A White Christmas

Well, I can't believe it, but I actually saw a white Christmas yesterday.

It decided to start snowing pretty heavy here in Virginia Beach last night. I was pretty shocked, because I can't remember the last time it snowed on Christmas. The only "bad" thing about it is that it snowed at night as opposed to during the day. It's fine, though. I stayed inside all day yesterday.

Today, I was supposed to drive to Portsmouth, VA. My mom has two foster kids and they were going to their new foster home. Then we were going to drive to Georgia so that my mom and sister could see the new house. The only thing is, it was snowing so bad when we got on the highway. We could only drive one exit on the highway and then had to get back off. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to risk my life or my family's life just so my mom and sister can see the house. The house will be there. We'll plan another trip down.

Now, however, I need to decide what to do with my time while I'm still here in Virginia Beach. I was planning on doing a few things while I was down in Georgia. Now, I have to make better use of my time.

Either way, I'm happy we don't have to sit for (at least) 10 hours in the car. With the snow, we would have probably been traveling longer than that. The most important thing is that I'm able to spend time with my family.

Ok. Why Am I Feeling Down Today?

WTH? It's Christmas Eve. Why in the world am I feeling down right now? I have a family who loves me, a new house. What is going on?

I think it's the events of the past few days that has me a little down. For starters, my mom (who's a foster parent) has two foster kids who are now being taken out of her home. The state has decided to transfer them to a different foster agency. It's a little sad to see children who have already been removed from their regular home now being moved to a different home. The kids said they wanted to stay with my mom too (they're 12 and 14), but what are you going to do?

Then I'm disappointed in the fact that my sister (my real one) is/was supposed to be doing something for me. Now it seems like she wants to back out of it. It's not a BIG deal, but it still puts a bit of a strain on some plans that I had.

Top that off with I haven't done any Christmas shopping. Truth be told, I'm actually pretty broke after shelling out more money than expected for the closing, moving and then paying new (and old) bills. I can't go out to shop yet because I'm here watching the foster kids for my mom while she goes out and does last minute shopping.

I dunno. I guess it's just all of the changes in the past few weeks that has me kind of blah. Believe it or not, I always get pretty anxious AFTER Christmas. I'm basically ready for the new year to start so that I can get started on new things in my life. This year, however, I am not waiting until the new year. As soon as Christmas is over I am changing my ways for some things. What's the sense in waiting? Might as well get started.

Now to just get past these last few hours. UGH!!!

Random Thoughts

I really wish I could say that this post is about something specific, but it isn't. There are times when I feel like I just need to make a post just to make one. It's not really going through the motions, but the only way to keep with a "habit" is to keep doing it. I guess that's what I'm doing with this post. LOL.

In any case, I've really been thinking more and more about what I want for the new year. One of the things I would really like to manifest are a few men to date. When I say "date," I don't mean FWB. I mean just truly dating. I've never been the type to date more than one man at a time. I actually go through long periods of time where I don't date anyone. Then, someone comes along, and I start seeing only them.

This is one year that I don't want to do that. I am determined to get out more and start meeting more people - especially men. I want to be more outgoing and let it be known that I'm available. I think that I put men off a lot of the time by being standoff-ish. I'm not going to do that in 2011. I know that I eventually would like to get married. However, I want to get married to a quality man...not just "Mr. There At The Time." Things have got to change.

I've joined a few more Meetup groups today, and now that I actually live in Atlanta, it's much easier for me to attend some of these events. I'm really excited to get back home and get started on the new year.

I'll be back.

Home For The Holidays

I drove home to see my mom for the holidays. It was a long 10 hour drive, but I finally made it here. I'm glad to be here, but I would be lying if I didn't say I miss my house a little.

My mom is coming back down with me next week to see the house. I think my sister is coming down as well. I can't wait for them to see it. Hopefully my mom can give some insight on some decorating ideas for the house.

In the meantime, it's nice being back home. My mom, in typical fashion, is so happy to see me so she's spoiling me. I've been laying in bed all day and she's been wanting to feed me in bed. It's funny because she did that sometimes when I was a kid, but not a lot. Now she does it every time I come home.

She's also taking care of two foster children this year. We'll be spending the holidays with them as well. Seeing them makes me very grateful for the things my mom did for me over the years. I may have not had everything that I wanted, but I can truly say that I never wanted for anything. The amount of love my mom showed me over the years can never be repaid, but I sure am going to try.

There really is no place like home for the holidays!

It's Time For A Change

I feel it. I don't know what it is, but something is pulling at me to do better. I'm sure a part of it has to do with the new year coming in. We always feel like the next year is going to be better than the last.

However, something has been really nagging at me the past few days...like HORRIBLY nagging at me. I'm realizing that I'm feeling my soul start to pull me in a different direction. It's weird because it's only truly happened AFTER I moved into the new house.

Perhaps God is trying to tell me that it's okay for me to want more in my life. He may be telling me that I deserve every good thing that I desire. It could just be that new surroundings bring new things. Whatever it is, it's something that I can't ignore.

I was working on my vision board again last night. I am still working on the Power Point one (tweaking it). I also started working on my affirmations last night. I've decided, though, that I also want to have a physical vision board to look at each and every morning when I wake up. I think I'm just going to print off the slides from the Power Point slide and put them on the vision board. I think I'm also going to see how I can get it laminated. I would like to make sure I'm looking at something really pretty.

I think (I'm not promising yet) that I may actually come up here and make a post every day about what's going on in my life. I'm going to try and make it positive, but I'm going to share my struggles as well. That way I can come back and see how far I've gone. I don't want to stick to it just yet, but I may actually do that to hold me accountable.

We'll see.

2011 Personal Goals

In a few days a new year will be upon us. I've gotten some things accomplished this year, the main thing being buying a house. However, I don't think (no, I KNOW) I haven't really accomplished the major goals I set in place for 2010.

I always feel like each year is going to be better than the last, but for some reason I knew 2010 wasn't going to be that great. It wasn't a bad year, and I'm truly grateful for all of my blessings...but I could feel that something was holding me back.

I'm in the process of revamping a few things for 2011. One of the things I'm DEFINITELY going to be doing is working on my vision board. I made a slideshow, vision board the other day. I really like it too, because it allows me to take my goals on the road with me. I can actually watch it on my iphone/ipod which I love. I also have some inspirational songs on there as well.

But, before I can really finish my vision board, I need to make a list of what I want. It can't just be something like, "I want a new job." It has to be more in detailed. I'm finding that God will give you what you want most of the times, but if you're not specific you won't get what you really want.

So, for the next few days I'm going to work on my 2011 goals. I'm going to reach DEEP down and decide on everything that I want to manifest. Then I'm going to work on putting those things in action.

Stay tuned!!!

Owning A Home Is NOT Easy

Not that I expected it to be. I just didn't expect for so many things to happen at once.

So, when I was getting my house inspected back in (I believe) October, "L" and I just so happened to meet my soon to be neighbor. He lives in the house directly behind mine. He told us a little bit about himself and the neighborhood. I truly didn't think I would see him that often.

Well, these past few days I've been going back and forth between the house and my apartment having the cable/phone turned on, house/carpet cleaned, etc. I was sitting in the house yesterday afternoon getting ready to go back to my apartment when the doorbell rings. It's my neighbor.

Him (rather excitedly) "We got a problem."
Me: "What?" (While thinking to myself, "You better not start
Him: "Your tree is about to fall on my house!"
Me: "WHAT???!!!"

We go to the back of the house and sure enough, my tree is leaning over. Ugh.
I told him I would see about taking care of it and get back to him. I called 4 tree removal services yesterday. Now, granted it was Sunday afternoon, so most of them were closed. Don't you know that only ONE called me back today...and that was AFTER 4pm!!!
I went back to the house today and did find a different man who can cut the tree down tomorrow. Luckily he picked up the phone and came out right away. He's ONLY charging me $350 but after shelling out close to $10k this past week on closing, cleaning, etc that $350 feels like a million. However, it's something that needs to be done.

I'm still very happy that I was able to purchase this house. I'm not complaining at all, but I'm definitely getting a more realistic view of home ownership. There's no landlord to call. I am the landlord now. Time to start saving up some money again.

Stay tuned.

I CLOSED!!!!

I am so excited. I finally closed on my house yesterday. I can't believe it. I waited so long for the time to come, and now it's over. I'm NOT complaining at all. It's just that it seems like I waited forever.

Let me tell you, HGTV definitely gives you a false sense of what to expect at closing. I mean, I know the majority of it is fake, but sheesh. My closing was at 2:00. I got there very early. It was raining horribly and I didn't want anything to delay the closing any longer. I walked in at 1:45. I believe we started at around 1:55 and I was finished signing all of the papers at 2:15. I couldn't believe it.

The only bad thing is, MY KEYS WEREN'T AT THE CLOSING!!! My realtor, L, said that the selling agent couldn't make it to the closing so he had to go and get the keys from her. Then he had to drive in the rain to the closing. By the time he got to the closing office I was finished and had been standing outside in the lobby for about 20 minutes (the weather was really that bad).

Then because of the horrible weather, L and I went to grab some lunch. It was nice just talking and chatting with him. I finally made it to the house at around 7:30. It took so long to get there because of all of the accidents.

When I got there, it was so surreal. I had been there numerous times for several different things. I went to the house the first time to see it. Then I drove past it again to decide if I wanted to make an offer on it.Then I went back into the house with my realtor after we made an offer on it to decide if I wanted to accept their counter offer. Then I had to go back for the inspection. Then I tried to go back when I got back in town to do the final walk through. It was so weird because when I finally had the keys and was in the house, I kept feeling like I had to rush out because someone was coming. I finally had to realize that someone I was waiting for was me, and I was finally home.

I cried so hard when I got there. I couldn't even stop myself. I was so happy and it was so surreal. Luckily....L remembered I liked Kettle One vodka and Sprite (that's my drink). So, when I got to the house, I saw he had purchased a bottle of Kettle One, a bottle of Sprite and two glasses. He put them in a small basket and there was a congratulations card. I was crying again. I finally had to take a drink because I couldn't calm down.

All in all, it was definitely worth it. I can't wait until I move in.

The best part of all was that a) I found out my interest rate was WAY lower than I was locked in for and b) because of the low interest rate, my mortgage payment is about the same I'm paying in rent (or would be paying if I signed another lease).

I can honestly say I have truly been blessed.