Death by Stickers

This week and weekend just flew by.  I think part of that was because it was non-stop the entire time.  I spent Sunday night through Wednesday night in London working on a project for work.  It was great to be there and catch up with some friends and colleagues that I don't get to see that often.  It was a bit of a whirlwind, but I did get a chance to get out and walk around a bit to see the city decorated for the holidays.  We walked all around Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circle before heading back to have dinner with the whole group. 

This was one of the streets we went down.  I've been to London at least five times before, but never around the holidays.  And they really go all out with the lights.  It was amazing.  I should have taken more pictures.

This is the group I was working with for the project in London.  This is Erik from Sweden, Amit from India and Kevin from China.

After the busy week of traveling Teddy and I had a lot we wanted to get done for the weekend.  Friday night we went out for a nice dinner at Claim Jumper and then relaxed at home in front of the fireplace watching a movie.  It was Four Christmases with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn.



I'm glad it was a freebie on demand because it was awful.  I only got through two of the four christmases before I fell asleep.  Everything was over the top and exaggerated to the point that it just wasn't funny.

Saturday was a busy day for us.  We had been noticing for a while now that we had some sort of a water leak from our first floor into our basement.  We couldn't figure out if it was the dishwasher or the toilet in the powder room.  Teddy decided to take off the toilet on Saturday morning to see if that was what was causing the issue, and we found a mess.  Whoever did the remodel in this bathroom had no idea how to install a toilet and did not have the right wax seal on there which was causing splash over that dripped down to our basement.  Super gross!  Luckily, it was an easy fix, and Teddy had it fixed and reconnected pretty quickly.

Teddy working hard wondering why the heck I'm taking pictures

The other big project on Saturday, and the namesake for this post is related to Teddy and my Christmas present to each other.  We decided this year instead of buying each other individual gifts for Christmas to buy a china cabinet for all the china and crystal we received as wedding gifts.  This way we could get it all out of boxes, on display and possibly actually use it! 

The china cabinet was being delivered on Saturday night, so we brought down from storage all the boxes of plates, bowls, glasses, etc to be cleaned and made ready for putting in the cabinet.  Little did we know what a big project this really was.  We quickly discovered that every single piece had at least one sticker on it.  Let me repeat that, EVERY single piece had at least one sticker/price tag stuck to it. 

So, to put it in perspective, since I'm an accountant we'll crunch some numbers.

12 5pc place settings = 60 +

12 accent plates +

12 soup bowls +

12 fruit bowls +

12 champagne flutes +

12 water glasses +

12 wine glasses +

12 martini glasses +

12 high ball glasses +

12 tall glasses +

65 piece silverware set +

1 crystal vase +

1 coffee pot +

1 gravy boat +

1 gravy boat plate +

1 sugar holder +

1 creamer +

2 salt & pepper shakers +

2 votive candle holders =

243 STICKERS!!!!

It was insanity.  When we opened up the silverware set I just about lost it.  Each fork, spoon and knife had a darn sticker.  And none of these stupid stickers were easy to remove.  It took significant effort through nail scratching, hot water, scrubbing, etc.  It was ridiculous.  It's like a cruel joke from the china and crystal companies that sit around laughing thinking about all the people struggling to get these darn things off.  Here's a couple of pictures to give you a visual of the quantity.

Every surface in the kitchen and dining room was covered.  After we got off all the stickers, cleaning commenced.  We got about halfway through on Saturday night when the delivery guys showed up with our new cabinet.

It fit perfectly in the space and we just had to finish cleaning everything so we could fill it up.  We decided to wait until today to finish it out.  After church we came home and took turns cleaning the last of the glassware.

Here it is all pulled together.

Just the cabinet filled with all our pretty dishes and glassware

The dining room pulled back together

We just love how it looks and are so happy to be able to finally have all our wedding gifts in their home and in a place where we can make use of them. 

After finishing this task out we finally ordered our Christmas cards so we can get these out to everyone.  Hopefully we'll get them out next weekend so they arrive everywhere in time for Christmas!

I think we'll spend the rest of the day hunkered down at home in front of the fireplace all warm and toasty since the weather outside is cold and blustery.  Let's hope the weather improves starting tomorrow!