Chores and More Chores

Thank you, Abe & George, for having been great Presidents to our fledgling country; and for now indirectly being the source of a three day weekend. Well, three day weekend for government offices, banks, and some companies in the private sector (Steve's, but not mine).

In any case, our three day weekend consisted of alot of chores... more unpacking, shopping for house stuff, and gardening. Oh, and the Salvation Army came by yesterday to pick up more of our haven't-used-in-ages stuff, which you'd think we wouldn't have alot of anymore since we've moved 2x in the last six months. But we always seem to have stuff we'd like to give away.

Anyway, today, we hit Home Depot, Home Goods, and OSH. From Home Goods, we got a circular bathroom vanity mirror and some entryway rugs. We used a 20% "mover" coupon, which made our purchases even sweeter! For those of you looking for any type of mirror (or other houseware), I highly recommend discount stores, such as Home Goods, Ross, or Marshalls. The mirror we had been eyeing at Home Depot was $108, while the mirror we ended up with cost $49.99. Score!!!

We got some gardening stuff (e.g. weed whacker, garden hose, fertilizer, shovels, hoe, and kneeling pad) from OSH. We found OSH to be cheaper than Home Depot, so we've been going there for all hardware and gardening needs.

Since it was such a gorgeous day today, we decided to do some yardwork. Enter BAD allergies that even Allegra and Nasonex couldn't alleviate. After weeding the front lawn, I was like a faucet (yuck!)- so much so that Steve teasingly said that my allergies could be my "freepass" for never doing yardwork again. hehehe. To be honest, I actually enjoyed gardening. I never fancied it growing up when my parents would put my brother and me to work in the yard. But now, I actually find it relaxing. gasp. Wonders never cease when you're a homeowner.

Here's us weeding the front yard. The backyard, which will require more effort, will have to wait until next week.



Some aftershots:

We concluded our three day weekend by having a laid back dinner at Soups Sports Grill, which according to a Yelp reviewer, is owned by Jeff Suppan- who judging from all the St Louis Cardinal baseball paraphernelia, was (is?) a STL player. Steve & I didn't recognize his name, but then again, we're not big baseball fans.

Check out the middle photo. If you look closely, you'll see that the bar's background is actually made up of baseballs. I didn't notice this, but Steve picked up on it from across the room. Credit his ever-vigilant artist's eye.

Steve the Lawn Guy

So this is how the grass in our front lawn looked- since it hadn't been cut since probably before Escrow opened... which was in late November! YIKES!

Since Steve had had so much experience mowing neighbor's lawns as a kid growing up in Delaware, he graciously insisted on mowing ours... especially after getting a quote of $80/mo for a professional gardener.

And here he is cheerfully mowing our lawn for the first time last Sunday:

House Christening

We had invited Monsignor Reilly, from my old/current (I still go there often) church parish of St. Robert, to come and bless our house. It was important to Steve and me to start our new home life in the good graces of the Lord.

Of course, since Steve & I had both been sick for almost one week (actually, I probably got him sick), we got little to no un-packing done in the interim. Oh, and there were no groceries in the fridge, either - unless you count the three-pack thin crust pizza from Costco. Thank you for bulk-shopping!

So Thursday and Friday entailed mass un-packing, stashing, storing, tossing, and a mad dash to Trader Joe's.

Yes, the house still looks as if we moved in one week ago (versus two); but we're making some progress slowly but surely.

Here's some photos of from our very first Home Blessing:

Mom & Dad arriving (photo courtesy of our ADT monitor)-


Breaking bread for the first time on our new dining room table:


And of course, here's the obligatory photo of Evan. Poor kid was sick that day with a cold, so he was not sociable at all:

Rain Rain Go Away

Rain, rain, go away,
Come again some other day,
We want to go outside and play,
Come again some other day.

When my brother & I were little, our Nana used to recite this cute little poem whenever it rained. I always recall it fondly it whenever it rains, and I get the urge to go outside, anyway. May Nana's beautiful soul rest in peace.

So anyway, I'm guessing you could tell the theme of my blog today. Having been confined to my little area of the house for the past two days (since we're both the sicksters), I've gotten the opportunity (not to mention, the time) to blog about anything!

Here are some photos I took of our yard- front, side- and back. You can't tell from the photos, but it was pouring today. I don't remember how long it's been since it's rained this continuously in sunny SoCal. (Thank you, weather.com, for the lovely satellite map.)

Front view from living room-

Side view from dining room-

Back view from guest room-

I have to say - "Boy, am I glad we moved out of our old apartment when we did! Who knows if it's leaking in four places now, versus the three when we were there."

Moving Day - Jan 19th, 2008

Since I've been the sickster the last few days, I figured now is an excellent time to catch up on blogging- OJ and Kleenex in one hand, the other on the keyboard.

Well, Moving Day actually went off without a hitch. Why the surprise? Well, considering that I had to find a third mover after the first one flaked (or was rather non-responsive); and the second one became unavailable in a matter of five minutes (seriously, I'm convinced it was the darn receptionist's fault- she chatted my ear off to the point where our time slot got taken after she read the last disclaimer).

So I scoured Craigs List again- rather hesitantly- since I found the first movers off of Craigs List and thus was not too sure about the quality or reliability of companies on there.

Well, I didn't have too many choices left; so I contacted a company, L.A. Transport & Moving Services I had previously called off of CG. With baited breath and fingers crossed, I hoped they would show up the next day. Otherwise, we actually considered hiring from the "skilled workers" section at Home Depot.
In any case, LA Transport showed up promptly at 9a.m. the next day. Time to exhale! We were actually quite impressed because they worked alot faster than the other movers we had hired six months back. They didn't complain about the sheer number of stuff that we own, nor the heaviness of some of the bigger furniture. For those who are looking for movers, here's what we paid:

$85/hr for three men
$25 for gas
All materials included, including garment boxes

So here are some photos of the Big Move:

Old Apt -




New Home-

Wonder Woman, I am not

The absence of any blog entries from me in the last week means:
(1) I’ve been lazy to write, (2) I’ve got nothing to write about, (3) I've been too busy enjoying life's simple pleasures, (4) no Internet access (gasp!), and (5) I’ve been swamped at work.
If you guessed #1 and #2, strike the gong- you’re very wrong!

Which leads me to this “placeholder,” of sorts… and my Wonder Woman insignia. Oh, Linda Carter, I’ve been channeling my inner Wonder Woman and she’s been slow to come.

In the last week, between the two of us, we’ve:

1. Packed all our belongings to the hilt
2. Found a pool man to come and clean the “cesspool”
3. Dealt with a family emergency
4. Celebrated Mom’s # # birthday on the 20th (Happy B-day, Mom!)
5. Welcomed Tita Pat back from Germany
6. Found a mover off of Craig’s List literally 12 hrs before we were scheduled
to move (our original movers were flakes!)
7. Spent a total of 4 hours (3 on Monday, 1 on Tuesday) on the phone with AT&T because they could not understand the concept of transferring service from one city to the next, while keeping the same DSL service, and signing up for new DISH
network service.
8. Moved 20 miles to our new home, and first house (yahay!)
9. Cleaned our old apartment despite the Property Management stating matter-of-factly that they will still charge a cleaning fee
10. Drove almost 200 miles (roundtrip) to attend the funeral service and interment of a dear friend’s Mom.
11. Got sick with a bad cold and earache, the latter of which is a great alarm clock of sorts – since it doesn’t allow you to sleep fitfully!
12. Experimented with several different routes/means of commuting to work; since we are now proud members of the vast So Cal commuting public
13. Braved SoCal-style torrential rains during our morning and evening commutes
14. Unpacked half the # # # boxes. Only # # # more to go!
15. Wondered how we fit all our stuff into a 1200 sq ft rental property, but not a 1800 sq ft house
16. And I’m sure I’ve missed somethings….

Did I mention that we are still working our minimum 10 hour day jobs? For Steve, it’s been more like 12+, with imminent mandatory Saturdays.

Wow, this entry has become quite the unintentional B ! tchfest. Someone, please pass the cheese to go with the whine.
Better yet, what about a vacation to a remote island?!

Another Busy Saturday

doing domesticated stuff:

1. Drove to the house @7a.m. to open the door for the contractors.

2. Went to Home Depot for one more gallon of Behr paint for the 3rd bedroom.

3. Went to Bank to withdraw final payment to contractors.

4. Went to Costco to get all of Steve's tires replaced. Got a $60 discount on four Goodwrench tires. SCORE!!!!



5. Shopped at Costco while waiting for Steve's tires to be replaced. Came out with **only** a bottle of Fish Oil vitamins, Listerine, Kirkland toilet paper, gas card, and 350gb external hard drive. Not bad considering we were there for a couple of hours. I've done more damage than that in 1/4 of the time.



6. Enjoyed Costco's fine cuisine- Me: hot dogs + lemonade (total:$1.50); Steve- 2 slices of cheese pizza (total: $3.98)



7. Got two car loads of **free** moving boxes from Costco. SCORE!!!!



8. Went back to JCPenny to exchange backordered (and second choice) dining room table for my first choice table.... and found out that my first choice table- which was originally $250 more- went on sale today and was now cheaper than the second choice table by $50. SCORE!!!! And since it's a new item, they've got plenty in inventory and can deliver it along with our sofa set in a few weeks. DOUBLE SCORE!!!!

All in all, a very productive Saturday.

Homeownership 101: Change Locks

While I was at work today (boo!), Steve went to our new house and changed the locks to the kitchen door. What made the task more onerous was the fact that the oh-so-considerate former owners could not locate the keys to the deadbolt or door knob, thereby eliminating our option to rekey. Poor Steve spent most of the afternoon trying to remove the door knob and deadbolt while the door was shut tight. Fortunately, he got it changed before sundown.

Here's a photo of him feeling a rush of adrenalin after checking off #1 in our #100 Things-to-Do-Before-Moving-In list


And here's me trying to contribute to home safety....

attempting to get the $4.97 Walmart timer to work on a lamp after a couple of failed attempts.
Since we're not moving into the house for another three weeks, we wanted some light inside to show outsiders/neighbors that it was already being occupied.

Got the Keys!

Escrow officially closed today! yippeee....


Tomorrow, while I'm at work, Steve will be (1) meeting with the Contractor who'll be resurrecting the 3rd bedroom wall, and (2) changing locks for the kitchen door.
Then, after work, we plan to hit Home Depot with the generous gift card we got from my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas.
G'bye Anthropologie, Helloooo Home Improvement stores!

Closing Day - Dec. 21, 2007

After 30 + days in Escrow, Steve and I signed our
Loan Documents for our first house. A big "Thank you" to Mike Heggs and his crew at American Lending Group for their patience, hand-holding, and "endurance" throughout this entire process.

The day started out s-l-o-w, as we were late meeting our Realtor, Martha, for our final walk-through due to rubber-necking on a major Los Angeles Fwy. Apparently, a car burned to a crisp two hours earlier (fortunately, no one was hurt), but the shell remained- and people wanted to stare. In any case, we got to the house only to discover that the owners had turned off EVERYTHING except the water.

Waaaay to go, sellers :x Their lack of courtesy really "enabled" us to verify whether the dishwasher or doorbell was still functioning.

We got a letter in the mailbox from the incumbent poolman selling us his services. Pricey, though, at $80. Steve thinks once he has the hang of cleaning the pool himself, he can assume these responsibilities himself.

We had a 12:30 appointment at Escrow. and by the time we finished with the walk-through, it was 11;45. However, Escrow still had not faxed over the Hud-1 statement, thereby leaving us and ALG (our Lender) in limbo. Mike and Greg, our Loan Officer & Underwriter, respectively, kept us in the loop all morning and reassured us- as they and we awaited for the non-responsive Escrow company to email the preliminary HUD statement for their review.

By 1:30, Escrow and ALG finally got the figures straightened out; and Greg gave us the green light to proceed with the cashiers check for our Downpayment and Closing Costs. eeeks..... we forgot how much the closing costs can number. Thank Heavens for the sellers' $7,500 credit toward non-recurring costs! Thank goodness we had the "thick skin" to ask in the first place.

By the time we got to the Escrow office, it was 2:15. Our Escrow officer rushed us into a tiny conference room, where she basically instructed us to call Greg (underwriter) if we had any questions. She hurried back into her office to presumably scan the Web.

It wasn't long until I noticed an error in the documents... Debbie had not printed the most current loan documents. In fact, she and her boss had not opened any emails from our Lenders since the first- and outdated- set was sent.

Nice to know where our Escrow fees went!

In any case, after about three hours of mind-numbing reading and signing (signing away what seemed like our livelihoods), we finally finished. whewheeeew. We had celebratory, "just-ok" cupcakes at Susie Cakes (red velvet for me, chocolate mint for Steve), followed by dinner at The Commons. In between, we made a pitstop at Barnes & Noble for the obligatory Budget Design magazine and DIY Home Improvement book. Check back with us in the coming months to see whether we actually learned something from our purchases.

En Route to Home Ownership??

Well, Steve and I took our second big plunge and put an offer on a house. And it was accepted after one counteroffer from the seller, who was apparently very motivated since he had already purchased a house in Alaska. (from CA to AK, dude???)

Because this is a public forum, we will refrain from disclosing where the house is located. But family and friends, if Escrow closes, be sure to check your inboxes for a "We're Finally Moving" message.

So here's the house that finally passed muster with us.

Property Details:

1,800 sq ft
6,700 total area
3bdrm/2 ba
Pool + Spa