|
| The past few weeks we've been house hunting. Last week we decided to put an offer in on one we checked out a few times. Andy liked it, I was...ok with it. It didn't feel like THE one, but I couldn't find anything wrong with it. We call our agent to put an offer in and she calls back saying it went under contract the day before. We both were a bit...relieved. It's like we were buying the house just to get one and have it by the time we move out of the apartment in June.
So we looked at a few more. I'm a fan of the old ones, like 1920's old. We found one from 1960 and it has that feel but they wanted 160 grand for it. It was nice, but there was a lot of cosmetic things that needed to be fixed. The front step was all concrete and dipped when you stepped on it. The basement was damp and leaked. I wouldn't pay more than 80,000 with all the fixing up it needed. The 1903 one we wanted to buy was sold three days before we found we were staying here. After being on the market for 5 months.
Fate likes to kick you in the face sometimes.
After all this, we looked at one yesterday and it is definitely the one. It has the right size and amount of rooms. Back yard for Yosh. Upstairs loft is amazing. Can house the 2.5 kids whenever they come along. It's the house we plan to own until we decide to retire and blow one of our 401Ks on a house in San Fran. The problem? It's a short sale. With Countrywide (I knew I hated them from working at the Mortgage company a while back, but I couldn't remember why. Now I do. The leader of the giving out sub prime loans). A year ago it was 275,000. It was built in '08. Now the owner is wanting to sell it for 180,000. We're lowballing and waiting. It'll probably be a 4-6 month wait. I think if we buy a house, I'll be one step closer to adulthood. I'm not sure what the final step is. Getting a second dog? Having a kid? Attending kid's graduation?
What better way to spend the rest of your Sunday before Memorial day than to snuggle with your husband and watch Arrested Development on hulu? Yeah I can't think of any either. | | |
| Me: MMM these sugar pumped nitrogen frozen strawberries are so tasty. Yoshi you should try one.
Him: WHAT? You're eating my cereal?
Me: Yep and it's delicious.
He throws a pen at me.
I throw a magazine at him.
He picks up Yoshi and throws her at me on the couch. She lands on the cushion next to me.
Me: Did you just throw the DOG at me??? You did...you threw a dog at me. WTF
This is the extent of our fights.
We're house hunting. The houses we're looking at are too...new. We wanted this one from 1903, somewhat updated with wiring and such just needed things like the wood paneling on the wall updated, the sea green carpeting taken out and junk like that. 50 grand. Sold last week. On the market since November, and the week we're able to start seriously looking for a place it sells. Fate sucks.
In other news...is it the time of year for everyone to get pregnant?? I signed on facebook last week and three friends are again. One complains about how they can't afford the others they have. Why, if you can't afford two of something, would you get a third? I mean we plan on having kids eventually, but we're saving every dollar we can so that when it does happen we're not freaking out about money. There's enough stuff to worry about when that happens. | | |
| 44 cupcakes later...Andy's bday is tomorrow, so I made cupcakes to take to work. Kevin's bringing Krispy Kreme, so we'll all be in a sugar coma most the day. I'm making him steak and potatoes tomorrow night...I've never cooked a steak so uhm...hope he doesn't get sick.
I'm doing with 7 months of training what it took 4 years in high school. On my own. Without a coach. Injury free. Running up to 6 miles, next week is easy then I build a little more. I'm learning more of what you need to do to improve...build up slowly and all that stuff. Before I was super impatient and either hit a wall or got burned out before I could get anywhere. There's a group of us at work that run at lunch and not to be a tool, but they're slower than me. That's perfect. First time I ran with them I thought holy cow, what am I getting myself into. Then I realized hey at this pace I can actually finish without walking. Now I'm a little faster just because I run on weekends but it's just a good time.
There's a 90% chance we'll be moving in June...bummer. I was hoping for a position at Troy but they "would love to hire us as long as they don't have to pay us". Toyota's paying me now instead of them, but once I get permanently placed the plant pays for me. A third of the plant is leaving, but no they aren't hiring. Looks like we'll be going to either Alabama or Kentucky. I'd be cool with either. Bama because it's "near" an ocean, works with machining and engines and a bigger city. KY because most the EiTs will be going to one of those places so lots of people to hang with. I'll be doing quality for V8 engines or programming body weld robots. Either way, Andy's found some awesome houses. Older ones that need fixing. It's frustrating not knowing what side of the country you'll be on in two months but good to have a job at this time.
Yoshi just ate 5 pieces of our leftover sushi (homemade sushi=amazing). What the heck. She even licked my wasabi up...it's like we suddenly got a kid. | | |
| I'm actually enjoying my job. Never knew that was possible. I'm at the point where I've gotten into the swing of things and can take on projects by myself. I've spent the last 4 days drawing machine operation drawings. None of us have done this before, so I'm the grunt learning it from scratch. I have two more days to go of this stuff, then I start it all again next week for a new part. I'm learning all I can about casting and I'm never going back to assembly. It's weird actually having responsibility, but I love it. We want to stay here for our permanent location, but they aren't going to hire 2-3 engineers when they're begging for any chance possible to save money-see buyouts. Vancouver was a possibility, but now it's looking more like alabama is our next location. Alabama, the state of 3 million people 7 last names, to quote a guy in my group. After the buyouts start, hopefully some openings show up and maybe we can stay here or go to Canada. Things are getting a bit scary, but I'm not worried about losing my job-Toyota is good at reminding us that they don't do layoffs. Not to say it could never happen, but for now they're proving that while you will make sacrifices-no raise, bonus, etc-we will at least keep you employed.
The people are pretty cool, a few just annoy me-the louder you talk, the more you look like you have no idea what you're talking about. It just warps my mind how different this place is from nummi. They fix stuff instead of bandaging it. Overall the engineering group is a tight knit bunch of people. At first I think most were a little afraid of me because I'm a girl...as in what they could say around me. Once they realized I laugh at the jokes like everyone else...no holds barred now. To quote the 59 year old guy one night we all went out..."So wait, you just got married, you went to Rolla, and you aren't drinking? Is it a boy or a girl?" As to why he has a 12 year old, "What can I say, I sleep on my back".
Marriage is still great. It's nice waking up next to someone every day. It's nice not having to cook dinner every night. Oh yeah we got the equivalent of a kid-a little whippet named Yoshi. She is the most hyper dog I've ever seen. And she's kinda adorable, and surprisingly smart.
ps I love craigslist. I already knew it was awesome, but I'm putting up junk and people are buying it. The pink floyd flag I got for $6 in 10th grade? Sold for 10. The mood lamp I got for Christmas 8 years ago? Sold for $10. Hey it pays the bills.
pps. bought another, nicer bike. It's freakishly light, blue, and fast.
ppps. California's handing out IOUs for tax refunds. An IOU is pointless from a state about to go bankrupt. | | |
| I know I've kind of fallen off the face of the earth...I'm still here...just a little secluded. I don't have any way of contacting people once I get off the highway to get home other than texting and if lucky, a bar of cell phone usage. In a few months I move back to civilization but until then...the best way to get ahold of me is to text/aim me, attempt calling, or email my work addy. To my friends I'm neglecting...sorry for being a bum. Next time I'm in st louis next month I'll see about meeting up...or if you're near Wentzville just stop by...I welcome the company. We can sit by the lake and sip our drinks while watching the sun set, and killing mosquitos. I love my husband...he makes me happy with life :) And we're still eating wedding cake...when they say it'll feed 150 people, it really means 250 people. | | |
|
