....In the Middle of the Street

Finding out that you are actually finally approved to buy a house is like Christmas morning.

But before that, you have to go through a lot of work. 

We searched for 6 months, with multiple offers, multiple fall-throughs, and a lot of disappointment. The first time we saw this house, though, we got a very good feeling about the home and the neighborhood. So we decided to offer on yet another house, hoping that this would be the one. 

We put in our paperwork...and found out our offer had been accepted! We were a excited, but since we'd had offers go through before we tried not to get too attached. 

I mean, seriously you guys, you have no idea how many random, "this never happens" situations we went through. 

But things continued to go well with this house. It was a newer house, had been redone with new carpet, new paint, and brand-spankin-new appliances, and it had a front porch. As more paperwork was pushed through, it came to the point where we were only waiting on the rural housing committee to approve our loan before everything was finalized. And that took 28 business days, to be exact.

Which is the equivalent of forrrrrrrrrever.

I believe we waited 29 business days before finally finding out.....we were approved! 

Which was a small miracle. 

Remember that one time the government shut down? Well rural housing is a government committee....which means it also shut down. And magically, miraculously, our approval was stamped and signed literally the MORNING BEFORE the shutdown. 

Skin of our teeth, right there. 

And I can tell you now, that I firmly believe this is the place we are meant to be. Because we were blatantly stopped too many other times, and this house came with too many small miracles to believe otherwise. 

First order of business? Painting the door of course.

I. LOVE. IT.

And I love our house.

Our great, big, beautiful house.

Still Adjusting

I love Christmas. Like, looooove Christmas. 

In past years, I've dragged Chris with me to all sorts of Christmas-y things: the Festival of Trees, the Tree Jubilee, Temple Square to see the lights, ANY park to see the lights, sleigh rides, walking down Main Street in Cedar with cups of hot chocolate....

I'll take almost anything, people. 

But this year, with Chris working every night and me working most of them, I've realized we won't get the chance to do the Christmas things I love so much. 

And it will be a big adjustment for me. 

I miss a lot of things from our life in Cedar. 

I miss our giant Thanksgiving parties.

I miss seeing people I know around town.

I miss the cute cafe's that are open late.

I miss being able to get a freakin' scone. {SERIOUSLY. What kind of city doesn't have a good scone place??}

I miss the random late-night hangouts with friends.

 I miss friends, period.

I miss going through the drive-thru on Taco Tuesday with ten people shoved into the car. 

I miss the un-plowed roads in the winter, the cops who have nothing better to do than bust up our bonfires, and I even miss ducking my head to avoid my professors in the grocery store {because what can we possibly have to say to one another, anyway?}. 

But I suppose this move has given us a few things, too. 

I like being close to family. A 45-minute drive is immensely better than a 4-hour one. 

I like not having a bunch of single, loud, pretending-they're-not-smoking guys living above us.

I like learning to explore by myself. 

I like developing closer relationships with the few people we do know here. 

I like not having I'm-falling-off-the-edge-of-the-world gutters on every street.

And just as of a couple weeks ago, I like having my first-ever calling that does NOT involve playing the piano {i've literally only had piano-involved callings for the last TWELVE. YEARS.}.

So I guess I'm not really complaining, but I'm not really celebrating, either. This move has been full of lots of ups and downs, and I suppose I'm just going to have to learn to live with it. 

Because hey, c'est la vie.

{those four semesters of french weren't entirely wasted.}

Listed

INJURIES ACQUIRED TO DATE IN THE MOVE:

Giant bruise on right thigh.

Multiple small bruises on both knees.

Two bruised toes due to being squished by a piano.

Gash down the side of left big toe from the sharp corner of a mirror.

Stabbed thumb from the sharp teeth meant to cut packing tape.

Random bruise on left bicep.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS MADE TO DATE IN THE MOVE:

Living room, kitchen, and craft corner all arranged to my liking.

Computer desk painted blue. {i love it}

One bookshelf painted white. One more to go.

New fan installed. {definitely not by me though}

Orange cat lured out from under the bed for two consecutive days.

New job started.

REALIZATIONS MADE TO DATE IN THE MOVE:

We have a lot of crap. 

We are addicted to buying fish. Before we hit the grocery store, we stop by the pet store to oogle.

Living closer to family means family gets to prevail on you to do odd jobs around the house/yard.

The Walmart here is a much scarier place than the one in Cedar. {what do so many people have to talk to themselves about?}

And lastly, despite a hugemongous DI pile, we still have a lot of crap. 

Neglected

Dear Poor Neglected Blog:

I am only a little bit sorry for ignoring you. I have had a lot on my plate the past couple weeks.

1. WE MOVED.

Do you have any idea how much crap stuff accumulates while you've been living in the same place for over 2 years?

I have to sit down just thinking about it.

It only took us weekly truckloads packed to the sky, a U-Haul, an Expedition, and all the extra space in my Buick to get it all up here. No biggie.

2. WE MOVED IN.

Yes, that is a separate bullet point, because it is just as much work as actually moving. 

But believe it or not, after only 2 days, I have my kitchen put away!

There are probably a few unlabeled boxes floating around somewhere, but still.

Did you notice the dishwasher???!

Oh. Heaven.

What was I talking about? Ah yes. Neglect-ence. 

So sorry about that.

But honestly, the real victims of neglect here are my eyebrows. So stop complaining.

P.S. We now live within acceptable friend distance of two people whom we love very much.

{yesssssssssssss!}

I didn't even take a picture when they came over to help because there's no way a photo could contain all my excitement.