Firsts

I've seen this floatin' around blog world and decided to participate. 

1. First thing you do when you wake up in the morning

I say good morning to Lux, who is usually right beside me and then I hit up the bathroom.

2. First thing you do you when you get home from work
Change into some comfy clothes, put General Hospital on while considering making dinner, if it is planned - if it is not then M makes dinner. I have no idea what to make for dinner unless we have a meal plan - sad I know.

3. First kiss
This might sound pathetic, but I really don't recall when it was - I was too young and it was "playing a game" in the school yard where the boys chase the girls to kiss them. But I do remember M and I's first kiss! It was after a Santa Claus parade, he dropped me off at home and kissed me, then quickly left afterwards. It may have been a bit awkward, but nonetheless a part of our story.

4. First home
My first home, as in the one I first owned would be the one M and I bought together when I was 20:

We knew we wanted to live in the village, not in the city, but we didn't want to buy something we couldn't afford for our first place and we did NOT want to rent! So we bought this gem! You can see the house tour by clicking The House (Old and New).

5. First car
1995 Dodge Stratus - leather seats and all.

6. First car accident / traffic violation

Knock on wood, but I have never been the driver during an accident, just the passenger, thank goodness! Although I have been in several collisions as the passenger unfortunately. But the first accident I was in was in a parking lot with a friend and a car backed up at a fast speed and hit us.

I think the second time would have been with M, when the horse hit us on the main street while crossing an intersection. That poor sunfire didn't even have a chance, but luckily we were okay.

My first speeding ticket was when I was on my way home from my sisters and I got busted by a new cop - I always get the new ones might I mention and I have never got out of a ticket yet! Each one has told me that they don't want to ticket me and would let me off, but their supervisor is in the car with them. I have only had two tickets - knock on wood once a gain.

7. First thing you wanted to be when you grew up

I wanted to be a vet initially because I loved animals (still do) until I realized that I would have to deal with injured pets and death of animals. Then I wanted to be a hair dresser.

8. First choice beverage
My go to drink would be Canada Dry gingerale, water or apple juice. Alcoholic would be vodka, or any cooler that is vodka based.

9.  First choice dessert

Brownies or cookies.

10. First choice restaurant
We don't exactly have a selection around here at all! I would say I like Swiss Chalet or East Side Mario's. In the states M and I loved TGI Friday's.

11. First song that comes to mind

Vogue by Madonna - because that is what is playing on the radio right now.

12. First major purchase

Well in the summer before high school, before the purchase of my car, would have been my Shih Tzu Snoopy. He was $500. I saved like crazy for him! My parents paid half.

13. First job
Does pet sitting count? If not then my first job would have been a cashier at Sobey's.

14. First time you flew on a plane

I flew to Florida to go to Disney as a child.

15. First real "big girl" job

Medical Assistant at my last employer - that we just don't talk about...
What were your firsts?

Where I am Today

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you just wish you could be anywhere aside from where you actually are? That is me this week. Which then led me think of how far I have come.

M and I did a long distance relationship for 2 years. This not only taught us how to be without one another, but it made us soo grateful for the time we do have together. We survived one "break-up" for less than 23 hours all because the stress was getting to be to much, and then realized that if being together is what we really wanted then we would not only have to work hard to make it last, but we would have live each day to the fullest and never leave a day with out at least saying I Love You once. It worked, it got us through college. No more almost break-ups. It was pretty serious pretty fast.

I moved out my Mom's house when I was 20 and we bought our first house that same year. Man do I remember feeling like we were signing our life away. But it was soo very worth it. Our very first house was perfect for us. It was small, yet cozy. It was full of lessons. How to pay bills and get by when times were tough. Working at Wal-Mart didn't pay all that much and M used to get laid off in the winter and we would struggle. We made cut backs and learned how to budget better. We pretty much agreed that this was no way of living and would make compromises for it to never happen again. It was only one winter, but we learned soo much from it. It made us appreciate things soo much more.

We adopted Jazz and then Diamond. Diamond alone taught us patience - something we still struggle with to this day, especially myself. She taught us that life isn't always black and white, there is grey matter. There are also things in life that we cannot control, but if we work hard enough, pray hard enough things can change. Diamond came along way. She ended up being one of the best dogs I have had the pleasure to own! She came into our lives scared, broken and lonely and left our lives as a happy go lucky dog. We worked with her until she became comfortable with us and our lifestyle.

We got engaged! Had a nice 2 year engagement in order to get things done the way we wanted them and not going into debt while doing it! Favorite day of my life thus far! It truly was perfect and there are very few things that I would change.

We bought and sold vehicles, I got a new job in my chosen career path. It started off wonderful and ended horribly, but brought me to where I am working today. I can honestly say that I think some things happen to you in life to actually teach you lessons. These things teach you to be less naive, not soo trusting, to stand up for yourself. Simple lessons that our parents teach us, yet we forget until we get burned by them and then we truly learn the lesson.

It's funny, as a child growing up and establishing life skills, you truly become an adult when you learn from these skills. It is one things to know about the skill but until you have to use it, be abused by it and learn it, then you truly understand.

We bought our second Home. Yes there is a difference, our first house was a just a house, it provided us shelter and love and lessons, but our second purchase became our home. It was where we took pride in the furnishings and let go of many hand me downs, where we put some blood, lots of sweat and our hard earned money into each room and made this home just how we wanted it. We take pride in where we live and how much we have put into it. It is where we are today and could not be happier.

So when I look at the big picture, we have come along way, yet we are soo far from where we have yet to go in live. We will get there, but I just need to remember one thing at a time. Take many stops along the way and take it all in and remember each moment for what it is, whether it be good or bad, grow from it, learn from it and most importantly do it together hand in hand. Don't rush yourself, things will happen when they are supposed to. There will always be bumps in the road, embrace them.

So today I stand and reflect on all of this and appreaciate where we are today and how hard we have worked and arecontinuing to work to get where we want to go!

Thoughts for Thursday

PRETTY FREAKIN' EXCITED TO HAVE MY NEW WASHER AND DRYER!!!

Ok, I just had to get that out!! However, all of this has made me look back, along with a comment on the good old facebook by M, and I have come to realize that I am old! I am an adult! I am a homeowner! And these kind of things were never exciting, new shoes... yes...new clothes.. yes, etc. However, the things that excite me are not just new clothes, etc, I am excited about new bedding, new decor, new appliances, new furniture (and it does not even have to be new, it could just be new to me)! And I know I am not the only one, because my sister is excited for a new bedroom suite, friends are excited for new appliances, etc.

I am excited to decorate, refinish, refurnish, redo rooms in my house. Yes... MY house! I have a house, I have owned 2 houses, this is all sooo crazy to me! I am having like a mid-twenties crisis, all because of the new washer and dryer!

I think the other thing that gets me, is that fact that Mike and I worked soo hard for all of this, we jumped into our first mortgage at the age of 20 and 21! We started from the bottom and are working our way up, replacing the hand-me-downs on our own! It feels like such an accomplishment! We are truly blessed!

The things that used to be soo big in my world as a "young" person are no longer longer "big". The things that used to make my life easier, that I of course did not realize back then, have so much more meaning now! I would have never got excited about a washer and dryer when I was not a homeowner, we just had one, and I used it, I didn't save up to purchase them! Back then, things like furniture and decor were nice, and my Mom used to get excited about these things (and still does), but they were just nice to me, it wasn't exciting! A clothing shopping spree, yes. Little did I know that the things I own now, like owning property, a house, 2 cars, a sea-doo, a hot tub, appliances, furniture and EQUITY are all things that we have had to work sooo hard to have! I am not complaining, it really does feel like an accomplishment!

So with all of this excitement, I am going to congratulate everyone who OWNS something, everyone who has saved up and purchased something for their homes! You have worked hard and you deserve it! I suppose it does not just have to be something for their homes, just something you have been saving up for! Feel free to comment or blog about your hard work! I look forward to hearing about it!

Also, I have applesauce cooking in the crock pot! I think I added too much water!

I am heading into town to take pictures of baby L for a previous coworker/friend M this afternoon! And the weather is nice!

I wish I could be hanging laundry on the line today, since it is soo nice out, but they are not hooked up yet!

I am also excited to have 11 followers!! I actually get excited to see comments from you all and see new followers! I also look forward to reading your blogs and reading whats happening in your lives! Thank you soo much!!

This Old House



So.... I have been neglectful in posting pictures, so I am gunna begin to go a little photo crazy... I will introduce our FIRST House!!

Mike and I bought our first house when I was 20 and Mike was 21! Crazy eh? Hard to believe having a mortgage that young, but we did and we survived and it was great! We started off small and I mean SMALL, quaint, miny, midget, little, modest... get the idea? Well if not, I will help you PICTURE it.


I will note that we lived in our first house for 4 years, we had 2 dogs there for the most part, but sometimes 4 and we had 2 cats, plus hubby that is 6'4'' and myself 5'11''.

Street View

Side View

Back Deck

Pond/Waterfall that hubby made for me... totally miss it!

Mudroom/Laundry Room

Mike's Games Room... or 2nd bedroom (that never had a bed)

Looking into the kitchen from the mudroom... Please note that the kitchen pictures were taken after I had moved out, not my decor, just my paint!



Kitchen



Other side of kitchen

Living Room

Other side of Living Room... note the hardwood floors... LOVED them!

Part of Master bedroom

Other part of Master Bedroom... wall hand painted... by ME

Had to add this one too, so you could see the above closet storage!!

Bathroom, naked... after we moved out, so minus my decor, just my paint... looks soo bland now!

Bathroom vanity... minus mirror and decor!

 And well that is it folks! Yes, the tour only took 5 minutes... if that! But it was a good first house! I loved the hardwood floors in the Living Room, that we I refinished and yes there were a few light shows going on when I zapped the cord with the disk sander... Mike's mom actually verathaned them and they turned out PERFECT! They had 6 coats of paint, with the top couple being chocolate brown... they were even red at one point! We wanted to do the bedroom too, but they were not in good shape when we pulled up the carpet! However the carpet HAD to go... she had 6 cats... and I am sure that more than one of them had used it as a litter box... enough said... the carpet was gone and we put down laminate. We also put laminate in Mike's room and eventually the kitchen. We had to paint EVERY room, except for the master, but it was bland and taupe, so I hand painted my accent wall! We took 2 to 3 weeks to paint and redo the floors before we moved in. We then poked away at landscaping projects and decks! It was a great first home! A lot of memories were made there, but I don't miss it, as we outgrew it 1 year earlier then planned. It was supposed to be a 5 year house and we made it to 4 years!


I think I have posted enough pictures today, so I will leave the new house update for a little while, and that way I have time to photograph the rooms now that they are all done and maybe I will have time to paint the master!


Enjoy!!

MOVING!

Sorry it has been a while, I have been super busy getting ready to move. Mike and I have FINALLY moved! We ended up with a wicked deal, where the peoples who house we were buying were buying ours as investment.

Our "old" house was a 2 bedroom bungalow that we lived in for 4 years! It was only like 700 square feet. Our "new" house now is a 4 bedroom 2 story home, with a finished basement, and we have tripled our house size compared to our old one!

The move went well, we are slowly settling in. Mike and I keep joking that we need 2 way radios to find each other, because we aren't used to this much space. The animals are settling in, in fact the cats keep getting lost. I can sit on my front porch and listen to the cows mooing in the pasture :)

I will post pics soon!

The night before we moved I was going down memory lane of our old house, I will miss that house, which is hard to believe, because for the last 6 months that we have waited to move, it felt as though it was getting smaller and smaller. I do miss the old house and all the memories, but I also look forward to the new memories this house is going hold. We are already having a blast!

It seems sooo surreal. That we bought our first house at the age of 20 and 21 and bought our 2nd house at 24 and 25. How blessed are we?

Just something to think about: What are some things in your life that you are thankful for or feel blessed for?

Mine would be: Mike, all my crazy animals (our family), our families, our house, our jobs and our happiness. Of course there is much more, but those are the ones that come to mind right away.

Life just keeps rolling, and it no longer feels like we are rolling backwards, I feel as though we are rolling in the right direction!