Offer Accepted... So Far...

Well.... the Seller accepted our offer but now it goes to third party approval which is the Bank. This means 4 to 6 weeks of waiting on pins and needles as the Bank processes the paperwork. In the meantime anyone could come in and make a higher offer on the house which the Seller could jump on after all they want to get as much out of this Short Sale as possible. Keep in mind that they already had an offer which we came in higher on so I'm sure there is one disappointed Buyer out there. Sorry people!!!

So even though we have made an offer and even though the offer has been accepted, it still isn't for sure until all of the paperwork is complete, signed, sealed and delivered which will take some time. I believe I have mentioned in past posts that I'm not a very patient person.

In the meantime we still have plenty to do around here getting our projects completed in our house... painting, trim and moulding put up, the garage cleaned out and lots to sort through to determine what to send to the DI and what to put out in a garage sale. FYI I have an oven, microwave, giant white storage cupboard (good for magazines and books) and an entertainment center that will be going into the garage sale but if you are interested in these items and want to see them first let me know.

I remember when the For Sale by Owner sign kept getting moved around the neighborhood as a joke. I will be so sad when/if there is a sign on my lawn. :(

House Offer????

Well, we put in an offer on a house today but it is on a house that is a short sale so it could take a few weeks before we find out if our offer is accepted or not. The house was also on the news last night in a story on Real Estate agents that hire people to stay in homes to make them look occupied. Hopefully no one who watched the clip on the news fell in love with the house and called the station to find out where they shot the story.

The house is in a nice neighborhood with lots of kids and friendly people that wave as you drive by. It is nestled inside the neighborhood which I love (I don't want to be near any main roads).

Here are a few pics of the house that we put an offer on.

Cool Tricks

Can I just say that I loooooooooooove my Photoshop Elements class that I am taking through the community class I signed up for? I have learned so many things (which I am already quickly forgetting due my braindead nature) but still... what a great class!!!

Last night one of the fantastic things we learned was how to combine photos in panoramic pictures and also how to combine pictures in a scenario such as when you are taking group shots and some people have nice faces and others don't. Well some people can't help that they don't have a nice face and no amount of editing, stamping with the clone tool or healing tool is going to change that (I'm one of those people). I'm referring to those goofball kids who think that picture-taking time is the time to make goof-ball faces. Let me give you an example of some of the faces ...







And here is the end result after using the photomerge group option in Elements and also a little cutting and pasting for a couple of trickier faces. I used 4 photographs to make one happy family photograph. (sorry about the lighting... it isn't very good... but at least there are no more goofy faces... they can go in the scrapbook and the smiley ones can go on the wall).



The photomerge group has given me hope that my group shots are no longer ruined if everyone isn't smiling or looking right in one shot. If I take a bunch of pictures I still have hope that I can combine the shots into one nice photo. Yeah!!!!!

House Hunting Woes

If you are reading this Brett stop right now and skip down to the next post. You may not like some of the comments made in this post so just stop now.

Everyone else you can keep on reading as I moan and mope about how tired I am from house hunting. I know, I know, I won't have any sympathy from my friends who are not supporting me in the search for a house. Really, I'm only looking for a house to keep my husband happy. Brett you are NOT supposed to be reading this. I told you to skip to the next post!!!

I thought we had found our home (see above picture). Did I already mention it was in a neighborhood with a Home Owner's Association??? no thank you!!! this one came with a very expensive price tag. You had to pay the HOA committee $375.00 everytime you wanted to submit plans for any property improvements. Yikes!

So the search continues as well as the home improvement projects to spruce up our home. Maybe our house will look so nice in the end that Brett will want to stay.

For the Record

I don't think it is really necessary to confess at this point that I am not very good at color coordinating because really... anyone who knows me or frankly who has seen me... or even glanced at me would tell you this. Sadly, this curse has extended to my children by virtue of the fact that as their mother it is my responsibility to choose their clothes.

I'm sure at some future point as happens with all parents when children accuse their parents of messing them up in one way or another they will be able to add onto the pile of accusations their lack of color coordination.

I cannot, however, take credit for dressing Smiley in the following outfit...


He is solely responsible for the horrible sweater and vest combination and after I stopped laughing I changed him into something less hideous (even I recognized it was bad).

But after I thought about it I was rather concerned... his choice of clothing could still be my fault... I thought back to what I was wearing just the other night...blue jammie pants, a pink shirt and a red hoodie. The pink shirt was part of my outfit I had been wearing during the day, but it was getting close to bedtime so I threw on the closest jammie pants available which were cream and blue but it was chilly in the house and I needed something warm for my arms so I grabbed the closest hoodie which was red. So can you really blame Smiley for his lack of fashion sense when his mom is all about comfort???

Poor kid.

A Brief Pause

If you had noticed my post has not changed for a number of days and I'm sorry I have not had a chance to blog hop the last week or so. I think I am experiencing blogging withdrawal symptoms. I really don't have time now to post and feel guilty as I listen to the sounds of my husband scrubbing the shower in the boys bathroom. It doesn't sound like it is going well - he just remembered that the shower head is broken - hahaha!!! wait... darn it!!! my sister is on her way tomorrow... better get that fixed!!! add that to my list and my guilt for blogging when I should be doing other things to prepare for her arrival.

You see... she is painting a huge part of my upstairs. I just can't wait! I have been living in chaos for some time now and it will be soooo nice to have it over with.

I don't know that I will enjoy it for long however, because we have been house hunting the last few weeks. Smiley and I went for a drive the other day to look at houses and before racing back to get him ready for pre-school we saw some horses in a field. I couldn't resist stopping for just a moment - it looked so beautiful. I only had my point and shoot with me but I did my best. I think horses are beautiful and Smiley quietly waved hello to them so as not to scare them.



After our brief interlude it was back in the car to race home, get ready for school, tackle my laundry room disaster (Smiley was down to his last shirt and pair of underwear), pick up kids from their off-track activity, get Giggles from school and spend 4 more hours with a real estate agent looking at prospective homes.

Maybe if I can hold that mental picture of the serenity of that field and the horses in my mind I can make it through the insane business of this week. My fingers are crossed.

Well, must close... tomorrow is Smiley's birthday and pancakes are on the agenda for breakfast as is going to the Draper temple open house so it will be an early morning.

Random Act of Kindness

Don't you just love when someone does something kind unexpectedly like hold the door open for you when your hands are full, let you in when you are driving and you are in a hurry, do the dishes when you didn't ask them to, or in our case give you a gift in Target.

Smiley and I were shopping in Target and while I pushed him through the store in the cart we talked, I tickled him and Smiley kept telling me Spiderman was lurking around every clothing rack or t-shirt display. This then turned into Smiley and I pretending to be Spiderman and Venom spraying each other with our pretend webs from our hands and "catching" each other. This went on all the way up to the check out stand. There was only one lady in front of us buying some items. I "caught" Venom and told him I put him in jail and he couldn't get out. He continued to "spray" me with his webs though. He's persistent and busted out of my reinforced jail anyways.

I had to pause and pay for my items included my Milky Way that Venom wanted for himself but Spiderman insisted was for for him (me) after all Venom has a treat bag at home that Aunt April and Grandma G. replenish often with their packages (that's not a hint by the way... the treat bag is plenty full).

On our way to the exit, the woman who had been in line in front of us took a toy out of her bag and handed it to Smiley and said "I got this for you."

Smiley gave an appropriate gasp of adoration for this Ben 10 toy called Brain Storm and he was so enthralled it took a couple of prompts to get the thank you out.

She introduced herself as Cherish. Well Cherish, we will cherish this random act of kindness. THANK YOU!!!