My 8's

8 things I am looking forward to:
1. The upcoming three day weekend
2. Closing on the house
3. The school year being over
4. Rachel's graduation
5. Wicked
6. Renovating the house
7. Skydiving
8. An old friend moving into town

8 things I did yesterday:
1. Forgot whether or not I closed the garage door
2. Taught about red dwarfs, yellow stars, and blue giants
3. Entered grades
4. Read updated blogs
5. Ate a greasy cheese pizza from Schlotzsky's
6. Hooked up my aunt's computer
7. Backed my car into a trashcan
8. Fell asleep at the computer

8 things I wish I could do:
1. Stop procrastinating
2. Be more decisive
3. Be less of an introvert
4. Run a 5K
5. Do volunteer work
6. Be a domestic diva
7. Travel--for FREE
8. Think of an 8th thing to add to this list

8 shows I watch:
1. Monk
2. The Biggest Loser
3. Moving Up
4. Property Ladder
5. The Real Housewives of Orange County
6. America's Next Top Model
7. Food Network Challenge (Cake Challenges)
8. Golden Girls

8 people I tag:
1. Sarah
2. The other Sarah
3. Stacey
4. Emily
5. The other Emily
6. Erin
7. The random person who just stumbled upon my blog
8. YOU!

TWO NEW POSTS BELOW! TAKE A LOOK! :)

Haha!

Sooooo Ready!

I am soooooooooooo ready to be done with this school year, even more so than many of my students. It's not like I have super exciting plans for the summer that I just can't wait to get to, I just need a BREAK! Ten and a half more school days. . . I must push through. I must also do lesson plans before the day I am supposed to teach them. Procrastination is really getting the best of me.

Speaking of summer plans:

• We are closing on the house in less than 10 days! :) We have lots of plans for renovations and I really hope to take some great before and after shots. We'll be moved in by the end of June.
• Rachel is graduating on June 6th, and on June 9th she, my mom, and I are going to see Wicked in San Antonio!
• Eric and I are planning to go skydiving, maybe for our anniversary. Gotta keep the marriage exciting, right?!
• A really good friend from high school will be moving into town mid-summer. Yay for good old friends!

Okay, so maybe I do have some exciting summer plans. Bring on summer!

Make Me Babies

I was perusing blogs last night and came across something I thought was pretty funny. Remember in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days Andie creates a book for Ben with pictures of them and their future children? Well there is actually a website out there, for entertainment purposes only of course, that lets you upload pictures and, as it says, "make a baby." I had some fun playing with it last night, so here's a sneak peek at the future Little Thornals:

Signed Contract and 30 Day Shred

We presented our offer to the sellers and they accepted! Last night we signed the contract. Our closing date will be May 28th and we will use the month of June to make some updates before we move in, i.e. paint, install a doggy door, replace the flooring in the bathrooms. Here are some of the not-so-great pictures I took the other night:

In other news Eric and I did our first session of 30 Day Shred. I'd been reading about it on other blogs and decided we should give it a shot. Now I don't pride myself on being in great shape (not even good shape), but I had no idea what bad shape I am in! The workout session was only 20 minutes long, but I had to take SEVERAL breaks. It consisted of 3 circuits--strength training, cardio, and abs. I've been doing Pilate's so the abs part was a piece of cake, but the other two were killers. At the end of 20 minutes my legs and arms were like jelly. I'm going to be SORE tomorrow! If anyone out there is short on time, yet still looking for an intense workout, give 30 Day Shred a shot.

Queen of Returns

Today I made my biggest return yet--a house! After lots thinking, praying, and talking we decided to back out of the Centex home we were building. Talk about a relief! There were so many issues burdening us and when we signed the termination papers today a big weight was lifted. Thank you to all of you who left encouraging comments; I appreciated them!

So what now? The house from the previous post is still available. We've seen it several times now. It appears to be in good shape, it's just in need of some updating. With the $8,000 we'll get for being first time buyers, we should be able to complete the needed updates. I'd post some of the pictures I took the other night, but they're not that great. The battery on the camera was dying so I was running around like crazy just trying to get a basic idea of the house. We're waiting for the owners to get back in town so we can talk prices. I'll let you know how it goes!

Stressed!

So I'm totally freaking out about our house which is currently under construction. Eric and I knew that when buying a home one makes compromises. By building in our current area we are definitely compromising trees as well as house individuality. All of the houses in the area look practically identical with the exception of the shape of the porches. We are also building in a neighborhood that is still growing so we don't know what it will be like after a few years. A couple of other drawbacks are the smallish backyard and no storage space, i.e. no attic. To top it off, last night we got an email from our field manager telling us that next Monday will be his last day and so two other guys will be finishing our house. I'm sure that's not a big deal and that it happens all the time in construction, but I don't do change well and it makes me nervous for someone to come in and finish up our house.

Now you may be thinking, "So if you felt like you were compromising so much, then why are you building there?" Well, at the time that we were looking for houses we didn't come across any in our price range that we liked, not to mention I didn't want to have to clean up somebody else's mess. In my mind, if we built a house than it would be clean and would have a floor plan that we liked. I still like the floor plan of the house we're building with the exception of the garage that is only big enough for 1 normal sized car and a Smart car. I love that it has 3 bedrooms plus a study so that we don't have to create an office in the living room. Eric likes the bathroom that has a separate shower and garden tub. We both liked the incentives--free washer and dryer, refrigerator, and $10,000 of upgrades. Although I do have to say, we had to "upgrade" for some silly things like window sills and an operating garage door.

Eric would prefer to live in the neighborhood we are currently living in because it is established. Well because I was freaking out this afternoon, I decided to drive around and see if any homes I liked were for sale. I have seen tons of homes for sale in our area recently and I as I was driving by today I noticed that nearly everyone has been sold. Then I found a house that is still available and for sale by owner. They had fliers on the sign, so I grabbed one and took it home. The asking price for the house is close to what we're paying to build. The strange thing about the house is it has the same floor plan as my aunt's house. Would that be too weird? The drawbacks are that the house is only 3 bedrooms which is okay, but not great. If we have a couple of kids one day, we'd have to put the computer out in the living room. Also, a refrigerator does not appear to be part of the deal. The good things: it has at least one tree, separate garden tub and shower, floored attic for storage, patio, 2 car garage, fireplace, a larger backyard, and it's in the neighborhood Eric likes. I haven't called to make an appointment to see it. Perhaps its dumpy inside. Perhaps it already has sold, but the sign is just not down.

Aaaahhhh! Dilemma! I don't know what to do! After reading what I just wrote, I'm thinking, "Obviously you prefer this home you found today. Forget the other one!" If we "forget" the other one, we'd be out at least our earnest money. :( This is stressful. I wish someone could just tell me what to do! Wouldn't it sometimes be nice if life was just that easy?

If you made it this far, thanks for reading my rant. All comments and suggestions are appreciated.