Vince's New Car

Well the crazy winter we have been having pushed us to trade in the Camry and get another SUV. Vince has hated that car since he drove it off the lot so I knew we wouldn't be keeping it long. And we have a steep driveway and Vince couldn't even make it up the driveway some mornings with all the snow and ice. That meant that he would take my 4Runner and then I was stuck without a car. So after about a month of research and test driving we narrowed it down to the Nissan Murano and Honda Pilot. We ran into some problems at the dealerships because of all the Toyota recalls and our Camry being on the list. We knew we would have to take a hit but some of the offers we down right offensive. Vince happened to stumble across a Nissan dealership we hadn't checked out yet and they had a 2010 Nissan Murano on their used car lot. A woman had bought it 3 weeks before and decided she wanted leather seats so she traded it back in with 600 miles on it. Crazy! I don't even want to think about how much money she lost on that deal but it worked out great for us! So after one very long night we got the deal done and Vince is very happy! And as "luck" would have it we got another snow storm and Vince got to see if his new car could make it up the driveway and it did!

February 2010 Snow Storm

February 6, 2010...We woke up with 2 feet of snow and no power. Vince & I decided this is the biggest amount of snow we have ever seem in KC or PA. The weatherman predicted 4-7 inches-not a huge shock they were WRONG. So after 4 hours of shoveling and a little help from our neighbors snow-blower we dug ourselves out! At this point we made the decision to try to find a hotel. I had to sit in the car and plug the computer into the 4runner so I could look up some options. After a few calls to places that didn't have any rooms, didn't take pets or didn't have power, I finally book the 3 of us a room at the Hilton downtown. We braved the roads which were ok until we got on the highways which had not been plowed in like 12 hours. It was a bit scary but we made it and have been warm & toasty in our hotel room for the past few hours. Vince has booked us here for 5 nights to be on the safe side but I am really hoping we can go home tomorrow. I keep calling the home phone praying that it rings but it keeps going to voicemail-meaning we don't have power yet. But we are counting our blessings as we enjoy our "camping trip" at the Hilton!

House Pictures

We finally finished painting! We ended up painting every room-once I started I couldn't stop! But we are pleased with the results! We still have some projects like hiding the TV wires, getting some lights installed and putting a fence in for Miles but we are taking a break for a bit! Here is the link to the pictures...


http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=781132778308%3A1530465160

Happy Birthday Vince!

Wednesday was Vince's #31 birthday! He requested a nice dinner at home, so I made his favorite dinner (Cuban Chicken) and a birthday cake. It was a great night and I think he enjoyed his special day with me & Miles. Saturday night we went to a nice restaurant downtown called Hyde Park to continue the birthday celebration. It was a very nice dinner and then we went and checked out one of the casinos nearby. Of course lucky Vince turned our $100's into over $400. He has such good luck on slots. I of course lost all my money! But all in all it was a nice night out in our new city!

Christmas Eve

Christmas 2009 is our first Christmas away from home. We decided that with all the craziness of the move to Pittsburgh we would stay here. It is bitter sweet to start our own traditions as a family this year. We are missing all our family terribly but also enjoying the time at home.
We built a gingerbread house this afternoon! It was fun but we went into a sugar coma after we got it finished!
I then started to make our Christmas Eve dinner..Cornish Hens, twice baked potatoes, grandma's stuffing and butter corn. Now keep in mind this is the first big meal I have ever attempted! And I must say I did one heck of a job! Vince told me I need to cook like that more often-it was a nice compliment! I now have a greater appreciation for the wonderful cooks in our family that make our holidays so special! We stuffed ourselves and are now debating if we have room for cookies and cheesecake for desert! I am going to bet that we will have to save desert until tomorrow!

A Moving Update

After many tiny hiccups we closed on our Pittsburgh house on the 30th. We moved out of the temporary housing and started staying at the new house! We brought our futon mattress from Philly so we would have a bed! We got right to work cleaning and painting. I got our new master bedroom carpet ordered and then installed and also got wood blinds for the main level ordered! We ended up painting the kitchen, hearth room, master bedroom, living room and dining room all painted! We headed back to Philly on the 4th to prep for the movers and say goodbye to some friends. The movers began packing on the 7th and managed to get it done in one day! The 8th they came back to load the truck and after 14 very long hours they were done. We stayed downtown that night and ate breakfast at one of our favorite place...The Reading Terminal! Then we went back to the old house to finish cleaning up and we were off to Pittsburgh. After a long 5 hour drive with very strong winds, crazy temp drops and rises, fog, and random snow we made it to Pittsburgh! We got word late Wednesday that the truck would not be unloading at our house until Friday. But this actually worked out great, we got our blinds installed, washer & dryer installed and got the basement painted! Friday was an early morning and the unloading began...9 hours later they were done. The movers did forget to get our giant KU yard rock off the truck so we are waiting to hear if they will bring it back to us. Hopefully they do b/c I don't even know if you can mail something that heavy! The past few days we have been busy unpacking boxes. As I write this Vince is unpacking his office and it is shaping up nicely! Vince did a heck of a job organizing most of the garage on Friday and I have fully unpacked the kitchen, dining room, hearth room, living room, master bedroom, my office and the laundry room! Tomorrow will be the guest room and basement. All of our new furniture looks nice but we need to by a loveseat for the hearth room. Once I get things a bit more put together I will post updated pictures!

Sorry I can't seem to get the pic's to move to organize them.

We SOLD The Philly House!

After 49 days on the market, 39 showings, 4 second showing, 1 broker tour, 2 open houses and 3 price reductions we finally got an offer and sold the house!

We are so thankful! We didn't get the price we really wanted but we are still making all of the money back we put into the house so we are happy. We had to include the plasma TV over the fireplace but that just means we get to buy a new TV! The inspection is on Monday so fingers crossed all goes well.

We close on the Philly house on December 31st so we will not have to worry about paying a double mortgage or having to sell a vacant house! We had the inspection on the new house and it went great-only a few outlets that weren't grounded and the owner is going to fix them. The appliances we picked out should be getting installed next week just in time for our closing on the 30th! The movers are set to pack on December 7th, load the truck on December 8th, drive to Pittsburgh on December 9th and unload on December 10th! We have started to by some of the new furniture we need-we got a new sectional couch this week and this weekend we are going to buy Vince a desk for his new office!

We are heading back to KC for Turkey Day! We leave Tuesday morning and stay until Friday morning! We are so excited to see everyone!

Here is our new address...

1594 Pinetree Dr

Upper St Clair, PA 15241