House Hunting Diary #1

I am having positive thoughts that we can achieve our goal to have our own place this year. Early this month me and hubby had a talk to resume our house hunting. I told him that I think we need to get pre-approved first before we look for houses so we will know the figures and we will look at houses in our price range. Before we apply for pre-approval we look around, different area and houses that will be possible to be in our list.

I admit that driving around looking for a good neighborhood for possible location is hard. There are lots of things you need to consider. This will be our first place and I know it's hard to find a perfect one but we need to find one that we like so we will not have any regrets. We considered at first established neighborhoods and houses but in the end we gave up and thought about new communities in a good neighborhood.

We checked out newly developed communities and my husband fell in love with a new developed community about 12-15 miles away from where we live right now. It is a new development, as I've said, and just few houses built. The builders are very great and they have affordable and nice houses. We talked to the sales manager on site and she was really very helpful. We viewed few of their model houses and I would say I like their designs.

I know that when you find your first place seldom you can get everything you want. There are some things you need to let go and things you need to compromise. So now we decided to go with the place and in the process of deciding on a design. Hopefully we can get everything put together as to the design, upgrade and other stuff so our agent can write the offer. I am crossing my fingers that our house hunting will be done and all will run smoothly. I always pray to God to guide us in all our decisions. This is not a simple undertakings. If everything goes well, with the grace of God, then I can say we are on our way to achieving our future's goals.

Favorite Fashion Themed TV Show-What Not To Wear

Thanks for the post, Nora Howe.

What Not To Wear is my favorite fashioned themed TV show. When I settle down and switch on my satellite TV that I got after seeing this Directv DVR Offers comparison to watch, I know I am in for a treat. First of all it's reality TV so it's never the same characters twice. The plot is the same. Someone has turned in a friend, co worker, relative, into the "fashion police" for an outdated or understated style. I love how the hosts showcase what the person is into wearing now and then help them find a fashion fit for them. The hosts are always very nice and delicate but also very straight forward in telling the person what is wrong with their dress now and how to up ate it. They even go through the person's closet with them and throw stuff out. The fashion victims are not always happy about giving up their current looks but usually wind up very happy with the new look they are given. It's a fun show to watch and a way to get some great fashion tips!

Light Fixture

Many times I mentioned here in my blog that we are hoping to own our first home one day. This time we are determined and we are now in the process of doing the first step of home ownership. Beforehand, we are driving around the neighborhood checking out different communities and house styles. One of the things I look at house's feature aside from the important ones are also the light fixture. Most of the houses here in the northwest, especially here in our area, the central air is an add-on or an upgrade. This is why I look at the ceiling fans with lights as well. I am a fan of Casablanca fans and I am hoping in the houses that we are going to look at we can get those types of fans. So far with the houses that we checked out I haven't seen those kind of fans yet. I think we have to purchase it by ourselves and replace whatever fans that the house have when we find the right place for us. I can't wait to have our own place, really :-)

Military PCS

Some of our friends here are now in the process of moving and some have moved already to other duty stations. This is one of the saddest times for me being in the military family. After 3 years of being in one duty station, there is a possibility that your active duty service member will receive an order to PCS, permanent change of station, to another post. I know that we are already expecting it but every time somebody move you can't stop the sadness.

My very dear friend will move to Germany this coming June because her husband will be stationed there. I am not sure how long they are going to stay there but she has to go where her husband go. They have two kids and are friends of our little girl as well. I am sure she will miss her friends as much as I will be missing my friend. We don not know when we can see each other again though.

Couple of months ago two of our friends also moved overseas and another moved to another state. If their husbands have many years before they retire then maybe we will still be able to see each other since most of them just run in circles in the Army. They maybe stationed here again or we will be stationed to where they are at right now. Wherever it is, I will still feel the sadness everytime a friend of ours PCS.

Our Little Crawler

I am still amazed at how our little ones developed every single day. She is now 10 months and crawls everywhere inside our place. Good thing we have carpeted floor. It will not be cold when she is on the floor. We have a small space of laminate flooring at the entrance and our baby love to stay on there. She likes banging the door that is why. When she's on there I sometimes put a blanket just so she will not be cold.

Right now she is learning to make steps while holding on to furniture. She can pull up herself already and she is too quick to do it now. I know anytime soon she will be able to walk by herself.

Healthcare Jobs

I would say that our economy is slowly getting better. The numbers in wall street are high and unemployment rate going down. Retail sales are high compared to past year. If it not for the current situation in the middle east that made the gas prices soaring high then maybe we are not experiencing the high gas price.

When the unemployment rate was up for the past two years, healthcare industry jobs were still very active. This is why some people that were laid off from their jobs tried new careers in health care. I have several friends, including myself went on training for a health care field. This industry will always be in need of workers. I am so excited to finished my training program so I can get back to the workforce again.