Snow, Snow, Snow...

Well, it finally got here, that pretty white stuff I hate to drive in! Lovely...I have to head on the roads to pick up a few things. Will be traveling to the Sault next week for meetings so I need to make sure we have the essentials in the house.

I am hoping that I get a new camera from Santa this year...I have been really good and shouldn't be on the naughty list!! *S* Just want to make sure I put that out there!!!

Ok...So it has been way toooo long since my last post!

I didn't realize how long it had been since my last post! Seeing the pictures of the house and looking at the date, hard to believe that we have been in the house for 3 months! How time flies! Nothing too new to report. I have been thinking about house projects for the winter, possibly wood flooring, making a chalk board for the kitchen...I don't know, when I start to think too much about it I get overwhelmed and that is not a good situation! I will try to update more frequently...I will share a website I have been working on with everyone over the weekend!

Here they are....

Pictures of the new house. Some taken before we painted, after the paint and with furniture. We are settling into the house lowly but surely, still have a lot more to organize but it will get done eventually! We used a color called "Lion" as the primary color and some browns as accents walls. We like it and it is a lot better than it was!

Living Room and Dining Room after Paint

Living Room Before it was painted

Dining Room without Paint

Master Bedroom Before Paint

My Grandma June...

She passed away last night. She had been sick fighting off an awful infection and other things, but was unable to make it through. She was 94. Rest in Peace Grandma June...

Moved In...

Sorry it has been a bit since my last post...I just got the Internet hooked up at the house yesterday and have not had time to post. We are moved in finally!! It took a total of 14 hours to move and clean, even with movers!! I have spent most of the week unpacking and sorting what I can get rid of in a garage sale. In the midst of the move I can't remember where I put my camera so when I find that, I will post some pics.

Closed!!

We finally closed on the house and I am officially a home owner!! Again!! We did some painting last night steamed cleaned carpets and heading back today to do more with some friends. I will make sure to bring my camera today for some before and after picks!

Journey for Forgiveness

On Wednesday I and 560 others walked 5 miles from the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribal Operations building to the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial School as part of the "Journey for Forgiveness". This was an amazing experience even though it was raining for much of the day. Click here to see photos and video clips from the walk. It was a very emotional day and one that I was so glad to be a part of. To hear the stories of people who went to boarding schools whether here at the Mount Pleasant, or the Holy Childhood Boarding School in Harbor Springs, Michigan. The pain, the hurt, the damage caused to individuals, their families, and their children was unreal. It was Gen. Pratt back in the 1800's that stated to his force, "Kill the Indian, Save the Man". So as I sat on the grounds of the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial School and I thought of what it may have been like for the children taken from their families, punished for speaking their language, beaten severely, or made to kneel on rice for hours as a punishment for being who they are, unable to be a part of their culture and practice their spiritual beliefs. The sexual abuse that some endured. Some children died here trying to run away in the bitter cold winter, desperate to get away and to get back to their families. I began to cry as the healing ceremony was taking place, the hundred eagle feather sacred hoop, the tobacco that had been laid by others from across the country and my own offering about to be placed and brought to Washington D.C., the jingle dress dancers, the big drum, it was all very powerful that finally the healing had begun.

Packing up and waiting...

My landlord called yesterday and has someone coming to look at the condo this afternoon! Ugh! I told him that there are a lot of boxes etc...which he understood...so Jack and I are heading out of here in a bit. Slowing but surely getting packed up for the big day!! It can't come soon enough!

All set...

The seller accepted the closing date of June 26!! Thank goodness!! So hopefully everything will work out and we will be ready to move at the end of June!!

Offer accepted with one little, big thing...

They accepted my offer but wants a later closing date. I had put that I would like the closing date to be June 19th, but he would like the closing date to be July 1. We were hoping that we would have enough time to get in there and paint, clean the carpets etc...I could prorate my rent for a couple days, but I think I will compromise and ask for a June 26th closing date, so we can do what we need to do in the house and only pay a couple of extra days in the condo. YEAH!! We are almost there!!

Another House...Another Offer

After we looked at this house, I was ready to make an offer! Here we go again! The house is cute and has great potential, plus if everything works out I will have equity already since the SEV is higher than the asking price!! BONUS! Keep your fingers crossed!

Craziness....

So here is the update...we have gone back and forth all week, and I am not happy with the sellers at the moment. I think they should have taken my offer and I am sure that this is just to see who is going to stand firm first and I did! I think my final offer was fair! We are going to look at a couple more houses tomorrow. I am not totally bailing on the condo, but now need to make sure that the condo is it. That's it for now!

Missed Deadline...

So the people had until 5:00 today to respond to my offer and they failed to do so. I was a little huffy with my realtor because I didn't hear from her all day and finally called her at at 5:45 and had to leave a message. Boy was I frustrated not knowing what was going on...finally she called around 7:00 and said that the other realtor left her a message and she was unable to get in contact with the woman who is in charge of the sellers "trust". So, now I can legally back out if I want to, or I thought just because they failed to respond to the first offer I should make another offer, lower than the originally! Ha, ha!! Anyway, it is annoying!! Is this a sign of things to come???

Some Birthday Pictures...36!!

Pretty Soon I will need to have a fire extinguisher near by when they light my birthday candles!

Jen and I

Put an Offer In...

Well...I found a place and I put an offer in. It is a condo!! Ha, ha!! Of everything that we have been looking at this has been the best, plus I LOVE the fact that we can expand our living space with the full basement that is plumbed for a bathroom and has 2 egress windows. So we shall see what happens!!!

The search continues...

We are going to look at more houses today...with some condos mixed in. Now when I say condo, they are really like duplexes. I want to look at all the options!! I just need to be patient and the right home will come a long!

What a week...

So last Sunday we were going to go to an open house out at Lake Isabella. On my way to my moms I thought I would drive by other house to see if it was still on the market...I quickly saw that they were having an open house that afternoon and I just had to take a look. I walked in and I got a nice warm feeling, they lay out was great, nice front yard, but....no back yard, just a concrete slab about 6 feet deep the length of the house. We went back to the house for a second look, and I just couldn't do it...the house didn't have anything that was on my original list and would not have great resale if I should have to sell. So with that said the search goes on...I am looking at one today right by the hospital, this one has a yard!! I also checked with my mortgage guy and asked what were the parameters...and he said I can look at condos, duplexes, new construction, land...etc. I thought well, there is always the 4 bedroom condo for sale right by me now!! Ha, ha!!

Still Nothing...

I haven't walked into a house yet that has spoke to me. We looked at 6 more houses yesterday and a couple were nice, but not in the right neighborhood. My realtor is awesome!! We didn't get done until 6:30 and she was back in the office looking for more properties even though we were going to wait until Monday to start the search again. There is an area that is about 20 minutes from town, this time it is west of town in Lake Isabella. I am interested in looking at a new construction home that has lake access...however, we would have to get the drive way paved and seed the lawn! Wonder if you can ask to have them do the driveway as part of the sale?

The house hunt continues...

Wednesday Jen had off and I had some time to use so, Jen, Tim and I looked at some houses. Let me tell you, that the pictures are so deceiving! What looked like a great house on the outside, was not so great on the inside. We have broadened our search area to include, Alma which is about 20 minutes south of Mount Pleasant, and other areas around Mount Pleasant. I am still not a fan of a commute to work, but am willing to do that if we can get the kind of house we are looking for. I am meeting with Brook, our realtor, this afternoon to look at more properties. I am hopeful that we will find something soon!

Looked at 3 Houses Today...

No luck on the house hunt today. Looked at 3 and none of them were what we are looking for. All of them were outside of the city limits which is a new concept for me. I have never lived in the country and I am not sure if I want to live there. Let me just say that there were interesting smells outside from the neighboring farms!! So my realtor is going to look for some more listings, so we will see.

House Hunting Tomorrow...

I am going to be checking out a couple of houses tomorrow which should be interesting. I will let everyone know whether or not I find something worth a second look!!

Met with a Realtor...

I met with a realtor Tuesday, she is really nice and in very encouraging. I was not so happy with my first home buying experience after I thought about it and was Leary of going with another realtor, but she stuck out to Jen and I when we met her through a Parade of Homes tour last fall. Very energetic! So now I am trying to get pre-qualified or approved, I need to pick up some paper work today. So we shall see! Masseway Team are the Realtor's I am going with check out them out!

Don't have to feel rushed

I spoke with my landlord Wednesday and he is still interested in selling the unit, but there is no rush. He said that the question you need to ask your self is whether or not you see yourself here long term, if it is yes, then maybe this is the place for you. What a relief! So my game plan is to wait until summer and start looking. I think in the long term, say 5-10 years, I don't want to be living in a condo as much as I love the space, so we will look at houses.

I was thinking...

In my last post I talked about how much I love the space that we are in now and I thought...what am I willing to compromise? Am I willing to give up great space for a piece of yard? I could still grow some tomatoes, put out some flower boxes or what ever else appeals to me. I am also thinking ahead for investment potential. If there comes a time where we want more space or we move out of Michigan, we can rent it no problem! So today I am leaning toward staying in the condo, great price for the space!!

The search continues...

So we went to look at this house the other night...AGH! It need way too much work for sure. I am not opposed of doing some work, but that was a little too much! So the search continues. I am confident that we will find something that works. I keep thinking about our place now. I LOVE the space, but I don't like the fact that I don't have a little piece of yard. What if I suddenly got the urge to grow something! I would love growing some vegetables!!! Anyway...as we see things that are of interest I will post.

Looking for a place to buy....maybe

A funny thing happened the other day. My landlord called and propositioned me abot buying the condo unit that I am living in now!!! I would have to say I love the space, but I am not so crazy about having neighbors practically right on top of us, not so much fun!! So it got us thinking about the pros and cons about buying and moving. There are a lot of good deals out there right now, so I am going to meet with a mortgage lender to see how much they will loan me and go from there...I am a bit nervous though, PTSD from the last house maybe!!!

Jack gotta hair cut!

It is almost Spring which meant Jack got a new dew!! So I scheduled him with his favorite hair stylist Joy from Joy's grooming she is great!! You can tell that he feels better...he hauls around his Cookie Monster every where!!

Just checking in...

So it has been a while since my last blog as my fabulous sister-in-law pointed out...so I am updated it a bit. Nothing new to report. I was going to post some pictures, but have not had the time to take some new one, but they will be coming. It gives me great hope that today is March 1!! Spring is nearly here, how exciting!! It has been a long winter here and I am ready for a new season! I am still going to the gym two days a week, but I definitely want to do more and change it up a little bit. Need variety!

First day

Well I started working out this morning. 6am I was at the gym!! A co-worker and I are going to be going a couple of days a week and reevaluate to see whether we want to add another day. So this morning I stretched, got on the tread mill, walked for 20-25 mins or so and ran the last few and HOLY I am soooo out of shape, then it was to the elliptical machine and more stretching!! By the way I have lost 44 lbs and want to continue to lose more so here I am doing the work out thing!! I have to get in shape for softball this summer!!! I will have to post some pictures soon of what I looked like last summer to now. Although I have more weight to lose I am proud of the accomplishment to date!

Finally the week is over...

Well....we got through CARF ok. We had a few bumps in the road, but I think that we should get our 3 year accreditation. Now that is over we will be working on all the things we put on hold until AC (After Carf). The one surveyor strongly suggested that our facility look into getting an EHR (Electronic Health Record) which is something we have talked about before. He said that his agency has been using one for over a year now and it is really wonderful. Our health clinic uses an EHR and we think it has a Behavioral Health tab, but unsure of what functions it has right now. We do use a form of EHR from IHS called GUI and I don't think that we are using it to its fullest capacity, so we will see. The surveyor thought that we wouldn't have an EHR by our next CARF resurveyor in 3 years, hhmmm. I heard that President Obama was going to be pushing for EHR's as well, maybe he will make some funds available!!! How nice would that be!!

It has been a while...

I know, I know...I haven't been keeping up on the blog. Things have been very hectic. All is well here in Michigan. We are going through a CARF Accreditation right now, so we have surveyors here for the next couple of days. I don't have too many worries...do I think we will get some recommendations, yes, do I think there will be tons, no. Some people think that we have to have everything perfect and my response is that we are not perfect and it is good to keep working on improving, so it is good to have some recommendations so we know where we can do better. One of the surveyors is from Hawaii! He made a joke today that he thought he was going to be going to Missouri...ha, ha!! The other surveyor is retired and he and his wife are full time RV'ers and currently have their base in Florida. It sounds fascinating!! So that is the latest and the greatest...I will let everyone know how we did after Wednesday!!

Test

I am trying to see how I can blog from my new iPod.

Sent from my iPod

Hope....

It has been cold here as well!!! I think the coldest winter we have seen in a long time!!! THANK GOODNESS my car has a remote start!! It has really come in handy!! It is suppose to warm up into the 20's this weekend let's hope we hit 30!! Whoo Hoo!!!

Nothing too much....

My dishwasher FINALLY got fixed today!! I am soooo happy! I had to do dishes by hand! What did we ever do before there were dishwashers! I tell you what...before the dishwasher broke, I hadn't gotten sick in over a year and a half. The dishwasher goes down and I get a major cold and the stomach flu all within a month!! So I am glad that everything is back to normal!

Dreams....

I woke up this morning and the first thing that came to mind is I wanted to write about dreams. Last night I had a pretty crazy one...my grandma was driving a big yellow school bus!! I have heard different things about what dreams mean or why it is we dream and the one that sticks out most in my mind that I have heard is that dreams are a way for our unconscious to be known. Now I don't know how true that it, but it is what stands out for me. So as I was thinking about dreams not just sleep dreams, but other dreams, even day dreams! I know we have all day dreamed at one time or another! There is so much to dreams! I stumbled upon a video of Randy Pausch, he was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and he gave a "Last Lecture" which I watched when ABC aired it last year. I was so moved by what he had to say about his dreams and the dreams of others I wanted to share it. Randy passed away last July from complications from Pancreatic Cancer. If you have the time I would recommend that you watch the "Last Lecture"