Running Update

Ran another two miles around our neighborhood. Passed the ice cream truck twice. Not quite the best motivation tool!

180 miles to go!

After one week...

It's been a pretty pleasant first week in our house. Lots of unpacking and organizing and cleaning. Lots of shopping for house stuff. Lots of figuring out ways to get places.

We love our house. Mostly because it is all ours (and the bank's). However, we do not love moving and leaving behind some key items.

Tip for movers: take your plunger!

We (I) clogged the toilet on Sunday morning. No plunger. Left it in our old apartment. Crap!

Thankfully, we live just two minutes from a hardware store. The problem was fixed by a $1.69 plunger.

Running Update!

Two more miles! My feet have healed, and I am stomping around in a new park. First run was fun!

182 miles to go!

Shiny and New!

Whoa it's been busy! We moved last weekend and for the most part, all of our furniture is currently made out of boxes. We have gotten some semblance of real rooms in the Family Room and Master Bedroom, which are about 60% complete.

The Master Bedroom is missing a new bed (the current one is E's college bed), drapes, artwork and another dresser/wardrobe. And the Family Room is missing a dinette, sheers, and the artwork. We are waiting for our nice fat tax refund to buy all the new furniture, so I expect our house to sport the air of college-chic for a couple more months.

Even in progress, we LOVE our bedroom. We got some fantastic Dwell bedding for a steal on RueLaLa, and paired it with some pillowcases (hidden in the pic below) and some toss pillows from Target. Then I added a wall mural I bought on Etsy for some drama. I can't wait to finish the room with the new furniture and drapes. It will be our own little relaxing cove.

Oh, and we bought a new stove! Here she is right before we installed it. I was too hungry and forgot to take pics after it was set-up. We bought it from Daniel's Discount Appliance in South Park for about 20% under what it was listed for elsewhere.

Our first house fixes

We spent a busy weekend painting the new house and making a few small fixes.

First up: Mastering the Caulk
People often don't realize how easy it is to fix window trim and baseboards with a little bit of caulk. In a lot of older houses, the wood trim likes to separate from the wall, creating an ugly gap. A tube of caulk is just $3-4. It is also super easy to work with. Just make sure to buy paintable caulk if using it on trims and baseboards.

Before:

After:

Next: Painting
We painted our Family Room and our Master Bedroom, the two rooms we will use the most right away. We still have to do some touch-ups and we have to paint the trim in the FR. But both rooms are ready for us to move in!

FR Before:

FR After:

Bedroom Before:

Bedroom After:

Finally: Testing the New Lawn Mower

Our ILs gave us a nice lawn mower as a house-warming gift. Here is my husband taking it for a test run (note his shorts and boots).

And here is what our lawn looks like now since he decided not to finish the job. Our neighbors love us already!

Paints: Valspar Spa Pool, Olympic Applesauce Cake (matched into Valspar), Olympic Delicate White (for ceiling).

Running Update!

I have been slacking with updating my running progress.

Since I last posted, I have run an additional 12 miles.

I had a bit of a set-back last time and will be off running for about a week until I rest my feet. It is perfect timing to move though, so I won't feel like I am wasting precious running time on lugging boxes around.

Next time I run, it will be in South Park!

184 miles to go!

While we wait...

While we wait to start moving in and making renovations to the house, I thought I would blog about this awesome slow-cooker pork recipe I made yesterday (original recipe). It seriously was the best thing I have made in the crock pot so far.

3lb Pork Shoulder Roast
1 1/2 C Chicken Broth (I used water with a bouillon cube)
1 Yellow Onion
1 Package Green Maggi Sofrito (awesome product, also available at Giant Eagle in the Latin Foods section)
Adobo (I like Goya Adobo with Pepper, available at Giant Eagle as well)

Directions:
Brown the pork shoulder in a separate skillet.
Add chicken broth and chopped onion into the crockpot. Mix in sofrito.
Season the pork with Adobo (can also use salt, pepper, and garlic powder if no adobo is on hand).
Place pork in crock pot with skin/fat-side up.

Cook on Low for eight to ten hours.

After cooking, you can thicken the liquids with cornstarch to make a sauce, or serve them thin.
I served the pork over white rice with the pork liquids.

I also plan on using the pork leftovers to make some pork tacos tonight.

Note: If you ever want to cook Puerto-Rican food in Pittsburgh, the two products linked above are must-haves! If you promise to buy them, I will post my recipe for rice and beans.