our first piece of new furniture

Ok, so it's not the first piece of furniture we've ever gotten new, but it certainly is the nicest. And it's for our new house. So it's the first piece of new furniture for the new house. Exciting!

We started off our day going to see Karmen down in Keller and officially signed our loan application and got that all taken care of. We headed over to Sharel's so Forest could restore her files for her. It's nice that he can help someone out with their computer needs, hopefully she spreads the word (hint hint) because we've heard too many times where someone had been taken advantage of by the guys down at Geek Squad. Those guys aren't geeks, Forest is, trust me!

So, after that we went to our bank down in Grapevine and decided to check out The Dump, just to see what types of deals we could potentially get once we move in. Too bad we didn't know that they are CLOSED on Mondays! They are only open on the weekends. Good to know for the future! We headed over to Fry's where we got a pair of Polk Audio (i.e. rather good) speakers for 75% off their price. We weren't planning on this, but we did need to get some new ones when we moved in and who can resist 75% off for fantastic speakers? I love Fry's so very much. So, while we were down in that area I figured we could check out some of the selection at the furniture stores by Grapevine Mills. We went to Ashley first, just to see what they had. We were given a coupon for 50% off the list price and figured if we found something we REALLY wanted, we could just defer payments and have them deliver it once we moved in. We ended up finding a very awesome entertainment center. It's exactly the right size, the price was fantastic and it's just beautiful. I am so glad we checked it out because we really lucked out going in there. Our order is on layaway and we can just pay it off once we close and go pick it up once we move in. I didn't want to buy anything like couches or chairs yet and I knew that the entertainment center was something that we could get pretty much whenever and I knew it was going to fit. I can't wait to get it into our new house...just counting down the days until we close!

I only wish my TV were that big...

untitled too

I had a very silly emotional moment yesterday. I was cleaning up in our spare bedroom (which is full of Dell boxes right now!) and I went to feed my two hamsters. I looked at Baby, the oldest, and she just looked really weird. She was laying funny and I thought "oh, please don't be dead!". She wasn't, she got right up when I tapped on her cage and looked at me with great annoyance. I fed her and moved down to Claire, who was also asleep. She was laying even more oddly and her eyes were partially open. I tapped on the cage and she didn't move. Our poor little Claire was gone. I kind of broke down a little bit and started crying! I know it's just a hamster, but they are like our little babies! When we got Claire, she was a blaze of gray fur. She was the fastest hamster I've ever seen, when she ran on her wheel we probably could have powered something off of it. Baby is also almost a year older than Claire is. They are two different types of hamsters, so perhaps Claire wasn't meant to live any longer than she did.

In other news, we had the inspection on the house and things are still going good. There were some cracked bricks on the west end of the house, but the inspector doesn't think they are from any foundation problems. No one will ever see the west end of the house, but just to be sure we are having a foundation expert come to look at it tomorrow. Also tomorrow, we are going to see Karmen to get the loan offically underway. I'm still a little nervous about this, but we're just giving them the information to verify what we've already told them. I'm didn't lie, so I can't imagine why we would have any issues!

I finally got my raise! It was supposed to take effect in September so on this next paycheck I am getting there will be all of the back-pay from then. It worked out for me because now that I know we're buying a house, it was like a little unintentional savings plan. I just love my job and getting paid more to do it is great. Every once in a while when things are "bad" (things most of you do for nothing, like very dirty diapers) I laugh and say that I'm really earning my money. There has not been a single day where Grace hasn't made me laugh from my very core. Next year when Grace goes to school full time, I'm going to have someway to occupy my day because I won't be working until 3! I'm thinking about going back to school and getting some sort of degree. I may never use it, but having one is something I've always wanted. We'll see! We've got a big few months ahead of us!

happy easter

I just wanted to wish all of you a very Happy Easter! Forest and I don't have any plans today, other than eat dinner and rest. If you are wondering why we weren't at Church today, there are a few reasons. Our water has been working on and off for the last two days! I also am not feeling too awesome. I think all of this stress has finally starting to affect me. Now that the hard part seems to be over, I think everything is going to be just fine. I can't wait until we close next month, life is going to be so much easier!

Happy Easter!

some good news

The house is as good as ours! We put in the offer yesterday morning and they accepted it with a few slight changes. We accepted the few changes and we are closing on April 29th. Our lease doesn't end until July 31st, so we are leasing back the house to the seller until the middle of June. So, in less than 3 months, we'll be moving into our very first home. I can't believe it. I don't foresee anything happening with our loan, things are going very well but we can't go any farther until we both have officially accepted the offer on the house. I just hope and pray that no one decides to make an offer on it and who is going to, tomorrow is Easter!

It's amazing how fast your life can change in a week. Last Friday I met with Wes to see a house in Old Town to rent. He suggested that I buy one instead and gave me Karmen's information so she could see about getting us a loan. I found out that night that it was possible. Now it's a week later and we are buying a house! I just can't believe what a whirl-wind this whole process has been. We have been SO blessed. There is no way that we could have done this without divine intervention. It just fell right into place and it's worked out better than we ever thought it could be. I need to pass these blessings on, so if anyone needs anything, let me know! Besides, I'm going to need some of your help when we move in 3 months. I'll even buy pizza!

more stress...

I was in tears today over this whole house thing. We had some miscommunication (I won't go into the entire story) and it made me feel terrible. There is a chance we might lose the house because of it, but hopefully it won't come down to that.

To make matters worse, Forest called me earlier tonight and he was stuck with a flat tire. He put on the spare and it was low on air. He drove to a gas station and of course has no money on him so he had to pay a fee to use the ATM just to get a few quarters for air. Sheesh! Yesterday I locked my keys in the car outside of Jennie's apartment. I had just gotten back from speech therapy and Jennie was in Keller at the church. I thankfully didn't lock Grace in the car. It was pouring down rain and we had to sit in the breezeway while Allstate's motor club took an hour to come rescue me. Grace was being so cute and good when she could have easily been really grouchy, especially as that cut into her lunch time. I can't believe I am such a dummy.

So, it's been a long two days. I've worked 20.75 hours in the last two days I'm glad Grace is easy to take care of and makes me laugh or I would have had an even longer two days!

ok, i love it...

Yep, it's official. I am in love with this house. It's in a great location for us (with fantastic neighbors), great price and best of all, it's a very sound house. The rooms are great sizes and laid out fantastic. I especially loved the sky light in the bathroom, very cute. It doesn't need any work, maybe just some landscaping work in the back yard. We are going to get an inspector to look through it, very throughly. I don't want anything to creep up on us once we move in. Things are going to be very tight for us so we can save like crazy. I had some plans to get some furniture in the next few months and I am willing to forgo a dining room table for a little while so we can save, save, save. Maybe with next year's tax refund! Planning to buy this house has completely changed my way of looking at money. Right now I don't really value or cherish the place we live. It's not mine, it's just this dwelling I live in and we are wasting our money on. A house though, it's ours. We are responsible for it and the things that might break in it. There are so many joys and I'm sure a few pains of having our very own place. I can't tell you what my favorite part of this whole thing will be. The huge master bedroom, my own bathroom, the backyard that we can finally get a BBQ for, a great kitchen to cook in, room to have parties, the *garage*! There are so many things we are looking forward to. Forest is going to see it tomorrow morning and give his approval. From there we'll put a bid on it and see what happens. I still don't really know what I am doing, so pray for us! We need all the help we can get!

Here is the house:

am I the only one?

I completely forgot that it's Spring Break! I woke up this morning at 6:45 to get ready as I usually do and then remembered that I'm taking Grace to speech therapy today. Then I remembered the reason WHY I'm taking her, because Jennie will be taking the girls to the Primary Activity today! This also means I don't have to work until 9. I got up an hour earlier than I needed to. Oh well, at least I'm ready to go now and can have a little bit of relaxation time before I go to work today. I'm just glad I realized that now or I probably would have woken everyone up!

Another minor hiccup in forgetting it's Spring Break is that I'm meeting a Realtor today about a that house on Reed. Our financing is pretty much sound (and way way within our budget, thank goodness) and if we love the house we're going to put a bid on it soon. We still have 3 months and a few weeks until we want to move in, which may cause some issues, but we have a few different options for dealing with that. The earliest we can close is in May, depending on what kind of financing we are able to get. I'm so excited, this has all just fallen into place. Even if that isn't the house we end up getting, knowing that we'll be owning our very own house in just a few short months is a feeling that I thought we wouldn't feel for a very long time. I need to be careful with my feelings though, I find myself wanting to pre-decorate this place and I shouldn't do that just in case we lose it or we end up not liking it! I imagine it will only get worse when I actually see it...

Since I don't have to leave for another hour, I'm going to either try to get my husband up (he's so lazy in the morning) or snuggle and chat.