The Emotional Rollercoaster of Buying a House

It's been 29 days since we put in our offer 

for our very first house.  

It has been the LONGEST 29 days of my life!

The only thing almost as bad as your offer not being accepted, is your appraisal not coming in where you need it.   After getting over many hurdles, the house is ours.  That being said, I am still not sure when we are going to get those keys in our hands. 

Those that know me know that I have little patience & can be a bit of a loose cannon when I lose my crap!  I am not a fan of the unknown, I am a planner.  My notebook is never far with my many lists to attempt to keep it together.  So not knowing what day we can get the carpets cleaned or what day to get the moving truck, is making Mel a little crazy to say the least.  Much to my surprise, I am hanging in there quite well.

All I can do is keep on packing & purging.

But not today. I decided today I am going to spend some much needed Pinterest time.  I am gonna enjoy my greek salad & ONE soup while I surf the web for decorating ideas & ways to make moving easier.  My brain needs a break!

Almost Home Sweet Home

We are finally making the biggest purchase of our lives

Our very first home!

Boy did I forget how much work it is to pack up ALL of your belongings and move them into somewhere new.  

From the time I turned 22, I moved A LOT!  

At first I lived with my mom & that was great.  I still got home cooked meals and I could come & go as I wanted.  We were like roommates.  That may sound great in theory until you come home & your mom has "company".  And her friend has ran to the wrong bedroom!  We can all laugh about this now.  To this day, all I have to say is "tighty blackies"  and she turns beet red.  

I am awful, I know this

Hee Hee...

Once I started dating my husband, we lived together on & off for the first 3 years we were together.  My hubby lived with the motto "If it can't fit in my car, I'm not taking it".  I am the exact opposite.  I still have a tote of stuff from grade school & high school. 

It's funny how we ended up in our current apartment that we are leaving. My husbands friends from his 20's just rotated here.  Finally he moved in with 2 other guys before we moved down the street.  A year & a half later the roommates were gone.  The landlords had fixed the destroyed "Frat House" and we moved in.  

That was 13 years ago, almost to the day that we will be leaving.

We have accumulated lots of stuff. 

More importantly we have accumulated many more memories here in our sweet 3 bedroom, second floor apartment.   

We've celebrated Birthdays, grieved loss & welcomed life.

The end of an Era

The beginning of suburban life

Now back to shredding I will go

Before I start to cry, lol !!!

We All Need A Break Sometimes....

It's my favorite time of year.....

GIRLS WEEKEND!!!!

That 1 weekend  can relieve a whole year of stress.

Someone should have been a little more honest about this 

"Adulting" thing!

Don't get me wrong, I love my family. 

There's just NOTHING like being with your girlfriends 

enjoying each other's company.  

No agendas for the weekend.  Let's be honest, most of us spend our day running around. Whether it's work, the grocery store, carting kids around, it's nice to sit still for a bit. There are no kids, husbands or bosses demanding a snack or a report due by the end of the day.  Our weekend is mostly spent at our house enjoying doing nothing.  Read a book, unwind in the hot tub, watch a movie.  As usual, Magic Mike will be on repeat for our viewing pleasure!  It's our time, we should do what we want.

Two years ago we decided to add a craft.  

We bedazzled wine glasses.   

It was nice to just sit down for an hour 

& make your own glass.  

Plus it was a cute keepsake to remember our weekend.

Time is no object at Girls Weekend. Naps are encouraged & sometimes necessary. Especially if you are used to waking up early.  If it's noon & you are sleepy, find a cozy spot & snooze away.  Dreams are so much better on vacation.  And it's 5 o'clock somewhere so if you want a bloody mary or mimosa for breakfast, DO IT! 

 You deserve it!

Everyone brings a dish so no cooking if you choose. Eating is a big part of our weekend.  The kitchen is truly the heart of the home.  Even if it's just your home for a weekend.  We usually have a nice kitchen so some girls enjoy actually having the time to make that dish that they may not have the time for at home. 

No designated drivers needed for Girls Weekend!  Shots, drinks & even a boozy dessert.

As long as you can get to your designated sleeping spot, 

you've done enough!  

Need to crawl?  No judgement here!  

We just ask that if you "party" too much, 

make it to the trash or the toilet!

Checked that 40+ box

I've been 40 for less than 2 weeks.  Do I feel different?  Maybe a little, but in a good way.

I had an amazing Birthday week!  Even though I DO have to share it with my son, his is the day before mine.  We had a quick snow storm which ended in a snow day.  Watching my kiddo sled ride was great, but I learned he is not good at sharing our Birthday week, lol.

A group of my friends & family went out Saturday night. You know you are old when you have to drive to another county just to listen to music you WANT to hear!  Started our evening at that place with those sammiches with fries & coleslaw. Then we went to a casino with a "club" in the middle.  They played music from my 20's & I was in heaven!  I had a lot of special guests that surprised me.  I felt extremely blessed.  Some people I haven't seen in a long time.

This made me start to think about turning 40 & my friendships.  Over the years some have been strained, I have become closer with people that I wasn't expecting & some I haven't skipped a beat with.  Hopefully some of those strained friendships can be repaired.  Life happens & everyone goes through different things. We just need to learn how to be there for each other!

And today as I made my "To Do" list for the week, I made sure that planning our Girls Weekend 2017 was at the top of my list. We all need a break from real life & lucky for me, I get to plan it!

Time to enjoy the day....right after some Pilates!

The Big 40......$h!t Just Got Real.

2017 is here, the year I turn 40.  Who the hell let that happen???  Sorry for the cussing, but SERIOUSLY???  I can still remember the year my MOM turned 40, the same year I turned 21.  That is a story for another day.  Hee, hee.

My best friend & I have been making plans for this year since our 30th Birthdays.  We went through it all the last 10 years.  From divorce to weddings & from babies to graduations, we have definitely done some growing in our 30's. Our life lessons may have been very different, but we survived & are both in happy places.  I  married an amazing man who has let me quit my job & raise our soon to be 6 year old son. And my BF is re-married to a man she has been crushing on for 20+ years & between them they have quite a few kids & even grand-babies.  Their family has so much love & many years of memories.  We feel very lucky!

Yesterday was a real kick start to my 40's. Started out with a 3 hour drive around a 10 mile radius looking for houses.  Talk about "Shit getting real"!!!  (Sorry again.  It's one of those days.)  We did manage to look at one we liked.  A few things I'd change, but it would be ours!  After renting since I moved out of my parents, I am looking forward to having our own house.

Later on I went to pick out eye glasses. After wearing the same super glued glasses for the last 10 years, I finally got some super cute ones.  And from the sounds of it, I got one heck of a deal!  I was choosing those glasses like I would never get another pair in my life.  Kinda how I was feeling while looking at houses.  Ugh....adulting!

Each new decade that creeps up on us, Charity (my BF) and I try to come up with sort of a "motto" for the next 10 years. Our 30's we didn't care about keeping quiet. Yeah...that ended in some estranged friendships, but who knows what our 40's shall bring.  I am hopeful!

I think that in my 40's I will try to relax & not let the little things get to me.  With all the sadness in the world right now, I need to care more about my life & those in it.  I need to stop letting the little things get to me. Like my  next door neighbors who keep messing up the grass in front of my apartment building with their cars. Or the idiot riding my bumper because they are obviously in a hurry. Or me not blogging because I don't have any cool recipes or something I crafted to share.

I think my 40's motto shall be "Who Cares"  Oddly enough that is also a band my dad & his buddies made up in the teens.  And yes, they still jam out to some Classic Rock in my dad's basement, lol.

So no New Years Resolutions for me.  I am going to just try to be a better, calmer ME in my 40's.

1st Day of Kindergarten. What do I do now???

The last 5 & a half years with my little dude have been great.  There were times when I wondered if being a stay at home mom (SAHM) was the right thing. It all comes down to this.  Fingers crossed I did OK!

Here is my little guy's picture from this morning.

(Hope he's doing good!!!)

Being a SAHM has been great.  I feel like I got to know my son & spend a lot of time with him.  I was very lucky because most parents don't have the opportunity to do that these days.  Trust me, we had to give up a lot & not do everything we wanted, but I wouldn't trade my time with him for anything. But now what?

Today is the first day of a whole new chapter for my family.  I am excited to see what is next.  I am looking forward to getting a part-time job & having some ME time.  And some ME money, lol.  Blogging more is another thing I am excited about.  Trying to think with a 5 year old running around is hard enough.  Then try to put your thoughts into words?  HA!  I cannot even finish a sentence half the time without being on to the next thing!

Starting today I will start figuring out our "New" normal is.  Even more importantly, what is next for me?  I have so many projects that went off to the side so I could be there for my kiddo.  Everyday little things that got forgotten about.  It's always something.  But today is a new day!!!

With that being said, I am signing off to attempt at least one of those things on a very long "To Do" list!

Have a great day!

Electronic Restrictions...for both of us

My son was over the moon when Santa brought him the Wii U he was dreaming of.  Luckily "Santa" got it used for an amazing deal.  Little did I know that he would have a total obsession with Super Mario Bros Smash Brothers.  It has opened a whole new world of Donkey Kong & Pokemon that I was not prepared for.  And don't get me started on YouTube.  This kid has been looking up videos for everything.

This being said, I am guilty of being on social media on my phone entirely too much.  I can use the excuse that I am using it for promoting my Party Lite business or sharing pictures of wreaths & bouquets that I made.  Or maybe even looking for a recipe for dinner. But we all know that I am just scrolling down looking at nonsense that people are plastering all over their walls.

An old friend from High School took a hiatus from social media for Lent.  Such a good idea!  Not sure I could go cold turkey, but something she said really stuck with me.  She felt like she was being a bad influence on her niece with her phone always in her hand.  It mad me think about all the times I have been just sitting on my phone when I could be being present with the people around me.  I also thought about the fact that we know far more about people than we need to.  It's great to see pictures of folks & how they and their families have grown.  But fights & personal business need to stay between the people it involves.

In the next few months I am going to make an effort to cut our time on electronics.

For me, less time on Social Media & more blogging.  And for my son, we will be cutting his time on video games & YouTube videos.  This means more crafts & books. Luckily my son loves crafting as much as his momma.  I try to have craft time at least once a week.  For Christmas I stocked him up with paints, wooden sticks, paper, glue.
All the essentials for a good craft.

Summer is just around the corner.  

We are going to make a little bucket list of all the adventures we will go on.  

I am looking forward to it!

Enjoy your day!