New plans.

So.

I have some new plans for the new house.

If you will remember, from a post I deleted, I had big plans of building my own furniture.

still the plan.

just different furniture.

I want to make this for the front room, possibly two of them.

It seems fairly easy, with the help of my daddy. :-)

I love my daddy and his tools.

I also have more plans for re-doing the house.

I want to re-do all the baseboards like this....

I want tall baseboards. I loooove them. I like the white too, but I think that could get dated so who knows.

BTW, that is exactly the yellow I am painting parts of my house. :-)

I may want to just buy bookshelves like this instead of making them....

Basically lately, I have been getting ideas and inspirations for what I want to do.

Hopefully I have the time to do it.

The goal is to have our house exactly how I want it, before we have a baby. Meaning:

The cabinets re-done.

all the painting.

new kitchen hardware

painting the counter-tops(if Jason lets me do it)

decorating to boot.

all desired furniture in place.

the only thing I think we are really going to not worry about getting done before a baby is the hardwood floors.

So. We close on the 16th of feb. we can start painting on the 17th and plan to move on the 20th. I have enlisted the following to paint- with their consent!

Bequi Chidester

Kourtney Hales **correction** Kourtney Post ;-)

Gabby Russell.

Jason Powell.

Savannah Odekirk

Kris Odekirk.

All those listed above will need to report for duty when available on the 17th. I myself will be there at 3pm. Feel free to come then. I will provide dinner and good times.

for those of you who would like to add yourself to my list, I will do a special dance number for you.

:-)

I personally think we will be done painting by the 18th night, or 19th so I will start moving stuff then, even though Jason won't want to. I will do it by myself. :( Maybe I will just do the decorations, the fun part. :)

other then the house, our lives are normal as usual.

Jason is doing great at work and he loves it.

I love my job and I love the people so its hard to see me ever actually wanting to leave.

I will miss my young women so much it makes me cry.

We will be getting a kitten to fill the void.

oh I do need to a living room set for the front room asap, any good ideas where?

I have finished studying for my Personal Trainer exam, but I am sooo scared to take the test. Everyone at work keeps asking when I will take it and my answer is always the same, I am too scared.

ugh.

I will get over my fear, I hope. :-/

what I need is probably different from what I want.

I need something.

Today I am breaking out of the routine Saturday and going on a photography outing with Gabby.

I need to get out and I need to ground myself.

I need to focus on the little things around me so I can appreciate the bigger things.

I need to see the beauty thats around me everyday.

I need to realize what I really want.

I need to do something on my own.

I need to feel free.

I need to feel natural and fresh.

I need to think.

I need to focus.

so what better way to see and focus, then with a camera?

I will let you know, if I got what I needed.

most likely, not.

my shopping O.

Oh my goodness.

Today was the best shopping day I have ever had.

Not even kidding.

My day started late due to a late night. :-)

I love sleeping in on Fridays.

I knew I wanted to go shopping today.

the items wanted were pants and shoes.

did I get either?

NO.

am I sad about it?

NO.

did I get tons of stuff?

YES.

Did the hubby say I get to keep it?

YES!

I went to the south town mall.

it really is the best mall.

First I went to my old stopping ground, Maurices.

They are having a 75% off clearance sale. So I got 3 tops for 15$.

wow that felt good.

It spiraled out of control from there.

Here is the sequence of events.

Walk around the store, grab everything I wanted to try in a size Medium and Small.

Go to the dressing room.

Try on a shirt, it looked fabulous, great put it in my bag.

Try on another shirt, it looked great, put it in my bag.

Try on another shirt, looked just as great, put it in my bag.

I rinsed and repeated this step 22 times.

twenty two.

2-2

22

21+1

23-1

22.

I am the proud new owner of 22 gorgeous tops that make me feel ridiculously empowered with femininely sexual voltage.

you have NO idea.

If you don't want to hear anymore about this, stop reading. Cause I am obsessed.

Also know that the average cost for each piece was 6.54$.

thats right.

Alright, here is the loot.

:)

Alright, the sweater doesn't look special, but its very fitted and has a deep V front and back. I want to wear it with a raceback tank top, but then I will lose the deep V in the back which shows a lot of skin. So we will see. The brown and black are fitted stretchy shirts. simple.

left one is a ruffle top thing lol. the right one is a less fitted braided top thing.

these 2 are casual but I can still wear them to work. :) the cream one is shear, and the orange one is a great color.

OK . these 2 are the only two I am not sure about. They are apart of the whole bigger open sleeve new look, so I thought I would try it out. I tried them on and they fitted very fitted on my stomach witch I love, so we will see I like the sleeves.

the pink one has a zipper going down the back. kind of fun.

green top, simple. I love the neck on the purple one, I have a red one just like it.

FUN! the polka dot one is very sassy and flattering. the bottom one is very baggy and fitted at the hip, but the print was just so fun!

these are all the racerback tanks that I now love.

Alright. these 2 were my price busters. Each for 20$ a piece. the cami is soooo pretty, its got a lace top that you cant really tell from the picture, the bottom is very flowy, but sooo elegant. I am in love. The jacket goes with it, its a blue and white pinstripe and it ties right under my chest. :)

This is a sassy sexy shirt. It has a very open back that somehow, I don't know how, it covers my G's. I was shocked. unfortunately it doesnt cover them in the front so I will need a cami for that.

OK. I am done.

I can't wait to wear it all, all the time.

Normally, when I go shopping, I have to make absolute sure I want something before I buy it. So I take pictures of me in the mirror, send them to my BFF Bequi, and have her tell me what she thinks. OR I have her with me. Well, she was busy today so I didn't take many pics.

I really wanted a pencil skirt. this one. But, I couldn't convince myself my legs looked good in it. So I went home without it.

I LOVED this shirt. But, the sleeves just BARELY didn't cover enough of my arm. I was so bummed. and it was full price. but ooooo I felt sexy it in, except I thought my arms looked a little manly lol. oh well.

Future plans.

I always have ideas or goals for things I will want to do, but then either forget or it just doesn't get done.

so here is a list/ explanation of things I will want to do, mostly with the house.

This our kitchen, or will be our kitchen .

This house was built in 2001 so its not old by any means, but to me the kitchen is really dated. I hate the countertops, to me they look blue and I do not like it. I don't like the light cabinets, to me its very country. I also don't like the tile flooring. Tiling flooring is still "in" I guess, I have just never been a fan.

SO. The plan.

this

The first thing I think will happen, hopefully within a year, is to re-stain the cabinets with a dark dark stain, and add new hardware. This should be fairly inexpensive, just very time consuming and tedious from what I have heard. Shouldn't cost more than 50-100$.

second, new counter tops. That will probably be the most expensive, depending on the kind, coming in around 2k. We will wait for a tax return to do that. If we are going for quality and not worrying too much about price, I opt for stainless steel, but if we are going for cost efficient, it will be a really light, offwhiteish color solid surface.

third, the floor. I don't when that will ever get done, even doing it ourselves, you are talking ripping up all the tile, evening out the floor, laying hardwood and finishing it off. I am assuming even if you go for hours straight, you are still looking at days of it, don't you think?

but when that all is said and done it should resemble this...

the biggest impact on the kitchen is going to be the cabinets, which luckily is way cheap to do.

the only problem I know we are going to run into is this.

Jason and I both love the dark cabinets, but Jason does not like light colored wood, and he doesn't understand that if you have dark cabinets, you HAVE to have a light floor, like seen above. If you do dark floors, it will all be waaay too dark. So, I need advice on how to convince him the light hardwood floors look great, because he wants dark.

Our kitchen is really the only part about the house I don't love, everything else fits right in line.

There is an unfinished bathroom downstairs that one day we will finish. That will be a big job, expensive and very time consuming, but for resale value it will be awesome. We are going to put in a deep jetted tub, standard toilet and counter top sink. I am pretty sure that project will come in at at least 3k. That project is years down the line, at least 5.

hmm... what else?

It already has really nice perfect carpet, so I don't think I will ever want to change that.

oh one day I want to paint the garage floor, it sounds weird but I think it looks nicer painted gray then just concrete.

in the backyard is huge cement patio for a table, BBQ, etc. but there is not cover, so Jason wants to build onto the house a covered patio. That is probably a few years down the line.

I am sure more will come to me, right now the big thing is the dang kitchen.

excitment!

I feel like I have so much to do...and too much time to do it...

Meaning, I am so excited to get all this house stuff done, but so ansy with all the time I have!!

We close on the 18th. Less than a month away.

I am SO excited to re-decorate all of our house stuff. Right now our apartment is in a blue-brown theme and I am bored of it, so I am re-doing everything!

Chairs

Canvas work

pillows

picture frames

vases

magnet board

etc

All of it!

re-done!!!

Good thing the hubby is going to a jazz game tonight so I can be left alone to craft. :-)

I am soo super duper excited.

I will post pictures I am sure once it is either all complete, or all put up in the house. :-)

I heart my modge podge

I am taking the vases from here, and adding some color to them all.

:-)

aren't these such bright fun colors???

forget vintage, I am going for modernly bright retro. :-)

Wish me luck doing it.

*****3 hours later*****

This, although a dark picture, is ALL my chairs, finished. I am still debating about whether or not to do back covers.

Bright, modernly, retro. :-)

My painted knick knacks.

Crafting was fun tonight. there was so much more I could have done, but I would have had to go to Michael's and get things, and then make a bigger mess...so I just stopped at this.

It is bright. and colorful, I know.

It may not be your style, or even thee style, but oh my goodness it brightens my attitude.

Don't worry, I am aware at how quickly bright colors like this can get out of control and look like a 5 year olds bedroom so I will have more grounding pieces as well.

This was for sure a restful, productive Saturday.

I am a little sad its over.

lately...

I have been sooo tired lately.

which is really unlike me.

The whole house drama we had with the first house really took its toll on me emotionally and I think really affected my sleep quality.

but that house situation is over, we found a new house, a better house, we put in an offer and they accepted it.

I realized I have never really blogged about our drama/trauma with the first house.

I will explain.

Jason and I found this great townhouse in woods cross, 1500 sq 2 car garage, huge master bath, yada yada, the works. listing price was 164,900.

Score.

it had been on the market for 8 days, and this was over the holidays so we knew the chances that others who were serious about buying were slim. We hauled butt to put an offer in on a saturday because we KNEW if we waited, other offers would come in and we would get into a bidding war, raising the price.

Well, the seller had a retarded agent name Sandra. Sandra is a slow, old, retarded, mean, ugly, nasty lady who has no clue what she is doing or the legal documents she is working with. On Wednesday, after several counter offers, our agent talked to Sandra and came to a verbal agreement over the phone, Karin(our agent) told Sandra to create a counteroffer outlining the agreement and send it to us to sign, to put us under contract.

she did.

we signed. And we sent it back to her, putting us under contract, which means they can not accept or negotiate other offers.

4 days later Karin calls us to tell us that Sandra is negotiating other offers and wants our highest and best offer. She can't do that.

but she did.

What happened is this. Sandra found a buyer, her own buyer, had them put an offer in and then accepted theirs instead so she would get commission as the selling agent and the buying agent.

Thats illegal.

So, we did not send in a highest a best offer because we firmly believe we were under contract and should not have to bid. so we didn't. Instead we filed formal complaints with the Utah Department of Real Estate, who I work with, and the Salt Lake Board of Realtors.

well the bottom line is that Sandra purposefully did not put her sellers signature on the offer until after we sent ours in, and then did not send us a copy with signatures on it, so technically there was nothing we could do without an attorney, and that could take months.

The UDRE and SLBR will both separately be fining Sandra up to 2500$ for her actions.

I also wrote her an email explaining how I felt about her.

It was ugly, trust me.

And then, we found our house!!!

and actual house!

with a yard!

it is bigger, better and so much better for us.

The first house was really cheap, but had an HOA of 110$ a month which adds about 25K to the price of your home.

so in the end we are paying a little bit more for the house, but getting a lot more also.

here are the differences in the 2 houses.

Townhome had 3 bathrooms. House has 2, with 1 unfinished.

townhome had huge master walk in closet. House has a normal closet.

townhome had no dining room, just a tiny area for possibly a table. House has a full huge dining room.

townhome had 3 bedrooms, house has 4.

townhome had a huge jetted tub. House has normal tub, but we will be finishing the unfinished bathroom with a huge jetted tub.

townhome had maybe 5 feet of a backyard. Home has a huge vinyl fenced in backyard with a basketball hoop out front.

townhome had a smaller living room. House has 2 huge living room.

townhome had a regularish sized kitchen. House has huge kitchen with a huge island.

So, both have their pros and cons, but overall I think we for sure came out on top with the House.

I will post pictures when we actually move in, cause right now all the pictures have all their ugly stuff in it. :-)

well, thats the story.

Today was the home inspection, nothing wrong with the house, and now we just "coast to closing"

:-)

I love coasting.

Jason

Jason-

I love you because you kiss me like you mean it.

because you always find ways to make me feel special.

you never get tired of my need for your attention.

you are always proud to be seen with me.

you keep all my secrets.

when I am irritable, you are always forgiving.

you know what I meant to say, even if I didn't say it.

when I want to talk, you listen.

when I don't want to talk, you're patient.

it is important to you, that I am happy.

you give yourself to me.

you are just as crazy about me as I am about you.

you have never looked back at what came before me.

you kiss me when you think I am sleeping.

when I reach for you, you move closer.

you show me grace at every turn.

you help me to understand myself.

you try to seduce me when you think no one is watching.

you see the best in me.

I feel safe with you.

you have never asked me to prove myself.

you find me irresistible.

you know how to say difficult things without hurting me.

you chase me around the house.

you support me as I keep changing my mind about when to start a family.

when you realize I am cold, you always find some way to warm me up.

you try to sing all the words to our song.

you are proud of my accomplishments.

Without you, my life would be less than what it has become.

gosh, I really love my husband.

I am so excited to create a home with you, Jason.

I can't wait for what this year has in store for us.

traditions

Over this Christmas season there were a lot of traditions that I heard about that different people do, and I thought they were so sweet.

So I am going to make a list of traditions I want to start or continue with my own family.

1. Putting up the Christmas tree in my house was always a big to do. It never was required that we be there, but over the years we all realized how much fun we have putting it up, for several reason. reason 1 is that my dad blasts the christmas music and we all dance around for about 5 minutes before we start, singing at the top of our lungs and looking silly. reason 2 is that 75% of our ornaments have a story behind them, and every year we always re-tell all the little stories of how we got that particular one, like,"that was the year we were so poor, you kids got a box for Christmas and we told you it was a club house" or "That ornament says Trina on it because that was the year Kati decided to change her name to Trina so her YW leaders put Trina on her ornament." We always have a good time telling the stories that we all already know. reason 3 is that we used to get real trees so if you wanted a say in how big or tall the tree was, you had to be there. I very much want to continue this tradition.

2. Butterfinger the Elf. At my house Butterfinger the elf is a little elf puppet that sits at the bottom of the stairs and "watches" you to see if you are being nice. If you are, then he will bring you a gift that you get to open on Christmas Eve, which is always PJ's. I will continue this one as well.

3. Everyone's bedroom has to be clean or Santa is not coming. My mom seriously said that every year and almost every year we cleaned our rooms so Santa would come. Need I explain why I will carry on this tradition?

4. My family has always done a nativity scene on Christmas Eve, and while I think its a good reminder of Christ, I think the best way to truly encompass the meaning of Christmas, is service. So instead of a Christmas Eve nativity scene, with my family we will read the scriptures about his birth, and then do acts of service on Christmas Eve. like this friend of mine who took oranges to the fire house station to all the fire fighters who have to work on Christmas Eve. Think of all the people who have to work on the holidays that get little or no thanks for it. That will be our Christmas Eve tradition.

5. I read on a blog that someones tradition is to wrap 25 christmas books separately and put them under the tree, and each night they pick one to unwrap, and they read it before bed. I thought that was awful sweet so I already bought 2 books to get my collection started, feel free to contribute to my fund ;-).

6. Sub for Santa. Our YW's at the end of the year had only used, like maybe 10% of their budget for the year, so they decided with the rest of it(which was a lot) to do Sub for Santa for refugees in Utah. It was so sweet, and so fun and I want to do it every year.

7. Now this friend of mine has a tradition in her family that every Christmas they each open one gift, then play a game as a family. Then open one more gift, then play another game, rinse repeat til the gifts are done. That one seems a bit too constructive, but I think its worth a shot, cause they love it!

8. On Christmas Eve night I want all my children to sleep in the same room. Where ever they want, but they will be all together to snicker and laugh til they fall asleep, and then to wake up all together on Christmas morning. I think that would make it so much fun for them.

There are a few more I am sure and I just can't think of them, but there are also a bunch that don't relate to the holidays that I need to write down so I don't forget.

thats all for now, I am off to cuddle with the hubby.

HAppy new year

Hello 2010.

This new years post is also my 100th post!!

well now thats something.

We had lots of fun last night with family and friends. I have not stayed up until 2 am since before I was married.

I am such an old fart.

I have an additional goal to accomplish for the year 2010.

I got my fancy shmancy camera for Christmas and have been taking a lot of pictures. I also got a digital scrapbooking software for Christmas.

I researched for weeks about which software to get so I didn't get some lame one that sucked lol.

and my goal is to scrapbook my pictures after every event, and then at the end of the year print out the pages and have a scrapbook of that year.

We will see how it goes, so far so good.

my nick nack task is getting better, its sort of on hold for now due to lack of craft funds which is due to my overspending on crafts unknowingly. OOPS!!!

Happy New Year friends!!

and happy 100th post my little blog!