New Look

Please bear with me as I am trying to update the look of my blog. Any feedback is welcome! :-D

Thanks!

Pulling My Hair Out

I figured since it's been a while since I updated on the house hunt that this morning was the perfect time to do so. My last post might have left you feeling like you were stuck without an ending. Well that's because we hadn't heard anymore. Since then we have gotten some news, but lets recap. After two years of searching for a home of our own, Darin and I found a property that was in our price range, well sized to grow into, and in a nice part of town. We put in an offer and we were waiting. And wait we did. Most people when they put an offer in on a home wait, but it is typically a day or two before they find out if their offer was accepted, not accepted or counter offered. With bank owned properties this is not the case. You see, even though we put our offer in first thing on that fateful Monday morning we did not hear back within one to two days. No we waited a whole 12 hours before getting a multiple offer email from the seller. We were asked to put in our best and highest offer. So Darin and I considered our options, raised our offer a little and included a personal letter about why we wanted the property. You see, banks would much rather sell to someone that will live in the property as opposed to an investor that will either rent the property or flip it. (Flipping is when you take a property, make significant changes to the interior finishes, or space plan and then sell it for a profit. A very lucrative business when the market is good, which we all know if not right now.) To make ourselves look as good as possible to the bank, we did everything that they asked for. Thinking we were going to hear back rather quickly like we had the first time, Darin and I went on our merry way back to our lives.

Over a week later, and many emails to the seller we finally got a response. A counter offer. This was to be expected as it was a bank owned property, however it wasn't an increase in price like I had thought. They countered with our original price, with closing costs, but the only thing they changed was they asked us to use their financing. To us it was very undesirable, a higher interest rate is not something that I was interested in. So we decided to counter back with our same offer and financing. I thought, this is it we are out. Off I went to rent.com to see about new apartment complexes. I had this sinking feeling that because we didn't want to use their financing they weren't going to pick us. I still had a little hope though, I had my boss do her good luck tap dance (Hey, it worked for Darin's promotion so why not this?) A couple of days later I was at work, doing work related things, when the phone rang. I looked over at the caller ID to see Darin's number pop up on the screen. I thought, "Here we go, where are my tissues?" I needed the tissues all right, but because when I answered the phone Darin's voice was very optimistic and he said to me "We go it!" To which I responded, "Please don't play with my fragile emotions, are you serious?" We both had a celebratory conversation and I cried. He told me that our Realtor was coming over so we can sign all the acceptance paperwork. When I got home, we ordered a pizza and signed about a billion pieces of paper that we had already signed for the offer. What's with the redundancy? I know when you purchase a home it requires killing a small forest to do so, but we could live without signing the same document more than once. Darin got all the information together for the cashier's check for the escrow company, we had our inspection scheduled for that Saturday, and our Realtor told us that our HOA documents had been ordered. We were in good shape.

Saturday we had our inspection. It was FREEZING in the condo as the pilot light on the water heater wasn't lit so we couldn't use the heater. Everything seemed to work fine, even our fireplace! We had a scare with a reversed switch, but we got it to light! Minor wear and tear and some smoke detectors need replacing, but all in all nothing too crazy! We were excited. We had to organize all our loan paperwork and get that submitted, and work out our down payment. This was all done this past week and we seemed like we were on top of everything that we could control. However on Friday we got an email from our Realtor that she needs a new cashier's check. Um why you ask? Because she gave Darin the wrong escrow company name! Ugh! Pay attention.....also we found out that our HOA documents had just been ordered, not a week ago like we were told. So here we are, 10 days into our 17 day contingency period and we have no HOA documents. I know that this isn't the last hurtle and we will deal with more stress, but come on! If you tell me something, please make sure it is accurate! So that is all the info I have at this moment. Please enjoy the pictures that Darin was able to get at our inspection.

View of Entry and Loft

Kitchen

Fireplace (YAY!)

Wet bar in Loft

View of Living from Loft

Dining

Guest Bath

Linen

Just Like Disneyland Right?

So in an effort to start checking things off our yearly bucket list Darin and I decided to go to The Reagan Library yesterday. I had to go out to Simi Valley anyways and get some blood-work done and get my car registered in my name so I felt that it was a good opportunity for us to go and be touristy. Considering in the 20 years I lived in that valley I had only been their one time and Darin had never been. I went online to find out how much the tickets were going to be and to see if there were going to be any special events going on this weekend. (being that it is V-day weekend and we just celebrated the Former President's 100th birthday) Nothing of pertinence showed up on the site so I thought we were good to go.

We went and ran my errands and took a lunch break at the local mall. It was a beautiful day and it was perfect weather outside. It couldn't have been a better day to go. Apparently everyone else thought the same thing. You see to get to the library (which is situated on a large hill on the backside of the valley) you have to drive up this windy street which is lined, in ascending order, with large banners of every President. Its a very pretty street, but when I saw that people had started to park on it nearly to the bottom of the hill I knew that it wasn't going to be pretty at the top. Luckily we found a spot near the top of the hill and just parked there. (good thing we did because there was a lot full sign at the top) We hiked the rest of the way up to the entrance and turned the corner. We both nearly stopped dead in our tracks because of the line! It was almost as bad as Space Mountain on a Saturday with no Fast Pass! I mean screaming kids, pushy adults, and Docents trying to sell memberships. Needless to say our stay in line was quite aggravating. We finally got to the end of the line and they asked "Did somebody explain to you when you need to come back?" What?!?! We both looked at each other like are you serious? Because they were so busy, this had been the first weekend after their grand opening of an entirely new exhibit and construction, once you bought your entry ticket you received a pass telling you when to return to be able to enter the museum! Ugh, we had to wait to wait?!? Poorly planned I swear. It was only a 15 minute wait so we used the restroom and went outside to view the Berlin Wall and take some photos. After over an hour we were finally inside we were able to see all the new exhibits and wander around a bit, however I must tell you that the people that were the most rude weren't the younger generation with their kids, it was the 60+ crowd. They were pushy and condescending and kept cutting in front of me. I was appalled! I have always respected the elderly and always let them go first, but to blatantly disrespect me made me very upset. Darin and I decided that we would just see the stuff that really interested us and come back when it was less busy to really experience the rest of the museum.

We decided to hurry and go see Air Force One. Well we hurried, again to just wait. 30 minute line to walk onto the plane and we couldn't take any pictures! :-( But they sure wanted us to buy a picture. Souvenir photos of you standing on the staircase and waiving! $15 for a 5x7. Darin and I passed at that opportunity, enjoyed the plane and wandered around a bit more. They had a mock up of the oval office when Reagan was our President which was very interesting. Several cars and military aircraft's. Also a full scale (1" to 1 foot) model of the entire White House. We bought some Jelly Belly's (the President's favorite candy) and paid our respects to his memorial.

I think that it would have been a far more enjoyable experience had it not been so busy. The docent at Air Force One said, "Its just like Disneyland right?" to which I replied "no not really." I usually expect crowds at Disneyland, not at a museum!  We will go back and enjoy it again when everything calms down again. I highly recommend it for people who want to learn more about Ronald Reagan, or for just an afternoon of history and beautiful scenery! Anyways have a look at our photos from the day. We got some cool shots!

Waiting Game

I am not a patient person. Sure sure I may seem like it on the outside and I seem to take things well but when I am waiting for something I get very anxious and drive myself crazy. I am a horrible person to buy gifts for because I usually know what it is. (sorry Darin) Surprises, forget it. Darin tried to throw me a surprise birthday party this year with the help of our fabulous friend Hope, but alas I found out. Don't think that I went snooping, he left it open! I was helping plan another surprise birthday and I went into Facebook to look at my messages because both the subject lines were the same. I click on it and see responses from my friends and I got confused. Whoops. Darin have left his account logged in. So I knew and I was bummed! I had a wonderful party but it stinked that I couldn't be surprised.

So Darin and I have been shopping around for a home of our own. We found a condo that we really liked and decided that it was in our price range and we would make an offer. We had a very stressful weekend and once Monday rolled around we got together with our Realtor to sign the offer. This wasn't your typical offer, because we had to fill out addendum pages and many other things went into it. 20ish pages turned into about 60 or so! I mean c'mon. This is just for an offer that might not be accepted. We signed all the necessary pages, gave her our credit scores, (which I was pleasantly surprised that we were above average and in the excellent category) wrote the check and off she went. A little bit of a weight had been lifted but now there is the waiting game.

Tuesday we go into work like normal and have our normal days when around 11 o clock we get an email from our Realtor. Subject line: REQUEST FOR HIGHEST AND BEST. This means that the property got multiple offers on Monday and the seller is requesting that we put in our highest and best offer on the property. My father-in-law and our Realtor had done comparable research and we were right in the competitive area so I was annoyed that they were asking for us to reconsider our offer. To keep us in the running we decided to increase our offer and to write a letter to go with our offer so that we would be seen as people instead of just dollar signs. Since this property is a bank owned I knew it would probably not get seen, but at least it made me feel like I had done everything in my power to get the property. See letter below:

Dear Seller,

Hello! My name is Diane Kimball and my husband is Darin Kimball. I was raised in the Simi Valley area and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from Cal State Northridge in 2007. My husband has spent the majority of his life living in the Santa Clarita area and went to Valencia High School as well as College of the Canyons. I am an interior designer, with The Wren Group, and my husband is a personal banker, with Wells Fargo Bank. We met in 2001 through a mutual friend and it was love at first sight. We were married in 2007 at the Wood Ranch Golf Club in Simi Valley. We have been renting from the Promenade Apartments for the last 3 years, and have really had a large desire to purchase a home so that we may progress to the next stage in our life; starting a family of our own. Because of Darin’s love for this city and his many years living here, we both know that this is the best place for us to put in some roots and start our family.

We are thrilled by your properties proximity to urban areas, as well as being convenient for my commute to Pasadena and my husband's drive to work will be simple as he also works in Santa Clarita as well. The openness and light of the living space made us feel welcome, and the extra bedrooms made me think of the pitter patter of my future children playing in those rooms. With a well sized kitchen and loft, we felt that it has the perfect amount of space for us. The community is wonderfully maintained and seemed like a perfect place to meet new friends and neighbors.

We hope that you will carefully consider our offer, and we hope to meet you in person soon.

Sincerely,

Darin and Diane Kimball

I went into our Realtor office to sign the amended offer and make sure everything was ready to be turned in by the 1PM deadline on Wednesday. I was told that all offers were going through the selling realty office and they would pick the best offers and send to the bank.....why not ALL go to the bank? So here we are 24 hours and counting. Waiting to hear back if our offer was considered, rejected, countered or accepted. I HATE THIS! I will keep you posted on all things, but until then I am waiting by the phone.......

Invites, games and music! Oh My!

So I am helping my mom and aunts throw a baby shower for my cousin in March and I have been put in charge of invitations and party games. Invitations were relatively easy because really all I needed to do was put the address together with some cute verb-age. Yes I know I might have borrowed the wording from a friends shower invite, but it was so cute that I couldn't pass it up. Also it helped because the baby has already been born, so images of little Charlee (Charlotte) took up space and served as an announcement as well. Well today when I went to order them from Costco.com, thinking that my mom could pick them up tomorrow and send them out by Monday, I get this little error on my order. I couldn't pick them up! What?! Don't you hate it when you think that you can do something, just to get shut down! I called Costco and they told me that my items were not available for in-store pickup. I mentioned to them that they should probably disclose that a little earlier as to not waste the customers time. I ordered them anyways, and paid the extra $30 for overnight delivery! It will be worth it though, cause they are cute!

Card Front

Card Inside

Card Back

My next task is where I need a little help. I have a game that I am for sure doing, but need a couple more additions. Here are some ideas that I had:

*Heavy Purse -  Have a scale and weigh each guests purse. The guest with the heaviest purse wins a prize.

*Dirty Diaper game - Option 1. You'll need (5) cloth diapers or disposable diapers and some miniature candy bars (5 different flavors). Put a different mini candy bar in each diaper and slightly microwave them (be sure you keep track of which is which)! Pass the diapers around to see IF they can figure out what candy bar is in each diaper. This is a RIOT!!! Your guests will laugh the entire time! The person who guesses the most correctly WINS! Option 2. You can hand make small individual diapers out of paper or fabric and put a small "stain" (chocolate, mustard, etc) in a winning diaper. As guests arrive give each person one to pin on their shirts. The guest who receives the "stained" diaper is the winner!

*Guess the Baby Food - Have a couple of baby food jars, without the labels and guests have to guess what the food is by smell or by taste.

*Name that Baby Tune Artist - I searched online at Lyrics.com for songs using the word 'Baby.' I then downloaded ten songs that I selected from Walmart.com (88 cents each). I wanted to cover a range of time periods to give the older moms and the younger moms a better chance at guessing the artists. I had songs such as Cat Stevens (Wild World), Peter Frampton (Baby, I love your ways), the Supremes, and the Drifters. I would begin playing the song and the first person to yell out the correct artist got a point. At the end of the game, I gave a prize to the top two guessers. (If I do this, and I might because I have already gotten a huge list together, I would have them right down their answers as I play and whoever gets the most right wins)

"Hey Baby" - No Doubt
"Baby I Love Your Way" - UB40

"Maybe I'm Amazed" - Paul McCartney
"I Can't Get Enough of You Baby" - Smash Mouth
"Don't Worry Baby" - The Beach Boys
"River Deep, Mountain High" - Too many artists but maybe the Glee version
"Baby, One More Time" - Britney Spears

"Magic Dance" - David Bowie
"Whole Lotta Shaking Going On" - Elvis Presley

"The Twist" - Chubby Checker

"Baby I'm A Star" - Prince

"Dreamlover" - Mariah Carey

"Black Magic Woman" - Santana
"Candy" - Mandy Moore

"Baby" - Justin Bieber (Please don't stone me!)

"All That She Wants" - Ace of Base

"What is Love" - Haddaway

"Paparazzi" - Lady Gaga

"Baby Got Back" - Sir Mix-a-lot

"Baby Come Back" - Hall & Oats

"Kiss From a Rose" - Seal

"Crazy" - Aerosmith

"Sexual Healing" - Marvin Gaye

"Push It" - Salt-N-Pepa

"Every Breath You Take" - The Police

"Ice Ice Baby" - Vanilla Ice

"The Way You Make Me Feel" - Michael Jackson

"Express Yourself" - Madonna

"Bright Lights" - Matchbox 20

"Bohemian Rhapsody" - Queen

"Canned Heat" - Jamiroquai

If you have any other games that you have played that are entertaining or have any baby song suggestions please feel free to shoot them my way! I think I need some more older songs. Any and all help is appreciated!

18 Days

Ok, I am starting out this blog with a warning. This post may not be for everyone, men especially. If you continue to read please do so at your own risk or you can read here or here for more man friendly topics.

So I am no stranger to the oddities that women have to go through on a monthly basis. I have been "a woman" since I was twelve years old! TWELVE. I was (well it seemed to me) the only person in my 7th grade class who had their period and was going through puberty. Not only having to deal with that, but as a shy, introverted child I always thought that people were looking at me. This is probably where my self-consciousness came to fruition. After years of dealing with horrendous cramping, to the point were I would have to draw a ice cold bath and lay there so the nauseousness would pass. I decided to go to my doctor and get on birth control. I don't care what people say. This drug is a godsend! Not only did it help with my unbearable cramping, but it also helped to regulate and keep me on track. It also helped with the acne, Yes! I know that this is what its supposed to do, but you have no idea how liberating one little tiny white pill can be!

Here is where my story gets odd. My husband and I have decided to take the route of preparing to have kids. That means no more birth control for me, after seven wonderful years we had to part ways. I was nervous at first because I was dreading those horrid cramps and I thought I might have the blood clots again. (another unfortunate side effect of womanliness that I encountered) The first couple of months were relatively easy and I thought huh....not so bad. I didn't have any cramping at all, they were light and right on schedule. Wow was I wrong. At month 4 I started to get ridiculous acne, almost worse than when I was a teenager and I started to go 45+ days between my cycles. I had read that it can take time for your body to work the hormones out of your system so I thought it was normal. Then the mood swings hit. Before I went on the pill, I had your typical PMS, but now its on overdrive. I can be happy one second and the next I am sent right over the edge into either crying or anger. I have serious headaches and have trouble sleeping because of everything that is going on. I am exhausted from it.

Month 6 was the final straw. True to form (well at least now) I had gone the 45+ days and I started my cycle. 1 week past, then 1.5 weeks as we approached week 2 I had enough and made a doctors appointment. The nurse of course said that it was completely normal and that all would be sorted out, but there is just certain things that are eating at me. I know that my mom had a very hard time getting pregnant with me, she had 3 miscarriages. There is a history of endometriosis (a condition in which the tissue that behaves like the cells lining the uterus (endometrium) grows in other areas of the body, causing pain, irregular bleeding, and possible infertility) as well as many types of cancers that runs in my family. I know that I am probably over-exaggerating this whole issue, but in the back of my mind I fear that there may be something wrong! I know I am still young, but I don't want to have issues or complications. I mean when is an 18 day period ever normal? Never! Yes 18 days! I was going insane! My appointment is on the 9th and hopefully I will have some information!

Quilt Weekend

As you know I am an avid crafter. Usually I am the type that starts a project and finishes it right away as to move onto another project and this past weekend was no exception. This has been the year of babies as can be seen here, and in the month of February and March I will be attending baby showers, one of which I am helping to throw. At the end of February my good friend is having hers and I had to get busy. I thought that I would just cross stitch a bib and probably buy some cute things to go with it, then I went into the Joann's fabrics in Simi and found a really cute kit and pattern for a diaper bag. It seemed simple enough so I bought it, took it home and started cutting out all the pieces. Then I knew I needed my moms super sewing machine so I set up a time for me to visit and be able to finish the bag. While most of the pieces were sewn together, there was some patchwork details that we decided to include. My mom whipped out her needle and floss and outlined the patched to create a nice 3-D effect. Then we got heavy into assembly. This was the easy part until we started to sew the sides together and whoops we broke the needle on the sewing machine. We finally got everything fixed and even had to hand-stitch the sides so that they will stay in place. Those seams aren't going anywhere!

Bag Pieces cut out

Inside fabric with pocket

Outside with pocket

Completed Bag

Another view with patch

Well I decided not to stop there. I rummaged through my moms pattern books and all my scrap fabrics and came across two more projects that seemed super simple and quick. Or so we thought. At least one project was. The changing pad was super simple and relatively easy to put together. When we got involved in the diaper and wipe bags, that's where things got a little harried! After cutting out all the material we turned to the pattern. A poorly written sad excuse of a pattern. It made zero sense! (Granted we had been sewing since 9am and it was pushing 8pm. Poor Darin and Shelby were so bored) After sewing and un-sewing a couple of times my mom and I finally decided to throw in the towel for the evening and pick the project back up on Sunday.

Finished Changing Pad (Front)

Finished Changing Pad (Back)

Finished Changing Pad (Folded and Velcro closed)

On Sunday morning, with a good nights rest under our belts mom and I made breakfast for the boys and then headed back into the sewing room for round #2. The clarity of the morning had helped and we were able to figure out how to put the diaper and wipe bags together. Yay for my mom! She was the brains of this operation! We finished the assembly and looked down. Something was missing. We needed labels! My mom has this other wonderful machine.....it is an embroidery machine. We pulled it out and started going to town. In about 20 minutes we had labels on everything and all my projects were done! Or so I thought!

Diaper and Wipe Bags Closed (Unlabeled)

Labeled

Everything completed! Including ABC Bib

My family has started a tradition, where every member of the "sewing team" takes a block and assembles it. Then all the blocks get shipped off to my Great Aunt Theresa in Minnesota or my grandma and they are assembled and quilted. Then that quilt is given to a family member. Each block has the person who sewed is name embroidered on it so for the new generations to know who created each quilt. Its a wonderful tradition and the receiver can pick the colors and/or pattern that they want made. The receiver also makes a block as well. (if they so choose)  Well at this time we are in the midst of two quilts. Both of them are for my Grandmothers sisters Josie and Rita. So after all my baby shower projects were completed I needed to assemble my blocks so then can be returned for quilt assembly.

Block for Aunt Rita's Quilt

Block for Aunt Josie's Quilt

Block for Aunt Josie's Quilt

All in all it was a very productive weekend. My mom and I termed the gift as "What goes in, and what comes out" so there are some other things that I need to get to complete it, but I have time for that. All I know is that I can't wait for the shower so I can see her opening my hard work! I hope she likes it! Feel free to leave me any opinions on my work! Its greatly appreciated! <3