We are homeowners!

The last couple of weeks have been INSANE! I barely have time to breath, so this blog was put on the backburner for a little while. Of course, I decide to post in it when I really should be studying for a test!

We have a house! We settled on Friday and then right to the house to start cleaning and scrubbing the floors. Saturday we came up and Jeff and my dad put a verathane glaze on the wood floors so that we won't have to keep rewaxing them and it will make them easy to clean. Jeff's mom and I started to paint the half-bathroom and mudroom. We got one coat done, but it definitely needed more coats! Jeff and I went and bought a washing machine after we were done at the house. I can't wait for it to come! It will come Friday, along with hopefully our new living room furniture (I am waiting for them to call to set up a delivery date), and the comcast guy who will be coming to set up our TV, internet, and phone. Sunday we went back over to the house to check on the floors, shampoo the bedroom carbet, and put a final coat on the mudroom and bathroom. Well, Jeff ended up having to do another coat of the verathane on half of the living room because it dried funny, and I ended up having to put two more coats of paint in the bathroom and mudroom so we were there for a while!

We are moving in on Saturday and we can't wait!!! Jeff will be at the house painting this week. This is the last week of my insane schedule... then it will just be buys. My district is in school for 2 1/2 more days, and I have one class that ends on Thursday, however I still have two classes from now until July 10th. Wednesday I will be packing up the kitchen. Thursday I will be moving the kitchen. This time next week we will be in our new house!!!

House Painting!

We went to do the house painting today for the mortgage. It went really well! We were really worried because it was supposed to rain all morning, and if we had to put it off until next weekend we wouldn't have had enough people. But we did everything we needed to do and we finished 2 hours earlier than we thought we had to finish. It was great! I was covered in paint. My hands were a MESS because I was working on the balcony (that and because Jeff decided to paint my hands after I bumped his hand with my paintbrush, haha). And at one point I didn't realize I had paint on my finger and went to tuck my hair behind my ear and ended up with paint in my hair. I spend A LONG time pulling it out when I got home. I think there is STILL some in there. Anyway... here are some pictures:

Karl on the ladder, Dwayne on the little ladder, Jeffery and Jeff's dad obvserving.

Karl (Jeff's brother) up on the ladder.



My dad and my dad's best friend, Howard, painting the garage door (although this is one of the things that we will be replacing... but we had to do this for the loan).


Jeff and I working on the balcony. The balcony railings are also going to be replaces once we move, but we had to paint them for now.

Howard through the garage windows.

Ongaurd!

Jeff's mom working on the kitchen door.

And of course a picture of Jeff and I next to the FINALLY posted SOLD sign!

Thank you to everyone who helped us paint and get this done! I can't wait to hear from our real estate agent about what the FHA inspector said. I really hope it ends up being ok!

The sellers were there and they were really nice! The were writing down a bunch of info we might need about utilities. They also asked us if we wanted to buy their dryer. It is only 3 years old, but their new house doesn't have the same hookup. We said yes! We are buying it for $75! It is great. It has a feature on it that turns off once it senses the clothes dry. That is one less thing we have to buy now. She was also telling me about these really neat prayer scrolls that are in each doorway. Apparently it is a Jewish tradition that has prayers written on tiny scrolls in Hebrew and it is supposed to bring happiness and good fortune to the people who walk through the doorways. There is one on just about every doorway in the house. They are really neat! They add to the uniqueness of the house. They are really old, although she did add two of them after they moved in that are really ornate and beautiful. I don't have pictures of them, but I will try to post pictures of them in the future.

On another note... 20 days until we OWN a house! We close in 20 days. :)

Well, enjoy the pictures!

GOOD health news and some answers

I had a doctor appointment with the urologist yesterday as a follow-up from my surgeries. Before the appointment I had to do a 24-hour urine study, (I collect my pee for 24 hours so they can test it... its a blast). They also surprised me with a blood test, (I didn't know I was getting one until I showed up to get my pee container). And then at the appointment, before I met with my doctor, they did an ultrasound on my kidneys and bladder to see how they were healing and draining. Then came the actual appointment. There are currently no stones in my kidneys!!! And my kidneys healed well and are draining nicely. As for the answers... my stones are caused by my body. I have what is called a "renal leak". Somehow my body is leaking calcium into my blood and causing the stones in my kidneys. I asked if my excess tea drinking up until a few years ago had an effect, and he said it is possible, but that it wasn't the cause. My body causes the stones. So what are they going to do? Well, they have me on a medication with a REALLY long name that is a blood pressure medication, (my blood pressure is normal). The medication is meant to take extra salt and calcium out of my body in order to prevent me from getting stones. The doctor said it could effect my potassium level, so I need to keep things with potassium on hand in case I feel light headed or weak. A week after I start the meds I need to go in for a blood test to make sure my potassium levels are fine. I am so happy to have some answers for once, and some good health news! It has been a LONG time coming!

Tomorrow we are going to work on the painting for the house. I am really looking forward to getting it finished. I will try to remember to take my camera and take some pictures of everyone working to post on here. I really hope the weather cooperates! Jeff had to work tonight, but he went in at 6:30pm and will hopefully be able to leave around 3:00am to get some sleep before we have to go paint.

Our apartment is A MESS! We've started to pack (well, we have much of the place packed). It is just a maze of boxes and mess. I am embarrassed to have anyone over, but hey if you come over then cut us some slack because we are packing to move in a few weeks. OH! That reminds me! Less than a month from now we will be IN OUR HOUSE!!! That excites me!

I guess I better head to bed. I do have a busy day tomorrow!

Goodbye Spring Semester! Hello Grey Hair!

As of 5 minutes ago I've completed my first semester of grad school. I am actually a little sad to be finished with one of my courses because it really was a great course and I got A LOT out of it. I really enjoyed it. Now I have a week break until my awful May starts. But it won't be an easy week. I have a meeting Monday after work, an interview for a summer job with Extended School Year on Tuesday, and a dr's appointment on Thursday. Sometime in there I also need to get most of this apartment packed up, and head to Millersville to buy my books for the start of summer session 1 (aka summer session from hell).

Today Jeff and I went to Lowe's to buy all of our supplies needed for next Saturday. We, along with 7 other people, will be at our new house (although it isn't ours yet) to do all of the required work that FHA told us needed to be done before settlement. I am REALLY PRAYING we don't have bad weather! Our rain date/any work that we didn't finish date is May 17th. A part of me can't help but be bitter that we have to do the work on the house because the seller's weren't prepared when they went out to look for houses and couldn't get a mortgage. They now have a mortgage, but we still have to do the work. Argh. Oh well... it will be a learning experience I guess. I am trying to look at the bright side, although I would LOVE to give them a glimpse into what they are doing to me by not doing this work. I am EXTREMELY stressed right now. Between summer session from hell, packing to move, working, and the work we have to do on the house, I think I will be getting a few grey hairs. No, seriously... I really did find a grey hair on my head the other day. I wanted to cry. I guess I can say thank goodness for hair dye because sooner or later it will come to my rescue. Jeffery already has a bunch of white hair on his head, which he says he gets from me, haha. But anyway, I am very thankful for everyone that is helping us out with the work we need to do on the house and with this move!!!

Here's a joke for you that a coworker told me. We can all relate!: A man wanted to take his wife out for dinner. He gave her the choice of where she wanted to go. She said to him "I don't care, but I want to go somewhere expensive", so he took her to the gas station.

Well... I am off to pack a never ending flow of boxes. June 7th can't come soon enough!

Potholes

I'm just wondering... why do they put potholes in the road exactly where the tires go. I'm sure I look like a drunk driver swerving down the road to miss the potholes.

On another note... only one more paper and two more classes to go until this semester is over! Unfortunately, I only have a week break between the end of this semester and the start of my insane summer session, and that is only because my classes are ending early, rather than holding class during finals week. In that time I will try to get as much packing done as I can! I am REALLY looking forward to July (or at least June after we are all moved and all I have to worry about is classes).

It's been a few weeks!

I haven't had the chance to update lately! It has been a busy few weeks. We have been packing and preparing to move. We found out the other day that the sellers have found a place to live, so we are much more relaxed! We also found out we got a great interest rate on our mortgage! So we are pretty excited about that. We close on May 30th and we move June 7th. My dad and Jeff are going to refinish the wood floors in the house before we move in. I had wanted to paint the rooms too, but I will not have the chance now because of the grad classes that I have to take the entire month of May. It is going to be a ridiculous month! I am so ready for it to be July because my grad classes will be over for the summer and I can just relax and enjoy my new home.

I have a job interview on May 6th for a summer job. I will hopefully be working for Extended School Year through the Lancaster IU. My coworker said that I will most likely get a job with them. She works for the IU and worked for ESY last year. It will be great because ESY starts right after my summer classes end, and it ends in the beginning of August. It is only 3 days a week and in the morning. It will be so nice! I will still be able to enjoy my summer and get to know our new house!

I don't have too much more to update on right now. Everything is busy, but not too different yet. Just wait until May though, and then the month will FLY by!!!

Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours

"Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours". Our principal says that statement on the announcements every morning. Sometimes I doubt this statement, but it is true, even if it seems like nothing goes right.

We've had a lot of stress lately. The sellers of the house we are buying were trying to get out of selling, but now that has passed and it is our house. Two months from tomorrow we will be moving in!

I've had a lot of school stress happen. There are two classes that I have to take for my certification, and I have to take them early in my program. They are only offered in Summer session 1, and that is the last month of school for our district. So I have to take the classes. One of them I might be taking as an independent study, but I need to have a professor that is willing to do it during summer session 2 or 3, otherwise I have to take the class when it is offered or I risk putting off my entire program for an entire year. So the last month of school, which also happens to be the month leading up to closing on our house and moving in, I will be taking 2 classes. I can do it. I will need a lot of family and friend support and help, but I can do it.

One of the students in the class I work with is moving to another class. I will be so sad to see her go and miss her so much because the past few weeks she has become attached to me. But I know that this move is for her benefit so in the same way I will be happy for her when she leaves.

About a week after I started back to school from being out with pneumonia, Jeff and I both came down with strep throat. Luckily I only missed a day and a half of work for that, because we came down with it on a Thursday, so I had the weekend to recover.

But even through all of this, I am trying to keep a positive outlook. I am very excited to move, and I am excited for spring and for summer. I am excited for the end of the semester, and I am really looking forward to July because that is when my birthday is and when my classes will be over and I can just enjoy my summer (and hopefully puppies!). I will definitely be trying to make my days great! I just need to wake up with a smile, and keep that smile on my face all day long!