falling

Things just couldn't be better. I am really on cloud nine right now.

I have a new job!

I'm so excited about it! It's at a bank here in town where I'll be a Universal Banker. Which is a personal banker (open accounts, explain accounts, start loans, etc,) and then I'll be a back up for the tellers (during lunch, vacations, or just when we are busy). I had the interview the day after we signed for the house and then last Tuesday, I got the call that I got the job. It's funny, I actually interviewed for a teller position but after the interview the manager call me and asked if I would be interested in the Universal Banker position. Of course I said yes, but it took a whole week for the official offer to come. I'm glad they saw potential in me to put me in a higher position. I don't start until next week and I'm glad. It gives me time to get the house a bit more in order.

Things are just falling into place. I'm so thankful it only took a week to get a job, instead the 5 1/2  months it took when we moved to Hannibal. It makes me feel like we definitely made the right choice with Mike taking this job, moving 3 hours away, and buying this house.

it's official...

...we are homeowners! We've made it through!

We had a couple of hiccups on closing day, but in the end we closed, signed and went on our way. When we did our final walk through (3 hours before signing) we found that basically nothing was done on our list of things to fix after the inspection. UGH! We were quite upset with the owner, to say the least. As I said in a previous post, instead of giving us the $1,000 off the price for the problems, the owner said he would fix them. And then he didn't. The reason we were so upset was he could of negotiated the $1,000 down or just said no to it and we would of been okay with it. But no, he said he would fix them. And what made us even more nervous about the situation was the seller signed all his stuff the day before us (he couldn't get off work) and couldn't be contacted before we signed. Our realtor did the best he could in the situation, called the seller's realtor and she couldn't even get in contact with the seller. There was a lot of piddly stuff of the list to fix but the big thing was re-mortoring  part the the chimney, some of the bricks are pretty loose. I have no idea how much something like that costs and now we have to pay for it. Luckily, when we went to closing, the sellers realtor offered us $200 of her own money for the situation. I know it's not enough to fix the chimney, but it will definitely help. I felt bad that she had to do that, but my realtor explained that she would most likely be reimbursed by the seller.

I know buying a house isn't easy and those things happen, we were just hoping it wouldn't happen to us. The seller also left the house with a lot of trash and it was just in disgusting/dirty shape. So we spent a fair amount of time cleaning it out.

But on the other hand, we bought a house! And we did a lot of painting this week, thanks to my Dad. My parents decided to come help us get the house ready to move in and I'm glad they did. The living room was a bigger project than I anticipated. The walls are plaster and needed a good overhaul. There were cracks, divets (sp?), and waviness. I know I couldn't of done a job as good as he did on those walls, it was a full day of prep work before we got to the paint.

These are the before pictures again:

Here's some prep work:

Finished painting:

We definitely have more work to do in this room, but this was a big part. I LOVE this room now. I can't wait to get our furniture in it and decorate! We need to do some work on the mantel and built ins, so we didn't paint them yet, so that will be another task to be done.

We were able to get the first coat of paint on the dining room. With seeing all the work that had to go into the living room, we didn't expect to get anything done in the dining room. I'm really glad we did it though. I wanted a grey-blue, not too bright. We put the first coat of paint on and it's too bright for us, so we are going to take our other gallon of paint back and ask them to add some more grey.

Here is the before of the dining room:

 

Here's after the first coat:

 

Hopefully this week (it might be next week), we will get the second coat on of the grey-er color. The movers are here now packing us. Oh, how I love free movers! But I do kind of feel in the way and feel like I should be helping. 

I am hoping to have the computer/internet up and going soon in the new house, so it may be a week before I post again.

dreaming of a sewing room

Mike and I have been stuck in our house this whole weekend....cleaning and packing. These are the 2 things I dread most in life, I think. Since we are relocating for Mike's job, they are paying for movers to pack and move us. Yay! But our house was in dire need of a spring cleaning regardless of the move. I hate to say it, but our house has been a mess since the new year. We got home from our Indiana Christmas visit and it's been down hill from there. Now for our defense, we then found out about the move, found a house, did my sister's bachlorette party, Mike's been out of town for work, went to Mexico for the wedding.....phew! Our weekends have  been really busy for the last couple months. 

So now we are cleaning and packing for the movers. It's kind of like cleaning before the cleaning lady comes over so she doesn't think your too big of a slob.  Wouldn't it be nice to have a cleaning lady....

Today I put away my sewing machine. I'm been on a sewing break since Christmas, and I really miss it. I can't wait to unpack my sewing room and start making things for the house. I'm also excited to get back to my purses, I have a couple patterns I've "designed" and I really want to try them out.  I got my serger and it's just sat in the box; there was no reason to get it out. I wanted to paint it an aqua-teal, but Mike said no. :( So I'm going with a grey-blue. I like the grey-blue but I was kind of looking forward to a bright, bold space. It's now going to be more calm looking. I guess I'll just have to do bright, bold accessories and wall art.  Our new home is a four bedroom, so for the time being I will have a room just for sewing. I'm not sure which room it will be (we still don't know what room will be ours, since there's no "master" bedroom).

But here is a contender: 

 

 

5 days

....until were are homeowners!

I am really getting excited now. I did the last thing today that needed to be done before we sign. The house gods were definitely on my side today. We had to move some money around to get our down payment all in one account....and I waited until today to do this. I know, I know, two business days is not really that best time-line to give your money. The teller said there is normally a 9 day hold on that amount of money....GREAT. But when she put in the deposit we didn't have a hold. Woo Hoo! We are truly lucky.

I'm starting to make a list in my head what I need to pack for the first week in the house. We are going to be roughing it until all our stuff is moved, air mattress, camp chairs, etc.  But we are taking advantage of the time...painting!! While Mike's at work all week, I'll be painting the living room and our bedroom. Those are the two rooms the "need" to be done before the furniture comes. If I have extra time, the dining room will be next.

So here are some before pictures of the living room:

Sorry for the quality of the pictures, these are from the listing. 

We think we are going to take down the bead board, just because we want to put in up in the dining room. I don't want the first floor to all be bead board. But of course, our minds could change between now and painting. We are both on the same page with going with a tan color, but Mike wants a more brown-tan, and I want a more yellow/golden-tan. We will see who wins this battle! :)

This is a pretty big room (like 14' x 25'), so I will definitely have my work cut out for me. Plus, with all the trim and the built-ins.....long days of painting are in my future. Mike is a horrible painter; his hands are too shaky. So I may spend most of my time on the trim/built-ins and Mike will do the big open space on the walls. :)

sushi class

Mike and were lucky enough to attend a sushi rolling class at the resort in Mexico. And when I say lucky, I mean lucky....we didn't sign up for the class when we should of and they ran out of space. I ran into the lady who was conducting the class and she said it was full, so I read by the pool and Mike headed to the bar. :) Then about 10 minutes later the woman came back and said there was a cancellation and we were in. YES!! Mike and I were pretty excited about the class; we both love sushi but found it intimidating to make. We were wrong; it's so easy! Now granted they had everything laid out for us, but at least we were able to try out our rolling skills. I know there is a lot of prep work, especially the "sticky" sushi rice, but the class changed our thoughts on homemade sushi. Mike wants to get a rolling mat, and is actually considering a rice cooker. Rice cookers are pretty inexpensive, but are "one-hit wonders" in the kitchen and Mike normally hates those.

This class was definitely a highlight of our vacation. :)