Great Weekend Again

Yesterday was a great weekend!!  I worked 13.5 hours on Saturday so Sunday was my only day off.  Mike and I made the most out of it.  First off we set and alarm for ten thinking that we would play hooky from church, unless we woke up in time (tsk, tsk I know.)  But I woke up at 8:45 so we had just the right amount of time to make it to the 9:30 service. Plus I felt well rested!  We left Cora with Grandma O. And after church we headed into Minot.  I like the town we live in but the only "Big Box" store is  Wal.mart.  Which I prefer not to support, but shop there since it is the only real option for a few things.

On the drive to Minot we made a list of he things we would like to upgrade in our new house!!  Lets just say the length of the list is much larger than our bank account will currently allow.  but we think we have the projects which we are going to tackle this year nailed down. 

I was awesome to be in a real mall in Minot.  We went to Target, Sears, Old Navy, Scheels, and many other stores.  We ate lunch at Grizzlies, it was fabulous.  Mike ended up getting a Under Armor Shirt for work and I got a super comfy long skirt from Old Navy.  And we picked up a few items from Target.  Then we went to Menard.  If only money were not a problem.  We looked around at the the prices of different things and got ideas on how to update the "Red Bath of Horror".  

We cannot wait to move into the house.  I cannot wait to get a kitchen of my own again.  Mike can't wait to have a lawn of this own to manicure.  Only 3 weeks 4 days!!     

Theodore Roosevelt Nation Park

Saturday the construction crew took the day off!!!  Which was perfect because my Mom and Dad were up for the weekend.  Saturday turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day!  So while Mike slept, since he is on night again, we loaded up the car and drove south to the North unit of Theodore Roosevelt Nation Park.  We did about a 2 hour hike, the canons are breath taking.  We also saw 4 bison, some flowers, and birds. Here are just a few pictures

Mom and I at the Trail head

Dad and I on the trail

Bison

Mom and Dad

On the way back

On the way to and from the badlands we drove through my construction project and then across the Missouri River.  Which if you have not hear is at a record high of 29.02 feet, the previous record was 28.00 feet in 1912.  Thankfully right where we live there has not been property damage yet, but is both Minot and Bismark the flood fighting started a month ago and continues on.  I really hope they do not have the close the road shown below because it would add 20 minutes to my drive to the construction site.   

Missouri River 

Construction Season

So for the next 90 days I am in Construction Mode. I am an Inspector/Engineer on a 20 mile road project in Western North Dakota.  It is a 25 miles drive from our office.  Tuesday started our Project.  This week I worked an average of 12 hours a day! Tuesday to Saturday.  I start on Monday morning.  We work 6 days a week and if the Contractor had it his way it would be 7 days.

What it boils down to is ZERO Free time.  And a TON of Over Time pay or Comp Time coming.

On a house update we have our appraisal date set for July 7th.  That is only a week before our Closing Date, YIKES!!  I hope and pray that everything goes O.K.  Our Realtor said the seller is still working on fixing the leak in the Master Bedroom.  Mike and I have been looking at ideas for our Bathroom and Kitchen!!  I plan on using some OT Money and Comp Time for some DIY improvement projects on our house!!    

We Have Furniture

Full Garage

couch, with mini fridge on it

Dresser from Grandma

TV and TV Stand

Lots of Mattresses.

My coworker is moving from ND to AZ and sold all his furniture to us!  For a very very good price.  Now granted it is not the greatest or our life long furniture it is 100% better than what we had...which was nothing.  We got a queen size bed (mattress, box spring, and frame), a futon frame w/ a green mattress, a hide-a-bed couch, a mini fridge, a 27" older style TV, and a TV stand.  Then we went to my bosses home and got a FREE queen size bed. Again with a mattress, box spring, and frame!  We had one final trip to Grandma O's friends house.  He had a chest of drawers, a lamp, and a night stand that he had borrowed from Grandma O.  The garage is now full Full FULL!!!  And we have furniture for the house.  If you were counting including our own bed we could sleep at least 8 people at our house already!!  3 queen size beds, a hide-a-bed, and the futon, I hope we have LOTS of company in the near future!  

Update

Mike and I had a great week and weekend, last week.  Mike went to MN on Tuesday after work.  After the home inspection and work I headed to the train station on Wednesday.  The train ran a bit behind, but I slept good on it and I got to the church 15 minutes before the funeral began, thanks to my mom and the GPS.  We had a great time hanging out with Mike's Family.  His Aunt Pam was back from Indonesia, his brother Jory came back from training with Army and the usual gang were all there. After saying good bye to Grandpa I, the funeral and burial we hung out at Grandma I's house, which had a ton of food and relatives.  

Mike, Matt, Tasha, Jory and Preston

Friday we went to the MOA, took his other brother Jeff out to lunch, walked around IKEA, discovered LUSH (www.lush.com) , and then headed to Minneapolis to visit the family again. Friday night we played dominoes with Lauren, Rachel and my mom.  It was a ton of fun. Saturday we had to get up and head back to ND. Mike had to work Sunday.  Over all our trip home was great, but a little sad, and short.

Mike and I

This past week was also busy week.  Tuesday and Wednesday I was in Bismarck for a work orientation. It was informative but a bit boring, I did find out that if I work there for the next 30 years, I can retire at 55 with full benefits!  Which would be pretty sweet. Today, Friday, Mike and I slept in! It was great, then we took the dog for a walk. After our walk we went and looked at a bunch of stores to get ideas about the house. Then we went to a few rummage sales, to look for things for the house.  We ended up getting one thing for the house, a dish drying rack for the kitchen. I also found the sheet music for the Entertainer. Mike found some thing he HAD to HAVE. A belt buckle from the Police Departments 100 year anniversary, from 1994.  It is pretty cool.  Tomorrow we plan to hit up some more rummage sales, go to a friends party, and take the dog on a walk.  I hope everyone has a great memorial day weekend.

house pictures are up

the home inspection was today.. good news I am still in LOVE with the house, the style and the layout.  Bad news is there are some issues that need to be cleared up like a leak in the master bedroom ceiling, foundation issue and some low power lines in the back yard.  I have uploaded 104 new pictures to my facebook account.  I will have a link up here for a week to view the pictures:

**Poof**  The link has been removed

Mixed Emotions

The past few days have been full of mixed emotions.  About many things.  The house, Grandpa I, making sure we can make it home plus get everything together for the house, how Grandma I is doing and sending prayers for peace. 

First an foremost Mike is taking off for Minnesota tonight after work.  He will stay with my cousins in Moorhead before heading to Minneapolis in the morning. I will be taking the train on Wednesday night and getting to St. Paul on Thursday morning early.  The funeral is on Thursday at 11:00 am with a viewing at 10:00.  Mike will be wearing his dress uniform.  I can't wait to give Grandma I and Mike Sr both a big big hug. (I am so glad that we are closer to "home" and we can easily make to there vs. living in Alaska.)

On to a house update:
Yesterday I went to the bank and signed a boat load of papers for the loan.  Then brought them home for Mike to sign, since he had to work late.  We have locked in our interest rate at a very good rate of 4.25%!  Next we have our home inspection which I also have mixed emotions on.  It will begin on Wednesday at 9:00 am.  I will be "attending" the whole thing, measuring the rooms and taking a TON of pictures.  I am super excited to get back in the house and explore a little more but at the same time I am super nervous that the home inspection is going to find a deal breaker.  Now, don't get me wrong, if there is something wrong with the house we want to know about it.  But at the same time I really hope and pray that nothing will show up, because if there is something wrong than we have to start over... which would be a pain because currently there are no other homes on the market in our price range that we would consider.    I really do not want to let this one get away because it is well under our budget and we can really make it our own.  

I will post some pictures after the home inspection... wish us luck