Home Sweet Home

So, our house has been for sale for the past few months.  We've had soooo much interest.  We 'sold' it twice, but both times fell through due to the buyer's financing.  Because it's in a really good school district that has no apartment complexes, we have had tons of offers of land contract, rent-to-own, or just plain renting.

All the while, we've been looking into our options.  Do we want to buy or build?  I won't bore you with our insane list of pros/cons, but suffice it to say that we exhausted every option.  One of our big stumbling blocks was that I just don't see the point of buying or building a home that we know won't be our 'forever' house.  I totally get that plans change and life loves to throw curveballs, I just didn't want to buy or build a home that we were already planning to move out of eventually, you know?

We were pretty much planning on building until we realized that to build the house we would really want, we would have to extend ourselves to the top of the budget.  And frankly, that's just not a fun place to be.  We've been there for the past 8 years, and we don't want to go back.  We've just had a very unsettling feeling about this whole process.  It was seriously bumming me out because, hello, this is supposed to be fun!

Thanks to a very well-timed message from a friend, last night MacGyver and I had a very real conversation.  We looked at our assets and tried our best to look to the future.  We made a pretty big decision:  house NOT for sale!

We decided to pour just a little more of our souls into this home.  For starters, we love it.  We love the location, we love the lot, and we love how we've made it look over the past 7 years.  I love to walk through and remember all of the projects we did on our own, learning as we went.  This is the house we brought both of our babies home to, and we realized that we don't *have* to move.  Not now, and not ever.  Maybe we'll want to build our dream house in several years, but for now, we're going to make this our dream house.

Before we pass go, before we collect $200, we're going to add on a family room.  One of the biggest problems we have now is that we don't have a place for the toys or a second living space.  So we're going to add a room one, which is actually something that most people in our neighborhood have already done.  Then we'll re-arrange the current living space to create a more defined entryway and a toy room/office.

The best part is that we feel so good about it.  For the first time in so many months, it's exciting.  We're planning to stay here for at least another 10 years.  By then, student loans will be nothing but a memory, and we'll absolutely have 20% equity.  Then we can use this as a rental, which will be awesome since it is already generating such rental interest. 

So here's to a few months of drywall dust covering everything we own!

I Just Want These

Thankful Sunday

• i can't say I love 11:30 church {most of it is the :30 thing.  no one ever knows when to begin/end lessons}, but I do love lazy mornings.
• i'm so thankful for my new primary class.  i wasn't super thrilled about the idea, but it was so lovely to be back in primary, except not in charge!  my class is, ah, lively, but fun.  10- and 11-year-olds, which is an age i love.
• i'm thankful for my family's weight-loss challenge!  i'm 10 pounds down from christmas day, and feeling awesome about it.  i've been an unofficial member of weight watchers for years {read:  i don't pay them money}, and have always loved it.  after two weeks of not losing a pound, and not cheating even once, i decided to switch to counting calories.  ummm...i discovered that i was only eating 800 calories with weight watchers.  no wonder it stopped working!  you need at least 1200 for your body to function.  i'm doing 1200 now and feeling great.
• i'm thankful my brother-in-law moved back home.  he's fun to hang out with.
• we're considering building a home.  there is a TON that plays into it, and definite pros and cons, but i'm just thankful to have the choice.  who knows what we'll end up doing, but i like the deciding phase.
• i'm thankful for a bestie who trades pedicures for babysitting.  and she thinks SHE'S getting the better deal.

happy sunday!

New Boots

I got some new boots today!

I'm hoping to channel this:

 Yeah, I'm one of the creepy Americans who is obsessed with English royalty.

a little more than this:

Mission accomplished?  Let's hope so!  I think as long as a stay away from accessorizing with swords, I'll be okay.

One More

One more goal for '13!

MacGyver's fam is doing a weight-loss and general 'healthy living' challenge that started on January 1st.  It ends on Easter, and there is a cash prize for the person who loses the biggest percentage of body weight.

We're also doing a points system for healthy choices, like drinking 64 ounces of water {tough!!}, eating fruits and veggies, exercise, getting 7 hours of sleep, and no eating after 9pm.  There's a cash prize for the person with the most points, too.

So far I'm losing at both.  Big surprise.  I have 15-20 pounds to lose, so slow and steady is my motto.  2 pounds a week and I'll be golden.

Even though I'm losing the challenge {so far!  slow and steady wins the race!}, I'm still doing great!  Since Christmas Day, I've lost about 8 pounds.  I feel awesome!

I'm so happy to have some motivation to finally stop making and eating cookies.  Every day.

We used this as our inspiration, but simplified it a lot.

Do you have any weight loss/healthy living goals this year?

2013 Family Home Evening

Not sure what Family Home Evening is?  Also called FHE, it's an evening devoted to family time, a short gospel-based lesson and activity, snacks, and fun!

In 2013, it's happening in this house.

I know it's gonna happen because there is a plan.  I'm planning the weekly FHEs at the beginning of each month.

When I was Primary President, I really loved the monthly sharing time outlines.  So rather than re-invent the wheel, I'm just using those.  I figured it will be a good review for the Sunbean {who is now a CTR 4!} since she'll hear that lesson on Sunday.

I'm pretty excited about this plan.  Our FHEs are usually pretty haphazardly thrown together because I'm trying to take care of the kids/make dinner/etc all at the same time on Monday afternoon/evening.

If you'd like to join me, here's a copy of my monthly planner.  I'm all about the freebies lately!

2013 Goal Numero Uno

This year, I have three goals.  I'll post about them each separately because I'm wordy like that.

I'm doing three {fairly easy} goals because 2013 should include some life events, in particular either buying a new house or seriously adding on to this one.  I don't want to get bogged down by little projects, so I've chosen things that I can do in a few minutes each day, or even once a week.

So, the first is to read through the entire Standard Works {Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Pearl of Great Price}.  I saw the general idea on Pinterest {obvi}, but then found this link to a very good schedule.  It seems so insurmountable, but it's really not.  At all.

I've been doing it for three days now, and it really only takes 15-20 minutes.  Maybe less, actually.  I'm pretty familiar with the reading now {Genesis and 1 Nephi}, so I'm sure once I get into the 'thicker' parts of the Old Testament, it will be a little more challenging.  Or maybe not!

What I love most about this schedule is that it keeps you reading in different books at one time.  That's so much better for me, rather than 'powering through' one book at a time.

My only problem with that schedule above is that it isn't 'pretty'.  Yeah, I have a Photoshop problem.  So I made little cards and keep them with my scriptures.  Easy peasy.  I thought you might like them, too.

Happy reading!