I'm Not A Slacker...

I know, I know. I haven't blogged in almost 2 weeks...but lots of exciting stuff has been going on lately! Let me fill you in...

Remember that house in Fort Mill that Aaron and I went to look at on December 21st (read House Hunting Day #1)? We made an offer on it on December 28th, received a counter-offer from the sellers on January 2nd, and we signed the contract that night at 10:30 pm! We absolutely LOVE the house and can see ourselves growing there in the upcoming years.

I've been wanting to share the exciting news with everyone I talk to, but my better judgment led me to believe it would be best to lay low until most of the major details had been worked out (house inspection, termite inspection, final paperwork with our lender, etc.). Closing day is on January 24th (10 days away!) and Eric says all that's left is to show up at the attorney's office (and sign our lives away, evidently). I won't believe the house is ours until we're standing in it on the 24th, keys in hand.

The house has everything we wanted:

Aaron's list of must-haves

• a 2-car garage
• a fenced-in backyard (to house the future German Shepard puppy he's wanted for his entire life)
• at least 2,000 square feet (well, almost)

My list of must-haves

• a spacious master bathroom with TWO SINKS, a garden tub, and a walk-in closet
• a big, open kitchen (that's where I spend a lot of my free time!)
• at least 3 bedrooms

I addition to our must-have list, the house comes with some excellent bonuses:

• a HUGE bonus room that Aaron has declared "Man Land" (except for the closet...I'm turning that into a really cute work area for myself where I can scrapbook, organize, work on photos, etc...which is another post entirely...)
• a huge storage shed in the back yard that matches the house
  
• a crawl space and an attic to store stuff
• lots of closet space!
• a small back deck and front porch

I don't think we could have asked for much more in a house. The location is awesome, the space is great, and it's a place we can see ourselves starting a family in the next few years :) Thanks to Eric and Larry for making the house-hunting process so easy and stress free. You guys rock!

Recently, my thoughts and time have been consumed by picking out paint colors for the rooms in our new home. Every wall is still the original white that the house was built with...so besides patching up some minor dings and nail holes left by the previous owners (which Aaron assures me is an "easy fix"), we have a clean palette to work with. I have a pretty good idea of what I want I want the colors to be in each room, but the hard part is picking out which tone of the color I want to put on the walls. Should I go with the lighter shade or the darker shade? What if the color I choose (and buy 2 gallons of) looks ridiculous and we have to repaint the entire room (and waste all that time, money, and paint)? Do I really want to go with brighter colors in the bedrooms or should I stick to neutrals? If I go with a neutral color, which one should I choose? There are millions of shades of neutral! My dreams at night have even been consumed with the thought of choosing paint colors. Silly, I know. Aaron is great at picking out color schemes...but he doesn't have any interest in discussing paint until we can go to the house again with Eric this week and actually see what we'll be painting. He's the logical one...and I'm the planner. Maybe it's time to enlist some help with this painting issue...

Here's a quick list of other stuff that has happened since I blogged last:

• Aaron hit a deer with his 4Runner on Saturday night. His truck is more injured than the deer was (I'll post pictures later...of the 4Runner, not the deer). He's now driving a Ford truck until his 4Runner is fixed. Praise the Lord for excellent insurance!
  
• Aaron's friend Robert came to work last week with some crazy virus and spread it to almost the entire Sunbelt help desk, including my husband. I had the day off on Friday...but instead of taking care of my usual 2 babies (Sam and Toby!), I took care of my big baby at home. Aaron hardly ever gets sick...but when he does, he's really pitiful. He had a 102 degree fever for 2 days...and somehow I escaped the wrath of whatever he had (which is an absolute miracle since I usually catch anything and everything going around).
• I spent half of my day off on Friday at the tax collector's office (to pay the taxes on my Ford Escape), the Rock Hill DMV (to transfer the title on the Escape from my parents to Aaron and me, get a new registration, turn in my old license plate, and get a new one), the Ford dealership (to get an oil change and a check-up for the Escape) and the vet's office (to get Hobbes' rabies shot). The entire morning was an absolute nightmare. I'll post all the details later. Maybe. If I can think about it for more than 5 minutes without becoming infuriated or nauseous. I'll just say that being an "official grown-up" (i.e. being out from under the shelter of my parents' wings) stinks sometimes...and I hate how people just assume I know how to do everything. Just because I'm married doesn't mean I'm a genius. And being 22 doesn't make me a genius, either. Grrrr!

Okay. That's all for now. How's that for 12 days of not blogging? I hope it didn't take you 12 days to read this post.