I finally was able to get some basic photos up of our house. They’re on my flickr account, which is located in the sidebar. I uploaded about 40 pictures, so you may wanna actually go to my flickr and check out the “home” set. There are a lot of projects we want to do to get this place fixed up and I really look forward to slowly but surely getting them done.

Today, Gene and I trimmed up the ginormous tree in the front yard. Spent a few hours out there working on it. Got most of it taken care of but there are some parts that we are too scared to cut down in fear that it will collapse the fence.  We’re trying to get these trimmed back because the roofer is scheduled to install the new roof sometime later this week. I also got up and mowed the yard at around 10:30 this morning. The grass needs a lot of TLC to bring it back to life. It’s not completely dead but some parts have been taken over by weeds and some of it just isn’t as thick as it should be.

Anyway, its the little things. Today Gene and I went to Walmart to buy a few neccessities. We bought 2 battery smoke detectors to protect us until we get the alarm system installed. Also got a Carbon Monoxide detector, a fire extinguisher, a shower massage for the spare bedroom and a bug proof light bulb for the porch.  I think thats all we got.. I don’t know.. but I do know that we spent $70 on it. Ugh.

Anyway I guess thats all I have to say for now. I need to go fold / hang laundry and maybe go chill out on the couch for a while. Peace :D

We’re homeowners! We’re almost all moved in. About 2 more loads of “crap” and we are so out of that house. I’ll spend a day cleaning it head to toe and then will gladly hand over the keys. I am so sick of that house and glad we have moved out. Something we actually own!

Having a few slight issues with the new house. Things that, of course, will get better over time. But the girl who rented this house before we bought it had 5 cats. FIVE. And I’m allergic to a single cat, so you can imagine how great it has been for me. I don’t show my typical allergy symptoms, I just… out of nowhere, have an asthma attack. I’ll be fine and then feel my lungs starting to close up and then it begins. Crazy stuff. My body will get used to it eventually, I’m sure.

Anyway, I’m gonna go take a shower and sleep. We gotta be at my mom’s house at 9:30 tomorrow morning to go out of town. I’d much rather stay and spend time in my house but we have family coming in from out of state that we never get to see and I really want to see them. So anyway.. thats the heads up on what is going on. I’ll write more when I actually have time. The next week will be spent finishing the move, cleaning the other house, unpacking and getting ready for a brand spankin’ new roof on Friday :D

My Calendar is full for the rest of the month. Between closing on a house, moving and work I don’t think I can fit anything else in. Oh and we’re going out of town to my Grandmother’s house on the 27/28th for Memorial Day. I have to get up at the butt crack of dawn on Saturday to take Astro the vet to be boarded and then we must proceed to move stuff. We have to get all of our “big” stuff that needs to be moved with Malinda’s truck out of this house by the end of the day on Saturday. She is going out of town for over a week to her brother’s wedding during the first week of June.

We’ve gone back and forth over this home buying ordeal over the last several weeks and we are finally at our final decision. The home inspection was a bust and we found out that the house needed a new roof before any insurance company would insure it. Other than that, most repairs seem somewhat minor and we plan on fixing all of the things on that list over the next few years before we want to turn around and sell it.  Anyway so our closing date is the 24th, next Thursday at 4:00 PM. I’m taking off work at 2 so I can come home and do some breathing exercises. I’m a little nervous and I want everything to go smoothly. The first part of this week is going to drag by, I can already tell.

We have to get a contract with a roofer signed before closing in order for us to get our insurance policy. Tomorrow I plan on getting the last of the estimates and by the end of the day on Tuesday Gene and I need to have our decision made on who to go with so that I can get the contract signed and faxed over to the insurance company. I really hope everything goes smoothly at closing because most of the roofing contracts I’ve signed have a 10% cancellation fee and when you have an estimate for $4,300, 10% is actually QUITE a lot of money :(

Anyway I could really go on and on but I don’t feel like it. Other things on my checklist are change of address cards at the post office, transfer utilities and gas to new house, transfer cox (cable, phone, internet) to new house and call the Pest guy to come out and spray for pests. Maybe sometime later this month or in June I will go splurge on some paint and paint the house. I want to use mostly neutral colors. One of the bedrooms is already painted a warm orange/red color and it is awesome so I plan on leaving that room the way it is. On the Master Bedroom and the guest bedroom I want to paint neutral colors with some kind of technique. I haven’t decided yet!

I guess I am pretty excited about owning our own home. A home that we can say is OURS. Money is going to be RIDICULOUSLY tight for quite a while after we move. It sucks that it has to be that way but like most situations we are in, there have been some pretty big curveballs thrown our way. We will make it through. We have the basic staples to survive and I plan on doing some garage saling to find some unique/cheap art. Also hit up some flea markets and thrift stores.

Anyway.. I would appreciate it if you guys would keep your fingers crossed for us. And I should be back sometime after Memorial Day weekend. I am not sure when Cox will be able to transfer our services to the new place and when I will have time to actually sit down at the computer again but hopefully sometime after the 28th.

Gene and I are getting ready for a garage sale on Saturday and boy is it some work! A friend of mine’s mom is having a sale at her house and said I could bring some of my stuff over to include. Gene and I have a huge pile of clothes to contribute as well as a few little things and our entertainment center. I’m being crazy and selling our entertainment center because our main TV is dead and our next TV is going to be an LCD tv and won’t fit on our entertainment center. We’re going to borrow a little side table from my parents when we move to put our smaller TV on in the living room until we can afford (NEVER?) to buy the nice tv of our dreams.

We are getting SO much packed but boy is it taking time. I’ve got about 15-20 boxes of stuff packed and quit a bit more to pack up. I just finished packing 80% of my computer desk. It took 2 boxes and I think it may take another 1/2 box or so. I swear we have SO much stuff! And so much of it that I absolutely refuse to get rid of. I like moving because you always have to go through all of your crap and then you realize exactly how much you have but at the same time, it is SO hard to part with some of your stuff. Especially he sentimental stuff.

I have this great vision of our new home being totally organized and clean and “homely” feeling but I always do that and it always ends up a crazy mess once we move in, lol. I am so thankful that we are moving barely a mile from our current residence. I can’t imagine moving any further than that right now. We would need the biggest darn uhaul they make :/ I am just very thankful that I have a friend who has a truck and my parent’s who both have SUVs. It makes moving so much easier! Thanks Malinda and Mom and Dad.. I love you guys so much! :heart:

I am gonna go kick Astro’s butt. He wont quit growling at nothing. I also wanted to say that I had Sushi for dinner and it was freakin’ delicious. Tomorrow is the downtown Edmond Arts Festival and you can bet your shiney boots that I’ll be there grubbin’ on some indian taco :D Yay for fried bread!

Growing up is ten times more difficult! The decisions you have to make. The ones that could affect everything that happens from that point forward. The decisions that you toss and turn over at night. Losing sleep and gaining a few grey hairs. Gene and I have dove head first into mortgages. I’ll admit, we’ve learned a whole lot in the last 5 days about mortgages and some of the confusing terminology that goes with it. However, there is still so much that confuses us and so much that leaves us skeptical. It is quite possibly the most frustrating and stressful thing I’ve ever done!

We have to apply to several different places. Get pre-qualified. Get approved. Then compare the rates we are given along with features (no down payment, closing costs built into loan, etc.) to all of the companies and figure out which is best. In a few sentences, it sure does sound easy as pie. But it’s not. It is no where like a pie. A hot blueberry pie, right out of the oven.  Nothing like that, at all :( It’s actually quite the opposite. It’s more like a burnt blueberry pie right out of the oven. The kind that smokes up the kitchen and sets off your smoke detectors. The kind that you absolutely HATE!

Anyway, moving on from the blueberry pie. I’ve got my bank working on a pre-qualification for me. We got a mortgage place in Tulsa that has prequalified us for what we want. We need to find at least 2 other places that have decent deals so that we can sit down and really see what is going to be best for us. Ultimately we want to pay as little interest as possible in the long run. Unfortunately we have two things standing against us, the fact that we are first time home buyers puts us in a totally different category and the fact that we don’t have 20% to put down. In fact, I’m really trying my best to get out of having to put diddly squat down. We’d love to start saving our money so we can buy that TV that we need so badly. Having no TV in the living room really stinks :(