cranky

4-29-13

Real Estate is beating me down.

Although I managed to not tell Ken what his birthday present was (quite the mini victory for me), he apparently figured it out some time at like 2 am on Saturday morning. Oh well. He really seemed to like it. The day was pretty so Ken said when he was in the plane he was able to see quite a bit. I am glad he had fun.

The rest of the weekend was pretty standard. Laundry was done and house got straightened up. Sadly, none of it was really covering up the anxiety I was dealing with. I snapped at one point when I was annoyed with all three of my housemates sitting around playing Minecraft for like 6 hours straight.

In all fairness, I did get a little bit of awesome Sunday morning. Dax came in and told me he needed a black button up shirt. The only one I knew of was Bobby’s, but it wasn’t the style he wanted. Apparently he had a whole getup in mind. He wanted “fancy” clothes. This says to me that I have done some good parenting. LOL! He and I headed out to the Goodwill where we found some pants he liked and a nice shirt. He also discovered a kick ass cane that thrilled him. We looked through shoes and he pointed out some men’s dress shoes and told me that is what he was looking for. Sadly, they didn’t have any for kids, but he seemed to be ok with what we did find. He spent the rest of the morning in his fancy clothing, complete with bowler and bow tie he requested from me.

This morning I checked into the ListingBook and saw what I assumed would happen. The house we love that had gone back on the market after falling out of escrow was now back to a pending status. This means they chose one of the offers. I am assuming it isn’t ours. I also know why. I am in a bit of a mood about it, but I can’t do much about it. For now, at least I know the cul-de-sac place is still on the table. The sellers are reviewing our offer and hopefully we will know this week. The good news is I really like that place, too, so I am happy if we can get in there.

I know I am cranky. I just screamed out a coworkers name all Captain Kirk style despite the fact that no one is here in the office. I am pissed at something that although isn’t a huge deal is something I now have to fix. Thank goodness I took next Monday off. I am just worried that someone is going to freak out since it looks like I am covering for new accounts again this week. Fuck I don’t get paid enough to deal with these idiots. See! I am cranky!!!

stupid fish tank

4-26-13

I really need to watch where I am going better.

I tried to slip behind Dax who was sitting on a stool watching Ken play Minecraft. All I wanted to do was to close the front door. I didn’t factor in the incredibly sharp point of the fish tank and my arm is still throbbing this morning from the impact. It hurt so bad it actually had me speechless and in tears for a good 5 minutes. 

Ouch.

I had to break the news to the boys last night about America’s Got Talent. Dax took it harder, but he didn’t end up crying since I guess I shocked him when I told him that I had been so upset about the news that I left work early, crying. It seemed to make him feel better, almost as if I was telling him it was more than ok to be upset at things. I let them know that we would have to come up with something fun to do tonight. Dax thought going and seeing the Croods would be good, so I am thinking that is the plan for now.

The eye doc actually asked if I was a little dehydrated. I laughed since I had probably consumed close to 2 gallons of fluids over the course of the day. She wasn’t worried. She just noted my eyes were a little, I guess squishier than what they would normally be. She had to do the touch my eye thing to check pressure. She said there was nothing to worry about and actually my eyes look really good. I still have 20-20 in my right eye, and I am pretty damn close to that in my left eye. Also, this screening was more to see if the diabetes had moved to my eyes at all. It has not. In fact, she was impressed with all of it. YAY!

Ken happened to be able to get an appointment right after me. He had been referred this week due to him having another migraine. The doctor wanted to check his eyes since he has a scintillating scotoma when it happens. Having had this in elementary school a couple times, I know what an unfun thing this is.

They checked his vision and he is still a bit more farsighted. They prescribed him with some glasses for things like being in front of the computer. It is only single lenses and the doc wasn’t too concerned. She didn’t want to dilate his eyes, though. Apparently he has some thin part of the eye that if dilated it could cause a pressure change in his eyes and she wants to make sure she has an ophthalmologist present for that. Not a big deal, but man she freaked out Ken since she mentioned she wanted the other doc present but said she would explain after the exam. Look, when a doctor wants to wait on something, it is a little intimidating. LOL! Thankfully, there is no real problem, just a doc making sure nothing goes wrong.

My eyes hurt after the exam since that dilating nonsense really does mess with your light intake. I made dinner with sunglasses on. It wasn’t too bad, but I could tell that it hurt. Thankfully, the boys wanted to watch Ken with his Minecraft game, so I was able to sit back and watch one of my Mad Men episodes. It was good (until I smashed my arm).

I am counting down until tomorrow morning. I have managed to keep the birthday present a secret and I am so freaking excited about his reaction. Hee!!!

We have our offer on the cul-de-sac place in front of the sellers and an offer was submitted last night to our other wonderful awesome cool house. Now we wait. Oh well, I can manage!

Punch

4-25-13

I have been re-inspired!

So yesterday as I combed through all of the various listings that meet our criteria, it occurred to me that there was a place we had looked at before that I know I really liked. It is in Torrance and at the end of a cul-de-sac that was pretty good sized and would work out well for our needs on both a personal and Ken’s business level. We didn’t put an offer in as it was during a transition period in which we had been told the price range of the place was too high. Now that this is not the same problem, we can bid on it.

What makes it even better is that it isn’t on the market currently. They don’t plan to list until next month. However, they can accept an offer. I spoke to Brandon and he sounded actually quite excited about this one. Apparently even Frank was jazzed and he told us we should put in an offer and he told us for how much! This was very cool and it makes me happy!

This morning I came in and did my standard ListingBook check and what do I see? The house we loved that we were one of the last ones bidding seems to be listed as Active again. Not sure what any of this means since I am still new at all of this, but I emailed my people to let them know we are still interested and would like to know what the deal is. I hate that I am up at 5 in the morning and finding these things and no one I need to talk to is up. LOL!

So with two possibilities again on the table, I feel like things may go better this round. We also are considering putting in an offer for one of the ones we saw yesterday that was pretty cute. It wasn’t much bigger than our current house, but they did some cool things with the space. I don’t anticipate much out of this one, but at least I was pleasantly surprised.

The other two, well, let’s just say they have been removed from my watch list. In reality, they were not “bad”. They just were not us. I am ok with this, especially since they already had points against them with being in Hawthorne. Yes, this means I should probably not look, but Hawthorne still has so many good things, too. Either way, I am glad I looked.

Today I have my eye appointment. I am curious how bad they are. It has been some time since I got my eyes checked. I don’t know that I will need anything like glasses, but then again, who knows! I expect it since my whole family has them, and really, with as much time as I spend in front of a computer, it probably would be a good thing to give my eyes a hand.

Ken came home from soccer last night and I didn’t expect to hear his tale. He has told me in the past that the refs at this place suck and how many of the teams they play are pretty rough. I was shocked when he then told me how there were 2 yellow cards and a red card given out for the fouls. Not as shocked as when I then was told that the red card was issued to him for punching a guy!

My understanding is that the guy he punched called Ken a “fag” which really deserves more than one punch in the face. That being said, I am still a little surprised that Ken was the one to throw the punch. I guess the whole game was heated and it was after the game and there was a brawl mentality due to all of it, but it is crazy. This whole soccer thing is supposed to be light and fun, but every week it sounds more and more, well, intense! I know he can handle himself, but I gotta say I am torn. I don’t like him being in these kind of situations! What happens if some guy beats the shit out of him? I don’t see it happening, but I just don’t want him getting hurt over some tool who is just being a dick. Sigh. It is some crazy shit.

  

blue

4-24-13

The sad actually made me go home.

The house blues were really getting to me yesterday. I was bummed, but I still was determined. I spent a lot of time on ListingBook so I could get the scoop on any and all listings that may meet our criteria. I even sent the list to Brandon along with updating our spreadsheet. We have viewings on 4 of them tomorrow.

I took a break from virtual house hunting and decided to get the information together for Friday. We have tickets to go see the taping of America’s Got Talent. As I reviewed the details I noticed something I had not seen before. It almost brought me to tears. The boys would not be allowed in. Apparently there is an age minimum of 12. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

I have to say, I didn’t know how blue I had been until this hit me. I was so very upset. The boys have been so excited about this (as had I) and now I am going to have to tell them we can’t go. I am guessing they will be less upset than I fear, but yesterday I was not thinking straight. It hit me hard and I just felt frustrated and needed to get away from my desk.

I ended up being able to go home where I met up with Ken and we went to Costco. He had a trip planned already, but it was nice to hang out with him. We then went to lunch and played a movie trivia game for a long time, which was very calming.

I am much better today. I have regrouped. Sure, I have day of work ahead of me, but it always goes pretty quick. I also have house viewings to look forward to. I also still have Saturday in which I hope to be crowned wife of the year.

So for now, I keep on truckin!

stupid dart board

4-23-13

Back to the drawing board.

I am trying very hard to not cry today. My false sense of security was crushed yesterday when I got word that the house we really liked was not to be. We had been told that we were a strong contender, but sadly another offer came in over the weekend and they accepted that one.

Fuck.

The only house we still have an offer in on right now is Walnut. We are still waiting on Ted Kaczynski to respond to our counter and hopefully we will know more today. In the meantime, we are making appointments to see several properties today. I have emailed Brandon 5 places we want to look at. 

Throwing more darts at this impossible dart board.

  

Mutt Moms

4-23-13

I am a mutt.

There seems to be a movement out in the world today that has you name the style of mom you are. We have your tiger moms, your helicopter moms, hell even I have joked that I am Mama Bear. But it doesn’t just stop with random animals. You have attachment parenting, authoritative parenting, and permissive parenting. Each style comes with their own rules. Tiger moms are very strict and expect their kids to get no less than A’s in school. Helicopter parents hover around their kids; not letting them to ever feel like help isn’t nearby. As a mom, you read all of these different techniques and it’s no wonder we feel overwhelmed with the whole prospect of it.  

The pressure to be a good parent is at a peak these days. Moms from a couple of generations ago didn’t have to worry about much more than just keeping us alive. Now, alive isn’t enough. We have to make sure our 2 month old thrives and we identify their inner prodigy early so that we can ensure that they meet their potential long before Pre-K.

What a sad way to mom!

When I was a little kid, I wanted to become three things. I had plans on being a scientist on my own farm in which I also had my own veterinary practice. I also planned on being a mom. I wanted 6 kids; 3 girls, 3 boys. Clearly I had lofty goals, and although I determined pretty quickly my scientific mind was not ready for a career in medical breakthroughs for goats, I did still know I needed to be a mother.

After waiting for my body to reciprocate my desire for 3 years, I found myself pregnant with my son, Bobby. I was in heaven. I promptly started reading anything and everything I could get my hands on in order to make sure I was fully prepared to do more than just feed and water this little life form that was coming soon.

I have to ask, when did the parenting books section in the book store become a larger section than the children’s books? Well, that answer is now clear. Remember that pressure I spoke of? Well, so many of us moms out there have been trying to make sure we are doing everything right. We are giving ourselves the label as some way to show other parents at those play groups we all not so secretly despise that we are better than everyone else. We are looking for people to look to us as the model of great parenting when really, none of us know what we are doing.

Last night, right after I tucked my now 8 and 6 year old boys into bed I had a parenting epiphany.

I am a mutt!

A Mutt Mom to be specific. I have crammed so much parenting advice and articles and who knows what else into my mind I have started to form my own parenting style. I don’t stick to any one plan. I have taken bits and pieces of the many advice columns and books I have read and have raised my two boys accordingly. I also have not stuck to just one. I have been fluid in my parenting, making sure to address problems as they arise and try different methods based on what has worked in the past and being sure to know that the only “right” answer is the one that produces results.

I am a combo of the many things that make moms great. I am a mutt! I am stronger than a purebred because I am allowed to adapt. I don’t have to identify as any one breed. I am still fiercely loyal to my boys and will look out for their best interest, but at the same time I don’t need to feel pigeon holed into one method.

When they were young, I know I was very helicopter. But with time, I was able to pull back and let them grow. Do I regret having some helicopter tendencies? Not at all! During that time, I was able to do what I felt was best for me and my kids. I love that I have been able to grow as a mom and not just stay stagnant with procedures.

So moms stand proud knowing you are allowed to be a mom mongrel. You can pick and choose from all those crazy styles and still produce a fabulous child, and maybe even more importantly, you won’t lose your mind in the process. Don’t think that because you are not using the latest fad parenting that you are doing it wrong. Just know that you simply didn’t find that to be a good match.

Mutts get to have the best of all worlds. 

And we're back

4-22-13

Back at work already?

In all fairness, it was a good weekend. Saturday was certainly a full adventure. The boys and I set out on our bikes at about 7:30. The destination was breakfast first, then head to my folks. I expected much more grief from them, but they were shockingly happy about the trip. We started at a good time because it wasn’t too hot out yet and they still were in that good kid mood.

We made it to Coco’s and had a really nice breakfast. Since we had made such good time, we decided to go to Target to pick up a few items. The boys got a little cranky there only because I wasn’t letting them play their iPods. Despite the grumblings, they kept it together and I found a pair of shoes to wear for the rest of my ride since the one I wore were not ideal.

We got to my parents’ house about 3 minutes before they arrived home, which worked out quite perfectly. The boys played and I was able to hang out with my mom and do my nails. I also was able to fix myself up a bit from the ride so that I was presentable for the baby shower.

I am very glad we went. I didn’t know anyone else there, but Dawn was so thrilled that my mom and I showed up. She and Rosie looked so freaking happy and it was so fantastic to see them so blissful. I also loved how much of their families and friends were there. Victorian Rose will be a well loved little girl.

After the shower, the boys and rode our bikes from the house up to Spring Fest. Ken showed up not long after and we let the boys play. I had got the unlimited ride bracelets this year, which paid for itself after they did the giant slide a handful of times. They went on to go up and down that slide for maybe 40 minutes. LOL!

Ken and I didn’t get tickets, but the ride operator insisted that we go on the Tilt a Whirl with the boys since we were a family. It was very sweet of him. I swear, the ride was also like 3 times as long as normal. It was a lot of fun, despite freaking me out with all the spins.

Kam and Sean and the twins showed up. We didn’t really end up hanging out with them, but it was nice to see them. Kam’s brother was there, too, so they had other running around to do.

The boys decided to go on this one ride. Sadly, it was one in which we could not see their face during the ride. I didn’t know how they would feel about this one. Turned out, they did not like it one bit. They both came out freaked and crying. Poor guys!

We took a little break after that to get some water and a snack. While chillin at the car, Ken pointed out this strange balloon critter this family was carrying. I was more intrigued with the couple since I knew them! It turned out to be Armando from Madison and his wife, Elena, who I happen to work with. It was really cool to see them! I told Armand how funny it was that I had just seen Dawn and he laughed. It was a good Madison reunion day for me.

Ken was able to load the bikes on the van so we didn’t have to ride home. I should have probably done the ride, but I was beat. The kids were tired as was Ken from having done reffing much of the day for the Founders Cup. It was so time to just get home.

Sunday was one of those rare days that although yes, we should have worked on house stuff, we all just decided to chill. The boys and Ken played Minecraft much of the morning and early afternoon. During this time, I had Glee on and was able to catch up on 7 episodes. Then, the boys’ friends came over, so Ken and I watched Cougar Town, which got us through about 7 episodes. It felt good to catch up on tv and not have to worry about anything.

Today I can go back to my worrying about the house hunt. I didn’t stress about it at all over the weekend since I knew there was not going to be any news on the place we want. The sellers I think are out of town until possibly tomorrow, so we won’t know their plan until then. As for the Walnut property, the Ted Kaczynski seller I guess finally got the counter and perhaps we will know more today on what his new counter is. Sheesh.

Why it hot pink hair so appealing? And for that matter, light purple?

I have a busy week ahead of me. Thursday I get my eyes checked and dilated. Friday is Dax’s field trip which also is the day we go see America’s Got Talent. I am also super jazzed about Saturday since I got Ken’s birthday present. Seriously, I don’t know how I am going to keep it a secret until then! I am just so excited for it. I plan on blindfolding him that day to take him to where it is. Hee!!!

  

be nice

4-19-13

Hey bad guys! Take a fucking vacation!

This morning I stopped to pick up breakfast and a guy rode up to the place on his bike. The girl at the window clearly had taken his order many times in the past and he seemed like this nice, carefree guy who was in route to work. I was waiting on my food and his friend pulled up in the parking lot, so he walked over to say hello. I don’t know what it was. He just seemed nice and sometimes nice is all it takes. The lady handed me my food and I handed her a $5 and told her to put it towards his bill. I had heard what his order was, and $5 would cover most if not all of it. I had no reason to do this other than I just felt like doing something nice for someone.

We looked at a place yesterday that isn’t on the market until Tuesday. Cute neighborhood, ok house, but truly, it wasn’t home. Sure, I could see making the space work, but even with the stress of this process wearing me down, I really feel like we need to love the place, or at the very least, realy really like it. It is a bummer since it is a great opportunity what with it being unknown currently. Less competition is a plus these days.

The good news is we are still in the running for the place we love. There is only one offer in on that place and it is a FHA buyer. From past experience from not only Brandon but even us, we know that even though they have offered more, we are in a better position for the place. So we are holding strong on this one and keeping everything crossed. It is the one place that across the board gets 2 thumbs up (ok, well, Dax only gives one since he is still concerned in a big house that he will get confused. I know this is something else, but his apprehension is still noteworthy). Hopefully we find out something soon, but due to this being a more touchy place, we may not know until next week. So until then, I need to just breathe.

I am considering riding our bikes tomorrow. The baby shower is in Manhattan Beach, but we are going to my mom’s first. I think if we ride, we can then ride with my mom from their house, and then after, the boys and I can ride over to the Spring Fest. Ken will be able to meet us over there after and he can always put the bikes on the car, or what would be ok to is if he just took the boys and their bikes and I can ride home. I am really tempted.

chucking junk

4-18-13

I need to learn how to meditate.

Brandon called me last night and told me that he is hoping to get Ken and I in a place today or tomorrow to look at that doesn’t hit the market until Tuesday of next week. If we can do a good offer, we may not even have to compete with anyone! HOLY FUCK YAY! Of course, who knows if the place is good, but from the satellite image, it looks like a good lot, so crossing fingers.

Papa Brenan keeps poo pooing the Walnut property. He is freaked out about the pool. He has emailed me and called Ken again yesterday telling him the boys would absolutely have to have swim lessons. Look, I am worried as much as the next mom about drowning, but for fuck’s sake, my kids have been in pools since they were newborns. I am not as worried about them as I would be about friends of theirs. That being said, the pool isn’t really a big selling point on the house for me. Sure, a pool would be kind of fun, but it is a lot of extra work. I told Ken last night we should pull our offer on it. I mean, why waste time on a property that makes our financer so nervous? Plus, this one is effing shakey as it is what with the seller not having any offers for so long and him living out in the forest somewhere with only snail mail. The place is truly too small, despite the charm and neighborhood it brings. I say let’s bail.

Hopefully there is a counter offer today from the happy making house. That being said, this new property we look at may negate everything!

Yesterday I was super productive! Since Bobby, in a shocking twist, has next to no homework this week, I opted to have him help me in the playroom while Dax was in there working on his homework. Bobby and I dove in to the gobs of toys and crap hoping to make a dent in the quantity that was there. Thankfully, the boys happened to be quite amendable to getting rid of things. I managed to also toss 3 giant bags of trash out. Along with that, there was 2 boxes, a bag and two hampers full of stuff going to Goodwill today. YAY! I emptied out two sets of dressers in there along with another set of drawers. It actually is quite a reasonable amount of stuff now. There are a couple of more large items I am hoping to get rid of. One is this full bucket of wooden tracks that you set up for marbles. Sure, it is cool, but they NEVER use the damn thing and it takes up so much room. The other is a giant bin of about 20 Mr. Potato Heads, complete with just about every costume they ever made for them. I understand how the boys really don’t want to get rid of them, but they also never play with those. Hell, at one point Jessica was helping me in there and she got excited about them and sat down to play with them. She got bored in maybe 2 minutes? I am hoping that now that they are in a bin they don’t look in, I can sneak them off to Maria’s house since her preschool kids would love those.

Jessica spent a lot of time hanging out with me yesterday. The neighborhood kids had been waiting not so patiently outside our house for my kids to be ready to play. Once I released mine, it was mass chaos of kid land at the Brenan house. 

Jessica being the only girl, was not feeling warm and fuzzy about a very active game of war. So she ended up hanging out with me while I finished the playroom. It was kind of fun having a little girl for an hour. It made me wonder what life would be like with a daughter.

My hope today is to clean out my dresser. I have so many things I just don’t or won’t wear. I will keep a couple of the workout worthy clothing and some comfy house pants and chuck the rest. Downsizing is surprisingly cathartic. I think when I go through some of the items I have left in the garage, I am going to just take pictures of some of the items and get rid of the actuals. I have old prom dresses in there. I suppose I hoped someday I would have a little girl who would want to go all retro to a dance. It isn’t likely. LOL! So I will chuck those. I have a few other things like that in there. I have Granddaddy’s letterman jacket that I want to make sure is put in a nice sealed bag so it stays ok. I have a couple other items that are out there that I also am going to get rid of. I have my Milwaukee Brewers stuff that truly doesn’t need to be kept. I don’t even watch baseball anymore. It is going to be a junk bloodbath!

I just finished reading the book Warm Bodies. Wow, quite good. I know there is a movie, but I wanted to check out the book. The author has promised a sequel, thank goodness. Well written and an intriguing idea behind zombie lore. Loved it!

23026 Walnut Street

23026 Walnut Street, a set on Flickr.

House on Walnut

Music House-5552 W 123rd Place

Music House-5552 W 123rd Place, a set on Flickr.

House in Hawthorne

the game

4-16-13

Another fantastic property, and yet again I find me getting a bit jazzed!

Yesterday, we found out there was a counter offer to a place we had looked at almost a month and a half ago. It is the property in which the owner had died in the house. Not sure if it is the death that is keeping buyers away, but it does give us an in. The problem is that it isn’t “the one”. I know I should not be super picky right now. Shoot, this place is pretty awesome with lots of potential. It has charm, it is in a kick ass neighborhood and the boys love the fact that it has a pool. Sadly, the pool does pose red flags for our financers, but that isn’t my issue with the place. It is smaller than our current place. That is not good.

As Ken was talking to his folks about the place, I heard him mention addresses. I was getting a bit confused since he kept talking about a place that apparently we put an offer in on, but we had never seen the place. As we looked into it more and more, it appears that yes, in fact, we had put in an offer on a place that I had sent the listing to Carolie accidently on. She loved the place based on the listing info. I had seen the place and was intrigued, but it was over our limit. I had it on my watch list, but didn’t think anything of it.

Now that there was an offer in on it AND approval from the fam to go for it, I was ignited to see it. We were able to see it at 5:30 yesterday, camera in hand.

Wow.

Seriously, really great! Good sized bedrooms, including a really good sized master suite. Separate laundry room, good kitchen with new appliances. A kitchen nook! A great family room with another front room that I suppose would be a great formal living room (with giant picture window for the Christmas Tree!!!) along with a middle section that could be a dining room or even an office/library. Giant yard, complete with Dax climbing tree. Sure, there is some work to be done, but it is only on the yard. The house has been flipped, which has given it new flooring, paint and other amenities.

Here is where I know not to get too excited.

I took a shit ton of pictures and sent them to the Compound. We told Brandon to let the seller know we are up for negotiation since we know there is another buyer. It sounds like our financers are willing to play ball on this one. Gah!!! I hate this game!!!!!

I did determine that I may not need my actual camera as much. I forgot to put the memory card back in after going to the Walnut property and when we got to the new place, I was all upset since I needed to take pictures. It occurred to me that I have my iTouch which is all kinds of kick ass when it comes to camera capability. I snapped all the pics and it was actually pretty awesome. It was also easy enough to connect to the computer when I got home. Yay!

I also set up a Flickr account. There are some changes afoot for Picasa, which blows, so I need to start photo shopping. Also, I have had issues uploading to Picasa with the new computer. I needed something to be able to upload pics of these houses so I could send links to my financers. This worked out pretty well. I may use it for other pics, but not sure as of yet.

3215 W 186th Street

3215 W 186th Street, a set on Flickr.

Pics of the house we currently love