Oh No!!!

Oh No guys!!!! This sale is not looking good!!!! We really want it and we have an accepted contract, we have the financing in order, but the lender who is providing the funds does not want to work with us! Not us specifically but the Lenders in Texas are soooo hard to work with and SOOOOO picky about the condition of the houses!!!! This lender is requiring flooring in the house before they will lend on it. That means we have to go in and get a rush job. We don't want to do that! We will end up stuck with something we don't like and can't change for a while!!!!!! And then this lender is requiring a home inspection. Home inspections are a good idea and we were going to get one, but this lender I hust know is going to require everything on that list that is broken to be fixed before they will lend on it!!!! We cannot afford to do that. What if it doesn't close and then we have all this money in the house that we don't even own anymore! OHHHH the lenders make me so irritated in Texas. Why can't they just accept that it is a foreclosure so there is going to be a little work with the house but we are qualified to pay and fix. and just leave it at that! urgghhhhh! I hoe we get it. And we would like to get it before the new year. I hope it happens!

HURRAY!!!!!!

WE GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sooooooo thrilled!!! We g0t the house and at a superrrrrb price. That is a funny story really. We were in negotiations like I said earlier, and we put in an offer with a price change and a stipulation, well the realtor's underwriter did not put in the price change just the stipulation and stuck with the previous price!!! AND THE BANK ACCEPTED IT!!!! Really The bank accepted our price, but not the stipulation. That is okay with us though. We didn't really think they would accept the stipulation in the first place. We are so lucky! The mistake made it look like we were firm on our price and we really weren't! That was sooo awesome. We got it way lower then we were expecting to get it for!!!!! I am just jumping and clapping for joy!!! I cannot believe all of this is falling together without a little Heavenly Help, Which I am sooo thankful for! I am just so glad we got this house! And it looks like we should be able to close by the end of the month! I mean come on, what a Cool Christmas and New Years present!!!!! Like the best ever! A NEW HOUSE! Can you see how Happy I am????

Almost There!!!!

We are so close to having the house! We have had some negotiations and counteroffers. And then the lender required that carpet be put in before the closing. We asked that the company pay for half. If not which I don't think they will, we willask to have permission to go in and do it ourselves. We do not want the company to do it all themselves because we want to pick out our own carpet and they will put in the most generic and cheapest they can find. So we should hear something today! I am so excited.

Thanksgiving

I just wanted to explain about the picture of the sideways turkey in one of my recent posts. All that we had for Thanksgiving on vacation was a fruit turkey and a Banner that said Happy Thanksgiving made out of local things like flowers and leaves and shells that we collected from the island. Eric made the banner mostly, and Mel and I made the turkey, we had SO MUCH FUN putting the turkey together. Both of those ideas came out of my favorite magazine, Family Fun! I highly recommend it! Especially if you have kids. They have so many creative ideas in there. That is where all the ideas came from for Calebs party, and I made this really cool Christmas dip for the Branch Christmas social. I have a picture with someone elses camera, I am waiting for them to send it to me. It is soo cute!

Coming Along

We are just coming along on our house. We have almost all of the vaulted ceilings in now. We are working on the recessed ligthing now. That is not going to take too much time. And then we can finish the last of the sheetrock in the dining room. I continue to box and I have started my classes up again. I am done with three of the 4 now!!!! I am soo excited. But the last one is the longest. I am done with about a third, but it is still the longest and it is going to take forever it feels like!!!!!!!!!! But I have added another thought to my list of possibilities. I have heard from Dad that I can get benefits from the airlines in 6 months of working for them. We would really like flight benefits. And Mom's D3 status just is not good enough for the packed holidays witnessed by our 48 hours in the airport on the way back from Thanksgiving. We are so spoiled that way! So if I work for AA I can have flight benefits within 6 months I believe. That would just be AWESOME! We can not always rely on Mom for benefits she only has a limited amount each year, and if we have our own benefits then she can use those for others who might want to come on our vactions.

So I have been looking into AA a little. Mostly talking to Dad, and he says they have an In-Home reservation job. I can do some training, and then work from home. And still get paid and benefits. I hope it works out. I will still get my Real Estate license, and do BPO's on the side, an dmaybe sell a house or two. But I can do this at home job too! I hope it all work out like we want it too.

Hurry up and WAIT!!!

Well a long time has passed since I last wrote and I have done much. I had a GREAT time in St Martin, getting back from St. Martin was HORRRRIBLE!!! But we made it and then we stuck around a few days to get some UTA stuff done. We did that and we have more to do STILL!!! They have us down for out of state tuition which is 5000 a semester!! we cannot do that and we were told we had in state when we applied anyway. So now we have to fight for that. And we have to fight for VA benefits to come through. AND the TA's have him down for TAing and he is a Research Assistant not a TA so we have to figure that all out! But Eric has a training meeting on the 8th and then school starts on the 14th. We are excited yet apprehensive! Then when we were in Texas we also drove aROUND A LOT TO different houses and we found a perfect one for us. It is a foreclosure so it needs work but not as much as the house we have now did. It is all one story which we like. It has a pool and hot tub that drains into the pool, and inside it has 2871 sq. ft., and a jacuzzi and sauna!!!! So now we came back to Ohio and we are trying to get this house fixed. We have made some progress and we are working hard. Well except for right now! We are also making an offer on the house today. I hope that we get it! We are starting to get excited! That is why we have to hurry up an wait! That is a common real estate term. We hurry to get our financing and get the offer in fast so no one can come in and scoop us and now we have to wait till they get back to us! I hate waiting!

Missed Opportunities

Well it is almost Thanksgiving and we have not made our weight loss goal. Not even close. We have had too many things go on this year. But we have made an improtant discovery that will definitely help our weight loss. Sorry to tell you this but Fast Food is VERY unhealthy for you. We looked up all the figures and we have sworn it off. A Taco Bell grilled stuffed burrito has 19300 mg of sodium in it!!!!! and almost 700 calories! It is almost as bad at every other restaurant. We have looked up almost every one we can think of. And they are all bad! Wendys potatoe is not that bad, and the simple hard taco is not that bad, but to fill up on those things would require more then one, making them bad for you. We focused more on the sodium then the calories this time. They look worse then the calories do!!! Now that we have the information fast food is just not appealing any more. I can drive by and not get a single craving. It is almost unethical how bad they are for you! It is almost like poisoning! We do like Subway especially their veggie delights, and we will eat only one or two slices of pizza. But no more then that! Each slice of the works has 330 calories and 900 mg of sodium!!!!
But since we have cut out most of fast food we have had a constant slow drop in weight.
Caleb was sooo cute for Halloween!
I hope we can get everything done with the house! We have most of the soffets done on the front of the house, and the porch is cleaned off, and we are just waiting for another warm day to paint the rest of the siding and then the back of the house. Hopefully it will happen soon!

I wish I were on vacation already.

I wish I were on vacation already! I am soo tired and I have been easily angered a lot lately. Part of it has to do with Caleb going into a non listnening phase, part of it has to do with the internet not working all the time so I have to limp along when I need to go fast! Part of it has to do with the fact that APPARENTLY I cannot budget very well because we just got charged an overdraft fee again. I had a Huge one last month and now another one this month. We cannot afford those right now. It reeally was no ones fault a check got put in the mail I had set aside till we had the funds for it. And some one saw the stamp and I guess put it in the mail. It might have even been me that put it there. Anyway I have been easily angered and snappy at almost everybody. I need some me time. Maybe I will do some sewing by myself for a while maybe work on my beach cover suit. I usually go shopping and get some small stuff but that is not in the cards right now.

We are supposed to be paying off our cards with a home equity loan soon so that our credit will have a chance to improve before we buy our next house, but we cannot apply till the outside of the house is painted and the weather is NOT cooperating. It has been raining all day and is supposed to rain the rest of the week. We have to go on vacation in the next 2-3 weeks! How are we going to get it done and finished in time. I am tired of this.

So many worries but anyway Caleb's party went over Very well. Everybody loved my little apple bites,

and my cat skeletons.

And the cake was ingenious. I had made two little sheet cakes and eric put a train track with a real moving train all around it.

We couldn't find a very small train so we had to settle for this one. But I think it was still cool. And we even got some little kids who weren't part of the birthday party looking and playing with it. Decorating the bikes was way fun except for the wind. We had to hold on to everything and we couldn't put it on the table becasue it would have blown away. But they loved the name tags, and the bells and they just went to town with the streamers. And they tried to put on the noise makers and there were a few who made it ut not that many. That was okay it was too windy to really hear them anyway. And then the bike race obstacle course was very popular and Everybody just loved going around and around. They even tried to pass each other a few times. We had a few accidents and we always told them get up, shake it off and keep going! It was soo cute to see these little kids shake it off and then keep on going. Then we directed them to the jungle gym obstacle coure and they did that one a few rounds and then they all got a medal for finishing. Then they played on the tire swing until Caleb said he was hungry and so we called the troops over and we all had cake and gatorade and vegetables. It was soooo windy that day unfortunately that we had to hold on to our plates with one hand and our forks with the other and we still had a few spills and accidents it was so windy! And I tasted the gatorade YUK!!! I'm sure the kids loved it but me I hate gatorade! Why did I think it would taste any different if I made it myself! But then they got to play a little more until all the kids had to go. We had so much fun on the bikes we just took the presents home and opened them there. I think they had more fun on their bikes then they would have opening the presents. And not as many kids showed up as I thought would so we have LOTS of goody bags left over. Now I did not know what to do with them besides save them for next year but I already have two years of saved goody bags and I can't find them so why would this year be any different? But then Eric the genius said use them for trick or treating! that is an excellent idea!!!!! I never have to worry again about buying too much goody bag stuff and wasting money that way!!!!

I feel so much better looking at all the birthday pictures. I like looking at old family pictures. It makes me feel happy and it definitely makes me laugh!

Small update. More later!

The house is coming slowly. It has been bad weather and I have had to go in to the office a few times which means Eric has to come in and watch Caleb. And then my classes have been coming on even slower. I am sooo wrapped up in Calebs party right now. I am so proud of myself I have planned a great birthday party, and it is sooo crafty. I got all my ideas from Family Fun magazine of course. We planned a bike birthday party, I made my own invitations with a picture of Caleb on a bike on the inside. We are going to decorate our bikes that everybody brought with noise makers and name plates and handlebar bling with bells and streamers. Then they are going to take those bikes and go on an obstacle course that we are going to make with cones to go thorugh, and a chalk line to follow, and a bubble machine to ride past and an arch to go under, and then there is going to be a dismount section on the playground. It is going to be soo much fun. Then the presents, and then cake and ice cream with gatorade or juice. The cake is going to be two cakes a little apart from each other with a real train really moving on a track between the two. And then with the cake we are going to have a cat skeleton which is a whole bunch of vegetables all put together to look like a cat skeleton, and the face is dip in a bowl with more vegetables for the facial features. and we are also going to have apple bites which is an apple cut into quarters and then each quarter is taken and a sort of mouth cut out of it. and then slivered almonds are put in to make teeth. It looked soooo cute in the magazine I had to try it! So that is what we are eating, and then when they go home they are getting little goody bags that look like trophies made out of paper lunch bags with gold and silver wrapping paper cut and glued to look like a trophy and some metallic pipe cleaners put on that look like trophy handles! And I am going to put in normal goody stuff and then one little mummy that I made out of popsicle sticks glued to looke like a stick figure and then wrapped in fabric that I got and cut into strips. and little moving eyes I glued on. I am going to make a little mouth too because they look a little lost without a mouth. I think they are so cute! I am just soo excited that I found all these great ideas. And I hope they all work out! I will post pictures later so you can see.

Caleb Goes Down in History

Oh and I think Caleb should go down in History as the kid who got into the most trouble in a 30 minute period. OK I hear spraying in the dining room so I go check on what Caleb is doing. It turns out he is spraying Orange Glo on his book. I am trying to be like Jesus Book. Then I see he has also sprayed it all over the table and the floor. And not only is the Orange Glo on the floor and the table but so is a whole shaker of SUGAR! I had to go and clean the book off first, then the table, and then I went in to use the toilet and guess what, there is water all over the floor the plunger is wet so he was obviously playing with it, the toilet is still half plugged with poop floating around, and to crown it all off there is a HUGE wad of toilet paper on the floor that is wet! Sopping wet. Dare I think it is already been in the toilet and out again wet????? I hope not!!!! I made him pull it to peices so it wouldn't clog the toilet go wash his hands and then take a nap. I considered myself very restrained on that one. Now any time he just goes into a whole lot of trouble like that, I let him know that his behavior is telling me he needs a nap to help him remember the rules. So I make him take a nap. I have not had any repeats that bad but he is still alittle boy. I guess I am glad a little on that one. And I have told and taught him how many toilet squares to use before and then again after that episode. He uses the right amount most of the time. Just this one time I don't know why he did it! And he goes by himself all the time now. And he even tries to wipe his own butt. Most of the time he is successful too.

House

Hey guys, we are done painting all of one side of the house!!!! And we are almost done with the soffets too on that side!! We are getting ready to do the other side now. We have to scrape off the old vine leaves and branches off of the other side before we can pressure wash it and then paint it. We might have to wait till the weather warms up alittle more before we can truly paint it though. So we are definitely getting places. Hopefully it will go along fast until it is done.

YIPPEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

I have had some GREAT news today from Eric. He called UTA to ask if there was something wrong with our application because, I think I told you in my last post about UTA that they emailed us and told us they were interested in us attending UTA with a stipend and we would have to apply for the MS program and then when we were there for a while they would trnasfer us to the PhD program. Well when we applied they had the PhD listed so we applied for that. So he called to see if they saw the PhD on our application and they said that they would change it and there was no problem there, then Eric asked about the status of his applicagtion and the guy Eric was talking too was really open with Eric and told him that When he was in the application meeting Erics name came up and the Chairman said do whatever it takes I want this student here!!! This is the Chairman of the whole department!!! And it happens to be the guy that Eric wants to do research with! So he is going to be a freshman and they are going to offer him a stipend anyway. Apparently they don't do that with a lot of freshman. That is just sooooo AWESOME!!! and Prestigious to boot! I am sooo proud of Eric! This is definitely the boost that we need to get us through the last few months here. It is getting closer and closer but not fast enough! You guys can all come and help us pack if you want to!!! I would sure appreciate it!

I'm Done!

I'M DONE WITH ANOTHER CLASS!!!!!! I am sooo done with half of my schooling. I cannot wait till I get it all done. And the side of one house is done except for a little bit of trim.

Great News!!! I am Excited

Guess what guys! We got some great news today. I got an email from ................. UTA that says based on preliminary informtion they would like Eric to go to UTA. They even said they even said we would like you to start in spring of 2008. That is JUST AWESOME!!!!!!! I am soooo ecited. They did say to send in his application, they even said a little but about stipends and fellowships!!!! It is just soooo cool and awesome. We are one tiny step closer!
I am almost done with another class. Maybe I will be done in 4 days if I keep up with the same Pace, and the program stops giving me trouble.

Caleb!!!! Caleb!!!!!! Caleb!!!!

Caleb will not take a nap! He is trying everything he can think of to stay awake!!!! It is driving me crazy. I still have not put up pictures. I am such a slacker.

Slowly

Well, my real estate classes are going really slow. Slower then I thought they would. Of course I have had distractions too. But I am going as fast as I can. And I was supposed to be going to texas for my tests on Friday but now I am going to be staying up here till after Caleb's birthday. It justs makes more sense for all of us to be together up here in Ohio so Eric can work on the house and still be with Caleb for his birthday. And I might be getting some listings. There is a member in our branch who is going to try to sell his house for 2 weeks and if he doesn't then he is going to list with me. I am happy to list with him, but he will be a harder seller to work for then I have ever had before. I will try my hardest though. And Our little family took another trip to the aquarium on friday. It was fun. I need to go do more real estate classes.

Tons of stuff

I have done tons of stuff since my last post. I have gone and come back from Texas with Eric and Caleb. We were there for 2 and a half weeks and we had a blast. We got to go to six flags and hurricane harbor. We got to go to Austin and Galveston beach. We went golf ball hunting on the golf course mom lives on now. We went and visited 5 grad schools and three of them Eric liked and one he loved! UT Arlington has all the programs and research he wants to do! We are going to apply there and hopefully he will get accepted. He is working on the GRE nopw, and I am working on my Texas real estate license. I am taking these classes online. They are pretty cool. I have to go do some now.

Life

He's a little dirty but he is still cute! He takes after Eric!

I am starting to get discouraged with real estate. This last sell that I had which is my first listing EVER, and the buyers were not happy with the closing and all the problems that we had. And then they were charged extra fees they didn't know about. They said it was my fault that they were charged these fees and so they wanted me to pay them. But they didn't call me they called my broker. To go over my head like that is wrong, sneaky, and makes me mad. Then I called them and told them my side and then they still wanted me to pay half. I told them I would not. I had done nothing to cause those fees. They still said they think I was wrong and they were going to write a letter to the board about all of this. I am just discouraged that they didn't like my services, and they are taking actions to ruin my reputation, what little I have of one. But I will get over this, I will continue, and it doesn't really matter what they say about me, because I will be leaving in a few months anyway.
We are soo leaning towards Texas right now. It was sooo nice being near family. We found some nice areas and houses up near the richardson area.

I'm Ba..ack

I had a great time at Moms!!!!! We went to Wet N Wild almost every day for the first week. then I went to Dallas a few times. In Dallas I went to the lds book store, and Indian Restaurant I have always loved, and a really cheap jewelery store. I went driving (Golfing without moving) with Dad once. I went to Six Flags with mom and mel once. We even rented a movie twice. They were good movies. Then the last three days of vacation mom took me to go fishing and camping at Navajo Lake in Utah. Aunt Susan came with us and we had a BLAST!!! We drove there and read Harry Potter on the way, we got there and we were going to camp in tents but we asked if they had a cancellation for their cabins and they said they did so we took that Cabin. We went fishing that night and Aunt Susan caught 2 and Mom caught 1, we cooked those for dinner with some other sides and then we went to sleep. Those beds were sooooo hard!!!! But then mom and Susan got up early and they went fishing. I was still tired so I slept in. Then they came back we got breakfast made and then we packed up and had to check out of the cabin. Then we rented a boat and we trolled to a spot and went bottom fishing. And we didn't really have any luck with that spot so we trolled some more and we didn't have any luck trolling so we went to Mom's favorite spot. That is when the fishing got good!!! We caugt our limit for the day within an hour or two! And I even caught 3 fish myself!!! So then we parked the boat to go have lunch and as we left the rain started falling. So we stayed in the car thinking it was a typical storm that would blow over in 20 minutes like they get all the time. But it wasn't so we decided to head for the little tourist town down the road. we walked around a little bit and then decided the storm was not going to blow over so we just decided to go home. We read Harry on the Way home and then I saw Becky Eades. We went to the distribution center and another LDS book store the next day before we got on the plane. We had bought so many things in Utah we couldn't get in Texas our bags were soooo packed we had a hard time getting our bags closed. but we made it and then I came home the next day. I loved my vacation and I feel much better.
We are still trying to decide where we are going to go. I think we are leaning towards Texas. It was so nice to be with my family, and signing with them again, and Mom drove her butt off for Beck, it would be nice to have that support for our family. Plus we miss our friends. And the school in Richardson which is around Dallas it has a prety good chemistry school, and en even better law school. So we are leaning that way. Which would mean selling our house, and all that.

Vacation

I am here at Mom's. I needed a vacation so here I am. Mom is real nice and good to me. She already got me a season pass to wet and wild and Six flags. I have gone once on Saturday morning, and I am going again this morning. The nice thing is I can go anytime I want and I don't have to stay all day. I only have to stay as long as I want, or until the lines get long. We are going to do that this morning. And then go to Costco and get food and then we are going to have a barbeque with Linda and her Mom tonight with some good spring rolls, and shrimp chips.
And good news on a different note. I am getting another listing I think. It is a foreclosure and they emailed me and asked me to do it for htem. I hope they will give it to me anyway. You never really know with the foreclosure companies.

Bad News

I am just heart sick. We went on a walk/hike Tuesday evening to go look at some land that is for sale by Grandmas house. After the walk I started to cramp a little bit. I thought it was just from walking too much. Well I got home and Eric got a call to go give a blessing to one of our members kids. He was dehydrated really bad. well while he was gone I went to the Bathroom and discovered that I was bleeding. I was so scared. I tried to call eric, and as soon as he was done with the blessing he rushed home picked me up and took me to the emergency room. I only live 5 minutes away and that was nice. We got admitted right away which was a first but my blood pressure was 177/95. They came in and told me that the ultrasound machine was closed for the holidays, so they had to take some blood and do a pelvic exam. They did that and he said that all was not lost there was a chance that we could still keep the baby. But then after the blood test came back he said that my levels were too low and I had lost the baby.
I am staying here till I can get this house closed if it is possible, becuase it looks like all the companies are closed till monday. We have to close by monday. I hope it all works out. I will be sooo mad if it does not. I have done sooo much work on this house.
Anyway after the closing I am going down to Texas to see Mom for about 2 weeks. I am taking Caleb so Eric can go to school without worrying about whether he has a babysitter or something to do. Caleb will miss the rest of his classes but I think it is best. And Mom has not seen him for a long time. It is summer so my sisters will hopefully have some times to watch him. And I get to see Mom's new house, and Jeanne and George are still going to be in Texas so they can take him to do some fun things too.
I will be fine. I have had a blessing and I get to see my Baby again someday. So I will be fine.

UGHHHHH!

This fix I was talking about for my listing, well it usually takes 7-10 business days for them to fax us what we need. I do not have 7-10 business days! And it does not help that 4th of July falls in there! That is one less business day for them to work on it! They started on it yesterday and That means I have monday, tuesday, thursday, friday and we need it by monday. I hope they can get it to us by then. I should probably check to see if we can close on Monday or if we have to close sooner then that. I can't close on Sunday maybe we can close on Saturday. I have to make more phone calls.
Oh, and it is no longer comfortable to sit and bend over, I just don't have the room anymore!

Many new updates

I have been crazy busy last week. First I had to take Caleb to school on Tuesday through Thursday, then I had to try and physically haul this deal to the closing table. My listing that I found buyer for, I have had to make call after call, to everybofdy involved in this deal, from the mortgage broker to the foreclosure company hired to put the property through foreclosure. I have had to call the buyer and the seller, and the closing agent, and then the buyers attorney friend, and all over and over to try and straighten things out. I think I can see the end though!!!! I have until the 9th to get it fixed or I have done it all for nothing anyway. Then We went to9 chillicothe last week and we were going through the usual stores we can't find like cici's sams, the complete pet mart or something like that and we went to a sports store for some stuff for our 72 hour kits and then we walked down to best buy. In there they had a dyson on sale. It was one of the floor models so it was used, but not that bad, and of course it had the scuffs and stuff and I could live with that. It didn't come withe the box or the paper work but that is okay becuase the warranty is all online anyway. So we got it super on sale, and the old one went capput and so we have been without a vacuum for a while. I am sick and tired of vacuums losing suction and not getting everything so I was extremely happy to find one on sale. It was still a little expensive but this vacuum is easy to maintenance ourselves, and has a lifetime filter warranty, and it will last a long time.
So anyway, at Sams we got an inversion table for Erics back.
Then also I had several showings, and I have been working with several clients. Then of course grocery shopping, and church, and meetings, and deciding what to do in our future. It has been crazy.
We found out what Eric made on his LSAT. And it is good enough to get in to law school but not one with the prestige he is looking for and they don't start until next fall anyway, so we have decided to go to Grad school for chemistry in the spring. We still cannot decide between Columbus and Texas, there is a good Grad program at Rice university. We love the climate up here, but we miss our friends and family so much. It is such a toss up I am not kidding!
We have also been looking at some land out in the country next to our grandmother out there. It is right next to hers and they only want 30000 for 44 acres. which is a good deal if it is marginally good land, which I mean some hills, and some flat, and some trees. We were going to offer 500 an acre which is really good. But this is all just a thought.
So this next week, I have more meetings. I still have to work on this closing. I have some appointments, and some offers to make. Caleb still goes to school. And there is a new miniature golf ourse open. We were going to go to that maybe this week.
And Of course watch fireworks on wednesday and have a picnic too.

I forgot

I forgot to tell you about what we did Friday night. We took Caleb fishing at a friends house. He has a pond behind his house with a few fish. and we took our poles which are part of our 72 hour kits and we went fishing. We have had a push up here to get our 72 hour kits in order so we have been working on that. And we just kind of hoped that they worked and we had everything, until Eric took his to the scout camp this last week. And he ate exclusively from his 72 hour kit his water and everything! He had some good ideas after the experience that he is going to remedy with his kit. So we had a good dinner and the fish in the pond did not really go for our fake bait that we had in our kits, so we borrowed some hot dogs and man did they love those!!!!! We caught several fish and we threw them all back. It is not our pond after all! But Caleb loves to fish. My mom will love hearing that as she is the fishing queen. Now she can come up and do her favorite activity with her grandson. Kill two birds with one stone. But I do have to warn you Mom, he is NOT a quiet fisher so try not to fish for the ones scared by loud noises. He does whisper though, maybe you can get him to whisper the whole time.... just as likely not! Then we started our camp fire and Caleb got so involved in that we put our poles up. And we ate rice and salmon cooked over the fire, and we had fruit bars for dessert. It was good! All in All we had a blast!

Slacker

I have been such a slacker!!!! Much has happened and I just have not gotten on to type it all in yet.
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday Caleb went to school. We got up early with his usual I am too tired, I want to go to sleep. But we got up and made a lunch and then got in the car and went to his school. We go inside and get to the play area and Caleb runs off before I can even get his back pack off!!!! I get it off and then he runs off and I don't even have to stay at all!!!! I am really glad that he is secure enough in who he is to go off and play and not need me. And when I went to pick him up he was just having a blast, And of course he was sooooo cranky! When I told him it was time to go he just cried and cried. And when we got home I made him lay down on the couch and we talked about the calendar that they gave us, and as soon as we were done and I made him stop talking he fell asleep within 30 seconds. I am not kidding! We put him to bed earlier because he was so cranky that day.
Wednesday was much the same with him falling alseep within a minute after laying down. He was still cranky after school so we put him to bed earlier then the night before. But he got up that night it was 4 in the morning, and went downstairs to try and find us. Of course we are not downstairs we are asleep in bed. So when he didn't see us downstairs he thought we might be next door for some reason. So he unlocks the door and goes knocking next door. Some lady sees him and calls the police, and I wake up thinking I hear something and that is when the police decide to be quiet. So I say Hello?? and then of course the police say Police Services. Oh My Gosh Hang on Just a Minute!!! I yell. I wake up Eric and we run downstairs and the police ask us if we lost a little 3 year old. We go out and look and it is Caleb! The lady found Caleb with no pants on, apparently he took off his diaper somewhere. So we gave the lady back her clothes she had used to make Caleb warm, and we took him inside and laid him down in our bed. Eric talked to the Police and they were understanding one had a son about the same age do that too. And they just said to get an extra lock. It scared us to death! We talked to Caleb and he justified going outside alone by saying that the Police were there. Well they were but not when you went outside!!!!! I am sooo glad that the lady that found him was honest! But I think he learned his lesson well because today he saw two little girls outside by themselves and he told me they shouldn't be outside by themselves without a badult, that is what he calls an adult!!! So then the next day he went to school again and I picked him up and once again he fell asleep but it was about 5 minutes this time. I think he is getting used to the rigorous brain usage and school schedule.


So then Saturday we took him to the Aquarium in Cincinnati. We got the seaspon passes so we can go more then once, and it was a good thing too. Caleb loved it but he went very fast through the whole thing. So we will get to go back and go slower the next time. He loved the sharks and the penguins! We do have pics but I am going to do them later. More of that slacker behavior!

News

The doctors office called and confirmed I am pregnant. They have set my next appointment for July 9th. I am lucky in that I can continue to take flintstones vitamins instead of those nasty prenatal vitamins until that appointment. I wish I could take them the whole time but the prenatals are for pregnant people while flintstones are not! I will keep you updated!

GREAT NEWS!!!!!

Well guys, we are going to have to change the terms of our weight loss challenge because I AM PREGNANT!!!!!!!!! I found out Monday and I got to go shopping and got some boxes and some baby booties and sent them to my Mom and Jeanne (Mother in law). They got them and they were both thrilled! Jeanne and George even cried. My sister was there when Mom opened her box and before Mom even got it opened Becky was like I bet she is trying to tell you she is pregnant! Mom was like how could you even know what that means without seeing it? But despite not knowing what the box and tissue paper meant when she saw the boots she knew what they were for. And she was thrilled!!!! She wants a girl because they are so much better to shop for with all their cute cute clothes! I went to the doctors today and they had to take some blood to see if I really am. The line on the test was really faint and so they had to take some blood to be definitive. And they will tell me tomorrow. And then I can get things rolling. I want to lose some more weight, and strenghten my muscles so I can hopefully have a natural birth. I also need to get more in shape. I wheeze horribly at the top of stairs!!!! I was still at 265 when I went in to the doctors today and I had a FULL bladder for my test! So maybe that is about a pound or two!!! J/K probably not though! I am still good with 265 though. I have been steady at that weight which is good for me! Caleb doesn't quite understand what we have told him. He does not seem that interested yet. And according to a rough estimate by the doctors office the baby is due around valentines day! I am sooo excited! I will let you know when I hear yes or no from the doctor.

WooHoo!!

Woohoo!!! I just signed a contract on my listing!!! It has been on the market for about 2 weeks and We have had many showings and we had 2 offers presented. One was from another agent, and one was my buyer. The other offer had some contingencies in it that just would not be good for my seller, so she decided to counter on my buyer. Well the offer was signed yesterday!!!! Now my buyers are going to go to a title ageney and it should close within 2 weeks! I am soo excited!
Eric is almost done with his finals, and he takes the LSAT on Monday. And then we have to wait to find out what he made. And then we will see if it is good enough to apply for Law school. If not he will go to Chemistry Grad School.
And then when he is done we are going to work SUPER hard to get all the things done with the bathroom upstairs and then onto the dining room!!! And on... and on.... and on... and the list never ends!!!!!

Nothing much is going on

cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccaaaaaaaaaaxxxxxlllll;ewb Caleb likes to type his name. Unfortunately he snuck a few extra letters in thpere!!!!!!;; b I have had 3 showings since I got my listing but no interest so far. I got the talking house working, and it sounds great! I just need to get a sign on the corner put up. But there is no grass!!! So I have to go get a thing to hold it up on the light pole, eric has it all worked out. We just have to get it up now.

I forgot my primary bag today. I even picked it up once and then set it down to put Caleb's shoes on, and I guess I forgot to pick it back up. It was hard not having it. I didn't have the lesson or my activity, but I got the lesson from the library and we went outside to smell things. That always goes over well!!!

And I have some board meetings on tuesday but I cannot find a sitter!! I have tried everybody I know with kids. I will try our nxt door neighbor that Caleb plays with sometiumes. If she does not work out, then I am going to have to try this lady he really likes. She lives vewry far out there, but she does have grandchildren that come over to play with. I hope I can find somebody!

Busy, Busy!!!

I have had two people call and set up appointments to see my house. And I have had several people call about it too. And Church was good. Memorial day we went to grandmas to water and try to finish our garden. We did water the garden but we didn't finish the rest of it. The ground has not been broken for several years and so it has been harder and tougher then usual to get the ground broken and ready for use. And then on top of that Texas has stolen all of our rain and so they might not grow anyway. We have had scarcely any rain so far. and the ground is all dusty and dry. But my herbs have been growing good. They are on the porch so I can water them more frequently.

Listing

I GOT THE LISTING!! She signed the papers this morning. I have my first listing! I am sooo excited! I suggested some things she change, I think she took them very well. They are all very cost effective too. I am willing to work for her. I have a few clients I can call, and Eric is going to make a flyer to take to all the higher priced apartments. For about the same price or lower then their rent they can own a home of about the same size even!!! I hope it works. She is very nice and she wants to sell in about 30 days though. I hope we can pull it off!
My visiting teachers are coming soon. I have to go hurry and clean a few more things!

Slow Going

Slow going this week so far. Nothing much going on. I went to my listing presentation on monday and she said she needed a few days to make a decision on what to list the house at. So I took a picture to put it in the paper this morning, I deposited some money, and then I went to Kroger and got some sushi, YUMMMMM.

Pirates!

Well we had a camp out last night. The ward was supposed to have one and they did but they picked some place that was 70 miles away and we have a big peice of land we can stay on that is only 20 miles away, and with the gas prices so high why go to the place that is so far away. So we decided to go camping on Grandmas property which is the closer one. Eric stayed at the house to get some stuff done and then to get our camping gear out and I went to go do some inspections. I was at this one inspection and I had to ask if this was the right house, and the lady went in to go get her husband and he came out to interrogate me about doing this property. It turns out he is a cop and I was driving my mother in laws van with the texas tags, I couldn't tell him who ordered the original inspection, and he interrogated me with all these questions. Just as he was getting ready to let me go I ran out of gas!!!! I had just put gas in, but I was on a hill so I guess the suction didn't work or something. I don't remember what Eric said haad happened. So I tried to call anybody who was at the house. I sat there for 10 minutes calling again and again, until somebody finally heard the phone! So I told Eric what happened, and he came to put gas in the car. Luckily I was doing one in town and he was only 3 minutes away. So he came and he only had a little gas, and it still wasn't enough to start the car all the way so Eric got in and managed to neutral it down the hill and it started right up at the bottom of the hill. I didn't do that because I was scared with not having any power steering or good brakes. Becuase they were both off during when the car was in neutral. So this guy finally let us go. After he had called in to the company to make sure I was who I said I was. So by the time we got going and got gas after that and then got home we just decided to not go out to grandmas. But we had told Caleb we would go camping so we put the tent up in our back yard. Adn we went to go get smores stuff and Pirate stuff for the next day. We came home, and Caleb had a blast getting the marshmallows on fire! He didn't want to eat the smores he just wanted to catch the marshmallows on fire. Then we told some stories and got out hte glowing sticks and played with those for a while. And then we went to bed. Caleb kept moving around and moaning in the middle of the night about wht I don't know. I assume it was sleeping on the hard ground. I did not particularly care for hard ground, but I made it and I enjoy my soft bed even more now!
Saturday morning we got up and came inside and Caleb was sooo cranky from staying up late and then waking up every hour to roll around or whatever. It was really trying! And then we went to go do some inspections with a FULL tank of gas this time, and we stopped with enough time to go to the Pirate party at the library. He loved it. He and Eric had a sash, and a bandana, and eye patches, and jewelery that looked pirate-ish. And they made a treasure box, and had some salty dogs ( hot dogs), and some barnacle sludge (slightly runny lime jello), and some whale crackers. He then got a picture with the real pirate they invited, he got to sign his name to the Charter for the pirate ship and he got some goodies for being part of the crew, and he got some gold dubloons to put in his treasure chest. He liked it alot. And we got some cute pictures!! Once again I have to wait to put them on here though. I wish I had a card reader on this laptop. It is hard to put pictures on here without one. So I am now going to go do some more inspections. No rest for the money makers! J/K I just need to get a few more done before tomorrow.
AND THE BEST NEWS OF ALL.....I HAVE MY FIRST LISTING APPOINTMENT ON MONDAY!!!!!!!!! ERIC FOUND THIS LADY DOING INSPECTIONS A WHILE AGO AND SHE JUST CALLED ME AND TOLD ME SHE WANTED TO LIST HER HOUSE. WOW!!!! I CAN'T WAIT.

Scooters

I went for a ride on my scooter last night. It was sooo much fun. I love that thing. Eric took it to school today. I think he likes being able to park 3 feet from the door to his building for class. And it saves a ton on gas. It doesn't get that fast but it is still fun.
Caleb is doing good, he loves to run around Grandma's property and we have already pulled off 3 tics this season. I hate tics!!!!! I am still scared to death he is going to get lyme disease or deer tic disease. Although I have calmed down a lot toward how I react to them.
Eric is doing good in school, he just finished all his midterms last week. He is still studying for his GRE. He is trying to get all his paperwork in to take the test.
My first real estate deal went through I told you all about that one, well I am still trying to close my second deal. It is not going very well. We are a few days from losing the contract. I don't know what to do. It is not anything we can do, it is the mortgage company.

IMPULSE BUYER BEWARE!!!!

We have been really concerned with our little economic car going bust, we have talked about everything we can think of on how to fix this car. So we have been watching cars on ebay, and we were looking and we stumbled on to the moped scooters. The really economic ones that get 70-90 miles to the gallon, with only one or two gallon tanks. We found a good one that was not working right, and the guy didn't know what was wrong with it, and George is good with fixing things like that, so we knew we could get it cheaper then a running one. so we continued watching it and then when the time came we got it for only 600 bucks! For the brand, the miles, and the condition we got an okay deal. so we went out to this guys place and he starts talking and he talks about this other scooter he got and then the 4 wheelers that he just recently got, and then he pops out with "I only put a hundred miles on this one and I just don't need it anymore since I got the 4 wheelers, I'll sell it to you for 500." We looked at it and it is a gorgeous red, good tires, miles, condition, and we thought about how much fun we would have all of us on scooters and we could take them to vacation and ride them around to school and maybe even church. It would save us a little on gas and stuff. So we said sure. We made a payment on paypal online, loaded it up, and drove home. I cannot believe that we went there for one scooter and came back with two!!!! I will post pictures when I get some light to take them.

Updating

Over the past week lots has happened and I have been too lazy and tired to write about it. I should have written it down as it came along because now I don't remember it all. On tuesday I took lunch to Eric and took Caleb to the library. He loves it there. He loves to look at books, they have some puzzles he loves to do, and now his favorite thing to do is play the games on the computer. He already has how to move the mouse down. He still clicks a little off but he is definitely getting better.
Wednesday I went to go do some inspections and I couldn't find some properties and drove around and around, and got so tired of not finding the properties I came home. I ended up seeing them but not realising it because the names and numbers were wrong or not on the house where I could see them.
Thursday I went to a primary meeting at Sister Moores house. She has a couple acres and lots of cool toys! The meeting was fine and Caleb had friends to play with from the other sisters kids. And then she had a lunch prepared for us. Caleb ate but only after I told him he had to eat to go on the 4 wheel motorcycle ride. He ate VERY fast after that! We went outside and looked at their pond and everything in it, and then we looked at their river and bridge. We threw rocks in the water and made lots of splashes. And then he got his first ATV ride. He got to sit in front of Brother Moore and put his hands on the handle bars and he even got to steer a little bit. He liked that a lot, and then he played in the river, and looked for bugs and stuff while the other kids got their rides. Then Caleb and I got to go on a ride. And we drove by this one pond and he kept pointing and saying this is where the pollywogs live. I was like what is he saying??? And then he always followed that with Pollywogs are like frogs. WOW He learned that while riding on an ATV they should have school on ATV's too. All the kids would be geniuses and graduating by 12! It's a cool thought, but it would never work.
So anyway Friday we wanted to take the plants we had planted on sunday out to plant them at grandmas but they weren't quite ready to be planted yet. So we went out there to try and get the tiller working. That was a bust. We have to wait till George gets up here. Maybe he can get it working. So we just spent the day there, and came home and on the way did some inspections. And then helped another sister move.
And then today we went to a birthday party for about an hour and then went to Ashland for our stake conference. We both had to go to the leadership training. So we had to take Caleb. He was pretty good for Eric the first hour and then he fell asleep in the general adult session. So he was really good then! Between the leadership and adult sessions we had about an hour and we went to eat dinner and we stopped at JCpenneys to see if they had any more of their little vest suits. We had bought them there around easter last year at a great price. They didn't have any of those this time but they had this one proper suit. It was sooo cute. So we got it for Caleb. This one should last for a year and a half maybe two.
So a lot of small things going on this week. Caleb still struggles with potty training. We have had several incidents where he doesn't even try to go to the bathroom he just spreads his legs and goes on the carpet. It drive me crazy. What do I do with that? Do I yell at him and lecture him to let him know it's not okay, tell him it's okay and try harder next time, put him in time out, try and teach him and he starts crying because I don't do it very well? What? I would LOVE something that WORKS. I am tired. I am feeling depressed because I did not get pregnant this month. I let Caleb stay up late tonight. I am going to pay for it tomorrow!

Car..... Adventures

Well guys I have had the adventure of the week here in my little town of Portsmouth!! Our little economic car has had a lot of problems for a while, but in order to fix all those problems it would cost us more then the car is worth. So we have been trying to fix the cheap things and just run it into the ground. Well, I was going to go do some inspections and I started to hear this clicking sound. BAD right! I pull over, luckily I was still in cell range. I call Eric and he has me check the oil level. It is not even reading on the little stick thing. That is BAD! So Eric has me take the car he drove and finish the inspections and he puts the oil he brought in the little car and drives that home! I go and finish my inspections just as the light fails I am done and start driving home. Caleb is asleep in the back seat, when I get on the highway my car starts to vibrate, shake, and rattle a lot. Now the car Eric brought he brought because he could not find the keys to the van. And this car has a bad oxygen sensor. So I wasn't too surprised about the unexpected butt and back massage, but I was nervous because of the run in with the little car! But I made it home!!!
Before this little adventure we had a great dinner! I made some wontons, and bought some sushi that Kroger has started selling in our area. And we made tofu kabobs, with onion, green pepper, tomoatoe, and pineapple, with the tofu wrapped in bacon and one peice of pineapple on each kabob wrapped in bacon. It was soooo good. And then we had this new set of placemats that look chinese and they came with chop sticks so we used those. It was so much fun. And then for dessert I saw a recipe in a magazine for these sute strawberry mice. You cut one little peice of the strawberry to level it and make it sit flat. and then you use the hole in the larger end or make your own for a peice of twizzlers pull apart strings for the tail, and then you use chocolate chips for the noses and chocolate dots for the eyes and mouth but I didn't have any chocolate melted like that so I just used to chips for the eyes and didn't bother with the rest. It looked soooo cute!! And Caleb just had a BLAST eating the mice! Best batch of starwberries I have ever had! So it was a good day and it was a bad day. And Caleb will NOT go to sleep. He is still up there playing around! I can hear him right now jumping up and down on the floor.

What you can find on the Internet!

Hey guys, I have been looking for info on John on the internet and I found some really interesting things! Like the FCC giving Melanie her call sign, Dad has a few mentionings about work, and I found Dave Marshalls blog! The excerpt I read said from left to right carolyn Palsky, Micheal palsky... I was like, what is this? So I clicked on it and it was the wedding pictures of Dave's wedding. That was a cool find! and sadly to say the only things I found on John are his mission web site, I tried the email with that site but I think it wasn't working, and A post Aubrey made to a sugar glider company.

Closing

Well my Closing yesterday went off almost without a hitch. I got a call from Sharon the morning of and she told me the water bill was not on the HUD, which is a list of all the things each side pays. okay.... maybe they forgot to put it on there I said, no big deal, they can fix that easy and still close. I made a few phone calls and nothing, nobody knew anything. And so they couldn't add it to the HUD. I was frantic. Because my buyer could not transfer the water into his name until it is paid! You can't exactly live without water!!!!
So I decided to stick it out. I had to take Caleb to a members house to watch him because Jeanne and George qare out of town, and Eric was at school. So I got there and I met early with my buyers and talked about some things. And then the closer got there, I had to make a few copies of paper, and then I told her about the water bill, she made one phone call and got an honest straight forward answer!! If only I had that kind of power! Anyway, We ended up having to bill the company and then we will reimburse our buyers when the money comes in. So we finished signing and then we all left. I will not get my commission for a few days though. That's Standard.
And then today I managed to go into the office for a little while before I had to pick Caleb up for a play date. On the way to pick up Caleb I stopped at a persons house that Eric had talked to while doing inspections and she said to call her in about a month and she might be ready to list her house! Exciting! My first listing!!! Well... Almost!
Caleb had a blast at the Play date. They read some books, played with toys, walked on a two by four probably trying to see if any of the kids would qualify for a disability class the city has. They danced and sang songs, and then they made a picture of some flowers, and then they got to paint some egg crates. And they got a snack. And they gave sippy cups to every kid! And they had stacks and stacks of sippy cups left! I have never seen that many before!!
Then I came home, did some cleaning, got dinner, and then Went to go babysit for the people who watched Caleb yesterday. I am so glad we can trade favors like that. It is much more convenient then trying to find a babysitter that I have to pay all the time. And more affordable! Plus Caleb gets to see his friends more often!

Nothing Much

Well I am just boring!!! I remember what I did on Friday but I just do not remember what I did yesterday! For the life of me I can not remember. I asked Eric and he didn't remember either! Oh yeah that's right I remember now.
I worked my butt off on Friday trying to get this property closed and GUESS WHAT??? We close TOMORROW!!!! this is my first closing for this year. I can't wait! I have been working on this deal for MONTHS!! And of course I have already spent the commission on bills trying to get rid of our debt. I think this will make a dent though. We were going to spend it on a new air conditioner/heater since the heater is broken and runs none stop and the air conditioner is non existent, but we decided to wait, and stick it in right before we sell it, be that in a few months or down the road. And Eric spent the whole day going from house to house doing to inspections. He got 25 done! WOW! That brings us to almost a thousand just for the inspections. If we can get a thousand a month from those we will be doing well on savings or debt. That is what we have decided to do with the money we get from inspections.
Then on Saturday we kind of took it easy and took the rabbits outside on little leashes. They liked that. And then Caleb got really hot and needed some water so we went in to make some and I made lemonade instead and then I brought down our little picnic basket and filled it with vegetables and dip, and we took it outside and had a little picnic in the grass. It was fun to have a picnic in our yard. I think they are the best kind actually because if you need anything you can just go inside and get it. But you still get the same air and grass as somewhere else!
And then today we went to church. I got to go to relief society today becuase all of the kids I had were old enough to go to primary for sharing time. It was nice. Then we came home and took a nap. Caleb of course BEGGED to not take his. But he gave up eventually. And then we decided to move the rabbit hutch into it's rightful place, move the bunk bed, and then move all the toys from downstairs upstairs so Caleb wouldn't leave them everywhere. We got everything done but the toys. We had to take a break and have dinner. We will finish tonight! I am tired of Caleb sleeping in our bed! We have not finished the bathroom yet and we will need to finish Caleb's wall that we extended for more room in the bathroom, but we have room to work on it, and nothing is going to happen in the next few weeks because of school so we might as well put him back in his room. I hope he does all right, he is going through a scared phase. Being left alone even in the middle of the day for a nap makes him scared he says. I have a little bit of compassion for him but I think it is more then just scared so I will take it with a grain of salt. I am excited to get my bed back! Is that bad??
I still love my laptop, Eric likes it too. Because it folds down he says it makes it so easy to do the inspections. That is good, and it allows us to be more efficient and get more done.

Technology

I finally got my Laptop yesterday! With Eric needing to take his laptop to school, and the desktop too slow and on its last legs, I needed something better for work. I do a lot of buisness here at home, and with this new inspection company the laptop I got makes it soooo much easier. It is a tablet PC from IBM. So it should last a while still. It is used, but still has two years on the warranty, and it came with LOTS of extras, two batteries, two chargers, a two battery charger, a laptop lock, an external hard drive cover with case, and a desktop port station. That is where the CD drive is located. But it is really cool, and it has a fingerprint scanner on it. I like that feature. So I can fold down my laptop and I don't have to struggle with a huge laptop, It can be used jut like a sheet of paper! It is soooo cool!
And then I have a closing on monday and the other deal I am working on just got the appraisal back, and it was for the amount we needed so that is good! We were all worried we hadn't heard anything for a while! So It will close in a week or so.
And Caleb got accepted to this Summer Preschool thing put on by the city. That starts in June. I am excited for him! And I have a play date today with a lady from church. So I need to go and get things started, and clean up a little bit!

Bad News

Bad News Guys!!!!! Eric was playing around with the google mapping thing and accidentally deleted the google account!!!! BYE BYE Blog! Bye Bye Google Account! Bye Bye Hard work. And I can't get it back! I tried!! So Now I have to start over! I'm sure it will not be the same. I hope you guys still continue to look.