My confession

I admit it. I have a problem. I judge a book by it's cover, literally. What can I say? I like a pretty book!

Isn't that cute?! It's definitly not the best book I've ever read, but it will look good on my bookshelf!

Update

Looks like this Top 10 in the US Lending Company has been sending it's appraisers off to do their bidding and telling them how to up the appraisal. I guess we are going to be better off without the losers. We also get to bring less $$ to the closing which is a good thing. Because they are top 10, they deal with thousands of banks and mortgage companies and that means thousands of people in our situation or worse! We may be losing the $300 we paid for the appraiser, but I have a little heck to raise before giving up on getting that back!

You. Are. Joking.

Oh my my my. Wanna see Shelly turn red and smoke blow out her ears??? I'll tell you how although it's not advised. Tell her that the loan for the new house (which has already taken over a month) has been frozen because the lender chosen by the broker has been SHUT DOWN.

You don't wanna mess with this! haha!

Wow.... I'm still in shock. I knew it was bad as soon as Dad slinked his way into the livingroom with a look on his face like he was bracing himself for an earthquake and cautiously sat down and started with, "I talked to your broker". Meanwhile I am giving him an accusing look and nervously shouting, "Why are you sitting down? Stand up. I don't like where this is going." The broker had decided to go with the lender with the lowest interest rate. This is normally a great thing.....except when they are about to get shut down by the government. We don't know if it was bankruptcy or illegal actions that caused this but I guess we got out before we got stuck with this lousy lender. Luckily we didn't have anything invested besides TIME at this point. Others are probably losing much more than just their closing date because of this lender.

Fighting back the urge to run to the bedroom, slam the door and scream in a pillow while throwing my fists into the matress was very difficult. This has been such a SHADY ordeal and I would tell anyone to just go through a bank because there are way too many different people involved when you go through a broker. Now we have to start ALL OVER which will take about 3 weeks. So it looks like we won't be in the house until early September. LoVeLy

I knew there was a purpose : )

I knew there was a reason that I let the laundry pile up! I do what I can for my girl. I posted this picture despite the horror that my mom and mother-in-law will likely feel. (p.s. This pile does not reside on our living room floor. I moved it there for sorting. No need to divulge where it came from)

TaDa! Our new home!

So, I am getting very anxious to get moving and the lenders are taking for-e-ver! They said that because of the tax rebate being offered to first time home buyers this year, they are all backed up which is pushing our closing date back from last friday until who knows when. It's really annoying but gives us lots of time to get prepared for the move. All I can do is take the occasional stroll past the house or admire the pictures and try to come up with ideas for when it is FINALLY ours.

The landscaping out front is really nice right now. The flowers look really pretty and so do the trees. This picture doesn't do it justice. I wish this was the entire building, but there is another home connected because it used to be sold as a condo. Picture this, flip-flopped and attached to the other side of the garage. We do own the land and the home, we just get a very close neighbor : ) It's called a "zero lot line" which means that we own everything to the right of the center. Hurray for our .2 acres....... well at least we have side walks now!

Here's the kitchen. Not huge, but it is a bit more open than the one we have now. It's really nice and I can't wait to tile the space between the counter and the cupboards (the backsplash?) as well as paint it a nice neutral color. It's a little too white for my liking as is. Oh, and guess what!! We have a garbage disposal AND a dishwasher! YAY! You don't know how wonderful they are until you live without them for a year. It comes with all of the appliances and we will end up with an extra washer and drier if anyone needs a set. We are keeping what we have and selling theirs. They seem to be pretty nice ones. I'll put a picture up when it's time to sell.

This dining area is just to the right of the kitchen. It's hard to describe what I plan to put in this space. I have a laddershelf desk that will look great on one of those walls and hopefully we will be able to afford a dining room table to put in it some day! This will be painted the same neutral color as the kitchen. I haven't told Jace this yet so.... hey hun, we're going to have a bit more painting than originally planned. (I'm batting my eyelashes in case that helps)

Here is the livingroom from the view of the dining area. I really want a nice sectional like this but that's another thing that will have to wait a bit. The windows in this house are so long and skinny that I don't really know what to do with them so I am going to have to rely on help for that! It's hard to tell, but the walls are painted with a rag-roll kind of technique and look really nice.

This is another view of the livingroom with the nice entrance way.

This is the master bedroom. The red doesn't match our stuff at all so that will have to be painted. I have always liked accent walls so we will probably keep the rest white (for now) and find a good color to paint over the red. I am not putting up any pictures of the master bathroom or BIG walk-in closet but they definitly made me smile!

I have not included pictures of the second bedroom because they haven't done much with it and we probably won't either for awhile. I also left out the 2nd full bathroom and laundry area because they are nice, but nothing outstanding....yet ; ) You'll just have to come see us!

Last, but definitily not least, our enclosed porch! We were both so excited to see this. Everytime there is a storm, one of us mentions how we wish that we had a porch to sit and watch it from. Can't you just picture us with a couple of rockers our there?! I can! We are also going to eventually add a little patio outside that door. We even have a decent little back yard for Gibby.

Gosh, looking at this pictures makes me want to move even more although I will miss our little house and all of the hard work that we put into it. Our first year was a good one and having this house was such a blessing. It's time to move on, but we won't be able to do it without a few glances back over our shoulder at what we are leaving behind..... lots of spiders, crickets, mice, and rusty water! (I have to keep reminding myself of that. It makes me feel better!)

Baby Boy!

Welcome Braden Lyn (aka Teeny Tussing and wearer of my onesie creations)! He is so cute and sweet that I was contemplating sticking him in my purse and leaving the hospital. I decided against it because his mom was in so much pain from her C-section that I felt like she needed this little trophy to help her remember that it was all worth it! I brought her some ColdStone cupcakes as a "welcome baby" gift and you should have seen her grimace of pain turn into a look of love and appreciation in seconds : ) She squished down 3 in no time and sighed with joy. I was glad to see that I helped her feel better. Chalk 1 up for me and my love of all things sweet!

WOOOOOOOOOOSH----------------------------------

That's the sound of this month flying by!! Our anniversary, Jace's birthday, and the 4th have all come and gone with zero documentation.....sad. We had a wonderful anniversary. We spent the day at Mom & Dad's also celebrating Dad's birthday and Father's Day. Jace had to work that night so we did not get any time to really sit and contemplate our 1st year together. The next night, we had his side over to our house for a yummy birthday cookie cake and ice cream. We enjoyed watching the kids interact with Gibbs. Caeleb played tug of war and giggled his head off while Carissa cowered in Dana's arms and half laughed/half cried whenever Gibby was near. I am absolutely terrible at taking pictures to capture our life so this is all I have from the night.

Wondering why I would get Jace a cake with Mickey Mouse wearing a Dr. Seuss hat?? It's a guitar......nice huh?

Later that week we celebrated our events by going to Buffalo Wild Wings. On the way, Jace decided it was time to treat himself to his first beer in 2 and a half years. He was grinning like a kid on Christmas when his 23 oz Bud Light arrived on the table.

He stopped with just this one but he admitted that he felt a little tipsy after it. That's a big glass for a 2.5 year absence I guess : )

Our 4th consisted of Jace at Liberty Days and me at home doing laundry, homework, and watching the neighbors' fireworks display on our front steps with a frightened Gibby hiding behind me. We are some wild and crazy kids!!

Update: We are in the process of buying our first home!! It's in the great town of Russia and just right for us! It looks like we'll be moving in mid-August and after everything is in order we will be sure to invite y'all over to celebrate!!