Getting there...

No, we did not fall off the face of the earth...we have just been busy seemingly every single moment of every day! :) We are making progress on the house though and it is exciting to see it coming together! Since making settlement last Tuesday, we have worked on the house almost every night until 10 or 11PM! Poor Tom, he is walking around exhausted and ready for the work to be finished I think. We are very blessed to have family helping us fix up the house, it would be pretty discouraging working on this by ourselves since there really is so much to do and we want to get as much done BEFORE we move in.

Here's what we've done so far...

Tuesday, May 18-Settlement...Tom changed the locks and moved in the gas dryer

Wed.-Tom starts ripping up the carpets in all the rooms!

Thursday-Tom decides to rip up beat up Pergo in kitchen b/c he smells something "funny" in there...

Friday-Tom discovers water stains/damage and extensive mold on the plywood below the pergo and now decides it is necessary to remove all the cabinets and rip up the plywood to get rid of the mold.

Sat-we had a wedding to go to and a bar-b-que later that day so we didn't get to the house this day...

Sunday-Tom, Jim and Dad work on removing the base cabinets, digging 6 foot ditch to fix the plumbing and ripping the T-1-11 off the closets so they can be sheetrocked. While removing the base cabinets, 2 of them essentially fell apart and we discovered mold growing up the back of these cabinets and on the sheetrock in the kitchen as well. So at this point, the decision was made to gut the kitchen to eliminate the mold damage. I also walk through the house with my friend Sherri and picked my paint colors for each room with her help...

Monday-I went to Avalon with my Mom to pick out the tile for the kitchen and bathroom. Found some beautiful tile and also picked out the carpet for the two upstairs bedrooms as well.

Tuesday- I drove over to my parents house at 11AM this day and ate lunch with them...then my Dad went over to the house and started working on the kitchen. I came over as soon as I put Kira down for a nap to help him lay the new plywood flooring and backerboard for the tile work. My Mom babysat Kira for the afternoon so I could help Dad. When Kira woke up, she brought her over to our house and we went to Home Depot and got some gardening essentials. I don't think I will be able to do any gardening until after we move in though...there is still so much work to be done on the house....Tuesday night, Tom was burned out and exhausted so I told him he should just get away and he went surfing for a couple hours and felt refreshed.

Wednesday (last night)- I mowed the lawn for the first time (not bad, took me about 45 min to do the whole lawn!) and worked on "shopvac-ing" the whole bottom floor while Tom and Jim worked on fixing a hump in the kitchen floor and punching out the last of the moldy sheetrock in the kitchen.

Tonight the plan is to work again on the house but then I think Tom may take a break for Friday and Saturday...he is seriously killing himself working all day and then going straight to the house to work more at night and he needs to rest for a few days. We have the majority of the demolition done though so now things are really going to improve soon...

Here is the kitchen before we pulled the plywood up...

Here is the kitchen pretty much gutted now...I need to take more pics tonight when I go back b/c now the new plywood and backerboard is down and it already looks different!

There are two bedrooms next to eachother on the top floor...this one will be Kira's room since it is the smaller of the two...we had to move the stove and dishwasher in there for the time being while we work on the kitchen! ;)

A view of the living room.....

The yucky bathroom...you can see where I started pulling up the sticky tile, but I need the men to remove the cabinet and toilet to get the rest of it up!

Another view of the bathroom...we decided while we are at it, we might as well redo the bathroom along with the kitchen, then the whole top floor will be done and we will do the bottom floor when we get more saved up.

And here's a view of the master bedroom. I wish I had gotten pics of it BEFORE Tom pulled the carpet up...b/c it already looks so much better without the ratty carpet!

One more view of our bedroom...there is no center light, just this lamp that you basically almost hit your head on when you walk in the door so Jim is going to rewire it so there is a center ceiling fan and light in our room (an easy job for an electrician, or so he says!).

This is the view from the kitchen, there is a deck out the back which will be nice for bar-b-ques in the summer!

Well, I just realized I haven't taken any pics of the bottom floor so I need to remember to do that tonight when I go to the house!

Trip to the Beach

Since Tuesday's settlement, things have been a little crazy with trying to get things done at the house so there has not been much downtime....that is why I jumped at the chance to get away with our friends the Gleasons for a trip to the beach with her and her two kids. We made a plan to drive together and leave for the beach at 8:30AM. Amazingly, we were both ready to go and driving away at 8:30AM, anticipating a 50 min drive to Belmar. We were going along at a pretty good rate until we hit 195. Ugh. We finally got to the beach a little after 10 ish after waiting for what seemed like forever in traffic and having to endure many "are we there yet?" questions along with Kira throwing a fit for the last 15 min of our drive. I was seriously at a loss as to what to do with her. She is entering this phase of developing into her own independence but along with that comes opinions about what she does and does not want and she very clearly did NOT want to be in the car for that long and let us know.

I felt bad b/c I knew she was missing her morning nap, I knew she was tired and hungry...but watching her wave her arms and kick her legs in anger for 15 min while Charlotte's two kids just looked at her was disconcerting. Guess I really need to start listening to that CD "Loving Our Kids on Purpose" that Christy gave me a while back. Anyway, as soon as we got to the beach, she was fine...I nursed her and held her while she slept in my arms for a 20 min catnap which seemed like just enough to take the edge off because when she woke up, she was happy and ready to play!

Here she is still all sweaty from her nap in the car...

Charlotte, Meg and Reid Gleason! Reid was unhappy about something, I don't remember what, but that's why he's frowning!

This was Kira's first time in the sand since learning how to crawl...I didn't know how she would react to the feel of the sand so I just kept her on the blanket at first and let her look around at all the scantily clad people! And there were quite a few! Actually, I guess that was more me looking disbelievingly at the number of girls with measly patches of fabric barely covering their body parts...it amazes me that these small patches can be tied together and called a bathing suit! Ha! I suppose I should buy myself a bathing suit, I was wearing shorts and a tee-shirt and was very comfortable the whole time thank you very much!

I finally decided just put her down in the sand and see what she would do....and, surprise, surprise...she loved it right away! She immediately started rolling around in it, took a couple of handfuls of sand, put them in her mouth and munched away like it was the best thing she ever tasted!

Here she is looking at the ocean, she kept trying to crawl into the water...I had to keep picking her up and put her back down away from the water, otherwise I think she would have crawled right in!

Going for the mouth......

What a beautiful day it was!

There will be no stopping this girl

at the beach once she starts walking! She seems to love the beach as much as her mommy and daddy!

After spending a couple hours at the beach, we packed up our stuff and drove back. Thankfully, the drive home was traffic free and so we were home in no time! The kids were exhausted and Reid fell asleep...I kept Kira awake b/c she if she falls asleep in the car, she won't take a nap at all for the rest of the day!

We are officially homeowners!

Yes! I can't believe it's true, but it is! Yesterday we met with our realtor at the title agency and signed all the necessary paperwork for the house to be ours!! Our friend, Carol watched Kira for me so we wouldn't have to worry about her during signing (this girl is mobile now and likes to get into EVERYTHING!). The only monkey wrench in the whole process was that we had a "dry closing." A dry closing is when there is one piece missing for the settlement to be completed. In our case, we were lacking the lawyers signature on the Hud sheet. It was a little frustrating, because they were given the paperwork on Friday but it still hadn't been signed when we went to the settlement table. But it all worked out, because our realtor called us today and informed us that it had finally been signed and we got our key to the house, along with the Hud sheet and check for the extra money we had brought to settlement.

So now, the real fun begins...I called PSE&G today and they are sending guys out to mark the gas lines for us to dig (we need to fix some things with the plumbing) and tomorrow I am sending the Hud sheet to our tax guy so he can make an ammendment to our taxes and we can get our 8000 tax credit for 1st time homebuyers this year. Tom drove over to the house tonight right after work and was working on getting the gas dryer in and changing the locks. My Dad and Grandpop kindly came over and lent a hand as well! Wow! We are truly blessed to have so many handy family members that are willing to help us! Will be posting pictures soon...

I need a diversion!

Yes, we are getting so close to settlement, I can almost taste it! Not really, but it has been kind of all-consuming lately. So it is nice to have diversions to get your mind off it every once in a while. Today was one of those days thanks to my friend Betty from church!

It was so nice of her, she invited me over to her house for lunch and it gave us a chance to catch up while the kids played. She made spaghetti (yay!) and I brought oranges and bread and we ate outside in the beautiful sunshine!

She has two kids and one on the way. Her daughter, Elisabeth, decided she wanted to wear her coat...we were both laughing about that one...what a character she is!

I put Kira down in the grass and Betty's son Noah came over and they both kind of looked at each other...
Playing with the ball together...so cute! Noah is about 14 months and Kira is 9 1/2 months now but they seemed to be fascinated by each other, at least for a little while anyway!
While I am posting pictures, I thought I would throw this one in the mix...we went to a birthday party for a 2 year old over the weekend and I snapped this pic of her looking dazed. :)

T minus 7 days and counting...

I can hardly believe it, but by this time next week, we will officially be homeowners of our very own fixer upper! It gets more real the closer we get to it and there is seriously so much to do it makes my head spin. Because I am a person that likes to make my lists and cross things off as I accomplish them, I made a "to do" list of things that need to be done ASAP...here is a taste of what we'll be doing next week...

May 16th-mow lawn (yes, they are letting us mow the lawn BEFORE settlement...the grass is getting long!)

18th-SETTLEMENT @3PM!!!!!! Afterwards, Tom will be driving over to the house to change the locks out

19th- Call PSE&G to request gas lines be marked

hand in plumbing permit

hand in paperwork to our tax guy so we can apply for our tax addendum ($8000 credit for 1st time homebuyers that we will get back this year!)

move in gas dryer

Fix trap, add vent for dryer

20th-Call PSE&G to request gas meter installation and gas conversion

look for replacement for current refrigerator

rip up carpets

21st-rest day for Tom ;)

22nd- wedding, mow grass

23rd- Dig ditch for plumbing (Tom and friends)w

Walk through house with Sherri and pick paint colors (Dawn)

fix wiring

24th- Buy materials: replacement toilet for bathroom, paint, sheetrock to fix hole in Kira's bedroom wall, insulation for attic (Dawn)

knock down closet in rec room (Tom)

25th- Install toilet, fix shower (drain trap)

And of course, every night Tom is there working, if we can find a babysitter, I will be down cleaning!

I am sure we will continue to add to the list as we go! Stay tuned for pictures....I am going to post what the house looks like now before renovations. This might be a long process but it will certainly look a lot different quickly just by putting down new carpet and paint!

4 Ways to Fight “But I Might Need It Someday” Syndrome

In case there is any confusion, I wanted to stress that just b/c I "stockpile" does not mean that I am in favor of clutter. I saw this on a site and agree whole-heartedly...A rule of thumb that I practice is, every so often, going through our storage spaces and weeding out everything that we have not used in a year or more. Whether that be clothes or other miscellaneous items, I will rarely throw these un-needed things out but instead donate to good will or friends who I know could use them. Below are a few of the arguments for de-cluttering your life: (http://www.onsimplicity.net/2009/03/but-i-might-need-it-someday-syndrome/)

1. You can buy it again later. The less expensive the item, the more this applies. Having to buy an item again isn’t ideal, but it probably won’t break your budget. In the meantime, you can reclaim your space and be able to actually see what you do have.

2. Someone else can use it today. Yeah, you might want that ill-fitting, oddly-colored wool coat someday. There’s a slight possibility. On the other hand, there’s a great possibility that someone could use it today. By hoarding stuff you don’t really need, you’re keeping useful items out of the hands of other people. By all means, keep what you need, but if something has a slim chance of finding a use in your life, consider giving it away to someone who could really get some wear out of it.

3. You’ll never remember you have it when you actually need it. Keeping an odd assortment of items around is no guarantee that you’ll have what you need, when you need it. Even if you do remember that you have a ceramic dog stuffed away somewhere when a need arises, who knows if you’ll be able to find it? Keeping a minimum of “maybe” items around ensures that you have a pretty good idea of what you do have at all times, eliminating double purchases and waste.

4. Letting go is empowering. When you let go of “someday” items, you’re sending the message that you can handle life as it comes up. You don’t need an army of spare, unloved knick-knacks or piles of old newspaper to make it through. Clutter isn’t armor; letting go of it doesn’t weaken you in any way.

An update...yes, we are still here!

Well, I knew things were going to get crazy but I didn't know just how crazy! The past few weeks I have been kept busy getting quotes for homeowners insurance, car insurance, setting up appointments for inspections and audits, pestering our realtor with questions, signing paperwork with our lending bank...ah! The list seems never ending right now! But with all the craziness, things have been going well with house plans. We made it through all inspections with no problems and all our paperwork is now completed and in so we are just waiting to sign the final paperwork on May 18th and get to work on our house!! THEN, the real fun begins!! I am so excited!

In the midst of all this, I have been having fun getting better at my little hobby of "couponing!" This continues to save us so much money and I wanted to show you just how crazy I am! :) When you use coupons, in order to maximize savings, it is important to "stockpile" items you can get for free or 75% under retail that you use on a regular basis such as shampoo and conditioner, toilet paper, toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors, batteries, paper towels, flour, sugar, spices, coffee/tea, meat (which can be frozen of course), detergent, cleaning supplies, diapers, body wash, pasta, cereal, wipes, condensed cooking soups and broth. So I have been working on this and have created a little stockpile of free or very cheap things that should last us quite a few years. It will be nice to have our own house b/c I am going to organize each stockpiled item by group on shelves in our basement so I will know when a certain product gets low that I need to start looking for the "stock up" price again! I compiled it all into one area to show you just what doing this for a couple months looks like...

Below is the beginning of my diaper stockpile for the next baby...sizes 1,2 and 4...

The mother-load! The boxes in the back are 36 containers of Purex 3 in 1 laundry detergent that I got on a BOGO (Buy one get one sale), paired with a manufacture and store coupon, paying literally pennies for all of them! 36 containers should last us about 3 years. In the front is approx. 40 trial size crest prohealth toothpaste, 12 boxes kotex liners, 15+ body wash (gillette, nivea, pure and natural...whatever I could get for free), scrubbing bubbles and fantastik cleaner, ziploc bags, 8 boxes of benadryl, 8 boxes of motrin pm, face wash (assorted brands), tp, spaghetti sauce. Not pictured: all of Kira's size 3 diapers currently stored under her crib for easy access, 10 boxes of whole wheat pasta I got for free, 12 boxes of cereal I got for $1-1.25 each and I can't think what else right now!

Pictured below are a few of my receipts. Yes, I save them all and file them! I told you I was crazy!

So, what I am trying to say is that if you follow the rules of stockpiling, you should never have to pay for certain items at all! Gotta go! Kira just woke up...