Monica Kochelee

When my hubby and I were talking about moving here from New England, we discussed what kind of television service we were going to get once we arrived.  We were very interested in getting some form of Satellite TV, because it has so many channels.  Shortly before we moved down here, I got an email from my brother, telling me that he thought we should get DirecTV, and he sent us the link on where to go to sign up. 

A few days later I got an email from my sister, telling me that she has DirectTV and loves it, and if I sign up for it too, would I please tell them that she referred me so that she could get some kind of credit?  I think it was a $25 credit for referrals, but I can’t remember off the top of my head.  I tried to get some kind of bundle where I would get my telephone, internet and Direct TV all rolled into one package deal, but the Internet part of the package deal was not available in the area that I was moving to.

When we finally DID move down here, my hubby splurged on a wide screen television.  I had a fit when I found out he bought it because it cost so much money, but I have to admit that I DO like the large screen, especially when we watch movies on it!

There seems to be a tug-of-war going on at my house regarding decorating styles between my hubby and myself.  I’m very much attracted to older furniture; the “country” feel of wood makes me feel “at home.”  My hubby is all about the sleek modern look of metal and glass.  I find it difficult to reconcile the two, and I try very hard to keep my hubby out of the decorating duties of the house. 

He is always trying to bring something decorative into the house that just does not look good at all with the rest of the things already here.  I admit that much of the house is “eclectic” but his tastes are simply the total opposite of mine!  When I have the money to redecorate the house, I would love to concentrate on mostly wooden products.  I like wood bookcases and wood magazine racks.  I especially like the built in look of recessed furnishings.  I’d love to have a wooden recessed toilet tissue holder for the bathroom, and I’d love to have wood wall niches in my foyer.  I found a really nice website that sells all of those things at www.wgwoodproducts.com, so I am bookmarking them into my shopping folder for future reference.

We moved into this house almost two years ago, and we had the basement “water-proofed.”  Well last night we had a pretty good downpour, and I just went downstairs to look for a large empty notebook binder and found four different areas of the basement with puddles on the floor.  I’m very discouraged about that, we had hoped to finish off the basement in the future and I don’t want to take the chance of it getting ruined by leaks in the walls.  When my hubby gets home from work today I’m going to have to take him down there and show him the puddles.  I can’t see where the walls are wet, but the puddles are there, so the proof is in the pudding!

I think that one of the nicest ways a person can spruce up a house is by putting up a really nice mailbox.  When we first moved here, our mailbox was old and beat up and rusty.  It looked horrible!  I have been telling my hubby ever since we moved that I want a new mailbox, but I have not seen any that I like at the local stores.

I finally found a great website www.mailboxixchange.com by the Mailboxixchange Company that has a HUGE selection of the greatest mailboxes I’ve ever seen!  I never imagined there were so many different types of mailboxes out there!  They sell over 2500 different kinds of mailboxes! 

Some look really antique, some look like birdhouses, some look very modern.  Some look very “country gentleman” and some look very “citified.”  They sell quite a few security/locking mailboxes, too.

This site not only sells mailboxes, but they also sell mailbox posts, curbside decor (which includes several nice bird feeders,) and mailbox plaques and numbers.  They sell commercial mailboxes as well as residential mailboxes.  I think I’d like to buy one of the mailboxes that looks like a birdhouse and do some decorative painting on it.  That would be adorable!

We’ve only been in this house for about two years now, and money has been tight, so we take the changes a little at a time, when we can spend a few dollars to buy something to fix it up, we do.  I’m a nut for saving energy (because it saves us money) and I have been asking my hubby for months to buy some of those timer light switches that you turn a dial and the light only stays on for a few minutes and then shuts off.  Most people use those for bathroom exhaust fans, if they use them at all.  Well, I wanted one for each exhaust fan (we have two) AND one for the light to the back deck.  I wanted that one because people are always letting the dogs in and out through that door, and they forget to turn the light off.  So that light stays on almost all the time for no reason at all.

Finally my hubby installed the timer switch on that light today!  You can’t imagine how thrilled I am that he finally did that!  YAY!