Our house!

I realized it is long past due for some real pictures of our house with our stuff in it. Same layout, new stuff. Although not really, just the table and sofa. :O)

We really do love our new house. It's size is just right, but it still takes about a day to clean, sadly. I am working on getting some flowers planted in the front yard and we're going to get a fruit tree for either the backyard or the front yard. It's too late in the season to continue planting, but I plan to get some more flowers (dahlias, cosmos, zinnias) into the front yard to give it more color. In March or so, we will set up our raised beds in the backyard for the garden. I plan to be busy weeding and harvesting next year. The three dead trees came down for a very reasonable fee. No one was hurt in the taking down of these trees.

The inside is perfectly livable. We haven't painted a thing. Still waiting for inspiration to hit. Have curtains to hang yet, our bedroom will be first. Apparently the shades in our bedroom are see-through so we covered the windows with a sheet. I don't want to hang curtains until I figure out exactly what I'm doing with the room though.

We love our quiet little neighborhood. We try to get out and walk on a regular basis. In doing so, we walk hills and valleys. It very good exercise in the course of an hour. Lots of trees and deer. Almost as good as living in the country, but there is no real substitute.

Visitors to Pittsburgh and Graduation!

At long last, Gyna's parents made it to Pittsburgh, with our niece Valerie in tow. I'm told it is a long haul from Susanville CA. As if I didn't know that. They flew in on August 12th. We made some minor repairs on the house including a new basement door with a screen, updated some wiring, and installed a new stair banister. Since I am pretty clutzy on stairs, this is a good thing. We visited Phipps, the Cathedral of Learning, the Strip District, Ohiopyle, and the Incline. It was so hot, the hottest it has been all summer, that we were content to work inside our air-conditioned house rather than play outside. We did go biking, swimming, and made a slip and slide in the backyard. We still had fun.

During the week they were here, Brandon successfully finished his last classes at Tepper. He says he isn't a graduate until he gets that diploma, but that could take months. To me, he is now the proud recipient of an MBA from CMU. It has been a long haul, but we both think it was the best course for Brandon to have taken. He loved being a student. Yeah!!

Home inspection

We had the home inspection today. Nothing glaringly wrong. Some maintenance issues to attend to, but otherwise everything looks good.

The front of the house is better landscaped than the back. This is fine since I have some ideas for the back anyway.

This is the view when you walk in the front door. Not a huge living room, but big enough.

The new house!

Never thought I would be so excited about a structure. Buying ones first house, really, that is one thing you do once. We are, as you can imagine, very excited. So excited that I started a blog to update you on everything that is going on in our lives.
Mortgage rates are really low and with first time homebuyer credits and the tax incentive, it is a great time to buy.
It continues to be in Western PA. Yes, we liked it so much we are staying.
I will post our own pictures when we do the inspection this weekend.