FTA Licensing Update

We had to complete 9 hours of pre-placement training prior to getting our dual license.  Thankfully the classes were only 3 hours at a time.  Beyond the frustration of actually getting to the site, the training was a mixture of very repetitive information, information we already knew, and some helpful information.  We went in with an open mind because we weren't sure what the training was going to be like and really found one and a half of the sessions to be beneficial.

For us we were primarily hoping to discuss what we need to do once we actually get "the call".  There are doctor appointments needed, dentist appointments, figuring out daycare/school, etc.  This was the most beneficial information to us as it was something that would actually help us in preparing for children coming into our home.

We still have the rest of our 33 hours of training we need to complete; but, we have two years to complete the training.  We also have two different training sessions we must complete with our agency; but, in order to register for all of our training we need to be actually licensed.

Speaking of getting licensed, we have our final walk-thru tomorrow!  Our licensing specialist will stop by to verify we have working smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, fire exit plan, etc.  We will be doing an exterior safety check as well.

So far the licensing process has been pretty smooth and our licensing specialist believes we should have our license within a month(ish).  And then it is just a wait for us to get "the call" and we will be on a crazy adventure!

Getting Prepared for Littles

We have been so grateful to everybody who has offered to donate gently used things or even brand new things in order for us to prepare for having littles enter our house.  Since most of the stuff is coming from MN it means that my folks get to transport it to us (haha, sorry m&d).  They recently made a weekend trip out to bring us a couple cribs along with some other smaller stuff that would fit in the small areas of the Flex that weren't being taken up by cribs.  Being given two cribs was kind of a blessing as it means that we could take in a baby and a toddler at the same time as well as an older child if need be.  While my folks visited they did a lot to help us prepare the rooms for littles from swapping dressers around to fixing a drop down crib to a stationary crib to going through clothes and putting them in the dressers.  It is nice being a little closer to family, just wish it was easier for all family to come visit.

One of many bins of clothes before organizing them into drawers.

 My mom ended up keeping quite a bit of clothing from when me, my brother, and sister were babies.  In addition, Derek and I have three nephews and two nieces who.  My brother and sister-in-law have generously donated clothes (and toys still in bins) to us.  Being the youngest child in your family, you get used to hand-me-downs and really kids grow so quickly it makes more sense to go through hand-me-downs unless something specific is needed.  For us it really makes sense because we are not sure of what littles will be entering our home, the ages, sizes, or even season.

As this doll was lying down, Derek said it was creepy because the eyelids open and close.  Boy, is he in for a treat if we get a girl or girls.

 As a kid, I didn't play with dolls very often.  To be honest, I thought they were ugly and there was only one Barbie doll I did like, the one that was "Asian" even though she was Hawaiian.  When I did play with dolls, I wanted to pretty ones, which didn't include the standard blonde hair, blue eyed doll.  Plus, the chances of us having an African American child is so great, I would prefer to have a wider variety of ethnicity shown through their toys (and really, when is it a bad thing to teach any child about diversity). 

Homemade doll clothes my mom made.

 My mom has made so much doll clothes it is crazy.  She used to make clothes for my dolls when I was younger and always thought they were so much prettier than the store bought stuff.

One of three car seats, this one from our licensing worker.

 Besides beds, the other thing that was required for us to have in order to become licensed was car seats.  With our age range being 0-5 (8 at oldest), this meant we needed an infant car seat, convertible car seat, and a booster seat.  Our licensing worker surprised us by giving us one of the three car seats we have and thankfully none of them are pink!

A zebra rug, you know to hide the stained carpet from the previous owners.

With the exception of a few minor things like hanging paintings, for the most part the rooms are done (*only photos of one room because the other is pretty boring with just a bed and dresser).

Drop down crib no more!  This crib held three of my second cousins on one side of my family.

Choices for seating.

 My grandpa made this rocking horse and even won a ribbon at the state fair for it.  And that little yellow rocking chair was a gift for my 1st birthday!

Toddler bed which we could double into another crib if needed.  This crib held two of my other second cousins from the other side of my family.

 Derek thought I was absolutely nuts when I told him we were getting two cribs.  He wasn't convinced they would fit in the room; but, I of course had a plan!  It worked out pretty well to have two cribs so one could be set up as a toddler bed, especially since this one has a drawer underneath.

How cute are these sheets?!

My Aunt had kept some sheets and I instantly fell in love with these!  Seriously, these are the best.  And my sister-in-law had a Bob the Builder quilt that while we can't use yet, works perfectly folded in half for a toddler quilt.

One of two dressers WITH clothes in them.

 This dresser is a bit on the smaller side; but, holds plenty of clothes for boys, girls, or neutral for either.  The dresser in the other room is quite a bit larger that has plenty of room for additional clothes.

Goodwill finds.

 Have you tried to find a good night lite lately?  It is a pain in the neck to find a good one (a.k.a. motion activated).  We haven't tested these out yet to see if they actually work; but, they were too cute to pass up.  And granted if they work should provide a little comforting to littles if they become scared.

If we get an infant.

It is hard to get a good variety of stuff when we have such a "big" age range.  We luckily were gifted this along with a space saving high chair for the dinner table.

Pregnant women "nest" and I can understand the feeling.  Getting the rooms set for the most part has given me a bit of ease in feeling we are somewhat prepared for the future.  It also has made us more excited in knowing that our family will be growing.  Monday (or Tuesday, because I can't remember) will be our final visit with our licensing worker before she hands us off to the next person.  She will be completing our home study with her boss and will just be waiting upon our out-of-state background checks.

What comes up next for us?  We have 9 hours of training coming up in February (yes, I realize that is tomorrow) which is also required before getting licensed.

Ceilings should be white

First things first.  I apologize for the boatloads of photos!  Since Derek had to work and live in Illinois for the first two weeks of us owning and painting a house I did my best to keep photo records to send to him so he knew what was going on to his house while he was away.

The house we ended up buying was built in '91 and was definitely out of date with the painting and decor.  The first time we looked at the house neither of us noticed the ceilings because neither of us looked UP.  When we came up for the home inspection I ended up noticing the previous owners had painted each and every rooms ceiling to match the wall colors.  I'm talking the kitchen, dining, hall, and entryway ceilings were seafoam green.  

Living room ceiling was baby blue.  

Hard to tell that the ceilings are actually baby blue.  Trust me they were baby blue.

Two bedrooms had some weird beige color to match the bathroom ceilings.  Those who truly know me know that I absolutely despise beige!



And the master bedroom had this dark purplish grey ceiling. 

And the absolute best thing the previous owners did with their ceilings was use a piece of trim between the living room and entry to separate the seafoam green and the baby blue.

This was a "are you kidding me?!?!?!" moment.

In four words: ceilings should be WHITE!

It took some convincing Derek that ceilings not only should be white; but, ceilings should have a different texture than the walls.  This way it makes the ceiling obviously different than the walls and it also gives the rooms a clean and finished look.  My dad had experience and the tools to texturize the ceilings with the orange peel look which we absolutely hated on the apartment walls (who does that to their walls?  No judging, it just isn't my thing.); but, I love it for ceilings.  Mom and dad brought all the supplies to do the orange peel and we really didn't decide until Derek was getting ready to head back to Illinois to actually do the textured ceilings.

The process is really a pain and super time consuming to get an orange peel ceiling.  We are talking: mixing the mud, spraying the mud, waiting an hour before knocking it down, scraping when dry, priming, then painting white!  Oh and you have to remove all light and ceiling fixtures along with taping and using plastic over EVERYTHING you don't want to get sprayed or covered because the process is super messy.  It is SO worth the time and work though! 

Goodbye ugly light fixture!  Benefit of having a tall husband and tall dad is not needing ladders ;)

YAY!  Texture!!!

Cleaning it off of the walls.

More than one person IS required!

Spotlights are required when you are spraying ceilings at night once the sun has set.

No turning back once you have started!

After priming, the white ceilings appear after being painted on pink!

Again, seriously nice not to use a ladder to paint the ceiling!

Ahh no more weird two colored ceiling being separated by a piece of trim that has no business being on a ceiling in the first place.  *Note: only half the ceiling is painted here; but, I assure you the whole thing is WHITE!

Derek really wanted to learn how to do it so Dad ended up showing him how on our laundry room ceiling and he did great!

Dad explaining to Derek how to work the sprayer.

After everything was said and done, my husband even admitted that doing the orange peel to the ceiling and having the ceilings white was an excellent idea.  It raises the height of the room and just makes everything cleaner looking.

Stay tuned for more on the house as it might take a year to get through the whole thing and everything we do to it!

New Beginnings

New state.
New address.
New house.
New beginnings.

Our move to Wisconsin was undoubtedly stressful.  I rented a 20' truck which was too small of a truck to hold all of our belongings and that was after Derek convinced me to go up in size once already.  Wife fail right there!

It was a good omen that our truck represented Minnesota!

Two of Derek's coworkers were kind enough to lend their muscles and time to help us load the truck as there is no way me and Derek could do it on our own. Thank you Neil and Collin for being awesome!

Because it was just Derek and I moving us this time, we needed to tow my car.  Derek did fantastic driving not only the truck; but, the truck with my car being towed behind it.

Unloading always seems to go SO much faster.  Even when you have 2 moving trucks and two cars to unload into the garage.

My mom is a master of box tetris!

We ended up loading everything into the garage (to which 90% of it is still in there two weeks later) so we wouldn't have to shift things around in the house for painting and spraying ceilings.
In the end, Derek and I have decided we are not fans of moving and that we are going to be donating A TON of our stuff because we have too much of it.

Buying a house shouldn't be so difficult

I am actually curious why it is so stinking difficult to purchase a home.  Buying our house was such a hassle, one that has been so far worth it though albeit a hassle to get it.

Living out of the state you are trying to purchase a house in can be cut down to one word: challenging.  For nearly two months Derek and I traveled back and forth between PIA and MKE looking for a house to buy.  

The first trip that we actually met a realtor and looked at homes went fairly well.  We found a house we thought would work for us and put an offer in on it.  It was an older home with four bedrooms and over an acre of land in the lowest tax area around MKE.  We put an offer in on the house which was accepted and we thought the home buying this was super easy.  The next time we went to MKE for the home inspection revealed things might not be as they seemed.  The home had a lot wrong with it and things that were going to be costly to repair.  In sending an addendum to the owners they were not willing to fix anything.  And with a VA loan that was simply not going to work for us so we were back at square one looking for new homes.

After being discouraged with the first home falling through we traveled to MKE yet again to meet with our realtor and do more house hunting.  The price bracket we were looking at really wasn't revealing anything great or anything that we were willing to put an offer in on so after figuring out numbers we made the difficult choice to increase our price range.  Doing so opened us up to many more probable houses.

Day one of going to look at the new homes made us quickly forget and realize that we just jumped the gun on the first house we tried to purchase.  It made us more excited to see homes actually in the area where we wanted to live.  The very last home we looked at on the first day was the first home we walked into and actually said, "Take my money" before even looking at the whole home.  We put an off in on the house.  And then the homeowners decided that it was too low, too soon of a closing date, and that they weren't sure they wanted to move!  Who puts their house on the market and then decides they don't know 100% that they want to move!!!

Frustrated with the offer and owners of the house we fell in love with we stayed an extra day to look at new homes yet once again.  We found another house that had the most gorgeous backyard oasis and the house had been kept up really nicely.  So we decided to gamble and put an offer in on that house even though we still hadn't heard back on the house we loved.  This time because it was in an ideal area and it had 7 other showings the first day it was on the market, we decided to put an offer in above asking price.  The owners were frantic in trying to accept or decline the offer because they weren't sure they would be able to find a place to live by the closing date.  Again, who puts their house on the market if they aren't sure they want to move?!!!!  Or have a place to move into for that matter.

So here we were kind of stressing because technically we had put an offer in on two houses. We were waiting on the owners of the houses to make decisions before we ended up having to pull out of the house with the backyard oasis.  Meanwhile we were praying and hoping that the owners with the house we loved would agree to the second addendum we sent because if they didn't we were basically planning on being homeless.

Once we had the home secured with our good faith offer then came the troubles of working with an incompetent loan processor (who should not be confused with the excellent loan officer we worked with).  The loan processor was this young girl probably just out of high school who had no idea what to do when we had questions and no idea how to explain the things we asked questions about.  And the days before closing she was unavailable because she was on vacation (not blaming her, just very inconvenient).  Nothing is more frustrating than trying to ensure you have all the necessary documents and paperwork completed before your closing date when you cannot get a hold of your loan processor.

So I say, buying a house really shouldn't be so difficult.  Here is to hoping everything with our house in the future goes extremely smoothly!