Our First House : Home Tour

Oh look, a house tour...a year and a half later! But seriously, these pictures are better than any I could have taken, so we're rolling with it. 

It's very surreal seeing these pictures. It still hasn't hit me yet that we are moving, so seeing these is just really weird. It's also the cleanest the house has EVER been. Anyone who has been to it and knows me can vouch for that. I don't think the duvet on our bed has actually ever been ON the bed before this week. If this isn't motivation to always keep a clean house, I don't know what is!

So here we go, our first home! (Picture overload...)

-The front of the home-

-First of two spare bedrooms downstairs, with doors to the "backyard"-

-Jack-n-Jill bathroom downstairs-

-The second of the two guest bedrooms downstairs-

-Second floor landing-

-Living room with doors to lead out to balcony-

-Living room, view of the rock wall-

-View from the living room into the kitchen area, with stairs leading to the third floor-

-Kitchen, from the dining room-

-Kitchen, view from the sink-

-Kitchen, with view into dining room-

-Dining room with view into kitchen-

 -Dining room, with coffee station to the right (they took the coffee maker and tray off!-

-View of dining room and kitchen-

-Half bath on second floor-

-Master bedroom-

-Master bathroom-

-Bonus room/office/craft room-

-Reading nook. My little slice of heaven!-

-"Backyard"

-We are going to miss it!-

Phew! Lots of pictures. Not pictured is the laundry room, which is between the master and the office on the third floor. When we moved in, the office was the media room, hence the stage. We planned to use it as a nursery if that time came. 

It was the perfect first house for us - I will seriously miss it. 

We're moving to Mexico!

Juuuuust kidding. But seriously, close enough. Want to see how close?

See how close Brownsville is to Matamoros? As in, Matamoros, MEXICO? Yea. Super close. Super fun! (Sarcasm font needed.)

Let me fill you in. A has been working down there for the past 5 months. They have, surprisingly, gone by super fast, but that might be because his company pays for him to come back once a month for a weekend...with a few visits paid for by us sprinkled in. Well...two weeks ago we got his new assignment contract and they changed the terms to a relocation one. We are getting a lump sum to relocate to Brownsville. (MEXICO) It's slated right now to finish up in May of 2016. If I stayed in Houston, that would be us paying for every trip home for an entire year and a half. Aka - spending all and then some of his bonus and the extra bump in pay he's getting to be down there. And I wouldn't say these past 5 months have been easy, so I'm not sure I could handle another year and a half of it! 

We found out about the relocation on January 8th, and decided for sure that I would move down there  on the 14th. I gave notice at my job on the 15th (my new-ish job! I moved on and have been doing Social Media/Marketing for a local antique store. So fun!) and we decided on the 16th to sell our house. (Sidenote - I never did a house tour when we moved in, but you're in luck! Fancy realtor pictures mean I can finally do one. As we are moving! Check back in Thursday.) I met with the realtors on the 21st, and they were back again today to do a final walk through and take the fancy pictures. It goes on the market the 29th, we have an open house on the 31st, and then we move everything out on February 2nd and drive it all to our new (rented) house in Brownsville.

I am exhausted just typing all of that. 

This was a really tough decision for us to make - I went back and forth for a few days over staying here and "toughing it out" or moving down there. And then do we sell or lease the house? In the end we made the decision that was right for us and our marriage, and I know some people aren't happy about it, but it really is the best thing for us. Do you know how hard it is to think about starting a family when your husband lives six hours away?! HARD! My entire family is in Houston, I have three perfect nephews in Houston, we have an amazing house in Houston...but my husband is in Brownsville so that's where I have to be. 

And as of February 2nd...I will no longer be employed. For the first time since 2008. I will have more than just a week off once a year (who can take all three weeks of their vacation when you are so stressed out being away??) for the first time since 2010. I'm incredibly nervous about this aspect, but we're not going into it blindly. We won't lose money, even while we still own the house, and it'll be a lot easier once we sell. I plan on looking for jobs as soon as we move and get settled, but Brownsville is a totally different job market than Houston. Not to mention...I'm no where near bilingual. It's pretty much a requirement down there. I'm looking into (finally) going through alternative certification and teaching, and I am overly excited about that, but trying not to be because nothing is set in stone. 

Overall, I'm really just happy to be back with my husband full time. I know there are many, many people who have it worse than this, but man, it's still been pretty rough! 

(It's much easier to blog when you don't have a job. Aka, why I am back. And I have no friends in Brownsville. MEXICO.)

my inner elizabeth

Moving is stressful. I think that you would all agree with me on that. And, nine times out of ten, things go wrong. Take it from someone who has moved EVERY year since 2006. (Seriously, my advice to people in college is to move into an APT and STAY THERE for the rest of your time there.) 

Just about everything went wrong this time. I mean, EVERYTHING. You all know about the loan drama from last week - we were able to close on time, but we still had issues with that. So what did I do with all of this? I thought to myself, self - what would Elizabeth do? And I did it. How did I apply these lessons? Let's explore.

I think I'll make this an ongoing series. She has some good advice. Today's advice is to be a bitch to get what you want. That sounds rude - but I think you'll understand after I elaborate. I guess a nicer way to say this would be to be forceful and not stop until you get what you want. And, of course, if you do this in everyday life, you probably are just a rude person. If you use this skill in specific situations, it can be a good thing. 
ETA: Elizabeth is my older sister! 

You see, I'm a pushover. As in, someone tells me no and I just give up and walk away. This comes from my insane need to ALWAYS be a people pleaser. Sometimes that's a good thing, most times it's not. I need to stand up for myself more often...hence where the lesson from Elizabeth comes in. 

I first used this skill for the move when we were at Conn's to buy the fridge. As I mentioned previously (and here's where I would link to an old post if I were a real blogger who wasn't so lazy), we were at Conn's for 5 hours before they finally let us buy the fridge. After they told us "sorry, we can't approve you, this offer letter with A's salary could have been made up," I put my foot down and said something like this: "Look Keeon, we have been here for five hours. We even drove home and got the papers you said we needed - the papers that you said we would FOR SURE be approved with. We are not leaving and waiting two months for him to get more paychecks in and then coming back for the fridge. I know that this is not your fault, you are not the one who chooses to approve people or not, but we are not leaving without a fridge today."

And what do ya know? We got the fridge. The key, I believe, was the I know it's not your fault line. While being the bitch to get what you want, you still have to be nice while doing it. That makes zero sense while writing it out, but I think you get it. I first learned this skill from Elizabeth in high school when every single phone (for about 5 years) she got for free. She could talk Sprint into giving her anything, I swear.

I should have used this skill the other day when Conn's decided, at the LAST MINUTE, that they couldn't deliver our fridge to our new house because they didn't have proof that we owned it. Let that sink in. WHY THE HELL DOES IT EVEN MATTER?! They also needed to know how long we lived at our previous address and why we left. All of this information to deliver a fridge that we had already been approved for. By this point, I was tired. I just let A deal with it and we waited an extra day to get the fridge. Had I used the Life Lesson from Elizabeth, I probably would have received it on the original day, but c'est la vie. 

Lucky ol' me also got to use this life lesson at the U-Haul place...although it didn't work because the owner is an ex-marine and he still takes that VERY seriously to this day. A' picked up the U-haul at 5pm on Monday and the lady working there told him he could access our unit at any time throughout the night. We took one load (things in my parent's garage) to the house and then headed to the unit around 9pm. Guess what? It's not 24 hours. Access closes at 6:25. YOU KNOW - BECAUSE PEOPLE DON'T WORK ALL DAY OR ANYTHING. (Can you tell I'm still mad about this?) There was the cell number for the GM should you need anything after hours. Guess what? It was disconnected. GREAT. We went back the next day and I was told that the lady A talked to was new and didn't know anything. (Ok, how is that our fault?) When I told them: "Are you aware that the number is disconnected? This is terrible customer service. What happens if something was really wrong?" : I was told that they knew it was wrong and they had ordered a new sign. It would arrive in two weeks. UHHHH. I tried to follow my Elizabeth Lessons, but this guy was NOT having it. It was his way or the highway. In the end, we had to pay for an extra day on the truck because of all of this - and there was NO talking him out of it. 

All in all - I can't really complain too much. We have a very nice house, we are in said house, and we have nice things in the house. (Like the 70" TV we HAD to get...) It may take us an extra week to unpack all of our things, but we can live without a toaster for a while. (Says the one who doesn't even use the toaster.)

thanks for making it through! this was really just an excuse for me to vent it seems. but, more life lessons to follow. she's the best and she taught me a lot. 

i do exist!

Well, well, well...I am alive after all. I feel like I haven't posted in a week because I really haven't. Last Wednesday doesn't count and so that means only one post last week. 

Can you tell that my life is absolutely insane and I just need it to stop?

Let's Review:

Wednesday: We packed up the Uhaul and my car and said adios to Lafayette. I don't really know that it's hit me yet - I feel like I'm just in Houston visiting my family. But whatever, we are here and so is all of our stuff. 

Thursday: The home inspection was at 8am, so we went for the last 30 minutes of it. I finally got to see the house in person (I love it!) and it inspected beautifully. There a few minor things (caulking some siding outside, fixing a loose toilet), but nothing major is wrong with it - we got so lucky! I read Shay's post about buying a home...and that poor inspector, I drilled him about EVERYTHING. 

After that was done, we met up with my brother-in-law and his friend for lunch and then said a quick hello to the Reid man. We cannot wait to live super close to them in one month!

And then it got boring and annoying - we had to move everything from the Uhaul into storage. Except by we I don't mean me. We paid my best friend's brother and his best friend (who is also my little sister's boyfriend - confused yet) to help A with it all. I supervised - super important job. 

And then at 5:30 we hit the road to Dallas for my best friend's bachelorette part. Six hours later we arrived. I'm not exaggerating, I thought we wouldn't make it at some points. The rain was SO bad that we had to pull over 3 times just so I would stop shaking. Had I been by myself, there's no way I would have kept going. But the two girls with me kept me calm and we made it!

Friday/the weekend: I had a client meeting on Friday morning and then we basically drove around the entire DFW area getting things for the weekend. I'm going to do a full recap tomorrow - but it was so much fun and the perfect weekend. I'm too mad about it right now to update, but only because I woke up this morning to an email from the home owner stating how we were terrible renters because we didn't respect his home at all. He went through the trash and told me that we were drunk the entire time and disrespectful because we were drunk. You better believe I emailed him back - we had 14 beers TOTAL - over the ENTIRE WEEKEND. And they were mixed in with a punch that we had to POUR OUT after we were finished laying out at the pool. No one was drunk throughout the whole weekend. Can you tell that I am extremely mad about this? He's "calculating how much to take out of my security deposit due to the lack of respect" right now. I really would like to punch him. 

stress ball city

Remember how I was so excited about moving to Houston? 

I'm still excited, but now that I actually THINK about it...I'm a crazy stressed mess. As in, I may lose my mind. 

Let's examine the months of April/May, shall we?

• April 25-28: A is going on a bachelor party trip to Mullet Toss in Gulf Shores, AL. So that means little ole me has to pack up the whole apartment by myself. Deja vu, my brain says. Why? That's because I had to do this last year, too. A was on a rig and I packed everything up by my lonesome. And this time we have an extra room. Yayyyy!
• May 3-5: I have to go to Jazz Fest. Ok, when I say it like that I bet you don't feel bad for me, huh? It's just not great timing. And I can't cancel because it's a work trip and I have clients coming in. 
• May 9-12: I have my best friend's bachelorette party in Dallas.
• May 13: A's anticipated start date.

How fun, right? The next three weekends we won't have both of us here together to move. We planned these weekends MONTHS ago, so we can't really cancel them now (what am I supposed to do? just NOT go to the bachelorette party as the matron of honor? UHH NO) even if we wanted to. Which we don't. So I'm just going to complain about it. 

Then I called PODS this morning because that's the easiest option. I hung up on the guy when he quoted me $1584.69. THAT INCLUDES NO STORAGE. To store that it would be $250 a month. A swore that I needed to call back because SURELY he meant $150.69, but no, that first number is correct.

The plan now? We are picking up a UHAUL on May 7. Then movers are coming on May 8 to put it all in the UHAUL. Then we are driving it to Houston last night (I'm going to have a panic attack just thinking about A driving that while towing his car) and loading it into a storage unit on May 9. And then I leave that night for Dallas. 

I wish you could all see how many deep breaths I am having to take right now. 

And this all leads to my new series. I'm going to call it:

Adventures in Moving in with Your Parents.

Hi, Mom. You know I love you, but you have to admit that it's going to make for some great blog posts. Now let's all think some positive thoughts and say some prayers that we find a house fast. The market in the area we want to be in is SUPER hot right now, so I'm worried. But I worry about everything sooooo yea.

And that's this week's edition of how much can Kaitlyn complain about something she's actually really excited about? We all know that answer is a lot. A LOT.

get me out of this apartment

Every year since 2006 has been a moving year. First I moved into my dorm, and then one year later moved out. Three months later I moved back into the dorm (and in the same exact room! why couldn't I have just left my stuff in there?!) Then six months later I moved out to head to Louisiana where I moved into an apartment. Then six months later I moved all my crap into storage only to get it out three months later and move into a different apartment. Then a year later I moved everything into storage for a month and then into a different apartment. Then a year later, into my final college apartment. But it doesn't stop there! A year later I moved all my crap to Lafayette and into A and I's first apartment, only to turn around a year later and move it into a bigger apartment. Lost? I am to, but I do know that it equals WELL over 10 move-ins and outs. 

Moral of the story - I AM SICK OF MOVING. Our lease here is up in January and we are waiting to see if we can renew on a month-to-month basis. We both desperately want a house, and have the finances to do so, but we don't want to buy (and waste all of our down payment money) and then have A get a job in Houston. (He's a petroleum engineer and it seems that all roads lead there.) He should know about a new job here in Q1 2013, so after that is when we will start looking. Oh, did I stay start? I meant resume...I'm addicted to looking online already. 

So, being that I look every day too much, I've come to find my must haves. 

Unfortunately, every house in Louisiana that is new/newer looks like this:

I really hate the garage in the front thing, but if we end up staying and buying here, that is most likely what we will end up with. Womp womp.

But back to my must-haves. I absolutely MUST have a kitchen that has while/cream cabinets like below. Yes, I know I could do that myself, but if we are going to pay the extra money for a new house, I want it to be done for me! And I wouldn't go so far as to say that the exposed brick is a must, but I'm in love with it. Although A would add here that a gas stove (like in the second photo) is an absolute must.

 Not loving the cabinets in the below picture at all, but I saved it because it's a must for me to have an open floorplan. I LOVE to entertain, so I want to be able to be in the kitchen finishing up and still interact with the guests. 

We both also really want a living room plan that looks similar to below so we can mount the TV on top of the fireplace. And really, I just want a mantle so I can decorate it. I REALLY hate that none of my apartments have had one!!

 And last on the must have list is an outdoor fireplace. Our friends just recently bought in Youngsville (burb-ish area of Lafayette) and their house has this. They mounted a TV on top and it's the PERFECT place to watch Saints games on cold nights!! (And an extra mantle? Yea, I'd be ok with that.)

This dream below leads me into the category of custom build. Which of course will not be our first home, but one day down the road that's what we'd like to do. This is my best friend's boyfriend's parent's house and his dad is a contractor. I'm not lying when I say that my dream has always been to have a "Beauty and the Beast" library in my house. The nook at the top has a window that overlooks the water. Yep, I'd spend ALL of my time there!

 all photos via zillow.com - last photo via myself