Home Inspection!

We had our inspection yesterday afternoon! I was SO worried that there would be something HUGE that we couldn't see that could be a deal breaker. Something like mold. Luckily there wasn't. I was very relieved. We really liked our inspector. He explained everything very well and he gave us a binder to keep for the house. It has checklists of things we should do seasonally and all sorts of other helpful things. There's also a DVD with instructions for common home repairs. Some of the things in the binder are things I would have never thought of, so I'm really glad he gave it to us.

Anyway, the inspection went well overall. The inspector noticed that the master bathroom didn't have a door hung. We've been in the house 3 times & no one had noticed! The sprinkler system has been recalled so we'll need to replace that. The biggie was that the heat pump isn't working properly. We don't know right now if it just needs to be serviced or if it needs to be replaced. Obviously, we're hoping it just needs to be serviced. We're planning to have to replace it though. We like to plan for the worst & hope for the best. If we have to replace it, it could cost several thousand dollars. That could be my appliances! Everything else were minor things that will either cost a little here & there to fix (or free, because my dad can do it) or that we already knew about. 

If this was a normal sale, we would just have the seller fix things or lower our offer. Since this is a foreclosure, we'll be fixing everything. The inspection was more for our information. 

Our appraisal is next, then we wait for more papers to sigh basically. We close in just 20 days!

Giveaway Winner!

My first giveaway winner was Kim! (Anna, I entered you anyway, it's really no fun drawing 2 names ;-) ) I may be having more in the future, it depends on how this thing goes. 

So, Kim, I'll be contacting you soon :-)

 

 We've only had Bailey for 4 days & I already love being her mommy! She's such an adorable puppy! She's still very young so she naps a lot. I'm very thankful for those naps right now :-) We're learning her habits & she's testing us to see how much she can get away with. I'll tell you more about her :-)

She is doing much better in the crate than we expected. She doesn't whine much at all when we put her in it. She sleeps all night (We're SOOO thankful for this!). She does not like it when we leave her. We have left her twice for about an hour or so. Both times she got mad & peed on her bed. I know she did it on purpose because we took her out before we left. Obviously, I was very worried about leaving her all day while we were at work. We closed off an area just outside her crate for a potty pad. We didn't think she would be able to hold it all day & we thought it would give her some space outside her crate. 

We made sure we left time to play with her & take her for a decent walk before we left. We knew she would be ready for a nap if we played with her for a good 45 minutes or so. We woke up an hour early and this was plenty of time for us. She was ready to nap by the time we put her in her crate.

I decided to put everything valuable out of her reach just in case she turns out to be an escape artist. Turns out, I was right. We came home & she was under the bed, barking until she came out & saw Josh. She was so excited for us to come home :-) We took her out immediately & took her to the dog park for a little bit. She did really well on the walk. When we got back I went to the bedroom to inspect, knowing I was going to find a huge pile of poop under the bed & a hole chewed through a piece of furniture. She held it ALL day & she didn't mess anything up! We have no way of knowing for sure how long she was roaming the bedroom. When she escaped , she couldn't get back in so she left behind all her food, toys & water. We got a timed feeder so she could have lunch at a decent time. All the food was still there so we know she was out of the crate for at least 2 hours. All her peanut butter was still in her Kong so I don't think she was in her crate more than a few hours after she woke up from her nap.

We were both so proud of her! She definitely has her faults though :-) She's pretty good on the leash but she does pull some when we're making our way back home, but we're working on that.

Her biggest problems are potty accidents & nipping/biting/chewing. We know she's capable of holding it, but sometimes when we take her out, she'll come in & squat on the floor like 30 minutes after we get in. She also likes to bite us when she wants to play. She loves chewing on the living room rug and any rag she can find. Luckily, she doesn't mess with shoes much. It's a work in progress :-) 

Here are a few pictures:

 

 This is one of her many naps. She likes to sleep on her back

You can see her hernia in this one :-/ Overlook the date stamp. I didn't realize my mom had it on. I will eventually (maybe) Photoshop them out. I just don't feel like it right now. 

 She really likes her Kong...but her favorite toy is the hedgehog to her right. I picked it because it was cute & it made a really cool noise. It no longer makes the noise :-/

 One of my favorites 

 Another one of my favorites. I'll definitely Photoshop her leash & date out of this one.

Happy Easter!!!

Yesterday, we celebrated Easter with my family. We were worried that we would have to hunt eggs in our apartment because it was so rainy. Luckily, it cleared up and the afternoon was absolutely beautiful. We went to a park near our apartment to hide eggs and to let Natalia and Bailey play. 

 This is Bailey watching Natalia practice her balance.

 Natalia was SO excited to get outside and play.

After Natalia played for a while she hunted for eggs. Bailey kept trying to get them out of her basket. 

 Bailey found the lucky egg! It was so funny. She picked it up and ran off with it.

 Going for another one. 

 Natalia wanted to take tons of family photos.

 There was a birthday party going on at the park. The little boy in the middle of this pic was turning 2. At one point he leaned down and kissed her. It was so adorable. 

 Me with Daddy, Natalia took this one.

Me, my mom & her boyfriend. 

Our First House!

We’re SO excited! Remember the last house I posted about, we just went under contract! As long as the inspection and everything go well, we're good to go! The inspection should happen next week so I'll have more updates then :-) We were starting to think we were going to have to do a month to month lease at our apartment. I’m SO glad we don’t have to because the monthly rent is CRAZY expensive.

So, since it’s official I’ll tell you a little about our house. It’s a 3 bedroom inside townhome. There are 3 levels and a garage with a long driveway (SCORE...SO glad we won’t have to scrape all the ice & snow off the car next Winter!) All the carpet is new...this is good and bad. It’s good because it’s new...of course. It’s bad because I wouldn’t have picked carpet, but I can’t justify ripping up perfectly good carpet to replace it with wood. The same goes for the kitchen floor...it’s linoleum. I would have picked wood or tile...but I hate to rip up a brand new floor. We may end up replacing the kitchen floor within a year or so, but the carpet will stay until it is worn or we’re ready to sell.

There is a little bit of a yard but it’s not fenced in yet. We’ll probably get around to doing that next summer. We’ll also need to build a deck off the dining room (on the 2nd level). Putting up a fence & deck is very expensive up here. On top of materials & labor you have to pay for permits & get it approved by the HOA. I think it’s going to be a pain. I’m used to my dad just throwing up a new deck or something whenever he wants. I guess that’s one of the advantages of living in the country. For now, there’s a patio off the den on the first level. That will be just fine for us. We have a little bit of space for a small garden so I’m really excited about that!

There really aren’t many changes we’ll make right away. We have to get a washer & dryer. I think we’ll probably wait a few months to get our new appliances. I want to wait until we save enough money to get all of them at one time. I think having half new stainless/half old white appliances will drive me insane. We’ve had old crappy appliances in our apartment, I can wait a few months to get the ones I want :-). That will also give us plenty of time to do some research to find the best appliances for us.

I’ll be sure to take my camera when we have our inspection. I’ll post more pictures then :-)Here are a few from the main floor.

 This is the view of the living room from the stairs

 This is the dining area...we might just use this as an extended portion of the living room since there's another dining area off the kitchen.

The dining area from another angle. This is facing the kitchen. I love how open it is. I do not love that fan. It has to go ASAP.

Our settlement date is May 20. I can’t wait but I know time is going to fly by. We've been working so hard to make this happen...now it's finally becoming a reality! This is going to be a really busy month but I’m really looking forward to this new adventure!

No Self Control!

Spring is here and Summer will be here before I know it. Like everybody else, I’m trying to get in shape. Not only so I can fit in my clothes from last summer, but because I want to be healthy too. I’m not a big runner but I try to be. I force myself to run. I know it’s some of the best exercise I can get. Lately I’ve been pretty good about running. Josh and I go in the evenings after work a few days a week. On Thursdays he plays Ultimate Frisbee and I run by myself. We have had wonderful running weather for the past 2 weeks or so, so it’s actually been slightly enjoyable. We had a really good run yesterday, probably the best I’ve had in a long time. The downside to running outside is I have no idea how fast I’m running or how far I’ve gone. I don’t really care about the specifics, but I would like to know how I’m progressing.

As far as eating, I’m doing horrible. I do just fine at home. We have a lot of carbs because we’ve been on a tight budget since we’ve been saving for the house. Pasta & potatoes are cheap and they’re some of my favorite food anyway...so we’ve been eating a lot of that. Work is another story. When we have clients, we get food. This food is usually delicious, fattening, junk food. Today, I had 2 doughnuts. Yesterday, I had a piece and a half of baklava. I probably would have eaten more if there would have been more to go around. I have NO self control. I still have a little bit of college kid in me. I don’t think I’m capable of turning down free food. It also sits in my office/kitchen all day, so I have to stare at it while I work. When I get hungry, what do I go for? I don’t go for any of my leftovers I brought for lunch. Nope, I grab a doughnut. I really want to eat healthy...why can’t carrots taste like chocolate?

I want to live a long, healthy life. I know eating healthier and exercising regularly is a big part of accomplishing that. But sitting on the couch watching an entire season of Prison Break in one weekend while binging on Oreos is so much more fun. (Yes...I actually did that...quite recently actually.) Oh well...I ran yesterday...and hopefully I’ll run tomorrow...we’re taking baby steps here ;-)

Easter!

I mentioned in a previous post that my parents are coming to visit for Easter. I’m really excited for them to come. We haven’t had any visitors since November! People quit coming to visit us once it got cold. haha. Anyway, I thought last Easter would likely be the last Easter I got to spend with my family since it’s not a holiday we would home for. I thought Josh and I would just go to Church and maybe I would make a special meal or something. This will be the first holiday we get to celebrate in our apartment with our family! Unfortunately my sister has to work and won’t be able to make it. My dad, niece, mom and her boyfriend will be coming. (Yes, my family still celebrates holidays together even though my parents are divorced. A little weird I guess, but I’m still thankful for it.)

My parents are planning on leaving tomorrow after work. That way they will be here all day Friday & Saturday :-) It’s supposed to rain both days though :-/  We’re going to do the Easter egg hunt for Natalia and dinner on Saturday so my everyone can get home at a decent time on Sunday. I’m still scrambling to get a menu together (we haven’t been planning this very long). Here is a tentative menu:

Ham

Potato Salad OR Twice Baked Potatoes

Grilled Asparagus

Carrots (not sure if I’m going to go sweet or savory with these yet)

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

For dessert I’m pretty sure I’m going to go with banana pudding. YUM!

We may do a second dessert...maybe something chocolate...I’m not sure yet.

Maybe we can make Easter at our place a tradition :-)

I’m also very excited because Bailey will be coming home! She had her 8 week checkup today. She weighs just over 11 lbs. She is doing well...almost all of her worms are gone. She’s doing better in the car and on the leash. She does pretty well with whining to go out to potty. My dad doesn’t have any carpet and we have almost all carpet...I’m curious to see how she reacts to it. Hopefully it won’t matter. I’m mostly worried about the crate. She doesn’t like for her door to be shut on her crate at all. My dad lets her sleep on a pillow beside her bed and she has accidents during the nights sometimes. That isn’t an option in our house, she will have to learn to sleep in her crate...with the door shut. Hopefully we won’t lose more than a few nights of sleep over this. :-/

I’m still waiting on nail clippers and her name tag to come in (I ordered them online). Other than that, we have everything we need. We just need to put away a few things that are not puppy friendly and we’re good to go.

Pretty Shiny Things!

When I was planning our wedding I decided I wanted to do as much as I could to personalize it. I decided I would make the jewelry for my bridesmaids. I made simple pearl necklaces and earrings. I really enjoyed making them. Jewelry making kind of turned into a hobby after that and I've been doing it since then. It's something I can do on my own time that kind of just clears my head from all the day to day antics. I decided to start an Etsy shop. If you don't know about Etsy, definitely check it out. You can find all sorts of handmade items there. Anyway, you should check my shop out :-) You can find it here.

Just because I'm having a pretty awesome week and I'm in a great mood, I'm gonna give one of my items away! To enter, just leave a comment telling me which of my items is your favorite...if you hate all of it, just leave a suggestion :-) I'll choose a comment at random in a week. The deadline is next Tuesday at 11:59 pm. The winner gets to choose any single item valued at $10 or less.

Big Changes & Old Memories

Josh and I are getting really excited about Bailey coming home this weekend. I absolutely love puppies. I do love our quite weekends too though. We've got some big changes coming our way fast! It's been about 7 years since I've gone through the whole puppy thing. I know exactly what I'm getting myself into.

Last night, (while puppy proofing the apartment) I came across a ton of old pictures. I found some of Kila when she was a puppy. It's hard to believe she used to be that small! She doesn't look like she could do a lot of damage. That's very misleading. She has destroyed numerous toothbrushes, razors, a couch, Christmas ornaments, more flip flops than I can count, a bathroom cabinet, door jams...pretty much anything. She used to actually jump on the bathroom counters to find things to chew. Luckily now I'm a lot more prepared. I know to provide Bailey with tons of toys...if I don't, she'll make her own. She already likes my dad's couch. Anyway...some pictures of Kila from '07. She was a 4th of July puppy :-) These were taken right after she came home so she's probably about 6 weeks old or so. Notice my senior t-shirt from high school. That's how long it's been since I've had a puppy!


I wish I could bring her home with me :-/...and that she was still this small.

But I know I will love Bailey just as much. I'll give you a few updates on her. She has had her first bath and she actually really liked it. She is fine with riding now. She still likes her crate...just not with the door closed. She gets away with having her crate door open during the night at my dad's, but that won't happen here! She is really good about whining to go out to the bathroom. She loves my niece. She is doing well with learning to walk on the leash. From what my dad has told me our biggest struggle is going to be getting her to stop whining while she's locked in her crate and keeping her from chewing up our entire apartment. She'll be going to the vet Wednesday for her booster.

We have pretty much everything we need for her. We ordered a few things online (including her name tag) that we're waiting on. We just need to get her a red collar. She wears a purple one my mom let us borrow. My niece told me we have to do something about that and get her a red one :-) 5 days to go!

The House Rollercoaster

This whole house thing has been a whole mix of emotions for us. It's been super exciting, scary, stressful, fun, annoying, tiring...you name it, we've probably felt it. We put an offer in on the house I posted about a while back. We couldn't come to an agreement with the sellers so we just decided to walk away. At first I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do but I'm so glad we did now. It was a pretty annoying situation at first but now I'm so glad we didn't go for it. I'm a very emotional person and it's not always a good thing. Luckily, I'm married to a very logical man. We talked about how much faster we could reach our goals if our mortgage was a few hundred dollars lower. I decided to ignore my heart and go with my brain when Josh asked me what I wanted to do.

We went to look at houses again on Friday and we found one we love! The appliances need updating and there a few minor things we want to do but it's move in ready. There's nothing that needs to be done now. We will need to fence in the (very small) yard and we want to build a deck eventually. There's a patio already so we would have an outdoor area to begin with. Anyway...we put an offer in today! I'm over getting attached to homes. I'll be extremely happy if we end up in this house, but I'll be fine if we don't...I know we'll end up right where we're meant to be :-)

I don't want to post too many pictures now...it's part of the not getting attached to the house thing ;-) But here are a couple teasers.

I'll obviously want to make some changes in the kitchen but I really like the layout.

If you were to come visit us...this is where you would stay :-)

Our Family is Growing!

And no...we're not having one of those baby things ;-). Not any time soon anyway. Remember the puppy I posted about last week? My daddy caught her! He found her yesterday and my mom took her to the vet today.

Meet Bailey.

I sat down with the calendar today and figured out she's just over 6 weeks old. A little younger than I was thinking originally. Her mom was still pregnant with her when my family left for Florida and she wasn't when they got back. We decided to pick right in the middle for her birthday. February 26.

I love her markings! I love white dogs with patches around their eyes :-) She hasn't had much human interaction at all but she's doing really well so far! I've been bugging my mom & dad for updates & they've been very patient with me :-) I'll tell you a little bit about her. She has huge feet, she seems to like her crate, she does not like to ride in the car (she cried all the way to the vet & back...I hope she gets over that before she rides to MD!), she doesn't mind her collar at all, she cried to go out to the bathroom this morning and hasn't had an accident inside yet (to my knowledge)...but my dad spends a lot of time outside with her, so I'm sure that helps. During her vet visit we found out she had a lot of worms (we knew she would...luckily that's an easy fix) and she has a hernia. We'll get it repaired when we get her spayed. Other than that she's a healthy 9.2 lb puppy :-)

My parents are coming to spend Easter with us and they'll be bringing Bailey then. We're both very excited and we can't wait for her to come home! We've been gathering all the things we'll need for her and we need to start puppy proofing the apartment. We have a few things we still need to get but we have just about everything. I got some of the bitter spray stuff today. I've heard it works great as a chewing deterrent. I was a little curious so I decided to taste it. NOT a good idea. It was SUPER bitter. It took forever to get the taste out of my mouth! Even a chocolate chip cookie didn't help :-/ Hopefully it will help save my couch.

House Updates...No Disappointments This Time :-)

I mentioned that we've had a slight change in direction concerning the house hunt. From the beginning we've been focused on whether we wanted a town home or single family home. We've changed our mind a few times. There are things we like about each of them. We were also set on the fact that we would not pay as much for a town home as a single family. Earlier this week we saw a duplex that we both LOVE. It has the same floor plan as the single family home we liked that sold. There are a few minor differences that make me actually like it better. One of the big ones being that there is a half bath on the main floor. Anyway...we're considering putting an offer in on it! Today we're going to look at a few more to see if we have a change of heart. We don't want to rush into anything but we don't want this house to slip away like the other one. We've looked at a lot of houses now and we know what we're looking for. This house has it all :-) I didn't take any pictures. I'll post some from the listing if we end up moving forward.

We've also finally officially decided on our agent. Nice big check.

We've decided on our lender and we got pre-approved. We're all ready to make an offer :-)

I DO!

The main reason we went home last weekend was for a friend's wedding. Traci and I were friends through high school and she was my freshman roomie. She transferred to App State after freshman year. I've missed her a ton but we've tried to keep in touch. I've only met Jason once while we were having dinner during Thanksgiving break one year. They are really great together and I couldn't be happier for them.

Her wedding was this past Saturday. The ceremony was beautiful, of course I cried. The reception was a ton of fun. They had a photo booth and we actually got some great pictures. I didn't know that Josh had put them in his pants pockets and I washed them :-/ We saw several people we haven't seen in a LONG time & it was great to catch up.

Jennifer & Joseph. We hope to make it back home for their wedding in July.

The beautiful bride & I.

The ladies...Me, Jen & Traci.

Hubby, Me & Traci. We had so much fun freshman year :-) Great memories

Traci's mom. Josh didn't tell me my eyes were closed but I still love the pic. I haven't seen her since freshman year of college! It's been way to long. This is a great woman :-) I'm pretty sure her dress is the same one my mom wore for my wedding but a different color.

I've always loved weddings but they're so much more exciting since I've been married. It's so much different now because I know how they feel. Of course I knew before that the bride & groom were happy and excited on their wedding day. It just means so much more now. I know it's the happiest moment of each of their lives to that point. I remember the feeling I had the day I married Josh and there's nothing that can compare to that. I get so excited when someone I love gets to feel that way :-)

I didn't take any pictures during the ceremony so I borrowed one from their photographer's blog. We were actually very close to using the same photographers for our wedding!

My love & I :-) One of the better self portraits I've taken of us. My arms are short so I'm not good at these.

Puppies!

A while back I posted about us getting a puppy when we get our house. Last week I found a potential breeder. They're in VA. The mom & dad are both beautiful dogs. They're not going to be breeding until the fall and the puppies will be available in January. We were planning to go meet the mom in May on the way home from Raleigh.

This is the mom. I usually don't care for brindles but there's something about her that I like :-)

This is the dad. Gorgeous :-)

As you may have realized by now, our plans change quite often...

My dad lives in the country & there's a stray dog he's been feeding for a while. My niece has named her "Pretty Baby". She was pregnant and had the puppies around the time we were on vacation (that makes them 5-6 weeks old right now). While I was at my dad's, she came by for lunch with 2 of her puppies. As soon as I saw this one in the picture I fell in love with it. We're not quite sure what it's mixed with. We know the mom has Pit in her & I'm guessing she has a little Lab in her too. My dad said he's seen a male around that's probably mostly Pit. I don't know if it's a boy or girl. The only human contact the puppy has had is when it got just close enough for me to pick it up. It started squeeling so I put it down. I didn't know how the mom would react. As soon as I put it down it took off with the mom. Josh was on his way to the car to get his camera so this is all we got.

I still love American Bulldogs & we plan to get one someday. I just can't bring myself to spend a LOT of money on a dog when I can save this one. As you know, Pits have a bad reputation. They're actually great dogs when they're raised properly. I grew up with one and my dad has one now that we've had since I was in high school. I've had lots of dogs, several pure bred & several mixed. Those two Pits are by far the best dogs I've ever had (definitely not the best puppies, they chewed everything...but absolutely the best dogs). Anyway, they have horrible reputations because of what so many people raise & breed them to do. In the area my dad lives in, this poor dog doesn't stand a chance. If it cowers & won't fight, it will just be used as bait. Getting hit by a car is probably one of the better things that could happen to this puppy. I just can't let that happen if I can help it.

We were going to bring the puppy home with us Sunday. We were not prepared at all so we picked up the essentials. My dad wasn't able to find where she had the puppies so he said he would keep it for me until we came home again (in May). I was disappointed but relieved. I was excited & ready to bring the puppy home but we are definitely not prepared yet. We've been spending a lot of time looking at houses so we're not home much. There are 1000 reasons we're not ready. I talked to my dad today & he still hasn't been able to find them. He said he would try to bring it to us the weekend of Easter if he's able to find it. My mom gave us a crate & said she would take it to the vet to get it checked & vaccinated when my dad finds it. Hopefully my dad will be able to find it soon so it can get used to the crate & people. I'll keep you posted :-)

Comfort Food

One of my favorite things about going home is the food. I eat at my favorite places every time I get a chance. Cookout is one I HAVE to get to while we're in NC. I've been craving a banana pudding milkshake FOREVER and I was so excited to finally get one :-) I did realize that I would go through pregnancy without having access to these. I don't know how I'll handle it. I'll have to figure out how to make these & teach Josh :-)

Of course I couldn't go to Cookout without getting some BBQ!

I apologize for the huge bite...I'll blame that on Josh ;-). After riding in the car for...I guess about 4 1/2 hours at this point, taking pictures of half eaten food is pretty entertaining. Notice the onion ring on the BBQ sandwich. Try it next time you make it to Cookout. You won't regret it. BTW...if you haven't been to Cookout, you're really missing out. They have SO many milkshake flavors it's insane. Somehow, on the way home I was able to resist a 99 cent Cheerwine shake from Cookout. Of course I wish I would have tried it now, but at the time I just wanted to stay on 95 & get home.

We also make it a point to go to Ferguson's every time we're home. Well, every time we're home & they're not closed...which isn't very often. Anyway...

Mmmm...Fergie Burgers. I kept my slim figure by eating these through high school ;-) Maybe it's a good thing we don't live in St. Pauls anymore. Haha

We also made it to Cracker Barrel twice (we have CB up here, but it's about 40 minutes away...not worth it) and of course Zaxby's. I didn't take pictures...pictures of food got old pretty fast. Haha

House Disappointment Numero Dos

Still trying to play catch up here...

Josh and I did get a chance to look at houses before we went home for the wedding. We got to go last Wednesday, the rainiest day of the week. We still enjoyed ourselves though.

We found a house that made me forget all about favorite house #1. It didn't have the ginormous walk in pantry, but the rest of the kitchen definitely made up for it. It has a ton of cabinet space! There's even more to the left in the top picture, along with a pantry. I don't think I have enough stuff to fill them up!

The granite was amazing. I didn't take a close up picture but I absolutely loved it! Anyway, I was ready to pack my bags and move in. The yard was TINY but I kept making excused...less grass to cut, etc. haha.

As it turns out, the main road leading to this house is a traffic nightmare. I hated to let this house go because it was pretty much perfect (except the price...but there's always room for negotiation!) I know I would go insane sitting in crazy traffic trying to get to & from work every day though :-/

I'm remaining optimistic. We're meeting with a lender today to get the pre-approval process started. We have a few more documents we need to gather but he said we can just fax them to him. Hopefully this part of the home buying process will go smoothly for us. We'll be looking at more houses this week. We also have yet another possible change in direction...no, we're not leaving MD...just a slight change. I'll post with updates later :-)