Raise Your Head Up, Lift High the Load Take Strength From Those that Need You Build High the Walls, Build Strong the Beams

This house was built the same year I was born. When we had a general contractor come over to look at the house, his first reaction was: "Wow, I hope you guys got a really good deal on this place." It was that bad. He then went on to explain how at twenty-five, things just break. It's an age where everything just falls apart and stops working. I told him my birthday was in a few weeks and I was taking that personally.

But he was right. Our house was an REO, meaning it was a foreclosure. It had been a rental for several years before that. So, imagine a house with twenty-five year old carpet, that had several renters in and out. Now imagine these renters are teenage partying boys with no personal hygiene. Now picture that the carpet wasn't installed right in the first place, and was fraying, coming up and just all over gross. It was the kind of carpet that made you sick to look at. It was bad.

Master Bedroom before:

Master Bedroom after: 

Guest Room Before:

After:

Drek's office before:

Drek's office after:

The Hallway before:

After:

There was also the scary carpet in the front room:

We decided not to put carpet back down. Instead, we ripped up the carpet in the front room:

gathered supplies:
and did the laminate ourselves. We had a laminate-laying party one night and got HUGE help from our friends. Drek finished it the next day.

Beautiful, no?

Laundry Room:

We tore up the carpet in the laundry room:

and Drek installed the new floor. We moved the washer in:

Cleaned up and fixed the desk:

And then Drek installed cupboards!

It Stands To Reason We Deserve It Too

I feel kinda sorry for Birthdays. People have such high expectations for birthdays, they are measured with such high standards and that must be stressful for them. They have so much to live up to; always in the shadow of that first big grand birthday when a tiny baby is given the miracle of life. It's hard to top that, or even match that. A day can be a normal day, or even a better than average day, but if that day is a birthday, it's a bad birthday.

The actual day of my birthday was actually quite awful: a horrible day by any standards. So I won't even try to measure it with birthday standards. Instead, I'm going to focus on the day a few days before me birthday, which was a fantastic day. When measured with birthday standards it comes out on top: one of the best birthdays ever. That was the day I learned that my friends are first-rate actresses.

A trip was planned to visit the Gardens. I was invited and wanted to go, so I went. To my delight, everyone else decided to come too! It's very rare that we get all four of us on an outing with all the children in tow. The gardens were beautiful, everyone seemed to be having a great time and I took some fun pictures:



Once we got to a good picnic spot I lined up all eight of the children (fifteen months to six years) and tried to get a picture with all of them looking at the camera, which is no small feat. I was so busy concentrating I didn't realize the adults sneaking up behind me with balloons and a birthday cake. I turned around and everyone yelled surprise! I was stunned! I had no idea this outing was by birthday party! It was the very first successfull surprise party (and second attempted) I've ever had. It was amazing. I really had no idea, that's how good my friends are at acting. Really. Hollywood better watch out.

Something About Tentacles, Got It. On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!

Well, I'm twenty-five today.

For a long time I would mistakenly group myself in the "teenage" category. When I saw a teenager walking around I would describe them as "my age" even though I was twenty three and twenty four. I just still felt like a teenager, I guess. Several months ago someone asked me how old I was an my first instinct was to reply "Nineteen." But I stopped myself and answered with the correct answer.

Sometimes I still feel really young, like when my real estate agent offered my champagne; It took me a second to realize I actually was old enough to drink it. But for the most part, I now think of myself as an adult. I should; After all, I'm married, I have a toddler, I own a home, a car, and a retirement account. I have bills to pay and meals to plan, shop for, and cook. I know all sorts of boring things about car insurance and health insurance. That's an adult, right?

I think the hardest part of being an adult is that people expect me to pay attention when they are talking about boring things. Adults don't really expect teenagers or children to listen, but they assume adults are listening. I've had to catch myself a few times: "Self! Pay attention! He's talking about which forms you need to send to buy this house! This is important!" or "Self! This guy is talking about how to get your car fixed after the wreck! You need to know this!"

Even worse is when other adults want boring information out of me.

Real adult: "So why hasn't your house closed"

Me: "The lender is lazy."

Real Adult: "No, really. What exactly is going on?"

Me: "Well, the lending agent mistaking thought that once her job was over, we could close immediately, but really, after the lending agent, the paperwork has to go through a closing agent, then the title company, then back to the closing agent, then back to the title company, then we can sign, then the title company and the closing agent have to agree on the closing fees, APR, interest rate, and concessions, then it can be submitted to the county, and twenty-four hours later we can record. After that we can officially close and get the keys. Aren't you impressed that I know so many big and important words?"

Real Adult: "So are you still in escrow? What stage are you in?"

Me: "Does this seriously interest you? Because it's my house we are talking about and I'm already asleep. Oh, look! Something shiny!"

But most of the time I think other adults are just as board as I am, they are just being polite while I am pretending to be an adult. Sigh.

But I know I am an adult now, because subjects that I used to find boring, I now devour. Last week NPR (Yes, I listen to NPR. See how adult I am?) broadcasted a segment on taxes, and I turned it up and parked so I could pay close attention to what they were saying. I was very interested in what they were saying, but at the same time I was making fun of myself (Taxes? Really?). I am now immensly interested in budgets, both mine, my states, and the government budget. I love to hear how other people budget, what they budget for and how much, and in what way the government has failed to budget this quarter. Where did that interest come from?

And to top it all off, I am now old enough to rent a car. For a while there I was trusted with a child, a cat, a household, a mortgage and a bank account, but I could not be trusted with a rental car. Odd.

So, in conclusion: I'm twenty-five! I am not upset (is not getting upset over birthdays a maturity thing?). In fact, I am glad I am twenty-five. It sounds like a nice age to be.

I Know That the Drop Off is Desirable With the Great Schools and the Amazing View and All, But Do We Really Need so Much Space?

Okay, so you might have caught on that the pictures are not of our new house. They are actually pictures of Celebrity's mansions. That's Charlize Theron's Bedroom, Justin Long's Kitchen, Mel Gibson's backyard...yeah, you get the idea.

But, we did actually close on our house yesterday. We met our real estate agent at our new house and he got out of his car filming us with his iphone and holding a bottle of champagne to celebrate the big moment. As he walked toward us with the champagne a whole conversation ran through my head:

AAAAHHH!! He's offering me Alcohol! What do I do? What do I do?! Okay, Don't panic. Stay calm. He obviously thinks I am an adult. Oh wait, I just bought a house. I am an adult. Should I tell him I don't drink? How about I just smile an accept it graciously. Okay. Go.

This coming a few days after this conversation with Drek:

Drek: "If we close while I am on my business trip you might just want to rent a U-haul and start moving some boxes over by yourself."

Me: "I can't rent a U-haul."

Drek: "Why not?"

Me: "You have to be twenty-five. I'm too young. They won't let me drive. I can't rent a car either."

More about that weird age thing next week. But this post is about the house: We now own a house. We have the keys. We are moving on Monday. The carpet is being installed today and Monday. I'll post before and after pictures when it's all done and then you can see how very different those pictures are from the pictures I posted yesterday.

So, anyone know any good recipes for cooking with Champagne?

Home Sweet Home

Great News!! We got the call today that our house is finally our house. Phew! Never doing that again.

But, anyway. I thought I better post the photos of the house up on my blog. So here is the photo tour of our new house!

The entryway:

The house we bought is an REO, meaning it was sold as-is. So all the furniture is included.

My favorite room, the kitchen:
(Don't you just love the double range oven and huge kitchen island?

The bedroom:
Very simple: only one fireplace, nothing to elaborate.

But the bathroom is perfect, don't you think?
To the left is the walk in shower.

The backyard:
and last but no least, the pool room:

Do you like it?

Yesterday I got a call from a member of our lender's "Customer Dissatisfaction Team." Hey, here's a tip: If your lender has a whole team devoted to correcting mistakes and smoothing over angry customers, and that company would rather pay that team rather than just have capable employees avoiding dissatisfied customers, that might be a good sign to avoid that company entirely.

And it's still not over. At the beginning of this house buying nightmare, I was assigned an agent from the lender to work with. I worked with her until last week, when I started working with her boss, because she was so entirely incompetent. And by that, I mean twenty days AFTER she was supposed to have all her work done, she gave up and gave the work to her boss. I had actually spoken to her boss before and he didn't seem any better at his job than she was at hers. But since he was higher up the ladder, I thought he could help. I was wrong. Three days after their final deadline (which they did not make because...well, I don't know why they won't do their jobs. They procrastinate? They really hate paperwork? I have no idea what is taking them so long) He left a message on my voice mail:

"Would you contact the title company? I haven't got anything back from them for the for the final settlement statement, I've tried contacting them several times this morning and they just aren't responding. They really are slowing this whole process down. If you could call them and get on that, that would help things speed along."

Yeah. Besides his blatent attempt to pass the blame to someone else, the problem was a time difference: The title company wasn't open yet. It was too early in the morning. And why couldn't he have "tried contacting them several times" the day before?

After that I started working with his boss, who is a bit more helpful.

This morning I called the title company to ask if we had a closing date yet. She responded that they needed one more thing approved by the lender, and the lender wasn't responding. At this point, I lost it. Instead of calling the lender, I called my real estate agent. In between flashes of rage, hopelessness and desperation, I left him a message about how I refused to ever talk to anyone from the lender again, and how it was like having a ten year old child who won't do their homework. I informed him I would no longer call them to coax them into doing their own job, that I was done trying, and if that meant we didn't get the house than I didn't want the house. Period.

An hour later I call back from my real estate agent, who apparenly had taken pity on me and called the lender to go on a yelling spree with good results: We are funded (a big step in the right direction) we finally have a last possible day to close (for real this time) and there is even a chance we will have the keys to our new house tomorrow. Yes, that's right: tomorrow. Cross your fingers.

Fires of Besowin

Did you know you can go read novels on Amazon for free? You can go read the first three thousand words of the novels entered into the Amazon Breakthrough competition. I recommend this novel:

http://www.amazon.com/Fires-of-Besowin-ebook/dp/B004TEYGXA/

It is awesome.

So remember how I said that after seven months of looking, I found a house I wanted to buy? I changed my mind. I don't want to buy that house anymore. I don't want to buy any house anymore. Ever.

This has been the wost experience of my life. At first it started off as stressful, but exciting; There big decisions to be made, but Drek and I handled them and it looked like things were moving along. It was the first of March that things rapidly went downhill. We were supposed to have an answer from our lender on March 7. After weeks of me calling them DAILY, leaving messages, emailing, begging, threatening, pleading, flattering, blackmailing (okay, I'm exaggerating on that last one) they FINALLY gave us an answer on March 22. Two weeks and a day late. The answer was positive though: we got the loan! The house was ours! Or not: See, when we signed the offer, the seller had us sign that March 25th was the very last day we could close, or we couldn't buy the house. Basically, they gave us so many days to get our act together, and if we couldn't, then they didn't want to work with us.

Well, it wasn't us who couldn't get our act together. For over a month we have been waiting on the lender. For over a month they have done...nothing. They are entirely incompetent. They failed their goal of closing on the 25th. Miserably. In fact, today is the 29th and we STILL haven't closed. We are STILL waiting on the lender. Even worse, their only answer this whole time, starting the first week in March, was "We're working on it! We'll get it done as soon as possible!" So we still don't have any idea when we'll close. Best guess is Friday. An even better guess is two months from now, or when pigs fly.

This whole time we've been waiting on them. This whole time we keep thinking that we'll close "in just a few days". So this whole time we've scheduled plumbers, contractors and carpet guys to come fix our house, but we keep having to reschedule because we still don't own it. We've reserved U-hauls and had people lined up to help us move, but have had to cancel because don't have a place to move to. This whole time I've been packing, and then repacking because I don't know when we are actually moving.

Up until March 24th, we didn't know if the seller would still work with us. Since we signed an agreement that said we would close by March 25, we didn't know if they would back out. Last week, on March 24th, things were really bad. Here was the scene:

We told our landlords we would be out of our apartment on March 25 (because we thought we would have an answer on March 7, close on March 11, fix up the house and then have plenty of time to move our stuff over to the new house in a nice, relaxed fashion. Hah) and our lender was still telling us that they could make the deadline and we would close on March 25 and get the keys that same day. We asked our landlords if we could stay just one more day. They said yes! So we told the contractors to come on Friday to make the house livable, then we rented a U-haul for March 26th. We asked people to help us move and lay the flooring on the tht same day. Everything was ready to go. BUT, I still believe the lenders. They had been telling the same thing for three weeks! I didn't think we would close on the 25th, and I didn't think the sellers would still work with us after that, but we had to be out of our apartment...

So I went looking around at other apartments. I found a great place with a floorplan I liked. I called them up and asked if we showed up on the 26th with a U-haul could we move in? They said yes, so I didn't cancel the U-haul or the help. I figured I was moving, I just didn't know if I was moving into a house that I owned, or an apartment that we were renting.

Well, I was right that the lender wouldn't make it, but I was wrong about the seller. The seller gave us an extension: on the night of March 24th the seller said they would still work with us, IF we closed before April. So now our closing date is in April. Can we still buy the house? I don't know.

I wish we had moved into that apartment. I don't want the house anymore. This whole thing is a nightmare. I would rather rent the rest of my life then ever go through this again, or go through it now. I would rather live in a cardboard box under a bridge then go through this.

So, here is my recommendation to you: If you want to buy a house, save up money in a fancy briefcase. When you think you have enough, find a house you like, knock on the door, and tell the owner you will give them the briefcase full of money if they will vacate the premise within two weeks. That might be better. Maybe.

Candy Doesn't Have to Have a Point. That's Why It's Candy

It's been cold here and very wet. Yesterday it was a bit sunnier so we decided to go have a little beach side fire with tinfoil dinners and marshmallows.
The recipe was a bit new:

Two Ritz crackers + 2 mini chocolate kisses

roast a marshmallow and sandwich it in between. It is both salty, and sweet.
It's very good. Although, I tried it with a gingerbread-flavored marshmallow and liked it even more. It was like Christmas in my mouth. We might have to start roasting marshmallows on Christmas eve.

And then we heard sea lions barking, so we went to investigate:
They were sleeping, so they let us get really, really close to take pictures. Not close enough to touch, but still, I was only a few feet away:

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday in March.

You Know, I Care About My Carbon Footprint, but Most People Out There are Making Carbon Snow Angels

Confession: When I was little (like, ten) I wanted my future husband to be a carpenter so he could build my daughters a dollhouse. Okay, it might have been so he could build me a dollhouse. I've always wanted a wooden dollhouse. I'm not sure if my obsession started with reading The Dollhouse Murders, but I do remember loving that book and reading it several times (I was a very morbid child). When my mom would go to the craft store, I would spend hours in the miniatures aisle dreaming about each tiny piece of furniture and how I would fit it into my dream doll house.

Anyway. A few weeks ago I went looking on Craigslist and came across an ad for a consignment sale. I had heard of them, but wasn't quite sure what they were, so I checked it out. Here is it in a nutshell: I go through my kid's clothes and toys and take out anything with rips, stains, or anything faded. The remaining stuff I tag and drop off. My stuff is sold alongside everyone else's stuff. I get 60% of my profits. At the end of the time, I go back and pick up everything that didn't sell. It's like a garage sale, but you have a lot more prep work and you don't have to sit there and sell stuff; that part is done for you.

I love the idea. Buy stuff for cheap, sell old stuff and get some cash. It's a lot easier to find the clothes I want because the selection is huge, and all of it is like-new condition. It's just as great as shopping in a store, except everything is cheap, I'm giving my money to moms instead of big corporations, AND it's not new, so it's better for the planet, the economy, my wallet and...well, everyone wins.

And, since you are selling stuff, you get to go in before the general public and see if there is anything you want to buy from other sellers. This is where I bought Ash's pants. I also bought a few dresses, a few books, a few toys, and...

This:

A wooden dollhouse. I know! I know! It was a silly purchase. My kid is way too young, and it's just taking up space and blah blah blah. But I've always wanted a wooden dollhouse and look how perfect it is:
It opens up, the roof comes off, all the shutters and doors open and close, and there was even some cute little furniture pieces:

Oh, I love it.

(Isn't my quote so clever?!)

So Long Thy Power Hath Blest Me, Sure it Still Will Lead Me On

About five years ago, or is it six? How old am I? Too old. Anyway. A while ago, in March, I decided my life...well, sucked. I was miserable. I wasn't doing what I wanted to be doing and when I asked myself what I wanted to be doing in five or six years, I could clearly see that my life was not headed in that direction. What did I want? I wanted to be married to a great guy who loved me. I wanted a baby I could sing to sleep with Primary hymns and lullabies. I wanted to have peace. I wanted to have hope. I wanted to find happiness.

So I changed. I changed a lot. I cut off ties, I made new ones, I dropped bad habits and tried to start new, better ones. A big part of that change was to go back to church, a place I had not been in a year. I needed directions on how to get where I wanted to be, and I thought going to church could help. I remember how tough that first year was. I wasn't sure of myself, I had a very, very hard time sitting through church meetings and I spent a lot of time trying to distract myself. But I kept at it. I healed a lot. I changed a lot. I grew a lot. Church did help. The gospel gave me those directions, encouraged me, helped me, guided me. Somewhere along the line I could actually sit through three hours of church meetings. Somewhere along the line I started wanting to go to church.

And then, today, as I sat in Sacrament meeting with my awesome, super-good-looking husband who loves me and my beautiful, perfect little baby whom I sing to sleep at night with lullabies and Primary hymns, I realized something: Oh my gosh, I made it. I'm here. This is what I wanted all those years ago. I wanted to sit here, just like I am, and want to be in church. I wanted to listen to the speaker and be blown away by the peace, love and happiness I felt. I wanted to feel the spirit so strong that I knew, without a doubt, that God loves me, personally. The speaker today gave such an amazing talk, And yet, I'm not sure if it was that his talk was really that awesome, or if I was just finally ready.

I can't even express how grateful I am for what I have. I can't begin to express how much I love the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I can't begin to tell you how much peace, hope, love and true happiness it has brought me. It is amazing. A true miracle.

Find Places of Worship Near You

What a Plan. Simple, Yet Insane

Seldom have I encountered a situation with less solutions than the situations that parenting brings everyday. No...that's not quite right. Seldom have I encountered a situation with more solutions than the situations that parenting brings everyday. That's the frustrating thing: There are too many solutions to each tiny little problem.

Example:

Problem: Toddler will not eat carrots.

Solution: Just cook them with brown sugar and butter and they will gobble them right up!

Solution: A toddler's taste buds need to adapt to new food; keep giving her plain, raw carrots until her taste buds adapt and she will love them! Adding butter and brown sugar will only make her always HAVE to have brown sugar and butter.

Solution: She's not ready for carrots. Try again in a few weeks. Until then, don't give her any carrots so the novelty will make the appealing.

Solution: If she doesn't eat them for lunch, offer them to her as a snack, and then for dinner, and then as breakfast, until she's eaten her carrots.

Solution: It's because she's been psychologically traumatized by carrots. Don't offer her any carrots of any form ever, she'll learn to accept them when she's ready; on her own terms.

Solution: You're vegetarian? Not eating carrots is her way of rebelling against you. Think of it as her pre-teen rebellion. Give her a thick slab of red meat. That will dissolve the issue so she can eat carrots without betraying her cause.

Solution: She's asserting her power. Give her a choice between carrots and peas. If she chooses peas, don't make her eat carrots.

Solution: Carrots aren't in season right now, she doesn't like them because it goes against her internal clock. You shouldn't be offering non-season vegetables to her.

Solution: You're the parent. She's the child. She needs to listen when you tell her to eat her carrots. FORCE HER.

Solution: She has some sort of allergy to carrots. She feels bad when she eats them, so she's learned not to eat them. You should trust her.

Solution: Have her eat one bite for every year she is old.

Solution: Forcing children to eat food, even one bite, gives them eating disorders. Never push food on children.

Solution: If you eat your carrots, your child will eat her carrots.

Solution: You never gave her raw carrots as an infant because she didn't have teeth. She sees you eating carrots and assumes carrots are adult food. If you stop eating them, she will start eating them.

Solution: It's because she has anxiety at the dinner table. Are there problems at home?

Solution: You should read books and watch movies about eating carrots! Monkey see, monkey do!

Solution: She's not getting enough sleep and night and is too exhausted to chew raw carrots. You need to adjust her sleep schedule so she has energy to eat.

Solution: It's because you are a bad parent. If you were a better parent, she would be a better toddler. Obviously.

And even if I pick a solution, and she does start eating carrots, I don't know if I picked the right one, if it was just a phase and she would have done it on her own, or if I made the wrong choice and have now damaged her beyond repair.

It's just so frustrating! Why isn't there one simple answer? Why isn't there a "how to raise your child step-by-step" with pictographs? Why can't my toddler tell me the reason she isn't eating carrots so I can make an informed decision? Why is it that the more information I gather the harder parenting becomes?

A Stranger is a Friend You Just Haven't Met Yet

Top o' the mornin' to ya!

Wake up, get dressed in my shirt with an Irish flag. Eat a traditional Irish breakfast:

Decorate the house for a small celebration:



Eat a dinner of Irish Stew and Soda bread (my best batch yet!) with friends and family. Play a few game, including one where green dice are rolled and if you get doubles, you have to hurry and get dressed in leprachan clothes and eat an entire pixie stick (an orange one of course) before someone else rolls doubles.

End the day by following little leprachan footprints to a pot of delicious gold.

I Bake Pies and Wake the Dead. I Live a Very Sheltered Life

Ah, pi day. I decided to keep it low-key this year; no parties, or pie eating contests. Next year we'll do that.

This year I made Shepard's pie for our main dish, sweet potato puff pie for our side dish, and cherry cream pie for dessert. I also invited a few friends over for dessert and they brought pies to share! So for dessert we also had a homemade apple pie and a a homemade coconut cream pie. Yum!

This is the third time I've made the sweet potato puff pie. I LOVE it. It is seriously delicious. But then again, I love sweet potatoes, so yeah.
Sweet Potato Puff Pie

3 cups mashed, cooked sweet potatoes (from a scant two pounds)
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter (if the potatoes aren't hot, melted in the microwave in 10-second increments)
4 eggs
1 tsp rum extract (if you're feeling daring)
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix all the ingredients in a medium bowl with an electric mixer. Transfer into a buttered pie dish. Bake for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean

C'mon. Let's Go See How Much We're Going for on eBay

I held my very first yard sale ever yesterday. It went well, I think. Since we live in an apartment, I put all the stuff on the corner of the apartment complex, which is on a main road, so we had a lot of people stop. It was a nice warm day and the sun was shining so much that I got pretty sunburned. It was a good way to spend a morning.

I sold my stuffed animal skunk collection. I've been collecting stuffed animal skunks ever since I decided the skunk was my favorite animal. I had just under twenty different skunks. I only kept a few: one is a puppet that I thought Ash would like, one is a skunk costume that comes in handy every halloween and two are little glass skunk figurines that my mom had when she was a child. I sold all the rest. They were sold to different but all of them sold. The last two to be sold were my favorite two. I had them priced higher than the rest. A little girl around six years old saw them and asked her grandma for them. She only had two dollars, which was the price of one of them, but I sold them both to her for two dollars. She seemed really excited. It was very "Toy Story 3" moment for me. I hope she takes good care of them. I hope they are happy with her, since with me they only take up space in the bottom of the toy bin and never get played with.