Update: House Hunting

We spent an hour and a half with a mortgage broker yesterday.
We spent another hour or so at Home Depot looking at tile, appliances, carpet, paint, lawn mowers, sheds...you name it.
(I'm pretty sure Trisha grabbed 60 different paint color sample cards)
We spent the rest of the evening waiting to hear back about our bid.

10:30 this morning we found out we didn't get the house...

A little deflating...especially after contemplating porcelain vs. ceramic tile on a house we didn't even own yet...

But, alas, there'll be other ones.
In the words of Brian, in Saving Private Brian

There's a lot of fish in the sea.
It's always darkest before the dawn.
If it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be.

So, it's back to the drawing board...or searching board...or at least looking board.
Off to find another house.

House Hunting

Trisha and I found a house that we are considering making an offer on....

Did I really just say that? It's crazy to think about having a mortgage, where up until now the most expensive thing we've purchased together has been a mattress. Scary.

Nonetheless, the immense amount of stimulus money being handed out, packaged with the great interest rates, wrapped in the deals that foreclosures bring, and sprinkled with our desire to have a place of our own that we can minister in and with has led us up to this point.

So...here's what I want to do...I'm gonna give you some pictures of the "potential" house to look at, and you give your thoughts....

Ready, Set, Go...

Here's the house...it's quaint...it's on main street


There is this wicked awesome pecan tree on the left side...
have I ever told you how much I love pecans?

This is the driveway side of the house. It has a back deck that opens out to this side.
There is also a little pond on the far left of the picture that was built in.
It's home to a lot of mosquitoes right now.


From the far back corner of the property...more than likely where I would have some sort of shed/barn/man cave. It's got quite a yard too.


The deck itself would serve as quite the entertainment area with plenty of room for a grill, table, umbrella and jacuzzi??? (I'm kidding about the jacuzzi...or am I?)


This bay window is the outside of the kitchen breakfast table area...it's a nice touch.


Back around to the front of the house, we have the front porch.
It's not huge, but we may be able to squeeze a rocking chair on there.


As we head into the house, this is a view looking back towards the front door.
This is standing in the kitchen with the hallway is there on the left, a nice mail sorter there in the middle and an entrance to the dining room on the right.


This is the kitchen breakfast area with the laundry room veering off to the left. You can see the back door as well, leading out onto the deck. (I'm not a fan of this wallpaper)


Here is the kitchen...we will need a refrigerator. This also triples the amount of cabinet space that we currently have.


This is the dining room area. We aren't very big on dining rooms, but it has a nice touch and we do like the hardwood floors. Perhaps we could open it up and make a gigantor living room someday.


And here is the living room. Yes , it is very bright, and yes those windows are huge, and yes it is painted baby diarrhea green...sorry for the imagery...but it is really a gross color....
We're already taking into account the cost of buying paint.


And now for the upstairs...


Bright colored room number one...


Bright colored room two...


The 2nd bathroom (also upstairs).
ps. I failed to take a picture of the downstairs half bath


The master bedroom...not huge, but a good size
In the words of some of my youth, "That carpet is narsty."
We'll have to buy some new carpet so we can walk without shower shoes


The master closet...which is fairly deep...and it has a window....
not really sure why, but there's one in there.


And lastly, the master bathroom...it's got a toilet tucked away to the left, a shower/bath to the right and this double vanity....and again, I believe with all my heart that all wallpaper containing floral patterns as such should be banned from the United States.

Well there you have it.
This is the house we are looking at and might just possibly put a bid on.

So what do you think? It's a little bit of a fixer upper...
Do you think it's manageable?
Can you see this as the future Bearden residence?

Buttons

I was cleaning through some old stuff in my office recently when I came across something...a button.

During college, I got my hands on a Badge-a-Mint machine. It makes buttons. Maybe you've never experienced one of these machines, but for me, it gave me the same sensation that my deep fryer does...whatever it is, deep fry it...whatever it is, button it.

So I made buttons, four of them to be precise. One for each roommate. Andrew, Cal, Matt, & Myself. My thought process was this: 1) We entertained a lot. 2)There were very few nights that we didn't have something going on and our apartment was always buzzing with people. 3) What better way to inform people of who we were and let people feel more welcomed...because after all, what says "Make yourself at home" better than well developed button?

The premise was that we could wear these buttons as name badges whenever we threw parties.
A ridiculous idea? Perhaps. Still worth trying? Absolutely.

Here's the result:

(ps. 2 Doors Down was the name of our apartment)

Good times.

Priorities

Trisha and I just bought a new bed...a King Size Simmons Beautyrest Super Plush Delightful Slice of Heaven I believe is the technical name for it. We did a lot of shopping around and are very happy with what we got. It was delivered yesterday, so last night was the first night we got to experience it.

On Saturday we were hanging out with some friends and one of them mentioned that a nice bed was the first big purchase they made as a couple....which made me think...

Our first big purchase as a couple was....

a TV...

That's when you know you've got your priorities in order.