Home Accomplishment!

I feel accomplished. After doing grocery shopping this morning, taking my niece to a birthday party, and watching the somewhat disappointing US/Portugal match instead of sitting on my butt and watching TV I actually got up and did some organizing/cleaning. 

I had been putting all paperwork/manuals into a drawer in the kitchen. It dawned on me that I have a bunch of built in drawers in the office where those could go. I went through them, took out the trash and emptied the drawer out. Not wanting to stop there I organized all the drawers in the kitchen (up to a point anyway). 

I followed that up by doing some balcony work. A couple of weeks ago I bough a rosemary bush at Trader Joe's. Unfortunately the sun burned it to death within a couple of days. I decided that instead of just trashing it I would put the leaves in the Ziploc bag and save it for future use. It's a dirty job! 

I still have a lot to do around the house, but it's looking better and better. On Friday night I was able to put more things into boxes and away into the closet, leaving fewer things to organize. I'm waiting for Thomas to come home from his work trip so that we can finish getting the 2nd bedroom/office put together. My mom sewed my curtains for that room which was so sweet of her and helped so much! 

I also got my Vitamix on Friday and I'm looking forward to using it to make some smoothies and probably soup or other items in the future. I was at Costco on Saturday afternoon and they had the person advertising the blender. The drink he made was sooo good that I went ahead and got the ingredients to make one for myself tonight. 

I'm going to end this with saying that I'm currently watching True Blood with my husband via Skype. He's been gone for just about a week and I miss him terribly! 

Random Thoughts

I'm sitting on my new couch, watching The People's Court on my new TV, in my new condo less than 2 months into my new (and only) marriage... and I feel so frustrated. 

Frustrated because as I look around the rest of the room and I see boxes of decorations that need to be unpacked. I need to find places to put my picture frames and other items. 

Things have just not found their places in the condo and it makes me anxious. I have a clock staring at me from the ground which reminds me I forgot to buy batteries so that I can finally put it on the wall. 

My bar counter has non-bar items on it. My dining room table has paper and other junk. Which reminds me I have to go through the junk paper drawer and decide what to do with what's in there. Which only reminds me that I have to buy a filing cabinet. Buy buy buy. 

My bedroom is pretty clean and organized - clothes are what I took care of first when we moved in - but I need to go through the drawers because we've run out of space (my husband has way too many t-shirts!). This will probably be what gets done first. 

Now most of you will probably be "just get up, off the computer, and find places for things, clear the table, clear the counter, hang the clock!". Which would be sound advice. But I can't bring myself to do it. I feel the need to do it all at once, but I don't have the time. I get home from work around 5:30pm ready to make dinner. After cooking, eating, and cleaning it's past 8pm and all I want to do is lay down and sleep. 

Looking ahead I only see bit of times to work with. Today is Saturday and in the morning I have a special event at Bed, Bath & Beyond, following closely by someone coming to check out our AC unit. An hour or two after that will be my sisters' memorial at the cemetery. My eldest sister arrived in town early this morning (say, midnight) with her daughters which I will be spending much time with. 

Sunday includes an early Father's Day brunch for our entire family and then in the afternoon Argentina's first 2014 World Cup game which must be watched (and will be watched) at my place because I have a new 60" smart TV. This means my dad, brother, and the kids coming over for the game. 

Next weekend doesn't look much better. It includes my nephew's birthday and me taking my niece to a birthday party the next day (because when parents' aren't willing to take their children to socialize at a party the aunt has to do it).

So, I'll continue to spend the few free moments I seem to come across looking at my unorganized home and groaning at what I see.  

Hey! It's okay...

It was one heck of a weekend so I think that finding all things that are okay is definitely something I needed.

Hey! It’s okay…

• That I cried. I needed to relieve some stress and get out the things that were going on in my head that I couldn’t otherwise express. I might have freaked Thomas out a bit (a lot), and even though it sucked having a panic attack at the time… I sort of feel like I was able to express a lot of my worries and concerns.
• That I bought a fridge on Sunday evening without Thomas there. I asked him to go with me but he said he didn’t want to. I went with my mom and I chose a fridge that I am happy with. I’ll go and check it out with Thomas to make sure he likes it.
• That I am a bit of a perfectionist, especially when it comes to my wedding. Unfortunately this has caused a lot of arguments between Thomas and I, but I stand by wanting things specific ways. I’m discovered that I am sort of a micromanager and not being able to control certain aspects of the wedding is driving me insane.
• That I spend the majority of my 3-minutes-between-calls time reading blogs. My morning at work usually consists of taking calls and then reading blogs 3 minutes at a time. After I get through all the blogs I go to Twitter, then I will either scroll through Instagram or start writing my own blog post (like this one, during my lunch hour).
• (probably not okay, but it’s okay…) that I peel my gel nail polish office as time gets close to getting them re-done. I leave them on for a month, so the last week they begin to peel. I’ll be getting them redone tonight! I only have 2 more times before the wedding and then I will no longer go to the salon for them.
• That I do not love being in social situations and that I sometimes would rather hang out just with Thomas or on my own. .
• That I have not been worrying about losing weight for now. My plan is that when I get back from my honeymoon (which is to Argentina so it will include a lot of red meat, gelato dulce de leche, facturas and masa finas) I will reevaluate my weight and where I want to be. I will plan out meals (I think I will start off doing lots of crock pot recipes) that both Thomas and I enjoy and that are healthy for us. It will be a work in progress to learn to cook for two on a daily basis and to learn which veggies he will and will not eat.
• To feel a bit of relief to have our loan approved. We are about 11 days away from closing escrow. I still very much dislike our realtor, but thanks to a great broker my spirits have been up. We should have our appraisal completed any day now.
• To not be completely excited about the bridal shower that I’m having on Sunday. Don’t get me wrong, I am VERY grateful for it, but because it is a social event it is giving me a bit of anxiety which in turns does not allow me to be excited.
• To be upset that flights for our honeymoon were as low $849 round trip and by the time I went to buy them they had gone up $200 per ticket. I’m holding out hope that they will go back down soon.
• That this post is really long… so I will stop here!

Also linking up with...

Weekend Recap

What a crazy few days. Mostly not good crazy. Mostly panicky, crying, yelling type of crazy. A crazy that I might write up to help me deal with everything that was going through my head in the past few days. 

F R I D A Y / /

Everything was leading up to Friday. Friday was the day that we were supposed to sign away our loan contingency, except we didn't have a loan on Friday by 5pm. This cause me to go like this:

Thomas does not feel the stress like I do and generally just tells me to "calm down, don't stress out, everything will be fine!" I don't typically take well to that advice. 

We were finally officially approved for the loan as of 6:07pm on Friday. Woohoo! We still have to submit more documents that our lender is requesting and sign some other forms, but the big hurdle is over. However, because our realtor is no-good we haven't had a clear answer as to wether we were able to get the contingency removal extended or not. I'm assuming we did since we have not heard that they pulled out of the sale. The lack of communication from our realtor makes me continue to feel like Ms. Swift. 

On the brighter side I did get my new TOMS in the mail on Friday. I had bought some in late November but they came apart in just a couple of months. Luckily Toms guarantees their products so I was given store credit and I ordered a new pair on Wednesday. Now I have these awesome ones:

I had somewhat of a breakdown on Friday night, over Skype, with Thomas. He told me some version of what I mentioned above and it snowballed into saying things, that while true about me to some extent, I do not want to hear all at once from him. It brought up my complete lack of social skills and the fact that my bridesmaids are my nieces because I do not have any girl friends that I could even ask to be in my wedding party. None. (I do have my maid of honor, by sheer luck because she is an amazing, patient human being- I love you Lauren!). 

It was not a pretty picture. I was in massive tears, Nikki was trying to console me... it was just sad to look at. 

S A T U R D A Y / /

Thomas and I are having a limited bar at our wedding reception. I didn't want bar at all - I wanted a bottle (or 2) of champagne for each table for toasts and keep to soda/juice from there on. Thomas vetoed this idea because apparently most of the invitees like to drink. What ended up happening was that his parents decided to pay for the drinks/cups. We do want to keep this inexpensive so we are doing the same thing his sister had at her wedding - a choice of 2 drinks. We needed to decide which drinks we wanted, so on Saturday evening we went to the bar where our bartender works at. I gathered a few recipes for "blue" martini's using blue Curacao. The first 3, while drinkable, were not very tasty. We've made a decision one, though and... I'm mostly happy with it. 

I was buzzed by the time that Thomas asked me a question about the wedding that we had previously discussed which upset me. Probably more than it should have. I do tend to overreact. Thomas is correct in saying that I get upset (overly so) when I don't get what I want. I don't think this is a horrible quality, it makes me strive to get what I want. I just need to learn to handle disappointment better. Definitely something I will need to work on over time. 

However yesterday was not the day I chose to work on it. After coming home (still buzzed) I became a mess. I was still reeling from the discussion he and I had had and there was going to be a meeting of sorts at his house which included his sisters and other family members. I did not want to be involved in the meeting because it is something (what they were going to be discussing) that I am not really interested in. I went straight to Thomas' bedroom. He went out and said his hello's. We talked for a while about what had happened the night before and earlier in the day which just made me spiral downward. It was a long fall down and I feel full fledged into a panic attack. This was only me second panic attack, the first about 18 months ago on a camping trip. On top of what he and I had been discussing I overheard his aunt talking about the bridal shower they are throwing for me and... well, it made me very anxious. Thomas asked me to come out because they wanted to discuss the party (which is in a week) with me, but I couldn't - that threw me over the edge and I couldn't control my breathing. 

]

Thomas was able to help me come down from it and we were able to watch a movie (Insidious) but the feelings/thoughts are only temporarily pushed down. I can tell. I need to find a way to let it out. Hopefully I will find the time to write it down and post it. I may have to make some posts private and I hope that some of you (or all of you really) will request the password so that someone will read it. There will probably be things I don't want some people to read/know for now. 

S U N D A Y / / 

Nikki is in 4th grade and in California that is when students' study the California Missions. There are 21 Missions here spread from San Francisco down to San Diego. We live close to the San Fernando Mission, but my mom and I decided to take her (for extra credit) to the Mission at San Juan Capistrano. This mission is famous for the swallows which travel from Goya, Argentina to San Juan Capistrano (as well as other areas). My mom adores swallows (golondrinas, in Spanish) so we had to make the 1 1/2 hour drive there. We had a really nice time getting to walk around the grounds. I'll have to make a post dedicated to the trip, but here a couple of pictures:

Nikki standing by what is left of an adobe wall from the late 1700's.

Please ignore my... less than stylish being. In front of Father Serra statue.

In the morning paper there was a Sears ad that had refrigerators at pretty good prices including free delivery. The offer was valid from 6pm until closing so we headed there on our return from the mission. We were all very tired, but if we went home first I knew we wouldn't make it back out of the house (although I later did!). I bought a fridge!!! (Oh, and why is fridge spelled with a 'd' but refrigerator isn't?). It is a french-door fridge and... well, I love it! More on that when I do move and receive it in a few weeks. 

Thomas had been working on his project all day so I hadn't spoken to him, but not long after I got home his sisters invited him and I to go see The Lego Movie. It was super cute, a lot better than I would have thought. I probably would never had otherwise seen the movie. It also helped lift part of the negative cloud I have going on around me. 

If you read all this - thank you. It is only a partial release of my stress, but it has helped. Thank you! 

Linking up with Leeann:

and...

Pit & Peak Friday

(I have to start this by saying that I start so many things at work with the words ‘PT called…’ that I know start EVERYTHING with that, including this post!)

 

Go on over to their blogs because they ROCK!!!

I think everyone always says “it’s a long week”, but really it’s gone pretty fast, it’s already Friday!!!

Let’s get the Pits out of the way…

1) My mom got VERY upset when my niece tore the arm/heads off some Barbie’s on Saturday night. It cause quite the ruckus and it made everyone unhappy.

2) I found out on Tuesday that our realtor didn’t sent the information in a timely manner to our loan officer causing our loan to be delayed up to 6 days!

(I mean, seriously, do you know how to do your job?)

3) My ribs/nerves have been very painful, even under the strong drugs I’m taking. Worse, I don’t think there is anything that can be done to make me feel better.

There might be one or more pits, but it’s time to be happy! Peaks:

1)  I got to visit with my nieces, sister and brother-in-law. I had a great time watching movies, shopping, eating Coldstone’s, and going to look at the stars.

2) We got our loan process started on Wednesday and submitted today! One step closer to having those keys in our hands!

3)  Thomas and I celebrated his parent’s 36^th wedding anniversary on Tuesday night.

4)  I’ve been able to watch my favorite TV shows which include some hot looking guys (Chicago Fire!)

(he is so delicious to look at!)

5)  I really want to succeed at blogging this time around. I don’t think I want make my blog into a money-making blog (mostly because it is beyond what I know how to do) but I want to have a stable readership and be able to continue making posts and having ideas for those posts. I’ve worked out some sort of plan (involving sticky notes in my cubicle at work) and I’m very excited for Him & Her!

Special Request: Is anyone who is good with graphics/creating willing to help me out with a simple request for my wedding? Please let me know!

I hope everyone has a GREAT Friday and I can’t wait to read your Pits & Peaks!

(PS, how am I doing with the GIFs?)

Wednesday Confessional... I needed it!

Wow. I have quite a bit to confess this week or at least they are heavy confessions, especially since some things have not been going the way I hoped. A few of these confessions will lead to posts in and of themselves. Let’s get straight to it:

I confess…. that I get angry very quickly and take a while to “move on”. Examples of this include the current situation with our realtor. She has not been very good at communicating with us and her way of expressing herself has been insulting. I’m still angry and I have to watch myself before replying to emails.

I confess… that work frustrates me sometimes, even though I love it. For some reason there are people in my office (of 300 people or so) that don’t like me and complain about me even though I have done nothing toward them.

(I feel like this way too often!)

I confess… that I have made a great friend at work and she is great at lifting my spirits and listening to me. I am so thankful for her and many other people who are great! I don’t make friends easily so it is great to work with people whom I can consider friends and not just co-workers.

I confess… that I am a cry baby. I hate confrontations and will usually get emotional about them. When I get bad news (like when I didn’t get the townhouse we wanted to buy a few weeks ago) I can become inconsolable. It’s pretty ridiculous sometimes.

I confess… that I’m doing well so far this week at sticking to my eating goals, although I am going to dinner tonight for Thomas’ parents wedding anniversary. It’s a seafood restaurant and I don’t eat seafood – however there will be chicken on the menu!

I confess… that I am getting excited about having our own home and how I will decorate/organize my home. It’s really a dream come true for me and I am SO looking forward to it. At the same time I am being very cautious because I’ve gotten excited about 3 other homes and I didn’t get any of them.

I confess... that I don't know where to get good gifs from, so if you have suggestions, please tell me!

To end on a happy note….

I confess… that I will be married in less than a month and a half! That is just mind-boggling!

House Hunting

One of the reasons that money was (is) something that has stressed me out when it came to the wedding is that Thomas and I need somewhere to live. Currently we both live with our parents so we will be starting fresh. We have plenty in our savings and make enough together to afford to buy a place to live. Unless we spend our savings in a wedding. Luckily Thomas did not want something huge and our parents have helped us out enough that we will be able to stick to a $5k budget.

We began looking at houses to buy in January and we started out rough. While Thomas’ main concern is how much we spend on a home, I am more concerned with what it looks like, how many rooms it has, where it is, if it has a back yard, etc. Unfortunately the budge that Thomas had in mind does not match my requirements – mainly the location need. There are homes in the budget (about $350-$400K) but they are in areas that I do not want to live in. Ideally I (we) want to stay near our parents and our work.  The homes in the budget that was set are located much further from where we live currently and our jobs (which are near each other).  

We found a place at the end of January that I really liked. It had 3 bedrooms that were decently sized, it had a backyard without a pool, it had a fireplace… it was just exactly what I wanted. But it was over our budget by nearly $25k. We put in an offer at $410 and settled at $416k. Thomas was very stressed because of this. While we could afford it, the down payment would use up most of our savings and we wouldn’t have too much left over to save on a monthly basis. We were set to go for it anyway, though. However the inspection report found many things that needed to be fixed – including a couple of big things. While the sellers did inquire about quotes for fixing one of the items, Thomas and I decided that it was too much for too high a price. We backed out after investing $400 for the inspection.

After pulling out of that deal things got hard between Thomas and I. We argued over what type of home we should look into and what budget we should stay within. We blamed each other for not understanding us. After a week of going back and forth we sat down and worked things out for the most part, although it is a work in progress. A lot of compromising had to be done when it came to looking for a place to live.

We have decided that since there are no homes in the price range we are comfortable with we going to look into condos or townhouses instead and lower our budget. We are lowering the budget because we don’t want to spend as much on a condo as we would want to spend on a house. Finding a condo or townhouse has also been difficult. In looking into these type of homes we have to consider the HOA fees that we would need to pay on top of our mortgage payment.

We had the same trouble as we did with homes – some were in the price range but did not meet my expectations or needs, others met my needs but were more than what we want to spend. In having to live in a condo/townhouse my requirements included having laundry in the home and ideally for there to be an enclosed garage for storage. While the former is mostly available in everything we’ve been finding, the latter is not. There are townhouses that have garages but they are a bit above our price range. Compromise!

We spent a weekend going out and looking at basically every condo and townhome that fit both our requirements. We settled on 2 that we liked. One was gorgeous on the inside with updated everything. It looked like the realtor had staged the home it was so nice. The downside to this home included the location and that the windows faced other windows. The other location we found is in a better neighborhood (that by name only will sell more easily than the first) but isn’t as nice out of the box. The owners have been at this location for 20+ years and while it has been kept in good condition it isn’t as pretty walking in. It has some things that made it my preference. These include the location, that the front windows look over the pool and the back windows face a courtyard and not other windows. It is also about 200 sq ft bigger than the first. It has a few draw backs which are all fixable: kitchen isn’t updated and it has to be repainted immediately (the man smokes so the house smells, but a little paint and airing out should take care of that). Eventually we would want the windows updated to be double-paned so that we can save on our AC bill.

Before we could get a hold of the realtor we had switched to the 1^st home I mentioned went to “pending” status (meaning that the sellers have accepted an offer and the house is going into escrow). The 2^nd home is still on the market and we are trying to put into an offer for that one. The price is slightly high but still within our budget and the HOA fees are the same budget wise. I’m hopeful that this condo will be the one we buy. While it does not have a garage it is very spacious and I could see us living there comfortably and starting a family (although our hope is to buy a home in 4-6 years to raise our children).