then i wanted to be a teacher, what better way to spend my day than educating others…followed by a lawyer – i loved to argue…and win.  a novelist, a journalist, a writer – i am passionate about writing…

all these things had something in common…or so i thought.  i wanted to make my own schedules, do my own work and not sit in a cubicle all day.  teachers had summers off and they got done early in the day.  veterinarians owned their own practice and were their own boss.  novelists and writers worked when they had something to write about and journalists – they chased whatever news stories most interested them.  {keep in mind, i was a young}

you see, my mom worked in Corporate America.  she worked until 9, 10 or so at night, she worked most weekends and she hated it.  this was when i was young – elementary school, some in middle school.  i remember thinking how miserable her job must be because she worked so much and she worked in a small office and it just didn’t bring joy to her.

on the other hand, my two dads worked for themselves.  they both ran {successful – i assumed} heating and air conditioning companies.  they set their own schedules {for the most part} and they seemed to like what they did.  they worked on the weekends {by choice}.

in elementary school, one of the most influential experiences of my childhood was having papa home every day after school and having neighborhood kids over to play street hockey, basketball or soccer.  papa would play with us and all the kids {i assume} loved to come over and hang out with papa.

this was definitely  a better outlook on work than what my mom experienced in Corporate America.  i wanted this freedom, this choice in how my day would go and when i would be home.

fast forward a few years…since early life i just assumed i would run my own company.  i didn’t know what i would do or how i would do it, but i would do it.

fast forward a few more year…i’ve started to realize you can’t have EVERYTHING you want, i don’t know why yet, but you can’t.  🙂

so, i had decided if you can’t own your own business right out of high school or college, then there were a few things i wanted in the ideal job:

• corner office with a view {i wanted to be high above the street and be able to look out at what was going on below}
• a big title that meant a lot and meant i was important to the company
• a job where i didn’t have to punch a time clock or ask permission to use the restroom, go on lunch break or be worried about someone tracking every second of my time at work
• the freedom to spend time with family when i wanted and how i wanted
• a facility with a generous kitchen or break room area where i could prepare fresh meals if i so pleased
• a position in the company that mattered – i didn’t want to be just another number, i wanted to know that the work i did made a difference in how well the company fared
• time off without having to worry about counting the amount of days i had already taken or would need to take in the coming months
• the ability to choose what i wanted to do, learn what i wanted to learn and change it up when i wanted a change

i’m sure there is/was more, but these were the main things.  fast forward a little bit farther to today…

{this is where life laughs in your face}

i work in a small business, i have a corner office,  a window with a view over the street where i can see what all is happening below.  i have a big title “business manager” that means i am pretty important to the company {or so i like to think} and i know that i make a difference because there’s no one else to do my work.  i don’t punch a time clock, sadly i am late pretty much every day, though it is my goal to be on time by the time summer starts and i have to be here an hour earlier.  i don’t need to ask permission to do anything as long as i get my work done and i spend the mornings with papa, the evenings with mom, the afternoons with the kids and if anyone takes a day off or doesn’t have school, you can bet your bottom dollar they interact with me quite a bit while i work.

i have a fully stocked kitchen with cookware i can use at my disposal and if i ask my mom, she’ll even buy the food i want to eat for me {i try not to ask, i feel like that’s a little needy for my age}.  i am certainly not a number; with a company with only 4-5 people on average, it’s pretty obvious when i’m not in or when i call in sick.  as long as its not busy, i can pretty much take any day off i can afford.  since no one really likes to work holidays around here, i’m pretty much guaranteed holiday time off.  i certainly get to choose what i do on a day-to-day, week-to-week or month-to-month basis.  my main job is to answer the phone and make sure the guys are doing good.  other than that, i can choose the course of my work.  the best part is the ability to choose what i am able to learn as well.

i have learned so much in the last 10 months and it amazes me more every day.  right now i am learning about building websites, social media & marketing and reading a book over the ins and outs of QuickBooks so i can go from being a “user” to being an “expert” at it.  i have also and continue to learn so much about corporations and what it takes to make the transition from a sole proprietor to a c-corp.  and, don’t even get me started on taxes.  i feel like taxes – income, sales, employment, business and corporate taxes are a never ending funnel.  it looks like it gets smaller at the end, but really it keeps going on forever.

so, thank you universe.  i am not living out my dream job, but maybe that is a good thing.  i am learning so much, and really, have all of my “must haves” in a non-dream job.  i’ll take a few moments to laugh with you.

to be honest, i found the house a couple of weeks ago, a couple of days after my last post…but the last couple of weeks have been filled with stress in negotiating and waiting, stress over finding the right lender with the right pricing and then finding the right lender finally.

for the first time since i started looking for a house, i am confident there won’t be any hiccups and i am ready to talk about MY house!

first of all, let me introduce you to it, this is my house:

on the day i found the house we had looked at maybe 7 houses.  this was the most expensive house we looked at that day with the highest HOA fees and so i had set myself up to not like the house at all.  as soon as i walked in the front door, i felt like it was the right houses.  the other houses we had been to, i had to point out what i liked about the houses and try to ignore what i didn’t like.  this house was perfect.

it had windows everywhere, the kitchen was gorgeous, it had gas appliances, a window seat, 2″ blinds, beautiful cabinets, black appliances, a breakfast area, french doors on the master AND in the front bedroom, french doors into the master, his and hers sinks, separate garden tub and shower, large master closet and a walk in closet in a front bedroom.  the place was beautiful, upgraded light fixtures, nice, clean fireplace, HIGH ceilings, just perfect.

however, at the end of the day, chris and i were stuck between two foreclosures, both two stories, both four bedrooms – each with their own positives and each with their own negatives.  we had set this house aside because it was the most expensive.  the next day, i asked my wonderful Realtor to take me back to the two, 2-story houses along with my parents so i could get their feed back and put in an offer.

after looking at the two houses, we left realizing neither of the houses were really for me…for several reasons, not important.  on the way back to the colony, we ended up going to this house to show my parents and they loved it to!

that settled it, the second trip to see it confirmed it was the right house for me and i prepped to put in an offer!

{front door and hallway to living room}

we put in an offer for exactly what the seller was asking.  we knew the seller would likely have to bring their own money to the table because they hadn’t owned it very long and likely owed more than they were asking.  monday i got a call to give my best and final offer. i gave it and then later that night the seller came back with another offer i couldn’t take.  they wanted to reduce the amount of closing they had to pay to $2000.  there was no way i could pay what we thought would probably be $4000 for closing costs.

that night i went home sad and depressed knowing the house wasn’t going to be mine.  i resolved to wait until late april to start looking again.

but! the next day, i got another call from my Realtor and had just realized that morning that the closing costs were less than i thought and the final offer from the seller put us back where i wanted to be anyways.  the house was mine!!

{the kitchen}

i scheduled the inspection for saturday.  we were confident that the house would pass inspection – it was built in 2006 and was in pretty immaculate shape.  saturday came, the inspector said the worst problem with the house was some loose tape on the HVAC unit in the attic.  WHEW.  in case you didn’t know, both my dads own their own heating and air conditioning companies…problems with the HVAC, especially smalls ones like that are nothing!

i was thrilled!  when i got the inspection report, most everything that showed up either had to do with insulation, the hvac system or electrical.  my dad is also a licensed electrician in texas and arkansas.  the electrical stuff amounts to pretty much nothing – preventative measures…same with the hvac and insulation.  YES!

{living room}

last week was all about financing.  my lender had sent over more than 100 pages of documents for me to read and sign and sent me to a website with even more.  once i sent everything back, i got my good faith estimate and started shopping around.  who knew you were supposed to shop?  haha.  so thats what i did.  i shopped and shopped and shopped.

after talking with many different lenders and looking at numbers until i was blue in the face, i found a company – at the last minute – that was giving me a pretty amazing offer!  i had to redo the numbers over and over to make sure i wasn’t missing something.  i started a spreadsheet and compared every cost and charge and was shocked when i realized it really was possible!  PrimeLending was offering me a closing that saved me almost $1,000 at closing and more than $50 a month on my payments!  i was pretty ecstatic!  he also was able to give me an APR that was lower than anyone else!  oh yes, i was thrilled and immediately asked for him to get me locked in!

{master bedroom}

so that led me to thursday night.  for the first time since i began this process, a happy smile and calmness settled over me.  i was BUYING A HOUSE!  and what an incredible house!

when i started this process, i figured my budget would buy me an old house in a decent neighborhood that was not quite to the “falling apart” stage, but that would take lots of work over a number of years to keep it maintained.  i never imagined i’d be looking in a new neighborhood or looking at a newer house.  this house really and truly is more than i imagined and i couldn’t be happier!

with the new lender, my cost for this house ends up being only about $30 more a month than i am currently paying for my 820 sq ft, 1 bedroom apartment!  and that $30 a month is only because of the HOA…if it wasn’t for the HOA, this would be MUCH cheaper than my apartment.  but, the benefits of the community are pretty incredible too.

{master bathroom}

savannah is a master planned community that encompasses mostly cape cod style housing.  recently they have started building modern style brick homes as well.  i guess the idea of a master planned community is to build a neighborhood that eventually becomes its own city.  the communities are created to bring back an old fashioned way of life where neighbors get to know each other, interact and work together to create a safe, fun place to live.

there are walking and biking trails all over the community, a dog park – soon to be two, many parks and greenbelts throughout the community, a huge swimming area with a jr. olympic pool, kiddie pool, adult pool and hot tub, covered sand beach and tanning areas.  there is a work out facility, a craft/workout area for boot camp, karate, zumba and other classes.  men and women’s sauna, bath houses by the pools, full tennis and basketball courts, soccer fields, baseball fields, all sorts of clubs for so many different things, a ball room and movie theater and i’m sure much more than i even know.

{backyard}

so yup.  we are excited.  i am excited.  the animals don’t know it yet, but they, too are excited!  lacey will have a fenced in backyard for only the second time in her 9 years (i’m not counting the mold infested place we lived for 2 months when i first got back to dallas).  i can’t wait for us all to get settled in.  my dad will be visiting from arkansas and the first thing i’m going to ask [beg] him to do is put in a doggie door.  however, we don’t close until april 19, so we have a little ways to go.  i think we are at 40 days until we move in.  now starts the process of packing.  oh boy…always the favorite part of moving, right?

i think my favorite part of the whole situation is looking forward and knowing that this will be the last time i move for a long time.  thinking about unpacking ALL of my boxes, getting rid of a BUNCH of stuff i don’t even know i still have, settling in and staying someplace longer than 22 months.  incredible.  what a relaxing thought!

here are the final photos of my house!  enjoy!!

{office}

the french doors lead to the front porch.  you can JUST about see them in the photos of the front of the house.  eventually i’ll probably end up putting in a wall bed for guests.

{2nd bedroom}

i love that it has a walk in closet!  i like the two windows and how the wall kind of juts in.

So that is the house.  Feel free to leave comments, thanks for reading!!