Tag Archives: house hunting

Feels Like Fall Weekend

Our weekend has been quite relaxing so far and the weather is finally reflecting the fall season.  And, it’s officially Red October which every Phillies fan celebrated yesterday with their win over the Cardinals (sorry, Ames!).  The bats came alive starting off with a three run blast by Ryan Howard.  I cannot wait to watch Game 2 tonight!

Before heading to our friends’ new place for their housewarming/Phillies party, we went to look at a couple properties.  The first was a bust as the agent never called me to share the news that the owners accepted an offer after I set up a viewing.  How nice.  The second place was way too small, but the agent we met was really helpful and is going to start collecting places to look at soon.  She also hooked us up with someone to do our pre-approval.

After the viewing, I ran to the store to get our food for the week ahead and some baking supplies.  I said I would bring treats to the party and decided to make these pumpkin spice cupcakes from I Can Cook That (love her blog!).  I made a few tweaks to the recipe she posted.  I used 2 cups of unbleached flour and 2/3 cup whole wheat flour and subbed unsweetened applesauce for the oil.  I also could not find pumpkin spice coffee at my grocer and didn’t want to unpack the already full cart to run to another store.  Instead, I bought the Dunkin Donuts Cinnamon Spice coffee hoping the flavor would be close enough.

There are a lot of ingredients needed for this recipe, but it was still relatively easy to make.  I was not in love with the final product, but Scott and everyone at the party assured me they tasted great.  I think I was hoping for a slightly sweeter, pumpkin-filled kick of flavor and without the correct coffee I didn’t get it.  I’ll definitely have to look out for the brand she used and try these again.  The cream cheese frosting tasted fantastic, though.  I definitely recommend baking these!

Today started with a nice and hearty breakfast.  Scrambled eggs with shredded colby-jack cheese and Old Bay, reduced fat corned beef hash, and toasted pumpkin spice swirl bread from Pepperidge Farm.

Heeaaaaven!

We’re watching the Eagles game right now and it wasn’t a pretty start but they seem to be getting their shit together (sort of).  I need the Vick-Jackson combo to be ON FIRE as I’m not going to be happy going 1-3 in my fantasy football league.  To help deal with any mishaps, I’ve got some anti-stress supplies.

Just because I’m not head over heels in love with my cupcakes does not mean I’ll skip out on enjoying them (with some Punkin Ale).  ;)

Grand Plans

Before I get into this post, I would like to take a moment to show how weird my cat Aki is.

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That would be her licking her own collar, sticking her leg out for who knows what reason.

She also puts herself to bed around 9pm.  Weirdo.

Today I decided to wear the tee I got from the Frito Lay demo and spice it up with some skinny jeans.

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I am not a fashionista by any means, but this tee is so comfy and soft.  The skinnies are by Blank Label if anyone is curious.  Flats by Roxy.  Not sure why I am being so disjointed, but that’s ending now…

On to the grand plans.  I pulled my credit report for free (unless I forget to cancel the stupid membership in nine days) and was blown away.  I have never missed a payment in my life, but I would like to pat myself on the back for crossing into the “excellent” range of the scoring system, in spite of having some student loans, a car loan, and one last credit card to take care of.  High five to myself!  This got me thinking, and thinking, and plotting and I’ve decided to ramp up my savings transfers and really take a good look at my budget.  Why?

I want to buy a house.

To be honest, renting is getting old.  Way old.  Especially when you live next to a neighbor like mine.  Now, as I mentioned, neighbors can be tricky no matter what you do, but the difference is I refuse to buy an attached house after living next to that guy for a year (and counting).  The few estimates I did show that we’re already paying more than what a typical mortgage would be for the space we’re living in.  We don’t have any included utilities, so that’s already factored in.  And, I’m just ready.  I will tout the plusses of renting over buying all the time when you have no idea where you want to settle.  I know where I want to settle, and it’s right here.  It won’t be a new construction, and that’s more than okay with me.  We’re handy people.  I’m so ready to take on house projects so I can bust out one of these.

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That’d be me, the circular saw ninja.  ;)

We’re completely in love with the area we live in.  It’s close enough to the city to be busy and fun, but there is space.  Gorgeous space.  I may not be able to throw down a huge payment, but I know with some careful planning, discipline, and savvy help (send your savings suggestions) we can come up with enough to get what we need.  I’m really excited to focus on this, and see what happens.  Worst case, we’re right where we are now, but it’s worth a shot with so many houses on the market these days and the interest rates being so good.  I’d be a first-time buyer, the house would technically be mine (more on that another time), and I think that excites me all the more.

It’s a big dream, the “American dream,” and I’m ready for it.

What is a big dream you have realized lately?