Pending the inspections, our house is almost officially SOLD. Even thought we are going to have to sign our lives away at the closing table, it is a great weight lifted off of our shoulders. Now we just have to figure out where to live, what to do with our dogs, etc...
Sadly, I think we are going to have to find GOOD homes for our Beagle and Dachshund. I hate to do that, but the reality is is that we can't move anywhere with 3 dogs. We've given those dogs very good lives so we hope that we can find someone to continue to do so. I've made the executive decision to keep Bella, the Lab. Mainly because she was my first "big purchase" when I graduated a got a job. Her demeanor is so good and she is a good dog in general.
Oh, I passed my Speech-Language Pathology Board Exam. I'm almost officially a speech-language pathologist:)
Have a great weekend! Keep the good wishes coming until we are actually at the closing table!
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Contract Schmomtrack
Ok, I can't remember being a demanding first home buyer, but apparantely I should have been. The potential buyer wants to pay us 5K less than our asking price PLUS she wants us to help with ~6K of closing costs/fees, etc... AND she wants a home warranty AND our washer and dryer? This is not including the repair costs of up to 2K!
Is this for real? Let me make sure I'm doing my math correctly....if we took this offer, we would be SO UPSIDE DOWN! Plus we still have to pay the realtor fee! So, we came back with our SELLING PRICE plus all the junk she wanted. She came back with 1K more than her original offer.
Seriously? I realize it is a buyer's market but come on!
Is this for real? Let me make sure I'm doing my math correctly....if we took this offer, we would be SO UPSIDE DOWN! Plus we still have to pay the realtor fee! So, we came back with our SELLING PRICE plus all the junk she wanted. She came back with 1K more than her original offer.
Seriously? I realize it is a buyer's market but come on!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Exciting News?
I have a contract on the house!?!? I don't know whether to be excited or not. Obviously, the person that was talking like the "potential buyer" is really a potential buyer! Keep your fingers crossed!
Monday, February 4, 2008
A beautiful day
It is such a beautiful day here in Tulsa. The weather, as always, is surprising as ever! Last Thursday, it snowed. Today it is 74. Tomorrow it will be 38. I am enjoying every bit of this sunshine. My home was "open" yesterday. There was a great turnout. My realtor said there was a young girl with her mother that "talked like buyers." I'm not sure if that is good or bad or how you distinguish a buyer from a non-buyer but I trust my realtor. I am scared that the house will sell before I move. Where will I live for the short 2-3 months? I'm told not to worry about it. So, for the first time in my life, I'm not going to.
This weekend I took a trip down memory lane. I looked at my senior book and it was funny to see how I thought I had my whole life planned out at a mere 18 years of age. Here are some funny facts:
In 10 years, I hope to be: a computer programmer or an elementary school teacher
My love outlook: Hopefully someone will want to marry me
I'd like a yearly salary of: at least 60K
Family plans: A house, dogs-preferably Dalmations and 4 children, maybe some adopted
I'll drive a: Toyota Land Cruiser
I'll own a: mansion
I'll live in: Dallas, TX or Albequerque, NM
I'll travel to: far away countries and my native homeland, Vietnam
10 years later.....I have a home, dogs (Lab, Beagle, mini-Daschund) and someone did want to marry me (but that is now over....long story, will write more later)
It's funny to see how your perspective changes in 10 years. Even in a year, my thoughts are different. Heck, I think of something new every minute!
Has your life worked out the "way you wanted it to?"
This weekend I took a trip down memory lane. I looked at my senior book and it was funny to see how I thought I had my whole life planned out at a mere 18 years of age. Here are some funny facts:
In 10 years, I hope to be: a computer programmer or an elementary school teacher
My love outlook: Hopefully someone will want to marry me
I'd like a yearly salary of: at least 60K
Family plans: A house, dogs-preferably Dalmations and 4 children, maybe some adopted
I'll drive a: Toyota Land Cruiser
I'll own a: mansion
I'll live in: Dallas, TX or Albequerque, NM
I'll travel to: far away countries and my native homeland, Vietnam
10 years later.....I have a home, dogs (Lab, Beagle, mini-Daschund) and someone did want to marry me (but that is now over....long story, will write more later)
It's funny to see how your perspective changes in 10 years. Even in a year, my thoughts are different. Heck, I think of something new every minute!
Has your life worked out the "way you wanted it to?"
Thursday, January 24, 2008
I'm back!
Hi friends,
After a long hiatus from blogging, I am finally back into the swing of things. Life has been hectic, but I suppose it wouldn't be fun if it wasn't.
Here is a quick recap of what's been going on since I blogged last...
November: Our house went on the market. We thought we were going to have a chance to sell that month until.....
December: Huge ice storm in town. It was as if a mini war zone hit Tulsa.
This is our home one day after the ice storm. We were w/o power for 11 days. Luckily, we had a warm place to live. Others were not so fortunate. Our neighbor passed away that week. She fell in her home and became hypothermic. Needless to say, she was found too late. We were fortunate enough to have wonderful friends, family and guardian angels. Whomever it was that put our meter box back on our house is truly an angel in my book. Thank You! Unfortunately, we still have piles of limbs in our yard and half broken branches in the trees. We are hoping for good weather here on out.
This is our home one day after the ice storm. We were w/o power for 11 days. Luckily, we had a warm place to live. Others were not so fortunate. Our neighbor passed away that week. She fell in her home and became hypothermic. Needless to say, she was found too late. We were fortunate enough to have wonderful friends, family and guardian angels. Whomever it was that put our meter box back on our house is truly an angel in my book. Thank You! Unfortunately, we still have piles of limbs in our yard and half broken branches in the trees. We are hoping for good weather here on out.We traveled to Houston for the holidays. It didn't really feel like Christmas though. It was nice to be with family.
January: I took my board exam on the 12th. I am patiently waiting for my scores (4 weeks!). Keep your fingers crossed and say your prayers that I passed. I started my school rotation on the 2nd. I am currently at Northeast Elementary in Owasso. It is interesting. My heart goes out to the teachers and staff! Working in a school is tough. There is so much paperwork and so little money-those who teach are truly doing it because they are passionate about it. It amazes me every day! I have 53 kids on my caseload right now. That's a lot of paperwork (mainly IEP's). My favorite part is working in the multi-handicap classroom. These kids are the sweetest ones. I have found that I don't have much patience when it comes to working with children in the mainstream classrooms. I don't know if it because they are so spoiled (i.e., me: what did you get for xmas? them: a wii, xbox 360, horse, plasma tv, etc) or if I would rather work with the kids in the multi-handicap room instead. Either way, it has been an eye-opening experience and it makes me really really ready to graduate!
I guess that brings me up-to-date for now. I'll write tomorrow.
See you then!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Helloooooooooo!
Hello friends!
It has been so long since my last post. So much has gone on since then..... Let's see, where to start.
Well, I've had two more sinus infections since my last post. My doctor's don't know what is wrong with me. Now, they think I have an autoimmune disease. Of course, I automatically think the worst, like MS. But, only time and lots of medical tests will tell.
School has been ok. I haven't really been "into it" like I should be or like I have previously been. I think because I have not been feeling well the majority of the semester, I find it hard to concentrate and am usually just really tired. I took my last test of the semester on Thursday and now all I have left is finals. This semester has really gone by fast. This is my last semester of class work and I am so excited. I am eagerly waiting to start my externship to see if I will actually be able to make it in the real world. For my school placement, I am going to Owasso public schools and for my hospital/rehab placement, I will be in Okmulgee at the George Nigh Rehab Center. I'm excited to work in rehab, not in Okmulgee. It gives me flashbacks to working in Claremore, which was quite interesting. I'm also whittling away at my thesis. It's taking a long time. I want to go on and get my doctorate and I keep thinking about why I would torture myself like that. We will see....
Robert and I have decided to put our house on the market-BOO, kinda. Our house has a myriad of problems, the main one being that we have some wood rot on the outside and need to repaint. That's hard to do on one salary. Because we are thinking about moving (I'll talk more about that), we thought our best option would be to put the house on the market now since it will probably take forever for it to sell. The market is so bad right now and of course, we chose to do it right before the winter season. Surely someone will want this house. It is a perfect starter home and is right in the middle of midtown, which is a popular area. Let's hope for the best! My mom and step-dad are moving to Houston soon and we will probably just live in their house, if our house sells. I'm not real excited about moving back in with my mom (pride thing) but we have to do what we have to do to get by. I also think we will be much happier in the end if I get offered a job out-of-state and we don't have to worry about selling our house then. That way we can just pick up and move.
So, about moving. I've interviewed for a few companies in North Carolina and I have an interview in Boston in November. Everyone I talk to about NC says what a wonderful, affordable and beautiful place NC is. I had no idea. The companies I have talked to seem great, but it's hard to know what to look for. You have to weigh benefits against pay and decide which one is more important. I wish you could just have both---maybe the right company will come along soon. I'll keep you posted.
This weekend, I'm not doing much. I have so much work to catch up on. I may go to a Halloween party later tonight, but I'm not sure. When I have things looming over my head it's hard to have fun and let loose because I always end up thinking about what needs to be done instead.
Lastly, I recently read an article in Newsweek that discussed the biological reason that positive thinking does make a difference. It was a great article. I'm guilty when it comes to thinking negatively. I'm going to try to think positively from here on out. I need to be more grateful for the things I have in my life rather than think about all the things I could have or should have. I wonder if anyone else is like that too?
Well, I have to leave you with a fun recipe for relatively healthy cookies:) Hopefully it won't be that long before I post again! Au revoir!
PB cookies
3/4 C peanut butter (I use the natural kind)
2 C bisquick mix (use the heart healthy kind, the yellow packet has trans fat in it)
1-14oz can of fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
sugar
hershey kisses
preheat oven to 375. mix first four ingredients. roll into walnut sized balls and roll in sugar. bake 7-9 minutes until they just begin to brown. press hershey kisses into the center immediately after pulling from oven.
I've also replaced Nutella for the PB and use caramel kisses. Those turn out super yummy!
----Chi
It has been so long since my last post. So much has gone on since then..... Let's see, where to start.
Well, I've had two more sinus infections since my last post. My doctor's don't know what is wrong with me. Now, they think I have an autoimmune disease. Of course, I automatically think the worst, like MS. But, only time and lots of medical tests will tell.
School has been ok. I haven't really been "into it" like I should be or like I have previously been. I think because I have not been feeling well the majority of the semester, I find it hard to concentrate and am usually just really tired. I took my last test of the semester on Thursday and now all I have left is finals. This semester has really gone by fast. This is my last semester of class work and I am so excited. I am eagerly waiting to start my externship to see if I will actually be able to make it in the real world. For my school placement, I am going to Owasso public schools and for my hospital/rehab placement, I will be in Okmulgee at the George Nigh Rehab Center. I'm excited to work in rehab, not in Okmulgee. It gives me flashbacks to working in Claremore, which was quite interesting. I'm also whittling away at my thesis. It's taking a long time. I want to go on and get my doctorate and I keep thinking about why I would torture myself like that. We will see....
Robert and I have decided to put our house on the market-BOO, kinda. Our house has a myriad of problems, the main one being that we have some wood rot on the outside and need to repaint. That's hard to do on one salary. Because we are thinking about moving (I'll talk more about that), we thought our best option would be to put the house on the market now since it will probably take forever for it to sell. The market is so bad right now and of course, we chose to do it right before the winter season. Surely someone will want this house. It is a perfect starter home and is right in the middle of midtown, which is a popular area. Let's hope for the best! My mom and step-dad are moving to Houston soon and we will probably just live in their house, if our house sells. I'm not real excited about moving back in with my mom (pride thing) but we have to do what we have to do to get by. I also think we will be much happier in the end if I get offered a job out-of-state and we don't have to worry about selling our house then. That way we can just pick up and move.
So, about moving. I've interviewed for a few companies in North Carolina and I have an interview in Boston in November. Everyone I talk to about NC says what a wonderful, affordable and beautiful place NC is. I had no idea. The companies I have talked to seem great, but it's hard to know what to look for. You have to weigh benefits against pay and decide which one is more important. I wish you could just have both---maybe the right company will come along soon. I'll keep you posted.
This weekend, I'm not doing much. I have so much work to catch up on. I may go to a Halloween party later tonight, but I'm not sure. When I have things looming over my head it's hard to have fun and let loose because I always end up thinking about what needs to be done instead.
Lastly, I recently read an article in Newsweek that discussed the biological reason that positive thinking does make a difference. It was a great article. I'm guilty when it comes to thinking negatively. I'm going to try to think positively from here on out. I need to be more grateful for the things I have in my life rather than think about all the things I could have or should have. I wonder if anyone else is like that too?
Well, I have to leave you with a fun recipe for relatively healthy cookies:) Hopefully it won't be that long before I post again! Au revoir!
PB cookies
3/4 C peanut butter (I use the natural kind)
2 C bisquick mix (use the heart healthy kind, the yellow packet has trans fat in it)
1-14oz can of fat-free sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
sugar
hershey kisses
preheat oven to 375. mix first four ingredients. roll into walnut sized balls and roll in sugar. bake 7-9 minutes until they just begin to brown. press hershey kisses into the center immediately after pulling from oven.
I've also replaced Nutella for the PB and use caramel kisses. Those turn out super yummy!
----Chi
Saturday, September 15, 2007
It's been so long....
Hi!
It's been so long since I last blogged. Unfortunately, not too much has happened. Apparantely I live an uneventful and semi-boring life. The one good thing that has happened is that I took my last dosage of Prednisone (corticosteroids) on Thursday. I hated life while I was taking those. I was quite moody, had an enormous appetite and was unable to sleep. But, I'm still on the antibiotics for another two weeks. I also took my first test in my swallowing disorders class. I studied pretty hard for that test and I think I did ok. Maybe not an A, but I passed (in my major, you have to pass with an 80% or you have to take the test again). Now I'm getting ready for two more tests. Luckily I'm not as spacey anymore seeing that I don't have to take the evil steroids. What else? Oh, we are decorating our house for the Fall. Seems ironic that we are spending money on the inside of our house while the outside is in need of a serious paint job. However, a paint job costs slightly more than a few decorations:) I like when the house is decorated because it makes it feel more homey and welcoming. Robert and I usually don't have lots of guests over because our house seems so small when more than two people are in it. But, we are thinking about branching out and doing something like a wine party this fall. I love the fall. I love the weather. I also love making my pumpkin dip. It's so easy and decently healthy. I got this recipe from one of my former employees at Chili's. She was an older woman who pretty much acted like my grandmother! Hope you enjoy it. Wish me luck in the next few weeks! Hope all is well with everyone!
Chi
Pumpkin Dip
(I use sugar free products in this-you can use the real deal if you want)
1 package (small) sugar free vanilla pudding (i wouldn't use french vanilla-it's too sweet)
1 can (small) pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 container of sugar free whipped topping
pumpkin pie spice to taste
Mix the pudding packet and pumpkin
Fold in whipped topping
add pumpkin pie spice to taste (i add tons)
served with graham crackers
It's been so long since I last blogged. Unfortunately, not too much has happened. Apparantely I live an uneventful and semi-boring life. The one good thing that has happened is that I took my last dosage of Prednisone (corticosteroids) on Thursday. I hated life while I was taking those. I was quite moody, had an enormous appetite and was unable to sleep. But, I'm still on the antibiotics for another two weeks. I also took my first test in my swallowing disorders class. I studied pretty hard for that test and I think I did ok. Maybe not an A, but I passed (in my major, you have to pass with an 80% or you have to take the test again). Now I'm getting ready for two more tests. Luckily I'm not as spacey anymore seeing that I don't have to take the evil steroids. What else? Oh, we are decorating our house for the Fall. Seems ironic that we are spending money on the inside of our house while the outside is in need of a serious paint job. However, a paint job costs slightly more than a few decorations:) I like when the house is decorated because it makes it feel more homey and welcoming. Robert and I usually don't have lots of guests over because our house seems so small when more than two people are in it. But, we are thinking about branching out and doing something like a wine party this fall. I love the fall. I love the weather. I also love making my pumpkin dip. It's so easy and decently healthy. I got this recipe from one of my former employees at Chili's. She was an older woman who pretty much acted like my grandmother! Hope you enjoy it. Wish me luck in the next few weeks! Hope all is well with everyone!
Chi
Pumpkin Dip
(I use sugar free products in this-you can use the real deal if you want)
1 package (small) sugar free vanilla pudding (i wouldn't use french vanilla-it's too sweet)
1 can (small) pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 container of sugar free whipped topping
pumpkin pie spice to taste
Mix the pudding packet and pumpkin
Fold in whipped topping
add pumpkin pie spice to taste (i add tons)
served with graham crackers
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