We've Moved & We Bought a House!!!

We'll a lots happened in the last month or so.  Its a long one but worth the read to catch up and see where life's taken us!!

We've made several trip's up to Tennessee to do a bit of house hunting. Our initial plan was to rent, we knew we didn't want to live on post. Once we got up here back in February the first night we started looking for houses to rent. Then quickly started scouting the market for homes that were for sale. We figured why not buy and pay ourselves vs. someone else. This will allow us to rent our home out once we PCS again and make money off of it. Planning and Building our Future. We got connected with a great Realtor through our friends C & B and he showed us a few houses that first weekend we came up. I of course fell in love with the very first house we saw. It was completely renovated and up to date. So much charm and character. We called it the "Red Door House" well because it had a red door of course. We continued looking and looking… we (The Hubbs) wanted to see what all of our options were. We knew with the Red Door House there would be a lot of work we would want / have to put into it with in the first couple of weeks of us being there. Plus a big bathroom reno eventually to make it a full master suite. Not to mention we had to keep in mind renting it out in the future once we leave TN. Would someone really be willing to maintain 2 acres of land, and live with the little quirks that it had.

Isn't it so cute!! 

Jumping ahead to April we wanted to push the closing date back as late as we could. We weren't leaving Ft. Jackson till Mid / Late April and we didn't want to have to pay a mortgage payment on a house when we were living in it. Makes sense right. April 10th we loaded up my car with everything we could. That morning the 11th we got up really and made the 7 hour drive up to TN.

Our New Home!!

We were finally getting to see our home that we were purchasing for the first time in person. Crazy I know we bought a house sight unseen but when I tell you our Realtor was amazing. He really was. He went over the top for us, so we were confident in what we were getting into. Closing was at 1pm, we met up with J at the house about 10:30am. It was so exciting finally getting to see it in person. It was everything we were thinking it would be from the pictures and details we got from J. It's out side the city limits, and back in a none traffic area. If you don't know that the neighborhood is back there then your not gonna just stumble across it. Best part is we'll never had houses built behind us!!! Country Living!! Of course with everything house there are the quirks and "what were they thinking, doing that" comments. There were doubts about our furniture fitting in certain rooms. But we knew we would make it work. We spent the weekend up in TN getting a few things done to and around the house and checking the area out some more.
April 22nd the day after my birthday the hubbs and pups made the trip to TN for good. I was staying back in the South to finish out the school year at my job. A bittersweet decision for sure, since I wouldn't be officially moving till the 1st of June.

Jumping to the First weekend in May, May 1st is the hubbs birthday. It just so happened to be the day he had schedule to get out HHG's (house hold goods) delivered. I was itching to be there. Ever since our move from Dallas to Hawaii I've been a nervous wreck about the military moving us. But was it really worth it for me to make the 7 hour drive to TN for the weekend. I'd have to take off two days of work and give up two babysitting jobs I was offered. I knew the hubbs wouldn't do much un-packing he already had mentioned to me he wasn't going to. Just simple the things he needed to get by with. We had talked and agreed that we would un-pack and set the house up together once I came down the 1st of June. Apart of me still wanted to be there, I went back and forth about it so much. I had told myself if I got my class covered at work I would go and once I didn't I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do. Apart of me wanted to be there and apart of me wasn't excited about the drive by myself. (although I've done much longer by myself, that doesn't mean I wanted to) The hubbs had left the decision completely up to me, he wasn't saying yes or no. Which didn't help me any, and I couldn't help but wonder if he'd be disappointed if I ended up not coming. It wasn't until Tuesday on my lunch break that I decided I was officially going. I went and had my car weighted and that night I loaded it up so I could go get it weighted again that next morning. Wednesday I got off at 5pm and hit the road to TN. The drive wasn't bad at all, and thankfully I didn't really ever get tired. I made two stops the whole time. Once just across the NC boarder to go to the bathroom and then once just north of Nashville for gas. I love that my car can almost make it the full 500 miles on one tank of gas! I got in just after midnight and was so excited to see our pups and of course the hubbs. I've missed them so so much, and it had just been a little over a week!!!! How on earth did we make it through a 15 month deployment back in 2007??? After a little catching up we headed to bed. Big day to follow with our HHG's getting delivered.

We woke up semi early 7ish. picked up the house, I vacuumed while the hubbs cooked breakfast and the pups played out side in our giant back yard!! We had a appointment with the door people to come replace a couple door nobs. They were here and gone before the movers ever arrived. We decided to go to the store for a drink while we waited since they called and were just leaving Nashville with our things. On our way out of the neighborhood we came across a loose dog. We did the good thing and tried to find his owners but no such luck since he didn't have tags. So the hubbs took him to the humane society so he wouldn't get hurt. We live near a busy highway and he could easily get hit. I'd want someone to do the same to my pups. I wanted at the house hoping the movers would show up sooner rather than later. About a hour after the called they were finally here. ETA was 8-10am and they arrived at 11:30am, whatever its ok. We kept saying all morning that it shouldn't take them that long to unload our stuff and get on there way. BOY WERE WE WRONG!!!! They didn't leave till 4:30pm. That was the longest un-load day ever. 5 hours, it didn't even take them that long to pack and load everything when they did it in Cola. After they were finished and left we had no desire to even start unpacking boxes. I knew if I started I wouldn't want to stop and we were both hungry. So we headed down to Nashville to celebrate the hubbs birthday Dinner at Buca di Beppo, his choice!!!
A trip to Lowe's on our way home for a few things. We've become regulars there here lately, I guess that's what happens when you buy a house. After we got home we unpacked a few boxes, we needed to get to our printer. So while the hubbs was doing that I unpacked a few of the master bedroom boxes. Shortly after we called it a night and headed to bed.

patiently waiting on the movers to arrive

THERE HERE!!!

 Rise and Shine Sun Shine. Friday morning we woke up and got straight to work. We knocked out the entire upstairs before 9:30am. Completely unpacked and put away. We quickly changed and I headed off to a job interview. Afterwards we ran to Target, Best Buy and Lowe's again. Grabbed a late lunch while we were out and came home to finish up the house. By 7pm that night the entire house was unpacked and completely set up perfect. The only thing left to do was hang pictures on the wall and clean up and organize the garage. We opted to save that for Saturday and sat back enjoying a movie with a glass of Vino and Cupcakes!!  (Cupcakes--) Complements of the hubbs on a congrats for my job interview.

I had such a hard time watching them get this beast of a unit up our stairs,
thankfully it made it safely and we don't have to store it in the garage!!! 

Saturday morning I made breakfast and then we got right to work on the garage. Surprisingly I though it was going to take a lot more time then it did but we were done in no time. 2 trips to the local dump location to get rid of all the boxes and packing paper. A quick trip to the commissary to get a few groceries and then back home for lunch. I went through and laid out all the picture on the walls were I wanted them to go before hanging any up. I wanted to make sure I got it right the first time so I didn't have to put a billion holes in the walls. Only a couple redo's but I'm happy to say I'm quite pleased with the out come. We ended the evening at home, the hubbs made Chicken Taco Salad for dinner and Cupcakes for dessert again.
Full tour of the house to come!!!! Stay tune!!! 

Our last day's

The last few day's in our Cola house looked like this…..filled with boxes upon boxes. 

Sleeping on a air mattress in our living room floor, living out of our upstairs bathroom because that's were all our stuff was we didn't want the movers to pack.

Eating off of paper plates because our dishes were packed away. Shredding cheese with a potato peeler because I forgot to leave out our cheese grater. 

Watching movies or TV shows on our laptops because we had no TV. 

Using Commissary bags as trash bag's because we threw out our trash can so the movers wouldn't pack it. 

Life in the mist of PCSing oh the joys!!! I can't wait to get settled at our new place and have everything back to normal again. 

 Wednesday morning I woke up early went and picked up donuts for our movers and came back to finish up a few things before they arrived. Their ETA was between 8:00am and 8:30am I figure closer to 8:30 so I had a little time to spare. NOPE, they arrived promptly at 8:10am just shortly after I got home. The moment I saw the moving truck pull up in front of my drive way my heart sank. Not that everything leading up to today wasn't a sign of hello we're moving but I guess it really hadn't hit me yet. Well it did today. I kept reminding myself of all that we have ahead of us and this is not the end of my time in the South but only the beginning. We will be back! (just not to be stationed at Ft. J)

It only took them a matter of 3.5 hours to wrap up all the furniture and load everything up. They left our couch and hutch for last because they are two of the biggest and heaviest pieces of furniture we have. Cleaning up the upstairs while they finished packing the down stairs reminded me of the way the house looked when we moved in. EMPTY! Life as a Milispouse and the joys' of PCSing. 

Wednesday night was last time I cooked dinner in our Cola house. I made Chicken Fried Rice, one of our favorites. It was easy, quick and we had everything there to make it.  We sat there on our air mattress eating off paper plates enjoy our last moments in our 2nd home together. 

Thursday night our last night in the house we decided to go out to eat. I didn't want to make a mess in the kitchen. The stove, oven, counters, and everything else was already clean and I'd like to keep it that way. We decided to ask our neighbors Mr. Larry and Nita to go with us. And thankfully they took us up on our offer. I was a bit nervous about how the dinner would go but it was great, there was never a dull moment and I'm so glad we asked them to go with us. They are the sweetest elderly couple in the world. Mr. Larry retired from the Army in 1985, he and his wife live on post one door down from us. Mr. Larry pulls the trash can's and recycling bins out to the curb for the entire neighborhood every morning and takes then back up after trash runs. They hand write Christmas cards for everyone in the neighborhood and always have a little something to go with it. A couple days before the movers came they brought over this beautiful cross-stitch that she had done. This way we would always remember them and have a piece of the beach every were we went. 

I'll truly miss them and their sweet hearts. I'm sure the pups will to because they always came over to say hi and give them loves. 

 Friday morning at 10am we finaled out of our house and officially were done with cleaning, packing and stressing over this house. We've heard mixed reviews on how the housing clearing process goes. I've heard that it's similar to a white glove test and then I've heard its really not that bad. I didn't want to chance anything so we made sure that everything was spic and span clean. I'm happy to say we didn't have to pay for anything extra other than the carpet cleaning which we new we were going to have to pay for. We opted to have them do it vs. us paying for someone to come in and do it and it still not be up to their standards. 

When one door closes there's another waiting to be opened, when one chapter ends there's another one to start. 

Goodbye Cola house! 

Catching Up!!!

I can't even use the excuse that I've been overly busy here lately because truth be told I really haven't. Pictures to prove it, we haven't had much going on here the last couple weeks. I've simply been slacking in the blog world and need to get my booty in gear. Our time here in the South is quickly coming to a close and we've been slowly getting things ready for our move. HHG purging, working on some DIY projects and eating everything in the frig and freeze. Not to mention the deep cleaning. We're trying to save every penny we can with this move so I've been doing little by little each weekend. It hasn't been all house work and packing through I've managed to have a few outings with the girls. 

*Up bright and early for our last Graduation "Rights of Passage" Ceremony. This is were the SIT aka PVT's officially become Soldiers and place their Beret on for the first time. Becky, Julie and I got up around 5am and made our way out to the range for the ceremony. It was so cold!!! Thankfully each Company had fire pit they were all huddled around. 

My handsome Drill SGT and I at the "Rights of Passage" Ceremony. 

*Becky and I had a girls night out at a Victory Spouse's event. Denim and Diamonds Auction at Weston Lake. We got all dolled up, Becky even purchased some fun Diamonds for us to wear. Sadly enough though it was nothing like either of us expected. The auction items were less than impressive and dinner well it wasn't to bad. The best part about the evening was getting to hang out with this fabulous girl. 

*BCT Victory Concert, day before Family day. At the end of each Cycle the day before Family day the SIT attend a concert put on by Eric Horner and his wife Debbie. The SIT are able to order pizza, soda and candy. All of which they haven't had in the past 10 weeks. Eric puts on a concert with patriotic songs and a slide show of pictures plays from the last 10 weeks of training. Rebecca and I along with a few other FB Volunteers from our Battalion attended and took loads of pictures to put on FB for the families. It's a chance for the SIT to kinda of let loose for a bit and have some fun. A fun part about it is, most of them take their pizza boxes once they are empty and will write messages on them to their families. 

Up close and personal with some of our Delta SIT. Supporting out Drill SGT's with their PVT's. 

*Taking full advantage of the chilly weather you would have though I would have made this fabulous chili before now. NOPE, just now getting around to it on a perfectly warm Southern evening. That didn't matter though it was still fabulous. As was the corn bread to go along with it. Sidenote: I'm LOVING my new cast-iron skillet the hubbs got me for Christmas. I use it for everything. 

Since we are on the subject of food, I'll go ahead and share with you this super yummy dish. 

Potato, Corn and Ham Chowder, of course it wouldn't be complete with out some tasty Peach Tea to go along with. Using left over ham from Thanksgiving that I had frozen was the best part of this. Operation clean out the freezer is in full effect. 

 *This past Thursday night was my School's Spring Art Auction at Leaside. Every year in the past we have had it at the school and its been a family event. This year they change things up a bit and made it a adult only event. Catered in food and served alcohol. I wasn't planning on going, in the past we've been required to go because it was at the school. Since things had change we as staff were not required to go. I took a babysitting job for the night (a month in advance) with one of my favorite families here. That was until my classroom mom informed me that she had purchased my ticket to go to the event. As a "Thank You" for everything I've done this year. (tickets were $40 each, not cheap for the evening) A couple of our other parents got together and bought tickets for the hubbs and the other teachers in my class. Although only one of them came (Ms. Elaine, bottom left) I convinced Jamie (bottom right) to come along with us and gave her our extra ticket. It ended up being a great evening. The EDSPO really out did themselves on the event. I foresee many more of our Spring Art Auctions in the years to come here. I was so happy that many of my parents current and past were finally able to meet the hubbs. They hear so much about him so finally being able to put a face with a name and story was nice. 

(I'm going to miss the school so much when I leave, I absolutely love my job. More on this in a later post)

*On another note: This kid below Graduated from College this past Tuesday. I couldn't be more proud of my little bubby. He's completely turned his life around in the past year and I can't wait to see what is in store for his future. We were at each other's throats growing up, many times we hated each other but now I'd do just about anything for him. He's my best friend and I'm so glad I'm able to call him my Bubby!!! His beautiful Girlfriend Becca treated him to a Dallas Star's hockey game the night before Graduations as his gift from her. He loved loved (still does) the Dallas Stars growing up so this was right up his alley. I only wish I could have gone home for his big day but soon enough I'm hoping to make a trip home. 

That's just a bit of life lately and what's been going on with us. I feel like we have a lot more going on with the move but its just not all blog worthy exciting so I'll spare you the details on that. I do plan on posting about our DIY projects and other happenings in the coming weeks. Thanks for sticking it and out hanging in with me!!! 

Sorry I've been a little MIA...

1-First Day of Teacher work week. Getting ready for the new school year to start. I'm gonna miss my sweet little people. I just keep letting myself Change is good. 

2-Friday (last week) after I got off work, (hello half day's) the hubbs and I headed up to Charlotte to do a little shopping at Ikea and had dinner at On The Border. We came home with a new Entertainment unit. I absolutely love it. 

3-Monday on my lunch break I got dinner going in the Crock pot. Hubbs was home for the day already so I left him instructions on how and when to finish things up. I pre-measured everything and laid it all out for him. A little OCD maybe but hey makes things easier on him. 

4-Saturday after my morning run I came home to find this lovely giant truck in my neighbors drive way. They are moving!!!!! We knew they were moving this month just wasn't sure the date. They are by far the most un-sanitariest people I have ever lived by. Their house is infested with mice so badly the moving company set up by the army refused to move them. 

5-This past week has definitely been a challenge for me, for many reasons. I've been put to the test in many ways but I've stood my ground and stuck to my guns and made it through. I know this life we live isn't always gonna be cookies and ice cream but I'm making the best of every moment and that's all I can do. 

6-I stepped out of my comfort zone last weekend and join a running group. I've been trying to pick up my running and add the miles to my long weekend runs. This was a first for me, joining a group not knowing a single soul. It was a great experience w/ great people and I plan to continue going every Saturday till my Full Marathon in November. 

7-Not that I'm counting but I was talking to a friend in Texas about NYC and it got me wondering how much longer we have till our trip. 125 days!!!! I can't wait to take the hubbs and show him around one of my most favorite cities ever!!! NYE IN NYC, I can't wait we are going to have a great time!!!! 

8-Wednesday after work Kelly and I were suppose to go run but for other reason's she wasn't able to go. That didn't keep me from going though, I did a good solid 4.5 miles around post before dinner. I Just went out to run, had no plan or set route in mind. Figured I'd take it as it came and it ended up being a great run. 

9-Sometime last week the hubbs and I were randomly searching on ebay at different fiestaware pieces when I came across this beautiful piece. It's a retired covered casserole dish in the color Juniper. I have a pretty good collection of fiestaware but I'm always trying to add to it and find pieces that I don't have yet. Especially unique pieces such as retired or vintage ones. I love it and am so happy with my purchase. 

10-Another Saturday run with the Trenholm Road Runners group this morning. There was a nice breeze through out the run and I did better at remembering the route this morning. I chatted with some of the other members of the group after our run and everyone seems really nice and welcoming. We are planning to run a race together in October, which many of them have ran before. I'm pretty excited about it and nervous at the same time. Apparently its a really awesome race here in the South. 

Much needed R&R

While the hubbs met up with a buddy of his to go shooting and to wash the truck I enjoyed the morning relaxing. For what ever reason he though it would be a great idea to drive through a large mud puddle on his way home from work one day last week. The proceeded to complain the rest of the week because the truck was so dirty and he needed to clean it. Hello love, you did that yourself. 

I decided it had been way WAY to long since I went and had a little pampering done for myself. I had every intention on going last Sunday because the hubbs was at work, sadly when I got there they were closed. I wasn't missing out this weekend, (I don't like going during the week.) it was just what I needed. It's so sad how busy life is that I forget how relaxing it is just to take a hour out of my day every now and then to do something for myself. I NEED to remember these things. Of course a little bit of sweet tea helps cure everything as well. 

Back home that afternoon that hubbs and I got ready for our dinner out. Plans with his whole work company that evening oh the joys of mandatory functions. The weather outside was AMMMAZZZING!!!! 80 degrees in early January, heck ya I'll take that. So I decided to through on a tank top and rock my boots. We did a little window shopping before heading to meet everyone for dinner. That's when the fun ended, well some of the people he works with are to bad but that's really stretching it. The food and service was beyond horrible, to the point were they pretty much didn't care because they knew they were getting their tip since it was such a large party. 

We made the most of the evening, and checked out early to headed home. Things like this can be so much more enjoyable if people actually put the effort in to actually making it worth wild. Vs. a last minute, "lets have a dinner this is the only place we can get into and I know its a Saturday night but you still have to come." I really am trying not to rush our time through my head that we have here at Ft. J 14 months and counting because let's face it in the end moving and starting all over again really dose SUCK but dear freaking-A this unit / company we are in is for the birds. 

 Tomorrow is a new day, the hubbs has off work and we are going to do a whole lot if nada. :) 

Missing Shoe Box

DAY 15

What's a girl to do w/o her shoes?!?!?!?

This morning I was putting a few last minute things away when I almost had a moment. I got to thinking I was missing ALL of my shoes well other than the ones I packed in my suite case with me. I walked through the house making sure I didn't miss any boxes and nothing. There was one box in the office of Gabes things, I quickly rummaged through it but still came up empty handed. Really I though how is it that we have everything accounted for but a BOX OF SHOES and mine at that. When the hubbs came home from the gym I asked him about it and he had no clue were they would be. I was starting to panic, I mean don't get me wrong sure they are easy to replace but I didn't want to have to do that I loved the shoes I had.

While I did some work on~line this afternoon Gabe organized and straightened up the front outside storage shed. When he came in he said hey I found your shoes (& a few other little things) they were in the blue suite case we put in the shed. Seriously I was grateful that the movers did such a great job at packing our things but I guess I would have though they would have told us they packed some things in certain places. Such as in the microwave, dresser, nightstands and suite cases all which were empty prior to them coming. I mean yeah it makes sense and as stupid as it sounds I never would have though about it. I'm just glad that my missing shoe box was found.