Ben and I celebrated our six year wedding anniversary this weekend. And when I say celebrated, I actually mean observed. We decided not to give each other presents this year because no matter how cool the present I receive is, it’s not worth picking out and spending money on the present I give. I’m selfish and Ben is indifferent, so it works out perfectly.
In honor of our easy anniversary, I’ve decided to tell the Internet the secret to our easy marriage. The feminist in me is a little embarrassed, but my mom is the one who shared it with me and she has more feminism in her than I have, so here goes…
When I found out I was pregnant with Liam, I was pretty stressed about how my easy life and perfect marriage were going to change. Ben and I were pretty independent—not the type to ask each other for help. One night on the phone with my mom I voiced my concerns about how stay-at-home moms and working dads scheduled evening diaper changes, baths, meals, etc. Were we supposed to take turns? Make a job chart? How would we make sure we’re each doing our share of the work without having to ask each other for help? (Did I mention that I’m selfish?)
My mom’s response was this: Instead of planning on doing 50% of the work when Ben’s home, plan on doing 100%. Then, when Ben helps out, you’ll always be grateful.
This advice has made my marriage so easy. I plan on doing everything myself, which means I never have to ask for help, and I’m always pleasantly surprised when Ben steps in to help. I plan on doing 100% of the work, and I only end up doing 60%.
See? Piece of cake. I dare you to try it.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Dance of the Stay-at-Home Mom
Now I know why Tabitha and Napoleon brought a camcorder last time they came over before Ben left for work in the morning. They were stealing our moves to use on So You Think You Can Dance.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Difference Between a Violin and a Fiddle
I used to dread playing in violin recitals. Every year I would dress in my Sunday best, sit around in a stuffy church for hours waiting for my turn to play, and then butcher my piece in front of hundreds of people.
Now that I’m in charge, recitals are held outside, in casual clothes, and they take no longer than 45 minutes.
And when the recital is over, we move to the trampoline.
Now that I’m in charge, recitals are held outside, in casual clothes, and they take no longer than 45 minutes.
And when the recital is over, we move to the trampoline.
Monday, June 16, 2008
The Bright Side
Are you getting tired of my house drama? Here’s the latest:
The bank doesn’t want to sell us our house because it turns out that Mr. Bankruptcy had a second mortgage of $66,000 on it that he promised to pay back before he filed for bankruptcy. They no longer have that deal, so the bank wants to try to sell it for more.
We could probably get a real estate lawyer to push the deal through for us, but we decided to see what’s on the market these days in case there’s something better. We looked at a bunch of houses on Saturday, and after the 11th one I felt like we had just wasted an entire day. We decided to go see one more…
AND TOTALLY FELL IN LOVE WITH IT! Here’s the difference:
House we’ve been fighting for:
New house:
They’re both older homes in similar neighborhoods with great schools, and Mapquest says they’re both exactly 17 minutes from Ben’s work and 30 minutes from Schmath’s goats. We put an offer on the new one Saturday night and got a verbal acceptance a few hours later. I’m trying not to get my hopes up just yet, but let's be honest. This could turn out to be the greatest of all blessings in disguise.
The bank doesn’t want to sell us our house because it turns out that Mr. Bankruptcy had a second mortgage of $66,000 on it that he promised to pay back before he filed for bankruptcy. They no longer have that deal, so the bank wants to try to sell it for more.
We could probably get a real estate lawyer to push the deal through for us, but we decided to see what’s on the market these days in case there’s something better. We looked at a bunch of houses on Saturday, and after the 11th one I felt like we had just wasted an entire day. We decided to go see one more…
AND TOTALLY FELL IN LOVE WITH IT! Here’s the difference:
House we’ve been fighting for:
New house:
They’re both older homes in similar neighborhoods with great schools, and Mapquest says they’re both exactly 17 minutes from Ben’s work and 30 minutes from Schmath’s goats. We put an offer on the new one Saturday night and got a verbal acceptance a few hours later. I’m trying not to get my hopes up just yet, but let's be honest. This could turn out to be the greatest of all blessings in disguise.
Friday, June 13, 2008
In Limbo
I packed up my car earlier this week with the intention of moving some clutter from our old house to our new house. The new house hadn’t recorded yet (we had no keys), but it was sure to happen by Tuesday so I wasn’t worried.
I took one of the twin beds out of the guest room, shoving the box springs under the other twin and the mattress into the newly emptied closet, the contents of which were sitting in my car.
Now it’s Friday and my car is still packed up, and the house isn’t going to record anytime soon. Our realtor is even more frustrated than we are. He spends hours on the phone with different people from the bank, not making any progress. Because of our weird bankruptcy situation, nobody knows how to process our paperwork. Apparently there’s still a possibility of us not getting the house, even though we already closed on it and we’re paying $30/day in interest.
Now I need to go to Costco, but there’s no room for food in my car and no room for clutter in my house. I’m afraid I’m going to have to set up that second bed again, just for the closet space.
I took one of the twin beds out of the guest room, shoving the box springs under the other twin and the mattress into the newly emptied closet, the contents of which were sitting in my car.
Now it’s Friday and my car is still packed up, and the house isn’t going to record anytime soon. Our realtor is even more frustrated than we are. He spends hours on the phone with different people from the bank, not making any progress. Because of our weird bankruptcy situation, nobody knows how to process our paperwork. Apparently there’s still a possibility of us not getting the house, even though we already closed on it and we’re paying $30/day in interest.
Now I need to go to Costco, but there’s no room for food in my car and no room for clutter in my house. I’m afraid I’m going to have to set up that second bed again, just for the closet space.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Shiloh's Lonely World
The latest issue of Life & Style Weekly was on display as I was checking out at the grocery store tonight, and cute little Shiloh was staring back at me with this caption: “She’s surrounded by so many siblings—and there are even more to come. Why does Shiloh feel so left out?”
What the…? First of all, how do they know she’s feeling left out? I would love to see a copy of that interview. And secondly, isn’t she like two? Who cares if she feels left out? Two-year-olds don’t have real feelings. Get a real story, Life & Style.
What the…? First of all, how do they know she’s feeling left out? I would love to see a copy of that interview. And secondly, isn’t she like two? Who cares if she feels left out? Two-year-olds don’t have real feelings. Get a real story, Life & Style.
Mike Crowley Is My New Best Friend
Several years ago, my band had a gig in Las Vegas. We spent one of our nights there at a jam session while our husbands went to the strip and gambled. Mike Crowley taught Ben how to play a fun little game called Roulette.
Fast forward to last month, when Ben’s boss, Craig, took us to Vegas. I loaned Craig $30 so he could tip the limo driver, and he paid me back with a $5 bill and a $25 chip. Ben and I promptly took our chip to the Roulette table and set it on black. Five seconds later we had two $25 chips, which we immediately cashed out.
But that's not the only reason that Mike Crowley is my new best friend. We closed on our house today! The house we thought we could no longer have! The house that prompted this post, where Mike Crowley left a comment and taught us how to work the system!
Mike, because of you we are not just $25 richer. We also have the house we really wanted and we only had to wait four extra weeks. Thank you!
Fast forward to last month, when Ben’s boss, Craig, took us to Vegas. I loaned Craig $30 so he could tip the limo driver, and he paid me back with a $5 bill and a $25 chip. Ben and I promptly took our chip to the Roulette table and set it on black. Five seconds later we had two $25 chips, which we immediately cashed out.
But that's not the only reason that Mike Crowley is my new best friend. We closed on our house today! The house we thought we could no longer have! The house that prompted this post, where Mike Crowley left a comment and taught us how to work the system!
Mike, because of you we are not just $25 richer. We also have the house we really wanted and we only had to wait four extra weeks. Thank you!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
So You Think You Can Clog
Whoa. Did you guys just see Maria Tucker on So You Think You Can Dance?
I hope she clogs her way to Vegas. Go Maria!
I hope she clogs her way to Vegas. Go Maria!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Signing Time!
A couple months ago I got an e-mail from Rebecca, saying Signing Time! was auditioning for some new episodes. We sent in our audition tape and found out that even with all of the nose wiping, they wanted Liam.
Last week they started filming, so we spent a couple days in front of the camera where some dude would say, “Now can you smile at the camera, Liam? Can you smile while you sign ‘play’?” Obviously that dude hadn’t watched the audition tape.
This morning we got to meet the Signing Time! cast: Rachel, Alex, Leah, and Hopkins. Just for fun, I asked Liam to smile for the camera. Instead he gave me this look:
Last week they started filming, so we spent a couple days in front of the camera where some dude would say, “Now can you smile at the camera, Liam? Can you smile while you sign ‘play’?” Obviously that dude hadn’t watched the audition tape.
This morning we got to meet the Signing Time! cast: Rachel, Alex, Leah, and Hopkins. Just for fun, I asked Liam to smile for the camera. Instead he gave me this look:
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Real Estate Riot
Here’s a little update on our housing situation:
After we found out that our seller went bankrupt, I called our realtor to see if there was anything we could do to fight the system. This is his first experience with a short sale turned foreclosure, so he wasn’t sure. He said he would get back to me. A few hours later, he called to say there was some paperwork that would need to be filled out saying the seller was not making a profit from the sale of our house so it didn’t affect his bankruptcy, and that it would take up to 30 days to get the paperwork processed, but that there was a 70% to 80% chance we would still get the house. Hooray!
Then, a few days later, the realtor called again. It turns out that Bankruptcy Guy was the one who would be filling out the paperwork, costing him time and money, and he was sick of it all. He decided he wasn’t going to help us out. Now we had only a 5% to 10% chance of getting the house. Bummer.
Then someone named Mike (Is that you, Mike Crowley?) left a comment on this post, saying we could probably work out a sales agreement with the seller's lending agency. Ben called our realtor to see if this was a possibility, and the realtor said it was possible but not really legal. This got Ben thinking about other possibilities, though, like suing Bankruptcy Guy to force him to fill out the paperwork or going over Bankruptcy Guy’s head to have someone else process the paperwork.
Turns out that Ben is kind of a genius, and now there’s a 90% chance that we’ll still get the house. We’re not sure what any of these percentages mean, since they fluctuate 80% from one day to the next, so we’re not getting our hopes up just yet. But we’re also not giving up yet. So thanks, Mike, whoever you are!
After we found out that our seller went bankrupt, I called our realtor to see if there was anything we could do to fight the system. This is his first experience with a short sale turned foreclosure, so he wasn’t sure. He said he would get back to me. A few hours later, he called to say there was some paperwork that would need to be filled out saying the seller was not making a profit from the sale of our house so it didn’t affect his bankruptcy, and that it would take up to 30 days to get the paperwork processed, but that there was a 70% to 80% chance we would still get the house. Hooray!
Then, a few days later, the realtor called again. It turns out that Bankruptcy Guy was the one who would be filling out the paperwork, costing him time and money, and he was sick of it all. He decided he wasn’t going to help us out. Now we had only a 5% to 10% chance of getting the house. Bummer.
Then someone named Mike (Is that you, Mike Crowley?) left a comment on this post, saying we could probably work out a sales agreement with the seller's lending agency. Ben called our realtor to see if this was a possibility, and the realtor said it was possible but not really legal. This got Ben thinking about other possibilities, though, like suing Bankruptcy Guy to force him to fill out the paperwork or going over Bankruptcy Guy’s head to have someone else process the paperwork.
Turns out that Ben is kind of a genius, and now there’s a 90% chance that we’ll still get the house. We’re not sure what any of these percentages mean, since they fluctuate 80% from one day to the next, so we’re not getting our hopes up just yet. But we’re also not giving up yet. So thanks, Mike, whoever you are!
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