A recap of pictures...in no particular order

Christmas 2009.

The tree is all decorated and came out great. Marley seems to think so too seeing as I wake up every morning to ornaments all over the floor. Damn cat! (But I love her)

Proudly standing in front of the tree he decorated
Hanging ornaments. Noah was so excited to decorate this year,it was awesome, and he even got the whole knack of getting ornaments on the branches.

Since I have moved, I have had to do alot of things around the house like putting together my table and chairs and hammering things into the wall. Noah sees this all the time and decided he wanted to help me put the screws into the chair. He was such a big helper so I bought his his own set of tools.
Cheesing it up at the pancake breakfast with Santa at the local firehouse.
He told Santa he wanted a baseball bat. He is in luck! Tball really payed off. Cant wait till baseball season!
Noah and Lucas...friends since they were little babies


Noah was Thomas the Train for Halloween. This was before we ventured out into the rain.
Noah and grandma at the circus. Note the $7 box of popcorn!.....which wasn't too good by the way.
I figured I would get all festive for the circus, except someone (who shall remain nameless) decided he didn't want to wear his costume.
My and my girls at the holiday Christmas party
Me and Steph

We are all really close...this is my lunch group
Me and Andrea
No, Joe Dirt wasn't at my holiday part. That's just one of my crazy co-workers!
Noah at the fall festival posing by some festive pumpkins and mums

I love this one! We were on the green in New Milford and he must have been deep in thought.

My cousin on her wedding day
I finally got some use of this bridesmaid dress from 3 years ago
Family Pic

Wow its been a while!

So its been almost 2 months since I posted something on here....yikes!  As I am sure you all know, my life has been super hectic lately including:

Halloween
Gina's birthday
Buying and moving into my new condo
Packing and unpacking
Thanksgiving
Vacation
And just getting ready for the holidays.
Oh yeah, and trying to have a social life along with all this....which has been challenging.


First off: Halloween
I took Noah to the Barnum and Bailey Circus with my parents and it was great.  I haven't been there in years so it was awesome seeing all the acrobats, animals and performers.  Having a kid really makes you remember what is like to be little again and seeing the excitement in his eyes is amazing.  I thought it was going to be super expensive too, but aside from the $7 thing of popcorn it wasn't bad and he got a cool elephant.  Then when we left we got harassed by PETA telling us we shouldn't support animals in the circus.  They should have been there before we went it!  After that we all went trick or treating in the pouring rain. I actually had a really good time though.  How many nights do you get to go out dressed up and walk around in the rain and get candy?  Noah had a blast too.

My closing!
After almost 3 months since I put an offer on this place and dealt with numerous set backs and issues, I finally closed the week before Thanksgiving.  I wasn't even excited because I am firm believer in Murphys Law and with my luck, something would happen to screw it up.  As it was the lady did not want to budge on the price.  Then after I offered her the full asking price, she tried to jack it up an extra 10k!  But everything worked out, my closing happened on time and I had a full week before moving to paint and get things done around there.

Thanksgiving:
It was a great time with good food and surprisingly enough I didn't over eat....I think it was a first!  That weekend I moved and like I said about Murphys Law...it loves me!  My dad and Gina got the truck at 9:30am only to have it breakdown before they got to my house.  They were right down the road and had to wait for UHaul to bring them another one and empty out the few things they brought from their house.  We didn't leave my old place till 3pm with everything packed.  The truck they replaced it with was worse then the one before and my poor cat was meowing the whole time.  It smelled like gas and she probably thought she was going to the kitty farm.  I had debated over and over again about whether to even bring my cats or find homes for them.  They were peeing all over the place and keeping up with taking care of them was alot for me.  In the end (and after much thought and one failed attempt to bring both)  I decided to keep Marley.  She is much more social then Cletus and puts up with Noah pulling her tail, getting in her face and all the other things little kids do to torment animals.  So, Cletus went to the animal shelter.  She will be missed  :(  I also took vacation to have time at home to unpack and get things settled which I am so happy I had the time to do.

It was 2 weeks this past Saturday since I moved in and have gotten so much done already.  Curtains are up in all rooms, new thermostats are installed, furniture is put together, the bathroom and Noah's room are painted, the kitchen cabinets are painted with half of the new hardware put on and the new stove is in.   And best part of all is that I have a washer and dryer in my place and can do laundry whenever I want....How exciting right?  Oh yeah and the Christmas tree is up and decorated.  I don't mess around!

Noah also loves it and I love the extra time I have with him in the morning and at night.  I can actually feed him breakfast and make a halfway decent dinner and have time for bath, playtime and a book.  And seeing as I was used to waking up at the ass crack of dawn (ok well maybe not, but for me it felt like it)  I decided to still get up that early and work in some exercise.

One thing I have learned in this short time I have been a homeowner is to save receipts for everything you buy until you make sure it fits, is the right one, matches, etc.  

I have had to return and exchange countless things and when I thought I could finish a project in an afternoon..... realized it had to be pushed back because of certain complications.  Also, I remember seeing my uncles house and it was all put together, but there would be little things missing in rooms like unpainted molding, uncovered electrical outlets, etc and I wondered why you would leave such a little thing unfinished.  Now I know!  It is so much work to get certain things done, the little things can wait.  I do have to say my bathroom is 90% done with the exception of a couple paint touchups and new light switches to match.  Noah's room needs the trim painted white because it is a disgusting poop brown as in the entire house, but its going to be a pain in the ass seeing as it has to primed and then painted....fun fun!  Then the doors are also poop brown and will be staying like that till tax returns and a sale at Lowes on nice white doors.  Everything is a work in progress, but now I own it and don't mind doing all these things at all...I actually enjoy it alot.

In other news I have started working out again. I took a break while I was moving but started again Monday and after a 20 min workout I feel like a decrepit woman!  Im a super excited though to start again because although I cant move today, its a great feeling:)

Pics of the new place, Halloween and other events to follow soon!