Over Two Years...

We have had a busy week! The highlight was spending the weekend in the Outer Banks, or the OBX as it is referred to around here. We went Friday night and stayed with some friends in a big house. We played games, ate, and played at the beach. I read a whole book! And my legs are red, red, red (with the occasional white mark?)!

I started my online class yesterday. I have almost finished this week's assignments since we will be gone for the weekend (again!)

This week is state testing at middle and elementary schools. I am administering the test to one of my students. He finished in about 1 hr, so we sat there for about 2 more. BORING! 15 work days until summer (2 of those days I have workshops.)

I had my meeting yesterday with the director. At this time, I have a job next year. Hopefully it will still be that way at the end of the school year.

Bodie Lighthouse

730!

It's been another year- with more big things happening!

-We bought a house and moved to civilization
-I completed 1 year teaching in February
-J got a new job!
-We took an autumn trip to the mountains
-We traveled to NYC!
-I decided to go back to school to get a Master's degree
-We placed membership at a church


We have been so blessed the past 365 days. We are looking forward to the next 60ish years!

The Week Review

I can't believe we have been married for 2 years! It seems just like yesterday we got engaged, much less married!

We have been busy this past week. Wednesday, we ordered ceiling fans for the living room and our bedroom. They arrived yesterday. Now we just need to find someone to install them!

I do want to brag on the meal J made for us Thursday... it was SO good!

Tilapia J made for supper Thursday

Friday, we rented Unstoppable thanks for a free code at the Blockbuster Express. It was pretty short and undramatic. We wouldn't recommend it.

Saturday, we were celebrating our anniversary. We woke up early to find that the threat of rain was gone! Yay! We headed to ZipQuest in Fayetteville.

Getting ready to zip-line!

It was pretty up in the trees, but not really that exciting. So glad we had a groupon and didn't pay full price! We came back home and ate at a local pub that we had heard good things about. Unfortunately, didn't quite live up to the hype. Oh well. After a cleaning up, we headed to Cary. We ate at Chatham Street Cafe. Seriously. Amazing. We even topped it off with dessert. J had carrot cake, and I had a 3 layer banana cake with honey cream cheese icing. We will definitely be going back! Then, we headed to see Everything Must Go. It was a good movie, just wish I wasn't so tired by the time it started!

Sunday, we had lunch with Anna at Jason's Deli before she leaves for Mississippi for the summer. It was good to catch up with her. Even though we only live 30 minutes apart, we are all so busy it is hard to see her.

My summer class starts next week. It is 5 weeks and pretty intense. A lesson is only 3 days, with 2 sessions per week. I have a project due next Saturday! Thankfully, the teacher allows you to work ahead, so I am hoping to have it done since we will be out of town!

I found out yesterday that the director wants to cut one of the itinerant teaching jobs. We are supposed to meet with her soon to discuss this, but prayers for me still having a job would be appreciated!

We are headed to the beach this weekend and South Carolina next weekend... keeping super busy around here!

Spring is Here!

The past week has been amazing weather wise. Not too hot- not too cold. I could get used to this! Sadly, I know it will be short lived, and we will be in the 90s before we know it!

Not too much has been going on. We have been super busy between work, church activities, and school.

I am going to end up taking 2 summer classes. One starts on May 23 and goes through June 28. The next one starts July 3 and ends August 3. Both are online, so hopefully they won't be too bad. Time will tell!

J has been enjoying playing golf with friends. Last Saturday he went with 3 other guys from church. He hasn't played in a while, so his game is a little rough, but I know he will be doing well in no time! He sure swings his golf club around the house enough. (Now that we have high ceilings, he can actually swing in the house. Although he is not allowed to hit the carpet! He also has a putting green inside, too.)

I have 4.5 more weeks of teaching left before summer! I cannot wait! I plan on spending my summer doing school work, reading, swimming at a friend's house, and working on the house. Oh, and relaxing!

This weekend we are headed to the zipline for our anniversary. Then we are gonna do dinner and a movie. Dinner where? Not sure. What movie? No clue. But it will be fun! Then the next weekend is the beach and the next South Carolina. Whew!

More Stormy Days

We had a great trip to Kentucky last weekend. We got up early Saturday morning and flew to Nashville, where Clark and Amy picked us up. We drove to Kentucky where mom had prepared a big breakfast- including coca! (And somehow, I did not take a single picture all weekend!) We made a quick trip to the DQ before the cousins came over for supper. I hadn't seen them in over a year, so it was really good to catch up with them. Sunday we had church and moo-peep-oink and some family pictures despite the rain. Clark and Amy took J back to the airport while the rest of us took a nap. Caitlin and Brian headed back to BG, then momma, daddy, and I went to Snappy Tomato!

J got stuck in DC (on a place) for a while due to weather. Poor thing didn't get home until 1 AM and had to get up for work the next morning.

Monday, Momma and I went shopping. I got some cute new clothes with my birthday money. When daddy got home, we went to the wellness center. I hadn't been running since my last 5k at the beginning of April, but I still managed to run 2.5 miles without stopping... now we just need to find a gym here!

Tuesday we woke up and were getting ready to head to Nashville so I could head home. We knew the weather probably wouldn't be good, so we wanted to leave early and take our time. We soon found out that we had had bad weather that night and we slept through it. 100 mph straight line winds ripped through town. Power was out, school was canceled, and several buildings were damaged. To my knowledge no one was hurt.

We made it to Nashville in plenty of time, and even stopped to eat at Cracker Barrel. Yummy! My flight for DC left on time, but unfortunately, my flight to Raleigh was delayed. However, I got to stay in the airport instead of on the plane, so that was good. Here was my view from the airport:

Sitting on the plane waiting to take off

(I got to see the entire National Mall flying in... so cool!)

J picked me up from the airport and I began the rest of spring break at home. Wednesday, I went to the eye doctor and cleaned the house (woo hoo.) Thursday, I just relax and enjoyed the day at home. I watched several episodes of Gilmore Girls (we have been watching them since right before we moved.) Friday after I watched the Royal Wedding, I ran out and did some errands, including getting my small garden stuff. We don't have a good place for my raised bed garden, so I am just growing a few things in pots this year. Hopefully this year will be fruitful! I have tomatoes, jalapenos, yellow bell pepper, and eggplant. Friday night, we had a date night in. I cooked a roast and we ate off our china for the first time. Hopefully now that some of it is clean, we will use it more!

Saturday, J played in a golf tournament for charity and I got my birthday massage. It wasn't that great, but nice to have. Then we had a young marrieds get together, which ended up with just 2 couples and half of another. It was small but fun- and we had breakfast, which is the most important meal of the day, you know.

And of course, this week was also the devastating tornadoes across the South. Thankfully, all our family is okay, but it was so close to home. I have been to many of the places that were hit, and the pictures just make it seem unreal.  Our thoughts and prayers will remain with those who are rebuilding and/or have lost loved ones.

On deck for this month:

Beach trip with friends

Trip to SC w/ J's family

Zipline!

2nd anniversary (we decided not to take a trip, but we'll do something!)

Stormy Days

It has been quite the weekend here. Thankfully, everyone we know here is okay, but many people aren't that fortunate.

Two tornadoes ripped through here Saturday afternoon- one in Holly Springs (5 miles from our house) and one in Fayetteville and Dunn (I have schools in Dunn.) To my knowledge, none of my students were impacted directly. Many homes were destroyed though, and the damage is incredible. We were very fortunate that we were only without power for a couple of hours. Our friends in Holly Springs still don't have power!

Here is a video of the tornado headed for downtown. (The one that went through Holly Springs.) Shaw University downtown had to close for the rest of the semester!



Other than that, it has been a low key week for us. Spring Break is next week, and our weekends are quickly getting booked for trips/activities!

April 23/24- KY
April 30- J has a golf tournament and we have a young married's activity
May 14/15- Trip to ??? for our anniversary
May 20/21- Nag's Head with friends
May 27-30- South Carolina with J's family

House Update below!

House Update!

We still have to hang artwork, curtains, and do some finishing touches- but this room has kept us busy! During the bad weather Saturday, we were busy painting the guest room. (Although once I heard that a tornado was headed towards Wake County, I did run and take a quick shower. By the time I was out, I knew we were in the clear.)

Move-in Day

4 days after move-in

Today

(The color in this one is more true to life than the others I think)

The color is Corn Husk Green, but it turned out a lot more lime green than we had planned/imagined. We hope that with some accessories, we can tone it down some. :) We moved our old comforter set to the guest room since I like it so much! We also painted J's old furniture- which was way more work than we anticipated. We read online how to do it, so I spent my afternoons sanding the drawers. Then J and I were going to sand the bodies, prime, and paint them and that would be that.... Well we couldn't get any sand paper to really work, so we went and got some paint stripper. 3 coats later, the sides looks okay, but the tops looked untouched. J sanded down the sides and we just went with it. Primed. 3 coats of paint. And we aren't really happy with how they turned out, so we might redo them in the future, but they are done enough for now! Our weekends are going to be pretty busy for a while, so I don't know how much more progress we'll make any time soon!

House Update!

We've been busy...

(click any picture to make larger)

Master Bedroom 4 Days After Move-in

Master Bedroom Today


Move-in Day the Guest Bathroom looked like this...

Bathroom with the decor we had previously

It is now Homestead Apricot with a cute woodsy shower curtain!

Sink Area

Close up of shower curtain

Long Over Due Update...

Well we have been in out house two full weeks, and it already feels like home... but let's backtrack...


We closed March 25, and everything went smoothly. During our final walkthrough, the builder was installing the bathroom window and doing finishing touches. We then drove to Cary and sign lots of papers! Now, we just had to wait for the keys. We were told it would only be around 2 hours, so we decided to stay in Cary until time to get the keys. It only took 1 hour! We grabbed the keys, then drove back to the (rental) house, loaded up our cars and headed for our first house! J carried me over the threshold (of course), then we began unpacking our cars. J made another trip and we called it a night.

That Saturday morning, we woke up early to finish packing. We had a Budget truck reserved at 8, and our friends were coming at 8:30. J went to go pick up the truck while I packed some smaller things. 8 came and went, with no sign of the place opening so we can get the truck. After a few phone calls, we ended up with a 14 foot U-Haul. (Reminder: We moved to NC in a 24 foot truck.) Somehow, our friend Allen got everything in the rental truck and his SUV besides some small stuff we could get into our cars. It took less than 2 hours from the time J got the truck until it was unloaded! Just as our friends were leaving, hhgregg came with our fridge! Perfect timing... except not. A handle screw was stripped, so they couldn't install the handle. Back to the store our new fridge went. Along with my dreams of filling it. (We sold our fridge from the rental Monday. 6 days without a fridge is ZERO fun!) We spent the rest of the day unpacking, and got most of it done!

Whew!

In the past 2 weeks, I have also been accepted into grad school. It looks like I will only take one class this summer (and one next). Hopefully, I will be registered by the end of the week!

I have also aged a little... I had a great birthday! I got another chair for the living room and a pretty indoor plant (fingers crossed I don't kill it). J surprised me with green hydrangeas, an eggplant plant, and some cupcakes. And come Spring Break, I will be getting a massage! I also got some money, which will go toward house stuff! Can't wait to use it to decorate... just have a decide how first!


Spring Break is in 2 weeks. It has been way too long since our last break- Martin Luther King, Jr Day was our last break. We are headed to KY for Easter. And for Memorial Day, we will meet J's family at Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. We are going to be busy!

It's Been One Week...

We have had a busy week getting new things for the house, working, getting into grad school, etc. So I thought I'd make a list of the reasons we LOVE our new house.

-DISHWASHER!
-Garage we can both park in
-Pantry
-Counter Space
-Creek in the backyard that we can hear bubbling after a rain
-Two bathrooms
-HUGE shower
-Separate bathtub
-All our clothes fit into one closet
-All our bedroom furniture fits into our bedroom!
-Kitchen Island
-No water heater, washer, or dryer in the kitchen
-Fireplace
-Tons of Natural Light

I am sure there is more, but this is all I can think of off the top of my head!

We've Only Been Here 4 Days House Tour (excuse the mess)

More details to come.. here is a quick tour of the house from around 6:00 p.m. today:

Come on in...

Entry

Master Bedroom (left door in entry)

Master Bathroom

Laundry Room (door on the right from entry pic)

Garage (off Laundry)


Back Patio off Dining Room

Kitchen from Dining Room

Dining Room from Kitchen

Back Patio off Dining Room

Kitchen looking into Living Room

Kitchen from Living Room

Living Room

Living Room

Hall Bath

Guest Room

The Office

It's 10:27....

and we just got internet. Update tomorrow. Goodnight.

Whew!

It has been a whirlwind of a week. We have been super busy with house stuff- changing the power, gas, cable, etc, packing... the list really goes on.

Tonight, we bought a fridge. It was a floor model at HHGregg, so we got a pretty good deal (we think.) It should be delivered Saturday.

Sorry this isn't more of an update... still lots to do.


P.S. We won't have internet in our new house until Monday night, so don't expect an update before then.

P.P.S. 38 hours til closing!

Cleaning Out the Freezer

In an effort to move as little food as possible, we are using what we have to make lunch and supper.

Last night, I made this:



I based it off a recipe I found, but just really just made it up as I went.

Ingredients:
(please note all measurements are ish)
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon red pepper

Mix together. Slather on chicken breasts. Crumble some Ritz crackers on top. Cook for 40 min at 350.

It was surprisingly good! I wouldn't change a thing!




(You would not recognize my freezer right now. It is slim pickings! 11 days to go)

T-minus 13 days!

Well, we have most of the paperwork complete for our loan, so we have a closing date... March 25! We will move the following day. So we spent the weekend cleaning out the shed and our cars. We made a trip to Goodwill (although, I see another one in our future.) We decided a yard sale was too much work, so we listed a few things on Craigslist and will just donate the rest.

It has been a crazy week getting all our paperwork ready and packing. We are so tired, and the time change hasn't helped anything! Hopefully, I'll have more of a real update soon!

Wordless Wednesday

Wow!

We have been so busy lately, I haven't given a real update!

J started his new job last Monday. He has to leave the house around 6:45 in the mornings! It is an adjustment to waking up earlier. It is very different from his previous job, so it will take some getting used to. There is a lot more freedom with this job though- he can text me or call me whenever, he can eat lunch whenever he wants, and they don't care too much if he is a little late. (A wreck caused him to be a few minutes late today, but it wasn't a big deal.) The drive is something both of us are going to have to get used to. Knowing he gets off work at 5, but not seeing him until after 6 is torture since I know the traffic is heavy. I know I'm a worry wort.

I have been busy with lots of meetings. Hopefully, the last of my meetings are occurring this week. I had one today, and I have another Wednesday. Although there is talk about me getting 2 more students, so we'll see!

As you can see from the previous updates, we are under contract for a house! Last week we spent Tuesday and Thursday evenings in Fuquay doing a second look and completing the offer. Wednesday was negotiation day, then Thurs we signed the official paperwork. Friday, we were officially under contract. It was an exhausting week. J didn't even get home until after 8 most nights!

Friday, we rented The A-Team, cooked some burgers and just relaxed. Between the house and getting up earlier for work, we were both tired! I am no ashamed to say we were in bed by 9:30.

Saturday, we did a little shopping. J got some more pants, and I got some to replace my worn out ones! Then we ate at The Flying Biscuit (thanks Groupon), and headed to the movies to see Hall pass (thanks LivingSocial!) The daily deal websites helped us have a cheap date night! Total cost was $25.

Yesterday after church, we went to eat with the others that live near us (2 couples + 1 family). We had some home cooked roast, baked potatoes, lima beans, and banana pudding! Our house will be about a mile from the family's house where we ate. We made it home in time for a 45 minute nap before heading back to church. After church, we ate at Chipotle and Skinny Dip (self serve frozen yogurt.- like Fresh Berry from a couple of weeks ago.) I had strawberry and vanilla yogurt with cake, a brownie, kiwi, strawberries, sprinkles, butterfinger, and reese's. Perfection!

I have already started packing a few things, but I hope this week to get a lot more done. We mainly need to clean out some things that we don't use. I am planning to have a yard sale in a couple of weeks- so I have lots of stuff to go through! Our landlord can't stand not to have a month's rent, so she says she will be showing the house while we're still here. I have left notes on the stove, microwave, and fridge that we will sell them to the person moving in. Hopefully we can get rid of them that way!

So it's only going to get crazier around here, so sorry if the updates are few and far between!

House Tour!

We are officially under contract, so I thought I would share a quick tour of the house. We have to get an inspection and an appraisal, have two walk throughs, and find out about needing flood insurance before it is ours. Whew! Going to be a long 3 weeks. (Yes, we are hoping to close in 3 weeks!)

The Master Bedroom


Where I will spend lots of time...


Double Sinks and an Expanded Shower (in the reflection)


Living Room


I told John I might just sleep in here...

(It has a dishwasher! storage! a pantry! counter space! no washer and dryer! We won't know what to do with ourselves!)


Dining Room (off kitchen)



Bedrooms #2 and #3 (basically the same)

If it's not obvious, here is why we chose this house:
-KITCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-Layout (split floor plan and very open)
-Ready to move in
-Lot, you can't really tell much from the pictures, but in a subdivision- this is about as good as it will get. No one can build behind us since there is a creek (although we may have to get flood insurance.) We are the last lot of our subdivision, and next door will be another subdivision's community area (no house!) And there is a line of trees between our house and where the community area will be.

Drawbacks:
-Lot (wait, wasn't this a plus!?) We might have to get flood insurance, which will cost $$ each month. And the backyard is pretty steep since they build it up so the house wouldn't be in the flood zone. We will have to put a fence in before any of our friends' kids come over (or we get a puppy...)
-It was at the top of our price range, but thankfully, we didn't have to pay list price.
-We will be in a construction zone while they are building other houses. Thankfully, the subdivision is in its last phase, and there can only be construction on one side of us!

So, assuming everything goes well... we will have a dishwasher by next month (although it should be sooner than that!)

Next Steps

What are we going to do now???

Hope that everything goes well because...


Our offer on this house was accepted!



It is contingent upon home inspection and figuring out if it requires flood insurance. We are going to sign the official contract tomorrow night, then we have to start the loan process, order home inspection, and see about the flood plain that runs through the bottom left corner of the lot (which is waaay downhill from the house.) Latest closing date: March 30, but we are hoping sooner.

The Short Sale

This was one HUGE house! The key wouldn't unlock the doors, but J managed to get the garage door open and the door to the inside was unlocked.

The Entry

The Dining Room


The Kitchen


The View From Deck


Living Room


1/4 Bedroom


Master Bedroom

Why is this one a no go?
-Short Sale. We don't want to wait months.
-Too big! While it might have been a good investment, it was over 2500 square feet! That is a lot to heat, cool, clean, insurance, and furnish!
-Backyard. There is no helping it. It is a STEEP SLOPE. You can kind of see that from the Deck picture.
-It just didn't feel right.