Insight

A little insight into the world of buying a home, it involves LOTS of tears, LOTS of pools with no fences, and LOTS of waiting. Apparently we are in a 48 hour window during which we will find out if the bank accepted our offer on Short Sale #1. This would be EXCELLENT turn around time IF we actually hear something in 48 hours, a little under two weeks!

Yesterday, I spent my ENTIRE child-free time going from one slum property to the next. Don't get me wrong, there are NICE properties out there, but the owners are still under the impression that they can get "pre-recession" prices out of buyers, and if the market shows anything, these houses are not selling. If they would bring the price down, the house would be snapped up, but they don't HAVE TO SELL, so the pretty houses continue to sit on the market while I investigate ghetto fabulous homes. I wish I had a picture of the house with the wood scene wallpaper mural that was on the wall when you walked in-if you know me, you know that I don't want the "great outdoors" in my entry way! Needless to say, the rest of the house was RIDICULOUS as well-I think this is the home that is missing the thermostat (ARE YOU KIDDING ME?)! At another house they had painted the doors, cabinets and base boards SILVER! Another home must have had a leak, so the bottom 2 feet of every wall was missing with exposed pipe and the flooring was all pulled up. Almost every home has some sort of "water damage" to the roof, which I can't blame on the economy, just the crazy storms over the past few years and some of the houses are older, so that immediately sends Pat running for the hills. I ended the kid-free time with lots of tears in the car because I am so concerned with where we are going to end up AND a Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Burger King-OFFICIALLY the best spicy chicken sandwich out there, and it is only a $1!!!!!!

In case anyone is looking for a way to cheer me up, I will accept a gift of housekeeper for a year because I HAVE NO TIME TO CLEAN! Not that I have been putting forth much effort because this house will be a GEM to the buyers out there because it is cleaner than most, but I am sick of living with the clutter. Maybe we have too much stuff.

In other news, Jackson has the most amazing sense of humor, which I think we all knew, but I can be seething mad, and moments later, he will make a comment, and I will be laughing for days! Tuesday evening, Obama arrived in Phoenix, so of course it was all over the news. We watched the plane land, the door opened, the stairs rolled over, and suddenly a photographer arrived in the door and was taking a picture of the crowd. Jackson was like, "Mommy, what is she doing?" I tried to explain the concept of the stalkerazzi, and how if people are famous, they have someone go around with them and take lots of pictures of them. He looks at me and says, "Like when we go miniature golfing. You follow Tyler and me around taking lots of pictures of us!" Yep buddy, I am your own personal stalkerazzi!

Trying to reduce the amount I yell based on a book I read called, 1-2-3 Magic. There was just way too much debating, arguing, screaming, threatening, etc. going on in this house, this book suggests that if you don't talk back, they don't have anyone to argue/yell with, so the amount of yelling decreases. I have been pretty overwhelmed with Jackson and Tyler's behavior lately, so I headed to the bookstore, liked this one and went with it. It is not fully implemented yet, but just working on bringing the noise level in the house down. Hoping I can stick with it!