It's Been So Long...

Ok, so I know it's been about twenty-eleven days since I wrote a blog. A LOT of shit has been going on in this day and time and I have been hesitant to talk about it because it has been changing on a DAILY basis! This is going to be long, but there is a lot to get out. There...there's your warning!

First of all, school is out! Today is the very last work day and we are waiting for just a couple of things to come in from Central Office so we can finish up our work and head on! I am so incredibly glad this year is over. I've heard the third year is the hardest, but didn't believe it. I believe it now. There were several things that went into this year being really tough, but IT IS OVER! I've made it! I've also completed the third year of my four years of payback for my North Carolina Teaching Fellows Scholarship. One more year and I've got college paid off! Not a bad deal, huh!

I plan on teaching for the next few years, but I honestly don't think I'm going to be a lifer. There is a lot more in this world than school and since I just finished my 20th year of school as either a student or a teacher, I'm thinking I won't be satisfied until I see what else is out there. I have no idea what I might venture into, but I'll keep you posted! : )

Aside from school being extremely stressful and eating up most of our time, WE ARE MOVING TO WINSTON SALEM!! Most of you already know this, but it just feels good to say it again! So, now onto the drama of that sitch-ee-ation.

Before the wedding, Jason and I spoke about the prospect of moving, but due to it's tense nature we decided to table that discussion until after the wedding was over. No need to ruin our last few weeks of engagement! So I'm pretty sure it was Sunday night at dinner (as in the Sunday after we got married on Saturday...impatient much?!) I casually brought up the discussion. It wasn't long before we had decided it would be best for us if we moved. So we called Jason's realtor that he bought the townhouse from. We started showing the house right before we left for Vegas. 3 weeks and SOLD! In this economy we were kind of worried about the place selling, but Jacksonville is apparently immune from a lot of the economic woes on the real estate side and the place got snatched up. So, we set the closing date for the last work day of school. That way we could move out of that place and into a new place (oh, if life were only so easy!). Other than the appraisal being $3,000 under what we sold the house for (meaning we lost $3,000 womp womp) everything with that has been pretty smooth. We have been packing for lord knows how long and my nerves are about shot. For someone that has slight to severe OCD (depending on the day), living in a sea of boxes = STRESSFUL. There were some bumps and clashes along the way (Read: Two really hard headed people who think they both know the right and perfect was to pack trying to pack together made for some very interesting nights and road trips and leave the other to their own devices!), but we've made it through and we're strong for it. We sign the papers today and move out tomorrow! The new people will sign and move in on Monday. Their only stipulation was that we had to get the carpets cleaned. I was shocked. Who doesn't love the smell of stank wet dog slapping you in the face when you come home from a long day!!

Ok, now onto the new house and its drama. So once we got back from Vegas we decided to start looking hard core for a new place. Erin, my brother-in-laws younger sister, is our realtor and she has been beyond amazing. She hooked us up with an MLS website that let us look at every single house for sale in all of the Triad Area. I'm not sure how Jason or I got any work done because we would both come home and talk about the houses we had found during our planning periods! We looked at houses that were WAY out of price range just for fun and we got down to some serious business at finding areas we could afford and the type of house we were both looking for. We determined there were a few main areas that fit us and so we started looking in Southern Forsyth County, close to Leslie and Will. There are a lot of houses down there and new ones are being developed every day. We even got pretty serious about building a house, but some things didn't work out with that and we ended up finding our dream home after that obsession was over. Erin called us one day and said she had found an incredible house. She went by there and looked at it and talked to the guy and took pictures and she just couldn't believe how much house there was for the price tag on it. Jason came home and had actually found the same house on the MLS site. I know things were falling in place. About a week or so later I got on the site and saw that the price of the house had gone up $43,000. I immediately called Erin and she said she had seen it and that she was working on it. She called the neighborhood representative (who is a friend of hers) and pretty much said that if we like the house we are going to offer the original price because that is ridiculous. The builder was just trying to make up for lost profit...but he's not going to do that here! So as soon as we could Ja and I hopped in the car and headed to Winston. Will, Greg, Michelle, Jason, Anna and I all went to the house and walked around. At one point Jason and I were walking at each other from opposite directions and we both mouthed, 'This is it!' It was absolutely beautiful. Hardwood floors in the kitchen, two car garage, stainless appliances (all of them!), finished bonus room upstairs, garden tub, separate shower, huge closest, and the list goes on and on. So we put an offer on the house. The guy that Erin was working with said that there were three offers on other houses that he was sending to the builder and maybe he could slip ours in for the original price. THEY TOOK IT! So we are stealing that house for everything we're getting. It is also in the perfect location. It is in the northern part of town where I used to live and it is down the street from Gold's, a BB&T, and under 10 minutes from both of our (prospective) jobs. We went through all of the loan applications and processes and we got approved and locked in and the only thing we needed...job contracts.

Well shit. We don't have jobs in Winston yet. We were busy finishing out the year here and with hiring freezes and job shortages, they weren't even able to talk to us.

We are now at the juncture of moving out of our place here and being homeless. Another storage shed has been rented (for a freaking dollar the second month!) and our things will have to sit and wait for all of our i's to be dotted and t's to be crossed. I am going to live with Mom and Dad since I'm going to keep Kamryn for another (and probably my last) summer. Ja will bounce around. We both have interviews coming up - mine is on Monday at 2 at Reagan and his is on Tuesday at 9 at North Forsyth. I can't tell you how amazingly wonderful it would be if we could both lock these jobs down. Then we could close on the house (which they have been nice enough to hold until we can get everything together - bless you!) and begin to get settled in to our first home together! I cannot wait and I wish I had a fast forward button so I could see how it all plays out. We are moving out blindly and just hoping and praying that it all works out. We will see!!

Ok, well that pretty much covers the last however long since I posted. If you stuck with that all the way to the end, congrats. You must have a lot of time on your hands! I'll do my best to do better with these things, but no promises. Once we get in and get settled I'll be sure to post pictures of what our new humble abode looks like! YAY!!