Tiffany Dionne...Party of Five

After weeks of waiting, and biting our nails...like SERIOUSLY I have no nails left...we heard from our Loan Officer.  And the verdict is (drum roll, please)... We have the green light to move forward!  I could have screamed when I heard the news.  I was fully prepared to hear we couldn't do it, or we needed a bazillion other documents.  I've been working on this whole "positivity breeds positivity" kick lately.  That mindset really works.  She's sent the blue letter over to Ryan Homes telling them everything is ay-okay.  SQEEEEEEEE! So now we wait for them to break ground, which should be sometime next week.  It was originally planned for this Friday but that's ok.  I'm just overjoyed that we can move forward.  If all goes well, we should be in our new home before Thanksgiving! Sorry for the short post, but that's all I got.  I'll leave you with a picture of our model home, which is pretty much what our home will look like. River Oaks Mod

We had our pre-construction meeting yesterday.  We finally got to meet our Project Manager (PM) Charlie.  He really seems like a great guy and knows his stuff.  We went over every detail of the house to confirm our selections.  We didn't get to do this when we  built a Ryan Homes 7 years ago.  I'm a detail junkie, so this made me very happy.  We all seemed to be on the same page and we're excited to move forward. There's only one little hiccup.  We're waiting to sign papers about a small change we've made to our flooring selection.  When we walked the model home, only for the umpteenth time, we noticed tile in the hall and basement bathrooms.  We originally decided to do the freebie linoleum because we freaked out about going over our flooring budget.  I'm still recovering from that heart attack.  Once we noticed the 6x6 tile we decided we needed to change that.  Hubby called (then emailed per my demands) our flooring rep to inform her of our request.  Rem

Ever taken a trip to the Lowes tile department?  Did you feel like the walls were closing in around you?  I often wonder how many divorces take place because of fights that broke out on those aisles.  It was time for us to make our flooring selections and since I'm keeping it 100% real with y'all, I was scared shitless!!!  We had a conservative figure of $10K in mind.  Did I say conservative??? We arrived at our flooring appointment a little early (only about 10 minutes because we're very punctual people).  I feel like my time is precious and others' time is equally important so we avoid being late at all costs.  Our flooring rep (FR) didn't seem very excited to see us.  She greeted us with pleasantries that seemed a bit...er...umm...forced.  I could see steam coming from hubby's ears so I continued to smile and remain as upbeat  as possible.  Apparently this office was just taken over by her company and the previous company still has all of it's samples i

Yesterday we had our meeting with our Loan Officer (LO).  It was a very informative, yet stressful meeting.  Partly because we didn't bring all of the documents that we should have.  I asked dear hubby several times if he had his papers together.  "Trust me.  I know what I'm doing.  I've done this several times before.  Just trust me woman."   Umm hmm ...He said ALL of that to me.  But guess what?  Guess who didn't have what they needed?  Not this chic!  Let's just say someone kept getting the side-eye during this meeting. The good news is there's no doubt that we qualify.  The not so good news is there may be a slight delay in what we hoped to do.  Our LO explained that you can only have one FHA loan on a home in the same area.  Our new home is being built literally three minutes from where we live now.  If it were in another state this wouldn't be an issue.  So, we can either wait to sell this house before we proceed with our build (which mean

A major goal for me is to get healthier.  I've been doing Beachbody programs to help get me one step closer.  I'm trying out the newest Shaun T program called CIZE .  I have a love hate relationship with that man!  He makes me work hard and sweat.  I ain't about that life.  But I love to dance and he's got some killer dance moves.  I'm two days in and hurting in places I didn't know existed.  Who would have thought dancing used all these muscles.  I'm excited to see what my results are after the first week (it's a 4 week program).  Stay tuned for updates and progress pics!

We stopped by to meet with our Sales Representative (SR) on Sunday, July 26th.  We totally only planned to discuss a few options we wanted to change and sign a contingency contract.  We had our eyes on two lots, mostly flat lots with the walk-out basement option.  We were really hoping for a flat lot because we're entertaining the idea of building a pool in the future.  Before I could process what was happening we were signing a contract to secure our lot.  Oh shit!  What did we just do?  We don't even have an offer on our house yet.   Are we flippin' cray cray? Us on our lot making it official. Our SR was amazing and discussed our concerns and several possible situations with us.  I left feeling a little more confident about our decision.  To say I love our lot is an understatement.  We'll only have a neighbor on one side.  SWEET!!!  It's directly in front of the cul-de-sac that my friend lives on.  I'll have peace of mind knowing I can watch the kids whi

Ok, so we didn't go to Rome the city.  It was suggested by a friend that we visit a new subdivision called River Oaks.  Her family just built there and we were discussing the layouts of our homes.  I may have mentioned that if we  EVER  built again I'd make a few changes.  I told her we weren't in the market to build because we currently live in a Ryan Homes Victoria (not to be confused with the Victoria Falls), that was built in 2008.  It's a beautiful home with vaulted ceilings and an open foyer. What we didn't know at the time was how much of an energy sucker those pretty ceilings and foyer are.  We also never realized how the layout of our home wasn't very functional for our family.  I mean, it doesn't really leave much room to grow (not that we plan on growing).   I'm not saying it's not a good home, not at all! A few weeks ago I convinced the hubby to go visit the model home.  The model, called the Rome, was absolutely stunning.  It doesn'

Well, hey there!  I'm so happy you found me.  I started this blog years ago when I ran a home based daycare.  It served as a way to keep my daycare families up-to-date on stuff.  I've since closed the daycare and moved on to other things. I've decided to revamp it and focus on important issues in my life.      ~ I'm a wife of 7 years to my high school sweetheart and mommy to 3 AWESOME kids.      ~ I'm a professional cake designer.      ~ I'm on a fitness journey to get healthier.      ~ I'm helping a friend with her political campaign.      ~ Most exciting news of all?  We're selling our home and building our dream home! I figured I might as well focus on these adventures now.  Thanks for coming along for the ride!