Our new home!

Tuesday morning, April 14th 2009, we woke up and finished packing up. After packing for it seems like forever we finally were at a point where we felt ready to load the truck. Jeff and I went to pick up our uhaul, a 26 ft. uhaul, then came home and started loading up a few boxes. Around 6 ish Patsy and Henry arrived and we started to really get to work. We loaded and loaded and loaded. After we had loaded quite a few things we were starting to feel hungry so Patsy went to pick up some pizza for everyone. Kitchen chairs, coffee table, and pizza boxes. Oh and we can't forget the McDonald's sweet tea! After dinner we started back up again and finally finished around 10:30. So we said our goodbyes, took a shower and laid down on our nice comfy... air mattress. Let us just say it was not the best nights sleep we have ever had, it was the opposite. Never the less we woke up at 7:30 the next morning, got ready, dropped the truck off at our new home and went to the closing. Everything went fine and we were done in under an hour.

We drove over to my sister's house, which by the way is one minute and twenty five seconds down the road, picked her up and headed to the new house where my dad was waiting. Wasting no time what so ever we got to work. The entire truck was unloaded in one hour. Can you believe that? It takes five hours to load and one to unload! Once we had everything off the truck it was on to the uhaul place to drop off the truck. We were able to get a discount because the ramp to our truck was broken and it caused quite a problem the night before. We left the uhaul place and went to Brunches for lunch then back to the apartment to load up some odds and ends. Off the house we go to unload and unpack. My mom joined us after she got off work around 6 and then we went to get some dinner at Porky D's. Yum Yum!! So that was pretty much it for that day, we were tired, ready for a shower and ready for bed.

The next day we accomplished a lot. Fixing things here and there, hooking up the washer and dryer... and so on and so on. Over the last few days we have gotten a lot done. Both of our families have been a huge help, and our friends have been awesome. Arron, Elyse, and Quentin helped us put up our new blinds, and we couldn't have done it without them. I can't tell you how many projects my dad has done :). He does a great job. My mom and I put up some shelf paper in the kitchen, boy did it need it. Wow, that is a job! She also did some cleaning and ironing which is always a huge help. Kristy and I have done all kinds of unpacking and rearranging, I don't know what i would do if i didn't have her. She also brought Lasagna over for dinner on Thursday night and trust me it was the best lasagna ever. I needed it! Patsy and Henry have been over quite a few times since we moved in doing various jobs here and there, fixing the spare bathroom, running toilet, shower head, and sink stopper to name a few things, thank you Lord for Henry and his bathroom fix it knowledge. That bathroom was driving me crazy. Patsy is going to be our Gardener extraordinaire. She, along with her green thumb, is going to help us make our yard gorgeous. I am so excited!!

We have already been able to have some friends over for dinner, Becky and Chris, and that was so much fun. Monopoly, lemon cake, and brats!!! Fun times. Oh Chris... "putnin onnn naaa witts." We made meatloaf the other night and had Jeff's parents over, and tonight its grill night with my family.

Overall we love our new home and couldn't be happier. We are so blessed and thankful for everything God has given us. I hope this gives everyone a small glimpse into our moving extravaganza. Later....

Inspections complete!

Everything went well. The home inspector didn't see any major problems. Just some very very small things that aren't significant. The HVAC guy said the unit was in good condition and fairly new so he didn't see anything wrong. The termite inspector hasn't come yet but we don't have any control over that, the seller is in charge of that inspection. But while the home inspector was under the house the took a long around for us and said he didn't see any signs of termites or any problems. So we are hoping this is the fact when the other inspector comes.

While we were there for the HVAC inspection we took some measurements of the rooms and other areas to get an idea of how we can arrange the furniture and was sizes we would need to redo the kitchen. I think we have pretty much claimed the house and moved in, in our minds that is. We are so excited and ready for this whole process to be finished, not because it's stressful or we are having problems but because we are just ready to move in.

Whats next you ask? Well, now we get to do all the fun stuff. Call the attorney, insurance company, the appraisal needs to be done, and concur the day of the million papers. We were told to beef up our hands with one of those hand exercise squeezer things.

And so it continues...

Inspections, inspections!

Our inspection is scheduled for Tuesday morning and we are super nervous. There isn't really any reason to be nervous but for those of you who have purchased a home before you can understand why. We just hope nothing is majorly wrong with the house, but if there is something wrong a least we are going to find out now and we know that it just wasn't the house for us.

Some who I will not mention (Jessica) wanted some extra details on the house. So here ya go. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home with 1450 square feet, it is located in West Columbia but it is right on top of the Lexington line. The carpet, paint and ceiling fans are brand new throughout the house and the spare bath has been upgraded and remodeled. The master bath has a double vanity and a garden tub!!! This is something i am super excited about. The backyard is fenced in so Hershey is going to have lots of room to play and sniff. There is a separate dining room and laundry room (super exciting). The kitchen is right off of the dining room and the side entrance opens into the dining as well. Oh and it has a stone fireplace, we both can't wait for next winter so we can use it. It is the perfect first home, not to big and expensive but clean, cozy and perfect for us. So far things are going just perfectly.

Stay tuned for updates...

Offer Accepted!!

Wahhooooo! They accepted our first offer except for some very small details. We were very shocked, we thought they would come back and say, "Are you kidding me, no!" but they said yes. We couldn't believe it. After waiting until around 4ish today were wanting to hear something so we called our agent and asked him what was going on. Well, come to find out the owners were on vacation out of the country. So it took a little longer than expected to get in touch with them. About five minutes after Jeff got off the phone with our agent he called back and gave us the good news. So, we have a meeting with our agent in the morning to go over this and that, and make some final decisions. And then it's on to the next step... inspections.

I'll keep everyone updated. :)

We found one!

Jeff and I have been looking for a house for about 2 months now and we think we have found the one. We loved it so much we decided to make a bid on it yesterday afternoon. By contract they are required to respond to our bid by six o clock tonight (March 12th). Let me just say that I didn't get much sleep last night. It was definitely because of the mix of emotions. Excited, scared, nervous about if they will except the offer, and thinking about all the exciting things we can do to the house, where are we going to put things... and on and on. Now Jeff on the other hand had no trouble sleeping at all. :) I'm sure he is excited he is just a lot more level headed than I am sometimes. He doesn't want to get his hopes up and then be disappointed. Which is something that is very hard for me. Oh how I wish I could be more like him.

We are so excited!!! The excitement is there for a couple of reasons. One, of course it's our first home together. Two, it will get us out of our apartment. We have been living in an apartment in West Columbia since the wedding and I have been living there since 2005. So even though we are very thankful to have our apartment we are ready to leave. It's always just felt like my place not our place. So it will be nice to know that this is our home 100%.

Well, I am off to await the phone call that decides the next step in this house journey. I'll report back with more news later. Please keep us in your prayers!

All done!!

Well, the cake is finally finished and it turned out really well. The rest of the cake making process went very well except for the fact that on Friday night, Mom and I were totally tired. We gave up at about ummmm... 3:00 am and decided to start again the next morning. We woke up at 12:00ish and I wrapped it up.

Overall the cake went very well for my first try of doing most of the work. Mom helped with the fondant, which was needed, and did a lot of kitchen cleanup. Trust me that's a job after doing a cake. Icing, icing everywhere!!! So, another cake is done and on to the next on the 21st for a baby shower. :) I'm excitied about this next one because it's more fun. You know bright colors and fun patterns. Neways... here are some pictures of the final wedding cake project, sorry they weren't up on Saturday.

I'm looking for business so bring it on if you have any! :) Thanks.

Cake Mania!!

Well this week I (Kim) have been working on a wedding cake all by myself. Usually Jeff's mom (Patsy) and I do them together but this time I have been doing most of the work, which is something we are both excited about. Patsy has made cakes for a long time and I think she gets a kick out of getting to hang out and play computer games while I'm working. ;) Oh she would, and does, help when I need her, or if she just feels like but I think she is enjoying not having to do as much. She handled the business end this time and I am trying my best to handle the in house work. So far things are going really well, apart from the frozen butter issues that occurred on Wednesday there haven't been any catastrophes. Knock on wood!!

I am super excited and happy to say that I have finally learned how to put icing on the cakes. Yes I know I have done it before. But to be honest i have never been very good at it. Patsy has always done that part of the cake process. But I did it this time! She was shocked and excited! She said, "Well you don't need me anymore." Trust me, I do. I have lots left to learn. Jeff said she was still the cake master and I the apprentice. Besides we always have a good time doing them together. :) Now why are things all of a sudden different in the icing department? Well... all the credit can go to this amazing new tool. I can't believe how well it worked for me. What used to take me hours and hours... took about half the time. I can't explain to you how excited I am about this new development. It always stressed me out to know that I couldn't do it. And it upset me to know that Patsy had to do all that work without my help. Trust me it can be very frustrating. I am just so glad that things are going well with the cake and that I continue to improve my cake skills. Thanks Ma, you rock!! :)

The cake will be done on Saturday and I'm planning on posting a picture of the final job. So tune in this weekend to check it out.

Peace and butter grease. :)