Holy Crap we Bought a House!

So, it's been a little busy/crazy the last few weeks and my poor little blog has been neglected... I did get 18 views the other day, but I saw that they were mostly from Russia, and Meeker told me that they are probably trying to hack into my account and steal my identity.. but hey, I will take it.

A few things before I get to the whole House thing...

1. Slow Cooker Meals= AWESOME.. do it people..
Important things to remember that are crucial to slow cooker success.

•     turn it on before you leave the house for the day.. 
•     after you turn it on is to make sure it is plugged in... 

2. Haven't watched a Doc in a while but don't worry Kimi, Undefeated is the top of the list. We did watch Happy Gilmore yesterday after watching the Masters (when an Argentine is in the semi-finals, we will watch any sport). Meeker had never seen it, and it was funny to re-live 1998 humor. It was also funny having Meeker explain to me why Bob Barker would never have been able to beat up Adam Sandler in real life.. Oh Meeker.


GET TO THE HOUSE ALREADY OH MY GOSH!!!!

Short Version
God basically put this house right in our laps, and we still can't believe that it happened and how everything worked out the way it did..

Longer Version 
Okay.. so Meeker has wanted to buy a house since I met him, and I have never wanted to buy a house ever (third culture kid issues- what if we move out of the country?!) But he has slowly been convincing me by sending me links to houses every day and proving to me mathematically that we can afford it (even if we can't do it the Dave Ramsey way...)

(....I also think it helped to live in 900 sq ft apt,(with a history of smoker residents- aka we smell like smoke all the time). We live beneath a crazy cat lady (seriouslsy she has like 5 cats who play ALLLLL night long); Our neighbor has a LARGE dog that barks pretty consistently (I could write a full post about ppl who have huge dogs that live in tiny apartments..) and we live right behind the only dumpster for the whole complex- which is convenient for us, but we get a lot of foot traffic  and get to listen to "sick bass" that makes our furniture shake while ppl unload their trash or vacuum their cars..  and we have a dishwasher that makes the dishes dirtier.. and a garbage disposal that shakes our whole kitchen when we use it..... )

Annnnyyywwayyyyysss- I was ready for the upgrade.

We thought we found the house of our dreams, but as I mentioned before totally lost out in a bidding war.. but it was okay.. it got our foot in the door. So we found about 10 more houses online that we loved and could afford. Our Realtor suggested we drive around to see if we actually liked the neighborhood, which was the best advice ever..

Sunday we drove the the first 9 houses on the list.. we realized that all of the houses we can afford are in neighborhoods we don't like... So we decided to drive to house #10...
The second we drove into the neighborhood we knew we were "home". The houses were nicely spaced apart, the yards were flat, not a lot of traffic, we were sold.

Monday night, we went to check out house #10 in our beloved neighborhood.  Unfortunately, house #10 was a bust (really bad floor plan). We were super discouraged because the rest of the houses that were on the market in the neighborhood were way out of our price range.. So we were ready to throw in the towel and just save more money up to try again next year..

Tuesday night, our Realtor emailed us that his Realtor friend told him a house in the neighborhood we loved was going on the market on Wednesday  and it was in our price range, and had everything on our wish list- so we went to see it Thursday evening, Thursday night we put in an offer, and Friday we went under contract!

Talk about a Roller Coaster WEEK!

Now I left out a lot of details there but so many intricate things happened to make this work. We really feel like it was a miracle we got this house. 5 other people put in an offer on Friday but our Realtor had a connection w the seller's Realtor  which in the end was what got us the house... I still can't believe it.. So again, there are too many little details that worked together that resulted in us getting this house  which if you know me, I will probably tell you the second I see you and it will take me an hour. (sorry in advance)

We are so excited although I still have this nagging feeling that something is going to happen and we aren't going to get it.. so hopefully that isn't true! We feel really blessed/shocked that we got this house, and have a vision of how we want to use it to bless others. We are excited to see what happens next!!!!

now.. to figure out furniture??? 

Random Things

Here are some more random blog worthy thoughts that I thought I would share with  you


1. Learning How To Cook
I wish there was video documentation of me trying to figure out how to cook. I am a "learn by doing" kind of person, so it is best done alone so I don't freak out my husband when I slice open my finger or drop major ingredients on the floor and rinse them off in the sink. Also, due to my youngest child nature, if someone tries to help or instruct, I will manipulate them in to taking over and go sit on the couch and watch TV while they finish up- it can't be helped- it happens subconsciously-  I have been playing that card my whole life and it's hard to turn off.. So anyway... I am super ADHD when cooking so I will be cooking something, and then I will start washing the dishes, and then I will remember to add a spice I was supposed to put in at the beginning of the recipe.. it's great.. good thing I have a small kitchen. I also use EVERY SINGLE kitchen utensil we own to cook one meal.. It takes me like 2 spatulas, 3 wooden spoons and maybe 3 bowls because I misjudge the size of what kind of bowl I will need. It would make great TV. Also, how did people learn how to cook with out Google Imaging/Youtubing/Searching for questions like "what is fish sauce" and "what is a roaster"  or "how do you cut a mango?" Seriously though? how?!

2. We Almost Bought a House
We have been playing around on Zillow looking at houses and we found one we REALLY liked, so we decided to go see it, you know, just for fun.... the next thing I know we are in a cut-throat bidding war with a lesbian couple.. they ended up winning (they had a 20% down-payment and we had 10%.. (8%) okay (5%)).. 
But we are the contingency plan in case the deal with them falls through... We are looking at other houses though. We want to "get while the gettin's good" and take advantage of the low interest rates (3.5%!!!) and low house prices anyway.. we shall see what happens.

3. I am obsessed with this Blog
 Jamie the Very Worst Missionary.
I have been reading this blog like it's a book..
Its great- and i want to be her best friend.
Check it out... she's hilarious.
(note: it took me a few weeks to warm up to this blog, bc i didn't get it, but once i did, i loved it and then I went all the way back to 2008 and I am now up to 2011. )

4. Final Four! 
Um March Madness anyone!?! Such a fun tournament this year!!!! Remember when that guy busted his leg!? holy crap- I wonder how they will fit that into One Shining Moment!! Also, last year, during Final Four weekend we were celebrating my BFF Kimi's Bachlorette weekend (remember when we saw that guy get hit by a CAR?!). This year's Final Four Weekend we are celebrating my other BFF Mandy's Wedding Shower! I wonder what will happen next year?! (Also, I love the quote from The Mindy Project, "Best Friend is not a person, its a Tier" so true (10 bridesmaids people, 10!)

Other things that were too boring to write about
-Paleo Dinner Meal Plan
-TRX training at 5:45am
-Call Center Tricks
-Work Bingo