18 February 2011
My Blog has Moved!
Thank you!
12 December 2010
xmas2010
28 April 2009
We've Moved!
08 March 2009
From Bad, to Worse, to Great!
Friday morning…I decided to get to work early so I could use the time to get some of my grades done. While on the 57 freeway I hear a “thunk” sound and about 30 seconds later it came back “thunk, thunk, thunk” – one of my rear tires had blown out. So, I slowly move from the fast lane into the slow lane so I can get off of the fwy, but as I start doing so my car starts shaking violently. So, I ended up pulling over on the side of the fwy at the Lambert exit.
The next series of events: I call my husband and learn that he never got around to adding me to his AAA after telling me to cancel my own. I learn that I do not have my wallet with me. I start to cry.
A CHP officer pulls up behind me and walks over to my passenger side window and asks me to roll it down which, of course, I can’t. So he yells at me to unlock the door, which I try to do but, of course, he can’t open it. So I lean over to open it from the inside, and it still won’t open. At this point I am very frustrated and still crying.
Eventually I get out of the car on the driver side (the officer controlled traffic so I could do so). He is obviously very mad at me and tells me that I should have driven to a service station; I try to explain to him about the violent shaking and he just says to me, “haven’t you watched all the car chases on TV – You can drive on blown tire.” At this point he is laughing at me.
He has me follow him off of the fwy on to Lambert road – I think he is taking me to a service station, but no – he takes me to the parking lot of Kaiser Permanente. Once there, I turn off my car and get out and he says to me, “I suggest you call your husband or someone to get this fixed.” And then he LEAVES!!!! No offer of help, nothing!
I can’t call a towing company because I have no wallet to pay them; I have an idea of how to put the spare tire on, but I didn’t think I was capable of doing it myself.
Long story short – My friend Claudia ended up calling her fiancĂ© for me (he works in the OC), and he was able to come by where I was parked on his way to work and put my spare tire on for me. I actually made it to work before my first class. However, I am still shocked at the lack of help that was offered by strangers – including the CHP officer. I am so thankful for friends like Claudia and Gill. Gill even showed me how to change the tire myself incase it happens again.
The day ended up better than I could have imagined. We had our "Staffulty" awards dinner Friday night and I ended up getting an award from my students that made me cry -- it was wonderful! -- I would have missed this if I had given up on the day and gone home like I wanted to; I'm so glad I went to work and stuck it out!
14 February 2009
House Hunting: Step Two
So, Tuesday night at 8:30pm we ended up making an offer. We waited all day Wednesday and Thursday and heard nothing. I was a stress case. Our offer expired at 8:30pm on Friday. So, Friday at work, just after lunch I checked my email, and there it was -- the counter offer!
We were expecting a counter offer, in fact we had previously decided that we would be willing to pay up to $10k over their asking price if it got into a counter offer situation. So we were *pleasantly* shocked when this happened:
- Asking price was $399,000
- We offered $389,000
- They countered with -- accepting our offer with them taking the fountain on the front porch with them when they move.
Sure, take the fountain; you can have it! So, we accepted their offer on Friday night, and now we have the long weekend to soak it all in. Tuesday we should get the phone call to sign the papers to get escrow started.
Crazy! It has all happened so fast. We are still keeping our fingers crossed - who knows what can happen between now and Tuesday. I'll post more pics once everything is solid.
~Calioc
09 February 2009
We Made an Offer!
31 January 2009
The Home Shopping Experience
What we learned from our experience today:
- We don't like the houses we can afford in Orange County
- We really like one specific area of Corona called "Sierra del Oro"
- Bank owned homes are in major need of being fixed-up; when people lose their homes they become wild animals and do horrible things to the property. Smashed windows, torn up carpet, holes in walls, etc...
- If you love the house, the backyard is too small, or it is in a bad area
- If you love the location and the yard, the house looks like it came straight out of 1983
- It looks like we may have to buy a "fixer-upper"; we just need to decide how much fixing up we are willing to do.
We found one home we loved, but the entire backyard was taken up by a pool -- a long narrow pool that if you weren't careful you would walk right into. Not a good place for a family.
We found another one we loved (actually it is just about my perfect house), but it is in a community where the houses are almost touching, there is no parking on the street, and trying to get out of the gated community in the morning would be a nightmare (we might go look at it again).
So... now our agent knows what we like and we will spend every moment we get looking for the perfect house. We are not in a hurry, the market is on our side, and we are pre-approved so we will be patient until we find "the one".
~Calioc
27 January 2009
Weddingbee Addiction... is there a cure?
- Welcome new members to the hive
- Comment on threads that have no or few comments
- Bump up threads that have no/few comments
- Start threads on days when it's quiet
25 January 2009
Short 'n Sassy
By the time I got to 6th grade I was sick of people only complementing me when my hair was up. I never really did anything with my hair when it was down, so I decided (with youthful wisdom) to cut my hair short - very short. I don't have a scanned photo, but I pretty much looked like a 12 year boy from 6th grade until I graduated from high school!
I kept my hair like this all through middle school, high school, and most of college. Every once-in-awhile I would grow my hair out, but I always ended up going short again.
The picture above is of me (February 2006) just a few months before meeting my husband.
When I met my husband in 2006 my hair was short, but as soon as a wedding was in our future I decided to grow my hair out again. I always pictured myself getting married with long curly hair. So, I grew my hair out longer than it has ever been. The funny thing is I ended up wearing it up for the wedding anyway!
Pictured Left: Me with my curls at the rehearsal
Pictured Right: My wedding day up-do
So, now we have have been married for just over 5 months (and I haven't had my hair cut since before the wedding); the other night my husband tells me that he likes my hair better short. Wow! I've been told all my life that men prefer long hair. My mom, my friends, and even my mother-in-law have all told me that men like long hair. So, I asked around and it seems to me that a man wants his wife to keep her hair the way it was when he first met her; they want it the way it was when they fell in love! So, short, long, straight, wavy, red, brown, whatever - your man does have a preference that is specific to you!
Before the chop (1/24/09):
After the chop (1/24/09):
So, I did it - "the post wedding chop". My husband loves it and I love it! It is short, fun, sassy, and a little funky. I can wear it simple and sleek for work, or wild and sassy for a night out. Now I just have to decide if I want to color it or add highlights!
~Calioc
20 January 2009
Chocolate Cake Challenge
No matter how much my husband and I love chocolate cake, I wasn't about to have an entire cake sitting in my house tempting us all weekend. So, I brought it to grandpa's 84th birthday party at BJ's. I love grandpa, he is actually my husband's grandpa, but since I never had one (my mom's dad died when she was 18, and my dad's dad died when my dad was 14) I have adopted him as my own!