Category: home

There’s A First Time For Everything

After nearly three years, I’ve finally done it. Hosted a play date, at my house! It was fun. I had a friend** over, with her two little girls. They’re 22 months & 10 months old and it was good times. We grew up across the street from each other, and our parents still live in the same houses. Thanks to Facebook, we reconnected and have been in touch since. And who says that that Internet isn’t good for anything??

I’m just glad to be staying on course with my intentions with this home. Because this house is such a blessing to me, I just want to be sure to share that with my friends and loved ones. Our condo was smaller and made entertaining a wee bit challenging. Living with my in-laws made entertaining virtually impossible, simply by the fact that it wasn’t my home. But there’s no need for excuses any longer. It’s time to just do it.

So there’s no artwork or personal pictures up on the walls. The stucco isn’t even on yet. The bigger point is that I have a place, it’s a gift from God and I believe that it’s meant to be shared.

(**Friend runs her own home business. Check it out here.)

Home Sweet Home

Greetings from above ground!
Yes, we’ve finally moved into our new home–yay! It feels great to be living above ground again and in our own space. The sisters are very happy to see us in our own home, after living with them for just over a year. I’m very, very thankful for their generosity and open hearts to let us live with them. The house isn’t that huge, but we made do. They let us stay in the basement (which was actually bigger than our condo). We never had one fight between us and had fun living together. Things did get tighter back in May, when another family moved in, but through prayer, it’s all over.
The new house is fun. It’s fantastic to have my bed back!!! I’ve pretty much spent most of the last year sleeping on a futon. Yes, that’s correct, even while pregnant, I slept on a futon. My king size mattress couldn’t fit down the stairs to the basement, so it was camping out in the garage for the last year. It’s great to have my own kitchen and my own appliances. When things got tight in May, fridge space was nearly non-existant, and counter space was hard to find. Now I can get back to cooking for my family. I can have people over at my leisure, and there’s room for them…LOL. And I have a garage. It’s not fun parking outside in the dead of winter.
Jamayia’s having a blast in the new house. She loves her new room, and the bathrooms and all the doors with french handles, which make it easier for her to open them. She loves the pantry–great little room for her to play in, so she thinks.
And now a couple pics…

Part of the kitchen. (The dishwasher still isn’t in because the gable was crooked and now the flooring also needs repairs. Know anyone who can install dishwashers??)

Other side of the kitchen.

Greetings From The Basement

Yes, we’re still homeless. At the same time, we’re just thanking God that we’re not shelterless. In case you missed the memo, we’re living in a basement. And really, the floorspace here is slightly bigger than our condo. The homeowners rock–they let us visit upstairs and everything. LOL. That sounds wayyyy worse than it actually is. Living here’s been cool and I honestly have no complaints.
Although, I’ve gotta say that it’s interesting to hear different people’s comment. And the majority of them have been negative. The various negative assumptions include the following:
  • we’re broke
  • the landlords are broke
  • my parents didn’t want us
  • we’re mooching
  • we’re not getting along
  • we’re supporting the landlords
  • the landlords are supporting us
  • we’re too picky
I’m sure there are others, but this is all I can remember at this point. Quite frankly, all I have to say is good riddance to the naysayers. Think what you want, but if you want the truth, you should ask me. Until then, I’ll just be catching jokes from the perplexed looks I get from the Negative Neils & Nellies. I will not have a conniption over what you’re thinking! LOL.

How’s the house hunt going? Extremely slowly. The market’s kinda slow right now and the pickings are slim. The other nite, we were on MLS and there was a big $60K gap in housing prices that were currently on the market. The homes on the lower end of the scale are just a shade too small. And the homes on the higher end are just kinda pushing it financially. **sigh** We’ll just have to continue with the waiting game. We refuse to rush into a home just to say that we have one and a whole truckload of regrets too. But I know that when we see the right home for us, you’ll be able to hear it by our joyous celebrations.

In the meantime, here are some photos to catch you up on what’s been happening here.

SOLD!!

Once upon a time, a dude came and put this on our front “lawn”…
Well, it’s now sold! Yippee. I’m sure the sold attachment will arrive while I’m gone, so I probably won’t get a pick. But that still doesn’t change the fact that it’s sold. It took a little longer than we though. This was our second offer. The first person totally low-balled us, but we weren’t that desperate to just settle. We did a little volleying action with this offer too—and they accepted. The phone call from my agent went like sorta this:

Sabrina: Hello.
Brent: Hi Sabrina, how are you? So, we had to take the buyers to the hospital…
Sabrina: (in my head) gasp… Whappened?? (out loud) Really?
Brent: (in a laughing tone) Yeah, we beat them up so badly that they have to call an ambulance. (few silent moments). I’m just kidding! They accepted our counter!!
Sabrina: Cool! (and in my head) Thank you, Jesus!

Now onto the shopping. The new owner takes possession on Monday, Oct 29.

I don’t wanna be homeless. Hopefully something comes up soon. It’d be great if Jono finds something while we’re down in Cali. I don’t mind arriving to a new place…