The Word

Yes!

the owners have accepted our offer

BUT

It is a short sale. So now the waiting begins. The offer now goes to their bank (s) for approval. This could take months. We will get weekly status updates from their realtor.

It is a 1935 home built for the Methodist church down the road as their rectory. It is all original inside (which we personally love) and just needs the floors to be refinished & fresh paint (well that and a furnace... but that's part of our offer). It has a two car garage, a dry & waterproofed basement (yay!) & a walk up attic that could be finished. So it's perfectly perfect. I have space to have all my workout equipment and Mr F can have his desk completely out of sight (YES!!!) in the basement. There is also a two car garage for our excess outdoor hoarding storage space. It's three bedrooms and has the sweetest little library nook right off the living room which is PERFECT for lining with the kid's toy shelves. It also has original sconces throughout (I know some of you will be jealous of that). And a telephone nook... and an actual entryway with coat closet (haven't had one of those yet!).

AND it's one block down from our old house... and all our old neighbors! Kid is very excited and is clearly put at ease being able to picture exactly where we will live, and exactly what park she will be playing at, and exactly what ice cream shop we'll be walking to.

Hopefully! Fingers crossed! We still need the bank to give it the OK.

Oh, and did I fail to mention it's just about 100K cheaper than the first house we bought in Ann Arbor... 10 years ago. See? That's why we're doing this.

I Am So Freaking Excited!!!

A couple of weeks ago Kid's teacher convinced me that I should apply for financial assistance. I had hesitated just because I guess I couldn't justify taking money for something that is not a *necessity*... it's just my nature not to ask for help. Then I worried... and kind of assumed... that we might not qualify. But as I thought of the other families I thought... there is no way in hell that they are not doing better than we are... no freaking way.

So I applied.

And we got it!

No not a full ride... but a $200 a month reduction.

And that is some serious groceries!

This Week The Plan

***Remember to enter my Easter box giveaway... time is running out***

The week in review:

Alright Ladies & Gents... I am officially better. Good God that was a complete nightmare, and at a certain point I actually started to forget how good normal feels. Let me tell you normal feels great. Even if every other part of your life is falling apart... being able to digest food is a big deal... so count your blessings. ;)

A lot of stuff is going down this week... I have my tailbone check up tomorrow. I'm curious what he'll say since I've been having some pain lately. Although this has gone on so long that I don't remember how much pain I had 6 weeks ago... maybe this is an improvement. We also all have EARLY morning dental appointments (7 freaking 30... if you know us you know it would actually be easier for us to stay up until then rather than get up then) that we are trying to squeeze in before we cancel our dental insurance.

RE: Insurance... that was actually not as simple to shut down as I had anticipated. I spent about 2 days on the phone last week talking with 100 people to get everything completely closed on those other two policies. (Hold Up: I just got 3 pieces of mail from them... so... maybe not)

I filed our taxes. Feds, Michigan, & North Carolina. They all owe us money. Aww yeah. Maybe we'll be able to get a fence (or at the very least eye hooks at the top of our doors)... so that I don't find Baby wandering outside on the sidewalk (unbeknownst to us) in her diaper. Don't worry she took Canine with her.

My mother and The Cougar are coming down at the end of the week for Kid's grandparents tea. I am SO happy about that. I'm happy that I'm going to see them but I'm also really glad Kid didn't have to be that kid with no one showing up to her event. Added bonus... we have a timely motivation to get the house in tip top shape.


Okay enough randomness, onto this week!

Baby is eating her oatmeal with a chopstick. This has bought me an unprecedented chunk of time... I might get through this all in one sitting.

Menu:
Well for the 2nd week in a row most of my meals have gotten bumped. The girls ate mostly happy meals last week (when your parents can't cook for you or pay attention to you the least you deserve is a little plastic toy... am I right?!... don't answer that).

Monday - Ginger & Scallion Noodles w/ Shrimp

Tuesday - Quesadillas (new use of leftover rice & taco filling) w/ avocado & salsa

Wednesday - Orange & Honey glazed Salmon (recipe coming), potatoes & green beans

Thursday - Tomato & Meatball Soup, dill rolls

Friday - Pizza & Salad

Saturday - go out

Sunday - Beef Brisket w/ Potatoes & Carrots


Exercise & Diet
You know that whatever loss I managed through acting like a human funnel for a full week is gone right? Yeah it is.
So now that I feel rehydrated sufficiently I will commence my daily hour on the old treadmill. Hopefully I'll get some good news from the butt doctor on Tuesday and I'll be able to add back in my pilates. Until then I'll be kicking ass (ha ha) on my incline workout while I catch up on Millionaire Matchmaker.
I'm also back on the food journal. I'm sticking back to my 1800 limit and then I'll adjust from there next week.


Errands & Chores:
Unbelievably I'm almost done with my desk area. That is my top priority. I need to get that baby to 100% so I can stick with a new regime of daily management. I got rid of all our old outdated paperwork and filed everything else. I've still got bits of miscellaneous crap that does not have a good *home*... plus a lot of shit I'm sick of holding onto. I'm about to get ruthless on all those weird business cards and old checks!

Sunday - major house clean up (Mr F & I almost had a fist fight over *how to get things done*... you should have been there)

Monday - groceries, laundry

Tuesday - put away laundry (wipe that smirk off your damn face Mr F), clean off counters

Wednesday - vacuum, toy clean up

Thur- Mon = guests

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due (to Me)

Alright. Things are getting better.
I'm almost ready to return to normal blogging.
(I know that is a huge weight off your shoulders!)

#1 The insurance nightmare is OVER. Want to know what plan we ended up with? Mr F's fucking work plan!!!! After debating 4 plans (6 if you count Kid's individual plans), and signing up (and canceling) 2 separate plans... in the end... I just couldn't beat his work premiums. Damn it! Also since we are on month 3 of his insurance cycle switching now would mean even more money out of pocket for a new set of deductibles. It was really close but due to our collective health history, and needs, his current policy is most likely our best bet. Plus at the end of the day we know exactly what we're getting... these other plans not so much.
I'm disappointed and somewhat pissed about wasting a week and half on all of this (and really folks it was like a full time job negotiating all these policies) but it is a huge relief to just be done with it.
Moving on!

#2 I finished our taxes last night. I can't believe it. The Feds owe us 2500 buckaroos. That is a landmark development in the Furious Kingdom. I have only our failed business and a ridiculous amount of stock losses to thank for it. WE LOVE YOU FAILING ECONOMY. We did end up still owing Michigan $33 dollars and I will NOT owe them money... last year they screwed us with a $500 fine for failure to pay our estimated taxes. If we don't owe them anything that can't happen. So I paid an additional estimated tax payment to cover that and put it in the mail TODAY. I gave them a little something extra just in case (now who owes who money?!!... that's right... screw you Michigan!!) Once they've cashed it I'll file. Until then I'm going back through Mr F's wacky drawer of receipts and all our medical bills to be sure I got EVERY SINGLE possible deduction.
Also, I once again want to recommend Taxact. Dude... if I can do it with all our total craziness... stock sales, business, business use of home, moving expenses... complete itemized deductions... ANYONE can (okay I can only vouch for those of you with genius level IQs).

#3 Due to the aforementioned accomplishments I can finally clean off my desk... er... the desk area and a three foot radius of piles. I could make out with all that shit now... and scream with joy "I'm done with you... you are no longer a potential deduction... you are not my cross to bear!!!" Let me tell you having my laptop perched on the precipice of a teetering pile of papers has been a serious hinderance to my blogging. Now I'm free. Well. Except for all those medical bills.

At the end of all this I just have this to say...

I ROCK THE DAMN HOUSE

MR F BOW TO ME



Oh I almost forgot

#4 Mr F is selling his car this week. And if I have my way (and honestly when do I not?) we will NOT be replacing it right away. Every month we don't have a 2nd car is cash money we aren't putting out for insurance. Plus didn't Mr F buy a fancy bike and day glow yellow jacket... and weird leg strap... with the sole purpose of riding his bike to work? Yeah... that's what I thought.

#5 Today I treated myself to two Burger King "Burger Shots" and let me tell you... HOT. DIGGITY. DOG.
Burger King, I think I love you.

The Good News Continues

I don't know if I should talk about these things I'm afraid of jinxing them... but then I think that's ridiculous. I think that maybe thinking positively has more of an actual effect than worrying does. So...

Two good things:

#1 Today a couple came to look at Mr F's car and they are interested. They are going to think about their offer and will get back to us. If we can settle on a number that we think is fair (or more than fair... haha) we might get this taken care of and I will not have to worry about how we'll cover Mr F's business taxes ANYMORE!!!

#2 I went online to check out our credit card statement. This has been maddeningly frustrating as of late because I just can't figure out why our monthly statements haven't been lower (well I know that it isn't my doing). I feel like I am constantly busting my ass trying to cut costs as much as humanly possible. It's so bad that this morning Mr F dropped a carton of eggs and I was trying not to get mad but also immediately counting up the wasted money. It's eggs, folks! But that is how tight I have been with the food budget... even an extra carton of eggs hurts.

Right about now you are probably thinking..."I thought this was supposed to be good news?!" Hold on... it is. So I was reviewing our statement. The one that is due in 2 weeks closed... well... 2 weeks ago and it was higher than I thought it should have been. It had some Xmas spending on it and Mr F had charged some work related expenses that pushed it up over what I had expected. That is partially what set me off into a financial depression last week... just the inability to account for all the spending (or predict it). I kept thinking that my grocery budgeting should be making a difference... and it hadn't been. Until today. Today I checked it and FINALLY all the work is starting to show up. Now we still have a couple weeks left on this statement but for the first time our total spending, for the entire month, will only be several hundred dollars. HUNDRED not THOUSAND. Finally we will have a complete statement that reflects our new grocery budget. I am elated and so much more hopeful than I was just a couple of days ago.

So if you are scrimping and feeling like it is never paying off... hang in there. I wouldn't have believed, even 4 days ago, that things could turn around... let alone so quickly. Proving yet again that the darkest times are often right before light.