If first you don't sucseed, try and try...and try...and try..again..

Well another season has come and gone and we are STILL looking for a house. Right now, we are currently waiting on word from our fourth offer!! And if this house is a no-go, then we have our 5Th house offer on the back burner waiting to be submitted. I know our house is out there and we just need to be patient and it will come. And we have been patient, after all it's been 2 years and a gillion houses. Well, maybe not a gillion, but at least a good 100. I'm just praying this is finally the house.

I feel that everything happens for a reason. I think of the other houses we've seen. Some I think we should have offered on, some that had weird vibes, some that were NASTY. It makes me wonder how people can live like that. The three other houses we've offered on were all so different from each other. The first house, was a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath 2 car garage HUD home. We were outbid by $25,000. over asking price. We didn't have a chance. And although we liked it, we did have some issues with it, there was more front yard then backyard and every appliance.

The second house, was smaller 3 bedroom 1.5 bath spit level. There was another offer that beat us. But again, we did have some issues, only 1.5 bath and everything needed updating (it still had blue 1950's bathroom).

The third house was even smaller but had 3 bedrooms 2.5 bath a HUGE yard with a workshop and nice updated kitchen. There was already an offer submitted when we looked at it and the bank was waiting to hear back on their counter offer. We went ahead and submitted at FULL PRICE, but the first offer accepted the banks counter offer. And once again, after the fact I mentioned we did have issues, it was the farthest away with really, really small bedrooms.

This fourth house seems very nice. It's a good size in a nice neighborhood. It's been on the market since January and they just reduced there price the first of the month. Our realtor said the listing agent didn't seem to positive with our offer since it was just reduced. But we do have another house that we have an offer written up for just in case. I really do pray that this is the house for us though. I don't really have any issues that I can think of with this house. I hope this is the one. I can really imagine myself in this house for a long time. .

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Girls Night Out

Friday night, Trinity and I had a girls night out and left the boys at home. We switched out our purses, powered our noses and hit the town for a night of fun!

A local high school theatre department, put on a performance of Roger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella, for their Spring Musical. They were so good! And Trinity had so.much.fun. We bought a rose for Cinderella during intermission and after the play she met the cast and had her play bill autographed. She later told me the Prince was; "so cute, ah." Afterwards, we stopped at Wendy's for frosty's and fries (and maybe some chicken nuggets for me). We drove back home and ate our goodies in the car, listened to some music and talked. Hubby called at 10:30 to see where we were.

It was such a nice night. My lovey is the best. She is a sweet girl, full of dreams and wishes and stories and jokes and laughter. Such a great laugh, too. There is so much she wants to see and do. I know she'll do them all one day too. I've always known I wanted children and that I only wanted one girl. One girl to have fun with. To share special mother-daughter moments with. My mother and I are close and we talk just about everyday, sometimes more than once. I will always be first and foremost Trinity's mother but, as she gets older and becomes an adult, I hope to also be her friend.

P.s. Excuse the pics. I took them with my camera phone and then posted them in the wrong order and layout..it's late and I don't feel like messing with them now. ;)

Little happenings...

• Lovey told me today that she would text me.
• Little man put a finger up each nostril, pulled them out and said; "snowball fight!"
• I've officially began my workouts! The Firm body sculpting system. I've done this workout before and really like it. I think it's great if you haven't worked out in awhile. I'm still getting over my cough, so I was a bit out of breath, but it's getting better.
• Speaking of getting over my cough, I fell asleep on the couch the other night at 6:30 and missed LOST! Hubby said he tried to wake me a few times, but I was out. I woke up at 11:45 to Lovey asking me to rub her back. I'm going have to watch LOST on my day off, while little man is napping.
• My voice is almost fully recovered. It's still very scratchy and I end up whispering by the night.
• Paul and I will be celebrating our Birthdays this weekend! It's kind of nice to have our birthdays a day apart.
• I finally clipped my toenails. They were SO LONG!!! And I HATE long toenails. I cut my toenails to the quick. If I didn't have toenails I would probably be okay. I cannot stand the feeling of toenails when I curl my toes. Tomorrow while hubby is at work I shall wax! TMI?

Okay, there are my updates on the little happenings.

No rest for the weary

Well I've been sick for two weeks now. What started as sinuses, became Bronchitis that left me with laryngitis from coughing so hard. Have you ever heard of someone loosing there voice because of coughing? I have not been able to talk since Sunday. Saturday night I had a coughing spell so bad I couldn't breath. I was about to wake hubby to take me to the hospital, I was panicking. Not being able to catch your breath is the scariest feeling. And after Brittany Murphy died while getting over a cold, I'm totally paranoid. So, after remembering a LOST episode, where Shannon was having an asthma attack and Jack calmed her down, telling her it was in her head because she was scared, I calmed myself down telling myself I'm not going to die, I'm just panicking because I can't catch my breath. Then after some deep prayer, I ask the Lord to please heal my lungs. Please let me breath again. Then Sunday morning I woke up to realize I had lost my voice. I have never lost my voice. I take this as a sign that God wants me to take things easy. To realize that my kids can hear me without me yelling. To depend more on my husband. To find the patience that I always pray for. And to put myself back on the to-do list.

And speaking of to-do, I haven't officially started my diet, but because of my illness, I've lost a few pounds. Once, I'm completely healed it's bye-bye fat pants, hello skinny jeans!

I am going to pee my pants...

Seriously. In just a few short hours the moment I have been waiting for will be upon us....LOST season 6. I.can.not.wait. My heart is racing. My adrenaline is pumping. I can't sit still. I heart this show. I'm obsessed with this show. I love to discuss theories with other LOST fans. And I'm such a freak about the show that I came to realize awhile back, that if you are not equally obsessed with LOST, like I am, I can not discuss it with you.

Some co-workers and I have had LOST viewing parties for a few years now. They are so much fun. Our other co-workers know when we are discussing LOST and the entire back room will empty out. A few have joked about "crashing" one of our parties. We don't find that funny in the least bit. We take our LOST parties quite seriously. We have strict rules, which must be obeyed. Or else you will be banished. The rules happened naturally, an unspoken agreement, that later on was voiced for fellow co-workers who attempted to watch with us.

Here are just a few of our "rules"

• There is ABSOLUTELY no talking during the show. All questions or comments, must wait until the next commercial break.
• If the show has started and you are late arriving, you must wait until the next commercial break to enter the house.
• If you have never seen one episode, do not think for a moment you will be allowed to watch the show with us. Go to Blockbuster, or netflix the previous season's and catch up. I/We do not have time to explain 5 seasons to catch you up for 1 episode.

We have some other "rules" we throw out there every so often, but these are the major ones. We are having our LOST season premiere party tonight. I will take pictures of our food-a major reason to have a LOST party. And some of the other highlights of our night!

LOST begins in 4 hours.....

2 weeks...

Have you ever noticed, everything seems to have a two week result time. Some cereals claim, that if you substitute there cereal, for two meals a day, you can loose 6 lbs in 2 weeks. You can have whiter teeth in 14 days! There are 2 week cleanse and detox drink shots. And in 6 workouts (3 times a week for 2 weeks) you can see results with that workout video.

In two weeks/14 days, it will be Valentines Day. A day filled with romance and chocolate and romance and flowers and romance and balloons and romance. Well, maybe not as much romance since the kiddies, but we do find time for it. So, in time for Valentines Day, I'm going to replace 2 meals with that cereal, cleanse and detox, whiten my teeth and see results in only 6 workouts!

I think it will be a good jump start to my ultimate weight loss goal. That deadline is going to be the Friday kicking off Memorial Day weekend. So, stay tuned and check back often. I'm going to post a "before" pic this Friday when I do my weigh-in. I'm going to try and keep this as humbly real as possible, so beware. On your mark, get set, let the transformation begin...

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Sunday, we celebrated my dad's birthday. He braved the icy streets to come have an early dinner at our house. I made Steak tenderloin with cheesy, garlic mashed potatoes, shrimp cocktail, side salad and dinner rolls. I started to take pictures of dinner, as I was cooking it, but I only got to the mashed potatoes then forgot. I did, how ever take pictures of the yummy birthday cake cookies with homemade icing, I made!



You heard me right, birthday cake COOKIES.



The reason I decided to make these instead of a birthday cake, was that I had no more icing. And since it had just snowed so, I was not going anywhere. These cookies though, are so yummy and they are super easy to make; just take any cake mix box, add the required amount of eggs and oil - omit the water, stir and drop teaspoon size onto baking sheet. Bake approx. 8 min or so. Mmm...





I ended up making homemade icing. I thought I would give it a try and it turned out pretty freakin' good, if I do say so for myself. Hubby asked if I had more! To make the icing I took cream cheese and 1/2 stick butter (softened) and 1/2 t. vanilla extract mix it until it was smooth, then gradually added powdered sugar. I would add a 1/2 cup pwd. sugar at a time stirring until it was a nice consistency. I put it into a plastic bag, cut off the tip and piped it onto the cooled cookies.




My little man had the idea to put cherries on top. Cherries happen to be a favorite of my dads, so that was no problem. And I added some chocolate chips because you just can't have enough chocolate!

You know you want one...

The Birthday Dad!

My dad is a great man. Not too many men would have done what he has. He has made many sacrifices in his life for me and for his family. My dad joined the military when he was 18 years old. When he was 20 he went on his first deployment to the Philippines. There he met my mom and me. I was 2 years old. He fell in love with my mom and within another 2 years we were living in the United States. My dad at such a young age got married and had an instant family. He never had children of his own, but he has always loved me as his own. Rheumatoid arthritis left him unable to continue his career in the Navy. And last year he lost his best friend/his dad, my papalan. Life hasn't always dealt him the best hands and there have been times where he questioned his purpose. After, my parents got divorced, my dad was reborn and was baptized in the baptist church. I was so proud of him.

Today, just before I wrote this post, I found this book called; Birthday Wishes For You, while cleaning up the kids toys. This is for my dad.

God has chosen this day especially for you!

In His infinite timing and wisdom, He chose this day to bring you into this world and to make you a part of His plan. He created you with special talents designed for His purpose. He has blessed you with the desire to fulfill His purpose and the ability to succeed in His plan. Setting you free, He designed your path for life. Celebrate your life by honoring the days you've had and have to come! For this coming year and the years to follow, may everything that you've dreamed of come true!

Happy Birthday Daddy! I love you!

p.s. In case you were wondering why I didn't have any icing, in these parts we like to sometimes eat frosting straight from the container. I know, it's kinda gross, but it.is.so.good.