Please email me @ wintermermaid@gmail.com
for our new blog address.
I will also email a link to the usual list of people... so if you're on that list, expect an email from me!
At some point I will be deleting or making this blog private and strictly posting at the other blog.
It will be exactly this one, just a new URL. :-)
Monday, May 25, 2009
Sunday, May 24, 2009
It's been awhile..
We've had a busy month..
Mainly just trying to get the house put together plus just the normal day to day crap of working full time and always being so dang exhausted.
My mother-in-law visited us at the beginning of May.. she said she came to see us, but I suspect she wanted to see our house! haha :-) We were extremely lucky that weekend because she's pretty much super woman! She unpacked all the stuff we had been putting off, and most importantly she unpacked and safely put away all of our wedding china and crystal! I probably would have just left it packed away in boxes in our closet because I would be too afraid of using it and breaking it all.. but now, it's available and I do plan on using it soon!
We finished painting our kitchen! We love the color. It is perfect. We also decided to put the kitchen table that we (stole from my parents kitchen the day we left California) have in our kitchen... which sounds reasonable right? kitchen table in the kitchen.. but we didn't think it would fit, and then we felt horrible because we had (stolen) been given this great table from my parents and wanted it to be apart of our daily lives so that we had something from them.. so I was going to use it as a craft table in the office but I am so glad we decided to try it in the kitchen! It looks great and really works! It is really great to have the table there and have extra space to work on..
We have also decided to take on the previous owner's security system. Now I personally think this is pointless and a waste of money.. but I think part of that comes from the fact that I have never ever had a security system so the whole idea is foreign to me! I see some of the potential benefits... like in case I am home alone and scared, at least I know there's a system that will go off if someone is in my house.. or since we're in a quiet neighborhood, in a culdesac, and we have an alley that's at the end.. someone could quietly rob our house and no one would ever know..
so, because C feels strongly about it, I agreed and it will soon be set up. So watch out all you bad guys!
C and I are both still adjusting to our jobs... we both are wanting to be a little happier in them. We don't know if it will just take more time getting used to a new place, new people, new processes, etc.. or what. I am happy to be in hospice work again, it's just a lot of work, and a lot more work than I had originally been told about. It's those type of things that I don't like.
We still have painting to do.. some touch up in some of the rooms, and some rooms we haven't even started! I don't know when we are going to start them.. I suspect it will be awhile.. We have made a list of home improvements.. but the list is so long.. and well, we just are going to have to take time and slowly do things because it all adds up to money we just don't have right now!
This month we had a bunch of unexpected expenses.. we had roof repairs (big storm, wet walls, never a good combo!),.. that was the big thing oh! we also had to replace both of our toilets!
Then yesterday we had the dryer man out to repair our dryer.. it worked but wasn't blowing hot air! well, it turned out it had something to do with the breaker outside.. haha whoops! we're so stupid. :-P
Anyways, so this past week I was in a car accident. Ack! My poor Jetta! I was stopped at a red light, and a big boxed truck hit me from behind! I was on the phone with my mom when it happened (I was using an ear piece!)... so she heard the impact and me screaming.. ugh. It must have been awful for her to hear all of that. My car is pretty messed up. I am sore.. I am sure I will be seeing the chiropractor for awhile.. my back, neck, chest, ribs, shoulders are all messed up.
We are still waiting to hear about my poor Jetta... we don't know what the outcome will be.
Pics of my car: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=WinterMermaid&target=ALBUM&id=5337664696774436161&authkey=Gv1sRgCJCUloDqlab7vQE&feat=email
I am so excited! My family is visiting the first week of June! My aunt Terry, my cousin Brigid, her kids, Zerrell and Harper, and her Mother-in-law Sherry! I am also trying to see if they will bring me some goodies from Trader Joe's! I just really want all the stuff from the frozen section! haha too bad! Anyways, it's just been too long since we've seen my family. I miss everyone. It is hard not being able to go visit on a whim!
What else is new?
Hmmmm!
Well, I did finally get those pictures I promised. I wanted to get pictures for my mom (and all of you) and so I asked my mom's good friend Peta (www.petaphotography.com) to come over and take a few pictures.
These are some before and after ones.. plus I will throw in the link of pics that Chris took before we were even in the house!
Chris' pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/sinning/1605ToddvilleCircle?authkey=Gv1sRgCOqzl4Tk3OzLyAE&feat=directlink
Peta's pics: http://flickr.com/gp/petaphotography/226X25
Enjoy!!
Mainly just trying to get the house put together plus just the normal day to day crap of working full time and always being so dang exhausted.
My mother-in-law visited us at the beginning of May.. she said she came to see us, but I suspect she wanted to see our house! haha :-) We were extremely lucky that weekend because she's pretty much super woman! She unpacked all the stuff we had been putting off, and most importantly she unpacked and safely put away all of our wedding china and crystal! I probably would have just left it packed away in boxes in our closet because I would be too afraid of using it and breaking it all.. but now, it's available and I do plan on using it soon!
We finished painting our kitchen! We love the color. It is perfect. We also decided to put the kitchen table that we (stole from my parents kitchen the day we left California) have in our kitchen... which sounds reasonable right? kitchen table in the kitchen.. but we didn't think it would fit, and then we felt horrible because we had (stolen) been given this great table from my parents and wanted it to be apart of our daily lives so that we had something from them.. so I was going to use it as a craft table in the office but I am so glad we decided to try it in the kitchen! It looks great and really works! It is really great to have the table there and have extra space to work on..
We have also decided to take on the previous owner's security system. Now I personally think this is pointless and a waste of money.. but I think part of that comes from the fact that I have never ever had a security system so the whole idea is foreign to me! I see some of the potential benefits... like in case I am home alone and scared, at least I know there's a system that will go off if someone is in my house.. or since we're in a quiet neighborhood, in a culdesac, and we have an alley that's at the end.. someone could quietly rob our house and no one would ever know..
so, because C feels strongly about it, I agreed and it will soon be set up. So watch out all you bad guys!
C and I are both still adjusting to our jobs... we both are wanting to be a little happier in them. We don't know if it will just take more time getting used to a new place, new people, new processes, etc.. or what. I am happy to be in hospice work again, it's just a lot of work, and a lot more work than I had originally been told about. It's those type of things that I don't like.
We still have painting to do.. some touch up in some of the rooms, and some rooms we haven't even started! I don't know when we are going to start them.. I suspect it will be awhile.. We have made a list of home improvements.. but the list is so long.. and well, we just are going to have to take time and slowly do things because it all adds up to money we just don't have right now!
This month we had a bunch of unexpected expenses.. we had roof repairs (big storm, wet walls, never a good combo!),.. that was the big thing oh! we also had to replace both of our toilets!
Then yesterday we had the dryer man out to repair our dryer.. it worked but wasn't blowing hot air! well, it turned out it had something to do with the breaker outside.. haha whoops! we're so stupid. :-P
Anyways, so this past week I was in a car accident. Ack! My poor Jetta! I was stopped at a red light, and a big boxed truck hit me from behind! I was on the phone with my mom when it happened (I was using an ear piece!)... so she heard the impact and me screaming.. ugh. It must have been awful for her to hear all of that. My car is pretty messed up. I am sore.. I am sure I will be seeing the chiropractor for awhile.. my back, neck, chest, ribs, shoulders are all messed up.
We are still waiting to hear about my poor Jetta... we don't know what the outcome will be.
Pics of my car: http://picasaweb.google.com/
I am so excited! My family is visiting the first week of June! My aunt Terry, my cousin Brigid, her kids, Zerrell and Harper, and her Mother-in-law Sherry! I am also trying to see if they will bring me some goodies from Trader Joe's! I just really want all the stuff from the frozen section! haha too bad! Anyways, it's just been too long since we've seen my family. I miss everyone. It is hard not being able to go visit on a whim!
What else is new?
Hmmmm!
Well, I did finally get those pictures I promised. I wanted to get pictures for my mom (and all of you) and so I asked my mom's good friend Peta (www.petaphotography.com) to come over and take a few pictures.
These are some before and after ones.. plus I will throw in the link of pics that Chris took before we were even in the house!
Chris' pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/
Peta's pics: http://flickr.com/gp/
Enjoy!!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
We are finally home!
Seriously!
We are officially home owners as of 04/24/2009. We closed on our first home (and hopefully last home because we never ever ever ever, did I say never ever? want to move again!)!!!
We are thrilled. We are so excited. Well, excited and having emotional breakdowns all at the same time. Haha. It's a lot of work and a lot of change. Luckily C and I bounce off of each other so when one is melting down, the other one is strong and encouraging, and vice versa. it's a good balance.
We did our final walk through on Friday morning and then went and signed about 10 tree's worth of paper to officially close. The sellers were going to sign a few hours later. They did and everything went well........ except there was a glitch in the system and the money was never wired to the sellers account or whatever. So we begged to be able to go into the house anyway and they agreed. Essentially we had a "free" house for a few hours!
We have awesome friends. We are so blessed. C and I were talking about how amazing everyone is and C said that it is just so humbling to see all these people truly care for us and want to help us. It is truly amazing.
Anyways, these awesome friends showed up on Friday evening and painted, painted, painted, painted, went home and slept, came back Saturday morning, and painted, painted, painted, painted. We painted the entry, living and dining rooms. We painted the accent wall and wet bar. We painted our Masted bedroom. It was a lot of work and somehow we did it in 24 hrs!
We still have other rooms to paint, but that is going to have to wait for awhile. We are exhausted!
We hired movers to move all of our crap. It was well worth the money! They were great. We officially have all of our belongings in the same place! (well almost, we have a few things left at the apartment that we are moving over tonight. Just odds and ends, etc)
So one of the things we did was buy a king size bed! Woohoo! This is one of the most amazing investments, ever! haha. There is so much space!
I also got my gas grill! It was one of my requirements for when we bought a house. I made sure to go buy one on Saturday. It sits perfectly in my back yard. (see? I said MY BACK YARD!!)
I have already had to say NO to C because he is begging me to let us get a dog. NO NO NO. Can't we unpack first before we discuss this? I thought we had agreed kids first, then dogs (and only dogs when my kids are begging me for one and I am guilted into it... but not before then!!).......
We are slowly but surely settling in. Finding homes for all of our belongings... (homes within our very own home!)
Anyways I will be sure to post pictures, etc.. I know I know, I said that last time.. but I really will.. whenever we find our camera ;-)
Hope all is well!
Love,
A & C
We are officially home owners as of 04/24/2009. We closed on our first home (and hopefully last home because we never ever ever ever, did I say never ever? want to move again!)!!!
We are thrilled. We are so excited. Well, excited and having emotional breakdowns all at the same time. Haha. It's a lot of work and a lot of change. Luckily C and I bounce off of each other so when one is melting down, the other one is strong and encouraging, and vice versa. it's a good balance.
We did our final walk through on Friday morning and then went and signed about 10 tree's worth of paper to officially close. The sellers were going to sign a few hours later. They did and everything went well........ except there was a glitch in the system and the money was never wired to the sellers account or whatever. So we begged to be able to go into the house anyway and they agreed. Essentially we had a "free" house for a few hours!
We have awesome friends. We are so blessed. C and I were talking about how amazing everyone is and C said that it is just so humbling to see all these people truly care for us and want to help us. It is truly amazing.
Anyways, these awesome friends showed up on Friday evening and painted, painted, painted, painted, went home and slept, came back Saturday morning, and painted, painted, painted, painted. We painted the entry, living and dining rooms. We painted the accent wall and wet bar. We painted our Masted bedroom. It was a lot of work and somehow we did it in 24 hrs!
We still have other rooms to paint, but that is going to have to wait for awhile. We are exhausted!
We hired movers to move all of our crap. It was well worth the money! They were great. We officially have all of our belongings in the same place! (well almost, we have a few things left at the apartment that we are moving over tonight. Just odds and ends, etc)
So one of the things we did was buy a king size bed! Woohoo! This is one of the most amazing investments, ever! haha. There is so much space!
I also got my gas grill! It was one of my requirements for when we bought a house. I made sure to go buy one on Saturday. It sits perfectly in my back yard. (see? I said MY BACK YARD!!)
I have already had to say NO to C because he is begging me to let us get a dog. NO NO NO. Can't we unpack first before we discuss this? I thought we had agreed kids first, then dogs (and only dogs when my kids are begging me for one and I am guilted into it... but not before then!!).......
We are slowly but surely settling in. Finding homes for all of our belongings... (homes within our very own home!)
Anyways I will be sure to post pictures, etc.. I know I know, I said that last time.. but I really will.. whenever we find our camera ;-)
Hope all is well!
Love,
A & C
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter!
Well this has been an odd day.. it's sorta the first "holiday" that we haven't had family to spend it with... We normally would spend it with C's parents when they lived near us in California, but this year is just different.
We're going to head to Mass tonight and then go out to a nice steak dinner. I told C that I wanted to be sure to do *something* to celebrate between us, so that's what we decided to do.
We have an update on our house!!
It is going to officially be ours by the end of this month!! Tentative closing date is April 24th! We are absolutely thrilled!!!! We had all of the necessary and recommended inspections and then presented the sellers with a list of requested repairs. We are thrilled that they came back and said they would repair almost *everything* we requested! WooooooHoooooo!!!!
Love to everyone!
We're going to head to Mass tonight and then go out to a nice steak dinner. I told C that I wanted to be sure to do *something* to celebrate between us, so that's what we decided to do.
We have an update on our house!!
It is going to officially be ours by the end of this month!! Tentative closing date is April 24th! We are absolutely thrilled!!!! We had all of the necessary and recommended inspections and then presented the sellers with a list of requested repairs. We are thrilled that they came back and said they would repair almost *everything* we requested! WooooooHoooooo!!!!
Love to everyone!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
From renters to potential home buyers...
We have had quite a busy week...
We had to make a choice financially recently and decide between 2 options... we both wanted to choose option 1, but we also wanted to choose option 2, or atleast make a really informed decision about option 2 because we could not afford to choose both!
We were referred to a realtor, Sharon Borgne who happens to be my great-aunt Marg's (and late great-uncle Eddie's) dear friend(s) of over 50 years! I called her up and explained that we were clueless about this whole home buying process but that we wanted to look into it and see if now is a good time for us to buy (us personally, not us as in it's a good time in general for "people" to buy). We met last Sunday at her office and she had picked out 6-8 homes to go look at. She figured that we would be able to narrow down location, and be able to be more specific about what we are actually wanting in a home.
The first 2 places were "fine" but had a bunch of work and issues to deal with. They would be "fine" but they wouldn't be forever and they would take a lot of changes to make them what we want. The first one had bright purple kitchen counters, and this cold, hideous gray/black stone floors throughout the ENTIRE thing, even upstairs! It was bad. The other place was kind of a wreck on the outside but we really liked the openness of the kitchen/living area.. but that was about all we liked.
The third place was perfect. seriously. C even joked as we walked up to the front door (before we even got the door open!) saying, "hey, let's just buy this house and not even go inside, let's just assume it's as great on the inside as it is on the outside!" ... at that point our realtor opened the front door and C and I both gasped and LOVED it. It's a true dark red brick house with an open floor plan when you open the front door, with great lighting and just a nice warm feeling. It's 3 bedrooms and 2 baths; it has a small back yard with just enough space to have a place for kids or a dog to run around in, or to have a garden, or whatever.
Our realtor knew that we loved it and we left from there and went back to her office to make an offer! Our realtor actually called the other realtor from outside the house to let her know we would be sending an offer her way.
We offered full asking price (actually a little more than that) but asked for them to pay full closing costs. They accepted our offer the next morning! Woohoo! No counter offers or anything!
We had our inspection a few days ago and there are a few things that need to be repaired/replaced. We also have been strongly encouraged to have a foundation inspection so now that is what we are waiting on. We had to ask for an extension for our option period because we couldn't get an engineer for the foundation inspection in time. We are praying there are no issues with the foundation or atleast very easy and fixable issues!
We WANT this house!
It is kind of crazy how much money is involved in this whole house buying process... things that you just don't even think about until you're about to get into a house...
lawn mower?!
weed eater/whacker??
things like that!
Please say a prayer that we get the house that God has planned for us! (hopefully it's this one!)
Also please pray for the seller's of the home as they have some extenuating sad circumstances.
If you want to see pictures, just email me and I'll send you the pics!
We had to make a choice financially recently and decide between 2 options... we both wanted to choose option 1, but we also wanted to choose option 2, or atleast make a really informed decision about option 2 because we could not afford to choose both!
We were referred to a realtor, Sharon Borgne who happens to be my great-aunt Marg's (and late great-uncle Eddie's) dear friend(s) of over 50 years! I called her up and explained that we were clueless about this whole home buying process but that we wanted to look into it and see if now is a good time for us to buy (us personally, not us as in it's a good time in general for "people" to buy). We met last Sunday at her office and she had picked out 6-8 homes to go look at. She figured that we would be able to narrow down location, and be able to be more specific about what we are actually wanting in a home.
The first 2 places were "fine" but had a bunch of work and issues to deal with. They would be "fine" but they wouldn't be forever and they would take a lot of changes to make them what we want. The first one had bright purple kitchen counters, and this cold, hideous gray/black stone floors throughout the ENTIRE thing, even upstairs! It was bad. The other place was kind of a wreck on the outside but we really liked the openness of the kitchen/living area.. but that was about all we liked.
The third place was perfect. seriously. C even joked as we walked up to the front door (before we even got the door open!) saying, "hey, let's just buy this house and not even go inside, let's just assume it's as great on the inside as it is on the outside!" ... at that point our realtor opened the front door and C and I both gasped and LOVED it. It's a true dark red brick house with an open floor plan when you open the front door, with great lighting and just a nice warm feeling. It's 3 bedrooms and 2 baths; it has a small back yard with just enough space to have a place for kids or a dog to run around in, or to have a garden, or whatever.
Our realtor knew that we loved it and we left from there and went back to her office to make an offer! Our realtor actually called the other realtor from outside the house to let her know we would be sending an offer her way.
We offered full asking price (actually a little more than that) but asked for them to pay full closing costs. They accepted our offer the next morning! Woohoo! No counter offers or anything!
We had our inspection a few days ago and there are a few things that need to be repaired/replaced. We also have been strongly encouraged to have a foundation inspection so now that is what we are waiting on. We had to ask for an extension for our option period because we couldn't get an engineer for the foundation inspection in time. We are praying there are no issues with the foundation or atleast very easy and fixable issues!
We WANT this house!
It is kind of crazy how much money is involved in this whole house buying process... things that you just don't even think about until you're about to get into a house...
lawn mower?!
weed eater/whacker??
things like that!
Please say a prayer that we get the house that God has planned for us! (hopefully it's this one!)
Also please pray for the seller's of the home as they have some extenuating sad circumstances.
If you want to see pictures, just email me and I'll send you the pics!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Getting the hang of things..
Hello!
Well, C and I have had a very busy week. We are both officially working! Woohoo!
C is doing something similar to what he was doing before (but don't ya dare ask me to describe what that was or currently is!)... he is hoping to explore other options in the future and maybe get into something different, but for now he's hanging in there and bringing home part of the bacon!
I am working for hospice again. It is an interesting experience because the agency is very different from my previous hospice agency. I think it will be a good job, albeit a whole heck of a lot of work! I have to be in the office every day by 8am for a mandatory staff meeting! This is pretty laughable because those that knew me before know that I was barely waking up at 8am! It's been really difficult but I am just hoping that eventually I get used to this new schedule.
Speaking of a new schedule.. it's been pretty hard on me and C because our schedules are just slightly off from each other and we went from seeing each other every moment of every day to seeing each other barely for an hour or so each day! ugh!! I really was missing C this past week. So basically I wake up at 6-615am and leave by 715-730am at the very latest.. C is just getting up at that point or is still sleeping and he has to be at work by 930am... then I get off at around 5pm so I'm home shortly after, and then C doesn't get home until 7pm! Then there's enough time to have dinner together, maybe hang out for 30 minutes and then I am in bed by 930pm and C stays up a bit later. Ugh! Oh well, we'll get used to it I hope!!
The weather has been all crazy lately.. or as other people have pointed out to me.. "You're in Texas, ya know?" DUH!! Yes I know I am in Texas, but this weather is crazy!! It's been warm, and then really freezing cold, and then crazy thunderstorms that made me jump in my chair, and then pouring rain, and super windy and tornado warnings (not where we are but all around us)... so I never know what to wear each day because the weather literally changes like 5 times in the same day.
Today C found a delicious Chicago style pizza place that delivers! He was quite happy. He also had gyros last night from an ITALIAN restaurant? What the heck?!
There is so much good food here... we have so many restaurants to still check out..
I still have not gotten used to the early 7pm primetime tv time..... blah! I end up missing all the main tv shows. thankfully we have the internet!!
Thanks for the prayers! Keep 'em coming :-)
Love everyone!
A + C
Well, C and I have had a very busy week. We are both officially working! Woohoo!
C is doing something similar to what he was doing before (but don't ya dare ask me to describe what that was or currently is!)... he is hoping to explore other options in the future and maybe get into something different, but for now he's hanging in there and bringing home part of the bacon!
I am working for hospice again. It is an interesting experience because the agency is very different from my previous hospice agency. I think it will be a good job, albeit a whole heck of a lot of work! I have to be in the office every day by 8am for a mandatory staff meeting! This is pretty laughable because those that knew me before know that I was barely waking up at 8am! It's been really difficult but I am just hoping that eventually I get used to this new schedule.
Speaking of a new schedule.. it's been pretty hard on me and C because our schedules are just slightly off from each other and we went from seeing each other every moment of every day to seeing each other barely for an hour or so each day! ugh!! I really was missing C this past week. So basically I wake up at 6-615am and leave by 715-730am at the very latest.. C is just getting up at that point or is still sleeping and he has to be at work by 930am... then I get off at around 5pm so I'm home shortly after, and then C doesn't get home until 7pm! Then there's enough time to have dinner together, maybe hang out for 30 minutes and then I am in bed by 930pm and C stays up a bit later. Ugh! Oh well, we'll get used to it I hope!!
The weather has been all crazy lately.. or as other people have pointed out to me.. "You're in Texas, ya know?" DUH!! Yes I know I am in Texas, but this weather is crazy!! It's been warm, and then really freezing cold, and then crazy thunderstorms that made me jump in my chair, and then pouring rain, and super windy and tornado warnings (not where we are but all around us)... so I never know what to wear each day because the weather literally changes like 5 times in the same day.
Today C found a delicious Chicago style pizza place that delivers! He was quite happy. He also had gyros last night from an ITALIAN restaurant? What the heck?!
There is so much good food here... we have so many restaurants to still check out..
I still have not gotten used to the early 7pm primetime tv time..... blah! I end up missing all the main tv shows. thankfully we have the internet!!
Thanks for the prayers! Keep 'em coming :-)
Love everyone!
A + C
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Delicious...
We had these for dinner last night. Literally. Haha. We didn't have anything else with them.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/03/onion-strings-oh-yeah-baby/
I had extra buttermilk from the irish soda bread recipe this week and so I started looking around and asking around for some interesting things to use buttermilk in... well, i got all sorts of ideas from strawberry ice cream, to orange pound cake, to onion strings!
They were sooo easy to make and they were delicious.
I hate onions unless I cook 'em until they are dead... and these weren't quite dead but they were delicious. YUM
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/03/onion-strings-oh-yeah-baby/
I had extra buttermilk from the irish soda bread recipe this week and so I started looking around and asking around for some interesting things to use buttermilk in... well, i got all sorts of ideas from strawberry ice cream, to orange pound cake, to onion strings!
They were sooo easy to make and they were delicious.
I hate onions unless I cook 'em until they are dead... and these weren't quite dead but they were delicious. YUM
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