Friday, December 29, 2006
Six Weird Things About Me
I have been tagged! Yeah! Tammy over at Lavendar Knits tagged me. This is, my dear readers, the first time I have been tagged! Woo-hoo! "THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the "6 weird things about you." People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog." 1. I can't eat yogurt with fruit in it. It drives me crazy. Yogurt should be smooth and creamy - nu chunks or anything in it at all. I just can't eat it. Eww! This is also one of the reasons dh says our dd gets her sensory issues from me! LOL! 2. I would like to have a library named after me someday! The L***** Library. It has a great ring to it, you'll have to just trust me on this. 3. I do NOT like shopping for clothes. It's such a pain to clothes shop. I would rather not do it. Now, shopping for fabrics or yarn or other craft things, that's heaven! LOL! 4. I have two uteruses inside me. Yeah, just a bit weird, doncha think? 5. I do not like to talk to people on the phone. I get very nervous when I have to call and talk to someone. Sometimes (although not too often) I get so nervous I hang up just as they answer. I always feel stupid - like I don't know what to say and plus I sound like I'm 5 years old. 6. I want to be on the show What Not to Wear. I would love it so much - I don't think I'm a good dresser, and I would love for someone else to tell me what to wear and how to wear it, and let's be honest, the 5,000 dollar spending spree wouldn't hurt at all! LOL! I told dh if we were rich, we'd just hire them to shop with me for 2 days (I don't even know if that is possible LOL!) I'm tagging: Kris, Melodee, Debbie, Jewels (Yes, I know it's only 4, but it will have to do - a few others I wanted to tag already completed this meme!) Anyone else reading this and wants to participate, just consider yourself tagged! Leave a comment when you've done it! =)
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Christmas Success!
Well, according to my girls, this has been "the best Christmas ever!"
What is funny to my dh and I about all of this is that we actually scaled way back from last year ... which just goes to show that they don't need a million and one things to be happy.
I have to say though, I completely agree with them - this has been the best Christmas ever. This christmas was very relaxing, very fun, there was a lot of time we spent together and just hung out with each other. And of course, there was plenty of time to hang out with other family members as well.
I just felt so incredibly blessed this Christmas - not because of the gifts (although I did get some very nice ones indeed) but it was because we had each other - we are all healthy - I love my family so much some days it feels that my heart may just burst!
It's been an incredible year for us over here truth be told. At one point I thought I'd never survive it, I didn't much like anything and had a huge chip on my shoulder. It was not a good place to be.
But now, things are going much better. I actually like my life and love my family again! I'm not ready to run far away as fast as I can (although I still enjoy little breaks away from it all!). I think the baby has grown and gotten easier in some ways - the big one being that he sleeps now. Granted, he has learned 1001 ways to make trouble in each room of the house, but at least I can sleep each night before dealing with it all!
The girls are fabulous, really getting along with each other most days, being helpful to me and learning things quite well. I am deeply in love with my husband. And can't wait to get into our very own home - to hang up pictures, to decorate, to have spots for everything! So fabulous.
I have a feeling that 2007 will be even more fabulous - which seems pretty hard to do at this point!
It's a good place to be in for us. Life is good. Very good.
What is funny to my dh and I about all of this is that we actually scaled way back from last year ... which just goes to show that they don't need a million and one things to be happy.
I have to say though, I completely agree with them - this has been the best Christmas ever. This christmas was very relaxing, very fun, there was a lot of time we spent together and just hung out with each other. And of course, there was plenty of time to hang out with other family members as well.
I just felt so incredibly blessed this Christmas - not because of the gifts (although I did get some very nice ones indeed) but it was because we had each other - we are all healthy - I love my family so much some days it feels that my heart may just burst!
It's been an incredible year for us over here truth be told. At one point I thought I'd never survive it, I didn't much like anything and had a huge chip on my shoulder. It was not a good place to be.
But now, things are going much better. I actually like my life and love my family again! I'm not ready to run far away as fast as I can (although I still enjoy little breaks away from it all!). I think the baby has grown and gotten easier in some ways - the big one being that he sleeps now. Granted, he has learned 1001 ways to make trouble in each room of the house, but at least I can sleep each night before dealing with it all!
The girls are fabulous, really getting along with each other most days, being helpful to me and learning things quite well. I am deeply in love with my husband. And can't wait to get into our very own home - to hang up pictures, to decorate, to have spots for everything! So fabulous.
I have a feeling that 2007 will be even more fabulous - which seems pretty hard to do at this point!
It's a good place to be in for us. Life is good. Very good.
Biting the bullet
I'm switching to the new (and hopefully improved) blogger version here .... Sorry to switch my address for everyone. So please update links, blogrolls, bloglines, etc and keep on reading me .... Blogger says the two blogs will be eventually allowed to merge ... we'll see. I don't want to lose everything I already have!
Monday, December 25, 2006
Merry Christmas!
From me, to yours ...
I hope you have a very Merry Christmas this year!
It is now 1:00 am Christmas Day at our house! Santa just visited and the presents are waiting under the tree for the three children who are upstairs dreaming away. And soon enough they will be up, ready to tear open the packages and see what's inside.
And then we will all hang out for a bit, loving each other, and then travel over to grandma and papa's house to see them.
It will be a good day for us and a fun day. A day of lots of activity and playing and spending time together!
I hope everyone else has a fabulous day as well and enjoys time with their family! =)
I hope you have a very Merry Christmas this year!
It is now 1:00 am Christmas Day at our house! Santa just visited and the presents are waiting under the tree for the three children who are upstairs dreaming away. And soon enough they will be up, ready to tear open the packages and see what's inside.
And then we will all hang out for a bit, loving each other, and then travel over to grandma and papa's house to see them.
It will be a good day for us and a fun day. A day of lots of activity and playing and spending time together!
I hope everyone else has a fabulous day as well and enjoys time with their family! =)
Thursday, December 21, 2006
I discovered
Cooking Light magazine.
I was at the doctor's office (for the kids, of course, per our usual routine it seems) and I decided to flip through it.
Oh my goodness .... so many great recipes, so not enough time to eat them all! I commented to the kids that we were going to buy our very own copy of the magazine when we picked up the prescription (my babyboy needed as he's sick and needs help getting over it)when the doctor and the receptionist overheard. And then, they told me the most wonderful thing ... "Oh, don't do that. Just take ours. We have so many magazines here!"
So I replied, "But I couldn't do that. It's the December issue! Someone else might want to look at it!"
And they told me, "No, really take it. As a matter of fact, if there are any other magazines you might want, feel free to grab them too. Anytime, you can take magazines from us."
Now, first of all, I was so excited to get Cooking Light I couldn't believe it. And seeing as I'm a magazine junkie, the opportunity to rumage through magazines and take whatever I wanted, seemed to be a dream come true ....
but the kids were ready to go, the youngest was whining and hungry, there was a prescription to be filled, it was lunch time ....
So I walked out with just my one Cooking Light magazine.
Tonight we made the buttermilk pancakes and the cranberry citrus sauce to go on it in place of maple syrup for me and to accompany the maple syrup for my dh. The girls said these pancakes were way better than the bisquix panckaes they are used to. It. Was. So. Good. Yum.
I am pretty sure for the next 2 months or so, every other thing I make will be from this magazine. Foods I never liked before, sound so good and look so good. My dh, who likes to try new things, is excited to see me excited about cooking.
So, just in case you haven't yet bought my Christmas present dear readers, please, feel free to sign me up for a subscription to this magazine full of fabulous food ideas. And I will forever be in your debt and promise to send cookies! LOL!
I was at the doctor's office (for the kids, of course, per our usual routine it seems) and I decided to flip through it.
Oh my goodness .... so many great recipes, so not enough time to eat them all! I commented to the kids that we were going to buy our very own copy of the magazine when we picked up the prescription (my babyboy needed as he's sick and needs help getting over it)when the doctor and the receptionist overheard. And then, they told me the most wonderful thing ... "Oh, don't do that. Just take ours. We have so many magazines here!"
So I replied, "But I couldn't do that. It's the December issue! Someone else might want to look at it!"
And they told me, "No, really take it. As a matter of fact, if there are any other magazines you might want, feel free to grab them too. Anytime, you can take magazines from us."
Now, first of all, I was so excited to get Cooking Light I couldn't believe it. And seeing as I'm a magazine junkie, the opportunity to rumage through magazines and take whatever I wanted, seemed to be a dream come true ....
but the kids were ready to go, the youngest was whining and hungry, there was a prescription to be filled, it was lunch time ....
So I walked out with just my one Cooking Light magazine.
Tonight we made the buttermilk pancakes and the cranberry citrus sauce to go on it in place of maple syrup for me and to accompany the maple syrup for my dh. The girls said these pancakes were way better than the bisquix panckaes they are used to. It. Was. So. Good. Yum.
I am pretty sure for the next 2 months or so, every other thing I make will be from this magazine. Foods I never liked before, sound so good and look so good. My dh, who likes to try new things, is excited to see me excited about cooking.
So, just in case you haven't yet bought my Christmas present dear readers, please, feel free to sign me up for a subscription to this magazine full of fabulous food ideas. And I will forever be in your debt and promise to send cookies! LOL!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Holy cow ...
Where did the time go?
I blinked my eyes and December is almost over!
It is now officially December 20 and I have not yet done Christmas cards.
I am managing to have a bit more fun these last few days ... trying to not get caught up in the stress and instead getting caught up in the fun parts of hte holiday.
I went to a cookie exchange tonight. It was nice to get out, chat, have fun! It was also nice because I had a helper over today who made my day 250% smoother than had I been here alone. She helped me take pictures of the kids, make my cookeis, get the appetizer ready and because of her I was able to take a shower before leaving! Woo-hoo! I wish she could be here all of the it me honestly. It would make life much more smoother.
Aside from all the holiday hub-bub, I am sad to say that we had to take my middle child to the ER on Sunday. It was not a lot of fun. Bascially she is constipated. she is so constipated that nothing was haleping and it had been over a week since, well, you know, she had been able to go to the bathroom. So essentially we took her to the ER where they helped her take care of things. Now my 4 year old is on a prescription laxative and has to take benefiber each day, in addition to the roughly 4 ounces of prune juice we give her a day and the at least 10 grams of fiber I make sure she gets each day.
Oh, and I did I mention, she is 4? Only 4 years old nad she has to go through all of this? It makes me so sad for her. And I think it sucks for her. Most kids don't even know what fiber is ... she has asked over the last few days "Does this have fiber in it mom?" when I give her food because we talked about how she need to eat lots of fiber with her after coming home from the ER.
Ugh.
So my pediatrician is giving us a referral to see a specialist at this point. She doens't think it's simply a matter of diet anymore. I have to say, I agree. Not that we are 100% healthy over here, but we have been struggling with mild consitipation for 18 months. I push the water, she gets her prune juice, I count fiber for her. I am baffled as to why she is still suffering from this.
Anyway, I'm hoping the specialist can help us out with this And I hope that soon this will not be something we have to monitor so closely for her.
Can you mimagine, she goes to play at someone's house - "Oh, and by the way, she suffers from terrible constipation, so if she has to use the bathroom while at your house, it might be an ordeal for her and probably she will cry, because she mostly does cry if she has to poop from now on, but don't worry. Once she's finished, she's back to normal!"
Because that won't scare people away from having her over at their house I'm sure @@
So for her, I hope we figure this out, get it under control and move on with other things in life.
I blinked my eyes and December is almost over!
It is now officially December 20 and I have not yet done Christmas cards.
I am managing to have a bit more fun these last few days ... trying to not get caught up in the stress and instead getting caught up in the fun parts of hte holiday.
I went to a cookie exchange tonight. It was nice to get out, chat, have fun! It was also nice because I had a helper over today who made my day 250% smoother than had I been here alone. She helped me take pictures of the kids, make my cookeis, get the appetizer ready and because of her I was able to take a shower before leaving! Woo-hoo! I wish she could be here all of the it me honestly. It would make life much more smoother.
Aside from all the holiday hub-bub, I am sad to say that we had to take my middle child to the ER on Sunday. It was not a lot of fun. Bascially she is constipated. she is so constipated that nothing was haleping and it had been over a week since, well, you know, she had been able to go to the bathroom. So essentially we took her to the ER where they helped her take care of things. Now my 4 year old is on a prescription laxative and has to take benefiber each day, in addition to the roughly 4 ounces of prune juice we give her a day and the at least 10 grams of fiber I make sure she gets each day.
Oh, and I did I mention, she is 4? Only 4 years old nad she has to go through all of this? It makes me so sad for her. And I think it sucks for her. Most kids don't even know what fiber is ... she has asked over the last few days "Does this have fiber in it mom?" when I give her food because we talked about how she need to eat lots of fiber with her after coming home from the ER.
Ugh.
So my pediatrician is giving us a referral to see a specialist at this point. She doens't think it's simply a matter of diet anymore. I have to say, I agree. Not that we are 100% healthy over here, but we have been struggling with mild consitipation for 18 months. I push the water, she gets her prune juice, I count fiber for her. I am baffled as to why she is still suffering from this.
Anyway, I'm hoping the specialist can help us out with this And I hope that soon this will not be something we have to monitor so closely for her.
Can you mimagine, she goes to play at someone's house - "Oh, and by the way, she suffers from terrible constipation, so if she has to use the bathroom while at your house, it might be an ordeal for her and probably she will cry, because she mostly does cry if she has to poop from now on, but don't worry. Once she's finished, she's back to normal!"
Because that won't scare people away from having her over at their house I'm sure @@
So for her, I hope we figure this out, get it under control and move on with other things in life.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Holidays are in full swing over here ...
We have been very busy this holiday season right now!
Friday I hosted a party for my moms club here - it was so much fun. All the fretting and worrying that I did prior to the party - all for naught. Which is good!
I had some activites planned for the kids - we made it through about half of them - so I overplanned, which is better than underplanning. I got some good comments.
Tonight dh and I are headed to a big party! It should be a grand time I hope.
Then tomorrow we have to do things for a party I will be at Monday with the kids. Tuesday comes a holiday cookie exchange (so theoretically I need to so some baking before then). Party again next Saturday, party next Sunday, party the next day.
Wow. I'm tired just thinking about it ... but that is what the holiday season brings with it - it's a time to be together with others, and what better way to do that than to have a party. So there are a ton of them, and dh and I will go to about half of them.
I have a love hate relationship with the holidays because of all this busyness and traveling nad going places. It is nice to see people, it is nice to be invited places, but it wears me out to do soooo many things in such a little bit of time.
But soon the holidays will be over - come and gone in the flash of an eye. And I will miss it and be excited for the next holiday season and in a year from now, probably feel the same sense of too much to do, too many people to see, too worn out to think feelings .... or maybe we will hide away in our home and enjoy a nice christmas in our very own house doing it our very own way ;-)
Friday I hosted a party for my moms club here - it was so much fun. All the fretting and worrying that I did prior to the party - all for naught. Which is good!
I had some activites planned for the kids - we made it through about half of them - so I overplanned, which is better than underplanning. I got some good comments.
Tonight dh and I are headed to a big party! It should be a grand time I hope.
Then tomorrow we have to do things for a party I will be at Monday with the kids. Tuesday comes a holiday cookie exchange (so theoretically I need to so some baking before then). Party again next Saturday, party next Sunday, party the next day.
Wow. I'm tired just thinking about it ... but that is what the holiday season brings with it - it's a time to be together with others, and what better way to do that than to have a party. So there are a ton of them, and dh and I will go to about half of them.
I have a love hate relationship with the holidays because of all this busyness and traveling nad going places. It is nice to see people, it is nice to be invited places, but it wears me out to do soooo many things in such a little bit of time.
But soon the holidays will be over - come and gone in the flash of an eye. And I will miss it and be excited for the next holiday season and in a year from now, probably feel the same sense of too much to do, too many people to see, too worn out to think feelings .... or maybe we will hide away in our home and enjoy a nice christmas in our very own house doing it our very own way ;-)
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Oops!
I completely forgot about my contest! I am sooo sorry!
Anyway, the house we put an offer on December 5 was house B. That makes Sam the winner ...
so if you could e-mail me at Brandie185 at gmail dot com (obviously, change the at and dot LOL) I'll send you a little prize. It won't be anything too big, so don't get too excited there ;-)
And yes, that means we offered on the same house two separate times - we really wanted that house. And now I know what we got instead - and I am SOOO thankful that we didn't get the original house. What we ended up with is a million times better. Obviously it took us two rejected offers to get the hint that we had to walk away from that house b.
The house we almost bid on the next day was House A, in case anyone cared. But that was the one that I thought I wanted but realized I really didn't want it, it just happened to be one of the nicer houses we saw when we went out. I am also glad I listened to my inner voice that day and called the realtor and told her to not make the offer.
Regarding the house we are under contract on now ... it is going along smoothly. The inspection turned up two major issues - mold in the attic above the addition (so really just a small area and we are pretty sure it is because the bathroom isn't venting properly). And the furnace will probably need to be replaced due to a cracked heater exchange and it is releasing too much carbon monoxide. Thankfully, the seller is already bringing in heating people and someone to look at the mold. We haven't even sent the letter to ask them to do this - they are just really on the ball. It makes me feel good - I don't think they will fight it. I think that they are going to be really great sellers to work with and I'm so excited by that! I know that no house would be perfect so I'm not fretting too much about the issues. The furnace is easy - replace it. The mold, as long as we can find what is causing it we will be okay.
So as of right now, it seems we will close on January 31 as planned! Yeah! =)
Anyway, the house we put an offer on December 5 was house B. That makes Sam the winner ...
so if you could e-mail me at Brandie185 at gmail dot com (obviously, change the at and dot LOL) I'll send you a little prize. It won't be anything too big, so don't get too excited there ;-)
And yes, that means we offered on the same house two separate times - we really wanted that house. And now I know what we got instead - and I am SOOO thankful that we didn't get the original house. What we ended up with is a million times better. Obviously it took us two rejected offers to get the hint that we had to walk away from that house b.
The house we almost bid on the next day was House A, in case anyone cared. But that was the one that I thought I wanted but realized I really didn't want it, it just happened to be one of the nicer houses we saw when we went out. I am also glad I listened to my inner voice that day and called the realtor and told her to not make the offer.
Regarding the house we are under contract on now ... it is going along smoothly. The inspection turned up two major issues - mold in the attic above the addition (so really just a small area and we are pretty sure it is because the bathroom isn't venting properly). And the furnace will probably need to be replaced due to a cracked heater exchange and it is releasing too much carbon monoxide. Thankfully, the seller is already bringing in heating people and someone to look at the mold. We haven't even sent the letter to ask them to do this - they are just really on the ball. It makes me feel good - I don't think they will fight it. I think that they are going to be really great sellers to work with and I'm so excited by that! I know that no house would be perfect so I'm not fretting too much about the issues. The furnace is easy - replace it. The mold, as long as we can find what is causing it we will be okay.
So as of right now, it seems we will close on January 31 as planned! Yeah! =)
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Monday, December 11, 2006
Happy Birthday ...
to my darling babyboy!
He is one today.
I can not believe it has been an entire year of having him around already! A year of his laughs and giggles and bright smiles. A year of sleepless nights and waking frequently. A year of playing and reading and having fun. A year of crying and whining. A year of cuddles and rocking and hugs and kisses.
And now my darling babyboy is no longer a baby. He is now a walking, talking little toddler. I just can't even believe it has been a year.
And I can't believe how much I love him. How much his father loves him. How much his sisters love him. For the unexpectedness of the pregnancy, the almost nine months of feeling like crud, the not knowing how we would add another body to this house, our hearts, our family, we were blessed with this happy-go-lucky, sweet, gorgeous child. He has brightened our family and brought with him an extreme amount of happiness, even if he sometimes tried to spread his joy at 2 am!
I love him more every minute. I love watching his sisters try to take care of him and protect him. I love hearing my dh talk about someone to do the "boy" things with. I just love this little bundle that joined our lives one year ago today!
I wish that he has as much fun on the day he turns 101 as he did today!
Love you babyboy - and even though you are one now, you will still be my darling babyboy! =)
He is one today.
I can not believe it has been an entire year of having him around already! A year of his laughs and giggles and bright smiles. A year of sleepless nights and waking frequently. A year of playing and reading and having fun. A year of crying and whining. A year of cuddles and rocking and hugs and kisses.
And now my darling babyboy is no longer a baby. He is now a walking, talking little toddler. I just can't even believe it has been a year.
And I can't believe how much I love him. How much his father loves him. How much his sisters love him. For the unexpectedness of the pregnancy, the almost nine months of feeling like crud, the not knowing how we would add another body to this house, our hearts, our family, we were blessed with this happy-go-lucky, sweet, gorgeous child. He has brightened our family and brought with him an extreme amount of happiness, even if he sometimes tried to spread his joy at 2 am!
I love him more every minute. I love watching his sisters try to take care of him and protect him. I love hearing my dh talk about someone to do the "boy" things with. I just love this little bundle that joined our lives one year ago today!
I wish that he has as much fun on the day he turns 101 as he did today!
Love you babyboy - and even though you are one now, you will still be my darling babyboy! =)
Friday, December 08, 2006
Truely thankful
I want to say it loud and clear just how thankful I am for how this whole house thing has turned out.
I do not for one minute doubt someone up above was on our side through this and watching out for us. My husband does not, I have to say it I do. Not because I am special and loved more - no, I do not see this as I got more because I am better than others. I just have no other way to explain how this happened.
This kind of house should not be in our price range. It should have been at least 30,000 more than it was listed for, at least. We found out earlier today that someone sent them an offer first thing this morning. If we had waited just a day, it would not have been our house or we would have been in a bidding war - which we could not afford to do.
Then I think we really tried to get another house - and we tried so hard, because we believe it was the best house for us. It holds nothing to the house we ended up going under contract with.
We almost bid on another house, that probably we would have gotten, but something in me said no, don't do it! So I called the realtor and told her to not put the offer through. Thankfully she was behind that day because her intent was to put it in earlier in the day and had she done that, I would have called to late.
Enter this house. Which had only been on the market for slightly over a week - 8 or 9 days. Our realtor had all the houses she was going to take us to, but last minute she decided to see if she had missed any and caught this house the day it went up.
There are so many reasons why we shouldn't have even seen this house, why we should have not bid on the other house, and why someone else didn't bid on it before us!
I really believe there was divine intervention working here. I don't why - I'm not perfect, I'm not even close to perfect, I'm not even that good! LOL!
But I am so thankful and I feel absolutely blessed to have this house. And I am still, 24 hours later, in complete awe over it.
We go sign the mortgage papers tomorrow. The home inspection is Monday. And then things should be set until we close! I can't even believe it! I am so thankful!
I just wanted to say that I feel so lucky and I am not yet taking it all for granted.
I do not for one minute doubt someone up above was on our side through this and watching out for us. My husband does not, I have to say it I do. Not because I am special and loved more - no, I do not see this as I got more because I am better than others. I just have no other way to explain how this happened.
This kind of house should not be in our price range. It should have been at least 30,000 more than it was listed for, at least. We found out earlier today that someone sent them an offer first thing this morning. If we had waited just a day, it would not have been our house or we would have been in a bidding war - which we could not afford to do.
Then I think we really tried to get another house - and we tried so hard, because we believe it was the best house for us. It holds nothing to the house we ended up going under contract with.
We almost bid on another house, that probably we would have gotten, but something in me said no, don't do it! So I called the realtor and told her to not put the offer through. Thankfully she was behind that day because her intent was to put it in earlier in the day and had she done that, I would have called to late.
Enter this house. Which had only been on the market for slightly over a week - 8 or 9 days. Our realtor had all the houses she was going to take us to, but last minute she decided to see if she had missed any and caught this house the day it went up.
There are so many reasons why we shouldn't have even seen this house, why we should have not bid on the other house, and why someone else didn't bid on it before us!
I really believe there was divine intervention working here. I don't why - I'm not perfect, I'm not even close to perfect, I'm not even that good! LOL!
But I am so thankful and I feel absolutely blessed to have this house. And I am still, 24 hours later, in complete awe over it.
We go sign the mortgage papers tomorrow. The home inspection is Monday. And then things should be set until we close! I can't even believe it! I am so thankful!
I just wanted to say that I feel so lucky and I am not yet taking it all for granted.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
GREAT NEWS!!
We put in an offer on a house today and got it!!!
For those that are following the saga - you know we made an offer on a house earlier - I still won't say which one until Sunday though - but it was not accepted. The seller countered by knocking almost nothing off the original price and to top it off, we had a concern about an obvious broken window that was allowing water to leak in the house - we stipulated it should be fixed and they totally blew us off saying the house was as is, take it or leave it and acted like it was no big deal - we don't know how long it's been broken and letting water in - there could be a mess behind the wall under that window for all we know, so with sad faces, we left it.
We turned to the other two houses on our list and were about to make an offer on one of them when I called the realtor in a panic and said, don't put in the offer. I am not ready to do this. I realized I didn't really like the other houses, they were just better than what else we had seen, but weren't the house for us.
DH and I talked and he mentioned one house we had seen that was my absolute favorite but he wasn't sure of because it was only 3 bedrooms (and Karen, so you know - the picture of the master bath is from this house!). We looked more closely at it - it was in the right area, wonderful neighborhood, nice kitchen, 3 bedrooms plus an office in the basement WITH built-in shelves, fireplace, low taxes for the area and as Karen saw a fabulous master bathroom! The only issue he had with it was it was 3 rooms and it would force the girls to share. I countered that if the worst thing our kids face as kids is sharing a room so we could get into a great neighborhood, well, doesn't that mean we are doing pretty well?
We thought about it and today I went back to see it with my mom. She fell in love, I was more in love, the kids were in love.
We put in an offer. They countered, we countered, they countered, we countered, they countered, we countered, they countered, we accepted.
HOLY COW! I am still in shock. We have a house! A house! A real house!! I can't even believe it!!!!!
If all goes well we close on January 31!! I am so excited!! =)
Pictures are here!
For those that are following the saga - you know we made an offer on a house earlier - I still won't say which one until Sunday though - but it was not accepted. The seller countered by knocking almost nothing off the original price and to top it off, we had a concern about an obvious broken window that was allowing water to leak in the house - we stipulated it should be fixed and they totally blew us off saying the house was as is, take it or leave it and acted like it was no big deal - we don't know how long it's been broken and letting water in - there could be a mess behind the wall under that window for all we know, so with sad faces, we left it.
We turned to the other two houses on our list and were about to make an offer on one of them when I called the realtor in a panic and said, don't put in the offer. I am not ready to do this. I realized I didn't really like the other houses, they were just better than what else we had seen, but weren't the house for us.
DH and I talked and he mentioned one house we had seen that was my absolute favorite but he wasn't sure of because it was only 3 bedrooms (and Karen, so you know - the picture of the master bath is from this house!). We looked more closely at it - it was in the right area, wonderful neighborhood, nice kitchen, 3 bedrooms plus an office in the basement WITH built-in shelves, fireplace, low taxes for the area and as Karen saw a fabulous master bathroom! The only issue he had with it was it was 3 rooms and it would force the girls to share. I countered that if the worst thing our kids face as kids is sharing a room so we could get into a great neighborhood, well, doesn't that mean we are doing pretty well?
We thought about it and today I went back to see it with my mom. She fell in love, I was more in love, the kids were in love.
We put in an offer. They countered, we countered, they countered, we countered, they countered, we countered, they countered, we accepted.
HOLY COW! I am still in shock. We have a house! A house! A real house!! I can't even believe it!!!!!
If all goes well we close on January 31!! I am so excited!! =)
Pictures are here!
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Trying to understand ...
The Iraqi war report was released today ....
I have admittedly skimmed only parts of it and read more summaries than anything. I understand a lot of what they are saying ...
But it has been said in the story that one thing they heard from leaders in the area is that the US needs to help the Isreal-Palastinian conflict get resolved. Huh? It seems almost everything else I read says people are mad at us for being involved, mostly on the side of Isreal, and want us to butt out.
And so I am left scratching my head.
I have said it before and I truly feel this way (and I could be wrong, but yet I do feel this way) the US is stuck. We are damned if we help and damned if we don't help. No matter what people will be upset with our actions.
I think it makes it tough on the those in charge to figure out what to do ...
I do need to read more of this report and really try to understand the entire report and get the context of the things said in instead of just the news snippets. ...
In non-political news, please be a part of my contest (see, I'm so desperate here, I'm bribing people to leave comments LOL!)
I have admittedly skimmed only parts of it and read more summaries than anything. I understand a lot of what they are saying ...
But it has been said in the story that one thing they heard from leaders in the area is that the US needs to help the Isreal-Palastinian conflict get resolved. Huh? It seems almost everything else I read says people are mad at us for being involved, mostly on the side of Isreal, and want us to butt out.
And so I am left scratching my head.
I have said it before and I truly feel this way (and I could be wrong, but yet I do feel this way) the US is stuck. We are damned if we help and damned if we don't help. No matter what people will be upset with our actions.
I think it makes it tough on the those in charge to figure out what to do ...
I do need to read more of this report and really try to understand the entire report and get the context of the things said in instead of just the news snippets. ...
In non-political news, please be a part of my contest (see, I'm so desperate here, I'm bribing people to leave comments LOL!)
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
House Hunting ....
House hunting is very interesting.
First you pull up to a house and get your first impression ....
This is a big deal ... will the inside match the outside? What is the curb appeal? First impressions are a very important thing ....
And so you take in the front of the house. Maybe you look around and decide to not even enter the house. Or things look good or interesting and so you go in ....
There might be lots of very nice furniture, giving the house a very homey feel
or maybe the house is empty already ... with only the sunlight to fill the room. The walls plain and bare ....
or full of lots of bright color
or decorated just perfectly for whoever lived there last
And so you wander around, looking inspecting ...
maybe it's the kitchen that is the most important room to you
or the masterbath
Then again, maybe that fireplace caught your eye and all of a sudden you know the house you want should have a fireplace to curl up in front of!
The parts of the house that draw you in may be something you've thought about for years in your current house ...
This time you are determined to have a nice dining room - a feature your last house lacked ...
Or a basement that gets lots of natural light is a must have for you ...
And as you walk around the house, opening and closing doors and drawers and cabinets, and flushing toilets and turning on faucets, and admiring the view out the window ... you have a feeling. A feeling that says, yes, yes, this just might be the one for me.
Or maybe as you are walking out the door, you turn to take one last look around the house, and bid farewell to it, for you know, you won't want to return as the owner of this home. No, this one was meant for someone else. And now you must go and look again at another house and see all that it has to offer you.
Aww, yes, the joys of finding of a home, of walking in and out of so many houses in such a short time ....
Don't forget to enter my contest!
Vote for which house I put an offer on today ;-)
First you pull up to a house and get your first impression ....
This is a big deal ... will the inside match the outside? What is the curb appeal? First impressions are a very important thing ....
And so you take in the front of the house. Maybe you look around and decide to not even enter the house. Or things look good or interesting and so you go in ....
There might be lots of very nice furniture, giving the house a very homey feel
or maybe the house is empty already ... with only the sunlight to fill the room. The walls plain and bare ....
or full of lots of bright color
or decorated just perfectly for whoever lived there last
And so you wander around, looking inspecting ...
maybe it's the kitchen that is the most important room to you
or the masterbath
Then again, maybe that fireplace caught your eye and all of a sudden you know the house you want should have a fireplace to curl up in front of!
The parts of the house that draw you in may be something you've thought about for years in your current house ...
This time you are determined to have a nice dining room - a feature your last house lacked ...
Or a basement that gets lots of natural light is a must have for you ...
And as you walk around the house, opening and closing doors and drawers and cabinets, and flushing toilets and turning on faucets, and admiring the view out the window ... you have a feeling. A feeling that says, yes, yes, this just might be the one for me.
Or maybe as you are walking out the door, you turn to take one last look around the house, and bid farewell to it, for you know, you won't want to return as the owner of this home. No, this one was meant for someone else. And now you must go and look again at another house and see all that it has to offer you.
Aww, yes, the joys of finding of a home, of walking in and out of so many houses in such a short time ....
Don't forget to enter my contest!
Vote for which house I put an offer on today ;-)
Nervous Nelly ...
We made an offer this am. Anxiously awaiting to hear back from the seller of the house to see what they say.
For the few faithful readers out there - want to guess which house we went with: House A, House B or House C. If you're right I'd be willing to send you along a little something for playing! =)
I'll pick a winner on this blog's second anniversary which is December 10!
For the few faithful readers out there - want to guess which house we went with: House A, House B or House C. If you're right I'd be willing to send you along a little something for playing! =)
I'll pick a winner on this blog's second anniversary which is December 10!
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Decisions ....
This is the part of house-hunting that I hate.
Deciding which houses you like, which are in your price range? Can you afford to go a bit above your original budget? If we go slightly above now, will things be tight just in the short term? or in the long term? Is it worth an extra 20,000 dollar of house if it means you can see yourself staying there for quite some time (maybe over 10 years) or should you not go up that much and get a house you are pretty sure you'd have to move out of in 5 years? What house has the better location? better neighborhood? Is it close to stores and parks and a library?
Ugh.
So many things to think about. So many angles to look at.
We currently have 3 houses in the running. I am going to write a lot, mostly to help me sort out what's flying around in my head so feel free to not read ;-)
House A is the most expensive. It has the most space. It is a 2 story house with a finished English basement. It backs to a wetland so they won't build back there. It is currently one of the lower priced homes in the neighborhood (one is 100,000 more than the house we are looking at). It's in a good neighborhood. We saw kids out the first time we went to visit it. It is in pretty good shape - we would want to replace carpet and paint the walls. We found one broken window, but aside from that, everything is okay in the house. All the appliances come with the house. It was built in 94, so not too old really. It has 4 bedrooms that are okay size and 2 full baths and 2 half baths. We look at it and think we could easily stay there for quite sometime and be happy and not squished. There is a 2 level deck (although the top deck is about the size of a postage stame!). You can get to the deck from the kitchen or from the back yard. The basement is mostly finished (aside from an unfinished storage area) and is half above ground, so all three levels of the house get natural light - which is a HUGE plus for me. The bummer is that it does have the smallest bedroom sizes and is 20,000 over what we budgeted for (and that is assuming we can get them to come down on the price). It also has the highest taxes (double the tax of the house with the lowest tax) This would mean things would be tight. It may mean that I might have to find soem work (along the lines of babysitting one child in the home). But in 2-3 years, after dh gets a few modest raises (and assuming taxes don't sky rocket) we would be okay. And so what we are trying to decide is if 2 years of struggling is worth it to have the house that has the longest life for our family? I might also add that with a few upgrades (of appliances, counters, floors) and some minor things in the house, it could easily become one of higher houses in the neighborhood, so resale value looks good.
House B is the second highest price. It is 10,000 over our current budget. It is a split-level house with both basement and subbasement. It has the cheapest taxes. We could be okay in the house for the next two years although things wouldn't be tight, there wouldn't be too many extras, but in a few years, with a few modest raises for dh and assuming taxes don't skyrocket to match surrounding areas, things could be quite comfortable for us. It is actually the one that we already put an offer on and had it rejected. It has 4 bedrooms, which are slightly bigger than house A. The kitchen is smaller, but nicer (new appliances, new counter, new cabinents), the house has 4 living levels - the bedrooms, the main floor, the basement, the sub-basement. There is a two level deck that you can access from both he kitchen and the basement (so it's walk-out). The sub-basement is completely underground, so no natural lighting but it is finished (though in a very plain, cheap way - we would want to change it). The house backs to a mini-forest so no one would go behind us. It has a pool. The work we would need to do would be to replace all the windows, change the carpet, repaint all the walls but the main floor, replace carpet, the deck may need to be replaced completely - we aren't sure. Although it is in an good neighborhood, in general this has the location that is pretty close to a not so desirable area. The master bathroom is the crummiest of them all. And it will have the lowest rate of appreciation. However, that said, dh and I both really LOVED it. Probably we loved it the most, aside from we wish it were a bit bigger.
House C is okay, but really, it is in the running because of price. We could get it for probably 10-15,000 lower than our budget (depending on how much they are willing to negotiate). It has the biggest lot. It is pretty much the exact same layout of House C, however, the kitchen is not new - but it is bigger and it is nice. The sub-basement is not finished. The basement is only half-above ground so it is not walk-out. It does not have any fireplace (and the other 2 both have one). The master bath is better than House B, but not as good as house C. It is in a good neighborhood and would appreciate well (but probably not as well as house A). However, if the market improved around here, it would jump up in value about 3-5% immediately. We would definitely need to finish that sub-basement if we wanted to stay more than a few years. Even though it has the biggest yard, it does back up to other houses. In the grand scheme of things that's not too bad, other than the fact the other two don't. The only nice thing is that if we went below budget we would have money left to buy new furniture, possibly upgrade a few small things, and maybe even put in a pool and nice deck to improve the backyard. But, it is a nice house, in our price range and had we not seen House A nad House B, we probably would have put in an offer today.
Every house has it's up-side and down-side. When you compare them side by side they are mostly pretty even (although their strength and weaknesses are each quite different).
We went and saw House A and C again today with the kids. They voted for House A. My oldes even said she would rather have House A over a pool. We are going to try to get into House B tomorrow. We want to revisit it having seen other houses and see how we feel about it.
At this point we are leaning towards trying to get House A for as little as possible - hoping that they will come down AND we did look into other mortgage rates on-line today and saw we could get almost an entire point lower from another bank so tomorrow dh will be calling them to get pre-approved. We also have the ability to pay 1-2 points (depending on which house for which price) and that has the possibilty of knocking the mortgage APR down a bit more - which over the life of the loan would save us a nice chunk of change.
I hope that tomorrow night dh and I can kind of figure out what to do about these houses.
Deciding which houses you like, which are in your price range? Can you afford to go a bit above your original budget? If we go slightly above now, will things be tight just in the short term? or in the long term? Is it worth an extra 20,000 dollar of house if it means you can see yourself staying there for quite some time (maybe over 10 years) or should you not go up that much and get a house you are pretty sure you'd have to move out of in 5 years? What house has the better location? better neighborhood? Is it close to stores and parks and a library?
Ugh.
So many things to think about. So many angles to look at.
We currently have 3 houses in the running. I am going to write a lot, mostly to help me sort out what's flying around in my head so feel free to not read ;-)
House A is the most expensive. It has the most space. It is a 2 story house with a finished English basement. It backs to a wetland so they won't build back there. It is currently one of the lower priced homes in the neighborhood (one is 100,000 more than the house we are looking at). It's in a good neighborhood. We saw kids out the first time we went to visit it. It is in pretty good shape - we would want to replace carpet and paint the walls. We found one broken window, but aside from that, everything is okay in the house. All the appliances come with the house. It was built in 94, so not too old really. It has 4 bedrooms that are okay size and 2 full baths and 2 half baths. We look at it and think we could easily stay there for quite sometime and be happy and not squished. There is a 2 level deck (although the top deck is about the size of a postage stame!). You can get to the deck from the kitchen or from the back yard. The basement is mostly finished (aside from an unfinished storage area) and is half above ground, so all three levels of the house get natural light - which is a HUGE plus for me. The bummer is that it does have the smallest bedroom sizes and is 20,000 over what we budgeted for (and that is assuming we can get them to come down on the price). It also has the highest taxes (double the tax of the house with the lowest tax) This would mean things would be tight. It may mean that I might have to find soem work (along the lines of babysitting one child in the home). But in 2-3 years, after dh gets a few modest raises (and assuming taxes don't sky rocket) we would be okay. And so what we are trying to decide is if 2 years of struggling is worth it to have the house that has the longest life for our family? I might also add that with a few upgrades (of appliances, counters, floors) and some minor things in the house, it could easily become one of higher houses in the neighborhood, so resale value looks good.
House B is the second highest price. It is 10,000 over our current budget. It is a split-level house with both basement and subbasement. It has the cheapest taxes. We could be okay in the house for the next two years although things wouldn't be tight, there wouldn't be too many extras, but in a few years, with a few modest raises for dh and assuming taxes don't skyrocket to match surrounding areas, things could be quite comfortable for us. It is actually the one that we already put an offer on and had it rejected. It has 4 bedrooms, which are slightly bigger than house A. The kitchen is smaller, but nicer (new appliances, new counter, new cabinents), the house has 4 living levels - the bedrooms, the main floor, the basement, the sub-basement. There is a two level deck that you can access from both he kitchen and the basement (so it's walk-out). The sub-basement is completely underground, so no natural lighting but it is finished (though in a very plain, cheap way - we would want to change it). The house backs to a mini-forest so no one would go behind us. It has a pool. The work we would need to do would be to replace all the windows, change the carpet, repaint all the walls but the main floor, replace carpet, the deck may need to be replaced completely - we aren't sure. Although it is in an good neighborhood, in general this has the location that is pretty close to a not so desirable area. The master bathroom is the crummiest of them all. And it will have the lowest rate of appreciation. However, that said, dh and I both really LOVED it. Probably we loved it the most, aside from we wish it were a bit bigger.
House C is okay, but really, it is in the running because of price. We could get it for probably 10-15,000 lower than our budget (depending on how much they are willing to negotiate). It has the biggest lot. It is pretty much the exact same layout of House C, however, the kitchen is not new - but it is bigger and it is nice. The sub-basement is not finished. The basement is only half-above ground so it is not walk-out. It does not have any fireplace (and the other 2 both have one). The master bath is better than House B, but not as good as house C. It is in a good neighborhood and would appreciate well (but probably not as well as house A). However, if the market improved around here, it would jump up in value about 3-5% immediately. We would definitely need to finish that sub-basement if we wanted to stay more than a few years. Even though it has the biggest yard, it does back up to other houses. In the grand scheme of things that's not too bad, other than the fact the other two don't. The only nice thing is that if we went below budget we would have money left to buy new furniture, possibly upgrade a few small things, and maybe even put in a pool and nice deck to improve the backyard. But, it is a nice house, in our price range and had we not seen House A nad House B, we probably would have put in an offer today.
Every house has it's up-side and down-side. When you compare them side by side they are mostly pretty even (although their strength and weaknesses are each quite different).
We went and saw House A and C again today with the kids. They voted for House A. My oldes even said she would rather have House A over a pool. We are going to try to get into House B tomorrow. We want to revisit it having seen other houses and see how we feel about it.
At this point we are leaning towards trying to get House A for as little as possible - hoping that they will come down AND we did look into other mortgage rates on-line today and saw we could get almost an entire point lower from another bank so tomorrow dh will be calling them to get pre-approved. We also have the ability to pay 1-2 points (depending on which house for which price) and that has the possibilty of knocking the mortgage APR down a bit more - which over the life of the loan would save us a nice chunk of change.
I hope that tomorrow night dh and I can kind of figure out what to do about these houses.
Polly Pockets Good for Handwriting?
I mentioned last week that we took a fall break from school.
We started up again last week and I noticed several things - one: my dd had not lost any skills and two: she in fact gained some skills. Imagine that. A gain of skills without doing any "school."
The biggest leap was in her handwriting - she was able to write so much more better than she ever has. Even she was so proud of her handwriting, telling me to come look at how nice it was. I, too, was proud of how nice her handwriting was.
But how in the world did that happen? I wondered. Now for most of our break from school she happily played Polly Pocket for hours on end with her sister. And it occured to me, those Pollys are little. And they have little clothes. And she likes to dress them and undress them and move them around and put them in their little cars and boats and all that jazz. So much fine motor control had to go intoworking playing with those Pollys. No wonder her handwriting was doing much better. She could control her hand better. She didn't tire as fast. And she was excited to be writing and wrote several letters to friends and family members. She was on a roll with her writing.
And as much as I hate to say it, but I really think that I have Polly Pocket to thank for that!
We started up again last week and I noticed several things - one: my dd had not lost any skills and two: she in fact gained some skills. Imagine that. A gain of skills without doing any "school."
The biggest leap was in her handwriting - she was able to write so much more better than she ever has. Even she was so proud of her handwriting, telling me to come look at how nice it was. I, too, was proud of how nice her handwriting was.
But how in the world did that happen? I wondered. Now for most of our break from school she happily played Polly Pocket for hours on end with her sister. And it occured to me, those Pollys are little. And they have little clothes. And she likes to dress them and undress them and move them around and put them in their little cars and boats and all that jazz. So much fine motor control had to go into
And as much as I hate to say it, but I really think that I have Polly Pocket to thank for that!
Saturday, December 02, 2006
5 hours ....
We spent 5 hours looking at houses today.
My brain is fried from the houses. I'm glad we took our camera with because no other way would we have remembered things about all those houses, especially the ones towards the end!
My most fav is not even on dh's radar. Of course.
His most fav is okay with me. In fact, had we not seen the other one I feel in love with, dh and I would have had the same favorite place!
The problem is - it is a bit out of our price range. We will place an offer tomorrow I think, but we aren't holding our breath for them to accept. The list price is 330,000. We will offer 300,000 tomorrow. We'll see what happens ... I suppose 310 would be okay with us. Unfortunately, it also had the highest tax rate of any house we looked at, so that has to be taken into consideration as well. If the taxes were lower, we could probably be okay at 315-320. The only thing in our favor would be if interest rates could drop again - then that would help ease the burden of it all! I doubt interest rates will drop too low though ....
We'll see. If we were to get it, things would be tight moving there - not so tight that it would be hard to breath, but tight enough that we would have to lose some of our "luxuries" and I would have to learn to budget better and stick to a better budget truth be told.
I also wish we could put at least 20% down so that PMI won't be an issue, but it seems that barring some miracle of sorts, we won't be able to put down 20% without literally wiping out every cent of savings, which we do not want to do at all. Can you imagine, being sort of tight on the monthly budget and then having no savings? Way to scary of a thought for me.
Maybe I'll cross my fingers that dh gets a bonus at work, a raise soon, the market tapers off even more, and interest rates drop - all in about a one week span! Then I could have the house that is dh's number 1 and my number 2!!
My brain is fried from the houses. I'm glad we took our camera with because no other way would we have remembered things about all those houses, especially the ones towards the end!
My most fav is not even on dh's radar. Of course.
His most fav is okay with me. In fact, had we not seen the other one I feel in love with, dh and I would have had the same favorite place!
The problem is - it is a bit out of our price range. We will place an offer tomorrow I think, but we aren't holding our breath for them to accept. The list price is 330,000. We will offer 300,000 tomorrow. We'll see what happens ... I suppose 310 would be okay with us. Unfortunately, it also had the highest tax rate of any house we looked at, so that has to be taken into consideration as well. If the taxes were lower, we could probably be okay at 315-320. The only thing in our favor would be if interest rates could drop again - then that would help ease the burden of it all! I doubt interest rates will drop too low though ....
We'll see. If we were to get it, things would be tight moving there - not so tight that it would be hard to breath, but tight enough that we would have to lose some of our "luxuries" and I would have to learn to budget better and stick to a better budget truth be told.
I also wish we could put at least 20% down so that PMI won't be an issue, but it seems that barring some miracle of sorts, we won't be able to put down 20% without literally wiping out every cent of savings, which we do not want to do at all. Can you imagine, being sort of tight on the monthly budget and then having no savings? Way to scary of a thought for me.
Maybe I'll cross my fingers that dh gets a bonus at work, a raise soon, the market tapers off even more, and interest rates drop - all in about a one week span! Then I could have the house that is dh's number 1 and my number 2!!
Friday, December 01, 2006
Snow! Wonderful Snow!
Last night around 11ish
This am at around 9:30
She had to measure our snowfall
8 inches according to our measurement
aka as knee high!
This is fun!
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Snow Day?
This is the forecast we are looking at for late tonight and tomorrow morning.
4-6 inches tonight and 4-6 inches by noon tomorrow! One weather station is not going with the 8-12 inches from midnight to noon, but instead saying 10-14 inches from midnight to noon!
I am supposed to go to the doctor tomorrow - just a chiropractor for a first visit. Dh is going to wake me when he leaves for work and if it is as bad as they are predicting I'm picking up the phone and cancelling!
I am all set at home to remain holed up for a few days if we have to - thank goodness I shopped through Monday night this week! I have all that I need for food. We have plenty of paper goods and water. We are all set unless we lose power. And then I will cry! LOL!
36-Hour Forecast | |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4-6 inches tonight and 4-6 inches by noon tomorrow! One weather station is not going with the 8-12 inches from midnight to noon, but instead saying 10-14 inches from midnight to noon!
I am supposed to go to the doctor tomorrow - just a chiropractor for a first visit. Dh is going to wake me when he leaves for work and if it is as bad as they are predicting I'm picking up the phone and cancelling!
I am all set at home to remain holed up for a few days if we have to - thank goodness I shopped through Monday night this week! I have all that I need for food. We have plenty of paper goods and water. We are all set unless we lose power. And then I will cry! LOL!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
