So this is the 90 gallons of paint I cleaned out of the closet under the stairs. It appears to be from at least two prior owners as some stickers are from 1992 and 2005. Why there was SO much, I have no idea as the entire house is under 2100 square feet including the basement.

I posted an ad on craigslist and an artist-type fellow agreed to come pick it up on Sunday so now we are free of it and finally have use of the closet. I am happy that we didn’t have to try to dispose of it at a hazardous waste facility or pay to have it hauled away and that someone who could use it actually took it.

The house is starting to feel more and more like our own now and I cannot wait for the day when we can paint the walls colors we actually like. Our bedroom in particular bothers me but the sunroom is just…(barf.) Summer project! I also am looking forward to painting a damask wallpaper-like pattern on the wall behind the paint in the above photo, perhaps in deep red. :D

Here’s our new washer and dryer. It’s an LG high capacity/high efficiency pair we got from Home Depot. As I may have mentioned before, our washer started leaking water out the bottom 2 weeks ago and our dryer has been in death throes for as long as we’ve lived in the house so it was only a matter of time before we were going to be forced to replace them. Despite the expense amidst a sea of other debt we decided to do it now before it became a serious problem. They were both on sale and by signing up for a consumer card from Home Depot we ended up with a total of $500 off the list price. We are also getting a $100 rebate from the utility company for buying a water-efficient washer. The card also has the perk of offering no interest on the total for 12 months so we have a sizable window for repayment. I’ve been doing my best to eliminate our consumer debt and it was a bit painful to take on more but we did it with full confidence that we were not going to lose more money through interest and the fact that we are guaranteed to use the card in the future given that we have many projects left to do in the house and Home Depot is less than 5 minutes’ drive away so it’s very convenient.

Jules and I are keeping ourselves from spending any unnecessary money this month and so far so good. We had a full weekend by ourselves at home and only spent money on groceries and it was wonderful. No problems at all!

It’s been a pretty trying week. I caught a cold early on and have been doing my best to try to get well–much Vitamin C, NyQuil/DayQuil capsules (well, Target brand equivalent, the stuff with the impossible to open packaging) consumed. Jules had a really sore back as well, which is doing much better now but he was pretty miserable for awhile. Nat is gone for the weekend to visit Bobby so we have the house to ourselves, which means I’ll probably end up spending a lot of time cleaning.

Jules is learning to play the ukelele. We got a cheap but decent model off Amazon a few weeks ago and he’s been strumming away just about every night. He is getting better at a very fast rate and is already thinking about learning guitar next. We agreed that if we didn’t make any extraneous purchases this month while we save to pay off debt that he could get a guitar when the credit cards are paid off. So far so good.

Today was payday so we were able to pay off one of the cards in full, leaving us with a sizable balance on a card that charges 10% interest (which isn’t too bad) and the Home Depot card (washer & dryer purchase) that doesn’t have to be paid off for a year. I’ve done several sets of calculations to try to figure out exactly when we can expect to be totally debt-free and it looks like it will be the end of May at the very earliest. If we don’t count the washer and dryer in the amount it is definitely doable by mid-May or earlier, assuming we don’t run up the total any further. Not having to dish out an extra huge amount towards the roof anymore will certainly help. We made our final payment on that this week so it’s over with!

I’ve finally decided on several mutual funds to invest in. I’ve made a goal of trying to buy into only two this year, as they each have a minimum deposit of $3000 and that’s going to be a bit challenging to get saved up. Still, considering we’re now contributing to our retirement accounts through work, we’re at least doing something while we try to get our financial house in order. I bought a few stocks in Amazon.com last week so I could have something to watch while we save up some money. It’s a small sum so it will be educational without sending me into panic mode if something terrible were to happen. I know outright that we won’t gain or lose much on a small amount so there’s no pressure. This will be our “fun” investment while we contribute our larger sums to more stable and diversified funds over time.

I finished the core of the Tetris blanket, and all that’s left is to add a border. My right arm is in a lot of pain from overuse so I’m trying to rest it for awhile. Really wishing Mom were around to do some myotherapy on it!

I also transplanted my tomatoes last night. I’m not sure how well they will do as it has been really cloudy lately and resultantly they haven’t been getting much sunlight. They have been sucking up the water I add to the trays quite well so they are definitely using it! Jules and I constructed a new cage-like structure around the shelving unit to keep the cats out since I now have 2 shelves filled with plants.

Jules’ adjustment of status for his green card is going to be in October and we’ll have to send in our paperwork 3 months prior to that. I think this time around I’m going to start really early and gather things up as they come in so I don’t get stressed out when it’s submission time. It took about a month last time, all told! Luckily this time we have a lot more concrete evidence to show since we’ve been living together for two years.

Also, a kind soul agreed to take all of the paint from us this weekend. We’ll finally be able to pass on the many gallons of random colors to someone who can actually use it. Then we don’t have to go through the headache of trying to dispose of it in a hazardous waste facility and can rest easier knowing we’ve done something minor to help the environment.