The Joys of Being a Homeowner

The same month that my husband and I got married, we purchased our first home. Actually, we signed the papers on my birthday so happy birthday to me! That was three years ago...and today we are still working on the house.

I've told you all a bit about my house before when I was looking for windows (and yes, they were installed and look great!) but this time it isn't a remodel that upsets me...it is my oven.

When we moved in, my husband totally re-did our bathroom and kitchen. Literally gutted it out and put everything new in. So my oven will only be three this September but yet, it has decided lately that it does not want to heat up correctly. I started to notice this when I made brownies and I have made brownies numerous times but this time they just came out like crap! I knew they were bad when my husband who, bless his heart, really does try to like everything I make even though he speaks his mind, told me that they were just bad. The middle wasn't cooked at all and I know I baked them on the right temperature. So I figured it was a fluke....bad mix, bad eggs, bad oil, something but not my oven.

Well the next day I tried to cook chicken in my oven. It was a recipe from a spice package so it's not like I was doing anything from scratch and it said the chicken would be fully cooked in 45 minutes to and hour. Well 45 minutes rolled around, not done, an hour, not done, an hour and half after that I was reallllly pissed and super hungry. So we started to look into it and now I have been fighting with a thermometer I purchased for my oven.

My husband thinks the thermometer is garbage and that it really doesn't tell me the right temperature. Our manual for our oven does say not to go by a thermometer but considering my oven obviously doesn't heat up to the right temperature anyways, what can I trust? At least things are baking now when before a 350 degree preheat was only making it to 250 according to my thermometer!

Has anyone else out there experienced this issue? It is a gas Frigidaire oven. Everything is hooked up right. I really don't want to have to buy a new oven especially when this one is only two and a half years old!! HELP!

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The snow is here...Now the dogs are a mess!

So in one of my last posts I asked where's the snow? I heard the question was also asked on GMA the same morning (which I am already on my way to work when it comes on) but I felt right on topic that day. We ended up getting a couple of inches, nothing too exciting, but of course everyone freaks out! It took a fellow blogger and I two hours to get home after work that first snow fall of the year! Typically it takes us anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and 15 depending on what fantastic event is going on in Pittsburgh. The worst is when the Pirates have an afternoon game...and even though they are horrible, people still go! How is it that we have the worst baseball team and yet, people still go to afternoon games? Don't they have to work like the rest of us? I digress...

Now that the snow is here, I get to look forward to my dogs rolling around and jumping in the snow like snow bunnies and bringing it all through the house once they are finished. It is fun to watch them do it (as you will see below) but the end result is what I hate. Don't you hate walking in the house, taking off your shoes at the door like we have been taught, but the first step you take in your socks is into a wet spot thanks to the dogs? ARGH!

My solution, I am buying them boots. We shall see how long this lasts before I get sick of putting them on. I did this with their shock collars too (and before I hear any crap about that, they learned their boundaries and don't have to wear them anymore...except for the random times they get brave). I would be really good about putting them on and thankfully they don't have to wear them anymore. I figure at least snow is only around for a couple months, so I should be able to handle it. When I get these boots (suggestions on where to buy them would be nice!), I will be sure to post pictures, but until then, I will chase them around the house with a towel to get their paws dry.

Here is a video from a snow day they had last year. Around 2:10 is my favorite part when Mark (the black one) gets a surprise from Axel. You will notice Mark is not a huge fan of the snow and has to have Axel make him a walking path. What a baby!

They are the best of friends and forever will be. But this year, let's hope we don't get that much snow again and I won't have to get the snow off of their bodies too!

Here is to hoping for snow days, even though we aren't in school anymore!

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The View From My Window

When my husband and I bought our house, we knew there was a lot that needed to be done to make it our own. The house was built in the 1950's and we were only the second owners. It was just a little old woman (and no my house is not a shoe) that lived in my home before us, so of course, our tastes are very different.

We moved into our house in September and that winter we had a HUGE snowstorm. So the view from my kitchen window was just amazing (and yes, that is the real picture from my kitchen window). Needless to say, I love the view I have, but I don't love my 60+ year old windows.

There really was nothing wrong with our house or the windows, but the whole house really just needed update. It needed a new kitchen, new bathroom, some TLC for the floors and new windows that did not leak any air. Which leads me to my past two months.

Getting bids for new windows is not fun. There are so many companies out there who tell you their windows are the best and they can do it better than the next guy. What bothers me the most is when they slam their competitors and try to trash talk them to my face. I get it, you want the sale, but don't be the sleezy sales person who is rude about other companies. You all have your positives and negatives, just some more than others.

I met with four different window companies: one high-end company to see exactly why they were the more expensive window and to figure out why they charged so much, two middle-priced companies, and then the lowballer. I called another number given to me by a fellow WWB blogger, but never got a return call from them. Odd, you would think they would jump on it when I want windows!

The first thing I learned is that windows are much more expensive than I thought. I needed nine new windows for my house, and they are not the normal size window either. However, the return on investment for new windows will hopefully pay off in the end, so I had to pay the price.

After meeting with the four companies, by myself (my husband really had no part in what I liked to call the window interview process), I finally chose a company - TWO MONTHS LATER!

I asked myself, why did it take me so long to make this decision? I know that I want, and need, to buy new windows, but why did I go back and forth with which company I wanted to go with?
The answer is because I kept thinking there would be a better deal out there. Some company would magically have the same low-e, double paned, yata yata yata windows that I want, but at a price that was AMAZING! Wrong. So I really just had to make a choice.

I am not loyal to any of these companies or brands, so they all came in with a fair "interview". In the end, it came down to the company that had the most honest sales guy (and yes, all males...I would've like to maybe find a female, but whatever). The company was not the lowest priced (because I felt like the lowballer was going to screw me over ten times). This company ended up being a family run, local business, which was a bonus to my husband, a local business owner himself. So in a sense, I have found myself being true to the local business, yet again, and always think I will be that way.

I have not had my windows installed yet, but when they are put in, I will let you know if I am still happy with my choice. Until then, I will still be looking out my 60 year old windows, but hopefully not with snow like the first year.

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