Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[pinkfox]

good cause i want lots of roses, and and entire berry patch with black, rasp, blue, currents, strawberry, elderberry...yup, lots of berries...
and irises too....ooo i wanted lots of pink irises so that will work...
what about tulips, clematis, lavender, lilac? ive got soooo many ideas for the flower beds...lol
i want to recreate my english country garden...just...in the south LOL!

hoping to plant climbing roses and sweet autum clematis on the front of the house, and passiflora up the back deck and plenty of cutting flowers like iris, tulip, lilacs, daisies of various kidns lol...im a plant ADDICT!

 

[Wannabefree]

There isn't really many things that WON'T grow around here. Tulips are a smidgen picky about where they will thrive here, but that's about all I have ever seen folks have uch difficulty with locally. There are loads of gardens here, everywhere you look really, and I can take you to a few places you won't wanna leave. One lady has a rose garden that you would not believe, and another I know, has a half acre of irises in her front yard. These two stick out in my mind, because they have some of the most rare flowers in the entire state, some are rare specimens of the country even. So in short, you'll be able to plant pretty much whatever you wish within reason. Here, you can leave your bulbs in the ground too, instead of digging them up every season for storage. I never dig any of mine other than to seperate for more beds or to thin them for selling.

 

[pinkfox]

YAY...
"friends" keep telling me its only 1 planting zone difference between 6 and 7...they dont realize that that 1 zone can make a wolrd of difference with what and how well some things can grow...some of my favorite plants are tender perenials here in zone 6 and while most will survivie the winter if i mulch properly, if we get like we did last year i loose every last one despite hard work if i leave them in ground...
a simple step up 1 zone on the map and a whole new world of plants can open up for me, plants i didnt want to try because they can live but dont thrve here in connecticut.
i grew up planting in zone 8 in the UK so had to relearn...now i get to learn all over again lol.

i realy want to grow peonies, i LOVE peonies, we have 1 here and shes only a year old and does ok, and ive seen many peonies in this area that flower and look ok...but compared to what ive seen growing down south,
ours look almost sickly, they dont get nearly as big or full...there always tall and lanky and while i know almost all peonies have to be steaked when floweinrg ours need to be steaked 23/7 lol especially after a rain...they just flop


sooooo many thoughts

 

[pinkfox]

woot.

i now have a bed frame
a set of drawers
and a wall mounted drop leaf table (all flat packed) to come with me on my journey.

still need a matress and a fridge...the latter ill probbaly buy at lowes since theres free delivery...by the time i get delivery on a used one ether her ein ct and ship it to tn or pay for delivery once im out there itll end up being about the same cost as a cheaper new one...
matress ill probbaly buy here as id have no idea where to even start to find a cheap one with delivery in TN...

so yeah...good day got the bedframe ive been eying for a while, and the draws were cheaper than i was origionally planning to pay, and dad figured by the time i bought the wood and rthe hinges and the paint it would cost me about the same as the premade ikea table for the ame idea so that was a good buy i think too...
i may get a second one eventually (have the parents bring it when they come to visit) 1 is big enough for 2 people comfortably...so i think if i got a second and mounted them side by side, id have seating for 4 if i needed it but not take up any more space...i can lift one, or both as needed and there almost flush wall mounted so theres only about 2" out from the wall. im planning on getting plain folding chairs, painting them to match the decor and then on the seat paint some cool design i can then hang them on the wall above the tables and there kind of artwork lol. make some nice cushions for them for when there in use and tada, space saving without them being overly ugly lol.

ikea also had some realy gool hanging ideas for space saving, theres various styles of rods that mount to the wall or under cabinates, they come with hooks and various acessories, one of which is a small hanging dish rack, since im serously lacking counter and cabinate space storing somehting to dry my dishes on would be a pain so that would be ideal, could mount the bar across the window frame and put the dish rack directly above the sink. theres also nice little pots and such that could be hung from it housing herbs or for cooking utensils.

i like ikea, and would have spent alot longer mosying around had dad not been with us...he was a grumpy gills today so ill probably go back before the move to pick up some last minute bits and bobs that would make life easier (since there isnt an ikea close enough to me once i get down to TN lol.
ive got a feeling my kitchen is going to feature alot of walmounted items LOL!

 

[pinkfox]

so moving quotes comming in today, some about where i was expcting $1200, some almost $3000, you can guess where those quotes go imediatly...i dont understand how one cmpany can quote you $1200 for 2000lbs and another can try and quote you $3000 for the exact same weight!
insanity, how are they still in business...
unless your taking my stuff, turning it all into solid gold and dleivering it to me to resell for a mass fortune, i dont think im going to pay more than double your competeter...sorry....

anywho...continueing the packing today.
made some calls to find out about getting records transfered over...and such.
still have the bathroom and bedroom packing to tackle...
and tomorrow some major cleaning to do before my going away "party" on wednesday...the one only like 3 people other than my family who live here with me are commng to lol.
i just hoping the weather co-operates on weds evenng so we can sit outside with the fire pit

have the 55 gal tank and my 7 gal mini bow to scrub out before there ready to go...and some clothes and bathroom stuff to pack...
i feel like have so much and yet so little to do...

but im realy excited about it all lol.

 

[Toulle]

Back to your pine needle Q:
I used to work in landscaping, and pine needles were the standard mulch. Not as good as other things, but a good compromise on price and quality. Most everything is mulched with pine straw around here, and people pay a bit over $3 / bale on average.
Lucky for you to have trees to produce enough to use. My trees aren't big enough to produce enough to use yet, assuming the n'hood kids don't break any more branches off them.

My roses grow like crazy, and they've been mulched with pine straw for years.

 

[Wifezilla]

Be careful of lowball bids on the moving. Here is a great article on moving that might save you a lot of hassle.
http://troubleshooternetwork.org/news/templates/?a=46&z=1

 

[pinkfox]

absolutly very good point...
right now for every move quote i get a BBB search is being done...

right now my lowest quote is a better buisness accredited moving company with an A rating, but theres fine print about using a shuttle if the big truck wont fit up the dreiveway...since this may be nessicary ive asked for the detals on that little bit of info from them...
some of the higher quotes BBB is showing ad D and F ratings...youd think theyd be cheaper in hopes of hooking people but nope lol.
its definatly a minefield out there finding the right blanace of est price and reveiws is definatly teaching me alot...
our last BIG move was handled through my dads company, and the moves other than that have been self moves so this is definatly a new zone...

but im getting there got a couple of quotes that definatly seem promising the BBB acredited company right now is winning but itll depend on how much will be added thanks to the evil driveway lol.
the other ends not too bad, its a single lane dead end but theres enough ground space on my property to turn around a pretty big truck...my parents driveway though might be a little trickier for the long hauler!

 

[pinkfox]

well moving truck is officially booked for Oct 4th.
whent with United states movers, they came back with the best price by quite a bit and even with the additioanl shuttle service on BOTH ends (i may only need it on ct end but i asked for price for both ends just in case) its still the cheapest quote AND the have an A rating and BBB acreditation...
out of all the quotes the BBB acreditation and A rating put them at the top even if they hadnt been the cheapest.

so im almost done packing...still got to sort out my pile o clothes that needs washing, and see what can get washed and packed and what i want to keep out to go in my case to travel with me...i only own 3 pairs of ejans so know at least they will be staying out, a couple of loungy/easy t-s and a couple of nicer tops and i should be good to go for clothes.
got to empty out under the bed and put that stuff wiht my pile o "comming with me" in the garage,
need some space bags for my bedding and my bulky coats, figure in space bags they can just get thrown in the trunk of my car so no worries there.
then ill just set aside a bag or small box for the "things i needed moving day" stuff and things that didint get packed for whatever reason.
need to set aside some large ziplock bags for transporting critter food for the drive down, and once ive finnished ill send a full invoice list to the moving company to get the most accurate estimate possible last minute (right now there estimating 350cuft and/or 2500lbs)

this is now officially real.

oh and i got my first electric bill lol...$0 actual usage (its actually almost a $30 bill because of the service charge and the $3 use estimate...but yeah...welcome to home ownership LOL!)

need to order some rescue remidy to dose the cats and birds with for the move...(yay herbal calmants) hoping that will keep them just relaxed enough to keep the 3 day drive bareable...
Need to find a small carrier for the linnies...i have a smaller cage for them if i cant find a cheap carrier, but its larger than i realy want to use for transport.
jack jack will travel in jaspers crate, ive got a rope and sandy perch to go in there for the trip along with his food bowls and a couple of toys so he shoudl be distracted...
the cats are either going to go in seperate small pet taxis or put them both together in rubies crate...
and i need a little container for the betta fish..hes gonna come in the car with us on the way down...

still need to clean the 55 and 7 gal tanks and get them set aside...

and unfortunatly i do NEED to buy a new computer before moving...*sigh* the screen to this one has completly detatched itself from the base so i use a roll of ducttape to hold it up while im using it. its overheating like volcanoe, and the hard drive is slowly failing...
i was on it the other day, closed it for 2 hours while i did some packing, opend it and it had turned off...when i turned it on it told me there was NO operating system on the box...*blink blink* restarted it and the OS was magically back, but i think it was my computers way of telling me that it needs to be retired fairly soon.
im a little dissapointed, its only about 5 years old...but i do REALY use it like most people would a heavily used desk top so it gets beaten up quite a bit in daily use...then the kitten dove at it at one point and my sister dropped it at anohter...
I was joking with my dad, geek squad says "we can fix anything" i said if id still had the coverage (it ended 2 yrs ago) i can jsut imagine showing up with this laptop handing it over and sayign 'fix it!'
my dad is a computer guy and he tried to fix the physical issues with jb weld a dremmel, screws and alot of creative ideas...but it would need a completly new case, and now a new hard drive and probably a new battery ontop of it...

new computer almost $500...
but its pretty much my "life line" so...itll go on the credit card so i can pay it back bit by bit if needed and can pay a little more on the months i have a little extra cash in the pocket.

this weekend i also need my dad to take me down to ATT (or give me his discount code) so i can get that set up too...
no worries there, other than the service plan im getting whichever phone is FREE lol.

moving is expensive!
the van should take almost everything out of my checking this month (money goes in on the 1st) so i shouldnt be too bad off, itll be tight, but as long as i dont go too much over on my weight/space needed, i shouldnt be dirt poor either...and ive got a little cash in my savings...and food money is already set aside as well as bringing some canned and boxed goods...

first month will be pretty much squeeze every last penny, by second month if im not naughty in month one i should be a little more comfortable...
even with the money i have comming in and the lower cost of living itll still be tight each month i think...BUT not as tight as it is right now here in CT...

oh well...break over, time to get this place somewhat presentable for tomorrow...not many people comming and im hoping the weather wil hold out so we can be outside...but just in case lol.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Good luck with the move! Make sure you pack an umbrella and a jacket to carry with you. That way it will stay dry on your trip. lol

Check http://www.tigerdirect.com for the computer. Their prices are really good and they have a section for reviews so you can see what other people thought of a model you are considering. Hubby and me have used them repeatedly- for parts - and for his laptop.