Why I Have a Cleaner House with a Dog

The day we brought Scout home, we were unprepared.  
He was definitely a spontaneous decision.
We knew we would get a dog eventually, but I wasn't ready yet.
Applesauce had just passed away and my heart just wasn't ready.
And actually, I still wonder if my heart is ready, because I keep calling Scout, "Apple."
It's rough...but Scout has definitely worked his way into my heart...so I just hope that there's room for two of them.

When I saw Scout's picture online, I knew I had to have him.
We saw him and had possession of him within 36 hours.
We had nothing for him...Tyler actually went to Petco on the way home to get a kennel, food, treats, and toys for him.

When we got home with him, we realized how many little things were on the floor.
I knew then that I had to be a better housekeeper.
A few days later, after he decapitated his duck and started chewing on the fur of it, I knew that I would have to vacuum a couple times a week.
So I knew that I needed to come up with a system.

Besides, I was so tired of doing chores on the weekend.
I wanted to be able to enjoy the weekend without having to work.
So I came up with a list of all the things that needed to be done on a weekly basis.

Then I made a rough outline of when I could do them throughout the week.  I rearranged some stuff to make sure it all went well together.  I only scheduled a few tasks each night so that I could get them all done within an hour (with the exception of laundry).  I printed out my schedule and laminated it.

I hung it below our family calendar so that I could utilize the dry erase marker.  I love to-do lists.   I love lists in general.  I love the feeling of marking things off!  

I have been using this schedule for 2 and a half weeks now, and our house is SO much cleaner than it was when we didn't have a dog.  So I guess we can say that Scout keeps me accountable to cleaning. :)

Who knew?!  

P.S.  We love Scout so much...he is the sweetest little puppy.  Ornery as all get out, but sweet nonetheless.  

Our House Buying Experience

You know how when you're little and you dream about the future? Well, all my dreams have come or are coming true...but BETTER than I EVER could have imagined. I'm seeing Ephesians 3:20-21 played out in my life RIGHT NOW. My heart is so full...I am so completely blessed and so undeserving of these blessings in my life. This morning I'm filled with emotion that I'm not sure I've ever felt before {a good emotion}...but even more than that, I'm filled with a peace that surpasses ALL understanding. Even when I have no idea what the future holds, I KNOW that everything is going to be alright. I'm thankful for grace upon grace in my life. I'm thankful for peace. And I'm thankful for every. single. blessing that God has given me.

>>>>><<<<<

The above was written shortly after we offered on our house.  I couldn't convey how I felt exactly, but I can tell you that my reality is way better than my dreams.  

Several months ago, back when we went to Walt Disney World {here, here, and here}, Tyler and I started talking about actually saving for a down payment for a house.  We had just signed a new lease at our apartment, but we knew we wanted to get out of our apartment.  So we started saving and we actually had money transferred into our savings account.  Each week after payday, we would have a certain amount of money transferred out, and we watched {excitedly} as our house fund grew!

Ideally, we were hoping to find a house that we could move into after our lease was up at the end of March.  So we started looking slowly...as in, we looked online for houses that were available at the time.  My sister-in-law had just recently gotten her real estate license and connected us with a realtor here in St. Louis.  The realtor had contacted us to let us know she would be happy to show us houses.

Being the eager people we are, we took her up on that offer.  We looked at several houses, but found one we loved.  So we slept on it for a few days.  I couldn't stop thinking about that house.  We absolutely loved the floor plan, and Tyler could actually picture us living in that house.  I mean, I could picture it, but it was important to me that Tyler could as well.  So we called her back and said we wanted to take another look at it.

It's funny what you see the first time you take a look at a house.  It's also funny to come home and think about what you didn't see during that look.  So the second time we went back, I made sure to open every. single. door in the house.  I looked behind every door.  I had a list of things I wanted to make sure this house had before I fell even more in love with it.

We made an offer that night.  In the days that followed, we countered and finally came to an agreement.  The house would be ours!  I was thinking that it was too good to be true.  How could I, at 24 years old, own this house?  The inspection went beautifully.  We asked the sellers to fix the minor things, and that was that.  It was really just a waiting game for us.  At our final walk-through {a month and a half after the offer}, I got to see my future new home once again.  I had been dreaming about it since that night in September when we offered.  I couldn't wait to move in and make this house our home.  

Our realtor said she couldn't believe how smooth the sale went.  That was music to my ears.  Being a first time homebuyer is nerve-racking enough.  We closed the next day and immediately started moving things in.

Tyler and I are excited to use our home as a tool that God gave us.  We are excited to invite people over, have people stay with us, and enjoy our home.  In the coming weeks, I hope to have a home tour series on the blog.  So stay tuned for that!

We are so blessed to be able to move into this home, and we are looking forward to what God has in store for it!