So, my blog stalker who I shall not name... (Mandie Kellerman) Informed me that I was failing as a blogger! :) Thanks for holding me accountable, friend! This is kind of a random post chalk full of some A.D.D. thoughts....

Some things that I didn't know about Houston that I wish I would have known ahead of time-

1.  The ghetto could be RIGHT next door to multi-million dollar homes
2.  homeowners insurance is ASTRONOMICALLY higher.
3.  You use a realtor for everything around here (renting and buying)
4.  Car insurance is double what it is in Illinois
5.  I have HEARD that insurance is not included in a teacher's compensation package...Not completely sure about this one as I'm not teaching here.
6.  Traffic is HORRIBLE, it will take you at least 45 minutes to go ANYWHERE, even if anywhere is only 6 miles away.
7.  "You Guys" is not an acceptable phrase and MUST be substituted with "ya'll". This must be inserted into every conversation as many times as possible, ya'll.
8.  Every neighborhood comes with HOA fees.
9.  Katy is SO FAR AWAY. When you tell people you live in Katy while you are in the city(Which we don't even live close to Katy, that is just where our address is. We actually live closer to Cypress....) they freak out thinking that you just traveled across the entire earth to get there.
10.  Buying a house here is almost impossible. Some houses don't stay on the market for more than a few hours...if the house has been on the market more than 72 hours, there is probably something wrong with it!
11.  Bidding wars are FOR REAL. You cannot "offer low and negotiate" you pretty much pay what they are asking for, if you really want the house.
12. It really does get cold down here. And once you get used to 110 degree summers, 40 degrees feels like Antarctica.

And then sometimes, it is warm... :)

Moral of the story---
Buying a house was a nightmare.  We found some houses we liked and ended up putting an offer on one. Well, to save you the details and make a month long story of excruciating house hunting shorter (House Hunters makes it look so easy!) we looked at probably 50 different houses and put offers in on 6 of them. We were always outbid. We just so happened to hear about a house sale falling through that our agent was listing. We looked at it the day before it went back on the market,  put an offer on it right away and they accepted. We closed 21 days later. Yea, Texas is awesome about closing quickly! This was a fluke ya'll (<--told you, it's a requirement to use it.) But God was looking out for us. He knew that I was about ready to just be homeless because I was NOT about to move all my junk back to Illinois. I was tired of looking. We were spending every extra waking second with our realtor. I mean, I like them a lot, but I was ready to do something fun! :) And I was tired of eating KFC for dinner!

I have a pretty fun post in the making right now that I'm hoping to post in the next week or two...it's about some of our struggles since I escaped hell (AKA Sullivan High School) and a lot of the challenges that we faced and how we were able to overcome them! Also, hopefully I can get a maxi skirt tutorial put together. Lizzie and I just bought material to make some, maybe we will get it done this weekend. :) Stay tuned.

Aren't they just so cute?

I think I have covered enough randomness for the day! :)