One Month In: Adventures in Our New Home

We’ve officially been in our new home a little over a month—and what a wild ride it’s been! It feels like every “little” thing turned into a full-blown adventure, but looking back, it’s kind of funny now (kind of 😅).

Our first hiccup? The dishwasher had a crack in the back and had to be replaced before we could even use it. Not exactly the welcome gift we were hoping for. Then came appliance delivery day from Lowe’s. They brought our new washer and refrigerator, but told us the dryer would come later. Fair enough… except the delivery crew took our front door off the hinges without asking. When they reinstalled it, they damaged the door and it wouldn’t lock right. Filing a claim with Lowe’s was a whole process, but thankfully, our builder’s carpenter came to the rescue and got it fixed. In the end, we settled with Lowe’s for $500.

Then came the TV stand. We ordered it from Bel Furniture, and when we went to pick it up—of course—it was pouring rain. So we had to arrange a delivery. Once it was in place, we realized our old TV looked tiny on it. Naturally, we headed to Best Buy and picked up an 85-inch TV. Big room, big TV… perfect, right? Wrong. The delivery crew left the huge box in our living room and bailed. Ricky and I wrestled it out of the box, attached the feet, and lifted it onto the stand. That’s when we saw it—the screen was shattered. 😩

Cue another return process, another wait, and another delivery. This time, we paid for professional installation. Thankfully, the replacement was perfect. As a bonus, we got a $200 gift card with the TV and I used it to order two Amazon Echo Show 5’s.

Those came with their own drama. I got a delivery notification after the UPS Store had closed, so I replied to the driver’s text and asked them to come back the next day. Apparently, they didn’t read it and just left the box outside the locked store. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t there when I showed up. I had to request a replacement—again. Round two landed on July 4th (when the store was closed again), but this time the driver did read my message and delivered them straight to the house.

Despite all the chaos, I have to say: I love living here. Magnolia already feels like home. These little misadventures make for great stories—and honestly, they’ve helped us settle in more than we realized. Here’s to smoother days ahead (and fewer delivery mishaps)!