Changes

'Tis the season of change, and winter is bringing many changes to our little household. The first major change of the month began on Monday, when Tony began working full-time at U.S. Cellular instead of part-time. Tony worked full-time for U.S. Cellular for much of the time we lived in Grand Island. But when we moved to Omaha, there were no full-time positions available. We thought it would be better for Tony to work part-time anyway, especially with his full-time school schedule. Part-time employees still get full benefits. However, when this full-time position became open, Tony decided to interview for it and take it if offered because we could really use the extra money. Well, Tony had a great interview, was offered the increase in hours, and took it. With both school and work, Tony has been gone a lot this week. It's especially tough on the days when he has school all morning and then goes to work from noon to 9 p.m. because he only gets to spend a few minutes with Ruth. I can tell it's wearing him out after the first week. (It doesn't help that he's trying to prepare for finals week.) Since Tony is spending more time away from home, I am trying to do my part to handle more things around the house. There are things I would normally ask him to do that I just try to do myself now. We are doing what we can to organize our time, synchronize our schedules and spend quality time together. As the weeks go by, I know we will all adjust, and the heavy work/school load won't last forever.

The second big change that has happened this month was the first major snowstorm of the season, which really threw a wrench in things. We had our week all planned out, complete with workouts and family time, but we've had to replace formal workouts with snow shoveling and some family time with extra drive time.

The third change, which is by far the most exciting, is that we are now under contract to buy a house! Here are a few pictures:

































It's very cute, has a huge back yard, and is only a few blocks away from where we currently live. It needs a lot of updating (think really old wallpaper), but Tony and I are excited about putting some work into this place. Our lease on our current house isn't up until the end of February, so our closing date is about a week before our lease is up. Our mortgage payment will be within $10 of our current rent payment, but the money will go into our own investment instead of just vanishing into someone else's pocket. We are stoked about becoming homeowners and are crossing our fingers as we wait for our loan to go through!

I'm sure this month will bring many more changes, and we'll keep you guys updated!

Happy December

Happy December! One part of me feels like this year just began, but then another realizes that A LOT has happened over the past 11 months. In a few weeks, I'll post a year in review, complete with pictures!

In other news, Ruth is teething. And I mean she is cutting A LOT of teeth. It's making her really grouchy, too. Over the past week or so she's started hitting and kicking pretty regularly. She doesn't hit hard, she mostly just swings her arms around when she gets frustrated and/or tired. It's like she just really wants to punch something. Sometimes Tony and I get in the way, and then its time-out time. We started time outs a few weeks ago when Ruth kept stealing her friend's sippy cup after I told her many, many times not to. We did very few at first (didn't need to do many), but now time outs occur on an almost daily basis. I try to use them for the more serious things - hitting and kicking - and shrug off or ignore the other stuff. She pretty much only kicks when I'm changing her diaper, and I've decided to just ignore it, so hopefully she'll quit once she sees she can't get a rise out of me for it. I think time outs are serving their purpose, though. I just hope all the teeth cut soon, and I want her to grow out of this hitting and kicking stuff!

I have a lot to do for the holidays! We haven't decorated yet, but we hope to do that tomorrow. I also need to finish Christmas shopping, but I'm mostly done with that. Yesterday I made a list of all the things I need to do to get ready for Christmas, and that has helped me feel less stressed.

We are also continuing our house hunt. We have decided we want to stay in our ward, and we put in an offer on a house this morning. We might not hear back for sure for a few days (I think the owner works for the railroad), but hopefully all goes well! Here is a link for those of you who want to take a look.

Happy weekend, and Go Big Red!!!

-Meredith

House hunting update

Well, we found a house we really liked when we went house hunting earlier this week. It's a very cute old house located in the Florence area. It has some neat built-ins throughout, a good-sized kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a garage, a wonderful backyard with a secret garden, all of the appliances, new furnace & a/c, and a whole lot of potential. We went on a second walk-through on Wednesday night and then decided to meet with our real estate agent to put in an offer yesterday. We offered them almost full asking price (they had already reduced the price $9,000) and asked them to pay our closing costs, fix a few things on the outside, and provide a one-year home warranty. After talking to the selling agent, we thought there was a chance they would like our closing date (at the end of Feb. because of our lease and the fact that we want to use our tax return as our down payment). The woman who has owned the home (for the last 53 years) is now living in Texas, but all of her stuff is still in the house. However, they didn't accept any part of our offer. They said that if we wanted them to pay closing costs they would raise the price of the house by $3,500, and if we stuck to the closing date they would keep the house on the market. That means there would be no guarantee we would get it - they could accept another offer at any time. We decided to walk away. We hope the house will still be on the market at the end of December or beginning of January, when we might put in another offer. In the meantime, we'll keep looking to see what else is out there. We are kind of disappointed, but we are learning a lot from this home buying process. Things will work out as they should!

Tomorrow is Hungry Girl review day! I actually think I might make the taquitos tonight for dinner, but I'll hold off on posting the review until tomorrow.

Happy Weekend!

-Meredith