kindergarten love. :)

 taylor came home w/a GIANT phone number written on a paper. :) i have no idea who wrote it, but when i saw it, he grabbed it and crumpled it up. he was so embarrassed and started yelling. i got him to calm down and give it to me, but he didnt' want me to look at it. he told me it was from drew. when i looked at it, i saw that it has "I *heart* U" written in the middle of the 8. so i asked taylor if it was really from drew. he sd yes. i sd, "he sd he loves you?" he sd, "YOU LOOKED!!! NO MOM!! it's NOT from drew!!! and i don't like ANY girls!!!! i don't ever want ANY GIRLS to come play at our new house!!!" . i sd, "...but taylor....I'M a girl... " :(

integrity

the other night eric had an AWESOME little lecture w/the older boys. we have a rule that they are not supposed to play violent video games, but a little mouse informed us that they have all been sneaking and doing it behind closed doors. well, if I had been the one initiating the lecture, it would have gone something like this:  "i know you guys have been breaking family rules. bcs of this, i am taking the doors off of your bedroom. you can earn them back when you are following the rules. if you continue to try to break them when i'm not aware, you will be sleeping on teh floor too". :) but no-oooo-oo...eric is inspired. he called them in and sd this: "boys, i want to talk to you abt integrity. do you know what that word means?? it means that you are good even when no one is watching. mom and i can't babysit you all the time to make sure you are following the rules. if you are breaking them, you can probably get away with it. but not really. bcs Heavenly Father knows when you do. and so do you. and you won't be happy if you aren't a man of integrity. this shapes who you are". anyway, that was the gist of it. i was as spellbound as the boys were. he never mentioned the video games, he never accused. they weren't put on the defensive, and i won't ahve to worry abt seeing them changing in their bedrooms. :)
well, after that discussion, we had a moral dilemma w/our new house...

the purchase price on our house was 135k. that was the asking price. the realtor who holds the listing has the house listed as it is w/.35 acres. we went over and measured th lot that the house was on, and it was .35 acres. there is an additional lot behind it. i'm not sure if it's quite as big, but it's a good sized lot. it MAY be as much as .35 acres. when the house was bought by the previous owner, it was deeded together at the cost of 176k. so i have been inquiring abt that lot. who owns it? will someone be building back there? is it available for sale? will we be paying taxes on it?? will we be responsible for weed control?? etc.etc. all along i've been toldt hat the lot is not part of the house. on our sales contract, the purchase property is listed as 65 east, 200 south, delta...etc. they don't even havea  legal description. but as i was reading the appraisal last night...which is how they determined the asking price (value) of 135k, it says under property description: "lot parcel # such and such  AND lot parcel # such and such". in other words, it listed both the house AND the land. but when you look at how they determined the value, in comparison to other homes in our vicinity, the land value was adjusted to reflect just the land that the house is on. okay, so here's where it gets tricky. taht is an interior lot. there is no water or gas, but it's less than 25 feet from hook up. it's on an alley, so not likely to have any curb appeal or value for building a home. but it could easily be valued at between 10 and 20k. okay, so i called the title company and they sd that the lot was conveyed w/the houes to HUD. so i called hud. they sd they don't do land lots. if it came w/the house, it will go w/the house. so here's our dilemma.... we know that a mistake was made in determining the price. the appraiser messed up. plain and simple. do we tell them? or do we take it as is and nt mentino it? okay, my first thought was to let it slide. it's their mistake, it's their loss. but eric's little lecture on integrity kept ringing in my ears. so i did what i thought i needed to.... i called the appraisal company to point out their error. the guy got on google maps and looked at the land. he sd that it's only .35 WITH the land. i assured him it's not. he disagreed w/me. he sd that this appraiser rarely makes mistakes. he sd that it looks like a tiny lot. he sd that the only way we can know who is right would be to do a survey, and do i really want to insist on (and pay for) that?   of course not. so, i guess we're getting the land with it. :)   these are my thoughts.... if the house were to be readjusted, the value would probably go up at least 10k. taht would put it at 145k. we could afford it, bcs it would simply add to the amount we could borrow. in other words, we wouldn't have to provide more cash bcs the lender would provide it. however, w/the new value, to make it fair, would they open it up to new bidders again?? well, it's in the hands of the appraiser's boss. if he stews over our conversation and decides that it's worthy of reconsidering, we might lose the house. if he blows off the conversation bcs who am i? and what do i know? well, we just got a bigger backyard for the same price. and guess who will be planting fruit trees next summer?? :) 

life is sure interesting, isn't it??

house bid

finally!! FINALLY i can let it all hang out. i have been avoiding this blog for fear that i would blurt it out. in the middle of a blog on baking, i'd spew out: "WE BID 138K ON THE HOUSE". or maybe i'd be telling you abt my deodorant and how i forgot to epilady that morning, and my oral diarrhea would erupt: "138K, THAT'S OUR BID!!!" and then woudlnt' be able to retrieve it as our personal information hit the cyber highway. can you imagine???
yes, we have been living, the 7 of us, in a small manufactured home. please don't shed any tears for us. it's not a one-room shanty, nor is it anything i'd pretend isn't mine if the stake president wanted to come for dinner. it's just that it's a wee small for as much testosterone as we are trying to contain. when the boys wrestle, (or even the DOGS for that matter) it is often over the top of some innocent bystander's toes. so yea, our dream home would have a family room big enough to let them brawl and separate enough to be able to carry on a conversation in a different room. kapish? soooo...we've been watching this house for several months. it's become a pet project. we "discovered" it on a dog walk. then dad mooney pointed out over dinner one day that he thought no one was living there. long story short, we went to fillmore and did a title search through county records. we tracked down the original owner and made some dear friends. we have checked 3 websites at least twice a day EVERY day. we went to the county seat for a "fake" auction. (aka: hud induced auction...i'll cover THAT devilish scheme in another blog). we have talked to countless agents, attorneys, loan agents, realtors, even title insurance companies to prepare for the moment that we could place a bid. so here's how it works..... HUD (fed govt dept of housing and urban development) "owns" this house. they appraised it to be valued at 135k. which is below what it's actually worth, but they won't consider the basement since it's unfinished. (but it IS framed and partly insulated). they "open" the bid to anyone willing to make an offer, and the bid "closes" on monday. after that we just wait. so we have run the gamut on what to bid. first, we want to offer low. see what we can get it for. you know, everyone loves a good bargain. and we'd love to have a little money to actually improve the property if we get it. then we discover that there is so much competition for this house, that we decide to offer full price. we were originally told that timing is everything and that HUD will accept the first full price offer. so , discovering that the house was open for bidding on new year's eve day, we thought we had the advantage. most people were partying and doing other things. so we submitted our bid to our realtor, who submitted to her broker, who sat on it bcs he was partying. thankfully we discovered that timing is NOT everything, but that the price is critical. so we decide to bid 138k. that extra 3k would go towards commissions and fees. but then we remember the game "price is right". remember at the last part...where they see the huge prizes?? i can't remember what it's called. anyway, one person calculates meticulously what they think the car/house/vacation/boat are worth. they come up w/a thoughtful number. 43,500. the next person jumps in and wins bidding 43,501. really? so we decide we better add a dollar. but if OTHER people are thinking the same thing? so we up it to 25$. that should protect us, right?? but then we hear of MORE people wanting this house.... and we start to get stressed. here's our deal. we are on a tight budget. we have a lot of expenses. in fact, w/a broken transmission and pending legal fees for a forced court appearance... yea...you get the picture. so we decide we will offer our top dollar. plus 200$ just to make it a little more. and then we wait. wait. wait and wait some more.
"if it's right for us, we will get it". i must have said that 1000 times in the past 5 months. :)  and now? the bids are in and closed. i can reveal my bid. and you can wait WITH me. :)

update on cell phones

just thought i'd update you... i was planning to suspend our service w/verizon. the hope was that i could just bypass the bills for the duration of our term. little did i know that that's not possible. if you're not paying, the time isn't counting. after numerous phone calls and serious stress , (and yes, some serious tears), i found an agent who talked his supervisor into pushing our renewal date up two months and they are sending a phone tomorrow. hallelujah!!! :)
but i have to admit something:  i really am an addict. the idea that i might not be able to resolve things started my heart spinning like i was losing oxygen. there was a physical reaction. and i really did have to fight back the tears. it was very painful for me to realize how dependent i am to that stinkin' electronic device. i recognized that i'm very very spoiled. it's NOT a need, it's a luxury.
...and yet...
there is something extremely comforting to me when i'm riding my bike out on the lonely plains w/little more than an occasional speeding diesel, to have that hard piece of communication in my bra. and when i'm driving out in the mountains between here and the north country (salt lake metropolitan area), it's nice to know that i COULD be just a phone call from help, should i run into a deer at night. (it matters not that there is no phone service between lynndl and nephi).  so yea, i think my cell phone has replaced my security blanket of yesteryear.
but judging by the teenagers texting in the high school parking lot, i don't think i'm alone on this one....

grossness

today i bought a book at DI for the boys. i think it was called "The Encyclopedia of Gross Things". tonight mom emailed me an article abt a singer in vegas who grew her fingernails 20 feet. or something nasty like that. got me thinking abt gross things. clearly there is an interest, right? okay... i remember when i was twelve... i had a crush on a boy named craig. i remember him teasing me after church bcs he saw me pick the sunburn peel off of my shoulder and eat it. i was so humiliated. but i don't think that's the worst thing i've done.  last night i had a piece of skin on my toe that was snagging on my blanket. i was too cold and just too dang lazy to get out of bed for the clippers. so i bit it off. well, i TRIED to bite it off. but in my older age, my teeth just don't line up well enough to do any kind of precision pedicure. i know, i know, it's disgusting. but my foot WAS clean.... ??

heck. i ought to get a little bit of credit for getting my toe in my mouth, don't you think?
:(

cell phones

okay, just need to complain for a minute... :( i had this old cell phone w/tmobile. but they were raping me w/monthly fees. so eric and i decided we can consolidate. we gave up my service adn phone in exchange for HIS with verizon. okay, so we get out his phone that he loves so much (yes, you might detect a little jealousy even...but before you think i'm strange, you should watch him caress it.....but i digress) and discovered that the battery is dead. so i went to verizon and was told it was over $30 for the stupid battery. and our contract isn't up until march, so no luck replacing the phone w/any kind of discount. arrgh. so the lady whispers over the counter, "i'd buy one online...they are much cheaper". so i did. i bought 3 actually. paid for 2. but when the first one came it was deader than dead. so they sent another one. wait! i forgot to add that i bought a generic one at ace hardware first. it worked, but sd "non-supported phone" and when i looked it up in the m anual it sd i could only use it for the life of the battery. it would not be able to charge. duh. like i want a phone for a day. :( anyway... so have tried 4 different batteries, and none have worked. oh, and i have to add that i've had to wait for delivery on them, so this has taken over a month. seriously. do you know what it's like to live w/out a cell phone for a month?!?!? OH MY HEAVENS. i am spoiled rotten. :(
sooooo..... i FINALLY decided i'd had enough of it. one guy told me it's not the batteries, it's the phone. so i got on KSL and through sleet and darkness drove 100 miles to buy a used one for $30. today i was THRILLED beyond measure to get it hooked up so i can be connected to civilization again. so i bring it in to verizon. they sd, "you have to have internet for this one...that's $30 more a month". ????? WHAT?????
i know, i know, you think they were just being funny. but NOOOooOOOOO. this was the truth. they were going to charge me $30 extra a month. i sd, "i don't use it for internet. i just want to text and talk. that's it".
"sorry" she sd.     ....by this point, i'm sure i had steam blowing out of my ears.  "OH MY HEAVENS. I WANT TO KILL SOMEONE".   i didn't even realize i sd it out loud. but worse? she took me seriously. "well, i guess if you want to go to jail for the rest of your life".   SERIOUSLY?? that comment alone almost pulled me over the counter in her direction. but no, i contained myself.   i ordered the $40 stupid verizon approved samsung battery. in two weeks i will know for certain if it's my phone or the stupid batteries. and yes, i have to be w/out a cell phone for AT LEAST that long.  tonight i'm thinking of taking that 30$ phone to the railroad tracks. do you think it might derail the train?? hmm... probably better not take that chance.

i did learn something though. i'm addicted to my cell phone. it's a third boob to me. and i feel naked w/out it. it fits comfortably in my bra. and it brings me pleasure. (since only friends and family can call me on it). :)

life, huH?

i'm soo. and i'm an addict. :(

mammo part deux

wow. what was all that fuss abt? it hardly even warrants a post!! a mammogram is really nothing to be afraid of. i thought that they have to squish it to within an inch. are you kidding me?i  have more fat than that!! i was fearful that it would squish my boobs until something popped or the skin split or i would be the one case where blood would ooze out of my nipples or the machine would malfunction and jsut keep compressing. haha...all my fears were in vain.
k. the rest of this is for the mammo virgins. :)
you undress just to the waist. you put on a gown. the machine is new age and kinda cool looking. you just stand on the tape and the nursey lady (who was awesome in my case,, but i'm sure there are nurse ratchets out there) basically puts your boob on the tray that is at the right height bcs it's completely adjustable. it's a clear tableish thing. and then she finagles all the boob parts that are trying to squirm away. she has the "paddle" (which had to be upgraded to the larger size...the only embarrassing part of the whole procedure) gently press down. then she does a little manual tighten, asks you to hold your breath and voile'! that was it!!
that was the easy part. then she does the same thing on the other side, and then you do a sideways one. basicaly you are in the same position, but the tray is kind of tilted so they can get it at an angle. and they do the same thing. i'm not going to lie, this part hurt. but what hurt was my ribs. bcs they want to get the whole boob on the tray, and you have to kind of lean into it. i wish they'd use that cool gel stuff? anyway, that was it....

oh, one more thing---it was deodorant that i wasn't supposed to use. :( eeek!! so i used a little wet  wipe to take it off. :) then when it was all over, they had a spray can of deo to refresh. :)

DONE!! piece of cake. probably in and out in less than 10 minutes. so if you haevn;t done it, GET OUT THERE AND GET IT DONE!!!!! :)