http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T549VoLca_Q
This made me cry seeing it on TV. This is something that is so close to my heart. I don't mind this word when used correctly, as a medical term or in its sense as a verb, but never as a derogatory word. But people don't understand how hurtful it is as an everyday slang term and that it is, in fact, a slur. Glad to see more public acknowledgement of that fact.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
I'm Back!!! My Year Thus Far in Short Form
Okay, so it has been brought to my attention that it has been some time since I have posted. This is not untrue and I highly appreciate that someone noticed that it's been awhile.
Things have been a bit busy lately. Thankfully, though, it's been the good kind of busy. When I think about this time last year, well, I quickly change the subject in my head... (finishing up your last year of teaching, getting ready to get married and preparing to move halfway across the country two weeks after your wedding, well...you get the idea).
So here is a short synopsis of my year thus far...(plus a bit of the end of last year). I will give you details about these later, but here's a good starting point, since I should probably be sleeping right now. :)
November:
Make the commitment to become a home owner. Get a real estate agent, pre-approved loan and a realistic picture of what you can actually afford. Visit lots and lots of houses.
December:
Visit a lot more houses. Get discouraged (because, you know, that's what I do) and wonder if I will ever find something I love in my price range that doesn't require tons of fixing up (because our budget just doesn't cover that). Visit a house that looks extremely promising on the internet and leave said house wondering if a dead body is buried in the backyard. Or the walls. Or conceivably both. Still kind of awaiting that call from our agent stating that, in fact, a mass murderer lived there. Needless to say, that wasn't the house for us. More on that later.
Find a house that is perfect. Put in an offer and realize that it's a short sale. (Tip: short sales are the devil. Avoid these at all costs.) Try to not get my hopes up about the house and fail miserably. Await the bank's counteroffer anxiously.
January:
Still waiting for the bank's response to our offer. Oh wait, it's $25,000 more than our offer and completely out of our range (plus, in my opinion, way more than it's worth in this market). Counteroffer the counteroffer.
Bank comes down $5,000. Still not affordable. After much deliberation, decide that the bank is stupid and leave their offer. (House is still on the market, btw.)
Decide not to look at any more short sales and do regular sales or foreclosures only.
Apply for "promotion" at work. Get "promotion" and become part of the full-time working populace again. (Details to follow later.)
February:
Find a new house and fall in love. This is not a short sale. :) Put in an offer.
Offer accepted. Yay!!! Get home inspection.
Home inspection fairly normal. Negotiate based on home inspection. Offer is acceptable to all parties. Schedule date to sign all the papers.
Have car accident. My fault. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Fortunately, no one was injured and the other person's car was hardly damaged. My car is all better now.
Pack, pack, pack. ::Ugh::
March:
Become first-time home owners!!! Move in with the help of amazing friends. Unpack, unpack, unpack.
April:
Unpack some more. Attempting real organization for the first time in my life (will write some posts with tips that have been working for me) and am unpacking slowly to try to actually find a place for everything.
I think something else happened in April...see where my mind has gone?
Oh yeah, I chopped off ten inches of hair and donated it to Pantene Great Lengths. I am now sporting a pixie hairstyle. It's taken some getting used to, but I do think I like it.
May:
Decide to apply for new jobs. Can handle this job (it's so easy, it's not even funny), but continually realize that this is not a permanent solution. Update resume. ::HATE:: Revise resume. Revise again. Start drafting cover letter. Decide that writing cover letters might be a good form of torture. Pull job requisitions. Get extremely frustrated with the entire process and the fact that a lot of people seem to think that I should just go back to teaching because it would be "so different in a 'normal' school." Um, thanks to the lack of respect for teachers and the brain sucking thing called No Child Left Behind and the fact that wealthier parents are also crazy, just differently crazy, I'm going to say that this is probably not the case. But I digress...soapboxes, I know.
Random neighbor hits car and runs. Not major damage, but my bumper is cracked. Still need to schedule an inspection for it so insurance company will fix it. Neighbor kids, however, are awesome and wrote down license plate. Called police and filed report. Still awaiting next steps...
Whew... It's been busy. But good busy. We're really happy and healthy and we're getting ready to celebrate one year of marriage!
Josh has proven that he is extremely handy since moving into the house. Maybe he could teach handy husband lessons. :)
Also, because I'm nerdy, I've decided that I'm going to start my Etsy business, learn to quilt and write some blog articles about organizing and crafting. I like to use this to update my friends and really just write about everything that's going on (isn't blogging so therapeutic?), but I LOVE tutorial blogs and I would love it if I could eventually be the writer of one of those, too. Yes, I am boring, but I'd like to think I'm a fun and funky kind of nerdy boring. Yes, I know that this is definitionally impossible, but, quite frankly, I don't much care. :)
And now, I am going to attempt to go to bed, even though I have had entirely too much caffeine today and am not sure that this is going to be a manageable task.
Goodnight!
Things have been a bit busy lately. Thankfully, though, it's been the good kind of busy. When I think about this time last year, well, I quickly change the subject in my head... (finishing up your last year of teaching, getting ready to get married and preparing to move halfway across the country two weeks after your wedding, well...you get the idea).
So here is a short synopsis of my year thus far...(plus a bit of the end of last year). I will give you details about these later, but here's a good starting point, since I should probably be sleeping right now. :)
November:
Make the commitment to become a home owner. Get a real estate agent, pre-approved loan and a realistic picture of what you can actually afford. Visit lots and lots of houses.
December:
Visit a lot more houses. Get discouraged (because, you know, that's what I do) and wonder if I will ever find something I love in my price range that doesn't require tons of fixing up (because our budget just doesn't cover that). Visit a house that looks extremely promising on the internet and leave said house wondering if a dead body is buried in the backyard. Or the walls. Or conceivably both. Still kind of awaiting that call from our agent stating that, in fact, a mass murderer lived there. Needless to say, that wasn't the house for us. More on that later.
Find a house that is perfect. Put in an offer and realize that it's a short sale. (Tip: short sales are the devil. Avoid these at all costs.) Try to not get my hopes up about the house and fail miserably. Await the bank's counteroffer anxiously.
January:
Still waiting for the bank's response to our offer. Oh wait, it's $25,000 more than our offer and completely out of our range (plus, in my opinion, way more than it's worth in this market). Counteroffer the counteroffer.
Bank comes down $5,000. Still not affordable. After much deliberation, decide that the bank is stupid and leave their offer. (House is still on the market, btw.)
Decide not to look at any more short sales and do regular sales or foreclosures only.
Apply for "promotion" at work. Get "promotion" and become part of the full-time working populace again. (Details to follow later.)
February:
Find a new house and fall in love. This is not a short sale. :) Put in an offer.
Offer accepted. Yay!!! Get home inspection.
Home inspection fairly normal. Negotiate based on home inspection. Offer is acceptable to all parties. Schedule date to sign all the papers.
Have car accident. My fault. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Fortunately, no one was injured and the other person's car was hardly damaged. My car is all better now.
Pack, pack, pack. ::Ugh::
March:
Become first-time home owners!!! Move in with the help of amazing friends. Unpack, unpack, unpack.
April:
Unpack some more. Attempting real organization for the first time in my life (will write some posts with tips that have been working for me) and am unpacking slowly to try to actually find a place for everything.
I think something else happened in April...see where my mind has gone?
Oh yeah, I chopped off ten inches of hair and donated it to Pantene Great Lengths. I am now sporting a pixie hairstyle. It's taken some getting used to, but I do think I like it.
May:
Decide to apply for new jobs. Can handle this job (it's so easy, it's not even funny), but continually realize that this is not a permanent solution. Update resume. ::HATE:: Revise resume. Revise again. Start drafting cover letter. Decide that writing cover letters might be a good form of torture. Pull job requisitions. Get extremely frustrated with the entire process and the fact that a lot of people seem to think that I should just go back to teaching because it would be "so different in a 'normal' school." Um, thanks to the lack of respect for teachers and the brain sucking thing called No Child Left Behind and the fact that wealthier parents are also crazy, just differently crazy, I'm going to say that this is probably not the case. But I digress...soapboxes, I know.
Random neighbor hits car and runs. Not major damage, but my bumper is cracked. Still need to schedule an inspection for it so insurance company will fix it. Neighbor kids, however, are awesome and wrote down license plate. Called police and filed report. Still awaiting next steps...
Whew... It's been busy. But good busy. We're really happy and healthy and we're getting ready to celebrate one year of marriage!
Josh has proven that he is extremely handy since moving into the house. Maybe he could teach handy husband lessons. :)
Also, because I'm nerdy, I've decided that I'm going to start my Etsy business, learn to quilt and write some blog articles about organizing and crafting. I like to use this to update my friends and really just write about everything that's going on (isn't blogging so therapeutic?), but I LOVE tutorial blogs and I would love it if I could eventually be the writer of one of those, too. Yes, I am boring, but I'd like to think I'm a fun and funky kind of nerdy boring. Yes, I know that this is definitionally impossible, but, quite frankly, I don't much care. :)
And now, I am going to attempt to go to bed, even though I have had entirely too much caffeine today and am not sure that this is going to be a manageable task.
Goodnight!
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