Minimalist

This week I have really concentrated on trying to organize and purge. I need a system and less clutter in my life. It's beginning to stress me out, maybe it's early nesting because I've been dying to clean lately too! This week I've been thinking a great deal about T's house (the neighbor) and why it's so spotless ALL the time. It's because everything is very simple. She doesn't have tons of crap to try to hide. The house is full of nice decor but it's very simple and coordinates well. I watched the kids today and it made me feel better that her hidden cabinet and closet space wasn't completely organized, but the visible areas that people see on a daily basis is very neat. I think it's the whole hotel feel, chic, comfortable, and neat. I feel something very different when I'm in her house, more calm. Here, in our house, I'm constantly stressed because the place is a wreck and things don't have places because mainly I'm either unorganized or it's just something we don't need anyway so it's pointless to find a place for it. I think storage bins will be my new best friend. I know I'm a pack rat and keep useless things a great deal of the time but I really need to abandon my old ways and start keeping the minimalist perspective......less is more. Sure a million purses and shoes would be fun, but it's not worth it if they are stressing me out all the time because I don't have places or organization for them all. I know part of organization comes with getting more settled in a home, but I realize that a lot of it can come now.

Keep your fingers crossed that my mom takes Little man for a couple days back home with her after she returns from AZ so I can complete my spring cleaning. I don't get much done when he's home and I really could use a few days of cleaning and organizing!

Thanksgiving and Microwave

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!!! Hannah needs our prayers as her Thanksgiving was not very nice :o( We went down to my aunt's house in Ft. Wayne and had a nice time, though I think the older I get the less I enjoy traveling for the holidays. There is something to be said for just staying home and having people come to you. Hopefully on Christmas day that will be the plan. We stayed for two nights and I did get to hit up some Black Friday shopping at a mall near my aunt's house.

My handy husband put in our new above the stove microwave today!!!!!! It looks very nice and as sad as it sounds I'm very happy to have a microwave again. The people that moved out of our house decided to take the microwave with them even though it was supposed to stay!! We got a great deal on this microwave so I'm hoping that it will last a long time!!! I popped some popcorn in it earlier and it shut off part way through but I'm still figuring out how to use it so I'm hoping it was something I did, and not a problem with the microwave.

I guess this may be typical but we're finding more and more little things that are wrong with the house. For example, the garage door sensors are not where they are supposed to be, instead they are just thrown on the ceiling of the garage to be out of the way. Since our house is in a big subdivision with tons of other houses like ours the builders cut corners and half a$$ed things where ever they could. It's getting apparent now that we've been in the house for nearing a month. Another example is that there were large holes in the wall behind the hood that was over the stove. The person just kept putting holes in the wall until he got the wire where it needed to be. R had to replace the drywall to put up the microwave. I'm just praying that too many things don't start going wrong. The other thing we are having to deal with is screw ups my friend's husband made while attempting home improvement projects. He tried to put up recessed lighting in Little Man's room and totally did it wrong so he finally just gave up and left the project unfinished. R is having a fit trying to finish the project.

I'm getting really ansty to get this house in order and unpacked with things all put in their places. It's much tougher than it seems because we have such little time to totally devote to just that. I'm home with Little man all day but it doesn't leave me with too much time to get things organized. I did a lot last week when he was with my parents, but there is so much more to do. The main reason why things are taking longer than we would like it due to money. We need bookshelves, curtains, and tons of other little things. I know they will come with time but it makes it hard to complete the unpacking and organizing when things don't look complete or we don't have the things that we need. All in good time though!

Now it's almost time for Christmas decorating!!!! I bought everything that I needed to complete my festive mantle arrangement and it looks so good. One thing at a time :o)

Life Is Moving On!

R leaves today to go down to the house! J got the people who were living there to move out early so he could get in since he starts his new job tomorrow. I won't be going down until Friday because we only have one vehicle and I can't borrow my mom's until she's done working for the week. R is going to spend the week getting the place clean and in order before I arrive and we get to work on painting and organizing. Our big move won't be until November 10th because we need a little time to notify the family members who are helping us.

Should I do anything for R's first day on the job? I know that if he were a girl I may send flowers or something but for guys, what do you do? I was going to send a card along hidden in his stuff so that he would find it tomorrow either before or during work, but I'm not sure if I should do something more? Any thoughts?

I'm going to be on my own for Little Man's third Halloween (R will be at the house). He's going to be a bear and he just loves the costume. My mother in law is a wonderful seamstress so the costumes always look professional. This will be his first year Trick or Treating. We are going to do one street of houses up town and take him up to my aunt and uncles. I think I may have to replace all his unhealthy candy with goldfish, raisins, and apples, HAHA after we get home because I know that he will want to eat it all! Next year will be nice because we'll have a subdivision neighborhood with sidewalks to go T or T in.

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!!!! I'll keep updating about R's new job, the house, and the move. Things are going to busy!!!!

Washer and Dryer and Advice

So R and I went to Home De.pot tonight and made our very first purchase for the new house, you guessed it, a washer and dryer. We got an incredible deal on it because there was a sale going on and the G.E. had a wonderful rebate. I am so excited that we are proud owners of two appliances. They are going to be delivered on November 2nd. R is taking that day off from work to get everything in order. The carpets are being deep cleaned on November 7th and then the big move is on the 10th.

So now that I've explained the washer and dryer you are probably wondering what advice I need from reading my title. It's actually not me who needs advice. I don't think that I've mentioned on here about a weird thing that happened about 1 month ago. I have AOL IM and one day an old guy I dated happen to IM me by mistake. He was trying to talk with his mom and hit my screen name instead. We hadn't talked in over 4 years because I kinda got sick of waiting around for him and I started dating R. So this guy was the last guy I dated before R. What was weird about him accidentally IMing me though was that I had just thought about him a couple days prior because my son had found a stuffed animal that he had given to me, Stitch from the movie Lilo and Stitch, mind you my son fell in love with it. So we chatted for awhile and kinda caught up.

We definitely weren't serious when we dated by any means so it's not like there was a huge history. B was younger than me by 3 years and he was a 6'8" guy, so we didn't have a great deal in common, yet we hit it off. We have chatted now and then since we reconnected. Today I received an IM from him (I was away and got it like 4 hours after the fact) where he wanted to ask my advice about something when I had time. I thought the request was odd and I'm just so curious what kind of advice he wants from me? The one great thing about B was that he was always happy and people flocked to him. He knew everyone and had an infectious personality. You couldn't help but feel happy when you were around him. He was incredibly sweet and kind. I actually want to pose a question to all of one person who reads my blog (you know I love you Chas!!!!) Can someone be friends with an ex boyfriend and have no "feelings" for them? I feel that way with him. He's the type of person that would be an awesome friend to have because he's just so happy and optimistic, but people in general seem to think bad of you if you are friends with someone you dated at one time or another through out your life.

Well just some food for thought and if there are more people who read my blog other than Chas I would love to hear from you on this question I posed.

Sick and House

Well with a little bit of negotiating we got the house!!!!!!! We get the keys next Wednesday and are going to be strapped for cash, but we'll at least be home owners. R and I both agreed that we would rather go without extra things and own a house then have to rent again and have extra money. It may sound crazy but I am so sick of renting and not having anything to show for all that rent money. I'm working with my financial friend J to get 10K out of my retirement to use for a down payment.

I've been sick pretty much this whole week with a bad head cold and have been feeling pretty bad. Little Man went up to R's parents house yesterday and is coming home tomorrow so I could get better and get some school work done. I did a lot of reading today for class and have discussion questions to finish for tomorrow. I also have to read the book Harry Potter and watch the movie for my children's lit class.

It's actually bad to say this but I've truly enjoyed the time that Little Man was gone. I don't get full breaks very often. Even when my mom or husband is doing something with him or take him somewhere I can't seem to fully relax because I can still hear him or I know when they will be home. I try to cram too much into the little amount of time that I have off. This was the first time where I actually wasn't thinking about when he was coming home. He was so excited to go with them so I don't feel bad about sending him up there. I think he needs a break from us once and awhile too!

R starts his new job next Tuesday and then that way we will get benefits December 1st! I'm going to keep my eyes open for a job just because two incomes would help with having the house but we'll see if anything comes along. I really hope that R likes his new job, it's a different avenue from what he was doing down in FL. I think he'll enjoy the work more and hopefully like his new job duties.

I hope that my cold gets better soon! I'll keep you posted on the new job and house!!!!

House???

We went down to the university that R will be working for on Friday so that he could fill out all his paperwork and we could see the campus (Little Man and I have never been there). It was a very new campus and was really nice. We went to R's office and met everyone, they were all so nice. I think that it will be a nice working environment for R and they all seemed very excited that he will be starting. We have a start date of October 30th so things are moving very fast.

Later that afternoon we met my friends K and J at the house that J still owes from before they got married. K also had a house she he moved in with her and has been unable to sell his house for over a year. He's been renting and really wants to get rid of the house. It needs some TLC because renters haven't been taking spectacular care of the place but R and I really liked it. It's about 25 minutes from R's work and just enough outside of the metro city but yet still not too far. After seeing the house they took us out to dinner at their favorite restaurant. We had a nice dinner and bid our farewells.

R e-mailed an offer to J this morning after calling him and letting him know. He said he would look it over today and see if it was acceptable. We are going to go the land contract way since we wouldn't be able to get financing right now due to debt and other factors. I'm on pins and needles waiting to hear back from him to see if he's accepts our offer. Regardless we're pretty sure we're going to get the house it's just a matter of figuring out the interest rate, down payment, and amount of years. I hope we get some news soon! R has been checking e-mail all day long but no word yet.

We will be moving out of my parent's house somewhere around the first of Nov because the people who are renting the house now have paid through the end of Oct. I cannot wait to have a place of our own and to finally be able to get all of our belongings out of storage. It will be so exciting.