Finalized

It's a go. The last inspection on the house is done. It's going to cost $2000 to fix, but the seller's are going to cut us a check to cover it at closing. That way, we can get it done and the warranty will be in our name. Yay!!!

Closing is a week from Friday. We get possession two weeks from Friday. C.R.A.Z.Y. I picked up a bunch of packing boxes from work and will be spending most of my upcoming free time packing... aside from the holiday eating, Christmas tree cutting, and family/friend time. Thanks for all the well wishes through this process!!!

Update on the house

Well, we're still waiting. Inspections went fairly well, but there was something found toward the end that we weren't crazy about. We got the sellers to agree to pay for a specialist to come look at it (it would have cost us $400), which is happening tomorrow. Depending on the results, we may or may not walk away from this house.

We're disappointed for sure, but if this doesn't work out, we'll just keep looking.

Photos and Color - fun way to waste time :)

I love color. Always have. I also love pictures. So, yesterday, reading one of my favorite blogs (This Young House) I saw their post about the new Multicolor Search Lab and I found myself quite entertained. You select a color, and it pulls a bunch of different pictures from Flickr that are the selected color. Then you can add another color, and another color (up to 10, I think) and it pulls pictures with those colors. Go play around with it - it's fun! Here is an example of one I tried.

First, I selected blue:

Then, I added green:
And finally, some yellow:

Trees

One of my requirements in the house hunting process was that our yard would have lots of trees. For the majority of my life, I've lived surrounded by trees. My childhood home was right night to a nature center and had a crick running through the backyard. My parents current home is on 3.5 acres and has over 100 trees on the property. I could never live in a clear-cut development where you can look right through your backyard into your neighbors house. I need shade. I need privacy.

One of the things I love about this house is the yard. It has nice open green space, but plenty of trees. Although there are houses behind us, we can't really see them (well, maybe in the winter). And although it may mean lot of raking, at least we'll have our own private place for our kids to play. Here are some pictures of the yard:

Looking out the window

The shed and hot tub (yes, hot tub!)

Right side of shed - we plan to make a dog run in this corner

Not Much to Report... and a little preview

This past weekend was wonderful. Friday night was spent at dinner and playing games with friends. Saturday I woke up, and honestly didn't know what to do with myself. I had NOTHING that I HAD to do. I enjoyed a lazy morning, made some chicken and rice soup and brownies... and other than that, I can't really remember what I did all afternoon. I haven't had a Saturday like that in awhile.

This week is a little busy at work, but we have a fairly open weekend. Inspections on the house are Saturday morning - pray they go well! I wandered around Pier 1 tonight looking for ideas, but wouldn't let myself buy anything until inspections are done. Sorry for the bad picture (it was getting dark, and I just had the P&S along), but here is a little preview of our home:

We Have a House!!!

We put an offer in on a house on Monday, and have been going back and forth since then. This morning, we agreed on a price!!! Plus, rates dropped below 6%, which is wonderful. Hopefully everything will go smoothly with inspections, etc, and we'll move in mid-December! I can't wait to post pictures, but am going to wait until things are finalized - I don't want to jinx anything.

The house is in Wyoming - Burlingame and 44th area. It will be so nice for Ben to have a shorter drive to work everyday. I AM SO E.X.C.I.T.E.D!!!!

Another Year Older

Another birthday gone by... another year older. I don't feel older (yet), but I am officially now in my upper 20s. When I was young, I imagined I'd be married at 21, which means I'd probably have a few kids by now - crazy! I really like my life and where we're at, though. Some day (hopefully) we'll have kids, but for now, we're having a great time just the two of us.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. For awhile, nothing too exciting was going on, and then this past week was crazy-busy. We've still be looking at houses and found one we really like this weekend. We're going to look at again tomorrow and then might be putting an offer in within a week or so. I'm taking my camera, so if our offer is accepted, etc, I'll definitely post pictures.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. I'm blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful friends and family! Happy Birthday to my Uncle Karl as well! I was born on his 16th birthday - can you imagine a better birthday present? :P