Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Nope, no house yet...

Okay, we just found out the house we wanted to buy is on two different foundations. It doesn't scare me if the home was all on cylindrical pier and beam, but the back half was added sometime later says our inspector and it's on concrete pad and cinder block. I have seen too many issues come up with that type of foundation working insurance and maybe the house hasn't fallen yet, but we just don't want to take any chances.

Hopefully, the seller won't hate us for forever. We really feel bad, but had we known it was on two different foundations, we never would have signed the contract to begin with. Plus we would feel obligated to disclose that fact straightaway when we went to sell the home and I am sure I am not the only one it scares.

So we will be back on the search again in the near future. Keep an eagle eye out College Station 2nd Ward goers!

Friday, July 18, 2008

Waiting for babies to arrive...

Juan's sisters, Celeste and Maria, are having baby boys very soon. Celeste has a 2 year old son named Exzavier and Maria has a four year old son named Isaiah. Celeste is due any hour now. Her new baby boy will be Ayden Kevin. Her due date is the 19th, but her doctor says she is ready to go....just waiting for Ayden to agree basically. Maria is due August 9th or 8th and it's a baby boy named Manuel Dalton.

Maybe I am excited or just bored. Can't put a label on it exactly. Since I don't have hours of homework or babies of my own to cater to I decided it was high time to do something creative. Uh-oh, messy kitchen is what that means. Don't you fret, I am spastic enough to clean as I go. And I organize my materials as I use them, yes, sadistic punishment when trying to complete a craft/creative idea. I wantonly imagined at one point in my life, having things organized and "just so" may be leading to lack of originality or a capping the creative juices.

I quickly hussied up my work space, spilling a few embellishments across the table, taking all my punches out of their slide out organizational systems, leaving all the markers on the table, rather than place them back to their rack after each use. I sat, I thought, I thought some more. Pressure, coming down on me, coming down on me... One hour later, I frantically corralled the embellishments back into their compartment, gathered my punches by incremental sizes and replaced them in their lonely bins, swiftly made sure each marker was in it's designated spot (yes, each marker has a spot of it's very own on the rack). Rapidly after, 4 scrapbook pages lay completed on the bar. Humph, here's to you whacked out OCD-ers. Whacked out OCD-ers! You may not always get the recognition you deserve... I get it, but nothing changes the fact we still need therapy for our addiction.

Oh the point of this post. I wanted to show you what I did with my spare time for the babies, Ayden and Manuel. I stole the idea from a Utah craft store for the most part, but hey, what's that they say about copy-catting being the highest form of flattery? Right, so here are the pictures. I made a diaper cake for Ayden (Celeste's baby boy) and a sock bouquet for Manuel (Maria's baby boy).






Anyway, I figure I should one day do something with all this creative energy, any ideas? GO easy on me, I am a newbie at asking for idea advice :).

Thursday, July 10, 2008

I am 25 going on 18, I'll take care of you...

So Alicia tagged me and I am going to do something I don't believe I have done before....respond. Wow, am I moving up in the blogger world or what? If anyone can find the lyrics to the song in The Sound of Music where Lisle is in the gazebo with her about-to-turn-Nazi stud, I sure would love you for forever :).

So here goes the I like talking about you, you, you usually, but occasionally I wanna talk about me....

I am: an amazing insurance sales representative, meticulously organized, and good with difficult people (even when all I want to do is punch them square in the face, you know who you are).
I know: a lot 'bout living and little 'bout love. Wait, really I know a whole lot about living. I am still alive, right?
I want: to know what it feels like to have a baby
I have: an addiction to watching the TV series Bones, don't eat while you watch.
I wish: at 11:11, 12:12, 1:11 and 3:33 for something good. I ALWAYS miss the others, funny huh?
I hate: it when people do mean things for no reason. Like shoot puppies because it's "funny" to hear them yelp. Or shake babies because they are crying.
I miss: the days of being a size 6 and thinking I was fat.
I fear: the end of the world as we know it is closer than we realize.
I feel: like singing/whistling all the time. It takes everything in me to fight it at work.
I hear: selectively. AND I do it without even trying now. How's that for talent mastery.
I smell: the dang nail salon fumes next door. And Jerry can't figure out why, when I have babies, don't just build a nursery in the back of the office? HMMMMM....I wonder.
I crave: steak every day, the aromas waft over me from Outback Steakhouse, as I walk home to my apartment.
I search: Crate and Barrel, Potterybarn, Williams Sonoma, Restoration Hardware, Bed Bath and Beyond and Pier One for a deal with a diligence level that would put a Navy SEAL to shame.
I wonder: why each little bird has a someone, to sing to, sweet things to...
I regret: nothing. I live in the present, learn from my past and plan for my future.
I love: Juan. Unconditionally and irrationally at times.
I care: enough to buy "green" bags for shopping and then forget to bring them with me, 8 times out of 10.
I always: clean the bathroom first, then the extra bedroom, our bedroom, the kitchen and last, the living room.
I am not: tired and I am tired of people asking me why. What an oxymoron statement, huh?
I believe: in the 13 articles of Faith. Even though one of them (11th?)says 'we claim.'
I dance: along with the princesses in Disney movies.
I sing: to Jefferson on the phone to get him to smile and sometimes talk to me
I don’t always: remember to be patient with others. I mean I should if they put up with me, huh?
I fight: to be a stronger, better person each day.
I write: flagrant stories loosely based on actual events.
I lose: my temper and my birth control is my prime suspect. Zero to sixty in 2.0 flat is NOT how you want your temper described.
I win: smiles from my Sunbeams when I have a really good object lesson for them.
I never: forget to thank people for their generosity. If you feel you have been forgotten, let me know, I promise to get you a thank you somehow!
I listen: to what people say and do it if I feel like it.
I am scared: I might one day be the crazy mom who won't let her kids get wet at a Fourth of July breakfast.
I need: more money but I know it's God's way of keeping me in check.
I am happy about: all the fun times we will have getting our first house all set up!
I tag: Jackie, Hillary, Lindy and Meg. And I don't expect anything! Only do it if you want to.

That was fun! I should do these tag thingies more often. Is thingies a word? Don't answer, it's rhetorical.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

With A Little Bit O' Blooming Luck...

we'll have a house in all of about 4 weeks. YAY! How exciting. Juan is getting more comfortable with the idea the house will be ours and he is watching horrified as I schedule appointments to go look at the progress being made toward completion of the home and proceed to measure every window, every wall, every closet, nook and cranny. Literally. With a Stanley measuring tape.

Just in case, is the slogan of the month. You know, just in case, by happen-stance, I am walking around Bed Bath and Beyond, pull out my Stanley to survey just how well that vanity sink might fit into the bathroom. Just in case I happen to be in the same neighborhood as Pier One, with by best shopping buddy Laura, and they just happen to have their annual summer sale going on and that wonderfully cute 4 poster, ditressed white bed HAPPENS to be too good a deal to pass up. If I chance to come upon a Potterybarn or Restoration Hardware and their furniture or linen sales are going on, shouldn't I have measurements, just in case?

Be Prepared. You'd think with Juan being a former 11 year old Scout Leader, he would know these things. He tells me he does.

Juan: I think you might be abusing the Scout motto.
Kourtney: I am just trying to be prepared in any way possible for things that just
might go perfectly in the home.
Juan: I get the feeling if you would stop looking, you wouldn't need to carry a tape
measure in your purse.
Kourtney: You are acting like the only thing I use the tape measure is for house
stuff. I use it all the time for other things.
Juan: I'll give you 3 seconds to name one other thing.
Kourtney: Umm, my phone is ringing...I will tell you when I get off.

After an hour conversation with my mom on my phone.
Kourtney: Okay mom, I will talk to you later...Uh huh, love you too....kay
bye...bye....bye....ya I did that already....Mom, I will talk to you later,
kay?....I love you too...bye...bye...bye (OH, come on, you know you do it
too)

Juan: So what's that other thing you use the tape measure for?
Kourtney (very sheepishly): To make sure my subs from Subway are 6 inches?
Juan: Riiiight.

Okay, so he's right, he's caught me red-handed, standing in the kitchen, arm all the way to the elbow in the cookie jar, metephorically speaking. But what's an OCD like me to do, oh sorry Steven, a detailed oriented, meticulous person like me to do when I know we will most likely be setting up house in a few more weeks? Please tell me you understand my plea here?


Few things in life are free, but you can find FABULOUS deals all the time! So we have decided to go with Flagstone acid stained a sandstone color for the back patio. Very excited about getting that done ASAP when we move in. Guess I can show you a few other things I have been looking at for the just in case moments:

Office Ideas:



Outdoor ideas (I am a sucker for darkwood! and I will definitely do a different color, white is too much, even for me):


The dining table I am in love with, it comes with an extra leaf for more space:


And my favorite new obsession, beds, bedding and anything for the bedroom suite:




Also, if anyone has seen an ultimate organization system for everthing from pantry to bedroom, bathroom, living room, let me know....I will be forever grateful to have you share in my OCD with me!

Oh and here's a really cute picture of Juan and I before the big day, crazy it's been almost a year and a half now!!! Thanks again Meg for your photography expertise!