Monday, July 28, 2008

Almost Debt-Free

With the selling of our condo, we were able to take the proceeds and pay off both of our vehicles. It's such a nice feeling, really, and I know we're VERY fortunate and very very lucky we made a great decision when we bought the condo. We are hoping the same fortune shines on us on our new house :)

Speaking of our new house - here's a picture of the front!



Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of the interior and the ones that were posted online for the listing have subsequently been taken down (but they were uggo anyways) so you'll just have to wait. It's a twinhouse/townhome/duplex - whatever you want to call it.

3 bed
1.5 bath
1525 sq ft
AND a two-car garage.

It's in a GREAT neighborhood, which incidentally ended up being the swaying factor, and in a cul-de-sac. Double bonus.

It seems all the door/baseboard/trim out there is natural wood, so painting it white will probably be one of my on-going projects. Other than that, two of the rooms are a vibrant (in-a-bad-way) green, with most of the others being an off-white. We have a LOT of painting to do!

One awesome thing is my new office. I'll be working from home and there's a loft area at the top of the stairs that will be perfect for me to shut myself in and dedicate working hours to work. I'm thinking I need a pink desk and chair...

More updates to come.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Moving

We're in the process of moving and currently homeless, so I'll do an update sometime in the next week before we shove off to Kansas.

Cheerio!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Kansas - Little Critters and the HeebieJeebies

Waking up at 4am after finally falling asleep at 12:30am isn't my idea of a fun Saturday morning activity, BUT, we had a 6:30 flight to catch and with all the driving and things we had to do, only option. So now it's 9:30 (well...it's 10:30 here in KS) and we just spent 5.5 hours looking at the most down and out houses in and around our new territory.

Critters everywhere. There are the cutest little cottontail bunnies hip-hopping across the street and in and out of this bush or that. REALLY adorable. See?



And FIREFLIES! The first time I ever saw a firefly was in Pennsylvania, right after Ryan and I were married. They're possibly the coolest bug I've ever seen.

Seriously, if you haven't seen them before, you'll think it's the coolest thing when you finally have the opportunity.

So, we looked at tons of houses, as I mentioned, cuz, ya know, that's what this whole trip is about. We looked at about 20 houses. Some of these were bad. BAD. The worst was a foreclosure that had a cute layout, really good bones and structure, but the bonehead to lived there (was kicked out from there) lived in filth. Serious, ridiculous (think of the dirtiest word you can) filth. Based on the looks of the carpet there was a dog using all three bedrooms as a personal bathroom. The laminate floor was installed incorrectly and it reeked of cigarette smoke. It would be a total remodel.

The best part about above house is when Ryan and I got into our realtor's car and he stated, "oh, crap. I think we all just got FLEAS." Yes, fleas. He knows because he lived in Portugal and had them for about a year. So, of course, I hop out of the car and my long pant legs and shoes are swarming with hopping little buggers. EWEWEWEWEW. Just typing it again is making my body shiver and I'm mentally making my legs feel the creepy crawlies. So I de-flead him, he de-flead me and I think some of the residents of this otherwise charming town probably saw my religion as I pulled my pants down in the driveway and made Ryan check my butt for any remaining sickos.

I'm still not over it and it's been 4 hours. I don't know if I'll get over it. Welcome to life in Kansas, huh? I was hosting a flea circus, apparently!

I changed my tune after seeing all the old, one-time charming houses. It's really a shame that they've fallen into such disrepair, but I'm not the gal to fix them up at this point in life. So, the search continues. We have 2.5 days to find a house we like and make an offer on it.

Wish us luck and a flea-free trip!

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

thank you thank you thank you

As made obvious by the title, I wanted to express my gratitude to everyone who came by on Saturday and hung out and was able to find a schnazzy pair of new kicks. I had a lot of fun just hanging out with people and I hope you all know how much I appreciate your friendships. That said, WE'RE MOVING IN NINE DAYS!

Yes, I'm a little excited, and I'm very nervous about finding a house in 4 days (that's how long we'll be in Kansas to look) and starting our transition.

Here are some beautiful flowers to share. Well, okay, they were beautiful a few days ago. I went to the florist on Friday afternoon and hand-picked this bunch. Being so expensive, you would think they'd last longer than what...4 days? I'm going to call them tomorrow to see if they have any kind of guarantee, because honestly, they're not cutting the mustard. I already had to toss one of the gerberas and the stocks are brown and crispy, not to mention droopy daisies :( The only ones that have improved are the ranunculus.



On a happier note, I passed on peonies at said florist because they were $9/stem. Out of my price range. When I went to Costco this afternoon to get my Clomid prescription, I saw they had peonies priced as their growers bunch: $9 for 5 gorgeous blooms. See for yourself!