The straw that broke the camel's back was actually a dryer

Warning this may be long and it's definitely a rant/vent

So, Andrew and I put in an offer on the house we're currently in. When we put the offer in we stipulated that we wanted a garage built. We were told the house would be finished in 14 days and that the garage would take 30-45 days after the initial 14. Ok that's cool. They let us do possession before close so we could live in the house while waiting for the garage to be finished. Well it took them 21 days to finish the house. We moved in on the 11th and gave them a laundry list of things to be fixed on top of the few minor things found in our home inspection. To date nothing we requested be fixed has been fixed. Also, they have not started work on my garage yet. They keep giving me different excuses every time I call and I'm freaking over it! We can't close until the garage is built and there is no way we're going to be ready by our close date of July 12th because THEY HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED THE FREAKING GARAGE!!!!! Oh yeah and this weekend my septic system broke and I had to basically throw a hissy fit go get it fixed. Friday we noticed there was a hole in our backyard and cracked pipe it was late but we notified the realtor and she contacted the builder who said someone would be out first thing Saturday morning and we should just try not to use a ton of water. OK I understand that at 10pm no plumber is coming to my house. Well 10am on Saturday rolls around no plumber I contact the realtor (again) and she contacts the builder who informs her the plumber who installed the system is out of town until monday so we should just live with it. UMMM NO!!!!!!! This is where the hissy fit came in. I spoke with the builder and informed him he was in breach of contract since the house was not livable and that he would either fix it, put us up in a hotel if he couldn't, or we were walking away from the house. He finally send two of his guys out here to fix it at almost 7pm, but at least it got fixed. Add to this the fact that my TMO shipment came in missing a box that was clearly mislabeled as what is missing is not what was listed on the inventory. TMO broke my freaking dryer knobs off and the movers gouged the linoleum in our laundry room (the house isn't even a month old!). I also discovered today that the snapped the support in the back of my couch the one I only bought 4 months ago and haven't quite finished paying off! Then tonight was the straw that broke the camels back. I realized Andrew had left all our laundry detergent at a friends and I have no way of contacting that friend and of course Andrew is gone. So, I went to the store I bought laundry detergent and dryer sheets. I also picked up the drain house for our washing machine because that was conveniently missing from our TMO shipment. I went to hook up the dryer which meant I had to move the washer and dryer. Moved them both hooked up the vent hose for the dryer went to plug it in and the plug won't fit in the outlet in our house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm freaking over it. I officially hate this house it's like the house from h-e-double hockey sticks. It's done nothing but taunt me since we moved in. So now I have to go to Lowe's tomorrow buy a new plug and change the plug on the back of my dryer.

What we've been up to

So, our offer was accepted on the house and we were supposed to be in on the 4th (yeah last Thursday). Well the unforeseeable happened and our cabinets were never delivered so construction halted until they were delivered. They finally were installed on Tuesday last week. Wednesday they were supposed to hook up all our sinks, toilets, etc but discovered that the county had never hooked the water up to the house so now we're at another standstill until that can be done. I'm betting that we're going to miss our second move in date which is supposed to be tomorrow. I'm just getting nervous that if there are this many problems just getting the finishing touches done than how behind are they going to be on the garage they're supposed to build us. They said 30-45 days on that, but they also told us 14 days to finish the house and we're now on like day 18. Needless to say it's been stressful for us and we're tired of being in this dumb motel.

We've been going to the beach a lot lately. We've checked out all 3 that are near us (Topsail, Emerald Isle, and Onslow). The puppy is scared of the waves, but she had a good time when we brought her with us. We also found a park out here that has some boardwalks out over the marshes. Tango loves going for walks there so we try to go 3-4 times a week with her since she gets antsy being cooped up in this hotel just like the rest of us.

Topsail Beach

Tango on the beach (tell me she's not spoiled)

Pretty view from the boardwalks

Hoping to relieve some of the stress from house buying and being cooped up in this hotel room we traveled to Charleston, SC to see a friend's wedding. Dan was one of Andrew's classmates from Syracuse and Mary and I became fast friends as she was one of the few spouses who made it through the 10 months in Syracuse with me. Little did we know that this trip would be even more stressful then buying a house. The 4 hour drive turned into a 5.5 hour drive because of bike week in Myrtle Beach. Then we got to the hotel to discover they had given our room away even though we had a reservation and were there BEFORE check in. So, we crashed in a friends room, but it's still not the same as having you're own place to sleep. The wedding was a lot of fun but getting back to the hotel was a trip. There was supposed to be a shuttle which turned out to be someone's personal van which sat 5 comfortably. We squished 7 into to make sure that we could all make it back. We had to cut our trip to Charleston short because we needed to make it back to Jacksonville to check out the house and we knew it would take longer to get back than anticipated thanks to Bike Week. So. all in all our relaxing weekend wasn't so relaxing.

Mary and Dan

All the Syracuse people who went to Mary and Dan's wedding

Andrew's Graduation and WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

I completely forgot to update about Andrew's graduation. It was definitely a good time for all. We went and saw the unveiling of the website. It was a joint project between the video and photo guys. (You check it out Picture Health). Then we had TWO cocktail hours, one at the school where we could view the website, video projects, and photos. Basically a sampling of everyone's work. The second cocktail hour was at the hotel before dinner. I really think we all could have done without the 3 hour break before dinner. lol. Dinner was good, the guest speaker was not. He gave a 45 minute speech that really could have been cut down to about 15-20. The sad thing is we found out later this was the 4th time he'd given the same speech and he had cut it down by 45 minutes already. I really don't think I could have sat through 1.5 hours of that speech! After graduation we all went out to Limericks for one last get together. Which turned out to be our 3rd to last get together with some of the guys since we also went out to breakfast at Stellas and dinner at Dino BBQ the next day. Overall we miss our friends, but are happy to be moving on to the next chapter in our lives.

At cocktail hour at Newhouse

The Marines in the photo class plus two Marine guests

Mary, Me, and Shannon

All the girls
Michelle, Laura, Tiffany, Kailey, Janell, Me, Mary, and Shannon

Andrew getting his diploma!

Andrew and I

Mary, Me, and Shannon at Limericks

The new chapter in our life started off a little differently then we anticipated. When we arrived in Jacksonville we were looking for a rental property. A cute single family home for us to make our lives in for the brief time we're supposed to be here (3ish years). Well evidently God had a different plan for us. We were unable to find a rental and actually got laughed at and called insane by a few realty companies when we informed them how many pets we had and how big our puppy is. Luckily we have some good friends who recommended a realtor and a mortgage broker who have been nothing but great to us! Because of them we were able to find and put in offer in on a beautiful house. 3 bed, 2 bath, and they will be adding a 2 car garage. We were lucky enough to hear yesterday that our offer was accepted. In approximately 14 days we'll be moving in to this brand new house. Then over the course of the next 30 days they will build our garage. When the garage is finished we will be able to close on the house and it will be all ours! While this step in live is definitely nerve wracking (even more so since we weren't planning on it), we're so excited to have a place to call our own. They're also going to sod all of it, cement our driveway up to the garage, and landscape the front.

Our first home!

We're leaving on a jet plane in a freakin car boo!

Andrew and I have been on the road for one day and only one more to go. The upside to PCS moves that are close NO LONG ROAD TRIPS!!!! Trust me 5-6 days in a car with a dog and 2 cats is NOT FUN! So, last night Andrew and I packed up the cars, being over achievers we also took down all of our curtains to pack, including the black out curtains in our bedroom (dumb move). We get lots of morning sun in our room. So, we were up and out of bed by 6am. Which meant we got on the road way earlier than we intended to. Not a big deal you say, HUGE DEAL we were running so ahead of time we were going to arrive at the hotel 2 hours before check in. So we did what any sane person would do, we took the long "short-cut". We stopped in Gettysburg. It was neat to see the battlefield and the cemetery. Unfortunately the cemetery wasn't pet friendly so we only got to see it from afar. Hopefully we will make a trip back someday without the dog and truly experience everything Gettysburg has to offer. We're now at our hotel in Frederick, MD just relaxing after a nice dinner and walk around the mall. We'll be on the road again bright and early tomorrow morning after our breakfast here at the hotel. Hopefully we'll be in Jacksonville around 3:30 and then onto viewing rental properties and finding a place to live!!!

Andrew and Tango

Me and Tango

Gettysburg National Cemetery

Gettysburg

Sue, Happy to be out of the box

Munchkin enjoying the window

Tango and Andrew napping after a long car ride

Sue discovered the dresser drawers

Living with nothing

About two days before TMO came to pack our stuff I wasn't feeling to hot. So, I laid on the sofa with Tango. When I did I threw the blanket over my legs and Tango. Sushi too that as an invite to lay down. I'm so proud that my puppy and cat can finally get along.

Hey I think there's a dog under this blanket!

Yup it just moved definitely a dog

Then TMO came and we began living with nothing. The phrase of those two weeks was definitely, "I have that oh wait TMO took it!" lol. With little to do the animals were forced to entertain each other (and us!).

(No idea why this is upside down) Tango trying to convince Munch to play.

Our little set up (2 camping chairs 3 totes and a laptop)

Tango proving she is too a lap dog (My chair broke shortly after this)

I crawled in to snuggle with Tango and Andrew locked the gate (what a mean husband!!)

Let the stress fun begin

So, Life has been crazy around here. I had my last day of work on Friday and now I'm trying to get the house ready for the packers and movers. They'll be here Thursday and Friday. That'll be a ton of fun. So far I have gone through the house and sorted everything. Now I just need to go to Salvation Army and the recycle center. Then, pack everything that is coming in the car with us so it doesn't get packed when the movers come!

A ton of stuff has happened since the last time I found my way to this blog. My sister had my second beautiful nephew and I was lucky enough to be able to go home and see him shortly after he was born. I hated having to come back to Syracuse, but I missed the hubby man. Hopefully we'll make it to LA in June sometime to see our families again.

Jacob

I brought Peyton "snow" when I came home!

We also hosted an Easter dinner at our home. It was nice to get everyone together. We were lucky that the day was beautiful because there were some many of us there was no way we would have all fit in the apartment for dinner.

Holy Snow Batman

Syracuse got 18.25 inches of snow between 7am yesterday and 7am today. It was crazy! Tango loved it, Andrew and I went out and played in it. We really just had a great time. I took yesterday and today off of work because we can't get out/in the apt. complex. Luckily my co-workers are very understanding. Right now Andrew is outside trying to help one of our neighbors dig his car out of the snow. He got it into the complex last night, but the snow was so deep he couldn't get it into a parking spot. Well in order for the guy to plow we have to move the cars. Hopefully they'll get it moved before the plow gets here.

Andrew and I building a snowman

This is how deep it was this morning 2-26. Over my knees.

Yesterday was also Andrew's re-enlistment ceremony. It was small and quick because there was a ton of snow on the ground and a ton more coming. I'm just glad we finally got to do it. I mean it's been postponed like 3 times prior to this. One of the guys in the program with Andrew came and took some photos. He said he would get me a disk of the photos sometime next week. So, we'll have some nice ones soon.
Tango had such a great time in the snow. She loves it! I love how she bunny hops everywhere in the snow. It's so cute. She loves to chase the snowballs and icicles that Andrew and I throw for her. She'll track them down and try to dig them out. It's amazing how much focus she has trying to pick them up or even find the snowballs in all this snow.


I also took Sushi and Munchkin out in the snow. I put their feet in it and neither of them were a fan. Munchkin took it way better than Sue did which is amazing. I truly thought that Sue would be all for it and Munchkin would hate it. Although the upside is that Sue probably won't try to run away again anytime soon.