So many changes - We bought a house!
It's been way too long since I've posted. The last year has been a whirl wind of both excitement and frustration. It wasn't the year I was expecting for many reasons. I guess the biggest one of all was buying our very first house together. And man, what an experience that was.
First of all, we were not looking for a house to buy. We had been renting a house in Sturges from a friend for the last 8 years. It was, in effect, our "home". So many memories in that house. So many upgrades we did to that house - the side yard, painting, putting in hardwood floors, building a patio, building the garden, etc. Not to mention that all my babies that passed away are buried in the area surrounding that garden. It was very hard to walk away from the place I've felt the most content the last 8 years, and built so many memories. But, it was time. We were ready to build memories in a home that we own. We were visiting with our friends in the town we bought this new house - and they mentioned to us in June 2017 that there was a house we just had to see. I was hesitant as I have been through two terrible attempted "house buying" experiences, and did not want to relive that. As soon as BJ and I saw this house, though... we knew this was it. It was the one. We had to have it. The owner had a sale fall through and was looking to move on this quickly. The house was listed for $79,900.00. Not thinking that he would accept our offer, I went in low with room to negotiate. We offered 72,000.00 - and he accepted! I was floored. But, I refused to get my hopes up until those keys were in our hands.
We of course built our coffee bar first thing when we moved in. We live on coffee. Literally.
So, the next 2 months we saved every penny. We sold anything and everything we weren't attached to or needed at flea markets and on line - and we managed to save the money we needed for closing. We lived on just the cash we made from selling items. We didn't grocery shop for two solid months - which, unfortunately, also means that we ate for crap those two months as well. All extra "expenditures" went to paying down bills, buying necessities for the new house, and just enough money left over to buy ourselves lunch and dinner each night.
First "selfie" in our new home.
One of the "necessities" that we bought was a Chevy Blazer that has 4 wheel drive for me to drive in the winter. We moved on top of a mountain where it is much colder, with much more snow. I still have my Ford which is not 4 wheel drive, and of course BJ still has his Dodge which IS 4 wheel drive. Now, I have my 4 wheel drive for the winter to get my ass back and forth to work.
Meanwhile - life at work became overwhelmingly awful during this time period as well. We experienced a melt down at my job, that created utter and total chaos. So, not only did I have this stress of buying a new house, packing up my entire life from the old house, selling off as much as I could, figuring out how I'm getting all my crap from the old house to the new house, buying a new vehicle which was a pain in the balls to register, stress eating and packing on weight, etc. I was living in a panic induced nightmare at work that made me lose temporary vision in my right eye, anxiety and panic attacks almost daily, spiraled into a pretty scary pit of depression that made me contemplate admitting myself to the hospital for my own safety, fits of anger due to the anxiety and depression, significant weight gain, loss of motivation to eat healthy and exercise, and the loss of interest in the things that used to make me happy: Blogging, Cooking, Photography, Crafting, Music, Movies, etc. While there are aspects of my job that I love - most of my customers, my co workers, the relaxed atmosphere when we're not mid-meltdown, casual dress, being able to travel to visit with clients, etc... I've now lived through two melt downs in the course of 3 years - 8 general managers (3 in 2017 alone) - 8 shipping managers - and countless office and warehouse staff. The stress has been affecting literally every aspect of my life - and I think that also played into my not being overly emotional and excited about buying a house. And that is sad - because it's such a happy time for people, and such a huge step for us. But, I just didn't have the extra emotional space to spare for it.
Things are starting to calm down, though. Which is a relief. I don't want to have to leave my job for something else - because I do like what I do, and I love the ladies I work with. They are my heart, and why I continue going back every day. I'm hoping that the most recent changes and added staff will help to prevent any future break downs, and we can all just get back to doing what we do.
With that, I also need to get back on track. As does BJ. This past year has done a hell of a number on us physically and psychologically. Our heads haven't been in the game, and we need to get our motivation back to work on our health. The new house has a full finished basement where we have set up our gym, and it has a full bathroom with shower as well! BJ invested in a bow-flex machine - and he bought me the incline trainer treadmill I wanted for Christmas! Here's how it looks:
Our cats are enjoying the new house. At first, they weren't so happy. Especially Max. He freaked out and lived in the chimney for a week. We had to barricade the fireplace so he couldn't keep crawling up inside the chimney. Dusty was unhappy for maybe 2 or 3 days - but he adjusted relatively quick. Max was shitting on our floor for about a month. They have so much more space in this house, however. It's 3 stories, plus a finished basement - 5 bed room, two full bath - a study, dine in kitchen, and huge living room. It's completely us. I am happy here. And one of the best parts is we live 3 houses down from our best friends - the people who told us to look at this house. It doesn't get better than that.
First of all, we were not looking for a house to buy. We had been renting a house in Sturges from a friend for the last 8 years. It was, in effect, our "home". So many memories in that house. So many upgrades we did to that house - the side yard, painting, putting in hardwood floors, building a patio, building the garden, etc. Not to mention that all my babies that passed away are buried in the area surrounding that garden. It was very hard to walk away from the place I've felt the most content the last 8 years, and built so many memories. But, it was time. We were ready to build memories in a home that we own. We were visiting with our friends in the town we bought this new house - and they mentioned to us in June 2017 that there was a house we just had to see. I was hesitant as I have been through two terrible attempted "house buying" experiences, and did not want to relive that. As soon as BJ and I saw this house, though... we knew this was it. It was the one. We had to have it. The owner had a sale fall through and was looking to move on this quickly. The house was listed for $79,900.00. Not thinking that he would accept our offer, I went in low with room to negotiate. We offered 72,000.00 - and he accepted! I was floored. But, I refused to get my hopes up until those keys were in our hands.
We of course built our coffee bar first thing when we moved in. We live on coffee. Literally.
So, the next 2 months we saved every penny. We sold anything and everything we weren't attached to or needed at flea markets and on line - and we managed to save the money we needed for closing. We lived on just the cash we made from selling items. We didn't grocery shop for two solid months - which, unfortunately, also means that we ate for crap those two months as well. All extra "expenditures" went to paying down bills, buying necessities for the new house, and just enough money left over to buy ourselves lunch and dinner each night.
First "selfie" in our new home.
One of the "necessities" that we bought was a Chevy Blazer that has 4 wheel drive for me to drive in the winter. We moved on top of a mountain where it is much colder, with much more snow. I still have my Ford which is not 4 wheel drive, and of course BJ still has his Dodge which IS 4 wheel drive. Now, I have my 4 wheel drive for the winter to get my ass back and forth to work.
Meanwhile - life at work became overwhelmingly awful during this time period as well. We experienced a melt down at my job, that created utter and total chaos. So, not only did I have this stress of buying a new house, packing up my entire life from the old house, selling off as much as I could, figuring out how I'm getting all my crap from the old house to the new house, buying a new vehicle which was a pain in the balls to register, stress eating and packing on weight, etc. I was living in a panic induced nightmare at work that made me lose temporary vision in my right eye, anxiety and panic attacks almost daily, spiraled into a pretty scary pit of depression that made me contemplate admitting myself to the hospital for my own safety, fits of anger due to the anxiety and depression, significant weight gain, loss of motivation to eat healthy and exercise, and the loss of interest in the things that used to make me happy: Blogging, Cooking, Photography, Crafting, Music, Movies, etc. While there are aspects of my job that I love - most of my customers, my co workers, the relaxed atmosphere when we're not mid-meltdown, casual dress, being able to travel to visit with clients, etc... I've now lived through two melt downs in the course of 3 years - 8 general managers (3 in 2017 alone) - 8 shipping managers - and countless office and warehouse staff. The stress has been affecting literally every aspect of my life - and I think that also played into my not being overly emotional and excited about buying a house. And that is sad - because it's such a happy time for people, and such a huge step for us. But, I just didn't have the extra emotional space to spare for it.
Things are starting to calm down, though. Which is a relief. I don't want to have to leave my job for something else - because I do like what I do, and I love the ladies I work with. They are my heart, and why I continue going back every day. I'm hoping that the most recent changes and added staff will help to prevent any future break downs, and we can all just get back to doing what we do.
With that, I also need to get back on track. As does BJ. This past year has done a hell of a number on us physically and psychologically. Our heads haven't been in the game, and we need to get our motivation back to work on our health. The new house has a full finished basement where we have set up our gym, and it has a full bathroom with shower as well! BJ invested in a bow-flex machine - and he bought me the incline trainer treadmill I wanted for Christmas! Here's how it looks:
Our cats are enjoying the new house. At first, they weren't so happy. Especially Max. He freaked out and lived in the chimney for a week. We had to barricade the fireplace so he couldn't keep crawling up inside the chimney. Dusty was unhappy for maybe 2 or 3 days - but he adjusted relatively quick. Max was shitting on our floor for about a month. They have so much more space in this house, however. It's 3 stories, plus a finished basement - 5 bed room, two full bath - a study, dine in kitchen, and huge living room. It's completely us. I am happy here. And one of the best parts is we live 3 houses down from our best friends - the people who told us to look at this house. It doesn't get better than that.
Great blog baby. So proud of us, now back to getting healthy������❤❤❤
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