Aside from her weirdo fear of birds, this is an amazing story of two survivors of the Hudson River crash falling in love.
Sure beats my "we met at a bar" line. Although it will be five years in three weeks since E & I met. I'll blog the story, his cheesy line and all.
January 15, 2010
January 13, 2010
The TV Audit
E & I have a slight obsession with television. We watch a good amount of TV, even more since we got our DVR. Recently, my friend D completed a one-week no TV challenge and, although I don't think that's something I want to try, it inspired me to at least take a look at what we watch regularly on TV.
Since the financial audit season is in full swing at my office, I decided to do a TV-viewing audit for E & I. Hopefully this will help us cut some shows we no longer care about.
Daily:
N- KDKA News in the Morning/CBS Early Show
Monday:
N- The Bachelor
N & E- Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother
E- WWE Raw
On DVR- Secret Life of an American Teenager, House, Castle, Greek (coming soon)
Tuesday:
N- American Idol
N & E- Lost
On DVR- Scrubs
Wednesday:
N- American Idol, Glee
On DVR- Modern Family
Thursday:
N & E- Community, The Office
E- Jersey Shore
On DVR- Fringe, The Mentalist, Project Runway
Other shows on hiatus: Lie to Me (DVR), Top Chef (N)
It looks like other than Mondays, the TV schedule is fairly controlled. Why do all the good shows air on Mondays?
Perhaps a goal for this year is to trim the DVR'd shows down from 9 to 5. Or take one night a week to do something outside the house. And, perhaps, eat a few meals in our dining room (once we have a real one, that is). In the meantime, go read D's blog for her awesome no-TV experiment.
Since the financial audit season is in full swing at my office, I decided to do a TV-viewing audit for E & I. Hopefully this will help us cut some shows we no longer care about.
Daily:
N- KDKA News in the Morning/CBS Early Show
Monday:
N- The Bachelor
N & E- Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother
E- WWE Raw
On DVR- Secret Life of an American Teenager, House, Castle, Greek (coming soon)
Tuesday:
N- American Idol
N & E- Lost
On DVR- Scrubs
Wednesday:
N- American Idol, Glee
On DVR- Modern Family
Thursday:
N & E- Community, The Office
E- Jersey Shore
On DVR- Fringe, The Mentalist, Project Runway
Other shows on hiatus: Lie to Me (DVR), Top Chef (N)
It looks like other than Mondays, the TV schedule is fairly controlled. Why do all the good shows air on Mondays?
Perhaps a goal for this year is to trim the DVR'd shows down from 9 to 5. Or take one night a week to do something outside the house. And, perhaps, eat a few meals in our dining room (once we have a real one, that is). In the meantime, go read D's blog for her awesome no-TV experiment.
January 11, 2010
New kitchen trick!
I made my mom's amazing pollo guisado (chicken stew) last night to great raves from the hubster. I won't even attempt to post the recipe because it consists of a lot of this:
"A little bit of sauce. A bit of water. Taste it, add some more sauce. Maybe some salt. And taste again and adjust."
I couldn't reproduce it on paper if I tried.
However, I learned a really neat new trick for removing fat from liquids (stews, sauces, soups). There was no time for refrigeration and I do not own a gravy separator, and I had a bit of fat at the top of my stew from the chicken thighs. A quick search on google brought this invaluable nugget:
To remove fat from liquids, wait until the fat rises to the top, then take a paper towel, hold it at both ends, and lay on the fat.
Amazingly, the paper towel grabs/sucks up only the fat and leaves the nice flavorful broth behind. It took a few passes, about four paper towels, but 99% of the fat was gone. Hands down, a meal saver!
"A little bit of sauce. A bit of water. Taste it, add some more sauce. Maybe some salt. And taste again and adjust."
I couldn't reproduce it on paper if I tried.
However, I learned a really neat new trick for removing fat from liquids (stews, sauces, soups). There was no time for refrigeration and I do not own a gravy separator, and I had a bit of fat at the top of my stew from the chicken thighs. A quick search on google brought this invaluable nugget:
To remove fat from liquids, wait until the fat rises to the top, then take a paper towel, hold it at both ends, and lay on the fat.
Amazingly, the paper towel grabs/sucks up only the fat and leaves the nice flavorful broth behind. It took a few passes, about four paper towels, but 99% of the fat was gone. Hands down, a meal saver!
January 10, 2010
We interrupt this program...
I know it's been a while, but I have a good excuse: we've been traveling! We spent a lovely Christmas in Bel Air, Maryland with E's family where we ate too much yummy food, received practical (and somewhat strange) gifts, and were the hit of the family when we gifted E's parents with motion sensor stainless-steel trashcans (Costco FTW). A day after returning, we jetted off to Las Vegas to help our friends with an event they run every January. We spent almost a week in Vegas at the Flamingo enjoying great company, rowdy drunks, slinging stale beer and battling a case of food poisoning.
Note: Thanks to the food poisoning, I got a jump-start in losing my post-wedding weight.
We returned to the frozen tundra of Pittsburgh tired, jet-lagged and excited to be home for a long stretch. As for New Year's resolutions, I want to blog more. Even if no one reads it. E doesn't make resolutions, or he doesn't tell me.
Last night, we went to a friend's house-warming party. We were pleasantly surprised at how lovely his home was. A nice 3.5 or 4 bedroom (depends), 1.5 bath house with a semi-open layout and plenty of extra space for expansion. When we heard what he paid we almost fainted! Granted, his house is not in an area we would ever consider buying. I am just a teensy bit overly obsessed with school districts to buy in the city. But it was nice to see that our friend had gotten pretty much everything he wanted in a house, whereas E & I always seem to have at least one thing about each house we see that we don't like.
As we left the party, I asked E about our houses. Immediately he answered that he wanted to see more, so I went back to our listings this morning. That's when I found out "our" house had been sold. We were surprised it sold because we were "watching" the house, yet no call ever came asking us to put a competing offer in. After initial shock and sadness, it made me realize that the house selling meant we could take our time and look for the PERFECT house without feeling tied back to a lingering listing. There are five houses we are hoping to see next weekend, and hopefully none of them will be sold from under us.
Note: Thanks to the food poisoning, I got a jump-start in losing my post-wedding weight.
We returned to the frozen tundra of Pittsburgh tired, jet-lagged and excited to be home for a long stretch. As for New Year's resolutions, I want to blog more. Even if no one reads it. E doesn't make resolutions, or he doesn't tell me.
Last night, we went to a friend's house-warming party. We were pleasantly surprised at how lovely his home was. A nice 3.5 or 4 bedroom (depends), 1.5 bath house with a semi-open layout and plenty of extra space for expansion. When we heard what he paid we almost fainted! Granted, his house is not in an area we would ever consider buying. I am just a teensy bit overly obsessed with school districts to buy in the city. But it was nice to see that our friend had gotten pretty much everything he wanted in a house, whereas E & I always seem to have at least one thing about each house we see that we don't like.
As we left the party, I asked E about our houses. Immediately he answered that he wanted to see more, so I went back to our listings this morning. That's when I found out "our" house had been sold. We were surprised it sold because we were "watching" the house, yet no call ever came asking us to put a competing offer in. After initial shock and sadness, it made me realize that the house selling meant we could take our time and look for the PERFECT house without feeling tied back to a lingering listing. There are five houses we are hoping to see next weekend, and hopefully none of them will be sold from under us.
December 17, 2009
The Hangover
It's been over a week since I posted. We spent a lot of energy and hours on this first offer, counter offer, second offer, extensions, etc. It's been a whirlwind, albeit a frustrating one. Unfortunately, we won't be getting a house for Christmas this year. The seller was still unsure about our offer at the time of our deadline, which we had already extended two days. We decided to walk away from it.
To us, this was indicative that they don't really want to sell. Our second offer was a great offer for the condition the house is in, and they still hesitated. E & i doubt they'll get any better offers, but they have had enough interest in the house, so I am guessing they felt they could wait and see.
The house we put an offer in was the yellow house in South Park. In the end, we decided an extra 10 minutes of commuting was worth it for the additional 300 sq-ft this house offered. I guess it wasn't meant to be.
Moving forward, we still have a house we really like and are keeping an eye on. We are also going to be looking at some new listings in other areas, trying to go for more square footage in less-desirable school districts (still Top-50) to see if we like anything there. For now though, our search is postponed until we return from the Holidays in mid-January.
To us, this was indicative that they don't really want to sell. Our second offer was a great offer for the condition the house is in, and they still hesitated. E & i doubt they'll get any better offers, but they have had enough interest in the house, so I am guessing they felt they could wait and see.
The house we put an offer in was the yellow house in South Park. In the end, we decided an extra 10 minutes of commuting was worth it for the additional 300 sq-ft this house offered. I guess it wasn't meant to be.
Moving forward, we still have a house we really like and are keeping an eye on. We are also going to be looking at some new listings in other areas, trying to go for more square footage in less-desirable school districts (still Top-50) to see if we like anything there. For now though, our search is postponed until we return from the Holidays in mid-January.
December 8, 2009
Our First Offer
We have decided to put in an offer on a house. It might not be the house everyone was expecting us to go for, but rather a house that would make a really smart purchase. We offered 3% under list price, but also asked for the closing costs (in Pgh, these end up being about 6%). Our total offer ended up being 9% under asking price. I am feeling a little nervous that we may have low-balled, but this number gives us about $7K with which to negotiate.
The process of putting together the offer was rather lengthy, with a lot of scary paperwork to look over. It was at this point that we realized how big of a commitment we are trying to make. We read through every piece of paper and signed our lives away, knowing that we would probably have to do it all again with a counter-offer.
We are excited about this house. It has everything that we need and want plus extras! It would make for a fantastic first home. We're hoping this turns out to be The One.
Unfortunately, as soon as our REA let the seller's agent know about the offer, we found out that there might be another offer coming into the fold. We are hoping it doesn't happen, or that if it does, our offer is accepted above the competition. We'll find out by Thursday either way. Fingers crossed!
The process of putting together the offer was rather lengthy, with a lot of scary paperwork to look over. It was at this point that we realized how big of a commitment we are trying to make. We read through every piece of paper and signed our lives away, knowing that we would probably have to do it all again with a counter-offer.We are excited about this house. It has everything that we need and want plus extras! It would make for a fantastic first home. We're hoping this turns out to be The One.
Unfortunately, as soon as our REA let the seller's agent know about the offer, we found out that there might be another offer coming into the fold. We are hoping it doesn't happen, or that if it does, our offer is accepted above the competition. We'll find out by Thursday either way. Fingers crossed!
Indecision
This past Sunday, E & I decided to venture out again to look at houses. We were looking at one new listing, and two repeats. We were having a hard time deciding between two houses and needed to look at them again and talk the options out.
The new listing was a great renovated Cape Cod in Pleasant Hills. Three bedrooms, 2.5 baths. The only drawback was a small yard (small only by our standards). We are keeping this one on the list.
After long looks at both of our repeats, we spent the rest of the day mulling about the pros and cons of each house, each neighborhood, each commute, etc. E liked both houses and felt that it was my decision which one to go for. I was still conflicted. One house is smaller but move-in ready. The other house is larger but needs upgrades (mostly cosmetic). By the end of the day, we had decided to put in an offer. At the end we feel that if the offer is not accepted, then we have another great house to look into, and perhaps that is the way it is meant to go.
The new listing was a great renovated Cape Cod in Pleasant Hills. Three bedrooms, 2.5 baths. The only drawback was a small yard (small only by our standards). We are keeping this one on the list.
After long looks at both of our repeats, we spent the rest of the day mulling about the pros and cons of each house, each neighborhood, each commute, etc. E liked both houses and felt that it was my decision which one to go for. I was still conflicted. One house is smaller but move-in ready. The other house is larger but needs upgrades (mostly cosmetic). By the end of the day, we had decided to put in an offer. At the end we feel that if the offer is not accepted, then we have another great house to look into, and perhaps that is the way it is meant to go.
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