Who looks this happy with a broom?! Our Larryville rowhouse is a “happy space” and only smiles are allowed. Even when you’re sweeping up dust and dirt. We like a clean workspace and we wanted to impress the electrician. He upgraded our service from 100 amps to 150 amps. This house never had a washer/dryer, air conditioning, a microwave or a dishwasher. We would totally blow a fuse without the upgrade. I’m sure our power…

ILOVE2SWEAT is a throw back that only my family understands…until now. When I was a wee one, I was ALWAYS running or jumping or playing in the mud. I NEVER played with dolls and I’m pretty sure I was tougher than most little dudes. I credit my dad who was Mr. Mom…a stay-at-home dad before it was cool. We would always be swimming or running or going for bike rides and after one particularly intense…

My key ring pretty much sums up my life… Spin classes at LA Fitness, books at the Carnegie Library and lots of purchases at Giant Eagle mainly buying these puppies… We buy our Home Depot gift cards at Giant Eagle to get the fuel perks. It’s sometime annoying to make the extra stop instead of going to Home Depot right away, but it’s all worth it at this moment… My gas bill hasn’t been this…

If you’re from Pittsburgh, you totally know what I’m talking about. For those of you who are foreigners 🙂 the Pittsburgh toilet is a very strange phenomenon of a free standing toilet in the BASEMENT with no walls or doors to speak of. To be honest with you, I think Pittsburgh toilets are weird and gross. And then, a few days ago while working on the house, I needed to go to the bathroom. You’ll…

It rained like a dickens in Pittsburgh last weekend and our roof couldn’t handle it. Mark made me hold that bucket there for four hours. What a guy! 😉 As the rain continued, we grabbed more plastic buckets from the basement. Our roof leaks in 3 places in the back bedroom. I’m not happy about it, but at least we know where the holes are and we can fix them before we spray foam insulation….

We knew it was only a matter of time… My husband, Mark, works LONG days…putting time in at the house and managing several professional projects. He’s burning the candle at both ends and he got tripped up… …by that little hole. While working LATE one night, Mark stepped through the hole, fell and ripped up part of his arm. There’s nothing a little Neosporin can’t fix and before I could blink, my man of steel…

Our first injury… Our first leak… Our first look at the new bedroom wall and door… Our first peak into our neighbor’s house… Our 1st Race for the Cure celebrating my Aunt Trudy & her friend, Kathi!! **FOLLOW ILOVE2SWEAT! Just click the “+ Follow” button at the top of the page & put in your email address…some of you might see the FOLLOW button on the BOTTOM RIGHT CORNER of the site.

You will never run out of forks… Or spoons… I’m not sure if my parents are cutlery hoarders or secretly feeding a small army when I’m at work. I think there’s an army…take a look at all the cups… Y’all know Mark and I are crashing with my folks until we get the new bathroom & floors in our Larryville house. While I love living with them, I’m constantly reminded of how awkward I was…

Everybody knows that neighbors can make or break you. We got lucky (my mom would say blessed) to have absolutely terrific neighbors who are kind, helpful and friendly. Many of them grew up in Lawrenceville and a few of them are young families that just moved in. Our neighbors have made us sandwiches while we work… They’ve helped us TRY to move some huge appliances into the house (more on that later)… They’ve passed a…

Canada is so nice they have free Starbucks and fake police… Just kidding, but we did have a great weekend in the Great White North! We put down our tools and got together with my in-laws in Niagara Falls, Ontario to CELEBRATE!! (Mark & I are the childless ones in the back corner) My father-in-law is a party animal and wanted to have his 65th birthday at a water park. He says it’s for the…