No Luck Yet

We had our second day of open house yesterday and it was slower than Saturday. There was a couple that came late Saturday night and seemed to really like the house - so much they came back a second time 30 minutes later. But, I found out that they were trying to make up their minds between our house and another one and of course chose the other one to make an offer. Grrrrr cause they looked like they had money also. Jim and I were probably pathetic when they came through cause we said that we were "motivated sellers" about 37 times in the span of 2 minutes. Maybe we scared them off?

Anyway, after the open house ended yesterday I confronted Mr. Ahole on the lying Ahole that he is. Of course, he was very apologetic and said "it isn't in my character". Whatever. After all was said and done, he gave us a 1/2% commission back, which amounts to thousands of dollars. We also decided to lower the price by $30K to get it under a certain figure. He thinks that we will get a pick up in traffic now. Of course the new price is $55K lower than the last house sold just like ours. But oh well, we are still going to be making a ton of money on this house.

I am going to "try" to get back to normal today, if I can. We have the builder coming this morning to paint our ceiling from the drywall repair from the ceiling leak. Also I have Salvation Army coming to pick up approximately half our house today and they are scheduled between 1 and 4. So like I said I am going "try" to schedule a playgroup in today between painting guy and pick-up-my-junk guy. Jack really needs it and quite frankly so do I. I need to get out of here and not stress so much. We shall see if I am actually successful or not.

Furious!

We had an open house today with our realtor, who will be known as Mr. Ahole from now. And the reason for the Mr. Ahole name? We totally can't trust this guy. I mean he lies and lies and then lies some more just to make himself look good. Our for sale sign blew down last weekend in a wind storm and I called him on Monday to tell him that the sign was down and broken. When did it get fixed? It didn't. Jim put the thing back up this morning. And you know what Mr. Ahole told us? He said he drove by LAST NIGHT and saw that it was up and therefore didn't do anything about it LAST NIGHT (five days after I told him about it). A total and complete lie because LAST NIGHT it was laying on the ground. I do not think the guy has driven by here in the last two weeks!

We left the house totally immaculate this morning. I went out and bought fresh flowers and candles (yeah just like on Designed to Sell). It looked good. Really Good. We come back at the end and Mr. Ahole tells us that 5 people walked through, but no serious people. I then ask Mr. Ahole about a realtor that had looked at the house on Thursday and said she might have some clients who would be interested in it. I called Mr. Ahole and gave him her number and told Mr. Ahole about the prospect. I asked Mr. Ahole today if he had called her and Mr. Ahole said he had. Again - another lie! I called the other realtor after Mr. Ahole left and asked her if he called and sure enough she said no.

This guy is supposed to be a Century 21 "Superstar", but as far as I am concerned there is NOTHING super about Mr. Ahole at all. He has done nothing and I mean nothing for us. Mr. Ahole has not tried to network with other agents to get ours sold. I have told Mr. Ahole that we are very motivated, to say the least, but he doesn't seem to care. Mr. Ahole drives around in a Hummer and I really hate Hummers! And beginning to hate Mr. Ahole also.

Mr. Ahole also told me this morning that a lot of agents have called about our house, but funny enough, not one showing. The only reason why the other real estate agent was here on Thursday was because she was buying a floor lamp from us. So obviously that was a lie about all the other agents.

I am so frustrated and really want to sit down and cry right now. I have no idea what we are going to do when it comes time to cough up the money for the new house. I so hate dealing with liars and he is the biggest Mr. Ahole of them all.

A Cold Front!

Last night around 5:30, I was driving to my friend's house for a candle party and I was thinking to myself that it was quite comfortable temperature wise. In fact, it might even be a bit chilly. So I look up at the thermostat in my car and it reads 94 degrees! Yeah a real cold front!! But in comparison to a week ago, it was down 18 degrees!! Geesh time to get the winter woolies out cause it is ONLY 94! Sad.

Packing 101

Okay, so because Jim came home and packed like 3 boxes last night, I am sufficiently guilted into do some packing/throwing away stuff today. It worked honey. However, they really should teach a class in how to pack with a toddler hanging off your legs begging you to hold him. Because, I am failing miserably at the task. It is taking three times as long to do anything. About the only thing that I have done today was clean out my closet of old clothes that I will no longer wear - ever! I mean people, I had business suits from 1990 in there, of which I have not worn since at least 1995! And about 4 sizes too small for me now. Yeah like 11 years ago. Sad.

I also have shredded an entire trash can full of paperwork from past years. I tell ya going through all this stuff sure brings back your life to ya. Like old houses bought and sold. Or old receipts for some things that you should never have bought in the first place. Or yucky past relationship stuff. It was really quite therapeutic and should have been done a long long time ago.

I am also trying to get rid of like half our house on craigslist.com. Selling off a lot of furniture, toys, Jack's clothes, crib, cradle ... the list goes on and on. So that has taken up a lot of my time emailing the people who have responded to all my ads. Hopefully we will be able to get rid of the stuff and not move all this extra stuff across the country. Really, do we really need all that STUFF?

Just some ramblings

** Why is it I can not get myself motivated to get packing? I know that the move is coming up and it would make life easier if I did some packing. But to take a nap or watch another episode of Designers Challenge just sounds like so much more fun. Yes I know I am the worlds worst procastinator.

** Jack is becoming quite the cute little person. His latest saying is "cha". You ask him "Are you Jack?" and he will reply "Cha!". It has become his answer to everything asked.

** Jack sure caused a lot of attention on our recent trip. He pulled his own little suitcase through the airports and anytime anyone say him, all that was said was "awww isn't he cute". I heard one guy say "that thing is bigger than him". He was quite a little trooper and held his own.

** It is hot hot hot. Maybe that is why I am feeling so lazy? It has been in the triple digits for 21 days now. Oh and they keep telling you not to turn on your air conditioning and conserve. To that, I say screw that. I am going to keep my house at 78 degrees so there state of California. I am so not looking forward to my electric bill. May need cpr after seeing the amount.

** I would post more pictures and I will as soon as I find my camera charger. I know I have seen it since we got home from our road trip, however in my quest to make the house a model home, it got placed (stuffed) in a cubby hole somewhere. I just need to remember where now.

** We totally need to sell our house fast, like yesterday. Instead we had no showings at all except for one in two weeks. I am still cussing that wife out who did not want to live here.

** I am very excited about moving to Gulfport. I just want to fast forward time about two months is all. Can I do that?

** My last ramble is about Jack, of course. Ever since we got home, he can not stop talking about flying in the airplane. He tells everyone we see and I mean ev.ery.one like the cashier lady at the grocery store. He says "go flying zzzoooommm" and takes his hand to demonstrate.
Then he tells about the "big bump booommm", the landing. And he absolutely loved having turbulence. When we hit a rough patch, he was screaming "weeee". I think it was a big hit.

What a Weekend

We just got back from our whirlwind trip to Gulfport. All I have to say, is wow what a weekend. First of all, Jim is officially a police officer. Yay! He gets to start at the end of August. He is really excited about the whole thing.

On the house front, we found the house to buy. It is a new construction that is almost completed. The previous buyer backed out and left it for us to buy. It is an unbelievable low price in California prices and it will make us a lot better shape financially. It is funny because we weren't looking at new construction because of the usual long wait time to move in. However, we were in the neighborhood looking at another house for sale and had some time to kill so we went to the model home just to look. The real estate lady there was sooo very nice and told us that she only had the one house left to sell and it would be available around Sept 1. which is a perfect timing. The house is 2600 sq ft, 4 bedroom, den, huge kitchen and family room. Oh and it also has an awesome view of a lake in the back. So we signed up for it and about 15 minutes after we said yes, another couple came back after "thinking" about it for a couple of days and wanted it. But too bad, it was ours. Ha!

So now the pressure is totally on to sell our house. Not quite sure what we are going to do if it doesn't sell by then and don't really want to think about it right now. It does feel good to know for sure what is going on and that we have a house now to move into. But now the stress is coming from the trying to sell this house. Of course with the 118 degree heat (literally,no joking), there was no showings on our house while we were gone. I am hoping that the triple digits will go bye bye and get people out looking at houses again. We have had 20 days of triple digit temperatures! I will take the Mississippi weather anyday to what we have here.

So say your prayers about selling our house! I want out now! Or anybody want to move to California and the triple digit temps?

All Ready to Go and a Jackaroo Embarrassment

Well all animals are safely at their temporary lodging facilities, even the runaway cat. Thankfully, Jim got home early today and was able to help with the transporting of said runaway cat because he ripped through the other cat carrier while we were driving! I was just saying to Jim that I thought that the mesh on this carrier was stronger than the other and therefore would not rip as easily. WRONG. As soon as I said those words, the cat was out and in the front of the van. Yep, two cat carriers down the drain today. Oh yay!

So after getting all the animals to where they needed to go, we decided to go out to eat. We were sitting in the booth waiting for our food and Jim and I were talking about Jack and his loud yelling that he is prone to do at times. I said that at least he wasn't yelling "Yo Bitch" and sure enough as soon as I said those words, he yelled the same words. Very Very Loud. So loud that I am sure the entire half of the restaurant could hear it. Um. Yeah. Need to watch what we are saying from now on ya think?

I guess yesterday we were thiiiissss close to selling our house. A guy came to look at the house and really really liked the house and was ready to sign the offer. Then he brought his wife, who I guess is a stuck up snob, because she nixed the entire thing because she did not want to live outside of Orange County. My question is why does she WANT to live in Orange County? Yuck. So I guess it is onto the open house this weekend while we are gone. Wish us luck with that and we come home to sooo many offers. I can dream right?

One of those mornings

We are flying to Gulfport tomorrow for the weekend. Jim has a couple of job stuffies to do and I want to get more of a feel for the area and look at some houses. There is two houses in particular that I saw on the internet that I think I could totally love and can't wait to check them out.

Anyway, because of all that needs to be done, my morning was pretty much booked. My plans WERE as follows: drop Jack off at daycare/preschool (calling it preschool now cause it sounds more grownup), drop cats off at the cat boarding place, drop dogs off at friends AND get to my 9:45 am doctor's appointment on time. Yeah Right. NOT.

Let's see, what went wrong. The first was Jack had a complete and total meltdown when it was time to go to school. He would NOT go into the car and by the time I had him buckled in, I was drenched in sweat from fighting him. Then he started to scream when I left him there, even though I kept telling him he was going to play with all his friends. He has become quite clingy lately.

Anyway, I zoomed back home after dropping the toddler off with high hopes of rounding up all 4 animals to put them in the car. So I grab the first cat and with many a fur flying put him into the cat carrier. Then go looking for the second cat, who after 20 minutes of searching, was found under the table skirt in the bedroom. I put him in the cat carrier and carry the two cats out to the garage. Then I go back inside to change my shirt because it now has 3 inches of cat fur all over it, grab the dogs, the dog food, and a last minute look to make sure the house is still looking like a model. I go out to the garage with one of the dogs in my arms and what do I see? A cat sitting by the open garage door. I look at the cat carrier that he was in and see that he managed to totally rip open a hole and jump out. And by now, he has run into the next yard. No hopes whatsoever of catching him.

So I look at the time and realize that I do not have time to drop off both cat (singular now) and the dogs before doctor's appointment. So I carry dog back into the house and decide to just drop off the one cat at the kennel and hope that the other cat will come back later so I can take him to the kennel.

So I am driving to the kennel and am on the road of the kennel and the road is closed because they have it all torn up! I can literally see the building but couldn't get there. So I call them and ask them how in the world do I get there and the nice lady on the other end told me "oh dear, you have to go back to Ivy street, make a left, then another left, then a right, then a left, and then you will see our road upon which you make a right." HUH? You have got to be kidding me. I have to be at the appointment in 20 minutes and I have to drive 23 miles out of my way? UGH! So I finally get there and drop off the stupid cat, which by the way, I am really wondering why we have at this moment and drive to my doctors. The time I walk into the doctor's door? 10:05 am. Only 20 minutes late. And of course was not called back until 10:45. Of course.

So now I am home and have to do laundry and pack. Oh and the runaway cat? Yeah he was standing by the door when I got home. I have to make another run to the kennel with the 23 mile detour after 3:00 pm cause that is when they reopen. Fun times.

It was nice while it lasted ...

the clean house that is. Right now there are two men in my front entry creating a HUGE dust storm. They are replacing some cracked tiles that have been cracked for oh about a year now. I know I know, I should have taken care of said cracked tiles then instead of now, but shut up. The stuff you learn to live with in your house until suddenly it is "on the market" and must be perfect. But the good part of the dust storm brewing in my house is that it is the LAST of the projects to be done before I deem the house "sale worthy".

Yes I know I have watched WAY too many "sell this house" type shows. You don't have to inform me of that observation. I know it.

I didn't think it was possible

After a weekend full of sweat (lots and lots), tears, and a lot of frustrations, my house is now a model house. Of course, do not look in the garage (well you can look, but you surely can't walk around in there cause of all the crap that was stuffed in there) or any of my closets. But the final product did come out really nice I think. Below are a few of the pictures I grabbed off the internet that the realtor took this morning. Now I am not sure what to do because the house is clearly too nice to actually live in it. And I also feel like crying because I do so love my house and don't want to part with it. Can't I just take it to MS with me?

It Is Official

As of 2 hours ago, my house is officially on the market. Let the mega offers start rolling in. Oh and also let the mega stress start compounding. I have to have my house "looking like a model" for the pictures and virtual tour by Monday at 10 am. I wanted to laugh in the poor realtor's face when he mentioned that. Yeah right. Ha. Model. MY house. Hahahaha.

A Wee Bit Warm

Jack and I finally got out the house today and look what was facing us. Ummm maybe we should of stayed inside huh?

After the drywall repair guy finally left (he actually showed up at 7:45 am wow!) after 4 hours, I decided to go do something fun and relieve some stress. So Jack and I went to the movies at the cheap theatre in town and saw Ice Age 2. Cute movie if you haven't seen it yet. Maybe dvd worthy.

So now Jack is sleeping and I am waiting for the realtor to come so we can sign the papers to sell our house. Yikes this is really becoming reality now.

I Need Out of the House!

Jack and I have been cooped up in this house for the last two days going crazy. I stayed in yesterday because I wanted to get some stuff done like cleaning bathrooms and laundry that was desperately needed and between that and Jack's naptime, we never made it out of the house.

The stupid air conditioning repair guy messed up my day today. Of course they gave me a window of 8 - noon that they would be here to fix the pipe that leaked all over my ceiling. And guess what time they arrived? 11:30 and by the time they were done, it was naptime for Jack and that was that. We even missed a cool pool party that we were invited to all because of the stupid pipe in the ceiling.

And tomorrow? Yeah that is going to be messed up also because the drywall guy is supposed to come and fix the ugly, wet, and rotting ceiling. And the time frame given? Yep 8 - noon. Any bets on what time they will show up. I am thinking between 11 and noon. And of course we have to pass on the offer of playdate tomorrow which is at 10:00. Seriously people if we don't get out of this house soon, I really believe Jack and I are going to go crazy! I mean you can watch so much of Thomas and Mickey before it becomes torture!

On another note, my husband just ended a 33 hour straight shift at work. Yes you heard me right - 2 straight days with no sleep and on the job. I guess some big stuff was happening yesterday and he told me he was going to be late. I woke up at 2 am and still no Jim, so I called him and he said he wouldn't be home until this afternoon! And of course that pretty much ended my sleep for the night cause I just can't sleep knowing he's at work that late. So I was up at 3 am watching recorded shows of House Hunters.

So Jim got home today about 3:30 which was 36 hours after he left to go to work 2 days ago! I do not know how he does it. Me? I would of passed out long ago or be the biggest bit#@ in the world.

Day at Disneyworld ... Part 1

We had a good time at Disneyworld. It was a very long day at the Magic Kingdom and rode a lot of rides. As I said before, the Florida Magic Kingdom blows away the California version. So much better and not just because it is bigger, but the rides that are in both parks were always better in Florida. Why is that Disney? Can't you make them at least the same? Or California have one that is better?

Below is a little pictorial of our very long 14 hour day at the Magic Kingdom.


Daddy and Jack in the car behind us. Jack driving. Scary thought.

Laura driving our car. Another scary thought.

Jack playing with the water jets. He was so funny cause he ALWAYS missed the jet. He would go up to a hole, wait for the water to come up, give up and turn to another one, then 1 second later, the water would come up at the previous jet and he kept missing them. But somehow he got really wet. It was so hot, that I was tempted to get in there and play myself, which would of been a very scary sight.

Here is Jack in one of his "I don't want to be with Sissy" moments.

Laura being all pretty on the carousel.

Jack being slightly grumpy on the carousel until the thing started to move, then it was all smiles.

Laura and Jack shooting each other. I am glad that we did not buy these because I am pretty sure they would have shot each other in the back seat during one of the many times Jack was annoying his sister to no end.

Jack showing us the fire truck that swindled out of us at some gift shop.

The parade in the afternoon. The giant rat in a bubble.

Me (looking like a candidate for a tummy tuck, which I will be getting as soon as we get rich from selling the house - can't wait) with Laura and Jack getting on the Magic Carpet Ride.

Day Of Disneyworld ... Part 2

Laura thought carrying her little brother on her back would be fun. It lasted about 3 minutes.

Jack and Laura playing with the motorized boats. Such concentration. I think they were racing or something.

Jack spied something out the window of this play house.

It was a little blonde! And he invited her back in the house to play. He is such his father's son!

Then it was time to come inside and play with some games. Jack trying to figure out the mechanical dog. Of course he got it to work and I couldn't. Figures.

Jack and Daddy go riding on a jet ski.

Finished the night up with the parade and fireworks. A very long day was had by all in the Jackaroo family.

Getting Down at Chef Mickey's

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Day at the good ole Chuck E Cheese

We went to a playdate today at Chuck E Cheese. It was so good to actually get out of the house and not be cleaning/packing/stressing about the house and the big move. It was also good to talk to the other mothers about the big blow up at the group. Most of my friends at the playdate today were also kicked out or left the other group. It is so stupid and so junior high level mentality that I just have to laugh about it all. Women and drama - you just can't separate the two.

The picture above was taken by Chris, another mother at the playdate. I thought it was a really good picture of Jack on the little carousel there.

I think that the stress of everything is getting to everybody here in the Jackaroo house. I came home today and slept for over 2 hours and Jack slept for almost 4 hours!

And to update on the leak in the ceiling. It turns out that the pipe for the air conditioning condensation was never properly fitted and has been building up for sometime until the other day when it just kinda broke loose and came flooding out of the ceiling. The builder guy was here this morning and said that they will fix the pipe and the drywall damage. He also said he will treat for mold just in case (yuck!) and left this huge blower/dryer thing that is now sitting in the middle of my hallway blowing air up to the ceiling to dry it. One good thing was he told me that I have the cleanest attic he has ever seen. Of course that made me very proud. Yeah, like I actually go up and clean my attic - HA!

More Pictures . . . Disney Day 1

The mouse-eared kids

Jack the pirate. Oh and I tried to find a Captain Jack t-shirt from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean and again stupid stupid Disney for only have them in pink girl shirts.

The beginning of the sugar buzz from Chef Mickey's

More Pictures ... Chef Mickeys (the day he got high on sugar)

Laura and Mickey looking cute together.

Jack did not like the characters at all. Here he is trying to concentrate on the spoon in his mouth so he can forget that there is a giant rat dressed in a dress behind him.


He was less than pleased when a giant chipmunk walked up to him.

And when the giant rat walked up to him to say hello, well let's just say Jack did NOT like it.

Laura looking cute as she always does.

He sorta warmed up to Minnie by the end to the extent that he wasn't wanting to run away. His tactic was one of ignoring and maybe she will go away.

The Blog World is Way Too Small

There is this one woman in the mother's group that I belong to, or I should say used to belong to cause she kicked me out a few days ago (long story that is too stupid for words), that needless to say I do not care for. In fact, you could say that I really do not like her. This woman is very immature, controlling, and likes to manipulate people to her advantage. Oh and she holds grudges a very long time against people who unknowingly and innocently did something she considers "dissing" her. She happens to be African American and she calls herself the "head N-word" and an angry black woman who is proud of it.

ANYWAY, she has a blog, and tonight when I was on a reading a blog that I frequent every now and then (not one of my regular must-read blogs), I noticed that HERS was listed on the blogroll! And no, I am not going to tell ya which blog I was reading or the name of HER blog, cause I really like blogging in anonymity and I so do not want this woman reading MY blog.

So my question is this, how many degrees of separation is there in the blog world? I would bet that it is way lower than six and in this instance way too close for comfort. The blogging world is just fascinating isn't it?

And don't worry about me not being in a playgroup. I have picked myself up and joined another playgroup (one of the reasons why I was kicked out cause I DID join another one). I think I left that kind of mentality back in junior high.

It is a Conspiracy

Okay, I lived through the dog throwing up on the carpet, the other dog coming in from outside with poop still on his butt and scraping it across the carpet (sorry if TMI), and Jack taking out every single toy I put away. But BUT I am not sure I can live with water coming from my ceiling like a fountain! Yes that is right, during THE day that I am trying to get the house show-worthy, my ceiling decides to start raining. Yay! Of course the builder got a very nasty call from me, or I should say message cause they are all conveniently in a meeting at the very time I called. ARGH! Everybody, including my roof, is conspiring against me!

Family Reunion Pics ... Part 2

I don't know what is going on with blogger, but it won't let me post more than 7 pics at a time before it stops. So here is the part 2 of the family reunion.

Jack and Daddy Go Fishing

Another pic of the boy and his batman car.

And More Pictures ... The Family Reunion

The boy in his batman car that Grammy bought him. And yes, he was spoiled rotten with all the attention.


Grammy's gorgeous property.


Grammy C making ice cream and yes it was yummy.



Bill Bailey on his famous grill. The amount of food there could have literally fed an entire army! Seriously! And it seemed like all we did was eat and eat and eat some more and then after that - We Ate again!


Some of the teenage cousins. As you noticed, there were no pictures of Laura. That was because we saw her all of 10 minutes while we were there. She spent all of her time with her cousins.

Just the Kitchen?

I have spent the last 2 hours scrubbing, cleaning, mopping my kitchen until it shines. Is it possible to just show my kitchen when it comes time for potential buyers to traipse through my house?

More Pictures - The Horses

Uncles Bill and Dan have a very nice home near Gulfport where they have a lot of acres with 5 horses. Uncle Dan was very nice to let the kids ride the horses. Thanks Uncle Dan! I have a feeling that we are going to be spending more time there with the horses after we move!

I love this picture. I will have to get this one framed.

Our little cowboy wearing Daddy's hat. He kept saying "riding horsie!"

Laura getting riding lessons from Uncle Dan. Doesn't she look good up there?

Uncle Dan and his horses.