HOME SWEET HOME

Back in January I decided that I was going to purchase a house this year.  I didn’t really have any expectations and I had no idea how to do it but I knew if I was ever going to get to be a homeowner that now was the time.  Kelly was planning on putting the house that I was living in up for sale and had hoped to have it sold by the time Karly came.  Although I knew I wanted to buy a house the whole idea of it made me nervous and gave me anxiety.  So I put it off and put it off until it was too late.  Kelly put her house up for sale in April and it sold the first week that it was on the market.  I had to be out by the end of May.  I ended up moving in with Kelly and Dave the second week of May and Karly came just a couple weeks later.  After Karly came buying a house got put on the back burner.  Everyone's focus was on Karly and getting her well enough to come home from the hospital and then once she was home other things took priority. 

For some reason things in my life have always been just a little bit harder to achieve than normal.   I honestly never thought that I would be a homeowner.  I have always dreamed of having a house of my own but in the back of my mind I never thought that it was possible for a single person that makes just a decent living would be able to afford to buy a house alone. I tried to prepare by saving as much money as possible, staying out of debt and keeping my credit score high.  That way if the time ever came that it would be possible I was prepared.  I had learned to appreciate the things I had and be grateful for the opportunities that I had to experience new things. I was content with my life.  I have a great job that I love going to each day,  a job that allowed me to support myself and have a little extra at the end of the month to put into savings,  a great family that is loving and supportive,  a few really good friends that genuinely love me  would do anything for me,  2 nephews and 2 nieces that I adore and make me happier than they will ever know and a dog that I love. 

Then one day my Mom called and said that a house came up for sale down the street from her and she thought I should take a look at it. At first I was really resistive and didn’t want to go see it because I thought I would get disappointed and in my mind there was no way that I would ever be able to get a house on my own. She didn’t give up though and called me everyday for a week asking if I had called to set up an appointment to go see it. I decided to call, Sheri Midgley she had just got done selling Kelly’s house and she has been a family friend for several years.   Sheri got right on it and scheduled an appointment for later in the week .  I ended up  really really liking the house and thought it was perfect for me and Buttons.  I went ahead and put an offer on it.  After several days of not hearing from the bank that owned it the call finally came in.  I was out bid. I was really really disappointed.  After that one I kept looking at houses in the same neighborhood. I ended up putting offers on 3 other houses.  One of which I actually got and had a contract and then someone stole the air conditioning unit from it and the owner didn’t want to replace it so I ended that deal. At that point I was done.  I was tired of getting disappointed and I didn’t really see anything in my price range that I liked.

Then out of the blue one day I decided to look at a house that had been listed for awhile that I really liked but it was out of my price range.  It was my lucky day though. They had lowered price  that day and it was in my price range.  I had Sheri take me by to see it again and then had my parents look at and decided that this was the one!  I put an offer on it on August 16th.  Then a week later found out that there were other offers and the seller wanted time to think about the offers.  He finally decided to take my offer! I was so stoked and so grateful.

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  I can honestly say that I have never been so stressed and filled with anxiety as I was during this process.  I was physically ill for weeks and was on the chicken broth, 7- up, yogurt and graham cracker diet for several weeks.  I vomited in more parking lots and public bathrooms than I can count.

On October 28th I was sitting at the table carving pumpkins with the kids and just started to cry out of nowhere.  I was supposed to hear from the mortgage company earlier in the day  if the loan was going to be approved. A few days earlier I found out that the bank had made a mistake on my credit report regarding an old student loan that had been paid off years ago but showed up as disputed.  It had to be removed from my credit report immediately in order for the loan to be approved. I thought it was going to take a miracle for the bank to notify the credit reporting agency and for the credit reporting agency to get it removed within the time frame that the seller gave us. All of the sudden that evening  it just hit me that I hadn’t heard anything from the mortgage company.  I took that as bad news.  But 5 minutes later I received the call saying that the house was MINE! I just needed to go to the title company to sign the papers the following week.  I couldn’t believe it.

 

Finally after almost 2 1/2 months I got the keys to MY HOUSE on November 1st!!!  I have never been so excited, proud, or grateful in all my life.  I had finally done it.  I finally had something of my very own that I worked really hard for and earned on my own.  For a few moments (in private) I shed a few tears.  I was getting ready to start a new chapter of my life and I am excited to see what will happen next.

 

The day had finally come!!!  The following day I went and ordered the carpet and had it installed a couple of days later.  Called the moving company and scheduled them for the day after.  My Dad and Dave worked really really hard for several days before I moved in to get an indoor/garage kennel made for Buttons. They mowed the lawns (I have a corner lot so there is a HUGE front and backyard) and installed locks in the house. And Dave spent an entire day hanging up blinds throughout the house.

 

Horrible picture but the only one I have.  Sorry guys!!!!

My Mom came in and lined cabinets.

Chris fixed the leaky bathroom sink, caulked the shower, and hung the blinds in my bedroom.

I choose the absolutely worst day to move.  The first big storm of the year. Moving in the rain stinks!!!  Hiring a moving company was the best decision and use of money that I have ever made.

After the movers left, Kelly came with the kids to help unpack.

     

Then Kelly came and spent the following week with me.  She helped me unpack and organize everything. She bought me shelves for the garage, a new shower head, a doorbell, more things than I can even list.  I truly have the most supportive and loving family and I couldn’t have done any of this without them.   They stood by me through the entire process.  Putting up with my tears, my disappointments, excitement, my vomiting, and never once was there a complaint by any of them. I will never be able to repay them for what they have done.

I also have to say that I had the best real estate agent around.   She walked me through everything and kept me calm when I thought I was going to loose my patients with the whole deal. Every single time I emailed her I got a response within 30 minutes.  If I left her a message she called me back within the hour. It didn’t matter what day it was or what time it was. She went out of her way to explain things to me that I didn’t understand.  She went above and beyond in every aspect of buying this house. So if you live in the area you should contact her.  Her website is http://sherimidgley.com

Here are some before and after pictures of the house. I haven’t gotten everything decorated the way it should be because I’m going to decorate for Christmas this coming week so I didn’t want to put everything up and then take it all down again the next week. I’m hoping this coming weekend to get the rooms organized a little better and all of the holiday decorations up.  I’ll put better pictures up then.

 

Family room  

Kelly and I put the cabinet together and hung it all by ourselves!

my room

Thomas’ room

Noelle and Karly’s room

So there it is My HOME SWEET HOME!!!  I have just spent my first week here alone and it is going to take sometime to get used to but I’m loving every minute of it. 

 

My terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week!

This week was just one of those weeks.  Nothing went the way I wanted it to and and nothing went as planned. 

It all started at  beginning of the week when I started to think about packing up the house for the move. Monday and Tuesday night I came home after work and packed boxes until 10:00pm.  Tuesday I was yelled at by the CFO at work for something that I did that my boss specifically asked me to do.  There was never an apology by any of them.

Wednesday afternoon I got a call  from a lady at church that I team teach with (we teach the six year olds).  She had a family emergency and needed me to teach this coming Sunday.  I really wanted to tell her I couldn’t because I was so tired and felt so overwhelmed with work and the move but I knew that I should.  So, I said yes and asked her to drop the class materials off at my house.  When I got home from work they were there.  I sat and reviewed the lesson and thought it would be OK.  I hate public speaking and get really nervous when I have to.  I’m not really sure why teaching six year olds would make me nervous but they do.  To take my mind off of that, I decided to pack more boxes until Kelly and Dave would be there to drop Noelle off to spend the night.  Noelle and I played for awhile before Thomas was dropped off.  I got them both in the bath and into bed by 8:30.  At 9:30 I decided that I couldn’t do anymore and decided to go to bed.  I put Buttons in her crate in my room and went to sleep.  Sometime later I was woken up by some guys laughing.  When I first woke up I thought I was dreaming.  I laid in bed for a few minutes and then heard someone walking in the rocks in my backyard.  Still thinking I was hearing things, I looked to the window, from my bed. I saw two people at my window.  Now I knew I wasn’t dreaming. 

For those that know me, know that I have always been scared to stay home alone for fear that someone would break in.  I can’t tell you how many times I have thought about what I would do if I was ever in this situation. Once I was in it, I did nothing that I thought I would. 

I laid still in my bed until I could hear them walk away from the window.  I grabbed the phone next to my bed and literally rolled out of my bed to the floor and called 911.  I was lucky that I got a dispatcher right away.  She kept me pretty calm on the phone while I was waiting for the police to arrive.  All I could think about was how I was going to get to Thomas and Noelle if these people  got into the house.  The dispatcher asked me if I was armed and for someone that is scared to be alone, I felt really stupid to say “No” and that I didn’t even have a baseball bat.  It felt like an eternity but was really probably only 4 to 5 minutes the police came to the door.  They looked around the the backyard and around the house but the guys had already got away.  During all of my my talking and the police coming into the house and making noise the kids and Buttons managed to stay sound asleep.  Some guard dog Buttons is!!! 

After the Police left I called Kelly and told her what had happened.  I was still shaking like a leaf and was scared that the people would come back after the police left so she had Dave come and pick the kids and I up and take us to her house to sleep.  I honestly don’t think I have ever been so scared.  I’m thinking that they were young guys thinking the house was empty because it’s for sale and when they saw that someone was still living there they took off.  Regardless I have decided not to spend another night there.  I was planning on moving to Kelly’s in a couple of weeks anyways so I have decided to move in now.  I spent most of yesterday packing up the house and will spend all day tomorrow packing and hopefully by the end of the week the majority of the work will be done so the movers can pick it all up and take it to storage. 

As and added bonus to the bad week, Noelle woke up with fever this morning and terrible cough so I had to call for a substitute teach my Sunday school class.  I’m crossing my fingers that this coming week will be a much better one!!!!

On the positive side I love spending time with Kelly and the kids and I’m looking forward to being able to be here when baby Karly arrives.   

Packin’ up and Movin’ on

Kelly and I talked a couple of months ago about her selling this house and me purchasing a house of my own.  After a lot of thought we both decided that it was the right thing to do.  It was a great time for her to sell and a great time for me to finally find something that I could afford on my own.  After a lot of preparation, it went on the market on March 12th.   

By March 20th we already had 5 offers.  I really didn’t think that it would go that quickly.  I had planned for at least 3 or 4 months.  I was wrong.  In 9 days we had 14 people come look at it.  I’ve looked on the internet several times and I found a few things that I’m interested in but haven’t gone to look at anything yet.  Kelly agreed to let me stay with her when we put the house up for sale so that’s where I’m headed until I find the perfect home for me and Buttons.

So…. I’m packin up and Movin’ on. 

Anyone want to come and help me pack…… don’t raise your hands at once!!! I HATE MOVING!!!!!

Milestone

This coming month will mark a milestone in my life. As many of my close friends know I am the best mover and have packing, moving and unpacking down to a science!!! I have moved 16 times in the past 11 years.  Yes, that means that I moved more than once in a year (several times). This coming month mark the year anniversary that I moved into this house! I can’t believe it either but I have stayed put for an entire year!!! As, many of you know I am renting this house from my sister. When Christina decided to move to Idaho last year, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do.  I knew that I was done with roommates.  Christina and Kelsey were the BEST roommates anyone could ever ask for and I knew that I would never find anyone as good as they were. Kelly was still looking for a renter for her house in Stockton so she decided to let me move in to her place. Sometimes, I don’t feel like I do enough for her but she never complains.  I want her to know I am grateful for such a nice house to live in where I’m not afraid to be by myself and to have a place that feels like home when you walk in the front door.  She truly is my BEST FRIEND!!! Thank You!!!

I hate moving!!!

So for those of you that haven't heard, I moved again. I have been in the new place for a couple of weeks. I'm really hoping that this time I am able to stay put for awhile. Christina (my roommate) got engaged in May and moved to Idaho to be with her future husband. So, once again I had to move. I was pretty lucky because I didn't have to spend to much time looking for a new place. Kelly still hadn't found a renter for her house in Stockton so I moved back into that house (this would be the third time I moved into this house). This time I am living by myself in the house. I love having a house with a backyard. I'm glad that Thomas and Noelle will be able to come over and play in the backyard. They will have their own rooms and feel more like home. At first I was pretty nervous about it but have gotten used to it now. The first week I slept on the couch but I have gradually gotten better about sleeping in my bed. Before I moved in I painted and put a cute border up. I think it came out really nice and it's perfect for me.


I really hate moving! I always think I'm ready but it never fails that there is a least to car loads of stuff that still needs to get done. It's the small things that you just throw in a garbage bag at the last minute that really stinks. For two weeks I have had garbage bags and boxes in the garage that I have tried to forget about but every time I pull the car into the garage I'm faced with them. Earlier this week I made a long list of all the things I needed to get done before I was going to really feel "at home". This included cleaning the garage, organizing the office, finding somewhere to put all my cookbooks, go grocery shopping, mowing the lawns, washing the windows and putting all my clothes in the closet.
Kelly just happened to have the weekend off which meant I wasn't going to be watching the kids. I had the whole weekend to myself and thought it would be the best time to try and get my list accomplished. I don't know how smart of an idea this was because the air quality is really really bad. For those of you that don't live in California, we have had numerous fires this week. I think at last count I think they said there was 1000 fires in Northern California. Smoke is everywhere and there have been all kinds of warnings that we should be staying inside. But the work has to get done right?? So, Friday after work I started with the garage. After three hours the garage was finally clean. All of the boxes were emptied and the garbage bags were thrown away. Next problem... everything that needed to be put away from the garage was in the living room. That was Saturday's project.



After the garage got cleaned out I tried relax and find something on TV but couldn't find anything. So, on with the next project. The office was next. That was a tedious job but I couldn't stand going in there to play around on the computer or pay my bills (which I couldn't put off any longer). I found a perfect place for the cookbooks so that was another thing to check off the list. So, after a couple of hours it was done.

Saturday morning the work started again. My car got really dirty from the move and I hadn't washed it in awhile so I thought I should get that done. I spend so much time in my car for work that having a dirty one does not make the ride enjoyable.

I needed to mow the lawns but there was one problem. I didn't own a lawn mower. So after jumping on CraigsList and making a phone call I was on my way to purchase my first lawn mower. I think I got a pretty good deal. $150.00 for a self propelled Craftsman mower.


By that time though it was already blazing hot so I decided that would have to wait until Sunday morning. So, off to the grocery store I went. I hate to go grocery shopping, mainly because I never know what to buy. Cooking for yourself gets pretty boring. I think I eat more cereal for dinner than anything else. I thought I would venture out today. I bought everything to make Bow Tie pasta with Alfredo sauce and grilled chicken. The rest of Saturday was pretty boring. I put everything away that was brought in from the garage, put the groceries away, made dinner and found sometime to watch a lame movie (Definitely Maybe). But hay at least I found some time to relax.
Another day brings another chore. This morning I thought I would start with the mowing the lawns and sweeping up the leaves. Now this was going to be one of the biggest chores. In the backyard there are two large trees that make the biggest mess.



So leaves end up everywhere!!! The lawns got mowed,the bushes got trimmed, the leaves got raked and the sidewalks got swept.


I was pretty tired after all that so I decided the chores were done for the weekend. I am going to relax the rest of what is left of the weekend. Indy got her second wind while I was putting all of the lawn equipment away so I took a short video of her playing with a ball that is twice her size.