one day weekend

Progress is coming right along on the new house! Even though I worked all day today, we got quite a bit accomplished in the house today. My mom worked for part of the morning and afternoon while I was at my regular work. After I got out of work, I met her at the house, and together we got the first coat of primer on the two bedrooms. My grandparents came over and cleaned the refrigerator out (it really really needed a good cleaning) and cleaned underneath and behind it and the stove. I am really impressed with all we have accomplished so far. The kitchen looks 100% better with the refrigerator cleaned and the bedrooms look a lot bigger just with a coat of primer on them! My uncle brought over my charcoal grill and fire pit, so I am ready for some outdoor get togethers as soon as I get the rest of my house finished! He also brought another "lovely" housewarming present that will be getting either returned or burned in the near future - a beautiful totum (sp?) pole. All in all, it is starting to sink in that I am actually a home owner and that I really do own my own property! I'm very excited and happy...despite the fact that I now I have no idea when they are going to be able to come to hook up my cable/internet/phone and I received a message on my answering machine today that they might not be able to bring my furniture this week. Regardless, I'm getting excited for the whole process to be complete :)

Work is going as crazy as ever. I'm glad we are busy (job security!) but sometimes it's a bit overwhelming. Saturdays are pretty laid back, but even so, it's still an 8-4:30 work day, which isn't much fun on a weekend. But you gotta do what you gotta do to make money, and I won't complain seeing as how it's only one Saturday a month! I was talking to one of the nurses at work today and she was telling me how she works the 12 hour shifts and she said that she basically works four 12s, which didn't sound so bad if it was four 12s on and four 12s off. But she proceeded to tell me how it was basically 12 hour shifts every other day. Talk about a really sucky schedule. It made me appreciate my work schedule even more so. I would rather work more days with less hours than less days with more hours. If that makes any sense. As long as I have enough time to relax at the end of the day, I'm happy!

Tomorrow's goal is to go to church and then get over to the house to put a second coat of primer on before we start the actual painting. I'm still taking plenty of pictures throughout the whole process, just haven't had the time to upload them all. It might be a while yet, but progress is being made, I guarantee that!

Home Ownership

I am officially a home owner. I can now watch HGTV with the satisfaction of knowing that I can attempt to do any of the same stuff they do to my very own house. I officially lost my "Property Virginity." Sandra Rinomato would be proud. I can't wait to post some pictures of my new place! The only problem is, I took my camera over there to take some "before" pictures and left the cord over there that connects the camera to my computer! Oh well...the pictures will just have to wait until another day.

The closing for the house took place today on my lunch hour. It only took about 20 minutes. My real estate agent even gave me a gift! A new candle and reed diffuser. That was so nice of her. I also got all the keys :) After work, I loaded up my car with a few things and headed right over to get started. My mom, grandparents, and my uncle all came over as well. We got a bit of cleaning done and started to prepare for the painting and cleaning that will be going on this weekend. I'm looking forward to it. My mom and I even sat outside for about 10 minutes and enjoyed some fresh air. I have to say, as pathetic as it sounds, my absolute favorite moment of being in my "own house" tonight was opening the windows and listening to the locusts and sounds of the country and sitting outside and looking at an open farm field. It may sound sad, but that is seriously something I have missed so much by being up in this apartment. I'm so glad to own a wide open space and have it all to myself :)

You can bet that I will be back there with another load of "stuff" as soon as I get out of work tomorrow afternoon!

Tomorrow I will take possession of my new house (if all goes well at the closing). I'm super excited! I can't wait to start making the house my own...especially being able to park my car in an attached garage and have a yard all to myself! I might just go sit outside in my yard and do nothing tomorrow night. Oh who am I kidding? I'll probably do some cleaning, do some painting, start moving some stuff, and not get around to sitting outside in the yard for another week or so..but I can't wait! Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well at the closing tomorrow!

Bills, Bills, Bills

Closing on the house this Friday! I am really excited :) Well, I'm excited, my bank account isn't. I'm still going to have to pay part of the closing costs because the bank has this policy where the sellers can only pay 3% of the purchase price, so who knows how much that is going to be. Plus I'll be making my down payment, which will take a huge chunk of money. I also just spent $1200 on furniture, $450 for the premium on my homeowners insurance, and $220 in paint and other supplies for the new house. Things add up very quickly this way! However, after Friday, I should be done spending so much money...Well, until I start paying back my student loans..sigh.

I spent over an hour on the phone this morning getting the electricity, gas, and tv/internet/phone ready to get set up at the new place. The electricity and gas should be turned on in my name on Friday. The tv/internet/phone has to wait until August 14! Looks like I will be sitting around for a while doing nothing if that's the case. I also went to the village office and had them get my water set up over at the house. So everything should be good to go! But we'll see. Something crazy always happens.

On top of all this, we are super swamped at work. It has been so busy, I can barely keep my head on straight. We are so short staffed right now with 2 people on vacation, 1 on maternity leave, and our full time PTA quit about a month ago (but there's a new one starting August 4). Right now, we have so many patients that almost every bed is full. That means, 2 beds in almost every room and it's very very cramped. My schedule for the day looks absolutely ridiculous every day I go in. I'm so glad I had today off, even if I do have to work on Saturday. I am going to enjoy every single second of this day. I don't know if I should be annoyed or flattered that the one day of the week that I am off, they called in extra people to help out (like people who work prn or as needed), so the schedule for today didn't look bad at all. However, those helpers aren't going to be there tomorrow, Friday, or Saturday, so when I get back, it's going to be crazy again. And I have to try to get to Archbold on my lunch hour on Friday to close on this house. It's going to be one stressful end of the week! But I'll take it in stride, because I officially really do need that paycheck now!

Exciting!

I am going to enjoy every single itty bitty last little second of this weekend. That is because my Monday schedule is absolutely ridiculously busy. I could barely even read the tiny little print on my schedule, because there were so many names on it. While that is a very good thing for me and for the hospital (because it means that we are busy), it's a little stressful when it means you are trying to cram in so many treatments in one day. It will be good for me though, because I will be that much more thankful when people come back from vacation and I have a somewhat "normal" schedule again. Plus, the days will go by so fast. However, I'm going to enjoy every last second of my free time until all this craziness begins!

I'm starting to get really really excited about the new house. I guess the whole thing hadn't really sunk in for me officially yet until today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the closing date will work out on Friday. I went and finalized my homeowners insurance today so that is all set to go. I just have to get to the bank and get all of the paperwork done with a lawyer I guess. I don't really know how "closings" work. I just know that I'm going to be making my down payment, paying for whatever is left of the closing costs (the sellers are paying part of that) and getting the keys to my new house! I started packing up a few things today. I'm going to start moving smaller stuff as soon as I get the keys. It's going to be such a busy busy process, but I am soooo excited. I can't wait to have a yard and a garage and have some peace and quiet. I am so blessed to have this opportunity.

As for today, I'm just laying around doing a few odds and ends around the apartment and watching mindless television. I might stop out to Harrison Lake tonight since one of my friends from work is camping out there. Other than that, this is a good weekend for me to just sit and be totally lazy.

House

The closing date for the house is tentatively set at this Friday. I'm a little leery about saying that is the for sure closing date, because I don't know yet if I'm going to be able to get out of work on time to do it. We have 2 therapists on vacation and one on maternity leave. So I don't know if they will let me leave early or not. Keep your fingers crossed. If it does work out, I will have officially bought a house! Well, I guess I have officially bought it, but I just need to sign the documents and get the keys. It's pretty exciting! I can't wait to get my furniture delivered and start making the house my own! Looks like I have a very busy few weeks coming up. Wow, life never slows down, but I'm enjoying every second of it right now!

Bite it

Nothing much to tell right now. I'm just relaxing and enjoying what's left of the day before the work week begins again. It's been another hot and humid weekend, but I really can't wait until I have a yard of my own to sit in and enjoy the outside weather.

I'm starting to get pretty excited about the house. I signed the rest of the paperwork on Friday and locked in my rate for 30 years fixed at 4.5%. That's a pretty awesome mortgage rate. I'm really really happy about it. So now we're just waiting for an appraisal and then they will set a closing date. I'm ready to start painting and fixing the place up!

I went and bought new furniture yesterday. As everything else, it ended up being much more expensive than I anticipated it would be. But, I got what I wanted and I'm excited to start decorating. I bought a couch and a leather recliner chair. It's going to be so much nicer than sitting on this old worn out futon and broken wicker chair!

Yesterday I became the newest member of the Lyons club here in Fayette. I wasn't expecting that to happen so fast, but they were having a cookout across the street, so I went over there to visit with everyone and fill out an application to become a member. My uncle said he would sponsor me and they ended up voting right then and there to let me in. It was a bit of a self-esteem boost that they voted for me so fast :) I decided to join because they do so much good for our community. It has always been my plan to do some sort of community service after I got done with school and studying. Now that I'm officially done with that, I decided to join the Lyons club because they do a lot of community service type things around town and around the county and that's exactly what I was looking for. I've been blessed with so much in my lifetime. It's the least I can do to try to give back to those around me.

Same old

Midway through the workweek, and not much is really new or exciting. We're starting to pick up a bit at work, which is good. Our A/C is still not fixed at work, which is not so good. But we're managing. Half the hospital still has A/C and luckily it's the half where all the patients' rooms are, so at least we have that to be thankful for.

I'm going to the bank on Friday after work to get the rest of my paperwork signed. The loan officer made it sound like most of the things that I signed before could be used for the actual mortgage, but I'll have to resign a few things and maybe then she can give me a better idea of when the appraisal is going to be so that I will have a better idea of when the closing is going to be. So basically right now I'm just waiting... and will probably continue waiting, so I might as well get used to it.

The rest of my life is pretty boring, although it feels like I have hardly any free time, I really can't think of anything else exciting to say!

Holding my eyelids open

I'm only writing this post today in an attempt to stay awake. This weekend has been very busy and tiring! Although I'm still so glad to NOT be studying, the process of trying to become a home-owner is almost as exhausting. The home inspector came today. The inspection took over 3 hours, but that's actually a good thing, because it means he was really really thorough and that makes me feel better. He found a few minor things that I already knew about, like a few doors that need trim and a place in the kitchen cabinets where some shelves had been removed that now have tiny holes in where the shelves were. He found a couple of drain pipes that should probably be checked out. The furnace and central air both worked, but he suggested having a professional come to clean the furnace just to be on the safe side. He did find that the crawl space was damp and needed to be aired out. However, the sump pump does work. He said that the best thing to do would be to air it out and then eventually have it insulated so it doesn't get as much water in it next time we have a big storm. All in all, he said it was a great house and there were no major concerns that should prevent me from moving in. So I'm excited! There are obviously a few things I need to do maintenance-wise, but overall, it's looking very positive! I'll feel better once everything goes through with the bank and the appraisal, but so far, so good.

Tomorrow I have my "official" orientation day for work at Bryan hospital. I guess this is where we take a tour of the hospital and all of the new renovations and watch all kinds of super exciting videos about patient rights and HIPAA and all that fun stuff. It should be 8-9 hours of pure excitement. But oh well...I'm getting paid for it. As long as there is free coffee involved, I'm all for it.

Inspection

The home inspection is tomorrow! I got the name of this guy from my real estate agent and he seems really nice. He actually prefers to do home inspections on the weekends because he works long hours in Toledo during the week. So he's coming tomorrow at 11:30 and assured me that he will do a thorough inspection of the house, including the crawl space and sump pump for all who are concerned. I'm anxious about this inspection, because I really really really want things to work out. I guess I will find out by tomorrow afternoon if there is anything I need to be concerned about.

I worked my first Saturday alone today and survived. Actually, our rehab director came in for a couple of hours in case I had any questions or needed any help with anything, which was really nice of her to do. Saturdays are pretty quiet around that place. It's actually a nice change of pace. I'm sure it would be a lot nicer if they were all like this one since I got to leave early, but I don't work another Saturday until the 31st and I'm sure that one will be busier.

I have no other news to report at the moment. I'm just going to relax and take it easy for the rest of the day today. I really wish I had a yard to sit in! But for now, I'll just lay inside in the A/C and watch mindless television.

busy busy

The paperwork is signed! The sales contract for my house is on its way to the bank for my loan officer. Exciting! Tomorrow I have to call and schedule a house inspector to come in. If all goes well, then I will meet with the bank and then wait for them to get an appraiser sent over. Then (if all goes well with the inspection and appraisal) it's more waiting until the closing and then it's time to paint and make this house my own! It's probably going to take 30-45 days for this whole process of closing, especially with me trying to coordinate with work when I can get all these meetings set up with the home inspector and the bank. In the meantime, I'll just sit and dream about what paint colors I'm going to choose and what new furniture I can afford.

Tomorrow I'm working my first Saturday alone! Well, I won't technically be alone. One of the PTAs from the outpatient department is working and one of the COTAs. Plus our rehab director said she would stop in in case I had any questions or needed help with something. It's still exciting to know that I'm starting to really get into the swing of things and working as a real PT! It feels good. I am absolutely loving it. No studying. Real paychecks. Life is good. I've been blessed for sure.

Woohoo!

I am officially in the process of purchasing a house! As I've been saying over and over again, I'm trying not to get too excited about it until everything is official and I have gone through the whole closing process. However, I have come to an agreement with the sellers on a purchase price and we are all signing the paperwork tomorrow! After that, I just go to the bank and resign all the forms I signed for my pre-approval (with the official purchase price) and then have an appraisal and inspection done and if all goes well I will be closing in a few weeks and will officially be a home owner! Ahhhhh I am so looking forward to it! I'm already picking out paint colors and deciding what I'm going to do to decorate. I'm really happy. I can't wait to make it my own.

Work is still going well also. Of course, no job is perfect, and I got another little dose of that today, but I really can't complain. I am just so thankful to have a job and to wake up in the morning and NOT be miserable. I actually look forward to talking with my coworkers every day and it's so rewarding at the end of the day to know that you made a positive difference in the lives of the patients. I absolutely love what I do and am so grateful for all that I have been blessed with.

:)

Day off

I am very much enjoying my day off today :) As much as I don't want to work on a Saturday, it's nice to have a day off during the week every now and then. I got some errands taken care of this morning and now I'm just relaxing inside in the A/C all day long.

I also just found out today that the greatest book series of all time is becoming a movie. I don't know who's going to be willing to go with me, but SOMEONE out there is going to get dragged along to go with me and see the new Ramona & Beezus movie. I'm so pathetically excited! I read those books all the time as a kid. I can't wait to see the movie. I don't care if it's me and a bunch of 8 year olds. I'm going to see that movie no matter what.

I'm still waiting to hear back on the offer I made on the house. The sellers have until tomorrow at 5pm to respond. I'm getting nervous. I really want this house. Right now I'm just waiting..not so patiently..and watching too much HGTV.

House

I made an offer on the house today that I have been looking at. Everyone keep your fingers crossed! I'm really excited, but a little nervous, because you never know if the people selling the house will think it's a decent offer or not. I'm anticipating that they will probably counter-offer, but even so, I'd like to think that in another month or so I will have a different place to live that I actually own and can design and style for myself. I should find out by Thursday at 5pm. That is how long the sellers have to respond to my offer.

Work is still going good. I have tomorrow off actually, because I work on Saturday. It's going at a decent pace right now, but I'm anticipating that it will get super busy very fast. One of the PTs is going to have a baby any day now and will be on maternity leave and another PT is going on a 2 week vacation at the end of this month. I think the rest of July just might be super busy in general. That's ok though, it's still a million times better than studying every night and not having a life!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July :) I have no special plans, just sitting inside in the A/C all day. Since I have no pool and it's 95 degrees outside, I think this is pretty much my only option for the day. I just made an iced coffee with lots of whipped cream to cheer myself up.

Not that I really need cheering up at the moment. Things are actually going pretty good right now. I'm enjoying the end of a long weekend that was very relaxing. I found out at the bank on Friday that I am pre-approved for a home loan :) That was very good news! I am going to make an offer on a house on Tuesday. However, I am trying not to get too excited about it, because something could still happen that it may not work out. I'd like to think that this is the house for me, but you never know. Whatever is meant to be will be I guess.

Tomorrow it's back to work. Weekends always go by so fast. But thank goodness I'm finally working and making money and not going to back to another clinical day and paying to be there! This week I'll be working my first Saturday alone. That's a little nerve-wracking, but someone out there must think I am capable!

Running

I guess life is coming at me too fast to update very often! But, I'm enjoying the beginning of a long weekend, so a bit of a break feels good. I really can't complain. We're getting pretty busy at work, which makes the days go by faster, but it's also a lot more hectic. I'm really enjoying it. I am so thankful for my job and the people I work with. I have been so blessed. No job is ever perfect, but this is by far the most enjoyable job I have ever had. It's so rewarding. I feel like I'm finally where I was meant to be and am fulfilling my purpose here on this earth.

I have tomorrow off work as my "4th of July" holiday, so this is actually a long weekend for me. I'll be glad for some time to sleep in and relax! I also have Wednesday off work next week, because I work Saturday, so I'm already getting what feels like vacation time, without even taking any!

Other than work, I've just made the decision to run either a half marathon or a full marathon this October in Columbus. It's for a good cause. Our church is having a meeting this week to see how we can tie in running or walking it to raising money for a fundraiser for a boy in our town who has leukemia. I'm not sure exactly yet how we're going to tie in running or walking the marathon or half marathon into raising money for him, but I'm assuming we will just try to get sponsors for it and then go run or walk. I really want to run the full marathon if I can. It's for such a good cause. I think I could raise a lot more money if it was for my first full marathon. I'm pretty sure I can do it if I really put my mind to it and start training. Wish me luck. I'm going to have to stop being so lazy, that's for sure. I'm going to set a big goal (the full marathon) so that if I don't make it quite to that point, I can still make it to my smaller goal (the half marathon). It's going to be brutal either way, but I have faith that I can do it!