Holy Oak - Part II

So, instead of hauling our huge oak over the top of our house via crane, we hired a tree guy to:
1) take down all the dead branches (each the size of a large tree themselves, plus one of them nearly killed our neighbor, hence this whole conversation)
2) take out all the suckers (the small branches that use up too much of the tree's resources, also let's the wind travel through in a more efficient way, plus more sunshine comes in!)
3) fill in the raccoon holes (there were at least 5 gigantic holes, each much larger than a raccoon)

All in all it was more expensive than I thought it would be, yet not nearly as expensive as it could have been. Looking back it was almost a great deal! (Home-ownership-induced brain-washing). I did call 4 companies for estimates and the guy I used was the only one who mentioned the suckers, which I thought was a good move on his part).

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This is the part of home-ownership that really really sucks. It is totally the most awesome thing that we have our own house, and we can do whatever we want. But there are many unexpected emergencies in life in general, and the things that the landlord used to take care of are now our responsibility too.

So in the past few months, in addition to the computer replacement ($$$$!!!), the bathroom sink purchase ($$$$!!!)(which was totally my fault for being so picky, and also putting it off for so long)(but it would have been expensive anyway, so does it really matter if it's now or a while back?)...

...now we have to worry about the tree in the backyard (more $$$$!!!).

Plus we still haven't gotten our fireplace working ($dontwanttoknow$), and our furnace is old, like really old, and we have to tip-toe around it and feed it bits of water, and monitor it on a daily-basis, because it's older than either of us ($scaryscaryscary$) and we're hoping it will last a while longer, because who knows what other trouble will pop up over the next few months?

So even if we manage all those un-glamourous house things, it means that new furniture, and vacations, and all the more glamourous things in life get pushed to the back-burner for awhile.

blah blah blah

blah blah...

Home!

Long, long day, but it is done - John and I are officially homeowners! It has been an unbelievable time. From the time we settled on the price with the previous owners until today was only 5 weeks. Fastest closing ever!

Today:

9:30 am: Bagels.

10 am: Walk-through at the house. Found out our huge tree is actually the oldest tree in our town. Cool!

11 am: Still waiting for our closing costs from our lawyer. Relaxing (trying) in town with coffee and tea.

11:45 am: Call from lawyer. Everything is ready and there are no surprises with our closing costs. Awesome!

12 noon: Stop by bank to get the SCARIEST CHECK EVER!!!

12:30 pm: Title office. Paperwork rules!

1:30 pm: Starving. Big Italian Lunch.

4 pm: Still dont have the keys. Try to break into own home. Stop and make a few phone calls first.

4:30 pm: Everything's cleared. Keys are ours!

4:35 pm: Rip out wallpaper in Master Bedroom.

5 pm: Scouring fridge and oven - inside and out.

6:30 pm: Learn how to do a meter reading.

6:45 pm: Sweep.

7:30 pm: Lock up.

:)

Welcome

Welcome to It's a Good House!

Amy and John - Central Park on our first anniversary

We're both from New York, I'm from Long Island, John's from Staten Island. We crossed over to the dark side years ago when we made the move to Jersey City. Now we are just about to buy a house. In the suburbs. In New Jersey! Our closing date may be very very very soon. So we're crossing our fingers and hoping it all works out alright.

In the meantime, here are some photos from last month. To celebrate our anniversary we spent a Saturday afternoon at the American Museum of Natural History, followed by a walk in Central Park and dinner at Mercer Kitchen.

Natural curiosities

Obligatory visit with a T-rex