Thursday, April 30, 2009

House Hunting.... The good, the bad, and the Ugly!

Josh and I started looking at houses this week. Sunday evening I contacted our real estate agent, Renee. By the way, she is great! Thanks for referring us to her Megan! I found this house in Basehor, 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath and it sits on an one acre lot. Yes! Everything we wanted! Wrong... not everything we wanted. We get to the house Monday evening only to find out it has major foundation issues. Major cracks on the basement floor, garage floor, and up the walls. We quickly say no. As does our agent. Now of course I am crushed since my hopes were up so high. I am just devastated. Pictures can be so deceiving. So Josh and I cruise the Basehor area in hopes of stumbling upon our perfect house. Needless to say we did not find our perfect house and we wasted gas in the process. Monday was a very disappointing house viewing evening.

Tuesday morning I emailed our agent and we setup showings for three houses for that evening. One in Tonganoxie, one in Basehor, and one South of Lansing, just off K-7. We, as in me, Josh, my mom and dad, met the agent at 5:30 pm at the house in Tonganoxie. The house was an instant hit for Josh. He fell in LOVE immediately. The 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house sits on 5 acres and has a shop and stocked pond. Seriously I think Josh would have moved in the next day. I, however, didn't have that gleam in my eye like Josh did. The house is a split entry and needs a lot of updating. I mean A LOT. The kitchen cabinets are so old and I believe the counter top is the original one. Did I mention it was a yellow counter top? The only room that has been updated is the main bathroom. The driveway will need to be dug up, re-graded, and poured again due to water coming into the garage. Crappy construction! This house would take a lot of work, sweat, weekends and I am sure cause some husband and wife spats/blow ups. I do like the idea of remodeling a home. I think it could be fun, but I am not sure about the drive. It would take Josh and me 30 to 40 minutes to get to work. Our future children would also end up in the Tonganoxie School District. Overall the first house of the evening was a hit for Josh and had potential for me. We moved on to the house #2 of the evening in Basehor. It instantly got marked off the list. No mater bath equals NO offer. On to Lansing! Now this house was very interesting. The owners converted the garage into living area for their elderly mother. It had a living room, bedroom, bath, and kitchen area. However, the second living area was a turn off. And the fact that my husband made the comment that he would just stay down there to live and wouldn't have to come to the main level to see his wife. I knew it would be true! He would turn it into his “man room”. On that note we ended our evening of house hunting.

So after one major fight and many discussions, Josh and I are going to go back to the house in Tongie this Tuesday to take a look one more time and most likely make an offer. Unless some major problem jumps out at us then all bets are off!

Those of you who think house hunting is fun....well it is not. Not for us at least. We have two opinions and we are only purchasing one house. And we are two very stubborn people! Please say a prayer for us. Divorced before our one year anniversary would not be good ;)

Oh, and Josh has been dip-less for four days! He as not had a dip since last Saturday! Last night when we went to Wal-Mart he stocked up on gum and grabbed the biggest bag of mints I have ever seen! He has had a couple of moments that he is not thinking very rationally and is easily irritable, but overall he is in a great mood and is doing a GREAT job. His only complaint is that his jaw hurts from chewing so much gum. Keep your thoughts and prayers headed his way! I am so proud of him! Just as I promised… I put $40 into his “man account” this week!

Try to stay dry everyone!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Josh Steps UP to the Challenge and College Fun All Over Again!

Josh has accepted my offer! Last Wednesday we went to Wal-Mart and when we were checking out I watched Josh grab two packs of gum and a pack of mints. He looked over at me and smiled. At first I was wondering what the heck he was doing, but then I put two and two together and realized what he was doing. Instead of quiting cold turkey, he decided it would be best to wean himself off of it. He has cut back drastically and he is very proud of himself. Since starting his mission there have been two occasions when he has taken his can out and showed me the contents followed by "See look how little is gone. This is the can I opened two days ago!" He is like a little kid and you can tell he is excited and proud. As his wife and best friend, I couldn't be more impressed or prouder! So everyone keep Josh in your thoughts and prayers that he can keep the good work up! Oh, and those of you who are wondering- he hasn't really been cranky.

For those of you that have not heard Josh and I are approved for a Rural Loan. This is exciting news for several reasons 1) this loan is a 100% financing which means we do not have to put any money down 2) there is no PMI and 3) we can begin looking at houses! When we first started the pre-approval process and looked into this loan option we made too much money and did not qualify, but as of this past Friday the board changed the requirements and we now barely qualify, but I will take it! Needless to say is was a great Monday!


This past weekend I headed to Hays, Kansas with one of my bestest (yes bestest) friends, Lexie. Some of you may remember her from my wedding. We have been friends since college and lived together in our sorority house. The reasoning behind this road trip to Hays was to attend the Delta Zeta Formal. The chapter advisor was resigning and they were honoring her with a special award so several of us decide to attend. Now this was a girls weekend. We left Saturday morning and came back Sunday afternoon. I must say it was an absolute blast seeing everyone and acting like we were in college all over again. Our evening began at Judges Bar and Grill. Where we had a Judgement Shot and Drink. (Side note: In college every Tuesday Lexie and I would go to Judges and have drinks and blow off some DZ steam. These outings became Judgement Tuesdays. ) After reminiscing we headed to Formal where we meet up with the rest of the gals. After Formal and some pictures (see picture below), we all decided to change and meet up at NeighBARS.



NeighBARS was a no-go! A $5 cover charge for a band I didn't even know. No thanks! So we went to Chucks (right below NeighBARS) and had a drink there. There we realized the UFC fights were on and they were blaring the TVs. So after one drink we jetted to the Q. The Q ROCKED! The special that night was $2.50 doubles, yes $2.50! That is super cheap. So needless to say we, as in Lexie and I, proceed to consume our share of $2.50 doubles! Now the Q is a bar and grill. It has a ton of pool tables and makes me think of Sidepockets, but better and the food is cheaper. Now after several doubles, we all were ready to hit another bar with some music. Just like old times we ditched the car (we are strong believers of not drinking and driving) and trucked across the railroad tracks to the Sip N' Spin. Famous for its dance cage (yes we have all been in it) and the big yellow bus the DJ sits in, the Sip brings back some great memories and was a favorite.


(Note the big yellow bus in the background)

From the Sip we trucked 3 blocks to the Rose, well it seemed like 3 blocks. This was one of Josh and my favorite bars to go to. Since then it has really changed, but you still see cowboy hats among the crowd. Now, our car is at the Q and we are at the Rose and it is time to go back to the Nasty Ramada Inn (formerly the Holiday Inn). So we called the Safe Ride Bus! Let me tell you that the Safe Ride Bus scared US, well at least me. This guy drove like a bat out of hell! I am surprised we didn't puke! Now this bus apparently isn't just for college students, because we picked these two 40 year old chics up from the Sip. The 20 minute ride across town to our hotel sure was full of drunken chatter with total strangers! Below is a picture of all the gals that came back for Vicki's resignation. We all had a blast!


Monday, April 13, 2009

Who We Are and Where We Have Been

I thought it would be a great idea to give everyone some background information on us. Josh is 25 and I am 26. We have survived high school, college, two engagements, and one wedding over the past 8 years. We were married on August 16, 2008, you know 8+8=16. It was one the happiest days of our lives! We both work for L.G. Barcus and Sons, Inc. Josh hauls heavy equipment, like cranes, and I work for the Bridge Division as an Office Manager. Overall we both really enjoy our jobs and love the company we work for. Although right now things have been slow due to the economy, but we are thankful we each have a job.

Babies... Well if Josh had his way we would have been trying on our honeymoon and I would be barefoot and pregnant right now. Well not exactly, but you get the idea. I, however, told him that the only babies he would be seeing in the next two years would be his four legged ones Harlie, our pitt bull, and Ella, our lab pit bull mix. So my promise was that we could start trying on our second year anniversary.

That is The Bosleys in a nut shell!

EIGHT Months Into this Shin Dig!

Josh and I have been married 8 months and have lived with my parents for 10 months. We are extremely grateful that my parents have let us stay with them and pay off our post-wedding debt, but it is time for us to have our own place. With that being said, I am in the process of getting us pre-approved for a mortgage. Yay!!! The plan is to find a house in May, close in June, and make our first house payment in July! Now these are the problems we are facing. We are buying one house with two opinions. Anyone that knows Josh and me will agree that we can each be pretty damn stubborn. So agreeing on a house will be a challenge. For instance, I am looking for 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a yard. Josh, on the other hand, can give two shits less about a second bathroom and would much rather have one to five plus acres. He just doesn't understand the importance of a master bath, but one day when we have kids he will. For the most part we can agree on the location, Basehor/Tongie area. I have been keeping my eye on the market over the past two months and there are several properties that I would like to take a gander at. Wish us luck as we move forward on home ownership! Lord knows we will need it.

Oh, on the way home from Ft. Scott this past Sunday I put a offer/challenge on the table for Josh. Every two weeks we spend $38.89 (this includes tax) on Copenhagen (chew). That is $77.78 a month and $933.36 a year! Wow! Now for those of you who really know me, I am such a budget queen and Josh often calls me a Money Nazi. So to spend that much on something that is so harmful, well it is so hard for me to justify it. So I told him if he gave up chewing that each month we could stick the money that we would have spent on chew into a savings account for him. He could do whatever his little heart desired with this money (as long as it is legal and not harmful). He has been wanting a mud truck for sometime and is always searching for one on Craigs List. So I told him that if he accepted my challenge this time next year he would have a mud truck. Currently the offer is still on the table and he said he would let me know by end of this log (a 10 pack of cans) if he will accept the offer.