What's Hanging?

The TV!!!

I can't wait for the Lion King to be out on Bluray!

It was a chore. It consumed our entire Friday night. We had to take the TV down a couple of times to hide wires or reposition the TV... but I can confidently say that we are now

 TV Hanging Professionals.

We got the wallmount from Monoprice.com for only 24 bucks w/shipping! Eat that Walmart.

We also cut the cord on cable when we bought the new place. 

Cable prices were getting out of control, plus, I can watch anything online or Netflix, and we got an HD antenna for Danny's Chief's games so it is hard to justify paying for cable.

Honestly, I don't miss cable at all

It makes me be more imaginative with my time, and not a couch potato.

BTW Antennas are awesome. we have 22 channels, ALL in HD, they don't have embarrassing bunny ears. In fact, you can't even see the antenna unless you look behind the TV.

So the break down.

I can watch all of my TV shows

The Chief's Games

I am more active

pay no cable bill.

yea. it's a no brainer.

Now I need to build a Mantle for the fireplace... because let's face it, it looks blah.

Danny and I will be cut off from the world next week.

We are visiting my family in Upstate NY and Sprint has no love for Upstate NY.

notice how far the airport is from my family. yea that's a 4 hour drive.

I am looking forward to seeing my grandparent Hazeltons and celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, while seeing all of my mom's side of the family at my cousin's wedding. and enjoying NY in the fall time.

While I am away I will leave you with some Food Porn

bow-chicka-bow-wow. oh yes I did just go there.

I made these a few weeks ago

Slowcooker pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Put chicken of your choice in the slow cooker, pour your favorite BBQ sauce over chicken and season with whatever your heart desires. Turn the slow cooker on low for 8 hours then shred the chicken with a fork and ta-da! BBQ chicken sandwiches!!

I know.. you must be thinking "that is the most complicated recipe you have ever shown us!"
What can I say, I like a challenge =)

I like to top my sandwiches with home-made slaw

So when you are feeling lazy about dinner, throw something in the slowcooker, it never fails.

Have a happy two weeks!

The lowdown.

Since we did not share much on how or why we bought a place, I figured I would let my word vomit commence on the little blog. 

Danny and I are not public people. We just weren't made that way. We don't write nasty facebook statuses when we are upset, heck, Danny doesn't even have a facebook. We don't hug or kiss in public, let alone argue. When we make decisions, we rarely announce them to the world. Some call us secretive, but I think it is one of our defense mechanisms. We don't want people to judge us, so we don't give them anything to judge.

We are also impatient people. When we want something we get it, buy, do it, or whatever it right away. So when we started playfully looking at houses online, just playing pretend may I remind you, we decided

" eh why don't we just do it?"

We evaluated our finances. We are proud people, and did not want to ask for help from anyone, so if we were going to do this, we were doing it on our own.

and thus begins the whirlwind. We looked at houses and condos for a few weeks. All needing work. Work did not scare us. We would rather work on a place and build equity, then buy a big expensive house and be house poor.

We looked at real houses with real yards, then stumbled upon a foreclosed townhome, right across from Danny's work, and three blocks from his brothers house. And it just clicked. Danny was skeptical. He wanted the yard, which I couldn't blame him, we have pets, a big back yard would be AWE-SOME. But after running the numbers, this townhome was listed $40,000 under market, and would be cheaper than renting our 2 bedroom apartment. So we went to see it, and made an offer the next day.

Did I mention we didn't tell anyone we were going through this process? It was hard not to shout to the world that we were trying to buy a place, but we also didnt want the deal to fall through, and then explain to everyone why. I mean it was foreclosed home, anything can happen.

Let me tell you, buying a bank owned home SUCKS. You have to compete with multiple bids, then the waiting time is horrendous. They don't clue you in on how the process is going. We put an offer in the beginning of June, and didn't find out we got it for almost 2 weeks.

But in the end we did get the place. And now the hard part. Painting.

 The house was a place out of my beige nightmares. BEIGE BEIGE BEIGE. The trimming was a light beige, the walls were a darker beige, the carpet is beige. AHH I hate beige. No fun can come from beige.


(picture was taken mid-way through painting... I forgot to take a before picture. bad E.)

 

So I recruited the best painters I know.

 

We are not against child labor here in the Nguyen-Hazelton home. nope. equal opportunity employer.

Master bedroom

The Nguyen clan + Lynda helped us on Saturday, then Danny and I took over the kitchen during the week... 

and sadly that is the only room that is complete

 

Ignore my ugly stove.

We spent four days painting those cabinets. FOUR STINK'N DAYS. I still have white paint in my hair.

Danny's handy dad drilled handles into our cabinets for us, and it really made a difference.

I sit from my ALMOST finished living room and just stare at the kitchen. It is such an improvement, and its something we did, and it makes me proud. not to mention I am in love with the fridge.

I am easily amused.

I love my garage.

Wish us luck on cleaning out the old apartment tonight

and cross your fingers that we finish putting the moldings up in the master bedroom... and painting the trim... and sewing curtains... and unclogging my master shower.

Home ownership is awesome, right?