As soon as Gus was up (he sleeps in on Saturdays), we headed out for what would end up becoming a Super Shopping Day! First stop was the swing set store. We had just planned to price things out and let the kids play on the demo sets. I knew that this particular brand was an excellent one, after talking to friends. And my local friend has one of these play sets in her yard that the kids have thoroughly tested-- it is sturdy and very high-quality! Anyway, they were having a great sale, and we ended up walking away with this one. So, SO exciting!!!!
And yes, we actually have it now. In boxes. In the garage. We negotiated an even better price by offering to pick it up and assemble it ourselves. So, after lunch, we moved the carseats into the truck and drove back to get it. Tomorrow's agenda: putting it together! It's supposed to be 70 degrees and sunny, though, so it should be a lovely day for swing set assembly. And the kids cannot WAIT to play on it! Especially the glider! Nikos quickly figured out how to work the one at the lot, and Maya was ecstatic to go along for the ride. Best part? No pushing from us! Here's hoping they can ride the glider at our house by dinnertime tomorrow! :)
After lunch, before we actually picked up the (huge!) swing set boxes, we decided to check out a local "alternative fuel" store. I won't lie... the heating costs since we've moved here have been, by far, the biggest suprise for us. We've been okay, but it's still very expensive. Oil, in general, is expensive! And most houses here are heated by oil. And our house is on the large side, so it uses more than most. Anyway... we have known since day one that we wanted to look into getting a pellet stove. After the initial purchase and installation costs, pellet stoves generally cost 50-65% less to heat a home than oil per year. HUGE savings! And, when we walked into the store, we found just what we needed... and it was on sale for nearly 25% off. Oh, how I love our pellet stove!!!!! Well, it isn't installed yet (that will happen within the next three weeks or so), but still! It's the top model of the top brand... it stays relatively cool to the touch, so we won't have to worry about the kids touching it. It heats quietly and efficiently. And it's pretty!!! I just need to make a hearth pad for it sometime this week (to protect the wood floor). Oh, pellet stove! I love you so!!
And, what's even more awesome, is that the store had a little play area for the kids. They were like, "See you later, we're busy!" It was so great to talk with the sales guy and get all our questions answered without constantly worrying about the kids. Yay!
Anyway... That was our day! Two huge purchases. Oh, and we wrapped it up by having green pancakes for dinner, since Gus won't eat corned beef (and I've never tried it). sigh! Tomorrow is swing set assembly day. Wish us luck! :)
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Oh, and I nearly forgot! Our salesperson also lives in our town. We inevitably got to talking about being from California (which is a great conversation-starter around here, haha!), and it just came up. He lives a few minutes from us. But he pointed to the kids and told us that we picked the best place to live. He said it's such a great town, but especially for families. We hear that EVERYWHERE we go. And you know what? We FEEL that, everywhere we go. It was hard to buy a house from 3,000 miles away, but it's always nice to hear that we made a smart choice in where we live. Great schools, and lots of family-friendly activities. If we could just move our families here, it would seriously be perfect!! :)
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