more of my love affair with PA

i really like PA.. i've spoken many times of my absolute infatuation with their stone buildings and houses... the stone facades make them look like castles to me... i hope to get some pictures of my favorite places..

it didn't really hit me till this morning how similar to boston this area is in regards to their sports fanaticism.. this morning on the way to and from work all the djs were talking about was donovan mcnabb... i miss that living in syracuse..

another thing i enjoyed somewhat masochistically was the 40 minutes it took me to drive 13 miles... that kind of driving is great "catch up" phone time.. too bad i had noone to call. the traffic was so slow that i feel like i took 10K miles off my clutch. someone even honked at me this afternoon when i went out for a lunchtime drive. :)

tomorrow

tomorrow i work at the PA office of my company.. i am excited, i love change!

we were so productive today, after RHs game we walked the dogs, saw a hawk of some sort swoop through a tree grabbing a squirrel out of a nest high in a tree and fly it to a nearby house and pin it between its claws and the roof. later we walked back by it and saw it eating the squirrel. it was crazy!!

after walking the dogs we went to the groc store.. i like their store, the GIANT. i am sure i will be back later this week sometime. :) then E made lasagna, garlic bread and we had salad. i've had most of a bottle of wine while i read the new people. there is a scratch and sniff MP page.. i highly recommend it. :)

tues night my roomates come into town... wed the H's come in, and thursday is the big day!

i spoke to my friend AP today about this weekend... she is coming to the show with us on saturday. she is going to be sad cause her and her BF are breaking up and he is leaving for CA on saturday. :( but if i know AP, she will not let that get her down.

observations from PA

gas is crazy cheap here, makes me mad at myself for filling up in binghamton. i saw some for 1.82 yesterday.

i called around to have my snow tires (which i brought) switched with my real tires, and monro muffler will do it for $18 a tire. shiiiiiit. so i went to BJs and the guy told me he could do it on the side for $50 cash. sold! he had diamond earrings so big you would have thought he was a pro-football player.

we took patti with us to the dry run to my work, and BJs.. the tires too a long time so we had to speed across town to RHs football game and p-head puked in the backseat. wtf, patti.

we made it in time to see RH score a touchdown though.

EH is making lasagna tonight, and we are going to make moroccan tagine tomorrow..

tonight is the AMAs with jimmy kimmel. should be good. i hope i can stay awake that long. last night i fell asleep at 830pm. :)

audrey is so cute, she is so vocal.. she makes this sort of high pitched sighing noise pretty much non-stop... and she loves when you snort at her like a piggy..

it's a good day -- well , it was a good day.

only 1 more day till the shit machines are gone! oh how i will not miss the smelly couch blankets, the snoring, the pissing and pooping in the entry way.. ahh. heaven, even if i'll only be able to enjoy it for a short while...

i just read this and am soooo sad, wtf. i love eli stone.

i realized i need to bring with me 3 laptops this week... that's a little ridiculous... 2 for work, and 1 for my itunes. my trunk is basically full of computers. i'm screwed if i get in an accident. Well, I spoke too soon. In the middle of this blog my personal computer *died*. This is a horrible thing to happen.

not to mention 8 days worth of clothes. shiiiiit

i bought snow tires today.. it was a deal i can't refuse... $50 a tire. and they are no flat.. which mike told me means i can run over a nail, drive 80 miles and hour and the tire won't go flat. plus they are coming off a mini cooper.. another reason i couldn't resist.

I'm finishing this blog on my iPod, crossing by fingers that if I let my laptop have the night off it will magically work tomorrow.

pineapples hurt.

i bought a real pineapple the other day and cut a slice off today so the fruit flys wouldn't eat all of it. it was so delicious and sweet, much sweeter than any canned pineapple.. but it cut my lips up something fierce. i am bleeding all around, my tongue feels like i drank soup that was too hot, or a licked a hot iron. its kind of awful. i think next time i eat the pineapple i will cut the fruit off the outside.

so thanks to ACH i went to a different insurance company and now my car insurance will be more like $90/month. thats like $50/month savings.. that's groceries! :)

i have a lot of things to do before i go to PA on saturday for the week and then NYC next weekend.

cath is giving away the bedroom furniture that i am using. so i need to pack up my bedroom then physically move the shit so she can deliver it to SH... all before i go away for a week. lovely.

i'm kind of excited to work out of a new office next week. it'll be fun.

i bought myself a printer from the woot off today.. i'm also very excited about it.

am i overpaying for car insurance?

i pay $145 a month.. i have a new car that i am financing, and i got a speeding in a workzone ticket in July '07..

i just heard that two people i know pay less than $80 a month for car insurance and in one case that is for 2 people and 2 cars..

what do you people pay? i think i am getting ripped off..

amazing race: episodes 7 & 8

here is the recap for the last 2 episodes.. i've been lazy.

2 more hunts down!

wow.. so cathy, amanda, hope or the lone hunt are still in it to win it.

rebecca aja and ty (ninjas)
cathy andrew and dan (frat boys)
mike mark and bill (comic book geeks)
amanda nick and starr (brother & sister)
ryan terence and sarah (newly dating)
emily anthony and stephanie
hope ken and tina (football player & cheated on wife)
dan marisa and brooke (southern idiots)
sarah kelly and christy (divorcees)
jr toni and dallas (mom & son)

weeds

i've been inspired to watch weeds lately.. great show... cath even got sucked in. i'm midway through the 2nd season.. the theme song for this season is sung by a different artist each time.

speaking about weeds, cath had "only 3 " glasses of wine before we went to blockbuster to get the next two discs. cath was more than loopy in the store and didn't realize that the boy behind the counter prob thought she was high. we had a good laugh about it in the pkg lot.

we went to the home inspection this morning.. there were a few things that we want the sellers to fix. hopefully i'l hear tomorrow what they decide..

we had fun looking at the house and imagining where to put my yet to be bought furniture.

since the great purge of belongings before i left MA leaves me with little to nothing... this is what i think i have...

my bed
my fold up computer table
my wheely desk chair
kitchen stuff
a TV, VCR and DVD player
a small bookshelf that will double as a night stand
an oval end table of sorts
a black wood chair
4 wooden tv stands
cath is giving me the crappy dresser that is leftover after she gives sarah the nice set
a sewing machine
1 desk lamp
1 tall lamp
a treadmill
an air mattress
another small book shelf
a coat tree

i'm going to need to hit up craigslist for some modern furniture... and IKEA and the raymor and flanigan scratch and dent.

i'm excited to finally get to use all my pampered chef purchases from almost 2 years ago that i have never opened.

i'm also excited to have a clean organized fridge...woo who!

another item i need to buy tout suite is a snow blower.... my driveway is not too wide, so i am going to need to make sure i keep it snowblowed.


here is the pic of my desk that i promised. i had to cobble together 3 pictures... obviously.

some non house related items...

to say i've been preoccupied lately would be an understatement.. things are crazy busy with work(s), and i've been looking for a new address... but that is not to say i haven't made time to have fun..

i saw Role Models this weekend with KW... it was very very funny. i think i have mentioned before how much i like swearing in movies, well this movie didn't disapoint. there were many times where we were laughing out loud at the screen. seann william scott is a great actor, so is paul rudd. i'm so glad to see him making a comeback. (did he really leave though?)

this morning on my commute to work i ws driving along as i always do, and there was a part of the road that merged from 2 lanes to 1 lane.. people generally weave in one from each lane nicely, there are never any road rage episodes that i've noticed... 'cept for today.. this a-hole in a red chevy sedan who is half a car length behind me to my left decides they want to be ahead of me going into the merge.. i just kept driving towards the single lane maintaining my place in line behind the car ahead of a-hole. so when i was totally in place in front of a-hole she starts honking.. and honking.. and riding on my ass. every time she got so close that i couldn't see her headlights she would honk again. i had about 3 miles till my work and figured she would turn of at some point.. no such luck. she kept tailgaiting me all the way to the office par i work in. i went straight so i could get an iced tea at DD, but she turned into my road honking as i drove off.. there are other businesses on my road, so i am not sure if she works at my company or not.. but i hope to piss her off again some morning.. for the next month, it's now my new goal.

omg.. i just saw that this is 9 posts away from my 1,000th post! woo who!

also.. today is my aunt jules birthday, and i know she's a regular blog reader, happy b-day AJ!

so excited.

woo who! so i submitted an offer on the clover ridge house last night, and this morning they accepted!! i'm so excited. next up is the home inspection, radon inspection and they start the mortgage process.. the sellers want to close more than 2 weeks before we proposed.. so we are going to try to do this in 30 days.. i think that's a little tight, but we'll see. :)

i worked up a little map to illustrate where my new place is in relation to a few places...



(click on the map for a working version)

the volcano icon is my new house!
the red triangles indicate where my two jobs are.. the top one is OBG, the bottom one is the station..
the green man and woman in teh bottom right is where my parents live.
the green man on a horse is Bilo, of course.
the red bed is the block that 2 of my new coworkers live on.

so to say i am so excited would be an understatement.. i'm thinking that i need to have a big birthday party this year and break in the new bar. :)

houseshopping with the roommates.

i looked at about 4 houses on saturday with cath and 2 houses on sunday with mike. i expected it to be easier to house shop with cath, but that couldn't have been farther from the truth. she was a "negative nancy" or a "debbie downer" most of the day.. when she didn't like something she didn't keep it to herself.

on saturday we looked at two new places and 2 places that i had looked at before. nothing really caught my eye..

sunday KM and i had planned to go to two more places. negative nancy wanted me to cancel the day, saying it was a waste of time, but mike and i were glad we didn't listen. i think i found a house i am going to put in an offer on. :) actually both the places today were great.



clover ridge
this is listed as a 2 bedroom, and i guess technically it is, but it's got a LOT of room. my bedroom could be on the 1st floor, there is a 3-4 season brick room with a gas fireplace/stove, a room i could use as a studio, the kitchen has decent space and is open to the living room. there is a converted attic that is a good sized bedroom, the downstairs is very dry ad mostly finished. there is a laundry room with a cedar closet and brand new washer/dryer, and a rec room that could sleep many easily witha full wet bar at one end. it has 5-6 stools.. and another fridge.. there is also a 2nd stove/oven in the basement. you can shut all the doors to the rooms you are not using, and save on heating.. there is also 4 zones of heating, so you can turn the thermostats down in areas you are not using. the garage is one car, but it's really large. and the best part of the whole place is that it's been meticulously maintained by the previous owners. there is a new roof, new windows, and all the appliances stay. i'm really excited about this one...

listing | my pics



mosley
this place is on a hill, it has a VERY small garage, but a big enough to turn around in driveway. it's an old style house, it has old windows though. there is a sun room, an open living/dining room, hardwood floors, three bedrooms, the 3rd being a loft/style. it's really cool... the fridge is okay, the bottom shelf has broken off the inside of the fridge.

listing | my pics

so all in all househunting with mike was much more productive. ;)

we also drove by the house caths grandmother lived in on plymouth drive.

more of the same

tomorrow cath and i are going to look at a few places and then a few more on sunday, but only after i sleep in.

cath and i are trying to catch up on the DVR...

working so much has made me rather boring i think..

but i did have something exciting happen to me today.. i got my award in the mail! woo who. i need to expense that. i'll take a picture soon.

i've been reading a lot lately about eating raw.. and i stumbled upon this website today... it makes me so inspired to make some of these delicious sounding recipes.

here is a link that caught my attention this morning.

amazing race - episode 6

i missed most of this last episode due to a craptastic date, but lucky me caught the very end.

HEKD things weren't looking good for you... but luckily you squeaked out a win.

rebecca aja and ty (ninjas)
cathy andrew and dan (frat boys)
mike mark and bill (comic book geeks)
amanda nick and starr (brother & sister)
ryan terence and sarah (newly dating)
emily anthony and stephanie
hope ken and tina (football player & cheated on wife)
dan marisa and brooke (southern idiots)
sarah kelly and christy (divorcees)
jr toni and dallas (mom & son)

house looking...

so saturday was rather exhausting looking at 9 places, but i got a good idea of what my money is going to get me.. we looked in two areas primarily... east syracuse and eastwood (a division of syracuse) i saw an adorable place in east syracuse that was built in the 1930s and looks like it wasn't touched since then. it had beautiful woodwork, but the kitchen was nearly unusable, and the bathroom was just as bad..

i found i am really drawn to natural woodwork. it killed me in some places where the owners had painted the woodwork.. all of it. badly..

one place we looked at on sunday had 2 dead mice in the kitchen... we skipped looking in the nooks and crannies of that place for fear of what else we would find.

one place i had to go to the bathroom really badly, and only after i went did i realize that they had turned off the water. :( oops... sorry.

i've kind of fallen in love with this one... listing | my pics
it's very open.. had a lot of parking.. a beautiful deck, new windows, newer appliances. a decent basement. a huge attic, looks like its been insulated.. cute bathroom.. central air...

there are a couple of others that i liked as well..
this one | listing, and
this one | listing...

weekend wrap up.

this weekend was quite exhausting.. i spent a great deal of it looking at houses. i looked at 12 in total, 9 or so on saturday, and 3 more today. there is one that i really like, but of course its the one at the top of my price range. i saw some beautiful old woodwork, as well as some frighteningly horrible painting and do-it-yourself jobs... i also am horrified to see that people paint over woodwork. it pains me to see that.

when i wasn't looking at houses i was eating with JBP and SF. we met at SFs this morning for a delicious egg casserole and bagels. little KF is crawling now. she's so cute. i also saw a movie and had dinner with DFG. never again. i am livid.. the plan was to meet at the theater and then get dinner.. i was less late, so i got us tickets. i got a "thanks" as we headed into the theater. no big deal. i figured that i would pay that much less for dinner... well... it was suggested that we just go to the crappy ruby tuesdays in the mall. i vetoed that, saying that i hate RTs. so i offered up one of my winning gift certs at either gentiles, or coppa de copani. we tried the former, but were told they were closing an hour early and had already closed the kitchen. so we went to CdC. they were still serving.. i ordered the eggplant and a glass of wine for a total of about 17. i had a $25 gift cert too.. he ordered a $15 meal. the bill was $35. he says, "how much is tip?" like he's just going to throw in the tip. i said, "well, the difference is about $24." not even mentioning that he owes me $7.50 for the movie ticket.... he puts a $10 in the check book, i looked at him. he was putting away his wallet. i was dumbfounded. then he says, "thanks for taking me out". wtf!! i don't even like this guy. i was going out because i was feeling pity on him. i can't even believe he didn't pick up the rest of the check. when we got out to the parking lot i quickly said goodbye and he said, "if you find yourself with lots of spare time let me know". yeah, sure guy.. when i have a free moment from my 55 hour work week i will surely waste it on your cheap loser ass. fat chance a-hole.

ugh. i wanted to write some pros and cons about the houses and the experience in general that i've had so far, but i am too angry write now to write that up... maybe tomorrow.