We have put the house on the market. Jeremiah and Shelly bought their first house and moved out of Townsend st. So this seemed like a good time to take advantage of the situation. Because Townsend st is empty we can reduce the stress and risk of trying to sell of our house and buy a new house at the same time. It makes us stronger sellers and buyers which is a great advantage and luxury to have.
My house has never looked better. We rushed and finished many projects to get it listed in a timely fashion. We re tiled the bathroom floor, finished the fancy archways, had new carpet installed in the master bedroom and stairway and painted the cabinets. I did all that while attending school. I should have just dropped the class, but I still got an A in the class and I finished all the project around the house on time.
The kids are excited to move although I can tell Morgan will miss her buddies. The end goal is to be closer to work and to move to a better school system. When Katie and I went to college we felt very much unprepared - more so then our peers. We took college prep classes in high school but they failed to prepare us for college. I want Morgan to have all the skills and knowledge she can possibility have when the time comes for her to go to college.
So we will be looking at towns on the Rt 3 corridor. Dunstable, Dunstable side of Groton, Westford, Tyngsboro, Chelmsford, Bedford, Burlington, and Carlisle. School system wise Carlisle wins hands down, but the property values are sky high. Bedford and Burlington follow tieing for second place.
Below is a link the listing on Realtor.com. Make sure to check out the virtual tour as well - it has some real "swanky" elevator music!
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/15-Turnpike-Rd_Townsend_MA_01469_M31983-82606?cpPreview=true
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Valentine's Day
Katie got real creative this year and made a nice treat for the kids. Brownie Sundays in Chocolate bowls. Yes the bowl was made out of chocolate. Willy Wonka style. How do you make your own? Blow up a balloon and paint the top of it in melted chocolate. Then cool in the fridge (not the freezer). Once hard melt more chocolate and spoon out a disk onto wax paper. This will be the base of the bowl. While the base is still wet put the balloon chocolate side down onto the base. Let that cool. Once that has hardened you can pop the balloon. Then you can use the bowl like any other bowl. It's like diabetes in bowl form!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Disney 2012
We lucked out that Gwen is 4. We flew Southwest out of Manchester and they have a policy where you pick your own seat - sort of a free for all. That is great if you're by yourself but if you have kids you can't be separated. Luckily they allow families with children 4 and under to board ahead of the crowd.
We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort which is the largest resort in Disney. It's made up of many buildings clumped in groups named after Caribbean islands. We knew this time of year is Disney's slow time but I was amazed at how few people we ran into at our building. The Caribbean is a moderately priced hotel located near Epcot and because it is the largest the bus that takes you to the parks has to drive around the complex before it even leaves for the park. We found a great deal online for a car rental so we did that so we wouldn't have to deal with the bus. It helped reduce the stress of moving about Disney.
Because we went at the slow time Disney had a great deal where we get the meal plan for free. Each person gets a sit down meal, a quick service meal, and a snack. We brought snacks and breakfast food as well.
We made a reservation at the Polynesian resort on the first day because we were told the food was to "die" for. It was good but no one died. I've always wanted to stay at the Polynesian but it costs three times the amount of the Caribbean and I'm waaay too frugal aka cheap for that.
We took the monorail from the Polynesian to the Magic Kingdom where we got in just as it opened. We stayed just before closing and watched the fireworks from the ferry back to the parking lot. That is when I remembered I had been on that same ferry before when I was about as big as Gwen. I think that first trip to Disney melded with later trips in my memory.
What amazed me most was Gwen's ability to keep walking all day. We were out there over 12 hours. She pointed at an older kid in a stroller and asked what was wrong with his legs?
We spent two days at the Magic Kingdom then went to Epcot where we watched the captain EO 3D show staring Michael Jackson. It might be time to retire that show - the quality is really bad, but Morgan is a huge fan of Michael Jackson so we had to see it. On the plus side we got to go the steak house in the Canadian pavilion which I am told is always crazy busy. It was very good, so I can see why. We also enjoyed the food at the Indian, British pavilions.
Lastly we went to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Both we find are not full day events. Hollywood has some great rides for older kids but not much for younger ones. Animal Kingdom just doesn't have much at all which is fine since we had a late flight to catch anyway. However, both have a great BBQ stand with smoked meats including turkey legs.
We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort which is the largest resort in Disney. It's made up of many buildings clumped in groups named after Caribbean islands. We knew this time of year is Disney's slow time but I was amazed at how few people we ran into at our building. The Caribbean is a moderately priced hotel located near Epcot and because it is the largest the bus that takes you to the parks has to drive around the complex before it even leaves for the park. We found a great deal online for a car rental so we did that so we wouldn't have to deal with the bus. It helped reduce the stress of moving about Disney.
Because we went at the slow time Disney had a great deal where we get the meal plan for free. Each person gets a sit down meal, a quick service meal, and a snack. We brought snacks and breakfast food as well.
We made a reservation at the Polynesian resort on the first day because we were told the food was to "die" for. It was good but no one died. I've always wanted to stay at the Polynesian but it costs three times the amount of the Caribbean and I'm waaay too frugal aka cheap for that.
We took the monorail from the Polynesian to the Magic Kingdom where we got in just as it opened. We stayed just before closing and watched the fireworks from the ferry back to the parking lot. That is when I remembered I had been on that same ferry before when I was about as big as Gwen. I think that first trip to Disney melded with later trips in my memory.
What amazed me most was Gwen's ability to keep walking all day. We were out there over 12 hours. She pointed at an older kid in a stroller and asked what was wrong with his legs?
We spent two days at the Magic Kingdom then went to Epcot where we watched the captain EO 3D show staring Michael Jackson. It might be time to retire that show - the quality is really bad, but Morgan is a huge fan of Michael Jackson so we had to see it. On the plus side we got to go the steak house in the Canadian pavilion which I am told is always crazy busy. It was very good, so I can see why. We also enjoyed the food at the Indian, British pavilions.
Lastly we went to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Both we find are not full day events. Hollywood has some great rides for older kids but not much for younger ones. Animal Kingdom just doesn't have much at all which is fine since we had a late flight to catch anyway. However, both have a great BBQ stand with smoked meats including turkey legs.
Friday, December 9, 2011
Thanksgiving
This year for Thanksgiving we had a pie theme. Everything was a pie. The turkey, potatos, creamed onions and so on. It wasn't that great. Some things should not be in pie form, but I'm glad we tried it.
For more exciting news. We just booked our trip to Disney World. We haven't told the kids yet so hush. We will be going at the end of January. After running what felt like hundreds of simulations we found January to be the cheapest time to go. Not only are the hotels cheaper but we got the free dining plan. We plan to drive down in the wally wagon as it will save hundreds. I can't imagine Gwen getting grumpy at all! NOT. The plan is to drive down and stay in a cheap hotel just outside Disney for one night then go to Disney the next day fully refreshed.
For more exciting news. We just booked our trip to Disney World. We haven't told the kids yet so hush. We will be going at the end of January. After running what felt like hundreds of simulations we found January to be the cheapest time to go. Not only are the hotels cheaper but we got the free dining plan. We plan to drive down in the wally wagon as it will save hundreds. I can't imagine Gwen getting grumpy at all! NOT. The plan is to drive down and stay in a cheap hotel just outside Disney for one night then go to Disney the next day fully refreshed.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Summer 2011
Yes, its time for a random picture slide show!
This summer we went camping for a few days in the White Mountains. While we were there we went to Story Land and then on a nature hike to some falls. I enjoyed the nature hike up until Gwen stepped in dog poop again. I think she looks for it.
We had some tickets for the zoo. The stone park zoo to be exact. It is very small and the kids were disappointed at the selection of animals.
We have a tradition where you can choose whatever you want for your birthday dinner. Gwen asked for "Hardware Store Pizza" That would be C&S next to the hardware store. So we had her birthday right there. We brought a cake and opened presents.
Morgan on the other hand had a sleep over with a boat load of girls meant not much sleeping took place. They danced the night away to Michael Jackson. I allowed Morgan to blast over the house speaker system and I set up a strob light.
This summer we went camping for a few days in the White Mountains. While we were there we went to Story Land and then on a nature hike to some falls. I enjoyed the nature hike up until Gwen stepped in dog poop again. I think she looks for it.
We had some tickets for the zoo. The stone park zoo to be exact. It is very small and the kids were disappointed at the selection of animals.
We have a tradition where you can choose whatever you want for your birthday dinner. Gwen asked for "Hardware Store Pizza" That would be C&S next to the hardware store. So we had her birthday right there. We brought a cake and opened presents.
Morgan on the other hand had a sleep over with a boat load of girls meant not much sleeping took place. They danced the night away to Michael Jackson. I allowed Morgan to blast over the house speaker system and I set up a strob light.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
King Richard's Faire
King Richard's Faire is done up like a medival fair, so there are people in ye olde timey clothes, there are period activities and entertainment. By no means are they aiming for accuracy, but rather how to make money...I mean making sure everyone has a good time. They encourage people to come in period clothing which I thought would be cool but I was out voted. I enjoyed myself but I did have two compliants.
One: The ye olde latrin was a little too authentic I thought (smell wise). They were bathrooms in trailers.
Two: The food tickets. You have to buy food tickets. Each ticket is 50 cents which you must buy in 5 dollar increments and then you redeem these tickets for food. No refunds on un-used tickets and that is what annoyed me as it was darn near impossible to work it out so you used all of them.
Once we did finally get our food it was awesome. I had a turkey leg, honey meed, hard cider and yard of ale. Strangly the yard of ale came in a container that was less then a yard tall. Perhaps yard sticks were shorter back then.
I highly recommend it.
One: The ye olde latrin was a little too authentic I thought (smell wise). They were bathrooms in trailers.
Two: The food tickets. You have to buy food tickets. Each ticket is 50 cents which you must buy in 5 dollar increments and then you redeem these tickets for food. No refunds on un-used tickets and that is what annoyed me as it was darn near impossible to work it out so you used all of them.
Once we did finally get our food it was awesome. I had a turkey leg, honey meed, hard cider and yard of ale. Strangly the yard of ale came in a container that was less then a yard tall. Perhaps yard sticks were shorter back then.
I highly recommend it.
Master Bedroom Remodel
This summer's major project was to remodel the master bedroom. When I say master bedroom I mean the room I sleep in. It's not big nor has a bathroom attached. It does have a small walk-in closet so I guess that's something. I never understood the need to have a master bath - just another toilet to clean up and the kids still manage to find you when you're in there.
I took a week off from work and in that week I demo'd the room, insulated, re-wired, hung drywall and got most of the mudding done. So you'd think we moved back into the room the week after then right? Not so much. It's amazing how the last hurtle is always the hardest. It took several weekends more to finish up the trim, and paint. We still did not install the carpet. I'm not doing that. I've installed carpet only once - it was hell. The plan is to change out all the doors covered in lead paint on the second floor then replace the carpet in the hallway, stairs and bedroom.
I took a week off from work and in that week I demo'd the room, insulated, re-wired, hung drywall and got most of the mudding done. So you'd think we moved back into the room the week after then right? Not so much. It's amazing how the last hurtle is always the hardest. It took several weekends more to finish up the trim, and paint. We still did not install the carpet. I'm not doing that. I've installed carpet only once - it was hell. The plan is to change out all the doors covered in lead paint on the second floor then replace the carpet in the hallway, stairs and bedroom.
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