Well, it's been quite a while. Oops!
Last time we chatted, I was struggling with a few things: being unemployed, living with Derick's mom and not having space, struggling financially (although I'm not sure I posted that but I'm sure it's obvious with the fact that I didn't have a job).
Boy, how times have changed. Not a bunch. But things have picked up and gone the right way. At least for now.
About 2 weeks after my last post, I applied to work for a health insurance company in their call center. I was at the end of my unemployment with only about 4 weeks left until I'd no longer have anymore income. I figured, whatever job is offered to me next (hopeful, not expectant), I'd have to take it. Even if it paid $10/hour.
I received a call on a Wednesday, to come in either Thursday or Monday for an interview. Wow! I was so happy! It had been a LONG time, many months, since I'd been even offered an interview.
I go to my interview and feel really comfortable with the two individuals interviewing me. It was nice because they weren't just "straight-to-business". They laughed and made a few jokes and it felt like I was talking to my friends that I'd known forever. My interview went really well, and I found out that they were hiring just 2 people.
I really knew at this point that I had to do my best and cross my fingers and pray that they like me and see my potential. When I went into the interview, I assumed it was like any other similar job around, offering $11-12/hour. When I was given the opportunity to ask questions, I asked what the starting wage was, and I was blown away when Alex (one of the interviewers) said "I think $16.37 or something around there).
GOSH!!! I HAVE TO GET THIS JOB NOW!
After I was done with the interview, I had an assessment to do, finding things on the company's website to show my computer navigation skills.
Luckily all of this paid off, and the following week I was offered a job. I started on April 16, and I couldn't be more happy and feel more blessed to work for such a wonderful company.
Switching gears for just a second: Derick and I just had our 2 year anniversary back about 2 weeks ago. Just before our 2 years, we started seriously talking about buying a house, right after I got hired at my current job.
Our neighbor is a mortgage lender, so he helped us get pre-approved for a house. We felt such a great sense of pride and finally felt somewhat "grown up" because we knew we could buy a house.
We worked with one Realtor originally, unfortunately even though he's a great family friend, the business relationship didn't work out. We toyed with the idea of new construction, and then saw how expensive it could be to build a new house. We then made the decision to look at "fixer-uppers", but didn't find anything that we could imagine fixing to our liking, and making our home.
After this, we sort of gave up for awhile, until my co-worker mentioned they just bought property and were building for a good price with a builder that Derick and I hadn't even checked out yet. We ended up finding an amazing plan with this builder, for a fabulous price on a HUGE lot (12,000 square feet - most pieces of land here are 5000-6000 square feet, so we had a "lot" of space compared to most other new construction homes).
We already wrote the offer on the land, which was accepted. We just have one final meeting with the builder (a little over a week from now) to finalize the floor plan and see if our offer can be accepted for the plan we want. If so - our Realtor stated that construction should begin on or around September 15!
WE ARE SO HAPPY!!!!!
We got the lot right next door to my co-worker, so it will be nice having a friend and someone we know, living next to us. Turns out, he married one of my high school classmates. Such a small world!
They have dogs too, so hopefully our 5 and their 2 (and maybe one more) will get along, and not have barking contests! (Ok, I'm dreaming...haha.)
We've purchased a new couch and dining set for our new home already. Oh, and a nice dresser (more of a decorating piece). We're about to go get one of those ladder shelves to put in our new living room. (I love Labor Day sales!)
That's it for now. Until next time, my dearies!
