Our Wild Army Adventures: The Great House Hunt!

Are you tired yet, it has been a busy summer! Well, we are not done people! So, when you move from one place, you need to find a place to live at the new place. Since we decided that we didn't want to live in very small Army housing...........again, we would buy our first house! WOW! Nervous and excited!

Glenn was still in Korea, so it was up to me to spend thousands of $$$$$$. My mom kept the kids and my very kind aunt went with me. It was so much fun! But here's the catch........I only had 3 days to find "the" house. We had been looking for months, we had lived in the area before, and we knew what we were looking for.............that helped.

So, my aunt and I arrive to the realty office at about 10:30 AM and by 4:00 PM we had looked at 18 houses! Holy crap! Some were very easy to mark off the list, like the one we walked into that was flooded! OOOPS! I felt really bad for the home owners. It was too small anyway.....and flooded!

It was down to two homes. It was very hard, but I put in a bid on what I hope was the right choice. So, the bid was submitted and we went to dinner. While we were sitting at the restaurant, my realtor called with a counter offer, as I expected. Let me tell you that this house had been on the market since November 2007 and the owners were scheduled to depart America for Italy on August 26! So, they really wanted to unload this house. I had already committed to myself that I would not go over a certain amount. Even though my realtor said that their offer was very much in line, I went with my gut and stood my ground! We went back to the hotel and waited. This was the day that we needed to check out of the hotel. At 10:15 AM the realtor called and said they ACCEPTED my offer! (was there ever a doubt??)

Fast and furious! We went back to the realtor office and signed some more papers. My realtor said she was able to line up a home inspector, which was awesome. So my aunt and I grabbed some lunch and met the inspector at the house. I was able to walk with him while he examined everything. He pointed out things to look for and things that we should do. He was very impressed with the house and found only a few cracked kitchen tiles. He said that I found a really great house! That made me feel really good, since he looked at many house each day!

So........below is our new house! I have many visions. The ugly bushes in the front are going and I am going to add lots of color with flowers. I love to work in the garden. My brother inspired me to grow some herbs too. He had a variety of beautiful herbs, like mint..........for Mojitos! And I truly love the back yard. It is so peaceful and quiet. I see myself unwinding with a glass of wine thinking about the day. Can't wait!!! We close on August 1st and I am painting all weekend!!!

The only thing about the house is that I am not totally jazzed up about the whiteish brick. It is a little boring. I am hoping that color with flowers will help. Should I paint the pillars a different color or leave them white?