Back to Sugar Land we went literally a day after we got married. Our situation where we were was not good for us and needed a place quickly. Of course, with both of us out of work, the only cash flow is out of the bank and not in to the bank. So this put us in a very tough spot. Where to go... ugh it seemed like a nightmare in the making.
I called my friend Lance, who was also my realtor. He was holding on to my washer, dryer and fridge. He had been trying to sell it while I was gone but had no luck. He mentioned putting them in a garage sale. I called him to let him know it was okay to do that since we were getting in a tough spot and did not want to have too much to travel with. Lance had them stored in his parents house- which was empty. He had the place on the market for quite some time with no offers. He made us a deal we could not refuse. He needed someone to move in to the house to make it look lived in and also help clean it up. The house is paid for so there would be no rent, but we would have to take over the utilities and also spend the time helping to paint, landscape and clean. We took the offer and have been living here for going on three weeks now.
The house is one that needs a lot of TLC. It is an older house located in Sugar Land. It has three bedrooms, two full baths, a small kitchen and breakfast nook as well as a living room. There is also an add on in the back of the house that is perfect for a game room. While we had Kirks pool table, we decided not to put it up since we were not sure how long we would be here. The house included a fridge, love seat and two chairs.
The house is about 2000 sq ft. We don't have a lot to fill it, but at least it looks lived in! Kirk moved the washer and dryer in to the laundry room. The dryer plug needs to be changed since it does not fit our dryer - which means we are stuck for now drying our clothes outside on a makeshift line across the back fence. It is kind of comical and we joke all the time that we are "living in a van down by the river".
Our first week was spent cleaning, taring down wallpaper, trimming trees, fighting cockroaches and filling in holes. It was quite a chore, but the place actually cleaned up really nice. Our second week was spent on our honeymoon in Roatan, Honduras so the place sat empty. This is our third week and we already have a plan. We cleaned again the first day since we had set off bug bombs before we left. Now it is time for laundry, wall texturing and painting. Kirk is planning on doing some much needed landscaping. We are trying to give it as much curb appeal as possible. Yet we don't want to do too much either because we don't really know what Lance wants done and also, whoever buys this place will need to do some major remodeling. This place is a contractors dream!
Of course the job hunt continues on a daily basis. Kirk is more than ready to go back offshore and start diving. I am still holding off to see where his career takes us. I would hate to get a job here and then have to quit because we end up moving to another State or possibly another Country. Once we do figure out where we will end up next, our first priority is getting our kiddos (dogs) back home with us. Boy do we miss them!
Next post will be about our honeymoon!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
July 9, 2010 - Our Wedding
Kirk and I finally tied the knot on July 9,2010. It was a simple yet beautiful ceremony. You all know that we had planned on getting married on July 20th, so...what happened?
Well, lets see...what didn't happen! Our original plan was to marry in Greece. We had the perfect plan. All fell through when we found out that it was just a play wedding and not the real thing. In order to actually marry there we would have had to jump through too many obstacles. About that time, the company Kirk works for was slow, so he decided to come to Dubai a month earlier than planned. It was all working to our favor and the plan changed to marry in Dubai and then honeymoon in Greece as well as a week in Dubai.
Just after Kirk arrived, we found that it would be even harder to marry in Dubai then Greece. Since Kirk had been divorced, they wanted us to wait a minimum of 8 weeks to get the divorce approved and then our upcoming wedding approved. Then, we both had to JOIN a church. The law in Dubai is that you cannot "shack up" without serious punishment and jail time. So, Kirk went and stayed in a hotel. At that point, things were getting too complicated to get married outside the US. So our next plan was to fly to New York and marry there. Simple, easy and fun.
Things were already bad for me with my job, so Greece was put on the back burner since we were not sure where we would end up in a month or two. That month or two turned in to a week - Only a week after Kirks arrival, we were back on a plane heading to Houston. Now both of us were unemployed. Not a good thing to start our lives together. However, we were just so happy to be with and have each other it really did not seem that bad.
We had already paid the travel agent our down payment for Greece and could not reclaim it. Our wedding and honeymoon was still on, but now on a major budget. The idea was to find a place that we could just use the down payment and nothing else. Our next idea took us to PA since Kirks family is there and they wanted to throw us a party. And of course they all wanted to meet me. The problem was, we could not figure out a way to use our down payment for that other than the plane tickets. And it would not have been much of a honeymoon for us.
Then my sister thought of going on a cruise. That was the perfect idea! We started looking around and found one that left out of Houston/Galveston.
New obstacle - our travel agent does not do cruises. Discouraged, we decided to bring a little happiness and went down to get our marriage license. We were really excited about it. The license was good for 30 day with a three day waiting period. They gave us a list of Justice of the Peace to choose from. All but one seemed too far away.
By now I was getting discouraged. Our beautiful Greek wedding was turning in to a fly by at the court house - most likely in jeans. I made Kirk promise me a regular wedding when we get back on our feet in a year.
I called the Justice of the Peace and she had an opening that Friday. Since we did not know what direction our lives would turn by next week we had to take it. To our delight, she does her ceremonies at a little garden in League City. The thought of a quaint garden wedding thrilled us since we did not have to hammer down the isle of the court house. I decided to wear one of the two wedding dresses I picked out. The one that was for the evening dinner was perfect for the event. We called a few friends to come join us. The day was almost perfect - it was too hot and a few of our friends were already pretty "toasty" (from the alcohol, not the sun).
Below are some pictures for you - we married at 6:00 in the evening in the 7th month on the 9th day in 10th year of 2000. Pretty cool! All we are missing is the 8! - of course that is just me being a dork!
Well, lets see...what didn't happen! Our original plan was to marry in Greece. We had the perfect plan. All fell through when we found out that it was just a play wedding and not the real thing. In order to actually marry there we would have had to jump through too many obstacles. About that time, the company Kirk works for was slow, so he decided to come to Dubai a month earlier than planned. It was all working to our favor and the plan changed to marry in Dubai and then honeymoon in Greece as well as a week in Dubai.
Just after Kirk arrived, we found that it would be even harder to marry in Dubai then Greece. Since Kirk had been divorced, they wanted us to wait a minimum of 8 weeks to get the divorce approved and then our upcoming wedding approved. Then, we both had to JOIN a church. The law in Dubai is that you cannot "shack up" without serious punishment and jail time. So, Kirk went and stayed in a hotel. At that point, things were getting too complicated to get married outside the US. So our next plan was to fly to New York and marry there. Simple, easy and fun.
Things were already bad for me with my job, so Greece was put on the back burner since we were not sure where we would end up in a month or two. That month or two turned in to a week - Only a week after Kirks arrival, we were back on a plane heading to Houston. Now both of us were unemployed. Not a good thing to start our lives together. However, we were just so happy to be with and have each other it really did not seem that bad.
We had already paid the travel agent our down payment for Greece and could not reclaim it. Our wedding and honeymoon was still on, but now on a major budget. The idea was to find a place that we could just use the down payment and nothing else. Our next idea took us to PA since Kirks family is there and they wanted to throw us a party. And of course they all wanted to meet me. The problem was, we could not figure out a way to use our down payment for that other than the plane tickets. And it would not have been much of a honeymoon for us.
Then my sister thought of going on a cruise. That was the perfect idea! We started looking around and found one that left out of Houston/Galveston.
New obstacle - our travel agent does not do cruises. Discouraged, we decided to bring a little happiness and went down to get our marriage license. We were really excited about it. The license was good for 30 day with a three day waiting period. They gave us a list of Justice of the Peace to choose from. All but one seemed too far away.
By now I was getting discouraged. Our beautiful Greek wedding was turning in to a fly by at the court house - most likely in jeans. I made Kirk promise me a regular wedding when we get back on our feet in a year.
I called the Justice of the Peace and she had an opening that Friday. Since we did not know what direction our lives would turn by next week we had to take it. To our delight, she does her ceremonies at a little garden in League City. The thought of a quaint garden wedding thrilled us since we did not have to hammer down the isle of the court house. I decided to wear one of the two wedding dresses I picked out. The one that was for the evening dinner was perfect for the event. We called a few friends to come join us. The day was almost perfect - it was too hot and a few of our friends were already pretty "toasty" (from the alcohol, not the sun).
Below are some pictures for you - we married at 6:00 in the evening in the 7th month on the 9th day in 10th year of 2000. Pretty cool! All we are missing is the 8! - of course that is just me being a dork!
Now it is off to Roatan, Honduras for our honeymoon!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
June and beginning of July
Excuse the small caps on some of my sentences. I am using Kirks computer and it does not do caps on some letters.
A week after Kirk arrived we had some problems and had to return home. Too much to go in to now and not sure that I really want to relive it at this time. maybe sometime in the future. Lets just say it was an eye opener for us both and we have some tough times ahead of us now. I was returned to my home office and will soon be joining the unemployment line, along with the millions of others across this country.
even with everything that has happened and what we are experiencing now, we are in high spirits. while it is stressful, we are both trying to be very positive and know that the future hold some amazing things for us. I told Kirk before that we we can just get through this together then we know we will be stronger together and last a lifetime. So far that has held true and we become closer each day. I did not think that was possible as we were already meant to be together, but it is. what a wonderful feeling. Also to have someone stick by me in this turmoil and support me - well....that just speaks volumes of his love for me - and my love for him.
So now we are back in Houston for a bit. we are still planning our wedding since we already have it paid for, but the plans seem to change on a daily basis. we can't get a refund so we are going to go for it, but as cheaply as possible. Later on in life we will have what we need and be able to travel then. The wedding went from Greece to New York. we would still love to have it in NY but funds are limited and we would not be able to do all the things we want to there. Now it is looking like a possible cruise out of Galveston and then up to Pennsylvania to meet his family. Here it is almost a year since we started dating again and I have not even met his family. Seems strange to have not had the pleasure of meeting them before i make them my family for life. But I guess that does not matter since Kirk is the most important part of my life. I know that I will love them and hope that they love me too.
Kirk gave up everything for me to come to Dubai. Now it is my turn to return the favor. Our goal is let him find his dream job and I will go with him wherever that takes us. If he is able to get a job overseas, then I have my choice of where to live in the US. If he gets a job in the States, then I will join him there. my career is very general so I am able to get a job anywhere, while his is very specialized. we need to go where his work takes us. And I think it is time for me to change my career and finally do something that makes me happy. Time to start soul searching. Someday, our plans are to buy a piece of property and raise animals. we talk about having a kennel and also a horse boarding stables. we also want a few cattle - but we have mixed ideas on that. I want pets, he wants beef - if you get my drift. right now it is a dream that will hopefully come true in the not so far future. we are playing the lotto now ; )
As far as a stable place to live, well that has yet to be seen. we are staying at one of his friends houses right now but that will end in less than a week. It is too unstable here and not a good environment for us. And unfortunately it is one of those times when you learn who yours friends really are. we have had a few offers from family to help get us back on our feet. Looks like within a month we will be taking someone up on that offer. For now, we have a friend that has offered us a house to stay in for free. It is empty and on the market but has not sold. He believes it has a better chance of selling if there is someone living in it. Of course we would pay the utilities. It would also give us time to put everything large that we still own here up for sale. Our new car - which I will tell you about next - does not have a tow hitch and it would be too hard on the transmission to haul anything across country. we have a 4 year old fridge, brand new washer and dryer, chemistry table, new pool table, etc. Craigslist here we come!
we have been back a week exactly yesterday. Our first goal was to buy a used car so that we were not relying on anyone to tote us around. After 3 days of searching we were about to give up and buy the lemon that seemed to be the best deal out of everything we saw. I can't believe how people trash their vehicles around here and how much they want for them. we were starting to think that we would have to finance a newer vehicle. Just before we put in an offer for a 2000 Jeep Laredo that was beat to heck, we decided to look at just one more Jeep. we were both so discouraged by this time, it couldn't hurt to just take another hour to look at another pile of junk. The minute we saw the 2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport we knew we had made the right choice to wait and before even test driving it we were ready to call the other dealership and tell them no thanks. It is hunter green and in very good shape with 104,000 miles on it. The interior was so clean and in great shape - it looked almost brand new inside. The outside has a few dings and scratches, but that is to be expected of a 10 year old car. It drives great too! even has a brand new a/c unit.
Driving it home though, the check engine light came on. we are not worried about it but before we make any long hauls across the country we are going to take it to have the engine fully checked and also have the tires replaced. It will need a little tlc, but both of us take really good care of our vehicles so we don't mind. we just want something that we can rely on and know that it will get us where we want to go. we are both very comfortable with our first large purchase together....and we were able to get a great deal on it with cash down and no payments.
Oh - yesterday we found out that our hunter green Jeep used to be red! A few scratches on the front grill revealed her true color!
I have some pictures from our last day in Dubai that I will put up later.
This blog now will become our blog for all of the adventures to come...including all the trials of being unemployed.
A week after Kirk arrived we had some problems and had to return home. Too much to go in to now and not sure that I really want to relive it at this time. maybe sometime in the future. Lets just say it was an eye opener for us both and we have some tough times ahead of us now. I was returned to my home office and will soon be joining the unemployment line, along with the millions of others across this country.
even with everything that has happened and what we are experiencing now, we are in high spirits. while it is stressful, we are both trying to be very positive and know that the future hold some amazing things for us. I told Kirk before that we we can just get through this together then we know we will be stronger together and last a lifetime. So far that has held true and we become closer each day. I did not think that was possible as we were already meant to be together, but it is. what a wonderful feeling. Also to have someone stick by me in this turmoil and support me - well....that just speaks volumes of his love for me - and my love for him.
So now we are back in Houston for a bit. we are still planning our wedding since we already have it paid for, but the plans seem to change on a daily basis. we can't get a refund so we are going to go for it, but as cheaply as possible. Later on in life we will have what we need and be able to travel then. The wedding went from Greece to New York. we would still love to have it in NY but funds are limited and we would not be able to do all the things we want to there. Now it is looking like a possible cruise out of Galveston and then up to Pennsylvania to meet his family. Here it is almost a year since we started dating again and I have not even met his family. Seems strange to have not had the pleasure of meeting them before i make them my family for life. But I guess that does not matter since Kirk is the most important part of my life. I know that I will love them and hope that they love me too.
Kirk gave up everything for me to come to Dubai. Now it is my turn to return the favor. Our goal is let him find his dream job and I will go with him wherever that takes us. If he is able to get a job overseas, then I have my choice of where to live in the US. If he gets a job in the States, then I will join him there. my career is very general so I am able to get a job anywhere, while his is very specialized. we need to go where his work takes us. And I think it is time for me to change my career and finally do something that makes me happy. Time to start soul searching. Someday, our plans are to buy a piece of property and raise animals. we talk about having a kennel and also a horse boarding stables. we also want a few cattle - but we have mixed ideas on that. I want pets, he wants beef - if you get my drift. right now it is a dream that will hopefully come true in the not so far future. we are playing the lotto now ; )
As far as a stable place to live, well that has yet to be seen. we are staying at one of his friends houses right now but that will end in less than a week. It is too unstable here and not a good environment for us. And unfortunately it is one of those times when you learn who yours friends really are. we have had a few offers from family to help get us back on our feet. Looks like within a month we will be taking someone up on that offer. For now, we have a friend that has offered us a house to stay in for free. It is empty and on the market but has not sold. He believes it has a better chance of selling if there is someone living in it. Of course we would pay the utilities. It would also give us time to put everything large that we still own here up for sale. Our new car - which I will tell you about next - does not have a tow hitch and it would be too hard on the transmission to haul anything across country. we have a 4 year old fridge, brand new washer and dryer, chemistry table, new pool table, etc. Craigslist here we come!
we have been back a week exactly yesterday. Our first goal was to buy a used car so that we were not relying on anyone to tote us around. After 3 days of searching we were about to give up and buy the lemon that seemed to be the best deal out of everything we saw. I can't believe how people trash their vehicles around here and how much they want for them. we were starting to think that we would have to finance a newer vehicle. Just before we put in an offer for a 2000 Jeep Laredo that was beat to heck, we decided to look at just one more Jeep. we were both so discouraged by this time, it couldn't hurt to just take another hour to look at another pile of junk. The minute we saw the 2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport we knew we had made the right choice to wait and before even test driving it we were ready to call the other dealership and tell them no thanks. It is hunter green and in very good shape with 104,000 miles on it. The interior was so clean and in great shape - it looked almost brand new inside. The outside has a few dings and scratches, but that is to be expected of a 10 year old car. It drives great too! even has a brand new a/c unit.
Driving it home though, the check engine light came on. we are not worried about it but before we make any long hauls across the country we are going to take it to have the engine fully checked and also have the tires replaced. It will need a little tlc, but both of us take really good care of our vehicles so we don't mind. we just want something that we can rely on and know that it will get us where we want to go. we are both very comfortable with our first large purchase together....and we were able to get a great deal on it with cash down and no payments.
Oh - yesterday we found out that our hunter green Jeep used to be red! A few scratches on the front grill revealed her true color!
I have some pictures from our last day in Dubai that I will put up later.
This blog now will become our blog for all of the adventures to come...including all the trials of being unemployed.
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