My Red Door Suprise

When J & I first put our house on the market we where expecting it to take a while to sell, much to our surprise we had a contract on it before it was officially on the market. This was a good thing and a bad. Great that we didn't have to sit and wait, but bad that we didn't have anything picked out meaning in less than 3 weeks we would have to pack and find another place to call home.

I had been surfing the housing market for months prior to us selling, but as usual, when you have the money to buy you can't find anything. I was on every realtor list, so the very day Winter Park came on the market we where there that morning looking at it. My sister-in-law was our realtor and always managed to get to the house before we did, but that morning we beat her and the moment we pulled into the drive, I LOVED the house, it was exactly what we wanted and in our price range. She had a habit that every house we looked at we had to tell her what we liked and what we didn't. As we where standing in the driveway before even walking into the house, I told her that I was ready to sign the contract I didn't even need to see inside, she laughed and said there had to be something I didn't like and I told her that yes, it didn't have a red door.

We closed on the house on the 14th of October, but couldn't get an occupancy permit until this week. J had stayed at the house all week working late hours getting stuff done, so Wednesday night after getting off work, G and I drove in to spend our first official night home. When I pulled into the driveway I noticed something was different about the house, much to my surprise J had painted the door red and had a card attached that said "Welcome Home". I can not tell you how special that moment was, it's amazing the brownie points a 5.00 can of red paint can get you.

44 days till Christmas

So we started our Christmas shopping this past weekend. I want to "smart" shop this holiday and not get so caught up in the "spending spirit" so we made a list of all the people we buy for and happy to say I have about 1/2 done and even happier to say we are below budget.


Here is a great website for all the friday shoppers! I am hoping Memphis has the same great deals :-)

http://www.black-friday.net/

Note to self...

Never leave a ladder out, someone very small may decide to finish the job for you.

One of my new favorite things

Someone bought this for us back in June when the bank first accepted our bid on the house and I am happy to say that after five months that is is finally where it belongs. In our dining room!! It looks even better when the it is turned on. The house is coming along great, we have hit a couple bumps, but so far nothing major (knock on wood). J meantioned last night that every day it is looking more and more like home. We should be moved in in less than a week. To say I am excited is an understatement. I cant wait to be able to cook in my own kitchen and lay in my own bed... ignore all the boxes in the background we are waiting on the countertops to be able to unpack the kitchen.

Progress this week

Carpet is being installed upstairs tomorrow and our new cabinets are being delivered too. They will be installed on Friday. I am loving the progress we are making, some things are a little behind schedule, but overall we are doing well, thanks to our great friends and our faithful babysitters (the grandparents) . The next weeks we have a lot to do, but then hopefully will be able to move in on the 20th of November. We only have one more POD to empty and that one shouldnt take too long since it has all of our furniture in it. I am getting more and more excited, my birthday is on the 24th and this year the only thing I want is to be able to sleep in my own bed!

The past couple of months have dragged, but now its like time is flying. I just need a couple more hours in the day and I could get so much accomplished. :-)

Love the "Man" Power

I have never been one to ask for help, most of my life I have been pretty independent. If I could do it on my own, about 95% of the time I would. But there are some limits to the things that I can do with being a girl. We have been trying to get our stuff unloaded from the storage units we have so we dont incure another month of storage cost. Thankfully with the help of some friends, it looks like we are going to suceed. Thank you to all the "guys" that have stopped in to help!! I don't want to mention names, but you know who you are and it is very much appreciated. Thank you to for the wives that have encouraged them to help!! We have been truly blessed with wonderful friends. Some of them have even "painting" lessons :-)

Happy Fall !

Just a cute picture from our trip to the Pumpkin Patch.

Spoiled and loving it...

I always knew that I had great parents, but when it comes to being grandparents they are the VERY best. G has been teething and hasn't felt very well the past couple of days so needless to say he hasn't been eating much lately. Tonight while I was working, I heard G talking in the kitchen and I went in to see what all the excitement was, I walked in and saw G's plate and instantly knew why he was so happy. Pa had cooked his two favorite things....appetite was back.

Thanks Dad for being such an awesome Pa !!

We have our house!! Let the work begin.

Recap: we sold old house in June to buy this one July 6th, but this one's pipes burst before closing, so we switched to rehab loan which took 70 days to reach closing. We've been staying with in-laws in Washington, MO, and will be for one more month while rehab is done. But we do own a house again. :)

Josh spent the first evening pulling up all of the carpet, then removing staples from the stairs and dining room floor (thx Tim O. for the help) while I got our new cabinets ordered. We are going to start painting this weekend, hopefully everyone will stay on schedule. Our goal is to be in by mid-November.

The only thing I can say is that for the price and the house we are getting it for, it was so worth the wait.

Recycled Toys

I am sure that all parents are like us that we accumulate lots of toys, toys that are either passed down, bought, or mysteriously show up. We had only planned to be at my parent's house for two weeks so I didnt pack many toys and the toys that I did pack G is bored with, so today I decided to hit the consignement store here in Washington to get some new toys that will occupy him until we get moved in.

I was quite pleased with my find of the day. G was too! as soon as he saw it in the store he wanted it, this has entertained him most of the day. I am sure the toy wasnt designed for the way that he played with it, but if it makes him happy and its safe, then this momma is happy too.