Ringing in 2009!

Happy New Year!! Hard to imagine it's 2009...but it is! It's going to be a busy year, but full of new and exciting adventures and accomplishments, I know it. We put another offer on a house today. It is really nice in in a GREAT Gilbert neighborhood and right next to a bunch of stores...the kind you'd WANT to be next to, so yes this is a good thing (the neighborhood itself seemed really quiet). The house is adjacent to a big park and playground/BBQ/Ramada/Basketball/grassy area and also has a pool somewhere in the community along with its own K-12 and Junior High schools (didn't see the pool or schools, but looked it up on the HOA website). Not that we would need the schools at the moment, but it's just a plus for the community and probably makes the home of greater value for resale (and for the record, at this point we are still planning to homeschool our kids). Anywho, I am quite excited about this one and I hope it works out. It is a bank-owned forclosure home built in 2004, and needs minimal repairs (one window is boarded up and would need to be replaced, and the carpet in the living room is messed up). We would also need to buy the main appliances (refridgerator, washer/dryer and possibly a stove--the one that is there is white and old and the microwave and dishwasher are black and newer so I'd probably want to buy a new stove to make everything match). The floorplan is amazing, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the kitchen/family room/dining room area. It is SO open and BIG and would be PERFECT for entertaining. It is a central location about 7 miles from my work, and about equal distance from each of our parents and our church. Scott's work really isn't close to anything we've been looking at...but at least this house is within a mile of the freeway for him. :-)

There are SEVERAL other aspects of this house that I LOVE, but I'd better stop explaining so that I don't get myself too worked up about it. I don't want it to be too huge of a disappointment if it doesn't work out. But it's so hard not to get all excited!! (I obviously AM excited already!!)

*Sigh* OUR house is out there somewhere, and I know we'll find it eventually, whether it be this one or not. But since I can't see into the future (wouldn't that be a cool super-power? Lol), as of today I hope it IS this one.

Houses aside, Scott and I had a great time partying with our friends last night and ringing in the new year!! Now, by "partying" I mean playing board games, snacking on tator-tots and chocolate-fountain type snacks and drinking Coke. I had a few sips of Scott's wine after midnight (we forgot to break it out sooner--too caught up in our game). Oh, and if you haven't played the game Quelf before, go check it out. It's pretty much hilarious! Not really for the shy/easily embarrassed like myself...but I think I started to warm up after a little while. I'd play it again. :-) And Scott wants to buy it. Here is a quick recap of our game last night: Angela ended up with inside-out pants and was only allowed to talk with her thumbs in her mouth while simultaneously touching her shoulders (I know you want to try it--try crossing your arms), Matt probably spent a good 20 mintues acting like a weeping-willow tree while humming a sad tune AND exclaiming "I need my pills" after each drink he took during the entire game, Andrew had to translate everything he said into another language of his choice (first he chose spanish, then switched to pig-latin...lol!), Scott had to say "Holy _________, Batman!" each time a player moved his/her piece and he couldn't use the same phrase twice, Kim had to talk about her home in Sri-Lanka each turn, Travis ended up with the empty game box under his shirt for the entirety of the game, and we ALL had to sing a wish to a genie named Ned while clapping our hands and saying his name 3 times at the beginning of each turn. Yes, it was quite the game!! I luckily didn't end up with anything too strange like the others...yay me! :-D

I think Scott is about ready to head home now...we've been at his parent's house for a few hours and he's been playing Rockband with Susan. :-) If you think about us, please pray for our house situation!! I am excited about this one we saw today, but I know that God has a perfect house out there for us and we have to be patient! If you know me at all you know I am NOT very patient. You may think I am because I can be very quiet about my IMpatience, but inside I am SOOOOOO not a patient person!!! Something I need to work on...and something tells me I'll be working on it for a loooooong time...

Goodnight, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
~Abigail~