Home Sweet Home

And its OURS!!!!  We completed the walk through as well as signed the one million pages restating over and over that it was our house and we would pay for it.  I almost felt like asking for a moment of silence for all the slain trees on that one document.  Our agent was AMAZING and anyone looking or selling in the area please ask me for her contact information.  She made this whole process comfortable and fun!

Ed's birthday was a success.  After we signed I picked up my mother along with folding chairs and a table.  We grabbed mini cheesecakes and tarts from Whole Foods and some birthday decor and made the empty house into a mini party place.  It helped that my Aunt sent us two balloon collections.  One was Congrats on the new house and one was Happy Birthday for Eddie!

We met up at Mexican with friends and family for a great dinner and then went back to the decorated house for everyone to see and to give Eddie his gifts.  My mother had a Rhino painting (Ed's favorite animal since he was a little kid) commissioned for him.  His mother got him a gorgeous ladder ball set.  It is made of very pretty wood.  I got him a globe bar for the man cave.


His mother and grandparents gave us such sweet house warming gifts.  They are very precious and so special. This neighborhood is so friendly.  My car was in the driveway 10 minutes and two separate neighbors dropped in after seeing a different car and wanted to introduce themselves!

Today began home improvement.  We bought paint for a bunch of the rooms!  I am so lucky to have sisters and friends volunteering to help us paint over the next few weeks.  We are also painting  the closets and trim to brighten up all the white.  Eddie is going to rebuild our pantry and then on to improving the garage and the backyard.  We hope to have a housewarming this summer, but we won't be doing most of the yard until the fall.

I also kept on packing and found some great old books that I am putting up in our 4th room for all the kids to play in at family gatherings and for when we have a kid eventually.

Snacking & Shopping

Perfect snack for on the go.  I don't always want the normal easy-to-port cubical snacks such as 100 calorie bars and reduced fat Cheez-its.  So getting some fruit and variety in is great. Bonus is its all natural and gluten free.  I am allergic to EVERYTHING so these two facts please me greatly. Eating tiny/healthy meals constantly help to boost your metabolism too.

Tonight my mom and I joined some friends for a shopping party at a cute boutique in town center.  They catered cupcakes and yummy drinks.  I entered to hopefully win another shopping party.  Got the perfect blouse for signing on our house and celebrating Eddie's birthday on Friday!  Shopping & snacking make the best combination!

Longest week

This is going to be the longest week! So excited to sign on Friday.

I have been multitasking to stay busy. Ed and I LOVE banana bread so I made muffins.  The box stuff is great, but they're even better if you add some apple sauce, fresh bananas, and a tablespoon of vanilla extract!

I FINALLY finished all of our Easter cars.  I am hugely addicted to snail mail.  Formal invites and paper cards are more personal to me then text messages, evites, and facebook.  In the digital age a little old school can be refreshing.  Plus the stickers are great and it especially allows me to catch up with my grandparents and extended family members who aren't attached to their computers like some of us are.

And so the packing has started.  We began with the DVD and VHS collection along with books.  I am dividing things up based on what rooms they will go to in the new house.  Normally all of our movies stay together, but our niece gave us a suggestion.  We have a spare 4th room.  We were leaving it empty until we decide to have a kid.  We new we could use it as another guest room.  Bella suggested a toy room. At first we thought we had no toys, but then realized she was brilliant.  We have old Disney movies, my old dolls, etc so we are storing all of that in the spare room so when we have family gatherings if its raining or kids don't want to play outside they have a space to color and play and have some fun away from us stuffy adults.

Day 1 down!  Come on Friday!!!!

And so it Begins!

Eddie and I have both been working lots trying to make any extra money.  I am so proud to have a husband that works and hard as he does.  I worked until about 1 Saturday and then instead of dragging Ed all around after work I went to different stores with my mom and brought options home to him.

We are going to lay new carpet in The family/dining room, living room, stairs, 4th room, and our room.  I found great carpet at Lowe's. I wanted carpet that had a little variation in the color so you can't see every little piece of dirt.  Ed's job results in dirty shoes and unless I followed him with a vacuum I loose.  So this seems like a great solution.  It will be great to for whenever we decide to have kids because they are messy little creatures too.  We are also painting a few rooms.  Most have great colors already, but we will be painting the family/dining room and adding bead board as well as repainting the guest room, and Ed wants to paint the man cave too.  The master, the 4th room, the living room, & the kitchen have wonderful color choices already.  We agreed on the family/dining room and guest room, but have to go back for more man cave colors!

Now begins the packing process!  I have had some amazing friends help out with box and newspaper donations.  We found out to check out the "donated" boxes section at the U-Haul places too.  Other than boxes I am a big believer in using suitcases.  We will wait on our hanging clothes and throw them in a comforter and lug them like that over to the new place.  We have a month and a half so we can slowly move and unpack something prior to the big furniture being brought in.

SURPRISE

I have been slacking on my blogging because I had a very large secret.  We are buying a house!  We got the call this week to set up utilities.  We are so excited.  Be ready for home improvement and crafting blogs.  It is perfect and in the exact location we wanted.  The best part is all that is really needed is things that have to do with our tastes verses the previous owner.

Hoping that furniture sales happen ASAP.  The best thing I have learned is to excepted almost anything offered.  Luckily my mother is getting new furniture so we shall be taking her old set off her hands.  We cannot wait to be able to have our wedding gifts in our home.  It will be fun reopening all of them and remembering what we have.

Spending all weekend cleaning, purging, and packing.  Throwing out anything still in a box from our move 2 years ago!!!  We decided to not be rushed so even though we close this month we have until the end of May to move.  It makes it easier to paint and lay new carpet in an empty home and then fill it slowly with all of your belongings. 

I know our friends will be incredibly happy because we will actually hire a moving company this time hehe.  All of those lovely movers who volunteered last time will only have to sit back and relax this time.

Today is work's Spring into Spring potluck.  I made fun colored Hummingbird cupcakes.  They are super sweet and easy.  Flour, a bunch of sugar, fruit such as bananas, peaches, & pineapple, vanilla, and cinnamon and TADA all done!  Decorate with fun colored icing!

Have a lovely Friday!

Deck the Halls!

Christmas is now in full effect here in the Granger home even if I am currently in a t-shirt & flip flops.  The tree is decorated, the manger scene is up, the Christmas cards are stamped, & the gifts are BOUGHT.  I only have a few tiny extras for Eddie, but he still has almost all of his shopping for me to do.  Other than each other we are DONE DONE DONE.  So relieved to have everything bought before my grandparents arrive.  Now I can visit with them more when they are here.

Next step will be wrapping, crafting, & in some cases shipping.  I have opted to do a few homemade gifts this year thanks to pinterest:

 I will be making "Candy Cane Vodka" in which you put candy canes in a mason jar and fill with vodka.  Let sit (it turns the clear liquid red) then decorate with a lovely bow. You may want to attach a drink recipe or two that use the peppermint drink.

I am also making a homemade scent jar.  Put cinnamon sticks, an orange, cloves, and dried cranberries in a mason jar and decorate.  You then attach the directions card. "Cut up the orange and then put it and all other ingredients in a pan with water and heat on low."  Makes a yummy smelling potpourri you can use over and over all winter long.

I love wrapping gifts it really gets me into the holiday spirit.  Next will come cookie baking followed with family time.  I hope people remember the reason for the season.  Sometimes too much focus is placed on the gifts and not the spirit of Christmas.  I have tried to follow the "Acts of Kindness" pledge.  I bought the coffee for the girl behind me at the Starbucks drive through (she looked like it was a rough morning).  I also donated money to a charity at work and mailed Christmas cards to the troops.  Next stop is Angel tree or something similar in nature.

It is a wonderful time of year and I hope everyone enjoys.

When did I turn 24?!?!

Tomorrow marks the 24th year I have been in this world.  I am so thankful for my life.  I continue to pray and appreciate and remember to experience everything I can.  Its fun to look back and think about birthdays past.  Remember friends you had and where they are now.  Patterns develop as we grow.  The events and the people become similar with each year.

This year we started a day early with pizza and tons of story telling at my Dad's with my brother.  It was nice  to be able to spend time with both my brother and father since we all work completely opposite schedules.   Eddie had me open my gift early.  The gift was great , but my favorite part was the card.  He normally addresses them "Birthday girl", but this year it read "Birthday Wifey".

Tomorrow after works we are taking the puppy and going over to my moms.  I am so excited to go see "A Christmas Carol" Friday with my mother-in-law, grandmother-in-law, Eddie, mom, and Pulley.  It will be so much fun.  This year to celebrate with friends we are going out on Saturday and I am very excited.

The cards are finally done.  I bought 3 different kinds and tried to match the card to the family.  You never want to send a "Merry Christmas" card if they don't celebrate Christmas.  Investing in some general "Happy Holidays" to send out to associates, friends, or those that do not celebrate Christmas is always a good idea.  They also allow for you to have more options and then everyone doesn't get the same card.  Each year we try to personalize them a little.  It's nice to be able to send cards to your loved ones and use them to touch base with some people you may not get to keep in contact with often.  We also send out smaller batches of other holiday cards through out the year.  I suggest creating spreadsheets then you just have to print labels each season.

My friend Sam has taken the "100 Random Acts of Kindness" Challenge.  Her first 4 have been very inspiring and yet relatively easy acts.  This has inspired me to try to do at least one a day between now and the new year.  Tis the season of giving.  "Remember the Reason for the Season:  CHRISTmas" is one of my favorites this time of year.  I worry too many people concentrate on gifts and materials.  This is a nice way to keep things in perspective.  We sent extra cards out to the Red Cross to be sent to our troops.  We all complain about working some on Christmas Eve or day or New Years Eve or day; when these men and women are risking their lives all day, every day being deployed.  The least we can do is send some cards.  I think my first "Act" will be taken from yet another friend's.  I plan on a starbucks run in the morning and I think I will pay for the coffee behind me :)

This is the first Christmas as husband and wife and I couldn't ask for a better partner in it all.  I am truly blessed to be married to such an amazing man.