Five on Friday

I know I say this every week...but this week has been a blur. They are all definitely like that lately. I honestly can't wait for when I can say, "Well, not much went on this week."

Anyway, we're moving along in the home selling and buying process...just basically waiting on me to get my 30 days worth of pay stubs in my new position with my new salary and then we are good to close on schedule on September 15th.

Here are my five random thoughts for this week...

{one}
I packed a good bit away into storage when we listed the house, but now I've got to actually look at really PACKING and the thought of it has me overwhelmed. I need some good tips. I can't decide whether to go by room or like items...I'm thinking by room...but I am scouring Pinterest like a mad woman to find any and every good tip to make this process smoother/easier/efficient. I've been collecting boxes as I can and I'll probably spend a good portion of this weekend throwing away a lot of things. Here are some of my favorite packing tips I've found so far that I will definitely use.

This is perfect and will make it so easy to just
hang everything back up. Tear off the bag and go!

I started doing this one already when I was
putting boxes in storage.{tw

{two}
I had my job orientation last Friday and Monday and on Tuesday I was finally sitting in my desk. It's been an interesting week. My boss is actually out of town this week and next, so he's left me a list of to-do's...basically just talking to a few key people in the organization about what they do and where I will fit in. So it's been somewhat of a lax week, but still busy trying to take it all in.


{three}
I feel like all the stress and busy-ness of the last few weeks has gotten me seriously off track fitness-wise. I'm definitely not feeling like myself...and of course, not working out only makes me more stressed. I think I've found that I can squeeze in the gym right after work and I'm going to do that. The 4am thing was just wearing me too thin because I can't seem to get to bed before 10pm most nights. I also can't wait until school is back in session for the kids because it just makes it SO much easier. And not to mention, it's a lot nicer to run in fall weather.


{four}
Despite not being so good about working out lately, I have been good about meal prepping and clean eating. I figure that's actually the most important factor, so if that's on track, I'm not too shabby. I'm not perfect...man, if I could give up wine, who knows what I could accomplish?! Haha, like that's ever going to happen.

{five}
I've got nothin'. I'm exhausted. Have a great weekend!

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Monday Musings

This weekend has been crazy...and by crazy I mean sort of a roller coaster of emotions. It started with Friday, having to be at Boeing employee orientation all day, simultaneously waiting to hear back from our counteroffer for the sale of our house. Unfortunately, as perfect as the situation seemed, the buyer did not accept our counteroffer and decided to move on. I felt defeated {and pretty much just emotionally and physically exhausted over what I'd been through in the last few weeks with preparing and listing this house} and really worried that we may be looking down the barrel at having two mortgages for an indefinite amount of time beginning in September when we closed on our new house. Had we been too bold in our decision to put an offer on our dream home while still not having ours under contract to be sold?

Then something amazing happened...we had a showing Friday night and then heard late on Saturday that they had issued an offer.

But let me preface this with a little story. I have a friend on Facebook that once worked in the same organization with me at Boeing when I worked there a couple years ago. We knew each other mostly in passing as we never directly worked with each other, but we knew each other enough and eventually became Facebook friends. So anyway, on Saturday at some point, I see a post of his in my News Feed, which I really do not usually see posts from him, so that was random. It said something along the lines of "This buying a house stuff is ridiculous." He had posted it late Friday night. I jokingly decided to comment, "SELLING a house is ridiculous. Come look at mine!" and "It's close to BOEING!!!"

Turns out, he had already looked at my house {he was the one on Friday night}...I found this out when we got the offer back and it had his name on it. I was like "Whhaaaaaa????!!!!" No way. We countered back what we thought was a fair meet in the middle and he accepted. Contract ratified...I am so happy...and I know he and his wife are happy to own their first home together soon. It is a small world...he said he had laughed when he walked in and saw my family pictures everywhere.

So a big relief for us...we are closing on ours the day after we close on our new home. I am just in awe of how the stars seemed to align for us in this. It seems surreal. But I am so thankful. So of course I let him know to tell his wife about the neighborhood wine night and also that we are moving in the neighborhood just behind them {wine club encompasses both neighborhoods} and will still be like neighbors. Happy to make them feel welcome in the neighborhood.

Anyway, today I am at Boeing again for my 2nd and final day of orientation...tomorrow I will officially start my new position. It's funny having to do orientation even though my contractor status has been a cumulative of almost two years, so I pretty much know all I need to know. But it's process, so it is what it is. I am just eager to get started in my new role!

I look back at this year and I honestly can't believe how much change has come upon us in such a short time. The opportunity to work back at Boeing and then that ending up in landing a permanent position...then that spurring us to put our house on the market since the market had come back up and we could afford a bigger house...to us finding our perfect house for our family...I just truly can't believe it all...it has been a whirlwind six months. Seriously, pinch me.

Have a great week y'all....xoxo

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Home Tour

Now that we are looking at leaving our house in just 6-7 weeks from now, I finally got around to compiling my house photos into a Home Tour page here on the blog. The rooms all changed quite a few times throughout our 7-1/2 year era in this house. I am happy with where it ended up and also happy to start fresh and new with our new home. I will add our new home tour to that page as well when I have things put together.

Go take the tour!

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Wednesdays: Pampers & Pearls // Fitness Blondie // Because Shanna Said So // The Pleated Poppy // Get Your Pretty On // Let It Be Beautiful // Tucker Up // Pumps & Pushups // Shopping My Closet // Cappuccino & Fashion // Classy Yet Trendy // Book of Leisure

Thursdays: Home of Malones // East Coast Chic // Living In Color Style // Stylin’ In St. Louis // What I Wore To Work // What Wives Wear // Look What I Got // ThrowBack Thursday
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Monday Musings

We've had a busy weekend...

Our house listed on Thursday and so far has had three showings, so I've been doing my best to keep it as immaculate as humanly possible with three kids under 10. I keep praying it won't be much longer until we get an offer and won't have to be unrealistically clean for an indefinite amount of time.

On Friday, I went to an awesome art supply store called Artists & Craftsmen in downtown Charleston that I've been meaning to see. I got a few new acrylic paints and a sketch book, but I'm already itching to go back.

I started work on this piece, but still have a bit to go until I'll call it "finished".

Also on Friday, I was home from work and had the boys with me, but we also had a cleaning lady come and deep clean the house, so I had to get them out of the house. We went out to eat and then to Sky Zone to wear off some energy. It was nice having time with just the two of them.

And then that night, I went out for a much-needed evening of wine and appetizers with a couple of girlfriends.

Saturday, Jake got a lot of the to-do list for the house completed {that we had hoped would be done before listing, but oh well, it's done now!} and then we took the kids to the pool.

Sunday, we went to church, did a bit MORE work on the house {I'm calling it done now!} and I managed to get some meal prep done for this week! I am determined to get on a normal schedule with it and keep at it. As long as I get it prepared, staying on course is the easy part.

We then just sort of relaxed and laid low with the exception of having to rush out of the house for a last-minute showing. I am getting anxious about selling the house quickly and just keeping my hopes and faith high that it will.

Hope y'all have a great week!

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Wednesdays: Pampers & Pearls // Fitness Blondie // Because Shanna Said So // The Pleated Poppy // Get Your Pretty On // Let It Be Beautiful // Tucker Up // Pumps & Pushups // Shopping My Closet // Cappuccino & Fashion // Classy Yet Trendy // Book of Leisure

Thursdays: Home of Malones // East Coast Chic // Living In Color Style // Stylin’ In St. Louis // What I Wore To Work // What Wives Wear // Look What I Got // ThrowBack Thursday
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Thoughts For Thursday

Lots of thoughts for this Thursday...

We have plans to meet with the homeowner of the house we want and officially lay out our offer. As long as all goes well, we should be moving mid-September! I am so excited about this house and so ready to have a little more space for our family of five. We've had a good 7 years in our current house, and well, if it ain't true what they say about that 7-year itch...haha.

Our house officially goes on the market today. We signed the listing agreement last night. We have been working so hard the last week getting clutter cleared, taking care of looming projects (stairwell painting and finishing up the bathroom remodel). The only thing left is a deep cleaning and carpet cleaning which are being done Friday and Tuesday, respectively. I am just praying that our house sells quickly...we are ready to move on.

I start my permanent position at Boeing next Friday. This last week of work is a bit weird and light on the workload, but it's kind of a blessing in disguise with all the stuff going on with the house. I reached a point the other day where I think that it all just caught up to me and I just found myself completely exhausted - mentally and physically. I mean, mind you, between a full-time job and getting the house ready to go, we still have three kids running around! I just can't wait until a couple months from now when we can get settled and this will all be a distant memory.

Linking Up With:

Mondays: Life Of Meg // Still Being Molly // Lipgloss & Crayons // B Loved Boston // Fizz & Frosting // More Pieces of Me

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Wednesdays: Pampers & Pearls // Fitness Blondie // Because Shanna Said So // The Pleated Poppy // Get Your Pretty On // Let It Be Beautiful // Tucker Up // Pumps & Pushups // Shopping My Closet // Cappuccino & Fashion // Classy Yet Trendy // Book of Leisure

Thursdays: Home of Malones // East Coast Chic // Living In Color Style // Stylin’ In St. Louis // What I Wore To Work // What Wives Wear // Look What I Got // ThrowBack Thursday
Fridays: Hello, Happiness! // The Good Life // A. Liz Adventures // Carolina Charm // Lauren Elizabeth // Meet @ The Barre // September Farm // The Farmer’s Wife // All The Joys // Momfessionals

Monday Musings

It has been a while since I blogged! I totally did not expect that to happen...last week started out as any normal week {with the exception of recovery from the 4th}...but then I went and got bored...and in my boredom decided that I'd officially get us moving on listing our house for sale and getting a loan for a new one.

Holy Moly.

It has all happened so fast. I called the VA on Tuesday about a loan...got pre-qualified...started digging through our files {which thank God, are meticulously organized} to get them all the paperwork they needed to work on our file and get our approval letter to us. I also met with a realtor to look at houses in one of my desired areas {and fell in love with a couple, but I'm having trouble getting the husband to agree to the tad further distance to and from work}.

But then something really wonderful happened...one of my neighborhood wine club friends put a post on the neighborhood Facebook pages asking if anyone knew of any 4-bedroom houses coming on the market soon {apparently, my wine club gals do not want me to leave!} One guy responded that his was going to go on the market in a few weeks, so we started messaging about it and he agreed to go ahead and let me see it. {FYI, this is the neighborhood right behind us, the houses are a bit nicer and larger.}

I. Loved. It.

It is the perfect layout, size and price. We agreed to forgo realtors for the sale since he hadn't listed yet and we just walked in without representation. As long as the stars stay aligned, we are signing the contract this week once we get the official letter of approval and could close as early as September 1st! It just seems so surreal to me right now, but I am so stoked.

Meanwhile, I've hired a realtor to put our house on the market and she has certainly put me to work. We plan to list it later this week. I spent the majority of last week and all this weekend packing the items we won't necessarily need for a couple of months and put them in a storage unit...also some furniture and other clutter to clear so the house would be better staged for showing. I had a pine straw guy come out and make our landscaping look a little nicer and I have a cleaning lady scheduled later this week.

It has just been a whirlwind...and it's all happening so fast.

I'll keep y'all updated on the progress, and I'll definitely try to be more present this week on the blog, however, there really is just a lot to do, so I'm going to do my best.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the last week...

Farrah is old enough for the race car shopping cart, which makes Breckin very happy.

Loves her blanket...will just go lay down if I lay it out.

Waiting for friends? Take a selfie to pass the time. It is definitely time to dye my hair dark again.

Have a great week, y'all!

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Linking Up With:

Mondays: Life Of Meg // Still Being Molly // Lipgloss & Crayons // B Loved Boston // Fizz & Frosting // More Pieces of Me

Tuesdays: Bless Her Heart Y’All // 2 Cats & Chloe // Style Elixir // Designed Décor // Enjoy The View // Olives 'n Wine // Confident Twosdays

Wednesdays: Pampers & Pearls // Fitness Blondie // Because Shanna Said So // The Pleated Poppy // Get Your Pretty On // Let It Be Beautiful // Tucker Up // Pumps & Pushups // Shopping My Closet // Cappuccino & Fashion // Classy Yet Trendy // Book of Leisure

Thursdays: Home of Malones // East Coast Chic // Living In Color Style // Stylin’ In St. Louis // What I Wore To Work // What Wives Wear // Look What I Got // ThrowBack Thursday
Fridays: Hello, Happiness! // The Good Life // A. Liz Adventures // Carolina Charm // Lauren Elizabeth // Meet @ The Barre // September Farm // The Farmer’s Wife // All The Joys // Momfessionals