a break

i am still slaving away on my house each day that i am not slaving away at work, and it is slowly coming along. as a break from "house posts" i am sharing with you pictures from a fall day i treated myself to right before i closed on the house!

we drove about an hour away to a farm where they sell dried flowers for making arrangements and wreaths. my mom and i are trying to continue what we learned in our wreath making class we took in june and made the trip to buy some flowers to work with. this was the view into her barn that she keeps the flowers in.
and these gorgeous gourds were right outside! they were for sale too- a whole truckload of them! they were only a dollar each, so we bought several and discussed how to cook them and recipe ideas with the woman working there!
she had some very pretty wreaths still up on her barn for inspiration...
and this little face was on a tree outside! i love it!
we bought as much dried flower bunches as my mom's car would hold and some gourds for cooking too! i made my first wreath the friday before my closing...pictures to come soon...
and i have fallen head over heels in love with applesauce this year!!! i have always loved apples and was never a fan of the motts sauce in a jar...so assumed i must not like any applesauce. WRONG!!! i am making at least two batches of sauce in my crockpot each week! i eat it for breakfast and just cannot get enough!!!

i just quarter as many apple as i can fit in (cortland, empire, and macoun have worked well...but any kind will be delish!), pour 1/2cu water in, a splash of lemonjuice and set it on low for 6-7 hours!

makeover

so, i closed on my house friday. saturday i had to work all day, so i could not start working on the house until sunday. and boy did i hit it hard all week! i was more exhausted after working 8,9,10 hours at the house than after the 12.5 hours i work at the hospital! i am making over every single room in the house. it is so much work and so exciting!

the living room was formally pink with a drab color on all that beautiful molding. and lots and lots and lots of soot on the walls. this was true in every room of the house! yucko!

waving goodbye to the pink walls! i mean, i love pink. just not on my living room walls.

c has been helping A LOT. so has my mom, more on that later.

all gone! the walls and trim and after this photo, the mantle are ready to be painted with some wool coat colored paint!

other than this, i spent the week washing the walls (soot, remember?), shop vac-ing the whole place, spackling holes (there were millions!), and tearing off wallpaper. my mom and i searched high and low for new carpet for the family room. she and i also planted 60 bulbs in my front beds to look forward to in spring! we tackled a HUGE task thursday, more on that later. and i had lots of guys come out to the house- floor refinishing guys, furnace guy, handyman guy. i feel at once like i am not getting anywhere and nothing is getting done, yet also like whoa! we have gotten so much done!

i've got a house!

so i did it!!! i closed on my first house! thanks mom and dad for ALL your help and support and putting up with me through all the ups and downs and lower downs! and thanks c for putting up with me as well through the ups and downs and lower downs and drying all the tears that have been shed!

here i am at the county clerk's office, after i closed!

and here i am last weekend holding the first thing i purchased for my new house- bulbs to bloom in my garden come spring!

so let me just say, closing is NOT like it is on HGTV's my first place! there was no beautiful office with a mahogany table and mugs of tea and coffee. my mom and i walked into a huge room with old wooden tables and creaky chairs everywhere and all full of people sitting at them. people were walking quickly all over in every direction. it was just really chaos. not at all what i expected. as it turns out, my closing was at 4pm and the office basically closes at 4:30pm. so at 4:15pm when we all sat down to do my closing it was a whirlwind. no time to ask a question or anything. just sign here and here and here...and initial here and there. give me a check and congratulations! you are a homeowner! whew! i was kind of stunned the whole time! but now here i am- a homeowner! my very own sanctuary!

closing day!

guess what everyone? today at 4pm i am closing on my first house!!! yay! the big day is finally here and i am so so excited! i have not shown any pictures of my house on my blog, so here is your first look and my house!

today at 4pm it will be all mine! i did my final walk through yesterday and i can say it does need a lot more work than i originally thought, but thanks to my hard work saving for years and my dad and grandmother's generosity, and that tax credit i will be able to make it exactly perfect for me!

time to celebrate!!!!

day V at disney

day five dawned very humid and very hot. actually, the whole time we were in florida, each day got progressively hotter and humidder. i know, humidder is not a word. but maybe it should be!
day V was animal kingdom day. the best part of this park ride wise, is the mount everest coaster. it is so much fun! really really fun! we rode it 5 times in a row first thing when we arrived!

the morning sun is so pretty shining on the big drop on the coaster! scream your guts out!

i also love looking at all the animals. the walking tours of different habitats are so cool, and the staff there are all very informative. the safari tour is also a must do. i could watch these monkey's play all day long! they are so much fun!

i love these sinks at the petting zoo. chris makes fun of me, saying i look like i am scrubbing for surgery! but in disney you are always touching things and i just feel so elated every chance i can wash my hands and be clean for a minute!

i loved watching these tigers too! they are so beautiful and graceful, their eyes are amazing!

at the end of the day, we rode mount everest 7 more times! we ran off and right back on! we had our arms up the whole time every time and screamed like crazy! it was completely and totally fun!

disney day IV

day four at disney was epcot day! i really like epcot. there are not as many rides, but the world showcase is so much fun to wander through that it makes up for it. i think we spent five hours just doing that!

i look pretty excited, and this was at 8am! wow!

i love "norway" in the world showcase. i have always wanted to visit norway, sweden and iceland. i really like that all the countries have people from the actual country working there. i was drooling over these dale of norway sweaters. so inspiring!

china had this beautiful lilypond! i loved watching this bird

germany! i was so excited to find this pickle tree!

i think this was in morocco, chris was in charge of the purse (that incidentally held HIS sunscreen and money!) for a minute while i had a photo op with belle...but then she had to go on a break with the beast so i missed it after all. it was amusing to make chris wear the purse for a bit though! well, amusing to me anyway, clearly he is less amused about it!

alice!!! my favorite! i found her and mary poppins in england. i was so happy!

disney day III- Magic Kingdom!!!

day three in disney was magic kingdom day- AGAIN! the first day at magic kingdom was a bonus day, since we were not sure we'd make it there that day what with travel and hotel check-ins and whatnot. so this was our all day magic kingdom day: 9am-11pm!!! we hit it hard!

c in front of his favorite ride there...haunted mansion. i actually love this one too!

i loved these topiaries!!! alice is a real favorite of mine, and i was tickled to see these!

me, in front of MY favorite ride- teacups!!!

and me on my favorite ride! i am having so much fun here!

by some miracle (truly) the bills had won their game the day before, so i was safe wearing my bills t. and i love sorcerer's apprentice so i loved these ears. and c, well he is a real capitalist and the grumpy hat combined with that t shirt was irressistable!

anyone fancy a trip to the castle? i could look at this castle forever!