Getting ready for the Holidays

Well it has been a busy last two weeks, I had a group in house and I was working from early AM until early evenings...therefore our holiday decorating has yet to begin. So tomorrow after work we are putting up the tree and decorations. More to come...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone!

We wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! 

I am cooking for Anthony before he has to go to work at 3...so I have been up all morning working on this lunch we are going to have!! 

I am making Chicken Divan, it will be on Diva's Dishes later on today...check it out!

Miss all of my family and friends and wish I could be with you today!!

Pictures of the house!

Sorry this took so long... we have been so busy! So here are some pictures of the inside of the house, Anthony mowing the yard for the first time and what the house looks like on the outside...since last picture the garage and shutters got painted!! 

My NEW Blog!!

Well since we are in the new house I am really enjoying cooking more than ever...and so I decided to blog about the new and old dishes that I am and will be making...so check out the new blog!!! Named so tastefully after my "nickname"..."Diva's Dishes"!!! Ahh I love it!

www.divasdishes.blogspot.com

Hope you enjoy and tonight I will upload pictures after dinner, Slow Cooked Chili and Corn Casserole!!!

Calling my mom...

       If there is one thing I do just about everyday...that would be talking on the phone with my mom.  (That is Judy Knewasser) Even just to say Hi. But there are two things that we talk about on the phone that just cracks me up and I want to share!!

        I have lived in Orlando for 6 years and this still does not get old, I LOVE to call my mom when it is starting to get cold NY, and then I tell my mom that it is really cold here, maybe 40 or 50, and then my mom says something like, " Yeah ok it is 20 below here" Ha ha that just makes me laugh!! Then I will say yeah I am wearing shorts and a tee shirt...lol!! It is funny! 

        Now there is a new thing that drives her crazy when I call...the price of gas!! I always try to find the cheapest gas price between my house and work. Recently gas has gone down a lot near me, last night I called her and I told her I needed to fill up and I was trying to get to the Hess to fill up at $1.95, she said stop bragging about the price of gas by you, gas in NY is $2.5o something. I hung up with her, and filled my tank. I drive the rest of the way home and I get to the Race track that is right by my house and it was a penny less....$1.94...Called mom back, I said, "Mom, guess what it is a penny cheaper by my house!!" She was not amused! 

I called mom today on my way home from work...I forgot to mention that gas by my house tonight was $1.91...lol!! I will call her tomorrow!!

Crazy 2 weeks!

 Wow! What a crazy two weeks it has been! The move in has been great so far. And, on Sunday I am off from work and will upload some pictures...I promise! It has just been a crazy two weeks! We bought a lawn mower and on Sunday Anthony put it together and mowed our lawn! A family friend put up our garage door opener so that was very cool, growing up we did not have a garage...just because of where we lived...we just did not have a garage. So to have a door that opens automatically is pretty cool!! We are not parked in their yet, cause we still have boxes out there to unpack. We are really enjoying living in the house and getting used to everything! 

                 I am of course back to work, working on IAAPA which is one of the best shows that we have that comes in I think all year, it has amusement park rides, and games and different things that the parks and carnivals have...the clients are very nice, it is long hours but fun at the same time! After that show ending on the 23rd I will have about 6 days off over Thanksgiving so that is great! 

                Anthony is busy at work as well!! Even with the economy the way it is, people are still traveling to Orlando and that is good for us! In a meeting this week at work they said other cities are having a hard time due to the drop off of people coming in and staying in the town, but that Orlando is actually maintaining and that is really great for Orlando and our industry! More to come on Sunday...until then have a great rest of the week!  

We are homeowners!!

YAY!! We closed on Wed. it was a long day! We were there at Noon, and some guy fron Osceola County went to lunch and did not sign a paper and send it over so they could not give us the keys, KB Home gave us a gift card to a Darden Restaurant so we ended up going to Olive Garden to lunch...then it was making its way to 4pm and we were getting annoyed!! But, finally we got the keys and we were on our way.  Yesterday was moving day it went really well.  We started at 9am and we were all unloaded at the house by 2:30ish...so we were happy. 

          We had a few issues with a ceiling fan so I was at Home Depot for 2 hours and came home around 9pm...let's just tell you that I ended up leaving with the store model due to all the issues!! 

By 11:30pm we went back to Anthony's parents to sleep since our bed was not together yet...This morning I was up at 7am starting to unpack the kitchen, Anthony works a double today so I will be unpacking what I can while he is at work. 

            Thank you everyone for all of your well wishes and Thanks for reading our blog. We are so excited to  venture into home ownership!! Everyone is welcome to come by when you can and we will let you know when the house warming is! I will put up pictures when I can find the cord to upload these pictures!!  

Count down to Closing!

Yesterday we had our house "Orientation" walk though at 3pm. Jenn is the KB Representative that took us around the inside and outside of the house. We were explained what everything outside did and how to shut off the water, we opened every window, door, cabinet, looked in every nook and cranny. So there we are going though the house blue taping every imperfection that we see in the paint, drywall or anything that did not look perfect.
They finally fixed the "U-shape" pipe next to our drive way...not sure if i wrote about that already, they put in this pipe for the irrigation and it was like 3 inches from the driveway, so if you open the car door it WILL hit the pipes and our house was the ONLY house in the neighborhood with it that close, I was freaking out!! But, Mike our KB Foreman said they would move it, 2 weeks later it is moved and it is way over in the middle by our neighbors pipes!! YAY!!!
Even with all of our tape marks Mike from KB said we are still good to close on Wed. the 29th. He said it is all fixable very fast and we will be good for next week. So we have our final walk though scheduled for Tuesday the 28th at 4pm.
The house is really looking great and we are also starting to schedule appointments for installation, such as our fridge and microwave. I just set up the appointment for Bright House to come and hook up our Cable and Internet!! We can not wait!!! Wish us luck that in the next week all is good and we can indeed close on the 29th!!

~~ Congrats to Amanda and Daniela who also just closed on homes in the last couple of weeks!!! ~~

Amanda and Daniela are two of my dear friends and Pi Nu sisters from Delhi.

Amanda bought her house in Upstate NY and Daniela just closed on her house yesterday in the MD/DC area!! Love you girls!

Update on the house!

Finally have a minute to up load these pictures and show everyone where we are at...since these pictures they have painted the garage door and front door...those will be the next ones I load up...  This last month has been just crazy as far as work and life in general, it is slowing down which is wonderful!  Thursday the 23rd we have a walk though of the house to point out things that may need to be touched up and so on, we are scheduled for closing on the 29th!! I was able to rack up some days off from work so I am going to be taking a week off from work for moving and unpacking which is very nice that it worked out that way. I know when our friends Kristi and Tony moved into their house they were unpacking boxes everyday after work for a while!! 

We did go yesterday and buy our refrigerator and over the range microwave. So that is taken care of and one more thing to check off the list!! 

Whew what a week!

Well I can tell you that it has been such a busy week, finished one show at work and started moving another one in while the other show was moving out!! Let's just say for the last week straight I have been going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark. Therefore I have no pictures of the house...But so much has happened this week! They primed the outside of the house, flattened out the front yard, painted inside, put the trim around the doors, put doors on and we have all the cabinets in a bundle waiting to be installed this week! We got exciting news that our "hard" date for closing will be Oct. 29th!! So we are really excited!! Anyone off on Thursday the 30th?? We will be moving!! We can use your help! (Rich hint, hint) lol!! We booked the cruise and sent the first batch of "Save the Dates" out!! Trying to fit in time to finish those up as well! So it has been such a busy week! Well gotta run! I will try to get some pictures up this week!

Sarah and Fernando's Wedding!

This past weekend Anthony and I went to our friend Sarah's wedding. We both met Sarah while working at Gaylord Palms.  (Anthony and Sarah actually opened the Palms together!!) Sarah and I used to work at the Front Desk together and then for a short time we shared cubies in Conference Services! Sarah was a beautiful bride and the evening was great! Sarah and Fernando got married at Reunion which was so pretty! We got to see a lot of old co-workers and friends from Gaylord.  We had a great time celebrating with Sarah and Fernando! 

We have walls!!

Coming in the front door...

Looking at what is going to be the island and the dining room/living room

View toward the master bedroom

That people is my pantry...it is pretty big!!

Monday afternoon Anthony and I met with Mike, our KB Foreman and we did a "Frame" walk of the house and he told us all about the wiring and about the framing and the next steps of the house. Which is Dry wall!! So here are the pictures of the drywall!! It looks so different with walls up rather than just the framing! 

Tonight I got a phone call from one of my sorority little sisters, Amanda! So that was nice to catch up with her, she is also buying a house at this time so we were talking about our houses. Who would have thought when we met in O'Connor Hall at SUNY Delhi that 10 years later we would be talking about building houses and weddings and stuff!!  (I know you didn't cause you thought I was crazy!) lol!! Enjoy the pictures! 

It is coming along!

Sorry I have not posted in a while, work has started to get busy again since it is coming into the Fall Season....So the house is coming along! We have windows, electric, stucco, A/C, tubs and shower are in and it is so exciting to see it coming along! Today I took a picture of my neighbors house too. It is the same square footage as our home, but since we have a different front our house looks bigger. Our expected close date is October 27th.  We are super excited!!

Like I mentioned above, work is picking up, the groups are steady until Christmas, so it is going to be a very busy Fall/Winter! My sister's kids Abby and Becca started 1st grade this year and Gavin started Pre-K. They love school. Abby likes to talk on the phone and if I call in the PM Amy lets her pick up the phone and say Hello, so I think it is my sister and she will say "No, Aunt Leann it is me Abby". The other day she told me that after I was done talking to Gavin she wanted to talk to Uncle Anthony. (I was at work and Anthony was home) So I had Anthony call her and she wanted to tell him that her tooth was loose. She is so funny! Check out my sisters blog, she updated their pictures too. 

What a week!

 

Here is the start...

One day later...

Here is what the outside of the house is going to look like....

Well it has been quite a week, as you can tell these people work quick! We are so excited and go everyday pretty much to check out what is going on, today while I was walking I saw a guy working inside the house, when Anthony and I went tonight, it looks like they were working on the Island for the kitchen and some other wood work inside the house!! 

Foundation is underway!

This week they are getting ready to lay the foundation and they made it official by putting up the "Inspections" sign! 

Also, this week my mom was over in Ormond Beach with Mrs. Bodie. So last Thursday they made a trip over to Orlando to see the lot and the model house, we had lunch at BJ's at the Loop and enjoyed the afternoon! Sunday I drove over in the AM to visit mom and Mrs. Bodie and spent the afternoon over there. It is always nice to spend time with mom since I don't see her that often. (Too bad I forgot to take some pictures!!!) 

Pre work for the house has begun!

So almost everyday I drive by the lot where they are going to build our house to see what is going on and the progress with the other house that will be our neighbors. Two days ago I drove by and it was just still grassy and they had not done anything. They told us they would be starting sometime soon...well yesterday was the day! They started smoothing the ground for the foundation and working on the underground wires and pipes!! After they get the foundation down we have a "Pre Construction" meeting with the contractor. It is exciting that it is starting!! They told us that the house depending on weather should be done around the end of October!! 

Surfside Beach 2008

July 3rd was the start of our vacation, packing and getting ready to leave for SC on the 5th .We went to a 4th of July BBQ at our friends Denise and Rich's...had a great time as always and Rich and Anthony both have all 10 of their fingers from setting off the wonderful fireworks so for that I am thankful!! Ha ha! So the next day we headed out for Surfside Beach, SC. The drive was not too bad, a little traffic and some rain. Finally we arrived at the house around 7pm and my family was already pool side!! I could not wait to get out of the car to see the kids! It is so hard to believe that it has been an entire year that we have seen Abby, Becca and Gavin!  So the week started, nice and relaxing, going to the beach, spending the afternoon by the pool, seeing some of the sites and doing a little shopping.  For the most part the weather was good, we were going to go to David's Bridal on Tuesday, but Monday turned out to be rainy all morning and my sister Amy said lets go today while it is raining, so in the car we drive 2 hours to the closest David's Bridal. At times I feel it is hard to plan this wedding with out my sister and mom near by to see things, so we went so we could try to pick out my dress. We did find one!! It is awesome and I love it! Amy tried on a bunch of bridesmaids dresses and we picked out the flower girl dresses as well! So it was a great day overall! After we put the business aside back to relaxing we were! Anthony and I had such a great week I just love spending time with my family, since I do not see them all too often times I do get to see them are so special. Abby, Becca and Gavin change so much from the times I see them. Last year they were scared to go by the water, this year the ran straight to the waves! Anthony kept asking who's kids are these cause they would not go by the water. All in all it was a wonderful week and my family stayed 2 weeks this year.  We did not have enough vacation time to stay that long, but we are lucky that we go to go for week I suppose!! Back to reality we are!

We are out of Cagan's Crossing!

Well the move went very smooth, no rain, just heat and sun! Thanks to our friends Rich, Thyag, Mel and Jose for coming over to help move all our stuff! It was a long weekend! Now back to work, at least it will be a short week, since we are starting Vacation on Thursday! Have a good Monday!

Packing and Moving...

AHH...well today we got alot done! We have packed alot of stuff! Today I took a half day at work so I could come home and start the packing...Anthony got home from work and we just stopped now for the night...we had pizza for dinner since everything is packed!! So tomorrow we are going to be picking up the truck and moving things into storage on Saturday! These days off are not even going to feel like days off! Wish us luck!  

Colleen and Bill's Wedding!!!

We went to a wedding this last weekend of our friend-old boss Colleen Carolan, now Mrs. Knight!!! It was a beautiful ceremony at the Disney's Wedding Pavilion. The rain held off until right after the ceremony...but the reception moved over to one of the Grand Floridan's Ballroom for an awesome night of great food, music and time with friends that we don't see all the time! Colleen and Bill were so sweet and looked so happy!!! We had so much fun!! 

             The Palms Crew with Colleen and Bill Knight!!!
        Us before the reception...
         Good times with Denise!!!
Can we say all the boys bonded??

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well we have been very busy! Getting ready to move and put our stuff in storage until the house is built!! We are moving this coming weekend!! (Weather calls for Rain...BOO!!!) Next week on the 5th we leave for Surfside Beach and we are so excited to be going on Vacation and beable to relax a little bit! Plus we get to see Abby, Becca and Gavin!! So I can not wait, it has been since last summer that I have seen them! (Well and to see my sister and her husband too...lol!!) Anthony said he is not looking forward to the drive, but it is not that bad...8 hours. Better than what Mom, Amy and Jim have to drive...two days!

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!

Wow!! This is crazy!! We bought a KB Home today! Last week Anthony came home and he said we have got to buy a house the time is now and the prices are good. So we went to check it out and it worked out that we could get one!! We are really excited and have so much to do this month!!  The house will be ready in about 6 months!!  The wedding is still on... for Aug. '09 and more details will come on that in a few months.... Here is a picture of the lot we bought, the second picture is down the street from the lot and the third picture is coming into the development!!

Mello's Birthday!

Last week was Anthony's sister, Meleny's  28th Birthday! We all went out to dinner at our favorite little Italian restaurant, LaForcetta. The next night we continued the celebration and went bowling at the famous Kissimmee Lanes. This picture was a candid shot Anthony took of the one and only Diva!!

 

Plans are underway...

Well I have started this...since my sister keeps a blog for me and the rest of the family...I thought I would start one as well!!! Since Anthony and I have such exciting things going on...ie: planning our wedding! I thought this would be a great idea to keep everyone updated on the plans and what is going on with us down here in sunny Florida!! Hopefully you will enjoy this blog and leave me lots of comments!! 

Last week Aunt LeeAnn and Uncle Jerry were down from Michigan to pick up her parents (Who are snowbirds and live down the street from us...) and we were able to meet up and visit!! It is always nice to see people that I know and be able to see friendly faces!