Gotta love the dog

So in our beautiful home, we have laminate hardwoods in the living room, and linoleum in the kitchen/dining room (and an open floor plan).

So I bought a swiffer and I swiffer every day. Well...almost every day. But I try, everyday, to clean the floor.

I also sweep with a traditional broom and mop the floors on Wednesdays. Today is Thursday. So that picture below? Todays swiffer cloth. And, yes, I did mop yesterday. That's one day of the dog spending time in just 2 rooms. It's the sight that greets me everyday when I swiffer.

Lots of hair, lots of grime. But we love him still. We would be lost without him.

We have a table!

Ok, so I know I promised a blog update that never came, and I am sorry. Maybe I will make it my goal to put a mini house update up each day? Maybe. But here's my first attempt:

For the first time in my life, I OWN a table. And no, not D's table that I now claim, but my very own table. (besides, we have been eating off of TV trays for the last 2.5 years.)

Not only do we have a table, but we have a handcrafted to my specifications table!

D's dad made us the table totally by hand, and it is gorgeous! It was delivered to us last night, and i am stoked to get to eat on it today! Here's a picture of it, with our beautiful yellow walls! (I promise, they aren't really that bright. More on the painting later)

Anyone else having a great time with spring home improvement projects?

Promises

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to let y'all know, I haven't forgotten about blogging! It's been pretty crazy here lately. Expect updates on volleyball, the house, and grad school soon!

Spring Break!

So this is going to be an interesting spring break. My first day off, D & I had our home inspection. His dad came to help, and I more or less wandered around deciding what definitely needed to be painted or added before we move in.

The inspector passed everything, with only our deck getting a bad report. (He didn't fail it, but we definitely wont be having any parties on it.) It was also super weird because the owners were there, having a yard sale. They were SUPER nice though, and spent some time telling me about all the flowers in the flower bed. They also agreed that, so long as all the paper work & reports come back fine, they will let us come in a few days early & paint!

I left our inspection early because I was headed out to DC for our volleyball tournament. We are warming up now, for Playoffs. We had a disappointing day yesterday, with a match that we went down 13-3 ending at something around 25-21. At the beginning of the season, we asked the girls for an inspirational quote. One put "We didn't lose, we just ran out of time." Never have I seen a match that phrase fits more. Losing that match took us out of contention for winning the tournament. Instead of competing today for 1st - 12th place, we are competing for 13th - 15th.

The rest of break, I need to catch up on all my grading, finish up my grad school classes, and pack my apartment up. Then, on Friday, I am going to head home, for our next tournament, a 2 day in Richmond. It sure should be exciting!

I leave you with a picture I took from inside the hotel where we are playing our tournament. The water you see through the glass is the Potomac River. It's a beautiful place.

We Got a House!!!!!

I am SOOOOOOO excited!!!

So yesterday, while eating at the CNN center (which is awesome in itself), D sent me a message that there were papers we needed to sign that if we didn't send back in the afternoon, the owners wouldn't even look at the offer.

The email from our realtor asked if I could get access to a printer, and a scanner to print, sign, and email back some documents. My first reaction "Obviously not, I am coaching a team in a facility with 1150 teams and 160 courts. Where will I find a printer?"

Lucky for me, some of our team is staying right beside our playing facility. So, a parent took me to their business center, and after about 1 hr of waiting, the paperwork came through. I signed it, sent it back, and was told that we would hear back tomorrow. I then turned off my phone, because I was on like 20% battery and we hadn't started our pool yet.

We played an awesome set of matches, including an 8:30 PM match that we took to 3 sets, losing 15-13. It was one of the best matches we have played all season. I then turned my phone back on, and got a text from D:

"We own a house"

I screamed "Oh My Gosh!!!!!" inside the facility. People stared. It was great!

So today, after we finish our matches, I then have to get somewhere to print, sign, and send back more paperwork. It's awesome!

Our crazy life strikes again

So once in a whole I am reminded that life is never predictable. Today was one of those days.

This morning, I packed up my car for a day at work and a 3 day tournament in Atlanta. The plan: our realtor was going to meet me at work during lunch to sign paperwork for the offer we wanted to put in on a house, which he would then take to D in the afternoon. About an hour before lunch, I got an email from our realtor confirming said plan. When I confirmed with him my lunchtime, he let me know he and D were talking and they would update me later. GREAT.

New plan: D would sign papers today; I would sign them when I got back into town on Monday. (The offer would go in with just his name it first.) It was not a problem, and everything was once again ready to go for our Atlanta tournament.

So I planned on meeting my fellow coaches at 4 & heading to Atlanta. I was about 5 minutes from work when D called with plan #3.  Yes, THREE. There is an open house on the house we want to bury scheduled for Saturday (booooooo) and our offer must have both signatures in order for it to be valid. If not, they could accept another person's offer while I am in Atlanta!  That definitely was not an option.

Result: I met the coaches at park & ride 1. We drove to park & ride 2, where D & the realtor were waiting for us. I signed all the paperwork while it was blank & left, using the hood of our realtor's car as a table.  It was probably the sketchiest and most informal paper signing ever.  D and the realtor went somewhere else & completed the offer.  I got a text message from him somewhere around the NC line about how much we offered.

New plan: wait to hear back from the owners, while currently staying 4 states away.  Good news: we should hear back sometime tomorrow!

Like I said, life is never predictable, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Friday Update:  No offer yet, but here's a pick of the house!

Mid-March Update

Dear Blog-readers (whoever you may be),

I apologize for the length between postings. I would love to tell you that it's because of how amazing and exciting my life has been, but it's more attributed to my lack of remembering I post. So here's a quick update:

1. The Wedding
We have decided to go on a cruise & get married on a gorgeous island while there. My parents & his parents are the only guests. We booked our rooms this week and I am in talks with the wedding people now. Now I just need to get that wedding dress altered! Our passports came in this week, so I feel very official now.

2. The House
That beautiful house We put an offer on was not meant for us. 4 offers came in and they accepted someone else's. That's ok though, we are working with a realtor friend of D's family and are hoping to find something just as wonderful for me to post about soon.

3. Grad School
My Masters program continues to be super non challenging, but time consuming. I think the point I am at right now, the issue is simply I already know what we are being taught. That's really not all that big of a deal. Hopefully it remains on the easy side!

4. Volleyball
Wow, since my last update we have done some fairly awesome things. This includes winning a day tournament and coming in 5th of 90 teams in a dividing that combines our age group with the group ahead of us! We were pumped. Today we have another day tournament to play, and our goal is to go undefeated. I'll let you know how that turns out!

5. Job Search
Is currently just in the search and apply phase. This includes applications to coach, teach, ITRT, and completely non education positions. So far: 1 interview completed with no information, 1 interview scheduled for next month, and no word back yet from the others.

6. My Weekend
I had the opportunity to spend the weekend with my beautiful nephews and niece. I love them dearly. Here's a pic of them all on the slide with my mom! It's tough to see, but with 3us see 5 noone is ever still.

Happy Weekend Everyone!!!!