Monkey Maddie

A few updates

First of all, thank you all so much for your patience with my last post. i apologize if I was a little grouchy :)

Update: After much discussion we have come to agreement on a few different things:
1) We NEED to buy something NOW if at all possible. It just isn't smart financially not to because as soon as the market improves we won't be able to purchase for who knows how long.
2) It is in our best interest to buy a house over a townhouse/condo due to the fact that a townhouse or condo would not appreciate as much.
3) We both want to stay in King county.

So, we are going to the bank this week to apply for a loan. Unfortunately my credit report is not very clean so it is possible they won't approve me. Kevin however is in great shape but without my income probably won't get approved for more than 170k or so which simply isn't enough. All of the houses we have been looking at have been around 230k. I guess we will cross that bridge if we come to it. For now please just send goods vibes out there for us. We really want to own our own home.

Mother's Day Weekend

I am very much looking forward to this weekend.

Saturday - Lunch with my loving StepMother Vicki at the Nordstrom Cafe
Saturday Night - Watching Kevin play Trumpet with a cajun blues band
Sunday - Service followed by pottery painting with my Maddie, Mom, and sister Meghan

Doesn't that sound wonderful!!!!!!

Advice

What do you do when you are ready to buy your first home and one of you isn't willing to buy a townhouse yet also doesn't want to leave the Greenlake/Phinney/Greenwood/Ballard neighborhood and you simply can't afford a house in any of these areas? Does it really make sense to continue renting for, let's face it, possibly FOREVER until you can buy a house here? When the possibility of owning a townhome in the neighborhood you love is right in front of you??? ERGH!!!!!

Trust in ourselves

As the year passes by I am faced with friends and family battling illness, financial hardship, and internal struggles. This Sunday Kathianne told the story of King Hezekiah from the Book of Isaiah. If you are not familiar, it is the tale of a King faced with many hardships (being a King afterall isn't easy) including illness. When faced with death he refuses to accept the fact that he is being told to get his affairs in order. He refuses to accept that his time has come. Instead he turns to the wall isolating himself. He reaches deep in to his soul. Here he is able to place complete trust and control in himself allowing his body to heal.

Some will disagree with me and say that he was "granted" 15 years more to live. Some will disagree and say that this isn't a "tale", yet a true piece of history. To each his own opinion is where I stand. I can tell you however that I believe in the power to build yourself up. I believe in the ability to take control. I also believe that there are times where we need to let go in order for things to happen.

With absolute certainty I believe that we will all pull through our current hardships. We will all see brighter days. And we will all find the reason behind our circumstances.

I love you all.

I release, and I let go. I let the Spirit* run my life. My heart is open wide. I am only here for God*.

(*as a religious scientist (not scientologist, COMPLETELY DIFFERENT) the terms Spirt and God hold reference my inner power. My complete control of my life.)

Books!!!!!

I forgot that I wanted to post about the reading I have been doing!!!! I haven't been a novel reader since I was about 10. In November we started a book club (by we I mean myself, Molly, Karly, Jeanine, Kelly, Heather, and Laura). We decided to give "TWILIGHT" a shot since it was all the rage. Can I tell you I LOVE that series? I have since read all 4 (they each range anywhere from 400-800 pages and it took me no more than a week per book. I HIGHLY recommend them if you like cheese or television shows aired on the WB). Since then our book club also read "Plain Truth" by Jodi Picoult (which I also recommend, great character development). I am now reading book 1 (Dark Lover) of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series as well as another Picoult book titled "Picture Perfect". Next month (with new member Meghan Conant!!!) the book club is reading "In the Company of the Courtesan" by Sarah Dunant.

What's even more exciting is that all of my night time television watching has been replaced by reading (except for The Biggest Loser on Tuesdays).

Yay for books!!!!!

Books read from November to April:

Zoo!

We took our favorite children to the zoo the past Saturday (Maddie, Kieran, and Connor). It was an absolute blast! I admit though, its much harder when the kids out number the adults. Lucky for us we don't plan on ever being out numbered (at least not for a few years and by then Maddie will be older and it won't be so difficult). I wanted to share some pictures from our zoo visit. You know which one Maddie is of course (the beautiful one), Kieran is the 4 year old boy and Connor is the 2 year old boy.