The rest of the house

How cute is this? This is the entrance to the house (yes, we have another one that we are looking at...actually about 4...but this one is MY favorite). Both sides have vines growing up them (you can't see that now, because....well, it's winter and they are dead) ;)
This is the enclosed sun room. It was nice, she said in the winter time when the sun is out you can open the door from the sun room into the house and it will heat the house. We had to do that for a while because the boys were playing in the sun room and we wanted to talk in the livingroom and we needed to keep an eye on them. It's bigger (obviously) than you can see in this picture, but this was the angle I liked the best.

This is the Living room (the room behind it is the formal dining room that is in the other blog). I thought the rugs and drapery just pulled the house together, so I was extatic when I found out that that all stays if I want (I told her I absolutely wanted them).

This is the master bedroom. I couldn't get the right angle on this room, I tried a few and this was the best I got. I wanted one where the bed wasn't the center of the picture because I highly doubt the bed stays. But I couldn't get the right angle, so you'll just have to imagine this one.

This is the bathroom. I love the double sink, that way Jon gets one and I get one. It's got a deep tub in it too...no jets though ;) The upstairs is all plumbed for another bathroom because Jon just can't see how it's possible to live with children and just one bathroom, but we did it when I was growing up. I would however like another bathroom. So it's all good.

There is also a double detatched garage, and a storage shed (that used to be a garage and could be used, but I think it's just better as a storage shed. And the guys at Jon's work were making fun saying that they don't think it's a good choice to live down there because it's called "Mormon Valley" down there. I don't know that they were aware that he's LDS so it probablly won't bother him to live around a bunch of Mormons. I believe Beverly (the lady selling the house) said that there were 4 wards there (the town...I think...is about the size of Lovell). We will keep you all updated on what we decide. Oh yeah, and this house, when we walked in, we were sure that it was WAY out of our price range because the housing here is insaine! So when we asked how much the house was (after trying not to fall in love with it because we were sure it was too much) we found out that it was RIGHT in our price range. Yeah, so that makes it even better.

Part of the other house

I was going to try and put these in some sort of order, but it was enough work just to get these pictures on here (this will be one of two blogs that I am just showing pictures of the new house that we are thinking about. This here is one of the bedrooms (I should have gotten a pictures of the closets, they are HUGE!)

This is the back yard (well part of it...) obviously the boys LOVED this part of it. But the back yard is really big (we will put up one fence and then the whole thing will be fenced in). This woman had children (well, they are grown now, but she had this planned so that it is child friendly...for grandkids now). The back yard is basically for children's play and then there is a fence to the front and the front is "adult space" it has the flowers and all the beautiful landscaping. It's really great.

This is part of the kitchen (I loved the kitchen) all the appliances here stay (she wasn't sure about the washer and dryer. They might stay, they might go, but they are really old anyway, so one way or the other that's the least important of the appliances as far as I'm concerned...they always have places around town to do laundry until we get our own.

Oh, I loved this. This is just a little nook in the kitchen with the table (which you can't really tell in the picture, but it is a pretty good sized table). And the window there to let the light in, it's really cute. We will probablly use this instead (I don't remember if the picture is in this blog or the next, but there is a formal dining room).

This is the rest of the kitchen (with 2 sinks). It's a real cute kitchen.

There it is. This is the formal dining room (since we will need more rooms before we can probablly afford it, this will maybe turn into a room for a little while, we will see what happens. We will have enough for now.

Houses and Microwave meals

First of all, I am going to do the Microwave Meals (only a few though 'cause that would take up a ton of room to do them all). Since I have promised Mary to write some up here for her and I keep forgetting, I will do it now while the boys are sleeping and I remember.

Mandarin Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 pound)
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup apple juice
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges
Hot cooked rice
2 green onions, slices

Flatten chicken to 1/4-in thickness. Place in a greased 2-quart microwave-safe dish. In a bowl, combine brown sugar and cornstarch; stir in teriyaki sauce, apple juice, oil and garlic. Drain oranges, reserving juice; set oranges aside. Add juice to the teriyaki mix; pour over chicken. Cover and microwave on high for 8 minutes. Baste chicken with sauce. Cover and cook 3-5 minutes longer or until sauce is thickened. Serve over rice. Garnish with onions and oranges.
Yield: 4 Servings

Parmesan Potato Wedges (Side Dish/Appetizer...could be either one)
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons onion salt
1 teaspoon paprika
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

In a resealable plastic bag, combine the brad crumbs, Parmesan cheese, onion salt and paprika. Coat potatoes with flour; dip in butter. Add to bread crumb mixture; shake to coat evenly. Arrange on a microwave-safe plate. Cover with waxed paper. Microwave on high for 4-6 minutes or until tender, rotating every 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes
Yield: 3-4 servings

(Here are the recipes that I have with me; if Mary - or anyone else for that matter, would like any of them I will e-mail them to you):
*Main Dishes*
Beef Tortilla Casserole
Tortilla Casserole
Crab stuffed Chicken
Pineapple Veggie Chicken
Chicken Divine
Sour Cream Beef 'n' Beans
Broccoli Chicken Roll-ups (it sounds like a Chicken Cordon Blu with broccoli)
Microwave Chicken Parmesan
Barbecued Pork Chops
Cashew Chicken Toss
Ham with Apricots
*Side Dishes*
Microwave Rice Pilaf
Parmesan Corn on the Cob
Fiesta Cheese rice
Swedish Meatballs
*Appetizers*
Fiesta Dip
*Desserts*
Chocolate Mallow Nut Bars
Butterscotch Peanut Fudge
Marble Brownies
Banana Creme Pie
Casserole Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Chews
All of these are microwave meals. I haven't tried all of them yet, but all of them I have tried taste just like you cooked them in the oven or on the stove, they are really quick to throw together and my family loves them...and so do I because I don't always feel like cooking dinner over a hot stove for hours at a time. Most of these only take a few minutes cooking and prep time. They are great.

Now, everyone keeps asking what's going on with the house; so I will tell you. The listing agent is having a hard time getting a hold of the seller (which may explain why the house has been on the market for so long). The seller apparently works in the oil field or something, so that's why they can't get a hold of him. He finally got a hold of him the day before yesterday and according to our contract he only had until 5pm yesterday to say yes or no or counter the offer that we made on the house. So De (our realtor...more or less) called to ask if we could give him an extension. I asked how long because...well, I want to be in a house, not a hotel and right now the company is paying for this hotel, but they will only pay up to 30 days (I'm not complaining about that, I know it sounded like I was, but it wasn't meant that way). And we can't afford this place after that (well, maybe we could, but I would rather just stay at a Super 8 or something and not spend quite this much money on a place to stay if we have to pay for it), so if the whole thing goes over a month we are just going to have to move from one hotel to the other before we have to move again to a house (we hope). I'm trying not to complain, but I am just sick of moving right now. So De said that it would be MAYBE 2 days, probably one, but it could be 2. So I said 2 days would be fine. If he's wanting a week or more, the answer is "No." So really, we don't know any more than we did when we started, but we should know by tomorrow for sure. If not then De is getting a call EVERY DAY until we do. This time I will be the squeaky wheel because I'm not just waiting around to see what happens. I want to know where I will be living a month from now. So we will see what happens. I will let you all know when I know what's happening.

Blessings

I was just reading everyone's blogs trying to catch up on what I've missed while I didn't have the internet (for a whole week...oh poor Karen) ;) And I read Julie's about how it's easy to fall into that slump of "I don't have as much as I want so, oh poor me" instead of looking around and seeing how much we have. I have been blessed to see how much we had and how much we still have. Even though we don't have our 4 bedroom house anymore, we do still have a place to live. And the way I figure it, if we get that house that we put an offer on, the rooms are a little smaller than the ones in the house we just moved from; so this way since we are all living in ONE room (I don't recommend that to anyone I like) so when we get to the other house the smaller rooms won't seem like a big deal anymore...the fenced in back yard will seem like it stretches out for MILES, and I don't have to worry about the boys getting out of my sight for a few seconds and they can have time outside to just run around and be boys. And right now, even though we are living in a hotel...not my first choice...but in any case we have a place to live, and it's not even one of those old run down places where you are afraid to let your kids be on the floor. And out of all of this I've got to say...I will miss that bath tub. This is the first hotel I have EVER been in, that the tub was so inviting that I just couldn't resist. I can't stand taking baths in hotels, it creeps me out. But this is a jetted bath tub, it's a deep one too, so even with this big pregnant belly of mine, it still doesn't stick out of the water and freeze 'cause the water covers my whole belly...oh it's nice. Even Jon tried it out last night and said "You know if we get the preacher's house" (it's another house that we are looking at if we don't get this one, we will see though) "I know what could go into that other bathroom..." so he really liked it too. So even though we are living in a hotel...at least it's a nice one. (Side Note) The Preacher's house (technically) has 3 bathrooms, but one isn't finished and it's RIGHT next to the other one (it's odd placement I thought, but whatever) so Jon was talking about knocking the wall down between the bathrooms and only having 2 bathrooms but just making one of them a big bathroom. And I still have all of my family. Which recently seems like a huge blessing despite last night. Chris was up last night wanting to play with Ethan, the only problem was it was like 11:30pm and Ethan was (obviously) already sleeping, but that didn't seem to stop him from climbing into his crib to play with him. A few days ago my cousin's good friend died in a car accident (he was 18 years old), and that poor Mother; that's the second son that she's lost in a car accident. I was just thinking that I bet that Mother would LOVE to hear her boys up playing together (even when they are supposed to be sleeping), I'll bet she would love to have the whole family "stuck" together in one room for a month or so. I'll bet she would love to be looking at houses to buy and have to make sure it's got everything that her sons would need to be comfortable living there, because that would mean that she has her sons. I know at times it just gets to the point that I want a break from the boys and I just don't know if I can wait until Jon gets home to take over some of the responsibility, but I should just be grateful that I have my hands full with these boys...and another on the way. Some people don't get the luxury of hearing their children play in the middle of the night, some people don't get to walk up and down the store isles saying "would you put that back, I'm not paying and extra 15% just because the cover has Lightning McQueen's face on it", and some people don't have a husband that will come home and take care of the kids when they've had "one of those days". So what if I don't have an oven to cook on right now...some people don't have food to put in their oven. So what if I have kids that keep me up until ridiculous hours of the night...some people don't have their children and would LOVE the chance to just sit and play with them until ridiculous hours of the night and into the morning. So what if I don't have the house that I want...I know that whether we get this house or not, I will still have a roof over my head (it just may not be THAT roof), and some people don't have that much. And so what if EVERYTHING doesn't turn out exactly how I want it to turn out, I have the faith that everything happens for a reason and if there is a reason that we are supposed to just stay here in this motel, or in a rental for a while longer, then I will just deal with it. You'd think I would have learned. What if everything had worked out JUST how I wanted it to in Pocatello? Do you know how big of a mess we would be in right now? We would be in such big trouble financially right now that I don't know if we would have ever been able to pull ourselves out. What if everything had moved along smoothly like we wanted it to, what if the owners were willing to take $20,000 off of the price of the house. We would have been thinking that we were doing great! And then when Jon got laid off I don't know what we would have done. That house would have been unsellable (is that even a word? I don't know). So I just have to trust that we are where we are for a reason and that whatever happens, I know that I still have what matters most.

Missing Internet

I just thought I would let everyone know that I won't be replying to anything that you send me. It's not 'cause I don't love you, it's because we are taking our internet back today and I won't have the internet anymore until we move into the motel. Then we will probably have a break again when we won't have the internet after we move out of the motel and (hopefully) into our new house.
And as far as that goes we now know that all the appropriate paperwork and whatnot are to the listing agent. Last we heard they were trying to get a hold of the sellers (who they said would most likely counter offer). So we think we will see what they counter offer and then decide. The way we see it, we have the upper hand because their house has been on the market for a while (not many people want...or need a 5 bedroom house) so that's not a big selling point for them. If we don't like their offer and they don't like ours we will check back in 6 months and see what's available. If that house is still available we will see if they like our offer (or possibly a lower offer). We are NOT desperate to buy, but I'm sure they are getting more desperate to sell because they already have another place they are living, so they are making 2 house payments right now. So we will see what happens. I will write again when we find out.

Just so you all know...

I just thought that I would let everyone know that I was just blowing off steam today. I think I still have my sanity intact, I don't know that I would know if it left though. We were just trying to get the house cleaned and packed and the movers hadn't called yet (they have now), and we couldn't get a hold of our loan officer or our realtor to find out if they got the information they needed and if they had sent it on to the people that it needed to be sent to (we got a hold of the loan officer, we are calling the realtor tomorrow). And the boys were both screaming all day long, and that added to the stress Jon and I are already under, I just needed to complain. But thanks to everyone that called just to check and see if we were alright. We are all fine, I just find that typing releases stress for me, and I just needed that.

Uhhhh!!! My head is going to explode!

Part of me almost wishes that the company hadn't been packing us. It is driving me crazy! Because I keep wanting to pack everything, and I can't because if we pack it we are liable for the damages unless the box is completely smashed. So we are having someone come over tomorrow or the next day to come and evaluate what needs to be moved. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday we are having them actually move us. So we have to pack up the things tonight that are coming with us...I don't even know what all is coming with us because for a month you need a lot of stuff...but then try and decide the bear minimum that we need because we have our entire family in ONE ROOM for a month (or a month and a half). I am officially changing my mind about the whole living in a motel would be fun for a while idea. I "lived" in a motel for a week while we looked for housing. And if you need alone time...you have to sit in the bathroom (not really "relaxing" alone time), plus you have those people that are all "I can hear someone, tell them to be quiet." (Yeah, I have little kids, I don't know about everyone else's kids, but mine don't just sit all day. Even if I allowed them to sit in front of the TV ALL DAY LONG...they still wouldn't just sit all day). So I am just going to call my home teachers or someone, just to come be over here while the movers are here, just so I don't have to be here alone with them, that makes me uncomfortable. (And, no, Mama, I don't mean they are going to spend the night here, just during the day while the movers are here...hehehe). And the boys are freaking out CONSTANTLY about who knows what? And I am just ready for this move (and the next move for that matter) to be over with already. I suppose I shouldn't complain; some people don't have a house to live in, and they don't have the option of a motel and they don't have any children to drive them crazy. So I guess things are good here 'cause we do have a place to live and we will have the option of a motel and we do have children to drive us crazy, so I can't complain I suppose.
I don't know of anything else that is going on, so I guess I don't have anything else to write, I just was hoping to think of something so that I didn't have to quit and go pack and unpack and do laundry. *BLAH*