Jessi the Lion

The kids at The Pink Princess' school are required to choose a goal to work on each semester. The Princess chose to write a story. You are amongst the first to read "Jessi the Lion."

Jessi the Lion
by
The Pink Princess

Jessi the Lion lives in Africa. Jessi loves to play with her friends in the hot African sun. Jessi likes to play tag and hide-and-seek, and when she and her friends get too hot, they go swimming in the water hole.

One morning when Jessi woke up, something didn't feel right. She felt cold. Jessi felt wet. Jessi was covered in white stuff. Jessi looked on her back and saw something unusual. She wondered what it was! It was snow! Snow was everywhere. Even on her ears!

Jessi was excited. She had never seen snow before. She went to find her friends so they could play in the snow together. Jessi started to run down the hill, but the snow was so deep she went sliding down the hill instead. When she got to the bottom of the hill, Jessi was laughing. "That was fun!" Jessi said. "I hope my friends will want to do that with me!"

Jessi had to cross a bridge to get to her friends. The bridge went over a lake. The lake was frozen. She began to cross the bridge. It was slippery and Jessi fell onto the frozen lake. She tried to stand up but she was slipping and sliding like she was ice skating. She slid all the way to the other side and crashed into the snow!

Jessi climbed out of the snow. She walked to her friends' house and asked if they would like to play in the snow. Her friends said yes and they had a fun time together.

The End

Life Goes On

The King and I left home this morning about 10 am and didn't return until about 3:30 or so. Today was shopping day!

We purchased a comforter set for our bed, a washing machine, a dryer, a power paint roller, painter's tape, a few extra rollers, and a whole lot of paint. Something like 12 gallons of paint. I'm not really sure how much. The bonus was that we got 10% off all of it, plus another $5 off each gallon of paint so it was a pretty good deal all things considered.

The last big purchase remaining is box springs and a mattress for The Purple Dragon's bed. We've already decided where we are going to get it from, we're just not going to get it until after we actually have the house.

I forgot to mention in my last post that our car was broken into on Saturday Morning. It's pretty much our fault because apparently we forgot to lock it. We don't have a radio in the car anymore, which stinks, but it could've been a lot worse than it was, so it's ok.

We found a woman's purse today at Burger King so we turned it into the manager. She came back looking for it when we were still there, and she was very relieved that honest people had found it and turned it in. I guess that's our good deed for the day and hopefully it will counteract that "bad things come in threes rule".

Hm, what else to write? We're going to go to my brother's house tonight for a BBQ. I think it'll be fun -- at least I'm hoping it will be fun. It's kind-of rainy outside now... maybe it will clear up a little in the next hour or so.

Oh, I watched "Shopgirl" last night. It was not what I expected at all (from the previews), though it did end the way I expected it too. It wasn't very good, but it was better than "Napoleon Dynamite". That probably means that if you LIKED Napoleon Dynamite, it is highly likely that you WON'T like Shopgirl. I hated Napoleon Dynamite, hence, Shopgirl got the higher rating.

5 Whole Days?

I can't believe it's been 5 days since I last posted. It doesn't seem that long ago. I guess a fair amount has happened since then, mostly good, so I'll try to catch you up.

The thing that made me most happy this past week was shopping! I guess that's kinda sad because I should probably find happiness somewhere else -- like with my family -- but shopping was definitely the highlight of my week. I found a great outlet store in Salt Lake City that has MASSIVE discounts on furniture, though it is very hit and miss. I got lucky though and got a beautiful headboard and footboard for The Purple Dragon's room for only $35. It retails online for $350. Yep, that's a 90% discount. I also purchased an entertainment center for $49.99 -- it retails for $650. Then, I headed over to the D.I. (Deseret Industries) which is basically the equivalent of the Salvation Army, and found a desk for The Pink Princess' room for $20. Everything needs to be painted, but other than that it's in pretty good shape.

Last night (Saturday) was also a lot of fun because we went to the home of Isepik's co-workers and had a BBQ - sort-of. It was a BBQ in the sense that the food was cooked on the BBQ, but it was cold and rainy so we hung out inside. The food was good, the company was better. This family has 7 kids, so the girls were pretty easily entertained. The adults entertained themselves with Pinochle, Speed Uno, and Dice. All 3 games were fun, all 3 games were new to us. I think I understand most of the rules now so it will be fun to get together and play again. The evening was full of lots of laughter, and I think we will be great friends. Too bad they don't live closer to our new house.

A few minor glitches with the house - but nothing major. We will probably end up paying a little bit more money than we were planning on (which completely sucks, but is definitely NOT the end of the world). On the positive side - the loan has been completely approved, and all the papers are on their way over to the Title Company. We settle on FRIDAY! WOO HOO! But we don't get possession until Monday. Still, it's basically a week away. We won't be moving in immediately because we want to paint first -- at least the girls rooms -- but we'll have another place to hang out in and I can start cleaning and doing some basic unpacking -- like the kitchen.

Princess' last day of school is on Thursday. She will have a lot of fun this week, because there is no school on Monday, Field Day on Tuesday, Ice Cream Party on Wednesday, and who knows what on Thursday -- parties and good-bye's I'm sure. I think her teacher will still try to pack in a little bit of learning every day - that's the way she is - but with all of these activities, it probably will be mostly fun. Last Wednesday was the "Share Fair" at her school and we had the opportunity to visit her classroom and see all the kids Animal Reports that they have been working on all year. The Pink Princess researched the butterfly, and she did a really great job. The finished products were great.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day and I believe King Isepik and I are planning on purchasing a Washer and Dryer, plus most of the paint for the house. Depending on how much the paint costs, I might also be able to purchase one of the comforter sets that's on my list, but that can wait if necessary. I think there will be some kind of BBQ tomorrow evening - either here at my Mom's house or at Brother T's house. Hopefully it will be fun!

The Purple Dragon says...

Music class was over, and all the kids were taking turn trying out a musical instrument. During music class, The Dragon barely utters a word. But now that all is quiet, she cries out, "Hey! There's baby spit on that! There's baby spit on the teacher! That baby spit on everything!"


The Pink Princess gets home from school and goes to find The Purple Dragon. A few minutes later The Dragon comes up to me and says, "The big sister who loves her little sister is home!"

Aaaahhhh...

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Oh Bother.

For the second time this school year I am bumping heads with another Mom (er... bumping heads with the same Mom for the 2nd time). In my opinion, it's over completely silly stuff, and I'm beginning to wonder if she just simply has a personal vendetta against me though I have no idea why (because other Moms who do similar things don't get a lecture from her).

Basically, The Pink Princess' teacher asked for help (she is finishing out the school year with a broken collar bone and a broken arm), and I attempted to follow the pseudo chain of command to contact this Mom and let her know, but when my phone call wasn't returned -- over 48 hours later, I decided to send out the teacher's request in a group email so that IF anyone could help, they would know about it sooner than later.

So I get a "nice" email back that basically says that everything I said was "OK" but that it was a duplicate of everything she had already said (it wasn't). And it would be sooo much better if I would just NOT email the entire class because that's just one too many emails and it should only come from one person, blah, blah, blah.

I agree with her. It's much easier to have ONE person be the "communicator" for the entire class. However, this was a teacher in need, who asked me for my help, and the "communicator" (this Mom) refused to return my phone call.

What would you do?

To top it off, I think it was bit ridiculous to lecture me about the group emails considering that the teacher asked me to do it (making it necessary), I haven't abused this power before, and there was only 7 days of school left. I really feel that it could've just been left alone.

King Isepik thinks I should have replied to her and the whole group and a) apologized, and b) explained that the teacher asked me to do it, and c) told this Mom to get off her high horse and realize that it's about helping this teacher -- not about how Mom's toes were stepped on.

I had already done this (in a very nice way) in a private email to the said Mom, and didn't think it was appropriate to do the group email (as attractive the idea was), so that's where it stops. For now.

In the meantime, I have at least 6 more years of dealing with this Mom so I would really like to figure out a way to get along with her, but at the same time I'm not going to be trampled by her for doing the right thing. Ugh.

SAAAAALES... Where are you???

I enjoy shopping. Sometimes. I LOVE shopping when there's a really good sale. So I've been researching and browsing and wishing and hoping and pricing... all in hopes for a great sale for Memorial Day. And I thought perhaps that the ads would come out today. But they only go through next Saturday. And Memorial Day is the following Monday.

So now what? Do I take advantage of the sales that are currently going on? Or do I wait until next Sunday to see what the ads will be for Memorial Day?

I actually know the answer to this one. I'm not that thrilled with any of the prices so I'm going to wait and see what happens.

Here's my shopping list:

1. New comforter set for The King and I.
2. Deck furniture (table, chairs, big umbrella).
3. Paint (purples, pinks, blues, greens, tans, and white)
4. New comforter set for The Purple Dragon (dare I hope for new bed?).
5. Bookcases.
6. Washer and Dryer.

Oh, and I probably won't buy it in that order. The paint, washer and dryer are the "must haves" in our book, with the patio furniture very close behind. Everything else could probably wait a while.

At least I found a good deal on cereal. I think I will go and stock up my future pantry.

Emotional

Well folks, first things first. Sorry about my last entry. Surely you needn't have been exposed to all that hostility. I had to get it out of my system though, and the blog seemed to be the quickest way to do so. So I apologize. But take comfort in the fact that it wasn't directed at you.

To make a long story very short - I am just fed up with all the inaccuracies in our credit report and the extremely long and frustrating process you have to go through to correct them -- and even then, it doesn't really correct them.

Due to a "correction" the CRA's are now saying that a derogatory item on my credit report is going to stay on there for 7 years from MAY 2006. Yes folks, that's right, 7 years from NOW. Here's the kicker, the ORIGINAL deliquency date which is supposed to START the 7 year countdown was DECEMBER 2001. To top it off, even if I misunderstood how things are supposed to work -- this account was SETTLED in MAY 2004. There is just NO justification for having the countdown start NOW.

There are more problems than that and I'm getting really sick and tired of trying to fix this. I agree full-heartedly that I need to take responsibility for my actions -- meaning that bad credit might mean that I can't get credit extended to me -- but I only need to take responsibility for MY ACTIONS -- it's completely not fair to report inaccuracies, make it impossible to correct them, and stick me with penalties that apply to the inaccuracies, not reality.

As far as the house goes, I think we are still on track. I don't think this problem is going to prevent the loan, but I think I'm going to have to ask for the Lord's help to get me through this. Our lender is aware of the situation and has all the documentation that proves that the CRA's are wrong and we are right... but still. I'm a bit worried and stressed and a lot annoyed and there's really not much that I can do about it.

Maybe after we get in the house I'll start a lawsuit. I've already spoken to an attorney and it should be a few thousand dollars for me. Honestly, though, I don't really care about the money. I just want it to be right.

*sigh*

I HATE MITSUBISHI AND ALL OF THE CRA'S OF THE WORLD!

In case you don't know CRA's are Credit Reporting Agencies and they can't seem to get ANYTHING RIGHT!

MITSUBISHI CAN GO TO HELL.

If you can't tell, I'm a bit upset right now.

STUPID STUPID STUPID STUPID CREDIT REPORTING AGENCIES AND EVEN STUPIDER STUPIDER STUPIDER MITSUBISHI.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things To Do

When you have lots and lots and lots of things that you could be doing, do you ever just sit and do nothing? I do.

I must say that today I have been fairly productive though which is good. Mostly I have been making a lot of phone calls and waiting for phone calls to be returned, but I have also been picking up a little bit and doing laundry. So this is good.

My list of things to do includes:

1. Tell Katie that Mrs. Z (Princess' teacher) wouldn't mind some extra help in the classroom over the next two weeks if parents are willing to volunteer. Completely understandable since she (the teacher) has a broken arm and a broken collar bone.

2. Get in touch with David so that I have the signed and dated Addendum to the contract.

3. Get in touch with David to work out the contract for the AC and other monies.

4. Get in touch with David to remind him that his disclosures were due to us yesterday. This is completely in our favor though so if he doesn't do it, he can only blame himself later on.

5. Get in touch with David to see if he knows the room measurements for 2 rooms in the house which I completely forgot to measure yesterday.

6. Go through the pile of paper on the desk.

7. Do 2 more loads of laundry.

8. Work up a plan to get some things fixed based on the Home Inspection. Particularly the sprinkler system and the smallish drainage problem on the west side of the house.

9. Draw up the "plan" for the new playhouse for the girls. The King and I discussed what we want it to be like last night, and I think it's gonna be 'way cool' if we can actually afford it. I mentioned it briefly to the girls but they want to know what's wrong with their old sandbox (it's too small, the two of them don't fit and it's worse if another friend wants to play too), and why they can't keep the old swingset (it's too rickety for the swinging demons that they are!). The new one has a huge sandbox (either 5'x5' or 6'x6'), 3 swings (room for a friend or two regular swings and a "special" swing), a fort (above the sandbox, 8'x8' I think) that they can climb to with a ladder/steps and/or a rock-climbing wall, a slide, and a small kitchen/house/store area on the bottom level near the sandbox. We will probably also add a steering wheel up in the fort part so it can be a ship or ??? and the fort will also be covered with some kind of vinyl material. We are really excited to build this thing!

10. Cook dinner. BLAH.

11. Buy butterfly stuff for The Pink Princess' room.

12. Pick out paint colors for The Pink Princess' room.

13. Pick out paint colors for The Purple Dragon's room.

14. Pick out a washing machine and a dryer and come to terms with the price.

15. Pick out a nice patio set!

Ok, there is probably a lot more, but you get the idea. I also should really get going on it because the kids are begging to go to Lagoon again tomorrow. I think it would be fun, but I'm definitely going to have to plan for it, otherwise we'll get sidetracked and never make it there.

So. I guess I should get to it then. *sigh*

One Way Or Another

So. I have (had) all these dreams of having a "magazine" house. Well, not quite... but close to it. After all, I live there... it's certainly not going to be spotless all of the time. But I was hoping for a look that when it is cleaned up, it looked a bit like a magazine house, and that maybe if I liked that look (which I do), I would actually keep it that way. Does that even make sense?

Well, there's a problem with these magazine houses. They cost money. And I could afford to spend some money to get close to that look. But every time I look at that stuff, I just keep thinking "I don't want to pay that much money!"

And then, King Isepik, being as handy as he is, will say, "Oh, I can make that." Which is true. He probably can. He's very talented. But then I'm left thinking "But when?" or "Will it really happen?" or "Will it really turn out the way I want it to?" And all of my crazy indecision and worry means that nothing happens.

But then, maybe nothing should be happening. Maybe something completely crazy will happen and we won't get the house *cringe!* or maybe just something will happen that will wipe us out financially so I can't afford to get anything anyway (like an almost $300 mechanic bill yesterday).

And I think I'm tired of being indecisive. I really need my own house so I can find myself again and do what I want (more accurately - what Isepik and I want) without worrying so much about what other people think. But that's not right either. Because I don't think I really care what other people think -- if I did I wouldn't have married Isepik, we wouldn't have had kids, etc, etc, etc. But some people are so narrow-minded or stingy or afraid -- they simply don't DO things because there is some kind of a risk involved. SO WHAT if I spend $300 on patio furniture that only lasts me 5 years?!?? That furniture would cost me $5 per month or (get this!) .16 PER DAY! Surely the enjoyment we would get from that furniture is worth .16!

I want my new house -- I'm ready for it. I can't wait to experience the joys of home ownership again. To be able to paint a wall whatever color you want it to be, and if it's the wrong color, paint it again the next weekend. To be able to plant a garden - or several. To have a playset or a swingset or simply a sandbox. To plant 3-foot high shrubs or 50-foot high trees. To do what I want, when I want, however I want.

I can't wait.

Happy Mother's Day!

So today was Mother's Day. I never know if I'm going to be excited about it or not, and today definitely started out a bit on the stressful side. However, everything worked out really well and I had a nice day.

King Isepik got me a funny card and some pearls! With matching earrings! And they're not even the kind that you "pop" together and take apart! He says they are REAL. Wow. I was really surprised.

The King also made me breakfast. My new favorite - Bacon, Egg & Cheese English Muffins. Yum. McDonald's ain't got nothin' on him. He's SUCH a good cook.

I spent my morning preparing The Purple Dragon's talk for Primary, preparing my part of the lesson for Relief Society, burning a DVD for the Relief Society lesson, practicing two different songs that I would be singing today, and getting myself ready. It was not a "restful" Sunday.

Here's how the rest of the day went:

I went to Church at 12:30 and practiced singing a song called "May I Serve Thee" which actually sounds like a pretty funny title now that I typed it out, but it is really pretty. Then at 12:45 I practiced singing another song called "When I Feel His Love" which is also very pretty. At 1:00, The King showed up at church with The Princess and The Dragon and we headed into the chapel. Sacrament Meeting started, and we had a fairly nice program. The Primary sang a couple of songs, and The Pink Princess seemed to enjoy singing, but The Purple Dragon just stood there with her mouth clamped shut. It was kinda funny because she ALWAYS sings at home. I'm just happy she went up there. Later on, 6 of us sang "When I Feel His Love" and it sounded quite nice, though I worry if people in the back could hear us because we didn't have a microphone.

As soon as Sacrament Meeting was over, I rushed the kids up to Primary and sat with The Purple Dragon because it was her turn to give the talk. I was really dreading this because she does not enjoy going to Primary at all, and every week it is a struggle to get her to stay with her class. I figured she wasn't going to do anything for her talk, and I'd have to do the whole thing myself, including holding the pictures. I was wrong. She actually stood up there and repeated every word I said into her ear. It was probably a little loud and a little hard to understand but she did it! I was so proud of her. Then of course she got mad because I tried to leave! Can't win them all.

After that, I tried to do last minute preparations for the part of Relief Society that I was in charge of, and tried to relax because I was nervous. My friend Cynthia wrote this really amazing Mother's Day Program a few years ago, and I decided to share it with this ward, and they decided to use it (or a slightly modified version of it). So they asked me if I would talk about the part that is directed to mother's with kids at home. I was really excited and willing to do it, but as it got closer I kind-of dreaded it.

Anyway, time passed and it was time for Relief Society, so I wandered in there, found a place to stash this huge picture I had borrowed from a friend, and started playing the prelude music. It got to be time for my part of the lesson, and I managed to get all the way through it, but I was completely in tears. BOO HOO HOO! It sucked. I kept trying to stop crying but I just couldn't get a grip. So so so frustrating. I was also a little bit panicked because I realized that they hadn't told me when I was going to be singing and I thought I was going to sing first... and so then I was afraid they were going to have me sing right after I talked!!! And I was a mess! There was no way I could do that. Thankfully, they let someone else do their part of the lesson (whether it was planned that way or whether they made a last minute switch I will probably never know, but I am so glad it worked out that way), and then my friend Debbie and I sang a duet of "May I Serve Thee" accompanied by my Mom. It was really pretty -- I love this song.

The best part of the program was the slide show at the end. It had all of these amazing pictures, and the music was Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up." My friend Cynthia made that too... and it was really beautiful.

The girls came running as soon as Relief Society was over and showed me the cards that they had made. The Princess' said "Thank-you for teaching me how to pray." And The Dragon's said "I love you." The Dragon did not want to give me hers because it had her name on it (ie. "Love, The Dragon"). She thought it was hers.

So then I got to go home, and do absolutely NOTHING because my Mom had shanghaied "the boys" into cooking dinner for all of "the girls." What a special treat! Of course, The King got stuck with most of it because it seems that no-one else really knows how to cook, though Brother T can probably hold his own. Brother T bought the meat - brisket - and made bread in his bread machine (yum!). My Dad basically peeled the potatoes. Brother D made the salad -- but he kinda forgot to tear up the lettuce leaves so it was rather amusing. We were joking that it was so you could make a "wrap" if you wanted too. There was a green salad, fruit salad, bread, brisket, garlic mashed potatoes, and mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert.

It was a very nice day but it seemed to go by very fast.

P.S. Cindi -- If you ever make it to my blog (*grin*), keep reading... two or three more posts! :) I think you'll see what I want you to see... it's kinda hard to miss!

Sugar and Spice

Just a thought...

Among the world's most treasured gifts,
Among its precious pearls,
God smiles upon the world and sends us little girls.

(I didn't write it and I don't know who did...)

This Is (some of) The House...

This is the front of the house...




This is the back of the house...




This is part of the backyard...




This is the kitchen...




And this, ladies and gentlemen, is my tub!!! (Ahem... I mean OUR tub...)

Home Sweet Home

Today we made an offer on a house and it was accepted. We are planning to close June 5, 2006.

The home is still in the city -- a plus. It's on a corner lot and has a rather large backyard. It is a tri-level home (not exactly my favorite style, but I'm sure I'll get used to it), with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, with approximately 1940 square feet (a little small but we will make it work). It's in really nice condition, the seller is a contractor so he did a lot of work on the home. The fact that it used to be a "model" home for Ivory Homes certainly helps also.

Other features:
A Master Bedroom with large bay window, spacious custom built walk-in closet, with an adjacent Master Bath with a large jetted tub, solid surface counter top, and cultured marble shower surround. (MY TUB! I HAVE A TUB!)

Main floor boasts hardwood floors and oak handrail throughout formal living room and kitchen.

Newer high-end carpet throughout all other floors. (Burber - so pretty!)

Kitchen has high-end matching Fridgedaire appliances, gas oven, reverse osmosis water purification system, custom built spacious pantry. (Love the pantry!)

High end blinds on all windows.

Water softener.

Gas AND electric washer/dryer hookups.

Cold storage in basement.

Fully landscaped with automatic sprinklers.

Vinyl fence surrounding entire property.

Spacious 400 square foot deck. (YES, 400 -- it's huge).

So I obviously copied all of that off of the flyer, but hey, why try to explain what somebody already explained so eloquently? I don't have any pictures yet, but I hope to have some by early next week.

I realize that I probably don't sound super-hyper-excited last night, but I am. I think. I think I'm a little in shock about the whole thing, and I'm exhausted because I've been giving blood, sweat and tears to this project for the past few weeks. King Isepik's providing the funding for the house because he's a hard-workin' man, but seriously, this is the house that Queen Karana bought. We're not using a realtor (because we are going to get cash back from the home owner) so I've been tryin' to figure all of the paperwork side of things out myself, not to mention the whole mess of trying to get the loan approved, and getting credit reports straightened out... so now I think I'm just numb to the whole thing. Give me a few days and I'll be bouncing off the walls again.

Probably the best part about this house (besides being able to afford it) is that The Pink Princess can continue to go to the same school. Also, one of her classmates lives right around the corner -- probably too far for a kindergartener/first grader to walk by herself, but close enough for me to walk over with her rain or shine.

So I am happy. And I am sure my blog will show that over the next few days. But right now I think I just want some sleep.

Oh. My. Gosh.

Ok, well, I think we found our house.

And I think it's rather nice.

And I think I'm excited.

And I think I want to tell you all about it, but I'm not going to.

And the reason why I am not going to tell you is because nothing is completely official yet.

But I do think we have a verbal agreement.

And I do think we will have a signed agreement before tomorrow evening.

And then I can tell you all about it.

Happy Birthday Isepik!

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Isepik!
Happy Birthday to you!

How old is he? Hm. Well I'm not going to tell you. But I will say that none of the following numbers are in his new age: 97028461

So there! :)

Love you King Isepik! I hope you have a great day!

What I've Been Up To...

Well, I haven't posted much lately because I've been really busy trying to get credit reports cleared up, health insurance forms filled out, mortgage papers signed, and all of the other regular stuff that we all have to deal with.

The status is as follows:

Credit Reports: Things are looking up. One change has been made, another change is supposed to be made, and a letter is supposedly in the mail which will hopefully resolve the remaining problems. The original problem is definitely our fault and we take full responsibility for our actions and the results thereof, even if it was an event that was mostly beyond our control. But geesh, you would think that things could be reported correctly the first time. How hard can it be? Really!

Health Insurance: The forms are in, they are being looked at, processed, whatever. The insurance will be retroactive, so it's not a problem per say... I just want to know for sure one way or the other about who is covered, who isn't, and what is covered, and what isn't -- pre-existing conditions or waiting periods, etc. It's out of my control at the moment though, so all I can do is wait. At least I know we will have SOME coverage by the time everything is finally processed.


Mortgage Papers: The forms were sent to us last Friday, and the plan was to mail them back on Saturday. But we didn't. I was way stressed about our credit reports and didn't know if we wanted to risk having our credit checked right now. So I debated and we waited. Then on Monday night we decided we really should send them in. So we signed the papers. They were to be mailed on Tuesday and King Isepik was going to do that from work. But then Tuesday morning I decided I better review them one more time so I told The King that I would mail them. But I didn't. Instead I decided to drive to Springville (past Provo) and hand deliver them. So I did. And it paid off. We got pre-approved (by a computer, at least), for a mortgage. Wow. I'm still in shock and I think I am waiting for someone to say, "Oh... sorry. We made a mistake..." But that is highly unlikely. So yeah, we get to house hunt now.

House Hunting: There was a house listed that we had been watching for a couple of weeks. We had driven by it, but had not been inside. We got to see it last night, and now we know why it hasn't sold. The outside of the house is great, the backyard is huge, it's in our price range, the neighborhood is fairly nice, a little girl in The Pink Princess' class lives right down the street -- 4 houses away in fact. BUT, the inside is seriously messed up. I don't even know how to explain it... it's not bad paint or carpet, it's just messed up. It's a tri-level home, kind-of a modified split-level home, and typically there is a family room that is off of the kitchen that is half a flight down from it. Well, this family blocked that whole room off to make another bedroom... and it resulted in a very twisty small hallway that you have to wend your way through to get to the actual basement. And the basement! When you walk down the stairs you are hit with a wall... I can't explain it... it's WEIRD. And the bedrooms are really really really tiny -- the master bedroom is the size of the smallest bedroom in my Mom's house. It's sad, really.

There's another home in the neighborhood that was the model home when the neighborhood was built about 5 years ago. It looks quite lovely, and it has more square footage, though I'm not sure of the size of the yard. However, it cost about 34K more than we have. Ugh.

I am completely overwhelmed with the idea of home-buying and what it entails, and completely underwhelmed by the homes I have found so far. Blah.

However, we are going to continue looking and have faith that we will find the right home for us. Everything takes time, I know this, and everything has worked out so far, why not this too?