As I am preparing to leave for vacation I am realizing just how powerful one website has become in my life.  I had become very stressed out over the staggering amounts of tasks I had to complete each day.  Using the traditional “todo” list was not helping and my todo lists were spanning multiple pages.  I was pointed in the direction of a great book and after reading the book, “Getting Things Done” by David Allen I tried many different applications in order to organize and keep on top of my very busy work days.

An average day for me starts with many tasks and has more added on throughout the day.  These tasks must be prioritized, remembered and most importantly completed on-time.  On a day like today I have already completed 45 tasks.

The site I finally settled on is http://www.rememberthemilk.com/ .  I chose this site for numerous reasons.

1. It provides a very simple user interface which I as a minimalist at heart appreciate
2. It has a pretty decent companion iPhone app for adding tasks when you actually remember them; not when you get back to a computer and can remember what you thought about while in line at the store
3. It is platform independent.  I get the same UI on my work computer as on my home computer
4. Amazingly *knock on wood* it is not yet blocked by my corporates “Big Brother” proxy

This website has helped me organize my professional and my personal life.  I can easily create a “list” to tackle a specific large project (like our kitchen renovation) or use one of the numerous smaller lists I’ve created; like one for each of my accounts at work and one entitled “Pets” that reminds me to get cat or dog food, clean the litter box etc etc.

For anybody looking to get on top of things and to reduce what I found to be a good deal of stress give RTM a shot.  It’s even FREE!

Share on Facebook

It’s hard to believe the last post I wrote was after we’ve had Molly for only a week.  We’re now a week shy of two months with her in our home and hearts and I honestly don’t remember life without her.

Molly is a joy 95% of the time  She has a very gentle and easy going personality.  While she is still hyper at times and can go crazy for attention and play time she also quickly calms down and responds to more commands than I’ve been known to understand.

She will now sit, give paw (paw), stay where she is (stay), Go to the door for bathroom time (Outside) and goes back upstairs (upstairs) without any fight.  She knows sit, paw and stay by both oral and visual commands.

Currently I am working on crate with her to get her into her crate all on her own.  She doesn’t seem to be so willing on this one as she knows that means it’s time for bed or we’re going to leave her for some time.  I am certain she understands and just chooses to ignore our requests.

Good friend JF and I put her in-ground invisible fence in about a month ago.  We mapped it out and Kate and I felt it wasn’t large enough so we traveled out to the Home Depot and got more wire to extend her running area.  It’s now a very large area in our backyard that she really enjoys running and playing in.  Unfortunately it’s a huge area for us to do find her waste in.

Krispy is still not terribly font of her and will purposely sit in her way knowing she’ll cry and not try to get past him.  They’ve gotten into it a few times with Kate getting the worst of it the most recent time.

Dexter on the other hand seems to recognize that she is not the most evil thing in the world.  He’s not certain he likes her, but he doesn’t dislike her.  I personally think he is trying to figure out how to harness her mass and strength into doing things he wants … like liberating large amounts of food for his consumption.  She has licked him on the face or back multiple times and that is just funny to watch.

Molly has taken a long road trip to CT to visit the in-laws and behaved so well there that MIL actually allowed her free roam of the house.  She was super well behaved and has been invited back … so she will be joining us for Christmas (leaving on Tuesday and returning the following Monday).

I have been very lazy about taking worthwhile pictures.  The only snapshots I’ve taken have been with my iPhone and they’re less than satisfactory as they don’t catch enough of her facial details to show how cute she is.  Pictures will come in time.

Share on Facebook

Well, it’s now moving onto a week and a day since Kate and I picked up Molly, our Boston Terrier Border Collie mutt.  She’s an adorable, overly friendly and loving animal with a lot of energy but the ability to easily calm down and just “chill”.  She’s fitting in with Kate and I perfectly and hopefully in time the cats will learn to at least like her.

I’ll post some pictures later, all I have are the garbage ones from my iPhone.

Share on Facebook

Well, it’s official.  We closed on the new house and are moving the majority of our belongings on Saturday the 19th.  That’s only four days from now and we’ve a lot of packing ahead of us.  Last night Kate and I completely emptied out our storage unit so that we could return the key and get 50% of this months rental returned to us.  We then began to pack boxes and still have plenty more to go!  We’re very excited to move but of course nervous of the actual task at hand.  We’ll be fine as long as we don’t end up like this:

Share on Facebook

As stated in a this post Kate and I have been house hunting for a while.  We’ve had some pretty rotten luck with the entire process and have learned that it is true; nothing goes really smooth and easily in life.  Kate and I stayed strong, we were diligent and we refused to give up.  Finally, after months of stress that I can only equate to mental hell I think everything has finally paid off for us.  An abbreviated recap of the events follows.

After we lost the house as mentioned in the previous post Kate and I went back to a house we had looked at and placed an offer on previously.  When we initially placed an order they countered us with a number that was above what we wanted to pay and knowing the work we needed to put into the home we were scared off.  We went back and fell in love with the house again.  It has a very nice layout, beautiful property, all the modern and luxury features you want and really great bones to be made what we want in a home.  Unfortunately the kitchen was terribly small and we knew that in time we’d be forced to get involved in a major renovation project to build a new kitchen.

We were willing on doing this and made another offer which was accepted.  While moving forwards with the process we learned that the house would require flood insurance due to its location.  When we investigated flood insurance we learned it was in excess of $5,600 a year.  Due to this ridiculous cost we opted to walk away from this house.  Again we were saddened but we knew we were doing the right thing.

On July 8th we placed an offer on another home.  After 7 weeks we have learned that indeed, third time’s the charm!  Of course nothing is final yet as we haven’t closed yet but for the first time in this entire ordeal I feel confident enough to now share some of the story with the public.  The events were very dramatic for us as it was a lot of time where we just had no idea or control of the situation.

We found this home, which is a lovely four bedroom ranch house with 2.5 bathrooms, a full walkout basement and sits on 1.15 acres of beautiful land.  The house is much larger than we expected to be able to afford and comes with a lot more land than we ever thought we could own.  We’re very excited and know this house has the bones to make an amazing home.  The layout is great, the rooms are large, the kitchen is large enough and with some TLC everything will be amazing.  The house was built in 1966 and unfortunately that shows in some areas such as horrible wood paneling that needs to be torn down and an outdated kitchen that we’ll need to upgrade to meet our style and usage.

We put an offer in on the house and the sellers came back pretty quickly with a very fair counter-offer we were willing on accepting.  We quickly moved into Attorney Review and things seemed to be moving along nicely.  Of course as soon as I feel something is moving nicely, going well or just perfect we must find bumps in the road.  Sometimes, like in this case, they turned out to be hurdles.

We scheduled our home inspection and were expecting pretty smooth sailing as I had looked the house up and down and tried to identify issues myself but found nothing.  This is probably because I have no idea about construction, plumbing, electrical or really any skilled craft.  The home inspector was great and very detailed making certain to find everything he could that could pose a problem in the future for Kate and I.  Boy did he find some problems.

The home inspection showed multiple major issues and a few minor issues.  We made up a list of all the issues we had discovered and sent it off to our lawyer who made it all nice and legal like and sent it to them.  I think it was well over a week before we heard anything back.  Thankfully they had addressed some issues; but the major issues they just stated were still pending review.

After five plus weeks of continuing in this fashion we are now satisfied with the work done except for one moderately large concern of ours that they have however granted us a cash amount at closing so that we may address it on our own. Now we’re very excited to be moving into the new house and trying to get ourselves ready for the adventure ahead of us.

We’re nowhere near ready to move however and closing in just a bit over two weeks time!  We don’t own a single packing box and unfortunately have still not sold our condo; which is a very sore subject for us.  We’ve had a couple of offers that were too low for us to accept and both buyers have shied away from the purchase rather than accepting reasonable counter offers.  We’re seeing a good amount of traffic but no bites.  It’s nerve racking to say the least.

Share on Facebook

The highlight of my summer was definitely the 6-day road trip Dave and I took with my parents to attend my cousin’s wedding.  Not only was I honored to be in the wedding, I was so excited to see my family for a solid 4 days.  We drove across the never-ending state of Pennsylvania, through Ohio, and into Michigan.  I don’t think it dawned on me until we hit Ohio that I had been on I-80, on this same journey, many years ago.

I started to remember the road trips to Cedar Point in Grandma and Grandpa Rossi’s motor home.  I remembered all the times Grandma and I had driven to see various family members in Michigan and Ohio when I was little.  Then I saw the Michigan border and everything became familiar.  I remembered the trips from the airport to Grandpa J’s house to deliver his favorite cheesecakes from a restaurant we loved in Rhode Island.  I started to realize how much I missed this place and my family who today is only with us in spirit.  Not only did I miss them, but I missed their homes and their neighborhoods and all the things that filled my family memories.

So, I asked Mom and Dad if we could stop by their old neighborhoods.  I hoped it wouldn’t be too painful to go back to the houses their parents lived in for 40 years, and just say “hello.”  They smiled and agreed and, I shed a few tears just thinking about it.  We all agreed to stop at both houses on the way home from the wedding.  The morning of our return trip, we were up at 6am and on the road for Allen Park, Michigan.

Rossi home, once upon a time

The Rossi house looked as I remembered it, with a new fence and some nice new landscaping.  The Jablonowski house also looked great.  As we sat in the street, staring at the house, the owner walked out toward her car and I couldn’t help but feel compelled to explain our gawking.  I told mom that we needed to say hello before she called the police.

Mom rolled down her window and explained that her dad built the house and passed away in it 40 years later.  The woman was so wonderfully understanding and told us that her parents had purchased the home from my Grandpa and she had assumed it from them.  She said it was a great house and they had even made an addition on the back.  Mom got choked up and I was grateful knowing that my family’s homes, where I had so many memories, were so well taken care of.  I felt like it was okay to continue the journey home knowing that our little piece of Michigan was in good hands.

Jablonowski home, once upon a time

Share on Facebook

Kate and I decided that it would be in my best interest to no longer work from home.  My cabin fever as of late has been pretty depressing and with me not leaving the house the only person I can interact with on a daily basis is Kate.  I reached out to my boss who was very much on board with me no longer working from home as she thought me being in a field office would be a much better working environment.

It has now been over a month in the making but the paperwork is signed, the budget is in and as of today the required equipment has been shipped from corporate.  I am scheduled to begin working from the local field office, which funnily enough is the office I used to work from prior to switching roles, on Monday.  I am very excited to be back in an office, having a professional environment, people to bounce ideas off of and most importantly to not be in the home all day.

Now I just need to go pick up all the pants I had altered from the tailor otherwise I have nothing to wear to work!

Share on Facebook

Wow, what a crazy few weeks it has been.  Kate and I have been very seriously considering moving onto the next steps of our lives for quite some time.  We both know the things we want to do and the goals we have for ourselves require us to be in a house and no longer in our condo.  While this place has been very good for us and we’ve turned it into an amazingly charming home we want a backyard that is our own, a kitchen that more suits are love for food, and more space for guests and our belongings.

Kate spent a lot of time doing some amazing research to determine the better towns for us to live in.  We wanted to stay within a good commute to the local area we are now as this is where most of the industry and jobs are should either Kate or I in the future be on the job market.  We further were interested in a town with a good community, lower crime rate, and a good school system.  We began viewing homes and figuring out what we liked, what we wanted, and what we absolutely had to have in our future home.

While doing this we also needed to prepare our condo for sale.  This required a lot of staging removing photos, personal items that others may not appreciate and removing all the clutter.  We had to rent a storage unit to put a lot of things that were taking up space and made our condo look smaller than it is.  Our place is now fully staged, we’ve had an open house and a couple appointments for people to walk through.  Still no offers but we have gotten positive feedback about the overall presentation

Buying a house is proving to be very stressful and time consuming.  We found a great home that we really wanted and put in an offer.  We then received a counter-offer to which we gave our own counter-offer.  We were then told that there were 3 total bidders being considered and we should give our last and final offer, which we did and won.  However only a few days later the sellers received another bid and again requested last and final offer.  This time we didn’t win and have lost the house.

It was heartbreaking and very depressing to both of us and we’re still angry every time we think about it; but we’re determined to find the right hosue for us.  We’ve since losing that house been through a few more houses with four more to see this week and hopefully one of them will become our home.

Keep your fingers crossed and send us good thoughts and wishes as we could really use the luck.

Share on Facebook

This is an overdue post …

Kate’s 30th birthday gift to me was a vacation.  While I knew we were going away from March 19th through the 23rd I had no idea where we were going.  The only thing I knew well ahead of time was that I should pack for warm weather and that was all I needed.  I am not usually the kind of person who likes surprises however this was one I could sink my teeth into as I knew it wouldn’t end up with me wearing a funny hat in a public place … then again, I did end up doing that …

Kate and John F. managed to pull of a miracle.  Both myself and Rachel (John’s wife) turned 30 within six weeks of each other.  Kate and John worked together and got us both on a “surprise” vacation together.  Rachel and I knew the other one was going on a surprise vacation but we didn’t know we’d be going on vacation together.

Kate and I got our luggage and made our way towards the airport shuttle bus.  Kate told me we had to make our way to another terminal to connect with our transportation.  As I was walking off the bus there Rachel and John were standing at the terminal stop.  Rachel and I were completely surprised and absolutely goofy to each see the other couple standing there.

So here we are, giddy as a bunch of school girls and hugging each other making a huge teary eyed scene at the Fort Lauderdale airport still with no idea where we’re going or what we’re doing.  We’re then informed that we’re going on a cruise together to Cozumel Mexico.  As there is no place in the world I’d rather be then on a cruise ship I was so overly stoked that I became as hyper active as a 5 year old on 18 snickers bars.

We had a phenomenal time on the cruise together.  Every day and every night was another adventure.  It was so very enjoyable and stress relieving.  I was very sad that we couldn’t stay in that world of happiness for longer but knew we had to get back to reality.

Share on Facebook

I’ve been wanting to participate in an athletic event that would challenge me and get me back into running.  I’ve struggled the last few months to have the energy and positive attitude to work out and keep up with the regimen I used to find so easy.  I’ve decided to take the plunge and just registered for my first Sprint Triathlon.

I am really excited to train and struggle and push myself.  I’ll be racing with my friend and colleague Katy from work and her sister.  It’s going to be a lot of hard work and a lot of fun. 

Share on Facebook