Moving in and getting ready for the holidays

I am happy to announce that we have finally moved into our new house a little over a week ago. Although I am still busy unpacking boxes, I'm sure you understand how long of a process this can be, I am trying to get ready for the holidays.

Two holidays projects have been completed which I will feature here later this week and ALL of my shopping has been completed. You may think that is pretty impressive, but I had to do something while living with my in-laws.

We have also started some home-improvement projects on our new house. The house is in great shape but I feel that it is important for me to leave my mark on the house or to simply make it my own. I am very excited to share those improvements soon including the one that my dh slaved away all weekend.

Do you want to see a picture of my house? I am typing this on my husband's laptop since mine has decided to get sick (a stupid virus) and will not let me get on the Internet. (The thought makes me get stressed out....how am I supposed to communicate with the outside world!!) Did I not mention that we have moved somewhere rural where we are surrounded by fields of sagebrush and it is 10 miles to the nearest grocery store?

Back to the house. The only picture of our new house on dh's laptop is horrible in my opinion. One that we took when we first looked at the house. (For those who have shopped for houses recently, do you take pictures of the houses too. We found it easier to review at the end of day.) I have some better ones that I will post once we find a vaccine or an anti-virus for my laptop.

You want details you may ask. Going from our old house with only 1000 sq ft, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and no room for growth (basement was dirt), we feel a little out of place in a house as large as we purchased. We weren't going for a huge house, after 8 failed offers we simply wanted anything in our price range! Our new house has 6 bedrooms with a separate office, 4 bathrooms, fireplace, jetted tub and has a large yard for the area. Plenty of room for growth and an extra bedroom to use as a craft room. That will be a future project.

Where am I?

Just a quick update. Today we officially closed on our house and moved in with my in-laws. We have now put offers on 7 houses, each falling through for one reason or another. Frustrating!!! Hopefully house number 8 will be the one.

With the changes that I am going through, simply put as living out of suitcases for a few weeks, I won't be able to update much. I have "dreams" of someday having a place to put my laptop and actually post cool stuff on this blog. Until then....

A bliss is needed

I'm not doing very well right now in the housing department. The sell of our house is going very well, in fact our buyers want to close early. I won't let them, but it's a good sign that they are not going to back out.


Besides that, I still haven't found a new place to live. House hunting has been very depressing! Each time I find a house that I love, I find out that it has multiple offers well above the asking price and then falls out of my price range. We have made three offers on houses, each failing for one reason or another. So one week before the big move, we are still homeless.

I am being very hard on myself lately and have had an extremely horrid thought run through my mind, "I hate my life!" With this being said, I really need to stop and look at the blessings that I have.

I have a beautiful little girl that I am so grateful to have in my life. I remember how depressed I was for years while I was waiting for her. She truly makes me happy every day!


I have a wonderful marriage and I am so lucky to have a companion to share my life with. I am even more grateful to know that our marriage in not just for life but for the eternities.

I am grateful that Eduardo provides for us so I can be a stay-at-home-mom. Even though this is the cause of us not getting the house I love, but I know that it is better for me to be home. I am truly happier being home then in the work-force.


I am glad that Eduardo enjoys taking me places like the symphony, opera and plays. More importantly that he likes to spend time with me.

I am grateful to have a good head on my shoulders when it comes to finances. Extremely grateful to have no debt, plenty in our emergency savings account and enough each month.


I am grateful for my good relationship and friendship with my mom.

I am grateful for my love of my ancestors who really make up a large part of my life. With that I am happy to be a part of two women organizations who honor these people. DUP (Daughters of Utah Pioneers) and DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution).


I am grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. It is a huge part of my life and brings me peace in times like this. I know that God has a plan for me and things will work out according to His will. I need to learn some patience.

I am grateful to be who I am even though times get a little rough.

House Update

Things have gotten very busy in the house department. After countless showings and 3 failed offers we might finally have something.


We had until this past Monday to get an offer on our house or the builder would sell our new one to someone else. That was a depressing phone call. Nothing like having to tell the agent, once again, sorry we don't have an offer. I was shocked at what happened next. The agent broke down in tears. She was frustrated with the builder for putting such stress on us (yeah!) and that this didn't work out for us.


At this point, I was angry enough with the builder that even if we had an offer in at the last moment, I would probably not take the house.


On Saturday we went house hunting. As you may know, the General Authorities stressed once again to purchase a house that you can afford, not what the neighbors can afford. It is VERY important to me that I be a stay-at-home mom and that means not even running a daycare. For that, we have to find a house that we can afford and that I can stay at home. We looked at a total of 6 houses and all were scary. The first one was SUPER scary and that happens to be the house that we are putting an offer on.


We aren't completely crazy (just mostly crazy on Tuesdays) but saw some great potential in this house. It is a short-sale and marked way below what it's worth. It needs some major TLC but after completely remodeling our current house, we know that we can do it again. The houses in this area sell for about 200k more then what this house is listed. Since it is a short sell and the bank gets to decide who gets it (there are several parties interested in it) we won't know until the end of the month if we get it.


As for our current house, we sold it! Yeah! Well we are at least under contract. They had the house inspection today and I am now nervous that they will back out because we need a new roof. But time will tell.

Quick house update

I am so beyond stressed out! What comes after stress? Near depression...think I'm about there. Of course no one said selling a house would be fun. In all the houses we have sold/selling (3), I've never had luck in the house department. Each and every time I feel that I am getting screwed over. If my agent happens to read this, yes I feel this way now!

You might ask what has been happening. Well, we have had 3 offers on our house in the past 6 weeks. That is really good except when each one thinks they are getting the deal of the century and will only offer 30k plus below what we are asking. Then they get offended if we try to counter their poor offer. It is my understanding that there are a lot of desperate people out there who have to sell their house for one reason or another. Many of these people will not get a single penny once they sell. I fortunately am not in this boat. I am not forced to sell and the main reason why I am selling is to take the HUGE check with me in the end. That check will mean financial freedom. It means we will be completely debt free with savings and a complete two year supply of food storage. So I am a little hesitant at giving away my hard earned money to an offer that thinks they can purchase the "sun, moon and stars" at one low price. I have news for you....WRONG! You want my house, you have to pay what is fair in today's market. (A few years ago I probably could have gotten 20k more. The house is currently fairly priced.) And I will not include my new washer, dryer, fridge and pay for your down payment and 10k in closing costs. Seriously!

So 3 failed offers. First one couldn't get the loan, second asked 30k under asking and laughed when we countered and the third one wanted us to give her too much. So we have been back to square one, again, for the past week.

Are we making any progress? Yes! If you say 7 showings in one week progress. Three of those showings were on the same day and on Sunday we had a second showing for someone who came through on Saturday.

Do we have offer number four? Don't know.

Besides that, we have 1 1/2 days to have a decent offer or the builder will be selling "our" house to another couple who wants it. The builder "forgot" to take the house off of the mls. We won't be able to close by the end of October on the new house if we don't have an offer by the end of September. This make me feel lousy!

Irritated and every right to be so.

Someday my blog will be more interesting then the happenings of selling my house. I should probably get over it, move on (ha ha) and actually do something more then clean. I did a little more today then the usual. I made homemade Zucchini bread. The aroma has seeped into every pore of my house and it smells delicious.

It has been a hard weekend in the house department. By Friday evening we had received two offers on our house and the bidding war began. I was excited and nervous that in three weeks I would be moving to our new house. I couldn't wait to finally start "living" life again verses pretending to live in my house. (I keep a clean house, but trying to keep a showroom or model home is driving me CrAzY!) I was also dreading having to pack everything but that happens when you sell.

On Saturday we took Eduardo's parents up to house. I think it is great that the builder has given us a key. Can't move in, but we can check out the house whenever we want. We noticed a few major problems (Just remembered that I forgot to call the builder! arg!) like the sprinklers are leaking into the basement. Also, the landscaper must have forgotten to measure correctly because half of my special order sod is missing. He also needs to adjust the sprinklers so they hit everything. Half of the half of my drought tolerant sod is like the desert that surrounds it.

On Monday morning when we should have been finalizing the double offers we find out that one offer has backed out and the other can't get approved for a loan. So we are back to square one and I am irritated with it. I should have known that 1 1/2 weeks on the market, 4 showings and 2 offers later we would still be here. We did have two more showings and hopefully something good comes from that.

Today my thoughts are wondering if and when we will sell, when will I be moving and for which holiday do I get to celebrate there (Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas) and if I leave the house every day will it remain spotless?

On a lighter note, the pictures that I promised from the beautiful model house are not going to happen. Eduardo has not found the cord to release the captive photos and says they shall forever remain on his phone. At least until he deletes them.

Bad dog and the messy house

I admit it, I am lame at this blog business. I love blogging but lately there seems to be more important things to do. Like clean the house for showings and punishing a VERY bad dog. I simply hope that things will go back to normal (if there really is a normal) as soon as we move.

So first, we had two more showings on Monday. I was a little P.O. with the comments that the agents left with my agent. I really shouldn't be upset but it hit just the right nerve and it bothered me.

They said, "Shows really nice, very neat and tidy. Best on the block. They did not like the area that much though. They decided on a newer town home to the West. If that doesn't work out this home would be on their "long list". They commented on the price saying "monitor it"
(Just a note here, by heading directly west a ways of where I am located puts these people in a VERY undesirable area. To each his/her own.)

Second said,"Awesome sellers. They went the extra mile needed in this market to really show their home. It was a joy to show. The agent does not have a feel from the buyer yet because she works odd hours. They will be out looking again on Friday and MAY ad this on the list for a second look. She commented that we were the highest per square foot in the area. She thought $180k."
(My thoughts here....180k you have to be joking! 180k get you a house that needs to be gutted inside! I couldn't believe that. My house is beautiful and completely remodeled! Very frustrating!)

The comments aren't bad but the whole price reference bothers me. Especially when they talk about a price that is significantly lower then our asking price. We were advised to start high, feel out the market the first week (it has only been up for one week today) and lower in small increments if needed. We will get to that later.

So house selling is frustrating. Between the comments and trying to keep the house perfect, I am tired!

We did put an offer on the house that we love and it was accepted. The house includes landscaping in the front and side yards. The sprinklers went in a Monday and today they are laying my special request drought tolerant grass. What can I say! We live in a desert and it takes too much water to keep the traditional Kentucky Blue Grass green. We have drought tolerant grass in our back yard in our current home and I LOVE it. I water it once a week and it is super green.

With all the stress that I am feeling (plus seasonal allergies on top of it) it is effecting my dog. He has turned into a complete brat! We have always had to lock him up before we leave the house because he gets nervous and will pee. Lately when we call him he heads to different rooms, will stand and stare at you as if he is deaf (he's not) or simply not come. It is getting frustrating. On top of it last night at dinner we locked him up (we didn't want him begging for food) and during the entire meal he was whining and scratching on the door. Now the back of the door needs to be re-painted (again!) and he snagged the carpet and tore some of it up. I am at the end of my rope. Does anyone know what I should do with him?

I have lots of projects that I want to work on and things to try but afraid of making any messes in my house. So it will all wait until we move. And if I can figure out how to get pictures from the cell phone on to the computer, I have some CUTE decorating ideas from a model house.