I got this idea from my friend Kimberly over at "Kimberly's Korner". She does a Miscellany Monday post just about every Monday and I enjoy reading it! So here's my go at it...
Here are my Monday Miscellaneous things to talk about. Enjoy.
Happy Monday!
1. My husband is working on restoring our deck. It was old & in need of major overhaul. It is probably 30 years old. It's structurally sound but the ugly red stain was chipping badly and there was a ton of mildew (we live in the shade) and it was dirty & in bad shape. So he stripped it... sanded it... and is in the process of staining it now. Oh and I asked for him to do a little re-configuring... remove the unneeded built in seats, cover up one of the exits to make it safe for Julianna... the poor guy didn't know what he was getting himself into! But it's going to look great when it's all done! I can't wait!
2. We went to the NY Yankee game on Friday night. They played the Chicago Whitesox and lost. I did not get to see my favorite pitcher CC Sabathia, since he is on the DL now (hurt). But the game was great and we still had a fabulous time. Brian and I went with our good friends Cindy & Bob, and we ate hotdogs, garlic fries, ice cream and drank big beers. Good times! Great game! Julianna got to stay home with Grandma and they spent some quality time together.
From Left - Cindy, me, Brian (my husband), & Bob.
Our seats... pretty nice... we sit here usually - 2nd tier, right field.
Walking up to Yankee stadium from the parking lot - I love this place.
Brings me back to my childhood.
3. It was time. Time to convert Julianna's crib to the toddler bed. Some moms graduate their children directly to a full size or twin bed. But my husband and I did not feel she was ready for that freedom yet. I like the idea of slow transition. She did good the first night... she got up 3 times to explore, but as soon as one of us came into the room, she scurried back into her bed. The first morning I went in there, I told her what a good girl she was, and she came running up to me and hugged me. Awwww. She has done great every night since then - she goes right to bed and doesn't get out until we come get her in the morning.
4. Wednesday night, we went to a local restaurant on Lake Hopatcong (where we live), called the Jefferson House. A local Dog Rescue (the Eleventh Hour Rescue) had a fundraiser dinner there to raise money for their no-kill dog shelter. It seemed pretty busy, so I assume they made some good money for themselves. My best friend is a volunteer with them and dedicates a lot of her time to the dogs. I give her a ton of credit as she is very involved and always puts the dogs first! If anyone is interested in donating to this incredible cause or perhaps adopting a great rescue dog, please check out THIS WEBSITE for the Eleventh Hour.
Jefferson House Sunset
Well-fed ducks at the Jeff house.
Happy Julianna at dinner - looking at the boats on the lake.
5. Changes are a comin'! For anyone that knows me personally, it's no secret we want to move out of our small 2 bedroom house. We've been here for 8 years & have been 'trying' to move for a few years now, but the market is so horrendous here in NJ that we have not been able to sell our house. Prices just keep dropping & dropping. URGH!!
So... in the meantime, we are making some changes. If we have to live here, we might as make it better. We don't want to do an addition because we do not want to be locked into this house any longer than we have to. We decided to make some smaller changes that would benefit us immediately. We are getting prices on new windows (the ones we have have now let out the heat & cold, and are the original ones that came with the house 40 years ago. They are terrible). We are thinking about clearing some of our land and fencing in a big area for the kid & the dog to play. We live on rock, so this will not be cheap... but it will be worth it in the end. We are also throwing around some other ideas like a patio, new landscaping and a fire pit. If we can't make it bigger inside, we might as well make the outside better!
Pepper would love a fenced in yard to run around in!
That's it for Miscellany Monday - Have a great week!
so glad you played along this week. My sister was at the Yankee Game Saturday and Sunday too. Do they have dogs at the fundraiser for the Eleventh Hour? I always think to go to these events but I am a wimp and couldn't bear to see these homeless animals.
ReplyDeleteHi Kim! Oh nice- this was a hot weekend to be at the stadium but luckily it's pretty cool in the walkways b/c of the breeze...
DeleteNo dogs at the dinner things - they have other events where they do bring the dogs for adoption and I want to adopt them all! but the dine-to-donate events are usually just humans ;) You should go - they normally have them in the jefferson or rockaway area and its for a good cause. 15% of your bill goes towards the doggies.
Making more outside space is what we decided to do with our small living situation, too. It really does make a difference.. although the house will be just as small in the winter..
ReplyDeleteYeah... we never did too much outdoors other than landscape b/c we figured we would be able to sell by now. hahahahahahaaaaaa. Time to do it up. :)
DeleteGlad she is doing so good in her toddler bed!! Maybe the housing market will start improving there soon, seems like it has gotten a lot better here recently. The improvements outside sound great!
ReplyDeleteThanks, yes she loves her toddler bed. When we get home from daycare, she runs in her room and hops in her bed to visit her animals and loves it! So cute! The market here in NJ (and the tristate area) is taking a long time to recover. We went through such a HUGE bubble where our house values went up by 100% in like 3 years. That is unheard of.... so after that, prices dropped dramatically, not to mention all the short sales & foreclosures hurt the value of our house too, since the same house as ours that sells as a sort sale sells for like 50k less. It makes me ill when I really think about it. We aren't as bad as FLorida or some areas of CA, but we are stil bad. But the good news is, we are able to pay our mortgage comfortably, and can afford to do some extra things now... and we don't NEED to sell. We WANT to sell... but can wait until we will at least break even. 8 years somewhere, and we can't even break even. That's crazzzy! South Carolina will need to wait. LOL.
DeleteThe landscaping sounds nice :) I can't wait until we are in a house and can enjoy a backyard. But you're right about the housing market. We're lucky that we don't have to sell anything. The people we are trying to buy from have to show up at closing with a bunch of cash because the accepted offer is less than what they owe on the house.
ReplyDeleteOh good for you - it's a great buyers market for sure! Are you staying in JC? Yeah that would be us as the sellers , and we're just not willing to do that. Right now anyway. Good luck and post pictures of the house when you get in! :)
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