The Final Count Down...

We are counting down the days over here until moving day! We are furiously packing our PODS, finishing last minute projects around the house, running errands and telling Arkansas friends good-bye. The plan is to fill the storage system with everything but the big stuff. So for the past few weeks, we have been packing up books, household items, knickknacks, etc. and slowing filling up the PODS. Our furniture definitely will not all fit. If I had to do it all over again, I would just let movers do it ALL but oh well. It's pretty much done now. The movers will be here on Monday to load up the rest of our stuff and furniture. It's almost here! By this time next week we will be sleeping in our bed in our new house!

B & I have basically been packing this house for the month of January and there are quite a few things that we have learned in the process: 

1. Set hard dates and timelines for planning and packing and stick with them!

2. Make sure you have a strong marriage before attempting a move. Moves definitely put stress on each other. Try not to take it out on each other. I might have threatened to kill B a total of eight times in the last 3 weeks. hehe. (Sorry, babe)

3. Pray over each step over the home buying process. This was a biggie for us. 

4. If you can afford it, PAY FOR MOVERS! And let them do it all! 

5. Always be prepared with toilet paper. :) (This one was my husband's advice. Can you tell?) You might find yourself needing some while looking for houses. And when your house is on the market, if you're not living there currently, be nice to potential home buyers and leave them some tp. ;) They'll love you for it. 

6. Don't get too stressed out. Remember to take breaks for fun stuff. 

Meanwhile...this is what I'm dealing with inside. Seriously every time I pack a box, Hazel jumps in. She LOVES boxes...no, she is OBSESSED with boxes!

Happy Wednesday! Hope y'all are having a great week!

Its Closing Time...

So it's official. We now own a home in Ruston, Louisiana. The hubs and I drove down, dogs in tow, to close on the house today and sign a bagillion papers - can you say HAND CRAMP! And who's idea was it to put my FULL name first, middle, maiden and last name on the documents? Not a good idea. For our next home I shall sign my initials on all documents or at least "C.B. Buie." Geez! I seriously felt like I was signing for days. Anyway, after a couple of self hand massages to get the feeling back in my thumb, we were handed the largest group of keys I've ever seen on a non-janitor. Seriously. ALL of these keys go to our new home. Ridiculous. 

To the person who will own our home that we currently live in, if you happen to be reading this, don't worry- you are only getting two keys: one for the front door and one for the back door and that's ALL. None of this 10 key ridiculousness business. So our first order of business is to change all the top locks on the doors to deadbolts. I can't imagine trying to get out of the house when it's on fire and first of all trying to locate the key in a blaze of fire and second trying to locate to correct key for the correct door. I would most definitely be a pile of ash on the floor before I found the correct key for the right door. It really is ridiculous how many doors are in this new house and the fact that they each have their own key just baffles me. Can you say paranoid much? Someone REALLY didn't want anyone to figure out how to get in or to get out for that matter. 

As I mentioned before we brought the dogs down today to let them walk around the property, get a feel for things, mark their territory, sniff things out. I think they're going to like it here. Conner already found a napping spot in our bathroom. It's a good thing the hideous wallpaper doesn't bother him as much as it does his mother. We have definitely got our work cut out for us in the wallpaper/painting department. (more on that in future)

We met with a friend of mine today who is going to put in a fence for our dogs. That really is top priority because our house backs up to several acres of dense woods. We couldn't have our doggies get lost. They would probably get a taste of the country life, start chasing rabbits and never return to us. We'll keep them spoiled rotten and inside dogs as long as I can. 

Sometimes, well more like everyday. lately I have woken up with a feeling of being completely overwhelmed then I remember how silly I am being. I am worrying about replacing the carpet in my office or what vet to use in a new city when there are way bigger problems in the world. The truth is we are blessed, happy and thankful for not only this change in life but an opportunity to do something greater with what God has given us. 

I know I've been writing a lot about moving, packing, moving, closing, and well... moving lately but this is our life lately. Thanks for sticking around! Life is about to get a whole lot more exciting in Ruston, Louisiana when the Buies move into town! ;)

Photo-bombers!

So how difficult is it to take pictures of your house with two photo-bombing kitties? VERY!  Seriously every room I went into the cats would RUN in and jump in the picture. I swear they are doing it on purpose. 

Here's Hazel, literally sprawled out on the dining room table rolling around like she teasing me. When I try to grab them to put them up, they run away. I think they are playing a game and they are definitely winning. 

The good news is our house should be on the market next week! There are still boxes everywhere, by the way. Don't let these images fool you. Our house is a wreck! Well, back to packing!

Home Sweet Home...one day

I told B today that I haven't blogged at all yet this year. So maybe my first resolution should be to blog more consistently. :) In the next few weeks there should be a lot of blog about: moving from this house into a new home, renovating our new home, etc. We are both so excited about what the future holds. As of right now, we are still in negotiations over the house in Louisiana. It is a 20 year old home so obviously it will need some work done. Our main concern though is the roof. We obviously don't want to pay the accepted price and then a year later turn around and put a new roof on it. A roofer will take a look at it and write up his report before we proceed. With each paper we sign, I pray over it and ask that God's will be done. During this process we have said that we only want this home and this move if God's hand is on it. 

In the meantime, I'm still booking photo sessions in Arkansas and Louisiana and burning up the road in between. I will be so happy when we are finally settled. 

Settled. 

And when we do finally unpack the last box and everything is in it's place, I'll hang this pretty little sign up and sigh and huge sigh of relief. 

Home Sweet Home. 

I found this lovely artist via twitter and I am officially obsessed with her work. I currently have about 10 of her favorite prints in my Etsy's shopping cart. I need to narrow it down but how? They are all so beautiful! 

Check out this lovely artist and fall in love like I did with Katie Daisy. 

Her website: www.katiedaisy.com

Her shop @ Etsy

I hope you are having a lovely 2013. I hope to bring you many more happy blogging this year.