86'n It

#1 - Combine offices and purge!

#2 - Finish Nursery

#3 - Get Countertops

#4 - Repair & Paint Living Room

#5 - Have a Baby :)

#6 - Get Gutters

#7 - Start on Backyard

#8 - Start on Downstairs Bathroom

And I've never been more glad that we live close to downtown, especially now that I'm hugely pregnant and couldn't sit or lay down comfortably. On Saturday, we took 3 walks!

It is supposed to be aroung 50 today, so hopefully it will get things melting.

In other news, there has been communication with the counter top guy's son, mostly more wishy-washy "I have to have my dad call you" B.S., but at least it was satisfying for Marc to tell him, fine, but I'm not going to stop calling you and calling you until we have our deposit back. It continues...

 So, time to release the hounds. Our stone is gone and we want our deposit back! Of course, the stone guy is being unresponsive.

His name is Sammy Robert Mullis, or Sammy Mullis.
Phone number is 828-423-3630.
Date of birth: 09/23/1960
Garinger High School, Charlotte, NC; Class of 1969

When we were first going to hire him, we did a google search and didn't find anything bad (or good). So here is our story for to any future clients of his:

We heard from a friend on November 5th that our neighbor just got a great deal on soapstone countertops. That night, I walked over to the neighbor's and got the information. I called him that night. He called back and arranged to come over the next day, November 6th. He came over, quoted Marc a price and he left so Marc could discuss it with me (I had an OB appointment.) We decided to do it. We called him and he came back. We gave him a check for $1,350 (50% deposit) and he said he's have it in "late next week".

After much haranguing, he did come and do the templates on Monday, November 16th. He said he had "one more job to do" and then he'd be over to do ours on Wednesday or Thursday. I think this Monday is actually the day he installed our neighbor's countertops. This gave us some false confidence that he would do ours as promised.

Wednesday passes.
Thursday passes.
Friday he texts and says he will be there Saturday.
Saturday passes.

I'm freaking out. I'm 7 months pregnant and hosting 9 people for thanksgiving. With a new cooktop, sink, garbage disposal and faucet sitting in my dining room, waiting for countertops.

We called the stone supplier. They did indeed have our stone. They were waiting for him to pick it up. (Even though it was confirmed on the phone the 21st that he "had our stone" and "was working on it".)

Over the next weeks, Sammy continued to text us with updates and to tell us he would have it in "Wednesday" or "Saturday" or "Monday". He said he was in the hospital. About to die. Oh, wait, he's ok, and he'll be there tomorrow. Pffffffffff.

All lies.

We found out this week that our stone is gone. Sold at auction this weekend. And if that isn't bad enough, they confirmed that he had called earlier that week to cancel the order. Probably right about the time that he texted Marc saying he'd have it installed Saturday.

Let this serve as a warning to you, future clients. And if you'd like to help us find him and get our money back, we'd appreciate it. We need his current address to file a small claim against him. This is what we are looking for.
Or you can search him in google, and then click on the link in to my blog so that is climbs in the google ratings.

Here is a link to his google results. Find 86'n it and click on the post "86'n it: Release the Hounds" it might be on page 2. (or click that little up arrow to "promote" it.)

Here is the other information we have:

Default Judgment for $30,300 against Sammy Mullis
Catawaba County Court Records
March 28,2008
(for home renovation project)

Evicted from
225 Westover Drive, Asheville, NC
3/2009

Filed for Bankrupcy
1/16/2001
Address at this time:
20 F Ryder Street
Landis, NC 28088

(all of these are public records)

Said he has a "shop in Burnsville, NC"
Said he is living in Johnsoncity, TN
Lived in Kannapolis, NC

Ok, this update is long overdue. It turns out, that when you STEAL $1,350 from someone, it is a criminal case, not civil. Great! I found this out because we discovered that he had just got out of jail in Yancey county. What for you ask?? Well, doing the exact same thing to a lady up there. He took her deposit $$ and ran. Awesome thing about Yancey county is that they are diligent up there and they setup a "sting" operation to catch him. It worked! 

So we filed a criminal complaint against him, and when he showed up for a court date in Yancey county, the kind sherriff transported him to our county! YAH! He got out on bond, but still. YAH!

Fastforward a couple of months of him getting the case continued, then him not showing up to our court date. So there currently is a warrant out for his arrest. Only bit of good news is that we found out that the case in Yancey county was dismissed because he paid her back. So, there is hope...

My sister and I braved Ikea on a Saturday with 3 boys under 7 years old to get some stuff to finally organize the nursery. My poor sister didn't end up buying a thing, just pushing a cart for me! I got a colorful rug, dresser/shelf, baskets, ottoman, dishes... Actually, for me, it was pretty good. I didn't get anything that wasn't on my list!

Sunday was then spent purging and organizing. I threw away about 8 grocery bags of junk! It felt great. I mean, do I really need my dayplanner from 2003? Then I sorted Frita's clothes. Holy cow! I don't even think she will wear all of them. Plus I have 2 bins already in the closet for 3-6 and 6+ months. I love me some hand-me-downs! :)

I'm really loving the rug, but still the room bugs me. It just isn't "pulled-together" enough. The chair and ottoman will eventually go where the bassinet is now. Marc doesn't want to paint the changing table and crib, but I don't know. I think it would really help if they were dark brown.

In addition to clothes, we already have about a million blankets and sheets (see under the changing table). Thanks Heather! The advantage of used blankets is that they've already been loved and washed, which makes them SO soft!

Frita also already has a swing, exersaucer, bouncy chair, boppy, breast pump, noise machine and yes, 2 pairs of shoes! :) For someone who grew up with all hand-me-downs (I am the 3rd girl!), I sure do love them now!

So I'd love some comments on how to pull the room together. I'm thinking of a big wall-hanging of some sort for the "chimney" above the crib.

Paint or don't paint the crib & changing table? (I already bought the spray water-based latex in chocolate brown.)

What about some paper lanterns in the corner by the shelf/dresser?

I don't even want to go into the drama with our countertop guy. I'm over it. 

We might get them, we might just get our deposit back. Stay tuned.

Here is a round up of things from the last post until now:

Thanksgiving with both of our families was great! Marc smoked a turkey and it was 'delish.

So 'delish that he has been eating it TWICE everyday since thanksgiving. 

Just tonight, he made us this lovely turkey pot pie!

Today was pretty eventful. 

I installed a programmable thermostat and thanks to these two new beauts, it actually got up to 70 in here! I don't know how we standed it with half of our heat going out the old back doors. (We are cheap, so we keep it at a still toasty 66.)

Now we just have to clean up the spray foam and do the trim!

^ Look at this little gem we whipped up and a party this afternoon! If only we were as good at having a cute full-size house as we are at making cute gingerbread house! 

And just so I get credit for still doing house projects while slowly becoming the size of a house, here is a thumbnail size photo of my expanding belly. 12 more weeks of this?? Does not seem possible.