We have quickly realized that living in a house that you are trying to sell sucks! We have been trying to sell our house since April 1st, and as of May 28th, have had only 6 showings. I have this grand idea of moving into a new house on August 30th (the day after our wedding), but that is quickly fading to just sell the house as fast as possible. I have spoken with many couples who have lived together before they were married and when asked how they feel now that they are married: their response is typical, “The same.” Maybe I am old fashion, but I want something to change, something different, something that says, “Now we are married!” But, as stated, living in a house you are trying to sell sucks, so if a good offer comes along, we will most likely take it and the dreams of moving into the house the day after our wedding fades away in the sunset. (sigh) Whoa is me.
It feels like we are living in a museum now. Each room in our house use to have it’s own feel, it’s own attitude if you must. The kitchen was black and white with the classic black and white tiled floor. The living was a dark purple, which sounds horrible, but actually worked really well with our milk chocolate couches. We had a full size and a love seat couch, giving the room a cozy feel: it was a great sitting room. The basement was my 49er basement. I had a large helmet on the wall, dartboard and big screen. 2 full size couches so my friends could come over and hang out. I have tears remembering my old basement. We had spent a week painting the up stairs various shades of light browns, and that was the last project we wanted to get done for a while: then we decide to sell the house.
Now, the whole house is a neutral color, the living room has one love seat, my basement has one couch, so if more than one person wants to stop by, they must sit on the floor. We have no pictures up, no clutter, no dirt, no…nothing. Now, the idea, as stated in previous blogs, is to stage the house. Give it a clean neutral feel that someone could move right into. We took out couches to make the rooms seem bigger, took down our pictures so a family could see their selves in the house, not Emily and I.
The upside is that we have a super clean house, the downside is that we have to make the house super clean every day. We leave every morning with the thought that someone could look at the house. Not that we were dirty people, it just puts a whole different level of stress on us living here.
We did purchase a black leather sofa and a matching recliner from a friend of mine who is moving to San Diego, so the love seat that is up stairs will move downstairs so I can have more than one person over now! The recliner will fill a much needed void in the corner of the living room. Mom has been begging us to put a plant there, but I know that it would die, really turning someone off.
So, if you know someone who needs a house in St. Charles, tell them to call me, so I can quit bitching.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Engaged and Graduated
Emily and I both want to thank everyone for coming to the party, the turnout was great. We really do appreciate all the love and support that we get from our friends and family. A special thank you to my Mom who headed up the decorating committee! Also, a big thank you to Fleetwood who made sure that none of us would have to be “that guy.” Fleetwood came into St. Louis from Springfield around 7:30 for the party and by 9:30 he was puking into a bucket at the bar and one his way home for the night. He decided to do as many shots as possible in as short of a time span he could. Needless to say, I don’t think he really remembers much of his trip to St. Louis, but hey..it was great to see him!
For anyone who was wondering, the band was Contagious, who I would venture to say that they are the best cover band I have ever heard.
After months of anticipation, the big night finally was upon us. I really enjoy planning events like this, and every since I left college I have not had the opportunity to plan many events, so I was pretty excited about it. Emily worked her ass off for her Master’s and getting a 4.0 while working a full time job is an awesome achievement and I wanted to make sure that she didn’t have to worry about a thing and that the party was awesome.
Emily graduated Friday the 16th in one of the more boring graduations I have ever attended. Luckily, when Emily walked across stage, she just kept on walking to the parking lot, so we got to leave after an hour and a half. They had only made it ¼ of the way through the hundreds of names, so I have feeling we would have been there for another hour or so had Emily wanted to stay. The speaker was one of the worst speakers I have ever heard. I keep thinking, “Bueller…Bueller…Bueller.” And to top this off, he was drowning on and on about a topic that I didn’t even care about. I can handle a bad speaker talking about something that I care about, or a bad topic with a great speaker. But a bad speaker plus a bad topic equals Josh wanting to shoot himself in the head.
We had friends coming in town Friday night so we could golf early Saturday morning and the girls had a day planned to go shopping, getting a pedicure and manicure and lunch.
Getting up at 7:15 kind of shocked the body, but a few cups of coffee got the whole body kick started. We had a great time golfing and I believe I have given Ben a new addiction.
The party was a ton of fun and Contagious really made the party. I did learn that the five hour energy drink, does not set well with my body. Ben was pushing these drinks like hotcakes, and after a few hours I decided to have one. After getting up so early and spending all day in the sun, by 7:00 I was a little worn out. Within 30 minutes of drinking this stupid drink my mind was going a million miles a second and my stomach felt miserable. I started to get real pale and sick. So, at 9:00 p.m. and only 6 beers, I am in the bathroom at Game Day puking: Quite the start to the night. Once I got that crap out of my system, I was ready to rock. The beers started to go down like water and the shots were flying around like crazy: hey, who I am to say no to a shot. Emily was quite the trooper. She is normally a 3 beer queer, but she was drinking all night and taking shots with the best of them. She did however puke behind the bar around 11:30, and then kept right on drinking. Hey, it was her night!
Sunday found us sleeping in until 12:30 and trying to be as lazy as possible. We had a house full of people, so we had to clean and I had to get the yard mowed, so something had to be accomplished, but let it be known, we did not like doing any of it.
Orlando
I did get Emily a trip to Orlando for graduation. Our good friends Bear and Amy have a time share and they are going to Orlando as well and we are going to stay with them. A big thank you to them for letting us stay with them for free. We got cheap plane tickets and a free place to stay, can’t pass that up. We are leaving July 28th, which means I will miss Norah’s 2nd birthday. I really hope it doesn’t traumatize her for life that her favorite person in the whole world is missing her 2nd birthday.
This is where we are staying.
Notable gifts. Gifts were not expected at all, and anything that we received was very much appreciated.
Emily received:
An IPOD shuffle, head phones and an arm holder for the shuffle
A gift certificate to a spa
A trip to Orlando, FL We received some gift cards to Bed Bath & Beyond which will be put to great use, a gift certificate for couple’s spa, 3 bottles of wine and candle and candle holder. I believe this covers the gifts, sorry if I left someone’s gift out.
Once again, thank you to everyone for the gifts and for coming to the party! Another blog to follow early this week.
For anyone who was wondering, the band was Contagious, who I would venture to say that they are the best cover band I have ever heard.
After months of anticipation, the big night finally was upon us. I really enjoy planning events like this, and every since I left college I have not had the opportunity to plan many events, so I was pretty excited about it. Emily worked her ass off for her Master’s and getting a 4.0 while working a full time job is an awesome achievement and I wanted to make sure that she didn’t have to worry about a thing and that the party was awesome.
Emily graduated Friday the 16th in one of the more boring graduations I have ever attended. Luckily, when Emily walked across stage, she just kept on walking to the parking lot, so we got to leave after an hour and a half. They had only made it ¼ of the way through the hundreds of names, so I have feeling we would have been there for another hour or so had Emily wanted to stay. The speaker was one of the worst speakers I have ever heard. I keep thinking, “Bueller…Bueller…Bueller.” And to top this off, he was drowning on and on about a topic that I didn’t even care about. I can handle a bad speaker talking about something that I care about, or a bad topic with a great speaker. But a bad speaker plus a bad topic equals Josh wanting to shoot himself in the head.
We had friends coming in town Friday night so we could golf early Saturday morning and the girls had a day planned to go shopping, getting a pedicure and manicure and lunch.
Getting up at 7:15 kind of shocked the body, but a few cups of coffee got the whole body kick started. We had a great time golfing and I believe I have given Ben a new addiction.
The party was a ton of fun and Contagious really made the party. I did learn that the five hour energy drink, does not set well with my body. Ben was pushing these drinks like hotcakes, and after a few hours I decided to have one. After getting up so early and spending all day in the sun, by 7:00 I was a little worn out. Within 30 minutes of drinking this stupid drink my mind was going a million miles a second and my stomach felt miserable. I started to get real pale and sick. So, at 9:00 p.m. and only 6 beers, I am in the bathroom at Game Day puking: Quite the start to the night. Once I got that crap out of my system, I was ready to rock. The beers started to go down like water and the shots were flying around like crazy: hey, who I am to say no to a shot. Emily was quite the trooper. She is normally a 3 beer queer, but she was drinking all night and taking shots with the best of them. She did however puke behind the bar around 11:30, and then kept right on drinking. Hey, it was her night!
Sunday found us sleeping in until 12:30 and trying to be as lazy as possible. We had a house full of people, so we had to clean and I had to get the yard mowed, so something had to be accomplished, but let it be known, we did not like doing any of it.
Orlando
I did get Emily a trip to Orlando for graduation. Our good friends Bear and Amy have a time share and they are going to Orlando as well and we are going to stay with them. A big thank you to them for letting us stay with them for free. We got cheap plane tickets and a free place to stay, can’t pass that up. We are leaving July 28th, which means I will miss Norah’s 2nd birthday. I really hope it doesn’t traumatize her for life that her favorite person in the whole world is missing her 2nd birthday.
This is where we are staying.
Notable gifts. Gifts were not expected at all, and anything that we received was very much appreciated.
Emily received:
An IPOD shuffle, head phones and an arm holder for the shuffle
A gift certificate to a spa
A trip to Orlando, FL We received some gift cards to Bed Bath & Beyond which will be put to great use, a gift certificate for couple’s spa, 3 bottles of wine and candle and candle holder. I believe this covers the gifts, sorry if I left someone’s gift out.
Once again, thank you to everyone for the gifts and for coming to the party! Another blog to follow early this week.
Monday, May 5, 2008
If it ain't broke...don't replace it
If it ain’t broke...don’t replace it.
For the better, I have become very cheap. I have learned to live on a minimal budget, not because I really wanted to, but for a year or so of my life, I HAD to. I knew which bars had free food for happy hour and which bars had $1 drinks, so I could at least get out of the house, other wise I would loose my damn mind. I had some cavities that needed to be fixed, but no money. I am sure that many people have lived on a tiny budget, so I am not special; I am just giving you a glimpse into my past. Now, looking back it was good for me to learn how to live so cheap and on a budget. At the time, it was miserable. Now that I am back on my feet and able to buy hamburger buns to go with my hamburger, I am still living on that same cheap budget. I have this horrible fear of slumping back down to that broke state that I try to spend anything unless I have to. Here are two examples:
When I bought this house 3 years ago, I purchased a used washer and dryer for $175 for the set. At the time I was getting married in 10 months, so I was going to use this set for the time being and when we got married, get a new set. Three years later the bastards are still holding on, barely, but they are there. 1 out of 4 times the washer will quit mid-cycle and the water won’t drain, so we have to restart the cycle. This means we can’t leave the house for too long with the washer running, other wise there is a good chance our clothes will sit in water for way too long and the wash machine could overflow….again.
The dryer takes two full cycles to get our clothes dry: unless we are drying a shirt. Now, it did quit working a few months ago, but the place I purchased it from came and fixed it for $25.00. So, now I have a $200 set that has lasted me 3 years. I feel pretty safe in saying that I got my money’s worth out of them. So, until that wash machine quits working 100% of the time, they will gimp along, washing the clothes, little by little.
The BBQ grill is the other thing that is hobbling along. I love to BBQ, so the grill gets used 2 or 3 times a week. I have also had this grill for 3 years, which I guess is a year past its prime. The starter does not work, so I have to turn the gas on, which takes 5 minutes or so to get the gas flowing into the grill, then hold a long lighter and turn my head as I light it so not to loose all of my eye brows…again. The center piece under the grill has falling apart and catches fire every time, meaning I have to constantly move the meat around so the bottom does not flare up. I have long said that I need another grill, but as long as this one still lights, I am going to keep using it. Last month we were getting our deck re-stained so I had to move everything off the back porch. I decide that I can move everything by myself, which I later came to regret that decision. While moving the grill down the stairs, one stair at a time so to not have all the insides fall out, the one of the wheels gets stuck and the whole thing flips down the stairs. I must admit: I shed a tear. I knew she was a goner, she had her last fall. After the deck was done I gathered the grill up and all her pieces to see if she will light. I just knew that I was going to have to break down and by a new one. Emily was happy because she hates the ugly old grill. It is dirty and hard to use she says. Now, after 3 years of grilling, of course it is dirty, but that is what I love about it.
I get everything put back together, turn on the propane, and 5 minutes later I hold the lighter in the grill and cross my fingers. WALA! It lights. Now the top two smaller grills, no longer fit, but I have the main one! So, gimp along a little longer grill, you, the wash machine and the dryer are troopers! Don’t let Emily tell you any different!
For the better, I have become very cheap. I have learned to live on a minimal budget, not because I really wanted to, but for a year or so of my life, I HAD to. I knew which bars had free food for happy hour and which bars had $1 drinks, so I could at least get out of the house, other wise I would loose my damn mind. I had some cavities that needed to be fixed, but no money. I am sure that many people have lived on a tiny budget, so I am not special; I am just giving you a glimpse into my past. Now, looking back it was good for me to learn how to live so cheap and on a budget. At the time, it was miserable. Now that I am back on my feet and able to buy hamburger buns to go with my hamburger, I am still living on that same cheap budget. I have this horrible fear of slumping back down to that broke state that I try to spend anything unless I have to. Here are two examples:
When I bought this house 3 years ago, I purchased a used washer and dryer for $175 for the set. At the time I was getting married in 10 months, so I was going to use this set for the time being and when we got married, get a new set. Three years later the bastards are still holding on, barely, but they are there. 1 out of 4 times the washer will quit mid-cycle and the water won’t drain, so we have to restart the cycle. This means we can’t leave the house for too long with the washer running, other wise there is a good chance our clothes will sit in water for way too long and the wash machine could overflow….again.
The dryer takes two full cycles to get our clothes dry: unless we are drying a shirt. Now, it did quit working a few months ago, but the place I purchased it from came and fixed it for $25.00. So, now I have a $200 set that has lasted me 3 years. I feel pretty safe in saying that I got my money’s worth out of them. So, until that wash machine quits working 100% of the time, they will gimp along, washing the clothes, little by little.
The BBQ grill is the other thing that is hobbling along. I love to BBQ, so the grill gets used 2 or 3 times a week. I have also had this grill for 3 years, which I guess is a year past its prime. The starter does not work, so I have to turn the gas on, which takes 5 minutes or so to get the gas flowing into the grill, then hold a long lighter and turn my head as I light it so not to loose all of my eye brows…again. The center piece under the grill has falling apart and catches fire every time, meaning I have to constantly move the meat around so the bottom does not flare up. I have long said that I need another grill, but as long as this one still lights, I am going to keep using it. Last month we were getting our deck re-stained so I had to move everything off the back porch. I decide that I can move everything by myself, which I later came to regret that decision. While moving the grill down the stairs, one stair at a time so to not have all the insides fall out, the one of the wheels gets stuck and the whole thing flips down the stairs. I must admit: I shed a tear. I knew she was a goner, she had her last fall. After the deck was done I gathered the grill up and all her pieces to see if she will light. I just knew that I was going to have to break down and by a new one. Emily was happy because she hates the ugly old grill. It is dirty and hard to use she says. Now, after 3 years of grilling, of course it is dirty, but that is what I love about it.
I get everything put back together, turn on the propane, and 5 minutes later I hold the lighter in the grill and cross my fingers. WALA! It lights. Now the top two smaller grills, no longer fit, but I have the main one! So, gimp along a little longer grill, you, the wash machine and the dryer are troopers! Don’t let Emily tell you any different!
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