Without Further Aduei...

I know I've been promising pictures of our new home for what seems like forever, but I always make good on my promises (well most of the time ;)).  Well it has taken me quite a while to get things just the way I wanted them but I finally did it and I finally took some pictures.  I tried to take pictures with as much detail as possible but the reality is that you don't get the full effect unless you see it in person.  Am I inviting all of you to come visit? Abso-freakin-lutely! Come on!!!  We love guests, probably because we really don't get them that often.  So here we go... (and remember if you want to see larger photos just click on them and they will open in a full screen)

Y's Room

 

Nothing really changed in here except that it's larger and the curtains.  In her old room it was one of those tie-up shades but long story short this time I went with panel curtains but I like it slightly better now because it allows in more light.

Y's/Guest Bathroom

 

The camera didn't do a good job of capturing the colors here, probably because there is zero natural light in here...oh well, it's green and brown.

Master Suite

Yes, it's a closet.  Yes, it is messy.  No, I do not have any immediate plans to change that.  As you can see the closet also has a section which is a linen closet (among other things).

Living Room

Both the Living Room and the Bedroom have door walls that lead to the balcony (which we have yet to use).

Dining Room

Entry/Foyer

Didn't focus much attention here because it is a work-in-progress, I'm still unsure of what I will put down here but I do have something of a vision for it.  It is a bit deeper (in length) than the photo shows, the railing cut it off.

Kitchen

The kitchen is another work-in-progress.  I want to find something to hang on the wall you see here in the background as well as finding other decorations to go atop the cabinets.

Laundry Room/Way to Garage

Behind that door is another set of stairs which will take you downstairs to the garage.  The folding doors on the left house the furnace, hot water heater, etc.

That is the grand tour in photos, but you should really come for a visit and see it for yourself!

These are A Few of My Favorite Things

With the exception of a box full of shoes we are officially unpacked!  I, however, still have not hung a single picture on the wall so once I do that I will snap a few photos and share them with you.  For now though, I decided to take some quick pictures of my favorite elements of our new home. 

Some of you may be accustomed to many of these things but my family was always one of very simple means and so these things are things which I have never had the luxury of having before in my parents house growing up or even in an apartment which I lived in.  So you'll have to excuse me if I get excited and caught up in what some may deem as the "simple" things in life! 

Here goes:

This is a picture of a remote.  But this remote controls the living room ceiling fan, so if I get hot...I don't have to move.  Unless of course the remote is across the room from where ever I happen to be.  It totally promotes laziness but with 15 foot ceilings it is also a huge necessity since we don't have anyone living with us who is the size of Shaq.

We can pretend that we are in an episode of Seinfeld with our buzzer/intercom.  Someone rings/buzzes the doorbell and I don't have to run downstairs to see who it is, I just press the talk/listen button!  Thus far we haven't had too much use for this because we haven't had any unexpected visitors.  What I really need is for some unwanted solicitors to come to my door so that I can put it to good use...I'm thinking a hard-of-hearing, elderly, Asian woman might live here all of a sudden!

Cabinets that have shelves which slide in and out...a woman must've thought of this.  It is ingenious!!!

An ice maker!!!  It's not one of those that is on the outside of the freezer door, nor does it offer crushed ice but who cares?!?!  It's an ice maker!!!  I don't mind opening the stupid door for my ice and after the amount of crushed ice I had during labor I am happy to live without it now!

Water at the push of a button!  Again it's inside the fridge, not outside if the door but who cares!!  No more refilling the Brita pitcher or buying the filters, I just press a blue button!!!

A food pantry!  Do you know how much space this opens up in my cabinets?  Let's just say I only have one visible appliance on my countertop and that is a toaster oven.  It's not huge but as you can see it holds more than enough food for 2½ people.

A gas fireplace.  I don't have to chop down any trees (I just have to learn to light a pilot which for me may be just as hard).  I can foresee what that this year's Christmas Cards will have a picture of this (in use) with a Christmas Tree to the right of it and a happy family poised in front.

In Case You're Wondering...

...how it's going getting Y to sleep in her new room while simultaneously introducing her to the freedom of a toddler bed...a picture is worth a thousand words:

Quick Updates

It has been almost a month since my last post but I figured you would all understand!  We moved into our new home and slightly less than 2 weeks later we left for vacation, having just returned yesterday I thought it appropriate to post a little something here to keep you all updated.

I had set a goal to have everything setup here in the new place before we left for NC to visit my family; I didn't quite meet that goal.  I still have a few things to put away (more like figure out where I want to put them, mostly things like Christmas decorations, etc.) and to hang all the pictures on the wall.  Y's room is the only room that is completely done, in all the other rooms I still have pictures to hang.  In fact there is nothing on any other walls except the mirror I purchased to hang above the fireplace.  I still get excited thinking of the deal I got on that mirror - 50% off at Garden Ridge because they are moving from one location to another.  It looks great hanging there and I really can't wait to get everything else finished so that I can post pictures for all of you guys to see.

Y is now sleeping in a toddler bed.  A few nights after moving into her new room she quickly figured out how to escape from her crib.  We have had a really difficult time getting her to adjust even though her room is almost exactly the same as before (just almost twice as big).  One morning I woke up to find her laying in my arms and when I asked B what time he had brought her into our bed he replied, "I didn't, I thought you did it."  That is how we figured out she could climb out of the crib.  Honestly the struggle we've had with getting her to sleep in her room has been the only downside of moving.  The past month has been hard on her, I mean we move to a new place then 2 weeks later we go on vacation to a place she probably doesn't remember and then we come back here...I feel for her.  But anyway, as for the toddler bed we really lucked out.  Her crib is a convertible crib so we had to order the special guard rail in order to convert it to a toddler bed (yes they sell rails at Walmart for $20 but I didn't wanna take a chance and buy that one and ruin my beautiful crib).  The only place to order it is at Babies R Us and I had inquired about one earlier in the summer and was told that it would take 10-12 weeks to deliver because it was a special order.  So I called in a panic right before we left for vacation, thinking that would knock 2 weeks off since we'd be away anyway, and they informed me that they now stock them in their warehouse so it would take 7-10 business days for it to arrive.  So it was waiting for us on Saturday after we returned from vacation.  I put it together that same night and it was pure hassle trying to get her to sleep in it because she was beyond tired and hadn't really had a good night sleep since before we moved.  I finally got her to bed only to discover that sometime during the night she had crawled into bed with us.  Tonight it took between 35 and 40 times of her getting out of bed only to have me put her back in bed before she actually fell asleep.  We'll see if she sleeps there through the night...

As for our vacation, it was great!  I loved spending time with my family and seeing how much my nieces and nephews have grown.  We went to Virginia to go to the beach and I gained a huge appreciation for the Outer Banks of NC!  I had been there before but never really had much to compare it to so when we went to the beach in Virginia we really learned the difference between them.  So on Friday we took a 1 day trip to the Outer Banks and really enjoyed it, it was B's first time going there and he kept commenting on how beautiful it was.  We definitely want to go back and stay longer next time.

Well that's a quick run down but I will be back soon with pictures of vacation and the condo once everything is set up.

WooHoo!!

We did it!  We took the plunge and are now homeowners...now just to get all our crap moved!

We're Almost There

Today is the day!!!  Today at 1:30pm we're going to do the final walk-through and at 2pm we are scheduled to sign all the papers.  I'm feeling quite a few emotions right now.  I'm nervous and excited and even a little sad but all-in-all we are so very ready to take this next step.

I am nervous because I fully realize that until those papers are signed, this isn't a done deal.  I'm excited because this is a huge step for us and is something we've been praying about for a very long time.  Heavenly Father has blessed us in so many ways and opened doors for us when there didn't even seem to be a door.  We know that this is what is right for us at this moment and we are so very grateful.  In all the excitement there is also a little big of sadness, a small amount because of the amount of money we're about to spend but more because I am extremely nostalgic.  Our current apartment isn't my first place (that was actually in college at VT), nor is it my first apartment as a married person, but it is the place that we brought our beautiful baby girl home to after she was born.  She crawled here, walked here, said her first words here, etc.  And honestly we have loved every minute of it but it is time to move on.  Life is about progression and constantly evolving who you are and that's just what we're doing.  We're taking steps we believe are necessary for us and our family, not to mention the strong desire to expand our family once again.  So we'll move on and yes, I can guarantee you there will be a bit of sadness in my heart for the next few months as I think of our times here or as I drive past the complex but I know that we will be having many more firsts in the hours, days, months and years to come...and I can't wait!!!

Great News...

Today we received some great news!  I told you a few weeks ago that we made an offer on a condo and were all set to close except we wanted to get the complex FHA approved which would allow us to put only 3.5% down.  The documents were sent in to HUD about a week and a half ago and today we got the news that the complex has been approved.  We were amazed at how quickly it all happened, we were told to expect at least 30 days.  To say that we're extremely happy is an understatement, we are so very grateful that things have gone so smoothly and so quickly.  Now we're just waiting on the appraisal, and seeing as we're buying it for so cheap we don't see that being an issue.  As of right now we're still scheduled to close on July 20th and honestly I don't think I've ever been so excited to pack boxes!

One Step Closer

Most of you likely already know this (because many of you are also my Facebook friends) but today we got the news that our offer was accepted on a condo. We absolutely love the place, even moreso than the first one we made an offer on. The only major plus for the previous condo was the third bedroom but in this condo the bedrooms are so I can deal with it, also this condo is larger and more open than the other place. I've been telling B for a couple weeks now (ever since we first saw pictures of it) that I had a feeling this one was THE one and after viewing it a week ago the feeling only became stronger. We thought we had run into a hiccup shortly after deciding to make an offer but at this point things are looking great. We have to wait for an FHA approval of the condo complex so unless they say no to the complex then we are scheduled to close on July 20th.

It has been quite amazing to me how well this has gone along and how well I even handled the news of the possible hiccup. I guess I should explain that we have looked at and considered making offers on several condos since the last one fell threw. Each time there was something that didn't go in our favor and we weren't able to get it and each time after talking to our agent I would hang up the phone angry, frustrated and in tears because I wanted it so badly. But when our agent called this time and told me that it was potentially a no-go I was surprisingly calm about the whole thing, it completely amazed me because I dare say I loved this place far more than any other we have ever considered. And this peace and calm feeling never wavered, I never once cried, got sad or frustrated. The next morning we got a call from our agent telling us that the condo complex had already begun taking the steps to get the complex FHA approved, that the owner of the condo sits on the board of the homeowners association in the complex so he was working hard to get everything done and could get us access to information that we otherwise would have to pay for, our agent informed us that he would pay for any cost associated with getting the complex approved (which could be anywhere from $150-$1500 and we would have been responsible for paying). Everything just started coming together and finally for the first time in this entire process I feel 100% certain that we are on the right path.

I'll keep you guys abreast of everything that goes on with it and hope it will be nothing but good news. I also cannot begin to express how grateful I am that we choose to deal with a mortgage broker instead of going out to shop for a loan on our own. He has literally been a lifesaver with both offers that we have made and handling the FHA process for us instead of us walking blindly through the whole process. The best part of it is that we don't have to pay him a dime for doing it all. Our agent has also been amazing, so if you live in the Metro-Detroit area and you're ever in search of a real estate agent or wanna talk to a mortgage broker just let me know and I'll be happy to pass along their info!

Here are some links for you guys to view if you wanna know more about the place:

• Listingbook
• Floor plan
• Virtual Tour
• Pictures with Magnifying glass

No Worries, We're Still Here...

Wow, I do believe that this has been the longest hiatus from blogging that I've ever taken. It's definitely not that I haven't been thinking about blogging, because I have, I just had a very important deadline to meet and so every spare minute I had was put into that project. So this post is strictly dedicated to updating you on the going-ons of our life the past few weeks.

Condo: My last post was a copy and paste of an email (lame, I know) which I sent to our family members regarding the very disappointing news we received. Well, we received that call on a Monday afternoon and on Tuesday night we went to view 4 other places. To make a long story short after we looked at the four there was really only one that we would even consider. We talked about it and on Wednesday morning called our agent and asked him to get the answers to some of our questions from the selling agent because we were interested. Our agent calls back within an hours time and informs me that an offer had come in on the condo this morning and the selling agent was giving us an hour to decide if we wanted to submit an offer or not. Long story short, we passed on it - to weighty of a decision to make in an hour, plus it didn't leave time for all of our questions to be answered so in the end we just decided to not go for it. We looked for other things but as the April 30th deadline grew closer I knew that we probably weren't going to find anything and honestly, I was okay with that. So as it stands now, we are still looking around and seeing what's out there but unfortunately there's not a whole lot left now especially when you compare it to what was available when we first put in the offer on the short sale. We believe that everything happens for a reason and are remaining optimistic. We did face a dilemma in that our lease ends in June and we needed to decide whether we would sign another lease or just go month-to-month (which tacks on an additional fee to the rent each month). I told B of an idea which popped in my head, to go get a pre-approval (which are only good for 90 days) and as long as our pre-approval is valid we'll go month-to-month and if we find something within that time then we just inform our apartment office of our intent. If we do not find anything within that time frame then we do one of two things: 1) sign a new lease, 2) get another pre-approval and keep paying month-to-month.

Death in the family: Last week B's Granddad died. He had prostate cancer and due to his age (86) it was decided that they wouldn't treat the cancer just the pain it caused. We all knew it was coming but I don't think even having that knowledge can truly prepare you for someones death. I first met Grandpa Charlie back in 2004 when I first visited Canada. You always hear people say in regards to someone else that "he/she never knew a stranger" well that pretty much summed up Grandpa Charlie. Relatively speaking I didn't know him that long or really even that well but I always enjoyed being in his presence, he told great stories of places he had travelled and it was absolutely amazing the things that he could remember.

I only ever knew one of my grandfathers but even he died when I was only 8 years old. The memories that I do have of my granddad weren't all pleasant (he was kind of a mean old man who showed love in his own way and on his own terms) so it wasn't until I first met Grandpa Charlie that I realized that those "TV granddads" really do exist. You know the ones like you see on the Werther's Original commercials; you see him playing with and spending time with his grandchildren and of course unwrapping the piece of candy to share with them. I am grateful that I was blessed with the opportunity to him, he is missed and loved by all who knew him.