Friday, September 21, 2012

7 Quick Takes Friday


--- 1 ---

This morning we made the trek across town to talk to the mortgage broker.  He gave us a ton of information and the name of a real estate agent who he suggests for the types of houses we're looking at.  He also suggested we look into the houses in the $30,000 range, because there are quite a few owned and renovated by the county that are turn key and move in ready.  And our mortgage, including insurance and taxes would still be less than half of what our rent is at the moment.

Then we drove around and looked at a few of the addresses on our list.  The first house, for 24,000 was really cute... then we drove over to see the 13.5k house...

As we approached it looked so perfect.  It was in an neighborhood we'd never visited before and the surrounding houses were beautiful and well cared for.  Then it came into view... with a giant tarp covered hole in the middle of the roof.

It's off the list now.

Now we're just waiting for an appointment with the real estate agent to start looking!

--- 2 ---


Yesterday I downloaded a few tracks from Hypnobabies.  I wasn't planning on doing them right away, but while I was cleaning the girls were playing quietly together and completely ignoring me and playing on their own and so I thought I'd lay down on the couch and give it a try.

Hilarity ensued.

First Sadie came over and decided to do the breathing with me, while giggling hysterically between breaths and shouting "what is it Mama!"

Then she decided that she wanted to lay down with me, which led to Mae Bae deciding that the best place in the room to sit would be on top of my head.  I scooted down, now holding hands with both girls, still curious to see what a track was like and rather impressed with how relaxed I felt and how much the baby was moving (the track was on turning your breech baby).  

Then Sadie realized that my eyes were closed and started poking me in the belly button and asking if I was a bear or Mama (she's still a little freaked out by that trip to see Brave in the theater months ago) or Sleeping Beauty.

Try #2 came after the girls went to bed and resulted in me falling asleep ten minutes into the track...  I guess I really was relaxed!

Both times, however, baby went crazy moving around and really did seem to be moving a bit more to the side, which was pretty interesting since I wasn't sure what to expect with this sort of thing.

--- 3 ---

The foot is feeling 90% better.  It might have been even further along except I managed to forget about it while at a playground with Sadie.  I was sitting on a ledge about a foot off the ground (that I'd easily hopped up onto, pregnancy weight and all) and I thought nothing of hopping down to the ground.

Which was a mistake.

Almost as big a mistake as using a streak knife to break down boxes in the basement while doing laundry and having said knife slip from my hands and fall vertically to stab the same foot in question.

I think I need to be wrapped in bubble wrap for the next two months until the pregnancy clumsiness subsides.

In other news, Sadie has gotten over her fear of really tall slides.  We snapped a picture as proof!
--- 4 ---

Autumn seems to have arrived and I caught my first glimpse of a tree really beginning to change colors.  This is what I've been waiting for (or at least, the very beginning of it!):




--- 5 ---

The girls seem unsure about exactly how they feel about the cooler weather.  So far we haven't turned the heater on and the temperature is staying around 66 degrees around the clock.  The girls seem to think this constitutes some sort of child abuse, although they are now agreeing to wear pants with their princess dresses (and Sadie currently has a pink thermal shirt over her Aurora dress.

I'm still wearing short sleeves and enjoying not feeling like I need to shower three times a day.  I am keeping my eyes open for a sturdy, warm pair of winter boots, because that's the only piece of winter clothing I seem to be lacking at the moment!
--- 6 ---

I'm developing pretty strong feelings about the antibiotic that I'm on at the moment.  I was pretty lucky when I had that 17 day stretch of Doxycycline after the miscarriage, because it didn't make me sick at all.  This time they prescribed Clindamycin and it is foul.  I'm comforted by the fact that apparently it can usually kill MRSA (and fun fact, is used to treat malaria...), but wow... combined with pregnancy heartburn and the fact that my stomach is hardly below my throat at the moment and I can say that I am very, very ready to be done with this one week stretch.  Thankfully it seems to have worked and my foot isn't even vaguely pink... but yeah... I'm definitely ready for Sunday.

--- 7 ---

This is the new dream house.  Sigh:






For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

11 comments:

  1. Are you planning on staying in Michigan indefinitely, even once Paul gets done with law school?

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  2. It really depends on where he gets a job! We both really like Michigan (it was one of two places that we both actually agreed that we liked on our nationwide road trip, the other being Northern Arizona!).

    Since the University is here rental properties are also a really big thing, so if we did leave we should definitely be able to cover the cost of the mortgage by renting it (since rent tends to be 2-4 times more than a mortgage around here with the current prices).

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  3. That's awesome! I love the fireplace in the picture above.

    I gotta admit, I'd be thrilled if you moved to Northern Arizona. :) We could easily have a blogger meetup!

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  4. I know! You guys have such a great group of bloggers there!!! So many of my favorites are around the Phoenix area!

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  5. Lovely looking house!

    Just a bit of advice: be sure that you have an expert home inspection done, and make closing (when you get to that point) contingent upon a successful inspection. You wouldn't want to discover a major problem without having an out. (If you ever watch "Holmes on Homes" on TV, you will know what I mean!!!) Pay close attention to the roof; they are expensive to replace and you want to be sure that there is still plenty of life in it.

    Marie

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  6. The living room in the house you're looking at looks great. Happy house hunting. I hope you find something great.

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  7. The house looks adorable - hope it works out :)

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  8. Yes yes, I vote Northern AZ, too. ;)

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  9. I should warn you to also look into things like property taxes and insurance taxes in the area if you plan on renting. If property taxes are high, you may not be getting much out of renting the house. You should also look into how difficult it is to rent a whole house. Some college towns have a lot of apartment property and the vast majority of students may rent those instead.

    Not trying to sound like Debby Downer, but we bought a condo and rent it out at a loss to ourselves because of property taxes, insurance, and homeowners association fees. The mortgage is covered. There's also the problem with people destroying the property. So I'd suggest having a property manager which tacks on additional fees. Property managers weed out bad renters.

    All I'm trying to forewarn you is home ownership is great if you can handle pipes breaking and leaky roofs, bad renters and extenuating fees. Otherwise you may end up sinking into debt and foreclosure...

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  10. I'm taking a hynobirthing class! Really enjoy it. Do you have the book? I've enjoyed it...

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  11. I was so happy to read your post... I have been interested in hypnobabies but always wondered if it was too "new age" and thus not church approved. It seems like from the research I have done that its all about what you feel comfortable with. I like the more concrete answers so was always on the fence about taking the class so I just read the book and listened to the relaxation track. PS we have 3 girls and are expecting a boy this time around. What an adventure!

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