My blog n'at

3 truck loads, 10 car loads, 170 miles and many gallons of gas later its all over.

I think I need to have an unpacking party

This is much more overwhelming than it looks. There is still a back section filled with totes and in the pic the back left is filled with junk the seller left behind. Tools, building materials, lead based paint, Jimmy Hoffa, Pens 09/10 playoff defense and much much more considered lost that I cant throw out easily. I guess that was his way of saying thanks for us letting him and his family stay an extra week rent free.

Should be done unpacking by the time Teaspoon goes to Kindergarten.

Lushie hates shower doors and apparently knew when we did the walk-through that they were coming off. Personally I could care less but really, you think I’m going to fight over it knowing a loss was coming? The doors came off with no problem but the tracks, yeah that was another story.

I posted on Twitter asking the easiest way to get this removed without ruining the tub. We had tried the day before with  the usual razor and flat screwdriver didn’t work. My M.I.L. was down this weekend an pulled out this paint stripping tool and said give it a shot. IT WORKED! It made enough of a dent that I was able to get most off once it was started. I need brush up on my caulking because that stuff wasn’t coming off without a fight. The downside was the funk water that was under the bottom track.

The end result is what you see above. Neighbors started whispering about piece of the bathroom being on the front porch. Apparently its a neighborhood that doesn’t see much turnover of residents so I’m sure everyone is curious.  Oh trust me, there are more changes to come! I’ll need somewhere to brew beer and bbq outside

I was fortunate to marry into a family who loves to clean. OK love may be a strong word but they appreciate keeping your house clean. I’m not talking about a light dusting and saying you cleaned or painting over dirty walls, we’re talkin scrubbing floors and windows on a regular basis. Not because we’re dirty but just “that’s what you do”. You clean ceiling fans, bathtubs and scrub scrub scrub.

It should come as no surprise that when we have moved anywhere we scrubbed down after the previous residents. When you think about it you don’t know what the people before you did and honestly it helps give a fresh start. The house we’re moving into has taken 4 days of scrubbing down and painting with the basement still to go. That bucket pictured above was 1 of several from washing down the bedroom walls and bathroom. The bathroom alone took hours of cleaning before I even got started on removing the shower doors (more later on that task).

Next up for me is the basement which I’ll go into detail in the future. There was a fair amount of stuff left over from the previous owners that I need to go through and from what my brother told me, its the traditional Pittsburgh basement. In other words, hella dirty which was similar to most I grew up with before my dad had this crazy notion to make the basement a man cave. Thankfully the bro has a shopvac that I can use before we start moving since I want to paint before we suck up all of the storage. I should make chalk outlines on the floor.

Disorganization drive me nuts and I need to learn to be patient when it comes to a new house. I know that I can’t fix everything before we move in so my list of things to do will be long. Finding time to balance that, family time, school and my craft beer work will be an interesting feat. This week I’m going into each room and around the yard to make a master list of things I see that need fixed/updated.

Oh and don’t you worry about that beer cellar, I have an area scoped out

It’s practically new besides the dust its collected in our basement since last November. We’re moving soon and need to start getting things out of our basement. Here it is on the IKEA site. Sells for $49.99, you get it for free if you pick it up. May have an end table to go with it.

This is back up on the block and if no one wants it we’re tossing it in the trash since it wont fit in any of our cars.  Nuff said.

more coming soon…

The deal is done and I am now officially a home owner. I have to admit that the entire process wasn’t that bad and I’ve been told we were fortunate. The couple we bought off of were really nice and in fact this was their first house also. They told us about the neighbors, the best places to eat and who has delivery. It’ll be different that’s for sure especially when I have to fix my first thing and not wait for the landlord to come over 3 months later.

Signing the papers was very laid back and we were done within an hour. I couldn’t tell you what half the papers were I signed (I think I bought a bridge) but by the time I was done my hand was sore and all I could think of was “goddamn I betcha Red Lobster would be fantastic right now” so we did it.

We had someone watching Teaspoon for us and since this was the first dinner alone we’ve had in over a year we savored every bite. Half way through my glorious meal it hit me. I took Lushie’s hand and said “Holy shit we own a freaking house!” We looked at the papers once more and there it was, the mortgage would be paid off in 2040. We would be 64. Talk about a kick square in the nuts.

I know you’re wondering too; here’s what I had at Red Lobster. Lobster tail, bacon wrapped scallops, bourbon glazed shrimp on mashed taters and a corn mix

Next up is moving and we’re farther along than most people think. My question to parents is how the heck do you move with a kid since his crap has to get boxed up also. Teaspoon is already pitching a fit.

I’ve recruited my moving team. All of them are rookies to moving us so you vets can sit back and snicker. Fortunately for them the heavy pull-out couch has been gone for awhile and there is nothing else that creates that many obscenities.

We have a lot more surprises coming up. stay tuned!

I have a serious dilemma. I need to find cable and internet service. Phone, eh I guess but not a biggie. I need yinz guys to help me decide on who’s good and who sucks in Pittsburgh. I’ve had all of my services through Armstrong for the past 3 years and they have been rock solid with very VERY few outages and rocking internet speeds.

The house is already wired so my options are Direct TV, Verizon Fios and Comcast. I’ve had Comcast in the past and besides bitchy tech people the service was good. I hear nightmares about Fios from geeks but the house is already wired for it so that’s why I’m considering it. My only concern for Direct TV is the signal during bad weather storms.
Here is what I want/need.

1. Fast internet – I work from home on occasion, I’m online all the time working on something, do some video conferencing along with  a lot of data transfer and dont download movies. In other words I can’t afford downtime.
2. TV – the most important amenity in a house with an infant
   1. Hockey – I get every Pens game during the season. This cannot change. No blackouts or any of that jazz.
   2. HD – the more HD the better. That’s all I watch now unless its
   3. kids programming – Sprout, Disney and Nick Jr. are a must with a 1yr old in the house
   4. Movies – not important but a plus
   5. Watch in multiple rooms – not important but a plus
   6. Don’t give me that “dude just download your shows.” You can live like that if you want, I cant.
3. Phone – I really don’t care about having a home phone since we have a boatload of cell minutes and long distance but Lushie likes it so whatever package is available I guess we’d take.

Direct TV sent me a flier on a great deal for 1yr but it expires at closing time so that may not be an option.

So Pittsburgh, what do you suggest and who do you want to get stabby with?

The mortgage has been approved! Now starts the countdown to the closing and 4 months of craziness. Honestly I cant wait for the day I can turn my keys into the landlord and say goodbye to the evil that is his office staff. But hey lets be positive!

I was stunned to find out everything happened so fast. Again I’ve heard nightmares of these things dragging out and was told by the bank it wouldn’t be until the end of May before we got an answer. No complaints at all coming from this side of the table.

The only thing I’m waiting on now is a few repairs that came up in the home inspection. Hey if all else fails and things fall through I know I’m approved and can work off that.

Right now Lushie and I are scoping out where some key stores are located. Target, Home Depot, Giant Eagle and the craft beer store. Unfortunately none of those are walking distance so I may have to stay local. I’m a sucker for home town hardware stores so who knows what I’ll find. We’re going to start going through the mess in our basement this week to figure out what to pitch come Memorial Day weekend. I’m looking forward to tossing a lot of old papers and junk that I have no idea why I kept.

My mom is hellbent on me bringing my stuff I have at her house in Erie. What this stuff could be besides baseball cards and a box of misc. junk in her attic is beyond me. Talk to her and you’d think that I have a wing of the house. She keeps talking about a box of vcr tapes and even after I say pitch them (seriously, everything is on You Tube now) she insists that I go through them.  Can I burn them without killing something in the air?  Probably not, they’re from the 80′s and have more toxins than Aqua Net.

I am bringing down some of my dad’s tools so that will mean more than anyone could know. When my dad was alive he collected some of the best tools known to man; he never used them but had to have them. Plus he always took pristine care of his tools… all the way down to painting them gold or fixing with duct tape.

Dad, now it’s my turn.

One reason why I’ve been so late on replying to messages or getting anything done is because we found a house. Oh wait… WE FOUND A HOUSE! There, that’s better. Honestly we weren’t even expecting it. We went out a couple weeks ago with about 8 houses on our list and the second to last turned out to be the winner. We put the offer in the following day and within 2 hours we had negotiated a price. That’s when the fun started…

We’ve already gone through the hand cramping marathon of filling out the mortgage papers, the inspection/bug check/radon is done and the appraisal is coming up. Currently we’re in the “OK here’s the shit that needs fixed ASAP for this to work. Let’s talk” phase. The couple we’re buying from seem cool so I’m sure the agents can get this figured out.

Lushie is really psyched about everything. Teaspoon likes the yard. Me? Yeah I’m getting there. I’m excited to be buying our first home and all that jazz but good lord there is just so much that has to fall into place and from what I’ve been told by a few, this is normal. tehjim told me over beverages “This is going to be one of the most stressful, blood pressure raising, pain in the ass things you can do but it’s so worth it at the end.”  So far, yeah we’re pushing that. With both of us working in a job that expected perfect record keeping our realtor has been amazed at how on the ball we’ve been. Honestly, we’re just ready to move out of the rental formerly known as Betty White’s Vagina ceiling. (I have an update on the neighbor who shovled his yard and OTIS coming up!)

If you’re the couple I’m buying the house from, thanks for Googling my name because that’s the only way you’re finding this. Be nice or all of these readers are gonna hunt you down (haha). No seriously, they’re all crazy. Don’t piss them off. I am looking forward to moving someplace new and not being a native yinzer I have to admit that learning the history of something new around here geeks me out. After word got out about where I’m going I found out that I have 7-8 friends close by. Know what that means… uh huh, MOVERS!

We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves though. Lushie and I have a long way to go in this process so just keep your fingers crossed and your prayers coming. Either way we’re moving somewhere and I have a ton of stuff that needs donated or given to someone on here (right Uncle Crappy… the table). That is another post I need to get working on.

One thing that I have learned over these last few months of house searching is that observing your potential future neighbors is key. Granted this isn’t the only thing to inspect but it is important. Check out their yards, see if there is anything trashy hanging around or if its well maintained. Look for empty bottles or cigarette butts (if that thing bugs you).

I haven’t been updating as much as I originally anticipated for one reason, we haven’t found anything that was interesting from the daily emails and searches on realtor.com. About a 2-3weeks ago we came across a two places within a couple blocks of each other and figured we’d give them a shot. First house was 4BR 2bath. TON of space and things were really up for it until we hit the basement/game room.  Exposed pipes from fallen tile, bathroom ripped apart and severe water damage. The sellers report also said the showers dont work. Lovely!

The following house we went to is where the magic happened. Nestled in the back of a cul-de-sac was this really great 3BR 1Bath with decent size backyard. There was some water damage but the incredible hardwood floors and other amenities were making up for it. I looked out the front window and noticed that this neighbor appear, standing cross-armed and staring right at the house. Figured it was odd and shrugged it off. We finished looking at the house and went outside to walk around the back. There was the guy again. this time he followed us but stayed on his side of the property line. Now I’m paying more attention to detail. This dude is probably in his late 60′s early 70′s. Was dressed in white tube socks jacked up to his knees, shorts that were up to his bellybutton, white t-shirt crammed in side of that, had a fluffy white mustache, sunglasses and to top it off was one of those hard safari pit hats.

I looked over into his yard and there it was… his whole yard is dedicated to the Marines. I have absolutely no problem with people who are proud of their military background but this guy was obsessive. We walked back to our car and he followed us. Lushie screamed out (while holding Teaspoon) HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII! he looked at her and said “ma’am” then turned and stared me down.  I think he must have been crushin on me. Yeah baby!

Yeah, we’re not taking that house.

More later on what happened this weekend. If you already know shush!

One of the first pieces of advice we received was to drive around the neighborhood of any house we wanted to look at.  We did this previously for a house in Mars and that proved to be a very smart move and this time would be the same. We had some errands to run on Saturday so we decided to drive around the North Hills and check out a few houses we received emails about.

From the outside the house was nice (that green is actually darker than the pic), the pictures we saw online we knew this house was absolutely perfect plus the information shows the place was updated and had a private yard. Too good to be true right? right.

We pull up across from the property and check out the other houses. Not bad, not bad. In fact we were sold on this place that we wanted to schedule an appointment. As I reached for my phone to call our Realtor it happened…

Next door in that off white house came this older lady. She got in her car, put it in reverse and backed into an SUV not once but TWICE! She pulled forward, put it in reverse and did it again! Oh yeah, there was no other car in front of her! She got out, saw us and then ran inside. My insurance agent would probably drop me for living by her.

Still amazed by what happened we leave and get maybe 4 houses away from the rear-ender when we see some ghetto chicks have their van parked in the middle of the road and are unloading it. They see us stopped and take their good ole time, read mail, chit chat. Another car came so now we have a jam and this guy wasn’t about to wait for anyone. He’s honking his horn, giving me the finger to move, which I can’t because cars on both sides prevented such a feat. Eventually the one girl gets in her van, pulls up to us, lowers her window and screams at us.  No words just blaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh with full tongue ring exposed.

Needless to say, we’re no longer interested in this property and will be staying far away from this area.

Stay classy!