Thursday, January 29, 2009

Random thoughts

Its that time of year again!!! I hate filing taxes. In hopes of a speedy return I started the process of doing our taxes. Now having tried doing it completely by myself in years past I have learned that it is worth the investment of turbotax. Or some other form of help. It seems that every year the process becomes more and more complicated. I have to believe that there is a group of evil geniuses somewhere just sitting around and thinking of ideas on how to make this task more ridiculous. That is the only solution I can come up with for all the insanity that is taxes. Although I may not understand the logic behind the taxes, I do enjoy getting the return every year. Its almost like getting revenge of the government for taking my (well this years Mark's) hard earned money all year long.

Now after all the hair pulling and fist shaking, comes the fun part of getting the money. Mark and I were just talking last night about how we are going to spend this money. Of course the fun frivilous ways always come to mind. But we are adults now and have to be more responsible. I think we decided on paying off my car. With us buying a house here in the near future. Getting rid of a $200 car payment every month seemed like the best way to use it. I am excited to finally have my car paid off. It will be nice to know we own both of our cars. Then the rest will go to helping us buy a new bed seems how ours was ran over on I-15 after flying out of the back of the truck as Wade was returning it to us.

Speaking of houses. I am so excited to finally have my own home again. I know it has been such a blessing for us to live in my inlaws home while they are on their mission. Although I miss having my OWN home. I look forward to Claire having her own room. Where I can paint and hang up all her decorations that have been sitting in a box out in the garage for the last year. She was so little when we moved that she won't remember any of them. I think my favorite part of having our last house was painting the walls. I only got Claire's room and the kitchen painted before we decided to sale and move in here. There were so many more white walls that needed some color. Every home we go and look at I start thinking what color I can paint the walls. One home was painted so cute, I couldn't think of anything to change. I don't think I can buy a home and not paint at least one room. We've looked at a few homes. Only one of which we interested in. It was in the high end of our budget. We are going to keep looking. I know there is a home somewhere that is perfect for us. We are just going to have to do some serious looking. So, on that note I will end my very long post.


Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Empty house

For the past two weeks Mark's brother Wade and his wife Morgan had been staying with us. They left on monday morning for Alabama. Claire became addicted to them. She would follow Morgan around like a little lost puppy begging for attention. Since their departure, I constantly find Claire looking down the stairs and talking. Sometimes she will attack the gate, in an attempt to get down the stairs. She has never done this in the past. I believe she is looking for her Aunt and Uncle. I don't think she understands that Wade and Morgan are not coming back for a while. I am hoping that it will only take a few more days before she starts to realize this and in turn stops looking for them. She has also started acting out. She is constantly doing things she knows are not allowed. I am not sure if it is because she misses them, or got use to all the extra attention and is now trying to get it in any way she can. Today she would go to the fireplace, pull open the bottom and grate and look at as to say "come and get me!" then she would run away. We must have done this at least 30 times. The time outs didn't seem to phase her. I was on the verge of losing my temper. So in an attempt of desperation, I finally arranged a play date with her cousin Ethan. I have a feeling that all this acting out is frustration as to not being able to find her aunt and uncle.

As much as I wish she didn't have to go through this. I am so glad that Wade and Morgan stayed with us. I was worried that it might be awkward, but it never was. Some how we were just able to blend. I loved having them here. I hadn't had much opportunity to get to know either of them before this stay. I think one of my favorite things was playing scrabble with them. Mark had lost his enthusiasm for it and would only play out of complete boredom. We played as a foursome, several times. I'm not sure why I enjoy playing so much, I am always put to shame. Yet I constantly find myself wanting to play again. Now that they are gone I have a feeling it will be a while before Scrabble will be played again in our home. :(


Monday, January 19, 2009

Cat urine and houses don't mix

So we have officially started the process of looking for a new home. Even though Mark's parents won't be home until June, we feel that taking some extra time to really look around will benefit us. Today we went and looked at a home. The first one we have looked at. It was a foreclosed home, and as such I was expecting it to be a little rough. When we walked in the home, there was an overwhelming stench of cat urine. WOW...... I couldn't believe someone could live in that. Not to mention the horrible green carpet didn't help the feeling in the home. I was completely shocked to think that a home could be so badly trashed in just 5 years. How can you pay so much money to have a home, and have complete disrespect for it. Who patches holes in the carpet with duct tape?? Really who does that? Needless to say we won't be making an offer on that fixer upper. I guess it is a good thing that we started early. Wish us luck in the house hunting.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Blogging

Hi everyone,

Well here is my first post. My sister in law Heather has been trying to get me to start blogging for a while now. I've been working on my blog for a couple days now. I am starting to get the hang of things. I can see how this can become addictive. I have already changed the background countless times. There are just so many cute ones to choose from. I will try to start posting more interesting things.