Afternoon Delight

I had a drs appointment on Tuesday, so I left work early and got home before it was dark. I usually get home after 6:30, and with the time change, it's pitch black outside, which is NOT good for outside time with Alex. All of the bugs are out.

Here's pictures of our 20 minutes outside before the mosquitos started biting ... daddy was inside making dinner, so I took all of these ... including the ones with me in them. :) We had a blast. Enjoy!

His own camp chair!

He loves the playset we found on Craigslist.

What a great find!

It's over 12 years old and in great shape!

Except for the yellow piece he's standing on ...

The previous owner made it,

but Santiago needed to sand and paint it

... so he added a few extras ...

Awwww

Rolling around in the grass ... FUN!
This one is begging for an explaination ...
Uncle Robby is into Karate,
while his wife was in Puerto Rico visting her mom,
he came over to dinner ... and taught Alex how to
KICK
"Hands up and kick!"
and this is what it looks like ...
Alex is even saying "Eeeyah!"
He loves his Uncle Robby!

I'm lying in the grass,

Alex is standing on my chest,

giggling away!

Tickle tickle tickle

Our "patio"?

There is always time to stop and smell the flowers.

RUNNING!

We really had a great time ...

wish we had more of these times together ...

I'll have to work harder at making it happen more often.

No closing yet

Our closing was scheduled for today. It didn't happen. Long story short, people before us were purchasing the house, their mortgage company did paperwork but didn't close it, then they went out of business. Now my mortgage people have tried to hunt them down, they won't return calls ... so my mortgage people were forced to go to FHA to get the case closed. BLAH. Glad my mortgage people are explaining this all to me and I like them, it helps a little!

I'm just so frustrated. Had to call FPL *again* to reschedule the power being put in our name. Had to cancel the A/C repair people. Tell the painters they can't start working this weekend. Tell my brother he can't start on the alarm system this weekend. I had my heart set on April 8th.

Santiago has to go to IRS tomorrow in person to request papers that they keep rejecting for the closing. He'll be mad when he finally leaves there I'm sure. Especially since it's tax time. Such a brave guy.

We're hoping the closing will be sometime next week.

My parents are leaving tomorrow for Texas to visit my brother and family. Wish I was going. blah.

Yeah, I'm cranky and probably shouldn't post when I'm in this mood .... I'm ready to start working on the house ... we're going to rent ours out ... so we are going to have to move faster than planned. Just so much going on. Alex is on spring break next week ... and with my parents out of town, hubby and I are each taking off two days from work, Jenny is thankfully watching him on Monday (her day off) ... just so much going on! And so much more to do and do and do ... yes, the end result will be worth it, that's the only thing keeping me somewhat sane.

Blah ... Babbling isn't helping ... time for bed.

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.

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.

House Hunting

My head is pounding. We've decided to buy a house. I'm overwhelmed by it all.

To give you a lil background ... I bought the condo we live in in 1996 when I was 21, single and working 3 jobs ... it's a 2/2, 900 sq ft ... was great for a single girl, and fine when we got married 10 years ago ... but now it's just too small for our growing family and since it's a condo, we have no place to expand.

I contacted the bank ... we're approved for the range we're interested in. I didn't even ask what we were approved for. Our credit is good, we don't have any credit cards ... we owe on our van and couch, that's it.

There is a foreclosure across from my parents, a 3/2, 1700 sq ft, CBS house ... which needs a LOT of work. But my heart is set on it. I want to live across from my parents, so Alex can grow up with them very closeby. But hub finally saw the inside of it for himself today, after weeks of planning to buy it ... and said no way. It just needs too much work. :(

I was worried we wouldn't be the high bidder at the auction, so yesterday I started looking at the houses available in this area ... oh my. There are lots. Yesterday we looked inside of 2. That was neat. One was wow, the other was yuck. But the wow one is priced at 104. I'd really like to stay around 80.

So last night, I hunted and hunted and hunted online ... printed out 14 ... hub and I sat and looked over the info and picked 9 we wanted to see the inside of. My friend Gail is a realtor, she showed us two (they were occupied) ... one was wow, the other was yuck. This time the wow one was 99 and a 4/2/2. That's a little closer, right? :)

We planned on looking at 5 on Saturday morning, but on the way home from looking at those two today, we decided to take a quick peek at one that we were really interested in that just went on the market 4 days ago ... and oh my goodness!!! It's near a park, in a good area, there's a sidewalk to my parents house (maybe 3 miles one way?) ... It's a 3/2/2, split plan, 1847 sq ft, tile, roman tub in the master, screened porch, fenced back yard, built in 1995, new roof in 2005 ... for 79?!?! OH MY GOODNESS. Can this really be ours?

We're puttin in an offer *full listing price* tomorrow morning ... I have a headache trying to wrap my head around it all ... and all of the details!! We're so excited. Bad picture, but it's the only one I can find ...

Oh ... my head is pounding ... and my heart is too ... I'm excited and nervous. A real house. For us. :) I don't like that Alex's room will be across the house. I've enjoyed hearing him breathing while I'm on the computer. It's 2 of our condos! Our 3 cats won't know what to do with all the space!! Ok ... I'm gonna try to sleep. And yes, I know I'm behind on emails again ... I'll try to get to them this weekend!