October 2011 photos

Teeny tiny Mochimochi candy corn. Isn’t he cute?

Bobbles the Sheep dishcloth  This was my first attempt at bobbles and might be my last.

Mr. Caterpoopypants is our pet.{JJ} caught him the other day and I felt bad about releasing him outside since the weather channel was predicting major snow and temperatures in the teens. SO I pick fresh lilac leaves for him twice a day which he loves to eat. One thing I never knew about caterpillars, not that I know a lot about them, is that they poop a lot!
 

{O} playing the lap steel and {H} practicing on his drum pad.


{O} at Rock Park on a class hike

 

My three wild & crazy handsome boys! I love them so!
All four of my guys decorating Halloween cookies last night!

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. by Hanna Rion

 

Our seedlings are almost ready to plant in the garden! I am so excited! We just need to figure out the best time to put these into the ground. Most people in Colorado will say not to plant anything until Mother’s Day is past because it can snow on up to the middle of May. Last year was proof!

This year we have 16 different varieties of herbs and vegetables and one blueberry bush. Our next step is planting fruit trees, tomato's and of course strawberries! We are even thinking about getting some chickens. Living a more sustainable life is not a fade it’s a necessity!

The house is ours!

I am so excited and thankful that this part of the process is over. Now onto the next. We need to schedule the inspection and go over the disclosures and we should close on the house on May 24th! Wow, it’s amazing how quick this all happened. I have been looking at houses now for over a year but Jas wasn’t serious about it until just recently since our lease is ending at the end of May so it has only been a couple weeks since we got serious about the whole thing. And now look, we have our own home again! I can’t wait! Here are a few photos I took from the website. Of course the furnishings aren’t ours. The sellers are leaving the patio furniture for us though which is nice since we didn’t take ours when we moved from Arizona.

The front of the house. There are two huge Aspens on the left side of this photo. It is going to look so pretty when all the leaves come in and in the fall when the Aspens change.

  

Kitchen with dining area

Family rooms. There is a divider between the dining room and family room so it’s all open.

The front room

Another view of the kitchen with island. I have never had a kitchen with a window.

Master bedroom. Bathroom is open door and it has a walk in closet.

This is a room connected to the master bedroom. It’s a “retreat” and it’s MINE! It’s my office, knitting area and “Panic room” when I need to get away from my kids aka: the nutty bunch.

The master bath.

Bedroom 2. I love the colors for J&O’s room but not the tree w/bird. It’s very girly.

Third bedroom

Boys bath. I love the colors and need to find a shower curtain to match this room.

Patio area. The sellers are leaving the table for us. Nice huh? They have a prepared garden box (in background) all ready for planting!

Back of house.

More yard. The yard is around a 1/4 acre which in our area is a large yard. I am so excited to have a big yard again! I am already planning an outdoor bbq for Jason’s 40th birthday! :)

That’s it. I guess I had more than a few photos to share!

 

Quote of the day:
Everybody believes in something and everybody, by virtue of the fact that they believe in something, use that something to support their own existence. - Frank Zappa

Keep your fingers crossed and maybe say a prayer, it can only help!

We are about to make an offer on a house. Not THE house but a very beautiful house. Smaller but this is a turnkey home, nothing to fix or paint. Huge yard, beautiful kitchen, and a private retreat with a fireplace in the master bedroom. That would be all MINE! I can just imagine myself sitting in my retreat in the winter with the fire going while knitting in peace. My own room. My very own room. Wow, I hope I haven’t set myself up for disappointment.
Cross your fingers, toes, eyes and whatever body part you can cross for us please! Thanks! Of course either way I will post the outcome. Gotta go, I have huge butterflies in my belly right now, some just flutters and others that feel like huge birds.
Have a great rest of your Sunday.

Quote of the day:
Never eat more than you can lift. - Miss Piggy
 

We took the first step!

Jason is putting a bid on the HOUSE FOR SALE that I posted about earlier in the month. I am not getting my hopes up because as I mentioned it’s a short sale with one bid on the house that’s been sitting at the bank since October 2009. I am not sure how the whole short sale thing works out but I know it can be a long process . Thankfully we are renting but we still need to find out if we can go  month to month because I would like to follow through as far as we can on this offer.

There are two other offers in line if the first offer falls through so we are putting a bid down for the full asking price to have a better chance at having the bank pick our offer if the other two are lower.  This house is worth so much more. Even now, the asking price is a good deal and when the economy is better and the real estate market recovers this house will have been an incredible investment. Once the basement is finished the total square footage of the house will be 4,500 sf and without the basement the rest of the house is still 2,615 sf. That’s a nice size house.

I am excited but like I said, not getting my hopes up. Cross your fingers for us and I will update more later when we hear something from the realtor and hopefully the bank!

Quote of the day:
I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions. - Augusten Burroughs

I want this house!!!! (updated with more photos!)

We have been looking at this particular house for months now, wondering why it hasn’t sold. So this weekend we scheduled a walk through with a local realtor and the house is awesome. Everything we want. The total square feet of the house without the basement is 2,615 sf and with the basement once it’s finished brings the total square foot of the house to 4,500 sf. HUGE! The colors that the previous owner painted the house is a disgusting light bluish green and beige and the window coverings (only in the family room) are a dark green and burgundy. Nothing major though, a little paint and some TLC would make this house beautiful!
When you walk into the house to the left is an open office (which would be mine!) and a formal living room and dining room. To your right is the stairs upstairs which are open with high ceilings. To the back of the house is the family room and kitchen and somewhere (I forget where) is the laundry room off the garage. I love this type of family room that is right off the kitchen. Ours now is in the back of the house and the family room is in the front of the house. Yuck. The kitchen is huge with high ceilings and tons of cabinets, a full pantry and a built in desk with all the hookup for tv and computer. Plus a full deck.
Upstairs is the master bedroom with a 5-piece bathroom with a roman tub and a huge double shower and a walk in closet. There are also 2 other bedrooms which J & O would still share until we had the basement finished. Then Henry could have his own room down there.
In the basement which the previous owners started to finish is huge!  Totally excavated 1,900 square feet! Larger than our entire Arizona home! The basement has plumbing for an additional bathroom, a full bedroom and a huge game/family/tv room plus a walk out to the back yard. The only downfall to this house is the backyard is small but there is a park directly across the street and a few houses down.
So the reason this house isn’t selling? It’s a short sale. Wonderful. The realtor told me today that there is one offer down and two in line so I think we should put an offer down for the full asking price because  this house will be worth it and it’s only $250,000. Plus it’s in the neighborhood we have been looking at for a year now. Jason isn’t too fond of any other neighborhood either and at this time this is the only house for sale there.
Here’s some photos

This is the front of the house which to be honest doesn’t have much curb appeal. If we got this house, down the road we would definitely change the colors!

This is of the family room in the back. What you don’t see is that the kitchen is directly to the left of this room with a sliding glass door to the deck. The back yard has tons of trees. (see the ugly window coverings?)

This is the from room and the dining room. The dining room is where the ugly brass and glass chandelier are. Directly to the left is the office and bathroom. The only thing odd about this house is the bathroom next to the office is a full bath which normally the main floor bath is normally just a powder room with a toilet and sink but this one has those plus a tub and shower. Weird.

Dining room with the stairs next to it.
This is the master bedroom. Through the doors is the bathroom and if you look at the right side of the bathroom it has a pantry that can be used for a small television or some people have a coffee bar set up. On the other side of this room is the sliding glass doors to a balcony that is only accessible to this bedroom and its private. Nice.

This is the master bedroom with the sliding glass doors with the private balcony.

The master bather. The toliet is seperate and has it’s own room! I like that especially with three boys and no privacy!

The kitchen, we would need to buy a fridge and that’s it. I love the hardwood floors. It’s the nice durable real wood and not the laminate type that scratches which we had in this house when we moved in.  On the other wall you can’t see is more cabinets and a huge pantry.

The back of the house with the balcony from the family room, the entry from the basement and to the left you can see the balcony from the master bedroom.

View of the backyard from the balcony. I love this house. I want this house. *sigh* this whole process is so frustrating!
Anyhow, gotta see what hubby says. Wish us luck!


Quote of the Day:
Women like silent men. They think they're listening.
--Marcel Archard