I prefer the taller version of me

Excitment is in the Air!

This is such an exciting week!  Tomorrow is our inspection.  Then we leave for vacation on Saturday!  I love summer! 

The Happy Inspired Home

I will be posting all house posts to the The Happy Inspired Home. I will keep this blog for more personal things.  Go check it out! :) 

Our new neighbors

I try and drive by the house every time I come home from something.  This includes bugging my friends to drive past the house also.  One time we found these cute little ones eating from the apple tree.  How cute!  Charlie will love to chase them!  I also hear that we have a neighborhood bear and fox!  

 

Soon to be home owners!

Offer Excepted!

Offer #1

We put in our first offer on the house on Barton street!  I was not too worried last night because we think they will counter offer.  Only time will tell! 

Still House Shopping!

Today we look at 5 houses, the house we like again, and hopefully put in an offer on the house we like.  We will see what today brings us!!

Next Hopeful!

Well the last house we want to look at was recently rented because it was not sold.  So this is the next one on our list!  We hope to see it this week.  My issue with this house is that it does not have a basement and has small square footage.  I guess we will see as the week goes on!  
 

More Manageable

We are starting to realize what we really want in a home.  We go house shopping for the first time tomorrow.  This is one of the houses that is currently at the top of the list.  Having a house like this will allow me to be a stay at home Mom, and get my Doctorate.  Then when we both have full time jobs we can move up in the world.  So please wish us 'good luck' as we move on in the house hunting process. 

Switching Gears!

After a good rest George and I realized that mold is something we don't want to worry about!  My Mom had us look at modular homes today and they may be a possibility.  I am glad George and I came to the conclusion at the same time.  During this process we are slowly realizing what we both want in a house.  Thanks Heather and Diana for your help during this week! 

Mold :(

Well we took the tour with our parents.  For me it is really coming back to the mold.  The house had a huge mold problem.  A pipe burst and it sat for a while.  Now the pipe is fixed and the mold is “gone”.  A test has been done to make sure it is gone.  But... is there still mold? We are doing some research but this is really disheartening. So we decided to take 3 weeks off to do some research and relax to decide what to do.  If the house sells in that time then the house was not for us. 

The House

You didn't think we forgot about the house... did you??  Well after a long holiday weekend, we still love it.  The cons are starting to go away as we are realizing the positives in the house.  We can even fix some of the negatives.  My parents are due for a trip up to LH, so we are going to see the house together.  I guess we we see what happens.  I will try not to worry until then! 

We really liked it! Now what??

We went it the house yesterday it we both had a very good feeling about it.  It was foreclosed and has been redone by a house flipper.  A pipe burst so there was mold in the house so he replace many things.  It now has been tested for mold and is fine.  But he did not just paint and put up new fixtures. He put in new floors and walls.  So now what?  I called my friend Heather to ask for some advice when we got back.  She said to make a pros and cons list so here it goes.  Maybe everyone can give me some advice when I am done?  Buying a house is scary! :) But I think it will be rewarding at the end.  Ok Pros and Cons in no specific order:

Pros

• AMAZING views 
• New Kitchen 
• New Flooring  
• Big Basement that can be made into a room  
• High ceilings in the basement 
• 2 1/2 bath  
• 3 bedrooms  
• Deck  
• 2 car garage  
• Great curb appeal 
• Close to campus 
• Can expand on the side or in the bacement 
• Already painted the correct colors  
• Most of the hardware is hardware that I will like and keep 
• It is in our price range 
• I feel like we would only get other houses in the area at this price and then have to fix them up 
• Only one neighbor 
• Really quiet
• Has a Master Bath 
• Has 2 walk in closests 
• Has 2nd floor laundry

 Cons

• No air conditioning  
• No garage door opener 
• Could still have mold 
• Back yard is in cliff  
• Long stone driveway with unfriendly entrance 
• Need appliances (fridge, oven, washer and dryer) 
• Needs some gardening 
• Weird lawn for mowing 
• Most the property in the front yard (1.25 Acres)
• Will need a lawn mower 
• Needs landscaping
• Master bath a little tiny
• Bedrooms a little tiny (other two are 11 x 10)
• Do we really need a house now?  
• Will I be up on a hill all by myself?
• Is it scary at night?
• Snow and a long steep driveway 
• Second heat source?

House Hunting

At the moment George and I do not need a house because of out current job situation, but we are looking a little.  Today we are going to see this house.  We went up there last night and it has an amazing view.  I am really excited to see it after work. It has it pros and cons.  For example this one is a little out of town... is that a pro or a con? 

This is the view!

Tea Time!

I like to take a little work break in the morning and have some tea. My favorite is just plan jane earl grey. I have tried a lot of different tea but black is my favorite. Sometimes I drink green tea because it hear that it is good for you.

For Christmas I got A LOT of tea from George's family.  I think my personal stash is stocked up for a long time now!  I think my tea obsession started when I studied abroad in England with my friend Laurie.  We drank tea with every meal.  Now when we travel together I think we do the same!  What is your favorite type of tea? 

Happy 1st Anniversary!

Thanks you everyone for our1st anniversary wishes by text, facebook, phone calls, and cards!  George and I had lunch at the country club that we got married.  We had a great, stress free weekend together.  

Tomato Plants

Living in an apartment makes it hard to have a garden.  On our back step I added two tomato plants.  I planted them around May 3rd. 

Here is a close up shot of one of the plants.  One is cherry tomatoes and one is Roma, I think.  I forget what I planted.  I think one of the plants produces orange or yellow fruit. You can see our "we have a dog sign" on our back door. Also, the rock I found that I painted an R on. 

This morning I saw that this is a couple small tomatoes starting.  My Mom used similar plants in a topsy turvy.  So far they are both about the same size. In the last couple weeks these plants have needed little water because of all the rain we have been getting. 

Thankful

I really enjoy having fresh flowers around the house.  One of my favorite flowers are hydrangeas. I picked these out side of my parents house.  My favorite ones are the blue ones. 

My friends Mike and Amanda also got me some flowers this week.  It was very thoughtful of them.  I now have them in my office with me.  

 

How to do a scrapbook in 1 night

1. Decide how many pages are in the scrapbook
2. Pick the 12 x 12 paper for the book.
   
3. Lay out all the paper on large surfaces in the room putting 2 pages close together so they can go side by side.
   
4. Put the pictures on the pages (loosly).
   
5. Arrange the pictures on the pages.
   
6. Glue the pictures on.
   
7. Add other stickers and other things and glue them down.
   
8. Put the pages in the scrapbook!
   

Wasn't that Easy!

Alice

Just going to put this out there. You can buy all your household products at this site and they ship it to you for free! I tried it once. I thought the prices were good, free shipping, and they put coupons on automatically. I liked how you could see the lowest price and the lowest price per unit. Thought it might work for some of you.

www.alice.com