House Update

THEY ACCEPTED THE OFFER!!!

Backing up to last week we got pre-approval for our mortgage and were able to figure out what our max loan would be and placed our first bid on the Wisner house. We put it in low, but not too low that they didn't think we weren't serious, and never heard back. We called up our Realtor and asked what the deal was thinking that they weren't going to accept the offer at all. Our Realtor asked us to come see him that Saturday to discuss our options and to look at another house.
This past Saturday we went up with Chancho's mother and sister to look at another house and to see what we could do about getting them to accept our offer on the Wisner house. After looking over all of the options, we decided to place a higher bid and see if they would accept. The owners are selling their house because they're building a house in a 55+ community. However, the house won't be ready until June. So in placing the bid we also offered that they could live in the house until their new house is ready if they pay our monthly mortgage payment for every month they're there.
This morning we heard back and they accepted the offer! They didn't like the part about paying our mortgage so we decided to charge them the going rate for a 3 bedroom in that area. Once they accept that we can start planning for the home inspection. We'll have to work out the kinks in the contract after the inspection is done. I am so excited! I can finally start looking at furniture and paint colors for all the rooms. This is so surreal. I can't believe that this is happening. 

This is the Wisner house that will soon be ours.

In the midst of all this, it's been snowing like crazy. We have so much snow we can't see over the snow mounds at the corner of every street. I am so sick of shoveling snow and shoveling the car out when it gets stuck. And we have more snow coming tomorrow night. This cruise can't come soon enough. We got our packet in the mail with our itinerary and boarding passes. So much going on this month!

Quote of the Day: "When life finds you down on your knees, remember you are in a great place to pray."

Emotional RollerCoaster

These past couple of days have been mentally exhausting. Chancho and I have seen over 15 houses and have been able to narrow it down to 3. That was the rules put in place by our wonderful agent. I feel like we've met the agent from heaven. He's an elderly man who has sold a million homes. He really is on our side looking for what we want. We sent him one house that we liked and from there he was able to find about 5 other houses that matched what we wanted. Today, we braved the weather (sleet, freezing rain, snow and slush) to go (45 mins) view the house that we want to put a bid on. When Chancho and I got back in the car from looking at it again, we both said "I want it." Our agent had about 3 other houses to show us though just to get an idea of what other houses similar to that price range looked like. The first house, we liked. It had big bedrooms and a beautiful kitchen. However, it didn't have that feel to it. You know that feel that makes you feel home. The second home was a fixer upper. The third home was a winner. We put it on our list as 2nd best. So now we wait for our mortgage guy to tell us what our max loan can be. Once we get that amount we can place our first bid on the Wisner home. I'm going crazy. I can't sleep at night. I have a million and one thoughts racing around. If I'm not imagining what the house looks like and falling in love with it again, I'm thinking about the cost of it all or what furniture we need. We're at the point where not much can be done, but wait and well...I hate waiting. I hate not having something to focus on so I'm going a little nuts. All I've heard though is that there is a lot of waiting. A lot of emotions thrown around because you get close to something and then you're turned down. (good thing I can handle rejection) So I'm trying my best to keep busy with planning ahead. I've looked at furniture, what styles I like, the color, and the theme. It's hard though because we don't have the house yet so I'm planning for 2 houses, which is becoming a little frustrating. However, I love that we are doing this. I love that we are moving forward and I am beyond excited.

Some even more exciting news...For those of you who love The Biggest Loser...Chancho had Bob Harper (Yep, THE BOB HARPER!) visit his precinct today!!!! His CO started a competition within the precinct and has Bob Harper doing one on ones for 16 weeks. If you win the competition you get a free year at the gym around the corner from their precinct. 2nd place gets an ipod. Chancho wants the ipod. I am still stunned that he's going to have Bob Harper train him! BOB HARPER. I'm in love with Bob. He says he's short. I made Chancho promise to get me an autograph. My sister is a huge fan of Bob Harper and is just as ecstatic as I am. She wants Chancho to film their work out sessions.

Tomorrow, I begin my new role at The Container Store as the lead sign and prop lady. The most responsibility that I've been given. I won't have any supervision and I'll be on my own. It makes me a little nervous, but my supervisor prepped me today about what I have to do and how to do it all. I also know that I'll be able to ask for help if I need it. I'm excited that they're finally trusting me for something.

And I have begun the countdown for our cruise. Less than a month away and I'll be laying on a beach getting my tan on!

Quote of the Day: "I know it feels like you have all these options and when you make a decision, you lose a world of possibilities. But the reality is, until you make a decision, you have nothing at all." -Janet Finch

Red Velvet Cake Balls

I actually made them. They weren't the best, but they were definitely edible. I got the recipe from HERE.

Red Velvet Cake Balls
1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate) --- I used regular chocolate chips.
wax paper
1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)---And by messy, I mean extremely messy.
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)--- Or in the winter just place out in the snow
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)
I also only melt a few pieces of chocolate bark at a time because it starts to cool and thicken. It’s easier to work with when it’s hot.

Here are the steps in pictures!

Flour the pan after greasing

Add all of the ingredients

Beat it all together

Red Velvet Cake

Crumble the cake into a bowl (a large one)

Mix in the cream cheese frosting and make balls. The ball all the way on the right bottom corner should be the correct size. I was pressed for time so I made larger ones.

 

One finished ball!

The balls I took to the dinner party.

They didn't look great, they didn't taste fantastic, but I know that I need to make them smaller like they're supposed to be and that way I can dip them easier. I also need to melt the chocolate more before dipping. That way it will just coat it evenly and not be gloppy. Regardless of all that, everyone ate them.
Let me know if you try it and how well it works out.

Quote of the Day: "Maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had, and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated."

Jumping Ahead

Cough, hack, weeze and sniffle with tissues jammed up both nostrils. That has been my life for the past few days. So I've been stationed on the couch with TG (I think we both have the same cold) watching Law and Order SVU on Netflix. Gosh do I love Netflix. Thank you Chancho for getting it again! We haven't been completely stationary as we were out enjoying the latest snowfall yesterday. We went out sledding for a few hours. We didn't have real sleds as everyone and their mother must have had the same idea and everyone was sold out, so we used life preservers and a tarp. Best sleds a kid could find. But now, we're sniffling a bit more.

Chancho and I have begun our search for a place to live again. It's moving slowly as we are still more focused on our cruise, but we have sat down and discussed all of the essentials we need to get started. I think once we can put all of our attention it, things will move quicker. We'll get a real estate agent, we'll start looking at places again and finally be able to move in together! I know it's only the second week of January, but we are hoping that by next January we will be moved in together. I think that's plenty of time and a realistic goal.
Wedding stuff has come up again as a coworker of mine is going to a bridal expo this upcoming week and invited the both of us to join. I thought it would be a little weird to go, seeing as how I'm not even engaged yet! but Chancho surprisingly said yes to the idea and thinks it would give us an estimate as to how much we'll need to save for things.

I am going to attempt now to go make some red velvet cake balls. I have a coworker dinner party to go to tomorrow and I am in charge of dessert. I've never made these before and well...we'll just have to see what happens.

Quote of the Day: "These are my words to you: Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create that fact." -William James

The Falling Away (Book Review)

T.L. Hines wrote The Falling Away. I wasn't sure about this book when reading the description and I was right. It's just like it says "Supernatural Thriller meets the Twilight Zone". Dylan Runs Ahead is the main character who is struggling with his past of loosing his sister. He blames himself for her disappearance and joins the army. While in Iraq he becomes injured and then has to deal with those injuries, which ultimately becomes too much for him. His life begins to spiral downwards as he is struggling to survive.
When Dylan Runs Ahead meets Quinn, things take an even weirder turn in the story. Quinn explains, he is the chosen one, which not only puzzles the reader, but Dylan Runs Ahead himself. He begins to try and figure out what this means, one step at at time, both inside his head and in life.
I am not a fan of far out ideas, so this was a difficult book for me to grasp onto, however, it was a good plot.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

The best way to start the New Year?

By being surprised by Chancho of course. The day went as so...
I was over at Chancho's house hanging out with him before he had to head in to work. I knew right off the bat that he would not be spending New Years with me. He hasn't the past 2 years either, he always is called in to work Times Square duty. I was just thrilled to be with him before hand. I got my New Years kiss before he left for work.
I went home and started getting ready for my New Years plan. TG and I were planning on going to my best friends house for the evening. She was throwing a party for all of our friends. I had plenty of time to get ready as TG was still at work and I was waiting for her to get home. All the while, Chancho was texting me messages letting me know that he got to work safely and that he was being sent out to his station for the evening. He even sent me a text telling me that he had forgotten his gloves and was standing in a hotel to keep warm before he had to be out for the ball drop.
TG got home and quickly got ready. A friend of ours stopped over and we walked down to the party. It had taken us a little longer than we had thought because TG was stuck at work, but we got there none the less. I'm in the living room chatting with some friends when I hear a bunch of people screaming in the kitchen. I slowly make my way over to see what everyone is screaming about and it's Chancho. He's standing in the kitchen!! He made it all up just so he would be able to surprise me.
As the ball dropped, entering 2011, I was in his arms getting THE BEST New Years kiss. He then looked at me and said he had picked out the date, what he was going to say and the plan to how he was going to ask me to marry him. heart had melted and eyes became teary

The next day we quickly recovered from our nights partying, with eggs, bacon and pancakes and headed into the city to look at the tree and engagement rings! However, the plan was a bit foiled because it was a Saturday and the diamond district is closed on Saturdays. Womp Womp We were able to look at Saks Fifth Avenue a bit, but we've made plans to go in again sometime this month, not on a Saturday.

Rockefeller Tree 

(When I get the pictures from the camera, I'll post better ones!)
Happy 2011 to everyone!!! Be healthy, be safe, be happy and enjoy yourself!


Quote of the day: "Be grateful for everything. Just enjoy every moment for none of it will happen the same way again. Remember, even great things expire." 
Listening to: "Raise Your Glass" by P!nk