The List

Am I obsessed with myself? Maybe, but why else have a blog? So in the midst of my tumultuous life I decided to spend a minute on, what else, me.

We had a lesson in primary last week where I asked the kids (my adorable 5-6 year olds) about some things they were thankful for. I'm glad that they are thankful for "why did the chicken cross the road?......... to get to the zombie farm." "Why did the gum cross the road?.......because it was stuck on a 4-wheeler." Why did the duckling cross the road? Why did the chicken NOT cross the road? etc.etc... Is it bad that I just let them talk so I can hear what they are going to say next?

Anyway, back to me. I wanted to make a list of things I'm most grateful for so I can add home ownership later!

• Scruffy (more specifically him not attacking me in real life like he just did in ANOTHER dream)
• Kevin/Getting Married
• My Whole Family... awwww
• Being Able To French Braid My Own Hair
• Knowing Where All The Countries Are Located On A Map
• My Fake Butt
• Vitamin Water (for making water bearable to drink all day)
• My New Found Obsession- Pinterest (see button at left if you wanna take a look)
• Travel I've done
• BOOKS (and magazines)
• Glitter
• Homemade Jerky
• Sunshine!!!
• Salt (the mineral not the movie)
• Scarves/Boots/and Hats (including my new $500 Dolce and Gabbana belt)

The end. Not of things I'm grateful for, just things I can think of at this second. So, if a home is in my future I'll be sure to be thankful also for a mortgage, yard work, housework, repainting, new carpets, plumbing, remodels, property tax, driving, and new neighbors, oh my.

A Home Run!

The good news is we decided on a house (the one I liked of course)! YAY! Now time for the offer. I'm not going to tell you what it was, but I am going to say it was very fair. The worst part was the waiting. I did not eat for two days!
So, what happened.......!?!?!?!?! They said no. No counter offer, they decided not to sell the house after all. Hearing that is a mixed feeling of disappointment, annoyance, and relief. I think I just was feeling sooooo much pressure.

That put us back to square one, burning gas and looking for houses. Armed with a list of 15 more options we set out yesterday to begin our search again. We haven't gone into any yet, but I have some leading favorites:

(In Kennewick by Sunset View Elementary)

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/523-N-Montana-St-Kennewick-WA-99336/85950369_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-bubble-address}

(In Pasco by CBC)

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4112-Meadow-Beauty-Dr-Pasco-WA-99301/23345281_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-bubble-address}

(On the 8th Green / In Horn Rapids)

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2657-Dornoch-Pl-Richland-WA-99354/85947038_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-bubble-address}


I'll keep give you the "inside" scoop as we tour around. This may take a while, expect more blog posts on this subject. :)

It's not like the Parade of Homes

"Deep breaths Shalee... Deep breaths"

This is hard. I have a stress headache, and heart palpitations. Did you know that buying a house would be like this? I didn't.

Today we met with our realtor. Well, let me start over.

Kevin got hired, YAY! So we can now call ourselves permanent residents of the Tri-Cities. The next step for us, logically, is buying a home. I like our half-a-house, but I'd love a whole one! So the past few weeks we've spent driving around aimlessly looking for for sale signs and judging prospects.

Last week we kicked it into high gear, we found ourselves saying "why wait?". We got busy searching websites, making maps, and burning gas. We eventually found a house we wanted to take a closer look at so we called the realtor. "It's in contract negotiations" she said. Bummer! But don't think she didn't take our information for later. She asked if we were looking, and when we told her we'd just started she recommended us a lender. Kevin took her advice to heart and on Friday afternoon I got a call at work saying we'd been pre-approved on a loan!!! Then I was informed that I was not on it since Kevin's credit is so excellent that he qualified for no mortgage insurance. Sad for me, but great for us!

Saturday we spent with my Ma and Pops touring homes and neighborhoods. We wound up far away in downtown Kennewick where we found some hidden treasures.  That's what we told her, and that's where we looked today.

We went and saw 2 homes, both from the '70's. One needs some work, and one was nice (but smelled like smokers). Guess what my favorite was... not the smokers. Anyway, if you want to take a look at it here ya go. Any feedback is welcome, needed, and appreciated.

Home #1 (my fave.)

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/205-W-33rd-Ave-Kennewick-WA-99337/85934111_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-bubble-address}

Home #2

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1211-W-16th-Pl-Kennewick-WA-99337/85933264_zpid/#{scid=hdp-site-map-bubble-address}