(no subject)
Apr. 4th, 2008 01:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altarflameThere were packages galore today.
First off, I got my incredible Steve Madden shoes:
I am so in love with them and so drunk on being newly appreciative of shoes and having money at the same time, I also ordered these today when I saw they had them:
I'm still considering whether I "need" them in white, burnt orange, brown and red, too. I mean, come on, I'm actually going to have a closet of my own to display them in, soon ;) My justification is that I can wear them to church every Sunday for the rest of my life; as in, even if there is no other occassion to wear heels to, there will always be that, so why not get some to match any conceivable dress :p
Elise's new fitted diapers came.
Then, in an onslought, UPS delivered the big old Gymboree box along with my Nicoletta Ceccoli print and some things of Grant's.
I don't know what to think of my investment in higher quality childrens' clothing. I got them all dressed up in their new duds and they looked so adorable I thought, I need to make a habit of this. And then LITERALLY within the hour, Aaron had ripped a hole in the knee of his pants, Isaac had pooped "but only a tiny bit" in his shorts and gotten Nutella all over his face, and Jake was soaked down the front from the hose.
I don't really know how anyone manages to keep kids' clothes in resale condition, especially BOYS' clothes. I really don't.
The Nicoletta Ceccoli print - which is the picture used for this icon, her painting "Corvi" - is incredible. First of all, in something larger than 100x100 pixels (it's actually 14"x14"), you can see the richness of the grass and the brushstrokes on the hair and it's just great. Also, whoa, it came hand signed and numbered 87/101, both in pencil. No wonder the thing cost $300. I mean damn, I just wanted to find it on allposters.com or something ;)
I really, really, REALLY wanted to go to FIU's art department's "Spring Review" tonight, and had planned it in advance, but a whole lot of things conflicted and it wasn't meant to be, I guess. Sorry we weren't there, Shaun.
Speaking of culture and glamour, tomorrow we're spending all day long de-lousing again *big sarcastic thumbs up*!!! Honestly I am so sick to death of headlice, I would like to never see one again as long as I live. Mindy's girls keep giving it back to us when they come over here to spend the weekend, and then they get rid of it but I don't realize Annie has hatching eggs again and they go home with it, etc etc FOREVER. Laura is terrified Brian is going to catch it and keeping his head buzzed, I am beyond over combing through hair, and I REFUSE to move into a new house with head lice on board. I've designated every Friday in April as "Lice Day": we're doing the whole shebang with shampoo, vaccuming, bedding through ultra hot wash with tea tree oil, couch cushion covers, spraying toxic chemicals all over the house, ALL OF IT, with boiling brushes and combing until my hands are numb. And then we're doing it again the next Friday. And the Friday after that. And the Friday after that. Mindy and Teresa are doing Patrice and Nadia's hair and entire house, too, also weekly. If there is some way that somehow something somewhere is missed after all of that...I just don't know. I really don't. The best I can come up with is, maybe the girls get it from school and can't come to our new house until we know they're totally free of it. I'm just hoping that doing it once or doing it two weeks in a row wasn't thorough enough, because it always seems as though they are totally gone after we do it, for a few days or a couple weeks, but then I guess more eggs hatch or something?
For the record, I spent months trying to use baby oil as a 3-day smothering agent AND as a one time combing aid, tea tree oil, the new homeopathic lice treatment, we've been doing the whole Suave Coconut Oil shampoo and conditioner thing...please spare me the natural tips. I know there are people who swear by mayonnaise, vinegar, and/or vaseline, but eww, DEAR LORD EWW and I've read about that taking WEEKS to rinse out and being impossible to comb through anyway. My toddler and preschooler are not going to sleep in shower caps. This is it.
Elise is just getting copious combing and nitpicking, as I can't bear to put RID on her head yet, and don't think I could safely keep it off of her hands or, thus, out of her mouth, anyway.
As far as "our house" (the house we really want, that I wrote about):
Due to all kinds of talk with the listing agent and going back and forth with Teresa and the amount of properties the bank has to deal with, etc etc etc, we ended up submitting an offer early yesterday morning for $214,000 along with a refundable cashier's check deposit of $22,000 (the bank had apparently set up terms with the listing agent that they weren't taking anyone seriously without at least a 10% deposit up front), all contingent on an inspection not revealing more than $7000 in problems with the property. We were supposed to hear an answer today but it looks like tomorrow, now. It is KILLING ME waiting. Killing me. We are apparently the only people who've made an offer on this house so far, which I think is partially because it's a very low traffic area and partially because the pictures online are HORRIBLE, blurry, non-enlargeable thumbnails that do it no justice whatsoever. Teresa expects them to counter-offer at least once as it was listed at 235k, appraised at 277 and sold last time around for 305. It's surrounded by houses that sold for 250-400k. But, if they accept our initial offer, which I feel like has to be at least a possibility with that deposit and our paying cash, our closing date would be APRIL 25. SO SOON!!
It is very surreal to be feeling almost wealthy for the first time in my life during a time period when the economy is flagging so badly...there are foreclosures on nearly every block in many neighborhoods here in Homestead, and I was reading yesterday about whole subdivisions in places like Cleveland and Denver that sprang up 2 years ago and are ghost towns now, with bank lockboxes on nearly every door. There is a nationwide spiking demand for low-cost apartments as former-homeowners try to avoid homelessness. They are estimating 1.2 million foreclosures in the past 12 months, and expect the next 12 months to be worse.
One of our favorite stores, a locally owned place in the shopping plaza we often walk to, is closing down. The co-owners have been in business for 14 years but they are blaming the economy. They sell things like handmade quilts, expensive fancy candy from bulk bins, unique cards and tons of frou frou old lady stuff like antique-looking-but-actually-brand-new furniture. We bought our dining table there last Fall. Anyway, it is a little bit awesome to have a place with a lot of things I like putting all their merchandise on clearance when I am buying my first home and have some money to spend outfitting it; on the other hand, though, that was really the ONLY "class" in that plaza, and the kids LOVE going in there, and the owner is almost what I would call a friend. She's followed our whole story, with Boston and Elise and the sponge and all that crap, and sent free gifts to my hospital room. It just bites to see people struggling on all sides. I feel very grateful to be "safe" from short-term recession problems, with Grant having just landed a very good job with a ton of advancement opportunities, a great benefits package and 12 hour shifts that allow for either 3 or 4 days off in a row each week.
It is WEIRD being treated differently because we have some money; we were at the bank putting $300k in a Money Market account to gain interest while we aren't using it, and the lady helping us was like, running to the printer when she had to get something for us to sign, and being all extra-special-nice. Grant was sitting there in his crocs-with-socks, shorts, tshirt and straw hat, and he theorized while she was sprinting to our hard copy that we probably seemed "Eccentric" to her and perhaps she was seeing my gigantic, red $20 Claire's purse as being worth a whole lot more :p
Sidenote: we can actually make like $900 this month just by letting that three hundred grand sit in a money market account instead of a regular checking account. And we can still access it and everything, in the meantime (though only a limited number of times without penalty). There isn't risk involved or anything. What the heck.
I will leave you with a few other pictures that I took today.
That's Nadia with A and A, she's one of Mindy's twins.
First off, I got my incredible Steve Madden shoes:
I am so in love with them and so drunk on being newly appreciative of shoes and having money at the same time, I also ordered these today when I saw they had them:
I'm still considering whether I "need" them in white, burnt orange, brown and red, too. I mean, come on, I'm actually going to have a closet of my own to display them in, soon ;) My justification is that I can wear them to church every Sunday for the rest of my life; as in, even if there is no other occassion to wear heels to, there will always be that, so why not get some to match any conceivable dress :p
Elise's new fitted diapers came.
Then, in an onslought, UPS delivered the big old Gymboree box along with my Nicoletta Ceccoli print and some things of Grant's.
I don't know what to think of my investment in higher quality childrens' clothing. I got them all dressed up in their new duds and they looked so adorable I thought, I need to make a habit of this. And then LITERALLY within the hour, Aaron had ripped a hole in the knee of his pants, Isaac had pooped "but only a tiny bit" in his shorts and gotten Nutella all over his face, and Jake was soaked down the front from the hose.
I don't really know how anyone manages to keep kids' clothes in resale condition, especially BOYS' clothes. I really don't.
The Nicoletta Ceccoli print - which is the picture used for this icon, her painting "Corvi" - is incredible. First of all, in something larger than 100x100 pixels (it's actually 14"x14"), you can see the richness of the grass and the brushstrokes on the hair and it's just great. Also, whoa, it came hand signed and numbered 87/101, both in pencil. No wonder the thing cost $300. I mean damn, I just wanted to find it on allposters.com or something ;)
I really, really, REALLY wanted to go to FIU's art department's "Spring Review" tonight, and had planned it in advance, but a whole lot of things conflicted and it wasn't meant to be, I guess. Sorry we weren't there, Shaun.
Speaking of culture and glamour, tomorrow we're spending all day long de-lousing again *big sarcastic thumbs up*!!! Honestly I am so sick to death of headlice, I would like to never see one again as long as I live. Mindy's girls keep giving it back to us when they come over here to spend the weekend, and then they get rid of it but I don't realize Annie has hatching eggs again and they go home with it, etc etc FOREVER. Laura is terrified Brian is going to catch it and keeping his head buzzed, I am beyond over combing through hair, and I REFUSE to move into a new house with head lice on board. I've designated every Friday in April as "Lice Day": we're doing the whole shebang with shampoo, vaccuming, bedding through ultra hot wash with tea tree oil, couch cushion covers, spraying toxic chemicals all over the house, ALL OF IT, with boiling brushes and combing until my hands are numb. And then we're doing it again the next Friday. And the Friday after that. And the Friday after that. Mindy and Teresa are doing Patrice and Nadia's hair and entire house, too, also weekly. If there is some way that somehow something somewhere is missed after all of that...I just don't know. I really don't. The best I can come up with is, maybe the girls get it from school and can't come to our new house until we know they're totally free of it. I'm just hoping that doing it once or doing it two weeks in a row wasn't thorough enough, because it always seems as though they are totally gone after we do it, for a few days or a couple weeks, but then I guess more eggs hatch or something?
For the record, I spent months trying to use baby oil as a 3-day smothering agent AND as a one time combing aid, tea tree oil, the new homeopathic lice treatment, we've been doing the whole Suave Coconut Oil shampoo and conditioner thing...please spare me the natural tips. I know there are people who swear by mayonnaise, vinegar, and/or vaseline, but eww, DEAR LORD EWW and I've read about that taking WEEKS to rinse out and being impossible to comb through anyway. My toddler and preschooler are not going to sleep in shower caps. This is it.
Elise is just getting copious combing and nitpicking, as I can't bear to put RID on her head yet, and don't think I could safely keep it off of her hands or, thus, out of her mouth, anyway.
As far as "our house" (the house we really want, that I wrote about):
Due to all kinds of talk with the listing agent and going back and forth with Teresa and the amount of properties the bank has to deal with, etc etc etc, we ended up submitting an offer early yesterday morning for $214,000 along with a refundable cashier's check deposit of $22,000 (the bank had apparently set up terms with the listing agent that they weren't taking anyone seriously without at least a 10% deposit up front), all contingent on an inspection not revealing more than $7000 in problems with the property. We were supposed to hear an answer today but it looks like tomorrow, now. It is KILLING ME waiting. Killing me. We are apparently the only people who've made an offer on this house so far, which I think is partially because it's a very low traffic area and partially because the pictures online are HORRIBLE, blurry, non-enlargeable thumbnails that do it no justice whatsoever. Teresa expects them to counter-offer at least once as it was listed at 235k, appraised at 277 and sold last time around for 305. It's surrounded by houses that sold for 250-400k. But, if they accept our initial offer, which I feel like has to be at least a possibility with that deposit and our paying cash, our closing date would be APRIL 25. SO SOON!!
It is very surreal to be feeling almost wealthy for the first time in my life during a time period when the economy is flagging so badly...there are foreclosures on nearly every block in many neighborhoods here in Homestead, and I was reading yesterday about whole subdivisions in places like Cleveland and Denver that sprang up 2 years ago and are ghost towns now, with bank lockboxes on nearly every door. There is a nationwide spiking demand for low-cost apartments as former-homeowners try to avoid homelessness. They are estimating 1.2 million foreclosures in the past 12 months, and expect the next 12 months to be worse.
One of our favorite stores, a locally owned place in the shopping plaza we often walk to, is closing down. The co-owners have been in business for 14 years but they are blaming the economy. They sell things like handmade quilts, expensive fancy candy from bulk bins, unique cards and tons of frou frou old lady stuff like antique-looking-but-actually-brand-new furniture. We bought our dining table there last Fall. Anyway, it is a little bit awesome to have a place with a lot of things I like putting all their merchandise on clearance when I am buying my first home and have some money to spend outfitting it; on the other hand, though, that was really the ONLY "class" in that plaza, and the kids LOVE going in there, and the owner is almost what I would call a friend. She's followed our whole story, with Boston and Elise and the sponge and all that crap, and sent free gifts to my hospital room. It just bites to see people struggling on all sides. I feel very grateful to be "safe" from short-term recession problems, with Grant having just landed a very good job with a ton of advancement opportunities, a great benefits package and 12 hour shifts that allow for either 3 or 4 days off in a row each week.
It is WEIRD being treated differently because we have some money; we were at the bank putting $300k in a Money Market account to gain interest while we aren't using it, and the lady helping us was like, running to the printer when she had to get something for us to sign, and being all extra-special-nice. Grant was sitting there in his crocs-with-socks, shorts, tshirt and straw hat, and he theorized while she was sprinting to our hard copy that we probably seemed "Eccentric" to her and perhaps she was seeing my gigantic, red $20 Claire's purse as being worth a whole lot more :p
Sidenote: we can actually make like $900 this month just by letting that three hundred grand sit in a money market account instead of a regular checking account. And we can still access it and everything, in the meantime (though only a limited number of times without penalty). There isn't risk involved or anything. What the heck.
I will leave you with a few other pictures that I took today.
That's Nadia with A and A, she's one of Mindy's twins.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 08:19 am (UTC)Um... passports! There's some sort of huge passport issue over here right now. And I don't have one, and neither do the kids.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 08:24 am (UTC)...
You sound to me like you would be willing to come, I would just have to drag you kicking and screaming (and pay your way, and babysit your children, and make you muffins and tea while you sit in my garden tub). No problem.
Honestly, haven't you never even had authentic Cuban food? You can't tell me 2 weeks (or some other amount of time) in 80 degree weather and bright sunshine, in November or January, doesn't sound good.
Or, you know...May.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 08:33 am (UTC)And because your spiders scare me. May sounds far too warm. If I so much as glimpsed the legs of one of these, I swear to god I would run screaming back to Canada.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 08:49 am (UTC)The biggest, scariest thing we have here (in my experience, in the suburbs - I"m sure it might be different if were living in a tent in a swamp or something) is banana spiders. They are about two inches across. BUT! You see them around groves, strung between tree trunks at dusk, and up in the power lines. I have never, ever encountered one in a house or on an open sidewalk (meaning, I've seen them strung between trees across a canopied-sidewalk at dusk, but never a sidewalk without trees closely spaced on either side, or in the middle of the day, which means really rarely). I think it's been two years since I saw one at all.
The only spiders I have seen inside of houses are daddy long legs, which are wispy-thin, and an inch across at most. They cannot bite, have no venom, are fragile as tissue paper and run for the hills when they see anyone. Even those, though, I don't see frequently or anything.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 08:55 am (UTC)I'm just saying, that was 5 years ago, and it was a single dead spider in a long abandoned vehicle. Otherwise there are the banana spiders, if you are venturing around in groves or near them at night - but I live a block from a grove and really don't think I've seen one in two years. We're outside all the time.
All in all I think the chances of you encountering anything like that are very, very, VERY slim. What you might see are crab spiders, if you examined bushes or went searching yards for them: they are smaller than a dime, colored like a lady bug, and look like tiny crabs. My sister and I grew up with our dad finding them for us and handing them to us so we could let them crawl around on our hand. Again, outside.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 08:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 09:02 am (UTC)There are not so many old people where I live. Those are mostly communities on the west coast of Florida, and pockets of Miami. Here there are a LOT, lot lot of illegal mexican immigrants, most of whom live many to a single small residence and drive crammed into packed pick up trucks, quite a few 2nd generation cubans who were born here and spoiled but grew up listening to tales of parents that escaped by the skin of their teeth and then struggled to make something out of nothing, some Haitians that have French accents and wear very bright colors, and...well I won't get into all the South American variances or the tensions, but the point is most people are younger and we have a really different thing going on here.
Anyway, the tree and the plastic car and the trike in the yard? Those are all in Florida. And that necklace you wore when you gave birth, and Isaac and the pretty beaches we go to and the playgrounds and mall play areas. We could go to Key West and you could see real drag queens performing in full regalia.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 09:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 09:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 09:38 am (UTC)And if you want some of the best rocks in the world...come here. You'll never run out.
Actually Parksville has some of the most wonderful beaches on the island.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 09:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 09:20 am (UTC)Well, I mean there's more... but having you as accompaniment is certainly a prospect.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 08:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 08:35 am (UTC)Apparently this flagged me because I got pulled aside EVERY TIME after this.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 08:45 am (UTC)Um, I know that my other sis inlaw jumped the boarder when she moved to Memphis Tn.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 08:50 am (UTC)Honestly I don't know anything about any of this. If you're coming here, I assure you, NOBODY will think you're in it for the schools.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 08:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 08:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 08:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 09:04 am (UTC)You might have noticed I have not jumped to offer anyone else plane tickets, lady. Let alone tea in the tub.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-04 09:05 am (UTC)