Good Read on Grief

http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2012/03/23/when_should_someone_be_finished_grieving_.html?wpisrc=sl_iphone

A colleague of mine posted this article about grief after a loved one has passed away. I can relate in many ways to how he dealt with the grief he felt following the passing of his mother. When my dad passed away during my freshman year of high school, I became an emotional wreck and my world was flipped upside down. We were used to having two supporters in the family, one more financial and one more emotional. Now my mom had to take the role of the financial supporter as well and we saw how much she went through in order to keep our lives as similar to how it was before. My siblings and I most definitely became closer and everyone's strengths really began to shine through.

I too have gone through phases in my life so far that I wonder what my dad would say. When I left for college in San Antonio, I was so homesick and wanted all the adult advice I could get on whether or not I should just come back to Houston for school. Of course there were so many life-changing moments that I always wonder what his reaction would be. Now that we're buying our first home, I wonder if he'd like the place!

The author of the article was completely right, there are different intensities and phases of the grieving but it never goes away. Embrace it and do great things.

In the clear

I got a call from our loan representative letting us know that our loan cleared! We should be receiving my closing day information soon so that we can prepare the money required for that meeting. AA and I have been preparing move-in day items so our weekends have been extremely occupied.

I also finished off the summer session with a 4.0! I wasn't too sure about the grade I was going to receive in one of the classes but am ecstatic with the way things played out. Summer sessions are so much more work since it's crammed into just one or two months.

We should also be wrapping up the files for this application cycle at work. It's been fun getting to know specific students and being able to represent for them at the meetings. I wish the best for these students! :)

Slowing Down

I completed the final assignment for the last summer class; now I have a whole month off before fall classes begin again! :) At first, I wanted to knock out the internship requirement this fall, but since we'll have our new house and plenty of work to do in it, I'm going to wait til the spring or summer sessions to knock it out.

Alex is going to look over our warranty and his insurance options and make some final decisions so we can turn in the paperwork to the title company. Turns out that we have to make two trips to Houston over the month of August. It all sounds exhausting but it'll be much needed! Hopefully we'll have time to go to the gym and work on my spice jars tonight. If not, then we'll probably just wait til the weekend to decorate them.

Insurance - Check!

After a million e-mails with about four different home insurance companies, we finally decided on a policy that we're happy with. The premium is doable and the coverage seems pretty extensive and I've already mapped out our very worst case scenario if our house gets destroyed. It's important to pick a deductible that will be able to be paid if anything happens and enough coverage to rebuild the house if ever needed. We're actually going to go meet with the insurance agent after work today to sign papers.

This past weekend, we went with his parents to pick out our washer/dryer, refrigerator, and couch! So so exciting. I have to remember to save my money as well just in case all the monthly home bills pile up higher than expecting. I can't wait to go back to Houston next weekend to my sister's engagement party. Need to put the present package together for them :)

House Update (T-Minus 3 Weeks)

It's pretty crucial that we decide on a home insurance policy as soon as possible, with only three weeks left til move in! We've narrowed our decisions down to two insurance providers so hopefully this will get taken care of today. I'm leaning more towards SF just because I like their customer service more right now but we'll see what happens with the premiums :)

Our lender notified us last night that the house was appraised at the value we were hoping for! Yay!

I'm starting to be on the lookout for stuff for the home; we're starting to get a bunch of the kitchen necessities checked off.

First Purchase for the Home

The past few days, we have been finding ways where we can save here and there. Initially (of course), we wanted to go shopping for all sorts of new things... pots, pans, bowls, you name it! In order to get some new things that we really want, we'll have to accept and love the donations from our families. There's so many things I still have to pick up when I go back to Houston, the weekend of the engagement party for my sister and her fiance. Don't even know if we'll be able to bring our little Einstein with us this time around but I sure do miss him a lot!

So our first purchase for the house was... a new vacuum cleaner! That's going to be one of the first things we'll have to do in the house and we got it for a whopping $27.21, thanks to our Amazon giftcard and discounts. This bad boy is currently sitting at his parent's house.

Darn

So it's official, we didn't win any of the prizes for the furniture contest. That just means that we need to rebudget our money and priorities again so that we'll be good for a while in the new house. The days are just whizzing by and we are excited that all of the loan documents are currently being processed. Next steps are to pick a homeowners insurance company (oh and warranty) as well as look into our utilities providers.

Oops, I just realized that I forgot to update that after several different offers back and forth on the repairs, the sellers finally agreed to repair some of our items and give us an allowance to fix the rest of the major repairs. That'll do!

On the upside: I got an A in one of the summer courses and am wrapping up the second summer course within these next few weeks. BIG project to do by midnight tonight so I have to get on it.

Closed In

Do you ever feel like you're not doing enough? I couldn't have gotten to where I am now if it weren't for people who decided to support instead of judge me. There are so many issues out there that I'm passionate about; I hope that one day I'll be able to stand up for these beliefs and do something about it.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - Martin Luther King Jr. 

Beaten Down

I guess we're currently at the part where money decisions have caused serious strain on the negotiating and budgeting processes. Is there any way I can get away from this, even for a little bit? I'm tired. We're waiting for the sellers to see if they'll agree to fix a couple things that we're asking for, with a repair allowance.

Need to pack, shower, and get ready for our trip to the Woodlands tomorrow!

White House

Inspection - check! I was so excited to be able to see the house again. It feels great knowing that we don't have to MAKE it into a charmer, it's already such an adorable property and I can't wait to see how everything else goes. Yesterday two big things happened with the house: inspection overall went well but our realtor will be drafting up an amendment to see what we can get fixed. We talked to our lender and got our interest rate locked in so now we need to keep an eye on a day where it falls pretty low. So many papers to collect and get signed in the next couple days.

Oh and homework, of course I haven't forgotten you :/

Furniture

The boyfriend and I have entered a furniture video contest. The rules are still a bit unclear since we've had difficulty getting our view count accurate (or so we think), but my students and family have helped so much with commenting and liking it! The contest ends in three days and I wonder how soon after we will hear *fingers crossed*. Winning this would help so much with our couch and/or dining table.

Exhausting Week

This week has been INSANE! My family got into town just in time for 4th of July celebrations with the boyfriend's family. It was great for everyone to finally meet each other after us dating for 6 and almost a half years :) Yesterday we went to drive around my potentially new home, grab lunch at a taco diner, and hit up the actual city for some historical site seeing.

I wrapped up one of my grad school courses just a couple days ago. Although I already know my numerical grade, it's always a bit nerve-wrecking to find out what I got in the class. I guess I'll miss this exciting part of being in school when I'm officially done next year. It'll be interesting to see what I end up doing for my internship requirement; hopefully, I'll get to work on some sort of project for the high school!

As far as the house goes, we apparently put in the lowest offer on the house we loved and in the end, won the bid. We're now scheduled for a home inspection on Tuesday evening, which I think several people are tagging along for... I might second guess myself sometimes about the home just because it's such a BIG decision, but I think if the home inspection goes swell I'll feel a lot more at ease. As of right now, we've already sorted out some of the kinks with the lender and title company. Now we have to decide on a homeowners insurance company. We'll probably grab some quotes today and decide pretty quickly (by the way, that's how fast this whole process goes).