Our House

I realized I never posted a picture of our little house.  So here are some pictures.  We bought a smaller, older home, but it was something we could comfortably afford.

Looking at these pictures, everything is so green.  It isn't right now.  It's freezing cold and everything's covered in snow and ice.

Some facts about our mortgage (they make me laugh):

20% principal

34% interest
46% taxes/insurance (but it's mainly taxes)

Yeah, Wisconsin has some really high property taxes.  I believe we paid about $3600 in taxes last year. It's nuts...  And as of the beginning of this year, we own 0.5% of our home.  That's comforting, right?

Oh and you'll note the car on the right, my car.  I don't have it anymore.  It died on the way home from Utah right before Christmas.  Long story short, it couldn't be fixed without spending more money than what it was worth.  So we had to sell it to Carmax in Omaha, Nebraska.  We bought a new used car to replace it, but we're still attempting to pay the car repairs and travel expenses (of attempting to pick up a 'fixed' car, realizing it wasn't fixed, sell it and rent a car to get home) for the car that never made it home.  Anyways moral of the story is don't ever go to Nebraska.  It's a horrible state, hahaha.

My past happenings in a nut shell.

House

The whole home buying process has been extremely painful.  There's been a lot of ups and downs.  Initially, the first home we placed a bid on was accepted.  They took our offer, and we turned in our grace money.  But they backed out of the offer.  And I guess it's completely legal because they claim no documents were signed.  So whatever...  We were bummed.

And then we found another house.  The inspection was on Friday.  We're working on some minor kinks, and our mortgage loan is currently being processed.  So I'm 95% sure we're getting a house now.

We'll be moving in the middle to the end of August.  Isn't this exciting?  I'll show pictures when I'm 99.9% sure we're moving.

And by the way, Wisconsin has reached some record temperatures this past week.  My thermometer has been reading over 100 every day last week.  On Thursday, we officially set a record at 103 (although my thermometer said 105).  So I'm really sick of the heat right now...

Busy

This past week, I've gone from work to looking at houses.  And let me tell you, it was a very tiring week. Not to mention, I don't even think I read a hundred pages in the whole week (I usually read that much in a day).  I'm so glad it's over.

We've gone to a couple of banks to get mortgage preapproval letters.  And we found out very quickly that not all banks are created equally.  Some are very prejudiced against first time homebuyers.  From what I've learned this week, my advice would be to stick with the banks you bank with and local banks.  The chain banks were the ones that gave us problems.  In a nutshell, they basically told us we needed a 20% downpayment and should never have gone to college if we were planning to buy a house so early.  They also recommended we keep renting and save like crazy.  While I can see some good in that advice, I can't understand why anyone who has 'owning a home' in their life plan would want to keep renting when rent prices are the same price as owning a house right now...

I have been cooking up a storm lately.  Which also gives me more opportunity to damage my hands.  Last Sunday, I didn't open the oven door enough and my knuckle hit the inside.  A big, ugly blister resulted from that.  And then yesterday, my infamous fingers without feelings did another stupid thing.  I had the hot pad in my hands while pulling the food out of the oven.  But I didn't realize that the hot pad was not centered, and my finger was very much not protected.  Needless to say, I had the pan halfway out of the oven before I realized my finger was touching the pan.  A nice dull tingle resulted.  And it's turned into a lovely blister as well.  Good news is I only feel it every once in a while.  Bad news is I'm not used to feeling anything in my finger.  Ugh, the issues I face while cooking.

Did I mention my car broke down last week?  We had just barely begun our search for a new home and had spent a couple of hours looking around our area for other apartments.  At that point, moving to another apartment was an option for us.  We decided to end our search, grab something to eat from Hardees and go home to relax for the night.  While in the drive-thru, my car started smoking.  We thought the radiator fluid had leaked out.  But that wasn't the problem.  We had to tow it to our mechanic and wait for the news.  Turns out, our water pump failed.  Wasn't cheap to fix...

So why the big interest in moving?  Or buying a house?  Well, our lease goes up in a couple of months, and the complex wants 60 day notice as to whether you'll stay or go.  Problem is, they don't have to give you any notice that your rent's going up.  We only had two weeks notice before we have to give them our decision.  While we love where we live, we've watched the rent go up every year.  And it just doesn't make sense to us to stay if there are other options out there.  Especially with our plan of buying a house and the fact that we have a down payment ready and we now have stable jobs.  So, our living situation is kind of up in the air right now.

Birds

The birds are trying to create a nest on our patio.  However it keeps falling apart every time the wind blows.  But the bird has a lot of determination to get his nest built.  Somehow, I don't think it'll ever stick...

I'm home for the weekend and the beginning of next week.  My trip in Reno was good.  However, the flight home wasn't so much fun.  When my plane ticket lists a seat, I expect to have the whole seat, not half to a fourth of the seat.  People who take up more than one seat should have to pay for more than one seat.  Needless to say, the ride was very uncomfortable.

Upside Down

Life has turned upside down for us these past few days.  We are in Salt Lake City and up at all odd hours of the night.  Also, it seems like I am allergic to Utah air and am heavily dosed with Allegra (which makes me sleep every time there's a dull moment).  And I miss my dog...

Losing a loved one is never pleasant.  This visit did not have a happy beginning nor will it have a happy ending.  But I will be grateful that I had the chance to see loved ones.  And as hard as this Easter has been for all of us, I believe it is very fitting.  Knowing Christ and knowing there is a better life awaiting us after death is what helps us through these times.

But I'm still having a difficult time.  All I want to ask is why?  Why her?  Why now?  And I know I have no right to question God and His plan, but I do.  I try to take comfort in the fact that He knows a lot more than me, so His plan is going to be a lot more better than mine.  It still hurts.

Maybe I'll post more at a later date.

And I find it kind of funny

I find it kind of sad

The dreams in which I'm dyin'

Are the best I've ever had

I find it hard to tell you

'Cause I find it hard to take

When people run in circles

It's a very, very

Mad world, mad world

Mad world, mad world


Brandi Harris
Rest in Peace

Just Survive 'til Thursday

So, Jared's birthday is this thursday. And I have so much to do before then... I'm so busy and stressed. And as much as I hate to say it, it's mostly my fault since I'm a procrastinator. But oh well. All I need to do is survive and get things done.

I need to finish my physical chemistry homework. I believe I quit thinking about my homework and spent most of my time last week studying for the test. Good news is I answered every question with full confidence or semi-confidence (in the "Hey! I've heard of this and studied it!! I just don't remember it right now" sense). So, now I must finish what I don't have done. It's just a few problems... So, a couple of hours. And then I need to finish my biochemical engineering homework. That'll take a while. And I'm pretty sure tonight and tomorrow night are going to be all-nighter homework sessions for me.

And once that's done, I need to tidy up the place for the birthday parties. I also need to make a cake and figure out what else Jared wants me to make for his birthday. I believe this friday and saturday will be fun and stress relieving (even though I barely have time for it all).

Did I mention I still need to meet with my group to write a seven page paper for our project? Yeah, haven't quite figured out how to squeeze that in...

Oh, and in the middle of it all (it's also contributed to my procrastination)... We are looking into seeking legal action against our landlord. He overstepped his boundaries and impeded our rights as tenants. So, we're drafting a letter to send him explaining the City of Logan Tenant/Landlord Responsibilities. I'm pretty sure he's not going to be a happy camper and is going to kick us out as soon as our lease is up. But we plan on letting him know that we will inform his future tenants of their rights and let them know that what the landlord's behavior is illegal. So, in the middle of it all, we are looking for other places to live just in case it does eventually come down to this... (Oh, and we'll probably have to sue the landlord to get our deposit back.)

Yeah... Busy week. And it doesn't stop there. Test next tuesday (that may very well kill me). Paper due tuesday. Lab work to do throughout all of these things. And then comes Thanksgiving!!! Did I mention my family's coming to my house, and I'm cooking??? Yeah... No sleep for me anytime soon.

Mesh of Life

There are only two and a half weeks of school left. And I really feel like I have done very little this semester. Well, let me rephrase, I feel like I have accomplished very little. I have done a lot though. My homework for the most part has been abandoned and neglected the majority of the time. I have been working a lot in the lab. I have been doing SWE stuff (in a semi-untimely fashion). Dog training classes for Gizmo; lots of time spent on training the dog (he rolls over, haha). And I have had some we time with Jared and me time. But I still feel like this whole semester has gone by way too fast. I have too many things to do and not enough time to do them.

I know I've said this before, but I still feel very disheartened with engineering. I don't know if I'd feel different if I were graduating next semester instead of doing a Master's degree, or if I am truly sick of engineering. Maybe I'm just disheartened with school. I don't want to be in school right now. I don't want to be making crap dollars an hour (and being told by the professors that they're doing me a favor to pay me a little above minimum wage). I don't want to be in Utah anymore. Snow, bad drivers, and all around crazy people... Or maybe I just don't want to be in Logan anymore. But then again, looking for a job and transitioning to the "real" world scares the monkeys out of me. I'm afraid that companies won't like me (or maybe I'm just afraid people in general won't like me).

Anyways, getting off of my sob train now. The landlords have come to visit. I am very urked by them... First off, they are supposed to give three days notice before coming (it's in the contract); instead, they gave us three hours notice. Second, they decide to clean the general living areas. This irks me because basically they're letting me know that my cleaning sucks, is second rate, and below their standards. And third, they use our kitchen supplies. Aren't we supposed to ask before we use what's not ours? Oh and another thing... Trekking around the house at midnight thirty trying to find a door that isn't locked just makes me think someone's trying to burglarize the house. And then finally entering the house at one thirty in the morning only to be on the loud side is kind of rude. Opening all doors to different rooms of the house is very noisy and bothersome for those who are trying to sleep. This weekend, I am not a happy camper. But I know they're good people, and we're living in a pretty big place. I'm just wanting to rant right now; it keeps me from ranting in front of people.

I honestly don't know what my future has in store for me, and I'm excited to see it. I'm excited but not quite ready to to enter the work phase of life and leave the school phase. I'm just so sick of the school phase that it's causing me to lose patience and heart. One day, I will look back at this point in life and think it was awesome. But right now, I'm just so sick of the school and homework. It really stinks. And I just want to be somewhere else and not here...