6 month hiatus

So can we just act like that never happened? That would be great.

Here is a little picture dump/update on what we have been up to over the last 6 months.  I seriously have not had time to sit down and type but I am committed to sticking with this this time because I so enjoy being able to look back and see what has happened and how I felt. I have the most horrible memory ever so I need to write it down!

So here are my last 6 months in a nutshell

When I abruptly left blogging school was about to start we were looking to close on our first house within the next month and trying to figure out when to get married in all of that.  Oh yeah football season was around the corner too. So here is how all of that worked out

I went wedding dress shopping with my BFF. (This wasn't the winner but was a runner up....

School started and I had to put two names on my door because my name hadn't officially changed yet.

Football season started. Luckily for us it was on a Thursday because....

The next day we got hitched!  This is my favorite picture from that day.  We just went to the courthouse with close family.  It was a wonderful day because when we left the courthouse we got to go....

 home!  Yeah we rented for 3 weeks before officially closing but we picked up the keys and moved in the night we got married.  We had a tv, futon and a coffee maker in there that night.  (Which really what more do you need in life lol) I am smiling just remembering that night and it was only 6 months ago!

Jacob wasted no time going to get his pool table and setting it up in the shed/man cave out back.  

Then we closed on our house.  This has nothing to do with closing it just happens to be a picture from that day.  Jacob rode top down and I followed in my vehicle because I had things to return from showers.

 We picked out paint.  We went with the lighter blue for our kitchen, a brownish/greenish color (second from the top I think) in the living room/hallway and the second from the bottom color for our bedroom.  

 I made laundry detergent.  I made this in September and I am still using the same contained.  I have like half the container left. I am extremely happy with this detergent and I will share the process next time I make it.

One morning I woke up to this. Those are bubbles on our kitchen floor.  (Yeah Jacob is sitting at the bar and didn't even notice the bubbles)  We have no idea why it happened (no it wasn't dish soap on anything) and it hasn't happened since.

We went to some Bama games...

...where Jacob watched his own film between plays.

We ripped up some scraggly bushes in the front (and trimmed back those huge crepe myrtles)

 I passed out candy for Trick or Treaters.  Even though we are only one street back from my parents and grandparents we got like half of the people here.  It was nice.

We went on a little honeymoon.  After football season was over we headed out for Gatlinburg and the Smokey Mountains.  It was fabulous and much needed.

Last weekend I painted our front door and shutters.

Other very important things happened too like Christmas but apparently I didn't take any picture.  

Right now we are iced in.  You read that right.  We are iced in in Alabama.  Lower Alabama at that.  Last Friday it kind of sleeted all day and then snowed a little that evening with nothing sticking.  Then it was warm all weekend.  In the 60s on Monday.  Then Monday night a cold front came in and we are now snowed in. It started Tuesday morning and there was sleet/freezing rain all day.  Seriously everything is covered in ice. We were out of school yesterday and today and this morning found out we are out tomorrow too because so many roads are impassable.  There are a couple of inches of ice on roads and it will be refreezing tonight so tomorrow will be day 3 of watching reruns for us.  I will have picture next week I just haven't uploaded them yet.

So there is my last 6 months in a nutshell.  I don't plan any hiatus again in the future =)

Where We Stand

We have news!

After taking paper after paper to the mortgage company, making the ladies at the bank hate me because I always need something from them and getting the worst fever blisters ever from all the stress we have a tentative closing date.

 

Last week Jacob went back to work and started football practice full time.  This week I am back at work.  In less than a month we should be closing.  I am so excited y'all. 

Hopefully it will not be long before this baby is ours.  We put our offer in on our house over 2 months ago.  At that time we were supposedly pre-approved.  So much has happened since then.  I have been to the mortgage company a couple of times EVERY week.  It has been a long, drawn out, frustrating process but tentatively it will be paying off on September 9th.  If everything goes as planned we will be moving in on September 19th.  Which is right smack dab in the middle of football season but we will make it through!

 

These people are going to be homeowners soon! 

My real wish was the we would be able to move in Labor Day weekend.  It was just going to work out best.  Jacob's football game that week is on Thursday night.  We were both already planning on taking the day off that Friday (of course when this idea was first even discussed we were sure that we would be in the house long before Labor Day!) and we are both off on Monday.  We could run to the courthouse and get hitched on Friday morning and still have 3 nice long days to settle in to our new married, home owning life.  (I won't lie I am still kind of holding out hope for that.)

Put on your rally caps guys we need a miracle.

(Side note: the rally hat in this picture totally worked.  The braves came back in the 9th from being down like  5-2)

 

It's Happening!

It's Happening!!! (Imagine Kristen Whig SNL skit excitement with that.)  Seriously it is happening.  I can't say I thought this day would ever get here but after bringing the mortgage company every single piece of scrap paper ever given to Jacob and I we are finally approved. 

These people are buying a house!

 

 

Tuesday our mortgage originator called Tuesday and you could literally head how excited they were for us.  I know it must be a relief for them too because they have been working so hard.  Being teachers we get paid once a month.  (And it is on the same day so it is literally one pay day a month...which takes some serious planning.)  So they wanted our pay stubs we got yesterday to add to our file before they sent it off to USDA.  So today I took everything to them and they will be sending it off to USDA by Monday.  Which means we SHOULD be moving in mid to late September.  Which is a little later than we really hoped for but whatever we are moving in at least!

 

 

This has literally been the longest, most frustrating process ever.  It has taught us a lot.  Mostly patience.  Not everything works out just like we want it.  Just because we have a plan doesn't mean the plan will work out like we want.  But what is meant to be will be.  We will get through it.

Apparently this is my favorite shirt ever...

 

We also learned that we love each other a whole lot.  I mean we knew that before but this has been a strengthening time for us.  Jacob has been amazing.  We are figuring out our roles as our relationship grows.  As our relationship changes from dating to being a married couple in the next few months our dynamic will change.  Mostly because so many things around us will be changing.  We are so much stronger after all of the frustration we went through this summer.  We learned to lean on and confide in each other.  Jacob knew just to wrap his arm around me as I walked down the road in San Antonio crying a few weeks ago when our chances of getting the house did not seem to be looking too good. (I must admit, not my finest moment.) 



I certainly wish that this whole process had been a little easier.  I know it isn't easy for anyone but it was a little more complicated because of our circumstances.  It has been a real process.  But I wouldn't choose to go through the process with anyone but this guy right here.

Missing In Action

Y'all I have been so out of it the last couple of weeks that I have not even wanted to blog.  But I do this so that I will have a way to remember what we are up to...so here goes.

(This is what I get.  Which is why the same good pictures show up here all the time.)



We are still waiting on the house.  Week before last we struck out on a last minute road trip to San Antonio, TX.  Jacob's dad was stationed there when he was in the Air Force and had not been out there since 1988.  (PS Jacob was 3 and I wasn't born yet then.  So it was way overdue. )  It was a really quick trip and I have yet to upload my pictures from the whirlwind three days so pictures will come one day.

 

 





This past week I had a week of AMSTI (Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative) training.  And football season is picking up.  And my classroom still looks ridiculous.

Actually it is worse than this because there are boxes of stuff needing to be unpacked right now in the open place.  So I am going to have to get in there for real over the next couple of weeks because school starts 3 weeks from tomorrow.  Ugh.  So not ready. 

When we were in San Antonio we heard from the mortgage company and they wanted a couple of more things from us.  Which is extremely annoying.  We have literally given them everything we have at this point.  Plus we have invested $700.00.  So if they don't give us this loan I am going to be more than upset.  They shouldn't have let us spend this money if they weren't sure.  When we wrote those checks we were under the impression that the loan was a sure thing but after weeks of waiting we are feeling slightly less sure.  We got them what they needed this week though and hopefully will hear something definite this week.  We seriously can't wait much longer. 

So all in all it has been a stressful couple of weeks.  Our whole life is on hold at the moment and I am really ready to move forward!



It's a Waiting Game

It has been a little while since I have updated but to be honest there hasn't been that much to update on.  Wednesday July 3 we had our appraisal. Of course, the 4th of July was the next day so we knew we wouldn't hear anything until after the weekend.  We FINALLY heard something this past Thursday, (7/11) and the house appraised for exactly what we are paying for it.  (Thank God)

We have been taking paperwork to the Mortgage company almost every day this week.  Seriously.  We went Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  They finally have everything they need though so we will wait now.  Which will be the most difficult part. Tomorrow our file will go back to the underwriters for final approval.  Once they approve it our file will then go to the USDA (Because we live in the boondocks and are eligible for a rural development loan.) Which will be the longest waiting period.  Oh yeah and we go back to work in just a few weeks.  Jacob goes back 3 weeks from tomorrow and I go back 4 weeks from tomorrow.  And all of the kids come back 5 weeks from tomorrow.  So yeah stress level is about to go through the roof!

While we wait this is what I will be focusing on....

That is my bedroom...with all of my classroom stuff in it.  Yeah, well my aunt is coming next week and needs to sleep there....so I should probably make it so she could get to the bed.  So all of that needs to be moved!

This is what my classroom looks like right now.  (Can I get an amen for those super shiny floors?) But nothing is where it needs to be.  So that is what my tomorrow looks like.  Getting all of that stuff from one place to the other and then getting my room in tip top shape! 

Quick Update

So, we have no new house news but there is so much to be done in the mean time.  It is really overwhelming how many things we need/how many things we need to do.

Thank God we are both teachers and are off and able to have the time to do these things. 

Here is what I am working on right now:

Remember that?  Remember how I said it was two different colors?  (It is believe me even though it isn't quite as obvious in this picture.  Well I have been beautifying it.  Well actually my Poppy has. Here is what we have been doing yesterday and today.

We stripped it down to the base and then put the first coat of stain on it.  We still have another coat to put on it to get it really close to the color of the top.

After we finish this we have a coffee table to do too that Jacob's mom gave us.  (She forgot she even had it!)  So excited.  Crossing a few things off the very long list.

(Oh, and somehow I am also supposed to go back and decorate my classroom....because this is what all of my classroom stuff looks like right now.

And I will leave you with that.  Because obviously I have a lot to do.

Fast Track

Y'all, this home buying process is really moving now.  All I can say is Praise the Lord!

Tuesday I told you how they had scheduled the home inspection for next Tuesday...and that I couldn't wait.  Well guess what?!? I didn't have to! Tuesday evening our agent texted me.

 (By the way can I just say how much we love our agent?  I loved her before because I have known her forever, but she has just really been amazing through the whole process.  It takes patience to deal with these two new home buyers.)

She texted me Tuesday night and said she had a different inspector that could come....the next day!  So I jumped on the phone and called Jacob.  I had workshops an hour away on Wednesday and Friday this week so I knew I may not be able to be there so he definitely needed to be.  (Especially with his daddy the home improvement guru.) But, even better news...Tracie scheduled him late in the afternoon so I could make it too.  It was amazing. 

Then, on top of all of this good luck, we had the best inspector ever.  He was so nice and explained everything and just sung the praises of our new house.  (Which makes a home buyer feel really good since I am already really proud of it!)  Jacob's dad came and everything the inspector said was things he could fix. (Although it was just cosmetic stuff he was mentioning not anything that will actually be a problem.)  My mama also came so that we could measure windows. 

The whole thing was wonderful.  (I need a thesaurus apparently I believe I have said wonderful a million times!)  So our inspection is done.  We turned in our final loan disclosures yesterday.  We have to go sign one more paper today that had gotten left out somehow but the whole thing is going right along. 

Oh, and look at this beauty we got this week. (My dad and Poppy are trying to figure out exactly how to mount the top to the bottom in this picture.)  My great-great uncle (yeah) loves antiques and has all kind of things in a shed in the back of his house.  Well he had this beauty.  The top is great.  It has been refinished a dark wood color that I love.  The pedestal is not the original one, and it doesn't match right now.  But we will be refinishing it next week so match and we will have a nice dining room table.  (Which you can order leaves for this one so when there is a large group eating we will have room!

The appraisal should be happening in the next 5-10 business days.  (Hopefully closer to 5.)  Then, the underwriters will finalize everything and it will go over to the USDA.  (We are getting a USDA loan. )  The USDA is currently 3 weeks behind so that is where we are standing right now.  It is looking like we are 30-45 days away from closing.

Yes, Jacob is trying out furniture.

 

If you (Pamela since you are the only blog reader I am talking to you!) are the praying kind of person please pray that we will be closer to the 30 day mark.  Since we are both teachers it would just really be much less stressful to be in the house before school starts.  And Jacob is the football coach at his school (not sure I had mentioned that) and he will be practicing basically all day starting at the beginning of August.  So before school starts is really going to be helpful!