Progress is sloooow

We're finally out of the apartment! Sheesh, that was hard work. We didn't realize how much crap we bought and stuffed under beds and in closets and in the basement storage room. Our Feng Shui was so bad. No wonder I felt like my Qi was all wackadooish.

We haven't had much time at all to set up the house yet. We have had time to populate the 'dude room' in the basement with a ton of stuff. No dude will be hanging in that room for a while unless he feels comfortable perched on top of three plastic bins and a pile of winter coats. Although I'm sure if you gave a guy a beer and a room, he would perch anywhere.

But I don't care 'cause I can do laundry at my house. Without quarters. For free. Without dodging spiders in the basement of the apartment. I can't even... I'm so excited. We are using a loaner dryer for now until our dryer comes off of backorder and is delivered. But it works for me. I love them and want to marry them.

That is all of the news I have in terms of house stuff. We are hoping to fix up a lot this weekend. But first Mike has to mow the lawn. I saw our new, nebby neighbor Connie giving our yard the side-eye yesterday. Simmer down, Connie... We'll get to it.

Unrelated P.S. - If you haven't seen this website in my blogroll yet, please check it out. It makes me heart burst every time I look at it. http://www.kellehampton.com/

We're in!

Closing was a success! We had a minor hiccup when we discovered during the walk-through that some repairs weren't done, but their serviceman is coming to the house this week to do what he didn't finish free of charge. Remind me later to tell the story of how when we called the number on the repair invoice from the seller, the phone was answered by some guy on the street who found the phone. Yeah... After that slight issue was figured out, we signed our life away and got our keys - one green key with flowers on it and one Steelers key. Guess who got which. :P

Pan to us jumping up and down outside the house like kids on Christmas morning looking at their Barbie townhouses (ok, maybe just I was jumping..not Mike). The house is so much better than I remembered and I wasn't sure that was possible. It feels like home already. There are more projects than we thought as the sellers sure did hide things like broken switch plates and bad paint jobs with pictures and candles well, but we're up for the challenge. I already made friends with Nancy at Lowe's.

I posted pictures on Facebook. If you didn't see them there, lemme know and I'll post some here. I'm too tired to do much more right now. MAN... homeownership is already exhausting. I discovered my new diet and exercise plan: House poor-ness and forgetting things downstairs.

It is all so great and thanks for being excited with us. We'll be sure to have a housewarming party eventually. The fire pit is calling for friends and s'mores and cocktails. :)

Bee!

I had to share this story...

I started a small riot on my bus today. A bee landed on my arm and I freaked. I stood up and said "Bee!" really loudly. I'm sorry... I've never been stung by a bee and the first time won't be on a confined, moving vehicle. So, the bee then flew away and started flying frantically in to all of the other passengers. They all got up and were swinging their purses and lunch bags at it. This lady behind me was screaming (literally), "Don't kill it! I'll take it and put it in my bag!" A Catholic school girl slammed her 30 lb book bag at it and made it go splat in to the window. The lady behind me said, "Great! Kill it! Very nice. Jeez!" I swear I heard her crying behind me after that. I'm a gentle soul (don't laugh), but it. was. a bee. Never a dull moment on the East busway.

Closing week!

I can't think of much else. Is there anything else going on this week? :P ( Hey Nuelsi - You're moving this weekend!! Are we the happiest chicks in town or what?!) I've got a one-track mind lately! Friday is the closing day and Mike and I are beside ourselves with excitement. We also have taken to reminiscing about special times in our apartment. That is the first place in which we lived together, the place we lived when we got engaged and when we got married. We painted the walls our chosen colors and grilled some delicious dinners out on the deck. We wish that we had more people over for get-togethers, but life gets in the way, I guess. We will miss our porch, our close proximity to Frick Park, and all things East side. I am an East side kid. I grew up roller skating in the streets of Squirrel Hill and thought that I'd end up in the East at the end of it all. Well, I thought that I'd end up in Boca Raton playing gin rummy on a lanani with my sister in the end, but before that... I will miss the East, but am excited to experience life in the South Hills. I have wonderful friends that live over there and can't wait to spend more time with them. I am excited to be near South Park when I hear they have a pony rink and an outdoor theater! Whaaat? That is fun stuff!

I'll take pictures on Closing Day and post them here. I can't wait to show everyone the wonderfulness that is Casa Petruska! I can't believe the house is going to be ours. It has been a LONG time coming. I think that is why I feel so dang excited. I've lived in apartments for the past 20 + years. I can NOT believe that I will have my own yard, my own driveway, my own washer & dryer. Seriously, I'm going to have to get out of the habit of asking to have all of my change be given in the form of quarters. And I realize that I'll also have my own pipes to pay to get unclogged, my own furnace to have fixed... but I will welcome those frustrations with bear hugs and smooches because in the end it means that my husband (weehaw!) and I will have our own home (yahoo!!!). What a crazy, wonderful year and a half it has been!

Random Act of Kindness

My friend, Erica has a great cooking blog. Shout out! ... Simply Satisfying. On her blog, Erica ran a Random Acts of Kindness contest and I won! :) I love winning things. As anyone who knows me can attest, I'm a sucker for free stuff of any kind. And gifts. And samples.

Scene: Mike and I come home from work. I see a package on the stoop. I have no idea what it is since all of the Amazon gifts that I ordered for Mike's birthday were already received and wrapped. The package is addressed to me - from some Bath & Body Shop in New York. I have no idea what it is, but I'm smiling big! Inside are five containers of bath salts and a note saying that it was from Erica. I totally forgot about it, so it was SUCH a great surprise. With the stress of the house purchase, I can definitely use a nice soak that smells like vintage chardonnay. Thank you, Erica!! :)



To pay it forward, I'd like to run my own contest. Here are the rules:

Post a comment to my blog saying the thing that makes you happiest. Also post your email address.

I'll pick two people and send you something that I think that you'll like.

Hopefully it will make you smile like Erica's kind act did for me.

The Petruskas found a new home!

Everyone probably already knows this, but I wanted to blog about it anyway so that I can document my feelings about this and smile in the future when I read it. Smiling's my favorite. :)

So, we started our search for the perfect house in December 2009. We trekked out to the South Hills one Sunday during a Steelers game to see two open houses. Don't worry, die-hards... the Steelers already lost their chance to be in the playoffs. :P The first house that we saw was a brand new Single-Family Home in South Park. Mike loved it, I liked it a lot but not the location. It isn't near public transportation and is on top of a pretty steep hill. (Side note: Turns out that a friend of mine may end up buying this house!) So we moved on to the second and final open house of the day. I knew as soon as I walked in that I loved it. I felt giddy and saw fireworks. Mike was pretty much 'Meh' though, so I shelved my schoolgirl house-crush for the time being.

Pan to over two months, hiring of a realtor, and viewing of approximately 15 houses later, I mentioned to Mike that we should take a look at the house that I loved because it was still on the market and we weren't finding anything that we loved. He agreed and I began to lob prayers up to the house gods for him to love it. We went, with our agent, to see it and I could see the love in Mike's eyes while we were there. Wahoo! However, I didn't bug him about it because anyone that knows Mike knows not to push that boy towards a decision. So I gave him the hopeful side-eye when I saw him looking over the house brochure several times that night. Eventually, he said, "Ya know, we should talk to Michele about whether there have been any offers on the house and if she thinks that it's a good value." I shot an email to Michele before he could count to two and crossed my fingers and toes.

Long story sorta short, we made an offer the next day and within 24 hours, we had ourselves a deal with the seller. WeeHAW! I can't even explain how excited I am. This house is amazing to me.

Here she is now...



Isn't she pretty? I'm using 'she' like the house is a boat, I know. Just go with it. There is a little bit over 1900 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, a finished basement, a firepit, a garage, a deck. I consider us very fortunate to be able to start this adventure come April. 39 years and thousands of laundry machine quarters later, I am ready to be a homeowner. I'm sure that it will be scary and nerve-racking, but I'm ready for it all.

Inspection is this Thursday. If you see me walking funny, it is because my toes are crossed.

P.S. The health stuff is still going - minus the South Beach. I folded. I was too cranky for life. I'm deciding how to get back on track and will blog when a decision is made.

Update on Health challenge

Now that it is February, I'm going to really focus on the Health challenge. I haven't done as much in that regard as I'd hoped to up until now, but in terms of updates...

- I wiped my cell phone off, um, once. It probably is germy again, I'd imagine.

- I tried to find pomegranate stuff that didn't cost an arm and a leg (One small jug of pomegranate juice is $8 at Giant Eagle! I could drink that in one day.) I'm still planning on purchasing this though: http://usa.weleda.com/our-products/shop/7270.aspx

- I have been eating tons of fish - which is high in antioxidants. So score there!

- I have been eating a henhouseload of eggs so that is good. They do fill me up so that I don't crave much else afterward. I like eggs. From my head down to my legs!

- I have done yoga most every day, but haven't practiced the Tree Pose each time. Will work on that one even though I fall over every time. Timmmberrr!

- I took Health's advice and have been following the South Beach Diet. I cheated a teeny baby handful of times, but for the most part have been fully ensconced on South Beach. I've lost 5.5 lbs and hope to continue to chip away at the muffin top.

- I got the grapeseed oil and have been putting it on my scrunch lines on my forehead and my crow's feet every morning and night for 3 days. I'm sure that it takes longer than that to make any difference, so that will continue. Mike is into this and makes me apply some oil to his crow's feet when he sees me doing it. He heard Dr. Oz mention it once so he is a firm believer since he read a couple of the Oz's books.

- I failed at the comedy club one. We will be missing Brian Posehn. I'll try for another show this month. I'd still like to get some good belly laughs while sipping on an overpriced drink.

- No kettlebell purchased yet. Those things are pricey. I was going to order one from Amazon, but I was afraid of the shipping cost. Them are heavy.

Pretty much dropped the ball on everything else, also. But the month is young so stay tuned for more updates. Happy February, everyone!