cindy's world

I wasn’t going to do a weekend update post, but seeing as how I’ve been in the habit of using my blog as a reference when I see strange charges come up on my credit card statements, it doesn’t hurt. I’ve also used my online record of my life to settle some disputes. Dork, huh?

Saturday: Mr. W and I visited some houses he’d found online thru his MLS search. We always check out the neighborhood and houses first before involving any realtor now, cuz that first house we saw online and got all excited about turned out to be a total dud. We’d met my realtor there and realized as we drove to the area that we’d never live there. The area of the city was dirty, run-down, old, and there were a bunch of illegals milling about on the sidewalks trying to discreetly get hired for exploitatious work. I was so embarrassed to have wasted my realtor’s time. Photos are so deceiving! On this trip, we found some neighborhoods we loved and houses that we were impressed by, so much so that I called Grace’s dad and told him to cancel paperwork for the 2nd shortsale house (the ex-“the one“).

Sunday: Mr. W and I got up bright and early, hit the gym, then met up with Vicky and her boyfriend Glenn for Korean BBQ. Vicky had recommended the place, and it was delicious AND generous in its food portions. Apparently all the small dishes AND all meats were all-you-can-eat. The waitress also kept coming by to cook and turn the meats for us. We had thin beef slices, cubed steak, marinated chicken, bulgogi pork. The included salads staved off the meat sweats. I was also not feeling too guilty cuz I KILLED myself on the weights at the gym earlier, so I figured I earned the right to chow down on so many animals. Lunch was fun and a lot of laughs. We stood outside in the parking lot after we were done and made tentative plans to do outdoorsy stuff in the future. Vicky has, through her interactions with Glenn, become quite the hiking fan. Mr. W was already a hiking freak, so by default, I am going to be doing more hiking. I also promoted a wine country bike ride/wine tasting, which I’d done a couple years ago with the NorCal friends, and it will always be remembered as one of the happiest, most carefree times of my life, a desperately-needed reprieve from my life at home at the time. Vicky and Glenn were in for that, and also were in for my last pitch which I REALLY want to do: rafting down the American River. Vicky had swimming-related concerns, but I convinced her she’ll be fine on the guided raft tours wearing a lifevest. (Or I’d feel severely guilty if she weren’t.)
After lunch, Mr. W and I met up with Grace’s dad at my parents’ house (5 houses away from Graces’ parents’ house), and the three of us went to look at 3 houses. I liked one in particular, Mr. W liked another one, but in the next couple of days following, Mr. W fell in LOVE with the one I’d liked. Today he downloaded photos of this house and they are now revolving background wallpaper on his laptop. We’re waiting for my realtor to come back from vacation (next Sunday) to put an offer down on the house. I figure this gives fate a chance to intervene — if it’s gone in a week, it was never meant to be ours; if it’s there AND the price was lowered due to lack of interest in the current price, so much the better for us.
After seeing the houses, Mr. W and I returned to my parents’ house, where my parents promptly put Mr. W to work figuring out what’s wrong with their surround sound stereo, and installing rear speakers for their sound system. It was so cool to see my fiance stripping the plastic off wires with his teeth, twisting wires together, painstakingly hiding wires around walls and fireplace to hang the rear speakers. *swoon* I told my mom that even if I left him now, she and my dad would’ve gotten their money’s worth from him. She wasn’t pleased with that comment.

Monday: Another low-key day, starting with another drive to the house that Mr. W fell for, an on-foot jaunt around that neighborhood listening to birds sing their welcome to spring. Mr. W and I then washed our cars, knowing that it’s going to rain again this week but not wanting the dirt to pack into cake on our respective paint jobs. Then we had dinner as we watched “Buffy” and “Angel” on DVD (still in succession so the cross-over events would be in line), and ended the evening by hitting the gym again.

Good thing we did the gym 2x, cuz I worked thru lunch today.

Trip out. My godbro’s dad (father of one of the founders of Formula D racing) is one of our JURORS today. I went out in the hall half an hour ago, did my orientation, and as I let the jurors file into the courtroom, he waved at me. Oh my gosh! Suddenly, all the lame jokes I told during orientation flashed before my eyes. I’ve been doing this a long time, but NOW I’m freaking out all self-conscious. Sheesh.

This isn’t even one of our home trials, either. We got the case transferred to us from another courthouse. Some dinky little misdemeanor. The female defendant allegedly stole $400 worth of stuff from a 99c Store. The bailiff and I were laughing about how anyone could steal $400 worth of stuff from a 99c Store. Did she take 400 items out with her inside her coat? Did she have to make many many trips? We’re horrible. This is what happens when you work in a system that’s used to multiple murders and child molestations and they give you a misdemeanor that you know nothing about. =P

Addendum: Isn’t this a koinkidink? Today, I packed for my workout clothes, the T-shirt I’d purchased at my first Formula D event that I wrote about in the post I linked above!

Horoscope for February 17, 2008:

You could feel somewhat unsettled today and may not be able to quell your anxiety. Even if your emotions are a bit out of whack, it probably isn’t severe enough to require drastic action. Be careful not to become overly possessive, as Venus in your 8th of Shared Resources encourages you to exert control. Don’t succumb to fear, for tightening your grip on love could easily backfire.

I just advised a friend not to jump the gun about someone possibly having a crush on my friend’s significant other, and then I see this horoscope of mine immediately after. Okay, so I’m being pointed in a specific direction. Cuz truth is, I HAVE been feeling unsettled about a little thing for the past couple days. Mr. W told me that his biatch ex (not the mom of his kids, I mean the one who always gave me a hard time) called him on Friday and said she found some stuff in her house that belongs to or was made by his kids when they were younger, and said she wanted to meet up with him to return them. I had gotten instantly annoyed since any mention of her annoys me, and I told him to let me know when he plans to do that and I’ll make sure I’m nowhere near cuz I don’t want to deal with her attitude again. And we left it at that. Altho I’ve felt “somewhat unsettled” about it for the past couple of days, I’m chalking it up to my “emotions [being] a bit out of whack” and not readdressing it with him because 1) I trust him completely, and 2) I respect him so much for telling me something that I’m sure he knew I wouldn’t want to throw a party over. Unless the party were her and I’m throwing her overboard. I’d enjoy that. Anyway…I may be PMSing.

After another long Saturday of running around checking out open houses and taking external peeks at houses found online, we decided to not even put an offer on the 2nd short sale house, i.e. the ex “one”. One reason is that with all the offers already being considered by the bank on that one, putting another offer in for the asking price would likely be an exercise in futility. The other reason is that we discovered many other properties that are NOT on short sale that have fallen into our price range. The non-short-sale houses, because people are not upside-down on their mortgages, are in better condition and more move-in ready. And, they’re newer. Another thing we learned is that old houses are just not our thing. We thought we could do the 30- or 40-year-old homes if they’ve been fully upgraded, but truth is, the architecture then was just different and no matter how upgraded a bathroom, it’s just not gonna be the open double-vanity, separate tubbed bathrooms of this century. Of course, with newer houses are new cons, i.e. association fees, Mello-Roos taxes, and generally smaller square footage. You’re also in disturbingly close proximity to your neighbors.

So on Sunday, we’re meeting up with Grace’s dad again, to look at 2 newer homes and one older one which, at least according to photos, is promising.

As much as it is sage advice to not fall in love with a house at this stage, I really would like to fall in love again. I want to love the place we’re about to buy, whichever it is. I want to love all my major life decisions — from small things like my car to larger things like my homes to permanent things like my husband.

I’m over it.

While waiting to meet Grace’s dad at the property, I got there first and parked. A few minutes later, a pick-up truck pulled up behind me and a man and his very annoying needs-Ritalin-pronto son got out. I didn’t get out and talk to them, but they walked onto the property but couldn’t get in because they need an agent who can open the lockbox for the key. Mr. W arrived next, and said hello to the man, asking if he’s here to see the property, too. They chatted for a long time before Mr. W came back to me to report. According to the guy, who’s meeting his agent there, too, he has put an offer on the house already. And he’s only 1 of 14 offers. Assuming he’s telling the truth, then the bank probably low-balled the offer price deliberately to generate the highest level of response it can for a sale. Maybe it’s hoping for a bidding war. This was distressing and discouraging.

A good thing happened, though. After Grace’s dad arrived and we got a good look inside the house, my interest waned considerably. It is the best house we’ve seen so far anywhere near that price range, and altho it is fixed up and pretty nice, it is nowhere as great as I’d thought it was last night. It’s definitely still more move-in ready than the other short sale house, but on closer inspection there were little details wrong with it. A crack in the foyer tile. Stinky old carpet. The carpet was stained upstairs. The bathrooms, altho upgraded, aren’t THAT nice. The downstairs powder room needed its countertops updated. The inside of the kitchen cabinets are lined with half-removed old adhesive shelfing paper. Some of the cabinet doors were sitting crooked. The insides of the drawers were gross. I don’t think they changed the cabinetry so much as simply gave it a new maple resurface. The pool was dirty (altho yes, that’s just superficial). These are all small, inexpensive things, but it just kinda burst my bubble, is all. Strangely, Mr. W’s interest was piqued. In the exact opposite way that I was disappointed, Mr. W was impressed. It was worse than I’d imagined, it was better than Mr. W had imagined. So now HE wants the house and I’m kinda “eh” about it. Maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

I asked Grace’s dad what he thought. He said the asking price was very good, but the house itself needed some TLC. Yeah, exactly. To me, the inside of the house also appeared to be bigger from the outside looking in, than it actually was once you’re in. Altho the four bedrooms upstairs are pretty spacious, more so than the other house, too. We decided that we’d put in a bid for the house at the asking price, and let our credit speak for itself. If one of the other bidders wants it more badly than us and is putting a ton of money down on it, then fine, they can have it. If someone else is bidding over the asking price and their credit can survive that, then fine. We’re leaving it to the hands of fate, but we’re really okay either way. So by this time Sunday, we’ll have two active offers out on two short sales. And we’re still not quitting our house hunt. “The one” may still be out there.

Since we had a realtor on hand, the three of us went to see the two other properties that we’d seen immediately before we saw this property yesterday. Even with more daylight, the back yard that scared me yesterday still scared me. But that was nothing compared to the inside of that house. It smelled of paint or varnish, it was old, all the closets were the old hinged door style and small, one bedroom had a deep brownish stain in the center that looked like some poor dog or child had been hung and killed suspended from the ceiling fan in the center of the ceiling (this is the house with the weird fenced kennels in the yard), one bathroom was painted black with almost Satanic-like frescoes painted into the shower. Mr. W warned me not to look in that bathroom but I did anyway. I’ve learned to trust him on stuff like that next time. As for the other house, we didn’t even bother going inside, just looked around the outside and that was more than enough. I now think that the reason “the one” glowed so brightly to me yesterday was cuz we saw that after the first two. How perspectives can be altered due only to context.

A Friday and belated V-Day ha-ha, from my judge:

A guy walks into a post office one day to see an overweight, middle-aged, bald man standing at the counter methodically placing “love” stamps on a huge stack of bright pink envelopes covered in hearts. The man then took out a perfume bottle and spritzed each envelope. His curiosity gets the better of him, so the guy asks the man what he’s doing. The man says, “I’m sending out 1,000 Valentine cards signed, ‘Guess who?’ ”
“But why would you do that?”
“I’m a divorce lawyer,” the man replied.

Yesterday evening, on Valentine’s Day, I fell in love. I didn’t really expect to, I figured I’ll settle and be just fine. Happy sometimes, even. Besides, I’ve already got one foot halfway into another, altho the contract hasn’t been written yet and it’s not binding technically. Yet.

I don’t think there’s just one “the one” in our lives. Sometimes there are two or three “the one”s, cuz that one is the best one for our lives right now. I just know that when I recognize one of these “the one”s, I can instantly see the future flash before me, I can picture myself there, and I’m so happy. I can think about nothing else and all the molecules around me spark with energy and I get beyond restless. It’s happened to me before when I’ve found other “the one”s.

So it was last nite that I ran around in circles, exclaiming over and over, “Oh my God. I love it. I love it. It’s perfect. Oh my God.” That house that Vicky found online and told me about? Mr. W and I went to take a look at it last night on our way to dinner. Sure our offer for our short sale house JUST went in that day, but it doesn’t hurt to keep our options open for something more ideal. We first hit up 2 or 3 other houses on the way, and even tho some were pretty cool or had interesting floor plans and I could live with it, none of them spoke to me or excited me. One had a backyard that scared me. I swear, I think they abused dogs or children and there are body parts still buried back there among the overgrown shrubs and weird sectioned-off kennels and cages. *shudder*

And then last on our list was THE house. It has a huge 3-car driveway, so wide that “I can Zaino my car sideways on it!” I said, so wide that “You can do donuts in your car on it,” Mr. W said. The neighborhood is older but well-manicured and totally upgraded. The 2500 square foot house looks like it had a recent face lift with beautiful new double-front-doors and a generously-sized raised platform wooden porch. The lights are on inside the house although it’s already vacant, and I gasped at the custom paint, the crown moldings, the carpet, the upgraded designer interior. The back yard gate was unlocked so in a delirium I ran to the back and nearly fell into the GIANT new pool, surrounded by a nice deck and fruit trees. (It was dark.) The clean white backyard patio rafters, Mr. W observed, is not wood, but fiberglass. No termite issues! Looking in from the back, I saw new granite countertops in the kitchen, recessed lighting, a nice center kitchen island, new stainless steel appliances. All totally new and upgraded. I even loved the bend in the staircase. In my mind, I SAW my life inside that house. I felt my happiness. I could feel Dodo’s happiness wandering around in there. It was totally move-in ready and costs THE SAME as the other house! (With the other house, we’d have to sink money into changing the carpet, small repairs on the floors and upgrading the bathrooms/bedrooms first.)

My realtor left for a week-long family trip yesterday, but had left me in the hands of Grace’s dad. I called him this morning to say hello and to tell him about the house, and he called me back with details. It is a short sale again (I’m fine with that, because the amount of time a short sale situation adds to the process will be beneficial to us; we can’t move in right away, anyway), it’s assessed at $200K more than it’s being offered for, and he’s free to let us in to look at it TONIGHT! I was SO excited when I hung up I couldn’t stop smiling as I called Mr. W to tell him the good news.

Due to the psychotically early meet-up time I made with Grace’s dad at the new property in my eagerness, I’d have no time to run home tonite to grab clothes and take care of Dodo’s food and whatnot for the weekend, so I was going to do it at lunchtime and skip the gym. In calling my gym trainee to tell her I wasn’t going to hit the gym with her today, I got a call in on my cell phone. It was my bank, congratulating me that I’ve been approved for my great HELOC (home equity line of credit), which I’d applied for at a crazy-low interest rate to use as down payment for the new house. I’ll be mailed closing documents on Wednesday and then I can throw my car loan into the HELOC, make it tax deductible, AND fund my path into my (uh, I mean “our”) new home!

Here’s the fated sequence of events…
1. We find the 1st short sale house.
2. We put an offer on that short sale house. (I run into Grace’s dad.)
3. I call and tell Vicky about it.
4. Vicky looks up that house online and says, “Hey, what about THIS house? It’s the same price.” She reads the description to me and I’m instantly intrigued.
5. Our realtor leaves the country. Mr. W and I visit that house. I fall in love, utterly, completely.
6. Grace’s dad is handling our stuff in our realtor’s absence.

It’s perfect! It’s GOT to be meant to be, right? EEEEEEEEEE!!!

What a difference a year makes. This exact day last year, according to a link Jordan found by googling “Cindy’s boobies” (see post and comments here), the blog post was all about nipple lengths and me, Jordan and Flat Coke challenging each other to flash everyone to see whether Asian nipples are elongated (on comments).

Just thought you’d like to know how in a year, I have matured and grown way too sophisticated to ever post a entry on Valentine’s Day mentioning things like boobies, nipples, elongated nipples, pornography, flashing my friends, or taking and comparing nipple measurements. I am too adult to type anything like that.

I’ve been wanting to post this every Valentine’s Day for years but I never remembered in time. I wrote this poem 2-14-94, my senior year in high school. (That’s important for the irony you’ll see.) It was published later on that year in a school publication.
Each time a reference to Valentine’s Day is written, the font is in a creepy horror-movie-title font, like with blood drippage coming off the letters.

V-DAY
The kid down the street
Sits up in bed at six
Alarmed as his alarm alarms him.

And in this state of panic
His feet hammer out something drastic
Just as his young heart mimicks his alarm.

Having forgotten it was Valentine’s
He frantically cuts flowers fresh off the vine
And in so doing, draws blood the color of the maroon petals.

In school, the boy greets Little Suzie,
Presents her with his flowers, still a little woozy
From his tremendous outpour of blood.

Suzie’s lush lips stretch into a smile
As she eyes the beautiful red pile
Of flowers, and blushingly accepts the gift.

She giggles and wiggles and squirms all day
Looking so forward to her luncheon date
With the little, young twelfth grade boy.

Amongst all this hustle and bustle
Of young, immature kids
Whose clanging, clamoring hearts still believe in Valentine’s Day

I sit, and observe
And occasionally laugh
At all the silly, unrealisitic lovesick fools

And wish that one time more
I could be a part
Of all this fuss over nothing on Valentine’s Day.

Smart-Dressed Man: A woman who bought my real estate system bought this home pictured here for, believe it or not, $387. She got it as a government foreclosure, moved her family in, and they are now living free and clear with not one payment to make on it, ever.
Blonde Woman: Wow! Three hundred…and eighty-seven dollars? So she could turn it around and sell it for a lot more.
Smart-Dressed Man: That’s right. With my system, you can buy a house for literally pennies on the dollar, and live in it free and clear, never having to make a payment on it, or sell it on the market for the full estimated value, or get rich using it as a cash-flowing rental.
Inserted Testimonial of a Man: I bought the real estate system, read through it, and then bought ten properties, the lowest at $110 and the highest at $750, and I turned around and sold them for market price. I’ve made a huge profit of $110,000. And not a lot of people know about these government foreclosures and repossessions.
Blonde Woman: Wow! A hundred and ten thousand dollars! That’s a lot of money.
Smart-Dressed Man: This property pictured here has a market value of $120,000.
Blonde Woman: I believe it. It’s a beautiful house in a great neighborhood. There are a lot of expensive properties in that area.
Smart-Dressed Man: Can you believe, that someone using my system bought this house for $358?
Blonde Woman: That’s amazing!

Okay, so my question is, WHERE THE HELL ARE THESE PEOPLE selling these properties at, and WHY are they airing this infomercial in Southern California? Are they KIDDING? They may as well advertise dung beetle shish-kabobs for the same relevance in this market.