to two wonderful years of marriage...

so i didn't get to pay tribute to two years of marriage...
happy two years! and to many more!

since our anniversary is right before christmas, it makes it a bit more complicated to get away and celebrate. but we did have a nice evening at la madeleine's - one of our fave places to go since it was where we ate on our 1st date (and one of my faves since childhood).

they accepted our offer

and so now it's going to be under contract. yay! dh just called.

yeah... dh woke me up way too early this morning. he couldn't sleep b/c he was thinking about the house. so then i was up and got to thinking about the house and couldn't go back to sleep.

thank goodness for inspirational & beautiful children's photography. it takes my mind off a lot of things...like passing the time when waiting.

house hunting

so the house hunting resumed on jan 5th. and in the span of a few short days and only two days of actual going out with our new realtor...we've made offers on two houses as of wednesday. the first, we nixed for many reasons after the counter offer - namely the seller and the seller's blumbering realtor. they bought too much house before selling their previous home and are now in a bad situation. and they didn't even put in any wk on the home to be sold and want a huge profit off of it. ha!

this second, i think it's going to work out, but i hate the waiting game. we could've had a quick negotiation, but i think our realtor misunderstood how we wanted her to phrase our counter-offer to his counter-offer, therefore, with the way the psychology of negotiation works, it will now take till tomorrow and both parties won't be as "instantaneously happy" with the result, even though the result may have probably been the same either way. i just need to learn to let things slide even more...and be better at letting go...

we definitely like this realtor much better than the previous ones. on top of things, professional, nice demeanor, organized, says what she means, isn't a "yes" person, but gives good feedback.

regarding deals. yes, there's always a deal out there. sometimes more than others. i think timing is working out...though i was less "contented" about it earlier in the evening...and esp tuesday night when we chose the house to make an offer on... after finding out rates this morning, dh was really happy, and therefore i was too.

re: my default thoughts - what the brain works on when it's not consciously processing anything. i've been more focused on photography than house hunting. i've been good and not emotionally vested in any of house searching, so no heartaches there...but these two things have been taking up a big chunk of my mental processing. then H and dh... the rest has been neglected...esp dinners/grocery shopping & domestic things. oh well.

so now in the wee hours of the morning... i'm dealing with the prospect of moving again and i think i'm okay (b/c i'm too tired to care now probaby). dh said he'd handle old residence stuff and i can handle new residence stuff. that's cool with me. i get too stressed out with PACKING and moving. plus i'm rather attached to our townhome. it's a nice townhome and nice community. and i'm used to it though it's not even been a year (~8 mos). creature of habit....or sentimentality. don't wanna think about it again till tomorrow and AFTER things are more concrete...like our offer being accepted.

new year resolutions & goals

Happy New Year!

to a great and wonderful year filled with accomplished goals and fulfilled wishes and another one to come!

so, my personal new year's resolutions & goals (not including the fam)...for my own personal accountability.
i want to:

• photograph 2 sessions a month. what started as a dream and whim at the end of last year is now taking off! and i didn't think it would so soon in 2008...i thought maybe later than sooner... but yay for progress! this way i still have time to be a mom and wife and be me, but still have time to do something on the side that i enjoy. and this way i can be "wking from home" and building something for the future.
  
• learn a new technique/skill/try something new every week.
  
• keep up with blogging at least weekly - esp on H's site. consolidate maybe?
  
• need to journal for real somewhere...maybe here? maybe not here?
  
• take belly dancing or dancing lessons. start up yoga & pilates again.
  
• something with violin? i dunno if i want to renew that or not... i guess i'll think about it.
  
• SIMPLIFY. & get organized! very broad and all-encompassing. this is something that's been perpetually bugging me b/c it's never-ending. i need to break it down... but not going to do it here.
  
• so...apparently...we're going to move into a house soon... once again, i thought or was hoping it'd be later than sooner... so i need to get that in order. i HATE packing & moving. but i want to get the new house situated, decorated, and consistently maintained. i didn't think that i'd be so attached to the townhome...and not want to move...it is a nice townhome & nice community.
  
• expand my garden. cultivate the plants. expand the herbs. so far there's basil, tomatoes & bell pepper. need more plants and more land and more garden. add rosemary, parsley, thyme, cilantro, spinach, lettuce. learn more about gardening. maybe add flowers to the mix? practical plants that are multi-purpose.
  
• start a compost. recycle plastics, metals, & glass.
  
• continue with coupon shopping, deal-finding, bargain-hunting. maximize the dollar. maybe add garage sales into the mix...sigh.
  
• there's probably more...there are new projects all the time. and with a new house..sheesh--endless! but if i put more, i'll not do them b/c it's too much. i can't even remember 2007's resolutions. i think i wrote them down, but even if i wrote them down, i couldn't find them... so that's why i'm posting here.
  

christmas craftiness

so this is a long overdue update...

i made piped christmas spritz cookies to take caroling for fhe on dec 17th, 2007. they took forever! i'm not a martha stewart nor a molly. i always would love to make cute crafty things, entertain, bake, cook gourmet meals, but i only manage to do it once in awhile...or once a year...ha! it was even more difficult as the dependent didn't want to nap that day.

here are some trees...




and some wreaths...


the trees turned out the best...

earlier in december...i made these ornaments at enrichment. appropriate that these guys were made from shells...totally cute idea! i wanted to get/make an ornament each year to add to the tree...and this year there were a bunch (3 angels, 2 santas & a star).

i personally liked the angels a lot better than the santa...

return to the creative

so...it's been almost a month since posting to this... i've been a bad blogger...
but not that i haven't had things to blog about...just busy, preoccupied, & therefore neglectful of posting

i've recently returned to my artistic and creative side... i've been itching to paint for quite awhile, but our "office" was still a huge disorganized mess from the move, and i just wasn't inspired or motivated... dh has been working on organizing the office. and finally all my art stuff was exposed and he made it very convenient for me to start painting...

this is the result...
painted: last thursday
medium: acrylic
destination: for our bedroom

Deals

so...what is a good deal?
everyone wants a good deal.
but not everyone gets a good deal.

do good deals need waiting for?
not everyone waits for a good deal.
but are deals worth waiting for?
maybe some, but not others.

would you say, there's always a good deal.
so if you don't get this one, there'll be another one?
so, then it means if you wait, you'll always find another good deal?

and once again, what is a good deal anyways?

who do you trust - part 2

gosh. there are so many realtors. too many realtors.

we meet a new one everyday. and they all "want to be your friend" or something like that... salespeople...

who do you trust?

and how do they all stay in business? so many realtors. all trying to make commission. all trying to close the deal. whether or not it's good for you... they do what they need to do i guess.

who do you trust?

housing market...it's overpriced usually. all about "what the market can bear"

what will ppl pay for something? supply and demand...
it's all about what one is willing to dish out over another one.
how much do you want it?
what is it worth to you?
what are you willing to pay?
how much do you have?

who do you trust?

so many ppl in the world out for themselves. every has their own story. everyone is trying to make a buck. who is telling the truth? they all say something different trying to play you. especially when it comes to selling this or that...or fulfilling their agenda.

i don't think it's totally evil or have a bad view of it. it's capitalism. but still...

we're just wanting to find& buy our 1st "house". gosh. why does it have to be so difficult?

yay. so excited!

i haven't been this excited in a while. i think we've found a DEAL! all this house hunting, deal hunting, going to the foreclosure auction at the county office last week, driving around, looking online...

Primer

Just watched Primer tonight... I had to watch it again right afterwards b/c it blew my mind. I couldn't and didn't get it all the 1st time. Good movie. I highly recommend it! And the $7000 budget, very impressive. Had to comment b/c the past few movies we've watched have been less than we've expected. (We've been watching a movie every night the past couple of days.)

brilliant husband - part 3

"the dyeing of the laundry"

saturday, dh was being super helpful & super productive - all so that i could sleep in a bit. he took care of the dependent. he cleaned the bathrooms. he did the laundry...

due to changing the dependent on the upstairs bath rugs, they got a bit of poo on them. so he tossed them into the laundry. (the rugs are a taupe color.) he decided that while he was at it, he'd toss in some cloth diapers that i was keeping in a dry pail and some other of the dependent's items. and why not toss in the downstairs bath rug too to make a full load. (the downstairs rug was blue - and of a dyed yarn)

since there was poo on the one rug, and oh...there's cloth diapers with pee, so let's set the washer function to "sanitize." on the washing machine, there's cold, warm, and hot... and well sanitize is ever hotter than hot. well, you can guess what happened...

everything in the wash was dyed blue. white cloth diapers - now blue, white washcloths - now blue, anything pink - now blue, anything lavender or purple - now blue, blue bibs, blue outfits, taupe rugs - now blue, and the blue rug...now faded.

i discovered this when i was about to switch the wash load.

i was laughing, amused, yet exasperated, and a bit upset. i didn't know how to respond. poor hubby...he felt so bad and so shamed. he'd never dyed any laundry on accident ever in his life. not to pink, not to blue. he always had perfect laundry. washed clean, folded perfectly. no mistakes. it was a totally new experience for him.

i spent the next few hours trying to "fix" and "reverse" the dyeing of the laundry. i was able to save the taupe rugs by washing them again on warm in a bit of bleach. the whites, I could only bleach to an off-white/cream color. one lavender outfit came out almost okay, some other pastel colors were almost okay. The other pastel colors just couldn't be saved.

a reality tv show i like

though we've not watched much tv lately...we were flipping stations the other night, and we stumbled upon this new show on FOX: Kitchen Nightmares.... i actually like it a lot.

i remember when i 1st saw Chef Ramsay on Hell's Kitchen (that i watched a few times flipping channels again), i thought he seemed so harsh, so mean, & he cursed so much.

but in this new show, i like how he helps these failing restaurants come back to life - and gives the menu and the restaurant a makeover. it's rather inspiring and he does a really good job - probably why he's such a success. and you can watch whole episodes on FOX online.

brilliant husband - part 2

one sunday night driving back home from a long road trip...

story to come...

thanks dh for my b-day presents

thanks dh for my b-day presents! you're great!

i especially like this present:
Oral-B Professional Care 8850-DLX.