Our countertops are in!

First off, let me scold myself, "bad blogger, bad blogger, bad blogger!"
Okay now I feel better, sorry for the lack of posts. It is unbelievable how fast the last month has flown by. It seems like yesterday I was counting down the days to my cousin Lindsey's weddding, and now it was here and gone (and beautiful by the way) and we are excitedly preparing for Meg's wedding in August.
With that said, I HAVE COUNTERTOPS, A WORKING SINK AND A DISHWASHER! It is amazing how your life changes. When I was 24, I loved the sound of my wedding song, when I was 27, I listened to the beautiful hum of my children sleeping. But none of those sounds compare with the gentle hum of a dishwasher after washing our dishes in a pedestal sink for 3 months. When I came home from shoprite yesterday, I thought I died and went to heaven! I could have slept on the tile listening to the water softly washing away the dirty dishes. I HATE to do dishes. If there was a stronger word for hate, then I would use it. I would rather scrub the bathroom than do dishes, go figure. I load everything into the dishwasher. This morning, I happily unloaded it and boy were the dishes clean!
Now about our countertop, it is gorgeous! It was worth the grief with the company. By grief I mean their time management. Here is the short version of the story. On April 23, they came and did the template. They were suppose to be here between 8 and 11 in the morning. Three phone calls later, they were here about 3. Two weeks later, we are waiting to hear about our slab. When you order granite, you are suppose to go look over your slab for any imperfections. So Kevin calls them and asks what is going on. He finds out that they "don't have our piece yet." Mind you we paid them in full in February, $3000. We feel they should have gotten our piece in when they did the template, they know what the next step is. So Kevin calls them back gives them some grief and "poof", our slab will be there the next day. (I think they just didn't want to do it right away and put us on the back burner). So we make arrangements to go look at our slab. Here is the second problem, the company is located in Waterbury, CT. For my southern relatives, that is about 2 1/2 to 3 hrs. away. So we load up the babies (Mia was running a fever that day) and truck our SUV to CT, with gas prices now over the $4.00 mark! We look at the piece, looks good, and we make the date for it to be installed. The date is May 19th. They are once again suppose to be here between 8 and 11 (why they tell us that is beyond me because once again the place is 2 1/2 to 3 hours away). I call at 10:30 to find out when they will be here, and the guy hasn't even left yet. But I am assured he will be here by noon (miraculous because once again the place is 2 1/2 to 3 hrs away). I call at 2, and finally talk to the general manager, who tells me the guy didn't leave until 12:30 (but assured me he would be here by noon, go figure again!). Needless to say, he was here at 3:30 (as Kevin was getting home from work), and the countertop is beautiful. It seems to go on for miles. The color works perfectly with the color of the cabinets and floor tile. As soon as I remember to buy batteries for my camera, I will put up some pictures. We hope to do the backsplash this weekend, and then we are officially almost there.
I hope this makes up for the lack of posts over the last month. I promise to attempt to be better at it. If anyone wants to pose some cool topics, we can start a running dialogue between what I write and the comments. It can be kitchen/house related or not.

How about this for starters...
Our country is in a "mortgage crisis" right now. What are your views regarding why, and do you think the government should be bailing people out?

Here is mine and Kevin's point of view. We think it is from all of the people who have to have their 3500 square foot colonials and aren't happy with a modest house. When Kevin and I were approved for our mortgage, we were approved for $315,000, and that was 4 years ago, when we were making about $85,000 combined. We opted to go for a $200,000 mortgage instead, because for $315,000, we would have been "mortgaged up to our eye brows" literally. Don't get me wrong, that I didn't find the huge colonials gorgeous. But aside from the mortage, there is the cost to heat and cool the house, and furnish it, and worst of all, the taxes. In the state of NY, our taxes are ludicrous. For our 1200 square foot house and 1/3 acre, we pay $4850 a year. That is $400 a month! Now imagine the tax bill on a $315,000 house. My point with this is, even though the bank told us we could have a bigger house, logic took over, and we bought a house that fit our needs, that we liked, and more importantly could afford. We also have a mortgage that leaves room to do renovations like our kitchen. We knew we could turn this house into exactly what we want.
Did people really not think through the additional costs associated with buying a huge house? Should our government bail them out for their mistake, or in my opinion, their selfishness? And what about these shoddy mortgage companies? Why the heck would you ever buy a house with an interest rate that is higher than a credit card? Again, is it the need to buy the house beyond your means when the bank says "no"?

Let me conclude, by not wanting to offend anyone (I don't think this blog opinion applies to anyone who I directly know, it is more a stereotype and forgive me if my stereotype is wrong). I think the large houses are beautiful. I would never knock anyone for what they do have, and for the people that can afford them, or the people who save their money and buy their dream house, power to you! But for the others who buy them to "keep up with the Joneses", is it worth working 3 jobs to pay your mortgage? Do you ever get to enjoy the house? I would love to hear some opinions! Plus lets shout out about our beautiful homes! I will post the first comment!

Here's to our beautiful and modest homes ...