Where we are...

A friend sent me the link to her insanely self-centered, narcissistic, immature sister's blog. I thought to myself, "If that twit can have a blog, then, damnit, maybe I can, too!" So, here I am, joining blogdom...again. I tried this once several months ago and discovered that my life is pretty dull. But that was during a particularly frustrating period, and life is definitely on an upswing.

My husband is a part of a really interesting company that's just starting out. He is working from home right now, but they're hoping to get office space soon. He's working a lot, and I think he's enjoying the project. It's not game engine design, but he's working with/for good friends and the pay is excellent. :o)

I recently left a mindless job with the State (of Texas) where intelligence, dedication, and hard work are definitely not encouraged. Vibrant minds with lots of ideas either get the heck out of there, or go nuts. I complain, but I think my agency was worse than most. They have a reputation for paying very little, and I know a couple of great people who work for other state agencies and have managed to do really well. But I was scarred for life...no way am I ever going to work for the state again!

Now I work for a benefits consulting firm where I administer benefits for our company's biggest clients. Yesterday, I passed my Life & Health insurance licensing exam. I have wanted to get into benefit administration for several years, and I'm loving it! There's a lot of paperwork that goes along with it, but the job itself is challenging and fun. And everyone there is interesting, smart, and dynamic...a MUCH better work environment than my last one!

So, now that Jim and I finally have our careers under control again, we decided that we're in a place where we can finally buy our first home. We got pre-approved for a loan on a Tuesday, met our realtor and looked at homes on the following Saturday, made an offer on a GREAT home on Sunday afternoon, and it was accepted on Sunday night! The following Tuesday, we had it inspected. There were a couple of teeny problems, but nothing major at all. So, we authorized the lender to order an appraisal and get the loan process started. Assuming all goes well, we will be closing on Valentine's day!

Our families were kind of freaked out that we were doing this so quickly, but we'd been researching the neighborhood since last May. We had a really good idea of what we could afford and what we wanted. The house we found was a lot newer than the ones we thought we could afford, and it's made with high-quality materials. Newer homes are cheaper to maintain and are more energy-efficient, so we'll be spending less on utilities. Plus, since it's already got nice cabinets and flooring, we won't have to spend money on upgrading them later. The seller was recently relocated to Redmond, WA by Microsoft, so he just needed to sell. We got a great deal, and we knew we had to jump on it. So, yes, it was quick, but we went into it well-informed. :o)

I'm not good at sitting around and waiting for things to happen. I always want to be involved with change, and I want to be making something happen. But right now, we need to sit back and let our lender do her thing. We've been back to the house a couple of times this week (for the inspection and to take Jim's mom on a walk-through this weekend). It's so hard to leave and have to come back to our crappy apartment! :o( But Jim's mom brought us a bunch of boxes, so I'm just going to start packing things up. Hopefully, that'll make me feel like I'm accomplishing something useful.

When we went to the house yesterday, we met one of our neighbors. For the life of me, I can't remember his name! It's an Indian name. I think he has a daughter, maybe 2 kids. They have a swingset in their back yard. I saw his wife from a distance during the inspection, and she was wearing a sari. We don't know anything about they yet, really, but they seem nice enough. They're a young family. We've still got *quite* a while before we go down that road, but it's nice to be moving to a neighborhood with other families.

Okay, enough now. Jim's working, and I have errands to run. Going to go get some stuff from Walgreen's. I seem to recall that they carry moving materials now, so I'm going to see if they have anything handy while I'm there. I have moving, and I'm going to miss my 10 minute commute, but it will be SO nice to finally have a home of our own! We've worked really hard for it, and we're so excited. It's like we're grown-ups, or something! I like it! :o)