On April 20th we looked at the first batch of houses. 6 of them. The 7th was on a crappy part of the lake so we didn't even bother.
I'm not going to describe these houses in detail because it would just take too long but we named them ala House Hunters.
House 1: Rope railings, close to hospital
House 2: Neighbor to rope railings, gas station bathroom, moldy basement
House 3: Huge yard, awkward layout upstairs and downstairs, steep elevation, ugly.
House 4: Across the street from the murder warehouse, nice yard, closet for a bedroom
House 5: Our house
House 6: The dam sink house
The first three were terrible. Nothing that we could even reno to make it better. They just weren't going to work.
House 4 could work if we could have gutted the basement and then turned it into 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Turned the master bedroom upstairs into a playroom, the 2nd "bedroom" upstairs into an office, and then reno'd the kitchen. Sounds like a lot of work because it would have been. Plus it has this weird warehouse across the street where I think they could hide bodies.
House 5. Ahh, 5. Walked in and loved it. Loved the location. It needs some updating. There are a few projects that we'd want to do over time, but we both really like this house. A pipe froze in the kitchen over the winter but the owners were taking care of that as well as redoing a bathroom. We wanted to know more about the not quite completed projects.
House 6. Sinks galore. Kitchen was a total gut job. I hated the location, Itchy liked it. Didn't matter since we both wanted 5.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Monday, May 27, 2013
We're hunting houses
Shhh, be verwy, verwy quiet we're hunting houses. Don't want to scare them off.
Like I said before, we're finally looking for a house. I feel like this needs to be documented so I am making an effort to blog about it.
We moved here in 2010. We stupidly thought we'd stay in our rental for 6 months and then buy a house. We are dumb. It doesn't work like that. Neither one of us had had a job since 2006. No bank (except those in Nigeria) would even talk to us (again the Nigerians were willing to deal if we gave them our SSN, full names, bank account numbers). So we waited. And waited. We looked at houses online at least once a week. Mocked the ugly ones, picked out paint colors for the ones we liked. For TWO AND A HALF YEARS. Which brings us to April 2013.
We got our 2012 taxes done as soon as we could. Delays happened because of the accountant, but whatever. Once we had that in hand we talked to the bank. They pre-approved us for much less than we were expecting. Insert sad face. We look at the hospital like it's a huge asset. They see it as a huge liability.
Well, we took our disappointment to the best realtor's office in town. Ok, the only one in town. We told him what we wanted and he started working on a list. It's a short list. We have a long list of demands.
1. Location. It has to be on the lake. With a low to mid elevation. On a good part of the lake. This narrowed our search substantially.
Our demand for at least 3 bedrooms (preferably on the same level) and 2 bathrooms (or potential to add a bathroom) made things even more difficult.
Our realtor found us 7 homes to look at.
Like I said before, we're finally looking for a house. I feel like this needs to be documented so I am making an effort to blog about it.
We moved here in 2010. We stupidly thought we'd stay in our rental for 6 months and then buy a house. We are dumb. It doesn't work like that. Neither one of us had had a job since 2006. No bank (except those in Nigeria) would even talk to us (again the Nigerians were willing to deal if we gave them our SSN, full names, bank account numbers). So we waited. And waited. We looked at houses online at least once a week. Mocked the ugly ones, picked out paint colors for the ones we liked. For TWO AND A HALF YEARS. Which brings us to April 2013.
We got our 2012 taxes done as soon as we could. Delays happened because of the accountant, but whatever. Once we had that in hand we talked to the bank. They pre-approved us for much less than we were expecting. Insert sad face. We look at the hospital like it's a huge asset. They see it as a huge liability.
Well, we took our disappointment to the best realtor's office in town. Ok, the only one in town. We told him what we wanted and he started working on a list. It's a short list. We have a long list of demands.
1. Location. It has to be on the lake. With a low to mid elevation. On a good part of the lake. This narrowed our search substantially.
Our demand for at least 3 bedrooms (preferably on the same level) and 2 bathrooms (or potential to add a bathroom) made things even more difficult.
Our realtor found us 7 homes to look at.
House hunters
Oh the lies they tell on that show! I hate them so much. They gave me the idea that finding our first house would be fun and exciting. It hasn't been.
Yeah
So a toddler walks into his sisters room.. Wait have you heard this one? LOL. I know, right?!?
Having a three year old and a 18 month old is an adventure. Obviously I suck at blogging about parenting. It just isn't happening. Every once and a while I'm all like, I should totally blog about this! But then I don't, because every time I touch the computer, Little Dude finds another death defying activity.
The last thing I thought that about was Stowa's latest plan for when she's a grownup. She wants to be a cat. A white cat with green polka dots, a purple collar, a pink nose, and blue eyes. And she totally knows that she can't just grow into a cat. She's not dumb. That's why I have to get a magic wand and turn her into this cat. She's got it all figured out!
Little Dude is busy. Always. Not talking though. He has no interest in sharing his thoughts with us.
Having a three year old and a 18 month old is an adventure. Obviously I suck at blogging about parenting. It just isn't happening. Every once and a while I'm all like, I should totally blog about this! But then I don't, because every time I touch the computer, Little Dude finds another death defying activity.
The last thing I thought that about was Stowa's latest plan for when she's a grownup. She wants to be a cat. A white cat with green polka dots, a purple collar, a pink nose, and blue eyes. And she totally knows that she can't just grow into a cat. She's not dumb. That's why I have to get a magic wand and turn her into this cat. She's got it all figured out!
Little Dude is busy. Always. Not talking though. He has no interest in sharing his thoughts with us.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Happy Birthday!
Dear Little Dude,
Today is your day! I simply can not believe that you are already one. Your daddy thinks this year went by faster then any other year ever! I kinda agree. I'm so glad it was a leap year, I got a whole extra day with you as a baby!
Some day you might look at this blog and wonder why I rarely ever write about you. You might wonder if it's because you just didn't do anything worthy of writing about or if I just didn't think that the things you do are important. It is neither of those things. You do SO many wonderful things that I just don't have time to write about them. You keep your mama very busy!
You are so smart! Everyday you remind me of that. You are walking (running really!). You are talking (mama, dada, nigh nigh aka pacifier, airplane, you call both Patches and Cuddles ba or baba, and I've heard you calling Stowa something that sounds like her name but I can't quite replicate it). You wave goodbye and you clap whenever anyone says Yay! You're starting to dance which makes us all laugh. It is just so cute! You're trying your best to jump. You are getting so close!
You love your big sister. You'd follow her anywhere. She's your buddy! She loves you too but she does wish you would leave her stuff alone and please stop pulling her hair.
The cats are a great source of amusement for you. Cuddles prefers that you keep your distance. Patches seems to enjoy when you snuggle her. You are already so gentle with them. I think the love of animals is in you already.
Know what else you love? Airplanes! For some reason you adore them. You hear them before the rest of us, point up to the sky and stare as they fly over. You said airplane before you said dada. Silly boy.
I love you baby. Forever and for always. I'm excited to see where you take us next!
Mama
P.S. When we woke up today I looked at the clock. 7:40 am. The exact time that you were born. I thought it was a really cool coincidence.
Today is your day! I simply can not believe that you are already one. Your daddy thinks this year went by faster then any other year ever! I kinda agree. I'm so glad it was a leap year, I got a whole extra day with you as a baby!
Some day you might look at this blog and wonder why I rarely ever write about you. You might wonder if it's because you just didn't do anything worthy of writing about or if I just didn't think that the things you do are important. It is neither of those things. You do SO many wonderful things that I just don't have time to write about them. You keep your mama very busy!
You are so smart! Everyday you remind me of that. You are walking (running really!). You are talking (mama, dada, nigh nigh aka pacifier, airplane, you call both Patches and Cuddles ba or baba, and I've heard you calling Stowa something that sounds like her name but I can't quite replicate it). You wave goodbye and you clap whenever anyone says Yay! You're starting to dance which makes us all laugh. It is just so cute! You're trying your best to jump. You are getting so close!
You love your big sister. You'd follow her anywhere. She's your buddy! She loves you too but she does wish you would leave her stuff alone and please stop pulling her hair.
The cats are a great source of amusement for you. Cuddles prefers that you keep your distance. Patches seems to enjoy when you snuggle her. You are already so gentle with them. I think the love of animals is in you already.
Know what else you love? Airplanes! For some reason you adore them. You hear them before the rest of us, point up to the sky and stare as they fly over. You said airplane before you said dada. Silly boy.
I love you baby. Forever and for always. I'm excited to see where you take us next!
Mama
P.S. When we woke up today I looked at the clock. 7:40 am. The exact time that you were born. I thought it was a really cool coincidence.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Halloween
Stowa is going to be an astronaut (with a helmet and backpack, those things seem to be VERY important to her). Little Dude is going to be an alien.
I'm undecided if I should dress up as the space ship or if I should turn the stroller into a space ship.
I'm undecided if I should dress up as the space ship or if I should turn the stroller into a space ship.
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