Happy Halloween 2012!

we made these mummies (a.k.a. pigs in a blanket but festive Halloween style) for small group :)

good things

-meeting/sharing meals with some very awesome families

-fall pedi with Deanna

-Leathersich extended fam gathering

-small group girls' dinner

-fancy [free] dinner out to Pane Vino w/ Col thanks to a gift groupon

-lazy Friday night at home with hubby watching Hocus Pocus and Friends

-Saturday night spontaneous fun with friends

-bridal show with Rach

-rainy night in with hubby baking chocolate chip cookies and cuddling during a "scary" movie

steps toward home-ownership: part IV

I'm a terrible blogger.  I've been MIA for 10 days!

Here's an update on our house process:
Last week we experienced a new stage in our home buying process.  On Saturday 10/20 we had an appointment to see a house (we'll call it house A) that I wasn't all that impressed with online.  When we walked through it though, it was so much better in person, which is the opposite of what usually happens. 

Sunday we went to the open house and showed all of our parents that house and another (let's say house B) that we had seen previously.

Sunday afternoon/evening Col and I debated about putting in an offer on house B, and had put house A in the back of our minds as there was another offer on it.

Monday morning we decided not to put an offer on house B.  House A's realtor called our realtor and basically encouraged us to put in an offer if we were interested.  After a few phone calls and a lot of talking/thinking, Col and I decided to put an offer on house A.

Tuesday night we met with our realtor to sign all the paperwork for the offer.  Closing date of Dec. 28th if this goes through!

Wednesday morning the offer was submitted, with an expiration of 10am on Thursday.

We wait.  Wednesday evening our realtor calls and says that the seller wants to "sleep on it."

Thursday at 10am we receive a counter offer.

Thursday evening, we counter back.

Friday morning we receive word that the seller is not accepting, which for us means that we are done with house A.  We know this means that it's not meant to be and are already resuming our search.  However, house hunting/offering is exhausting!  So we'll see what is in store for us next!

apartment vs. house

reason #36 to find our own house a.s.a.p. : coming home after being gone from 8am-10pm to find that someone has been in the apartment.  after further investigation, we came to the conclusion that it was the landlord.  however, we aren't too fond of having someone in our apartment without being given any notice, whether he/she owns it or not.

[thank goodness it was decently clean]

maybe this should be higher on the list, perhaps reason #3?

My husband laughs at my OCD-ness, but the fact that from the moment I stepped up to the front door I knew someone had been there comes in handy in situations like these.  a few more clues were found inside as well.  anyways, I can't help it if I can tell that something has been moved touched.  I think Col has been unknowingly trained by me as well, because he actually noticed that something (the broken piece of our stove) was missing.

positive outcome of all this?  I'm pretty sure our dryer is new.

did he really just tell me that?

I had my regular dental cleaning this morning.  I'm a freak and actually don't mind going to the dentist because I love the super clean feeling that I leave with and I've never had any dental problems. 

Today took away a little of that dentist joy because I left with my FIRST EVER cavity, and not only one, but TWO.  How did this happen, people?!  I've never had a filling, cap, surgery, procedure, chip, hole, anything.

(other than braces, but that doesn't count in this scenario because that wasn't the dentist, it was the orthodontist)

I don't think anyone understands how much I enjoyed always getting to say that I had never had a cavity.  When I exclaimed my dismay, the dentist thought I was worried about the actual pain of filling them, when in fact I was in shock at having to say goodbye to my dental work-free mouth.

Goodbye happy, healthy, no-cavity mouth, it was nice knowing you while it lasted!

love.love.love

I'm SO excited for my friends right now!

-one of my friends from home asked me to be her matron of honor
-one of my friends from college just got engaged
-my roomie is pregnant with her first child and I already love the little bugger

-bonus: Col got a full-time job


Life is full of blessings, and I'm so happy to get to enjoy them with my friends (and hubby)!

refresh, then start all over again

Enjoyed dinner with my parents, gma, aunt, and cousin on Friday night.  We finally got to catch mom and dad up on house hunting and all the millions of things going on in our lives lately.

Basked in my first ever stay-in-your-pj's lazy Saturday morning since quitting W&B.

Met with our realtor for two hours and came up with a game plan.

Attended a Young Life reunion, where hubby got to catch up with some old friends.

Loved an early Christmas present from Col's parents - dinner and Mary Poppins!

Shadowed children's ministry at church.

Went to multiple open houses.

Caught up with newly engaged Katie and Aaron!

Did loads of laundry and then had to spread it out around the house since our dryer is broken again (third time this year, ugh).

Had a game night with our upstairs neighbors!

Monday, here I come...

desk re-do

When Col and I inherited this desk from his parents to move into our apartment when we got married, we decided that we would re-do it over the summer.  Well, one summer and almost this next one went by and we hadn't touched it.  However, thanks to Col's initiative one afternoon, we squeezed the project in before it got too cold to work on it outside.  We've done smaller DIY projects together before (our unity candle for our wedding being one of the best), but for our first larger/furniture project, I'd say it turned out pretty darn good!

the desk was painted white, which underneath had a black lacquer, and then a blonde veneer

underneath all three layers was a pretty reddish wood

chipping away for hours at the paint

and yes, we did some of this inside

after our kind neighbor lent us his heat gun, our paint chipping and sanding time was greatly decreased

 this is after a couple layers of polyurethane

final product! (last step: find new handles)

{ keeping s.a.n.e. }

thank goodness for complete surprises delivered at the exact moment they are needed

steps toward home-ownership: part III

Tuesday marked our meeting with the bank for pre-approval!  Although we were a little disappointed because all we did was hand in our final paperwork (we thought they would at least give us an estimated range to work with), it was given to the underwriter to look over, so at least when we receive it we'll get our official amount.  The rest of the day and this morning we waited eagerly to hear back.  Col had to send something else in, and when he did he received an out-of-office reply.  We wanted to know, so he called the other employee that was listed to contact and he said he had gotten everything yesterday afternoon!

Since I was at work, when Col got the email I called him so that he could read it and we'd find out together.  We are pleased and have already narrowed down our choices within the price range!  Our realtor is on-board, we're meeting with him on Saturday, and probably seeing some more houses on Sunday.  Home-ownership, here we come!! :)

social weekend

Eileen came from New Hampshire to visit us this weekend.  Friday we had a game night and Saturday we traveled to Syracuse to visit Katie at her new apartment.  We went to the Apple Fest, a haunted house at Aaron's family's campground, and of course ate a ton.

It's always fun to get the old college crew back together, and it was the perfect overnight trip!

A dinner out with family to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday was the perfect cap to our fun weekend.  It was so relaxing to eat great food, sit by the fire, talk about life, houses, and babies with my mother- and sister-in-laws, play, laugh, and dance with my niece (can not WAIT for our next niece or nephew!). 

Life is good.

good things

-my niece's 3rd birthday party at Bounce-It-Out (only downfall: I'm too old to play)
-working part of the Fringe Festival for W&B
-continued work on re-doing our desk
-welcoming a new baby in small group with a meal
-catch up time with Teenie
-hibachi with family after a terrible.horrible.no.good.very.bad.day at work
-being cheered up by my favorite 3 year old
-dog sitting (and getting our fill of cable, namely HGTV)
-driving around to find a strong signal on Col's phone in order to make sure we can redeem our free pizza

[whoa, October!]

-watching Dancing with the Stars with Deanna
-hubby chatting with me this morning while I was getting ready for work even though he could have been sleeping (I did wake him up first...but it was for a good reason!)