Our House!

We bought a house! We bought a house! We bought a house! Oh my goodness, it's shocking still!...and we didn't buy just any house, we bought an awesome house :)! Now that we have a place for people to stay over, we hope to have a lot of company! Start making plans ! Of course, give us a month or two to get some furniture! We went for the inspection yesterday, and there were no major issues and hardly any small issues. It's in about as good condition as a house can be in :) Now I am no longer disappointed that we did not get that other house back in October. This one is sooo much better! It has everything we wanted and then some. It was built in 2006 by some local guy who was doing it for investment purposes. That's just about the time that the market started to slide, so he's been unable to sell it. We got a major bargain! The house is gorgeous! He's an artist and put in a lot of extra details in the meantime. It has 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a living room, a sitting room area, a dining room, a nice big kitchen, a deck, a nice yard, a two car garage....! You should see the master bathroom! It has one of the biggest tubs I've seen in it. I didn't know this until yesterday when the inspector guy turned it on, but it bubbles like a hot tub! We also found out yesterday that the lighting and heating systems can be hooked up to our computer so we can have the lights/heat turn on at specified times, even when we're not there. Big guns can probably explain that a little more. We can't wait to move!
We saw it last weekend with our realtor and decided instantly to put in an offer. Our realtor warned us that another couple had sent word that they were going to put in an offer, so she tried to dissuade us a bit and warned us several times not to get our hopes up. She really didn't think we would be able to get it, given our budget. Thankfully, that couple didn't have their ducks in a row and came back saying that they would need another week or two before they could make an offer. In the meantime, we've been going back and forth in negotiations with the seller, and by Wednesday evening we had a deal. Talk about fast! We knew we had to try for the house! In addition to getting the price down to something we could afford, the seller agreed to pay our closing costs and agreed to give us some of the furniture he had been using for staging as well as the window treatments and all the appliances! Also, the interest rates have dropped significantly since we began our search. It almost seems to good to be true! Needless to say, it's been a sleepless week for the two of us. In the beginning we couldn't sleep because of nerves, then because of excitement, and now we each keep daydreaming of how we'll decorate it! :)

ok, ok

Here's the news my mom has been not-so-subtly hinting at. We found another house to buy! I'll blog more about it later! We're going to do the home inspection tomorrow. I can't wait to move in!

Happy New Year!

Wow! It's been 2 and a half months since I last posted. That's pretty bad. I'll try to do better this year. Not necessarily as a part of new year's, but good timing nonetheless, Bigguns and I are starting our own biggest loser competition. We both realized in December that we needed to lose about 25-30 pounds each in order to be healthier and more fit. Bigguns is doing his strict south beach diet. I'm doing a modified south beach diet. (that means if i want to eat something that isn't too unhealthy, but just isn't allowed on that diet, that I'm going to eat it). I have found that the south beach diet works, but once you go off it, you put the weight back on. Plus, the whole time i'm on it, i dream about what I can't eat. No thank you! I"m going to do it my tried and true way of eating healthy, balanced meals with controlled portions and plenty of exercise. Our weigh-ins are going to be on Wednesday mornings. The person who loses the highest percentage of their weight by May wins. I'm quite confident I'll win. I'm very determined. :)
We got a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. (actually I got it for bigguns, but I use it quite a bit) That makes for a nice supplement to our workouts. It's really fun, though at the moment, I have bowling shoulder, so I guess I need to take it easy. I really work up a sweat when I box. I was undefeated until this afternoon. I just couldn't locate any anger to workout this afternoon when I was playing. Normally I shock myself at my ferociousness. I wouldn't want to meet myself in a boxing ring!
In other news, we're taking up cross-country skiing. We picked up skiis while we were in maine. We're planning on trying them out this weekend since we've had more snow this week. I always feel claustrophobic in the winter because I can't get outside and enjoy the fresh air. I finally reached my limit and decided that we either need to move to a warmer climate or we need to suck it up and find something enjoyable to do outside. Here's to skiiing!

Updates!

Well, I guess this weekend's events are blog-worthy! We found a house!! woohoo! It's not officially a done deal yet, but we put in an offer and it was verbally accepted by the owner. The owner was literally on the brink of foreclosure (She had to have a deal by today!) so we have to have her bank sign off on the deal first. SHe had another buyer a few weeks back who was going to purchase it at our price, so they think the bank will accept our deal too and that it is just a formality. THe other buyers had to back out for some reason. Keep your fingers crossed for us! It is what they call a short-sale, so if everything works out, we'll be closing on it in 30 days!! That's crazy!
I felt a little guilty about getting such a good deal on a house because in order for that to happen someone else is in a really bad situation. But I do feel good that we might be saving the owner from foreclosure which would ruin her credit for quite a while. So now, it seems like a really good deal for everyone involved.
We didn't know when we made the offer that they were in such a time crunch. I'm glad we didn't decide to think about it for a week or so which is what we have been doing when we see something we like THen we would have lost out on this. Maybe it's meant to be!
THe house has the perfect combination of everything we've been looking for: a big kitchen, a master bathroom, atleast 3 bedrooms, a walkout basement that either can be or is finished off (this one is finished off), a big yard, a nice neighborhood, a garage, and a cheap price! It also has some extra decorative features that we like: a big bay window in the living room, some crown molding, some built in shelving....it's really exciting. I hope this works out:)
Last week I meant to blog about something shocking, but I never got to it. I agreed with George Bush on something! THere was some article, and I was going to pull a big guns and try to link to it, but I"m not feeling that ambitious right now.

Here it is!

My new post! I know it's been a while. I've been procrastinating since we got back from our honeymoon :) This morning I took a yoga class at the gym Big Guns and I joined a few weeks ago. Man, it was soo what I needed! Just to take some time out for myself. It's so easy to get going on autopilot and only half pay attention to yourself. With my job, I spend a lot of time taking care of other people, but I am rarely 'selfish' enough to take the same care myself. It almost made me get tearful. I feel very refreshed now. I'm going to try to take the class twice a week.
In other news, Big Guns and I think we have found a house we're going to put an offer on. House-hunting is almost as fun as wedding dress shopping, but it definitely takes a lot of patience. I suppose it makes sense that it takes so long because we're going to have to live in it longer than a couple of hours. THe house we're considering now was built by an older couple. THey lived in the basement while they built the rest of the house, piece by piece. I love the story behind it, but also the house is also is great condition, like new, with a huge yard. Keep your fingers crossed for us. I'll try to post more often now.

quick post...

to make my mom happy. i've been busy these days and just haven't gotten around to it. i'm thinking after the wedding i'll be able to get on a more regular posting schedule. i was sick earlier this week, but am feeling ok now. i've never had a job before where you get paid for being sick. that's pretty cool. i need to ask jen or somebody to help me get together some kind of center pieces for the reception. if anyone has ideas let me know. i have some funny stories, but no time to write them now. maybe over the weekend....gotta run!

On a mission

Sorry i haven't blogged in a while. I've been busy settling the apartment and trying to settle into a new work schedule. I love my job. Finally I've found something that is a good fit for me, and I know I'm good at it.
I've been inspired to do many things. I never dreamed I would want to start a cause for this next one! Depends!! I'm on an all out mission to get Medicare to buy an old women depends that actually work. Sure, they're covering depends now, but they're sending her cheapo ones that don't hold anything. Consequently, she doesn't go anywhere and she has been in tears because she just doesn't know what to do, and she can't afford to buy the decent ones herself. What is this world coming to?! All to save a dollar...grrr! but then, as Big Guns likes to remind me, they use our tax dollars to build a museum for cauliflower or to start an anti-terrorist task force in nowhere-ville, Arkansas. Why can't their be a little common sense put into how these decision are made? To me, it is much more important for our citizens who are struggling to have their basic needs taken care of than to have a museum of anything. There is enough to go around, it's just a matter of getting them to put it in the right spots....so that's what i'm going to do. I declare i'm not going to rest until this woman has leak-proof depends!

My other cause that I'm focusing on is to get a sweet, 96 year old woman a new pair of wheels for her walker. It seems that she has warn them out and the don't spin anymore and she can't do anything without her walker. I asked her if she wanted me to try to find a new walker for her and she objected saying hers was just fine, if I could please just find her some new wheels. How sweet is she!! The things we take for granted....
During our meeting today she pointed out to me how soft her hair was and asked me to feel it, so I did and remarked on how shiny and beautiful it was. I then asked her if it was her natural color (it was bright red), and she nodded and said it was. When I looked up, you should have seen the smile on her face! She was so tickled! I wish I could have taken her home;)
Well, this is all i have time for now. i need to run off and meet Big Guns for some appetizers at Applebee's