Well another week has passed and of course it has been interesting as usual. I am now officially 35 weeks pregnant, 22lbs heavier than I was before I was with child, with boobs that make me wonder why I ever needed a boob job in the first place and a ton more emotional and irritable than I ever thought I'd imagine I would ever be. Last week Michael and I finished our very last childbirth education class. To be honest with you, I got a lot more out of it than I thought I ever would. Of course, like the overachieving scholar I have always been my entire life, I managed to charm the heart of my childbirth instructor and prompt hatred looks from the rest of my classmates. Of course, it could have been that I was the only one in the class that actually had a baby daddy as my coach, but I am thinking they were just jealous at my ability to "hee hee hoo" better then *they* could and that I could recite the birthing acronyms without even looking... yes... I am that damn good! LOL! Actually, in all seriousness, I really enjoy learning something new, whether it's child-birthing or anything else for that matter, I have always excelled in a classroom environment. I'm not shy by any means, and I am certainly not afraid to speak up in class when the instructor is trying to engage in a group discussion and I definitely am not afraid to speak up if I have the right answer to a question. That of course makes me the perfect student in the teacher's eyes and the kiss ass in the other students eyes. There was one girl in particular who didn't like me at all. She didn't speak to me, (of course I am sure she spoke *about* me in spanish to her mother who she had to translate the majority of the class to... but whatever) but I could see her horns come out whenever I walked in the room. She even made it a point, when I answered a question correctly, to make a snide remark like, "Oh looks like *somebody* has been memorizing the material". Whatever bitch.... don't be a hater! LOL... Ahhhh reminds me of high school! Anyways, after the end of class the teacher asked me to come on board as a patient advisory member for the hospital, which I thought was pretty cool, and I am actually really considering it.
Last week as we were leaving class though, I really had an overwhelming feeling that "D" Day (AKA Delivery Day) is a lot closer than I thought. Hell, I haven't even packed my bag yet! Granted I have made a beautiful list of what I'm going to pack, once I start packing, however, if I go into labor tomorrow, I may just be heading to the hospital without my Bob Marley CD's and Cucumber Melon Body Lotion and favorite body pillow to ease my labor stresses. I guess instead of writing about it on Blogger, I could be packing it, but of course that would be to easy right? Everything has been going well with my pregnancy, and I've even started to get a few contractions here and there. In fact, Michael and I decided yesterday evening to take a walk to the little fishing lake down the street from our house and on the way back realized that lots of walking can trigger going into labor. I had a few strong contractions, but nothing serious and they started to subside. I followed the rule (the one I learned in class thank you very much!) that if your under 38 weeks if you get more than 4 or 5 contractions in a one hour time period to go to the hospital, well I only had about 3 in a one hour time period and then a couple more a few hours later and then they stopped altogether, so I was good. I have this sinking suspicion, and I've said it from day one, that I think he may come earlier than his due date, so we'll see if that happens or not. All I care about is making to my baby shower this weekend without going into labor, after that, I'll be ok if he comes anytime after that. We have another Doctor's appointment tomorrow, so we'll see what the doc has to say. Michael says she looks like the witch from the Wizard of Oz, so every time we go he graces me with the musical theme from the Wizard of Oz and says, "I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too...." Although hilarious, it makes it really hard to look her in the eyes without laughing when she comes in the room.
Well, I better get back to masking my baseboards in Noah's nursery. We decided to tackle the painting project this weekend and.... well... it didn't come out as we had planned. All we managed to do was primer the walls, and somehow, in the process all the masking tape I had on my baseboards had peeled it's way off, so now I have to re mask all the baseboards, so Michael can come home tonight and paint at least one of the walls. I am not really sure how it's going to look, but Michael assured me if it came out really shitty, he would bribe his cousin Eddie, who is a painter in Huntington Beach, with a few cases of beer to come up and redo the room. So I'm hoping for the best! I swear, men just can't seem to understand the importance of a good nursery. Michael keeps saying that Noah isn't going to have a clue what his nursery looks like when he comes home and that he'll be spending most of his time in our room, which of course he is correct, but still..... I just won't feel complete and ready for Noah's arrival until I know my Lake Marsh Green and Bay Bronze Beige painted walls look perfect equipped with little safari animals adorning the room. It's just a female thing I tell you! Men just don't get it!
Monday, May 11, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Welcome to the neighborhood!
Well I can let out a huge sigh of relief as Michael and I are FINALLY *mostly* settled in our new home. Now, when I say "mostly" it means that there are a few loose ends that need to be settled before we can "officially" be settled in... one of those being, Noah's nursery! But, we can't really get the nursery together until we get our baby furniture, and I won't be getting that until my baby shower in a week and a half, so for now, Noah's room sits untouched until then. To be honest with you it's driving me crazy though! I keep walking in there every day and get one more genius idea about what I want to do, but lack the ability. Last night I told Michael that I was going to go to Lowes this week and buy some primer for the walls and pick out the paint and buy all the painting stuff so I can have that done before the shower... however, my overprotective husband informed me that I was to not take that project on by myself... damn! For the record, how pissed do you think he'd be with me if he came home from work one night this week to find I had painted the nursery by myself??? Hmmmm.... I am really debating on doing it, just for shits and giggles to test him to see if he really would be pissed off at me, and earlier this morning I actually had my car keys in hand and was ready to head off to Lowes.... however, I decided to not test the wrath of my husband who is obviously looking out for the best interest of his wife who is a few days short of being 35 weeks pregnant. So for now, Noah's nursery painting project is on hold(at least until I can scam somebody into coming up and helping me then he would have no excuse to be mad at me.... LOL)
Moving was so hectic! When I moved from my parents house to San Clemente, it was hectic, but really not that bad, I was moved in and enjoying a cocktail on my patio looking at the ocean in two days. When I moved from San Clemente to Loma Linda, that was a breeze! Again, I was moved in and was enjoying a cocktail on my patio in 2 days. Moving from Loma Linda to Llano..... not so much of a breeze, especially when your 8 months pregnant! Our house closed escrow on the 24th of April, however, we did not know our house was going to close escrow on the 24th until the 23rd at 5pm! Aside from the fact that Michael was in Sacramento and not scheduled to be home until the 25th around 1pm, but I was not even close to being packed! A few weeks previous I had boxed up our DVDs and a few misc. things in our office, but that was it, my entire house needed to be boxed up and ready to move that weekend! So of course, like the mad woman I am, I went into crazy mode and hauled ass home that night to start my packing process. I spent the evening packing and the entire next day and night packing and the entire morning, before Michael came home packing. Of course all the while cursing my husband for not being home and wondering why he hadn't hired a UHaul truck for when he got back so we could move all in one shot. I was on the verge of going nuts! I thought for sure that when Michael got home that Saturday afternoon, he'd find me rocking myself back and forth in the fetal position, foaming at the mouth and cradling the new Glock 45 handgun he bought me while singing "It's a Small World Afterall" in the middle of a boxed covered living room floor. I am not kidding you! In fact, I am greatly surprised that everybody came out of this moving situation alive because the insane pregnant lady was *this* close to snapping!
So Michael gets home Saturday afternoon and totally redeems himself by picking up a moving truck... THANK GOD!! Then my parents and brother and Alex came over and we loaded everything from our townhouse into the truck and headed to our new house. We got everything unloaded into the house by 7pm. However, we find that our main water service to the house was broken and we didn't have any water. Lucky enough my dad's a plumber! So he gave it a quick fix, just for the night so Michael and I could shower, and then he was going to come up the next day to make a permanent fix for us. So I take a nice hot shower, throw up my dinner because I am so overwhelmed with the stress of the past few days, and then pass out. The next morning Michael headed out to go get everything from his storage unit. I figured what a perfect time to sleep in and rest before my mom and dad got back up here so we could start unboxing.... well... that was a nice idea until the loud chimes of my doorbell wake me up.......
Standing at my front door is the President of the water board, the post-man(who was off-duty of course and looking like he was ready to go play a round of golf) and a man from the water department. Apparently our "quick fix" on our water meter so we could shower the night before, didn't exactly hold and we had a lake running down our street. So I had to explain to these men, that Yes, I was the owner of this home, no, I was NOT a squatter and that I didn't fragrantly turn the water on, and Yes a plumber would be up in a few hours to make the permanent repair. Now the community we live in, called Crystalaire, is comprised mostly of people in their early to mid 40's up to their 80's, as this is a golf course community, so the people that live here are mostly well-established or retired. Everybody knows everybody here. So here these men are, looking at me standing at my front door with my PJ's on, pregnant and in my mid-20's wondering what in the hell I was doing living here. So of course the bared of questioning came as to why I decided to move here, if I had family here and where I came from before. I could see the look of concern on their faces when I said I came from the good ol' 909 and I could see the envisionments in their eyes that the white trash has moved to the neighborhood and Iam sure they are waiting for the first car to go up on jackstands in our front yard and for all the fat bald beer drinking, wife beater wearing friends of my husbands to come up and reek havoc on their beautiful golf course...... There goes the neighborhood the I.E. has moved in!!!
After my nosey neighbors left, I figured I'd just as well get started unpacking. Shortly after my mom showed up and started putting my kitchen away while my dad fixed our broken water main. I was hoping that I could get everything unboxed, but once Michael got back from his storage unit, it became very clear to me that that was not going to happen. This man has EVERYTHING and when I saw everything, I mean it. He has at least 5 different dressers, and coffee tables and end-tables, not to mention the million and one boxes of unknown treasures! We were able to get the kitchen and the bathrooms put together and arrange some furniture in the family room and formal living room, and that was it. The house was still covered in boxes and the end of packing was nowhere near in site. I seriously thought it'd take us a month to get some sort of normalcy going. Although Michael was going to take the next couple days off, we had so much to do, that we couldn't spend that time unpacking. We had to finish cleaning his drumset out of the garage at the old house, clean the old house, do the final walk thru, attend a doctor's appointment and childbirth classes as well as find the time to buy a new fridge and tv for our living room and pick up our washer and dryer. But thankfully my wonderful miricle worker grandma came up here and spent two days with me and we got the entire house put together! Pictures on the walls, nick-nacks on tables... everything to make a house a home. We left Michael's boxes in the garage and we'll go through those one at a time to decide what we're going to keep and what we're going to give away. We also left Michael's office alone so that he could put that together the way he wanted to. But for the most part our house is now a home, with the exception of a few minor details. So I can now rest a little easier at the thought of that.
Meanwhile, the real estate agent had still not taken down our "For Sale" sign which prompted us to get a visit from the "local law enforcement"..... Officer "Nosey- Triple A with a Gun and a Badge" (AKA California Highway Patrol) pulls up in front of our house one morning and saunters his way up to the front of the house. Now, I am not really sure what the hell he was doing off his ticket patrol on Highway 138, but apparently according to Mr. Chip On His Shoulder, he patrols our area "alot". It was very apparent that this guy really thought he was the Sheriff of Mayberry and was ready to right the wrongs on this little Country Club Community. I am sure if I ever had a stolen golf cart or my senior citizen neighbors got a little too wild at there weekly bridge game that this would be the man I would call to serve and protect me. So he starts giving us the line of questioning, asking if we were the owners and if we owned the house, how come the For Sale sign was still up in the front yard. He also scanned to see Michael's big truck and our 5th wheel trailer, all which are registered to one of Michael's businesses in Nevada for obviously cheaper reasons, and asks if we were moving in from Nevada...... freakin nosy jackass. He claimed that he drove up to our house last week and saw a sliding glass door from our patio to the side of the house open, with some wires hanging down and now he drives up here again and sees our truck in the driveway. So we explained to Officer Bad-ass that in the process of buying a home, that all sorts of inspectors are up here to make sure everything is good with the house and sometimes they don't take enough care to close doors and windows, and that the wires that were hanging down belonged to the Direct TV Satellite Dish that had been disconnected on the roof. We also assured him that we were the legal owners of this home and that since we only closed escrow a few days ago, the real estate agency hadn't gotten around to taking our sign down yet. After he left Michael and I started thinking that this guy was probably not on patrol up here, but probably more interested in buying the house or he may have been the other person interested in making an offer, so he probably drove by frequently to see what was going on. Funny thing is, it's been a week since the "concerned officer" paid us a visit, and I haven't seen him drive by here once. For somebody who patrols the area "alot" I sure haven't seen the likes of him around here! So needless to say I got on the phone with the real estate agent and told them to get that sign down ASAP before the SWAT team invaded us. I swear... something about moving to a small community..... I think everybody has walked their dog and driven their golf cart up past our house at least 50 times in an effort to see who the new neighbors are.... I was thinking of doing something really hillbilly and crass like hang a big confederate flag out in the front yard and blow up one of those inflatable pools and sit in it and wave at everybody when they go by.... but I haven't quite executed that plan yet. Maybe once I get everything moved in then I'll move on to tormenting my neighbors..... Hell yeah... the 909 has moved to the Country Club! Shhhhhiiiiitttttt howdy!
Moving was so hectic! When I moved from my parents house to San Clemente, it was hectic, but really not that bad, I was moved in and enjoying a cocktail on my patio looking at the ocean in two days. When I moved from San Clemente to Loma Linda, that was a breeze! Again, I was moved in and was enjoying a cocktail on my patio in 2 days. Moving from Loma Linda to Llano..... not so much of a breeze, especially when your 8 months pregnant! Our house closed escrow on the 24th of April, however, we did not know our house was going to close escrow on the 24th until the 23rd at 5pm! Aside from the fact that Michael was in Sacramento and not scheduled to be home until the 25th around 1pm, but I was not even close to being packed! A few weeks previous I had boxed up our DVDs and a few misc. things in our office, but that was it, my entire house needed to be boxed up and ready to move that weekend! So of course, like the mad woman I am, I went into crazy mode and hauled ass home that night to start my packing process. I spent the evening packing and the entire next day and night packing and the entire morning, before Michael came home packing. Of course all the while cursing my husband for not being home and wondering why he hadn't hired a UHaul truck for when he got back so we could move all in one shot. I was on the verge of going nuts! I thought for sure that when Michael got home that Saturday afternoon, he'd find me rocking myself back and forth in the fetal position, foaming at the mouth and cradling the new Glock 45 handgun he bought me while singing "It's a Small World Afterall" in the middle of a boxed covered living room floor. I am not kidding you! In fact, I am greatly surprised that everybody came out of this moving situation alive because the insane pregnant lady was *this* close to snapping!
So Michael gets home Saturday afternoon and totally redeems himself by picking up a moving truck... THANK GOD!! Then my parents and brother and Alex came over and we loaded everything from our townhouse into the truck and headed to our new house. We got everything unloaded into the house by 7pm. However, we find that our main water service to the house was broken and we didn't have any water. Lucky enough my dad's a plumber! So he gave it a quick fix, just for the night so Michael and I could shower, and then he was going to come up the next day to make a permanent fix for us. So I take a nice hot shower, throw up my dinner because I am so overwhelmed with the stress of the past few days, and then pass out. The next morning Michael headed out to go get everything from his storage unit. I figured what a perfect time to sleep in and rest before my mom and dad got back up here so we could start unboxing.... well... that was a nice idea until the loud chimes of my doorbell wake me up.......
Standing at my front door is the President of the water board, the post-man(who was off-duty of course and looking like he was ready to go play a round of golf) and a man from the water department. Apparently our "quick fix" on our water meter so we could shower the night before, didn't exactly hold and we had a lake running down our street. So I had to explain to these men, that Yes, I was the owner of this home, no, I was NOT a squatter and that I didn't fragrantly turn the water on, and Yes a plumber would be up in a few hours to make the permanent repair. Now the community we live in, called Crystalaire, is comprised mostly of people in their early to mid 40's up to their 80's, as this is a golf course community, so the people that live here are mostly well-established or retired. Everybody knows everybody here. So here these men are, looking at me standing at my front door with my PJ's on, pregnant and in my mid-20's wondering what in the hell I was doing living here. So of course the bared of questioning came as to why I decided to move here, if I had family here and where I came from before. I could see the look of concern on their faces when I said I came from the good ol' 909 and I could see the envisionments in their eyes that the white trash has moved to the neighborhood and Iam sure they are waiting for the first car to go up on jackstands in our front yard and for all the fat bald beer drinking, wife beater wearing friends of my husbands to come up and reek havoc on their beautiful golf course...... There goes the neighborhood the I.E. has moved in!!!
After my nosey neighbors left, I figured I'd just as well get started unpacking. Shortly after my mom showed up and started putting my kitchen away while my dad fixed our broken water main. I was hoping that I could get everything unboxed, but once Michael got back from his storage unit, it became very clear to me that that was not going to happen. This man has EVERYTHING and when I saw everything, I mean it. He has at least 5 different dressers, and coffee tables and end-tables, not to mention the million and one boxes of unknown treasures! We were able to get the kitchen and the bathrooms put together and arrange some furniture in the family room and formal living room, and that was it. The house was still covered in boxes and the end of packing was nowhere near in site. I seriously thought it'd take us a month to get some sort of normalcy going. Although Michael was going to take the next couple days off, we had so much to do, that we couldn't spend that time unpacking. We had to finish cleaning his drumset out of the garage at the old house, clean the old house, do the final walk thru, attend a doctor's appointment and childbirth classes as well as find the time to buy a new fridge and tv for our living room and pick up our washer and dryer. But thankfully my wonderful miricle worker grandma came up here and spent two days with me and we got the entire house put together! Pictures on the walls, nick-nacks on tables... everything to make a house a home. We left Michael's boxes in the garage and we'll go through those one at a time to decide what we're going to keep and what we're going to give away. We also left Michael's office alone so that he could put that together the way he wanted to. But for the most part our house is now a home, with the exception of a few minor details. So I can now rest a little easier at the thought of that.
Meanwhile, the real estate agent had still not taken down our "For Sale" sign which prompted us to get a visit from the "local law enforcement"..... Officer "Nosey- Triple A with a Gun and a Badge" (AKA California Highway Patrol) pulls up in front of our house one morning and saunters his way up to the front of the house. Now, I am not really sure what the hell he was doing off his ticket patrol on Highway 138, but apparently according to Mr. Chip On His Shoulder, he patrols our area "alot". It was very apparent that this guy really thought he was the Sheriff of Mayberry and was ready to right the wrongs on this little Country Club Community. I am sure if I ever had a stolen golf cart or my senior citizen neighbors got a little too wild at there weekly bridge game that this would be the man I would call to serve and protect me. So he starts giving us the line of questioning, asking if we were the owners and if we owned the house, how come the For Sale sign was still up in the front yard. He also scanned to see Michael's big truck and our 5th wheel trailer, all which are registered to one of Michael's businesses in Nevada for obviously cheaper reasons, and asks if we were moving in from Nevada...... freakin nosy jackass. He claimed that he drove up to our house last week and saw a sliding glass door from our patio to the side of the house open, with some wires hanging down and now he drives up here again and sees our truck in the driveway. So we explained to Officer Bad-ass that in the process of buying a home, that all sorts of inspectors are up here to make sure everything is good with the house and sometimes they don't take enough care to close doors and windows, and that the wires that were hanging down belonged to the Direct TV Satellite Dish that had been disconnected on the roof. We also assured him that we were the legal owners of this home and that since we only closed escrow a few days ago, the real estate agency hadn't gotten around to taking our sign down yet. After he left Michael and I started thinking that this guy was probably not on patrol up here, but probably more interested in buying the house or he may have been the other person interested in making an offer, so he probably drove by frequently to see what was going on. Funny thing is, it's been a week since the "concerned officer" paid us a visit, and I haven't seen him drive by here once. For somebody who patrols the area "alot" I sure haven't seen the likes of him around here! So needless to say I got on the phone with the real estate agent and told them to get that sign down ASAP before the SWAT team invaded us. I swear... something about moving to a small community..... I think everybody has walked their dog and driven their golf cart up past our house at least 50 times in an effort to see who the new neighbors are.... I was thinking of doing something really hillbilly and crass like hang a big confederate flag out in the front yard and blow up one of those inflatable pools and sit in it and wave at everybody when they go by.... but I haven't quite executed that plan yet. Maybe once I get everything moved in then I'll move on to tormenting my neighbors..... Hell yeah... the 909 has moved to the Country Club! Shhhhhiiiiitttttt howdy!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Getting ready for life to change.
So I am officially 8 months pregnant! Wow.... I can't even believe have fast the time has gone by. I guess maybe because Michael and I always have so much going on or because I've had a very easy pregnancy, but it seems like the past 32 weeks have just flown by. Which I suppose is a good thing because I've heard from so many other women that their pregnancy just drug on, but in the same token, it feels like it's going too fast and I am starting to panic that I am not prepared!
Our childbirth education class started last Monday and let me tell you, I definitely started to feel that overwhelmed feeling shortly after. Believe it or not, Michael and I were the oldest couple in there, (yes... I was the oldest mom there) and out of all 6 couples, Michael and I were only 1 of 3 couples where the father was present, the others had mom's, sisters or friends as the coaches. It was a three hour class and it actually was very informative and very eye-opening. All I could think about was, "should I be taking notes like in college?" I seriously felt like that, because I am so deathly afraid of forgetting something important and choking on delivery day. It's kind of sobering to think that in 8 weeks or even less, I'm going to be going through childbirth.... holy shit..... I don't know if I am ready for this yet.... ::gulp::
Michael and I's house is *supposed* to close escrow this Friday, but we're still waiting from some final minor things from the escrow company, but we're stilling keeping our fingers crossed for this Friday. You'd think I'd be packing already, but since we don't have an answer on if it'll be this Friday or not, rather then sit amongst boxes I am waiting to get the final say so. Of course our house closing escrow comes at the most stressful time, it never fails right? With Michael scheduled to have business trips these next two weeks and it being is birthday next Thursday, everything is up in the air until we get a final answer on when our house closes escrow. Personally, I think it won't close till next week, but I am really hoping it closes this Friday instead, at least giving us a week to vacate our current home, as opposed to rushing to vacate it in one day... so we'll see!
Ahhhh! All I want to do is get moved in and get the babies nursery complete, maybe then I'll feel a little more at ease and this whole unprepared feeling will finally go away..... I keep saying though.... watch him come early. See I have this feeling, and hopefully I'm wrong, but I keep thinking Noah is going to grace us with his presence earlier than expected. David's girlfriend Alex is betting that he's going to come around the last week of May.... so we'll see. When we had our 4D ultrasound they told me that my belly is pretty small and he looks awfully cramped in there, so that within itself got me a little freaked out that he'll force his way out of there sooner, or that my Doctor will tell me I need a C-Section, so we'll see as the next few weeks progress. But for now, I am just trying to focus on the day to day in an effort to NOT stress myself out! So tonight... back to childbirth education where we will be going over the ENTIRE birthing process..... YIKES!
Our childbirth education class started last Monday and let me tell you, I definitely started to feel that overwhelmed feeling shortly after. Believe it or not, Michael and I were the oldest couple in there, (yes... I was the oldest mom there) and out of all 6 couples, Michael and I were only 1 of 3 couples where the father was present, the others had mom's, sisters or friends as the coaches. It was a three hour class and it actually was very informative and very eye-opening. All I could think about was, "should I be taking notes like in college?" I seriously felt like that, because I am so deathly afraid of forgetting something important and choking on delivery day. It's kind of sobering to think that in 8 weeks or even less, I'm going to be going through childbirth.... holy shit..... I don't know if I am ready for this yet.... ::gulp::
Michael and I's house is *supposed* to close escrow this Friday, but we're still waiting from some final minor things from the escrow company, but we're stilling keeping our fingers crossed for this Friday. You'd think I'd be packing already, but since we don't have an answer on if it'll be this Friday or not, rather then sit amongst boxes I am waiting to get the final say so. Of course our house closing escrow comes at the most stressful time, it never fails right? With Michael scheduled to have business trips these next two weeks and it being is birthday next Thursday, everything is up in the air until we get a final answer on when our house closes escrow. Personally, I think it won't close till next week, but I am really hoping it closes this Friday instead, at least giving us a week to vacate our current home, as opposed to rushing to vacate it in one day... so we'll see!
Ahhhh! All I want to do is get moved in and get the babies nursery complete, maybe then I'll feel a little more at ease and this whole unprepared feeling will finally go away..... I keep saying though.... watch him come early. See I have this feeling, and hopefully I'm wrong, but I keep thinking Noah is going to grace us with his presence earlier than expected. David's girlfriend Alex is betting that he's going to come around the last week of May.... so we'll see. When we had our 4D ultrasound they told me that my belly is pretty small and he looks awfully cramped in there, so that within itself got me a little freaked out that he'll force his way out of there sooner, or that my Doctor will tell me I need a C-Section, so we'll see as the next few weeks progress. But for now, I am just trying to focus on the day to day in an effort to NOT stress myself out! So tonight... back to childbirth education where we will be going over the ENTIRE birthing process..... YIKES!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Talk about alot of catching up to do... but what else is new with me?
Well.... it's been a bit since my last blog.... although it totally hasn't been my fault this time... REALLY!! I've actually had the time to blog about the updates in my life, however, just have lacked the ability..... sooooo totally not my fault! The only real long term access I've had to the internet over the past few weeks has been my Blackberry, just to check emails and things here and there, and since Michael has been here and gone alot on business these past few weeks and takes the laptop with him, and I am now unemployed, I've been cut off from the world! Ok.... maybe not that dramatic or anything, but still... I haven't had the good ol' internet at the drop of a hat these days... so thanks to Michael leaving his laptop at home today for me, I've been able to accomplish the important things I've been missing out on.... Ya know... checking up on blogs, and looking at pictures on Myspace... ya know... life therneanting stuff like that. Wait... I did manage to pay my cable bill this morning... so that within itself was productive, because lord knows since I am now unemployed, that if I miss paying my cable bill and have it stuff off... I may miss one of the old school episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 on the Soap Net that I have grown accustomed to watching daily and reliving the 90's. LOL
Ok, so on to my updates. Obviously, in a previous blog, I had talked about our Palm Springs office closing on April 1st, so... I have now joined the millions of people in this Country that are unemployed. A few days a week though, for a few hours, I have been going into the Riverside office to do a few things here and there that have to do with the closing of our Palm Springs office, but unfortunately, that work is starting to become less and less for me, because all the loose ends are starting to get all tied up. Let me tell you... I am really having a hard time with not working. I have never, in all my life, not woken up in the morning and had a "purpose". Whether it was full time school or full time work for both of them, I have never had the opportunity to wake up and go "hmmmm... what should I do today?" It's a really strange feeling for me. I know that Michael and I had already decided that once the baby came I was going to stay home with him, but that's different. At least I knew that when I wasn't working then, I had a responsibility to take care of our son, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be sitting on the coach munching on bonbons and watching Days of Our Lives, because taking care of a child and a household is a full time job for sure. But now, I've got 2 months before Noah gets here. Everybody keeps saying... "Enjoy this time and get some rest because you'll appreciate it in a few months when your not sleeping"..... and I know that's the truth... but goodness gracious when my little mental alarm goes off at 7am telling me to wake the hell up and do something productive it drives me crazy!!!!!
On my last blog I talked about Michael and I making an offer on a house, and since then, the bank accepted our offer and our new home went into escrow, which is set to close and have us move in *hopefully* on the 24th of April..... yes.... I know... 11 days from now! Hopefully everything goes through with it by then, especially since we're supposed to be out of our townhouse no later than May 2nd!!! We went for our home inspection last Sunday, and everything was amazing in that house. There were, of course, a few minors things that need attention. One of the two water heaters is in need of being replaced, and there is a tiny leak under one of the dual sinks in the master bathroom, and the filters need to be replaced in both of the air conditioning units.... big deal. However, the seller didn't have the propane tank filled prior to our home inspection so there was no way to test the heat or the range or the hot water... so we have to wait for the seller to fill up the propane tank and have those modalities inspected before FHA will accept the loan... so we're hoping that won't delay our escrow process any further. Also, the seller is supposed to cover the septic tank inspection as well as the termite inspection, and as far as I know of, that has yet to be done yet as well.... so we'll see if come May 2nd, Michael and I are living out of our 5th wheel trailer in the backyard at my parents house. I guess as opposed to blogging, I could be getting our house boxed up, but to be honest with you, I already used up all the boxes Michael brought home for me, and it didn't actually pack much of anything in those boxes either. I think most of those boxes were DVD's and a few misc. things from my downstairs coat closet and from the desk in the spare bedroom.... and those few things filled up 5 boxes already!!!! I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting process. Moving into a 3500 square foot home is supposed to be easy coming from an 1,100 square foot town home.... but you also have to factor in the 4 bedroom house that Michael has packed up in a storage unit in Lancaster..... and the fact that all of the shit I accumulated in the 2 years and 3 months I have lived in my current home(along with a husband and his belongings and all sorts of wedding gifts to boot) I imange this isn't going to be a pretty picture come moving day... especially when one of the parties moving is 8 months pregnant! It's times like these when a nice strong drink are in order.
On the baby front, everything is going great! I've been really lucky to have such an easy pregnancy so far, but I am starting to really feel pregnant now. Last week, with Michael out of town again, I decided that I was going to clean the house, top to bottom in an effort to pass my free time. Well... I made it through the entire downstairs and dusted the bedroom, and cleaned the two upstairs toilets, but somehow or another, my poor body would just not allow me to finish vacuuming the upstairs and finish cleaning the two upstairs bathrooms. I was done! My back was so sore and I felt like I was 90 years old. The easiest tasks, such as bending down to pick something up, I am really starting to feel. But, considering I am 31 weeks pregnant, that could very well be expected. I haven't quite hit the almighty "20 pound weight gain" mark just yet... but I am teetering very close to it! Some days I am 17 pounds and others I am 19 pounds... but either way.... I haven't reached that point yet!!!!
The reality that I have a newborn on the way.... VERY VERY SOON.. is finally starting to hit me alot more now. Michael and I had one of those 4D ultrasounds done about a week and a half about and it was truly amazing. Of course, and you can defiantly tell this kid is going to be stubborn as hell, just like both of his parents, because he decided he was going to sleep instead of be awake during the ultrasound. Now, since I could first start to feel Noah around 5 months, he has not stopped moving the entire time! I swear to you that kid is boxing the inside of my uterus like a punching bag 24/7, but the day that he's going to be on camera.... nooooooo.... he decides it's nap time! Both Michael and I tried talking to him to get him to move his little hands that we're covering his face, and all he managed to do was move his hands from in front of his face, to his ears, as to cover them and tell us, "Shut the hell up... I am sleeping!" After a few more minutes of poking at him and talking, he finally started to wake up and move around, in fact, at one point, he crossed his arms across his chest and started frowning and pouting.... obviously he was not pleased with the fact that we had disturbed his sleep..... I am sure I'll probably get a few months of payback on that one. When I am pacing back and forth at 4AM begging my child to go to sleep, he's going to be saying.... "Yeah mom, that's what you get for disturbing my sleep.... how does it feel??" All and all though, we got some amazing shots of him on the ultrasound and it really was a very emotional experience. You see the regular grainy ultrasound shots at your Doctor's appointments and your not sure if what your looking at is a head or a foot or a knee or what, and you feel that little body move inside of you all day, but you don't realize how real it is until you can look at your child, thanks to modern technology, and see exact distinctions of his little face and body. It really was very wonderful, and anybody who's pregnant, I highly suggest getting a 4D ultrasound done, because they are amazing and worth every penny.
Last week, Michael and I went on a tour of the maternity ward and hospital at St. Bernardines, where we will be having Noah. I actually have insurance through Kaiser, but Kaiser instructed me that they were in the process of remodeling their labor and delivery ward at the Fontana hospital and that they were referring all labor and delivery patients to St. B's instead. Which I was ok with because I had heard St. B's had private rooms and was a reputable hospital. The hospital puts on a free tour and dinner for prospective patients a couple times a month, so Michael and I went last Tuesday to check it out. Holy crap.... obviously there is something in the water because there were about 50 pregnant couples there taking the same tour. I told Michael it's because the economy is bad, and instead of people going out and doing stuff and spending money, they are just staying home and having sex! The tour was very nice. The hospital was very clean and the rooms were very nice and I really felt comfortable in that hospital. In fact, it was very strange discussing things like epidurals, and how many people are allowed in your room during your delivery, and seeing the bed where in 9 short weeks, I'll be delivering. It was another very real experience. I had to laugh because I have been one of those people that hasn't gotten into the whole "new age" of pregnancy or labor and delivery. I've taken care of myself just fine, and have read the books, and to be honest with you, have the shit they try to pump your head with is ridiculous. Eating organically, and hiring a mid-wife or a doulla to assist in your pregnancy and pain management. People are watching way too much of "The Baby Story" these days, that;s for sure. One woman, in our group, actually asked the nurse, "Excuse me... do you guys keep any birthing balls on hand?" and the nurse, who looks like she's been a nurse since the beginning of time said, "Honey, let me tell you, you are NOT going to feel liking bouncing around on a ball while your in labor and frankly, we're not going to allow you to, I know it's all nice and wonderful what you watch on the "Baby Story" but that just isn't a reality here". It was so funny! Seriously, the way I look at it, epidurals are done everyday to millions and millions of women and everything is fine for both the mother and baby. I would rather be comfortable, managing my pain, so that when my kid comes out, I am not so riddled with exhaustion and pain that I can't focus on the enjoyment of holding my son for the first time. I don't want to be bouncing on a ball or have some crazy woman sticking needles in my ankles or massaging my pressure points... no way... put me in my bed, stick me with my needle, and leave me alone to deliver my child with minimal pain. End of story. That's MY birth plan thank you very much! Tonight Michael and I start our Childbirth Education classes so I am pretty sure I am in for another dose of a reality check this evening. I can't believe that when these classes are done, I'll be 35 weeks pregnant... YIKES!!! That's crazy!!! He'll be here before I know it!!
Ok, so on to my updates. Obviously, in a previous blog, I had talked about our Palm Springs office closing on April 1st, so... I have now joined the millions of people in this Country that are unemployed. A few days a week though, for a few hours, I have been going into the Riverside office to do a few things here and there that have to do with the closing of our Palm Springs office, but unfortunately, that work is starting to become less and less for me, because all the loose ends are starting to get all tied up. Let me tell you... I am really having a hard time with not working. I have never, in all my life, not woken up in the morning and had a "purpose". Whether it was full time school or full time work for both of them, I have never had the opportunity to wake up and go "hmmmm... what should I do today?" It's a really strange feeling for me. I know that Michael and I had already decided that once the baby came I was going to stay home with him, but that's different. At least I knew that when I wasn't working then, I had a responsibility to take care of our son, and it sure as hell wasn't going to be sitting on the coach munching on bonbons and watching Days of Our Lives, because taking care of a child and a household is a full time job for sure. But now, I've got 2 months before Noah gets here. Everybody keeps saying... "Enjoy this time and get some rest because you'll appreciate it in a few months when your not sleeping"..... and I know that's the truth... but goodness gracious when my little mental alarm goes off at 7am telling me to wake the hell up and do something productive it drives me crazy!!!!!
On my last blog I talked about Michael and I making an offer on a house, and since then, the bank accepted our offer and our new home went into escrow, which is set to close and have us move in *hopefully* on the 24th of April..... yes.... I know... 11 days from now! Hopefully everything goes through with it by then, especially since we're supposed to be out of our townhouse no later than May 2nd!!! We went for our home inspection last Sunday, and everything was amazing in that house. There were, of course, a few minors things that need attention. One of the two water heaters is in need of being replaced, and there is a tiny leak under one of the dual sinks in the master bathroom, and the filters need to be replaced in both of the air conditioning units.... big deal. However, the seller didn't have the propane tank filled prior to our home inspection so there was no way to test the heat or the range or the hot water... so we have to wait for the seller to fill up the propane tank and have those modalities inspected before FHA will accept the loan... so we're hoping that won't delay our escrow process any further. Also, the seller is supposed to cover the septic tank inspection as well as the termite inspection, and as far as I know of, that has yet to be done yet as well.... so we'll see if come May 2nd, Michael and I are living out of our 5th wheel trailer in the backyard at my parents house. I guess as opposed to blogging, I could be getting our house boxed up, but to be honest with you, I already used up all the boxes Michael brought home for me, and it didn't actually pack much of anything in those boxes either. I think most of those boxes were DVD's and a few misc. things from my downstairs coat closet and from the desk in the spare bedroom.... and those few things filled up 5 boxes already!!!! I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting process. Moving into a 3500 square foot home is supposed to be easy coming from an 1,100 square foot town home.... but you also have to factor in the 4 bedroom house that Michael has packed up in a storage unit in Lancaster..... and the fact that all of the shit I accumulated in the 2 years and 3 months I have lived in my current home(along with a husband and his belongings and all sorts of wedding gifts to boot) I imange this isn't going to be a pretty picture come moving day... especially when one of the parties moving is 8 months pregnant! It's times like these when a nice strong drink are in order.
On the baby front, everything is going great! I've been really lucky to have such an easy pregnancy so far, but I am starting to really feel pregnant now. Last week, with Michael out of town again, I decided that I was going to clean the house, top to bottom in an effort to pass my free time. Well... I made it through the entire downstairs and dusted the bedroom, and cleaned the two upstairs toilets, but somehow or another, my poor body would just not allow me to finish vacuuming the upstairs and finish cleaning the two upstairs bathrooms. I was done! My back was so sore and I felt like I was 90 years old. The easiest tasks, such as bending down to pick something up, I am really starting to feel. But, considering I am 31 weeks pregnant, that could very well be expected. I haven't quite hit the almighty "20 pound weight gain" mark just yet... but I am teetering very close to it! Some days I am 17 pounds and others I am 19 pounds... but either way.... I haven't reached that point yet!!!!
The reality that I have a newborn on the way.... VERY VERY SOON.. is finally starting to hit me alot more now. Michael and I had one of those 4D ultrasounds done about a week and a half about and it was truly amazing. Of course, and you can defiantly tell this kid is going to be stubborn as hell, just like both of his parents, because he decided he was going to sleep instead of be awake during the ultrasound. Now, since I could first start to feel Noah around 5 months, he has not stopped moving the entire time! I swear to you that kid is boxing the inside of my uterus like a punching bag 24/7, but the day that he's going to be on camera.... nooooooo.... he decides it's nap time! Both Michael and I tried talking to him to get him to move his little hands that we're covering his face, and all he managed to do was move his hands from in front of his face, to his ears, as to cover them and tell us, "Shut the hell up... I am sleeping!" After a few more minutes of poking at him and talking, he finally started to wake up and move around, in fact, at one point, he crossed his arms across his chest and started frowning and pouting.... obviously he was not pleased with the fact that we had disturbed his sleep..... I am sure I'll probably get a few months of payback on that one. When I am pacing back and forth at 4AM begging my child to go to sleep, he's going to be saying.... "Yeah mom, that's what you get for disturbing my sleep.... how does it feel??" All and all though, we got some amazing shots of him on the ultrasound and it really was a very emotional experience. You see the regular grainy ultrasound shots at your Doctor's appointments and your not sure if what your looking at is a head or a foot or a knee or what, and you feel that little body move inside of you all day, but you don't realize how real it is until you can look at your child, thanks to modern technology, and see exact distinctions of his little face and body. It really was very wonderful, and anybody who's pregnant, I highly suggest getting a 4D ultrasound done, because they are amazing and worth every penny.
Last week, Michael and I went on a tour of the maternity ward and hospital at St. Bernardines, where we will be having Noah. I actually have insurance through Kaiser, but Kaiser instructed me that they were in the process of remodeling their labor and delivery ward at the Fontana hospital and that they were referring all labor and delivery patients to St. B's instead. Which I was ok with because I had heard St. B's had private rooms and was a reputable hospital. The hospital puts on a free tour and dinner for prospective patients a couple times a month, so Michael and I went last Tuesday to check it out. Holy crap.... obviously there is something in the water because there were about 50 pregnant couples there taking the same tour. I told Michael it's because the economy is bad, and instead of people going out and doing stuff and spending money, they are just staying home and having sex! The tour was very nice. The hospital was very clean and the rooms were very nice and I really felt comfortable in that hospital. In fact, it was very strange discussing things like epidurals, and how many people are allowed in your room during your delivery, and seeing the bed where in 9 short weeks, I'll be delivering. It was another very real experience. I had to laugh because I have been one of those people that hasn't gotten into the whole "new age" of pregnancy or labor and delivery. I've taken care of myself just fine, and have read the books, and to be honest with you, have the shit they try to pump your head with is ridiculous. Eating organically, and hiring a mid-wife or a doulla to assist in your pregnancy and pain management. People are watching way too much of "The Baby Story" these days, that;s for sure. One woman, in our group, actually asked the nurse, "Excuse me... do you guys keep any birthing balls on hand?" and the nurse, who looks like she's been a nurse since the beginning of time said, "Honey, let me tell you, you are NOT going to feel liking bouncing around on a ball while your in labor and frankly, we're not going to allow you to, I know it's all nice and wonderful what you watch on the "Baby Story" but that just isn't a reality here". It was so funny! Seriously, the way I look at it, epidurals are done everyday to millions and millions of women and everything is fine for both the mother and baby. I would rather be comfortable, managing my pain, so that when my kid comes out, I am not so riddled with exhaustion and pain that I can't focus on the enjoyment of holding my son for the first time. I don't want to be bouncing on a ball or have some crazy woman sticking needles in my ankles or massaging my pressure points... no way... put me in my bed, stick me with my needle, and leave me alone to deliver my child with minimal pain. End of story. That's MY birth plan thank you very much! Tonight Michael and I start our Childbirth Education classes so I am pretty sure I am in for another dose of a reality check this evening. I can't believe that when these classes are done, I'll be 35 weeks pregnant... YIKES!!! That's crazy!!! He'll be here before I know it!!
Monday, March 23, 2009
And the "great home debacle of 09" continues
So this weekend marks weekend number 4 of the "Great Home Debacle 09". I am starting to think maybe I should get T-shirts made up and sell them for extra cash, or maybe even contact one of those networks like HGTV or TLC and have them film this for some reality TV show, because I assure you this experience has been nothing short of something that needs to be documented for the entire world to see! Or maybe I just think that because it's happening to me, either way, this has been something that never fails to make me shake my head and wonder, "Is this normal?" This weekend, however, was probably the most disastrous and crazy and frustrating weekends of them all.
Last weekend we came across "The House" located in Phelan. It was everything Michael and I had wanted and more! So we were all set to make an offer, but took one last drive down that gnarly dirt road and decided that it would be too hard to move us, with a new baby, so far off a main road. So after much deliberation we decided not to make an offer and cancel our search in Phelan and Oak Hills, and move our search to.. ::gulp:: The Antelope Valley. Yes.. I know... I said I'd NEVER move there, but the houses up there, especially in Quartz Hill, are nice homes in nice neighborhoods and close to Michael's work, making it the logical decision for our new family. So I figured at least it was worth checking it out, considering it would be the most affordable for us. So we contacted an agent, who the girls in Michael's office had used many times, and gave her what we were looking for, and we were all planned to check these houses out on Sunday.
So after being at the racetrack all day Saturday, and not home till late, Michael and I get up early on Sunday, brave through the torrential rain storm and head up to meet our real estate agent at 11:00 AM in Lancaster. Now, our last agent, Tami, was totally great! She was really down to Earth, very positive, not pushy or salesie, just a great person to deal with. In fact, we would have kept her as our agent, but she can't access any MLS listings in the Antelope Valley and she doesn't know the area, so we had to go with another agent. We had heard that this new agent, which came recommended by almost all of Michael's co-workers, was really good, so we had no problem putting our trust in her. But let me tell you, once we met her, we had an entirely different opinion of her.... Or at least *I* did. First of all, she comes rolling into the parking lot in a Mercedes SUV, wearing a fur coat, and looking to be in her early 70's, and probably had a little bit of work done.... if you know what I mean. In fact, if any of you are fans of the show Two and A Half Men, she is EXACTLY like Evelyn Harper... you know.. Charlie and Allen's real estate agent mother... to a TEE! I was so used to the Ford truck and the jeans that our other real estate Tami used to show up in when she would show us some houses.... but whatever... I was going to listen and be open-minded. So we sit down and she hands me a folder... yes... a HUGE Remax folder filled with all these listings and of course equipped with two copies of her own personal Real Estate Magazine with her picture nice and huge on the front. I can't even look at the properties fast enough before she rips one listing out of my hand and throws another one in there. My head was literally spinning! All I wanted to do was eat my Marie Callender's Corn Bread and drink my Sprite quietly while looking over these properties, but NOOOOO... "Evelyn Harper" is tossing properties at me left and right all the while saying, "You know you really need to make your move on a house NOW, because we're running out of inventory... this isn't going to be a buyers market for much longer".... blah blah blah..... sales sales sales! I was already sick of the women and I had only spent a half hour with her... I could tell this was going to be a lovely day!
So she decides that she's going to drive us in her car, to the 6 properties that we were going to be seeing. Good God almighty, I wish, at that moment in time, that I had made out a will in advance. We're driving down the road, she's talking on her cell phone WHILE taking off her fur coat and scarf! I am not kidding you when I say I think we got close to hitting almost every single car on the road, not to mention I am sure we wore the brakes out on her little Mercedes SUV from all the slamming on them she did. And this broad has the audacity to say.... "Can you believe I got a ticket a few weeks ago for talking on the cell phone? I haven't had a ticket in years".... Please lady... I highly doubt that! I am surprised I didn't get car sick! Poor Michael is in the front seat being subjected to "Evelyn Harpers" scatterbrained ramblings while clutching the "Oh Shit" handle for dear life... and occasionally shouting out a "WATCH OUT" whenever she decided to flip an illegal U-Turn in the middle of a street without looking or when her car started to veer over the center line because she was so engrossed in her conversation about NOTHING that she forgot she was operating a motor vehicle! So we make it to the first house ALIVE, where I am tempted to get out and kiss the ground and call a friggin taxi cab, and the house was very nice. It was located in a nice neighborhood and it was well taken care of, all wood floors, very nice layout.... but offered at about $90,000 more than we wanted to really spend.... our wise and wonderful real estate agent instructed us that we could offer them about $30,000 less and *maybe* they would accept it, as the owners we're looking to move to Morro Bay, and she *thinks* they may have even found a house...... I don't know... as nice as it was, it still really wasn't worth spending the extra $60,000 OVER what we were really looking to spend... I know that the house didn't really speak to me.
So back in the death mobile we go to the rest of our houses, and again, we were EXTREMLY disappointed. Not only did she take us to houses which were well above the price we originally told her we were looking to spend, but they were all houses that would require TONS of work and located in a track where your right on top of your neighbors. Michael and I agreed that we wouldn't mind going over our initial price, if it was a house that was really worth it to us and it was something we knew we just couldn't live without.... these houses however weren't even CLOSE to cutting the mustard! So we go to see the last house of the day, already feeling like we've wasted our time. The last home is located in Llano, which is about 20 minutes away from the 15 freeway on the 138, in a rural area. It would be about 25 minutes away from Michael's work in Lancaster and about 45 minutes away from our current home in Loma Linda. The house was located in this little community called Crystalaire and let me tell you my jaw hit the floorboard of "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" when I saw this area. It was BEAUTIFUL! Nice paved streets with streetlights, nice BIG homes where the lawns are taken care of and there are no cars up on jack-stands in the front yard, there's a private golf course and Country club located in the community that is equipped with a fishing lake, tennis courts and a swimming pool. All the houses were located on very large lots so you have neighbors, but your not on top of them. I was already really digging this already. I could picture myself walking Noah to the Country club in his stroller to go swimming in the summer time, and I was already planning how I'd learn to play some tennis, WITHOUT even seeing the house yet! So we pull up the the house, which is the last house on the street, and by far, the house with the very best view, out the back you had a beautiful view of the valley and out the front you had a beautiful view of the snow-capped mountains! This house was GORGEOUS, SPECTATULAR!!! A house that dreams are made of! It had a HUGE layout with lots of cabinets space, an AMAZING kitchen with oak cabinets, large bedrooms, an office... hell it even had it's own motorhome garage! We couldn't believe our eyes all I could think about was, "Hmmmm I wonder where I will be putting the coach".... Then... the kicker... it was $100,000 MORE than we were looking to spend! Ouch! Are you serious? Let me wipe my tears and head back to the death trap so I can die miserably in a head on collision driving down Highway 138.
Now, it's not like this house still wasn't a bargain, because it really was. This is the type of home that you could easily double your money on in 2 years once the market goes back up, no question about it. You know that this house is the best investment of it all because it's not something you have to repair or put money into, it's something that will naturally make it's way back up to the top of the market. I could tell Michael was really digging on this house too, so we told "Evelyn Harper" to take us back to the office, and we'd look at the payments and see if it was something we were willing to do at such a high amount over what we were looking to spend. We make it up to the real estate office in one piece, with the other real estate vultures. Our agent tells us, that the listing agent of the house said he has received several calls about that house, of people stating they were going to make an offer, but no offers on the table as of this point. So "Evelyn Harper" decides she's going to attempt to use the computer to show us what our down-payment would be and what our monthly payments would be... and when I say "attempted" she failed MISERABLY. All she managed to do was screw up everything in this system, and confuse the shit out of us, making us think that we'd be spending $12,000 out of pocket and have almost a $2,300 a month house payment. Michael and I kinda gave each other the whole, "Let's get the fuck out of here before she ties us up and forces us to make an offer" look and kindly told the real estate agent from hell that we needed to think about it. Of course at that point she told us to leave a $3,000 check "just in case" because there were 4 offers on that table on this house. Hmmmm that's funny... about 15 minutes ago she said there were NO offers.... Fancy footwork "Evelyn" but we're not biting!
So on the way home, and more frustrated than before, we started running over all the houses we saw and kind of decided that we needed to head our search back to Phelan and Pinion Hills, and Highland and North San Bernardino. We even contacted our old agent and told her to start looking at the house we almost made an offer on, on Smith Road, and another house we were contemplating on Windermere, as well as start looking for new properties for us to look at. Totally defeated and totally back to square one. Even on Monday, I started listing properties to get information on and sent them to Tami so we could head back out this weekend. Of course the entire day I kept getting barraded with emails from the crazy ass "Evelyn Harper" telling me how much of a great opportunity it was and that we didn't have to offer the asking price, we could offer lower, and it's worth a shot and blah blah blah. Well she then told us she had done her math wrong and the payments would be lower and so would the out of pocket expenses. Michael told her to offer a lowball price and insist that the seller cover our closing costs. Well.. again, our "GREAT" President announces on Monday his bank bailout plan, which includes that all bad debts, which include bank owned homes, will be paid off. So what bank in their right minds is going to take a low offer on a house, just to get rid of it, ESPECIALLY a house like this which is in perfect condition and can easily rebound from a poor housing market, when the government is just going to take care of it if it doesn't sell?? Well the broker of the house told our agent that it's not worth offering a price so low, because the lender won't even consider it. Gee.... Ya think???? So once again, a tiny glimmer of hope... shot to shit... then...
......Last night, while Michael is on the road in Northern California on business, (and in a foul mood as usual when he's out of town might I add.. but that's neither here nor there, I just thought I'd like to add the fact that I'm not really a fan of my husbands attitude when he's out of town on business because he takes all his stresses out on me...... but anyways... enough of my bitching about my cranky ass husband) he asks me(and actually at this point he hadn't yet reached his foul mood moment) which of the houses, out of all that I had seen that I liked the best. Well obviously I told him the house that was $100,000 out of our price range was my favorite, but know that that house just isn't a possibility for us. Well.. remember earlier how I told you we'd be willing to up our price if we found a house we couldn't live without.... well.... apparently we both found a house we couldn't live without! Apparently he talked to the guy who he has the home loan through and he said that, our insane real estate agent was wrong and that we're really only looking at $7,000 to $8,000 out of pocket and a $1,800 to $1,900 a month house payment... which is only about $200- $300 dollars more a month than we were looking to spend.. so we decided that we would be willing to spend the extra money a month and make an offer on the house. Yes, the house of our dreams! We're going to offer the asking price, but stipulate that we want $12,000 of closing costs covered as well as they have to pay for the septic and termite and roof inspection and we want a 30 day escrow. Michael and "Evelyn Harper" struck up that deal at about 12:30 this morning thru phone calls and emails( oh yeah.. and just to let you know... he had already reached his foul grumpy ass shitty pants attitude about 3 hours earlier.... just in case you were wondering when Dr. Jeckyl makes his evening appearances when Michael is away.. lol) and they were submitting the offer to the bank this morning. Soooooooooooo.... we shall keep our fingers crossed and see what they say..... who knows... if everything works out right, this nightmare may actually soon be over..... and then we can focus on the second nightmare... MOVING!!!! UGH! LOL
So.... think about us tonight and hope that the bank accepts our offer on the house so that my husband has one less thing to stress about and that he isn't such a cranky puss when he's away on business. Grrrrrrrr........ If women are cranky they are "overemotional" and "bitches".... if men are cranky they are just "overwhelmed" and have an "excuse"... Explain to me how that works??? Seriously.... I'd like to know..... Anyways... enough of my ramblings... here's hoping we get the house and that my husband isn't a complete turd tonight!!
Last weekend we came across "The House" located in Phelan. It was everything Michael and I had wanted and more! So we were all set to make an offer, but took one last drive down that gnarly dirt road and decided that it would be too hard to move us, with a new baby, so far off a main road. So after much deliberation we decided not to make an offer and cancel our search in Phelan and Oak Hills, and move our search to.. ::gulp:: The Antelope Valley. Yes.. I know... I said I'd NEVER move there, but the houses up there, especially in Quartz Hill, are nice homes in nice neighborhoods and close to Michael's work, making it the logical decision for our new family. So I figured at least it was worth checking it out, considering it would be the most affordable for us. So we contacted an agent, who the girls in Michael's office had used many times, and gave her what we were looking for, and we were all planned to check these houses out on Sunday.
So after being at the racetrack all day Saturday, and not home till late, Michael and I get up early on Sunday, brave through the torrential rain storm and head up to meet our real estate agent at 11:00 AM in Lancaster. Now, our last agent, Tami, was totally great! She was really down to Earth, very positive, not pushy or salesie, just a great person to deal with. In fact, we would have kept her as our agent, but she can't access any MLS listings in the Antelope Valley and she doesn't know the area, so we had to go with another agent. We had heard that this new agent, which came recommended by almost all of Michael's co-workers, was really good, so we had no problem putting our trust in her. But let me tell you, once we met her, we had an entirely different opinion of her.... Or at least *I* did. First of all, she comes rolling into the parking lot in a Mercedes SUV, wearing a fur coat, and looking to be in her early 70's, and probably had a little bit of work done.... if you know what I mean. In fact, if any of you are fans of the show Two and A Half Men, she is EXACTLY like Evelyn Harper... you know.. Charlie and Allen's real estate agent mother... to a TEE! I was so used to the Ford truck and the jeans that our other real estate Tami used to show up in when she would show us some houses.... but whatever... I was going to listen and be open-minded. So we sit down and she hands me a folder... yes... a HUGE Remax folder filled with all these listings and of course equipped with two copies of her own personal Real Estate Magazine with her picture nice and huge on the front. I can't even look at the properties fast enough before she rips one listing out of my hand and throws another one in there. My head was literally spinning! All I wanted to do was eat my Marie Callender's Corn Bread and drink my Sprite quietly while looking over these properties, but NOOOOO... "Evelyn Harper" is tossing properties at me left and right all the while saying, "You know you really need to make your move on a house NOW, because we're running out of inventory... this isn't going to be a buyers market for much longer".... blah blah blah..... sales sales sales! I was already sick of the women and I had only spent a half hour with her... I could tell this was going to be a lovely day!
So she decides that she's going to drive us in her car, to the 6 properties that we were going to be seeing. Good God almighty, I wish, at that moment in time, that I had made out a will in advance. We're driving down the road, she's talking on her cell phone WHILE taking off her fur coat and scarf! I am not kidding you when I say I think we got close to hitting almost every single car on the road, not to mention I am sure we wore the brakes out on her little Mercedes SUV from all the slamming on them she did. And this broad has the audacity to say.... "Can you believe I got a ticket a few weeks ago for talking on the cell phone? I haven't had a ticket in years".... Please lady... I highly doubt that! I am surprised I didn't get car sick! Poor Michael is in the front seat being subjected to "Evelyn Harpers" scatterbrained ramblings while clutching the "Oh Shit" handle for dear life... and occasionally shouting out a "WATCH OUT" whenever she decided to flip an illegal U-Turn in the middle of a street without looking or when her car started to veer over the center line because she was so engrossed in her conversation about NOTHING that she forgot she was operating a motor vehicle! So we make it to the first house ALIVE, where I am tempted to get out and kiss the ground and call a friggin taxi cab, and the house was very nice. It was located in a nice neighborhood and it was well taken care of, all wood floors, very nice layout.... but offered at about $90,000 more than we wanted to really spend.... our wise and wonderful real estate agent instructed us that we could offer them about $30,000 less and *maybe* they would accept it, as the owners we're looking to move to Morro Bay, and she *thinks* they may have even found a house...... I don't know... as nice as it was, it still really wasn't worth spending the extra $60,000 OVER what we were really looking to spend... I know that the house didn't really speak to me.
So back in the death mobile we go to the rest of our houses, and again, we were EXTREMLY disappointed. Not only did she take us to houses which were well above the price we originally told her we were looking to spend, but they were all houses that would require TONS of work and located in a track where your right on top of your neighbors. Michael and I agreed that we wouldn't mind going over our initial price, if it was a house that was really worth it to us and it was something we knew we just couldn't live without.... these houses however weren't even CLOSE to cutting the mustard! So we go to see the last house of the day, already feeling like we've wasted our time. The last home is located in Llano, which is about 20 minutes away from the 15 freeway on the 138, in a rural area. It would be about 25 minutes away from Michael's work in Lancaster and about 45 minutes away from our current home in Loma Linda. The house was located in this little community called Crystalaire and let me tell you my jaw hit the floorboard of "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" when I saw this area. It was BEAUTIFUL! Nice paved streets with streetlights, nice BIG homes where the lawns are taken care of and there are no cars up on jack-stands in the front yard, there's a private golf course and Country club located in the community that is equipped with a fishing lake, tennis courts and a swimming pool. All the houses were located on very large lots so you have neighbors, but your not on top of them. I was already really digging this already. I could picture myself walking Noah to the Country club in his stroller to go swimming in the summer time, and I was already planning how I'd learn to play some tennis, WITHOUT even seeing the house yet! So we pull up the the house, which is the last house on the street, and by far, the house with the very best view, out the back you had a beautiful view of the valley and out the front you had a beautiful view of the snow-capped mountains! This house was GORGEOUS, SPECTATULAR!!! A house that dreams are made of! It had a HUGE layout with lots of cabinets space, an AMAZING kitchen with oak cabinets, large bedrooms, an office... hell it even had it's own motorhome garage! We couldn't believe our eyes all I could think about was, "Hmmmm I wonder where I will be putting the coach".... Then... the kicker... it was $100,000 MORE than we were looking to spend! Ouch! Are you serious? Let me wipe my tears and head back to the death trap so I can die miserably in a head on collision driving down Highway 138.
Now, it's not like this house still wasn't a bargain, because it really was. This is the type of home that you could easily double your money on in 2 years once the market goes back up, no question about it. You know that this house is the best investment of it all because it's not something you have to repair or put money into, it's something that will naturally make it's way back up to the top of the market. I could tell Michael was really digging on this house too, so we told "Evelyn Harper" to take us back to the office, and we'd look at the payments and see if it was something we were willing to do at such a high amount over what we were looking to spend. We make it up to the real estate office in one piece, with the other real estate vultures. Our agent tells us, that the listing agent of the house said he has received several calls about that house, of people stating they were going to make an offer, but no offers on the table as of this point. So "Evelyn Harper" decides she's going to attempt to use the computer to show us what our down-payment would be and what our monthly payments would be... and when I say "attempted" she failed MISERABLY. All she managed to do was screw up everything in this system, and confuse the shit out of us, making us think that we'd be spending $12,000 out of pocket and have almost a $2,300 a month house payment. Michael and I kinda gave each other the whole, "Let's get the fuck out of here before she ties us up and forces us to make an offer" look and kindly told the real estate agent from hell that we needed to think about it. Of course at that point she told us to leave a $3,000 check "just in case" because there were 4 offers on that table on this house. Hmmmm that's funny... about 15 minutes ago she said there were NO offers.... Fancy footwork "Evelyn" but we're not biting!
So on the way home, and more frustrated than before, we started running over all the houses we saw and kind of decided that we needed to head our search back to Phelan and Pinion Hills, and Highland and North San Bernardino. We even contacted our old agent and told her to start looking at the house we almost made an offer on, on Smith Road, and another house we were contemplating on Windermere, as well as start looking for new properties for us to look at. Totally defeated and totally back to square one. Even on Monday, I started listing properties to get information on and sent them to Tami so we could head back out this weekend. Of course the entire day I kept getting barraded with emails from the crazy ass "Evelyn Harper" telling me how much of a great opportunity it was and that we didn't have to offer the asking price, we could offer lower, and it's worth a shot and blah blah blah. Well she then told us she had done her math wrong and the payments would be lower and so would the out of pocket expenses. Michael told her to offer a lowball price and insist that the seller cover our closing costs. Well.. again, our "GREAT" President announces on Monday his bank bailout plan, which includes that all bad debts, which include bank owned homes, will be paid off. So what bank in their right minds is going to take a low offer on a house, just to get rid of it, ESPECIALLY a house like this which is in perfect condition and can easily rebound from a poor housing market, when the government is just going to take care of it if it doesn't sell?? Well the broker of the house told our agent that it's not worth offering a price so low, because the lender won't even consider it. Gee.... Ya think???? So once again, a tiny glimmer of hope... shot to shit... then...
......Last night, while Michael is on the road in Northern California on business, (and in a foul mood as usual when he's out of town might I add.. but that's neither here nor there, I just thought I'd like to add the fact that I'm not really a fan of my husbands attitude when he's out of town on business because he takes all his stresses out on me...... but anyways... enough of my bitching about my cranky ass husband) he asks me(and actually at this point he hadn't yet reached his foul mood moment) which of the houses, out of all that I had seen that I liked the best. Well obviously I told him the house that was $100,000 out of our price range was my favorite, but know that that house just isn't a possibility for us. Well.. remember earlier how I told you we'd be willing to up our price if we found a house we couldn't live without.... well.... apparently we both found a house we couldn't live without! Apparently he talked to the guy who he has the home loan through and he said that, our insane real estate agent was wrong and that we're really only looking at $7,000 to $8,000 out of pocket and a $1,800 to $1,900 a month house payment... which is only about $200- $300 dollars more a month than we were looking to spend.. so we decided that we would be willing to spend the extra money a month and make an offer on the house. Yes, the house of our dreams! We're going to offer the asking price, but stipulate that we want $12,000 of closing costs covered as well as they have to pay for the septic and termite and roof inspection and we want a 30 day escrow. Michael and "Evelyn Harper" struck up that deal at about 12:30 this morning thru phone calls and emails( oh yeah.. and just to let you know... he had already reached his foul grumpy ass shitty pants attitude about 3 hours earlier.... just in case you were wondering when Dr. Jeckyl makes his evening appearances when Michael is away.. lol) and they were submitting the offer to the bank this morning. Soooooooooooo.... we shall keep our fingers crossed and see what they say..... who knows... if everything works out right, this nightmare may actually soon be over..... and then we can focus on the second nightmare... MOVING!!!! UGH! LOL
So.... think about us tonight and hope that the bank accepts our offer on the house so that my husband has one less thing to stress about and that he isn't such a cranky puss when he's away on business. Grrrrrrrr........ If women are cranky they are "overemotional" and "bitches".... if men are cranky they are just "overwhelmed" and have an "excuse"... Explain to me how that works??? Seriously.... I'd like to know..... Anyways... enough of my ramblings... here's hoping we get the house and that my husband isn't a complete turd tonight!!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Officially a Married Woman! (And with no major disasters!)
Well... it's official! Stefanie Ross is now a married woman... I am now Stefanie Medlin! YIKES!! LOL Everybody has been asking me if I feel any different now that I am married, and to be honest with you... I really don't! LOL. It's been 4 days into my marriage, and it feels just the same... except now I am trying to figure out all the particulars of being married and changing my name and so forth. We also got some money from our parents as wedding gifts, but it's still sitting in their nice little envelopes on account that we don't have joint checking accounts yet and aren't really sure how to go about that! LOL Ohhh well... we'll figure it all out I guess!
Our wedding went out with out one tiny disaster, which to be honest with you, totally and utterly shocked me! The weather forecast was calling for rain, all weekend long in Santa Barbara, and I am not kidding you, in the days leading up to our wedding, I think I looked at every single weather website in existence, trying to find a forecast that gave me hope. Every hour on the hour I scanned the weather channels expecting to find a drastic change in the weather for Saturday's ceremony. In fact, we even had a canopy on stand by, just in case it rained.(Ok.. granted that Canopy was blue with a gigantic Lucas Oil logo on the front... but still.. I am sure with the modern video and photo editing effects, we could have edited it out if we needed to!) But alas, and to our great surprise, Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL, clear and wind-less day, leaving our wedding ceremony to turn out nothing short of spectacular!
When we decided on our wedding date, about 5 weeks ago, my dad had said that he wanted to become an ordained minister so that he could marry us. I thought that was the coolest thing. So he did it. He became ordained through the Universal Life Church and got his little wedding ceremony package in the mail, and worked hard on practicing for the ceremony. He did really well too. Until the end of course when he said, "I know pronounce you husband and wife"... he got really choked up and started to cry. It really was a beautiful and special ceremony though with a lot of love in the air. Although, I have to laugh because our ceremony was on Butterfly Beach, in Santa Barbara, so it's a public beach, so random people were kind of standing off to the side watching our ceremony quietly and at one point, when Michael and I were doing the Unity Sand Ceremony, a big fluffy dog that looked like a mix between a poodle and a doberman decided he was going to make an entrance into our wedding and kind of walked in the middle of the ceremony to check stuff out. LOL.. but it was pretty funny to say the least.
So one thing that was apparent on my wedding day was the fact that I was almost 6 months pregnant... yes... just as I had thought... I totally popped a few days before the wedding. In fact, my girlfriend Lauren who saw me just the weekend earlier at my Bridal Shower, was the one who pointed it out to me. "Holy crap Stef... your belly totally popped in a weeks time... you didn't look that pregnant a week ago!" LMAO! So... unfortunately the time in which I bought, by not-looking pregnant is finally gone... at 6 months pregnant I now look pregnant. (Of course my face and arms and back make me look like a chubbo... so I don't think I've got that cute pregnant thing going on) I swear... why is it the first place I gain weight is in my face and arms and back?? I am 6 months pregnant... 24 weeks... and weight wise I've only put on 13 lbs (well 13 lbs in the morning when I weigh myself and 15 lbs at the end of the day when I weigh myself.. LOL) but I feel like I've put on so much more.... or maybe I feel like I am gaining it unevenly or something... hell.. I don't know... all I know is that I haven't put on too much weight numbers wise and I am still wearing my same jeans... but I feel like my face and arms have gotten the brunt of those 13-15lbs!! Gosh... I can only fear what I am going to look like in the next one or two months.... wow! I am not looking forward to that.. let me tell you!
So the house hunt is still going in full swing, but Michael has kind of eased the pressure of moving up to Pinion Hills, and Oak Hills and Hesperia, and kind of kept his focus a little closer to my family. Although he hasn't completely ruled that area out all together, only because you can get some beautiful custom homes and brand new homes on up to 2 to 3 acres up there, for next to nothing(particularly because there is nothing really out there) but because Michael travels so much for work, and we've got a baby coming in June, I think he's starting to realize that it might be in our best interest to stay closer to where I can get some help from my family and friends, when he's out of town, as opposed to being by myself, in the middle of nowhereville, with an infant and a shot gun. However, the houses in Yucaipa, and Reche Canyon and Grand Terrace (all places where we can find a house that isn't on top of another house and allows us the room for our 5th Wheel) still haven't really come down in price as much as we'd like, so it's been kind of a frustrating task. Although, yesterday, we did find a house in Reche Canyon, off of Scotch Lane, which is about a half a mile from my parents house, which is a bank owned home, that has really come down in price. The house is on an acre and the outside looks nice... (circular driveway and such) however, upon looking through the windows... oh lordy.... it's going to take some major elbow grease and work to get that house in a livable state! I think there is a possibility that a family of rabbits and/or rats has taken up residency somewhere in the house and it looks like the kitchen is in desperate need of some new cabinets, because they look like they have been around since the birth of Christ, not to mention the people ripped out the baseboards before they vacated the house, so the paint and drywall definitely needs some TLC. But... it definitely has potential that's for sure... it's just going to take alot of work. So Michael and I are thinking about meeting with the realtor and making a lower offer than what they are asking, since the house has been on the market since September 2nd of 08 and I think they may just want to get rid of it. See... the realtor, when I talked to her on the phone seemed VERY anxious which means one of two things... either she's struggling to feed her family and just one tiny home sale would really make her year or there is something seriously wrong with the house that we don't know about and she's trying to rid herself of the burden of having the house on the market. So who knows... we're going to have to investigate a little more and see what's going on. Hopefully there isn't dead bodies buried in the back behind the tangerine trees or is infected with a killer mold within it's walls.. so a little more investigation is needed. Although, when Michael was looking at the house, some nosy neighbor came out and informed him that the house next door to it, was getting ready to go back on the market, and it was a much nicer house. Apparently it was purchased in July of 2007 and completely remodeled and well taken care of and it just now went into foreclosure. However, it's so new to going into foreclosure that both Michael and I can't find any info on the house yet. This house is in a lot better condition than the other, but who's to say what they will be asking for it.. so we'll have to do a little bit more research on that one.
So that's the scoop for now. Michael is out of town for the next three nights on business in Northern California, so I am kinda bummed about that. It's funny... I don't look forward to him leaving town, I really miss him when he's gone! But he's flying home on the first flight Saturday morning, so I'll get to see him then. Maybe while he's gone it's give me a chance to get started on making that scrapbook I have so anxiously been talking about doing, but keep putting off... Naaahhh... I think I've got laundry to do instead... that and I've got a bunch of Rock of Love episodes on my DVR that I've yet to watch! LOL
Our wedding went out with out one tiny disaster, which to be honest with you, totally and utterly shocked me! The weather forecast was calling for rain, all weekend long in Santa Barbara, and I am not kidding you, in the days leading up to our wedding, I think I looked at every single weather website in existence, trying to find a forecast that gave me hope. Every hour on the hour I scanned the weather channels expecting to find a drastic change in the weather for Saturday's ceremony. In fact, we even had a canopy on stand by, just in case it rained.(Ok.. granted that Canopy was blue with a gigantic Lucas Oil logo on the front... but still.. I am sure with the modern video and photo editing effects, we could have edited it out if we needed to!) But alas, and to our great surprise, Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL, clear and wind-less day, leaving our wedding ceremony to turn out nothing short of spectacular!
When we decided on our wedding date, about 5 weeks ago, my dad had said that he wanted to become an ordained minister so that he could marry us. I thought that was the coolest thing. So he did it. He became ordained through the Universal Life Church and got his little wedding ceremony package in the mail, and worked hard on practicing for the ceremony. He did really well too. Until the end of course when he said, "I know pronounce you husband and wife"... he got really choked up and started to cry. It really was a beautiful and special ceremony though with a lot of love in the air. Although, I have to laugh because our ceremony was on Butterfly Beach, in Santa Barbara, so it's a public beach, so random people were kind of standing off to the side watching our ceremony quietly and at one point, when Michael and I were doing the Unity Sand Ceremony, a big fluffy dog that looked like a mix between a poodle and a doberman decided he was going to make an entrance into our wedding and kind of walked in the middle of the ceremony to check stuff out. LOL.. but it was pretty funny to say the least.
So one thing that was apparent on my wedding day was the fact that I was almost 6 months pregnant... yes... just as I had thought... I totally popped a few days before the wedding. In fact, my girlfriend Lauren who saw me just the weekend earlier at my Bridal Shower, was the one who pointed it out to me. "Holy crap Stef... your belly totally popped in a weeks time... you didn't look that pregnant a week ago!" LMAO! So... unfortunately the time in which I bought, by not-looking pregnant is finally gone... at 6 months pregnant I now look pregnant. (Of course my face and arms and back make me look like a chubbo... so I don't think I've got that cute pregnant thing going on) I swear... why is it the first place I gain weight is in my face and arms and back?? I am 6 months pregnant... 24 weeks... and weight wise I've only put on 13 lbs (well 13 lbs in the morning when I weigh myself and 15 lbs at the end of the day when I weigh myself.. LOL) but I feel like I've put on so much more.... or maybe I feel like I am gaining it unevenly or something... hell.. I don't know... all I know is that I haven't put on too much weight numbers wise and I am still wearing my same jeans... but I feel like my face and arms have gotten the brunt of those 13-15lbs!! Gosh... I can only fear what I am going to look like in the next one or two months.... wow! I am not looking forward to that.. let me tell you!
So the house hunt is still going in full swing, but Michael has kind of eased the pressure of moving up to Pinion Hills, and Oak Hills and Hesperia, and kind of kept his focus a little closer to my family. Although he hasn't completely ruled that area out all together, only because you can get some beautiful custom homes and brand new homes on up to 2 to 3 acres up there, for next to nothing(particularly because there is nothing really out there) but because Michael travels so much for work, and we've got a baby coming in June, I think he's starting to realize that it might be in our best interest to stay closer to where I can get some help from my family and friends, when he's out of town, as opposed to being by myself, in the middle of nowhereville, with an infant and a shot gun. However, the houses in Yucaipa, and Reche Canyon and Grand Terrace (all places where we can find a house that isn't on top of another house and allows us the room for our 5th Wheel) still haven't really come down in price as much as we'd like, so it's been kind of a frustrating task. Although, yesterday, we did find a house in Reche Canyon, off of Scotch Lane, which is about a half a mile from my parents house, which is a bank owned home, that has really come down in price. The house is on an acre and the outside looks nice... (circular driveway and such) however, upon looking through the windows... oh lordy.... it's going to take some major elbow grease and work to get that house in a livable state! I think there is a possibility that a family of rabbits and/or rats has taken up residency somewhere in the house and it looks like the kitchen is in desperate need of some new cabinets, because they look like they have been around since the birth of Christ, not to mention the people ripped out the baseboards before they vacated the house, so the paint and drywall definitely needs some TLC. But... it definitely has potential that's for sure... it's just going to take alot of work. So Michael and I are thinking about meeting with the realtor and making a lower offer than what they are asking, since the house has been on the market since September 2nd of 08 and I think they may just want to get rid of it. See... the realtor, when I talked to her on the phone seemed VERY anxious which means one of two things... either she's struggling to feed her family and just one tiny home sale would really make her year or there is something seriously wrong with the house that we don't know about and she's trying to rid herself of the burden of having the house on the market. So who knows... we're going to have to investigate a little more and see what's going on. Hopefully there isn't dead bodies buried in the back behind the tangerine trees or is infected with a killer mold within it's walls.. so a little more investigation is needed. Although, when Michael was looking at the house, some nosy neighbor came out and informed him that the house next door to it, was getting ready to go back on the market, and it was a much nicer house. Apparently it was purchased in July of 2007 and completely remodeled and well taken care of and it just now went into foreclosure. However, it's so new to going into foreclosure that both Michael and I can't find any info on the house yet. This house is in a lot better condition than the other, but who's to say what they will be asking for it.. so we'll have to do a little bit more research on that one.
So that's the scoop for now. Michael is out of town for the next three nights on business in Northern California, so I am kinda bummed about that. It's funny... I don't look forward to him leaving town, I really miss him when he's gone! But he's flying home on the first flight Saturday morning, so I'll get to see him then. Maybe while he's gone it's give me a chance to get started on making that scrapbook I have so anxiously been talking about doing, but keep putting off... Naaahhh... I think I've got laundry to do instead... that and I've got a bunch of Rock of Love episodes on my DVR that I've yet to watch! LOL
Monday, February 2, 2009
Baby boys, rain outs, weddings, showers and everything else in between.
I am starting to notice a pattern here, I am a "once a month blogger". Oh well... it works right? Either way, one month later than my last blog and ooodles and oodles of information to share to the world! Hey... maybe when I become a stay at home mom, I'll have the time to post more often... Ha! Yeah right! Fat chance at that, I know... but either way..... here I am with lots to share.
First and most importantly, my pregnancy is going amazing! I still haven't had one spout of morning sickness, my hormones are starting to not rage AS much, so my skin is starting to clear up and actually get that "glow" that everybody boasts about, that I personally thought was a load of shit, and I haven't put on alot of extra weight(although I am sure that'll change come month 6) I am now 21 weeks pregnant and can't believe how fast the time has gone so far. We had our 18 week ultrasound a few weeks back, and found out we're having a baby boy! We're both really excited about having a son and I have visions of him throwing touchdown passes at the Super Bowl some day (NO racecar drivers if I can help it, I want my kid to have a NORMAL life!) But it's funny, Michael seems to be more concerned now that we're having a boy. He's afraid, because of his age, that he won't be able to teach our son to play football or baseball or do any of the other things dad's do with their sons. He's deathly afraid of embarrassing our son, if his friends ask him, "Hey is that your grandpa?" I definitely understand why he would feel this way and I keep telling him that he's not ancient at 42 years old and that even at 42, he definitely doesn't act 42, so I think he'll be just fine when it comes time to start teaching our boy how to be a boy. It's hard to remember sometimes, that men have just as many fears about becoming a parent as women do, so we do really well at supporting one another to overcome the normal fears of bringing our first child into the world.
At the same appointment for my Ultrasound, they gave me a blood test to check and see if there was any risk of my baby having any sort of birth defects, so that was definitely a little unnerving, because you always assume your baby is healthy. We went back two weeks later for my 20 week appointment and everything was looking great with the baby and with me. I've gained 13 pounds in 20 weeks, so I am right on track where I need to be weight wise, and my blood pressure was perfectly normal and healthy. Everything looked great with the baby's ultrasound and my due date is targeted between June 13th and June 14th. The blood work also came back negative that the baby had any risks for birth defects, so we definitely breathed a sigh of relief over that one. We finally decided on a name for our son, and we decided to name him Noah James. So now, we've got a name everything its starting to feel more real. I am finally starting to show now, but still not as much as I had hoped I'd be showing. I still think I look like I've just become a chubby ass and not a woman growing a child, but everybody else seems to disagree. Although, It's probably wise NOT to upset the hormonal pregnant woman by telling her she looks like she's a cow... MOO!
Another exciting part of being 5 months pregnant, is now I can feel him move and let me tell you... he moves ALOT. I swear that kid must have so much damn energy! He's always kicking and nudging me all day long. I love it though! It's so amazing to feel my son move, I can't even describe it. It's so funny, at night, Michael and I have become accustomed to when we lay down to go to bed at night, Michael lays his head on my belly and starts talking to the baby and feeling the little movements. Well since the baby is getting bigger, so are his movements and the other night, he lets outs this huge kick and nails Michael right in the face! We were laughing so hard! It's so funny how much enjoyment two people can get from laying in bed a feeling their kid kick, these are the exciting things we do these days... LOL.
Another exciting piece of news, I have to share is Michael and I decided to get married on Valentines Day... And we decided this about... ohhh.. a month ago. LOL. Actually we planned a very small intimate ceremony to take place at Sunset on Butterfly Beach in Santa Barbara with about 25 of our closest family and friends. We plan on having a HUGE reception in August, after the baby is born, to celebrate with everybody we know, but until then, we opted for something small and easy. Actually the entire thing has been very simple and alot of fun to plan. I've pretty much planned everything down to the tee, and doing so on a strict budget, and it's still going to come out looking beautiful. I've really had alot of fun planning everything and I am really getting excited for the finished product. The only issues I've run into with my wedding is other people. No, not family, not wedding planners, not photographers.... but friends who haven't exactly been there like I had thought they would be, or friends who aren't supporting our decision to get married with such a small ceremony and taking their absence personal and putting guilt upon me.... It's really been an eye-opening experience I can tell you that much. In fact, I had a few people offer to throw me a bridal shower, when the news of our Valentines Day wedding became official. Everybody talked about it, but nobody made it happen, in fact, up until last Sunday, I had just assumed I wouldn't be having a bridal shower, only because nobody had mentioned anything to me about planning one, so I just figured it wasn't going to happen. It wasn't until my mom and brother stepped up to the plate (Yes.. my 19 year old BROTHER) that they started to put the last minute plans into motion, so that I could have a bridal shower, the weekend before my wedding. So it kinda sucks to see that the people you thought you could depend on the most, totally flake out on you. But that's the reality of it all, some things are alot more important I guess, either way it opens my eyes alot as to who I can really count on for support as I begin this new journey in my life. I mean this isn't high school or college anymore! I am getting ready to walk down the isle and become a wife and shortly after I'll be giving birth and becoming a mom! That changes EVERYTHING! This is the big leagues now! I've got alot to worry about and that doesn't include which bar I am going to hit up for drinks this night or that night. I've got to grow up, ready or not, as I am now responsible for another human life, and that is just another journey I'll be taking in my life.
So another big event that took place... or strike that... was SUPPOSED to take place, on January 23rd, was the Toyota All Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway. *For my non-racer friends.... long story short.. it's supposed to be the Daytona 500 of short track racing and if you don't know what the Daytona 500 is... I sure as hell can't help you there* Anyways, 100's of cars from across the country showed up to race with the best of the best, live on the Speed Channel, and we were blessed with rain! It was, by far, the longest most miserable weekend of my LIFE! It was supposed to be a good time and it was anything but. Michael and I decided, since we were supposed to be there all day Thursday and all day Friday that we'd just bring our 5th wheel and camp in the parking lot. My parents even decided to rent a motorhome so they could do that too, because being at the racetrack for 2 full days takes ALOT out of you, that even that one hour drive home is way too long. There were also a few other friends of ours who decided to campout too. So we're thinking a great weekend of racing, camping with our friends.. what can be better?!? Ummm apparently repeatedly stabbing yourself in the eye with sharp objects would have been a trip to effin Disneyland compared to what we went through.
It's not raining on Thursday night, so that works out ok, everybody is able to get parked and get a few laps of practice down and back to the campers without any moisture. However, Friday morning rolls around(mind you the day we're supposed to qualify and race) and the skys open up and it rains.... and it rains and it rains and it RAINS... ALL friggin day long. Everybody is wet, cold and exhausted and nobody at Nascar is calling a spade a spade and just calling the races off.. because live TV is involved (and there is another set of live TV races scheduled for Saturday) they were going to do everything it took to get our races on. So we sit around all day, up until about 7pm Friday night, when they finally say, "we're not racing tonight.. but don't go anywhere yet because the rain is supposed to subside in a few hours and we *MIGHT* practice and qualify tonight for tomorrows race. Meanwhile, my mom, who got tired of sitting around in the rain, decided to head back to the motorhome to stay warm. I get a call from her on my cell phone telling me that a man and a woman had walked into Michael and I's trailer... I instantly panicked! I went to Michael to tell him this and come to find out, one of his crew members(who is very immature and disrespectful) had decided to take some skanky ass girl back to another crew members motor home, parked by us, to do obviously more than share a soda and a hot dog and chat about lilies and daisies and the meaning of life. Apparently, (which I still stand by my story that I think this is bullshit... but whatever) they decided to check out our trailer and put her purse in there. I was livid... BEYOND livid! Talk about an invasion of privacy... and I don't want to be a hormonal judgmental bitch or anything, but I knew the skanky woman he brought back to our trailer and she is the appitemy of a dirty filthy whore. I truly believe that just her presence alone could cause you to break out in a case of gonorrhea or herpes. Needless to say, furious was not the word to describe how I felt about this situation. SO of course, Michael and I got into a fight over it, because I was "blowing the situation out of proportion" and said the only thing his friend was guilty of was not telling us he was going to walk into our trailer and that how dare I scold his friend. So what... Maybe I was blowing the whole thing out of proportion. Maybe if I hadn't been exhausted and sitting in the rain for 14 hours I might have been a little more receptive to the situation... or maybe had I not had such a profound dislike for the piece of trash that accompanied him into our trailer, I might not have blown such a gasket.... oh well... who's to say what would have happened, all that I know was that I was heated to the max over it all (in fact... I find as I am writing this my toes are starting to curl... which is an indication I get when I am really pissed off... so apparently the situation is STILL under my skin!!!) UGH! Blame it on my hormones or something.. yeah that's it. :-)
So along with the trailer fiasco Friday night, lack of sleep, more rain on Saturday and the fact that Nascar put our race LAST and only gave us 30 minutes for 53 cars to run 150 laps (which didn't work out too well, we only got 12 laps in) they called the race and said it was time to go home, and in fact, they were going to honor the finishing order of the 12 lap race (4 of those laps were the only green flag laps we had, the rest were under caution!) And considering it was a $10,000 purse, nobody thought it was fair that the declared winner, get to walk away with 10 grand for a measly 12 laps. So everybody at this point was pissed, filing protests, screaming at Nascar, threatening to sue.. it was a nightmare! On top of that, I, personally, had allowed myself to do entirely too much physical exertion over those long days at the racetrack, on limited sleep and limited food intake, so I was done. Every part of my body ached and I was ready to cry at the first person who looked at me wrong! When would this nightmare be over!!! So, unfortunately what was supposed to be an awesome weekend of racing turned into hell!! (Another reason why I am going to try to talk my kid out of racing and make him play football!!! LOL Although considering racing runs way too deep in his blood, between Michael and I, I have a feeling I might lose that battle!)
Well I suppose I've covered just about everything up till this point. Next time I write(because we all know I am a once a month-er) I'll be a married woman, so I am sure I'll have some interesting scoops to share about the wedding and all that jazz. Hopefully that'll go through with little no no hiccups! But of course... it wouldn't be me if there wasn't some sort of disaster happening... that's what makes my life so interesting right? LOL
First and most importantly, my pregnancy is going amazing! I still haven't had one spout of morning sickness, my hormones are starting to not rage AS much, so my skin is starting to clear up and actually get that "glow" that everybody boasts about, that I personally thought was a load of shit, and I haven't put on alot of extra weight(although I am sure that'll change come month 6) I am now 21 weeks pregnant and can't believe how fast the time has gone so far. We had our 18 week ultrasound a few weeks back, and found out we're having a baby boy! We're both really excited about having a son and I have visions of him throwing touchdown passes at the Super Bowl some day (NO racecar drivers if I can help it, I want my kid to have a NORMAL life!) But it's funny, Michael seems to be more concerned now that we're having a boy. He's afraid, because of his age, that he won't be able to teach our son to play football or baseball or do any of the other things dad's do with their sons. He's deathly afraid of embarrassing our son, if his friends ask him, "Hey is that your grandpa?" I definitely understand why he would feel this way and I keep telling him that he's not ancient at 42 years old and that even at 42, he definitely doesn't act 42, so I think he'll be just fine when it comes time to start teaching our boy how to be a boy. It's hard to remember sometimes, that men have just as many fears about becoming a parent as women do, so we do really well at supporting one another to overcome the normal fears of bringing our first child into the world.
At the same appointment for my Ultrasound, they gave me a blood test to check and see if there was any risk of my baby having any sort of birth defects, so that was definitely a little unnerving, because you always assume your baby is healthy. We went back two weeks later for my 20 week appointment and everything was looking great with the baby and with me. I've gained 13 pounds in 20 weeks, so I am right on track where I need to be weight wise, and my blood pressure was perfectly normal and healthy. Everything looked great with the baby's ultrasound and my due date is targeted between June 13th and June 14th. The blood work also came back negative that the baby had any risks for birth defects, so we definitely breathed a sigh of relief over that one. We finally decided on a name for our son, and we decided to name him Noah James. So now, we've got a name everything its starting to feel more real. I am finally starting to show now, but still not as much as I had hoped I'd be showing. I still think I look like I've just become a chubby ass and not a woman growing a child, but everybody else seems to disagree. Although, It's probably wise NOT to upset the hormonal pregnant woman by telling her she looks like she's a cow... MOO!
Another exciting part of being 5 months pregnant, is now I can feel him move and let me tell you... he moves ALOT. I swear that kid must have so much damn energy! He's always kicking and nudging me all day long. I love it though! It's so amazing to feel my son move, I can't even describe it. It's so funny, at night, Michael and I have become accustomed to when we lay down to go to bed at night, Michael lays his head on my belly and starts talking to the baby and feeling the little movements. Well since the baby is getting bigger, so are his movements and the other night, he lets outs this huge kick and nails Michael right in the face! We were laughing so hard! It's so funny how much enjoyment two people can get from laying in bed a feeling their kid kick, these are the exciting things we do these days... LOL.
Another exciting piece of news, I have to share is Michael and I decided to get married on Valentines Day... And we decided this about... ohhh.. a month ago. LOL. Actually we planned a very small intimate ceremony to take place at Sunset on Butterfly Beach in Santa Barbara with about 25 of our closest family and friends. We plan on having a HUGE reception in August, after the baby is born, to celebrate with everybody we know, but until then, we opted for something small and easy. Actually the entire thing has been very simple and alot of fun to plan. I've pretty much planned everything down to the tee, and doing so on a strict budget, and it's still going to come out looking beautiful. I've really had alot of fun planning everything and I am really getting excited for the finished product. The only issues I've run into with my wedding is other people. No, not family, not wedding planners, not photographers.... but friends who haven't exactly been there like I had thought they would be, or friends who aren't supporting our decision to get married with such a small ceremony and taking their absence personal and putting guilt upon me.... It's really been an eye-opening experience I can tell you that much. In fact, I had a few people offer to throw me a bridal shower, when the news of our Valentines Day wedding became official. Everybody talked about it, but nobody made it happen, in fact, up until last Sunday, I had just assumed I wouldn't be having a bridal shower, only because nobody had mentioned anything to me about planning one, so I just figured it wasn't going to happen. It wasn't until my mom and brother stepped up to the plate (Yes.. my 19 year old BROTHER) that they started to put the last minute plans into motion, so that I could have a bridal shower, the weekend before my wedding. So it kinda sucks to see that the people you thought you could depend on the most, totally flake out on you. But that's the reality of it all, some things are alot more important I guess, either way it opens my eyes alot as to who I can really count on for support as I begin this new journey in my life. I mean this isn't high school or college anymore! I am getting ready to walk down the isle and become a wife and shortly after I'll be giving birth and becoming a mom! That changes EVERYTHING! This is the big leagues now! I've got alot to worry about and that doesn't include which bar I am going to hit up for drinks this night or that night. I've got to grow up, ready or not, as I am now responsible for another human life, and that is just another journey I'll be taking in my life.
So another big event that took place... or strike that... was SUPPOSED to take place, on January 23rd, was the Toyota All Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway. *For my non-racer friends.... long story short.. it's supposed to be the Daytona 500 of short track racing and if you don't know what the Daytona 500 is... I sure as hell can't help you there* Anyways, 100's of cars from across the country showed up to race with the best of the best, live on the Speed Channel, and we were blessed with rain! It was, by far, the longest most miserable weekend of my LIFE! It was supposed to be a good time and it was anything but. Michael and I decided, since we were supposed to be there all day Thursday and all day Friday that we'd just bring our 5th wheel and camp in the parking lot. My parents even decided to rent a motorhome so they could do that too, because being at the racetrack for 2 full days takes ALOT out of you, that even that one hour drive home is way too long. There were also a few other friends of ours who decided to campout too. So we're thinking a great weekend of racing, camping with our friends.. what can be better?!? Ummm apparently repeatedly stabbing yourself in the eye with sharp objects would have been a trip to effin Disneyland compared to what we went through.
It's not raining on Thursday night, so that works out ok, everybody is able to get parked and get a few laps of practice down and back to the campers without any moisture. However, Friday morning rolls around(mind you the day we're supposed to qualify and race) and the skys open up and it rains.... and it rains and it rains and it RAINS... ALL friggin day long. Everybody is wet, cold and exhausted and nobody at Nascar is calling a spade a spade and just calling the races off.. because live TV is involved (and there is another set of live TV races scheduled for Saturday) they were going to do everything it took to get our races on. So we sit around all day, up until about 7pm Friday night, when they finally say, "we're not racing tonight.. but don't go anywhere yet because the rain is supposed to subside in a few hours and we *MIGHT* practice and qualify tonight for tomorrows race. Meanwhile, my mom, who got tired of sitting around in the rain, decided to head back to the motorhome to stay warm. I get a call from her on my cell phone telling me that a man and a woman had walked into Michael and I's trailer... I instantly panicked! I went to Michael to tell him this and come to find out, one of his crew members(who is very immature and disrespectful) had decided to take some skanky ass girl back to another crew members motor home, parked by us, to do obviously more than share a soda and a hot dog and chat about lilies and daisies and the meaning of life. Apparently, (which I still stand by my story that I think this is bullshit... but whatever) they decided to check out our trailer and put her purse in there. I was livid... BEYOND livid! Talk about an invasion of privacy... and I don't want to be a hormonal judgmental bitch or anything, but I knew the skanky woman he brought back to our trailer and she is the appitemy of a dirty filthy whore. I truly believe that just her presence alone could cause you to break out in a case of gonorrhea or herpes. Needless to say, furious was not the word to describe how I felt about this situation. SO of course, Michael and I got into a fight over it, because I was "blowing the situation out of proportion" and said the only thing his friend was guilty of was not telling us he was going to walk into our trailer and that how dare I scold his friend. So what... Maybe I was blowing the whole thing out of proportion. Maybe if I hadn't been exhausted and sitting in the rain for 14 hours I might have been a little more receptive to the situation... or maybe had I not had such a profound dislike for the piece of trash that accompanied him into our trailer, I might not have blown such a gasket.... oh well... who's to say what would have happened, all that I know was that I was heated to the max over it all (in fact... I find as I am writing this my toes are starting to curl... which is an indication I get when I am really pissed off... so apparently the situation is STILL under my skin!!!) UGH! Blame it on my hormones or something.. yeah that's it. :-)
So along with the trailer fiasco Friday night, lack of sleep, more rain on Saturday and the fact that Nascar put our race LAST and only gave us 30 minutes for 53 cars to run 150 laps (which didn't work out too well, we only got 12 laps in) they called the race and said it was time to go home, and in fact, they were going to honor the finishing order of the 12 lap race (4 of those laps were the only green flag laps we had, the rest were under caution!) And considering it was a $10,000 purse, nobody thought it was fair that the declared winner, get to walk away with 10 grand for a measly 12 laps. So everybody at this point was pissed, filing protests, screaming at Nascar, threatening to sue.. it was a nightmare! On top of that, I, personally, had allowed myself to do entirely too much physical exertion over those long days at the racetrack, on limited sleep and limited food intake, so I was done. Every part of my body ached and I was ready to cry at the first person who looked at me wrong! When would this nightmare be over!!! So, unfortunately what was supposed to be an awesome weekend of racing turned into hell!! (Another reason why I am going to try to talk my kid out of racing and make him play football!!! LOL Although considering racing runs way too deep in his blood, between Michael and I, I have a feeling I might lose that battle!)
Well I suppose I've covered just about everything up till this point. Next time I write(because we all know I am a once a month-er) I'll be a married woman, so I am sure I'll have some interesting scoops to share about the wedding and all that jazz. Hopefully that'll go through with little no no hiccups! But of course... it wouldn't be me if there wasn't some sort of disaster happening... that's what makes my life so interesting right? LOL
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