Buying a house...

is stressful! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

Me and the hubs have rented for a very long time now, and we have finally bit the bullet and decided to buy a home. We saved the very minimum, and I think if we would have started saving sooner, it may not have been as difficult.

Lesson one: SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!

Our credit was shot. We've been working with a mortgage broker for the past year, who has helped us get where we needed to be.

Lesson two: Don't be an idiot and screw up your credit at a young age!

So we got the approval and started house hunting. You'd think this would be a fun process, and maybe for some people it is...but for me, it wasn't. First, we want to stay in the same school district we currently rent our house in. Sadly, this school district is expensive, so our options were limited. 

House one; It was the first house we looked at, and I fell in love. It was a foreclosure, in a beautiful location. BEAUTIFUL! I wanted it for the sole reason of it's location. The outside needed TLC, it hasn't been tended to in months. The first floor needed new carpeting and some paint, the basement needed a complete renovation. But it was in our price, and the upstairs was livable until we got the money to do the downstairs. We put in an offer, the bank accepted, but our lender would not loan the money due to the fact the house was mobile home(even with a full basement and one acre-they don't care). I was devastated. The only way we'd be able to get the house is if we had 10k to put down, and we don't, so we(Me, mostly) were forced to walk away. Strike one.

With no more options in our area, we went looking into a few towns over. House one, was nice, cute, a little small ranch home...and it would have been an option until I saw the kitchen. It was so small, I don't even know how the three of us stood in it. (Me, the hubs, and our realtor) That house was out..my morale was plummeting. We moved onto the second house, it was very high in our price range, but it was beautiful. A beautiful brick ranch, with a two car garage. Inside was outdated(pink 60's bathroom), shag carpet. Huge basement. I fell in love again. I had high hopes! We went onto the third house, and the pictures online made it look much nicer than it really was. The family was home, which was really awkward, and people kept appearing out of nowhere. There had to have been 10 people living in the house. I did not get good vibes and I ended up telling our realtor I wanted to leave, and he seemed relieved. Me and hubs talked, we decided to put an offer in on house two, I was excited! It was a pre-estate sale, the lady was 92, and her family was handling the sale. We were suppose to get a response within 24 hours, they said they didn't agree to our offer, but they didn't disagree. I thought, it's been on market for a while, why wouldn't they take our offer. I was hopeful. THREE days late, 3 agonizing days, and they said 'No' to our offer, flat out no. Our realtor was pissed, and wanted to tell them to 'fuck off', but of course didn't. We walked away from another house..again.

We looked at a handful of other houses, and each time I left I felt depressed. This was no longer fun. We were getting at the bottom of the barrel. The house we currently rent, the landlords want to sell it. We had planned to buy it, but decided we needed more room, and mostly a garage(my husband is a car guy, and details cars on the side). I wanted to be moved in by the end of summer, just in case the kids would have to attend another school.

I love ranch homes, and that's the type of houses I was looking into. We currently live in a townhouse, and I really wanted to stay away from them. Not that they're bad, I just wanted something one story. Having to drag laundry down two flights of steps isn't fun, especially when you have four people worth.

As a last resort, we decided to check out a townhouse in the same district we live in now. It's much bigger than our house now, and has a garage. Three very important factors to us. We both have been in one, but every house is different. The garage isn't huge, but we have a small drive way. We walked in, and my husband fell in love. I found it hilarious. All the houses we looked at, he never, not once had that reaction. Oh boy. The house is only 12 years old, it was taken care of, the appliances are the expensive kind, small backyard, but no one behind us, just a big field. It's move-in ready! After we left, my hubs looks at me and says, I want it. Almost like it's a car. I was hesitant, I didn't want to live in another townhouse, but it's beautiful. We talked it over, and decided to put in an offer. They countered, we countered, they agreed.

Lesson Three: Lower your expectations.

We are a week from our closing, and at the end of the month we will be moving in! We are going to be first time home owners! This has been on hell of a ride, and I cannot wait until this is all over. I don't want to do this again, unless we're moving to the beach!


Now for some pictures, because if I just read a post like this, I'd expect some pictures! We will painting a few areas in the house :)

Picture 1: Front of house. 2: Foyer/Stairs/Hallway to 1st Floor. 3: Living Room. 4: Kitchen(some granite counters will really nice!) 5: First floor.

Oh hello there.

I'm not quite sure why I even have this blog.  I haven't posted here in almost a year. I really don't have anything interesting to say, and my life is pretty damn boring..even so, I don't mind and yet..I still WANT to blog. So I'm gonna try this again...this whole blogging thing.
I got this cute Q&A a day book, so even when I have nothing to say, I'm just going to take a question from my book(that I also fail to fill out daily) and answer it.
Honestly, I'd love to meet some new people, new blogger friends...When I was younger, I had more of a life, more drama, and plenty of interesting things to write...I met a handful of other bloggers, and we are still in contact to this day. It's been really neat to see their lives transform, and all of them becoming parents! So if you'd like a new friend, add me, send me a message, I'd love to hear from you!
That's all for today, until tomorrow my friends......

Nine Minutes.

Sometime ago, I can't even remember how it all went down. My long time friend's mom approached me about some information regarding her book. She sent me the prologue, and even though it seemed to be outside of my normal reading genre, that little bit had me sucked in. I told her to let me know when she published it, because I really wanted to read it.
I had helped her with things here and there, in return she mailed me her book. I was super excited to dig in. When I was finished, I was truly blown away. I went through numerous emotions. I was sad at what went down, I was shocked at some things that were revealed, and I was happy with who the MC ended up with. It was a raw, gruesome, realistic story. I loved it, and the ending had me starved for more.

Let me explain more about this book, the story is from Ginny Lemon's, aka Kit, point of view. She is kidnapped and taken as a 'gift' for the leader of this notorious gang, Satan's Army. Grizz is big, tattooed, handsome, and intimidating. Ginny is given a new identity and no longer known as Ginny, but Kit. 
Like I've said above, I'm not big into bikers or stories with being kidnapped and falling in love with their abductors. So reading this was really taking a risk for me, and I think I need to take more risks. It was well written, well developed, and I couldn't help but fall for Grizz myself. Grizz is not your hero. He was rough, raw, and mean. But he had a soft spot for Kit, and even though he was brutal, he was a different man with her. I loved it. Each character was developed so well, you loved some, and hated others.

It's rare when I give a book my 5 star rating, and at first I gave it 4.5. After sometime, I found myself telling my cousin, you have to read this. Then I told my mom, and my sisters. I thought about it days after and I thought to myself, not many books have this effect on me, so I changed it to 5 stars. Because that's what it is! It's a big 5 star read!

Beth is currently holding a giveaway, you have a chance to win a paperback copy.  Enter here; http://www.authorbethflynn.com/blog-2/

Nine Minutes is currently available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Nine-Minutes-Beth-Flynn-ebook/dp/B00M3350MK/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412555083&sr=1-1&keywords=nine+minutes
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nine-minutes-beth-flynn/1120196683?ean=2940150708105

Book two in the series will be release sometime next spring!

It's the most wonderful time of the year....

For me anyways....it's officially fall. The weather is cooling off, the leaves are turning, and it's beginning to get dark a bit earlier. I love it, minus the getting darker earlier, I could go without that feat. But my windows are open allowing the cool breeze to flow through my house, my autumn decorations are up, and even my Scentsy warmer is filling the rooms with autumn scents.

Halloween is my favorite holiday and not only does October hold my favorite holiday, but also my birthday! This year is the big 3-0 for me. I cannot believe I will be 30. THIRTY! It seems old, but yet I still feel young except for those days when my body aches and cracks in places I wouldn't even imagine would crack. No official plans for my birthday, none that I know of anyways......

The husband, our youngest, and myself went on a hike. It was a beautiful day and we decided to make the best of it. We woke up early, but that's really nothing knew, and went to a flea market. Then after unpacking our goodies decided to go to the Knob. It's been years since I've hiked anywhere, and after this I plan to make it a regular thing.

The view is amazing, and quite awe-inspiring, isn't it? I'd like to go back to capture the full effect of fall in the North East.

It was fun, and our son enjoyed it as much as we did. It wasn't until he fell and his head was five inches from hitting a rock that I called it a day. We headed back to the car and continued on with our day.

I haven't been successful in finding a book since I finished Opposition, the series I raved about in my last post. I hate when this happens, I'm in a rut and it's annoying as hell.

Serious Book Hangover.

I'm having a serious book hangover right now. I'm sad. I haven't been able to read anything else since I've finished. I read the five books in the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout in under a week. DAMN YOU JENNIFER! I've moped around the house and even whined to my husband. "it's over. I'm so sad it's over."

My cousin told me about this series, a series about aliens...and I thought Aliens?! erm, I don't know about that. She raved about Daemon. The first book is free, and free is for me! Sooo...I was bored with the romance novels I was reading, I needed something new. I decided to give it a shot...I was sucked in. SUCKED IN! I love Jennifer's writing, I love Daemon and his smart ass mouth. I loved the spin on Aliens. I never would've thought about picking up a book about this, but I'm so glad I did. But now that I'm done. I'm sad, sad that it's over. sigh. Never heard it? Haven't read it? DO IT NOW! Amazon. RIGHT NOW! Then come and talk to me when you're finished. Please.

I'm on a paranormal kick and I haven't been able to find something else.....suggest me something!

Abbi Glines, Jamie McGuire, and Colleen Hoover.

What about them?

I MET them!

If you haven't gathered, I'm a huge book nerd. I have NEVER been to a book signing. Mainly because of my work schedule and that a lot of author's tours never come close enough to me.
I live in a very small town, I have to travel to get anywhere. BUT these trio went on a book tour(Fall In Love Tour) and came to a town close enough for me to drive to. (1 hour 15 mins to be exact-totally worth it.)
I went with my very best friend, and we stopped for something to eat. My GPS, for whatever stupid reason, couldn't find the address. I almost broke down. I'm sitting in my car, freaking out because I had just driven an hour to see these ladies, only not to make it? NO Way! I tried my phone, only for it to crash. I wanted to cry. We did eventually get it working..and we made it in time!

There was an hour Q&A. It was so awesome to listen to them talk. Mostly, Colleen and Abbi. They were so funny, so down to earth, and made me love them even more.

THEN It was time for the signing, and picture taking. I was in complete awe. They've even said, 'They don't feel famous.' but to me, they're my movie stars. To me, They're famous. They've created stories and characters I've grown to love. I follow them on facebook, instagram, and twitter. I support their career.

I was the third person in line. The girl in front of me said she was nervous, and I said, "So am I." Boy was I nervous, I wanted to cry. I asked if they were able to sign my Kindle Cover, and Jamie very enthusiastically said, "Yes."  I just watched them sign my books, afraid to bother them really. Colleen said Hi, and the big dork that I am. I said, "Hi, I'm so nervous."
Abbi shook her head and said, "Don't be nervous." Colleen agreed, and Jamie said, "But you're having fun!"
I just responded with, "Yes!"
Colleen said, "I love your top, it's so sparkly." and Abbi agreed.

I WAS SUCH A DORK! I couldn't say anything. I was just speechless. My favorite authors in front of me, you'd think I'd say, "omg I love your books." or something along those lines..but I froze. I choked. It was over too soon.

This moment is in my ten top favorite moments of my life.

Divergent.

I watched Divergent last night. I'm always late to jump on the band wagon, I don't care to follow trends. But I can't tell you how much I loved the movie! I loved it so much, I'm craving to watch it again. 

Now I feel like I need to read the books. So off to Amazon I go...

Have you read the books...let me know what you think!