Running like the Wind?

 Do you like my Marshall Tucker Band reference as the title of this post? My dad was/is a huge fan so I grew up listening to their music. But I digress...

Ever since the new year, I have been making a more conscious effort to be more active. So far, I have been doing pretty well! I have been wanting to start jogging/running again as it has been quite a while. Well, last week I got new running shoes and started running using the Couch to 5k Treadmill Program. Last week was great! I ran 4 days, three on the treadmill and one outside.  I must admit, I don't love running outside, I prefer the gym at this point.
Yesterday started week 2 and I was able to talk the husband into going to the gym with me.Since leaving my position at the church in January, I have consistently gone to the gym every Sunday after church and it is easily my favorite day of the week to workout. I feel like it starts the week out on a positive note. Its also amazing how much more I get done on Sunday's now that I am no longer working in the nursery. Anyway, since we kind of rushed out the door to the gym yesterday, I didn't have a chance to review the workout schedule before going. I decided to run anyway using a run for 1.5 minutes, walk 1.5 minutes principle. It felt good. When I came home and checked the schedule, it is actually the routine for Week 3 which puts me a week ahead! Yesterday, after my run, I also did 20 minutes of lower body weights and I am feeling it today! I decided to take today off from the gym and pick up again tomorrow when some of this soreness is gone!

While I have not registered for a running event, I would like to start small with a 5K. I am hoping to get Tim on board with this too but right now I am lucky if I can talk him into going to the gym. I am by no means "Running like the wind" but I am proud of my progress and consistency thus far!

Oh and I have to share. I made this for dinner tonight and it was AMAZING! I lightened it up with low fat cheese, whole wheat stuffing ( I used Aldi brand), lean bacon and reduced fat ranch!  I also did not use the whole box of stuffing and doubled the broccoli ( I used fresh and it steamed well in the foil pouch). So yummy and luckily there are leftovers for tomorrows lunch :)

The story behind the house

As I eluded to here, this post is all about the story behind our home. 

Tim and I began house hunting in October 2010. It all actually happened rather quickly when we saw a house we liked for a GREAT price on a Sunday afternoon. It had become habit for me to drive around and look at properties but up until this point, I had not contacted a realtor. Well, as soon as we saw this house, we called the listing agent to make an appointment. The next day, we looked at the house and put in an offer. It all felt super rushed but we knew there was another offer on the table so we had to move FAST. Needless to say, the house ended up going into a bidding war and selling for $21K over the listing price.

After that, we decided to continue to work with the listing agent of that property. She sent me lots of houses to look out but I was quite particular and was only willing to look at houses within a small radius. A lot of what we looked at needed far too much work for the price being asked. We ended up finding a house that we both really liked in Dunedin but the Master bathroom was so small that the door hit the toilet when entering. With no way to expand the bathroom, we decided to pass on the house.

Then one Sunday, after showing us a house on our list, our realtor said she wanted to show us another house that was sale on the same street. She showed us the listing printout and I immediately knew I would love the house. I also knew it was listed for $20K more than my “feel comfortable” price. Of course, we both fell in love with the house. My parents did too. The house needed a new a/c and the yard was a disaster. The realtor also thought the house was overpriced for comparables in the area. So we decided to give them a low offer, ask them to replace the a/c and cover 3% of our closing costs. We knew it was a gamble but our realtor said it was the best place to start.

The next day, I started pricing insurance etc. Even typing/writing out the address felt like it would be my home. That quickly ended when the seller countered our offer, stating he would replace the a/c and take $2k off the listing price. Clearly the seller was not ready to negotiate and we walked away from the house.

We continued house hunting almost every weekend. We wanted a house BEFORE the wedding so we did not have time to deal with any foreclosures or short sales. Our realtor would not even take us to look at any of those properties, knowing our timeline. Every house we looked at, we compared to “The” house. Nothing even came close. Every house felt like we would be settling. In the middle of November, we went to look at a house in Safety Harbor. It was the nicest house we had seen since “The” house. We had one more house to look at the day, which was just put on the market, on the same street as “the” house, but were considering making an offer on the Safety Harbor Property. While we were there, the seller of “the” house called our realtor, over a month later, and said he was now ready to negotiate. We put in our best offer and the seller accepted the next day!

The listing agent requested to be present during the inspection which we all thought was odd. It was the inspector, myself, my realtor and the listing agent for close to three hours of awkwardness! It was at this time that we learned the house was a flip. The inspector made some recommendations, including replacing the a/c, but nothing too major. He noted that the irrigation was not functional and that the electrical box was weird: added circuits that appeared to go to nothing. Even though the contract was signed, the seller then stated he did not want to replace the a/c but wanted to give me a credit to do so on my own. After some haggling, we agreed on a credit amount so that I could then get the tax credit for replacing the a/c.

Everything from this point on went rather smoothly! We had to have two appraisals since the house was a flip and we were going with an FHA Loan. The house appraised for more than our buying price so there were no issues. The week we were scheduled to close, I called to have the utilities transferred on the house. The water company was not a problem and required a standard deposit. When we called progress energy to have the electric transferred, we were shocked to learn that they wanted a $1000 deposit. When asked why this was so much, they informed us that it is based on the average of two months usage and the bills at the address were running over $500/month! At this point my anxiety kicked in because we could not afford that type of electric bill each month. Luckily, they were able to run my credit and waive the deposit. We had our final walk thru on 12/16 at which time we were given the keys to the house and then we closed the next day.

We knew at this point there were a lot of different projects that we need to be done to the house. Some we wanted done before moving in (carpets out, paint, wood floors, a new fence, etc) others could wait. It seems like we got started right away. Every waking moment for the next three months was spent at the house. We would be there at night after work and all weekend long. One night, shortly after closing, we were in the garage getting an estimate on the a/c replacement since this had to be done prior to December 31^st to get the tax credit, when two of our neighbors came over to introduce themselves. The asked if they could see the progress on the house because they hadn’t seen the house since "the bust". We had no idea what they were talking about and they were shocked when we asked them. They informed us that the house had been a grow house for marijuana and that the tenants were arrested for child abuse. They told us how the ceiling in the family room had been ripped out when the Sheriff’s office tore down the grow lamps. Of course at this point I was curious so I did a Google search and found the whole story. Apparently they confiscated 147 marijuana plants worth more than $250K. It was part of a drug ring with another house in Clearwater. I was then able to look up the previous tenants on the jail website. All were arrested on trafficking and possession charges. In addition, the two tenants at our house were also arrested on two counts of child abuse for having two children residing in the home where they were growing the marijuana. Of course, I was working in Child Protection at the time which made it even more insane to think about!

The crazy part is that everything kind of made sense now: the high electric deposit, the weird electrical panel, why the seller wanted to be at the inspection, and how the seller was able to pick up the house so cheap to begin with. We knew the druggies rented the house for at least 4 years, meaning that the house wasn’t taken care of during that time. All of this was confirmed by our neighbors who are just thankful to have “normal” neighbors again. The whole drug house thing is even weirder to think about when you consider the number of police officers that live in our neighborhood who were just as unsuspecting.

Knowing what we know now: the drug house, the flip, all the extra (unexpected) projects, would we have changed anything? Nope! We love our house and feel confident that we at right where God wanted us. We are just thankful it wasn’t  Meth or another drug that could be potentially hazardous to our health. We have wondered if our realtor knew about it and didn’t tell us. Technically, the seller did not have to disclose because the house was a flip and the seller never lived on the property. Which in my opinion is a funny little loophole.

So that’s it! The crazy (& long) story behind our beloved home :)

A rough picture of our house the day of our walk- thru.

 

Wordless Wednesdays: Favorite go-to snack of the moment

Almost as good as the Kiwi Tomatillo Salsa that I can't find ANYWHERE.

Thrifty Cabinet Hunting

This weekend was somewhat unusual. We didn't do any house projects. None. While the shed is still a work in progress, we have started to realize we need to address the garage and some of our storage issues so that we have a "master plan" so to speak. We know that we want to add a work bench and/or cabinets along the right side of the garage. We also know that the lawn equipment will eventually be moved out to the shed allowing me to park my car in the garage again. Something I haven't been able to do since the first week we were married...almost a year ago. We also need to paint the garage and add more storage.

So I decided to start hunting around on Craigslist to find some second hand cabinets that I could refinish/ make presentable again. Nothing! Everything I found was new or should have been dumped in the garbage! So Tim and I started just moving some of the bigger items out to the shed (lawn mower, spreader, edger etc). We then realized, we needed to add shelving units in here as well ( along with a second window, a lock and lighting). So back to the garage it went.

We are able to access our attic now that the majority of the shed supplies are out of there. So we finally loaded the Christmas decorations into the attic on Saturday night, clearing up A LOT of room.

On Sunday, we were on our way to FIT2RUN to buy me some new running shoes as an early Valentine's Day present, when Tim suggested we stop at Goodwill. He wanted to check out NASCAR gear for an upcoming Bachelor Party he is attending. I headed straight back to the furniture, looking for a deal. Where I found this:

I picked her up for $35 and she is now residing in our garage for miscellaneous storage.

I must admit, I have never been much of a thrift store shopper. I was kind of shocked at how expensive things were there. They wanted $300 bucks for a small kitchen table with two chairs! Used hats were five dollars. I always heard of people getting great buys but aside from my cabinet, I don't really see it!

So we are still on the hunt for cabinets we can hang to make a workbench area. Although, I have not had much luck at the Habitat for Humanity Restore in the past, I plan to continue to check in on them for used cabinets, as its right across the street from where I work.

Aside from the cabinet purchase, the weekend consisted of the usual weekend errands (grocery, bank, etc). Unlike my normal workaholic self, I only logged into work for 2 hours late Sunday night, making for a nice relaxing weekend.

Pinterest Project Fail

All our house hardware is Oil Rubbed Bronze (ORB). I love it. We even switched out the guest bath faucet to ORB. So when I saw this picture on Pinterest, I was sold.  Since I have an ORB addiction, I already had a bottle of spray paint on hand. All I had to do was wait till I finished the next bottle of hand soap. Plus, I am super cheap and did not want to buy an ORB soap dispenser...plus those things always clog anyway!

On a side spray paint note: I always thought spray paint was spray paint and opted for the cheapest can at Lowes. Well let me just say that after trying Rustoleum's universal spray paint in Metallic ORB, I no longer subscribe to that mentality! It's amazing! It may cost more but you use WAY less because it covers in one coat.

My plan was to spray paint this old Bath and Body works soap bottle and then make my own Natural foaming hand soap.

Can you spot another project in the background?

So I spray painted:


It was super windy out and I has to improvise on how to dry the bottle properly:

I opted for a chip clip on my laundry drying rack.

 And ended up with a nice looking final product:

Then what I was fearful of all along occurred:

 The paint chipped off with the first pump of the handle. I was wondering how the paint would withstand the motion but didn't like the idea of leaving this part unpainted. Oh well. The project cost $0 so its no real loss. I may just have to splurge for a real ORB soap dispenser!

Wordless Wednesday

Photo Wall with the old pictures we used at our wedding

Beet Greens...who knew?

Call me weird but I love beets. Always have. My mom and I use to eat pickled beets with salt as a side dish all the time. I love fresh beets as well but to be honest, don't make them that often. Especially since the husband is not a fan of beets. At all.

I recently came across a recipe for Beet chips. Lately, I have been craving the crunchy/salty combo so I thought this would be a good healthy alternative. So when I was at the produce stand, I picked up one bunch of fresh beets. The cashier asked " You aren't going to throw away these greens are you"? I of course had planned to do just that. She told me to cook it like I would spinach, that they are delicious. Since it was lunch time when I got back from my errands, I was more intrigued by the idea of cooking the greens then I was making beet chips.
Here is what I did:

1) Cut the beets from their stems. Beets got stored in a Ziploc bag and put back in the fridge.

2) Wash the greens and dry them in the salad spinner. I left mine on the wet side as I was planning on steaming them anyway.
3) Cut the leafy part away from the "red" stem. Dice the stems into small pieces. Throw in a plan with some chicken broth. Put the lid on and let them simmer (They stems take slightly longer to soften then the greens).

4) Once the stems have simmered for a few minutes, drain them in the strainer, return them to the pan with a touch of olive oil, a tbsp of crushed garlic and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes to taste ( We like a kick). Add the greens and the lid and simmer until wilted ( much like you would spinach).

This is the last picture I have, the battery died in the camera!

I am not going to lie, these were DELICIOUS! The husband agreed to take a bite and then said "These are freaking amazing". That night I had my grandma over for dinner and told her about my beet green cooking adventure. She stated her mother use to cook them all the time and she grew up eating them. So am I curious, I am the only one just finding out about beet greens?

I love me a good "H"

One of the first things I pinned on Pinterest was a hemp wrapped letter like this. I purchased the supplies back in December. A hot glue gun, a roll of hemp and a cardboard "H" from Joann's.

I did not have a hot glue gun so I picked up this Mini. Beware: this project used ALOT of glue and you will likely burn your fingers.

I started by wrapping my "H" vertically. I started wrapping thinking this project would take maybe 2 hours or so from start to finish. WRONG. The wrapping took forever! I just ran a bead of hot glue every few inches to ensure the hemp stayed in place.

Because I was going crazy with all the wrapping, I left the project on my dining room table and wrapped a little each night. After wrapping vertically, I began wrapping horizontally. When wrapping horizontally I did all four legs of the "H" first before wrapping the connecting middle. Here she is all wrapped up.

It should be noted that you may think you can get away with one ball of hemp but you should just buy two. Otherwise you may end up getting within an inch of being done and run out of string, forcing an impromptu trip to Joann's. Yes, this happened. Yes, I was kicking myself for cutting corners.

If you can find a roll greater than 400 ft, you will get away with one roll!

Onto the Rosette making. I think these are so fun! I bought three pieces of felt for a total of 75 cents! I cut a quarter of each sheet to make these three different colored Rosettes.(Side note: totally thinking of making some rosettes to attach to headbands with the remaining felt).Cut in a circle and keep going until you are left with this:

Begin wrapping the felt back up, like this:

And you will be left with this:

Now my inspiration picture had a cut ribbon near the Rosettes, I tried this as well but it looked too busy on the "H". So i just stuck with the three Rosettes. I am not going to lie, I LOVE the finished product!

Pardon my "desperately in need of paint" front door.

And the list goes on...

In light of the approaching tax season, yesterday I decided to start pulling together receipts on house related projects and expenses over the past year. Let me just say, we have been busy! Part of the reason I started this blog was to help keep track of projects (both big and small) at our house. I thought it would be fun to share a list of what we completed in 2011 along with the ongoing "To-do list of 2012". So here goes nothing!
1) New gutters
2) Landscaping
3) Irrigation
4) Trim Work ( Crown, replacing Clam shell moulding and new doors- bi fold, pocket and swing)
5) Wood Floors (twice!)
6) Storm Door
7) Painting
8) New Vinyl Fence
9) Furniture
10)Roof Repairs
11) New Faucets
12) New fans/lighting
13) TV's

Without getting into specifics, I was floored to learn we spent over $30k in home improvements this year. Insane right?! And to think about what that would of cost if we weren't DIYers? I feel very fortunate to have a handy father and a wanna-be-handy husband...both of whom are TROOPERS when dealing with me and my bright ideas. :)

So after shelling out over $30K, you would think this girl would be done right? I wish ( not really, if I am honest... I love this stuff). I have learned that the beauty of home ownership is that you are never DONE. So here are some things I want to accomplish this year. Some I have already done believe it or not. Some will not be done this year due to the budget but they remain on "the list".
1) Tackle the garage- paint, storage, work bench, shelving (it needs help)- ( Done and Done)
2) Make the attic ready for storage
3) Finish landscaping in the front of the house ( plants to frame garage and stone edgers)-( Done!)
4) Replace door into the garage and clam shell moulding (Done!)
5) Paint the front door and trim, get new ORB hardware ( Door painting...Done!)
6)Paint the exterior trim on the house ( I feel like this would make a perfect project for the Hubs this summer)
7) Install Crown in two guest bedrooms
8) House numbers ( Done!)
9) Add gate on right side of house to conceal trash/recycling (Done!)
10)Get pavers installed on left side of house into backyard (Done!)
11) Get estimate on pavers for back deck, front deck and garage ( this is a HUGE expense and will likely not happen this year)- (Front deck tile Done! )
12)  Add area rug to dining room (Done!)
13) New computer chair (DONE!)
14) Sew table runner for dining room table
15) Add glass to protect tables in Family Room
16) Screen in back patio ( after pavers or before?)
17) Build a shed (three part post: Phase 1, 2 & 3)
18) Add a vegetable garden
19) Make window seat at window in front of Master Bedroom
20) Replace gates in front of house and remove the excessive amount of lighting ( lights gone, new fencing done! )

So with all that out in the open, I am hoping to hold myself to completing at least 75% of these projects this year. What are your house goals?!

Wordless Wednesday

Lola & Lily Snuggling