A life update.

There's not much to report on other than home buying which has taken up our lives since my last blog update. We didn't realize the process of buying a house was so long or unpredictable. There's a lot of stuff that HGTV doesn't show you from the time the buyer's offer is accepted to when they actually move in. It's really stressful. This waiting time could possibly be the most stressful time we've experienced individually or together. We've written checks for amounts of money I have never seen in my life. We've given the same documents a number of times to the bank and they always "can't find it" when we're both at work and not able to send it over (for the fifth time). Something falls into place in one area and then completely falls apart in another. During the last 3.5 weeks we've asked for and accepted things from people that we never thought we would have to. We've let go of pride and cried and then laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. We've spent days imagining a life in this new house complete with paint colors and new furniture and then spent the next few days separating ourselves from the house "just in case". It's still all so uncertain -- and with just four more days before our mortgage commitment deadline, it's not a great feeling.

When we're not completely overwhelmed, which is never by the way; we're working, cooking, cleaning, food shopping, doing laundry, planning for the holidays, contemplating packing, breaking our apartment lease (ah!), taking our Christmas pictures, going to concerts, browsing home improvement stores, hanging out with friends, going out to eat, watching movies, keeping up with DVR, being sick with strep throat/sinus infection/ear infection (that's me), brewing beer (that's him) and cuddling with the cats.

My vision for our Christmas card picture this year and the reality of getting two cats in a picture with us didn't quite mesh. But here's a sneak peek... don't you just love this time of year?