That's just crazy talk!

The moment Phil and I have been waiting for has finally come. It only took 8 months and 17 days but it has finally come! We close on the house on Friday! Yippy!!!!!! I am so very excited I can’t even stand it. However, I’m also freaked out and stressed about the whole closing. It has finally become apparent to me how big of a deal buying a house is. That is a lot of money and a big decision! Not that I’m changing my mind or anything, however, it’s a big deal okay! So, as long as all goes to plan we will be starting the New Year off right!! Wahoo!!!!!!!

I had a wonderful Christmas this year but I’m sure glad it’s over! I started my Christmas out with my Monday crew. We had a little potluck and exchanged presents the Monday before Christmas. Great way to start out the holidays I must say! I got a pretty scarf and earrings from Loin (thanks again Loin:))! It was so cute watching Sammie open her presents and seeing what both her and Dex got for Christmas!

On Christmas Eve morning I went to the farm and went through paint colors with my brother. We (well, mostly just me – painting party anyone?) are painting the entire inside of the house. There will be no old paint colors left standing when I’m through with it! Justen and I were not going to do presents this year but when I was shopping I found something I knew he would love and I just had to buy it. I love watching people open presents! After hanging out for a bit and picking a few paint colors, Justen took off to Menards and I went home to clean the house and get ready for Christmas Eve.

Phil and I had his mom and grandparents over on Christmas Eve and made some yummy food and opened more presents. Then after his family left we both decided we were too excited to wait until Christmas Day to open our presents so we opened them that night. It is my family’s tradition to open presents on Christmas Eve and then open our stockings on Christmas Day morning. I’d like to stick with this tradition but Phil doesn’t like it. Anyway, Phil opened his presents and I opened mine. I got him a new chair for his office (the one he wanted from Ikea) and then a few little things. He got me surround sound for my TV upstairs and lots of little things. I think we were both very happy with our gifts this year!

Christmas morning we lounged around the house and then got ready to go our separate ways. Phil went to his mom’s house for Christmas with that side of the family and I went to my Aunt Laura’s house for my mom’s side of the family. Once we have kids we won’t be able to go our separate ways anymore! Christmas with my mom’s side was very nice. I missed everyone and it was very nice to see them all again. I hadn’t seen most of them since last December! The cousins are getting so big! It is weird because now we are all adults drinking beer around the table instead of running around shooting each other with darts or causing some sort of ruckus like when we were kids!

The day after Christmas, Phil and I drove up with Justen and his girlfriend, Ashley to my Aunt Barb’s house to have Christmas with my dad’s side of the family. Again, weird that everyone is grown up!! We had a good time, enjoyed a few mimosas, good food and the annual dice game. When Phil and I got home we took down everything Christmas (except for the outside lights). I usually leave it up until New Years but I just was so done with Christmas and I wanted my living room back. So, all in all it was a very good Christmas this year – much better than last year. I’m hoping that the snow storm I’ve been hearing about doesn’t ruin our New Years Eve. We plan on going out to downtown Hudson.

My new year’s resolution: to cook more (and that doesn't mean spaghetti ;)).

I just had to mention that I had my first “the next time I fill out this form I won’t be using Walton as my last name anymore” moment the other week. I was filling out a W-2 form at work and as I was writing my last name I realized that next year I will be writing Kasinskas. Weird. And very exciting! Which then makes me think about all the things that I have to change after we get married and then I start to get stressed out. I’ll just ignore those details for now. :-)

So Friday night it started snowing and it continued on for about 24 hours. Obviously we were snowed in. They didn't even plow our road until Saturday mid-morning.

Well, it’s decided. Phil and I are getting hitched on September 16, 2011. We are going to have the ceremony at my dad’s farm. Main reason, it means a lot to me. I grew up there, I miss the farm and I also miss my dad and know “he will be there” in his own way. I’m going to help my brother, Justen clean the farm up. It doesn’t need much – just a little TLC. :-) After my mom left about 6 years ago, the farm started to look a little run down. There were no more pretty plants around the house and a nice garden. Nope, everything is overgrown because skank (dad’s skank wife) was too lazy to do anything. Okay, I’m getting a little off track - back to the topic at hand. The ceremony will be at my dad’s farm and the reception will be at The Orchard in Baldwin. I’m quite excited! Now that the date is set, the locations for the ceremony and reception are decided and booked, I can finally look forward to this magical day (well, as magical as Phil and I get)! The only problem is that the photographer I chose is not available on the date we had to switch it to. :’( This is a very sad thing because I liked her a lot! Now I need to find a new photographer. Stupid. But, she recommended a few other photographers and the one I like the best is still available. Hopefully she will be the one! Anyways, now I can breathe a little and slowly work on other things like the invites and the decorations. :-) And next month I’m taking my girls to go dress shopping!! Now that’s something to be excited for!!! Whoot Whoot!

Well, I'm very behind on my blogging lately so I thought I'd get you all up to date on what's been happening. Let's start with Phil's Birthday. I took the day off work so I could spend the day with him. I woke up early, hung up balloons and other birthday stuff, made him breakfast in bed (well, he woke up while I was in the middle of cooking but.. oh well) then we relaxed a bit and then eventually got ready and went to Woodbury to meet up with his family. His sisters Rachel and Val flew in from Portland that morning to visit and go to a wedding. We met at Red Lobster and had a fabulous lunch! Then Phil and I did some shopping and then went to pick up his birthday present:



Then we got home and his sisters and mom came over for pizza and wine.

Later that week we all went to Phil's cousin Dianna's wedding. It was beautiful and it gave me plenty of ideas for our own! One really cool idea I saw was this tree painting. Everyone who came to the reception put their thumb print on it! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the final product. But, you get the idea.









Then the next night Phil and I went over to his mom's house to have an early Thanksgiving with his family. It was delicious!



On Thanksgiving day Phil and I drove up to Brainerd to spend Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. The drive sucks but it was so nice to see the family! Dumb me never takes any pictures so I don't have any to show you. There was a group of 36 of us - most were my grandpa's wife Barb's family. We had to leave pretty early since we have a 3 hour drive home. We got home around 10:30 and had to wake up at 3:30! Phil had to work at 4:00 and I had to go shopping! :) Black Friday was a success! There didn't seem to be too many crazy people out there. I got Loin's present done and Dexter's. :) And the rest of everything was for me. :) Come on, it is the one day of the year that I splurge!

Well, that's about it for now. I promise I'll try to blog more!

Welcome the newest member of our family! Technically we have had her for almost 2 weeks... guess I'm not very good at blogging lately. It took a week to figure out a name for this cutie pie. Phil finally decided on Asterix. :)

My birthday weekend started off on Friday at work. Lots of treats and birthday wishes. Then Saturday I woke up at 7:00 a.m.! I wasn’t very happy about that at first but then I thought that I’d be able to get a lot of stuff done around the house and then have time to take a nap! So I did. I spent the morning painting, cleaning and doing laundry. Then I took a nice nap before Phil got home. The evening started out at the Phoenix in Baldwin. Here is Phil and I and Josh and Loin right before leaving for the Phoenix.





My brother and the neighbors threw me a little birthday party. It was soo cute and nice of them to do that for me!! They even brought balloons and a cake! So Phil, Josh, Loin, Brad, Rachel and I all spent a few hours there and had a few drinks. Us girls did a shot off the ice sculpture too. I was forced to do it since it was my birthday and I was dreading it. I hate shots. But this one wasn’t bad at all! It was actually pretty good. It’s called a Chuck Norris. :) Then I spent about 10 minutes begging my brother to do one. I never got a picture of me doing it but here’s Justen.









After the Phoenix Phil, Josh, Loin and I headed to downtown Hudson for Dicks and Ellies, Ellies and Dicks (inside joke that you probably won’t get). There we met up with Dan and his cousin and then ran into Colette and Joe. We had a good time dancing the night away.





Sunday Phil and I got up and he made me eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast. Then we got ready and left for Ikea and the MOA. Phil was going to get me a new TV stand for my birthday but I couldn’t find one that I liked. So, he bought me a new purse, a necklace and a dress! After a full day of shopping we headed home to relax and then go to bed. I was pretty exhausted when we got home and I probably could have went to bed. I only got 6 hours of sleep the night before and had been drinking the night before. FYI – don’t spend all day shopping after a night of drinking. So anyways, we got home, sat on the couch and turned the TV on. Phil ran off with the dog and then came back with a Halloween costume on Vader (he was an angel). Poor little guy hated it. After a minute or so I notice something shinny around his collar. It was the ring!!!






Then Phil asked me to marry him and of course I said yes! And then I started crying. But they were happy tears! I’m so very excited to be engaged to Phil! It has been a long time coming but I couldn’t’ be happier! I can’t wait to start planning our wedding, then get married and have lots of babies! Okay – maybe only two or three babies.

I can’t stinkin concentrate on anything for the life of me today. Maybe because it’s Friday? Maybe because my brain can’t handle anymore? Maybe I just need a nap? Who knows. Either way, I’m useless today.

Exciting news... my “nephew” Dexter was born on Tuesday! He is so darn precious! Here is a photo of me and Dex (that I stole from Sarah :))



Now, don’t get me wrong… I’m thrilled that Dexter is here, however, that means that I am without his mother for 8 stinkin weeks at work! It is rather odd not seeing her every day. I’m counting down the days until her return!

So, my birthday is coming up. I haven’t really given it a whole lot of thought this year and I’m not very excited. I love birthdays, especially my own but this year it’s just different. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older? Maybe it’s because it’s my first birthday without my dad? Who knows. Maybe I’ll get more excited when it gets closer. Until then – whatever.

Another random thought – my life is boring. I wake up, go to work, go home and do nothing. I can’t even fester up the energy/care to clean or decorate the house. It’s just the same old thing every day. I asked Phil if we could have a date night tonight hoping that it will help me get out of my funk. The only thing we could come up with is dinner at the Hammond Hotel (the usual). We would usually add a movie to the agenda but there is nothing good playing. That’s all we can think of?! Jeeze- where is the fun, the spontaneity?

That’s all the random thoughts I have for now. Back to work… if I can get it together. Maybe I should just go to lunch.

Excited – check
Exhausted – check
Happy – check
Crabby – check
Unappreciated – check
Sad – check
Angry – check
Love – check
Disappointment – check
Irritation – check
Joy – check
Doubtful – check
Frustrated – check
Worrisome – check
Stressed – check
Desire – check
Annoyed – check

You name it - I'm feeling it.

Quick update for all you on the house. I think I already mentioned that the title company suit was settled but just in case I hadn’t, I’m mentioning it now. I also just got word today that the ex-wife suit has settled! Yay! She hasn’t actually gotten a check yet but I was told she will be getting one soon – so that means that it has settled. :-) So now we are a normal short sale! The realtor said that she has submitted all the docs to the bank and we are now playing the waiting game. Hopefully we can close by Christmas. That would be the best present ever!

It has been 5 months since we put our offer in on the house. 5 months and we still don’t know if it is ours! Man, this short sale business is stressful! I haven’t talked about it in a while so I thought I’d bring it up. At least we are in the house and renting it for the time being. I talked to the realtor for the seller a few weeks ago and she said that the claim against the title company is no longer an issue. Apparently that was resolved and it has now been submitted to the bank. She also mentioned that someone will need to do a walk through at the house – I’m guessing to give it a value so the bank knows how much it is worth. So, hopefully I’ll have some good news within the month. Phil and I are slowly getting the house to the way we want it. We are going slowly just in case we end up losing the house and we don’t want to waste our time, energy and money. We have painted two rooms, one being our bedroom and I just put up the curtains last night! It looks sooo good. I’m so happy with the way it turned out. The curtains really pull it all together. All I need to do is hang up the pictures/art and the room is complete! One room down – all the rest to go. I’m hoping that the house is ours by Christmas. That’s only 3 months away! Holy crap, I didn’t realize how soon winter and the holidays are coming!! Hopefully within the coming weeks/months I will have good news. :)

I’m exhausted. I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night and I put most of the blame on my dog, Vader. Let’s rewind a bit. I went Wal-Mart shopping on my lunch break yesterday. While I was shopping I thought I’d treat my dog to a new toy. As I was walking towards the toy section I already had one in mind. It was a cute little pink pig that oinks when it is moved, hit, jiggled, or basically looked at. Once I put the pig in my cart it kept oinking as I was finishing up my shopping. Kind of embarrassing walking through Wal-Mart with a kart that oinks. Anyways… I got home and gave Vader his new toy. He LOVED it! He always loves his new toys but he especially liked this one since it made noise. He wouldn’t let it out of his mouth for the rest of the night, including when we went to bed. Throughout the whole night I would hear the pig oink. When I finally did sleep I dreamed about Tyrannosaurus Rex and German Sheppards trying to kill me. Then when my alarm went off all I wanted to do was sleep more but instead I had to get up, work-out and then get ready for work. Poo. All I can think about is going home and taking a nap. This day can’t end soon enough!

I’m in a funk today. Not sure what caused it but I’m in a funk and can’t seem to get out of it. I have the strongest urge to go home, curl up on the couch and watch the Gilmore Girls until 9 p.m. tonight. But that can’t happen. Nope. Instead I am stuck at work – with my mind trillions of miles away from where it should be. So I guess I will continue this pointless day of work, go home at my scheduled time of 5 o’clock and then proceed to do nothing but watch the Gilmore Girls until bedtime. Maybe if I’m lucky the funk will be over by the time I wake up the next day.

OMG OMG OMG!!! I just watched Dexter's Season 5 trailer! I cannot wait until it starts up! September 26th baby!!

I just had the perfect “that’s what she said moment” and I couldn’t even say it out loud. I just had to giggle quietly to myself after they walked away. It went something like this: Me: “It keeps skipping and I can’t understand what you're saying half the time.” Him: “I guess I’d better get a new unit.” Hehehe Oh man. The one time I actually remember to say it and I can’t because it wouldn’t be appropriate.

I had a pretty good weekend. Friday started with a crazy half day at work. My partner in crime was off so I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off for 4 hours. Needless to say, the half day of work flew by. After work I went to visit my friend Jewells to take a peek at her baby’s room. It’s looking so cute! I’m going to have a niece or nephew pretty dang quick! After hanging out for a bit I went home and got busy cleaning the house. I was in a “get-shit-done” mood so I got a lot accomplished! Right when I was finishing up Phil got home and we went out to eat at the Orchard.

Saturday I got up and cleaned & organized some more. There are very few boxes left to be unpacked! Hopefully after this next weekend it will all be put away – but I’m not promising anything! Later that evening my buddies came over for a laid back game night. We were all pretty lame and I was in bed by 11:00. :-) It is nice to have a laid back night from time to time.

Sunday Phil and I went to the MN State Fair. We got to the fair about 2:30 and walked around until our feet hurt. We got cheese curds, French fries, gyros, root beer floats, mini doughnuts, caramel apples and cotton candy. I think that was it? It was all delicious! The food is the best part of the fair!!

Monday Phil, Jimmy P and I went pawn shopping in Eau Claire. None of us found anything too exciting. We figured since we went all the way up there we might as well go to the mall as well! So we did a tiny bit of mall shopping and I got myself 2 zip up hoodies (buy 1 get 1 half off-I couldn’t resist!).

That was the weekend… I am now officially done with Level 1 of the 30 day shred!!! Tomorrow I start Level 2. I’m excited because I was getting sick of Level 1. I still feel the same. I don’t think I’ve lost much yet but I feel so good. I’ve also been eating really crappy lately so that probably doesn’t help much! A bowl of ice cream a night, going out to eat a few days a week, the MN State Fair, etc. Now that my ice cream is gone and the fair is over, maybe I’ll start to lose some inches!

Something that I am excited about – it’s finally fall!!! Well, not officially but we are having fall weather and the trees have just begun to turn colors. Fall is my absolute most favorite time of year! For one thing, it’s beautiful! The trees, the colors! Another thing is that I get to pull out my fall/winter clothes. It’s like I have a whole new wardrobe! I get to wear all my cute jackets, my boots, sweaters and socks! I finally get to wear warm clean socks again! :-) :-) Fall puts me in such a good mood! I’m looking forward to the next few months!

I have a lot on my mind lately and I thought I would get some things off my chest. My dad has taken over the largest part of my thinking lately. I still miss him tremendously and it seems to be getting harder lately. Maybe because it is almost fall and this is when the harvesting/hunting season begins? Hunting was one of my dad’s favorite things to do. Every year he would have a new story to tell and every time he told it, it would get more dramatic and change just a bit! Haha. The last story I remember was about him driving a wild boar over with his pickup! I think I heard that story 6 or 7 times. Each time I would say, “Dad, you’ve already told me that story.” He would then laugh and keep telling me.

Things with Justen seem to be getting easier. He seems to be in good spirits lately and is excited for harvesting and hunting. Chris, however, is another story. He has been nothing but trouble lately. Threats, manipulation, guilt, anger… I was hoping that today was the day it would get easier on me but it sounds like it might be a few more weeks.

On to more positive news… I’m done with day 5 of the 30 day shred. It doesn’t sound like much, I know, but it is getting easier. When I first started I could barely finish some of the moves. Now I have more endurance and the moves that I struggled with are getting easier. I have noticed that I have more energy lately too so that’s a plus. I measured myself before I started and I will measure myself after the 30 days are up. Hopefully I will have lost a few inches! If not, then at least I got more in shape and have more energy. I just need to stick with it! Which I don’t think that will be too hard since it is kind of fun (kind of).

Last night I started and finished painting room number 2! I painted the small half bath and it is a very small room but a room none the less! I love it! It is a nice bright yellow! All I have to do to finish it is take the tape off the walls and hang the pictures and other crap back up. The house is starting to feel more like home. I’m trying not to worry about the renting/not closing part. I find that now that we are living in the house, I’m worrying about it less. I should probably worry more since we might lose it and need somewhere to live all of a sudden but I have high hopes that it will all work out in the end. Something needs to work out this year for me and dammit, I hope this is it!

After Phil’s grandparent’s 60th wedding anniversary/family reunion we met more of the neighbors. We were just sitting at home with Phil’s cousin and his girlfriend enjoying a beer and the neighbors came knocking on the door and told us to come on over because they were having a party. So we did! It was pretty fun and they seem like a fun group. It was easy to talk to everyone and get to know them since they were all pretty drunk. And I also must say that I’m proud of our friend Jimmy P. The neighbors were having karaoke and Jimmy P worked up the nerve to go up himself. He’s actually not too shabby! Johnny Cash suits him well. :-)

I hate what shirt I am wearing today. Hate, hate, hate! The only reason I keep it around is because I need variety in my wardrobe. But every stinkin time I wear it I wish I hadn’t. So I might as well give it away. It may look like I’ve got a lot of clothes but I really don’t. Most of them I don’t wear. Some are too big, some are too small and some are just worn out. Soon it will be getting colder out and I will need to pull out my fall/winter clothes. This to me is exciting since I get to go through my clothes and get rid of stuff!

Things to come in the next few months:

- This weekend we are going to the “great Minnesota get-together” (the MN State Fair). Hopefully it is not too hot out! I’m excited to eat all the yummy food! Let’s see, there will be foot long hotdogs, French fries, gyros, cheese curds, ice cream, cotton candy, etc… I better fast the day before so I can stuff all this food in my belly! Yum Yum! :)

- Next weekend is my office’s summer outing. Every summer/fall we do something fun. Last year we went on a train ride and had dinner on the train. This year we are going on a comedy cruise. I’m super excited! I’ve never been on a big boat like that and I’ve never seen a comedy show.

- Then the next weekend is a poker tournament for my pregnant friend Jewells and then a baby shower the next day for her as well. The poker tournament is for collecting diapers and you get money if you win.

- The next weekend is another baby shower for Jewells. My favorite shows also start that weekend!! (Dexter and Desperate Housewives) I miss Dexter sooo much! I can’t wait until it starts up again.

After those few busy weekends I will hopefully not have too much going on and then before I know it, it will be my birthday!! I know, I’ve got 2 more months but I’m really excited for this year’s birthday. I will be turning the big 25! Then a few weeks later Phil will be 30! :-)

That’s about all I’ve got for now. Sorry for blabbing on forever.

So I was talking to Josh and Loin about working out last night and they made me really want to try working out again. I’ve never had any success with working out. I’ve always struggled with the 5-10 lbs. that I want to lose and I’ve never been able to do it. I guess it isn’t even about losing the weight. I just want to get in shape and lose a few inches around the waist. This is going to be very difficult but I’m going to give it a try! (Again) Loin was talking about the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. It sounded kind of fun (not really but it sounded like it would work if I really put some effort in it). So I’m going to have Phil find me the DVD and start working out. Loin said she would work out with me… but technically not together since we won’t be in the same room – but we will do the DVD daily together. I think that might make it easier. I won’t be able to say - I don’t want to work out today - since I know Loin is going to do it, I have to keep up. Right Loin??!! :-)

Why are some people so frickin annoying?! Don’t tell me to help you with something - ask me! If I’m not already busy with MY job I will gladly help you! But only if you ask politely. Okaaaayy?

So I have nothing to write about. My life is boring. I think of things to blog about randomly all the time but in that moment I can’t blog about it. Then when I finally have time to blog I can’t stinkin remember what it was I wanted to blog about! So I’ll just chat about what went on over the weekend. Friday after work I went garage saleing with Jewells. I got a dining room table/chairs for $80. Not too shabby since the chairs are solid oak and in perfect condition.

Saturday I went to Ikea with Jewells. I was on a mission for picture frames and I ended up buying much more than that! Oops. I love Ikea! Then we went to Target where I bought Phil a present just because. Then Joann Fabrics where I found 4 baskets 50% off. I needed them for the new cube-shelf thinger I got at Ikea. I was going to get baskets at Ikea but they were so expensive! Good thing I didn’t buy them there because I saved about $40 going to Joann Fabrics! After shopping I went home and spent most of the evening watching Gilmore Girls. :-) FYI – I love the Gilmore Girls – I am addicted – I wish they would just hurry up and make a movie already!

Sunday I went floating down the Apple River with a bunch of friends (Phil, Jimmy P, Josh, Loin, Dan and Gerber). I’m mad at the sun… It is blazing hot ALL week and then Sunday comes and it is just okay out. Wasn’t really tubing weather but we went anyways. It wasn’t horrible but it was chilly. Then we had a little barbeque at Josh & Loins and then went home. That was my weekend. Now I’m off to go see my Monday crew! Until next time (I’ll try to have a more interesting blog next time)!

Sometimes in my tears I drown but I never let it get me down so when negativity surrounds I know some day it'll all turn around.

Life is a cesspool. That is what I have come to learn over the last 8 months. Seems as though nothing goes right anymore. I try my hardest every single day to be positive and think that this has to turn around sometime. I still think it just has to turn around at some point but come on, this is getting ridiculous! One person can only handle so much. fml

Here is our house! I'm so stinkin excited about it! As you can see, the yard needs work. But at least they mowed it for us a few weeks ago. It was up to our waist in weeds.

So after a very very long weekend we are all moved in. Saturday I ran around trying to pack things that were still not packed up and then met up with some friends for some tubing down the Apple River. Tubing was a lot of fun and was nice to get away from the mess of my apartment. I was slightly disappointed because I thought it would be crazier on the river. There were a lot of people but I saw no boobs. It’s not that I want to actually see boobs but I wanted the full experience. But then it was back home and more packing. Sunday morning we started the move. I made 4 trips with my car and Phil and Jimmy P made 3 trips with the truck and trailer. It sucked. But it wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t blazing hot outside and we were all getting overheated. Then we spent the day on Monday unpacking and I went to pick up the fridge with my brother. Now we have a cold, pretty much empty fridge! Yay! The only thing in the fridge is condiments and beer. Haha. Guess we have our priorities right. We have been living off of fast food and spaghetti for the last week. I can’t wait to find a little time this weekend to go grocery shopping!

I wake up every morning at our new place and think about how lucky I am. But then I instantly pray that we don’t lose the house. However, this morning I woke up to the water heater not working. Cool. Oh the joys of homeownership… except for the fact that we don’t fully own it yet. So, since we both had to work this morning we couldn’t look to see what’s wrong. Hopefully Phil can fix it tonight or else I’ll be taking cold showers for a while!

Sorry everyone but I’m going to have to blog without pictures. Currently my new computer is being a pain in the butt and things are just too busy to be able to go through my pictures as of right now. Maybe I’ll get around to adding pictures at a later date.

Some of you have already blogged about the Chicago trip but I’ll just add my experience, which was pretty much the same minus the raccoon incident. Haha. ;) Anyways, we left Thursday at 6 in the morning, well 6:30 because it took a while to get the cars packed up. We all had too much stuff. You wouldn’t think you would need so much stuff when you go camping but I guess you do! We managed to get everything in the car except Jewells and Max’s cooler. Then off we were. The drive down was actually very quick. It didn’t seem like we were in the car for that long. Right when we arrived we pitched our tents and got our campsite all put together. We ended up getting down there at the hottest part of the day so we were all dripping in sweat by the time we were done! That was not fun. But after we got everything set up we got some lunch and went to the beach. The water was freeezzzinng cold! But it felt so good to cool off. Us girls were only able to run in and right out that first day. I think they said the water was about 37 degrees… something like that. Brrrr. After our beach time we played cards, bags and just hung out around the fire.

The next day was beach day. Again, it was extremely hot but the water felt much warmer. I could actually go in and not have my feet go numb right away. We spent most of the day at the beach and at the camp site. More card games, bags, drinks and fire.

The third day we were off to Chicago. It was yet another scorching hot day. Too hot for me to be out walking around all day. I almost couldn’t take it. Everyone was a little more irritable than usual. But minus the heat it was a good time. We walked around Millennium Park, did a little shopping, got some pizza and walked down Navy Pier. We picked a crazy day to go to Chicago because they were filming Transformers 3 – my favorite movies! The streets were packed and they blocked off the main roads for filming. We didn’t get very close but you could see parts of the movie set and helicopters flying around filming. At one point they had explosions going off. I was slightly bummed that I didn’t get to get a closer look but I figured I was probably the only one really interested in seeing it. It will be interesting to watch the movie now and see the sets that we saw from a distance!

Day number 4 was another beach day. The day started off nice and cool and it actually sprinkled out for about 30 minutes. After that it went right back into the 90s. We had another day of card games, ladder golf and drinks around the fire.

Then Monday we all got up, started packing up our shit and were on the road. I want to say it is good to be home, but it isn’t. Now it is back to the real world. :-( Back to waking up at 6, going to work for 9 hours, packing and cleaning until at least 9, and then doing it all over again. We only have 4 more nights at our apartment! Yippy!! It also looks like the weather will be nice this weekend which is good because we plan on going tubing down the Apple River. I’ve never been so I’m pretty excited.

I thought this past weekend would be a free weekend to relax. It wasn’t. I ended up being busy the entire time. Friday after work was the inspection at the house. It went very well. There is nothing major wrong with the house. There are just little cosmetic things that there would be in any house. The only larger issue is that the house was sitting unused for about a year and a half. So, Phil and I have to clean the pipes or something because there is sediment in the drains and they don’t have much pressure. But the inspector guy said it’s no biggie – just clean them out. Then after we got done inspecting the house we headed home and started major packing. We took all the pictures off the wall and most decorations are in boxes. Our house looks very blank/boring and it is a disaster area. There are boxes everywhere and random crap everywhere.

Saturday I got up and started the process all over again. More packing and random cleaning. We still have a long way to go. You can see where all the pictures were on the wall because they are much whiter. You can even see Family written out from where my little Family sign was. Guess we are washing all the walls too. After a day of packing and cleaning Phil and I went to “Fun Fest” in New Richmond to spend time with his friends. It was the typical Wisconsin town’s festival with the beer tent, band and random hicks. Some people are unbelievable. But we all had a good time. It was fun to hang out with his friends. In the last 7 years I’ve been with Phil, I haven’t really gotten to know his friends very well. I kind of regret that because I really like them!

Sunday Phil and I got up and went fridge shopping. We made many many stops and I was happy to have spent no money. …Until we hit Best Buy. There I made a very expensive impulse purchase. I wasn’t planning on buying a washer and dryer until after we closed on the house – just because this could all fall through at the last minute. But I couldn’t pass up a good deal. So now we won’t have to go to Phil’s mom’s house to wash our clothes! Yippy! Back to the reason we went shopping – a fridge. We found 2 that we liked but Phil and I disagree on which one we should get. But after talking about it we decided to get the one that I think is a better deal. So tonight I have to go purchase it and spend more money. :( This is a lot of money to spend over one weekend and it is kind of freaking me out but we definitely stayed well under our budget for the fridge, washer and dryer… so that makes me feel a little better.

Now it’s Monday and I only have to work 3 days this week! Yay! Thursday, bright and early, we are off to Chicaaaggooooo! I’m so excited to get away from this town and all the bullshit that’s going on and relax with all my wonderful friends! Should be a good time! I’m just hoping for good weather.

I cannot stinkin believe that it is already July! Where did the last 6 months go? Before I know it, summer will be over!!! :-( July is a very very busy month for Phil and me. Tonight I’m going on a “date” with my friend Lynsie, “aka” Loin. We are going out to eat then going to see the movie Eclipse! I’m so excited!! Then tomorrow is my brother’s birthday so Phil and I are going to take him out to eat somewhere. The 4th of July is also this weekend and we are hoping to do something fun. Maybe go to Taste of Minnesota?? At least do something fun…. Then we are going to Chicago in exactly 2 weeks for 5 days! Yippy! I’m excited to hang with all my friends, relax and have a good time. And then the weekend after we get home from Chicago we are going tubing down the apple river (if the weather permits) and then moving into our new house. So Phil and I have lots of packing to do! We are also getting the house inspected next week and if everything is good to go then we need to go fridge shopping. Hopefully we can find one rather cheap and get it there before we move in. In between that I have court hearings galore and tons of shit to take care of that I want nothing to do with. Somewhere in there Phil and I need to squeeze in a day where we can go to Willow. We’ve been going every year for the last few years so it’s become our thing. I wish there was more time in each day! I feel like there are so many things to do and not enough time to do them in!

I just sent out our very last rent payment at our duplex! Now that’s a good feeling! I can’t stinkin’ wait to be out of there. I’m counting down the days! T – 27 days and counting! :-)

We just found out recently that my (step) Grandma, Barb, has pancreatic cancer and is having Whipple Surgery next week. I'm praying for things to go smoothly, for her to have a fast recovery and have many more years ahead of her!

Isn't she cute! Love you Barb!

I definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I’m crabby, I’m cold, I don’t like what I’m wearing, everything is annoying, I don’t want to do anything and I just want to go home and go to bed. Great attitude for the rest of the day.

So we have been getting nothing but bad news lately and life just keeps getting harder and more stressful. But finally we got some good news! It is not actually the really good news we had hoped for but it’s still good. I got an email from the realtor for the seller for our house we are trying to buy and she said that she had spoken with the attorney for the 1st mortgage. The attorney for the 1st mortgage said that she thinks this is going to take several months longer. So that is the bad news. The good news is that Brian, the seller, said he would like to rent the house to us so we aren’t homeless when our lease is up. I know, I know, we are taking a big risk by doing this because there is no 100% guarantee that we will be able to buy the house. But we have thought it through and want to rent until they can settle the claims. After a nice long chat with the seller’s realtor she basically said it is ours but they have to settle these claims before we can close. She said the bank was ready to accept our offer but then these mortgage and title issues came about. So anyways, basically we are going to rent the house until the claims are satisfied and then we can close. Yippy! The seller is going to give us the 1st month rent free since we have to purchase a refrigerator and I think Phil is going to ask his mom if we can borrow her lawn mower to mow the lawn until we can close. We aren’t sure what we will do about the washer and dryer yet though. Not sure if it is smart to buy them since there is a small chance we will lose the house in the end. We could probably go to a laundry mat for a little while or give some money to Phil’s mom and do our laundry there. Hmmm… Anyways, I’m quite happy with this decision and I’m super excited to move in towards the end of July! The only thing that will stop us from moving at the end of July is if the inspection comes up with something bad. We decided it would be smart to have the inspection before we move in since we would get it anyways before we close. Yay! I’m super excited! Anyone want to help us move? ;-)

I am a planner, we all know this. And when I get something in my head, I have to do it right now. I can’t do it a week later or even a day later. I have to do it right away. As of July 31st Phil and I don’t know where we are going to be living. Will we be in our new house? Will we be at Rita’s? Will we be in a different house or apartment? Who freakin knows?! I sure don’t. And if we do get our wish and get this house will we even have time to get everything we need before our lease is up? I’m guessing that if we get this house, they are going to close last minute and we won’t have a washer, dryer, lawn mower and fridge when we move in. But that is the last of my worries right now. First we need to get the house. That’s the most important thing.

So I’ve got all these “what ifs” and plans upon plans floating in my head. It is getting bad. All weekend I couldn’t sit down and relax until I was completely exhausted because I had to be doing something... something to help ease the anxiety. So I power cleaned the carpets and the couches with the steam cleaner and did some more unusual cleaning. This week I’m going to paint my two tables and lamps that will look so cute in the house. That might keep me busy enough for a few days.

I can’t fall asleep at night because my brain won’t shut off. One minute I’m excited about all the decorating I want to do, the next minute I’m terrified because I think this is all going to fall through and we will no longer have a home – just a place to crash. And if we don’t get the house then for how long will we be at Rita’s? And what will we do with all our stuff? We would definitely need to put the majority of our stuff in storage but where? The last few nights I have been completely exhausted but I can’t fall asleep! Then I wake up in the middle of the night and my brain decides to start its planning mode again and I can’t get back to sleep. So today I’m stressed and tired and have high anxiety. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m more like my mother than I thought. Not good. The anxiety is really starting to get bad. Anybody know any remedies to help anxiety go away? What seems to help is doing what I can now for our house (like painting my tables, cleaning the weird things in our apartment for when we leave, shopping for little things for the house, etc.) I can’t imagine how much worse this is going to be next month at this time if we still haven’t heard back from the bank. Agh!!!

Friday after work Jewells and I went shopping in Woodbury where I proceeded to spend a little too much money. Then we met Lynsie at Applebee’s and had some dinner before going to see Sex and the City 2! I was super excited to see this movie. I thought that it was good but not amazingly good. I thought it was kinda weird that most of the movie was based in Abu Dhabi, not NYC.

Saturday I spent the majority of the day cleaning. All I have to say is my dogs piss me off. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, but if I didn’t, I would send them packing! If I didn’t have dogs I wouldn’t have to mop all the dang time and wash the blankets as much. My soon to be golden retriever sure won’t pee in the house! He will be potty trained ASAP! Speaking of golden retrievers… I had a chance to purchase one now but Phil said no. :’( I understand that it would be stressful to get one now since we will be moving in 1-2 months and we are not sure where we will be at. BUT I want him now! I have been waiting to get him since I moved away from home 5 years ago! *sigh* Hopefully I will get him in a few months.

Sunday Phil and I went to Ikea and the MOA. It was nice to spend time with Phil and get out of the house. We took our time walking around the mall and went out to eat. By the time we got home I was exhausted.

Monday. Phil – if you are reading this I’m sorry. I was quite crabby. I should have been in a good mood since I didn’t have to go to work but no… I was crabby, all day.

Any who, that was my weekend. I have a few things to look forward to this week. Tomorrow night we are going out for dinner to celebrate Rachel’s 24th birthday! Then Thursday I’m going out to dinner with my Aunt Laura to catch up. This weekend is Good Neighbor Days so we will probably head down to Roberts on Friday or Saturday night. We should also find out more about our house this week. I talked to the realtor for the seller today and she said that the seller wants to rent the house out to us until we can get the bank to finalize everything and close. I’m not sure on the details yet but that is good news. Phil and I are willing to rent as long as we know 100% that we are getting the house in the long run. We don’t want to start renting it and then lose it in the long run. There is work that needs to start when we move in and I don’t want to waste my time and money. So hopefully by the end of the week we will know more. Until next time…

Chipotle... you are so wonderful and I can't wait to eat you for lunch. I'm drooling just thinking about you...

I am forewarning you that I might spoil some season finales for you so if you haven’t seen them don’t read this! I really didn’t realize it until last night but I have watched 5 season finales in less than a week. This year television was very disappointing because in my opinion most season finales sucked.

The first season finale I watched was Desperate Housewives. This one wasn’t very good. It wasn’t horrible but there was no “wow factor”. It was just plain boring…

Next season finale was Dexter. Dexter wasn’t bad, it was just stupid. Why did they need to kill Rita off? I just don’t understand what they are going to do with that. What will happen to the kids? A single dad serial killer? Just stupid. I’m sure they will ship the kids off to their grandparents and he will be on his own again.

Bones was the next and again, just plain boring. I had high hopes for Bones because it is probably my favorite show. Both Bones and Booth decide to take a year off and go in separate directions? Stupid! Just kiss and love each other for god’s sake!

Next, Grey’s Anatomy. Grey’s had the best season finale I have seen in a long time. I was seriously sitting on the edge of my seat. There was a nut job running around the hospital shooting people. They did a great job.

And then there was Lost. Oh Lost… you have been going downhill for probably the last 3 seasons. I must say that the season finale was good BUT there was still a lot left unexplained and it left a lot up to your own interpretation. They were talking about it on the KDWB this morning and I thought their interpretation was way off. My interpretation is that the plane crash actually happened and as the show went along people died. Eventually they all died and they all met in their “heaven”. Okay, that really doesn’t make sense… it’s hard to explain.

My conclusion to all except Grey’s (and Lost since it is over) – you can do better, try harder next year.

I had a very long weekend and not in a good way. Saturday I got up and started cleaning. Our place was a mess and needed to be cleaned. That wasn’t so bad though. It makes me feel better to have a clean house. When it’s dirty I feel stressed out. Anyways, so I cleaned the house all morning and then got ready to go over to the farm. Saturday we had the “memorial” for my dad. First we went over to his grave. It was much harder than I thought. I figured that I could handle it since it has been almost 6 months but it wasn’t easy. Now it just seems so… final. We buried some of his ashes in the gas tank of a Harley. He would be happy about that. The rest of his ashes we took up in a plane and spread over his field. There were many things that I’m not happy with. Actually, I’m quite pissed off about. I don’t remember the gravestone saying anything about him being a great son, father or friend. Maybe I’m wrong but the only thing I saw was a good husband. I can’t even describe how upset/pissed/irate I am at the whole situation. We are supposed to celebrate his whole entire life – not just the last 2 years. And the most important people in his life have no say in the matter. Fuckin stupid.

Anyways… later on I met up with some friends at Syttenia Mia (Woodville days). Basically, the only thing to do is drink beer. So we had a few at the beer tent. It was a good time. I just wish I hadn’t been so exhausted from the horrible day.

Sunday I woke up and could not get off the couch. I didn’t feel good and I was exhausted. It couldn’t have been a hangover since I never was drunk (just buzzed) and I got enough sleep the night before. Poor Phil. I was depressed and crabby all day. Oh well, what are you going to do.

Thanks to a friend of mine I now have a new awesome blog to read. It is: http://thingsiwanttopunchintheface.blogspot.com/

This blog got me inspired to write one of my own: Things I’d Like to Punch in the Face. Here it is!

1. People who are successful/powerful that think they can treat people that are below them like crap. Kiss my ass.

2. People who leave their dog tied up outside all day, all by themselves. If you are going to make the commitment to have a dog – then love the dog and play with the dog! If that is too difficult than give the dog to someone who will take care of him properly.

3. People who call the office and get pissed when I ask for their last name. Hello! You are not the only client in the world named Anna! FYI- I know who you are now and I just ask for your last name to piss you off!! Suck it!

4. People who return a call to the office and say to the receptionist, “yeah, um you just called me?” Um, no I didn’t. There are 18 people who work here that could have called you. Listen to your voicemail first and maybe then you will know who to ask for when you call back.

5. When you ask somebody a yes or no question and they decide to go into a 5 minute spiel about it. I now cringe when I have to ask you a simple question. It’s ridiculous.

6. Rosie O’Donnell. Chris Daughtry. Enough said – I would like to punch you in the face.

7. People who are always late. I know some of you are my friends but it drives me nuts. 5 minutes isn’t so bad – but anything much later than that pisses me off.

8. Getting the blame for something you didn’t do. And if you say that it wasn’t you, you look like a tattletale or a complainer.

9. Fake people. You know the ones who act all nice and friendly to your face but then talk crap about you when you leave and/or screw you over because they only care about themselves. You know who you are.

10. People who drive slow in the left lane. I know this is on everyone’s shit list but come on! If it pisses everyone off then why do you do it? It also pisses me off that you don’t know how to use cruise control! If you don’t have it then you should try to learn how to go a steady speed please.

From the first day you walked into my life I knew you were bad news. You have done nothing but make my life a living hell. Hate is a strong word, but I hate you. If you were to disappear, nobody would miss you. In fact, hundreds of people would throw a party that would last for months. Please do us a favor and go away!

It’s official. We must move out of our duplex by July 31st. SCARY! Since we are not sure if we got the house or not yet this is a big gamble. We only had 2 options though. We either had to sign up for another lease with them or give them a 70 day notice. I’m not about to sign another lease! If for some reason this house falls through we will not be homeless, we do have somewhere to live. Phil’s mom was nice enough to offer her house to crash at (for a very short time – if necessary). We of course are hoping that we get this house and close sometime in June. A few days ago the bank asked me for another approval letter from my lender that states what loan amount we were going to get and that says that we were approved for that. So, that is another step in the right direction. Why would the bank ask for that information if they weren’t going to accept our offer? This is getting so frustrating! I just need to know if this is going to work out or not. I already feel like this place is our “home”. The place we are living now does not feel like home. Since the day we moved in 2 ½ years ago it felt like just a place we were crashing at – temporary. I can’t wait to move into a home! Please let this work out!!!

Well we were supposed to hear back about the house by Wednesday and we have not. I wasn’t horribly disappointed that we didn’t hear back by Wednesday because I know that since it is a short sale, the process takes much longer than usual (sometimes up to 6 months!). We were forewarned that even though we asked for the acceptance date to be a week after our offer was submitted, we probably wouldn’t hear back by then. We do however know that things are moving forward. We know that the owner of the house has accepted our offer. The bank has also forwarded us more documents to sign as well that protect them. So right now we just wait.

It has been very hard to wait! I need to call my landlord about us moving out but I don’t know for sure when that will be so I’m delaying in calling him. However, they need to know at least 30 days in advance so I need to call them soon but I don’t have any sort of answer yet! I guess I just need to hope that they will be open about the move-out time.

There are a ton of things that we need to do and we can’t until we know we are for sure getting the house. We need to buy a lot of expensive things that are necessary for the house. The house doesn’t have a washer and dryer, we need a lawn mower and we just found out the other day that the current owner’s brother took the fridge. Those are probably the only things that we will need right when we move in but those are four very expensive items!

Another thing that has made it very hard to wait is that I want to start packing! I love moving!!! I get to go through all of my stuff and throw away things that I don’t use/need any more. Unpacking all your stuff in a new house is an amazing feeling! You get to start fresh!

A few of the things I am most looking forward to: (1) getting Winston (golden retriever puppy), (2) getting a porch swing; (3) getting a decent grill and being able to grill out during the summer, (4) being able to paint the walls, (5) being able to have both of us park in a garage so I don’t have to park in the street anymore; and (6) going home to something that is mine!

I wish Heaven had a phone so I could hear your voice again... I thought of you today, that is nothing new. I thought about you yesterday, and the days before that too. I think of you in silence, and often speak your name. All I have is memories, and a picture in a frame.

Last night we took the leap and put an offer in on House #2! It is kind off a huge gamble because we don’t know if we will get the house even if they accept our offer. Somewhere along the lines things can always fall through. So we might be wasting 2 months on this house. But we are willing to take the gamble because we really want it. So here is the deal: We set the offer acceptance date for one week, so the bank is supposed to accept or deny our offer by April 21st. Dianna, our realtor, said that they may take longer than one week. If they accept our offer then they have until June 4th to get all the liens cleared and then close. The liens are going to be a tough one. There are three liens (mortgages) on the house and lien #1 and lien #2 are fighting out the pecking order right now. So there is a separate law suit than the foreclosure action that needs to close before we can buy the house. We are hoping that after they accept our offer they can all come to an agreement. Wishful thinking! :-)

So tomorrow night is the big night! We are putting in our first offer ever on a house! We are really excited about it but also scared to death. I’m trying not to get too excited and trying not to think about the decorating yet because it might not happen. If I get too excited and I have too many plans in my head than I’ll be crushed if it falls through. I’m guessing you are wondering which house we decided to put an offer on... We are going with House #2! Surprising? We both love each home but this one makes more sense for us right now. If we get it I think we will be very happy there! :-) I’m not sure how long this all takes since it is a short sale but we are putting in the offer Tuesday night. I think there is a good chance we won’t get the house because of the liens and such on it but we are just going to hope for the best and try! Hopefully my next post will be that we got the house!

Here is a picture of the house. Isn't it cute!!!

Yesterday evening my little brother, Justen and I moved my older brother, Chris into his new place. First we had to go pick up his piano from his old house so we could move it to his new place. My brother Justen asked a few of his buddies to help us move the piano (since they weigh a ton). So Justen, Chris, Mark (the hired help) and Al (Justen’s friend) left to go get the piano. About two seconds after we leave they ask if I brought my wallet. Of course I did! And a second later I realized what they meant… we were going to go bar hopping after this was all over. Guess I should have known.

Anyways, we get to the first house and realized the piano weighs more than we thought. Eventually we got it into the trailer and were off to the new place. We walked in and right away said this piano is definitely not going to fit. So we ended up deciding to burn it. Don’t worry the piano was in pretty rough shape anyways!

So, after we got Chris all unloaded then we were off to the bar. First we stopped at L&Ms in Roberts. I have never been there. We pull up and there were probably 50+ bikers at the bar. Sweet, I feel like I’m going to get my ass kicked. Then I started to recognize a few of them. A lot of them were my dad’s friends so we chatted with them. After a few we were off to bar number 2, the Pheasant Hills Golf Club. There we had a few more and had some pizza. Then Justen said that the drive home from Hammond to Baldwin is just too far so we need to stop at one more bar on the way, Razz’s. So we stopped at Razz’s and proceeded to have a few more.

I know it’s pathetic but that was my first real bar hopping experience. Usually we go to Hudson and park and then walk between Dick’s and Ellies. I wasn’t prepared to be going bar hopping after moving Chris but I guess I should have expected it! All in all it was a good night! It’s not very often that I get to hang out with my brother. :-)

I feel like I’m on House Hunters and I need to choose between three great choices. We looked at 3 houses last night and I liked all three! We can’t frickin decide which one we want! House #3 was adorable!!! The main floor was perfect. It was pretty much everything I want in a house. That was until we walked into the basement. We were both like WTF? There was a lot of square footage down stairs but a ton of rooms and the “family room” was not workable. There was absolutely no way to put a big screen TV down there so Phil can have his “man cave”. Phil hated the house. So I guess that makes #3 a dud. :(

And then there were 2… and we have a dilemma. We both really like House #1 AND House #2! They are both very different from each other but they both have great qualities that we like. When we were writing down the pros and cons last night the pros and cons for each house were dead even! Arg, this is so hard!

Let’s start with the main pros of House #1: lots of privacy, 35 acres, a house we would probably live in forever, huge deck, walk-out basement, good layout in basement, has a pole shed, kids would go to Baldwin school and the house has a ton of potential.

Cons for House #1: Farther out than we want, needs LOTS of work, top of our price range, pole shed needs a cement floor, no dishwasher and there is currently an offer on it.

Pros for House #2: beautiful new house, less expensive by far, needs a lot less work (only paint and a floor for the basement), has a walk-in closet, has double ovens, and slightly shorter drive to work.

Cons for House #2: not much privacy because there are houses next to it, not many acres, there are 3 liens on the house so right now we don’t know how long it will take to get in – if we even can, no deck yet, yard needs TLC since the weeds almost up to our waist, the kids would go to Hammond school and there is no shed for Phil.

We CAN put another offer in on our favorite house!!!! Hurray!!!!!!! However, there is a stipulation. We must submit an offer higher than the first offer and we don’t know what that amount is, nor will they tell us. Shall we take a gamble?

We are looking at it again Wednesday night and will probably put an offer in!!!! I’m excited/nervous/scared/all of the above!

There is something that I have been pondering in my head for quite some time. I haven't really voiced it much but now I'm starting to wonder if it could be a good idea. So the question is: Should we continue to look for a house or should we just buy some land and build our own house?

There are obviously pros and cons to each side. One major pro to buying a house is that you get to buy it and move in right away. Which makes building a con because you have to wait until the house is finished to move in. One of the major questions in my head is which would be more expensive? I know that if we decide to build we won't want to build cheap. If I am going to build a house I want it to be somewhere where we will live forever. It obviously won't be a luxurious home but it won't be cheap either. So does expense fit into a pro or con? I have no clue! Does anyone have any advice for me????? I need more pros and cons for each. If we were to build I have absolutely no idea where to start! Help!

So here is the update on the house. I talked to our realtor and she said that the other buyer has extended their date of offer with the bank and what this means is that they have the only offer that the bank will review. We can put in a second offer and have it waiting for the bank in case they don't go forward and close on this one. Our realtor also said that we should keep looking for others in the meantime. She said that the banks are so slow and they may not make a decision for quite some time on this offer. The other realtor who she has to go through about this house (since she is not the realtor for this one) wouldn't give her much info on a timeline-just said that it’s a short sale and could be awhile. Boo… :-( So I guess our plan is to look at other houses while we wait. If we find a different one we love – great! If not – then maybe this one will be available after a while. I’m pretty bummed out. Can’t anything go our way? I know I can’t have everything I want but come on! NOTHING has been going my way for quite some time. Life has been tough and I could really use this positive thing to help things turn around.

P.S. I will try to blog about Florida later if I find time. I want to show you some pictures but I’ll have to do that from home.

I know, I know... It has been forever since I last blogged. You should really forgive me though because life has been crazy. And that is no overstatement.

Phil and I started our house hunt again. In the last week and a half we looked at 11 houses. After the 9th house I started to get frustrated. Phil and I were not agreeing on anything! When I loved a house, he hated it. When he loved a house, I hated it. So at the 9th house I told our realtor that we are never going to agree on anything so good luck on finding us a house. Then we were off to house #10. We both LOVED IT! It was the first house we looked at that we both liked! Since we both liked it I got really excited. Then the realtor told us that there is already an offer on the house. SERIOUSLY! But then she told us that the offer will most likely fall through. Phew! But we won't know until March 26th if we can put an offer in. I'm hoping that the other people's offer falls through and I hope we get it!!! The house is perfect for us. Let's see... it was built in 1992, 1,900 some square feet upstairs and another 1,900 unfinished square feet downstairs (in the walk-out basement), and 35 acres. We don't really need that many acres of course but a local farmer rents out about 30 acres.

Here is a picture!


So right now we are told to patiently wait and see................................. I will let you know what happens!

Other exciting news is that I am officially done with college!! Yay! I turned in the last of my finals last night! :-) I'm free! I don't know what to do with myself but I love it!

That's all I've got for you right now. It is time to go do laundry, clean and give the dogs a much needed bath. Phil and I leave for Florida on Monday so I'm sure I'll blog when I get back and tell you all about it.

P.S. I promise I will blog more often!

"I don't need sex, life fucks me every chance it gets."

What’s going on in my life?? Well, I can definitely say that there is too much happening at one time and there is a whole lot of negative but let’s talk about the positive!

On Saturday I got a new tattoo. I love, love, love it! It is for my dad, who I miss more and more every day. In a little tiny way this tattoo makes me feel better. It gives me a little bit of control in a place where I have none.

Sunday was Valentines Day. Phil and I spent the whole day at home relaxing! It was quite nice. He spoiled me rotten with candy, flowers, a gift, lunch and rocky road ice cream! He knows that rocky road ice cream is the way into my heart. :-) Love you babe!

Phil and I recently bought our tickets to Florida. Yep, March 22nd we will be leaving on a jet plane to Fort Lauderdale! I seriously cannot wait to get the hell out of here for 5 days! I am very much in need of a vacation!

I just talked to my mom and she is doing fantastic! Things were quite rocky for a while there but everything seems to be going very good now. She got back on her feet and is starting to enjoy life again. I can’t wait to go visit her and Jackylyn in a few weeks! For the first time in years I can definitely say that she sounds like her old self again. It feels good to have her back. :-)

I have 5 more weeks of school left which means I’m half way done with my last quarter! I am so ready to be done! The Monday after I finish my last day of school we are leaving for Florida. It is kind of my treat to myself for finishing this degree.

Phil's sister Val makes handmade jewelry and I just bought a ring from her collection. I just got it in the mail today and I love it! She also sent me a free pair of earings along with it! She does awesome work so if you are intersted you should check out her site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/valkasinskas.

That’s about it for the positives in life right now so I’ll leave it at that.