Life as we know it...

Thursday, December 9, 2010

It's Official!

We are homeowners!!

We finally closed last Thursday and it was one of the worst experiences ever! But I wont get into the gory details of how much I hated the mortgage lender. We are pretty much all unpacked with the exception of a few boxes and clothes left at the apartment. It is so nice to be able to have our own place and not worry about being loud or having neighbors so freakin close!

We have some big changes coming our way this week so I will do my best to update this as they come up!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

My 50 Year Plan - Updated

I had started a blog last December on all the things I wanted to complete in 50 years. Most people I knew online were making a 101 in 1001 days list, but like I said before, I could not keep my list down to just 101 things, so I made a lifetime list! Now that I have just 1 blog, I decided to update my list and keep track of it here. If you followed the old blog, I took off a few things that I have accomplished and just switched those out with some new goals that I want to do now!

*Travel*
1. Go on a cruise
2. Visit all 50 States ( 17/50) *Working on it!*
3. Boston
4. Milwaukee Zoo & Museum
5. Disney World
6. Mt. Rushmore
7. Vegas Baby!
8. Yellowstone
9. Go Camping
10. Italy
11. Canada
12. Niagara Falls
13. Daytona 500
14. Statue of Liberty
15. Washington DC
16. Dollywood
17. Go back to NYC for the 4th time, but with just Jon
18. See a play on Broadway
19. See a Red Sox Game
20. Stay in the Penthouse 1 night at a hotel
21. Shred & organize bills on the 1st of the month for 1 year (0/12)
22. Pay off CC's (0/6)
23. Save enough money to put all of our kids through college
24. Pay off any new debt within one month
25. Put $5 into savings for each check off this list
26. Cut coupons and track savings for 6 months (0/6)
27. Donate to the Humane Society
28. Donate Clothes to Goodwill
29. Track every penny from one check
30. Watch every episode of Criminal Minds and get the DVD's
31. Put $50 from Jon's checks into our General Savings
32. Put $100 from My checks into our Baby Savings
33. Reach an 800 credit score
34. Buy a house
35. Organize all my recipes
36. See Eric Clapton in concert no matter the cost
37. Watch fireworks from a boat
38. Find a cute bistro set
39. Organize pictures & upload new ones
40. Buy reusable canvas grocery bags (etsy)
41. Buy cloth lunch bags from etsy
42. Switch to energy efficient bulbs
43. Have a garage sale and put $ into savings
44. Read 25 books a year (0/25)
45. Complete a 1,000 piece puzzle
46. Don't swear for a whole day
47. Take Dad out for Breakfast or lunch
48. Take a bath & read by candlelight
49. Make my scrapbooks: Wedding & 1st year
50. Plan a picnic together
51. Host a dinner party
52. Have an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party in June
53. Have a Toga Party (in our 1st house)
54. MAKE A BABY :O)
55. Dress up for a Date with Jon
56. Buy a new bike
57. Take a photography class
58. Have Nick's graduation party at our house
59. Buy a lottery ticket
60. Sundays with Jon: Take a pic & write about every Sunday spent with Jon for a whole year (0/52)
61. Learn a new language
62. Accept a compliment
63. Go Skinny Dipping
64. Do not complain for a whole day
65. Make my full DVD wish list
66. Get my Degree
67. Go to the library once a week for a month (0/4)
68. Get CPR certified (again)
69. Learn how to knit
70. Pack a lunch for work for 1 wk (0/5)
71. Re-learn how to drive a stick shift
72. Learn to shoot a gun
73. Host a passion party
74. Learn 1 new word a day for a month (0/30)
75. Gather baby clothes (when time comes) and make a quilt
76. Thankful Thursdays: Write something every Thursday that I am thankful for, for a whole year. (0/52)
77. Wear shorts outside (NOT to the beach)
78. Get passports
79. Go to Festa
80. Knit a scarf
81. Ride a Horse
82. Send out birthday / anniversary cards
83. Make my book list
84. Go to a book signing
85. Kiss Jon in the rain
86. Go ice skating
87. Complete the P90x with Jon
88. See a movie alone
89. Have Nick over for a whole day
90. Watch the sunrise with Jon
91. Go to the strip club with Jon & our friends
92. Walk everyday (weather permitting) during the summer
93. Send encouraging notes
94. Cook a meal on the grill alone
95. Cook no less than 3x a week for 1 month. (0/4)
96. Stay at the Kalahari or Great Wolf Lodge in WI Dells
97. Do 50 crunches daily for 1 week (0/7)
98. No soda pop for 30 days (0/30)
99. Eat at 10 new restaurants (8/10)
100. No fast food for 1 week (0/7)
101. Bake something to bring into work
102. Ride my bike to the library in Summer
103. Send postcards from every vacation
104. Start a portfolio
105. Get magnets from every state for mom
106. Learn to play Texas hold em
107. Go whitewater rafting
108. Make a snowman
109. Go indoor rock climbing
110. Go Whale Watching
111. Keep a post card collection
112. Teach Sunday School at church
113. Take a scrapbooking class
114. Go to at least 1 scrapfest at Mall of America
115. Visit England
116. Pay off our Tuition
117. Retire to North Carolina
118. Visit a maple syrup plant in Vermont
119. Take a sick day for myself
120. Visit Jon's Grandparents in Virgina again
121. Buy my nice DSLR Camera
122. Take Nick's Senior pics
123. Stay in bed all day long
124. Milk a cow
125. Go moose watching
126. Create a book with stories from my adventures working at the news
127. Have Jon buy a new truck
128. Buy a sewing machine
129. Sew a receiving blanket
130. Sew a burp cloth
131. Get a recipe published
132. Get a picture published
133. Get braces so I can have a pretty smile :)
134. Donate blood
135. Grow out hair & donate to Locks of Love
136. Visit all 72 counties in WI (9/72)
137. Ride a zip line
138. Swim with dolphins
139. Take a train trip
140. Visit the 4 corners
141. Travel in an RV
142. Visit the Jelly Belly Factory
143. Make a time capsule for our kids when they are born and let them open it at age 18
144. Get a puppy
145. Collect all the Weird State Books (5/22)
146. Meet a Niner Nestie in real life
147. See Lisa Lampanelli Live
148. Make a list of 50 things that make me happy
149. Tour the Miller Brewery
150. Buy 1 stock all on my own
151. Keep my car clean for 1 month (0/30)
152. Go play Bingo
153. Read all the Harry Potter books again (0/7)
154. Build a house
155. Throw my parents a 25th Anniversary party
156. Get my wedding dress cleaned and saved
157. Go to Common Grounds with a book alone
158. Send out 1 random card a month for a year (0/12)
159. Complete Project: 365 (0/365)
160. Get a membership to the Y
161. Run a 5k
162. Run a half marathon
163. Run a full marathon
164. Run the Chicago Marathon
165. Read every single Stephen King Book
166. Go to a book signing
167. Get a Nook Color
168. Get down to 140 lbs
169. Get down to 130 lbs
170. Get down to 125 lbs (Goal weight)

Sunday, November 14, 2010

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas... and very pic heavy

Yes, I can not help but get into the Christmas spirit when I hear this song. With the stress of waiting to close on the house, I decided to start shopping now, that way it is one more thing checked off the list. So far the only one who is done completely is our niece Maci. Since she is so darn cute I will be the show off Auntie and share her with all of you. Here she is watching Sports Center with Uncle Jon...

Cute eh? Oh, I can't forget to post those updated picture of the house from our inspection!

Bathroom

Living Room from the other side

Our Walk-in Closet

Living Room part 2

Kitchen (I LOVE my skylights!!)

Way to scare your wife: Send her a text saying "Hey Sweetie, I am on our new roof!"

Saturday, November 13, 2010

New Life, New Blog

Since this blog is not about fixing up Jon's Grandma's house anymore I changed the wording of the title to fit more with our new home-buying life. I will probably use it for house stuff and rambling about other random things as well.

Our inspection went great! No major things need to be done, just some touch ups here and there. We are still waiting for the appraisal from the bank, but once that is done we should close. It's looking like we might not close until early December, which sucks, but at least we have the rest of the month to paint and move boxes in.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

We are getting a new house!

Jon and I realized it was going to take us so much time to get his grandma's house clean out and fixed up that we decided to move on to a new house for the time being.

One of his co-workers bought a cute 2 BR house and fixed it up last year. We looked at it then, but could not afford it, so we thought it was not ment to be. Jamie (Jon's co-worker) ended up renting it and we thought that was the end of it.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, Jamie called Jon and said he knew that I loved the house and that he was selling it because the renter took off and he didn't want to deal with renters anymore. This could not have happened at a more perfect time! We are ready to be homeowners and while we will still be working on his grandma's house, this will get us out of the apartment and into our own place!

The inspection is set for Thursday, so if everything goes well we should close by the end of the month! Here are a few teaser pics until I take more with my better camera during the inspection. Enjoy!

Living room from the front door

Looking into the kitchen

Our Bedroom

Spare Bedroom

Our fenced in backyard!

There she is!!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Progress has started!

Over the last week we started taking things off the walls and clearing out the 2 spare bedrooms. A lot of the items in the house are antiques so Jon's mom has been helping us out with getting that stuff out of the house or selling it. We still have a long road ahead of us, but here are some updated photos!

The spare bedroom so far...