Yeah, yeah, yeah....

My mom was giving me a hard time since it's been two whole weeks since my last blog. I haven't written because it's been stressful and I didn't want to bore or annoy anyone with the details. But since you guys apparently want to know, here ya go!

As you all know, we got the house that we bid on , and Pete and I are more and more excited to move in with each passing day! Unbeknownst to us, when we got pre-approved it was for having just that house and not the one we currently own. That meant that we had to get approved all over again, but this time for two mortgages (since our house just hit the market a week and a half ago and isn't sold yet). Since the housing market is pretty much in the tank we had to jump through a few hoops to get our financing together and pretty much couldn't spend a penny for about a week. For those of you who know me well, that's hard! I couldn't even get groceries!

Then we had inspection on the new house last week. They went VERY well, but getting the utilities turned on was a feat in itself. Since the house was winterized, they didn't want us to turn on the water. And since the water was off, the gas company wouldn't turn on the gas because then the hot water heater would explode. They didn't let me know they couldn't turn it on without water until after I canceled at the last minute with one of my kids to I could be at the house because they wanted someone there (We'll be there between 8 and 5, but it will actually be at the precise moment that you are busy). Then, our real estate agent Ben finally convinced the bank to let us turn on the water. I called to turn it on and it turned out that the previous tenants had a $535 unpaid water bill. They wanted a letter from the title company stating that they would pay the bill at closing. I got that, and when I drove down to the Water Utility company they said it wasn't right. This paragraph could continue to go on and on, but I'll spare you the re-frickin-diculous details. It seemed as though just as soon as we solved one problem, another one cropped up. Keep in mind they were all mild and fixable, but it was annoying as they just kept piling up. At the eleventh hour I managed to get all but the gas turned on for inspections. I'm so glad that ordeal is over.

Also, we're in the midst of selling our house. Every time a realtor calls, I have to pack up all the kids I watch and head over to the park or something so they can have the house to themselves while they're touring it. Thank goodness the weather is nice! I also have to keep the house impeccably clean. We've had a number of people tour the house, and we've had offers from two sets of buyers. Neither of them were all that great, so we're holding out since it's only been just over a week. We just countered one of them last night, so we'll see. I just want this stupid house to sell so I can relax and not worry about whether my bed is made or the wood floors are shiny enough.

To top off the stress list I'm NOT PREGNANT YET! What the hell? We've officially had three tries. Yeah, I know lots of women take longer on their first try. But I'm not one of them. This should be easy, right? I've done every last thing the stupid books say, and its just not working. To add insult to injury, EVERYONE around me is getting pregnant and they aren't even trying. It's seriously aggravating. Plus, I'm due to ovulate again in two weeks, and I'll be in Phoenix while Pete's in Albuquerque. So, that's at least another month before we can even try again. I do all the things you're supposed to do. I take pre-natal vitamins, I keep meticulous records of dates that different bodily functions are occurring (I'll spare you the details), I eat right, I gave up soda pop, I've seen the doctor for my physical. The whole shebangibang. Needless to say, I'm irritated. I know, I know... stress should be kept to a minimum...keep it fun and don't fixate on it...blah blah blah! Well, I wasn't even a little bit stressed for the first two tries, and I was only mildly irritated for the last one. I'm pretty sure I'm just wigging out because of a combination of things, and I'll be just fine once we're all moved in and our house is sold. I just wonder why I spent all those years on birth control!

Well, there you go. The tirade that I was going to spare my small but loyal audience is laid out for all to enjoy! Sorry, folks. It was nice to vent, though!

We got the house!

For those avid readers of my blog-y blog, you already know that I wanted to get a new house. Well, the house we wanted was foreclosed on, so it was super cheap. The only thing was that the bank was basically doing a silent auction for the house. If we bid on it, we wouldn't know if anyone else was bidding too, or how much. So, after much discussion, we decided to play it Price is Right style. We bid one dollar over the asking price. That way if some other yahoo bid the asking price we would beat them. And we did!

After a little bit of paperwork, Pete and I will be the proud owner of a three bedroom, two bath, two-car garage, 1,500 sq foot house! It closes on April 17th.

We had our real-estate agent, Ben Levine (who is amazing by the way), come over and do a market analysis of our home by looking up homes that sold in the area over the past year and comparing them to our home and its amenities. Now, keep in mind that we bought this house for $96K just over a year ago. It was crap and we spruced it up quite a bit. After touring our house and doing his homework, he thinks we can list it for $129,900. He also said that while there are a zillion houses on the west side at this price point, ours pretty much stands alone in this area because we're in a desirable location. While my neighborhood is kinda in the campus ghetto, the key word there is campus. There are a lot of po folks such as myself who want to live near school. They are my target market. Apparently, my house should sell pretty fast. This area hasn't really been effected by the dump in the housing market. The house next door sold before it even hit the market two weeks ago. Let's hope mine does the same!

That said, if you know anyone in the Albuquerque area looking for a two bedroom, two bath, two-story house in the campus ghetto that's in pretty good condition, you should send them our way. Better yet, they can contact our selling agent, Ben. He is really a really nice guy, and he knows his shtuff. I'll post a link to our listing once our house hits the market this Sunday evening.

Here are some pictures that I've taken throughout our time in the house. I'd put updated ones, but my camera is broken. Show your friends!








Keep in mind I've stained the fence since this picture was taken.

Wish us luck in our new adventure selling our home!!!

New Job/House (maybe)

I was driving home yesterday, and the street I normally drive on was under construction. I was diverted to a nearby residential area where I saw a house for sale with an open house sign out front. I drove past it thinking how cute it was (and more importantly how it had a garage). When i got home, I told Pete about it and asked if he wanted to go look at it just for fun. He agreed it would be fun. We were bored. The house was cute enough, but nothing special. We talked to the real estate guy and told him that we were thinking we would probably move within the next year or so. We just chit-chatted about what was out there in the price range we were looking for (180,000ish). Nothing that he had at hand seemed really all that great, so he gave us his card and recommended a website for nm homes.

I went home and started perusing the houses when lo and behold, the exact house I'm looking for leapt up at me....and for well below our budget. It was a three bedroom, two bath with a two car garage in a well-established and decent part of town. The layout looked really nice and open, and nobody was living there. I showed Pete, and once again we decided to go do a drive-by just for fun. We seriously weren't looking for a home at all.


We went and peeked into the windows and OH MY GOODNESS. It is exactly the house we are looking for, only well below our budget. We wanted something with a really good layout, but with crappy out of date stuff in it so it would be cheap and we could fix it up. Besides, we probably would have ripped out the newer stuff in the house anyways. We might at well get some equity out of the deal. Check out that orange kitchen! HOT! Now we are seriously considering the move. Our mortgage will only go up a couple hundred dollars, if that. Which brings us to part two of this lovely blog...Pete's new job.

Pete will be graduating in May with his MBA. It's already been established that there's really no way for Pete to get promoted unless somebody dies, so he's been looking around for something new. Well, he applied for one of these said jobs on Sunday night, and Monday morning got an enthusiastic call back. They did a phone interview, and said they'd like to meet with him in person this week. They told him that he is pretty much everything they are looking for and more. Hopefully he'll get the job, because it'll mean a $10-15k raise. Woo-hoo!

I wasn't really looking forward to staying in Albuquerque. It's all right and everything, I just have no family here which sucks. I already spent 4 years in the military isolated from family, and I don't particularly want to do it again voluntary. However, Pete LOVES it here. I figure I'll stick it out for a while, but it would royally suck to have no family around with little kids (as I'm sure Erica can relate to). Where am I supposed to dump the kids at a moment's notice so I can go regain my sanity? Sheesh.

A picture's worth a thousand words

1. Go to www.photobucket.com (don't sign in)
2. Type in your answer to the question in the "search" box
3. Copy the html of your favorite picture and paste for the answer

Question #1
What's your first name?



#2
What is your relationship status?


#3
What is your favorite color?


#4
Who is your celebrity crush?

#5

What band are you listening to right now?


#6
What is your favorite movie?


#7
Who is your favorite character from said favorite movie?


#8
Name an alcoholic beverage.


#9
Where is your dream vacation to?


#10
What is your favorite dessert?


#11
What do you want to be when you grow up?
I typed in "Mommy" and this came up!

#12

What do you love most in life?


#13
Name one word to describe yourself.


#14
What is you future mode of transportation?


#15
Favorite food?


#16
What's your middle name?
I don't have one.


#17
If you could be any where in the world where would you be?

#18

Favorite cartoon character?

#19

What's something funny?


#20
Something you can't live without is?