First Viewing...

Next weekend we are looking at a house we found on Craigslist. It's outside the city limits of Seattle though not very far out there. It would be peaceful and a different way of life for sure, close to the water, transportation, and lots of gardening space.

I have not been doing well with the 'organizing' part of my plan, ADD mixed with being insanely tired from the pregnancy/stress etc. has not really been very helpful. Dirty dishes are piling up and it's hard to think of doing much other than sleep and keep the kids safe. Keeping the main living area clear has been a priority.

My husband is working on Ramit Sethi's plan to find contracting/freelance ways to earn an extra $1,000+ a month so I am hoping that works out. I have skills I'm looking to market as well so I'm creating lists and doing some research as well. If we can make the money we can pay someone to help with packing and organizing I figure. It's not my strength to organize 'stuff' so it would be soooo helpful.

Proud Mama!!!

I'm so happy for my daughter, she has been wanting to be a student of the month for a few months now and today we found out that she has been selected!!

We have been working on it and talking about things like doing what the teacher needs before they have to ask (like sitting down/being quiet etc.) and it is so exciting that this has all paid off for her :-).

I'm not thinking so much about moving today, finding ways to celebrate her accomplishment...definitely going out for pizza tonight and something else...but what?

She's wanted her room painted pink for a long time...tempting but might make moving harder...who knows could be a dream come true though too.

Also she's been wanting to paint, I'll definitely set up her easel before picking her up today.

Considering a little Leap Frog toy too...she loves playing games on my phone, maybe it's a good reason to reward her with her first little gaming console...

I'll figure it out, I have about 4 hours!!

First Discussion With Realtor Tasked With Our Removal

Apparently came down to:

"30 days and $3,000 or 60 days and $2,000"

Wow.

So it didn't go as hoped, but hey, this lady is just doing her job right? I still don't understand the benefit considering we are willing and able to pay now, and even just getting the house sell-able will take a lot of money and some time (unfinished kitchen, 2 bedrooms, and basement).

Lucky us though, we get a fresh start.

So while we are waiting til early next week to talk to the woman again about what we decide to do, we are absolutely getting started on the organization. If anyone reading this has any great coupons good for those big plastic storage bins or anything like that from Ikea/Target/etc. please let me know in the comments.

Didn't sleep so well last night, those 2yo molars are coming in and causing my little one to wake up quite a few times a night...hoping tonight will go more smoothly.

On my way to go visit the midwife now.

I suppose the main decision is, given the options we have, either move right before the baby comes, or right after the baby comes. Neither is even mildly appealing at this point.

I hope I never have the need to do business with Chase or Freddie Mac ever...ever ever.

Would Love To Live At Home

I just stumbled across and older article in the NYT about allowing lower income folks to live in foreclosed homes. I think this absolutely makes sense for homes the owners have abandoned.

I find it really frustrating though that here we are, asking if we can pay rent or work out a new loan agreement now that we are able and instead they just want us to leave so they can find someone else to do the same. We want to pay to live there, I doubt anyone else would though I guess time will tell.

...sniff.

Here is another more recent NYT article talking about situations like ours, where despite being willing and finally able to pay, we have to leave according to banks so that the house can be empty to sell. I particularly liked reading the comments in this one.

Project Planning

My husband and I were able to really discuss what is going on for the first time today. Last night I was freaking out a bit that we hadn't come to any conclusions and we agreed to just wait til today, and it went well.

I'm very grateful for the local family support we have that took care of watching our younger daughter for a few hours since these discussions can get a bit heated!!

We have come up with a loose action plan that includes 3 projects which cover our stuff, our plans, and our resources basically. These are projects to take care of either before or during the next few weeks:

Streamline:
We have a lot of stuff, and are pretty much packrats in our own very ADD kind of way. Seeing as how I'm having a baby soon nesting has started a little bit, with me mostly organizing things I can easily move like the massive stacks of paper. I have made some progress but we need to do more.

I see this project as a much much bigger project though that can be done over time. What I want to do is to clear out anything we aren't using on a regular basis, to either sell it, give it, or store it if we want to keep it for a later time. I figure if we keep only the essentials (for example only 4 plates/bowls/etc) then our lives will be easier as there will  be less stuff to deal with, and if we do end up moving urgently then it will be less stressful.

Since we don't know exactly how long we will have to stay then it makes sense to keep it all as minimal as possible. I would love to stay and figure that if we do somehow figure out a way to do this then we will be starting fresh and have a clean slate to selectively add things into our lives in a much more conscious way. If we move we can move the essentials, live simply and then we can do the same.

Conscious living and choice is our priority at this point.

Budget:
I think keeping a budget is always a good thing...however we haven't really been good at this one. Still having separate accounts, separate streams (or lack of) streams of income etc. has made it a bit complicated.

Enough with excuses.

Now I'm going to be pulling together approximately what we 'need' to have and pull all that into a spreadsheet to see what we really are able to do with what we are planning to be bringing in.

Ideal Living:
We have some big goals of things we want to do in life, mostly taking place in a few years, so we are looking for something that will keep us comfortable for the next three years maximum, 1-3 is the estimate. To make this as ideal as possible it has to be a lot of little things. This project is coming up with a list of the variables that we require in a place we will stay long term (see picture) and includes things like number of bedrooms, being close to things that improve life like parks, pea patches, grocery stores, maybe a zipcar and/or public transportation etc.

We will also have some things on here about neighborhoods we like, where we have support and weigh those options accordingly.

So... Our plans are starting to come together. I would really like to stay in the house at least 60-90 days, if our baby is born late as both of my girls were then by the end of 60 days would be approximately when my 6 weeks after birth would be done and I'd be approachinge able to walk without making a big mess and be approaching overall functionality etc. 90 days and we're talking about spending most of the summer at our house which means I can help more in the move too.

I'd also love to be able to harvest at least some of my garden, peas and strawberries should be appearing pretty soon...

I Love My House

I moved into my house, with my husband and our two daughters just about two years ago, well almost two years ago. I am due to have a baby in 29 days. We are to call the agent in charge of selling our house for the bank in 48 hours.

During the year prior, my husband had basically built the inside of the house, it was leaning, and many adjustments were made to joists, new flooring, new walls, new design, and so so much more. It was a real effort of love, sweat, and tears. Also in that prior year I'd lost my job, when I was 8 months pregnant which seems to be the start of a trend that I'll get into later.

Since then, we have been experiencing financial hardship. Mortgage hasn't been paid in a long time, and we have been doing all we can to get work and stabilize on some level while providing as nurturing an environment as possible for our two children. We just started coming out of this, and could afford to pay mortgage payments finally, though not the back payment. Our house was foreclosed upon last Friday, my husband was at the auction and nobody wanted the house.

I should mention the house is unfinished inside, next door to an illegally clear cut lot that will likely cause sliding on our property, and is hardly ideal in any way, except for us as it is our home.

Ownership has been transferred to Freddie Mae though as I found out today via the upper document on the picture above. Eviction proceedings have begun, and we need to contact this agent assigned to sell our house within the next 48 hours.

I started this blog because yesterday marked one month from the estimated arrival of the child growing and kicking in my belly as I type this. I am experiencing so many big good and bad things, that I need a place to share it. I'm not ready to be public about it yet in relation to my 'real' web presence (though I will likely import this into my established blog at a later point).

I don't want to move. I have a five year old in school, a two year old who spends most of her time during the day with me, and a garden that I love. I have told my husband and many other friends that the effort we have put into this house and making it liveable and ideal for us has resulted in a warm fuzzy "hug" feeling whenever I walk into the front door. I really do love this trashy place and will always have fond memories of watching my husband creating what it is.

I am also planning on having a home birth, one that I have fantasized about since conception in the lovely tub that we have here which is one of those big deep footed tubs. My eyes are wet just writing that, it is something I have wanted for a long time. I remember back when renovations started the tub was almost given away, and I insisted we keep it for that reason.

I love watching my girls bathe in that tub, I enjoy bathing in it, and we have even managed (when I was smaller!) to all fit into the tub together for a 'family bath' of sorts.

My garden too is something I have put a whole lot of effort into. I started back when we first got married, so before we actually moved in and it's my third year of planting, harvesting, and enjoying the fruits of that labor with my family. Prior to this I had always been in apartments and being able to have land to cultivate has been a dream come true. I have even written about the therapeutic benefits of it that I have experienced.