And so the work begins . . .

Today we are officially homeowners! The closing went fairly smoothly and with the paperwork now all signed - it means the fun begins. And by fun, I mean work!

Dear Mother Nature,

Dear Mother Nature,

Are you trying to make me have a nervous breakdown? It's working. I woke up this morning to snow. On the ground. Covering the cars. Coming down with no signs of stopping. Granted, I was up north in Duluth, but in case your clock is broken - IT'S APRIL 26! May is just around the corner. I would really like to not have to shovel the walks of our new house when we go to close this week. We get it - you are in control of the weather. Now stop torturing us!

Sincerely,
Sally Sacnu

Happy Birthday to Me!

Tonight Marcos and I went on our first run together. He was the one that talked me into running the half marathon, but then he didn't get in through the lottery. However, being the great friend that he is, he still is training with me - on the days I have to do my long runs. The great part about that, is he has this handy dandy GPS tracking thing, so we know exactly how far we go and at what pace. A definite must when training outside. He was very nice to me today, especially since I don't run so fast and he also provided some great tips that he picked up as he has trained for past races.

So of course, I come home and rave to Uncas about the GPS thing. Uncas, who is always thinking, informed me tonight, that for my birthday present, he was thinking about getting one for me. How cool is that? Fortunately, he decided to purchase it tonight (online), so I can use it while I train for the race. Good thing, cause my b-day is exactly 2 days before the race and if he had waited until then, it wouldn't have done me any good (especially since I am convinced that I am going to die while running it!)

How lucky am I to have such a great friend and husband?!

Meeting Caiden

I took a brief trip to Seattle this weekend to meet Caiden! He is the cutest little baby ever!


Here is a picture of baby and his Mama (Seattle Sweetheart).

I loved all the faces he would make and the little sounds that came from him.

The happy family!

A few things to share . . .

I have a couple new things to share with you. Let's start with a new blog . . . Mr. Sally has decided to branch out and start a blog. It's called "Ronning Off"(http://ronningoff.blogspot.com/) and if you know my dad, you know that I get my sense of humor from him. So, you might want to check it out from time to time. I have to say - my parents never fail to impress me! My mom joined facebook this weekend and now my dad is starting a blog. I am quite lucky to have parents that embrace technology, even if they do have a few questions every now and then. They pretty much have it down.

The next thing I have to share is a little song that found last week on the internet. I have to say that I play it at least once a day if not more. Partly to annoy Uncas, but mostly because I think it's funny! For all you Lost lovers - this is for you!

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/sawyer

Packing Weekend

We spent much of this weekend packing. We are trying to take advantage of the time that we have before we close on our house, because after the close, we will be busy at the new place.

Here is a picture of our white trash living room with 2 tv's right next to each. You will notice that one of them is not hooked up.

Uncas calls this picture Central Park - we have had to move our plants around to make room for boxes. Poor things - I hope they can survive for a couple of months like this.
Yesterday I ran 4 miles, packed, did laundry and decided to bake a chocolate cake - yum. It just came out ok, but that hasn't stopped me or Uncas from eating it!
Here is a picture of our white trash wood clamps. Uncas was repairing a broken bookshelf and pulled a MacGyver and used what was handy.
Here is a picture of all my Clinique Bonus bags that I found in another bag. I got rid of a few earlier this and had no idea that I still had this many - kind of embarrassing!
Over all, we did really well this weekend. It's a good thing because next weekend I will be in Seattle and Uncas is having a guy's night.

Update

I didn't really believe it was going to happen, and it didn't. That major snowstorm - totally missed us. We have had our share of rain and sleet, but snow - not so much. Unfortunately Duluth hasn't been that lucky. Not only major snow, but it's very windy up there as well.

It's been a long day at work. I am ready to go home. 16 minutes and counting . . .

Spring?

You know what really sucks? A major snowstorm in April! Why we didn't look for houses in Hawaii is beyond me . . .it would be really nice to have some warm, sunny 60 degree days - is that too much to ask for?

In other news, our house inspection occurred on Monday. It was much longer than expected, but we had a great inspector who was very thorough. There were a few things that we asked the seller to fix before closing. Fortunately the sellers agreed and have been working on making that happen. We also discovered that the appraiser and municipal inspection has required the seller to make other changes. One change we are most happy about is taking down the illegal shower in the basement. We were wondering how we were going to take it apart, but now we have to wonder no more!

Back to the home inspection on Monday - it was very informing and interesting. We not only got locked in a bedroom, but the smoke alarm wouldn't stop going off when it was tested. It made for a very entertaining day. I don't think that our inspector was quite as amused. He had this look of panic on his face as he was trying to take the door off it's hinges. Fortunately our realtor came to the rescue and just happened to stop by the house to see how the inspection was going. Talk about great timing!

Busy Weekend

We certainly made the most of our weekend. It was busy, productive and fun too. Saturday we spent the entire day out and about. The weather was amazing and while we had a lot of running around to do, we started out by walking around Hyland Lake in Bloomington. We saw lots of wildlife - a frog, a turkey, and 2 muskrats. Uncas is excited to see that the ice is melting more and more. He is ready to get out and start fishing!

After the walk, we went to look at carpet and flooring for our new house at a few different stores. We stopped by LE to work our connections and get boxes for packing. We even went by Home Depot to price French Doors. All that looking around and browsing made us hungry, so we went out to dinner to celebrate the house. And then, we decided to go see a movie. Surprisingly we agreed to see Leatherheads - it's cute and funny and George Clooney is in the movie, so what's not to like.

Today (Sunday) we spent the day packing and going through things. As you can see from the pictures below, our apartment is starting to look a little bare. Of course, you will also notice that while going through stuff, Uncas found some Lego kits that he hadn't put together yet, so there was time for that too.

Tomorrow morning is our inspection. I don't feel too worried about it, but you never know what they could turn up. We'll keep you posted!

Bare House

Lego Vikings

Gorgeous Day

Big Frog

No More Waiting!

I got the call this morning from SS around 6:20 am. She had the baby!!!!!

Caiden Brian was born at 1:45 am on April 4. He is 9.1 lbs and 22 inches long - big baby. He was so cozy in his mama's belly that he didn't want to come out! Mom, Dad and baby are all doing fine. I hope to have some pictures to post soon. I am excited to go out and see them in 2 weeks!

This has been a crazy, emotional week for sure! We got a house, SS had her baby, and the Cubs won yesterday! What a way to end the week!!!!!

One Thing Down . . .

WE GOT THE HOUSE!!!!!
Now that Seattle Baby needs to make an appearance!

Still Waiting . . .

Still waiting to hear on the offer. It's fun - the waiting game. We, unfortunately did not have in our offer an expiration date. That really sucks because one of us is not good at waiting for things. I won't name any names, but maybe I have said aloud that the only persons that I want to talk to on the phone are the realtor or Seattle Sweetheart (who is also playing a waiting game of her own, but hopefully that will end very, very soon!)

Check back soon for some updates!

GO CUBS

My dad sent this to me . . . our family (the Sally-side) are die-hard Cubs fans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHqX5Sn2hg4

Here's hoping for a World Series Championship this year! Mr. & Mrs. Sally are going to a game this week (Thursday, I think, maybe Friday), which is a little early for them - hopefully they will dress warm.