Inspections are scary.

I'm a nut job, and anytime anyone says to me "So I heard you bought a house!!" my reply is always "Yes, we did!  Well... that's assuming inspections go okay."  Tyler lectured me one night about how I shouldn't be saying that since our house is only 5 years old and in great shape, but I am somewhat of a pestimistic person when it comes to big things like this.  I never want to get my hopes up, only to be disappointed.  After I told Tyler that, he said "Well, that's very logical of you, however... I have no doubts our inspection will pass with flying colors."

Here's the good news.  It did.  Our inspector was really impressed with the condition of the house... he said the "bones" of the house are fabulous and he only had two concerns.  One: there is a leak coming from 'somewhere' that leaks into the garage.  They'll have to get that fixed before we move in.  Second: the furnace needs cleaned.  Amazing, right?  Nothing major.  The leak is the biggest issue, but since it leaks into the garage, there isn't any major damage, and he said it's a new leak... he thought within the past month or so it developed. 

Want to hear something else that's amazing?  When we originally made an offer on the house and they accepted, they offered to let us buy the pool table that is downstairs for a measly $7,000.  That's right; 7 grand for a stinkin' pool table.  Of course it wasn't even an option - in fact, our realtor told them NO before she even told us that they offered it to us for 7 grand.  (She knows us well.)  Well, last night when we showed up for inspections, Jacki (our realtor) says to us "do you want a free pool table and free weight/gym equipment?"  Tyler and I looked at eachother and smiled... she said that while the owner was leaving the home right before we got there, he told Jacki that if we wanted the pool table & supplies AND his weight/gym equipment we could have it for free.  SCORE!!!!  Totally ironic that originally he wanted 7 grand from us for just the pool table, and now he's giving it to us for free PLUS the weight/gym equipment.  We are going to sell the pool table, but we are excited because it's obviously top of the line and in super good condition, so we'll hopefully be getting a really pretty chunk of change for it.  As far as the gym/weight equipment goes, we are definitely keeping it.  It is located in the sub-basement right now, so it's not even in the way.  Amazing!

Isn't God incredible?!  We are so excited.  He has totally opened the doors for us in this house situation... it has been such a smooth, pleasant process.  It is very obvious that we are right in the center of where He wants us right now.  What an amazing feeling.

I'm thinking stripes.

I have been torn thinking about all the million different paint color choices we could have in our new home, and especially torn about which color to choose for our kitchen/dining room.  Our house has a very open layout, so I'm struggling with how to paint different colors without breaking up the rooms.  One solution I came up with is to paint stripes on ONE accent wall in the dining room.  Then we would carry one of the colors from the stripes into the kitchen, above the cabinets. 

One idea with the stripes is to do vertical stripes, such as this:

(Picture courtesy of Eastcoastbride from TheNest)
She used two different colors of paint, just a couple shades lighter/darker.  She did stripes throughout the entire room, which I won't do, but I love the look of these stripes and I think it would look awesome on the accent wall.

Another idea is to do horizontal stripes, with different colors.


(Photos courtesy of Mamabear7 from TheNest)
So, I really like how she took one of those colors from the stripes and painted the rest of the room that way.  However, since the wall that I'm doing is so long, I'm wondering if vertical stripes would be better than horizontal.

The last thought I had was to do "sheen" stripes, which means that it's the same paint color on the stripes, however you would use 2 different types of paint, such as a flat paint for half the stripes, then a glossy paint type for the others, while still using the same color.  Confusing, right?  But it gives it the look that it is 2 different colors, even though it's not.  Here's a pic of that:


(Sorry about the crappy picture, it's all I could find.)

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Any suggestions on a paint color?  I have red/black countertop appliances (ie: kitchenaid mixer, knife set, canister set, toaster, etc) - and the appliances that are in the home are white, such as the fridge, oven/stove, and microwave.

Your thoughts?

My Dad is a smart man.

This is an excerpt from an email that I received from my Dad a couple months ago regarding friendship.  It is so true, and I think it applies to my life in more ways than one right now.

God will always be faithful and will bring a "Barnabas"; a "Timothy"; and a "Paul" into your life at just the right time.  (a Barnabas is someone who will "pour into" our life; a Timothy is someone who we can pour our life into theirs; and a Paul is someone who is on the same path as us and will walk along with us and we can just share life together.)  Remember...  Barnabas' and Timothys are just as important as Pauls, but some times we need to be a Timothy to someone before God brings the Paul into our lives.

I love that.  I feel like I've exhausted my efforts at being a "Timothy" right now, so I'm praying for a "Paul" to come along, before I give up. I can't wait for the day when I have a friend to share life with.

Heavy heart.

This morning I woke up with such a heavy heart.  So many things going on, so many emotions running through me, hurt feelings, close friends going through tough times... my heart feels so heavy.  On my way to work this morning I started praying and this song came on the radio that I haven't heard in ages that eased the pain and reminded me where my strength ultimately comes from.

"In Christ alone, I place my trust
And find my glory in the power of the cross
In every victory, let it be said of me
My source of strength, my source of hope
Is Christ alone."

THEY ACCEPTED!!!

We offered them a couple thousand lower, asked them to pay our closing costs, asked for the fridge AND the washer/dryer….and prayed.

They accepted, but said the washer doesn’t work, but they’ll leave the dryer.  (The washer was located in the garage, so we believe them) - they are leaving the fridge, paying our closing costs, but want a thousand dollars more since they are leaving the fridge for us.  They provided our realtor with a receipt and it was an expensive fridge that they just bought less than 6 months ago, so it’s a valid reason. 

We accepted. 

Woooohooo!