Happy Birthday to Me!!!

No, this is not a post in hopes that everyone will give me well-wishes. Rather I wanted to say how cool my friends and co-workers are. My birthday is only less than half-way over, and already it has been a great day. Yesterday in the mail was a card from a friend - it was a very cute card and early! Then I come to work today and my whole office is decorated with a tennis theme. There is an actual tennis net up and green felt with lines on it to look like a court. And a life-sized Andy Roddick on my wall! There are tennis balls hanging from the ceiling - so many that it smells like tennis balls in my office. There is even a tennis ball cake to eat this afternoon. My team at work took me to Pappacitos (yummy). And there is still happy hour tonight, and dinner tomorrow night with friends! Turning 29 hasn't been so bad...I might even allow myself to turn 30!

You can pick your realtor, but you can't pick your realtor's nose.

How do you go about picking a real estate agent? I asked co-workers on our intranet recommendations page. Out of 200 employees, I got a whopping 2 responses. But both were people who worked for Ebby Halliday. Maybe that is a good sign. I always thought that name sounded snobbish, so I wouldn't have picked that agency out of the phone book. It is now officially spring (my internal deadline), so I shall be making the call soon. Not sure if April is too soon to meet with an agent if I couldn't buy a house until July. But better early than late.

Also, I picked up 2 real estate magazines in the stand outside of Blockbuster, and it made me surprisingly upbeat. After driving around my first choice in neighborhoods and not finding anything in my price range, this magazine offered many homes below my budget. The exact locations weren't given, but at least I know that there should be something out there for me. I may have to give up on one or two ideals (brand new home, in the zip code I want, below my budget, ready to move in when I am, ocean-front property in Arizona, etc.), but at least I feel reasonably confident that I won't have to sacrifice all of my top criteria!

You know how when you are thinking about something, it seems that all you hear about on the news or in others conversations is that same thing? Well, lately, the news has been revolving around interest rates for homes, the foreclosure rates, and the housing market slump. All signs are pointing toward a good time to buy a house, but not sell one. Is this bad to pray that someone else's misfortune can be my gain? I figure that I did not cause someone to lose their house, so if I can get a good price on a foreclosure, then I will. If not me, then someone else would. I'm not happy the local economy is showing these bad signs, but I was already in the market for a new home so....

Since I am a pessimist, I keep waiting for something to happen to prevent me from buying a house. These are all scenarios that have gone through my head: getting fired, getting laid off, having a heretofore unknown congenital heart disease, having a fire destroy everything in my apartment (even though I have renter's insurance), someone stealing my identity at the last minute and giving me a bad credit score by buying furniture to fill up their new house. But since I am a true pessimist, I know that anyone of those things may and will happen, but not until I have signed on the dotted line, and I am financially responsible for a 30 year mortgage.

A few personal notes (as if all above where not personal notes):

• My passport came in!
• I finally sent my tax return in on Saturday night (you don't have to read between the lines to take note of my exciting swinging single life!). After adding in my measly interest from another account, my total that I had to pay went up even more. Makes me not want to put my money in the bank if 30% of the earnings goes back to pay for someone else' Fannie Mae home loan, or goldplaited seat in the White House or wherever it goes.
• Both cats were succesfully bathed yesterday. They didn't like it, but took it pretty well.
• I was very much considering joining someone in a 5k race in a few weeks. I went for a jog this morning, and could barely run a mile. Will keep considering.
• Tennis league starts up again on Tuesday! Time to kick some more old ladies' butts.
• I had decided to really kick up my savings as I head towards the finish line of down payment savings. Then I started adding up costs that are coming up: semi-annual car insurance in April, the tax payment, I need to go to the eye doctor for an exam and get more contacts, the cats just had their yearly exams, my dryer really needs to be replaced, and I have a vacation planned to Galveston in July. I think I will be fortunate to keep to my usual amount.

Not yet...

This is not it. I am taking a short break from my spring cleaning. I had the itch to clean, so I figured I had better take advantage of it, since it comes along as often as the time changes. Even though no one else would probably notice, I feel like I have gotten a lot accomplished. Thank you friend for calling me and waking me up this morning, or else I would have got a late start and probably wouldn't have been motivated.

1. I have switched clothes in my closets - winter/fall out and spring/summer in. I LOVE being single and having 2 closets and room for storage. I really don't see how couples share 1 closet. I now have a decent size stack of clothes to donate.

2. I have done/am doing all the laundry that had been sitting a while. Except for the small stack of handwash stuff. I have one sweater that I did not wear all winter because it sat at the bottom of that stack. How sad is that. And I actually love the sweater. Too lazy. But not today!

3. I have conquered the living/dining room. I dusted the fan, all furniture, cleaned the windows & blinds (does anyone have a good way to do this? cuz I don't), vacuumed, and most impressively wiped down all baseboards - even behind the furniture I can move.

Up next: kitchen, and giving the cats a bath. Pray for me! Tomorrow will be bedroom and bathrooms and hopefully guest bedroom. Maybe this insanity will be a 48 hour bug and my house will be thoroughly spotless.

Thought for the day: How on earth will I keep a whole house clean?

Slap in the face

I was not so subtly told that I am a lazy blogger :( If it were said by most people, I would just ignore the comment. But since it came from a blogger who updates hers at least weekly, sometimes several times a day, then I will take notice.

In the spirit of using a blog and my blog readers for accountability, I will now type these words in hope that they will be fulfilled:

This weekend, I will take some time to write a new posting.

I suppose this one does not count. Do not get your hopes up...it will not contain very exciting stuff. If I get bored at work today, then it may be up sooner than this weekend.

Hmm..using a blog as accountability to make sure I update my blog. Talk about circular logic. But that is how my brain works. Round and round she goes, where she stops, no one knows.

Mc-Fil-A?

After a morning of bike riding, I needed to stop and get a quick lunch. I thought what better way to completely void all the good that was accomplished in those 7 miles than stopping at McDonald's, right? However, I was going to be good (comparatievly) and get a Happy Meal with nuggets. Who needs a bucket of fries? I know the nuggets are not really chicken, but I still love them.

So I pull up to the drive-thru and see something new on the menu...Southern-style chicken sandwich. It looks good, so I ordered the value meal instead of the Happy Meal. Apparently I need that bucket of fries. I asked if mayonnaise comes on it, because I don't like that creamy sauce. The guy said no, only butter on the bread and 2 pickles. I'm thinking, that is weird for a McD's chicken sandwich not to come with a sauce. I manage to get home before tearing into the food. First bite, first smell, and first appearance - all scream original Chick-fil-A sandwich! It is a total rip-off of that yummy goodness that you can only get Mon-Sat! Maybe if I had both sandwiches next to each other, the comparison wouldn't have been that exact, but in my state of complete calorie dehydration, it was a very good stunt-double.

I would sue if I were Chick-Fil-A. But then again, it must feel good for a "little" chain like that to have the #1 most recognizable fast food giant to copy you. After a little research, this sandwich was rolled out in the southern states sometime last year. It is just now reaching my neck of the woods, so sorry if this is old news for you, dear reader. And to relate this to my blog, I will somehow tie this into house-purchasing. I will only buy a house if it is within 2 miles of a McD or Chick-Fil-A. How's that?

To my loyal reader(s)

Just a quick note that I am still alive. I've just got nothing to say right now. No progress on the house-purchase front, except mentally, and a slowly building down payment. Work has been keeping me busy, so I haven't even been able to go back through the first time home buyers workbook again. I did renew it at the library, and it's probably already overdue. Subtract $2.50 from my savings for that. I guess I didn't really need that second bathroom ;)

My brother has already said he is busy the day I move - nice! But my friend has volunteered to do whatever needs to be doing, painting, etc. She may regret her open invitiation later.

The nice weather is make me a bit panicky, as one of my deadlines is to find an agent in the spring and get the process rolling.