I was home yesterday will a dizzy spell. Ended up just being sinus related, of course. I was kinda glad I was home. Gave me time to sleep extra and just relax. Didn't do much cleaning either! *pats self on back*
Anyways .... rewind!
I think Friday we did nothing. Saturday we saw 3 houses. One of them we were hoping wasn't as nice as pictures made it seem .... but unfortunately we walked in and fell in love. If we had the money, we would have put the money in right there. So irked! Afterwards we were actually trying to find faults in it, and had a hard time because any issues were easily fixed. Like stairs, they had this little 'lip' on the edge. Great for going up but could be dangerous going down. Walls were beige but on the yellow side of it, so would clash with stuff. Basement was finished but just concrete, so we'd have to figure out what to do.
Sadly all very easy fixes. Lol!
We got home, relaxed for awhile and went to a friend's place for a bday party. Birthday girl ended up getting sick {rum, then red wine are a bad mix despite drinking water} Ended up spending a good almost 2hrs in the garage chatting. My feet were so numb they were red lol
Sunday was a pretty lax day. I scheduled a pedicure because I had a gift card and wanted my nails done before our trips {11 days!!} Since I had more on card than anticipated, I opted for the fancy one. "Black forest pedicure" Chocolate bourbon scrub, whoopie pie cream and paraffin wax. Urg ... amazing! I chose the colour "Mod-ern Girl" by OPI .... gorgeous coral!
Afterwards we headed to Matt's parents' place for dinner and Superb Owl I'm not a football fan, so his mum and I chit-chatted.
Home late, guh
Tonight is mainly cleaning. We're so behind in dishes it's stupid. Urg ...
@minskat30 - I like your idea of a pact to make yourselves feel better. I think NEY should ALL make a pact to get one of these this week (and not weigh ourselves)...
@eilis1228 This is why I have something like....4 variations of wine bottle openers in my house. Just sayin'. I think the only time I ever pushed a cork into the bottle was because it broke and I couldn't extract the rest of it.
@untouchablets dumb question, is that normal for sheppards? Matt loves sheppards and if we get one, we'd be looking at when we have a kid and I'm on mat leave to take advantage of my being home and potty/crate training.
@eilis1228 I love your determination to get into that bottle!!!
@minskat30 - I like your idea of a pact to make yourselves feel better. I think NEY should ALL make a pact to get one of these this week (and not weigh ourselves)...
Omggggggggg we stopped at a Starbucks while we were driving back yesterday and they had this advertised but they said it wasn't available until the 11th! I asked if they had it anyway and they said they couldn't sell it til the 11th! Then 5 minutes after we left I got a push notification from Starbucks to try the Molten Chocolate Latte!!!! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!
@MissKittyDanger are you guys just getting an idea of what you're looking for in a house? I'm too nervous to look at houses yet knowing we couldn't put down a down payment yet! We're scheduled to get our taxes done at the beginning of March and I told H once we know what we're getting back I want to get pre approved and start the whole looking in real life process. We're not going to have as much money as we'd like but we need to get out of our apartment!
For those of you that have bought a house or are planning on it- what's the minimum amount your're comfortable with leaving in the bank after putting down a down payment?
@lavenderfields13 We planned on an extra $5k in expenses after buying the house. This would cover immediate needs (yard equipment, moving expenses, any initial utility set up costs) and the costs to fix things that were in immediate need of repair. I also had the carpets cleaned before moving in the house (this is something you can negotiate with the seller on too though) because the former owners had a cat and H is allergic.
@lavenderfields13 Yeh we're looking. Our realtor suggested it because you get an idea of the neighbourhood or layout, etc. We were irked because we fell in love with one house lol and unfortunately that happens. If you like the area or homes, you can have a realtor keep an eye out.
As for down payment, idk what the states are like but our mortgage specialist said 5% of whatever it's running for. {Example: $200K house, you need $10K saved for down payment} We're using a separate account for savings, which might be something to look into. That way you're not feeling like you're using what's in personal account.
@labro 5K is what I'd like to have as a minimum. I know everyone says there's always something big that breaks as soon as you buy a house lol.
@MissKittyDanger yeah we do have a separate savings that we're using just for house savings. We should only have to put down 3-3.5% since we'll be first time home buyers.
@MissKittyDanger The ideal in the states is that when you get a mortgage, you put down 20%. Some people don't do that for one reason or another, but 20% down usually gets you the best interest rate (along with a 15 yr mortgage instead of a 30 yr, they'll give you a lower rate for that too). When you put down less than 20% you have to pay something called PMI, which is basically a catch up amount until you've paid up to 20% of the principle balance of your mortgage, although SOME loans exist that say you only have to pay PMI for a period of time, but usually that period of time is equivalent to the point that you've paid 20%/
@southernpeach89 I'm glad to hear that Callie's belly button is healing!
@cocobellaf I'm so sorry that you haven't been feeling well You are beautiful!
Today is a boring Tuesday. Back to work! We got about 8 inches of snow and I have no idea if there will be more this week. I'm getting excited for the long weekend though. I want to spend some quality time with H...maybe something fun like ice skating!
Tonight for dinner I plan on making grilled chicken, cous cous and some veggies. Still making sure to eat healthy in 2016 (go me.)
@MissKittyDanger I think this particular dog has a lot of temperament issues that aren't related to his breed. That said, German Shepherds can be very neurotic and fearful if you get one from a bad breeder. The best way to avoid those issues is to find a good breeder whose line does not have a history of that kind of personality. Its good to meet their dogs beforehand so you can see for yourself. I don't really think that breed is great for young families because they are VERY needy (even the good ones!) and tons of work. The family I'm working with are clearly not prepared for the amount of work he requires which is part of the reason they are having issues, but most of it is his personality.
@MissKittyDanger Oh yeah I'm interested in knowing if you guys pay PMI too like @labro said if the down payment is less than 20%. PMI is going to make our monthly payment ridiculous but we will be waiting FOREVER if we wait to save 20%
Just got out of a meeting and skimmed. I don't know how you west coast ladies are ever able to participate.
@cocobellaf lots of hugs your way. @untouchablets GS owner advice for helping you get the puppy to let you touch him without nipping: Cal has a lot of issues with strangers and unknown situations. I usually have the new person offer her a treat and that will calm her down, unless she is really nervous then I tell then to just sit down so she knows they're safe. That being said, it sounds like the owners want you to fix the nipping problem and do not enforce what is being taught at home. I hope you or whomever you refer are able to help and this poor puppy isn't dropped off at a shelter (which based off their excuses they kept giving you, they sound like the kind of people who ditch a puppy, I really hope I'm wrong though).
So last night my bf went to his parents to finally pack up and get rid of anything he left there. Apparently his mom gave him a book and said it was our Valentine gift.... The book was called How to Declutter your life." He looked at her and just left it on the dining room table and said "there one less thing to clutter my life." She's such a freaking peach.
@speakeasy14 thanks for the advice! I was tossing treats at him from a distance for the whole hour last week. He would take them, but not from my hands. I even gave him a bully stick to chew on so that he could get comfortable. I explained that I was just trying to ease his anxiety and not stress him out by forcing interaction but they didn't seem to care. He's a very hard dog to read. But you're right, they want a quick fix but don't want to do the work.
@untouchablets oh he's a lot more nervous than she is. She'll take treats from anyone, but if she's super nervous will just go back to barking. Poor thing
@lavenderfields13@labro Okay so yeh it is different in Canada. If you do the 20% you don't have to worry about the CMHC {Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation} insurance, which adds approx $6000-8000 on the total. However it's up to the bank on minimum amount. They went over numbers with us, showing what it would cost per month saving the 20% or just doing 5% and with our credit rating, it doesn't make enough difference. It doesn't change how long the mortgage is, just because we do a 25yr mortgage wouldn't mean we're stuck there for 25yrs at least. It's interesting to hear the difference between Canada and U.S mortgages.
Also we get a few tax rebates on first time home buyer when we file taxes
@untouchablets The needy-ness is why we've decided to get it as a puppy {young as possible} and while I'm home on mat leave. Matt grew up with sheppards but they weren't around babies. Hopefully they learn and not give you too many issues!
I heard from my doctor and she wants me to head on over to the ER, so I'm going to meet up with H at the house and then go that way. Hoping it'll be quick and easy and I'll be back at work this afternoon! T&Ps please!
@eilis1228 haha oh your story brought me back to college! Haha We would use a screwdriver and screw to get corks out when we didn't have (or in my case broke) a wine opener. This is also why I have an electric wine opener and a houdini.
Re: Ugh Tuesday
I was home yesterday will a dizzy spell. Ended up just being sinus related, of course. I was kinda glad I was home. Gave me time to sleep extra and just relax. Didn't do much cleaning either! *pats self on back*
Anyways .... rewind!
I think Friday we did nothing. Saturday we saw 3 houses. One of them we were hoping wasn't as nice as pictures made it seem .... but unfortunately we walked in and fell in love. If we had the money, we would have put the money in right there. So irked! Afterwards we were actually trying to find faults in it, and had a hard time because any issues were easily fixed. Like stairs, they had this little 'lip' on the edge. Great for going up but could be dangerous going down.
Walls were beige but on the yellow side of it, so would clash with stuff.
Basement was finished but just concrete, so we'd have to figure out what to do.
Sadly all very easy fixes. Lol!
We got home, relaxed for awhile and went to a friend's place for a bday party. Birthday girl ended up getting sick {rum, then red wine are a bad mix despite drinking water} Ended up spending a good almost 2hrs in the garage chatting. My feet were so numb they were red lol
Sunday was a pretty lax day. I scheduled a pedicure because I had a gift card and wanted my nails done before our trips {11 days!!} Since I had more on card than anticipated, I opted for the fancy one. "Black forest pedicure" Chocolate bourbon scrub, whoopie pie cream and paraffin wax. Urg ... amazing!
I chose the colour "Mod-ern Girl" by OPI .... gorgeous coral!
Afterwards we headed to Matt's parents' place for dinner and Superb Owl
I'm not a football fan, so his mum and I chit-chatted.
Home late, guh
Tonight is mainly cleaning. We're so behind in dishes it's stupid. Urg ...
@jenjen047 cute boots! Friend of mine has same issue with her calves, so if they do I'll wanna know where you ordered to suggest them to her
@beachyone15 potluck sounds yummy!
@CocoBellaF the sickness with this pregnancy is awful for you
@minskat30 that's awful about daycares
@labro welcome back and glad you had fun!!
@untouchablets dumb question, is that normal for sheppards? Matt loves sheppards and if we get one, we'd be looking at when we have a kid and I'm on mat leave to take advantage of my being home and potty/crate training.
@eilis1228 I love your determination to get into that bottle!!!
For those of you that have bought a house or are planning on it- what's the minimum amount your're comfortable with leaving in the bank after putting down a down payment?
As for down payment, idk what the states are like but our mortgage specialist said 5% of whatever it's running for. {Example: $200K house, you need $10K saved for down payment} We're using a separate account for savings, which might be something to look into. That way you're not feeling like you're using what's in personal account.
@MissKittyDanger yeah we do have a separate savings that we're using just for house savings. We should only have to put down 3-3.5% since we'll be first time home buyers.
@cocobellaf I'm so sorry that you haven't been feeling well
Today is a boring Tuesday. Back to work! We got about 8 inches of snow and I have no idea if there will be more this week. I'm getting excited for the long weekend though. I want to spend some quality time with H...maybe something fun like ice skating!
Tonight for dinner I plan on making grilled chicken, cous cous and some veggies. Still making sure to eat healthy in 2016 (go me.)
I'll try and check in later- time to teach!
@cocobellaf lots of hugs your way.
@untouchablets GS owner advice for helping you get the puppy to let you touch him without nipping: Cal has a lot of issues with strangers and unknown situations. I usually have the new person offer her a treat and that will calm her down, unless she is really nervous then I tell then to just sit down so she knows they're safe. That being said, it sounds like the owners want you to fix the nipping problem and do not enforce what is being taught at home. I hope you or whomever you refer are able to help and this poor puppy isn't dropped off at a shelter (which based off their excuses they kept giving you, they sound like the kind of people who ditch a puppy, I really hope I'm wrong though).
So last night my bf went to his parents to finally pack up and get rid of anything he left there. Apparently his mom gave him a book and said it was our Valentine gift.... The book was called How to Declutter your life." He looked at her and just left it on the dining room table and said "there one less thing to clutter my life." She's such a freaking peach.
@labro Good to know, I didn't know that!
It's interesting to hear the difference between Canada and U.S mortgages.
Also we get a few tax rebates on first time home buyer when we file taxes
Hopefully they learn and not give you too many issues!
@speakeasy14 We looked all over for screws to use, but H unscrewed everything already and packed away all the screws. Damn his efficiency!