My Grandma

My grandma has been in the nursing home since Dec. She is in her 90's and hasn't been doing well lately. The nursing home called the family in today because they didn't think she would hang on much longer. So of course we all rushed in there. I work an hour away from the nursing home and I was so afraid that I wouldn't make it in time. I did make it and got to see her. She is still hanging on but we don't think it will be very much longer. My grandpa passed away in December and she is ready to be reunited with him. So please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers. I probably won't be on here much for the next few days but I will post when I know something.

On a side note- we found out that the company that owns the house we found is willing to repair everything that needs it. So we are going to go ahead and make an offer on it as soon as we can!!

We found a house!!!!

Ok so we found a house! It is absolutely wonderful!! It has 3 bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms, a fireplace in the living room and almost 1800 square feet. The price is really in our budget. It has a Jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom. It has a wonderful kitchen with tons of cabinets and an island. We went and looked at it last week and again on Tuesday this week. Then we decided that we wanted my dad to come and look at it before we make an offer on it. My dad does construction and knows a lot about everything so we figured if there was anything wrong with it he would see it.

So he came over and looked at it last night. Everything was great until he crawled underneath it. He said that underneath the laundry room there is a layer of black plastic, then insulation, then the sub floor. As he was crawling on his belly, the black plastic was hanging low enough that it rubbed against his back and was very cold. So he turned over and lifted it up with his hand and heard water sloshing around in there. So he took his knife, cut a hole in the plastic and stuck his finger up there and water just poured out. There either is a leak there now or there was in the past and no one bothered to fix the damage.

So our realtor is going to call the realty company that owns the house today and tell them what we found and see if they are going to be willing to fix it. We decided that we aren’t going to make an offer until it is fixed to our satisfaction. We don’t know if they will be willing to sink the money into fixing it or not. But I just can’t see them refusing to do it since the house will not pass a home inspection as it is now. So anyone that is going to have a loan will not be able to buy it until it is fixed. So we are really hoping that they are smart about it and hire someone good to come in and do the repairs. We should know something this afternoon for sure.

So I am excited because we FINALLY found a house that we love. But at the same time I am disappointed at this new development. Keep your fingers crossed for us!!

Go Arts Go Karts

Big John got to race go karts last Friday night for a charity event. He was like a kid on Christmas morning! He was so excited. There were 96 drivers that were split into 12 different heats with 7 or 8 drivers in each one. There were 7 drivers in Big John's heat. They drew for starting position and he got 5th. There was a driver from his rival radio station in the same heat. They were talking trash about each other all week leading up to the big race.


Once we started watching the other heats before Big John's it became apparent that there was a common theme in the winners. They were all short and scrawny. Some of them were high school kids. Now Big John is called Big John for a reason. He is about 6'6". So he was at an immediate disadvantage. He said as long as he finished in front of the other radio station it would be fine.


Now there was a masked man that started out in front of the pack. He was not a very good driver and was all over the track and trying to wreck everyone that was around him. Big John narrowly escaped that fate a few times.

When all the dust finally settled, Big John finished 4th in his heat. He was happy with that because he beat the other station. In fact, he almost lapped him! But he didn't finish first so his race was over for the night. So until next year, he will just have to drive for fun and get lots of practice.

Busy Times

I have really started to dread spring time. We get so busy around this time of year that it is just really hard for me to enjoy it. Let me give you a peak at our schedule from this week:

Monday: We stayed home
Tuesday: Big John had to practice racing Go-Karts (more on this in a minute)
Wednesday: We went house hunting
Thursday: We drove for an hour to see my nephew’s preschool graduation
Friday: Big John is racing Go Karts
Saturday: Big John has a car show that he has to emcee. I have to drive for an hour to go to my nephew’s t-ball game at 11. Then that same nephew is having his birthday party at 1. Then we have to go to my brother’s house to spend time with my sister-in-law for her birthday. Then my other nephew has a baseball game at 7.

Can you see why I am so tired!!! I woke up with a horrible cold this morning and I think I got it because I am so run down. I just need to take a day and do nothing but sleep. Doesn’t that sound wonderful???

Big John is racing Go-Karts tonight for a fund raiser. It is for the Community School of the Arts. They have 96 drivers that have entered. They have different heats and then take the winner of each heat and put them in 2 qualifying races. Then they take the top 4 of each qualifying race and they race in the feature race. Then they declare the winner. He is so excited!! He’s kind of like a kid on Christmas morning.

We actually have nothing to do on Sunday after church except clean the house. We are having some friends over on Monday and our house is trashed!! But it won’t take us very long to clean and then I am going to lie around and do absolutely nothing the rest of the day.

The only good thing about being so busy is it makes time go by really quick. So it doesn’t seem like so long in between doctor’s appointments. Before I know it, the summer will be over and I will be more than halfway through my pregnancy!!!!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend.

House Hunting

We are currently renting our house. Now that we have a baby on the way, we have outgrown our house. It’s really too bad though because we really like our house. But let me tell you, it’s really exciting to look for a new house. Just to know that we will finally be able to own our own house is an awesome feeling!! What I don’t really like is the process in getting there.

I really am not exaggerating here. We have looked at around 40-50 houses so far and haven’t found a single one that we would want to make an offer on. Now we have seen some nice houses but with all of them there was just something that we didn’t like. We’ve also seen some dumps!! Some of the houses we’ve looked at were not fit for a dog to live in let alone people. And most of those houses were on the market for almost $100,000. I just think it’s absolutely amazing that people think they can get that much for a house that you would have to go in and completely gut and start over again.

We don’t ask for much in a house. We want 3 bedrooms and would like to have 2 bathrooms but that’s not required. I want a kitchen that I have room to cook in. Big John wants a yard that our kids can play in and a garage. We want a living room that is big enough for our furniture and still have some floor room for kids to play. We want bedrooms that aren’t so small that once you get the bed in there nothing else will fit. We want a heating system that is not falling apart. We would like to have central air but again, that is not required. I just want to be able to walk into a house and say this is home. Do you think that is too much to ask??

I think we can afford to be picky. There are so many houses on the market right now it’s insane!! It truly is a buyers market. Sorry to all of you that have houses for sale but the market for sellers pretty much sucks right now. Interest rates are super low. Our realtor has told us over and over that we will never go in and offer asking price for a house. We are also going to ask the seller to pay our closing costs and our down payment. I didn’t even know that you could do that but our realtor insists that it’s a normal occurrence. How cool is that!?! Hey, if you want me to buy your house, you not only have to reduce what you’re asking for it, you also have to pay all closing costs and our 3% down payment!!

We are going to look at some more tonight. We have 7 on the list to see. So maybe our luck will change and we will find our house tonight!!!