Water Heater on the Fritz
Our water heater started leaking but since it was over the weekend, we had to wait until today to get it fixed. First it started a little drip, then it was a big puddle, and then the water started flowing by the bucket full! Jeff was trying to insert pans under it to catch the water so the wood beneath it wouldn’t get too soaked. I told him to create a make-shift river bed using foil. Look how perfect that worked. I’m so smart.
Ironically, the upstairs bathroom sprung a leak this morning too, so a plumber came by and got everything fixed – including the kitchen sink drain that had a leak in it ever since we moved in 2 years ago!
Soon enough we will have to deal with these home problems all on our own! No calling the landlord and saying “hey there is this problem…”
Salinas Rodeo 2009
Schipper Design+ designed the program for the California Rodeo Salinas so we were fortunate enough to get free tickets to go to the event. I have never experienced the rodeo, nor had i ever had a previous desire to go to one, so i was not quite sure what i was in for. But i have to say it was more fun than i thought it would be. There are quite a few events going on, sometimes two at once. The event in the photo above is Calf Roping where the guy chases the calf with his horse, ropes his neck, hops off the horse (while it’s still galloping), then proceeds to tackle the calf onto it’s back and ties 3 legs up. At first It’s a little hard to watch as it gets jerked back, then see it flailing around as it’s tackled to the ground. But then you sorta get used to it. I actually don’t think the calfs care so much. After they are released they just run away like nothing happened.
Jeff had a burrito and i had some nachoes for lunch. Mmm, wasn’t that good. LOL.
Here is the poster that Rita designed. The program was designed by Angie, and the cover for the program looked like this poster.
The Crown Royal clown was hanging out where our bleacher seats were, and he was playing tricks on people by laying his rope out and catching people’s feet as they were walking by. It was kinda funny. He handed us some cool Crown Royal patches. Jeff placed it on his hat, i put it on my halter top.
Walking back to the car, we saw all the calves, bulls and cows hangin’ out back waiting for the turn of torture. Haha. Oh what life would be like to be livestock! Mooo. Yee haw!
3rd Saturday of the Month
Here I am, on time for my 3rd Saturday of the month Turbo Kick Boxing + Body Sculpting class but no one is here! People didn’t start showing up till about 9:15, and even then it was only 3 people. *sigh*
After i taught my class, the students commented on how i gave them a good workout. So glad i did a good job. Hope attendance picks up soon!
Hair Trim
Got my hair cut at Bonnie’skizzors after work today! I’ve been trying to be better at getting my hair cut more often than ONCE a year… so here i am! Last time I went to Bonnie it was Thanksgiving, so i’m not doing too bad. Just planned on a trim. She put in more layers this time, which is fine, i think my hair needs it because otherwise its a big poofball. I asked for her to style it straightened this time. Oh, it feels so nice when it is straight and not a tangled wavy mess! Wish it was easier to straighten my hair, cuz then i’d probably do it this way much more often! What do you think? My hair is still really long. I like it.
1st Offer on our 1st Home
Mike drafted up the offer for us last night after we toured the house and emailed it to us to sign. So much drama printing this friggin’ thing out! It was about 15 pages long, and so i printed it on my 5 year old HP all-in-one printer scanner. Good deal, no? Well my printer margins are too big so it cut off the bottom parts of the document. I try to mess with settings but my Mac’s “Preview” pdf program won’t let me. I download Acrobat Reader, install, try setting margins, and print. OK that works, but then now the ink is running low so we can’t even read the sucker. Parts of it are in blue color, and i think my color ink is running low, but i know for sure my black ink is full, so i try to print in just black and white, but cant figure that out! UGH! OK, so we settle on just use the one with the footer cut off,…. who cares. About half way through us reading and signing it, Jeff and I look at each other and think that this is too important to f* up so we decide to put it on the jump drive, go to Kinkos and then stop at McDonalds for some ice cream cones as a treat. Get in the car, drive there, and its CLOSED! UGH. So we planned on getting up early next morning and driving over to Jeff’s workplace to print it on their laser printer and sign all 15 pages to have the bid ready for Mike to present to the listing agent. Phew!
Hope our +$17,500 bid price is good enough to nab the house!
South Salinas House
Yesterday Jeff happened to be looking on the Intero web site and saw this house for sale in South Salinas – which had just gone on the market that day. Posted for 385,000, in a great (~considering) neighborhood, we thought we would schedule an appointment to tour it today after work. From the photos, we already loved it and had talked about offering over the asking price since we anticipated a house like this that is not a short sale or REO would generate lots of interest. After the brief house tour, we confirmed our idea that we wanted to put a bid in for the house! Tomorrow we’ll sign the official paperwork and put a 5% deposit. We’re really exited! to have found a place a block away from where we currently live. Price might sound a lot above the asking price, but we felt that this is what the house was worth to us (and also the exact amount we can fford!), and we REALLY want to "win" it and not be out bid!
Butters’ Bedtime Routine
Now I can’t tell time, but i know that the time for bed is coming when Mister turns off the big black glowing alien box and goes to the garage for a cup of water. He always comes and finds me, where ever i may be, and picks me up to carry me upstairs to the bedroom. I hop out of his hands onto the bed, and go straight for my purple water cup on the end table. Then most of the time i run away all the way back downstairs.
Lady takes a shower while i find a cuddle spot usually on my downstairs perch, on the futon, or on an office chair. When she is done washing up, she comes downstairs, pets me gently, then picks me up and says “Thats a good kitty” while she carries me back up the stairs.
Sometimes i lick some more water if i feel parched from the past few minutes of “activity”, or if i’m feeling good i go straight for the closet. This is the perfect cranny for me to hide out while the owners go to sleep. Once i know they have fallen asleep, i’ll creep out and hop to the edge of Mister’s feet and sleep there.
As the night progresses i like to get closer and closer the Lady and Mister’s heads until i eventually end up on their pillow. Sometimes i get so comfy, that i wake up and find myself wedged between the Mister and Lady that my head is underneath an armpit. But i don’t move because i know they love me.
Until the alarm clock goes off, i keep to myself. But one it does go off, its mission “ON” for getting fed!
Tustin Road House in Prunedale
This afternoon we toured the Tustin Road house in Prunedale a bit more. Towards the end of our tour as we were chatting with Mike, the listing agent called and said that there were already 15+ offers on the house that were over the asking price over 375k. Mike said he thinks the house would probably end up selling for 500k. Jeff and I can’t compete with that! So we walked out of there with disappointment. But in the end it was probably for the better – this house needed some upgrading and what would we do with 6 bedrooms meanwhile! We joked that Butters could have his own room. One of the nice things about this house was the fact that there were skylights in the main living areas as well as in all the bathrooms. Though heating and roofing definitely needed work, whoever ends up winning this house will be lucky still, its a good mix of country and contemporary.
The House Hunt is ON!
Earlier this week Jeff and I applied for financing through a mortgage broker, and contacted a very knowledgeable real estate agent named Mike Mervis to help us with our house hunt. Jeff recommended him because he was a client of Pinnacle Bank and liked the way he worked. At first we told Mike we were interested in a house in Morgan Hill. Then we started looking more towards Prunedale. So today we set up to tour a handful of properties in that area.
First up was home Mallory Canyon right off the 101. Built in 1944, it was definitely in need of some work and maintenance. We didn’t like it very much but the interesting thing about this property was that it had recently dropped its asking price frm 340s to 280s.
House #2 was off Brentwood in a very nice neighborhood with expensive looking lots and houses, but unfortunately we couldn’t tour it because the occupants were still living there.
House #3 was on the to of a hill, and had “forever” views, both from the front and back of the house. This house was not updated, except for a bonus living area and beautiful wrap around deck with a vista of Prunedale trees and neighborhood.
House #4 – Tustin road – was priced at 375 for 2600+ sq ft and 6 bedrooms. It was a home with tons of potential. Lots of skylights, high ceilings, and a cute backyard for entertaining.
House #5 – This one we didnt see any photos of before hand, but when we went there we discovered it was manufactured home. No thanks!
It was exciting touring the homes. At the end of the day, we were thinking how good of a deal the Tustin road house was. We wanted to go back and take a look at it futher, so we emailed Mike and plan to meet him there tomorrow at 3pm to see if we would be interested in putting a bid in the house.
Poofy Clouds
Some days the clouds are extra poofy. I like taking photos of them.