Oh, and by the way...

We're finally almost all unpacked in our new place! Yay!! Here are photos now that (almost) everything's in it's place...

Our house - UNPACKED!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

So this morning when I woke up I decided to write on here what I was thankful for. My list ended up being obvious things, like how I'm thankful for my wonderful husband and for my family. Then, while I was in the shower, I realized that I really should give thanks for all the things I take for granted every day. It's so easy for us to get caught up with what we "want", we lose sight of all the wonderful things we "have". So here's my list of what I'm thankful for:

• I'm so incredibly thankful that we have a warm, safe place to come home to every night. - Jeremy and I always look at the huge houses in our area and say "I want a house like that!" or, now that we own a place, we're always looking for ways to make it "better". Then I think about the millions of people in this country who sleep under bridges or in shelters, and it makes our house seem like a palace. To some people, owning a house like ours is a dream - we stay warm and dry, it's clean and sturdy...it really is our very own castle.
• I'm thankful for clean, running water - we recently watched an epidsode of Extreme Home Makeover where the families didn't have running water in their house. Instead, they had a hose coming in their kitchen window. I can't even imagine what it would be like to not have long, hot showers, or water to wash our clothes and dishes with or, most importantly, clean water to drink. Running water really is one of our little luxuries, and it's certainly one we take for granted. I don't even think twice about hopping in the shower, or filling a pot of water for spaghetti. Imagine what it would be like if simple tasks like these didn't happen so simply...
• I'm thankful that we have enough money to buy winter coats, and hot coffee, and shoes and socks - since it's started getting cold out, every day that I walk to work from the Metro station I grumble to myself about the cold. Then, when I walk over the top of the grates that lead down to the Metro and feel a rush of warm air, I think of all the homeless people in the city who sleep on those grates in winter so that they can stay warm. And here I am, in my $200 coat, with a scarf and gloves, on my way to my warm office to drink some hot coffee, and I'm complaining about being cold!? How dare I?!
• I'm thankful that Jeremy and I are healthy - we have our sight, our hearing, all our fingers and toes, and we never have to go to hospitals. How many people can say that? So many people spend their lives in and out of hospitals and doctor's offices. I can't imagine the toll something like that would take on you eventually - physically and emotionally. I pray that we remain healthy for a long time.
• I'm thankful that we always have good, healthy food in our house - we are never without the foods we want, even though we often complain that we don't have anything or that we're so sick of eating the same stuff. On another episode of Extreme Home Makeover, a family received enough frozen chicken to feed them for a year. When they heard this, the father broke down in tears. When you see that a freezer full of boring ol' chicken is enough to reduce a grown man to tears, you realize how good you have it when you can afford to by fresh, exciting foods every day.
• And finally, I'm so, so, so thankful that I grew up surrounded by family and friends who love and support me - there are millions of kids in foster homes, or living on the streets, who don't have a strong foundation to build their lives upon. Every single opportunity that has been afforded me has come about through what was and is provided to me by my wonderful parents and my brother, my grandparents, my extended family, and my friends. Nothing that I have done would have been possible if I didn't have them to look up to, to provide me with endless love and support, kind words and even harsh words when I messed up. They helped me accomplish everything I have and, for that, I think I'm the most thankful person in the world!

(PS - And I give thanks to Kathleen, for sending me these fun Thanskgiving pictures!)

It's Official!

Jeremy and I are now officially home owners! Woohoo!! We closed on our house on Thursday afternoon, have given in our keys to our old place and are moving in! Well, we've already moved everything into the new place - now we're just slowly wading though the piles of boxes, trying to get everything in it's place. Jeremy and I have both decided to never move again - moving is the absolute worst! Not to mention a health hazard - I was certain that Jeremy, myself and one of the moving boys were going to die yesterday as we moved the couch. Imagine the position they were in - Jeremy and the movers had somehow managed to squeeze our rather large couch up to the top of the stairwell (which was no easy feat, let me tell you!). However, once the guy who was going backwards up the stairs reached the top of the staircase, he was faced with a dilemma - there's only about 4 feet of room between the stairs and the wall, and to get into the living room you have to take a sharp right turn. Of course, an oversized couch doesn't lend itself well to taking sharp right turns. So there they were, couch wedged in our staircase, Jeremy and the moving guy bracing themselves against the bottom of it trying desparately not to lose their grip and face certain death by couch-squashing. The boys decided that the only way to get the couch into the living room was to stand it up on one end and just kind of slide it around the corner. Geez!! Here I am, standing at the bottom of the staircase, and all I see is a giant couch slowly but surely raise up to stand on one end - a scary sight! All it would have taken for the couch to come crashing down on my poor husband and his helper (and ultimately myself at the bottom of the stairs) would be for one of the boys to slip or lose their grip. My stomach was doing somersaults the whole time - I was certain that we were all going to die terrible deaths!! But we didn't, and the couch eventually made it to it's designated spot in the living room. Good job boys!! Jeremy has now decided that when it comes time for us to move again, he's either cutting the couch into pieces with a chainsaw, or he's pushing over the balcony. Both are excellent ideas.

So, after many (many, MANY) trips up and down stairs, in and out of doors, and a whole lot of grunts and groans, we are in our new place. We slept here on Friday night on the floor - not the best idea but oh well. We had champagne and take-out Thai food last night as a celebration. Now today it's more unpacking and putting beds and futons and desks back together, as well as a little grocery shopping and all that fun stuff. Woo!

Here are some pictures of us and the new place - you'll have to forgive the fact that we look like homeless people in some of the photos (12 hours of moving can make you look a little disheveled).

Our house!

Everything else is going great. I've been at my new job for going on three weeks now and I love it! I'm busy all day long, which is nice, and the people I work with/for are great! I'm really enjoying it. Now all I have to do is find 10 people to refer so I can get a $40,000 bonus. Ooooh yeah!

Jeremy also started his new position on Thursday. Well, I guess Monday is really when he'll start, because on Thursday he spent his day meeting people and going out to lunch (and then left early to go to closing) and he had Friday off. I think he'll really enjoy it though - he's mentioned that the people he's met so far have been nice. Hopefully it will all go smoothly!