I'm Calling Uncle!!!

Wow what a day. There are days when I feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew. I started the day in bed reading while Cayden watched some TV. I felt like it was going to be a lazy day. But then I got myself off my butt and decided to get some stuff done. I had to babysit today for the first time in a couple weeks so maybe I wasn't prepared....

I decided it would be fun to put up Christmas decorations with the kids. It started out fun, but in the last couple weeks I've learned that I can be a little paranoid...okay fine ALOT paranoid. I would put boxes and such back into the tupperware boxes that the decorations were and and turn around. Not five seconds later they were into the tupperwares pulling out boxes, tissue paper, any and all things that I just put away. AHHHH Yes I know, it's just paper stuff, but it drove me nuts. Well that got accomplished. (kind of)

Then the kids went downstairs and watched tv for a minute. I thought I would make up some quinoa pilaf for myself. (trying to diet) When the kids heard me they came upstairs and wanted some lunch. I was planning on giving them fish sticks. So I put them in the oven but told the kids to go play because it wouldn't be done for a little while. They didn't they sat at the table saying eat! eat! eat! I decided maybe something to drink would be helpful so I gave them a little bottle water. I poured out the first little bit. That worked until I heard laughing and turned around. They had dumped out the water from each bottle and were splashing themselves. (deep breath....deep breath) I decided I was going a bit crazy. As I was going to grab a towel I had a quick talk to myself, "It's only water...it's only water...it's only water." I got on my knees and decided the floor needed a mop anyway so it's not big deal.

The fish sticks came out of the oven and I gave them some fruit to buy the time till they cooled down. Oh yeah I forgot the most important part throughout all this lunch stuff. I got it in my mind to make some sugar cookies. I thought it would be fun for the kids to help me make it. I just don't know how some women do it...or do they? (I don't really think there are that many women out there that make cookies with TWO two year olds no matter what people tell you) The kids took turns dumping in ingrediants until it was done. I put them in the oven after the fish sticks were done.

Moving on, they ate lunch and then ran and played in the family room. I had a great time frosting the cookies and didn't think about the kids in the room with the Christmas tree that we just put together. Soon I heard, "Ou oh mommy ou oh mommy broke..."Thankfully nothing was broke the tree had just fallen over. So I now picked up my pitiful looking tree and said forget it! Kids go down stairs and watch blues clues I have to clean up. I haven't gotten to the clean up yet. I tried to turn the tree so it was facing the right way but I ended up popping the top off of it. I stuck it back on and am ready to call UNCLE!!!

FINALLY

So we finally were able to find the cord to our camera so I can show you what our house before and after pictures look like. If anyone actually still looks here...hmm I might have to send out some emails. Anyway here are some before and afters. Enjoy...we do!!! We have a few more things in our sparse little family room. Julie is coming up and bringing Mom's white couch for us during Thanksgiving. So it should make it all look really really nice.

My Awsome Haul this week

Unfortunately we're having problems loading pictures so I don't have any pictures of my haul but here is what I got for about 20 dollars and around 10 hours:

126 bottles of Joint Juice
6 lbs ground beef
2 steaks
2 pks of bone in chicken
1 lbs of chicken strips
4 4 pack of toilette paper
15 kleenix
2 Entennmanns danishes
Gallon of milk
dozen eggs
2 pkgs of bagels
20 boxes of cereal
1 capri sun
1 soda pop
3 pkgs of paper towels
2 boxes of mac n cheese
2 yogurts
2 lbs pork chops
6 lbs broccoli
1 onion
5 apples
3 tomatoes

The best part is when I turn in my reciepts for rebate I'll make 20 dollars. I also ended up with a coupon for three dollars off my next purchase. So total I made three dollars. It's been a busy week. I could keep going with the deals but I'm exhausted so we'll see if I do some more. I might try to get 20 more boxes of cereal today but I have to mail in the receipts by today so it will be tight. Anyway, lots of free stuff this week.

Also, if you are wondering what I'm going to do with my joint juice. I listed it on Freecycle and there is a lady coming to pick them up for free in a few minutes. This is an awesome way to donated and get free stuff. Just last month. I got Cayden a mega block set and a bag of balls for free. So if you have time you should join a group in your area.

Good News

Well, we heard from the bank yesterday. We were sure they were not going to do much of anything with the house. They are doing all our requests! That means that they are replacing the furnace, the are taking care of some electrical issues, mudd jacking the carport on the side of the house so it doesn't lean in towards the house, fixing the drainage problems on two of the corners of the house, taking care of the mold in the basement (that was caused by some leaks that they already took care of) and fixing the chipped paint. We are really excited about it. Now we can get started looking for carpet and stuff. I've already picked out my paint colors. I think we're going to do a really light gray with white ceilings and baseboards. The office is going to be a really light aqua color with one wall a collage of maps wall papered to the wall. Cayden's room will be a light blue decorated with Disney Car's theme. Scott's and my room will be a light tealish. I think the basement will be all gray and white I think. Anyway I'm excited. I get to start looking at curtain patterns and stuff. Hopefully everything works out. I think we're in it for good this time though. No turning back now. I think the best thing about the house is the location. It's a mile from where I work out. Maybe two from Scott's work. It's also a really nice neighborhood, with lots of big trees and green. It's also in a really good school district. When Cayden grows up he'll go to school where Scott teaches. We're really excited and nervous at the same time. We officially close on the 25th of Sept. It depends on how long the bank takes to fix everything, but we're hoping that we can move up the date a week or so. That will give us enough time to come clean the hosue, take out the carpet, fix walls and baseboards, and paint. Lots to do now. Wish us luck!!

Free Groceries?

Being frugal is Fabulous is giving away two 30 dollar gift cards to Kroger stores. There is nothing better than free groceries!! You can check it out here

http://www.beingfrugalisfabulous.com/2009/08/kroger-gift-card-giveaway.html/comment-page-1#comment-4309

Summer Fun

One way we have stayed cool this summer is by going and playing at the fountains down the street. Cayden loves them. At first he was a little hesitant, But I guess Scott said he had to shove him in the first time and then he had a really good time after that.

Blue Blue Blue

Well we had our inspection today. OUCH not too fun. We found out a few things about the house that kind of made us think blue thoughts. We knew from the get go that it was going to be a bit of a fix-up. So we expected some things. I guess we should have expected more. The roof needs replacing, the furnace is done. So we would need a completely new furnace, the previous furnace is so old it's not worth fixing. The hot water heater is just about gone as well. We knew about the mold issue, but it's still not pretty. And there were some electrical issues. Along with a few structural concerns... on top of the fact that the house needs new carpet paint, molding, some new doors. So we came to the conclusion that it's probably not going to work out for us. We countered the bank and asked them to fix all the things that fha requires them to fix if we get an FHA loan. I'm sure that they will probably say no go. But then we'd have an out.

GRRRRR it's just frustrating. We are having such a hard time finding our house. We don't really know where to go from here. We feel like maybe a house isn't in our cards. But we're afraid that if the market goes back up one is never going to be in our cards because then we'd never be able to afford a house. It's just plain not fun at all.

Well, that's your update. I ruined my diet today drowning in my sorrows. I have to go turn off the timer because I already took out the cake....