Our New Home

When Jason & I bought our townhome in October 2011, we thought we'd stay there somewhere between 5-10 years. It was finally a home we owned, so no more renting - and was the perfect size for what we needed. Little did we know only 2 years we'd be moving yet again. We knew way before we were married that we wanted a dog. We both grew up with dogs and knew that we wanted one of our own to be a part of our family. In May 2012, after numerous hours of research online and in shelters nearby, we finally found a dog we knew we had to have. Jason's mom & sister had found a sign stating "Puppies for sale" at a random house in NJ. They took a look knowing we were looking for a new dog and came upon the cutest lab puppies. After sending us a picture and us thinking for a whole 5 minutes - we decided that Yes, we needed this dog in our lives!

We decided to name him Kovy right away - after Kovalchuk on the NJ Devils (Jason's favorite team - and I thought his name was fun!..although I know he is no longer on the team...Kovy still lives on!). We fell in love with this tiny little pup - but not too long after he grew really quickly! We should've known from the size of his paws..

Before we knew it, he had surpassed the 25 pound weight restriction that our Home Owner Association allowed for dogs. Today - Kovy weighs almost 100 pounds - so well beyond the restriction. We had several other neighbors in the same predicament - some had to move since the HOA was fining them $10 per day that they had their "too heavy" dog. Other neighbors were trying to fight it, stating it had to be changed since our dogs were not bothering anyone- we paid our own mortgage and way too high HOA monthly fees, and would like to keep our family members! Unfortunately, after petitioning and gaining a lot of votes in our favor - the HOA still won.

^^ Kovy during Christmas 2013 - we hope fully grown! :)

We put our home for sale in September 2013 and had to keep it picture-perfect for all of the appointments coming in to see! We really did have a lot - which was a positive sign. But it was very exhausting to keep it so clean and to make sure if there was an appointment during the day - that Kovy was taken to Petsmart for the Dog Day Care. We were ready to sell and move into a home we could be happy and truly grown into. After Thanksgiving, we figured it wouldn't be until the new year 2014 before any offers - it seemed that the holidays wouldn't make it possible. However, we finally got our offer in the beginning of December. We had been doing our research on homes that we liked - but tried not to get too serious since we didn't know when ours would sell. In January 2014 - we sold ours and moved into our new home with a deck and nice sized backyard for Kovy to play in - and an HOA that allows dogs of any size :)

This begins our journey of making this house into our own home and a place for me to document the process. Thanks for joining. :)