"house" less!

We have officially sold the house, moved into an apt., and moving along with life!

I just kept praying that a tree limb wouldn't come crashing down our roof, or I would accidentally start a house fire, or some other crazy mishap would occur before last Thursday. (Anxious much?)

It didn't. (Thank you Lord.) And the cute couple that bought our house are so sweet. It made me feel good to see that they loved what we had done with the house and would enjoy the neighborhood as much as we had... they even were excited when we told them of "Little Boy," the neighborhood cat, that would come by and greet them throughout the day.

While it definitely feels like we pushed rewind in life (i.e. hearing your neighbors stampede across your ceiling at 11:00pm, using a fob to enter your residence, and trying to fit all of your serving pieces in an Oh so small kitchen), I know we ARE indeed moving in the right direction.

So, while we are technically without a house, we have an earthly home.... in my book, that would be where ever these two are.

So while we adjust to our new living arrangements, we will be planning out another. Take a look at this new project!

This is GeGe's home. It has GREAT bones. Call me crazy, but I'm ubber exciting about the kitchen. Think retro! 

I want to keep the mustard yellow counter tops, the metal cabinets, and the table and chairs... with a little updating, this is going to be awesome!

I look forward to sharing the "flip" with you!

Oh... and what is a post without this cutie?

For some reason he goes up onto his tip toes when you sing War Eagle?! I promise I didn't teach him this! Is it innate? Did all those years of twirling and marching with the band somehow reach him? :)

Caught him doing "This little piggy" to himself... until he realized I was videoing and demanded to see the "dooone" (phone) to see "Ade" (Cade).

Watermelon :) You could eat him up, couldn't you?!

The final count down...

Well, the count down till the big moving day is in 10 days. Closing is in 14 days.

I'm ready. I'm going a little nuts with boxes half filled, or stacked up around our little home. Not only is it unsightly, but tends to take up more square feet... which is not a good thing since we are limited in that area anyway.

So here are the things we're gonna miss about this little home...

1) It was our first! There's nothing like your first BIG investment as a couple!
2) We flipped it! We saw the process through... and man, was it a process! I'm glad I didn't know what was coming, or I might have not been game for this renovation. :)
3) Memories. From taking out the tub,

to watching the two BIG headers go up (I'm hopeful our buyers do not find this blog before closing day!),

to having no heat our first winter in the house and using ole Hank (the fire hazard below) and two small electric heaters to take the edge off,

to making new friends,

to bringing home Burke to his perfect and meticulously painted nursery....

THIS HOUSE HOLDS A LOT OF MEMORIES.

4) It's location. We walk everywhere... to the park, to the grocery store, restaurants, shops... the beautiful duck pond. I'm going to really miss the convenience of our little bubble.

5) Little boy. This cat has even made it to my husband's Miss List (and he doesn't like cats, so that's saying a lot!) I'm dropping off a letter at his owners house this afternoon (I'm praying he wants to get rid of him so I don't have to kidnap him :) Just kidding...  but this sweet thing is sooo good with Burke. He has never once scratched or hissed... and I promise... if Burke accidentally steps on him or accidentally  hits him, he purrs. It's crazy.

And here are things we are excited about leaving...

1) The idea that the house may indeed collapse. :) j/k... but I did witness the headers be put in... just sayin'.

2) The business. We live on Lindbergh. Thank goodness we are up on a hill above it, but still... you can hear the traffic (we would rather hear crickets and frogs).

3) The lack of family near by.

4) The lack of old friends near by.

5) Georgia... our home is in Alabama... we can't help it. There is something about crossing the GA/AL state line that feels good...
I'm pretty sure this has something to do with going back to more of a small town living... living in the city has been so much fun, but we definitely want Burke to experience running barefoot in the grass catching lightening bugs... without the boundaries of our concrete jungle, having spend the night parties with his cousins and grandparents... and not having to drive four hours to do it.



But tonight we are going to enjoy one of the perks of living here... a good ole Braves game. Thank you  "Uncle Brent" for babysitting! :)

Sleeping in is amazing.

We moved our last load to GeGe's house on Saturday. My mom and dad came with their truck and trailer.... and a car seat in tow.

After my dad and Ryan packed two trucks and their trailers (no rentals here... who in AL doesn't have access to multiple trailers, trucks, and tractors?) we all loaded up and drove to Sylacauga where we made a pit stop at the farm to add a lot of junk from our shed to the "burn pile," check the deer cameras, view the work that has been done around the farm house, and take in all that nature had to offer (mule rides, turkey sightings, numerous mosquitoes, ants, one lizard, multiple spiders, and one snake.)

 I will say... I have been a bit "citified"... I caught myself wanting to stay inside the truck (It could have been because I walked out of the house with only flip flops on my feet! WHAT was I thinking? I know... I wasn't.) However, after an hour or so, the country in me caught right back up.

Then we headed to GeGe's house to unload the rest of the goods. (When I say we, I mean Dad and Ryan :) Mom, Burke, and I headed to grab us some lunch. Soon afterwards, mom and dad put the car seat they brought with them to use. The three of them headed to Cullman, leaving Ryan and I Burkeless until tomorrow. What a weird feeling it is!
This is the first time we have been so far apart for more than a day, and boy do I already miss him. Ryan and I catch ourselves mimicking him and laughing hysterically at the mannerisms and sounds of him that we have etched in our minds.

BUT...

I slept in until 7:30am this morning.

Without getting up once. Not even to pee. It was glorious!

A little grandparent time was good for him so that we could rejuvenate, finish house related details, and pack, pack, pack... and embarrassingly a lot of the day was spent watching an 80 ft. tree being taken down by a man and his chainsaw...Seriously... it's something you would pay money to see people... but it was in our neighbors yard, so we stared in awe as this man climbed an 80ft (or taller) pine tree with just a harness holding him to the tree and cutting off chunk by chunk and watching it plummet to the ground... while we ate lunch and clapped for him... an hour later we got back to work...packing, Ryan doing the last of the odd jobs around the house, and then we went out to dinner.

Can't wait to pick this little man up tomorrow!

My favorite part is the giddy laugh and where he tells himself "there ain't any way he's letting a drop of chocolate escape." :)

Lame new goals

So, we are finalizing things on the house, but our signing date is currently set for Sept. 12th, and we have to be completely out by Sept. 15th! They wanted a 60 day period instead of the traditional 30... which is perfectly fine with us! I personally love living in a finished house... except all this apartment hunting Burke and I recently did got me a tad excited about the idea of a freshly renovated apartment... that is almost as big as our house, plush carpet for this baby to roll around on,

(He basically throws himself on carpet when he gets around it... all we have is hardwoods here, and a not so soft rug in the living room)

amenities galore (free tennis lessons, free boot camp classes, awesome pool), 24/7 maintenance... you know... even if a light bulb goes out kind of maintenance. No "honey-do" list for Ryan... mind you he's not fulfilling a list of mine... that would be the buyers list :) When we got back the inspection, there were a lot of things (of course) the inspector found that "needed to be fixed." Ryan went through the list that our buyers highlighted and told them what he would do. All in all it will only cost us a little over $100 to do it ourselves. He worked on this all last Sunday, and will be finishing this weekend. (I'm sure he will be thankful for that 24/7 maintenance... at least for a few months until we start on a new house. lol)

So, since Ryan is busy with fulfilling the buyer's list, I have set a few goals of my own this August.

1) (This one not so lame.)

Keep enjoying summer with this cute kid.

Number one... I'm trying my best not to let the moving and packing get in the way of summer fun that is still to be had!

Now on to the lame...

2) Pack

Since we are packing and sending things to two different locations, it's kind of tricky. But currently I'm packing up anything that goes to Gege's house in Sylacauga, AL now... and I need to be working a bit quicker if we plan on getting out in a month. :) But when you are only allowed to complete this task during nap time and after baby boy goes to bed, it gets a bit hard... oh, and Pinterest sometimes gets in the way too.

3) Use it all!

In the offer that the buyers placed they wanted my fridge! :( Do they know how near and dear to me this fridge is. I love it. My sweet Coleman family and I sat hours in front of Sears on Black Friday to get this fridge. It holds memories... and a great price. All I have to say is that they better be ready to camp out again this year. :)

So, yes,  my goal is to use what I have in the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer before we move out! So Burke, if you have tator tots with a side of baked beans, don't hate me. :)

4) Make some DIY toddler projects I have pinned for Burke! (this may have to wait until we move into our apartment)

Like this!

Our magnet family

or 

figure out how I want to organize his toys once we get to GeGe's, where he'll have a playroom!

5) Do some Christmas shopping.

That's right... new nephew due, Stacy's getting married, Christmas, multiple family birthday's, and possibly another move for us ALL during the month of December. I'm pretty sure I have no choice but to shop early this year!

I had so much to say...

but now I am just ready to go to bed. But here's a recap of the last couple of days.

As of Sunday at 1:00pm we went under contract! Yes, fast I know! The housing market is apparently booming over here, which just adds to the reason why we are selling! Oh, and if you have a minute, take a look at the video Ryan, our realtor at Keller Williams, had a crew put together of our home. However, they shot it on Monday... after it was already under contract, but hey... it's cool. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9FuXzUJs9k&feature=youtu.be

Since our house was posted last Wednesday, we have had at least two viewings a day. Glad that only had to last for a short while! It's harder than it seems to keep a house clean with this precious face running around.

Speaking of his face.

He fell last night in the tub.... and chipped one of his front teeth! He was playing in the shower curtain and fell. :( He was crying solo hard, and I was checking over his whole body trying to figure out what he hit, but nothing was bleeding or bruising.... so I just assumed he hit his head really hard! Until the next morning when I was changing his diaper... he smiles...BIG. And I see it.

Look closely... top right (your right) front tooth.... chip.

I'm thinking it needs to be filed or something... it's pretty sharp and looks a bit funny. Thank goodness it's only a baby tooth. I'm not sure if it's because of his under bite or just his sweet smile, but you rarely see his top teeth when he gives you a big ole grin. God bless him... I'm already dreading the process of fixing his under bite, because the Lord knows how painful and LONG that process seemed to me in elementary school. I guess I can at least pick the brain of the pediatric dentist on that subject when he or she goes in to fix Chipper over here.

Back to the house.

So, we had an offer put in on Saturday. It was a GREAT offer! We counter offered. Then they counter offered!... and we were ready to sign! However, we had to other showings on Sunday. So we decided to push the signing until 1:30 that Sunday afternoon, just to see if the others were interested.

The first showing was at 9:00, so we left a note telling the realtor that we had an offer ready to sign by that afternoon, unless something else came in. We went off to church, and returned to find this:

We were pumped, called our realtor, who said that he had already heard from the potential buyer and they were writing it up right then!

Super intense stuff.... and so exciting! We left the same note for the second showing at 11:00, and went to Whole Foods for lunch. Which, I always forget runs you an arm and a leg. Our total, for just Ryan and I (Burke ate off our plates), was $28.27. Half of my plate was salad, and the rest was mediocre, while Ryan gets the bone-in chicken leg from the hot-bar (Ryan doesn't share the cheap trait, which is one of the reasons I love him) BUT remind me never to do that again... I'm too cheap. Plus, I'm thinking I paid for them to compost my plate and recycle my fork or something. (p.s. I'm pretty sure I saw my husband just chunk it all in the bin labeled "trash" out of confusion.)

Anyway, so we headed back home, with no note, no offer. About that time Ryan, our realtor's name as well, called us back with almost the exact same offer from the 2nd potential buyer except they wanted a few extra things (a.k.a. costs for us). So obviously, we went with the first! We e-signed at 12:30 to make it official!

So now we are in this due-diligence stage. (15 days where the buyer can get out with no penalty) Meanwhile, the inspection, appraisal, and negotiating will be done. Super nerve racking time period for sure, but we are blessed to be at this stage! Since the inspection happened today, and we had to be out of the house for at least 3.5 hours, Burke and I went apartment hunting.

And when I say hunting... we saw 10 places today. We left at 8:30 and returned at 1:30. Burke was beyond great, and I may have envied him today when got to sleep in the car.

Now I'm off to bed. The three of us are going to my old classroom at 6:30am to clean out all my things before school starts next week. Who am I kidding, he will be watching Thomas and trying to contain his dance moves.

But as you could possibly guess, he only likes the song... and the intro. theme song is really short, so you have to fast forward it to 27:07 during a recorded episode... it's the LONG version (which is stuck on repeat in my head 24/7) and it will buy you approximately two minutes of time. Oh the things I am learning as a mom. :)

Wish us luck in the moving department tomorrow morning!

FOR SALE!

So after a BIG weekend makeover, our house is ready for the housing market!

We can't thank Ryan's family enough for bringing the plants and shrubbery, and ... to quote my neighbor... "the hardest work ethic I've ever seen."  :)

You can't tell in the picture above, but the ivy that runs down our driveway was cut back... and it's as if we have another lane open for traffic over here. You can also see the added plants in front of the house, and slightly see the monkey grass lining the house/driveway.

Sparky clean kitchen (my favorite part of the house)

Living Room

View from the patio doors

Master bedroom

Attached bath

Bedroom 2 (How am I going to part with these perfectly straight stripes???)

2nd bath! Yes... it's finished! Ryan completed it in TWO days.... complete with 33 trips to Home Depot. He doesn't like lists. :)

Finished deck... actually the painters have to come back out because parts are peeling! I think it was all the rain we got while they were trying to complete the job.

What? Didn't know that existed? Well, neither did I! This spot was the place all our debris was laid to rest until it was time to go to the dump on Saturday. We decided against finishing out the patterned rock work, and instead used some of the shrubbery that was left to make a nice little green space. If we were going to be here longer, we would have totally taken it all out and used it for a raised garden area. It would be perfect.

Looky there... this makes me happy... and thankful that we have really hard working family with a green thumb! 

Weed-eated (that can't be a word... but you know what I mean) "backyard," with some pine straw to help out in the bare areas.

Our "concrete jungle" will be up on Zillow, MLS... etc. tomorrow! But for now, the lockbox on the front door and the FOR SALE sign at the bottom of our driveway make it oh, so real.

So now... you can find me sitting on our deck sipping sweet tea during Burke's nap time while  enjoying the manicured exterior, watering plants, or trying to keep our house freakishly clean (insert Burke's evil laughter)... while Ryan plays the newest football Playstation game (he's actually 10 in a 30 year old's body), utilizing our 2nd bathroom, or studying for an A.R.E. :) ... this is all until our house goes under contract... and then I'm sure I will be franticly packing, changing mailing addresses (I slightly hate doing the later), and OH!... a biggy... finding a place to live for a short time so we can eventually move closer to our families. 

Praying that God leads our way!

We finally have a paint color

and I don't even remember it's name! 

 I really doesn't matter. 

Would you like to know why? 

It's because it's not peeling from the house. :)

Many of our friends and family know that we have been working hard on the inside of this house for two years. Many a day, I dreamed of the outside matching the inside. And for what seemed like a running joke, it finally was painted last week!

Here is the before:

Our three colored house... Sage green, primer white, and peeling paint... nice choice, don't ya think?Let's look at that siding a bit closer.

Ewwwwww.

Ryan finished building the front porch a couple of weeks ago. He's oh so talented.

Note, the garage in the background... see the white spot? That's where we took down an old basketball goal, only to find someone painted AROUND it when they decided to go green (literally). 

And here's our house after THE BIG SCRAPE & PAINT! We hired J. Stevens Paint Company. Great job and great price, and super nice people.

Can you see the garage in the background? No white basketball goal outline! :D

I just love how the front porch turned out. Add a few ferns, the AU place mat, and we're set. :)

The finished deck:

Next on the to do list...

the 2nd bathroom and landscaping.

Almost to the finish line!