SOLD!

Just a quick post to say that everything went smoothly with closing and we are now officially homeowners! :) We're still sleeping at the apartment tonight, due to uncertainty about my car situation (see post below), but we plan to finish moving in tomorrow. I'll be sure to post some more pictures as soon as possible!

Here I am unlocking the door with our OWN keys for the first time! :)

A Great Day off to a Not-so-Great Start.

Today is the day we reach the end of our countdown!! We are so excited to be closing on the house and getting the keys this afternoon!
But I'v had one small hitch in the plan for the day: my car. :(
About 45 minutes ago, I went out to start the car and give it a chance to warm up for a few minutes before I left for the gym. The car wouldn't start. I'd like to give you an impression of the noise it was making, but words won't do it justice. I tried to stay calm, thinking it might just be *really* cold and need a few minutes. I gave it a few and tried again...still wouldn't start. I came back inside and called J who had me check a few things such as the lights (they work!) and whether it was in park (it was!). As I was sitting there freezing (no, really, it's only 37˚), I decided to try again and this time it actually started. Grudgingly, but it did start. He said if it hadn't died by the time it warmed up, I should be okay to go to the gym.
All seemed well until I actually started driving. First, the radio died. Then I noticed that my blinkers were totally spazzing for a few seconds before they started blinker-ing. Also, the little red battery light was not turning off. I pulled into the corner store and called him again to find out what that might mean. He thinks it might be the alternator. I don't know what that means, but apparently it's baaaad. I decided I was better off coming back to the apartment. I'd hate to get stuck at the gym or on the side of the road and have to wait for him to come get me. Then I'd still have to come back here and get ready...and I really don't want to be late for our afternoon activities!! :)
On the short drive back here, I noticed that my car was starting to lurch as I drove and the RPM meter was jumping all over the place. I don't really know what any of this means, other than the fact that I'll have to work out at the teeny apartment gym instead of Spectrum, but if anyone would like to come fix my car or donate a new one* to me, I am very open to either choice! :)

*If these seem impossible, prayers will also be appreciated.

job applications & mail-in rebates

I still haven't had any job offers, so today I decided to apply for Old Navy. I figure working retail while I wait for something else is better than not working at all. Anyway their whole application process is online now, so I sat down in my floor with all my information to fill it out. Well, as it turns out, they are more interested in honesty and integrity than your work experience or anything else. There were lots of questions about stealing/lying/pilfering money etc. One actually said:
I always tell the truth. ☐ True ☐ False
Interesting....
Anyway, this went on for about an hour (which, FYI, feels like about 3 hours when you're sitting indian-style with a keyboard in front of you on the floor) before I was finished. If they have any positions open that match my profile, they're supposed to contact me in 3 - 5 days.

In more exciting news...We had 2 mail-in rebates from Sears for the appliances we've taken to collecting lately. I was all excited because we'll get back almost $200. So I took them with me when we went to church yesterday, planning to drop them in the mail on the way home. Unfortunately, when we got to the mailbox and I handed them to J, they were much less "them" and much more "it". So I started freaking out. (Really, J will be happy to confirm my hysteria.) What could I have possibly done with the other one?!? We searched the apartment, and in an attempt to calm me down he even went back to church to check the parking lot and ask if anyone had found it. We found nothing. I was devastated. That's a lot of free money to lose.
Fast forward a day: I got a phone call from a wonderful woman named Emma. She found my rebate form opened and tossed into the back of her truck. She got my name and number off the form and called to see if I wanted to come and pick it up. I am so thankful that she took the time to look at it and call me rather than just throwing it away. Turns out she lives here at our apartment complex, so I must have just dropped it on the way to the car. What a great ending for my story! :)

Back to normal

Well, Thanksgiving is over and now the weekend is almost over. Back to work and school (no, not for me, I meant for everyone else!). But I will have to wake up early in the morning, I have my last session with Corin (my trainer at the gym) at 7:00.

I had an awesome Thanksgiving. I wish I had some pictures to post, but I am lame and forgot to take any. I even had my camera in the suitcase!! Anyway, we had lots of food and a wonderful time hanging out with family. I even watched the whole Cowboys' game...but there will be no rejoicing as it was a sad, sad loss. :(

I've been jealous of the butterfly sidebar on Marla's blog for quite some time now. As you can see, I finally got mine to work the way I wanted it to, thanks to a little help from J and Zachary!

Anyway, not much else going on here. We move into the house on Wednesday! :)

poo

So we had our POO at the house today. Nice name, huh? It stands for Pre-Occupancy Orientation. I'm *pretty* sure this is simply a fancy name for a walk-though. It went well, there were several spots on the walls that need to be cleaned/painted over/fixed, but only a few big things. We'll do the final walk-through on the 30th where everything should be good. Then later that day we'll go to closing, and whenever we want after that we can pick up the keys and move in!!
On the downside, we ordered our refrigerator and they're out of stock, so it won't be delivered until the 6th. Bummer. But, if it really comes down to it, the lease on our apartment is good through the 6th, so we could live in our house and eat at our apartment... How cool would we be? :) Actually, the dude at Sears said that he may be able to get us a little loaner fridge for those few days. Needless to say, I'm hoping that works out.
Anyway, that's all for now. We're leaving tomorrow for a few days in Dallas, so I should go pack. Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!

73% nerd.

Here's your chance to find out if you are a nerd, a dork or a geek...just take this test for instant results!!
Yeah, I think it's official that I have entirely too much free time on my hands. I really need to get myself a job. Anyway, according to this test I am 73% nerd, 34% geek and 21% dork. Is it just me, or do those percentages not add up the way one would expect?? Or maybe it only bothers me because I'm a nerd. Hmmm...
Either way, I found the test amusing. You should take it if you have a few spare minutes, then let me know the results! :)

Good News!

We went back by the house today to get some more window measurements. We ordered some faux wood blinds online, I think they're going look really cute! Anyway, while we were there we talked to Michael (the house guy) and he said that he had talked to our loan officer who told him that she *thinks* the appraisal came in late on Friday. He'll find out for sure on Monday, but if that is the case, there should be no problem with closing on the 30th!! Whoo-Hoo! Hopefully it will come through!
We also made sure nothing will be going on with the house next weekend, so we're spending Thanksgiving at Aunt Nisey's. We're totally stoked; we haven't spent Thanksgiving with family since we got married. Plus, J has alot more fun watching football when there are a few more people! :)
Earlier this week we joined a gym near our house. We decided we didn't want to go all the way to base to work out because (as Zachary put it) we're gym-freaks and we work out all the time. Anyway, it's really nice, and we love it so far. There was a little confusion when we joined, because the guy who gave us a tour the first day quoted me the wrong price...anyway, long story short, I got 3 free sessions with a personal trainer, I had the first one yesterday and it was really good!
We're going back to the Bandera Road Community Church again tomorrow. We went last week and really enjoyed the service, but it seemed like the church was so big that people didn't even recognize us as first-timers. We've decided to go another week, though, and see what happens and what we think.

shoes...well, sandals

Since Zachary, Kayla and Marla have all done posts about their new shoes, I thought I would post mine, too. I just want to be cool like y'all! :)
They were a little more than $7.50, but they were a gift from my generous husband. He spoils me way too much! :)
All is going very smoothly here. The odds look good for closing on the house by the end of the month, but keep praying! If nothing comes up, we're hoping to visit the Dallas Walkers/Wards/Morrises for Thanksgiving (but they might not know that yet, if Aunt Nisey hasn't listened to her messages!).
I've applied for a few jobs. USAA has some openings, so I applied for 4 of those, as well as a federal HR job on base. We've decided I'll just apply for the ones I *really* want now, and if nothing comes through, then after we're in the house I'll start the hard-core job search. After stuff dies down a bit, I know I'll be bored out of my mind without a job. ((Crazy Uncle - I feel for you!)) J goes to work starting Friday. For anyone who didn't know, they gave him 10 days off for house hunting since we came from overseas. It kinda feels like we've been on vacation or something! :)
We got our washer and dryer and both are hooked up finally, so I'm on my 4th load for the night, but I think the others are going to have to wait till tomorrow, I'll be ready for bed after this one.

Suzuki Esteem

As you may know from reading J's blog, I got a car! It's a 2001 Suzuki Esteem...nothing too exciting, but it's paid for, and it's not a rental car so I am super stoked!!
Also, the Sears guys just delivered our new washer and dryer. I haven't dedicated a scrapbook page to them, but I'm stoked about them as well! :) We decided to go ahead a buy them while we we're here instead of waiting till we get into the house, as it would cost $2 per load to do it at the laundry room at the apartment complex.
Well, that's it for now; my back is starting to hurt from sitting on the floor in front of the computer!

Texas

We just got back from a meeting with our loan officer, where we were again amazed by how *nice* Texans are. Before any Texans reading this try to tell me that this is a delayed realization, I would like to say that yes, all of y'all are also very nice, but I didn't know if that might just be because you're related to me! :) So anyway, the meeting went very well, and it looks like we *may* be able close on this house by the end of the month!
Since we got a VA loan, it is up to them to do the appraisal on the house and I guess they have up to 10 business days to get it done. Please pray that they finish it before that (specifically, by the 21st) so that we can get a move on. Mostly we are just praying that everything will be complete before the 6th of December, as that is when the 1 month lease on our apartment ends.
Other than house stuff, I don't have a lot else to post about, tomorrow we go car shopping!

NEW HOUSE PICTURES

After a LOOOONG morning of waiting for the phone dude to set up phone and internet for the apartment, we got a chance to go back by the house and take some pictures. I'm not sure if I mentioned, it isn't finished yet, but it already has carpet, so it's getting pretty darn close! Here are some pictures and also a floor plan, so if you're like me and can't picture it with random photos, you can get a better idea. (click on them to see full size)


front of the house

looking out the front door from the dining room

kitchen

pantry (off the kitchen)

dining room (view from the front door)

open door - laundry room, to the right - half bath

cute fireplace! (Not needed, but cute for Christmas stockings!)

game room (upstairs)

master bedroom

me in the garden tub (shower to the left)

master bedroom into the master bath

hooray..two sinks!

lots of closet space, but I need more shelves!

chandelier over dining room

cute vinyl flooring (in bathrooms and kitchen)

backyard (view from spare bedroom)

back of our house

quick update

We made it to San Antonio safely and we are *loving* it so far!!
We found an apartment we can rent month to month and we will be moving in there tomorrow, we'll also get our unaccompanied baggage so we'll have air mattresses to sleep on and some dishes so we can stop eating out every meal!
BUT, in more exciting news...we bought a house today!!! Well, there's actually a lot we still have to do, and we won't be moving in till the first week of December. However, this is a HUGE answer to prayer. We found one that exceeds our highest hopes, and I can't even express how thankful we are (
and how overly excited I am)!!!! :) Well, I will tell more details and post some pictures as soon as I can, but for now we have a few more things we have to get wrapped up before we can go to bed and get ready for another big day tomorrow.
Thanks for all your prayers and we're stoked to live in Texas!)

Almost moving day!

Tomorrow is the big day. Actually, J should be leaving Alconbury for the last time in about 45 minutes. He is taking a shuttle to Gatwick Airport in London to begin his loooong day of traveling. I'll leave here at about 8:15 in the morning to catch a flight out of the airport in Vegas and we will meet in San Antonio tomorrow evening.
The end of my vacation here was fun. As most of you may know from Zachary's blog, we went back into Vegas and watched the Bellagio fountain show several times at night. That was really nice. We stayed for 4 or 5 shows. Some chick that was standing next to me kept talking and talking. She was from Detroit.
Yesterday and today Zachary took me out driving in his car. I haven't had much experience driving an American spec. stick shift, and since we may be buying one soon, I wanted to practice. He took me out on some back gravel roads and made me start on a hill without spinning out. Supposedly this will help me if I ever have to start on a hill in the city. Hopefully within a few days, J and I will be car shopping. Nothing too spendy, as we want to buy a house soon. It's weird not having a house, or any cars OR a job!
Anyway, we will find internet access and let everyone know how it's going as soon as possible.
Love y'all!

Apology

CORRECTION: As Marla assumed, it was an error on my part to say that our whole family was together. We are missing 3 *very* important people and I feel so bad for suggesting that y'all aren't part of the family. Please, please, please accept my sincere apology. I love y'all!