Beer Adventures: First Time Home Buyer 101

It quite simply amazes me how little I knew to expect in this whole first-time-home-buyers experience. Usually, I feel decently prepared for what comes along in my life. Nik and I are the ultimate researchers and take much pride in this fact. We rarely make a purchase, decision or transition without giving it our up most attention and consideration. Before we made the decision to purchase a home, we sat down and dissected our finances. We looked at our savings, our income and then broke down all of our bills from utilities to food to gas to animals, etc. You name it and we most likely thought of it. Well, at least anything that comes along AFTER you put in a backyard, window treatments, purchase a whole brand new starter's kit of cleaning supplies, trash cans, food, paint, yada yada yada.

Good lord people, I cannot even tell you how much goes in brand-spanking-new homes. I can only be grateful that Lennar provided us with light bulbs for all of the lights in the house!!! What's worse, I have probably spent more on gas driving back and forth, back and forth to Lowes, Home Depot, Target, the grocery store, Costco and any other home "friendly" store that currently loves me due to the obscene amount of money I am paying them. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE these stores. At times I consider the stability of my mental health because I consider these happier places on Earth that Disneyland. I just get tired of arriving home after a very expensive and liberating shopping extravaganza only to turn around and go back out because I didn't realize I needed two additional trash cans, one for recycling cans and plastic and another for recycling glass. It really kills my buzz.

It amuses me that before Nik and I left Tennessee I had the foresight to pack away cleaning supplies, laundry detergent and some food that is not perishable. However, it does not amuse me that over the course of the last year this fact completely escaped my memory bank and I now have not one, but TWO of each item. Thank goodness I have the room to accommodate all of these items. So now I find myself in the very interesting situation of having too much of certain things and not nearly enough of others. I wish I could somehow delete the items that I have too much of and then the things that I do need would magically appear. And no, I don't think I am asking too much =)

I know I promised pictures and I will post the ones I have from before, but now I am going to wait to post pictures of the after until everything is done. My absolutely incredible and way better than I deserve family came over this weekend and between my parents and sister and Nik's friends, grandmother, aunt's and Uncle Robert, we were able to put in backyard, a sprinkler system, a dog run, paint every room that needed to be painted and put in window treatments in the master bedroom and bathroom. I am so beyond thrilled with the results, I am literally amazed. So, as I finish the final touches in each room, I will post pictures. For now, here is what I have from the before...