Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Ugh - landlords (or why I'm happy-dancing that we are one step closer to closing on our first house!)

Landlords. Security Deposits. No tax write off on mortgage interest. I could go on and on about renting and why I'm glad that we are so close to having it behind us. I can't tell you how annoying it is to receive a refunded security deposit that notes a ridiculous amount withheld for something that is considered "normal wear and tear" and the subsequent fight to get that money back in the hands of it's rightful owner. But alas, that is the fight I find myself in this morning. Our previous landlords are trying to have us purchase something new for the house due to normal wear and tear through normal use. While I can certainly appreciate that the owner felt that replacing it was more beneficial to the home than repairing the issue - replacement due to the normal wear and tear was not necessary and therefore not my financial burden. However since we are now states away, dealing with this issue is going to be such an annoyance but I'm stubborn so I'll keep on it.

This issue just highlights how happy I am that we are **this close** to closing on our first house. We still need to get through the appraisal, and are hoping we can schedule that after the new roof is put on. Did I mention that the sellers will be replacing the roof? :) Happy dance! Without a new roof we would have walked, and since this could be the dream house we are soooo happy that we don't have to. Cross your fingers that all continues to go well!!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Found it...

Lately I have been comparing myself to my beautiful little almost two year old baby boy. Jack may be one of the sweetest ones in the world and gives his big brother a run for his money sometimes with the cuteness factor (we are very blessed parents!). Jack is the prince of pointing out the obvious in his own innocent way. He will happily shout "found it!" whenver we are looking for something, regardless of the fact if he: a) actually found the item we were looking for, b) saw mommy or daddy with the item 10 minutes after we found it, or c) saw something that did not remotely resemble what we were looking for in the first place but he thinks it's pretty cool. It's quite hilarious and he knows it - could be why he does it in the first place, this kid loves to laugh. Getting back to my comparison to him. As we are transitioning to life in Tulsa, I have had many opportunities to count my blessings. My kids are thriving, I am really enjoying my new job, my husband and I are able to go out on a date, we have found a beautiful house that we love and are in the processing of trying to make it ours. In the meantime we are in a rental house and since we don't plan to be here very long we didn't set up cable - this has led to countless hours in the backyard playing "Simon Says", baseball with the boys, and running around as a family. I feel like we have already been able to spend a significant amount of quality time together and we've been here less than a month. Perhaps the newness factor will wear off soon. Perhaps it won't. For now, I'll just remind myself how lucky I am that we have more health, happiness, love, and togetherness than I cold have ever dreamt possible. I knew when we first started talking about moving to Tulsa that we were going to do it for the kids, for our family; to slow life down a little bit. As Jack would say, we "found it!".

Friday, September 9, 2011

Settling in

Wow - so much has happened in the past month. The only way to describe leaving my last job is to explain it to you the way my (now former) co-worker explained it to me.

It feels as if you are in a war-zone and missles and bullets are flying around you. You watch as a close friend dodges each bullet as she or he runs toward the US Embassy. As that friend pulls open the gates and escapes into freedom, you feel nothing but happiness that as they turn around and wave with a huge smile on thier face.

While I understand that some may think it's in poor taste to compare my last job to a war-zone, at times, to those of us on the inside, it was an easy comparison. It was also nice to know that those I left behind are just happy to know that I have found something better. The new job is awesome; I'm still in that new hire cocoon, but I'm enjoying everything that I'm learning and am excited about the possibilities that are in front of me.

The move to Tulsa itself has been so wonderful for my family. The boys are thriving and really enjoying being around all our extended family. They have created bonds already and we only hope things continue to progress as they are currently. We have also already put in an offer on a house we have found and love. It's absolutely the dream house and fingers crossed, we'll be in it before Thanksgiving. Walking into homes during the search this is the only one that reached out and made us realized that we could visualize raising our families here. The garden will take a bit more planning because of all the trees on the property, but since the house feels like it's in the woods, it's a task I'll take on. The garden may not be centrally located and instead be multiple areas with garden boxes strewn about the property based on where the sun shines through, but I'm still excited about the planning process and what we can grow.