Our house is so empty, it is so pathetic to look at it.
My parents got here Saturday evening with the kids. I was SO HAPPY to see the boys again after a few weeks of them being away! And as happy and excited as I was to see them, they were even more happy and excited to Mark and me!! Gosh, I missed them so much - as well as my parents!
So they got here Saturday evening. We didn't do much of anything other than sit around, talk, play with the kids, and watch TV for a few hours before we all went to bed.
Yesterday morning, my parents went to the store and got a few things that we didn't have [mainly coffee because Mark and I do not like coffee, therefore we never have any here]. While my parents were at the store, Mark and I were at the house with the boys. Once my parents got back and after we all had something to eat, we all started cleaning and loading the truck. I'm surprised that it took less than 12 hours to get pretty much everything loaded in the truck. And I'm not just talking putting stuff in the truck, but everything is so organized and perfectly packed! All we have left in the house is my laptop, two very small TVs, a DVD player, a few blankets and pillows, two duffel bags of clothes, some bathroom stuff, food and drinks, a few pots, vacuum cleaner, a few small toys, and some empty boxes for last minute stuff. Seriously, our house is so empty! We do have a few things in the garage though, too - like the washer and dryer, a few boxes, hampers, and other very small items. It will only take us an hour, maybe two, to get everything else loaded in the truck. We really don't have much left in here, and I am perfectly fine with that!
The carpet cleaning people are coming today to - you guessed it - clean the carpets. Tomorrow afternoon, the realtor is coming by to inspect the house and make sure everything looks good. Then the next day in the afternoon, we're starting our drive to Florida!! I can't believe that it's almost time to move! And this move is a real move, not a move back home while Mark deploys! This is so crazy! I can't wait to get to Florida! I am so ready to start a new chapter, especially since this one has lasted quite a few years.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
MORE PAINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So after Mark came home from work and after we ate dinner, we went to Lowe's. The original plan was just to get the paint for the hallways and family room. Well, we left with more than just the two colors for the hallways and family room. That's so typical of us.
Here are the paint colors we got this evening:
This is going to be the main color of the hallways and family room. It is a nice neutral color, which is what I want in the family room. We have a lot of bright and bold rooms in the house, and I just want the family room to be more relaxed and cozy.
This is the other color that will be used in the family room. It will be used for the plant ledge and probably a few other small areas. It was on the same card as the color that will be the main color in the hallways and family room, and I just love how they look together! [I didn't care for any of the other colors on the other cards.]
This color is going to be in the boys' room. I really wish I would get away from blues in their room [only once have I not painted their room blue], but it's so difficult! I'm sure the boys will love it though because they love the color blue.
This is the color of the Master Bedroom. We had planned on going with a lighter shade of this color, but chose to go with this one when we saw them side-by-side. I love the boldness of this color! I think it will be fun going from a bold bedroom to a POW! bathroom. Our bedroom and bathroom are going to be a lot fun! My biggest problem with our room is going to be finding a bed set that will look perfect with the color of our walls. I know what colors I want for accents and such, but those colors would be way too much for bedding! Hopefully I find something soon at Bed Bath & Beyond or some other store down there.
We still have to figure out the colors for four more rooms - office, guest bedroom, main bathroom, and kitchen. We have an idea for the kitchen, but we're probably going to test a few colors first. We have a theme we'd like to use for the office [Ohio State], but we need to figure out what color(s) we want to use. The main bathroom and guest bathroom are kind of up in the air still. Hopefully we figure something out within the next month. If not, I have a feeling those rooms will never get painted.
Here are the paint colors we got this evening:
This is going to be the main color of the hallways and family room. It is a nice neutral color, which is what I want in the family room. We have a lot of bright and bold rooms in the house, and I just want the family room to be more relaxed and cozy.
This is the other color that will be used in the family room. It will be used for the plant ledge and probably a few other small areas. It was on the same card as the color that will be the main color in the hallways and family room, and I just love how they look together! [I didn't care for any of the other colors on the other cards.]
This color is going to be in the boys' room. I really wish I would get away from blues in their room [only once have I not painted their room blue], but it's so difficult! I'm sure the boys will love it though because they love the color blue.
This is the color of the Master Bedroom. We had planned on going with a lighter shade of this color, but chose to go with this one when we saw them side-by-side. I love the boldness of this color! I think it will be fun going from a bold bedroom to a POW! bathroom. Our bedroom and bathroom are going to be a lot fun! My biggest problem with our room is going to be finding a bed set that will look perfect with the color of our walls. I know what colors I want for accents and such, but those colors would be way too much for bedding! Hopefully I find something soon at Bed Bath & Beyond or some other store down there.
We still have to figure out the colors for four more rooms - office, guest bedroom, main bathroom, and kitchen. We have an idea for the kitchen, but we're probably going to test a few colors first. We have a theme we'd like to use for the office [Ohio State], but we need to figure out what color(s) we want to use. The main bathroom and guest bathroom are kind of up in the air still. Hopefully we figure something out within the next month. If not, I have a feeling those rooms will never get painted.
PAINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love, love, LOVE paint!! I could paint all day. I just love colors, too!
This morning, I decided to go to Lowe's to get some paint for our house in Florida. We're moving into the house in exactly one week, and I just feel that I should get some things for the house right now. I think getting stuff now is better because that means we'll be able to move in and not have to run all over creation to get everything. We will actually get to move into our house and get right to work, which is what I want.
The paints I got are by the brand Olympic. I got the line of their paints that are Zero VOC. I am definitely keeping the house as environmentally friendly as possible. Using the paints with zero VOC is great! You know how when you paint a room with normal paint, the room smells and you can't stay in there and windows have to be opened? Well, with zero VOC paints, you don't have to worry about that overpowering smell. You can stay in the room you are painting as long as you want and you don't have to worry about getting light-headed. How awesome is that?!
Here are the colors I got:
This is going to be the color of the Master Bathroom. I got the special Kitchen & Bath paint Olympic has, and I got it in the semi-gloss finish. I cannot wait to get the Master Bathroom done! It is going to be the greatest room ever!
I even got some other stuff today for the two walk-in closets in the Master Bathroom. I can't wait to work on that room and finish it!
This is going to be the color of the Laundry Room. It's a satin finish. I didn't want to go with the eggshell finish because I didn't want it to be that "dull"; but I didn't want to go with the semi-gloss finish because I didn't want it to be that shiny.
I got a gallon of black paint in the eggshell finish. I got it because I'm going to be painting shelves, part of a headboard, and other stuff in black. If I need more, I can just go get another gallon when I need it.
This is basically just a primer for the darker colors I'll be using in the house, which is why it's in a flat finish.
Isn't this color fantastic?! Ugh, I love it! I mentioned that I'm going to be using the black paint for part of a headboard. Well, this color is going to be used on the headboard, too. I am going to make a headboard for the bed Mark and I sleep on, and I have a great idea! This color is in a flat finish, but it is going to be the shiniest color in the entire house! I just need to find one piece for the headboard, and I will be able to make it without any problems. Trust me when I say that the headboard is going to be the greatest thing you've ever seen!
I definitely need to get a lot more paint for the rest of the rooms in the house, but that is all I got today. I want to go to Lowe's with Mark today or tomorrow and pick out the color of the family room. He said we can go after he gets home from work. I'd love it if he came home soon.
This morning, I decided to go to Lowe's to get some paint for our house in Florida. We're moving into the house in exactly one week, and I just feel that I should get some things for the house right now. I think getting stuff now is better because that means we'll be able to move in and not have to run all over creation to get everything. We will actually get to move into our house and get right to work, which is what I want.
The paints I got are by the brand Olympic. I got the line of their paints that are Zero VOC. I am definitely keeping the house as environmentally friendly as possible. Using the paints with zero VOC is great! You know how when you paint a room with normal paint, the room smells and you can't stay in there and windows have to be opened? Well, with zero VOC paints, you don't have to worry about that overpowering smell. You can stay in the room you are painting as long as you want and you don't have to worry about getting light-headed. How awesome is that?!
Here are the colors I got:
This is going to be the color of the Master Bathroom. I got the special Kitchen & Bath paint Olympic has, and I got it in the semi-gloss finish. I cannot wait to get the Master Bathroom done! It is going to be the greatest room ever!
I even got some other stuff today for the two walk-in closets in the Master Bathroom. I can't wait to work on that room and finish it!
This is going to be the color of the Laundry Room. It's a satin finish. I didn't want to go with the eggshell finish because I didn't want it to be that "dull"; but I didn't want to go with the semi-gloss finish because I didn't want it to be that shiny.
I got a gallon of black paint in the eggshell finish. I got it because I'm going to be painting shelves, part of a headboard, and other stuff in black. If I need more, I can just go get another gallon when I need it.
This is basically just a primer for the darker colors I'll be using in the house, which is why it's in a flat finish.
Isn't this color fantastic?! Ugh, I love it! I mentioned that I'm going to be using the black paint for part of a headboard. Well, this color is going to be used on the headboard, too. I am going to make a headboard for the bed Mark and I sleep on, and I have a great idea! This color is in a flat finish, but it is going to be the shiniest color in the entire house! I just need to find one piece for the headboard, and I will be able to make it without any problems. Trust me when I say that the headboard is going to be the greatest thing you've ever seen!
I definitely need to get a lot more paint for the rest of the rooms in the house, but that is all I got today. I want to go to Lowe's with Mark today or tomorrow and pick out the color of the family room. He said we can go after he gets home from work. I'd love it if he came home soon.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Just when everything was going right...
...something had to go wrong. And not just anything, but the biggest, most important "piece" to all of this!
In a recent blog, I mentioned that I knew the streak of awesome days would end at some point. Well, that streak ended on Monday night. And when it ended, it really ended! I was in tears, I was yelling, I was hyperventilating, and just everything you can imagine in a horrible mess of a breakdown, it probably happened.
So here's why I was having such a disastrous emotional/mental breakdown:
We're moving - but you already knew that with all of my recent blog posts. I told Mark 1-2 months ago to go to TMO and start getting everything taken care of for the move. I probably told him every single day, until he went, to quit dragging his feet and go already. I was getting extremely angry the week before we went to Florida at the beginning of this month because Mark still hadn't gone, and I just wanted him to flippin' go! Well, he never went to TMO before we went to Florida. I was incredibly angry, to say the least! Mark went to TMO after we got back from Florida.
On Monday, Mark went to TMO about something. I think he went to ask them if they had any idea about how much money he would be getting and when we would get the first half. Turns out, the idiots at TMO flippin' LOST Mark's TMO package!!!! Are you kidding me?! How can you just lose something like that?! You've got to have the IQ of 5 to lose something like that! Come on! So they told Mark to go back the next day, Tuesday - which was yesterday. The TMO money was going to be our closing cost money, and it looked as if we weren't going to be getting that money in time unless some sort of miracle happened. And since it's the military and it involves money, that miracle just wouldn't happen. [Let me tell you, if it's money that's not the normal paycheck that comes twice a month, the military will hold out as long as possible to give you that money. They're bastards when it comes to money. Trust me.]
Since TMO wasn't looking too good, we decided to go into a savings plan that Mark has. He has way more than enough money in there to cover our closing cost, so that was a relief. What wasn't a relief was finding out that it would take up to 10 business days for us to get the money! Oh joy! We still filled out the application and Mark faxed the application yesterday morning when he got to work.
At noon, TMO opened and Mark went over there as soon as it opened yesterday. Supposedly Mark got a little stern with the person he was talking to because someone had to tell Mark to pipe it down a bit. [If you know my husband, you know he never raises his voice. Ever! So knowing that someone said something to him is kind of weird and unusual. Mark's normally the one telling people to relax and calm down a bit.] Well, it turns out that TMO won't be giving us any money till after Mark checks in at the base down in Florida!! Um, he can't check in till October 15 or later!! Grrrreeeaaaaat! So thank you, Mark, for not going to TMO when I told you. And thank you, TMO, for being effing idiots and screwing things up!
We weren't going to have the money from TMO, and we aren't sure if the savings plan money was going to be in our account fast enough. Chances are, the money won't be in the account fast enough. Awesome. We're scheduled to close on October 1, and we won't have the money to flippin' close! I was losing it and I feared for everyone's life that came into contact with me in any way - face-to-face, over the phone, just in passing, etc. I talked to our mortgage broker, Pati, twice yesterday, and I cried each time. I'm not sure if she noticed that I was crying or not because I was trying so hard to cover it up, but I wouldn't be surprised if she noticed.
So here we are, the week before we're supposed to move to Florida, and we don't have the money for our closing cost. Mark called his dad and his brother and asked them if they could loan us some money, that's how desperate Mark was feeling. His brother really wanted to help us, but he's spending most of his money to pay off his student loans. Mark's dad isn't sure he could help us, and he won't know till Thursday [tomorrow]. I had already talked to my mom about the problem on Monday night, and she had told me if she and my dad had the money, they would loan it to us in a heartbeat. I didn't even ask my mom for the money either. [My parents would seriously drop everything to help us! I love them so much!] We weren't going to ask Mark's mom to help us because we knew she was still a bit money-tight since she had recently moved into a place by herself, got a new car, and other stuff. We didn't even tell her what was going on because we knew she would lose her mind, especially since she couldn't help us.
All day, I was having moments of incredible anger, and then moments when all I could do was cry. Everything had taken such a horribly wrong turn!
But like a friend had told me way back when we were very young teenagers in high school, "the wheel will continue to turn as you move forward, and you'll be back on top again."
Last night, while Mark and I were watching "Glee", Mark's mom called my phone. It wasn't 9:00 PM yet, so I hit the Ignore button on my phone and said to Mark that I would just call her back in a few minutes. About 10 seconds later, Mark's phone started ringing. It was his mom. He tried to answer it, even though I said not to because we'll be using even more minutes, and that I already said I would call her back in about 5 minutes when it was 9:00 PM. Well, something happened and Mark couldn't hear his mom. He hung up the phone. About 10 seconds later, his phone started ringing again. I told him, yet again, not to answer it. He answered it. His mom wanted to talk to me, so Mark gave me the phone. Mark's mom asked me what I was doing, and I said that I was just watching "Glee". She told me that I should pause the show because she needed to talk to me and it was important. As it turns out, Mark's mom found out about the money situation. My mom let it slip when they were talking earlier in the day because my mom was a nervous wreck. But not only did my mom say something, Mark's brother had mentioned it to Mark's mom. Well, Mark's mom didn't have the money to loan us. However, she knew someone that was very willing to loan the money to us!!!! I started crying on the phone, which caused Mark's mom to start crying again. I cannot even begin to tell you how happy it made me to know that someone's so willing to loan us the money!! Just when people in the world prove to me how horrible people can be, there are a few people that make me believe that there are still some amazing people in the world.
I am so happy that the problem has been solved, but I will not be completely happy till we are in our house. I know that anything can go wrong between now and then, but I am hoping and praying to God that nothing else goes wrong! We're leaving North Carolina one week from today, and I don't think I will be able to handle any more mishaps before we move into the house.
In a recent blog, I mentioned that I knew the streak of awesome days would end at some point. Well, that streak ended on Monday night. And when it ended, it really ended! I was in tears, I was yelling, I was hyperventilating, and just everything you can imagine in a horrible mess of a breakdown, it probably happened.
So here's why I was having such a disastrous emotional/mental breakdown:
We're moving - but you already knew that with all of my recent blog posts. I told Mark 1-2 months ago to go to TMO and start getting everything taken care of for the move. I probably told him every single day, until he went, to quit dragging his feet and go already. I was getting extremely angry the week before we went to Florida at the beginning of this month because Mark still hadn't gone, and I just wanted him to flippin' go! Well, he never went to TMO before we went to Florida. I was incredibly angry, to say the least! Mark went to TMO after we got back from Florida.
On Monday, Mark went to TMO about something. I think he went to ask them if they had any idea about how much money he would be getting and when we would get the first half. Turns out, the idiots at TMO flippin' LOST Mark's TMO package!!!! Are you kidding me?! How can you just lose something like that?! You've got to have the IQ of 5 to lose something like that! Come on! So they told Mark to go back the next day, Tuesday - which was yesterday. The TMO money was going to be our closing cost money, and it looked as if we weren't going to be getting that money in time unless some sort of miracle happened. And since it's the military and it involves money, that miracle just wouldn't happen. [Let me tell you, if it's money that's not the normal paycheck that comes twice a month, the military will hold out as long as possible to give you that money. They're bastards when it comes to money. Trust me.]
Since TMO wasn't looking too good, we decided to go into a savings plan that Mark has. He has way more than enough money in there to cover our closing cost, so that was a relief. What wasn't a relief was finding out that it would take up to 10 business days for us to get the money! Oh joy! We still filled out the application and Mark faxed the application yesterday morning when he got to work.
At noon, TMO opened and Mark went over there as soon as it opened yesterday. Supposedly Mark got a little stern with the person he was talking to because someone had to tell Mark to pipe it down a bit. [If you know my husband, you know he never raises his voice. Ever! So knowing that someone said something to him is kind of weird and unusual. Mark's normally the one telling people to relax and calm down a bit.] Well, it turns out that TMO won't be giving us any money till after Mark checks in at the base down in Florida!! Um, he can't check in till October 15 or later!! Grrrreeeaaaaat! So thank you, Mark, for not going to TMO when I told you. And thank you, TMO, for being effing idiots and screwing things up!
We weren't going to have the money from TMO, and we aren't sure if the savings plan money was going to be in our account fast enough. Chances are, the money won't be in the account fast enough. Awesome. We're scheduled to close on October 1, and we won't have the money to flippin' close! I was losing it and I feared for everyone's life that came into contact with me in any way - face-to-face, over the phone, just in passing, etc. I talked to our mortgage broker, Pati, twice yesterday, and I cried each time. I'm not sure if she noticed that I was crying or not because I was trying so hard to cover it up, but I wouldn't be surprised if she noticed.
So here we are, the week before we're supposed to move to Florida, and we don't have the money for our closing cost. Mark called his dad and his brother and asked them if they could loan us some money, that's how desperate Mark was feeling. His brother really wanted to help us, but he's spending most of his money to pay off his student loans. Mark's dad isn't sure he could help us, and he won't know till Thursday [tomorrow]. I had already talked to my mom about the problem on Monday night, and she had told me if she and my dad had the money, they would loan it to us in a heartbeat. I didn't even ask my mom for the money either. [My parents would seriously drop everything to help us! I love them so much!] We weren't going to ask Mark's mom to help us because we knew she was still a bit money-tight since she had recently moved into a place by herself, got a new car, and other stuff. We didn't even tell her what was going on because we knew she would lose her mind, especially since she couldn't help us.
All day, I was having moments of incredible anger, and then moments when all I could do was cry. Everything had taken such a horribly wrong turn!
But like a friend had told me way back when we were very young teenagers in high school, "the wheel will continue to turn as you move forward, and you'll be back on top again."
Last night, while Mark and I were watching "Glee", Mark's mom called my phone. It wasn't 9:00 PM yet, so I hit the Ignore button on my phone and said to Mark that I would just call her back in a few minutes. About 10 seconds later, Mark's phone started ringing. It was his mom. He tried to answer it, even though I said not to because we'll be using even more minutes, and that I already said I would call her back in about 5 minutes when it was 9:00 PM. Well, something happened and Mark couldn't hear his mom. He hung up the phone. About 10 seconds later, his phone started ringing again. I told him, yet again, not to answer it. He answered it. His mom wanted to talk to me, so Mark gave me the phone. Mark's mom asked me what I was doing, and I said that I was just watching "Glee". She told me that I should pause the show because she needed to talk to me and it was important. As it turns out, Mark's mom found out about the money situation. My mom let it slip when they were talking earlier in the day because my mom was a nervous wreck. But not only did my mom say something, Mark's brother had mentioned it to Mark's mom. Well, Mark's mom didn't have the money to loan us. However, she knew someone that was very willing to loan the money to us!!!! I started crying on the phone, which caused Mark's mom to start crying again. I cannot even begin to tell you how happy it made me to know that someone's so willing to loan us the money!! Just when people in the world prove to me how horrible people can be, there are a few people that make me believe that there are still some amazing people in the world.
I am so happy that the problem has been solved, but I will not be completely happy till we are in our house. I know that anything can go wrong between now and then, but I am hoping and praying to God that nothing else goes wrong! We're leaving North Carolina one week from today, and I don't think I will be able to handle any more mishaps before we move into the house.
Monday, September 20, 2010
We Got a Truck!
A moving truck, that is!
Yesterday, I reserved a moving truck for the upcoming move. We'll be picking up the truck on Saturday morning around 10:00. I reserved a 26' truck from Penske.
Oh, you have no idea how terrified I am about Mark driving this monstrosity! But you know what, we got a really good deal on it and it was the same price as the 22' truck. My dad suggested just getting the 26' truck since it was the same price as the 22' truck, even if we have gotten rid of a lot of large items recently and plan on getting rid of some more.
My parents are coming down here this weekend. My dad's going to help us load stuff into the truck and my mom's going to help with the cleaning. I love that they will do anything for us at the drop of a hat, as long as they're able! Truly, they are the best parents ever!
I can't believe that we are actually moving next week!!!! One week from today, the carpets are being cleaned and the chimney is being inspected. So crazy! I am beyond ready for the next chapter!
Yesterday, I reserved a moving truck for the upcoming move. We'll be picking up the truck on Saturday morning around 10:00. I reserved a 26' truck from Penske.
Oh, you have no idea how terrified I am about Mark driving this monstrosity! But you know what, we got a really good deal on it and it was the same price as the 22' truck. My dad suggested just getting the 26' truck since it was the same price as the 22' truck, even if we have gotten rid of a lot of large items recently and plan on getting rid of some more.
My parents are coming down here this weekend. My dad's going to help us load stuff into the truck and my mom's going to help with the cleaning. I love that they will do anything for us at the drop of a hat, as long as they're able! Truly, they are the best parents ever!
I can't believe that we are actually moving next week!!!! One week from today, the carpets are being cleaned and the chimney is being inspected. So crazy! I am beyond ready for the next chapter!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Rollin' Along
Things here are just rollin' along. Wednesday began a streak of awesome days, and I hope that the streak continues, at least through today!
On Wednesday, I made a lot of important phone calls to places here in North Carolina. I got every scheduled. We have an appointment to get the carpets cleaned and the fire place/chimney inspected. We have an appointment for the house to be inspected. I set up when all of our utilities will be switched out of our name and where the bills will get forwarded. Everything here is taken care of and I don't have to stress about any of it anymore. Also on Wednesday, I sold Michael's old dresser. We got it when we first moved down here in 2007, but it never really got much use - especially in this house. So instead of hauling it down to Florida with us, where it wouldn't get used, I decided to sell it. I was excited to sell it and see it go to another house that needed it!
On Thursday, I took the last bit of stuff off of the walls, patched up the holes, and got to painting those areas. You have no idea how much of a relief that was to me!! I no longer have to paint any areas in this house again! I, also, did some hardcore cleaning and organizing. I was sick of seeing stuff scattered, so I moved a lot of stuff into the extra bedroom and organized everything in there. One thing that brought a huge smile to my face was that I got an e-mail from the realtor that's selling the house confirming the final walk through of the house. Our final walk through is October 1 at 10:00 AM [central time]!! What a relief! Finally, something was scheduled and we were making progress on the last part of the home owning process!!
On Friday, I called the company that we decided to get our home owner's insurance through. Sadly, we still haven't gotten the e-mail with all of the paperwork I have to print for Mark to sign, but that e-mail should be coming within the next few days. [We're just waiting on the mortgage broker and the insurance agent to go over everything first.] I'm just happy that we got the ball rolling with the insurance. We did our part. Well, I did our part. Mark's just been sitting around while I take care of all of the important stuff - he just signs the papers. Also, I got the oil changed and the tires rotated on the car. I wanted to make sure those little things were taken care of before we leave. I'm glad I did that because they found that a screw had punctured one of the tires. They fixed it for me, and I'm happy! A few hours after that, I went to lunch with a friend of mine from back home that's been here since last Spring. It was so nice to see her! I'm just really sad that in less than two weeks, I won't see her for a while! Plus, she's pregnant now and I'm going to miss it when she has her baby next Spring!!
Yesterday was a great day! Mark and I went to Wilmington in the morning. I'd say we left the house around 8:00-8:30. We went to Once Upon a Child there and we took two huge bags full of some of the boys' old stuff and a stroller to try to sell to them. Unfortunately, they've got so much stuff there that they've become super picky about what they take. They only took a few items we brought them, and we only left with $9.90, a whole bunch of clothes, and a stroller. I for sure thought that they would take so much more since everything is in like-new condition and 95% of it was just from Children's Place and Old Navy. Oh well. We had $9.90 more than what we had before. Mark was about to rage, but I could deal with it. On our way home from Wilmington, I got an e-mail from someone asking if we still had the treadmill because they were interested in buying it. A few hours later, we no longer had the treadmill, but we had $370! We wanted $425 for the treadmill, but it has gotten to the point of desperation to get rid of it, so we took it for $350. [She gave us an extra $20 for taking it to her house for her and setting it up. That was really nice of her!] So even though the morning didn't turn out like we had hoped, things turned around and we got to sell the treadmill! It's so nice to have one less large item to haul down to Florida with us, and to have some more money in our pockets!!
Last night, I posted online that we want to sell our armoire and nightstand set. Within an hour, I had gotten one e-mail asking about the set. By 1:30 AM, I had gotten two more e-mails asking about the set. We aren't asking much at all for them [just $75], mainly because the armoire has three marks on it. But still, they are huge pieces and we bought them for around $300. We don't need them, so we're kind of desperate to get rid of them! Hopefully the first person that e-mailed me is able to come over by 1:00 PM today and buys the set! If not, I hope one of the other people that asked about the set buys it. I just want to get rid of the set so badly! We don't need them and they're two large items that we don't need to haul down to Florida with us. Trust me, anything we can get rid of before we move is going to do a lot of good for us! I don't want to have to take a lot of stuff to Florida with us, especially if it's stuff that we won't even use.
I am just so happy that we sold some items this week! We made over $400 just selling those things, too! That's $400 we didn't have in our account, pockets, wallets, etc. We can use that money for gas and food on our way to Florida.
I truly hope that today is another awesome day! I'd hate to see the streak break before we leave, but I know that it will break at some point. I just hope that the streak waits to break for another month or two. HA!
On Wednesday, I made a lot of important phone calls to places here in North Carolina. I got every scheduled. We have an appointment to get the carpets cleaned and the fire place/chimney inspected. We have an appointment for the house to be inspected. I set up when all of our utilities will be switched out of our name and where the bills will get forwarded. Everything here is taken care of and I don't have to stress about any of it anymore. Also on Wednesday, I sold Michael's old dresser. We got it when we first moved down here in 2007, but it never really got much use - especially in this house. So instead of hauling it down to Florida with us, where it wouldn't get used, I decided to sell it. I was excited to sell it and see it go to another house that needed it!
On Thursday, I took the last bit of stuff off of the walls, patched up the holes, and got to painting those areas. You have no idea how much of a relief that was to me!! I no longer have to paint any areas in this house again! I, also, did some hardcore cleaning and organizing. I was sick of seeing stuff scattered, so I moved a lot of stuff into the extra bedroom and organized everything in there. One thing that brought a huge smile to my face was that I got an e-mail from the realtor that's selling the house confirming the final walk through of the house. Our final walk through is October 1 at 10:00 AM [central time]!! What a relief! Finally, something was scheduled and we were making progress on the last part of the home owning process!!
On Friday, I called the company that we decided to get our home owner's insurance through. Sadly, we still haven't gotten the e-mail with all of the paperwork I have to print for Mark to sign, but that e-mail should be coming within the next few days. [We're just waiting on the mortgage broker and the insurance agent to go over everything first.] I'm just happy that we got the ball rolling with the insurance. We did our part. Well, I did our part. Mark's just been sitting around while I take care of all of the important stuff - he just signs the papers. Also, I got the oil changed and the tires rotated on the car. I wanted to make sure those little things were taken care of before we leave. I'm glad I did that because they found that a screw had punctured one of the tires. They fixed it for me, and I'm happy! A few hours after that, I went to lunch with a friend of mine from back home that's been here since last Spring. It was so nice to see her! I'm just really sad that in less than two weeks, I won't see her for a while! Plus, she's pregnant now and I'm going to miss it when she has her baby next Spring!!
Yesterday was a great day! Mark and I went to Wilmington in the morning. I'd say we left the house around 8:00-8:30. We went to Once Upon a Child there and we took two huge bags full of some of the boys' old stuff and a stroller to try to sell to them. Unfortunately, they've got so much stuff there that they've become super picky about what they take. They only took a few items we brought them, and we only left with $9.90, a whole bunch of clothes, and a stroller. I for sure thought that they would take so much more since everything is in like-new condition and 95% of it was just from Children's Place and Old Navy. Oh well. We had $9.90 more than what we had before. Mark was about to rage, but I could deal with it. On our way home from Wilmington, I got an e-mail from someone asking if we still had the treadmill because they were interested in buying it. A few hours later, we no longer had the treadmill, but we had $370! We wanted $425 for the treadmill, but it has gotten to the point of desperation to get rid of it, so we took it for $350. [She gave us an extra $20 for taking it to her house for her and setting it up. That was really nice of her!] So even though the morning didn't turn out like we had hoped, things turned around and we got to sell the treadmill! It's so nice to have one less large item to haul down to Florida with us, and to have some more money in our pockets!!
Last night, I posted online that we want to sell our armoire and nightstand set. Within an hour, I had gotten one e-mail asking about the set. By 1:30 AM, I had gotten two more e-mails asking about the set. We aren't asking much at all for them [just $75], mainly because the armoire has three marks on it. But still, they are huge pieces and we bought them for around $300. We don't need them, so we're kind of desperate to get rid of them! Hopefully the first person that e-mailed me is able to come over by 1:00 PM today and buys the set! If not, I hope one of the other people that asked about the set buys it. I just want to get rid of the set so badly! We don't need them and they're two large items that we don't need to haul down to Florida with us. Trust me, anything we can get rid of before we move is going to do a lot of good for us! I don't want to have to take a lot of stuff to Florida with us, especially if it's stuff that we won't even use.
I am just so happy that we sold some items this week! We made over $400 just selling those things, too! That's $400 we didn't have in our account, pockets, wallets, etc. We can use that money for gas and food on our way to Florida.
I truly hope that today is another awesome day! I'd hate to see the streak break before we leave, but I know that it will break at some point. I just hope that the streak waits to break for another month or two. HA!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
TWO WEEKS?!!?!!
Earlier today, I was getting ready to make some phone calls. I wanted to just schedule everything now before the move - carpet cleaning, house inspection, end cable/Internet services, etc. After I got off the phone with Time Warner Cable, I checked my calendar to make sure the 27th and 28th are completely open so I could schedule the carpeting cleaning and the inspection. When I looked at the calendar, I saw that the 29th is exactly two weeks from today!! We're leaving here on the 29th!! HOLY MOLY! When I saw that, I literally had the urge to vomit. I had that urge for a while, actually. I just couldn't believe it!
Oh man, I can't believe we only have two weeks left here! That's crazy!
I scheduled the carpets and the chimney to be cleaned on the 27th and the house will be inspected on the 28th. We'll have one night in this house with basically nothing in it. That's okay though. Mark will go in to work on the 29th, come home in the afternoon, we'll pack those few items that had to wait till the very last minute, give the house one last look to make sure nothing is forgotten, and we'll be on our way to Florida!
We've decided that we're going to drive part of the way on the 29th, stay the night in a hotel somewhere, and finish the drive on the 30th. Mark has never driven a large moving truck before, and I don't want him to try to make the trip to Florida in one shot. Plus, I've never driven from NC to Florida - I've just been a passenger once - and I do not want to try to make that trip in one shot. The kids get antsy during the drive from NC to Ohio - and vice versa - so it will just be good for all of us to stay the night somewhere and kind of take our time. I really think that we will drive six or seven hours on the 29th so that we can still get to hotel at a decent time, and then leaving in the morning or afternoon on the 30th and arriving in Florida at a really good time. We're going to have to stay at a hotel on the 30th, and hopefully on the 1st in the afternoon, we will get to close on the house!! If we don't get to close on October 1, I may feel the urge to backhand some people. I'm just putting that out there.
If we can't close on October 1, we will just have to stay in a stupid hotel till we can close. The latest we will close is October 8. I sure hope we don't have to wait that long! If we do close on October 1, we will go straight from the office right over to the house and start unpacking stuff. [Cross your fingers, toes, legs, arms, eyes, everything! I want to close on October 1!!]
I think the boys are going to lose their minds when we move in to the house! They will not know what to do other than run around and scream. LOL. If you think I'm kidding, I am not. I will try to get video to prove it! HAHAHAHA.
Whenever we do close, I will go to Home Depot, Lowe's, or Sherwin Williams the day before and get some paint so I can immediately get to work when we move in. I think the first room I will paint is going to be the laundry room. We'll need to put the washer and dryer in there right away, and I do not want to have to go back at some point and take them out so I can paint the walls. It's a small room, so it won't take long to paint anyway. I may also get the paint for the master bathroom. I really want to paint that room! I can't wait to paint and decorate it!
These next two weeks are going to go by so fast!! And in that case, maybe I should get off of here and go pack some more stuff.
TWO WEEKS!!!!
Oh man, I can't believe we only have two weeks left here! That's crazy!
I scheduled the carpets and the chimney to be cleaned on the 27th and the house will be inspected on the 28th. We'll have one night in this house with basically nothing in it. That's okay though. Mark will go in to work on the 29th, come home in the afternoon, we'll pack those few items that had to wait till the very last minute, give the house one last look to make sure nothing is forgotten, and we'll be on our way to Florida!
We've decided that we're going to drive part of the way on the 29th, stay the night in a hotel somewhere, and finish the drive on the 30th. Mark has never driven a large moving truck before, and I don't want him to try to make the trip to Florida in one shot. Plus, I've never driven from NC to Florida - I've just been a passenger once - and I do not want to try to make that trip in one shot. The kids get antsy during the drive from NC to Ohio - and vice versa - so it will just be good for all of us to stay the night somewhere and kind of take our time. I really think that we will drive six or seven hours on the 29th so that we can still get to hotel at a decent time, and then leaving in the morning or afternoon on the 30th and arriving in Florida at a really good time. We're going to have to stay at a hotel on the 30th, and hopefully on the 1st in the afternoon, we will get to close on the house!! If we don't get to close on October 1, I may feel the urge to backhand some people. I'm just putting that out there.
If we can't close on October 1, we will just have to stay in a stupid hotel till we can close. The latest we will close is October 8. I sure hope we don't have to wait that long! If we do close on October 1, we will go straight from the office right over to the house and start unpacking stuff. [Cross your fingers, toes, legs, arms, eyes, everything! I want to close on October 1!!]
I think the boys are going to lose their minds when we move in to the house! They will not know what to do other than run around and scream. LOL. If you think I'm kidding, I am not. I will try to get video to prove it! HAHAHAHA.
Whenever we do close, I will go to Home Depot, Lowe's, or Sherwin Williams the day before and get some paint so I can immediately get to work when we move in. I think the first room I will paint is going to be the laundry room. We'll need to put the washer and dryer in there right away, and I do not want to have to go back at some point and take them out so I can paint the walls. It's a small room, so it won't take long to paint anyway. I may also get the paint for the master bathroom. I really want to paint that room! I can't wait to paint and decorate it!
These next two weeks are going to go by so fast!! And in that case, maybe I should get off of here and go pack some more stuff.
Our House: The Office
Since we have four bedrooms in our house, we have decided to turn one of the bedrooms into our office area. It's not a very large room, which is fine because what office needs to be massive? We're going to have to buy a desk for the room, and we're probably going to buy a computer because all we have right now is my laptop. I would really like to have an actual computer in our house instead of having to use my laptop for everything. I am always afraid that my laptop is going to crash on us, and I am going to be SOL with all of my school stuff. [Really, you have no idea how often and how bad I fear that my laptop is going to crash on me one day. I don't care if this laptop is a little over a year old, it gets used a lot and I get very nervous!]
I want to get a desk like this for the office:
I don't like the finish of it, but I like the style. I like the L shape because I prefer to have my pen and paper to the side of me when I'm on a computer and writing stuff down. Also, I just think that L-shaped desks look so much nicer than a regular desk.
Mark and I have decided to make the theme of the office Ohio State. We have so much Ohio State stuff and we're going to put it to use in our office. In the townhouse, the boys' room was all Ohio State stuff; and we've gotten so much Ohio State through the years. I don't know exactly what I am going to do with the wall color(s), but I will figure something out. I know people are probably thinking Paint the walls red. We already have at least one red room in the house, with another possible one. I am sure that I will figure out what to do though. I just don't want to get stuck with painting that room the same way I painted the boys' room in the townhouse because I wanted to throw every can of paint at the walls before it was over since it was just so tedious. Yeah, the boys' room looked amazing when I was done, but it was just too much for me due to total lack of help from Mark.
Having an office would be so beneficial for us! With me going to school, it would be so nice to have a space to do my schoolwork. Also, Mark's considering taking a few online classes. So it would be nice for him to have a space to do schoolwork, too. We'd also have an area to keep all of our files and whatnot. I hate having our files and stuff in our bedroom. I feel like it's invading our space. LOL. So having an office is going to be quite nice!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Our House: The Laundry Room
Oh, the laundry room. We finally have a laundry room! In base housing, our washer and dryer sat right next to the counter in the kitchen. In the townhouse, our washer and dryer were in a little closet in the kitchen. The only separation was the two bi-folding doors. In this house, our washer and dryer are in the garage. I am so happy that we actually have a laundry room!! Also, I really like that the laundry room is in between the garage and kitchen. It's going to be quite nice having that little separation between the garage and the kitchen.
Some people would probably not care what their laundry room looks like. I am not one of those people. I do care what my laundry room looks like! My laundry room is going to be a fun little space. Laundry can be a bit of drag, so by making the room interesting, I'm hoping that laundry won't suck as much. LOL.
The color I want to paint the laundry room is one of these two greens:
I am kind of feeling the green on the right because the one on the left is a bit too light for my liking. I feel that the green on the right will stand out more, too.
I want to replace the wire shelf with a wood shelf that is black. I think the green and black will go so well together. Not only do I want to put a black shelf in there, I want to get a black washer and black dryer. Mark and I have been talking about getting a new washer and dryer for a while, so why not get new ones now that we have a brand new home? I have already found what I want, too. I want to get the black, front loading washer and dryer. Of course, Energy Star rated is important!
I'm not sure if I really want to or not, but I have been thinking about maybe even painting the woodwork/baseboards in the laundry room black. I think it would look nicer if the woodwork/baseboards were black and not white. Hell, I'm even thinking about painting the doors black. LOL. I just think that white will look stupid and not allow the room to really stand out. I know, I know, I'm overthinking the laundry room; but I just don't want any room in my house to look stupid!
It may sound a bit odd, but I am really excited about the laundry room! I can't wait to paint it and get it all put together! It's going to be such a fun little room! I'm hoping that I enjoy doing laundry in there! LOL. I have a feeling I will enjoy it though.
Our House: The Kitchen
I love our kitchen! I love that we have an island, a pantry, and that it's open! Oh, we also have granite countertops! Love it! The appliances are stainless steel and Energy Star rated. The builder is also giving us a stainless steel refrigerator to match the rest of the appliances!! The refrigerator is Energy Star rated, too.
Mark and I are kind of going back and forth about the colors we want to paint the kitchen. We don't know if we should go with yellows or oranges. Mark wants the colors to be "in your face", but I don't want the walls to be "in your face". The color of the plant ledge can be "in your face", but not the walls. However, I don't want there to be an insanely dramatic difference between the walls and plant ledge. Then there's the part of me saying that yellows and oranges would not look right in the kitchen because of the countertops and the cabinets. I swear, it is going to be so difficult to figure out a color that Mark and I can agree on. It doesn't matter if I'm the one with a design major and if I've always been the artistic one [and Mark's complete lack of artistic abilities], Mark won't let me just pick out the colors on my own.
I can't wait to bake and cook in the kitchen! I love being in a nice kitchen because it makes me want to bake and cook often. I love to bake and cook as it is, but I love it even more when I'm in a nice kitchen.
All of the cabinets and the pantry will give me so much storage space for everything. I always feel like we never have enough room for all of my kitchen stuff, and that is why some of my stuff never even gets unpacked. When we moved into this house, I never unpacked about two large Rubbermaid boxes of kitchen stuff because we didn't have enough storage space in the kitchen. I couldn't even unpack some of our other kitchen stuff [coffee maker, George Foreman grill, etc.] because there wasn't enough counter space nor storage space in the cabinets. So all of the storage space in our new house is very nice!
I love our house! It's going to be so nice once I'm done decorating it! I hope that we have people over often because I feel like our house is just right for entertaining.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Our House: The Master Bathroom
Our master bathroom is going to be so much fun!! I can't wait to paint and decorate it! I am going to paint the room in a gumball red color and it will be in either a semi-gloss or hi-gloss finish!!!! Mark is all for it! I love it! So while the walls are red, the accents and such are going to be black. I am hoping to find two mirrors with black frames to use in place of the mirror that's on the wall. I feel that having individual mirrors will look better with what I am going for in the bathroom. I am going to use the same the shower curtain that we have in our main bathroom here [picture below].
The bathroom is going to have the Hollywood/movie theme. I love old Hollywood! It is so much fun and classy! Hollywood today is just dirty and fairly stupid, if you ask me.
Our bathroom has three closets. Yes, three closets! How awesome is that?! There are his and her walk-in closets, as well as a linens closet. I am going to take the shelves out of the closets and paint the walls the same color as the bathroom. I want to put nice shelves and stuff in the closets because I want the closets to look nice and not cheap. Also, I want the shelves and stuff to be black. I want them to match the accents in the bathroom.
The master bathroom is going to be amazing! I can't wait to work on it! This room is going to really stand out, and I am going to love every bit of it!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Our House: The Hallway & Family Room
When you first walk into out house, you will be in a hallway. If you take a few steps, on your left will be an "entrance" into another mini hallway where there are two bedrooms and the main bathroom. If you walk straight ahead, you will enter the family room, and to your right are the kitchen and dining area.
The family room is going to be neutral colors. Yes, you read that right, colors - plural. We are going to paint the walls in the family room and hallway a lighter brown, and the plant ledge that kind of separates the family room from the kitchen and dining area is going to be a bit darker because I want it to stand out. The plant ledge is such a major feature in the house, I don't want it to blend in with the rest of the room. I am also considering painting the plant ledge above the sliding glass doors the same color as the plant ledge that separates the rooms.
I am going to put vertical blinds and a raised valance above the sliding glass doors. Also, I am going to install a bar on the one side of the sliding glass doors so that the boys can't simply unlock the door and go outside whenever they want. We are going to eventually put a fence up around our yard, but I just don't want them going outside whenever they feel like it and I don't want anybody freely walking into our house that isn't supposed to.
I am probably going to put vertical blinds and a raised valance above the back window, too. The window and door are close to each other that I don't want them to look very different.
Mark and I want to put the TV on the outside wall, but we'll need to get a cable thing put on that wall. We are going to have our larger couch directly facing the TV, but there will be space behind the couch so that people can easily get to the back door without walking in front of people watching TV. Our other couch will be facing the kitchen, about a foot away from the back window. Our recliner will be opposite of the couch, but at an angle facing the TV. That's how our current furniture will be set up because we plan on getting new furniture at some point. I'd like to get furniture that's darker than the furniture we have now. Plus, the boys have slightly damaged the furniture we have now.
As for the decor, Mark and I haven't really talked much about it yet. I want the picture frames to have black frames though because I believe that black frames look so much better than anything else. Mark and I did find quite a few mighty large antique looking wall clocks when we were in Florida, and we are going to get one eventually. I have always wanted a large clock to hang on a wall.
I can't wait to move into our brand new house! I am beyond excited about it!! It is so perfect!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Back From Florida
On Monday morning, Mark and I packed our stuff in the car and left for Florida. It took us about 12-13 hours to get there. [It takes us about 12 hours to get back home in Ohio from here.] The drive was alright, but I did sleep a little bit. Mark said the drive was really boring and that he hated it.
So we got there Monday night, and Tuesday morning started the hunt for a house. We met with our realtor, Lyle, around 10:00 AM. We looked at 5 or 6 houses [one of them being a model home] on Tuesday. After we were done looking, our realtor took us to lunch and we talked about expanding the search to different areas in town, the price range, and other stuff. We liked the houses we saw on Tuesday, but nothing really grabbed our attention like we needed. So our realtor expanded the search, sent us some new houses in a link Tuesday night, and we were back out looking at houses Wednesday morning at 9:15. On Wednesday, we covered more ground in town. I think we even went outside of town to check out a house or two. We looked at about 5 or 6 houses on Wednesday. Just about all of the houses we looked at while we were searching were built by Henry Company Homes. I love their style of architecture/building and their floorplans are spectacular! As we were going to look at another one of their houses in a development, we passed a house that was just a little bit out of the price range we had set, but we decided to go look at it anyway because it was still a price that we would be more than capable of being able to pay for. Mark and I go in, check it out, and we just love it!! While we did love it, we still wanted to look around at other houses and see if we could find something else we loved even more. So we leave that house and head around the corner to the house we were heading to before. We got to the house, and it was really nice! Mark really liked it, I just liked it. After looking at the house for a little bit and talking with each other and our realtor, we decided to give our mortgage broker a call. We call Pati and she figured out how much money we'd be paying each month for everything so that we would have a clearer idea of what we want to do. Mark and I talked for a few minutes after we got off the phone with Pati. We didn't know if we should continue looking, go back to the last house that we fell in love with, or what. We then talk to our realtor and he suggests that we go back to the last house and see if it still has the effect on us like it did when we first saw it. So off to the house we go. Yep, it still had that same effect on me! And it did on Mark, too! We looked around again, trying to see if there was just that one thing that would change our minds. There wasn't. The house was perfect! Our realtor asks us if we want to move forward immediately, or if we wanted to sleep on it. Mark said he wanted to sleep on it, but I said that there would be no sleeping on my end because I'd be too busy planning what I want to do to the house. I told Mark he could sleep on it if he wanted, but after a little while, he changed his mind and decided to move forward. Lyle, our realtor, called the realtor that is managing the development and property. It took him about 30 minutes to get to the house. Once he got to the house, he explained the property in detail to us. It turns out that that particular house has so many features that other houses with the same floorplan do not have. Nice! After talking some more with the development/property manager and his brother, we were pretty much sold on the house! It was just too perfect to not have it for ourselves! So we went over to the model house where the office was, and we got the ball rolling. Mark signed papers, I wrote a check, and we discussed the house and the house buying process even more. About 30 minutes after we left the office, we were told that there was a SOLD sign in the front yard and that the house is ours!!!!
On Thursday afternoon, we had to go back to the house for the first walk-through with one of the builders, our realtor, and the development/property manager. We walked through the house and knit-picked it. Every little, and major, cosmetic defect was marked on the inside and the outside of the house. People are going to go back to the house and fix everything that was marked. It was kind of "buzz kill" going through the house and picking it apart, but it makes me happy that those problems will be fixed before we move into the house - and for free!
After we did the walk-through, we went to the development/property manager's office and took care of some more paperwork. Once we were finished with that, we went to our mortgage broker's office. Mark had a lot of paperwork to do while we were there, and I had a lot of paperwork to give our mortgage broker, Pati. Any worries Mark and I may have had, Pati reassured us everything would be great and that we are way more than capable of being able to pay for every little thing.
So everything is done on our side for now. Pati said she was going to rush to get everything done immediately so that we can close on October 1. The written date on our contract is October 8, but everyone is working to get everything done by October 1. How exciting! I can't believe that we may just leave here on September 30, and move into our brand new house the very next afternoon/evening!!!! I love it! I can't wait!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Rain Water
Have you ever given any thought about water? And I mean, really thought about it! I'm not talking "Oh, it tastes so good on a scorching hot day" or "I love to go swimming" or "A long, hot shower sounds really good right now". I'm not talking about that stuff. What I'm talking about is: Have you ever thought about how valuable of a resource water is?! Do you ever think: Am I wasting water? What would happen if my area goes through a drought? Have you ever had a real thought about water and how valuable it is?
We all take water for granted. There are countries that don't have access to water like we do in America. I think about what it would be like to be in another country where having water is like owning a million dollars here. Why do we take such a valuable, remarkable resource for granted?
I know I'm guilty for wasting water. I hate that I can be quite wasteful. I take long showers. I always have. I try to cut down on my showers, but there are times when my showers take much longer than they should. I only shave my legs every 2-3 days now so that I can take quicker showers. I now turn the water off while brushing my teeth and only turn the water on when I need it. I try not to let the kitchen sink run forever when I'm rinsing off dishes. I only wash a load of clothes every 2-3 days, which normally washes all of the clothes we've worn from the last wash to the current wash. I only run the dishwasher 3 times a week instead of every 24-36 hours. I am really trying to cut back on my water usage, as well as everyone's water usage in the house. We've been doing a pretty good job, if I say so myself.
However, while cutting back on how much water you use is good, there are other ways to make your water use even better. I mentioned in a previous blog the greywater recycling system. Why not reuse water in your house?! It gets filtered and treated before it's reused as the water to flush your toilet, and it saves you money in the long run - not to mention how great it is for our planet that you're reusing such a valuable source. How about taking advantage of rain water?! There are different ways you can take advantage of rain water. You can go small and collect the rain water from your gutters into a small barrel and use that water for your plants. Or you get a huge system and use the rain water for everything in your house - sinks, showers, toilets, etc. Sure, it can cost you many pretty pennies to get one of those huge systems and have it installed, but with tax rebates, you get about half of that money back and you save on water bills - as well as that invisible patch on your invisible sash/vest letting you know just how friendly you are to the environment.
Mark and I want to start small with collecting and using rain water. I found something online the other day that I would like to get and use.
You can get this at Home Depot, or on their Web site. They come in different sizes, too - 40 gallons, 60 gallons, and 80 gallons. You just hook it up to your gutter drain, and rain water will store in it rather than creating puddles and over watering your lawn or plants. You can later use that water for your lawn or plants when it's not raining instead of using water that will raise your water bill. Smart, huh? I think it is incredibly genius! There are so many other styles of these things, too. There are barrels, ones that look like flower pots with flowers in them, and so much more. I can't wait to buy some!
Hopefully, one day, Mark and I will get a huge rain water collection system and use it for all of our water needs. It would be nice to be off of the "water grid". I would also like to have a greywater recycling system so that we can reduce our water needs by reusing shower and sink water for toilet water.
I think everyone should sit back and look at how much water they use and evaluate how wasteful they are. While we have gotten better about not wasting so much water here, I know that we can still make improvements. There's always room for improvement. I just can't wait to own our own home and make it more eco-friendly. I know we will do such great things! And I know that you can do such great things, too, wherever you are!
We all take water for granted. There are countries that don't have access to water like we do in America. I think about what it would be like to be in another country where having water is like owning a million dollars here. Why do we take such a valuable, remarkable resource for granted?
I know I'm guilty for wasting water. I hate that I can be quite wasteful. I take long showers. I always have. I try to cut down on my showers, but there are times when my showers take much longer than they should. I only shave my legs every 2-3 days now so that I can take quicker showers. I now turn the water off while brushing my teeth and only turn the water on when I need it. I try not to let the kitchen sink run forever when I'm rinsing off dishes. I only wash a load of clothes every 2-3 days, which normally washes all of the clothes we've worn from the last wash to the current wash. I only run the dishwasher 3 times a week instead of every 24-36 hours. I am really trying to cut back on my water usage, as well as everyone's water usage in the house. We've been doing a pretty good job, if I say so myself.
However, while cutting back on how much water you use is good, there are other ways to make your water use even better. I mentioned in a previous blog the greywater recycling system. Why not reuse water in your house?! It gets filtered and treated before it's reused as the water to flush your toilet, and it saves you money in the long run - not to mention how great it is for our planet that you're reusing such a valuable source. How about taking advantage of rain water?! There are different ways you can take advantage of rain water. You can go small and collect the rain water from your gutters into a small barrel and use that water for your plants. Or you get a huge system and use the rain water for everything in your house - sinks, showers, toilets, etc. Sure, it can cost you many pretty pennies to get one of those huge systems and have it installed, but with tax rebates, you get about half of that money back and you save on water bills - as well as that invisible patch on your invisible sash/vest letting you know just how friendly you are to the environment.
Mark and I want to start small with collecting and using rain water. I found something online the other day that I would like to get and use.
You can get this at Home Depot, or on their Web site. They come in different sizes, too - 40 gallons, 60 gallons, and 80 gallons. You just hook it up to your gutter drain, and rain water will store in it rather than creating puddles and over watering your lawn or plants. You can later use that water for your lawn or plants when it's not raining instead of using water that will raise your water bill. Smart, huh? I think it is incredibly genius! There are so many other styles of these things, too. There are barrels, ones that look like flower pots with flowers in them, and so much more. I can't wait to buy some!
Hopefully, one day, Mark and I will get a huge rain water collection system and use it for all of our water needs. It would be nice to be off of the "water grid". I would also like to have a greywater recycling system so that we can reduce our water needs by reusing shower and sink water for toilet water.
I think everyone should sit back and look at how much water they use and evaluate how wasteful they are. While we have gotten better about not wasting so much water here, I know that we can still make improvements. There's always room for improvement. I just can't wait to own our own home and make it more eco-friendly. I know we will do such great things! And I know that you can do such great things, too, wherever you are!
House Update
Monday was such a crappy and fantastic day.
When Mark left for work, he woke me up to tell me he was leaving. That was about 5:00 AM - an hour and a half before my alarm goes off. Of course, I couldn't fall back asleep. No matter how long I kept my eyes closed and no matter how many deep breaths I took, I just couldn't fall asleep. [I learned about a year ago that I can normally fall asleep pretty easily if I just take some deep breaths while my eyes are closed. Who knew falling asleep was so simple?! I love it!] Since I couldn't fall back asleep, I decided to go in the family room and watch a documentary I recorded Sunday night, "The Cove". Oh man, less than five minutes into it, I was crying. Trust me, "The Cove" is one documentary EVERYONE has to see! It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2009 - and I remember watching when it won. Seriously though, WATCH IT!! And when you do watch it, make sure you have tissues with you because only a heartless, self-centered person with their head up their butt wouldn't cry. The kids woke up about the same time the documentary was over, so I made them breakfast and we sat around for a little bit.
Once the boys were wide awake and wanted to run around, the day had really begun. I eventually get online and get to work on the housing situation for us in Florida and then the mortgage broker I talked to last Friday called me. As if I wasn't stressed enough about trying to find a house to buy down there, this guy made me even more stressed. He made me feel like Mark and I shouldn't even try to buy a home. He made me feel like we were making the biggest mistake of our lives! Are you serious?! I know we aren't rolling in money, dude, but we aren't poor either! Our monthly rent here is $900, our water and electric bills together are any where from $150-$225 a month, and we never make late payments on anything! I just didn't understand why this guy was making me feel like buying a house was such a horrible idea. I had my own worries already, but this guy just made me worry even more about stuff I wasn't worried about! I was worried we wouldn't find the right house and have it in our possession in the right amount of time, finding the right mortgage/loan, about renting/selling the house in 3-4 years when it's time for us move, and stuff like that. After I got off the phone with him, I called the one realtor I have been talking to for the last week or two, and she didn't answer her phone, so I talked to some other people in the office. [The woman didn't even call me back till Tuesday afternoon! I know you're busy, lady, but you didn't return my call for over 24 hours?!] So after that miserable morning, I just sat on the couch and I cried. I cried hard. I called my mom, and while she was trying to be nice about it, she said, "Maybe you guys just shouldn't buy a house right now." I feel bad because I got snippy with her after she said that. That's not what I want to hear! We can buy a house! I knew in my mind and in my heart that we are capable of buying a house and making every payment necessary. I just knew it! After the phone call with my mom, I began crying again. Ugh. Ridiculous.
After a while of sitting around and moping and playing with the kids and getting them lunch, I got back online and asked a friend of mine in Pensacola if she could recommend a realtor because she and her husband bought a house not even a year ago down there. She told me about her realtor and said how great he is, gave me his contact information, and said that he'll find whatever it is we want real fast and he's not pushy. I gave him a call. Oh, what a breath of fresh air that phone call was! We talked for a little bit, he asked what we were looking for in a house and all that good stuff, but I couldn't tell him a price range because I wasn't sure of one since the last mortgage broker I spoke to made me feel like we weren't ready to buy a house. Since I didn't know a price range, he set me up with a mortgage broker at the mortgage company his realty company works with. He gave the mortgage broker my information, and soon after I got off the phone with him, the mortgage broker gave me a call. As if Lyle [the realtor] didn't make things better for me and calm my nerves some, Pati [the mortgage broker] made me feel like everything we're doing is perfectly right! She pulled up Mark's credit information and credit score, and she told me how excellent his credit is [all thanks to me because I'm the one who makes sure every bill is paid on time or paid off way in advance] and that we could even buy a house for a lot of money [as long as we could make the monthly payments]. I cannot even tell you how happy I was after talking to Lyle and Pati! They made me feel so much better about us wanting to buy a house! They reassured me that buying a house was more than okay for us and that it is the right thing to do!
After talking to Pati and then talking to Mark, I let Lyle know of our price range. Shortly after I got off the phone with Lyle again, I got an e-mail with a nice, long list of brand new houses in the area that are for sale. Mark and I looked through them, and we really liked them! I got back to Lyle and let him know, and we should be checking them out next week! I am so excited! Mark's excited, too! Now that everything has turned around and is in our favor, Mark's excited to go find a house to buy!
Oh, and to make things so much better, because we're looking at brand-spanking-new houses, Lyle and Pati said that if we start the process of purchasing one next week, we could own a house within the next 2-4 weeks! Since the houses are new, the VA Loan people won't drag their feet and make ridiculous "complaints" about the house, so they'll approve the loan right away. And Lyle and Pati said that we'll be able to make a great offer on a house and it probably shouldn't be turned down. They basically assured me that everything should work out great for us! I sure hope they're right! I don't want to be renting forever.
When Mark left for work, he woke me up to tell me he was leaving. That was about 5:00 AM - an hour and a half before my alarm goes off. Of course, I couldn't fall back asleep. No matter how long I kept my eyes closed and no matter how many deep breaths I took, I just couldn't fall asleep. [I learned about a year ago that I can normally fall asleep pretty easily if I just take some deep breaths while my eyes are closed. Who knew falling asleep was so simple?! I love it!] Since I couldn't fall back asleep, I decided to go in the family room and watch a documentary I recorded Sunday night, "The Cove". Oh man, less than five minutes into it, I was crying. Trust me, "The Cove" is one documentary EVERYONE has to see! It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2009 - and I remember watching when it won. Seriously though, WATCH IT!! And when you do watch it, make sure you have tissues with you because only a heartless, self-centered person with their head up their butt wouldn't cry. The kids woke up about the same time the documentary was over, so I made them breakfast and we sat around for a little bit.
Once the boys were wide awake and wanted to run around, the day had really begun. I eventually get online and get to work on the housing situation for us in Florida and then the mortgage broker I talked to last Friday called me. As if I wasn't stressed enough about trying to find a house to buy down there, this guy made me even more stressed. He made me feel like Mark and I shouldn't even try to buy a home. He made me feel like we were making the biggest mistake of our lives! Are you serious?! I know we aren't rolling in money, dude, but we aren't poor either! Our monthly rent here is $900, our water and electric bills together are any where from $150-$225 a month, and we never make late payments on anything! I just didn't understand why this guy was making me feel like buying a house was such a horrible idea. I had my own worries already, but this guy just made me worry even more about stuff I wasn't worried about! I was worried we wouldn't find the right house and have it in our possession in the right amount of time, finding the right mortgage/loan, about renting/selling the house in 3-4 years when it's time for us move, and stuff like that. After I got off the phone with him, I called the one realtor I have been talking to for the last week or two, and she didn't answer her phone, so I talked to some other people in the office. [The woman didn't even call me back till Tuesday afternoon! I know you're busy, lady, but you didn't return my call for over 24 hours?!] So after that miserable morning, I just sat on the couch and I cried. I cried hard. I called my mom, and while she was trying to be nice about it, she said, "Maybe you guys just shouldn't buy a house right now." I feel bad because I got snippy with her after she said that. That's not what I want to hear! We can buy a house! I knew in my mind and in my heart that we are capable of buying a house and making every payment necessary. I just knew it! After the phone call with my mom, I began crying again. Ugh. Ridiculous.
After a while of sitting around and moping and playing with the kids and getting them lunch, I got back online and asked a friend of mine in Pensacola if she could recommend a realtor because she and her husband bought a house not even a year ago down there. She told me about her realtor and said how great he is, gave me his contact information, and said that he'll find whatever it is we want real fast and he's not pushy. I gave him a call. Oh, what a breath of fresh air that phone call was! We talked for a little bit, he asked what we were looking for in a house and all that good stuff, but I couldn't tell him a price range because I wasn't sure of one since the last mortgage broker I spoke to made me feel like we weren't ready to buy a house. Since I didn't know a price range, he set me up with a mortgage broker at the mortgage company his realty company works with. He gave the mortgage broker my information, and soon after I got off the phone with him, the mortgage broker gave me a call. As if Lyle [the realtor] didn't make things better for me and calm my nerves some, Pati [the mortgage broker] made me feel like everything we're doing is perfectly right! She pulled up Mark's credit information and credit score, and she told me how excellent his credit is [all thanks to me because I'm the one who makes sure every bill is paid on time or paid off way in advance] and that we could even buy a house for a lot of money [as long as we could make the monthly payments]. I cannot even tell you how happy I was after talking to Lyle and Pati! They made me feel so much better about us wanting to buy a house! They reassured me that buying a house was more than okay for us and that it is the right thing to do!
After talking to Pati and then talking to Mark, I let Lyle know of our price range. Shortly after I got off the phone with Lyle again, I got an e-mail with a nice, long list of brand new houses in the area that are for sale. Mark and I looked through them, and we really liked them! I got back to Lyle and let him know, and we should be checking them out next week! I am so excited! Mark's excited, too! Now that everything has turned around and is in our favor, Mark's excited to go find a house to buy!
Oh, and to make things so much better, because we're looking at brand-spanking-new houses, Lyle and Pati said that if we start the process of purchasing one next week, we could own a house within the next 2-4 weeks! Since the houses are new, the VA Loan people won't drag their feet and make ridiculous "complaints" about the house, so they'll approve the loan right away. And Lyle and Pati said that we'll be able to make a great offer on a house and it probably shouldn't be turned down. They basically assured me that everything should work out great for us! I sure hope they're right! I don't want to be renting forever.
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