Settlement

Tomorrow is the day. We will own our home again. Last night we went to Home Depot and bought paint for some of the rooms. I thought we were going neutral....maybe not so much. I guess it depends on what you think in neutral.

Jason and I are going to take tons of pictures both before and after. Cause honestly, the house is kinda ugly, but it has tons of potential. It just needs some TLC. Check back soon for pics!

One week later...

And I think things are starting to settle down. Whoo, life has been interesting though. We have had a really hard time setting things up for this house. Everything from the termites, electrical, & getting house insurance (because we are within 3 miles of the "ocean," its a river people!) has been a stressful horrible experience. The only thing that is easing my mind right now is that 1 week from today, I will own my house. Yeeaaahhh!

Yes, finally Jason and I will be on our own again. I do sincerely thank my mother and Joe for letting us stay with them. It has been fun and I will miss the "full" house, but I get all my stuff back. ****Funny side note, I went to the storage unit to get our bikes and and looked at all of our stuff. I forgot all the crap I own. I think unpacking it going to be like shopping all over again. How fun! Jason says, he is getting rid of stuff, I will believe it when I see it.****

Now I am looking forward to painting and make this house our home. Many of you will be surprise to hear, we have picked some very neutral colors for our wall (well they are neutral to us). We do have some visitors planned and we are looking forward to seeing everyone.

By accident, I picked up a new hobby. Last weekend at the auction, I bought a bureau for $4, but it was ugly. So I have sanded it down and stained it. I am delighted at the outcome and I think I need more furniture to work on. The only problem is we really don't need more furniture.

OMG

Okay, so this house might just give me an aneurysm (I think that is how you spell it). So the house did not appraise, but that works out for us because we get to buy it for 7k less......YEAH! But the drama since.

First the homeowners ask us to pay the difference between the sale price and the appraisal....yeah right. I do feel bad for them because they are apparently upside-down on their home. But why would I put myself in the same position? Also there are electrical problems and they want us to just forget about the problems because of the cost. WHAT???? Are these people insane? hello....reality, you own a home, you have to maintain it! THEN the agent is a piece of work, she received the electrical report on Saturday and as of right now (Thursday) she still hasn't had anyone out to estimate the repairs.....really? Cause we close in 2 weeks. How are you a successful agent? This is your job and you get paid well for it!

Oh and I have no idea if she is even addressing the bloody termites.

Til next time

The HOUSE

So we are supposed to settle on our new home (which I am freakin out about) on Friday April 30th.....until we discovered termites....ewww and problems with the electrical. I wish we had Paul here this week, his skills could be very useful. So, we are playing a waiting game to see if they will fix the electrical. The idea of termites just grosses me out but they were only found in the garage with no damage to the structure. The current owners must treat for the termites in order to get approval for the sale. Oh yeah and it didn't appraise!!!!!!!

I am a terribly bad blogger

Okay, so I am a terrible blogger and you would think that with the boredom that winter brings, I would get my lazy bum to post more often. But to be fair, we have been quite busy. Jason has been working very hard at his new position and I think that he does like it. I got my real estate license for New Jersey and I am working hard trying to establish my business. Also, we have been house hunting and finally settled on a home in Pennsville. We appreciate both Mom & Joe's hospitality but it is time for us to be on our own again.

So let's start from the beginning!

So much snow this year. We had 4 major storms and of course Jason and I got blamed for all of it.
The snow drifts are ridiculous

Joplyn having some fun. She is not the outdoor's type but she really seems to be coming around. We can hardly get her to come inside when you call her.

And of course there is Jersey. She loves the snow!

Sausage making day! We had a family adventure making homemade sausage. We made four different types. Cheese & wine, Rosemary, Grandpa & Grandma Rubino's recipe and breakfast sausage. I am not a huge fan of sausage buy my god these are tasty. Plus we had a great time together.

The magical machine. It may not look like anything fancy but this machine was at the top of it game when it was made, probably 100+ years ago....

Actually a very funny story, we borrowed this from our fabulous neighbors, Mr & Mrs. McClay and it was sitting in the kitchen for a few days beforehand. Jersey, my attack dog, was scared to death of the machine! She would go round-about just to go outside so she didn't have to pass it on her way.

Paul, mixing one of the batches

Looks kinda gross here but tastes delish! Total we make 80lbs so everyone had a turn mixing.

Timeout for some stair talk

Michael, our little chef
All of the kids helped

Linda was the master linker

She is also a little crazy!

Spring has Sprung! And it seems so early to me. These pictures were taken in the 1st week of March. Since then we have had tons of rain and everything is in blossom right now.

Needless the say the girls and I enjoyed the outside as much as possible on this day.

Joplyn started out in the sun

And ended up laying in the shade

And then there is Jersey who want me to throw the ball and throw the ball and throw the ball until my arm is ready to fall off. Poor baby, she is eating me out of house and home but losing weight because she is so active right now.

Jason took me to a Flyers vs. Blackhawks game in the middle of March. The game was great but unfortunately, it was another Nor'easter and it was raining buckets.....for some reason we decided to run for it. BIG mistake. I was soaked by the time we got into the building. This however was not the bad part. On the way out, I (yes it was my fault) got twisted around and we exited on the wrong side of the building! I was drenched down to my underwear all the way home. I had to laugh at it, but I do not think Jason was as amused as me!

Unfortunately, the Blackhawks lost at the very last minute but I did get to see the lovely Jonathon Toews!!! hhhumm

Jason went to Arizona to see the White Sox in spring training again this year. He is lucky to have his friend Brian live so close to the training facility. I know he had a great time but other then that I am not sure exactly what they did (and I am not sure that I want to know exactly what they did!!) Just kidding. I know Jason had a blast and I hope Brian did too!

Oh yeah, he got a ball signed!

For Jason's Birthday, I took him on a hike & picnic at Parvin State Park. It is amazing how nice the weather was on the 20th and I could not see having plans inside that day. I enjoyed myself and I hope Jason did too. Plus we discovered something new. Happy Birthday Jason!!!

Parvin State Park is located quite close to my mother's home, yet I had never been there. They have a public beach that is open in the summer and many trails for use. They even offer camping and hiking, bicycling, & horse trails for all.

Parvin State Park is right on the edge of the Pine Barren's. I swear the Jersey Devil was deep in those woods. For those of you out of the area, myth is a witch of whom it is said that after giving birth to her 13th child, stated that if she had another, the devil could take it. According to the story her wish was granted, and upon the birth of her 13th child, the grotesque offspring flew off into the surrounding pines.

According to legend, while visiting the Hanover Mill Works to inspect his cannonballs being forged, Commodore Stephen Decatur sighted a flying creature flapping its wings and fired a cannonball directly upon it to no effect. Joseph Bonaparte, eldest brother of Emperor Napoleon, is also said to have witnessed the Jersey Devil while hunting on his Bordentown, New Jersey estate around 1820. Throughout the 1800s, the Jersey Devil was blamed for livestock killings, strange tracks, and reported sounds. In the early 1900s, a number of people in New Jersey and neighboring states claimed to witness the Jersey Devil or see its tracks. Claims of a corpse matching the Jersey Devil's description arose in 1957. In 1960, the merchants around Camden offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of the Jersey Devil, even offering to build a private zoo to house the creature if captured

So I hate pictures of me anymore, (do you ever say to yourself, when the hell did I start looking like this????) but it is a good background picture that Jason took.

The park has a good size lake that you can fish in, although we did not this day. You can also put a boat into the lake but NJ has silly laws about gas motors, so only electric here.

Lake

Jason on the hike
In the evening, Jason and I went out for a nice dinner at a local restaurant. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of us 3 bottles of wine later!

Snow, Snow, Snow, Snow!!!

Snow and lots of it! We got anywhere from 20" to 24" of snow in a 24 hour period. However, there was so much wind with this storm it was hard to judge because of all the snow drifts. Of course, Jason and I are being blamed...."it never snowed like this before you moved back..."

I had to throw this picture in because of Joplyn....if you look on the steps, she is sitting there. Which is as far outside as she went....Little Miss Priss!

Winter Wonderland! Good timing for Christmas


Jason and I took a walk with Jersey, the next few pictures are of our journey

Oldman's Creek

Jersey is the opposite of Joplyn and she adores the snow.

This is my "action" shot

The pictures really do not do the snow any justice. It is absolutely gorgeous here at the moment. Tomorrow we fly back to Indiana for Christmas and my understanding is that it is snowing there right now!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Christmas Party

We had a Christmas Party for Jason's work at the DuPont hotel....absolutely beautiful!!!! It was a good time and all of the people he works with seem very nice.

****Lots of pictures of SNOW to come....check back soon!