Summer So Far (post #2)

Today we wrapped up swimming lessons. I think we may sign up again for another session. Molly likes it, but it is also good exercise for the fat mamma who takes her. Cousin Natalie and other Teacher Amanda do a great job with the kids (and the parents). We had a lot of fun and celebrated today with a certificate and a sucker.

Perhaps the best part about swimming is that Molly usually comes home like this and takes a good 3 hour nap. It totally wipes her out.

On Tuesday, Molly got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Binggeli while I went to the dentist, then we went to Crown Burger and had a birthday party for James. It was a good day.

Wednesday we went to Tracy Aviary with Annie, Elliott, and Wyatt (no Willie or Parker this time. Willie is in St. George at a basketball camp and Parker was hanging out with his mom). Molly was a little grouchy, but Elliott and Wyatt were good. After the Aviary we went to Wendy's. Molly ate 2 entire chicken nuggets for lunch. We're making some progress in the food area.

Also on Wednesday, what seemed like a tornado, hit Grandpa's house during a big windstorm. It knocked down some huge tree limbs, destroyed a blind on the deck, and blew a bunch of other things around. The worst of it, however, was a glass patio table that is heavy and hasn't moved anywhere for years, got blown off a deck, shattered, and ended up in the swimming pool in a million tiny pieces. Ross started working on it, then Dee, Liz, and I did. We shop-vac'd the sidewalk around the pool and scooped up what we could from inside the pool with the net and a broom. There were still lots of individual little pieces, though. We had an idea to put a nylon on the edge of the hose and vacuum up the rest. It worked pretty well, but we had to keep stopping and emptying the nylon and rearranging it because the glass cut a few holes in it. I think we got most of it, but unfortunately, I think we may be finding small flakes of glass in the pool all summer. We'll just have to be careful. What a mess!

Our summer is going great so far! I can't believe it is almost the 4th of July already.

I also would never have believed in a million years that I'd have a daughter who looked this cute in pink. I thought it would totally cramp my style, but I think I'm getting used to it. (Yes, I know she's a little big for the Bumbo, but she'll usually sit in it for a few minutes while a comb her hair and it is a very useful restraining device.)

Happy Birthday James

#31

(June 28, 1980)

Thanks for being a good dad, a good husband, and working really hard all the time! Molly and I love you and hope you have a great birthday.

Decisions Are Hard

Yes, decisions are hard, especially ones that involve large sums of money. (Remember, I'm the one who searches all over the world for a toilet brush.) On April 3rd of this year I posted some of my frustrations about our house situation. Here is an update on each of these items

April 3rd:

I also spent a good deal of time over the break talking to a couple of realtors and a couple of financial guys . . . I've come up with a 6 month plan and James has agreed to come on board. In the next 6 months we will:

Addendum: The 6 month plan is no longer. It has sped up to be an indefinite number of months (if that's not an oxymoron), but what has happened is that we are no longer going to wait to sell our house. We have pretty much decided that that could take 6 years or more and not 6 months.

1) without touching our savings, try to tighten our belts and put as much extra money on our current loan as possible to help cut the difference between what we owe and what the realtors think we could sell it for.

Addendum: Yes. Paying down debt is a good idea. That will only help us and we have been doing that. In addition, we are also in the process of refinancing our current home so that A) the monthly payment is slightly less and at a 1% less interest rate and B) we will have a different type of loan that will allow us to rent our home if needed (and will likely be needed). Our current loan requires owner-occupancy.

2) lightly nudge (or pester like crazy) our current HOA board to get our complex FHA compliant. Right now we are not and this is why the other homes that our for sale are not selling. I e-mailed the presidente on Friday, but of course have not heard back from her. I'll call her this week.

Addendum: Lightly nudging and pestering has occurred, but what we found out (just this week) is that we are a P.U.D. and not condos. With the very minimal assistance (actually just asking a simple question) from a mortgage/finance lady we've been working with this week said that P.U.D.'s do not require FHA approval. I brought this up at our HOA annual meeting (also this week), they looked into it. Done. I can't believe that it took so long. If we had really been listing our house and turning down potential buyers because we were under the impression we were not FHA approved, I would be furious.

3) keep our fingers crossed that at least one of the other homes sells in the next little while and then ours will (there are currently 3 on the market and and 4th with a for sale sign up, but not actually listed).

Addendum: Right now there are only 2 listed. No one is looking at them. No one bought the ones that are no longer listed. There are 4 foreclosures in our complex. To be competitive with the 2 that are for sale and the future foreclosures we would have to sale for $10,000 to $25,000 less than what we owe on ours. However, the flip side is that there are good deals and more house for the buck available now than in the years to come when ours would sell. The flip to the flip side is that we will be landlords if we choose to go through with all this and that wasn't originally in the cards.

Back to today and decisions . . . . Yes, decisions are hard, especially ones that involve large sums of money . . . oh wait, I already said that (but it definitely bears repeating). The bottom line is that we'd like to move and now is a good time purchase a new home. In the last couple weeks it has even become apparent that we could even afford a *NEW* home and that is something we hadn't even considered before. We're still not sure what to do and need to put some thought into it. Things could move quickly or could still be several months down the road. But the good news is . . . things are moving!

(Picture courtesy of "Tiny Texas Houses" sent to me today by my sister. They are currently having an essay contest. You could win one!)

Buddy of the Day

In the back of this picture is Parker. Parker is my 14 year old cousin. He has always been a good boy, albeit a bit annoying at times (especially when he's not getting along with his big brother), but he is growing up to be a very nice young man and fun to hang out with. He's a good sport and will do whatever I ask him to do.

Today, Molly and I needed to get out of the house and so we asked Parker to tag along. We went to Kohls, to the D.I., and then to look at model homes. Parker loves houses and gave me a lot of feedback about what he liked and didn't like about the houses. I appreciated that.

We also drove through McDonald's, got drinks, and split a pack of nuggets so we could try one of their new sauces. Parker got the exciting new sauce called "ranch," but it was good.

Thanks, Parker, for hanging out with us for a couple of hours today. Hopefully you didn't feel too captive.

Success!

Happy Father's Day today!

What I'm blogging about, though, is Molly's success at church today. For the first time (literally in her entire 1 year of going to church) we lasted an entire 3 hours (minus a few minutes) of church without interruption, without doing laps in the hall, without having to leave a class because of a screaming child.

I don't know what happened today, but she was just a super happy girl. I tried to think if we had done something different today than another Sunday, but I don't think so. She played on the floor or sat on my lap (mostly on the floor) for all of church. She ate her fishy crackers, read stories, played with her little magne-doodle, walked back and forth on the chairs or along the wall, and was just good! At one point, she crawled away from me and even went up to another lady in relief society, that lady picked her up and held her for a good minute before she wanted to get down. That has NEVER happened. Amazing!

Finally, during the closing song of relief society she'd had enough and started screaming. I wouldn't let her crawl away from me or tear the pages of the hymn book and that made her mad. I decided that she had been good long enough, so we left a few minutes early, before the song was finished and before the closing prayer.

That's my story. I hope she's starting a new trend and will be good like this EVERY week!

James had to work today. He was a little bummed because he's the only male nurse in his office and this was his weekend to work. Oh well. I think he survived. He's venting his frustrations with some "angry birds" right now anyway.