Tell All Tuesday

It's been a little while since I did a post of my random thoughts...

• Well, I thought we were over the house hunt and going to put it off for a few more years. We found another builder that looked intriguing so tonight we will go and look at a few homes for sale. They aren't in the school district we were originally looking at, so I think we'd be looking to build somewhere else... and then could still hold off a little while.
• Unless we get totally blown away tonight. We will see. There is a park right down the street (maybe in the development) complete with playground, basketball courts, etc...
• Hunter doesn't want us to move and not have a pool for the summer.
• Hunter goes both ways on moving... fresh start, new friends are the pros... leaving old friends is the main con. Though- he'll be driving in a year anyway and the magic of facebook would allow him to keep in touch with everyone. Plus- if we were to build, that takes time anyway between selling our house and actually starting the build.
• But- the city we originally wanted to move to has much cheaper taxes... I cannot believe how much taxes are around here.
• The kids are good. Owen is so sweet... If Quinlin says no to something, Owen is quick to swoop in and say yes. even the simplest things like wanting a kiss. "No Mama" says Quinlin and Owen chimes in "Mommy- I'll kiss you". or "No mama, don't sit next to me" and Owen says "Mommy- sit next to me". I think it's hilarious.
• I'm missing $40 from my wallet this morning. Kind of pissed.
• Sean is looking at a motor for his little green fishing boat tonight... hence realizing the $40 is missing. Again, pissed.
• Hunter had a stomach bug last week and missed 2 days of school. so hard in high school to miss time. I hope he catches up and the grades don't fall too far behind.
• Work is busy. I need catch up days...
• On the meal front, I finally decided to start cooking again. Menu items for this week include(d)- chicken enchiladas, meatloaf, chicken Marsala, french dip sandwiches, and shrimp and broccoli pasta.

I think that's all my random rumblings for today... off to search for my money.

We almost bought a house

It's been a crazy few weeks for us. We innocently went to go meet with a builder and I fell in love with the model home...that was way more expensive than we ever were looking at. So- we walked through it, admired the builder's work, admired the details, the wood work, the kitchen and left knowing that if we were to build, we'd want to build with them.

During the meeting and afterwards, it was mentioned that they really needed to get the house off of the books. So- my realtor suggested that it doesn't hurt to put in an offer. We looked at our finances, ran numbers with my CFO, talked it over with my parents, etc and ultimately decided to put in an offer. We low-balled thm completely (I think $80K less than what it was currently on the market for). I didn't feel bad (like I was insulting them) as they knew our budget and knew what we were looking to spend anyway.

Well, they counter-offered us and dropped their price $35K. We decided, before offering more money, to take another walk through and really look into the house. And we walked away Monday night deciding it wasn't the house for us.

The garage was a side load, we need a front load for Sean's snowmobile and trailer. The office was large. It had a two story great room that I think looks pretty, but Sean thinks is a waste of space. For a house of that size (3600 sq feet) there was only 2.5 baths (would have expected more), and the master bedroom was rather large, yet the way they had it for furniture placement (where the bed and tv would go, for example) was awkward. And lastly- you could hear the turnpike when outside...

I left sad...I really loved the entryway, loved the hearth room, loved the idea of being in that house. But- today am ok. we made the right decision.

Entertainment Unit Ordered

We did it. We finally ordered our new entertainment unit for our living room. I cannot wait for it to arrive. The new tv has been sitting in our dining room for a few weeks now so it will be nice when we can finally start using it.

We ordered this one after looking around a bit.

The funny thing is, as we were organizing our closet the other night, we came across the receipt for the furniture used for our basement. Wouldn't you know that the same tv stand is already in our basement? Well, it's the same brand and collection anyway, just a little bigger (so has the middle drawers):

And seen here in our basement:

In the basement we have the 60" console. We ordered for our living room, the 48 inch. So- if we ever move, we have one of each size for both living areas and if our future living room is ever larger, we simply can switch it out. So our living room would look like this:

I'm so excited! In other news, it's finally Friday! we have a busy weekend and one last trip to my IL's farm since they sold it and moved closer. Bittersweet- it's nice to have them close, but it would have been nice for our kids to experience the farm like Sean did growing up.

Our basement- finally finished!

Our basement was a huge project for us. After building the house in 2004, we finally finished it in 2009. The project started in February 2009 and finished in September 2009 and we let it go for a while until we saved up some more funds to finish the bar area. At that time, with having Owen at a year old and Quinlin on the way, the bar wasn't a huge rush for us to do. So- we lived with the living area, an open area for the one day bar and a full bathroom. We finally decided to get moving on the bar in the spring and had cabinets, the sink and granite installed. All that was left was the stone front. And finally- 2 years after we finished the basement, the bar is complete and the basement is fully finished! I love it and am so excited to finally share the pictures. I was so excited that I took them on my cell phone, so not the greatest quality, but still sharable...I did take pictures along the way but can't find most of them.

this was when they were laying out the tile for the bar floor.

The stoned bar. I love it.

Looking at the bar from the living area. The back left is the bathroom. 

back cabinets

Looking at the living area from the bar

the granite countertops

the living area- complete with a crying Owen

 

Bathroom

 Shower in the bathroom

Crate and Barrel artwork

We have plenty of storage as well. Behind the wall with the artwork is a hidden closet to get to easy access for the wiring for the tv's, plumbing, etc. To the left is a storage closet under the stairs and next to that is a storage closet that houses all the toys (you can see in the picture above the kids toy box as well). around the corner from the closet is a small hall that leads to our unfinished area for storage and weights (for when Sean and Hunter work out) and then our stairs that lead up. Eventually I will frame pictures for that area, etc.

So- there it is. A work in progress over the last two years! 

Wordless Wednesday

Well almost wordless. You want to know the fun things we did in our house on a Tuesday night? Organized the closet...

It started with finally having the realization that I have too many old clothes/ suits.. I started last Thursday pulling them off the hangers and getting them out...

This wasn't even all of it. When finished, we had 7 large garbage bags full of clothes.

I stressed and stressed as to how to organize, and finally we just dug in last night. It is nowhere near done, or perfect...but it's a start.

All my suit jackets in one spot... (I think I removed about 12 other jackets that I no longer wear)

Sean's clothes on the back wall. It only took 5 years to get his stuff situated instead of in a little section of the closet from when he first moved in. To the left is my suiting and long sleeve shirts. Bottom left is skirts and tanks. Back top is my sweaters and all of Sean's clothes and back bottom are all my short sleeve shirts. 

 To the right are all of my hanging pants and dresses- and of course, the wedding dress. Sean actually had the nerve to suggest I preserve my dress. Hello? No more Anniversary Tradition? I think not... silly boy. Also to the right is my new shelves for extra storage.

I will eventually move some extra towels and blankets on here since I have the space, but I wanted to put all my store bought goods on here. I obviously have a problem buying things when I have a coupon, and this just shows me we don't need soaps, deodorants, shampoos, etc for a long time. Before I had them hidden in drawers, so didn't really know what I had.  

And what is this?

My closet floor. Yay!!!!

Weekend Recap

We had a great weekend. Busy as usual. I don't think we ever really sat down. I find it sad when I need a weekend to recover from my weekend!

Friday I left work early and met my MIL and SIL and continued to look for homes for my MIL. Every home we saw, something was wrong with it... mold, water in the basement, etc. We walked in many and left disappointed. We then went Friday night to Jennifer's house to celebrate Sean's brother Chuck's birthday. It was nice- we got Mexican and hung out.

Saturday morning we were back at it again. We walked in a few homes and then started looking in a new city. We found two we really liked. One was a for sale by owner "farm house". The other in a development. The farm house was definitely more her- on an acre of land, completely redone, huge barn, nice kitchen. There were a few concerns with it- would need a new driveway, would need to address a drainage issue by the back of the house and barn, otherwise, it was totally her. The development house was totally redone. She could move in and enjoy. The fact that it was in a development scared her. She's used to having space, not having to worry about my FIL roaming free, etc. We decided to sleep on it and go back to both of them the following day. Saturday night was the first preseason game and so we brought Owen and Hunter with us. They had a blast!

Sunday was my nephew Charlie's baptism. We went to the church and watched him get baptised and then went to Chuck's house for a get together. It was fun- the kids played, the food was great. Aside from the rain, a perfect day. We left Chuck's to get to the two homes with MIL for second showings. We got to the farm house and found out from the rain, the basement flooded. Red flag, sign from God to move on. So- off the list the farm house went. We then went to the development house and we all loved it again (minus Sean and Jen who weren't sold on the development). MIL again wanted to sleep on it and after talking to Sean, I thought would have lost interest. But- on Monday I found out she was putting an offer in. I was so excited! It really is a great house- and at .36 acres, still shows enough land and privacy. Between taking care of my dad, I think she realized it may be time to give up the land dream. She was either going to find a house with land that needed a ton of work, or a nice house on not so much land that was move-in ready. So- fingers crossed that the bid goes through, the sale of her own house goes through and she could move closer. Ok- and not to jinx it, will just post a few pictures!

We've Come a Long Way Baby

I was driving into work this morning enjoying my peace and quiet after I dropped the babies off to daycare. For some reason, my mind started turning to when I bought my house. It must be all this house stuff and the closure I'm feeling with realizing that we are probably in it for the long haul.

I was remembering the days when it was just Hunter and I. The house was plenty big for the two of us- in fact- he had taken over 3 of the 4 bedrooms with all his stuff.

Gosh he seemed so tiny then...

When we bought the house and the new furniture, I had a heck of a time trying to find a kitchen table I liked. Nothing "fit" to what I wanted. So- we went without. We spent many of nights picnicking on the kitchen floor eating our dinners in the large open space. I look back now and think what a long way we have come. Those days seem like forever ago- just the two of us. I miss those days- the closeness of Hunter depending on me only, the easy conversations we had because life was simpler then... though, I look forward to the days we have ahead and what an amazing young man he is turning into.

Tell All Tuesday

• We looked at the one house we had been eyeing last night after work. It was awful and disappointing. Had such promise... was a large home, 5 bedrooms, 4500 square feet and due to the fact that it was a short sale, the price was right. We got there and looked through it and although there were some pros (nice hardwood floors, wainscoting, nice outside structure) the cons definitely outweighed everything... no back yard, up on a hill and the back yard sloped down into a ravine, awful layout- a teeny tiny living room with what they considered the great room to be in the basement. weird layout- you had to walk through the laundry room to get to the bathroom, the master was small, the garage was small. So- in the end, this was not a house for us.
• which now leads to us thinking- maybe it's best to stay where we are... our house is nice and only 7 years old. We have already done things to it to not look so cookie cutter- finished the basement, full bath in basement, granite in the kitchen, slate floors, working on the bar- just picked the stone for it. So- with the rearranging of the furniture and placement of trinkets, I do like it much better. Maybe we buy in a few years when financially things are better for us.
• Aside from the house stuff consuming me, things are going well. Hunter went to his grandpa's on Sunday where I get a text message from him showing his front tooth that he had chipped a few years ago had the cap fall off. So- I had to rush him in to the dentist in the middle of the day. I didn't mind- it gave me extra one on one time with him in the afternoon.
• Quinlin was in a horrible mood yesterday- just overly tired when she finally got home from daycare and ate dinner. She cried through her entire bath (so not like her) and couldn't wait to go to bed. I missed my smiley baby...so will share my smiley little girl from the other day:


• The weather here is teasing us.... nice and mid 60's to cold and in the 40's the next day. I'm so ready for spring!
• We are getting on our ebay kick again. I listed a pair of Owen's nike's that he barely wore, a boppy and a pair of new baseball cleats that Hunter never wore. Ebay and I have a love hate relationship. I love the thrill of selling things- but hate having to put the work into it. But- we do need to get rid of so many things around the house. I have a few items on Craigslist now too. Next week I hope to list a few other things that I don't need anymore. Let's hope I can stay motivated!

Weekend Recap

Once again the weekend has come and gone and it went, too too quickly! I feel like we didn't do all that much, yet I was constantly on the go.

Friday night I took Hunter out to a Purim service as he watched his friends who were in it perform a "rock opera" and play. I know it killed him to not be in it, performing himself (as he is quite the performer) but we live too far away and weren't able to commit to the rehearsal schedule. They did a nice job, and Hunter very much enjoyed himself.

On Saturday, Sean went to his parents house for a boys weekend- 6 of his closest friends from high school reliving their glory days. They got down there about 10am, started drinking at noon and were all passed out about 10:30pm. Ha! They were such girls leading up to the trip as well- giddily talking on the phone, sending pictures of the different alcohol in preparation, etc. I'm glad they had a nice time.

While Sean was away, I went with my realtor friend Megan and checked out a few more builders. It was nice walking through the models, seeing what I like and don't like, but weird to do it without Sean. We had a long discussion over the weekend and I think have come to peace with staying where we are. Though- we are looking at one home, already built, today just because we have had our eye on it. If we leave there today and know it's not the home for us, we will not put our house on the market. We have gone back and forth and really, if we're going to make a big move, the time is now. That way, we don't need to disrupt Hunter from school and his friends. If we wait until he goes to college (which is only 4 years away- yikes), then we may not even want to start over with a mortgage, etc. We always said we didn't want to be house poor- and our home is only 7 years old. I would think, at that point, we can live with the things we don't have- and try to correct the things we want and can. So- all still up in the air.

On Sunday, I took the babies, with my parents back to the temple for a Purim carnival. Hunter was working it, as part of the youth group, but Quinlin and Owen even were still a little too young. They enjoyed themselves, but it was a little chaotic and the games were slightly over Owen's head. Afterwards, while Hunter was cleaning up, I took Owen and Quinlin to Karen's house and they got to play with Jillian. It was so nice to be able to go and visit her and have the kids play together. We stayed for about an hour or so and then I had to rush to get Hunter to bring him home where he was promptly picked up by his grandpa for the night. I felt like I didn't even get to see him at all this weekend!

Sean was home when I finally made it back and it was nice to hang out with the family and relax the rest of the day. Now I need to play catch up on all the chores I didn't work on this weekend. I'm surprised anyone made it out of the house today with anything clean to wear!

Weekend Recap

We had such a nice weekend!

Friday night we cleaned a little bit and then I waited up for my sister to arrive into town for the weekend. She got home about 10:15pm but we had gotten so much snow that day that she couldnt get into the driveway, so I had to wake a sick sean and send him outside with Hunter to shovel and snow blow. I am very ready for winter to be over!

Saturday, my new friend Megan came over. She's a realtor who I met through work and in casual conversation about a week or so ago, I made a comment about wanting her to come over and stage my house. I wasn't happy with how I had furniture placed and wasn't feeling happy with the way the house was looking. We have also been in thoughts of moving- as we did about a year ago. We would love a three car garage for all of sean's gear and some other little things, but our house is fine if we choose to stay in it. Anyway, Megan came over and we went to work right away. I wished I had taken before pictures but will try to take some afters.

We started in the kitchen decluttering and moved on to the living room. All the toys went down to the basement in a closet and we moved a sofa table down there as well and rearranged all the furniture. She also placed my photos in a small cabinet and rearranged the decorative pieces on top of the media cabinet and fireplace. My living room looks huge now.

We rearranged the dining room as well by moving which wall the hutch and buffets were on. It made such a big difference. She also reorganized everything in the hutch and decorated a bit on top of the buffet. It is one of my new favorite rooms.

We didn't have time to move things around upstairs but she gave us a gameplan as to what we need to do in the bedroom with the furniture and will work on that this week. When we were finished, we left the house and went to a model home of a builder she wanted us to see (we had mentioned maybe selling and wanting to build). I loved it. You can do so much custom work- as opposed to when I bought my house originally. The house we saw was very nice, the rooms were bigger, the mud room was amazing. It is something we are strongly considering and now just need to meet with them to see exactly what it will cost us to build if we were to go that route. And- we would need to sell our house first, so...that is something we need to work on. We just need to declutter what we don't need and finish the stone work on the bar and we can put our house on the market. And- the fact is- if we don't sell our house for XXX, then we don't sell and can be fine where we are.

We rushed home from the house visit to get Hunter for his basketball game. My sister and I went and left Sean at home with the kids. I'm so glad I went too. Hunter's team won- and are the champions of his league. They went the entire season undefeated!

After the game, we had take out and just hung out at home. I felt bad that we didnt do anything more exciting with my sister, but with the babies, it's too hard.

On Sunday, we cleaned a little more, donated a bunch of stuff to goodwill and came back home. Sean's sister came over and cooked us dinner (a nice surprise) and that was it. Now on to the week ahead!

Grounded

As I mentioned here, Sean was out of town last weekend which meant that I had the pleasure of having 3 teenage boys playing/sleeping in my basement while I also watched my 2 under 2. Fun stuff... In that post, I referenced my wall art falling off the wall. I didn't think much of it at the time, until I got a phone call yesterday at work from Sean telling me that Hunter was now grounded. He asked about the art and I said that I had known it had fallen down. Well- Hunter lied about the situation and continued to lie...

we'll start from the beginning...pretty Crate and Barrel wall art...

Owen's little tykes basketball hoop

Though, for 8th grade boys, this innocent little basketball hoop is for the game, knee basketball.

The scratch behind the artwork that I saw Friday night...

The dent in the wall towards the floor when the artwork fell. I did not notice this at the time of the incident.

The corner of the artwork still displaying the chunk of drywall it took out from image above...



Now- accidents will happen, and our house is made to be lived in. I don't mind that. In fact, when we hung the art, I took a small chunk out of the wall as well by our level so we knew already we would have to do some patching. The issue is that Hunter told Sean that they took the artwork off the wall so it wouldn't break or cause any damage in case they got too rough... I knew for a fact they didn't take it off the wall. I heard it fall. I didn't take the pictures of the damage they did trying to rehang it themselves either. After about 30 minutes, Hunter finally confessed. At what point do they learn that lying is not the answer? The punishment is always more severe than if you just tell the truth.

Well- Sean took away Hunter's cell phone and PS3 for the month. Hunter, the good kid that he is, felt guilty and unhooked his ATT Uverse box from his room, handed over his remote and also his ipod. We did let him keep his kindle- it promotes reading, so I don't mind that. He also has to help clean the house every night- last night he cleaned his room, cleaned his bathroom and vacuumed the living room and upstairs hallway. On the flip side, I may get a clean house after all of this. And- we're not that cold hearted... if good behaviour, he'll get some of his privileges back early. and, I'll let him watch the Super Bowl. Fingers crossed he learns his lesson.

And- since this is such a debbie downer post... can I just post a pic of my little diva?

I now have realized why I should have bought shoes earlier- to match her bows!