April Improvements!

Slowly but surely, we are making the house "ours".

I painted my craft room:

We tilled the garden...BY HAND! (no picture of that, we were too busy!)

We also did some yard work. 

It's amazing how its more enjoyable when it's your own yard and not your parents forcing you to help!

I think we filled up 3 1/2 bags of dead leaves and cuttings in one hour!

Chad also built and put up a hanging bar above the dryer for clothes:

And Chad built shelves for my garden shed:

Seedlings were started for the garden as well!

Updated house photos!

Living room

Coffee bar...obviously!

Main bath...

The den...and Chad working like normal!

Our room! And Dolly's bed in the corner that she's finally sleeping in!

(Dad also painted in here the weekend we cleaned)

My craft room doesn't have anything new and noteworthy, since I can just close the door to the mess. 

Hopefully I'll be outfitting that room next!

A Labor of Love!

Chad spent his last day and a half off setting up my garden!

In Progress:

Finished!

Another view...

It even has a gate!

Moving, Shaking, and Changing.

We made it through moving day!

It went relatively smooth (other than the U-haul we reserved not being available, then driving to get another one that ended up having a flat tire) (and me being sick).

Mom and Darla literally made a "bed" on the floor of blankets we had brought over and made me lay down while the guys loaded the truck.

We also celebrated Kevin and Darla's upcoming birthdays!

According to Landon, they are both turning 27.













Sunday, Lindsay, Tyson, and the boys came over to help.

I think the boys are a little bit sad that we put furniture in the house that blocked their running space.

But they do love the yard.

And the laundry chute.

They DEFINITELY love that.

I think they're now hired to come to my house weekly and help dump the laundry down the chute into the basement!

Emmett has also already tried once to use that as an alternate way to get to the basement.

(Don't worry, he won't be able to get in!)

Monday was back to work for the both of us.

It is Chad's last week in home office before he goes into the field!

That came up on us quickly!

Either way, while part one of "The Rucker Family turns their life upside down in the span of 2 weeks" is over, we still have parts 2 (the new dog) and 3 (Chad opens his business).

Sometimes I think chaos just gravitates towards us!

Being a Big Loser...Week 8-9

1.4 pounds gone!

Which I was amazed for, because I weighed yesterday and was UP FOUR POUNDS.

Never weighing in the afternoon again.

Given the amount of busy-ness from the past week, its no wonder I lost though.

Since last week's Big Loser post, we have closed on the house, did a bunch of updates and cleaning to it (I listed that last post!), and had our very first official homeowners "OMG there is no maintenance crew to fix this...time to panic" moment.

We bug bombed the house Saturday so we turned off the gas water heater.

And then we couldn't get it to light when we tried to turn it back on.

So we scheduled Laclede to come take a look.

Let's just say they charge CRAZY high rates on service.

Thankfully, we have family around, and THANKFULLY they know people who can fix things.

So last night involved me making a flying trip to the house in order to meet dad's mechanic/fixer guy.

Mom and Jenna met me there and helped unload the load of stuff I had brought.

Dad's fixer guy was AWESOME!

He got it lit, showed me how to do so, and he fixed the leaking valve.

For about half the price of Laclede's rate.

So many things to be thankful for today!

The First Weekend

We spent almost the entire weekend at the house getting our projects done.

And now, Monday morning, we are paying for it.

I had to literally drag myself out of bed.

The soreness from pushing and pulling the (extremely heavier than it should be) carpet cleaner over all of the soft surfaces is here in force today.

Ouch.

So, here's what we've gotten done:

• changed the locks
• updated all 2 prong outlets to 3 prong with GCFI protection
• cleaned and spot cleaned the carpets
• vacuumed the carpets
• reinforced the closet shelves and bars
• cleaned the cabinets
• bug bombed the whole house
• vacuumed and mopped the basement (eww. that was gross!)
• swept out the garage
• scrubbed both bathrooms (thanks mom!)
• painted the master bedroom (thanks dad!)

Can you tell why we are both sore and hitting the coffee like crazy this morning? 

(Yes, in fact, Chad was tired enough to drink his version of coffee!!)

As we were working this weekend, I began to feel overwhelmed. 

Overwhelmed, with both what needed to be done and with excitement for all of the life this house will see.

Our goal is to be there AT LEAST 5 years. We are so very sick of moving.

Even though it was snow and ice covered, every time I looked into the backyard I got excited about that garden that will be growing in the back right corner and Lord willing, the dog that will be playing in the backyard within the next 2 weeks.

Life is moving. FAST.

Projects upcoming:

• painting my craft room
• constructing the coffee bar in the kitchen
• updating the cabinet hardware

I hope to add a few photos of the progress/moving in next weekend.

I hope.

(Also, we celebrated Tyson's birthday Friday night. I'll be adding photos of that too!)

Our First Home!

This is our house!

BIG window in the living room

I think the sun room is my favorite part of the house!

Future garden spot

I like how open it is!

Look Mom! A laundry chute!!

LOTS of storage

/The Keys!

Being a Big Loser...Week 7-8

.8 pounds down!

That is something to celebrate, because talking to my coworkers, it seems that everyone is hitting the dreaded plateau.

That thing is the worst!

In this weight loss journey, (and in general) there's nothing worse than working so hard to get to a goal and then not see results.

Anyways, the whole weight loss thing is kind of paling in comparison to OUR FINAL WALK THROUGH TONIGHT!!

I brought the camera, to document some "before" pictures of the house.

My goal is to take "after" pictures as we go, whether it's a complete room re-do or just a new piece added.

Anyone can have 4 walls and a door that they own.

That is a house.

Our goal is to turn our "4 walls and a door" into a HOME.

Our goal is that when we walk through the door, we can take a deep breath and relax, because it is a safe place.

That it is filled with love and laughter, family and friends.

That it is warm and welcoming to anyone that enters.

That it is a place of rest and relaxation.

I could go on for a while, but I guess all in all, we want this place to be HOME.

                                     

Being a Big Loser...The Halfway Point.

So we've reached the halfway mark.

And of course this is the week I went up.

.4 pounds, but STILL.

I have been doing Zumba 3 days a week and trying to stay under 1600 calories per day.

Maybe I'll just tell myself that muscle weighs more than fat and I'm getting Zumba muscles.

Right? Right?!

(Update: I weighed again and was down .8 from last week. How does that happen!?)

Either way, I am a little disappointed, but that is definitely overshadowed by the fact that we close on our house in EIGHT DAYS!

The financing deadline is tomorrow too.

At least we have started the packing process.

With Chad being off work Monday and only working part of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, he gets to do a big bulk of packing.

Lucky him! Haha.

I am helping in the evenings so that is good.

He will soon being finding out where his office will be located. We should know by the beginning of next week, which is great because I want to know!

This week on the weight loss/healthy lines, we are adding in protein shakes for breakfast instead of skipping breakfast (Chad) or whatever is quick and semi-healthy (Me).

(Chad is starting to drink them too)

Hopefully this will help me get less hungry!

Well, and it's convenient to take along with us wherever we are going.

Because it's not like life is hectic right now or anything!

(HA!)

Being a Big Loser Week 5-6

Down another pound this week.

(Note to self, always weigh twice! I thought I went up this week!)

I was hoping to be down more than that, but that's okay.

Yeah, I am happy, I am just also sick.

Chad woke up Saturday morning SO sick and yesterday he decided to pass it along to me.

Awesome.

It's not his fault though. I get sick if someone sneezes in the same room as me!

About the House:
-Appraisal is done
-They are fixing just about everything we asked for
-Loan companies need WAY too much info before they issue a loan. Sheesh.

Still no boxes packed yet...oops.

Being A Big Loser...Week 4-5...and an update!

So in the midst of:

• Sewer Lateral done on the house
  
• Loan Documents signed
  
• Filing State Taxes
  
• Filing Federal Taxes
  
• Filing a Police Report
  
• Filing an insurance claim
  
• 
  

(More on those two later)

• Super Bowl

• And last but not least celebrating Chad's birthday...

(No, life is not hectic at all!)

I LOST ANOTHER 1.4!!!

This girl is happy!

Honestly, after dinner at Tucanos and the Superbowl, I was expecting to go up.

That was a GOOD way to start a very cold, very snowy Wednesday morning.

Holla.

Anyways, we are waiting on hearing back from the seller to see what they will fix, although our Realtor thinks  its looking good for them to fix most if not all!

And we have a stack of boxes to start packing, compliments of Hyvee:

Oh, and about that police report/insurance claim?

SOMEONE (cough...neighbors...cough...) decided to throw a bottle at my windshield and shatter it.

Poor Sophie!

And poor us for having to pay THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY DOLLARS to get it fixed.

Its not like we are getting ready to make a down payment or anything...whatever...

But now Sophie is back to normal with a new windshield...and an owner who has lost 1.4 pounds this week!

(sorry, I just had to mention it again!!)

Being a Big Loser..Week 3-4

BUMMER WEEK.

Not that it wasn't expected, I didn't eat well this week or have motivation of any time to go work out.

So I'm only down half a pound.

UGH.

I did a 30 minute Zumba workout last night as payback to my body for not getting smaller and lighter (haha.)

At least I didn't go up like I thought I might...

This week has just been extra hectic.

We put a bid on the house Friday, they countered, and we took the counter offer.

Monday, we had a termite and home inspection.

So after work Monday we flew down to Arnold to drop off our financial paperwork at the mortgage company and catch the second half of the inspection.

We now know that house like the back of our own hand.

The inspector was VERY thorough, to the point where I came DANGEROUSLY close to having a panic attack about all the things he brought up.

But then I calmed down when we got a copy of the report and most of the things he pointed out were minor fixes.

And the few things that are bigger, we are waiting to hear if the seller will fix.

Home buying is just as exhausting as it is exciting...and we haven't even started to pack yet!

One Month and One Day!

WE HAVE A CONTRACT ON A HOUSE!!

We will be homeowners in one month and one day!

(Well, as long as everything goes smoothly, which it should!)

And hopefully we will be moving in one month and nine days!

We have a LOT to pack and do before then!

My excitement for our home is slightly overshadowed by the idea of packing, moving, and setting up a home all while holding down a 45 hour per week job.

But its just slightly over shadowed.

I am having SO much fun on Pinterest finding ideas for our new home!

Not that anything needs to be done right away, just that I want to make a few changes that make it seem more like ours.

It will give me some projects to do while Chad launches his office approximately one week after we move.

Yikes.

An excited "yikes", but yikes all the same!

We are also preparing to be fur baby parents!

Chad is going to get me a dog!

Yesterday we went down the pet aisle at Sam's Club and I got WAY excited!

I have also been on petfinder.com looking at the dogs they have available for adoption.

My idea to adopt like 5 of my favorites is unfortunately not the wisest.

I just think they're so cute!

Anyways, it looks like our next few weeks will be filled with boxes, tape, and sharpies.

We are so blessed!!

Big Changes...and Anxiety!

What a big week for us!

I decided to cut off like 6 inches of hair....

And we toured and put an offer in on a home!

Look at how cute our first home is!

I AM SO EXCITED!!