We Have a Big Announcement...

... we're buying a house! (Ha. No, I'm not pregnant. And no, we have no plans to "expand" anytime soon. Ask again in 5 years.)

We are actually quite far along in the process, and by that, I mean we are closing TODAY! It's so crazy! Talk about feeling grown up. I still haven't quite wrapped my mind around it. Today, sometime after 1pm, Josh and I will own a house. Weird. And exciting!

We've been renting a house two blocks from our church for the past 15 months (since we got married), and our landlord let us know there was a rent-to-buy option on the house, so we knew he'd be willing to sell. Once the first-time home buyers credit came about, we started to really think about things - especially how long we planned to be in Philadelphia. We kinda of dilly-dallied for a while - specifically concerning the length in Philly thing. But, by September (and after lots of talks with our families and friends) we'd decided we wanted to go for it.

First things first, we approached our landlord about buying. Our rental house is super close to our church, in the middle of our church community and friends, and works quite well for us size-wise. It's big enough to have people over every week, and has 3 bedrooms (or about 2.6 - the middle room is fairly small), so we can have a guest room and study, too. We have beautiful original woodwork and wood floors (about 80 years old) throughout the house, and all in all, the house has served us well this first 1+ year.

However, the house is anything but perfect. It's old to start, and was abandoned for 1.5 years before we moved in. Our landlord did a lot to fix it up, but he fixed it up to be, well, livable - not necessarily sustainable. So, as an example, we've had one of our dining room walls knocked out twice within the past year to fix a pipe that was leaking in our basement. The first time, our landlord repaired only the part of the pipe that was leaking right then... even though the whole pipe obviously needed to be replaced. So, we had a big whole in our dining room for a week (because it always takes him a while to fix things). Then, a number of months later, we got another leak in our basement. So they came back and knocked out the same wall, so they could replace the other half of the pipe. All that to say, Josh and I weren't exactly convinced of the integrity of our rental house, and we figured that if we made an offer, we could probably get it for a pretty reasonable price (especially because we know what our landlord paid and how much we've paid in rent).

Well, we were wrong. Our landlord, it turns out, truly is a business man, 100% of the way, and doesn't care about anything else except making profit for himself. He wanted about $20,000 more than the house is even close to being worth... and in our neighborhood, where the nicest houses sell for $100,000 (if that), that is a LOT to be asking for. So, we started looking elsewhere (or I should say, Josh did... he did most of the work, I must give him credit).

And we found one!

It's actually on the same block we live on now, just two blocks down. And on top of that, it's pretty much the exact same floor plan as our rental house. Yeah, go figure. However, it was owned (and lived in - big difference) by a Puerto Rican couple for about 35 years, and they took really good care of it (they actually know a bunch of people from our church really well, too). It's been not just a house, but their home, which definitely shows. It doesn't have the original woodworking, which we'll be sad to lose, but it also has a kitchen, bathroom, and basement that our rental house can't even be compared to. I will have more than an 10"x12" counter space to use to cook/prepare food! Woohoo! AND, get this, AND we can not only turn around in the bathroom, BUT WE CAN OPEN THE LINEN CLOSET DOOR ALL THE WAY. (In our rental, we can open it about halfway before it bumps into the sink.) And the basement, while not fully finished, has had the floors sealed, drywall put up to make separate "room" spaces, and has a bathroom that I actually would use. (Our rental has a bathroom in the basement that I have used ONCE since we've lived there, and trust me, it was ONLY because it was a true, desperate, life-and-death emergency.)

So, we're pretty excited.

The only thing is that we'll be doing a lot of work with the decor. Meaning we're getting rid of it all. Mostly because of Josh. Because you know how I love me some maroon carpet, wallpaper with country scenes... and you ESPECIALLY know how much I love gold-flecked vinyl paneling. Oh yeah. *grin* Needless to say, even though we're closing today, we'll be renting our other house through December so that we can do lots of fun stuff in the new house like repainting just about every room (we're saving the bathroom for later, when we can figure out if there's anything we can do with the wood paneling), ripping up the carpet, and refinishing the hardwood floors underneath. It should be a grand adventure!

So, that's going to be our grand project over the next month... since, you know, we didn't have enough other stuff going on, with it being Thanksgiving and Christmas and the crazy season at work, and all that. But all is well, and pretty soon, I'll be a full-fledged grown-up. I mean, I've been doing the full-time job for 4 years now, I've gotten married, I'm buying a house, AND I can now officially rent a car! What else is left, right? =)

For all you who have done this whole house-buying thing, let me know if you have any tips or advice, or if you like Lowe's or Home Depot better for buying paint and supplies, or if you have any fantastic office organizational resources. And sometime soon I'll post some pictures of our new little abode, which you will all be welcome to come visit... you just might have to wait until January to do so.

Take the Stairs

Building off of the previous post... one easy way to build in that exercise is to take the stairs! Check out this sweet experiment, and reminisce about the floor piano way back in the day at FAO Schwarz while you're at it:

Thinking Pink

Some members of our school/work "team" who walked to support my coworker, during the Susan G. Komen 5K walk in Philadelphia last month.

I know October is over, and thus Breast Cancer Awareness month has "officially" ended, but I seem to have been slapped in the face this year with dear women in my life facing breast cancer and the threat of it, and I see no reason to lock discussion of it away to just one month during the year.

In the past 6 months, my boss/coworker was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer and is still being treated and fighting it, my aunt (on my mom's side) had a double mastectomy in August, my high school youth pastor was diagnosed in September and is going through chemo (while her husband and sons are in Azerbaijan, teaching and doing ministry), and my mom had a surgery last week to remove what turned out to be a benign lump.

So, let's talk. (And, as a disclaimer, I am NOT an expert on this. This is just gathered from my personal experiences, conversations, and a small bit of research on the matter.)

It's estimated that about 10% of breast cancer cases are inherited through the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. On my mom's side, my great-grandmother died of breast cancer, and my grandma and two aunts (including the one who just had a double mastectomy) have survived it. My mom has to get mammograms every 6 months because of her risk. Also, my grandmother on my dad's side died of ovarian cancer. The odds don't necessarily look that great for me and my sisters.

However, there is something that could help. Although it's still controversial for some people, there is genetic testing available if it seems that breast cancer (or ovarian cancer) run in your family. I am actually not sure if my mom has had the testing done, but if she has and she is negative for either of the abnormal genes, then my sisters and I may be ok. However, I personally am considering having it done anyway. The presence of an abnormal gene doesn't mean that someone will absolutely get breast cancer - it just means there's a higher risk and that you need to be much more aware and responsible with care and check-ups. For instance, instead of starting your yearly mammograms at 40, you should talk to your doctor about when to start (which could be much younger, and/or more frequently - and you should also have your doctor give you an examination every year during your physical check-up).

Going back to the other 90% of cases that are not inherited, there are a few key points to take note of (and what I really want you women reading this to take into consideration). Most of the factors that cause you to be more at risk for breast cancer are out of your control -- if you're female, have a family history of breast cancer, and getting older (men can get breast cancer, too, but only account for about 1% of all breast cancer cases). HOWEVER, there is one thing you can control: exercise.

Recent studies have shown that regular exercise is linked to preventing breast cancer, and then also improving your chances of survival if you are diagnosed with breast cancer -- especially in women over 50. Take a look at some statistics, reported on breastcancer.org:

• Women who exercise regularly throughout their lifetimes are 20% less likely to develop breast cancer compared to women who don't regularly exercise.
• Women in their 50s who regularly exercise more after age 50 than they did before age 50 are 34%-41% less likely to develop breast cancer compared to women who don't exercise more after age 50.
• Regular, moderate intensity exercise helps lower breast cancer risk no matter a woman's weight, family history of breast cancer, or menopausal status. In short, just about every woman can lower her breast cancer risk by regularly exercising at moderate intensity.
  

So, in short, exercise always helps... and it's never too late to start. I don't know about you, but those statistics are pretty powerful, especially since we're just talking about prevention here (it's also very important if you are diagnosed with breast cancer - improving your survival rate by almost 50%).

What is it that makes exercise so important? Well, from what I can gather, for the 90% of people with non-inherited breast cancer, it's got a lot to do with hormones. Many breast tumors are fed by estrogen... and, as one site explains, the more fat you have on your body, the more estrogen you produce because fat cells contain enzymes that increase estrogen production. Also consider that physical activity affects the circulation of your hormones, and may lower your estrogen levels if you are more active.

Exercising may not be the end-all magic answer, but it definitely is a huge factor. Add in eating well, maintaining a healthy weight (which exercise obviously helps with), getting yearly check-ups and/or mammograms, and perhaps even getting genetic testing, and you're in a much better place than doing nothing. While you may not be able to have a foolproof prevention method, you'll have a much better chance of catching things early on if you are diagnosed, and being able to successfully get treatment and survive. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a pretty good to for me, and one I want for my mom, sisters, and other women in my life.

If you would like to learn more about breast cancer, you can follow the numerous links, and if you'd like to make a donation to breast cancer research, you can visit the well-known Susan G Komen Foundation's website. They also have a LOT of information about breast cancer, as well as links to various support groups, places to share your story, and ways to get involved.

This is important. Make sure you and especially the women in your life are thinking pink. Please don't ignore this... make sure you, your mom, your sisters, your wife, your aunt, your coworkers... whomever! Make sure they're working to take care of themselves and that they are DEFINITELY getting checked yearly. Trust me - it can make all the difference in the world.

Real Friends

I think this is great... it's just what real friends do, right?

No Parking

Just in case you were wondering... you're not allowed to park here. And I don't think you'll be able to claim that you didn't understand the signs. I think it's pretty impressive, and I'm only slightly coveting it.

(Found in downtown Philly, on Delancey Street - click on the images to view in larger/better detail.)