Emotional Roller Coaster Ride!!

Well, since my blog yesterday, we started packing our bags for Regan and I and the dog to leave and head to my dad's. Then a few hours later it was all of us (people and animals) heading to my dad's and leave about 5 or 6 am. Then I called my dad and let him know we would be leaving tonight at about 7 or 8 pm..........

And now we are definitely staying!! What a crazy emotionally draining situation! I almost wish we would have just left a few days ago and called it a vacation!

At the moment Gustav is supposed to be a Cat. 3 by landfall and then weaken to a mere Tropical Storm towards Iberia Parish. Due to this, and the fact that we are on the better side of the storm (West), we are riding out the storm at night! Risking a drive that may have us wind up on the side of the road due to running out of gas, our odds are better staying here since there isn't (or should be) a threat.

We spend the morning moving the vehicles, moving things inside and Bub even tied Regan's swingset to the oak tree! lol

I will go and take more pictures tomorrow and probably throughout the storm. Here are the ones I took today.

Preparing for a hurricane!!

I had really hoped to be out of Iberia parish by the time a hurricane made landfall in the area. We were actually supposed to have signed papers 5 days ago if the sale had gone through! Ain't that some shit??

For the past few days we have been preparing for a visit from Gustav. We've boarded up half the windows, stocked up on supplies and gotten sand bags. People in Jeanerette say it has NEVER flooded here, ever! We have been going back and forth the past few days about whether we should leave or stay and stick it out. We lived in New Iberia during Katrina and Rita in 2005. Katrina just brought us a little wind and rain. Rita brought more wind and tons more rain flooding Avery Island and Abbeville and many of the southwestern cities.

As of this morning Gustav had risen to a 3 by landfall, carrying through Acadiana then turning into a 1. As of 5 minutes ago, everything has shifted south. It appears that New Orleans will get the end of the catagory 3 and by the time it makes it to Acadiana it will be a 1! This is GREAT news. Of course this is only if this is how it stays. This hurricane, or the predictions have been all over the place in the last 4 days! It really has been such an emotional roller coaster ride!!

When you leave, you never know if it is warranted! Some leave and the storm never even effects their house. After the storm passes, living without power is really the hardest part. Especially if it's a catagory 3 or less.

Well, other than preparing and possibly evacuating there isn't much to do but wait! As of right now, we have no intentions of leaving. Bub wants to stay either way and I really don't want us to be apart! God willing we and our house will make it through this storm!

I pray that everyone in the path of this storm comes through okay! Everyone please be safe and keep in contact with your loved ones!!

Gustav

If you haven't heard already, we may be getting a visit from Hurricane Gustav! This would not be good! As of now it is projected to hit us full steam and possibly at a category 4! Please keep us in your thoughts and pray that it dissipates before it gets to land!!

Hurricanes are never a good thing! And right now, with us trying to sell our house, this would really be worse!! I hope Gustav effects no one and just GOES AWAY!!

I HATE hurricane season!!

House Progress

Well, I am happy and scared at the progress of the new house! They are killing it and if our house was sold, I would be happier because it is seemingly not taking quite as long as they anticipated for the completion!

We went to see the house 2 days ago and they had just put all the moulding and crown moulding up and textured the walls and painted the moulding. Today we went and they had already hung and placed all the cabinets! They are BEAUTIFUL!! I love what we chose!! I will be so excited to see the counter tops go in!!








Anyways, we are still trying to sell our house! We've got about a month and a half to two month to get this place sold and do closing!! PLEASE pray this falls into place! I am not sure what we will do if we don't sell in time! Carrying a bridge loan was never in the master plan!!

So if you know anyone looking for a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom house in Iberia Parish on a double lot (140x187) on a deadend quiet street, please let me know! :)

Regan's House of Style

Regan has been dressing hair again!! And this time she gave each of her barbie's their own individual hair styles!! I think soon we will have our phone ringing off the hook with all the style this kid gives! LOL A few of these I would actually sport! Heehee!




Next on her "style" agenda for the day is to select a very interesting outfit! I will let the pictures speak for themselves!!

Just A Quickie

Well, it's been a busy few days!! As usual when Bub is home, it's time to concentrate on those tedious tasks!!

We decided to have a final garage sale this weekend. We were supposed to have it once we moved completely out of this house, but that didn't work out. If you don't know already, our buyer bailed out on the sale. So the house just went back on the market and we were able to move back into our house and stay here until we find a new buyer and get a new closing date!

We did the sale Friday and today and we made over $550! Not bad since we had a sale about a month ago and made about $400. I guess that just shows how much "stuff" we have and accumulate and such! And just as good as the money...........the fact that all this clutter is gone too! Woo Hoo! lol

I also put some of my work (pictures) out at the sale and they ALL sold! That was sort of the icing on the cake! *GRIN

We also had someone come see the house today. They seemed to check things out for a while! I hope it's a good thing! I just hope that by Monday there will be an offer on the house so things will get rolling again! I know the builder and the lender would like to hear that we are 'SOLD' again!

Okay, and since I like adding pics to my blogs, here's one for a chuckle.


Regan showing us the hangnail on her middle finger..........................




Sorry, couldn't help but snap a picture of this! Thankfully she doesn't have a clue what she is doing, but since we have wicked humor.....here you go! LMAO!!!

Forward Thinking - Halloween

Well, it's already crossing my mind....the all important Halloween Costumes!!

If you know us at all, you'll know how "hardcore" dressing up we are! LOL Not really hardcore per say, more like die hard! We ALWAYS dress as a family! We have since Regan was 1 and it's so much fun!!

Regan's 1st Halloween
(she was actually in the newspaper this day!)

Sock Hoppers & Greaser (1 Year Old)

Pirates (2 Years Old)

Raggedy Anns & Andy (3 Years Old)

As you can see, we have a blast!! I am not sure how long Regan will let us pick what she'll wear, so we're gonna milk it for as long as we can!

I have picked all the themes and come up with all the costumes the last 3 years. Bub says he gets to pick this year and since last Halloween has made mention to crazy dead clowns or something! LOL I guess we shall see! Bub won't be in the Halloween - which BUMS me out! So I guess our full family dress-up is in the air until we figure it all out!

I am thinking Witches & Warlocks or something, but if Daddy is home and we dress up he gets to definitely pick! And........I am a little scared by that! LOL

. Laundry . 3-D .

Today has been a nothing day!

"Whatcha doin?" Nuthin!

"What did yall do today?" Nuthin'

"What are ya doin tonight?" Nuthin'

Now, don't get me wrong, there is plenty that I could be doing today! I have a jam packed full next week and have decided I'm gonna catch a break where I can! I have done a little laundry. I am washing and drying everything and will do all the folding and hanging tomorrow. I also need to wash the sheets tomorrow too.



Can I just say I HATE doing laundry! For half the month it is just Regan and I, and I am always surprised when I see the amount of clothes waiting for me after only a few days! Sigh

Today Regan found a pair of 3-D glasses I picked up at Walmart weeks ago. They are for the Hannah Montana / Mylie Cyrus 3-D concert I DVRed for her. She came around the corner when I was sorting laundry with the glasses on. She said "look momma, Hannah Montana!". I cracked up. I told her about the "movie" I recorded for her and asked if she wanted to watch it. She excitedly said yes!

The rest is, well.................








As you can see our day was not eventful at all! Other than laundry and Hannah, and now blogging I have been watching all the items I have listed on ebay! I am making a killing. I am not only de cluttering, I'm also making money to put towards all the new stuff I am buying for the house! That is a WHOLE nother topic, one that will fill it's on day! lol (stay tuned! lol) I've found some really great ideas, some really neat items and finds! I want to share everything when I have more time and get my thoughts together!

Well, Regan wants to type her name on the computer, so off I go.


Today's final thought...........................

It's a New Day!!

Okay, so I hate it when my blog turns into a "bitch-fest". I do not normally have so many issues or things to complain about and truly, I hate looking at my blog and being reminded of all these things! Such a downer! So, let's start fresh! All the things that are going on will work themselves out. I have faith they will! And though it is hard, I will refraining from stressing over them! Time to move forward and concentrate on what is in my power!

On to better and sweeter things......

This is a picture of Regan and I taken at a playdate at Kelly's on Wednesday. We had fun as always with our friends and ate lots of yummy food!!




Our house is almost fully bricked and the drywall looked as though it was all hung. I was unable to go in to see since I forgot my hip waders at home! LOL It rained something fierce the night before and washed my poor "yard" into the street. You can see the mud in the second picture!




Anyways, I am please as pie by the progress! Driving out to the house once a week and seeing the progress move so fast just ROCKS!! I LOVE the brick we chose. I think it looks amazing!!

Bub will be home on Monday (YAAY!) and as usual I have a long list of things we need to accomplish! We've decided to have our garage sale next weekend. I will be so glad to say Goodbye to the clutter!! It is so hard to see the piles of stuff stacked in the building just waiting for a garage sale. I guess there is no better time than now!!

Lastly, I missed my sister Shainah's 21st birthday! I was bummed! I think she had a good time with her friends tho! And I think she liked her gift, so that is good!!

Well, we are going to Chuck E Cheese tomorrow and then I am finishing some "business". Busy day ahead as always!! Oh, I think my laundry is calling me!! Night!!!

She puts the Slum in Slumlord!

So yesterday I finally get in touch with my slumlord. I explain to her about the detailed message that I left and how I'd been waiting for her to get back to me and then why I needed to speak to her. Well, the conversation definitely did NOT end well! She did agree to give me back the $105 in overdraft fees she cause when she deposited my check early.

She told me there was no way I was getting any of my rent back since I agreed to rent. I explained to her that since the house was not ready to be moved into (cleanliness, etc) that I was unable to occupy the premises. I also reminded her that I did not sign a lease and that I tried to contact her prior to the 5th when she says rent is late.

She called me this morning and left a message. I decided to drive to the rent house before calling her back and guess what, she decided to let herself in a do a slight clean up! Interesting huh? She rearranged all the furniture and made sure to leave every single light on in the house. How nice of her, right? Well, #1, she is not allowed to enter the house without giving me a 24 hour notice. She did not do that. I took pictures of the filth. And it explains it all.

As I am leaving, she calls me back. I tell her I just left the house and was on my way to shut off the utilities. She said good and that she paid a visit today too. She then proceeds to tell me that she contacted her attorney and that I better be there today to either sign a lease or turn in my keys or she was keeping even the deposit. I told her she was crazy and that I would just see her in court! I think she realizes that not having me sign a lease was really stupid and she thought she would hold my deposit over my head to make me turn over the house now. Now, wouldn't she just love that. Get's to keep my $850 AND gets the keys on the 13th of the month! I think I see what type of racket she has going!! I think she believes I am hard up and/or stupid!

Anyways, here are the pictures I took from today! Keep in mind, this is after we spent one hour removing crap and then she went over to try to "cover her butt"! Even with that said, it's still not fit to move in!

Counters, these are not stains, it is filth!

Counter

Freezer

Freezer

Master bedroom

Master Bedroom

Cabinets

This is "fully furnished"

She moved the furniture when she let herself in!

Keep in mind you can click on these pics to see them super sized! Feel free to comment!!

Today is about Regan

I guess some days she just surprises me and today was a BIG one!!

First, if you know my kid you know she is a sassy, quirky, funny little drama queen! Everyone that meets her always feels compelled to express how cute or pretty or smart she is! I think this has A LOT to do with why she is so sassy and doesn't take the word no to easily! Even strangers spoil her and contradict me! UGH

Anyways, Regan is a pretty smart girl. She is very independent and has been very early doing almost everything! Well, my surprise came today when I got up and saw that she had made her bed already! And before this, without being asked, she let the dog out, fed her and gave her a treat! When I said "oh wow, you made your bed already?" she said "yep and I cleaned my room to!". Can you just say jaw....lying on the floor?? I was so excited! I told her since she did all that and without even being asked, that we might have to go and spend her allowance and maybe get a new Barbie! She was really happy to hear that!

Of course the rest of the day wasn't without it's events! Regan has this very big attitude randomly and it drives me insane. It's like have a 12 year old trapped in a 4 year olds body. It's a lot of snappy "I told you so", "well YEAH" "oh yes you will" (when I've told her no I won't do something), of course non of these are without a head wiggle. It drives me insane! Granted, I KNOW that I am the animated one and that half of what she learned is from me. But when she does this it's always out of nowhere and it's just ugly!! We are working on it. She almost didn't get her Barbie today, actually, we almost didn't leave the house because of the attitude! But she was really very good today and I am very proud of her. And with the added stress I am dealing
with, it was nice to not have to fuss at her all day!!






Bedtime lately has gotten to be the biggest sore spot of the day! A few weeks ago I ended up changing her bedtime from 8:00 to 8:30. She started playing in bed for an hour or more and all it caused was a lot of yelling and frustration on my part. So I changed it to 8:30 and for a few days it helped. The girl is just never tired!! I could let her stay up until midnight and do you know she will STILL wake up at 6:30 am?!?

Tired of the aggravation I decided to take a new approach! Half the reason I made sure she was in bed then was because by then, she was being delirious and obnoxious and after a full day I needed a break! lol But since she seems to NEVER be tired I decided that it'd be easier to let her get tired before sending her to bed. So the other day I told her she could stay up later if she stayed IN her room and watched a movie! Well, guess what - it worked!! Ha!





It's been about 4 days and it's been nice. No yelling and she goes to bed easily and is usually out within 5 minutes! Now, if only this would make her sleep in! LOL

Now, I won't be doing this forever, but I am convinced it's because she is having a major growth spurt right now! I "measured" her yesterday and she grew about 1 1/2 inches in about 4 months. She also feels REALLY heavy lately. I weighed her and it says she weighs the same! All her clothes are getting too small and OMG, she is even outgrowing her shoes!! LMAO!! And she has been eating a lot lately! Our little girl is growing up! *sniffle!

These pictures are from tonight! Her, in her room watching Cinderella....getting to stay up late!

Week in Review

Well, not too much of an exciting weekend! I got to sleep in Saturday (sort of!).


Regan woke up with a cold Saturday as well! I guess since it is already is the 8th month she was getting due for her yearly cold! lol I know that's bad to say, but the kid is just blessed and NEVER sick! It's really not too bad! She is really just doing a lot of sneezing and has a runny nose. For a few hours today she had a low grade fever, but one dose of Tylenol and she kicked it!

Today has been very uneventful. But you will not hear me complain! I rarely get a stay at home day! I actually stayed in my PJs until 6 or so. I ended up having to throw on some clothes because our power went out and I wanted to see if my neighbor's was out as well. We spent about an hour without power. Regan just sat here and wrote her name on the computer! She actually can spell Regan, Momma & Daddy all by herself. I started to teach her cat and dog today.

Oh, Friday my Aunt Jackie had her Graduation Ceremony. She went to the Louisiana Technical College and got her CNA! It was really neat! She is such an amazing woman! Do you know that she was so scared to death before she started classes. She was just so sure that she would struggle the whole way since she'd been out of school so long! Well, let me tell you....this 54 year old woman not only did well, she graduated with HONORS!!! She really is inspirational!! She was asked to speak at the ceremony. I will be adding it to my MySpace videos, so check it out and also the pictures from that night!! Here are a few......a great woman and the family!

BTW, I really am just too damn pale to be in this family! LOL

Well, here are a few pictures from the past week! Starting with pictures of Capone napping all weird! Oh, then I woke him as you can tell by the next picture! LOL

Then it's Regan and I in front of the house! They added insulation last week and should have drywall and bricks by next week if all goes well!!








Stay tuned..............

Our Own Little Hairdresser

Ever since Regan figured out how to put rubber bands in her baby's hair, she would sit for probably hours putting in and taking out little ponytails. It's cute. And it's a lot cheaper than the diaper phase she was in. (buying real diapers for a baby doll sucks! lol especially when your kid is long out of diapers and now spends all her time changing her babies and leaving rolled up diapers sprinkled throughout the house!)

Well, when I woke up this morning, Regan was sitting next to my head, watching the Disney channel and "braiding" her Barbie's hair! I was awe! When do kids....no when do four year olds figure this stuff out??

Do you know that at barely 4 she learned how to tie her shoe?? She ties everyone's shoes at her school! And she does it right, tight and even double knots. She calls it a bow-knot! lol She just amazes me sometimes at how quick to learn things she is! Now if she can just learn how to listen! LMAO!!!

Anyways, back to the possible hairdresser on my hands! Can I just say her Mamaw would be so proud!! :o) Well, here is my proud little girl and her Barbie! Be sure to click on the picture to see it enlarged. They almost look like little dreads.

Different Day...Same Ol' Shit!!

So, I impatiently waited to hear from my Real Estate Agent Joan to see if he was going to accept my terms.

Let me back up a little. After the appraisal came back low, the buyer decided to drop a bomb. Since we wouldn't be paying his closing costs, he wants to push the closing date to September 15th. This of course made me VERY angry. Please keep in mind that I am already paying for a rental for the month of August, when closing isn't even scheduled until the end of August. Now I will have paid for a month for no reason!

The reason he needs to push the date is because he has nothing saved and needs time to come up with his closing costs. So my thought was, if he needs more time, we stay in the house until October when our house is finished. If he cannot do that we close as planned and he needs to come up with his money.

So this was what was offered and Joan (my agent) relayed the info to his agent this morning. So when I get the call this afternoon, I am told there is no way he can let us stay there because he doesn't have a place to live.

Now hold the damn script......... this man is probably getting my house for way cheaper, and somehow him not having money saved AND not having a place to live is my problem?! WTF??

But wait, it gets better! When my agent FINALLY gets all of this in writing, 3 days later, that man has added in that he wants us to pay for his appraisal!! HA! Now I KNOW he is out of his damn mind!! I'll pay for his damn appraisal if he pays $850 for August's rent in a house we may not even ever move into! Bastard!!

Tomorrow we are paying to have a new appraisal done. It's $300 out of my pocket, but the broker is coming out with the appraiser to make SURE it is done right! We will either find out that there really is a big difference in our worth as the appraisal said or he will prove they were stupid. Obviously we all know what outcome I prefer!!

I think the lady who did the first appraisal didn't know what the hell she was doing. My agent and I found Comps very reasonable, and yes, even in Jeanerette that prove that our pricing was on the mark!! I guess tomorrow we will see!


Then there is the FRIDGE! I have not had a good working fridge since the 2nd week of July!! I bought a small one to leave at this house or to bring to the new house and put in the garage. Well, it never worked right from the start. I called the repair guy for him to come out and an hour before he came home it started to run right. So, it worked for a week, though it was super freezing in the freezer and had freezing spots in the fridge, but I dealt with it. Then after a few more days it stopped working again! So I called Lowe's and asked if we could exchange for the model we'd bring into our new house and not mess with these little fridges we didn't care about. They said yes and almost 2 weeks ago we went to select and pay for the new fridge. It wasn't in stock so we had to wait for it, which at the time was fine because the little one here was chugging along! So after this day, we have the small $500 fridge that keeps crapping out and the new $1200 fridge. They said I couldn't get a refund for the first one until they dropped the new one off and picked that one up. Then I'd have to drive back to Lowe's to get my money back! Ugh!

Anyways, on to today....

So the fridge starts going warm again yesterday. I can NOT lose another fridge full of food!! Actually, the new fridge was supposed to be delivered yesterday as well, which would seem like perfect timing! It would have been, if the fridge had actually come in!! It is on back order until the maybe the 20th! Well, I just cannot deal with this, so I called Lowe's and let them know that I need a fridge! At this point I have paid $1700 towards fridges and I either do not have or they do not work! What they hell is up with this! lol

So, yaay me, I got to drive to Lowe's at 6 pm tonight and pick out a new fridge. And the downfall to that is I HAD to pick something they had in stock, which limited me on my choices! The one I picked is pretty much the same as the GE I picked and was waiting for, so lets hope it is! Thankfully they will be making sure they deliver it tomorrow, so that rocks! And it IS the least they can do!!

It looks like I will be getting compensated a little for my troubles too! The GE I just got a refund for - to get the new Whirlpool, came with a rebate for the delivery charge. It's $55. Well, I still have my receipt and the rebate for that one and got one to refund the new fridge, too! Hell, it's worth a try, especially if you include all of the trips to NI over this crap and the food I've lost and replaced, then lost and replaced again.....oh and might lose again! *sigh


Lastly, I took Regan to see the new house. She hasn't seen it since Bub and I have. They drywall was all stacked in the house and the brick was on site and waiting to be put up! I figure it'll be up in the next few days as they are working on the neighbor's and it seemed to be moving along quite fast! I will swing through on Friday after playgroup to see if there has been any more progress!!

Here is Regan posing in front! She looks so tiny! lol

These Shoes Were Made For Walking....

This kid always seems to amaze me! LOL

She has done this before, but today it really came at a great time and it was nice to laugh!! She came out of her room asking for something and before I could answer I glanced down to see her feet in these shoes!

These are shoes from a medium sized Cabbage Patch Kid!! Regan is crazy! Check it out!!

Bad Day!

So, today is turning out to be one bad thing after another!

Yesterday we found out the Buyer's appraisal came back $13K lower than our sale price! Yeah, talk about a blow to the gut! Today he decides that he definitely wants to try to get our house at that low appraisal price, but that he wants to push back our closing date to September 15th. That man MUST be smoking crack!! We have already invested $1700 into this rental that we don't even need yet because HE picked the closing date of August 25th. I was told he need more time to save money for closing. I am assuming that since the price has dropped we will not be paying his closing costs and he must not have any money saved - what a moron! Either way, this is not my problem! He is already costing me money and that does NOT make me happy as it is.

Basically I will be paying to get a new appraisal, or should I say a more accurate appraisal. He can then take it AND will be closing on the 25th as planned or we will cancel our contract and he can kiss my ass! If we had known he wanted to push the date we would have pushed it all the way until our house is finished in October. Then we wouldn't have to not only deal with this selling crap, but with this renting BS to boot!!

Lord help me not go crazy on these people!!

Oh, yesterday we go to the rent house to check it out and turn the utilities on. Do you know they didn't even clean this place???? Our landlord bought it from a lady who went into a nursing home. And has evidently been in and out for some time. Well, it took us an hour and 4 garbage bags to get rid of the sheer crap that was left. Not to mention they left food in the fridge and freezer and since the power was turned off the week before.....you can about imagine! On top of this the house is disgusting! I am so pissed off! The filth is just wrong! Our landlord is renting this place as furnished, well evidently that means living room furniture and whatever was left by the old owners. I called my landlord and left her a message as she is on vacation. I guess we shall see what comes of it. I told her that between the check cashed early and the nasty house, I am not sure about the situation. And now with the confusion with selling my house, I may use it as away out since we'll probably be staying here for a bit longer!!




Final Thought.....