My life has been busy, yet not, at the same time. It's hard to explain, but I feel like I have so much to do, yet when I look back, I'm not really what I would normally classify as busy.
I typically come home from work, and spend the rest of the evening at home. There are days when I'm out and have things going on, or friends to catch up with but for the most part I'm home. I guess a big part of the is having a house, so there is always something to be done here. Another huge part is the fact that I'm taking two classes this Fall. Yes, two. I took one this summer and stupid me thought I could handle double the load. They are accelerated, so I only have one at a time, but that means I have on average 3 chapters a week that have to be read (we're talking approximately 30 page chapters here), a video to watch and powerpoint. As well as an exam almost every week. That's a lot for a girl whose been out of college for 5 years!!! Plus, it may only be a third of the credits I took, but now I'm working full time and have a husband and house to take care of. Oh yeah, and I like to be in bed before midnight...like WAY before midnight.
On a completely different note, I've been bitten by the craft bug. I really want to make something, but I have no idea what and it's not like I have the time to anyways. I'm thinking something for Autumn (now that I have a house to decorate!). Any suggestions on something simple and cute?
Monday, September 20, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Babies!
Meet Kobe and Sasha. The newest editions to our new home.
We weren't planning on getting babies, but 3 weekend ago, we met and fell in love. My parents neighbors' cats both had kittens, twice, totaling 15 cats, so they were looking to get rid of a few. (There are still more if anyone is looking) After persuading Kevin and a quick trip to Petsmart we were the proud parents of 2-5 week old kittens.
Talk about an intro to parenthood. They grow up so fast and are learning something new everyday. Nothing is mine any more. I have to watch my food and drink or else they will decide they want to share. Safety becomes an extreme (which is a challenge when just moving into a house). I love them and look forward to seeing them after work.
I guess it's good practice for when we become actual parents in March :-)
We weren't planning on getting babies, but 3 weekend ago, we met and fell in love. My parents neighbors' cats both had kittens, twice, totaling 15 cats, so they were looking to get rid of a few. (There are still more if anyone is looking) After persuading Kevin and a quick trip to Petsmart we were the proud parents of 2-5 week old kittens.
Talk about an intro to parenthood. They grow up so fast and are learning something new everyday. Nothing is mine any more. I have to watch my food and drink or else they will decide they want to share. Safety becomes an extreme (which is a challenge when just moving into a house). I love them and look forward to seeing them after work.
I guess it's good practice for when we become actual parents in March :-)
Monday, August 16, 2010
Love at First Sight?
Do you believe in love at first sight? After looking at many different houses, in many shapes, sizes and conditions. We saw two that really had our hearts pitter-pattering before we came across this gem. She may not look like much, but we could look past all the ickyness and could see her heart and her potential.
Allow me to introduce you to our first home and her first pictures.
The dining room.
The green is so not us. At all. Especially because they didn't make sure that it stayed on just the walls, it's on the ceiling and window frames.
Next to the dining room is the kitchen. Again with the green. This is one of the best kitchens we've seen. A little elbow grease and it'll be as good as new. Did you take notice to the ivy above the cabinets?
Other side of the kitchen, looking into the living room. Check out all those bottles of booze! Just another hint at it being the party house. In case all the holes in the walls weren't a dead give away.
Downstairs half bath. Wall paper. Need I say more? How about padded vinyl toilet seat?
And the living room. Not taken on our first night because it was uber dark and the pictures just didn't turn out. Love the red walls, no? J/k.
And the other side...remember when we had to remove the chimney and fix the wall?
Nasty and messy, huh? Don't you want an old fireplace (minus the walls) in your living room?
Heading up the stairs to the laundry room. Hmm, maybe if they kept the washer and dryer they wouldn't have left so many dirty clothes behind. You can't see it from here, but there's super nasty linoleum on the floor covered with dryer lint since the dryer didn't vent outside. See the vent in the bottom left?
The room at the top of the stairs. The best painted one in the house. Not the cleanest, but not as bad as the others.
The master. Again with the green. Someone was obsessed.
And another view on another day. With the bathroom and the huge walk-in closet. Bonus!
And the last bedroom. The light didn't work, hence the flashlight. Pretty plain. Not too bad. Just super dirty walls.
Until you see the carpet. Blahh!!
Oh and the closet. What closet? Hello chimney! More booze?
So that's the mess we fell in love with. It's fun to look back, because it's only been a bit over 2 weeks and already she looks so different. Especially, as I sit here in the living room looking at the spot where the chimney mess used to be.
Hopefully we'll be wrapping up the big changes this week and stay tune to the first round of 'after' pictures. :-)
Allow me to introduce you to our first home and her first pictures.
The dining room.
The green is so not us. At all. Especially because they didn't make sure that it stayed on just the walls, it's on the ceiling and window frames.
Next to the dining room is the kitchen. Again with the green. This is one of the best kitchens we've seen. A little elbow grease and it'll be as good as new. Did you take notice to the ivy above the cabinets?
Other side of the kitchen, looking into the living room. Check out all those bottles of booze! Just another hint at it being the party house. In case all the holes in the walls weren't a dead give away.
Downstairs half bath. Wall paper. Need I say more? How about padded vinyl toilet seat?
And the living room. Not taken on our first night because it was uber dark and the pictures just didn't turn out. Love the red walls, no? J/k.
And the other side...remember when we had to remove the chimney and fix the wall?
Nasty and messy, huh? Don't you want an old fireplace (minus the walls) in your living room?
Heading up the stairs to the laundry room. Hmm, maybe if they kept the washer and dryer they wouldn't have left so many dirty clothes behind. You can't see it from here, but there's super nasty linoleum on the floor covered with dryer lint since the dryer didn't vent outside. See the vent in the bottom left?
The room at the top of the stairs. The best painted one in the house. Not the cleanest, but not as bad as the others.
The master. Again with the green. Someone was obsessed.
And another view on another day. With the bathroom and the huge walk-in closet. Bonus!
And the last bedroom. The light didn't work, hence the flashlight. Pretty plain. Not too bad. Just super dirty walls.
Until you see the carpet. Blahh!!
Oh and the closet. What closet? Hello chimney! More booze?
So that's the mess we fell in love with. It's fun to look back, because it's only been a bit over 2 weeks and already she looks so different. Especially, as I sit here in the living room looking at the spot where the chimney mess used to be.
Hopefully we'll be wrapping up the big changes this week and stay tune to the first round of 'after' pictures. :-)
Thursday, August 12, 2010
It's Official!
As of noon on Friday, July 30th the house is ours! The past 2 weeks have been jammed packed with renovations, including, but definitely not limited too cleaning (lots and lots of cleaning), painting, ripping up carpets, laying flooring, replacing doors, knocking out walls and hanging gutters.
Saturday with the help of a ton of friends and family we loaded everything up and officially moved in. It wasn't (and still isn't) pretty, but we're in and it's ours!
It hasn't been and easy process, and it still isn't. Tuesday a cop showed up at our door looking for the previous owner to serve her papers. And tonight we came home to our back door all busted up with our locks replaced with new ones, complete with a lock box. It was too late in the day to come to a definite conclusion, but it looks like something slipped through the cracks with the bank who held the previous mortgage and it got sent to foreclosure. Just something else to deal with.
Stay tuned for a bunch of before pictures, just a warning, it's not for the weak of heart. :-)
Saturday with the help of a ton of friends and family we loaded everything up and officially moved in. It wasn't (and still isn't) pretty, but we're in and it's ours!
It hasn't been and easy process, and it still isn't. Tuesday a cop showed up at our door looking for the previous owner to serve her papers. And tonight we came home to our back door all busted up with our locks replaced with new ones, complete with a lock box. It was too late in the day to come to a definite conclusion, but it looks like something slipped through the cracks with the bank who held the previous mortgage and it got sent to foreclosure. Just something else to deal with.
Stay tuned for a bunch of before pictures, just a warning, it's not for the weak of heart. :-)
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
The Waitin' Game
Last week was an assortment of randomness, like figuring out my birthday, changing my name and turning the water on. Everything has now been passed on to the Mortgage Insurance Company, who supposedly is the last step before settlement.
Rumor has it settlement will be this week, but that's not the first time I've heard that, so for now we will just wait and hope for the phone call that says settlement is tomorrow.
On happy news, our niece Emily was born yesterday!!! :-)
Rumor has it settlement will be this week, but that's not the first time I've heard that, so for now we will just wait and hope for the phone call that says settlement is tomorrow.
On happy news, our niece Emily was born yesterday!!! :-)
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Seriously!?!?!
And the games continue.
First was a call on Monday from the processing part of our mortgage company telling me that they had 3 birthdays listed for me! Seriously? A girl could only wish to celebrate her birthday 3 times :-) They had the 9th (real), the 19th (the current days date) and the 31st (Kevin's b-day). Then they processed to tell me that it was to social security office that was reporting the incorrect one and that I had to go down their and get it corrected.
Have you ever been to the S.S. Office? Yeah, me either. You ever been to the DMV? It's like that. You take a number and wait. No cell phones allowed. Real fun. Did I mention that I left work early because they close early? When I finally got through the lady was real sweet (yay!), but informed that all the info they had was correct. Good news, yes. Waste of my time, double yes.
Yesterday, I got a hold of my mortgage lady and she told me that their underwriter would be reviewing the appraiser report and then passing it on to the PMI company (yes, we're bad and not putting 20%). The last step! Woohoo! But, there's no way that we could close by the end of the week. Um, hello, tell them to pick up the slack and get it done by the end of the week! We've been waiting long enough.
Then this morning I have an email from my realtor saying that the appraiser's underwriter (the one that was on vacation through Friday and pushed us back) wants the water to be turned on before settlement! OMG! Seriously!?!?! You could have said so a little sooner. And what does it really matter? We're the ones who have to have it turned on, either before or after we settle. Have you ever had to have water turned on? Unlike any other utility service I've ever seen, they don't give you a range to be there. You have to sit there all day (9-4) and wait for them. So one of us has to sit in a hot, smoke smelling house all day and we can't do a thing to it, because it isn't ours yet.
This is starting to become a joke!
First was a call on Monday from the processing part of our mortgage company telling me that they had 3 birthdays listed for me! Seriously? A girl could only wish to celebrate her birthday 3 times :-) They had the 9th (real), the 19th (the current days date) and the 31st (Kevin's b-day). Then they processed to tell me that it was to social security office that was reporting the incorrect one and that I had to go down their and get it corrected.
Have you ever been to the S.S. Office? Yeah, me either. You ever been to the DMV? It's like that. You take a number and wait. No cell phones allowed. Real fun. Did I mention that I left work early because they close early? When I finally got through the lady was real sweet (yay!), but informed that all the info they had was correct. Good news, yes. Waste of my time, double yes.
Yesterday, I got a hold of my mortgage lady and she told me that their underwriter would be reviewing the appraiser report and then passing it on to the PMI company (yes, we're bad and not putting 20%). The last step! Woohoo! But, there's no way that we could close by the end of the week. Um, hello, tell them to pick up the slack and get it done by the end of the week! We've been waiting long enough.
Then this morning I have an email from my realtor saying that the appraiser's underwriter (the one that was on vacation through Friday and pushed us back) wants the water to be turned on before settlement! OMG! Seriously!?!?! You could have said so a little sooner. And what does it really matter? We're the ones who have to have it turned on, either before or after we settle. Have you ever had to have water turned on? Unlike any other utility service I've ever seen, they don't give you a range to be there. You have to sit there all day (9-4) and wait for them. So one of us has to sit in a hot, smoke smelling house all day and we can't do a thing to it, because it isn't ours yet.
This is starting to become a joke!
Friday, July 9, 2010
More Games
Not the fun kind of games. Nope. The real estate games.
The guess-what!-We-got-the-approval-of-sale-letter-so-let's-get-the-work-done-and-set-up-settlement-in-a-week-and-a-half games. Feeling the euphoric state of being in a house and doing work on it. The feeling of having a set settlement date, time and place. The joy of sharing with family and friends that after months of waiting and games, it's finally come to an end. Only to be followed by I-don't-care-how-much-of-an-effort-you-made-to-get-the-necessary-work-done-I'm-not-making-any-effort-to-make-sure-you-keep-your-settlement-date-you-might-as-well-plan-on-settling-at-the-end-of-August-because-I-just-don't-care-and-you-can't-do-anything-about-it.
See, after the crazy housing bubble and bursting of said bubble, the process in buying a house became much more difficult. One of the big changes is the assignment of an appraiser. There is a "pool" of appraisers that the mortgage company gets put on a list and they just cycle around. The idea is that they don't anyone to be bias and pass something that shouldn't be passed. Which I totally understand. Like totally. But of course we had to get stuck with one who is extreme. It's good because we know what we are getting, but bad because he won't bend at all.
The house we are purchasing used to have a fireplace. Keywords: USED TO. The owner thought that a wood stove would be much more efficient (which is true), hence decided to rip out the beautiful fireplace and the walls surrounding it. They didn't install the wood stove properly and that had to be removed, leaving a nice open wall and a chimney hanging in the middle of the room. Understandably, that needed to be taken care of. Obviously the seller wanted nothing to do with the place, so we had to wait (FOREVER) to receive proper documentation of the pending sale so we could go in and do the work. We received the letter late in the day Tuesday and by Wednesday afternoon (yes, the HOTTEST day of the year) Kevin, his dad and I were in the house dealing with this mess. Lovely, isn't it? We were told that the chimney needed to be removed and the wall patched up. 6 hours later they finished. I left before they finished since I'm not a teacher and dont' have summers off.
Not to shabby, huh? Well the appraiser didn't like it. He said that everything needed to be spackled and painted! It had to be "move-in ready". Um, hello! We're the ones moving in, it works for us! He didn't care that we had to run electric to install an outlet on that wall and a ceiling fan in the living room so we would be removing some of the pieces any ways. Nope he wanted things his way. And too top it off he said "his guy" was going on vacation so we would have to wait a week. Hello! You're the one that never specified what needed to be done. "Putting a wall up" is pretty broad. Because last I check this is a wall.
Whatever. Kevin busted his butt to get it spackled last night and went up there again at like 6:30 this morning to paint. He called our realtor, and after trying every possible way to get ahold of the appraiser, our realtor finally got ahold of someone in the office and discovered that the appraise is on vacation already. Grrr!
So it looks like things won't even get started until AFTER our scheduled settlement date. Guess I might as well pay July's rent in full because at this rate we'll be lucky to be settled before school starts again...
To be continued...
The guess-what!-We-got-the-approval-of-sale-letter-so-let's-get-the-work-done-and-set-up-settlement-in-a-week-and-a-half games. Feeling the euphoric state of being in a house and doing work on it. The feeling of having a set settlement date, time and place. The joy of sharing with family and friends that after months of waiting and games, it's finally come to an end. Only to be followed by I-don't-care-how-much-of-an-effort-you-made-to-get-the-necessary-work-done-I'm-not-making-any-effort-to-make-sure-you-keep-your-settlement-date-you-might-as-well-plan-on-settling-at-the-end-of-August-because-I-just-don't-care-and-you-can't-do-anything-about-it.
See, after the crazy housing bubble and bursting of said bubble, the process in buying a house became much more difficult. One of the big changes is the assignment of an appraiser. There is a "pool" of appraisers that the mortgage company gets put on a list and they just cycle around. The idea is that they don't anyone to be bias and pass something that shouldn't be passed. Which I totally understand. Like totally. But of course we had to get stuck with one who is extreme. It's good because we know what we are getting, but bad because he won't bend at all.
Not to shabby, huh? Well the appraiser didn't like it. He said that everything needed to be spackled and painted! It had to be "move-in ready". Um, hello! We're the ones moving in, it works for us! He didn't care that we had to run electric to install an outlet on that wall and a ceiling fan in the living room so we would be removing some of the pieces any ways. Nope he wanted things his way. And too top it off he said "his guy" was going on vacation so we would have to wait a week. Hello! You're the one that never specified what needed to be done. "Putting a wall up" is pretty broad. Because last I check this is a wall.
Whatever. Kevin busted his butt to get it spackled last night and went up there again at like 6:30 this morning to paint. He called our realtor, and after trying every possible way to get ahold of the appraiser, our realtor finally got ahold of someone in the office and discovered that the appraise is on vacation already. Grrr!
So it looks like things won't even get started until AFTER our scheduled settlement date. Guess I might as well pay July's rent in full because at this rate we'll be lucky to be settled before school starts again...
To be continued...
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