Weekend Review {11/9}

*this post is super word, and content, heavy, so sorry if you came here for the weekend photos.

FRIDAY

The bleariness that has taken over Charleston has only served to make me want to stay in bed 100% of the time.  This was especially true on Friday morning.  I headed to work after delivering Teh German's smoothie to him at work (this wouldn't happen so often if I'd get ready faster.. or if he'd get ready slower) and proceeded to catch up on blog reading.  I had some work tasks I could have accomplished, but I wasn't feeling it and I was lazy.

Seriously, I love this job and I'm so grateful for days that I can choose to be lazy...

Teh MD-AR and I were emailing back and forth and by that I mean, we emailed back and forth and I got distracted by the internet and failed to respond for several hours.  Oops.  I headed home around 2:15 to be lazy.  I let the dogs out and did some other random house tasks and read and laid down and napped.  The German came home and laid down with me.  He ended up falling asleep as well.  At one point he woke up and I asked what he wanted to do for dinner, go out or not?  We agreed to stay in and once he'd fallen back asleep, I got up and made dinner.  I was ok with eating in since we tend to eat out a lot on the weekends.  I made chicken and broccoli and sweet potatoes (so I could make a sweet potato pie).

Sweet Potato Pie

We ate and were lazy all evening.  After dinner we laid in bed, Teh German watching videos and me reading and doing my German lessons.  It was a struggle to get to sleep because Teh German kept tossing and turning and after what felt like forever I finally asked him what was going on and he said nothing.  I knew he just wasn't ready to talk about whatever it was, so I put in earplugs and finally passed out.

SATURDAY

Teh German had to work Saturday morning, which was kinda perfect since I needed to run.  That said, I still laid in bed after he left napping on and off with my Meri-Monster.  She's just such a good snuggler, sometimes I need to give her some love too.  I did eventually get up to power through almost 6.5 miles despite the ass pain I was enduring from the lunges and squats.  We had planned to go to Sushi 101 for lunch then go house hunting on the bikes.  Teh German was supposed to come home by noon and at noon:30 he finally arrived.  I hadn't slept well and I was kinda grouchy at him for being "late" so I told him that we should just listen to music on the way to sushi since I was hangry.  Things had been "off" when Teh German had left for work and I could tell that something (whatever was keeping him awake the night prior) was still on his mind.

We devoured some sushi then headed up to Moncks Corner to look at some Sabal model homes I had seen online.  We spent over an hour at the place and really liked one of the models we looked at.  We did also drive over to Summerville to view the lots of the same builder.  We were feeling pretty confident about the floor plan we liked and what we had seen.  We had more questions for the model reps, but we have time and they gave us a folder of information to look through.

We headed to the "Closet" after finishing looking at model houses for Teh German to tell his former roomie that he was officially moving out.  The old roomie has a new puppy that we played with for a few minutes before Teh German finally came out with the fact that he was moving out and officially moving in with me (as if he hadn't been staying at my place anyways).  The roomie figured it was coming eventually, so it wasn't a big deal and he agreed that Teh German could get his stuff out in Nov and he wouldn't charge him rent (probably since he had been paying and not staying there the last month... or two...).  We left because I needed to feed the beasts and we told the old roomie that after the dogs, maybe we should get dinner and he agreed to the plan.  When we were walking outside, Teh German admitted to me that he had really be dreading the "I'm moving out" conversation, at which point everything kinda clicked, the sleep woes, the "off"-ness. 

So it's "official," Teh German and I live together.

We headed home and fed the dogs and realized we weren't really hungry yet, so we waited a bit and then decided to meet the old roomie at Wild Wing Cafe around 9.  While we were waiting around, we looked at more builder websites to get an idea of more floor plans.  We had really liked the one we had seen on Saturday, but Teh German wanted to view other homes to make sure we were picking the best one, despite how much we liked the model we had seen.  I agreed.

We headed to dinner and the old roomie was 45 minutes late.  Teh German actually asked him what he wanted so we could go ahead and order.  While that was slightly annoying, food was had and the beverage I ordered was delicious so it was fine.  We didn't socialize for very long since it was already 10 and we were tired and the drunks were getting super annoying.

When we got home, I prepped doggy breakfast and we got ready for bed and crashed.  Having dealt with the stress of the moving situation, Teh German was able to fall asleep, which meant that everyone slept better.  Praise Allah.

Phil always sleeps well.

SUNDAY

Sunday morning was a snuggle and nap type morning, which was perfect since we haven't gotten any of those in a while.  I had planned for us to look at more houses, so we got out of bed and got ready (where Teh German was the fashion police on my outfit, much to Teh MD-AR's joy) and we had smoothies for breakfast so we could be at the first model soon after it opened at 12.  We knew we couldn't afford the Ryland house we looked at first, so it was a rough start.  It didn't take us long to move along. 

Our next stop was a Lennar development a coworker had told me about in Ladson, which is Teh German's location preference.  We liked the agent at the Lennar development we went to, but weren't in love with any of the floor plans or the small lot sizes.  We did get our first folder of the day.  When we left, we saw there were Dan Ryan Builders across the way, so we stopped by and really liked the model we walked through.  Really liked.  As in, we questioned our original Sabal love from Saturday liked.  We talked with a rep for over an hour about different details and lots and various options.  We got another folder. 

I bet model homes are interior designer's wet dreams.

"My son will totally have one of these." -Teh German

At this point, it was almost 5 and we really wanted to compare our Saturday pick in Moncks Corner with the house we had found on Sunday.  Fortunately, the lady was still there and we made it on time to look at our original love.  We weren't as smitten the 2nd time around.  Le sighhh.  Also, yay for continuing to look.  Since we were there, we also went by Centex's model home in the same development since they had bigger lots than Sabal.  We wanted to see a different Centex model so we drove to Summerville again to see the 2 story version.  It was wayyy too big, so we were easily able to cross Centex off our list, despite getting TWO folders from them. 

After finishing at Centex, we stopped by Publix for the weekly grocery trip since there was a Publix right outside the development (which is nice, but the development is soooo far from work for us that it just isn't a reasonable option).  We headed home to feed the beasts (late again, bad Dog Mom) and feed ourselves.  We had poorly planned food choices and we were both pretty hangry by the time we got home.  Lesson = learned.

I was going to wait until after we were done eating to question Teh German about what he thinks about the house situation, but he initiated the conversation during dinner (I was trying to wait on the hangar to pass).  We both really like the Dan Ryan home over the Sabal home we had originally liked.  We were easily able to eliminate Centex.  We liked the Lennar houses, but they weren't perfect and for the amount of money we are spending, perfection is required.  The Dan Ryan home was a little big, but the Sabal home felt too small and for our future plans (which we've discussed pretty in depth for Miss-Oh-God-Don't-Talk-About-Fertilized-Eggs-Around-Me) too small isn't something we want to deal with.

Neither of us slept well on Sunday night because we both felt like we needed to make a decision.  Teh German said that he kept waking up because he had a decision to make about random things, even though he knew he really didn't.  It was exactly the same for me, which kinda made me laugh a little.

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So yeah... we're officially moved in together and we're officially house hunting.  We also realize that for only 3 months into this relationship, it may seem fast (as if the entire first month wasn't "too fast") but we also have discussed these things over and over and over.  Whenever we hit the "next step" we've both agreed that it's not too soon and it's something we're comfortable with. 

That said, I did admit to Teh German that kid talk was kinda freaking me out a little bit, but I understood it was a necessity and I'd get better about it, but I'll probably be talking about unfertilized and fertilized eggs for a while and I'll be calling children spawns indefinitely.  It's not that I don't imagine myself with children, it's just that it kinda freaks me out that my 10 year plan is definitely coming to an end and children are a HUGE life change and I'm just going to stop talking about it because I'm working myself up right now.

We have also discussed the fact that a commitment to buy a house and fill it with eventual children also means at some point reaching the marriage step.  Neither of us are rushing it, despite how fast we seem to operate.  I'm not pressing for a ring because I'm sure that whenever he wants to propose, he will.  We've already had the talk where I told him I'd say yes.  That feeling of the bottom falling out from under me/us has finally passed, which I'm very grateful for. 

So far in our relationship and in house hunting (thankfully), we are able to reach mutual decisions with ease.  We don't have to fight about things, in fact, I don't think we've really fought yet (I say yet, because I know me well enough to know we'll fight about something stupid eventually).  If I don't care and he does, he gets to choose.  If I care and he doesn't, I choose.  If we both care, then we come to an agreement after some discussion.  With the house process I'm the "Wants" and he's the "Needs" and it works out very well.  If neither of us care, then we go with whatever is easiest/cheapest/other determining factor that is logical.

That said, we decided to build a new house rather than look for an already built house because the rental that I/we're in has tainted me and I don't want to inherit someone else's house problems.  That's not to say a new house won't have problems, it very well may, but it will also have a warranty and most of those issues will be covered.

My biggest requirement is that the master toilet is in "a closet."  In the house world this is called a "water closet" but I like to call it "the toilet in a closet."  I think it's catching on.  Literally it's a toilet in it's own little room (closet sized room) with a door, which ensures total privacy).  This is one of the easiest eliminators of many houses, which is awesome.  I also want a garden tub/jacuzzi and the master bedroom on the 2nd floor (because otherwise I have no reason to go upstairs ever).  I'd really like to have a 2nd floor balcony, but I'm willing to sacrafice since we'll have a screened in back porch and possibly a front porch.  A laundry room with a sink also wouldn't hurt my feelings.

Teh German wants hardwood floors in the downstairs areas and has said that carpet upstairs is ok.  He'd also prefer darker cabinets, an island in the kitchen, and a dishwasher.  Our other requirements are that we live in a neighborhood/area where we can fence in the entire yard with a 6ft privacy fence for the dogs (and by dogs I mean Meri because Phil would be fine in a 3ft chain link fence with zero issues, #kangaroodogproblems).  We'd also prefer a decent size lot, 3 bedrooms total, at least 2 full baths, an open floor plan in the downstairs living area, with no extra formal living room/dining rooms (it's just extra space we don't need.. and seriously, who needs TWO tables to eat at?), a loft area upstairs, and a 2 car garage. 

We know there are plenty of houses that meet all those requirements in the area, we just have to pick out where we want to live and which floor plan we like the best.  There are also some things I'd like to discuss with Teh Dad regarding upgrades and appliances, but he is a slacker and hasn't called me this week (and if you're reading this, this is your hint, mmmkkkaaayyyyy).

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So yeah.  All that stuff was the weekend.  Yes, this is getting posted late, but it was a lot that I wanted to get out and work has been busy (praise Allah) and all these things were important enough to me that I wanted to have them documented somewhere (you're welcome, Gentle Readers).