Our House

Finaly after 4 1/2 months of waiting since we put in the offer, we've actually closed and the house is ours. It's a 5 bedroom, 3 1/2 bathroom, 2600 sqft "fixer upper". It was built in 2006 but I wouldn't have thought it possible that a house could be lived in so hard such that inside it looks like it 10 years old. I plan to detail the refurb along with pictures

The backyard and marsh beyond. Strangely enough I saw a dog swimming in there covered in duckweed.

Top 10 places to live in America

What more is there to say?

Home straight ahead.

Looks like there's light at the end of the tunnel as we're booked to close on our new house this week. If all goes to plan then I've got 3 days off work plus the weekend to decorate as much as I can before the new carpet (chosen but yet to be ordered) is layed. We've got a week's overlap with the place we're renting now so there's no mad panic to move in until I've done some brush work to make it habitable. It's a mess at the moment as the previous occupiers didn't seem to take much care of the place. Once we've closed on the house I'll upload some photos for a "before and after" transformation just like they do on the telly.

More meat and a driveway surprise

Last Monday was Memorial Day and we celebrated the holiday with the traditional grillout. Ribs were on the menu and boy were they good, slow baked in the oven first for 3 hours then thrown on a hot grill and smothered in bbq sauce!

Today we were sitting down to lunch when there was a commotion outside. We rushed out the door to see this snake slithering across the driveway. No idea what it was but I left it well alone!

Man, meat and fire...

What a difference a week makes, surburn last week and nearly drowned this. It's been raining here pretty much nonstop since last Sunday evening, in fact we've had over 9 inches of rain! However with the grill under the porch it hasn't stopped us cooking out at every opportunity. We got a GREAT deal on New York strip steaks @ $6.95/lb and so we helped ourselves to these 2 "little" beauties. At over 2 inches thick and weighing in at a hefty 20 ounces each you just can't get meat like than anywhere other than the good ol' US of A.


Good news on the house we've had written approval from the mortgage company that we can buy the house under short sale (that means we're buying it for less than the current owner owes on their mortgage). We had the inspection done yesterday and it threw up a couple of rain/water related issues but with the recent weather it comes as no surprise. We're now in the process of choosing new flooring and a colour scheme so that I can get to work on it. We're supposed to complete the purchase by mid June so that doesn't give us long to get the financials and paperwork sorted.

Lobster pink

Got a bit sunburnt yesterday, we went to the pool for an hour or so and then I washed both cars cars, all without applying any sunscreen. Shoulders, back and chest are bright pink and sore to the touch. Listen to your Mothers when they tell you to put sunscreen on!

Live long and prosper

Mrs P and I went to see the new Star Trek film today at the new cinema complex that's just opened in town. The theatre has stadium style seating which means that it's impossible for the person in front to block your view of the screen. They did have a few teething troubles as we watched the film and it must have paused between 5 to 10 times but upon leaving we were ushered into another room and given a free pass for another film!

As for the film it's great, really great and all the characters manage to portray their more famous namesakes astonishingly well. Go see it.

The rich and famous are in town at the moment, last night Snoop Dogg played a gig downtown and Tiger Wood's has his yacht harboured in the marina while he's competing at The Player's Tournament just up the road in Ponte Vedra. Also found out this morning that Judas Priest and Whitesnake are coming to town later this summer. Mrs P and I think we might have to get a couple of tickets.

Mother's Day tomorrow and Mrs P wants Eggs Benedict so I'm on kitchen duty first thing. Never made a hollandaise sauce before but I'm sure Delia's recipe will turn out just fine.