New house!

Written July 7th, 2012

We moved about 2 1/2 weeks ago. When we first got to GA I was newly pregnant, it was a bazillion degrees outside, and no one knew we had sneaked down to the courthouse and gotten married before we left NC. So this meant that no one knew I was pregnant yet, and that if we had applied for on-post housing people would know we had gotten married. (If you aren't married, you don't qualify for on-post housing. Being engaged doesn't count.) That meant that when we did arrive in GA, we didn't have a lot of time to find someplace to live. This was a challenge for us. Our house in NC that we bought the year prior is enormous! It's 2200 square feet, with both formal living and dining rooms, great built ins, a back deck/porch to die for, and a fenced in backyard. Finding something that we would be equally happy in was hard. We found an apartment that was great. 1645 square feet, 2 bedrooms, granite counter tops, and on the terrace level. Things were great until Miss Charlotte came around. Just a month after she was born, we realized we were busting at the seams. Between her and all her stuff, us and our stuff, and the dog, we simply just didn't fit. And having to take the dog out 3 times a day no matter the weather was HORRIBLE. Our lease was just about up, so we decided to apply for on-post housing. It made sense. All of our friends live on post, we use on-post doctors and the hospital, and the commissary and PX would be minutes away. So we applied. And waited. And waited. And waited. We finally hear from the housing office... the day our lease was up. We had made it very clear that we needed to know 30 days prior b/c we had to give our current place a 30 days notice. (Families living in on-post housing are also required to give a 30 days notice when they receive orders to leave, so the housing knows what houses will be available when months in advanced. Most people give a 60 to 90 days notice b/c we all know how housing works. They suck btw.) So we go back on the list. Except this time, we looked other places around town as well. I just had a feeling the housing office was going to screw us again. We looked all over Columbus, and decided to venture into Phenix City, Alabama. (Columbus and Phenix City are minutes from each other. Many people stationed at Ft. Benning choose to live in PC.) I have a few friends that live here as well, and they love it so we figured why not.

And then we found it. THE house.

Oh my gosh it's amazing. We called the same day and had a tour set up for the coming weekend. We saw it and loved everything about it. The fireplace, the backyard, the master bedroom, the hardwood floors, the fenced in backyard! We applied for, and then signed a lease within 2 days of seeing the place.  We've now been in the house 2 weeks, and it's amazing. Being able to just open the door and let the dog out is probably the best part. I'll never take having a backyard for granted again. We're slowly but surely getting everything unpacked, and it's starting to feel like "home". For the next year at least :)

I finally get to use my lawn flag again. Excited doesn't even begin to cover it...

Any self-respecting NC State fan needs an NC State lawn knome

Fat baby toes and grass :)

Oh and we did eventually hear from the housing office again. Three days after the date we said we absolutely had to have a house, or we'd be homeless. Apparently they couldn't be bothered to make sure we had someplace to live. It's ok though, the house we have is WAY better than anything on post :)