It's a Wonderful World

Since we purchased our home, I have been the one who has lead the painting project. For the most part, it's been easy. I had an inspiration picture of our living room and consequently matched the paint color to that. We got our master bed spread as a wedding gift so that dictated what color the master would be. Our bathroom tiles are brown so we went bold in the bathroom and painted it Trusty Tan by Sherwin Williams. And I was veeery forward thinking with the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms by painting them kid friendly colors. Note I said *very forward thinking, no bun in the oven yet.

Well, we are making progress. Unfortunately we are STILL not in the house. All we need is 1) Grouted tile in the bathtub, and 2) An installed toilet. Both of which are supposed to be complete tonight. The rest of the stuff can be completed while we are living in the house. I am praying that the above projects will actually be done tonight. All I want for Christmas is to sleep in our house on Christmas Eve!!

So now that we've been home-owners for almost a month, I can pass on my wisdom to those less wise than I.

Who would have known owning a home was so sexy? Scottie and I have been proud owners for exactly one week. On October 29, Scottie and I closed on our first home.

The day we closed we went for one final walk through before the closing. The previous owner did a great job with cleaning - especially considering she was no spring chicken and it probably took a lot out of her to clean so much.

We went to closing not knowing what to expect. The closing went just how they show it on HGTV! Scottie and I bought some champagne and handed it out to everyone as all of the checks were distributed. What I found strange was the our Real Estate Agent and our Mortgage Broker both said they NEVER had champagne at a closing! OK so maybe HGTV does exagerate a bit on the closing process but I couldn't have imagined our closing without a little bubbly!

That night we had my parents and Scottie's mom over to pretty much rip EVERYTHING out. The previous owner was a smoker so we had to remove carpet, counters, the entire bathroom, amongst other things. She really hadn't done much to the house in about 25 years so there were old built in desks and super old light fixures that had to come out.

I will post "before" pictures soon. At this point we pretty much have a completely gutted house. This past week has been a ton of work but hopefully by next week we can start bringing new things in. Right now the two biggest projects include priming and painting all the walls, sanding down the bathroom walls since they were tiled and now the old ahesive is on the walls, and installing our new hard wood floors in the dining/living room. Yes, we are doing that all ourselves. Luckily we have so much support around us so we are getting tons of help.

During this past week, I have felt the following adjectives:

Happy, relieved, fortunate, complete, nervous, anxious, excited, exhausted, mad, annoyed, sad, patient, impatient, cold, hot, overwhelmed, confused, strong, weak, wet, smelly, bloody, bruised, defeated, empowered, did I mention exhausted?

But most importantly I have felt BLESSED to drive up to the house and call it OUR HOME.

On Scottie's birthday we had a few friends and some family over at my parent's house for some cake and ice cream. I made a yummy banana cake that seemed to go over well. It tastes just like banana bread but with a great cream cheese frosting on it. Every little thing about this cake is fattening... Enjoy!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband. Today Scottie turns 26 years old. He is now officially closer to 30 than 20 ... oh boy! I've known Scottie for 11 of his 26 years and I'm still learning new things about him everyday. Happy Birthday monk!

We just heard back from Chase, they have given us the final approval for the mortgage! Yes! Now we just have to wait to hear back from the Rural Department (which is backing the loan) and we should be clear to close! I'm hoping it will happen before 10/30. *fingers and toes are crossed*

Dear JP Morgan Chase,

I found this recipe on http://www.thenest.com/ and gave it a whirl for my mom and Scottie to try. I think it went over fairly well! Who is this recipe geared towards? Men! There could not be a better soup to serve on a fall afternoon. What would be better? Serve it on a Packer game day in the fall. Mmmmmm. It is VERY flavorful and even MORE filling!

Mac & Cheese Soup
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients

10 slices thick-cut bacon (substitute turkey bacon you health-concious people)

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

¼ cup all-purpose flour

One 14-ounce can vegetable broth

3 cups whole milk (substitue 2% milk for healthy folks)

1 tablespoon good-quality chili powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon dry mustard

4 cups (1 pound) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups dried elbow macaroni, cooked

Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Directions

Step 1 Cut the bacon strips into quarters. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove it to paper towels to drain.

Step 2 Add a little oil to the pan if needed, then add the onion. Cook the onion for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and continue cooking until the onion is soft and lightly browned, about another 5 minutes.

Step 3 Add the flour and mix well. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a simmer, stirring often.

Step 4 Add the milk, chili powder, pepper, and mustard. Return the soup to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cook for 3 minutes. Add the cheese and bacon and continue cooking and stirring until well blended, about 4 minutes.

Step 5 Add the macaroni and return to a simmer. Remove from the heat and serve, sprinkling with parsley.