The park ... in pictures!

Two weekends ago, at the spur of the moment, we took Alex to the park down the street from our new house ... yes, he's in his pjs, but he had a blast! The ground is a soft mat all the way around, with mulch along the edges. He played on the smaller of the two playsets, so he'll enjoy it for years to come!

Quick house update - The closing is set for April 8th, which is next Wednesday ... we're really so excited! We are slowly getting plans in order ... have boxes, but haven't packed a thing yet! Eeeks. I'm in trouble already! And just in case you care ... I'm not the decorator type! This is stressful. Picking out verticals? Colors for all rooms? Too much stress.

Random Picture Challenge

http://4littlemen.blogspot.com/2009/03/random-picture-challenge_21.html

3rd folder, 1st picture with the color BROWN.



Another one taken with my camera phone ... January 16, 2009 ... Alex in a good mood heading to daycare. The boo boo on his nose is, sadly, from my nail. :( Bad mommy.

St. Patrick's Day

2008 - St. Patrick's Day

3 months old

2009 St. Patrick's Day

15 months old

I have a video, but it's not posting ... will try again in the morning.

A few more pictures ... these are from March 8 (1st time in 'training pants' - no, I'm not trying to potty train him, just letting him air out a bit) and March 11 (just lookin cute) ... again taken with my camera phone ... I need to find our real camera.

We got it!

The accepted our offer of $97,500!!!!!! YAY!!!! Although we knew we'd take it at 100, that lil bit of savings will help with the appliances we need to buy- fridge, stove, washer and dryer.

Now it's time to get all of our paperwork in order ... last 2 years tax returns, last 3 paystubs, last 3 months bank statements, first born's lock of hair ... you get the picture.

Santiago is working another double today, and I have a homeowners association meeting after work, so it'll be a lil crazy around here. My parents are getting Alex from daycare and doing dinner/bath, so that'll be a huge help.

We're meeting with the mortgage guy tomorrow afternoon at my office, so I have to have everything in order and ready ... whew ... lots to do.

We're hoping to close around April 8th ... not sure everyone can move that fast though. Alex's daycare is closed the following week, so we are already taking off work ... maybe we can work on the house a little with Alex in tow ... not sure how well of a plan that is! I've already contacted a home inspector, he'll be at the house on Monday. The mortgage guy is taking care of the appraisal. My uncle is a surveyor, guess I need to find out if I need that done.

Lots on my mind ... and I'm late for work .... we're so very excited. A real house! Yes!!!!!

Almost there ....

The house we put an offer on is in the St. James area ... near the park on Manville & Selvitz in North Port St. Lucie. It is on the market for 109,000 ... we offered 95,00 ... yesterday they countered back with 100,000 ... we countered back with 97,500 ... we're waiting on an answer now. The selling realtor is really on the ball, and actually calls back when he says he will, and he said it would be today, so I'm excited! Even if they come back at 100, we're buying it. :)

After work yesterday, I met my brother, Robby, and his wife, Rita, at the house to show them and see what they thought. Robby is in corrections now, but use to work for a security alarm firm, so I wanted to see how much he thought it would cost to get an alarm system installed. Not that I don't think it's a safe area, but since it's a split plan, Alex's room is waaaaaay across the house from ours. I just want some peace of mind, ya know? Plus he's real handy, so I wanted his thoughts on some projects.

These pictures are from my camera phone, so the quality isn't the best, but gives you an idea ...

Kitchen is on the small side, we'll need to buy a stove and fridge.

Living Room. To the left is the dining area.

Master bath. I'm not totally in love with it, but it'll work just fine. I think in the near future, we'll take out the tub and put in a large shower. And Rita (SIL) suggested turning the shower area into a linen closet. I hadn't even noticed there wasn't one in there! I told hubby when I got home, and he hadn't noticed either. Great idea!

Today is my day off, but I'm going into the office for a few hours, or the day. We'll see. I've been working on taxes for the last several weeks and I'm behind on my regular work. Maybe I can make a lil dent in it today since everyone thinks I'm off and won't bother me! :)

Dream home?

I'm sure there is such a thing as a dream home ... but finding it is exhausting! Any spare time we've had, we've spent driving around or scouring the internet, looking for available houses.

We're looking for a 3/2/2, CBS home ... hopefully in South Fort Pierce, but realized, we'll probably have to live in ... gulp ... Port St. Lucie. I say that, because I was born and raised in Fort Pierce ... not quite sure how I'll adjust to living there ... although I'm sure I will. Will I lie and put "Fort Pierce" as a return address? laugh ... probably not.

This past weekend we spent a LOT of time driving around ... writing down houses that were in quiet areas and then coming home and trying to see how much they are on the market for. Most of them are "Short Sales" ... and our Realtor knows most take a long time from bidding to buying. Not that we're in a rush, but I don't want to tie up money on House A and find the "dream house".

Speaking of dream house ... Three weeks ago Hubby and I fell in love with the one on Manville that got 16 offers. We're still comparing the houses we see to it. "But at Manville, there was a nice window in the dining room" ... "the master shower was really nice at Manville" ... "the alarm system was already installed at Manville" ... you get the picture.

Then we found another house on Manville for sale ... literally across from the first house ... "back on the market" it said. It's a 4/3/2, CBS, built in 2005, 2100 sq ft ... yes, it's huge. As my mom said probably 5 times last night "it's a lot of house". Which to me means, there's a lot of house to clean, air condition/heat, decorate, lose Alex in, etc. All of the window treatments are gone, which can get expensive to replace. There are 3 sets of double widows ... those are the ones that scare me, price wise. Plus, I'm not too much of a decorator, as anyone who has seen my house can attest to.

This picture is from the Property Appraisers website, when it was a brand new house in November 2005.

This is the picture the Realtor has in the listing ... the only picture. Most listings have 6-8 pictures of the inside of the house, not this one. Neither did the first house on Manville now that I think about it.

This is my quick attempt to show how the house is set up ... The front two bedrooms share a bathroom, that's neat. The A/C unit looks good and shows it's the "most efficient", the water heater looks good, the kitchen is kinda small, but will work just fine for our family. The master bath is the only "eh" factor ... I'm not totally in love with it, but it'll work just fine , and I can see where a little remodel will produce a nice large shower ... it has a roman tub and a small shower stall right now.

It's on the market for $109,000. We put in an offer for $95,000. The selling agent said we would hear from him today ... let's hope he calls with good news.

So there ya have it ... we're still looking ... we've probably looked inside of 18 or so houses in the last month. It's hard to remember what you liked and disliked about each one. If this falls through, we'll keep looking ... of course.