Sunday, January 31, 2010

Escrow: Day 7

I thought at the end of our first week of escrow, I'd give you all a little peak into our timeline so far.  It isn't perfect, but it's our experience.  I can't say we'll have a 30-day escrow but we're certainly going to try! 

  • January 9th - Mike & I viewed the property
  • January 10th - Signed offer for the property
  • January 14th - Signed counter offer for the property
  • January 18th - Michelle took time out of her day to show my parents the property (Mike & I visited it again)
  • January 25th - Mike & I opened escrow
  • February 4th - HOME INSPECTION!!!

 
So keep those prayers coming because this Thursday is our home inspection. This is the scariest part for me because I keep watching those stupid HGTV shows in which the home inspections go horribly wrong and the buyers have to walk away from the house due to insufficient funds to maintain it. While I can't say this house is in shambles, I do know that there are a few areas that need some TLC.

I just keep praying that God doesn't give us more than we can handle!  Love you all! 

Friday, January 29, 2010

Escrow: Day 5

Q:  Do you know why they call it "escrow"?















A:  Because "limbo", "purgatory" and "what in the heck is going on" would scare people away. 

Happy Friday!  Be with those that you love this weekend! 

Love, Kipp

Monday, January 25, 2010

Escrow: Day 2

Well it's official.  Yesterday I wrote a check larger than any other check I've written in my lifetime.  I was so nervous that I didn't know how to write out "$5,500" and even though most people would have written "five thousand, five hundred dollars" I freaked out and wrote "fifty five hundred dollars."  I doubt it matters, though.  Money is money. 

We've scheduled our home inspection for Thursday, February 4th.  That's the part I'm the most nervous about.  We already know of a few problems in the property having to do with wood rot or wate damage, but what about the stuff we don't know about?  Well, I guess we'll wait and see!  Please keep us in your prayers or cross your fingers. 

But for now, I leave you with a few pictures of our new place.  Our family got to see these last week in an email, but I figured you guys and girls might want to see them too.  Believe me, we are already aware of the icky red colors and orange strip in one of the bedrooms.  Those will be nixxed easily enough as soon as we move in. 



The entrance to our possible new home.  The left window is to the kitchen, the right window is to the powder room. 


The kitchen.  Red.  Really really red. 


One corner of the living room.  The important corner if you ask me.  A brick fireplace, sigh.  Wood burning. 


The patio and rear entrance.  Someone please hand me a rake, or better yet a blower. 



The powder room.  There's the hideous red again. 


The guest bedroom.  Yes, the orange stripe is crooked.  No, Austin, we will not paint a black stripe on it and make it the "Harley Davidson" room.  What you don't see is the walk-in closet on the right hand side of the room.  It's so purrty. 


Master Bedroom window and one-third of the closet.  Yes, it's a tri-panel closet.  Yes, I could fill it all by myself.  No, I won't do it because I love Mike too much. 


Master Bath.  With a tub.  Why is a tub so important?  Well because I've had one all of my life and it just is.  So there. 

So that's our mini-tour.  I hope you enjoyed it.  Maybe someday soon you can all come over to help us paint or better yet, to help us turn our new house into a true home

Thank you for all of your love and support, please keep it coming.  And to all of our friends out there that are thinking to buy, we wish you all the success and happiness and in a much shorter amount of time than it's taken us. 

Love, Mike and Kipp

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Putting People in Boxes

It wasn't until recently that I realized how badly I put people into little tiny boxes, and unfortunately once I've assigned you to a box, you rarely escape. Some common examples of this would be thinking that all chemists have poor people skills or that most asians are bad drivers. (Yes, I said that.) I find myself thinking about how people are "fanatics" about their beliefs or their life styles and the incredibly annoying characteristics that they have because of these things.

Lately, I've been reading a lot of things from Meghan McCain. Twitter messages. Things from The Daily Beast. Basically anything I can get my hands on. Quote me on this: I think the chick is incredible. She’s well versed in political jargon thanks to her prominent father. She’s well educated. She’s pretty thanks to her beauty queen-esque mother. But more important than any of these qualities is the simple fact that she’s not afraid to speak her mind and point fingers at Republicans and Democrats equally.

In my opinion, Ms. McCain is the voice of a forgotten part of our generation: the middle of the road kids. Let’s be honest with ourselves as 20-something’s and admit it: The Democratic party might not be fiscally conservative enough for us, but those radical Republicans that want to restrict our rights and tell us who we can marry scare the living shit out of us.

(Dear Mrs. Sarah Palin, that last sentence was geared towards you as well as other Republicans. I hope you read it.)

Every few weeks, I read something from Meghan the theme causes me to skip over it and think “Gee, I wish she’d shut up about that.” That theme is the military. I have been ignorant and indifferent about the military. I’ll admit it. Now you’re scratching your head and wondering why I was indifferent. Or worse, you’re sitting there cursing me for being un-patriotic. Go ahead. I can handle it. Call me whatever you want. I was undecided about a lot of things having to do with our military, and even less conscious about what’s going on in the Middle East right now.

Sure, I knew a couple of Marines in my college years. All I knew about them is that they were getting degrees so they could be officers. Every once in a while they’d take off and leave for a few weeks or months to go train or deploy. Or there was the token drunk Marine that I would meet while seeing Reckless Kelly play at a dive bar. Those aren’t the best people to have representing your organization, but I suppose it could have been worse.

I did know one man in the Navy. He is the husband of one of my oldest and dearest friends. They were stationed for 3 years at Coronado and when I visited them I thought it was the coolest gig ever. They were transferred to Spain, and although I never got to visit them there I was pretty sure that was a pretty cool gig as well.

I never heard combat stories. I never saw battle wounds. Honestly, I rarely even saw those men I knew in their uniforms. Half of them could have been lying about being in the Marine Corps or the Navy as far as I knew.

Well, here is my formal apology to Ms. McCain and the entire military. I never gave you the respect you deserve. I’m currently in awe.

That all changed when I went to San Diego to watch my cousin’s son, Cameron, graduate from the west coast Marine Corps basic training. Talk about knocking my socks off. Almost 500 graduates were there on that day, and I think they hold these graduations every Friday. That’s 2000 Marines per month that are being prepared for combat, and there is another training ground on the east coast.

I had not seen Cameron for a few months, but I always remember him as a happy kid. He almost always had a soccer ball or game controller in front of him, and he was always polite and talkative. It took me nearly the whole graduation to find him in the crowds of new Marines in front of me, but when they took their tour around the parade grounds and I spotted him I was proud. I was proud to have a Marine in the family.

More importantly I was excited about what his future holds and that he’s excited about it also. He recently returned to the San Diego area for more combat and weapon training. I’m pretty sure I heard him mumble something about being taught how to through a grenade, at which point I piped up and said “I WANT TO LEARN HOW TO THROW A GRENADE! THAT SOUNDS AWESOME!” Thank goodness everyone at the table laughed, that could have been awkward.

From there Cameron will probably go to the east coast for the summer and from there, who knows? But for now, he’s our Marine. He was always special to us, but now I find myself wondering what he’s doing and if he’s okay. (Yes, I wonder that. Yes, I know he hasn’t even left the state yet.)

It’s crazy but he’s different now. Sure, he’s stronger and in better shape. But there’s more. He seems like he stands taller. His stories are intense, but comical. He’s planning for college and talking about the bonus that he can get if he “re-ups.” He’s starting into something that can benefit him in so many ways, and I absolutely cannot wait to see him continue to become a better Marine.

So congratulations Cameron, we’re all so ridiculously proud of you.

Pvt. Cameron Collier
January 15th, 2009
Lima 3242