Bummed out =/

So we have been house hunting. We found 2 great houses. We were very excited about them both. We finally got in touch with a realtor and went to see them. The houses were both old, but still cute with tons of space! One of them even had a pool!! :)

The first house was a short sale, if you dont know.. it absolutely does not mean SHORT SALE.. as in we could move in a short amount of time. It means more like we could put in an offer and wait and wait and wait for the bank to respond. Since its bank-owned property, they are most likely not going to fix ANYTHING that may be wrong. But for a 4 bed, 3 bath house with a basement, screened in porch, and pool with wrap around deck, fenced in yard for the babies of course, we thought this might just be worth the wait. But the location was a little out of the way so we let go of that idea.

Next, we saw the most perfect house. 3 bed, 2 bath with a bonus room not even mentioned in the listing :) Fenced in yard with a neat little insulated shed out back. PERFECT LOCATION. Under the our budget price.... so we put in an offer. This house has been on the market for 100+ days, we were sure we would get the house. BUT... someone put in another offer. UUGGHH! However, our bid was higher. YAY! Then we find out that this house cannot qualify for our FHA loan because its "unlivable". WHAT?!?! How can this be? I love this house. I already remodeled it in my mind, and I decorated. I told the babies they would have a big back yard for them to play in. I adjusted my dislike of the baby blue tile in the guest bath (hey it was built in 1960.. we are judging the tiles ha!) to loving the baby blue tiles because it was unique. I accepted that there was not a big tub in the master like I had hoped for, hell theres not even a tub, just a shower big enough for 4 people to shower in comfortablely (which I thought putting in a garden tub would be easy since the shower is HUGE). I saw my master with a new king size bed, a Cars room (Jess was especially thrilled about that), a scrapbook room/office, some new appliances. I made this little house a gem, and the stupid bank ruined my whole dream in one phone call. UGH!

We have continued looking for other houses, but I am completely discouraged now. I feel like there will always be something in the way. I was told not to fall in love with a house because we just started this process and it will be a hard road with a lot of bumps. blah. blah. blah. too late. I ready to say screw the houses, find me a 3 bed apt and just keep paying rent that would be double a mortgage. >=/

Pity Party of One?   Um yes please.

 

Scrapbook Expo!

Lately we have been really getting into "wanting" to scrapbook. I say "wanting" because we havent actually started yet ;) It takes a long time, and it takes even longer to get enough stuff together. Its EXPENSIVE! So as my mom & Aunt Kathy tell me... "You only buy when you have a coupon!!" it takes a while to wait for coupons and then go shopping, especially since our tiny town doesnt have scrapbook stores! :( Over the past few months, we have been stocking our "Cars" guest room with scrappy supplies, making it a craft room too!

So last weekend, we went to the Scrapbook Expo! My mom and & Aunt Kathy are big time scrappers, and have been for a long time. So needless to say they have E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G! And they know how to do everything, and have ideas on how to do it cheaper :) We started out using moms stuff, but driving home to scrap was getting expensive and there wasnt ever enough time.

So we bought our own Cricut Machine:

*This is a pic from google. I havent taken a pic of ours yet!*

What the Cricut can do:

 How cute are those flowers?? I love flowers and bling!! Thats all I was looking for at the Expo. I also LOVE mini-albums!! I cant wait make a mini album of Kiwi & Mango! I also found this super cute 2011 mini album that I want to use for graduation. I got lots of cute stuff... check it out!

[caption id="attachment_388" align="aligncenter" width="293" caption="stickers"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_389" align="aligncenter" width="310" caption="Mini Album & Prima FlowerButtons & Glitter"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_390" align="aligncenter" width="257" caption="Blngy!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_391" align="aligncenter" width="478" caption="Desktop Carousel"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_397" align="aligncenter" width="224" caption="Now my carousel has stuff in it!"][/caption]

While we were shopping I found a wall mounted organization rack with magnetic board for little tins that would hold the bling. It was $30! And I didnt really want to pay to that much. Kathy suggested I buy little wedding tins, glue magnetic dots on them, and put them on a decoration cookie sheet! Which is exactly what I did, except I used a white marker board (it matched what was already on my wall!).

[caption id="attachment_394" align="aligncenter" width="465" caption="DYI Bling Organization!!"][/caption]

More scrapping & DYI projects to come! :D

*Porch Lights On*

All over the country hearts were broken yesterday, when the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial was revealed. Although we dont understand why these things happen, we still have to believe that He has a plan and knows what He is doing.

Rest In Peace Sweet Angel.

You are safe in His arms and will never feel pain again.

You will not be forgotten.

</3

**Updated with poem from Facebook**

RIP Caylee: With duct tape & bags you threw me away, what more is there really left to say? Alone in the woods is where I was kept, for six long months & you STILL haven't wept. "Bella Vita" that's what your tattoo said, not a care in the world, while I lay dead. Every night Jesus rocks me to sleep and makes a promise I know He'll keep, "Don't worry, everything will be fine, for in the end vengeance shall be mine" ♥

Kiwi's 6th Birthday!

Six years ago today, my sweet angel was born. I am pretty sure on this day, I was pleading with my mom to let me get a chihuahua. Yes, I was 19 but I was still living at home. She was concerned that since I worked 40 hours a week, all crazy hours, that a puppy would not be trained or get the love it needed. So we kept thinking and thinking and thinking about it. Mom suggested I get a book on chihuahuas and training them, so I did! I read it cover to cover ;)

4 weeks later, in passing conversation, this guy I worked with mentioned that his mom bred chihuahuas. I dont like breeders that breed heavily, and I didnt want a "puppy mill" dog. I refuse to support such cruelty. He assured me that his mom only allowed 1 maybe 2 litters a year, and that they didn't sell for profit. I still wasnt convinced, so he said I could come visit anytime, unannounced. :) That I liked! He also said "Hershey" (the momma dog) was a princess that slept in the bed with his mom, and she was no "meal ticket"! I liked that even more. So I agreed to $150 for a puppy when it was time.There were 2 puppies: 1 boy & 1 girl. Only 1 problem!! I wanted a girl and his mom wanted to keep the only girl. So I settled for the boy puppy. Well somewhere between then and 2 weeks later when the puppy were weaned, she decided since I was paying, I should have the choice to pick. So we met at Publix (ha! where else would we meet?!?), she put both puppies on the ground for me to see which one I wanted. Both were completely presh! The little girl ran right to me and jumped up on me! The little boy when right back to her. We laughed and decided that she made the decision for us! They called her "Boots" because her paws are white :) She weighed 1 lb and 1 oz. We got in the car and headed to PetSmart! She was so cute and sweet! And .... then.... she threw-up all in my purse!! I just laughed and figured it was great she kept it in my purse and not all over my seat. I bought a collar, leash, bowls, toys, treats, EVERYTHING!! I was ready!

All she needed now was a name. I wanted something bitchy sounding cuz chis are so snotty.  I considered Siren, because of the myth of the ships wrecking from the singing. But it just didnt suit her, so I searched the internet for something cute. My uncle suggested something fruity like apple or Kiwi. I was like Kiwi? (thinking to myself) And her little ears perked up and she ran to me. That was that. Kiwi chose me, and chose her own name!! I added Strawberry because every princess needs a full name!!

I prepared myself for her crying at night, but OMGOSH she never stopped! I read somewhere that you should put a 2 liter bottle of warm water, wrapped in a blanket, in there bed with them, because the warmth reminds them of their mom. I also put a ticking clock in there with her because that sounds like a heartbeat. That lasted about 2 hours. All week, she cried ALL NIGHT long. I cried with her, thinking I had made a huge mistake and that she would never stop!! Finally, I couldnt stand it so I put her in my bed and she went right to sleep! Thus began her intense spoiling.

She wiggled her way into my moms heart and eventually started running back and forth between my bed and moms bed. That got old fast cuz she was waking us up constantly! She paws at the covers like shes knocking to get in (she still does it!) so you will lift up the covers and she runs down by your hip and snuggles in. We (Mom) got her a nice crate that is much bigger than needed for a chihuahua and she loved it! We put a pillow, with one of moms old pillowcases, and a big pink fuzzy blanket in it. Mom hates to see a dog in a crate locked up, so she puts a blanket over the front so she cant see them. This gave Kiwi some quiet time to rest without having to "watch over" the house. It works out great! It creates a cave like bed for them. making them feel safe and secure.

Fast forward 3 years>>> Jess comes over for the first time to meet my mom. Jess loves aniamls (duh!) and she tried to sit close to me and Kiwi jumped in my lap and growled at her. HA! Jess tried to let her smell her and wait for her to warm up but Kiwi just kept nipping at her. I found this hilarious! But Jess' heart was broken and she thought Kiwi would never like her. Over time, Kiwi came to love her. Although, if Jess comes toward me to fast or put her hands too close to my face, even for just for a kiss, Kiwi gets nippy. I find this super cute!!

A Home of Our Own :)

Lately, we have had house fever. We were looking at houses online that we thought we might could afford. Houses with mortgages less than our current rent!! That just made me crazy knowing that we could be paying for a house instead of throwing money out the window renting. My brother has always suggested we look into buying a house. With the market the way it is, this works in our favor. We make decent money with our part-time (possibly full-time soon :) ) jobs and could afford to pay a mortgage a little higher than our current rent, but our most of our money comes from us being students which a lender cannot calculate into "income" because its only temporary. We have been heavily weighing even applying because we didn't know if it was worth it. But tonight I just couldn't stand it anymore, so we finished our app :) Now we wait. We know we may not get approved and that's ok because we are still in school, but its worth finding out what we need to fix if we aren't approved. We have found a TON of houses we love and could live in for the next 5-7 years! We even found some lake property we can afford.. which we are super excited about.

Some of "Our House" wish list!

-4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms. (ya know for future kids ;) )

- Master bath must have Garden Tub!

- large kitchen

-Garage (double would be lovely)

-Inground pool :)

Those are just some of our wants but not needs of course.

"Our House" Must haves

-3 bedrooms with lots of storage

-2 bathrooms

-fenced in yard!! (or at least potential to build a fence)

This is such a big decision in our lives/relationship. We know that we will always be together but buying a house before we are "married" seems backwards. I told Jess maybe we should have a wedding first, but she is thinking that maybe buying a house first will work in our favor later, when she gets ready to change her last name to mine. So we have decided to buy a house first, have wedding, change her name, then go to New York to be legally married. Btw, Yay NY for bringing the country one step closer to Equality for All! Even though getting married in New York wont mean its legal in GA, but it will symbolize committment to a court for legal means. We have read many stories about Gay and Lesbians couples that have had to show evidence of being truly committed so we try to save ourselves some trouble along the way.

Cant wait to see what happens next!!

Happy 4th Of July Weekend!