Anxiety Dreams

Tomorrow we're leaving for Norfolk to go house-hunting.  Daniel has tried to be apart of the process of searching for homes online, learning about the Hampton Roads area, and talking to lenders about the right loan, but most of the load has fallen on my shoulders.  Partly because he just isn't as interested in the process because he's planning for deployment, but mostly because he works 12 hour days. 

I talk to my dad almost nightly about my progress, good faith estimates, and comparable market analyses.  I wish he would fly out and look at houses with us, but he said he thinks a Realtor can hold my hand through the process.  :)  We'll see.

Two of the houses our Realtor is taking us to on Friday

Since we'll probably sell the house in less than 3 years (we will either be restationed or Daniel will be out of the Navy), we are getting a 15 year loan to build equity much faster.  That takes us down a notch on wha we could get for a 30 year loan, but we realize it's just a "starter house," so we're trying to be positive.  It's just hard for us to swallow that we are looking in the price range of what our parents' homes cost in Tulsa, just because the cost of living is so much more there.  I read an article on CNN Money showing all of the median house prices across the country.  If we had gotten stationed in San Diego, we would have seen an average house at $355,000.  Tulsa's median price is $127,000.  Norfolk is right in the middle at $204,000.

This whole process has been amazing stressful.  I'm just thankful that tomorrow will (hopefully) end my dreaming about ugly cabinets, outdated tile, and a money pit house because I'll finally see the area and have some more peace about what we're getting ourselves into!

*Chandler Bing* Happy Dance Ensuing

I finished my monstrous project of the tufted headboard!  We bought a king-sized mattress a while ago and I just kept our queen-sized headboard up because when the bed was made, you couldn't tell it didn't extend to the edges...  Plus, I had a lovely mirror above that so it was a focal point enough for me... for a while.  Then I stumbled upon a few tufted headboards online and fell in love.  But not so much in love that I was willing to fork over the cash for the $1000 price tag.  So I improvised.

 Inspiration

Thanks to DIY Network and HGTV.com, I found plenty of videos and tips on how to create a headboard all on my own.  First step, gather all the materials.

I decided to go for something a little more simplistic and clean-lined for my first try. Nate Berkus Collection

I headed to Lowe's to get the plywood sheet.  The nice man Jason cut it down to size (78 inches x 48 inches) for us and we checked out.  I'm so glad Daniel came with me because what followed could not have been handled on my own: Driving home with a huge piece of plywood TIED to the top of my Jeep.  Granted, Daniel is an Eagle Scout so he knows all those neat knots and stuff, but all we had to use was TWINE.  I didn't think the plywood would be too big to fit inside of my Jeep!  But a king-sized mattress is much larger than you think...

Daniel had met up with me after getting off work so he had his own vehicle to drive home.  For the next 15 minutes I drove a constant 20mph and avoided stopping as much as possible.  I heard two loud "THUMPS" along the way and even pulled over just shy of our place because I could see the plywood from my rear-view mirror.  I mustered the strength to drive a few more blocks and then shrieked a sigh to release the anxiety; I had made it home without killing anyone.  Daniel said at one point when we were going up hill that the board had tilted up to almost perpendicular with my Jeep (No doubt preceding the loud thump!)  Oh Lordy.


Then I hit up JoAnn's fabric for 3 inch thick foam, batting, amazing fabric on sale, quilting thread, button making kit, buttons, and doll needles.  Here's the progression of my creation:

First I measured where I wanted each of my 22 buttons to go, then drilled holes into the plywood.  Just off to the side, I drilled another hole.  I put a screw in this hole to tie the thread around once I'd tufted the button to its correct depth.

After using spray adhesive to bind the plywood, foam and batting, I stapled the batting to the back.

The fabric was only 54 inches wide.  My headboard was 48 inches plus 3 inches of foam on each side, so I had to sew an extra flap so I could pull the edges around to staple it.

Now I have to tuft!  The longest process was covering all 22 buttons with fabric and then sewing them through the foam and tying the thread around the screws!

The first row tufted, and the second row with the buttons sewed through to the back. And a Huckleberry to the right with glowing eyes watching HGTV with me.

And the finished product!!  Once we get to our house in Virginia Beach, I'll attached legs to it for the appropriate height to the ceilings in our room.  But for now I'm so happy!  Commence Chandler Bing Happy Dance!

Let The Planning Commence

And the orders are in:  We are headed to Virginia Beach!  Daniel will be boarding the USS EISENHOWER at the end of March.

 

The USS EISENHOWER 

The ship left for deployment just after New Year's so he will fly out to the Middle East to meet up with them.  He's excited he only has to go for half of the deployment!  He'll get the qualifications he needs much faster that way, and the last month of deployment is usually hitting up Mediterranean ports on its way back to the US!

We were hoping for San Diego, but we are ecstatic to explore Virginia and the surrounding states as well!  Plus I have a dear friend attending graduate school out there.  Yay for buddies and meeting more Navy wives.

 

Daniel and I at the commissioning of the USS TRUXTON

Whilst he is busy tracking down pirates and floating off the coast of Iraq, I'll be looking for our first home.  I begged my mom to fly out to help since she only works part-time, but my dad said he was confident a Realtor could hold my hand and I could call him at anytime.  Booo.

It seems the most popular choice of home, by far, is the colonial.

I was looking for job openings at the local news stations and found something interesting on one of the websites: The usual tabs for "News," "Weather," and "Sports" were all there, but then I saw a tab labeled "Military."  HELLO GENIUS.  Every station's website should have that tab!  The Norfolk area is home to more than 10 military installments.  The tab had a bunch of fun stories relevant to military families and ship activity in the area.

New city, new job, new house.  Didn't I just go through this 6 months ago??  Ah yes, thus is the life of a military wife.

Jeepers My Liberty is Ticking Me Off!

I've owned three vehicles in my life.  First came my precious green 1998 Ford Explorer bought for my 16th birthday.  I remember coming home from basketball practice and my mom opened the garage door and viola!  A shiny SUV all for me.  I remember peeking inside the windows before running inside to hug my dad and ask for the keys.  Emily the Explorer was so good to me.  I named her after my 7th grade science teacher who named her Durango, "Deidra."

 

Ah the classic "I just turned 16 and my parents are making me take pics with my car"

Next came Lorelai the Liberty.  A silver 2004 beauty.  So cute and maneuverable and just as wonderful as the Gilmore Girls character, I vowed to always keep Jeeps at the top of my list.  Poor Lorelai went home to car heaven after a semi rear-ended her when my dad was driving her.  I was studying abroad in Germany at the time and terrified when I heard my dad was life-flighted back to Tulsa and in intensive care for a few days.  He pulled through, Thank You Jesus, and is now fully recovered 3 years later.

With the high school best friends... getting back together over the summer to float down the Tahlequah River! Leslie, Me, Miranda & Hannah

When I got home, we went shopping to replace dear Lorelai, but had the hardest time.  My dad and I couldn't find the right deal and couldn't agree on anything.  Finally we found a blue Liberty that we had to settle for because I was going back to school and we couldn't trade off cars anymore.  First mistake. I haven't even named this Jeep because I've never gotten emotionally attached.  I got her checked out about 2 weeks before I got married to make sure everything was in tip-top shape to make the move to South Carolina.

With Daniel, Emily and Jordan crossing Lake Champlain into Vermont on the car ferry.

Daniel and I got home from our honeymoon to find all our presents packed into my dad's Grand Cherokee.   My dad wanted to surprise us with new tires for the Liberty when subsequently he found something wrong with it.  The engine had to be REPLACED!  It was covered under warranty, but would take almost 2 weeks to be fixed, and Daniel had to report in South Carolina.  We traded them back 6 months later, but since then has been a string of unfortunate events and brought us to the decision to trade-in the Liberty.  Daniel will soon be getting deployed, so I'll drive his souped-up sports car until he gets back.

Then hopefully I'll have found a suitable replacement... and find the love that I first found in Emily.