The Paint Dries

When we returned to the condo yesterday morning, we were surprised to see how much the sample colors had changed (I guess that's the point of leaving them to dry overnight!). Of the two colors we thought would be out of the running, one became the color we ultimately chose to go with. On Thursday night, the color had looked like there was far too much yellow in the green--it had a sort of minty look happening that we really didn't feel excited about. But after letting it sit overnight/into part of Thursday, the color really toned down. The other greens we had liked actually ended up looking a little too drab--not quite what we wanted in our warm/comfy living room.

So the color of choice turns out to be Behr's Willow Grove. It also already had primer in it, so we were able to skip out on that step and just go with two cans of paint. 

We unfortunately weren't able to do all of the kitchen/living room with only two cans, but we did about 95% of them. There is just a small space over the kitchen window that needs to be done, and the wall behind the refrigerator. So most of the area that we'll be covering with furniture later on today is all painted and dried. We're liking how it's looking so far! :)

Also, shout-out to Mr. Cap being such a good sport with the move about to happen today (it being his 28th birthday and all). Here's to many many more, my favorite boy. :)

Personalization Begins

We decided that one of the first things we should do would be to paint the living room.

Last night Mr. Cap put up four different color samples on the living room walls--they're all sorts of variation of a sage green. We want the living room to feel warm and homey, but also not too dark. So we think a green in that ballpark would work out well for us.

So today we're going to choose the color we like the best out of the four samples (we already have an inkling that two of the colors will be completely out of the running) and head out to the store to buy a couple paint cans and primer.

Closing!

Today we closed on our condo!

Mr. Cap and I are now the proud owners of an adorable 1425 sq.ft. condo, complete with two bedrooms and a loft. :) It's right next to some conservation land and has some wonderful looking trees near-by. So happy that this has finally come to pass!

We got a lovely gift basket from our mortgage broker and a beautiful wind chime from our realtor. Looking forward to finally making this condo "our own".

Learning Lenormand

This isn't quite a normal post for this blog, but I thought I'd write about something new while we continue to wait for the condo to process. It does look like we should be able to finally close on it this week, though!

I purchased a Lenormand deck on Saturday (which I'll have to write a separate post about sometime. Suffice to say, it's beautiful and...quite vocal), and decided to do the "practice" reading that's suggested at the back of the handy-dandy little booklet that came with it. 

The spread I did was the Day Spread, with 9 rows of 2 cards. The book suggested doing it at the beginning of the day and then checking the results at the end of the day. Below I'll write the cards that I pulled on Sunday morning, and try to gauge how accurate they were in each category.

1. Someone you will meet, what comes out of that meeting.

- The cards I pulled were Ship and Coffin. Ship seems to stand for traveling, whether or business or pleasure. The coffin stands for painful change and transition.

Interpretation...? 

- I met a woman who was on vacation (from the same state as me!) and we ended up trading Facebook info after our encounter. The things we talked about would definitely instill a painful transition in me, if it were to take place.

2. Someone you care about, what they will do.

- The cards I pulled were Birds and Snake. Birds seem to signify communication, and generally stands for couples. The snake stands for deceit, cheating, and/or harm. 

Interpretation...?

- For this, I'm honestly not sure. It's possible the snakely issue is something that's under the surface that I didn't actually see. But I don't have any leads on what this one means currently. 

3. Someone who annoys you, what will they do.

- The cards I pulled were Dog and Stork. Dog is loyalty and friendship. This could stand for a pet, or a person that's a close friend. The Stork stands for movement, upgrades, improvements, and change. 

Interpretation...?

- The only thing that comes to mind is that part of the reason Mr. Cap wanted to go on vacation was so that he could pick out a few things to decorate our new home. He ended up not doing that at all, which kind of confused me (and maybe slightly annoyed--but not spending money is always a good thing!).  

4. Something that will happen to console you.

- The cards I pulled were Letter and Stars. The Letter stands for documents, messages, information. The Star stands for guidance and healing, and reassurance of lighting new paths. Seems to be generally positive.

Interpretation...?

- Well, we did attend an Oracle card reading class on Sunday night. I'd say quite a lot of information came through in that way! And some of the things that came up were "consoling" in a way, I suppose. The Star is probably a good card to have pulled for this particular category.

5. Something that awaits you.

- The cards I pulled were Anchor and Bear. Anchor is stability, security, and peace of mind. It's a symbol of hope or faith. The Bear is power, strength, and pushing through obstacles. 

Interpretation...?

- I guess from the Oracle readings that were performed on Sunday night, this could well be a path that awaits me. I'd love to feel secure in my choices, and I hope that the bear will come out of me (in a good way!) to push through to complete my new goals, even if I find opposition. 

6. Something that will help you.

- The cards I pulled were Key and Choice. The Key can lead to discoveries and will also unlock and lock things. Choice is...fairly obvious, I suppose? But the book indicates that it indicates multiple paths, and can sometimes be an issue when it shows up in a relationship. 

Interpretation...?

- Part of me wonders if the "thing that will help me" is this Lenormand deck. I definitely feel like it's a key to entering a path I've considered for a few years. I guess buying this deck sort of commited me to at least opening the door of this new path. But the choice is still mine as to which path I will follow. 

7. Something that will happen, which is a surprise to you.

- The cards I pulled were Ring and Child. The Ring can mean marriage, commitment, harmony, and contracts. The Child could mean an actual child, or someone/something new, young/immature, or a child-like personality.

Interpretation...?

- Well, all I can say is that I sure hope that going away for Mr. Cap's birthday didn't lead to an unexpected 9-month/18-year surprise. o__o Another possible thought is a conversation I had with Mr. Cap about some things that happened in his life when he was younger, and how he relates to them now. But there wasn't anything too surprising in that situation.

8. Something that you desire, whether it will happen or not.

- The cards I pulled were Moon and Mice. Moon is love, romance, psychic abilities, creativity, and admiration. Mice can symboloze loss, theft, anxiety and worry.

Interpretation...?

- This could also lead in to a lot of what came up in the Oracle readings on Sunday night. There was a lot (quite a lot) of implication that I need to become more spiritually active, especially in ways that currently make me feel very uncomfortable. Another possibility is that it has to do with my worry that writing (such as this blog) won't really amount to anything for me. I've tried many times, but I always fail to create something that I'm truly happy with.

9. Something nice. 

- The cards I pulled were Sun and Lilies. The Sun is success (hooray!), confidence, courage, and arrogance. Lillies are calm, peace, serenity, wisdom, family/ancestry, and satisfaction.  

Interpretation...?

- Possibly I'm being told that stepping out on to a new path will give me the peace and wisdom that I'm looking for. And that's something that would definitely be nice to hear. :)


So! After this experiment, I'm not 100% sure how I'm doing with these cards...but it's definitely an interesting endeavor. I'll have to give this more thought in the future. 

Slow Progress

There hasn't been too much progress on the house-front since my last post (goodness...that was in November).

We're still in limbo with the same condo. Closing was originally going to be in early December, but then it got pushed back to the end of January. Mr. Cap and I have been sitting tight and hoping that everything will still work out, considering all the money we've put into this purchase already. 

It's a little discouraging to look back and see that we've been working on getting this condo since October, and now it's January. But I'm hoping that it'll all be worth it in the end--it'll be really nice to finally have a place of our own.

Posts to this blog will likely continue to be few and far between until we find out the final outcome of the condo. Until then...fingers crossed for us!

Stress

Mr. Cap and I have decided to concede on the warranty issue we were having, coming to the conclusion that if it weren't a new construction, we wouldn't have a warranty anyway. And a limited warranty is probably better than nothing at all. In addition, since it's a condo, it's not as though we would be paying the full cost for anything that might go wrong with the outside of the building (per the warranty). We both spoke with my father to get some additional advice. I talked to my boss, and Mr. Cap threw around the idea of talking to his father (but ended up deciding not to). Everyone agreed that the warranty situation is probably not something that should cause us to walk away from the house. And considering that this was our only concern, it might not be great to say "no" to something that passed the Inspection with flying colors.

We are still in the "we shall see" stage, I suppose. But I do feel better after talking to my father about it. I think Mr. Cap does, too.

P&S Edits

This morning, we sent the updates we would like to have made to the P&S back to the seller.

Most of the updates are pretty standard, and I don't think will be an issue. One of the changes, however, might be a deal-breaker...

Our lawyer didn't like the warranty agreement that came with the P&S. Apparently it's different than what is normally agreed to in this State. We're asking the seller to have the warranty changed to the regular version...not sure whether they'll go for it or not. I imagine if they've changed the warranty, it must lean heavily in their favor (and it does seem to). So if they say they won't change it, I guess we'll have lost this condo twice. I hear that third time is the charm, however...

Mr. Cap and I are hoping that things will work out, but at the same time have done our best to not get too attached to this location. I think we've done a good job on that, and are willing to walk away if we need to. I really don't want to end up living in an apartment, but I suppose whatever is meant to happen will happen.

Time to wait and see.