs. repairing the hardwood floors. While carpet is much cheaper, the thought of what was under it grosses me out a bit. We've settled on repairing the hardwoods.

Day 3 - White Socks & Dog Baths:

While Jason dusted outside the house again, I attempted the white tube sock method of flea removal. How does that work? Apparently fleas are attracted to white. They jump on your legs and you pick them off and drown them. We wear white socks and keep bowls in every room now when we visit.

When I got back to the apartment for the evening, I had to give Radar a second flea bath. Poor little pooch. Not only are his seasonal allergies acting up, but now he has a horrible rash caused by his flea allergies. He is not a happy dog.

The one plus of Day 3? We ordered our new refrigerator and dishwasher. They will be delivered and installed next Monday.

Days 4 & 5 - Floor Guys:

While I was working overtime on Monday and Tuesday, Jason met with several floor guys to get quotes on what it would cost to get all the floors refinished. We are hoping that after all of the sanding, staining, and polyurethane any remaining fleas will be stuck for good under the floor and won't be able to emerge. Jason also met with the exterminator once again who treated inside and outside to no avail.

Day 6 - Diatomaceous Earth:

Jason sums up our sentiments in three words.

Preparing for the dust down. Jason's eyes show pure hatred for the fleas.

Get 'em, Jason!

After we spread the dust, we tried to get the dust in between every crack and crevice on the floors.

Day 7 - Ups and Downs:

So, that's where we are at. To make matters worse, the air conditioner in our apartment is out. It is about 85 degrees in there right now. Also, Radar has panic attacks every time we leave him at the apartment by himself. All of our stuff is gone (just our big furniture pieces remain), so he thinks we are running off and leaving him forever. A glimpse into his past life before we adopted him? Who knows.

Although, I do have to admit that there are a few good things about our predicament.

1) So far, Jason and my freakouts have not happened at the same time. That's a good thing, because when one of us is down, the other one can shed a little bright light on the situation.

2) Our friends and family have been very supportive. Thanks for all of the funny comments. It makes us happy to know that at least our misfortunes are entertaining. Believe me, we realize that one day we will be able to look back and laugh about all of this... we are just not there quite yet.

3) We get newly refinished wood floors. While this isn't something we were planning on doing, it will be nice to move in and enjoy them. We even get to choose a new stain color.

4) Our appliances will be delivered before we move in. No having to move furniture to get them in the house.

5) While it sucks that we have to eat out every meal because all of our dishes are at the house and our food is at the apartment, we got free sake last night when we went to eat sushi. Jason and I don't really like sake, but it was kinda a neat experience either way that would not have happened if we were already moved in.

I think our go-forward plan is to do the white sock removal method through Sunday. Sunday we will sweep up and vacuum the powder. We will also remove the rolled carpet from the garage and put it out for bulk trash day. We need to re-dust outside, especially the garage once we remove the carpet. On Monday, the floor guys start. I hope most of the fleas are gone by then.