Rainy Day

It rained all day here yesterday, so that means no working outside for me. It also gives one time to go buy things. We've been debating what our next purchase for our home should be. October we did washer/dryer and for November we decided to go with a TV. We've been using a TV I got for high school graduation. Its about 19" and as deep as it is wide and tall. Our new living room layout is limited in set-up options and the best choice seems to be the TV mounted on the wall above the fireplace.

I've been wanting a new TV for a while, but have held back. Rebecca and I went around to several store on Sunday evening and found a model we liked. I came home and looked at them online and found one a little cheaper. Yesterday I printed off the online quote and took it with me to HHGregg. I asked the salesman is he could match it and he took it to his manager. The difference came down to a matter of tax rate. So they matched the price and met me halfway on the tax. The small difference was worth it for not having to deal with delivery, what if problems if something happened, and I got it right then.

We went with a 40" Samsung. I have been asked what we need a nice TV for, if all you have is rabbit ears. While it may be a little overkill, the over the air signals are quite good and we have no trouble seeing the screen now. I thought it appropriate that the first thing I watched was Seinfeld.

Scary warning labels

Comparison with the old.

Coincidentally it was the episode where they buy a big screen for 'The Drake'

Moving-In

We are still very much still moving-in. Its nice to have all our stuff in one place and be able to eventually put it away. This past weekend both of our parents were so gracious to come and help us. We spent the first half of the Saturday cleaning up the house sitting house. Then the second half of the day moving/unpacking at our new place.

One idea I had was to do a stop motion of us bringing things in. I thought of it a little late as it would have been cooler to have started with an empty place and watch it fill up. As you'll see we already had a lot moved-in, so its more of unpacking. It covers several days and I think we'll keep it going until we reach the finished project. So more to come. We used Rebecca's camera and if it does stop motion automatically I couldn't figure it out. So everytime you walked by the camera you pushed the 'button' to take a 10 second delayed picture. The lens is a 14mm f/2.8.

My favorite part is the frames with dad sitting on the couch as the rest of us are moving things in. Looks like he was being lazy, but he had just finished putting up some shelving so it was a much deserved break.

We are finally moved into our new place, but no where near settled. Most of our stuff is still in boxes. Being in our own place has still been great though. One of the temporary adjustments has been no internet. Thus the reason for no posts about our new place. Right now we are sitting outside a closed Panera Bread stealing their internet. Rebecca had to upload some pictures which takes about an hour, so I watched The Event on my computer. Kind of a weird show so far, but its kept me interested so I'll keep going. Her pictures are about done so time for us to go.

Home Sweet Home

Unless something crazy happens, our home search has finally come to a close. This past week we had an inspector come check out the condo we'd made an offer on. He found a few things, but nothing major. It was mainly cosmetic stuff. We countered for a slight discount in order to repair the stuff ourselves. I got slightly nervous when it took them more than a day to respond. However they finally came back and countered halfway between ours and the original. I responded with a relieved "We'll take it."

Closing is on Monday. That will give us just under a week to clean it, move our stuff, and clean our current home for the owners to return.

It will be nice to not live out of a suitcase soon.

Third Time's the Charm

Its a common phrase in life and its been true in a few scenarios for Rebecca and me. Including Rebecca being the third girl I dated and me being the third boy Rebecca dated.

Another one to hopefully add to the list is our first home was the third we made an offer on. Condo number two countered much higher than what we were willing to spend on it. Condo three is the same layout as the second one, but cheaper and in better shape, so it was a no brainer to go with this one. As of today we have the contract signed. So the next step is to get an inspector. We are kind of on a tight schedule because we want to close by the end of the month for two reasons. Our house sitting gig ends October 3rd and something called a homestead tax has to be filed by October 1st or else your taxes are more expensive. 

The condo will probably need a few updates during the course that we live there, but nothing has to be done for us to move-in. Once again we are so fortunate to have so much and the Lord has been and always will be faithful to provide.

House Hunters

For the past 6 weeks Rebecca and I have been searching heavily for a place to live. We only have 2 1/2 weeks left in our house sitting gig, so time is running out. Looking for a home is a full time job. We have found two condos we like and made offers on both. The whole process is so complex and expensive. The first offer we made the seller decided to take it off the market, which I found odd. They didn't even try to counter. Maybe we low balled them so much it scared them from selling. The second offer is still on the table and has been there for almost 36 hours now. So we've been anxiously awaiting a phone call to tell us if we have a home or not.