All Done!

Today is the day
All shout Hurray
The tests are done
The novels begun
Time to sew and paint and bake and read
And maybe in finding a job I'll succeed

That's right... I just finished typing up my last test and my last paper (seperate things) and I all I have to do is turn them in by 4pm. That is enough time to eat some lunch, take a last glance over my paper, go for a run and still turn them in on time! I am so relieved and eager to start reading a bunch of novels and biographies that have been resting since Christmas.
I also have to get serious about the job hunt... I applied to 4 or 5 places and one seems interested but not ideal and the another said they aren't hiring now after all... the others... silence.
We are also getting more serious about buying a house... we have looked at close to 20 houses and only 3 of them are even maybe an option. One is a little further out than we would like and needs major updating but is a lot of space and very quaint. The next one is a shotgun with large rooms and a sturdy foundation but has sort of an awkward design (like most shotguns!) and perhaps not enough kitchen space and it a tad bit closer to a karaoke bar than in ideal! the third house is my favorite and has been for months and months. Before we were even seriously looking into buying a house I saw two houses on Reading street that were so adorable (they were the same but different colors). One of them was a hud home and quickly sold and the other has been on the market ever since but we have been unable to get into it. Well, yesterday was the glorious day we looked in. The renters "moved out" that morning and we went to look inside that afternoon. The place was absolutely trashed. Every room had half drunken drinks and trash of all kinds lying all around. It was stunning. I am trying to give them the benefit of the doubt that most of that trash was just from moving and that it wasn't always in such a state. =/ However, despite the trash it was Drew's and our realtor's and my favorite house! weird. If you can like it through the trash you might have a good thing, right?! Well there are two large rooms when you enter with nice hardwood floors and tall ceilings. Off these rooms are two small bedrooms with many layers of wallpaper and paint to be removed and nasty carpet with hardwood underneath! There is a small bathroom inbetween the two rooms. Past all this is a decent to small kitchen that needs some updating but has great potential and black and white tile countertops! Past this is an eat in area and then a dinning room (also with nasty carpet that would have to be removed!). There is a ton of attic space but non-conforming and the same is true of the basement. There are washer/dryer hook ups in the basement but there is some leakage going on and the furnace and water heater need to be replaced. Ha... this doesn't sound great but trust me.. .it is some of the best stuff we have seen in our price range. The great thing about most of the updates is that we can take that cost of them off of the price and/or ask the current owner to take care of them in advance. The place has a lot of potential and is definitely live-in-able as is... we'll have to go for a second look to really pound out details and look more into some of the issues.


In other news: this month is cultivate beauty month at our church... where every one is encouraged to kill their TV for the month and allow that time to be used to do something creative or beautiful. This could include, art, photography, cooking, going for walks, reading a book etc etc... We don't get any TV channels as is but we are making sure that we take time to cultivate beauty. I've been cultivating my mind through finals and now I am eager to jump into a good book, get re-aquainted and better acquainted with my sewing machine and do lots of hosting and baking! Plus I have two empty canvases that need paint on them! Drew and I also have been enjoying the weather with walks and last night he started rebuilding his bike so that we can also go riding and ride to church even on Sundays! I LOVE MAY IN KENTUCY! (minus allergies)
I also had another life accomplishment... I ran Cherokee Park last week. I have never been much of a runner, but over the past year I have consistently run 2.5 miles in this nice little flat park near our house. Just next to this park is a much cooler park, more like a forrest to any one from Texas, that is full of huge hills (also huge compared to Texas). I've never desired to run this loop until the other day and I got a bad itch to give it a shot. I knew I could always walk the rest of the way if I needed to. Well, I ran the whole thing, hills and all! It is not really any further than I run at the other park but much harder. It was such an enjoyable run! I need to get to where I have the attention span to run longer distances... I just get so bored and tired after 2 or 3. I'd love tips!
Well, speaking of running I'm off to do just that..... cultivate beauty!