Life at Whitney

It's been nearly two months and they have flown by.  We've met most of our neighbors and they are great.  They are no Clouse family, but they are nice people.  We've been to a couple of block parties already.  I honestly cannot get over how friendly people are here.  It's such a shame that don't have a nicer place to walk Ruby and walk Simon and Callie when they come to stay with us.

We have a nice little coffee shop just up the street called Biddle's Escape.  They have all kinds of music such as drum circles, harpists, singers, etc, plus great drinks and food!

We went and checked out Ten Miles of Treasures with Ben and Randy and Ben's daughter, Elise and her boyfriend Jeff yesterday.  Ben and Randy have also just purchased a new house they are redoing so we were all searching for the right treasures.  We walked away with very few treasures.  I did score a couple of things at a cute shop in Volant.  A vase that Craig absolutely hates but I think it's great.

And we picked up the table it's sitting on at another shop yesterday.

The next thing on my list is Roman shades for the kitchen.  I priced some and just one was $600!  So I ordered fabric and found directions on line and will be giving it a try.  I will get both windows done for about $100.  This is the fabric.  I think it's pretty cool.

I picked up this orange pitcher yesterday too.

Our next BIG project is the backyard.  It's horrible.  I think I mentioned before that we found out that it had poison ivy in it.  Craig has been spraying it the last couple of weeks with Roundup, trying to kill everything in it.  I think we are going to add some fill to the very bottom to try to level it out some.  Then we're thinking of putting in mulch and different shrubs along the back fence.  We're thinking of maybe some type of patio also. 

Notice how nice the grass on the other side of the walk looks.  We planted some flowers last week to replace some that have died.  We have the biggest earth worms I have ever seen.  They were almost like snakes.  It was so disgusting.  Once all the ivy is dead we are going to go out and pull it all up.  We are going to ask Dave that did the front yard to come and work his magic in the back as well.  While I was out looking at the yard I just noticed the back deck.  Can you notice anything different about the deck?

That's right.  Seems like part of it was missed in the painting process.  Our neighbor pointed out that the back side of fence needed painting as well.  Hmmm.  
To end on a happy note, I got these cushions from Grandin Road and I think they are so cute. 

I have also hired Carol Peterson to research the history of our house.  She will go to the courthouse and dig up all the previous owners as well as what she kind find out about the very first owner.  She's been featured on WQED and Pittsburgh Post Gazette.  I've now heard the rumor that Evelyn Nesbit, aka the Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, lived here at one point.  Carol told me about that.  I guess she'll find out if it's true.
That's it for now from Whitney Avenue!  I'll definitely let you know what we find out about the house's history!