I had a hankering for Peas & Peanuts the other day—and thought I had all the ingredients.
Whoops.
It’s just not the same without the smidge of red onion.
I always forget the red onion.
Category Archives: House & Home
Wow, all three fit!
So we are going to the USMC Birthday Ball this weekend.
No, we originally weren’t planning on it since we were moving up here, but apparently it’s almost a mandatory event for hubby’s new office, so we’re going…at $40 each. XX( We do get a hotel room included in that cost—which is nice since the hotel is an hour or so away—but it’s money we hadn’t planned on spending AND we had to get someone to watch the dog!
Anyhoo.
I was pretty sure at least one of my three dresses would still fit, since I was about the same size when I bought them five years ago.
The red one is my favorite, but I’ve worn it a lot—including each cruise and one or two balls.
The purple one I wore to my first ball, but the straps are annoying and it has a shawl that I never know how to hold or what to do with.
The champagne one I’ve never worn (and probably didn’t NEED to buy, but really HAD to buy because it was on clearance for like $35 and you don’t find nice dresses in my size on clearance too often—so it’s been in my closet for five years) but doesn’t look that great with my now-pasty-white skin. (I had been planning on wearing it THIS year, tanned…until I got pregnant and quit tanning.)
So I will probably end up in the red one, just because it’s my favorite. But it was nice knowing that all three fit!
A new look for the blog…for the season.
I loved the previous skin I was using, but in honor of moving to Michigan (and seeing as how it’s just about winter—although, knock on wood, today it got to 70) I thought I would change the skin to something a bit more wintery.
I do have a bit of tweaking to do, but for the most part, it will look like this until I’m sick of winter…so, maybe a month or two? XX(
😀
Running errands here is a nightmare!
So today was my first day to run errands alone. Wow, it sucks.
First, I had to have the GPS because there is NO WAY IN HELL I am going to know where I am going, let alone where anything is OR how to get home IF I happened to find anything. 🙄 And as I was ready to pull out of the driveway, I realized I didn’t have my GPS—Tom had both of them! So I had to wait for him to come home for lunch!
Second, there is construction on one of the MAJOR roads, which slows traffic down considerably. I am sure there are alternate routes (and the GPS could give me one if I told it to) but I don’t want to get too confused this early—and most of the time the GPS just tries to reroute me BACK TO the under-construction-area. 🙄
Third, the traffic—just speaking generally—is horrible. Which leads to…
Fourth, it seems like no one is paying attention at any time. Today I came THISCLOSE to getting rear-ended because some idiot two cars back wasn’t paying attention and didn’t notice (I guess) that we were all AT A COMPLETE STOP. I heard screeching and braking and as I looked in my rearview mirror, heard a loud THUNK as some idiot careened off the road up onto the curb/lawn to avoid hitting the lady behind me. Then, as if nothing had happened, just waited for traffic to start again and he plunked down off the curb. (Well, I guess nothing did happen, and I guess he wasn’t supposed to just sit there looking like a moron, but still, it just seemed so nonchalant.)
Fifth, for the drivers that are paying attention, some are just plain rude. Yes, traffic sucks. But to wait in the center turn lane with your blinker on, waiting to get into traffic, and then have to cross THE OTHER THREE LANES of traffic to make your turn? >:XX Try going a different direction. Drivers are constantly wanting you to let them pull out into traffic, and then making other lanes wait as they cross multiple lanes of traffic. So you add this to the people not paying attention? Aye yay yay.
Sixth, we live right in the center of town (pretty much) so are right in the middle of all the major thoroughfares. Which mostly have no left turns. To make a left, you have to turn right, then get immediately in the special left-turn lane in order to go back the other direction. I’m getting used to it, but it’s a pain—especially when you add in the traffic and the rude and non-alert drivers. Luckily some of them have lights. But some are one lane and some are two lanes and you never know which ones have lights. Fun!
And I am sure I am forgetting some.
So today I was gone for about three hours, traveled about 15 miles total, and only made three of my six stops—the doctor, Petsmart, and Costco. I kept missing the post offices (wrong side of the road, too hard to get back over, GPS was wrong) and I gave up on the credit union (I missed my turn, which then sent me a half mile out of my way, at which point I was close to home and said screw it, I’m tired, I’m going home), and Kroger—which was actually ON the way home, but it was another screwy left turn and I was exhausted.
Are we done yet?
A quick update on the move!
I have barely had two minutes to sit down at the computer, let alone write a full update of our move…so here’s the somewhat shorter version!
The professional packers came for two days and packed up the entire house. What a job! Yes, they did 96% of it, but Tom and I were still running around moving things and answering questions and directing traffic—it was way more work than either of us remembered, and it was exhausting (especially for me). As a sidenote, the cats didn’t appreciate being locked in carriers, but they were cute:
Then the movers came on Day 3 and loaded up the semi—it was scary enough just to see that HUGE truck pull up to the house:
And even scarier to see just how much of the semi our household contents filled (here they are almost done loading—our stuff came right to that last open door):
Of course, the work still wasn’t done—as there are LOTS of things they can’t pack like batteries, light bulbs, liquids (everything from cleaners to shampoo to cooking oils to detergent) so we spent each night boxing up that stuff for us to carry in the U-Haul. And then there was the cleaning. And patching. And touching up paint.
And then we got the call Saturday afternoon that our stuff would be arriving in Michigan Monday morning between 8-10am. HUH? What? Egads. Tom and I had been planning on driving up together Monday morning after he checked out—and planned on getting our stuff delivered Wednesday or Thursday—but things change, and we weren’t giving up the chance to get our stuff early so I left bright and early Sunday morning and drove the entire 14 hours in one day (well, it’s about 12.5 hours, but with stops…). It was a long day, but I made it.
The cats were funny on the way up (I got the cats, Tom got Maggie): they were each in a separate crate next to each other. I had covered them with a towel in the hopes it would make them calmer if they couldn’t see what was going on (I’m not sure if it helped or not). But what was funny is that they would cry and whine and meow, then they would be quiet, but as soon as the GPS announced a turn, they heard the voice and started meowing. Then they’d be quiet. Or one would cry, which would make the other cry, then quiet. Then the GPS would ding and they’d cry some more. Then quiet. Music didn’t disturb them, but if I sang along to the music? Crying and meowing. It was hilarious.
Anyway, I had called my mom before I left, and she was waiting at the house for me—so that was really nice to pull up to lights on and the heat going! And poor Tom was left packing up and cleaning the rest of the house!
The movers were there at 8:30 the next morning and quickly unloaded everything. I was very glad mom was there, as she was able to run and get drinks and lunch (you can’t leave the house, otherwise the workers can’t be there). They were done in about seven hours (just about the amount of time it took to load the truck) which sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t when you consider all the crap we had.
I started to do some unpacking, but it’s really overwhelming and lots of things just have no home and my brain wasn’t up to thinking where I wanted things (i.e. the kitchen has more cabinets, but no pantry, so all the food has to go in cabinets—but then where does all the bakeware go because there is no room in the cabinets OR for the standalone pantry we had at the old house).
Needless to say, after a week of unpacking, there is still lots of organizing to do. Most of the household boxes are unpacked—or at least unwrapped so we can see what is in them…but the garage boxes are going to be the biggest nightmare. Why? This garage is WAY smaller than our last one. It’s a two-car garage, but it’s a TINY two-car garage with NO storage space. (At this point we are guessing that neither of us will be parking in the garage—and eventually, maybe ONE of us will be able to.)
Military By Owner
We just listed our house on Military By Owner. We probably could have done it before now, but honestly 1) I forgot about it and 2) we had hoped to have great luck and sell by now. 🙁
Smoothie Straw Stealer
I am drinking a smoothie this morning and Charlie is sitting next to me, patiently waiting for me to not be paying attention so she can snag the straw.
So cute.
Miscellany
I need to start carrying tums with me at all times. XX(
Wow. I hate when a product has a .net and you don’t know it, so end up on a .com porn site. EEK. 88|
FYI: Luigi’s Real Italian Ice in NO way satisfies a craving for a DQ vanilla cone. 🙁
CVS is expensive! I just paid $6+ for my favorite Tums flavor when I got them in Michigan at Meijer for under $4. |-|
Mmmmm. I stupidly stuffed myself silly with the best fried chicken, hush puppies and baked beans…but it’s the last time we’ll be eating there before we leave.
You would never believe me.
I did something tonight I never thought I’d do in a million years… Yes, shame on me, I bought a Stouffer’s frozen lasagna for dinner. 88| 😀
Why? Well, apparently that’s what happens when a hungry pregnant woman innocently stops for milk on the way home, and wanders past a freezer end case and sees the lasagna on sale. :yes:
I know that Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese is deeeeelicious, so hoped the lasagna would be the same. And you know what? It wasn’t too bad. Of course, it’s nowhere near homemade, but since we are (obviously) moving soon, I am not up to making a batch of spaghetti sauce and there is none in the freezer. And honestly, it was worth the $5.
But the best part of the dinner? Tom had bought some focaccia and made garlic bread out of it…then I went out and snipped some fresh basil, tossed in some fresh tomatoes (from our plants!), then added some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, fresh garlic, and salt and pepper for the BEST bruschetta topping. Mmmmm was that divine. I could have eaten the whole loaf myself (except we only had enough tomatoes for a few pieces).
Insurance costs…YUCK!
Okay, we’ve changed our minds, we are not moving to Michigan. |-|
We called to alert USAA to our change of location, and the prices are INSANE. Our car insurance is TRIPLING from about $800/year to $2400/year. We are guessing it’s due to a high auto theft rate in metro areas, plus all the insurance Michigan requires (as opposed to North Carolina). Still, that’s going to hurt since we expected it to stay about the same…but TRIPLING? 88| OUCH. >:XX
And homeowners? Eeeesh. What a pain in the ass. XX(
We currently have USAA and since we have lived here, our homeowners has been around $800-$1200—which included some line item things like computer, guns, jewelry, and artwork. However, for the upcoming year, USAA just DOUBLED the cost (to $2400/year) because of all the hurricanes (they apparently want to get out of the homeowners insurance business in this area).
Well, we saw the notice but assumed we’d sell the house and not have to worry about it, so didn’t bother researching/changing insurance companies. However, now it’s looking like we might have to rent out our house, which means we’d have to keep homeowners on it, so we are looking at other insurance companies. Nationwide is apparently the only one we’ve found that will insure us in NC hurricane country—other companies pretty much just laughed at us and said NO WAY. >:XX
Well, since we were checking with Nationwide for homeowners coverage, we also asked for a renter’s insurance quote. Tom gave them all the same coverage info that USAA had and gave us a quote for…are you ready??? $1500!! 88| WHAT? >:XX At this time, we have not yet talked to USAA about their cost for renters insurance…but if we have to leave them for homeowners, why stay with them for renters insurance? You see the mess this is? 🙄
We obviously had to reevaluate our contents coverage, because we realized it was $160,000—which we surely don’t have that much in contents. We have no idea how USAA came up with that amount for contents coverage, but there must have been a formula and that’s what was included (i.e. I am sure we didn’t pull it out of the air). Once we re-evaluated, it was more along the lines of $80,000…but then we got an email from USAA saying our renters insurance would be about $350 for the original $160,000 in coverage (Tom hadn’t called them back yet with the revised figures). So, I have no idea why Nationwide was so high at $1500 with the same coverage, and then USAA came back with $350.
It’s all just a huge pain in the butt. Tom is NOT having fun with it—he usually never has to deal with this stuff because I am the one that always takes care of it—but I thought it would be good for him to see what is involved so he doesn’t take it for granted! :> However, this round of research is unfortunately a bit more involved and exasperating than normal, so he’s earning major brownie points.
The final house-hunting saga!
Well, that was certainly…an experience. It was 🙄 and 😥 and 👿 and 😯 and 😐 combined.
So when we last left you, we were still looking for a place and our agent was seemingly irritated with us. But we HAD to find somewhere to live.
As it happened, my dad and stepmom had come down to see us (Monday the 15th), so they were around for our last look. We only had like three places left, and we had already decided that if none of those worked, we were packing up and heading home a day or two early—we were THAT frustrated.
So we scheduled to meet our agent at the first house. The first good sign was the neighborhood—decent houses with well-kept yards (already miles above most of what we had seen). As a bonus, it was very very close—2.5 miles—from Tom’s new office.
Within 10 seconds of entering the house, we knew we wanted it. It had a nice open floor plan, wood floors, utility room, updated kitchen, etc. Only the rooms on the second floor could change our mind—but those were great, too! Tom and I were both ready to leave and go sign the paperwork immediately, considering how quickly we lost out on the last house we loved and wanted. We made the agent call RIGHT THEN to make sure it was still available—yes, we had to specifically ASK her to call. 🙄
Unfortunately, it was a bit above what we had wanted/hoped to spend, but this house was so far above everything we had already seen…and LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION—we HAD to jump on it. So we went back to her office and, honestly, everything seemed confusing to her—almost like she had never done a rental. I asked which checks she needed (although from personal experience, I know it should be the security deposit and pro-rated rents) but she assured me she just needed the cleaning fee and the first month’s rent. Okay, whatever. So we wrote some checks and turned in our application.
Then she was talking about how we needed to get the Sellers Disclosure and the Lead-Based Paint docs from the other agent. Huh, what? Those are only if we were BUYING the property, not simply RENTING it. Or so I thought… apparently things are done completely different than I am used to in NC. We didn’t have a lease to sign because we hadn’t been accepted yet…so we had to wait. The other agent had to share our information with the owners and see if they wanted us—apparently they had denied like eight people so far! Of course, that didn’t make us feel any better.
So we waited. And waited. We got a call that night that the other agent was still trying to reach his clients to discuss us. Good lord. Again, SO not what I’m used to. In our office, if the credit score is fine and there is nothing outrageously horrible about the people, they are accepted. MAYBE the property manager has to call the client to ask “Is three pets okay?” because that option was never requested before…but it was not a 2-day process.
So we waited. And were just about sick with nerves. Sleeping was just about impossible. I woke up throughout the night and couldn’t sleep due to acid reflux I am sure was brought on by nerves (it was the worst I had ever experienced thus far in my pregnancy). We knew our agent was going to be out with clients most of the following day (Tuesday) but we still expected a call. Which never came, so we had to call her. 😡
Of course, when we called, she had “just gotten off the phone” with the other agent, and told us that the other agents was getting together with his clients for dinner that night to go over our application. I just thought YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. This isn’t life or death here, it’s a freakin’ rental! You look at the credit score, look at our app, and be done with it. 😡
So again we waited. And waited. No call came that night. The next morning we called our agent—I mean, we are still sick with nerves and just waiting for an answer so we can either sign paperwork or GO HOME. We finally reached her and she said good news—they would rent to us with an extra $50/month due to the pets. That sucked, but we had to say yes. So, cool, we have a place…but GET THIS—she then told us that the owners WANTED TO MEET WITH US TO GET TO KNOW US. 😯
WHAT? You have REALLY got to be kidding me. I expressed my basic thoughts, but she was serious. Apparently this happens A LOT in Michigan. 😯 In NC, owners stay far away from their renters. In most cases, we try to keep them VERY separated. But these owners wanted to meet us? Good god. She assured us that it was just a formality, that we had already been accepted and nothing that happened at the meeting could disqualify us. Not that I didn’t trust that statement, but…I didn’t trust that statement.
In the meantime, she called to let us know she had the lease and we agreed to meet at her office to go over it. We discussed schedules, because she had clients later in the day, so agreed when to meet. Except when we got to her office she wasn’t there. We called her and she said “Oh, I emailed the paperwork to you to look over.” 😐 So apparently our discussion of “meeting at her office to discuss the lease” was…ignored? Forgotten? We were able, however, to use her computer to print the lease. Then it was off for lunch at BD’s Mongolian BBQ (mmmmmmmmm) where we were finally able to take a look at the lease.
And I didn’t like what I saw.
I was used to our NC lease which is like 8 pages and very detailed and really benefits the renter. This lease was like four pages, quite basic, and pretty much put the screws to the renter if anything went wrong. For example, there was a clause about the tenants paying $100 for every service call regardless of whose fault the problem was.
Huh, what?
I tried to clarify with our agent, saying “So, if the A/C unit breaks, and we had nothing to do with it, we still have to pay $100 for the service call?”
Yes.
“If the toilet stops working and it’s discovered that the internal plumbing is messed up, we still have to pay $100 for the service call?”
Yes.
We explained that we understood we’d have to pay for anything that was OUR fault (i.e. the toilet gets backed up and the plumber discovers a Barbie doll in there, or we break a window) and our agent just said “No, sorry, that’s how it’s done in Michigan.”
👿
This is completely, 100% different than how things are handled in North Carolina. Apparently NC is a VERY renter-friendly state and pretty much everything benefits the renter. In Michigan, when renting a house, apparently IT’S AS IF WE OWN THE HOUSE and we must maintain everything as if we owned it. Which makes NO sense whatsoever—that’s why we’re renting! 👿 We ended the conversation with us asking if maybe we could add an addendum or something to counter that clause, and HER asking US what type of wording we wanted.
Huh, what?
I wanted to scream “YOU’RE THE AGENT, THIS IS YOUR JOB. YOU FIGURE IT OUT!” So we just assumed our agent was not understanding us, and we decided to talk to the other agent at the meeting that night (when we met with the landlords).
We also had a problem with the late fees—NC law (which is obviously what I am used to dealing with) says you have a five-day grace period before late fees can be charged, and the late fees cannot be outrageous (i.e. they can be approximately what the bank charges). The MI lease was charging a $50 late fee if not received by the 1st, and another $50 late fee if not received by the 10th. Of course we never plan to be late, but that seemed ludicrous, so we wanted to double-check that. So I called our property manager and asked if she could quick google and see if she could find MI law on the issue so we could be prepared when we talked with the agent again. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find much of anything, so it appears we are screwed on that issue.
In the meantime, however, we stopped by a Kinkos to look up the “service call” verbiage in the NC lease (we have a sample lease on our work website). I copied the related sections and emailed it to our agent, along with a copy of the entire lease so they could see why I was having such issues with some of the clauses—I wasn’t just being an annoying renter, I was just used to something completely different. And, of course, we didn’t want to rock the boat, as we were sure we could still lose the house if we really annoyed the agents or the owners (even though they told us otherwise).
We ended up stopping at Kinkos for something else as well, paying a whopping 20c a minute to use the internet—but it was either that or drive the 30 minutes back to Lori and Steven’s to use their computer.
We ended up at the house a bit early, and met the husband and had a nice chat with him before his agent and his wife arrived. They were a very nice couple—she is a doctor and he is a priest (or some variation thereof) and they live in, I think, Auburn Hills. This is their second investment property, they just bought the house in April 2008 and updated it all, and we are the first people to live there. They were thrilled we loved the house, there was still some work to be done, and they were fine with us making some small changes. Most importantly, they were okay with us putting up a fence—and upon talking with their agent after they left, he assured us they would probably be okay with chipping in for the cost of the fence (we just have to email them to ask, and get everything in writing).
We also went over the service call/fee issue with him, and he told us the same thing—pretty much that everything is OUR responsibility. He said he had started to read the lease we sent, but he hadn’t made it through it since it was so long and detailed. 😐 But the owners HAD agreed to lower the fee from $100 to $75…which I admit is a concession on their part, but still, sucks for us. They also added an addendum which they THINK is doing us a favor, but really isn’t, because it basically says “If the a/c unit or heater has to be replaced, the tenants don’t have to pay for it” and says nothing about other “internal” issues or major house issues that SHOULD BE the owner’s responsibilities should anything go wrong. Of course, we are hoping (assuming) nothing major will happen in the two years we are there, but you…just…never…know.
We also asked about the slew of other renters the owners turned down, and the agent told us it was mainly people who had foreclosures in their past, or worked for their cousin for cash and couldn’t prove income. So that’s why the owners LOVED us—we were stable people.
So, it was interesting. The house is nice, it’s in a great location in the city, and the neighborhood is nice—but it’s more expensive than we hoped. And the owners are nice, but the lease sucks, but we can put up a fence. So all in all, I think it will be okay. But it certainly was a hell of an experience that we do not wish to repeat again anytime soon.
Our new Troy rental!
It took seven very frustrating days to find this 4BR/2.5BA recently remodeled home in a lovely neighborhood 2.5 miles from Tom’s new office. It’s a bit more than we planned to spend, but it’s miles above all the other crap we looked at.
Do we have to move here? Ugh.
Rentals here are NOT handled like I am used to. There seem to be NO property management departments. There seems to be a generic application you get from YOUR agent, and then they pass it on? (We haven’t actually done it yet—everything we’ve wanted has been taken.)
Right now we are still really pissed. Yesterday we FINALLY found the perfect house and said we wanted it. It was above our budget, but it was a million miles ahead of anything else we had seen, so it was worth it: three bedrooms, 2.5 baths, updated kitchen with a bar, huge panty and storage space, and a basement that seemed about twice the size of the house.
So, we were all exciting driving home, and checking the drive time to Tom’s office, when our agent called and said it was leased.
WAIT, WHAT? >:XX
It seems (we are guessing) that the listing agent had someone in the wings already and just wanted the house shown again. The lease isn’t being signed until today at 5 and it didn’t sound like any money had been deposited….so in my mind, it’s still available. But apparently not.
TALK ABOUT FRUSTRATING. >:XX
And our agent is starting to get annoying (sorry Lori and Steven, LOL). I am sure she isn’t thrilled with us to start with, since we are renting instead of buying (i.e. less commission), and we have trusted her when she says “That’s too far away” or “You won’t like that area” because for the most part, she’s been right. But we went to “find” some of the houses on our own and they are NOT too far away and others she didn’t like we thought were okay. So apparently we’re not really on the same page.
She also seems to give up a little easy when trying to get in touch with agents. Most of the listings say nothing about pets, so you need to call to ask. So she assumes, if they don’t get back with her, that pets aren’t allowed. We want her to call again and find out for sure! I mean, we are getting desperate here! And one on our favorite list is only available for show on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so she says they’re too picky and probably won’t allow pets. Huh? 🙄
And this morning we got a guilt trip… Yesterday we had one more rental on our list to see, but we thought we had found our place so we opted not to see the last one. So today we asked if we could see it again, and she says “Well, you know that’s the one we cancelled yesterday…so I’d have to call the agent back and schedule another showing.” WELL, YES! We got screwed out of the house we wanted…so we want to look. What is wrong with that? But it was totally guilt-trippy. >:XX
I also think she’s a little irritated that we didn’t take the one OKAY one we saw (the one they had to get the okay for with the pets). Well, we could still take that one if there is nothing else (and that was our position all along) but she thought we were SET to take that one (i.e. we got a yes on pets, so she assumed we were done) so when we wanted to keep looking she was like “I thought you wanted that one?” and we were like “Not exactly. That was just the best of the worst we saw.” So instead of being “done” looking on Day #2 like she probably hoped, we are still dragging her around the county.
So, she is busy today—she says she might be available after 4. Wonderful. We have a feeling we are going to go home with no place to live, and will end up coming back here earlier than planned, so we have more time to look. It’s pretty impossible to look for rentals from North Carolina, since we have discovered we REALLY need to see them in person (and see what the neighborhoods look like and where they are) AND because the good rentals go VERY quickly. Steven and Lori offered to help us—to go take pictures or whatnot—but again, you have to make decisions quickly, and I hate to ask them to do that much work for us.
It would all be easier if we could spend $1800—there are a ton of awesome rentals in that price range. But that’s WAY above our budget, and with me not working, it’s just NOT possible.
So, the black cloud continues to follow us…
Depressing House Hunting, Day 2
Today was worse than yesterday, if you can believe it. We decided to up our budget to $1600 (vs. $1400) hoping it would net us some decent rentals.
Nope.
They were just shitholes with more square footage. >:XX
I mean, I know we will have to make some concessions, but we are just not ready to pay a premium to live in a straight-from-the-70s-never-been-updated home.
We also looked at some resales—and those were even MORE disappointing. We are trying to keep the price down, so we were looking at some foreclosures… BAD IDEA. They were the worst shitholes of all. One we couldn’t even walk in because the smell was soooo bad. Even if we had found a decent one (or one of the MANY “short sales”) our agent said that trying to buy one was a nightmare—we might wait four months for an answer, and then STILL not get it. So all the short-sales (probably 75% of the market) are immediately out of the running.
There were about three or four new rentals that we had been excited about—that just came on the market—but, of course, they were already gone by the time we got around to calling on them. VERY FRUSTRATING.
On a somewhat positive note, we had a good lunch at Panera Bread. 😛
Seriously, on a somewhat positive note, the very first rental we looked at—that we had deemed the ONLY one with any decent potential (and that’s saying a lot because it’s FAR from being even close to what we want)—came back with a “yes” for pets, so that is an option. It’s still too much money for what it is, and doesn’t have a fence (and can’t get one), and is so small we will have to sell half our furniture—but it at least falls within our BAH allowance and is about 15 minutes from Tom’s new office (hopefully, we haven’t tested it in traffic).
We are just so thoroughly disappointed with everything here…it’s very depressing. Which is sad because we were SO looking forward to it and were SO excited.
Depressing House Hunting
House hunting for rentals is NOT going well.
We walked into the office with about 30 potential rentals and by the time we were ready to go looking, it was down to 8—the agent took a lot out because she knew they were too far away or were in bad neighborhoods or were too big (a favorite of ours was taken out because she said our heating bills for a 3000sf old house would be in the $500 range).
So…our top two choices were taken by the time we were ready to see them so that was a BIG disappointment. The ones we are looking at are in the $1100-1500 range and they are…not what we want (so we can’t even imagine trying to go cheaper). There is only ONE so far that we considered doable, and they don’t take pets, so we have a call in to say “what will it take to allow pets.” Other ones that may be doable are either too far away or don’t allow pets. Some we had to take off because the master bedroom was too small (since when can 12×10 be a MBR?) or it was SO old and disgusting you couldn’t pay me to live there.
So, we have decided that we are going to look at rentals AND resales. We are just really afraid that there aren’t going to be any rentals and we will have looked at 10 total over 10 days and will leave with nothing. Worst case, we buy…get a cheaper house payment…and in two years, either the market will have turned around and we can sell…or it will be the same as it is now and it should be easy to rent.
It has just been VERY depressing and we’ve only been at it one day. 🙁 Needless to say we now love our $1500 mortgage for our 2200sf brand new house with 4BR/2.5BA and a 17×14 MBR. The same $1500 here gets you something from 1970 with 1400sf, 1.5 or 2 baths, and a 13×12 MBR.
So, things are crazy.
We have been scouring Realtor.com and other real estate websites trying to find our perfect house—the right price with the right amenities in the right area. And we have about 50 houses on our “potential” list and were getting VERY excited about house-hunting next week.
Until we started freaking out about our house not selling.
We’ve only had about five showings in the three weeks it’s been on the market—and we KNOW that it is going to take a bit longer to sell (our neighbors priced their house WAY below market—so that they were losing money—and it still took five months to sell). We are offering $10,000 to “use as you choose” AND we just reduced the price—and still nothing. >:XX My boss says that he doesn’t think it’s the price at all—it’s just a dead market right now…and nothing in that range is selling quickly.
Technically we can still qualify for another VA Loan if this house doesn’t sell (Tom still has a big chunk of eligibility left), but then we are stuck with two mortgages which we certainly can’t afford. (Maybe if we knew it would only be for a month, but how can we chance that?)
So, after a steady month of searching for houses, we are now looking for rentals. We really did not want to rent…
- Because finding a rental is hard.
- Because living in a rental after owning is harder.
- Because rentals aren’t likely to take pets, let alone three.
- Because rentals are more expensive than buying.
Yet we are looking for rentals so we hopefully won’t be in this same position in two years when we are ready to move—and don’t have the listing discount courtesy of a place I’ve worked for four years.
So we are not QUITE as excited about house-hunting anymore. 🙁
And if we are seriously looking for rentals (which I guess we are), this is WAY too soon to be looking—if we find something we like/want, we will have to start paying on it ASAP (dropping probably $3,000 for rent and deposit) and we won’t even be there (unless I moved up early, which sounds great…but then I’d lose pay here, which isn’t great). But we can’t really change the leave dates at this point.
So we are going to be looking at rentals AND houses, hoping we find a perfect rental AND giving our agent a Top 3 list, in case we actually decide to buy (i.e. if our house sells and we make a chunk of change and we love a resale house better than a rental house) so she can write a contract for us after we leave.
This is just SO hard to deal with, especially for someone who likes to be in control of things. :no:
House Hunting Scheduled
Tom gets 10 paid days leave for house hunting (YAY!) so we are off to Michigan September 10 through September 20 (including travel time). I don’t get paid, but I am taking the time off anyway. There is no way I could let Tom pick out a house without me. :p
I. Can’t. Breathe.
An agent just called and wanted to see our house…but was calling to ask when we could be out—her clients would want it in two weeks (if they liked it)!!!!!!! and she wasn’t going to show it unless that could work!
88| 88| 88| 88| 88| 88|
I called Tom and he said what the hell, if they make us a good offer, we will do our best to get out!
I am sure it won’t pan out, but HOLY CRAP. Just the thought…
STUPID *BLEEPING* WORK
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand my boss just screwed me. 😡 Deep down I love her and know she can be awesome, but sometimes the things she says/does just completely FLOOR me.
So…you know when I said that if they sold my house in-house it would be 0%? Yeaaaaah, NO. Any selling agent, including those in our office, gets 2%.
Overall I know it’s fair, but still, why didn’t she say anything before now?
I just went in to go over the paperwork, to make sure I typed the variable rate terms out correctly, and the big boss overhears talk about variable rates and she says “It’s not a variable rate” and the other boss (the agent I am working with) says “It most certainly is, it’s 2% to the selling agent, but if we sell it in-house it’s zero.”
She repeats that NO, it’s not a variable rate, ANY selling agent gets 2%, whether it’s someone outside our office OR one of our agents. The agent and I look at each other like “Um, okay” and he said “That’s not what we were thinking.”
She says “You mean to tell me that if your clients wanted two houses, and it was down to that one, you are going to tell them to take the one that doesn’t pay you?” He said yes, in this case. She was like WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? IT’S GIVING UP MONEY? He says “Because it’s Jen’s house?”
She about had a coronary.
So, apparently when we were discussing the rates before, and she was sitting right there with us, she either completely wasn’t listening or was completely ignoring us.
So, yes, I get that 2% to the selling agent is completely fair, and technically we are just not paying to LIST the house… but I thought the 0% in-house thing was just the “extra icing on the cake” FOR HAVING WORKED HERE ALMOST FOUR YEARS (and getting a somewhat low salary for ALL the work I do).
Yep, that black cloud is still hovering.
The agent did say he would do more thinking over the weekend and try to get the big boss to reconsider…but I know that won’t happen.
Oh well, at least we only have to pay 2% regardless.
The house is on the market!
The house went on the market today! It’s a very scary feeling, knowing we HAVE TO SELL the house, and trying to decide on a price…trying to make some money without pricing it too high that people don’t want to see it or buy it… we settled on $249,900 with a $10,000 bonus to the buyer. That $10,000 is very attractive to buyers (they can use it for whatever they want—cut the price of the home, appliances, flooring, landscaping, etc.) and it still leaves us with a tidy profit.
Wish us luck!
Michigan Bound
Well, it’s final. We are coming home to Michigan.
Tom still isn’t excited about the job, and we’re not excited about trying to sell our house, but we are excited to be coming (closer to) home and being in a metro area.
Stay tuned.
Dead Breaker
So I was getting ready to go to bed Sunday night and flipped the switch to turn the ceiling fan on—and there was a quiet popping sound and everything went dead. I assumed I just tripped a breaker, although nothing unusual was plugged in that I thought would overload it. Tom went down and reset it—or should I say tried to reset it, but it never turned on. The lights flickered like they wanted to come on, but they wouldn’t. He reset the master switch and…nothing. So half the upstairs was without power.
Tom thought he could just replace the breaker (amp? whatever) and I said “Are you sure we shouldn’t just call an electrician?” So we did, and he went through some troubleshooting with Tom (YAY! FREE!), and it turns out, we are pretty sure it’s the ceiling fan gone bad, because even with everything else unplugged, turning the fan on janked it up.
So tonight we are off to buy a new (cheap) ceiling fan and hopefully that will be the only expense. Otherwise, it’s another call to the electrician and most likely a pricey visit.
Dead A/C
Our upstairs A/C went out last night, ugh. I hate waking up sweating in the middle of the night—I have a hard enough time sleeping as it is.
It only got to 85 (about 6 degrees warmer than normal) but the humidity crept in, too. This morning we have the windows open and it’s not TOO bad (only 75 but it’s only 9am)… I have a call in to an A/C guy and hopefully he can get here today or tomorrow.
Just Totally Unbelievable
Tom officially got orders to Detroit yesterday…and he’s supposed to check in no later than October 31, 2008.
Of course, things could change again at the drop of a hat, and he was still going to go talk to [someone]…so it may not be 100% guaranteed. But nothing like thinking about moving/selling/relocating within three months to freak you out.
Lord.
My mind is whirring like crazy and it feels like my head is going to explode.
The thing that just gets me is that yes, I know the military doesn’t care what our life is like, they just know they want someone there and hubby fits the bill so he gets chosen. But it would, quite literally, create a major financial hardship for us.
Houses here aren’t selling. Houses in our price range sell, on average, in about six to nine months (unless you price it to lose money, which we obviously can’t do financially-speaking). So making us move to Michigan within three months, where we will obviously need to pay rent/another mortgage, without having sold our house, is ludicrous. There is no earthly way we can afford two mortgages, especially if they just made me quit MY job. It just flat out doesn’t make sense and, frankly, pisses me off.
As a sidenote, he wouldn’t actually be an on-the-streets/in-the-schools actual recruiter. He would be the Operations guy, doing all the planning/scheduling/etc., and making sure it all runs smoothly. Completely non-IT-related. So nothing he can bring ANY of his experience to.
It’s crazy. They like to tell us they looked at a bunch of people and compared everyone and whatever, and determined that HE was the best qualified.
BULLSHIT.
They looked at a list, pointed their finger at someone, and said “this guy.”
Tom then called to tell me the latest RIDICULOUS statement. He was talking to someone (I believe a Major in charge of the monitor program) about not being able to sell the house that quickly, that we talked to a Realtor and it’s averaging 6-9 months, yada yada yada, and the guy said “Well, you have three options. One, be a geobatchelor [which means I stay here and he goes there, not sure how that works money wise but it’s not an option for us]. Two, sell your house for a loss. Or three [and this is the doozy], you can foreclose on your mortgage.”
What the hell kind of military advisor advises someone to FORECLOSE ON A MORTGAGE? Completely asinine.
This BS is precisely why we were going to get out of the military. It’s ridiculous.
Oh, also…if he takes this “three year” job they’re forcing on him? He is, effectively, being shoved out of the marine corps, because he will miss the opportunity (twice) to take the schooling he would need to become Major. Talk about a kick in the ass. (Not that he was planning on staying in that long, but just the fact that they don’t know that, and are still sending him here… Ugh.)
He also found out he cannot drop his papers (i.e. tell them he wants to get out) now. Because he has actual PCS orders, and you can’t do that when you have orders. You have to do it before you officially get orders. How convenient.
The only other option, he said, is REFUSING orders, and he’s not sure exactly what that entails or means. From what we have gathered, it wouldn’t actually do that much or be that detrimental…it would, of course, effectively end his career, but he wasn’t planning on staying in to retirement anyway. He would have to stay here a bit longer, but then we could continue on with our previous plans of him looking for a job and us moving in about six months.
I told him to ask what if he has a special needs family member…if I was a high-risk pregnancy, maybe that would keep us here. (Chances are decent I might be. I have an appointment in two weeks that might help determine that.)
So, needless to say we’re stressed. Tom should find out more Monday, but until then, we’re trying NOT to think about it. If we have to move, there is just SO much to do—and Tom doesn’t have the time and I don’t have the energy.
Stay tuned.
My very first 7-Layer Tex Mex Dip
If you can believe it, I’ve never made a 7-layer taco/tex mex dip, and I wanted to make it for a get-together this weekend. I had most of what I thought I would need but there are slight variations (I googled for some recipes), so asked some friends for their input and ended up with this:
The first three layers of refried beans, guacamole, and green onions (yes, I was a rebel and hid the onions!):
Then a layer of black beans (probably should have drained them more or rinsed them, but you live and learn):
Then the sour cream with taco seasoning (which I made last night so the flavors would have more time to blend):
Then tomatoes:
Then cheese:
No black olives because I hate black olives, and have always said that if/when I ever make the dip, I can elect to NOT put them on!
It was very hard making this and NOT digging in right away…
Jumping to Conclusions
I swear to god I just thought someone stole my car at the grocery store.
I was in the checkout line and my car was there. I looked away and looked back and it was gone! 88|
Yeah, a car had pulled into the space next to me, blocking my view.
But I love how my mind jumps to conclusions. 🙄
BBQ Rules
We are in the BBQ season. Therefore it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity. When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:
Routine…
- The woman buys the food.
- The woman makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.
- The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill—beer in hand.
- The woman remains outside the compulsory three meter exclusion zone where the exuberance of testosterone and other manly bonding activities can take place without the interference of the woman.
Here comes the important part:
- THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.
- The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.
- The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is looking great. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he flips the meat.
Important again:
- THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.
- The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces, and brings them to the table.
- After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.
And most important of all:
- Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.
- The man asks the woman how she enjoyed “her night off.” And, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there’s just no pleasing some women.
Homemade Hooters Wings
So when we were cleaning out/reorganizing the pantry last weekend, we saw we had three jars of Hooters-branded buffalo wing sauce. We thought “Hey, we should have a wing night over at Roger and Ursulas!” So we called them and made the plans!
Of course, we didn’t have wings in the freezer, so went to buy some at Sam’s Club. They come in bags of like 10# so we figured with the number of people that usually show up at their house “for a little get together,” we’d better get two bags.
Fast forward to today, the day of the wing night, and I decide “You know what? I am going to mix all the sauces together and maybe add some more spice” so I opened the first jar and it was the consistency of, oh, peanut butter. We hadn’t had Hooters sauce in a loooong time, and I couldn’t remember if that was how it was supposed to be, so I tasted it and it tasted off. I thought maybe it just needed to be stirred, and that was when I noticed the “SHAKE WELL” on the side. Hmmm, not a good sign, as peanut butter never shakes well. :-/
So I looked at the expiration date. Wow—it wasn’t just expired, it was hideously expired. Like March 2005 expired. >:XX
I should have known better, because our pantry often contains items of such age (especially after throwing away brown sweetened condensed milk from 2002 last weekend!), but I was kicking myself for not checking any sooner than the afternoon of the dinner! Yep, at this point it was about 12:30 and dinner was at 6:30 and we had no sauce and people were expecting Hooters wings.
So, I immediately googled for a recipe and the ones I found were extremely different. So I headed off to Top Secret Recipes and ended up paying 79¢ for the Hooters Buffalo Chicken Wings recipe.
Of course by then I was flustered because our plan was thrown for a loop—now I had to run to town to get ingredients, and now we were going to bread the wings (originally we were only going to use the sauce), and the breaded wings had to be refrigerated for 90 minutes, and the wings were still half frozen, and Tom was napping! 88|
So I woke him up, told him the new plan, ran to town, and when I came back we started breading the wings and making the sauce. Phew! (At this point I was VERY thankful that I had already finished making the double batch of tuna salad!)
Fast forward to the conclusion of this saga…
It was only us four for dinner, so we had entirely too many wings (four trays, or about 140 wings) but we put a serious dent in them because they were absolutely amazing—a grand slam hit—and everyone said they were sooooooooooo much better than real Hooters wings. YAY ME!
Random Blather
I am soooooooooo tired of this heat wave. I swear this is the hottest it’s been since we moved here. Too hot to do anything except quickly rush from A/C to A/C. Tom even says it’s hot, and he was in Iraq (although he does admit Iraq was hotter).
I went to get gas yesterday morning because it was still $3.86 (it had been that for, I swear, two weeks) and I knew it was supposed to be going up this week. So I pull in and there is NO unleaded—just mid-grade and premium. Of course, after work, when they had raised the price 12c, there was unleaded. Bastards.
Why must people try to exit a gas station by making a left turn, in rush hour, at an intersection—when they could just as easily have driven through the parking lot and exited 100 yards farther down where there is much less traffic? Instead, they sit there, blocking the exit for those of us exiting and turning right into traffic (in this case, about 10 cars). So I drove the extra 100 yards and was able to turn directly into the flow of traffic and bypass the jerk who was STILL waiting to turn left.
I love my Tivo peeps. I needed help with something that I just couldn’t figure out so I posted about it—and within 10 minutes they started having answers for me.
On same said board, someone started a thread called “What do you look like today?” and I just love it! Well, everyone loves it, actually! People post pics from their cell phones or webcams or whatnot…and it’s very interesting! After posting about 10 pics myself, I noticed that I look pretty much the same in every one—I just either have curly hair or straight hair—so I said I was going to stop posting, but apparently some of the guys like the cleavage that ends up in some of the pics and have requested that I keep posting. :)) So I posted this one for them today:
Depressing thought of the day: I just happened to login to take a look at our mortgage stuff, and after paying every month for coming-up-on three years, we are just SLIGHTLY under the official selling price. GAH!
I can’t wait for our tomatoes to be ready to harvest! We do have a few jalapeño that are ready to pick, and of course I have been harvesting basil all along, but the tomatoes are what I’m jonesing for. Someday, somewhere, I hope to have a REAL garden!
On another gas note, the Prius has been wonderful! We used to use my car for everything—every run to town, every errand, every road trip—and I had to fill up about once a week. Now that we take the Prius everywhere (and I only drive to/from work), I am only filling up about every 2-3 weeks! 😀 So, we traded paying for gas for paying for a new car. I’d say that was a good trade!
My first attempt at Fried Green Tomatoes – meh.
So we had some casualties when Tom repotted our tomato plants yesterday:
So I thought I would make some fried green tomatoes. I googled for a recipe, and the first one I found sounded fine – basically cut them, S&P them, coat them in corn meal, and fry in bacon grease.
Step 1 – they look good waiting to be fried:
The first batch I overcooked because the tomatoes were actually yellow, plus I cooked them too long and they got too brown. But the second batch was actually green, and seemed to be going well:
But the overall result was, simply, MEH. Blah. Boring. Completely different than what I have had in local restaurants. I think I need a different coating, so I guess I am off to google more (if we have more casualties—no way I am going to pick green tomatoes on purpose). I am thinking an egg and flour coating?