Thursday, March 18, 2010

If I sold my car, I could get....

If I sold my car I could get:

The couch of my dreams!
Its $4000. So come to think of it, I couldn't get this couch. My car is only worth $3000. Dangit.

Restoration Hardware - Lancaster Collection


But I could buy this couch! Which is almost as awesome. It is exactly $3000. Think E will go for it?



Z Gallerie

(Mom, if you're reading this. Take deep breaths. I'm not really going to sell my car for an overpriced sofa. :)

Thursday, March 11, 2010

She's A....Half Bricked...House

***Multiple Posts (2)****

Remember when I said we'd signed a contract on a home to be built? (Bethany Happy) Well that was the plan, until the neighbor next door to it wanted to buy our lot. The builder, seeing an opportunity to sell 2 lots at once accepted the neighbors offer and called us and asked us to take a different lot. (Bethany Angry) The builder also offered $2000 or an upgrade because we had to choose a different lot (Bethany still angry but seeing opportunity).

While deciding if we wanted to keep our original lot or move and take the upgrades, we remembered a spec house we had been in that was more expensive but had a floor plan we really loved. Even though it was significantly higher priced, it had been on the market since September and was costing the builder money every month. We decided to counter offer the builder: give us the spec house for the same price as our original contract or we keep the original lot. (Bethany Anxious). Well guess what?? After a little negotiating and small changes to the agreement, the builder accepted our offer. (Bethany Happy Again!)

We have certainly been blessed during this process. We knew it would be difficult to live with people for so long but thankfully Rick, Kelly, and Owen have been so awesome and generous. We really appreciate them. Allowing us to live with them so affordably has allowed us to save a great deal of money to put towards this house. We were expecting and excited purchasing a very small, old, fixer-upper. But, God, knowing that we are both too busy and worn out to do all the work neccessary for a fixer upper, put this deal right in our lap. And its amazing, a house we could have never purchased within our financial guidelines for ourselves if the Lord hadn't been apart of it.

Pro's of this Deal compared to other house
  • House is slightly bigger
  • Way better - open - floor plan
  • More kitchen cabinets
  • Jack and Jill bathroom upstairs
  • Seperated sinks in bathroom
  • Bigger closets
  • More storage space
  • Beautiful gunstock hardwoods already installed
  • Huge center island in kitchen
  • Has a big laundry room
  • Enough space for a baby grand or grand piano
  • More expensive house for the same amount of money
  • Its built! So we move in late April instead of early July!
Con's of this Deal
  • Half brick and half siding (the other was 3 sides brick)
  • Countertops aren't granite (not really a con though because we got some granite from a friend and will install it ourselves.)
  • Carpeted areas have the cheap carpet that is your typical new home carpet (will have to be replaced fairly soon)
  • Laundry room is upstairs
Here she is!! Of course, even though its a brand new house, Erin and I already have 3 projects we're doing prior to move in :)


Front Living Room: Love the windows!!


Kitchen and Living Room

Kitchen and Dining Area

Master

Master Bath

Master Bath with separate tub.

Wine, Cheese, and Grandparents

Like wine and cheese, grandparents just get better with age. We had the best time with my grandparents this past weekend. My sweet grandpa has just been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and so Erin and I trekked out to Oklahoma City for a quick weekend visit.

One of the things we enjoyed doing was looking at all the scrapbooks we had dating back to the 1800's!! I brought several books back with me to use some family photos for artwork in our new house. My scanner went kaput so I can only show you one picture.Can you tell which is my mom? From left, Mom(Diane), Grandma, Huck, Grandpa, Susan, Cathy, Great Grandma VanScyoc (I think). Wasn't Grandma pretty?!


Here are just a few things I love about my grandparents:
  • Grandpa and Grandma are still in love. They still adore each other, kiss each other good morning and goodnight, and are attentive to each others needs. Its so sweet and gives me hope that we can beat the divorce statistics.
  • There isn't a single divorce in that family...pretty cool statistic.
  • Grandpa is the original Dave Ramsey, seriously. He and Erin talked about the right way to do real estate all weekend. :)
  • Grandma, even with her Alzheimer's/dementia, still has such a great sense of humor and personality.
  • They are faithful to the Lord and put their faith into practice.
  • They both have a sweet tooth - that's where I got it from :)
  • Their main concern in death is each other and their children, not themselves.
  • They love music and dancing. (As evidenced by how much they LOVE the Lawrence Welk show)

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Beautiful Blogger Award

Amber over at Dixon Dialogue was sweet enough to give me a beautiful blogger award. Check out her blog...she's got tons of pics of her adorable son, book reviews, interesting topics, and more. Thanks for the award!! Tomorrow I'll be posting about my wonderful trip to see my grandparents and also about the big news on our house. But for now.....

Here’s how it works:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the award and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Share 7 interesting things about yourself.
5. Nominate 7 bloggers.
7 Things About Me:
1. I like vegetables WAY BETTER than fruit.
2. Sharing a bed with a girl weirds me out. I would rather sleep on the floor (I think its cause I have 3 brothers and just never did that growing up.)
3. My ideal day starts at 5:30 and ends around 9:30 or 10:00.
4. I imagine myself as a mother to all boys.
5. I'm one of the only people I know that would actually prefer for my parents AND in-laws to live here in town.
6. I would give my left and right toe to be a heart surgeon.
7. I'm very passionate about political issues and small government but more importantly, I'm passionate about Jesus Christ.
Bloggers I Nominate:
1. Lindsay at Lindsay Loves It All
2. Reba at The Schenks
4. Michelle at Michelle Myers Writes
5. Stephanie at Truth In My Pocket
6. Carmen at Keepin Up Klapper
7. Brooke at Being A Mom Is