For sale by owner

Anyone know someone who wants to buy a nice house in beautiful Siloam Springs? The buyer is very motivated.

Rogers, here I come! Who likes to pack boxes?

All those zeros

Meet Lori... Higher education professional. Food connoisseur. Diet coke addict. And, as of today, home owner. Or at least I will be on March 1, 2039. When I'm 66.

After two months of paperwork and pain, I signed 427 pieces of paper today and obligated myself to a mortgage on a home with zero curb appeal. But at least I'm not wasting my money on rent anymore, right? And when the housing market in NWA rebounds, I'll make some serious dough.

Speaking of, I know I love my new hometown (or at least my new home county), but my property taxes are $112 a month?!? Really?!! Perhaps I should have stuck to renting.

Mortgages, car insurance, mammograms and fiber... sometimes it sucks to be a grown up.

New Year's Resolutions

For the past two years I've confessed my NY Resolutions on this blog and for the past two years, I've broken every single one of them. So, instead of resolving to do anything, here's a list of things I'd like to accomplish in '09:

• Walk/jog at least 25 miles a week
• Run a 5K race (and not just a few steps, like in '08)
• Be more open minded about meeting "the one" (so LB wasn't Mr. Right, or even Mr. Right Now, but he did remind me that there are still good guys out there, so I guess he served his purpose)
• Bake no cookies nor agree to lunches with any cute boys unless they ask me out on a real date
• Travel to Europe
• Spend more quality time with my friends
• Learn to say "no" to things that don't improve my life or someone else's
• Listen more

I'm closing on my house on Friday, so I suppose "becoming a home owner" should be on the list. And I made my last credit card payment this week, so getting out of debt (save mortgage, car and student loans) is a very real possibility in '09.

Here's to the new year, kids. Hope yours is great.

Oh, and leave me comments with your resolutions or, at the very list, things you'd like to accomplish in '09.

Reason #417 why no man will marry me

Welcome to my closet. My master bedroom closet. As in, built for two. But it's full for one.

Tonight I participated in my bi-yearly ritual of switching winter clothes with summer clothes. Out with the white pants, in with the sweaters. And even with shucking the seersucker jacket, tank tops and swimsuit coverups, my closet is still stuffed. I really do need professional help.

Oh, and the big news is that, as of this morning, this crammed packed closet is officially mine. So I suppose I can fill it as full as I want to. Or paint it pink and adorn it with rhinestones. After all, by signing my name beside all of those zeros, I'm entitled to fix it up as I wish while I make payments on it for the next 360 months.

So I suppose it's for the best that I don't have to share my closet. Yeah, sometimes the nights are lonely, but I do have a lot of space for my handbags.

And the boy? He needs professional help, too. But for totally different reasons.

Countdown to Monday

Another weekend has come and gone. Thankfully I have a mere 40 hours to work before nine blessed days of vacation. Hopefully Jen can perform an extraction of my Blackberry when I'm in Texas so I won't check my e-mail incessantly. I have a serious problem with that thing.

The other good news? No traveling this week, unless you count Rogers. But I don't, because I spend more time there than I do in Siloam most weeks.

On Friday I met with a loan officer and then made an offer on my house. The bank has until 5 p.m. tomorrow to respond (it's in foreclosure, and I offered $27K less than it was listed for a year ago), so my fingers are crossed. My mortgage would be about the same as my rent has been, and I won't have to move. I'm sure the roof will blow off or a toilet will explore mere moments after signing on the dotted line, but oh the joy of taking the interest off my taxes and not watching my hard-earned money (okay, my money) being flushed down the toilet every month in rent for five more years.

After a marathon work lunch, I headed south to meet Paige and we went to the Miss UCA pageant to cheer on our friend Erin. She was the interview winner and third runner-up.

Taylor had a game in Fort Smith Saturday morning, so Eck and I went to watch. They have a great team, and it was fun to see Hope and Chance, too. Hope was in an especially good mood and was generous with the hugs and kisses and declarations of love. Not quite sure what that was about.

Five days. 40 hours. Then sweet freedom.

Bring on Turkey Day!

Happy Easter!

It's hard to believe it's Easter already. It was great to see the family yesterday; to view photos of the Easter egg hunt, click here (there are also pics of the casa if you're interested... or even if you're not).

Happy Easter, everyone! Here's hoping you know the One who rose from the dead on this day.

Rain, rain go away

Question: if April showers bring May flowers, what do March floods bring... April studs I'm hoping.

Here's the view of my backyard. All I need is a diving board, and I could be swimming laps out there.



Speaking of photos, I just realized that I've never shared pics of the inside of my new place. Here are a couple to tide you over.

The office



The 4th bedroom, otherwise known as the workout room (stop laughing)/junk room... yep, that's a treadmill that hasn't been put together yet.



Oh, and a couple of prayer requests: pray for Ashley, who was put on total bed rest today to get ready for the twins; and for Jen, who finds out on Thursday where she'll match for residency. Oh, and pray for Jen's mom, Pam, who broke both of her hands last week... ouch!

A new chapter begins

I can't believe I actually start the new job tomorrow. It's been nice to have nine days off, but since I've spent the majority of that time packing or unpacking, it wasn't much of a vacation. Luckily I didn't develop the bad habit of sleeping in during that time.

Joe, Chris and Estella came to Siloam yesterday and as of this morning, I can park in my garage and I only have two rooms that aren't straightened up and livable. I've made tremendous progress in the settling in endeavor. I'll post some pics of the new house soon.

Home SWEET Home

Ashley and I headed to Siloam yesterday morning to look for a new casa. After a brief foray into a scary neighborhood, we found a really great house on our third stop. It's brand new... there aren't even door knobs yet. So I'll sign a 12-month lease with option to buy. And the weird part is that it's in Patriot Park subdivision, where the first street is Freedom Drive (the name of the street where I live now). The new house is actually on Courage Street, but still... isn't that a weird coincidence?



I absolutely love the new place... 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (the master has a garden tub), huge walk-in closet in the master bath, 2-car garage, beautiful fixtures and cabinetry, and the living room is huge with tall ceilings and has a fireplace and mantle. The yard needs some curb appeal, but it's a great place. I can't wait to move!

Tomorrow I'll start packing boxes. I can't believe I have to do that again.

By the way, I drove home from the Fort this morning, and Amanda thought it would be cute to have Isaac call me and say, in his sweet two-year-old voice, "I miss you. Please come back." I nearly started crying!