the joys of homeownership

Lessons learned:

1. New, clean carpet is WONDERFUL, except it has a tendency to make me a little crazy trying to keep it clean, especially in the recent Houston monsoon we have experienced.

2. If your brand new dishwasher stops working mysteriously, don't panic - search for a secret light switch that for some reason controls the dishwasher.

3. Need a swimming pool in your backyard? Feel free to borrow our lab puppy before a heavy rain. He will gladly dig a mud pit that will soon fill up with water that can be used as a pool. He will even test it out for you and then walk on your new carpet if you so desire.

4. A bigger house IS actually easier to keep clean than a one bedroom apartment shared by 2 people and 2 dogs.

5. Seperate bath tubs and showers are a blessing!

6. FlyLady is scary....15-20 e-mails a day? Maybe I will resubscribe after we have kids and I am at home (and awake) for more than 5 hours a day.

7. Gas appliances are not that hard to operate...but are you supposed to smell gas when you turn on the oven?

And that is just the beginning. We will post pictures soon of our new house, the dining table I built (with my daddy), the painting by my grandma Arta Jean (who I am named after), our new furniture, and much more.

I will praise you in this storm

"I will praise you in this storm..." If you are not familiar with this Christian song, it is one of my favorites. We had many storms this week, literal and figurative. Today during work, we had a First Nail ceremony to start construction on two houses. As I sat in my car, hurriedly finishing my lunch, the rain started pouring down. This song came on and reminded me that when we are going through life's 'storms' is when it is the most important time to praise God for our many blessings, though it may easier to shift our focus to our troubles. God is good and He takes care of those who love Him and serve Him.

After a week of pulling our hair out, crying, yelling, wanting to hit some people, and actually throwing dog toys across the room, Dash and I got the official word that our loan has gone though and we CAN close on our new house tomorrow! Up until 9pm last night, they were still requesting more information and documents but our (and your) prayers were heard. It should be a big weekend with our move and the Walk to Cure Diabetes on Saturday (go Team Dash's Dudes and Darlings!). I will post pictures from the weekend next week after we settle in a little.

TO DO LIST

UPDATE:
Dash did our final walk-through this morning and EVERYTHING was done. The only thing not completed was the patching up of a crack in our driveway which had not been completed due to all the rain this week in Houston.

Items left to do on our house before our closing this Friday:
1. Install mini-blinds
2. Install medicine cabinet in master bath
3. Install surround sound speakers
4. Install deadbolt on back door
5. Install garage door opener
6. Install front gutters
7. Install kitchen island Corian countertop

And that is it! We had our New Home Demonstration and walk-thru complete with the blue tape this morning. We will post pictures after our move this weekend of our new FINISHED house. We are so thankful for this huge blessing God has given us so early in our marriage and are anxious to use it for His will.

Steroids?

I am a little late on this post, but with all the moving and house chaos, I have not had my usual free time (at work sadly) to blog and waste my time on really important things like celebrity gossip pages and the Better Homes and Garden website. My friend Roger Clemens (shown with me in the photo below) has been accused of using steroids. Based on the color of the shirt he is wearing in the photo, maybe it is true. What do you think?

Woohoo!

Our closing date is set for October 13! Dash and I will officially be homeowners next week! We will have our walk-through next Monday and Shae's aunt is generously getting a third party inspector for our house hopefully this week. The next two weeks should be crazy but we are so excited. Everything has fallen into place so perfectly. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and please continue to keep us in mind as we pack and move and pray that we will make a smooth transition.

Have any empty boxes?

By the way, anyone who has not met our puppy Cooper will be very surprised to see how HUGE our 5 month old chocolate lab has gotten. At his vet weigh-in yesterday - 5 months old - and weighing in at 56 pounds. A few more pounds and that is almost (almost people) half Shae's weight.

On the Home Front

Today was a good news, bad news day. Our apartment has already released our apartment so we must move out on October 15. The next few days will tell if we will be moving in with family for a week or moving into our new house then. As of today, our closing is still set for October 19th. However, Dash and I stopped by our house today and it looks like it could definitely be done next week. Carpet has been installed and our kitchen sink and island are in. They have begun to touch up spots of the drywall and paint. Bathrooms and bedrooms are completely done. Our builder seemed surprised we wanted to close and move in earlier. But he did say construction would be very happy to move quicker with the goal of getting us in by October 15th.

P.S. Thank you Ruth and Tommy for opening your beautiful home to me last week! I had a great time but am glad to be back in Houston.

Let the packing commence.....

Walk to Cure Diabetes

As most of you know, Dash was diagnosed with Type I diabetes in 9th grade. Type I Diabetes is genetic and Dash is insulin dependent, unlike Type II that can be controlled with diet and is usually obesity related.

In honor of Dash, we have decided to participate in Houston’s Walk to Cure Diabetes. I would love to have you walk with Dash and I. The walk will be at Reliant Park on October 14, with registration starting at 7am and the walk starting around 8am. It will be approximately 3 miles. If you would like to join us, just follow this link to register:

http://walk.jdrf.org/register.cfm?id=86509791 – our team is Dash’s Dudes and Darlings (the name was all me, so don't give Dash a hard time!)

I have also set up a fundraising page - http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=86509791 – if you are feeling generous. Each dollar takes us one step closer to finding a cure for diabetes. Doctors and researchers are predicting we will actually see a CURE for diabetes well within our lifetime.

As of today, we will not be walking alone but would love to have more friends and family with us. Shae's parents and older sister are walking and most likely Dash's mom, Debi, and grandmother, Sammie, will also join us. Tommy and Ruth and little John (theconnellfamily.blogspot.com) are even coming in from Austin!

Thank you all for your support!