Come On In

I've been trying to figure out the best way to do a blog tour of our 'new' house...I still haven't figured it out, but I'm going to go ahead and give it a try.  At the end of my last post, I said that I was going to start with the kitchen...change in plans, I'm going to start at the front door (makes sense, right?), and go from there.

So, here is the view from the front door...

This is one of my favourite parts of the house - I have a lot of 'favourite parts', so get used to me saying that! :)  I made my first purchase for the house last week, and it is something for the staircase - I bought two sets of picture frames from Winners (14 frames in total)...I can't wait to decorate that wall on the left!  I brought them home and I think Curt was even a little excited about the purchase...I guess I'm not the only who felt like that wall was calling out for pictures, lots of pictures!

Another view with better lighting...

So, the wallpaper and carpet will obviously be torn down/out!  And, the stairs and bannister will be refinished - not sure if we'll go with the same finishes on the stairs (white with dark brown), or if we'll change that? 

OK, from here we'll take a look at the living room - in the pictures above, you can see a small part of the living room door frame on the left side of the picture.

First, you walk through these beautiful French doors!  Yup, you got it, another 'favourite part'!

I think I mentioned in my last post that the current owners have been using the house as a bit of a storage unit - the cabinets and furniture you'll see in these next pictures all belong to them, but it's in our contract that they empty the house before our closing date, so just picture the room without the 'extras'. 

This room is DARK right now, so a coat of paint (or three!) will be necessary, for sure! 

North wall...

East wall...

South wall...

Behind that couch is a set of doors, right now they lead out to that horrible cinder block 'deck' that I talked about in my last post.  But, in the future they will lead out to a screened in porch!  As you can see, this room also has a fireplace - this is the first of three fireplaces you'll see on your tour! 

So there you have it, the tour has officially started and you've seen the first room...there's plenty more to come, I just need to find the time to create the posts...I'll try my best to get another post a two up this week.

Moving On with Big News

I have been horrible about blogging lately...I've been weeks, or months, behind all summer.  It's not that I didn't have anything to blog about, it was the opposite actually - I had too much to blog about.  So, although I've missed blogging about some fun weekend events, I feel like I need to move ahead on the blog or else I will never get caught up.  Plus, Curt and I have some big news...we bought a new (to us) HOUSE!!!

Although it all seems to have happened fast, there is a bit of a history to the story, so I'm going to start there.

Last year, around this time, I mentioned to Curt that there was an old century house for sale, on the water, that peaked my interest (I drive by it everyday on my way to work).  Eventually, Curt had the chance to drive by it as well, and he agreed that it had potential.  So, in November 2012 we set up a viewing - it was for sale privately, so it was the owners father that showed us the house.  What we saw was a house that needed A LOT of work!  It hadn't been lived in in years, and apparently the last resident was renting, and he left a pretty big mess when he moved out.  But, it wasn't all the tenant, the owners had contributed to the mess - they gutted one of the bathrooms, and then just walked away...they bought a new house and re-did the kitchen there, and rather than getting rid of the old cupboards, they stored them in their old house?  It was weird, and such a shame, that they had let the house get into such poor condition.  At this point, they were asking $400,000 for the house - that alone is WAY more than we can afford, never mind all the money we would have to put into it to make it livable.  So, although we loved the potential of the house, we walked away from it.

Like I said, I drive by this house everyday on my way to work, so I obviously never really forgot about it.  And, when I saw a real estate agents sign on the front lawn on Monday, September 23rd, I was very curious to see the price.  Curt and I looked at the listing on Tuesday, September 24th and couldn't believe it was now listed for significantly less - obviously their agent sat them down and had a heart-to-heart with them about the value of the house given the condition it was in.  At it's new price, we couldn't help but take another look, so we set up a viewing with our agent during our lunch hour on Wednesday, September 25th.

Not much had changed with the house, it still needed A LOT of work :)  But, we still loved the potential we saw and knew that there was more good than bad.  So, before I left to go back to work, I was signing an offer!

The owners were out of town when we made our first offer, so we were forced to wait almost two days before we heard anything - that was a good test of patience!  Eventually, they countered and we ended up going back and forth a few times before settling on a number -  we ended up getting it for only $1500.00 less than their asking price, but it's still a great price!

The deal was finalized by the end of September, but we don't get the keys until November 15th.  A few weeks was required to get our finances in order, and, more importantly, one of the conditions is that the owners empty all of their JUNK, and that will take WEEKS!

During the weeks of waiting, we're busy making decisions - where to take out walls, where to add walls, what to do with the kitchen, where to place furniture, etc.

Once we get the keys, work will begin, but we won't be moving in right away - we can't move in right away.  The plan is to put our house up for sale in the early spring, and hopefully once it sells, the closing date will line up nicely with a move in date for the new house :).  If it doesn't quite work out that way, we have a back-up plan, but I'm not going to think about that right now.

So, prepare yourselves, the blog will probably take a slightly different focus over the next few months - it may look more like 'Gliding, Swinging and Renovating Through Life'!  We are very excited about the project ahead of us, and hope you will enjoy being part of it through this blog.

My plan over the next few weeks is to do separate blog posts for each room of the house - that way there is a nice layout of 'before' pictures, and it will be easy to compare to the 'after' pictures down the road.  But, if you've read this whole post, you might be interested in some pictures, so here you go...

Here it is...

Beautiful, right?  Look past the decrepit front porch, the ugly light post, the overgrown 'plants'...look at the potential!

From a different angle - the round part of the porch is my favourite!  It's just sad that anyone could let it get to such a state.  BUT, the good news is that my father-in-law already has a plan to restore it...he told me all about it, and made it sound quite simple?!?  I'm sure it won't be, but I love that he is excited about helping us work on the house!

The back of the house.  The door on the left, which you can hardly see because of the deck, leads into what is currently the 'kitchen' (if you can call it that - wait until you see the pictures of it?!?).  Our plan is to take this deck out and build a new smaller one at ground level.

This is the south east side of the house.  The door on the main level goes into a living room...the door above it is the master bedroom.  Right now, that 'deck' area is made out of cinder blocks?  It's horrible!  So, that will come out, and the plan is to do a two story deck there...the lower part will be screened it, and may tie right around to the front porch.

Same area, photo taken straight on...

The 'carriage house'.  This building has a large loft like space - we won't be doing anything to this space for a long time, but the thought is that it would make a cool office for Three Hills Engineering.  My mom has also suggested that she could live up there in the winter...and she'll live on the front porch in the summer :)

The view from the attic, looking out over the carriage house to the water. 

OK, and I have to show you this...it's weird.  Apparently the previous owners built this and then put one of those blow up above ground pools on it...you can see it sitting there in a heap...another thing they just left behind...who does that?  The pool has since been removed, so now it's just a random deck in the middle of the back yard.

So there's a little taste of the house, there is a lot more to come!  I'll be back soon, and I think I'll start the tour in the 'kitchen'.

PGA Championships - Part 3

Saturday and Sunday were both great days at the course!  We figured out the whole parking situation - we parked at a nearby college and then took a shuttle to the main gate at the course - so getting in and out was much smoother (no more 45 minute lines).  The weather was great both days, and we saw LOTS of golf...too much to try to summarize, so I'll just show some of the random pictures I took around the course.

I mentioned in one of my posts about the Canadian Open, that no matter how many tournaments I go to, it is still such a thrill to walk through the main gate!  Walking through the main gate of the PGA Championships took that to a whole new level - it definitely had a special feel being a major and all!

Notice that large tent like building on the left side of the picture (you're only seeing half of it) - that is the merchandise tent!  It was HUGE, and had so many great souvenirs - much more than just the typical golf shirt or hat.

Another shot of the entrance...

I looked over at Curt at one point and laughed - I couldn't resist taking a picture of him with his binoculars and the PGA ear bud (American Express was giving these away, it played a live broadcast of the golf station on Sirius satellite radio - it was great being able to hear about play that was happening on other parts of the course), following the PGA leader board on his phone! 

While walking out one evening, we couldn't resist taking these pictures...

Turns out Rochester is a great city (actually, we only saw a small part of it, but it was great!).  As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory one night...dinner was great, but we didn't have room for cheesecake when we were done...so, the next night, we had Chipotle for dinner and then went back to the Cheesecake Factory for dessert - and we were so glad we did!

Just look at the size of those pieces!

Oh, and look who else was eating at the Cheesecake Factory...

It's Scott Piercy - he won the Canadian Open last year.  OK, so it's not a great picture - you have to be discreet when you're an adult taking pictures of a golfer while he's eating dinner...you don't want anyone thinking you're a creeper!

And as we got into the car, look who was loading his kids into his tournament vehicle...

It's Webb Simpson - he won the U.S. Open last year.  Another bad picture, and the fact that it's the second one like this means I probably am a creeper!

OK, back to the tournament...

We spent Sunday afternoon in the bleachers on the 17th hole - it wasn't as busy there as the 18th green, but still allowed us to watch all the groups as the finished. 

Here's the final group - Jason Dufner, who went on to win the tournament, and Jim Furyk...

And there you have it, three posts later, a summary of our weekend at the PGA Championships!  Curt and I both really enjoyed our time away, and are so thankful that we can take advantage of opportunities like this!

PGA Championships - Part 2

It was raining when we got up on Friday morning - if we had been in a hotel, we probably would have slept in...but, like I said, it was hard to sleep through the rain in our tent!  So, we got ready and then took our time getting to the course - stopping for breakfast and then doing a little shopping (we went to Target to get waterproof cases for our cell phones!).

We made our way back towards the course, and ended up parking at the same house and paying $20 again - but, we noticed that most of the other houses had increased their prices, so we were thinking we should look into other parking arrangements for Saturday and Sunday.  We knew for sure we had to find some where else to park when we ended up waiting in line, in the RAIN, for 45 minutes to get through the gate :(  Thankfully it wasn't raining too hard (golfers were still playing), we had umbrellas, and we had some friendly people around us to chat with (helped the time go by quicker).  

Once we made it in, we found Bubba's group so that we could walk with Amy and Ang again.  Unfortunately, when we said good-bye to them on Friday, we were saying good-bye for the tournament because Bubba didn't make the cut.        

And now for some pictures from throughout the day.  Spectators weren't supposed to take pictures...they even had volunteers, walking inside the ropes with each group, watching for people taking pictures - apparently the were confiscating phones (you were allowed to pick them up at guest services on your way out), but I only saw the volunteers tell people to put them away.  Anyway, I couldn't resist, so I discreetly took 64 pictures throughout the weekend!  :)

Rory McIlroy in the red shirt and white pants...

Phil Mickelson in the grey pants and Justin Rose in the khaki pants (with his arms folded across his chest)...

And, up close and personal with Adam Scott!!!

He went out of bounds and we were only a few feet away.  The same thing happened when we went to the 2007 President's Cup in Montreal - I was just getting into golf at that point, but Adam quickly became a favourite after that encounter (he's really good looking!).  When he won the Masters this year, I think a lot of women suddenly had a 'favourite golfer'!

There is no zoom on this picture!  I'm generally not a fan of the long putter, but I've made an exception for Adam.

I think this picture might be from Saturday...Keegan Bradley teeing off the 10th hole.  That's Tiger Woods behind him (leaning on his golf bag).  I zoomed in quite a bit, so the quality isn't great - we were actually watching groups tee off the first hole, the tenth hole uses the same tee deck, so we could see groups there too.

I'm NOT a Tiger fan (quite the opposite actually), and can't believe the number of people that follow his group, especially when he's not even doing that well!  I could not handle rushing around the course in a mob like that, you'd wouldn't even get to see much golf because of the people in the way?!?

So, Friday was a great day at the course - once the rain stopped, the sun came out and it was nice and warm.  We covered a lot of ground on the course - watching from various different spots, and making sure to see as many players as possible (especially the ones that looked like they may not make the cut).

We ended our day with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory - I can't believe we've never eaten there while in the States?!? - and a little more shopping.

PGA Championships - Part 1

Two weeks after the Canadian Open, the PGA Championships were being held in Rochester, New York.  Rochester is only about 3 hours away, so months ago, I mentioned it to Curt and suggested that we try to get tickets.  Well, time went by and we didn't act on it...so, the week before the tournament, Curt contacted our friends Henk and Amy to see if we could get tickets through them...we heard back from them on Tuesday and found out that they were able to get us passes for the week!

We knew we wanted to try to get there Thursday morning so we could see all four days of tournament play - so, we made arrangements for time off work, and then started looking into hotels. Trying to book a hotel just a few days before the event was NOT a good idea - even the low end hotels/motels were going for $300/night!  We really tried to get creative to get around paying that much - I looked at Bed & Breakfasts (still too expensive), called a local college to see about renting a residence unit (only thing available was a townhouse, again, too expensive) and looked at 'Vacation Rentals by Owner' (not very many options in the area).  In the end, we booked a camp site at a nearby KOA!!!  If you know me, you're thinking 'NO WAY'!!!!   Believe me, that was my original thought too - when Curt suggested it, I just laughed it off...but, in the end, $30/night sold me...Curt also pointed out that if we saved that much on our 'accommodations', I would have more money to spend when we were shopping!  It ended up working out great, and I even admitted that I would do it again - we didn't spend a lot of time there, so it wasn't really like we were 'camping'...all we did was set up a tent with a foam mattress and sleeping bag, no other camping supplies. We got up early in the morning and after getting ready, left for the course (picking up breakfast on our way)...we were at the course all day and then went out for dinner and usually did some shopping before going back to the KOA...so, when we got back, we were tired and just went straight to bed.  Surprisingly, there seemed to be a lot of other people at the campground that were going to the tournament during the day, so we weren't the only redneck camping golf fans :).

Our awesome accommodations...

It did rain on Thursday night, so we didn't sleep great (just because rain on a tent is kinda loud), but we stayed dry, so I guess that's what matters!

Enough about our tent...on to the golf...

We left home bright and early Thursday morning and got to Rochester around noon. We weren't exactly clear on parking arrangements, so we followed signs and ended up parking on the front lawn of one of the houses in the neighbourhood right by the golf course - it was only $20, and minutes from a gate, so it worked out well.

The entrance we used put us right near the fourth hole...we grabbed a pairings sheet to try to get an idea of where different groups were at that point, and realized that Bubba had literally just teed of the fourth hole...it was perfect, we managed to find Amy and Ang right away (thankfully, Amy's sister/Bubba's wife, Ang, is really tall, so she's easy to spot!) so we walked with them until the 9th hole (Bubba's final hole - he started on the 10th that day).

After we said good-bye to Amy and Ang, we walked around the course a bit, watching various groups and trying to get a feel for the layout and where the best viewing spots would be for the rest of the weekend...eventually we decided to go to the grand stands on the 18th to watch groups come in - it was really hot and humid, so we were ready to sit down.

Our view of the leader board on the 18th green...

Unfortunately, not long after we sat down, they blew the horn because of an approaching storm.  Of course at this point, no one has any idea how long the players will be off the course, so we decided to head out and find a place for dinner.  Although the delay didn't last long, we didn't go back to the course - instead, we did a little shopping and then made our way to the KOA so we could set our tent up before it got dark :).

The Canadian Open - Sunday

It was just Curt and I for the final round - we knew we wanted to stay until the end, and if we stayed that late, we wouldn't have time to drive back to Acton to drop Nolan off at home - Nolan had a birthday party to go to anyway, so he didn't care either way.

The weather was a little bit better, it was still cool but at least it didn't rain!

Clear blue skies upon entering...

Although I've been to a number of PGA tournaments, I always get excited walking through the entrance!

And, we took some time to check out the Fan Experience area again - we both did the Golf Town simulator, and Curt even got his name on the Leader Board...

We spent a good portion of the day following Bubba; we met up with our friend Henk again (Amy wasn't there on Sunday) and enjoyed catching up with him a little bit more (they don't live in the Quinte area anymore, so we don't get to see them that often).  When Bubba's round was over, we made our way to the 18th green to watch the final groups come in.  I think this may be the first time we've actually done that; we normally don't want to fight crowds at 18, but I think the weather scared some people away because it didn't seem that busy.  So, we were able to find a good spot and we were there to watch Brandt Snedeker sink his final putt to win the tournament!

Brandt, about to shake his caddie's hand right after he won...

There were some pretty good names at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon - Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson and William McGirt, to name a few - and although it would have been good to see any of those guys win, I have to admit, I'm glad that it was Brandt in the end!

And, after Brandt won, I couldn't resist having my picture taken "with him" on the way out :)

The Canadian Open - Saturday

Curt and I were lucky enough to attend the Canadian Open again this year - this time as spectators rather than volunteers.  A few months ago, it didn't look like we were going to go...I really wanted to go, but Curt didn't seem all that interested, so it looked like we were going to be camping that weekend instead.  BUT, then Curt ended up winning tickets in a golf tournament, so that sealed the deal and we were in!

We had a wedding on Friday - Curt's cousin was getting married in Barrie - so we were only able to be at the tournament on Saturday and Sunday, but that was better than nothing!  We stayed in Barrie Friday night after the wedding; Saturday morning, we woke up and went to Acton to pick up my nephew Nolan, and then the three of us were off to Glen Abbey. 

There was a pretty fun 'Fan Experience' area set up when you entered the course, and we arrived at the tail end of a rain delay, so we had some time to check everything out.

Global News had an anchor desk set up, so Nolan and I pretended to be news anchors...

*I should have apologized in advance, all the pictures on this post are from my iPhone, so they aren't great*

Then we checked out the RBC corner...

Since Nolan is standing with Hunter Mahan's bag, I'll throw in a random little story about Hunter - he was in the lead going into the weekend, but when he was on the range warming up on Saturday morning, he got a call telling him that his wife was in labour...so, he did exactly what he should have done - withdrew and went to be with her!

Once the rain delay was over, the CN Junior Links area re-opened, so Nolan was able to hit a few balls there.

We hadn't been there long before Nolan was asking for ice cream (despite it being a cool and rainy day).  This Aunt can't say no...so, he may have had two of these while we were there!

Apparently the scratch under his eye is from his sister...he did not get that while under our care! :)

A few pictures from around the course...

Maybe his name will be on this wall one day :)

Or, maybe it will be on one of these signs during a round on the PGA :)

Nolan did so well again this year - he behaved so well and made me very proud!  Not long after we got there, we were able to meet up with our friends Henk and Amy - they were walking with Bubba Watson's group - so we hung out with them for a bit.  BUT, the walking was a bit too much for Nolan - and I knew that when the group went down into the valley, that if Nolan and I went down there, I might have to carry him up (and I wouldn't have been able to do that!), so we decided to find our own spot to watch. 

While Nolan and I were on our own, we were sitting near a green watching, and when Tommy "two-gloves" Gainey walked off the green, he handed Nolan his golf ball!  It was GREAT because that ball kept Nolan entertained all afternoon!  As he played with it around the course, people would ask where he got it...all he could remember was 'Tommy' and then I would have to remind him about the Gainey part :)  Then on our way out, someone said 'oh, Tommy two-gloves'...Nolan looked at me confused, so I explained that that was his nickname...after that, he had no problem remembering the nickname and said it with enthusiasm.

Eventually, we made our way to the 18th green to watch the groups come in.  Like I said earlier, the weather wasn't great, so it wasn't that busy around 18...so, Nolan was able to kick his golf ball around and I could watch.  Curt met up with us there, and we watched the final groups come in before heading out.

One last picture from the Fan Experience area that we got on our way out...

Nolan's smile is a bit cheesy, but it's a smile!  I think he had a good day, and I know that Curt and I did too.