Dream House Deals

Whoa, I've been slacking on my deals lately.  Hey it could probably be due to that whole raccoon problem I had earlier.  So let's get to it!!

Here it is.  I got this awesometastic vase at Marshall's a couple months back.  I plan on putting it in my dining room or living room.  Eh, I am sure it will go somewhere or Ryan will put me up for sale on craigslist for buying stuff that I will never use!!

Sooooo how much do you think this was 30 - 40 bucks???  OH NO, my frugal friends I got this for the bargain price of $12.99!!  NICE!!

Are you ready for Vanna to model the vase too???  Well here is my very own Vanna!!!

Awwwwww isn't she cute???  Ok I gotta sign off for now cuz it is almost Grey's Anatomy time and I gotta get the munchkins tucked in!!

One final shameless plug for the night!!

Ok, so I am almost up to 200 views per day (ok, ok I am sure 150 are my mom and dad :P) HOWEVER I need all of you that read me to officially follow me.  Just go over to the right side and click "follow".  Ok, that is my shameless plug for the day.  Did I mention the fact that the raccoon is gone???  Could I smile any more??

Could I be any happier???

Ok, so could I be any happier???????

1. The raccoon if officially out of OUR HOUSE and off to another field!!  Yiippeeee, I am so ready for a good night of sleep in my own bed!!  Here is the culprit and Uncle Jaord hauling Rocky out of the attic:

Let me just say THANK YOU to Grandpa Pete and Uncle Jarod for getting this bandit out tonight.  Cuz he/she was NOT happy in that trap for the night!!!

2.  We had another showing tonight for a couple that were VERY interested in our house.  I was running out of here at the last minute and they were a younger couple and had 2 blonde little girls that looked like they were twins to me.  This could be the perfect place for them.  The only bummer is that this house doesn't come with a built in pet any more ;)

Wanted: Dead or Alive!

Ok, ok so I am NOT singing a Bon Jovi song for you tonight!!  Hahahahaha instead I am speaking of my new BFF that has moved into the attic.  Sooooo he was NOT in the trap this morning when Ryan checked and he was not hiding out in any crazy hiding spots.  Believe you me Ryan looked through that attic with a fine tooth comb to see if there was any sign of that d@mn critter!! 

Just when we thought he was a goner, I hear him up there RIGHT NOW fighting with the trap!!!  Either he is working really hard to swipe the bowl of food Ryan attached to the cage with wire or that SUCKWAD is in the trap.  Bwhahahahhahaha I hope it is the latter of the 2!!!!  Don't make me go all bat sh*t crazy on you raccoon!!!!  Alrighty then I do believe he is TRAPPED, can I get a holla?!?!?!  Ok, I am pretty excited he is trapped but now I am thinking NOW WHAT?!?!?!



Welllllllll...Grandpa Pete and Uncle Jarod are here!!  Stay tuned.....

'Coon-2 Us-0

Once again that sneaky critter avoided capture!!!  Grrrrrrrrrr, I think he is really trying to kill me!!  I am getting crankier by the moment.  I think Ryan is going to go all Rambo crazy on that thing if we can't catch him tonight!!  At the rate we're going, he is never going to leave if he keeps getting free food out of the live trap!!  Bwwhahahahhaaaaa!  I have faith that tonight is the night.  Nice knowing ya 'coon, but you are going to be evicted....TONIGHT!!!!

Quick post tonight cuz well I haven't gotten much sleep thanks to our current tenant!!  Soooooo have a super de dooper night!!  I'll be back tomorrow with some more dream house deals!!! 

Be vewy, vewy quiet....

I'm hunting, well raccoons!!!  It all started Saturday night when we were getting ready for bed and Emma heard something scratching at the ceiling.  Let me just point out that I have been hearing something in the ceiling for quite some time now.  However, every time I would wake Ryan up the noise would quit so he thought I was crazy!  Back to Saturday....Ryan got to hear it FINALLY!!  He swore up and down that it was just a mouse.  So he climbed into the attic to do a little investigating.  He couldn't find anything so we went to bed.
Fast forward to Sunday night and we were getting ready to tuck the kids in and it started again!!!  I swear whatever is up there sounds like it is going to dig through the ceiling.  It just so happened that we had company.  Sooooooooo we sent Jarod in to get his take and he came back and said that is NOT a mouse.  He and Ryan grabbed the ladder and into the attic they went!  Guess what they found......





Let's be honest here.  A 'coon in the attic does not up the resale value.  Uggghhhhh so Ryan found it and grabbed his pellet gun.  However it was dark...wanna see??

He realized that he couldn't hold the flashlight and shoot the gun so that idea was thrown out.  Plan B you ask???  They went and got a live trap and put some cat food in it and set 'er up! 

 Ryan says, "I'm gonna get you sucka!!"  Or is he?????  Ryan got up first thing to go check out our prisoner.  Well, apparently Rocky waltzed into the live trap feasted on the cat food and sauntered out to continue tormenting us!!!  Ryan re-set the trap with some tuna fish this afternoon.  I was hoping we would catch him before Ryan went to work this evening but not so much.

Soooooo, let me just tell you this.  If that thing starts digging at the ceiling above our bedroom and falls through on my face....I will have the big one!!! 

Update:  Uggghhhhhhhhhh he is back and scratching away AS WE SPEAK (er, type)!!!  Seriously this could be another sleepless night.  That thing sounds chunky too!!  Just go to the tuna, go to the tuna!!!
Wish me luck!!!!

I have TWO confessions to make!

The first one is pretty bad and I can't believe I am sharing it with all of you!!  Ok, brace yourself for it....are you ready????  Scroll down to find out













Keep Scrolling......














Ok, here it is! 




I like Ke$ha's new song, Blow.  OMG there it is I said it out loud.  I hope I didn't lose any respect from you out there.  Hey if you wanna check it out and judge for yourself then go here:

Ke$ha's New Song




Whew, ok we made it through that.  Now, onto my second confession:  my closets are a hot mess!  I started to take a look at them when I decided to plot my packing strategy.  Bwwhahahahhahaaaa!!  I even took a picture to share with ya'll.  Really I can't believe I am going to put this out there but here we go.  As I started to look at my linen closet in our master bathroom I realized that it is less linen and more crap.  So here it is:  I will dissect below.  Again, don't judge me :P

Seriously could I have more random crap in my closet???  Hahahhaa, I see some Xmas snow globes, an old vase with fake flowers, some garland from Xmas, a jewelry box, and an old decorative plate I used to have on my kitchen counter,  oh and I see some wrapped up treasures that I bought from Marshall's for the new house once it is built.  Hold on, I see the remote holder that Ryan used to have in his bedroom when he lived at home (did we REALLY need to save that??).  Wait, wait and up top I see both of the kids' kindergarten graduation caps, and diplomas.  If you were to look on the floor you would see piles of stuff that I have been buying and will be featuring in my dream house deals posts.  In my defense, after I took this picture I pretty much threw away all of the non-essential stuff in this closet.  Bwwwhahahahhaa, I guess this is just solid proof that I do indeed NEED a bigger house with more storage. 

Hi I'm earth...have we met yet???

That is exactly what I would like to say to our buyers!!  Wow people get a clue.  How 'bout we just give you our house, free of charge?!?!  Would that be alright (insert sarcasm)????  Sweet jesus we gave them plenty back in the deal we had....we gave them their down payment, their taxes, their closing costs oh and that whole brand new leach field that we were coughing up the cash for and putting in.  Would you believe their realtor called our realtor and asked if we would knock another grand off the price.  ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!?!  Our realtor responded with an emphatic NO!!

Well, now what???  They better hope they figure something out to make this work.  Cuz if they don't, my shameless plugs will continue in my quest to sell our humble abode, bwwwhahahahhahahaaaa!!!! Be afraid, very afraid!!

                                                 (image courtesy of NASA's website)

Gotta get this done!

So we found out that the buyer's house didn't appraise high enough so that has thrown a wrench in the system.  Once again, BIG SHOCKER!!!  Soooo annoying I tell ya.  We really need to sell this baby and I mean STAT!!  If these people can't get their shizzle together then we will have to sell to someone else!!  There is some interesting business going on in our neck of the woods right now but I don't want to say too much.  It might be something VERY cool or it may end up being nothing.  My fingers are definitely crossed for the VERY cool option.  If you know of anybody that is looking to buy a house SEND THEM MY WAY!!!!  Hehehehee, cuz Grandma Peg and Grandpa Tom are getting our new digs all set up for our arrival. 

In the meantime I would really like to get my sweet pink tool belt and matching pink hard hat.  I need these babies before we start any major construction.  Now I am all about safety but I am all about looking cool while being safe :P  Check this website out....

www.pinktoolbelts.com


O M G, did you see they even have pink safety glasses?  Wooohhhoooo!!

Oh and on a side note, isn't this just screaming buy me????

Dream House Deals

Good Saturday Morning!!!!  Thought I would start this sunshiney, snow free Michigan morning with a DH deals post.  I picked up the bedding for our master bedroom from Macy's a couple months ago.  I believe it was President's Day as they had a pretty sweet deal going on!!  Here are some pictures.  The pictures don't really do it justice and I am afraid if I take it out of the bag I will NEVER get it to go back in.  I tried finding the direct link to Macy's, but it must be sold out.  Here ya go....

It is dark gray and the rings are silver.  It has the sheets and shams and a few foo-foo pillows thrown in.  I believe it was around 200 bucks and was marked down several times to $79.99 and then because it was their fancy President's Day sale I got another 10% off and free shipping.  THEN to make it an even bigger screamin' deal I had a $50 gift card so they virtually paid ME to take this off their hands.  Can I get a HOLLA?????

Back in their court!

Ok in case you couldn't tell by all my criptic previous posts we had what you might like to call a little bit of a leach field problem!!!  Why wouldn't we???  So the buyers asked that we replace the leach field.  My husband, who I really believe can fix ANYTHING, is going to replace it (along with plenty of locals who I will have to pay in beer).  I have spent the last 2 days doing lots of research and Monroe County has plenty of info online for the homeowner to put in their own leach field.  We really thought we were fighting the man by suggesting doing the new leach field ourself....not so much.  It is perfectly acceptable for a homeowner to do it so long as we pull our permit.  So our realtor let the buyer's realtor know that we will cough up the cash to pay for the new leach field but WE will be replacing it.  Bottom line, if we are gonna sell we need a new leach field!!  These people didn't grow up in the country so they aren't familiar with the whole Do It Yourself mentality.  So, if they pass on our offer then so be it!! 
Soooooo in case any of you are really interested in installing your very own DIY leach field, here is a little diagram for your viewing enjoyment :P

Dream House Deals

I was slacking a bit on posting my screamin' deals so here we go!!!  I got some fancy china for my future dining room.  Please keep in mind that we've never had fine china so Ryan sure made fun of me when I busted the goods out tonight.  Our current "fine china" is made by dixie and comes wrapped in plastic every week from the grocery store.  Our actual glass plates that we have now are so big and slope in the middle....Ryan refers to them as woks.  Ok back to the new china (this stuff is so fancy it can't even go in the dishwasher).  I got a set of 6 of each of the salad plates and the dinner plates.  Here they are.  Just my style plain and simple.

Aren't they freaking awesome???  In case you can't tell the stripes and swirls are in silver!!  I scored these little beauties at Home Goods.  The salad plates were $3.99 and the dinner plates were $4.99.  All I can say is SCORE!!!

Houston we have a communication problem!!

Wow, do we ever have a communication problem.  Sweet baby Jesus I think the other realtor is trying to give me the big one.  We FINALLY got him to re-send the attachment he forgot to attach to his email on Friday.  It was a report on our septic and leach field.  As I said, we had some technical difficulties with the leach field and that was reflected in the report.  However the only information he put in the actual email was "please review".  Not "hey how 'bout you guys take your deal and shove it" or "hey how 'bout you guys knock 10 grand off your asking price".....NOPE just "please review".  So we are going to get with our realtor and come up with a decent response.  I think they really want the house and want to try to work it out.  Sooooo back to the negotiating board!!  So, woooohhhhhooooo the deal is not done!!!!

Could we please make this work cuz look as these anxious kids!!  They are ready to build a new house!!!

It's like an episode on HGTV gone bad...very VERY bad!!

So, the inspection on Friday didn't quite go as well as I had hoped.  Yes the septic company was talking about a different house and indeed our septic tank was fine.  HOWEVER, when they started digging they found a different issue :(  The deal has not been scrapped yet.  As a matter of fact we haven't heard boo from the buyers since the inspection early Friday morning.  I have not lost all hope but am not feeling so confident about this deal working out.  Although I think the fact that they didn't withdraw their offer right away is a good sign.  Sooooo again I sit here and wait.  Again keep those fingers crossed and hopefully I get the scoop tomorrow.  Uggghhhhhhhh and again I hurry up and wait :(

Not so fast happy pants!!

Are you serious?  Are you freaking serious?  Why did I think this endeavor would be any different than the others?  After all, we lost 3 pieces of property before we got the land we have now.  Don't get me wrong, I believe it was all meant to be.  We ended up with the perfect piece of land EVER.

The moment I walked in the door tonight our realtor called and let me know the buyers want to come over and dig up the septic tank.  Apparently the friend/inspector the buyers had come test the water and check the septic tank yesterday decided to call the company that came and cleaned our septic tank 3 months ago.  When they asked the driver from the company about our septic tank he said he wasn't sure which house they were referring to but told them that the tank was only going to last another 4 or 5 years.  Needless to say we (and when I say we I mean Ryan was on the horn instantly) called the septic company to ask why they failed to mention that there was anything wrong with our septic tank when they cleaned it.  Well guess what??  Oops it was the wrong house they were referring to.  Uggghhh so we let our realtor know that they needed to relay THAT message to the other realtor.  Bottom line they can come and dig up the back yard and that will just validate the fact that they were misinformed.  Just when I thought I was going to lose it Ryan gave me a big hug and said don't worry it will all work out.  Whew we will survive ;)

Dream House Deals

Ok so I loooooovvvveee magazines cuz I am a visual sort of girl.  However have you ever seen how pricey those magazines are in the grocery store??  Not that I can't be suckered into a good magazine.
I went into the potty at work on Monday and saw the mother load of Traditional Home and House Beautiful magazines.  I didn't want to seem like I was bogarting the magazines but I took a few out of the bathroom with me each time I exited the bathroom.  Hhahahaha I am sure everybody thought I had some stomach issues for the next 2 days as I came out of the bathroom with a magazine under my arm every time I emerged from the bathroom. 

I just have to give a shout out to Kathy and say THANK YOU for sharing your awesome magazines! Once I fessed up to my magazine thefts, I found out who put them in there.  Woohhooo, you soooo know those magazine are a good 5 - 10 bucks in the stores.  Hey, every penny counts right?  Don't judge me ;)

Wow that was fast!

Holy Toledo!!  Just as fast as they accepted our offer yesterday they planned to come with an inspector and test our water and check the septic today!!  They must mean business.  Not that I can't relate but they aren't messing around.  My hubby met with the inspector and the buyers to show them where everything was.  They informed him that they are having the full house inspection on FRIDAY!!!  Next thing you know the appraisal will be done.  Not that I mind progress but here is the scoop.  When they submitted their first offer they wanted to take possession 35 days from acceptance of the contract and they wanted to close 35 days from acceptance.  Soooooo basically they wanted possession at closing.  Our fear was that something would happen a week before closing and we would have all of our crap packed up and the deal would fall thru.  So, in our counter we said that they could take possession 5 days AFTER closing which we thought made sense.  However as fast as things are progressing I am worried that we may be closing sooner than later.  As I am sitting her typing this and partaking in an adult beverage I am thinking that I SHOULD be packing.

Dream House Deals

Since we've had to wait 2 years to get to this point I've had nothing but time to think.  Since I am a little OCD I pretty much have all the colors picked out for each room in the house.  So my plan has been to pick things up along the way as I find screamin' deals.  I will share all those little treasure as I pick them up!  So here is my first purchase.  It is a piece of furniture and my husband was oh so happy that I picked up a new piece of furniture that we are going to have to store along with EVERYTHING else!

I picked this baby up at Sofa Mart for $163.87.  Now tell me that isn't a screamin' deal!!  I mean come on it is leather!! Not sure exactly which room this is going in but I am certain I will put it to good use.  That is, once we've stored it for the next 8 months :D 

Drumroll please....

Wellllllll guess what?!?!?!  They accepted our freaking offer.  Wooohhhoooooo!!!  I have never been so relieved.  I thought once I found out I would be able to sleep much better.  However, I just realized I need to pack 11 years worth of crap in about a MONTH!!  So, so much for getting any sleep.  Oh well believe me it is going to be well worth it. 
Don't get me wrong, though, we still have to make it through the inspection and the appraisal.  So I really hate to get my hopes up too much.  I do have faith that it is going to work out though. 
What are we going to do once we sell our current house and get prepared to build our dream house you ask???  Shack up with the 'rents of course.  Hahahha, the hubby, the kids and I are going to move into my parents house until our new house is built.  Like I said I am sure this blog will bring plenty of entertainment for everyone ;) 

HOLLA!!!!!

Oh and on a total side note....I have more than 2 followers and they are not even all family.  Yay me!!

Tick, tock, tick tock....

Uhhhmmmm HELLO still no word on our counter offer.  Don't these buyers realize that patience is not a virtue that I possess??  I mean COME ON.  Either you are down with the deal or not.  So, I will continue to wait ever so NOT patiently.  Believe me once I hear you will know.  All 2 of you!!  Hhhehehe, my 2 loyal followers who I must add are family :D  Keep those fingers crossed.  Oh and I have a fancy new segment I am going to start (check me out all cool and stuff) tonight.  So until then....I will just hurry up and wait!!!

Well here goes nothing!

So this is my first blog EVER!!  Everybody is doing it so I thought I would give it a whirl.  I am going to make this first one short and sweet and just give you a little preview of the sanity that is to come!

My husband and I are currently trying to sell our little ole ranch we bought 11 years ago after we got married.  Since then, we had 2 awesome kids, added on 500 sq. feet and built the mother of all pole barns.  Nowwwwwww we are trying to sell in the worst market EVER...why wouldn't we?  This is generally how our luck goes.  Now mind you, once we sell we plan to build our dream home**  When I say plan to build our dream home I mean literally WE plan to build it.  I will go into all the details as the days go on but thought this might be an interesting journey to share (hopefully SOMEBODY reads this).  I think the hubby and I will need all the advice we can get! 
Here is a little snapshot of the homestead we are trying to part with right now.  We have had this baby up for sale for 2 years now!!  However the first 15 months were by owner!!  We are now with our second realtor and it just so happens that we got an offer on Friday!!  Yiiipppeeeeeeee, I am like a little school girl.  Don't want to get too excited though.  The offer was decent and we are submitting our counter today!  Sooooooooooooo, keep your fingers crossed and tune back in as I will be updating all the glorious details whether you want to hear them or not!!

**Dream home is a relative term...so please keep in mind this is going to be a 2600 sq. foot traditional house...not Barbie's Mansion.