The Darkest Secret by Gena Showalter
My favorite series by my favorite author who is releasing the newest book next week. YAY!!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
House part 4: boxes
Spurred by the thought of being out of our house in 2 to 3 weeks, I went box hunting this afternoon. Now some people just go to u-haul or home depot or some other moving company to get 'moving boxes'. But not us, we are broke in redneck fashion! I went dumpster diving to find boxes today. Most people in the US are like us and find boxes in this particular method. I am going to tell you where, on a Sunday afternoon, I had the best luck finding boxes. I hit the mother load in two places:
1. My Obgyn's office- doctors offices are good because most restock on Friday night or Saturday.
2. The Dollar Store- They put out the majority of their inventory on Sunday when its slower than the rest of the week. I found an entire city dumpster filled to the top with nothing but collapsed boxes at the dollar store today.
Other good places to look are liquor store (good strong boxes- also makes your new neighbors wonder if you are alcoholics!), grocery stores and fast food or restaurants.
Happy hunting!
1. My Obgyn's office- doctors offices are good because most restock on Friday night or Saturday.
2. The Dollar Store- They put out the majority of their inventory on Sunday when its slower than the rest of the week. I found an entire city dumpster filled to the top with nothing but collapsed boxes at the dollar store today.
Other good places to look are liquor store (good strong boxes- also makes your new neighbors wonder if you are alcoholics!), grocery stores and fast food or restaurants.
Happy hunting!
House Hunting Part 3: Paperwork
Oye-vey!! Lots and lots of paper work goes into buying a house. We went in on thursday evening to sign initial paperwork to get the ball rolling on buying the house a stack of paper about a 1/4 to a half inch of paper work! Then we gave them money- $1000 for ernest money in the form of a cashiers check which my bank so kindly charged me a $7 fee to print! Now that its been shipped I have been gathering all the paper work for the loan for the bank. Let me tell you what- more paper!! Two inches of paper at least for this part. 3 years worth of tax returns and full W-2's for the past 3 years, 2 months worth of bank statements for EVERY account you have, copies of driver's licenses and ss cards. The names addresses and phone numbers of evey employer for the past 3 years, the names phone and address of your landlords for the past 3 years and your address for the past 3 years. (Luckily for us we have lived in the same house under the same landlord for the past 6 years). Paycheck stubs and all other proof of income for the past 30 days.
And now the fun really begins. We will get word Monday morning that everything arrived safely to TX and when we do hear from them that starts our clock. We will have 15 days to get a home inspection, get the approval for the loan, and set a closing date. Which equals more money. $150 to HUD for the re-winterization (rediculous!) the water has to be turned back on for the inspection, and then in less then 2 weeks we will be moved in, but HUD is going to come back in after the inspection and re-winterize the piping. The inspectors will be about $200. All these fees add up in a hurry! But as soon as closing is done (with in 2-3 weeks from now) we will pick the first weekend and send our kids off with thier grandpa and start cleaning!! All of this means that technically we could be out of here by the first weekend in April!
And now the fun really begins. We will get word Monday morning that everything arrived safely to TX and when we do hear from them that starts our clock. We will have 15 days to get a home inspection, get the approval for the loan, and set a closing date. Which equals more money. $150 to HUD for the re-winterization (rediculous!) the water has to be turned back on for the inspection, and then in less then 2 weeks we will be moved in, but HUD is going to come back in after the inspection and re-winterize the piping. The inspectors will be about $200. All these fees add up in a hurry! But as soon as closing is done (with in 2-3 weeks from now) we will pick the first weekend and send our kids off with thier grandpa and start cleaning!! All of this means that technically we could be out of here by the first weekend in April!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
House Hunting part 2- Acceptance
Well they did not accept our bid of $85K, but rather came back with a counter offer of $91K and they will pay up to 3% at closing for closing costs. After some discussion we decided to accept their counter offer.
SOO...tomorrow I will be speaking with our loan person to have a letter of pre-approval sent over to the Realtor and I will be going to the bank and getting a cashiers check for $1000 for the earnest money payment.
I am freaking terrified. That's a lot of money and a BIG commitment! But a 5 bedroom 2 bath 2006 house on a 1/4 acre lot that's got the back yard completely fence with 6 foot privacy fence for $91K and only minor blemishes- how can we pass it up?! It will be an amazing adventure for us.
Luckily for you- I will be chronicling the adventure on here so everyone can join in!
SOO...tomorrow I will be speaking with our loan person to have a letter of pre-approval sent over to the Realtor and I will be going to the bank and getting a cashiers check for $1000 for the earnest money payment.
I am freaking terrified. That's a lot of money and a BIG commitment! But a 5 bedroom 2 bath 2006 house on a 1/4 acre lot that's got the back yard completely fence with 6 foot privacy fence for $91K and only minor blemishes- how can we pass it up?! It will be an amazing adventure for us.
Luckily for you- I will be chronicling the adventure on here so everyone can join in!
House hunting part 1
Well by now its no secret that we are looking for a house in a casually serious sort of way. We are mostly interested in HUD houses. We are not opposed to private owner sales either, but HUD is mostly whats in our price range. We need a big yard with at least 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
HUD houses tend to have things wrong with them that are fixable. And the pictures below are actually the second house we've been interested in buying. To go through WCDA for financing the house must be FHA insured, and the first one wasn't. So unless they change that we kept looking. The house below we made a very low offer on. We made the offer for 85K the asking price is 138K. But below are the things wrong with it besides being filthy! Also what you can't see is that it needs to be leveled badly. I will caption the pictures so you know what you are looking at...
This is the front 'porch' its leaning and the dirt work wasn't done correctly under it so its sort of sitting in a hole on the one side lol.
a piece of crown molding missing from the cupboard in the kitchen, an easy fix but still something we will have to pay for
Three cupboard doors torn off in the kitchen, and the fridge was taken out.
a piece of famica torn off one of the counters
torn/worn carpet in the master bedroom
small almost hole in the wall
cracked mirror in the master bathroom
piece of molding in the laundry room thats been warped and coming off
sorry this one is side ways. its the door way to the master bedroom missing the door
the access pannel in the laundry room wasn't quite right and will have to be fixed
missing molding in the laundry room, the washer must have leaked or overflowed at some point ruining the molding and doing some small damage to the sheet rock- an inspector will have to determine if its mold or just yucky.
crack in the ceiling from the house shifting and settling- fixable but a pain in the ass!
crack in the wall on the doorway to the kitchen- again fixable but kind of a pain
discoloration in the ceiling where that crack is. we think someone tried badly to patch it or paint over it, it doesnt look like water damage from a leaky roof- which was deemed ok by the first inspector
broken living room fan
broken hing in the second bathroom
carpet issue in one of the smaller bedrooms
broken window in one of the smaller rooms, luckily they are double pained, but it will still have to be replaced.
HUD houses tend to have things wrong with them that are fixable. And the pictures below are actually the second house we've been interested in buying. To go through WCDA for financing the house must be FHA insured, and the first one wasn't. So unless they change that we kept looking. The house below we made a very low offer on. We made the offer for 85K the asking price is 138K. But below are the things wrong with it besides being filthy! Also what you can't see is that it needs to be leveled badly. I will caption the pictures so you know what you are looking at...
This is the front 'porch' its leaning and the dirt work wasn't done correctly under it so its sort of sitting in a hole on the one side lol.
a piece of crown molding missing from the cupboard in the kitchen, an easy fix but still something we will have to pay for
Three cupboard doors torn off in the kitchen, and the fridge was taken out.
a piece of famica torn off one of the counters
torn/worn carpet in the master bedroom
small almost hole in the wall
cracked mirror in the master bathroom
piece of molding in the laundry room thats been warped and coming off
sorry this one is side ways. its the door way to the master bedroom missing the door
the access pannel in the laundry room wasn't quite right and will have to be fixed
missing molding in the laundry room, the washer must have leaked or overflowed at some point ruining the molding and doing some small damage to the sheet rock- an inspector will have to determine if its mold or just yucky.
crack in the ceiling from the house shifting and settling- fixable but a pain in the ass!
crack in the wall on the doorway to the kitchen- again fixable but kind of a pain
discoloration in the ceiling where that crack is. we think someone tried badly to patch it or paint over it, it doesnt look like water damage from a leaky roof- which was deemed ok by the first inspector
broken living room fan
broken hing in the second bathroom
carpet issue in one of the smaller bedrooms
broken window in one of the smaller rooms, luckily they are double pained, but it will still have to be replaced.
These are all relatively small issues but they will end up costing quite a bit. Just releveling the house will cost around $500. But it has 5 bedrooms, 2 baths and a large yard with tons of potential- we really liked this one and are hoping are first bid is accepted. We should find out within the next 4 hours or so. If not we will go a little higher, but not much considering all that needs done on it. Address is 2305 Wrangler Rd. which is out by the Cam-Plex.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Pepper's 9 month check up at 10 months and a sick Daisy
Today PJ had her 9 month check-up...on the day she turned 10 months. Well better late than never! So some stats from the doctor:
Weight: 22.1 lbs butt necked! Which is about the 90-95%
Length: 30.5 inches- this put way off the chart- even for a 10 month old!
PJ just went through a growth spurt this last week, I know this because last Monday I put her in a pair of pajamas for bed time, they fit just fine, and yesterday I put her in the same pair and her toes were crumpled up in the feet of them! She's forever growing and changing, she wants to walk but is scared to let go. She laughs at every thing and everyone. She started vocal mirroring lately. My favorite was when I called her Bam-Bam the other day and she said it back to me! She really is Bam-Bam, if its in her hand she will bang it on any hard available surface. She quite the little character and her doctor was surprised today at how strong she is. The bad news from that appointment is that there is still fluid in her ears (she had an ear infection a week ago) and if it doesn't clear in the next two weeks we will retreat with antibiotics and if that doesnt work then hi-ho hi-ho off to the audiologist (for an ear tube consult) we go! I really don't want another kid with ear problems because that means we would be 3 for 3. However, proper hearing IS important and we will do whatever we need to to make sure she can.
PJ just went through a growth spurt this last week, I know this because last Monday I put her in a pair of pajamas for bed time, they fit just fine, and yesterday I put her in the same pair and her toes were crumpled up in the feet of them! She's forever growing and changing, she wants to walk but is scared to let go. She laughs at every thing and everyone. She started vocal mirroring lately. My favorite was when I called her Bam-Bam the other day and she said it back to me! She really is Bam-Bam, if its in her hand she will bang it on any hard available surface. She quite the little character and her doctor was surprised today at how strong she is. The bad news from that appointment is that there is still fluid in her ears (she had an ear infection a week ago) and if it doesn't clear in the next two weeks we will retreat with antibiotics and if that doesnt work then hi-ho hi-ho off to the audiologist (for an ear tube consult) we go! I really don't want another kid with ear problems because that means we would be 3 for 3. However, proper hearing IS important and we will do whatever we need to to make sure she can.
A sick any kid is not fun, but a sick Daisy is even worse. I love my middle child dearly- she's like my mini-me- but she is the whinniest one of the 3 so far and now that she's been sicks its been aweful! I have been cutting her some slack because of the fever she's been running. It started Friday when she woke up and lasted until Sunday, no fever yesterday but it came back today. Not to mention the constant river of snot. I had James take her to the walk-in clinic on Sunday afternoon where after waiting for over 2 hours he was told she had an upper respiratory infection. Well, I didn't think that was the right diagnosis for her problem so I took her with me to PJ's appt. today and sure enough she has Influenza B. So her pedi started her on Tamiflu. I am hoping that this doesn't have much for side effects for her. I know some people don't do very well on it. She will be staying home the rest of the week and I feel like a total heel having to take her with me to school everyday to drop Baylie off, but I don't have much choice. I sure hope she feels better soon!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)