When you have a deck on the back of your home, it is important to prepare it for winter weather so that it does not deteriorate during the harsh conditions.

It feels like it took forever to finish our house and for all the paperwork to be processed at the end. Looking at my time line, it WAS a long process that we really weren’t prepared for.

Every year, I create Pinterest-inspired DIY holiday gifts for my teacher friends and colleagues. It’s a frugal and, usually, tasty way to make sure everyone receives a gift on my school’s campus.

We are this close to our house being finished. It took about six weeks longer than we had hoped because we had some issues with the garage and a very slow construction company.

Many years ago, when I knew I’d be purchasing a house in the future, I started working on what I needed to do in order to qualify for a mortgage. I had a hunch that I needed to start sooner than later in order to achieve my goal and I’m really thankful I did.