I know that a large majority of Americans take home ownership for granted. But for Tammy and I, the reality is still sinking in. We’ve been married just over 10 years. I’ve been living away from my parents for over 15 years (not counting 2002… *shudder*). In all that time, we’ve lived in apartments or rented houses, never anything we could consider “ours.”

The notion that, if I really wanted to, I could paint eight-foot-tall daisies on the walls and knock some walls out to make room for a colossal slot car track and no one could stop me or kick me out for violating a lease agreement… it boggles the mind.

Then there’s flip-side: The notion that if something breaks, if the water heater explodes, if the roof falls in, it’s up to me to fix it, or pay for it to be fixed… That’s down right horrifying.

To be honest, even though I’m 35-years-old (and a half), I don’t feel like I’m really grown up enough to own my own home. The whole process of house hunting, financing, and closing went smoothly, and I understood most of it, but at the same time, it was all kind of surreal. It’s hard to put it to words, but this comic from xkcd hit the nail squarely on the head.

That’s exactly how I feel.

Life is slowing regaining normalcy in our home. Last night we were finally both home right after work, with food in the frig, and a working kitchen in which to cook it.

In reference to my previous post about the mixer, Tammy used her mom’s recipe for from-scratch, mashed potatoes and improved on it! The mixer worked wonderfully. She prepared an excellent meal. You go girl!

She finally got it.

Tammy promised me years ago that when we bought a house, she’d learn to cook. (Not that she can’t cook now, it’s just… well… not worth explaining really.)

When we started serious house shopping about six months ago, she got all bedazzled by the latest kitchen envy item, a Kitchen Aid mixer. They’re everywhere! Walmart, Lowes, Kohls, everywhere! And everywhere we went, she would ooh and ahh and tell me that if she only had one of those, she could cook all kinds of great stuff in our new kitchen. When I asked for something more specific than “stuff”, I seldom got a satisfactory answer, but who needs specifics?

Two weeks ago, we finally got our new kitchen. So far, I’ve used the microwave once, and the stove and oven have yet to be turned on. This is nothing against Tammy, though. We are just honestly way too busy. We finally hit the grocery story yesterday (after nearly a month) just to buy the essentials.

This weekend, I gave Tammy her heart’s desire. We brought home a mixer. It’s black, to match our shiny new frig. (I refuse to spell it “fridge” because it’s not a “refridgerator” it’s a refrigerator!) I’ll try to remember to report back to you how this culinary magic machine effects our dining choices.

This brings us to this week’s white board quip, which concerns cake (something the mixer could actually help):

You can’t have cake for breakfast… unless it’s a pancake.
– Jim Gaffigan

What an amazing week! Last Monday we closed on our first house. (Thank you, taxpayers, for your $8000 donation to our savings account.) While the house is beautiful and in relatively good shape, it was not “move in ready.” Monday through Friday nights I was there until midnight or later cleaning and doing minor repairs. I went to Lowes at least once a day.

Friday was the big day for me. Work From Home Friday was spent at the house. Internet set up and cable installed (with all new cat-5 wiring) courtesy of AT&T U-Verse. I was able to check work email by lunch time. Blackmon Mooring was on hand to clean the air ducts and carpets. (The previous owners were clean people, but their black lab left persistent black hairs everywhere.) And Lowes delivered our new, french-door, black refrigerator.

Saturday was the big move. With great help from good friends, we got everything out of the apartment by about 4PM. Then Tammy and I spent the evening unpacking. We got the master bedroom, master bath, and kitchen operational before we crashed into bed. It was our first night in the new place, which is always awkward, but we were so tired, we slept through all the new noises.

Sunday, after church, we did a marathon session in the apartment, cleaning every nook and cranny, then touching up the paint. By 9PM Sunday night, we were ready to never see that apartment again.

There’s still so much to do, but at least we are living in our new home!!

I have to give “props” to all the friends who pitched in. Without you guys, we could not have done this. Brenda and Brittany Olson and Kiersten Harkins helped us clean the new house. Vaughn Hardman mowed our yard. Caleb Barlow, Russ and Carole Peddy, and their boys Jordan and Aaron helped us move.

P.S. The garage is still a mess. Last night, while trying to organize it, I pulled a muscle in my lower back. I’m still trying to figure out how to stretch it and what sitting position hurts the least. If you see me walking funny or grimacing for no aparent reason, you’ll know why.

New York anniversary trip pictures uploaded to Flickr, not all tagged and described yet.

Youth “80’s Tacky Prom” pictures uploaded to Flickr.

Middle school mission trip pictures off loaded from camera. Video not so much.

Last rent paid on apartment. Carpet cleaner and move-out inspection scheduled for next week.

House closed! (w00t!) Less than half cleaned. Lot’s of little repair jobs to do yet. Half of boxes moved. Carpet cleaner, air duct cleaner, cable/internet guy, and refrigerator delivery all scheduled for Friday morning. (Ack!)

Major project at work at least two weeks behind with delivery date in less than a month. (Double ack!)

Surfing, blogging, TV, sleeping, and weight watchers all significantly curtailed or cancelled completely.

Folllow Twitter to keep up with this crazy life.

Now, what the heck am I going to have for breakfast with an empty cupboard? (Feeling a bit like Old Mother Hubbard.)

Don’t ya just hate getting behind the guy that’s driving five under the speed limit in the fast lane? Don’t ya just hate getting behind the lady who doesn’t understand you can take more than one lettuce leaf at a time from the salad bar? Don’t ya just hate when someone gives you weeks of teasers about some big trip they’re going on and then even more teasers about the great pictures they took, but the never post the story OR the pics?!

Me too.

Unfortunately, I’ve got a major project going at work and I’m in serious crunch mode. I’ve been pulling 12-16 hour days all this week and will probably will for the next few weeks. It’s that time again when the only time I see my wife is when she’s already asleep in bed.

The two weeks before I was working ’til midnight, I was rushing home to take care of this or that little issue, filling out this or that form or contract, in order to get our home purchase rolling. (By the way, all the paper work has gone to finance and title. From now until August, no news is good news.)

So, this is yet another sorry excuse for not getting something posted. Our New York trip was amazing and the pictures really are great. I’ve uploaded more than half of them to Flickr, but the rest are still on my home PC just waiting for me to get them online. I’ll do my best to squeeze that in some night. Then I can type up the trip report during my lunch hour or something.

Deal? Ok.

Ok, so if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you must know that we have been house shopping. And you know that we made an offer on a house yesterday. I’m sure you are on the edge of your seat waiting to hear what happened.

Frankly, so am I.

We toured about a half dozen houses last Friday night. Then about two dozen on Saturday. It was fun, but at the same time, it was a beating. By Saturday night we were exhausted. I had taken pictures of every house, inside and out, because I knew they would all run together in out minds. I ended up with over 100 pictures.

The market around here has been crazy. There are a ton of homes for sale, but the good ones, the real deals, are only on the market for a few days. We had several on our list to see that were contracted before we got to them. So we felt some urgency on picking one to make an offer. We finally decided and started the paper work.

Then I realized, there was a lot about our choice that I didn’t remember, so I asked for another tour. Monday, around lunch time, I met our realtor and went over the house with a fine-tooth comb. There are some little issues, but nothing we can’t deal with. So, I submitted the offer.

I asked our realtor when we should expect to hear back. She said she had talked to the selling realtor Sunday night and Monday morning. He asked her to send over our offer as soon as possible. He would be waiting for her email. Now, to an average human being, like you or me, that means the sellers were eager to get the offer and we should expect a prompt reply, right?

At 5:30 (PM!!), I left a message for my realtor. I apologized for bugging her, but we’re property virgins and overwhelmingly anxious. She called us back about an hour later. (She had been with a client.) As soon as she listened to our message, she had called the selling realtor. (He was also with a client.) Finally, he emailed her with this… (This is his entire email.)

Seller is on a cruise ship you most likely will not hear from them for 3-4
days.

GAAAHHH!!!!

Stay tuned for further updates as they develop… eventually.

We’re back from New York. I’ve spent hours and hours culling and reorienting our nearly 400 pictures from the trip (and I haven’t even started any PhotoShop cleanup). I will do my best to get a full report posted this week.

Suffice to say it was a fun trip, but I’m glad to be back in Texas.

Tammy’s in bed. I’m going over my packing list one last time. We leave at butt-ugly early in the morning for our super-secret, extra-awesome, 10th anniversary trip.

Keep an eye on our twitters (trint99 and tkladd) or on Facebook for updates on where we’re going and the goings on while we’re there.

I can honestly say I do *not* look forward to filling you in the details on Monday (because that will mean we’re back home from this all-to-short vacation).

It seemed too good to be true, and it was. Our offer was rejected. They made a counter offer that was only a smidge less than the asking price and still thousands of dollars beyond our budget. Oh well.

Funny thing is we are pre-approval with our lender for three times that asking price.  They would loan us half a million dollars for a house at the lowest available rate. Of course that would make our payments orders of magnitude over our budget. We would be completely broke and defaulting in a month.

No wonder the mortgage industry is in shambles.