Home Is Where the Heart Is

Today closes a huge chapter in our lives and I could not be more relieved.

M and I have been house hunting for the past year...that's right, I said it, YEAR. And what a long, draining process it was. We moved out of our apartment last May, moved in with family and started our search. The year was tedious as we put in offer after offer only to have selling agents and banks drag us along for a ride. There was the property that we were back up offers on. There was the other property that accepted our offer and then countered us wanting $20,000 more for the place and for us to pay off the seller's delinquent debts. Then there was the third place that we put an offer in on sight unseen, eventually saw and fell in love with, had to increase our offer and down payment by thousands and then nine months later after no communication with the selling agent or bank, the owners filed for bankruptcy. Then there was the cute condo that we would have been fine with until they told us they wanted all cash for the condo. Yea, like we could put almost $300K down in cash. Umm, ok. Then there was the final property that we put an offer in on right before Christmas, that seemed perfect for us and that e would walk into a lot of equity in; We were accepted in February and went into Escrow in the beginning of March and everything just seemed to go wrong with the Escrow as the seller's had multiple financial delinquencies that had put a lien on the place we were going to call home.

So after a long, draining year of hunting for a place to call our own, we finally took a step back, eliminated the obvious fact that we wanted to buy a house, and realized that these were signs we needed to take notice to. So we sat down and talked. The dream of ours to buy a home was obvious but would it be better to wait, sit on the huge lump of savings that had saved and try for a bigger property in a couple years? With me finishing up my medical transcribing schooling this year and M wanting to go back to school for his MBA or possibly an Engineering degree, the timing to buy a house just didn't seem right. So we peacefully let the dream float away and began searching for a rental in the area.

And sealing our belief in signs and that we made the right decision, we found the perfect rental for an amazing price in the city we wanted to live in the next day. So I jumped on the property management company on Monday, saw the property on Tuesday and applied for it two hours later and we were accepted for the property on Wednesday. And today, we signed the lease and picked up the keys.

After we signed the lease we drove over there, parked our cars in our beautiful attached 2 car garage and I gave M the big tour (He put his full trust in my decision on the rental and signed everything sight unseen!) And I was brought to tears as I gave him the tour and little Miss B ran barefoot throughout the house screaming as she explored and hid in closets. It was a beautiful moment.

So as we've started bringing loads from storage and bought our beautiful new refrigerator and washer and dryer, I know our decision was the right decision. So today marks the end of our house hunting journey and the start of our life on our own again. I'm not one who believes in living with family while raising your own family so I can't wait! I'm sure this journey will be amazing as home is where our family is.

Chicken with Tomatoes and Garlic

I love The Pioneer Woman. I recently stumbled upon her website and haven't looked back since. Her humor leaves me giggling, her talent leaves me in awe, her dog makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, her story about her and Marlboro Man makes me swoon, her photography makes me want to learn more and her recipes make me salivate. I could keep going but you get the point.

So a few days (or was it weeks ago?) when she posted her recipe here for Chicken with Tomatoes and Garlic, I knew it was only a matter time before I tried it. If you've ever visited her site, you can imagine the saliva dripping from my mouth at I read through it all. It looked amazing and I was positive I could make it for less than $10. And sure enough, I did. I bought a tray of natural chicken legs at Sprouts for $2.50, a couple cans of diced tomatoes for less than $2, a clove of garlic for less than $1, and whole wheat rotini pasta for less then $3. I had basil and oregano in my spice rack, olive oil in the cupboard and since I have a love affair with margarine, we were set. Awesomeness.

And the end product? Everyone loved it!! Little Miss B kept quiet the entire dinner as she shoveled handfuls in her mouth at a time, my darling husband complimented me on tasty, light, pasta-like meal and I was pleased to enjoy the taste of both the chicken and the tomato sauce and how they complimented one another.

Definitely recommended.

We've been busy and rolling along with the punches. We sat down, weighed the pros and cons and recently decided to drop out of escrow. It was a hard decision but we feel like it's the right one for our family right now. So we've been busy bustling around town trying to snatch up a great rental. Unfortunately though, in our area, a great rental gets listed and snatched up all in the same day. But today we got in to see a great little cottage style place, we put in an application and feel really great about it. It's a two bedroom, 900 sq ft place but it has an attached two car garage, a big kitchen and a backyard. Plus it has a great pool for Myka to teach B how to swim at. We are excited that 1) We'll get to rent for less than what our mortgage would have been, 2) we don't have to worry about the house situation for the time being and 3) We get to tuck all our pretty little savings away for awhile and sit on it. It will be nice and relaxing after a year of stressing and trying to find a place.

Myka is busy working. He's become a runner and has lost some gobs of weight and I'm oh-so-proud. I am trying to find my niche in school so I can finish (transcribing medical report after medical report is extremely boring but apparently necessary) and I started a blog to get my thoughts out of this crazy head. Visit it here: www.mamaheada.blogspot.com

Brooke is amazing as always. She's into everything and independent but yet so dependent at the same time. This seems like the best age and seriously, every day she is learning something new. She finds her belly button and screeches in delight when she pushes it in. She loves to yell BOO! (or it sounds like BAA!) when playing peek-a-boo. She loves to talk and babble to everyone. She loves to read and is finally getting into crayons and coloring. She eats everything but still manages to keep a small frame because she is SO active. I love it. Her personality is darling and I love waking up to see her wave at me. It's precious.

So life is on a roll and we are well. Hope you all are too!

Remember When (Music Monday)

Have you ever heard a song and just had it take you back to a moment in time? Or heard a song that you just instantaneously connected to? I'm a huge music fan. Give me a good beat and some relateable lyrics and I'm hooked. Some of mine and little Miss B's finer moments are singing and dancing around the house together during the day...but that's for another post. ;)

So each Monday I'll post a song and a fun memory that goes along with it. Feel free to leave a comment and join in or take Music Monday to your blog as well. Just let me know because I'd love to read about it!

***

Remember When by Alan Jackson

For some reason, everytime I hear this song, I get taken back to the beginning with my husband. I remember the first time he played me the song: we were driving in his truck and he told me he thought it was a beautiful love story and captured what he thought a marriage represented perfectly. He likened it to our growing relationship and I swooned and he recommended that I go home and google the music video. I went straight home, wasted no time and did just that. The music video left me in tears and had a lasting effect on me and to this day, every time I hear this song I remember that small but powerful conversation M and I had and how I feel it represents the purity and honesty of a strong marriage. It still brings tears to my eyes and makes me want to cuddle and slow dance across the kitchen with M. Beautiful.

Silver Cloud

Six easy ways to rejuvenate yourself:

1. Laugh.

Seriously, just laugh until you cry. Be silly, dance, act like a child. You only live once. So giggle away.

2. Get out!

Get out of the house. Go for a walk. Sit in the sun. Take five minutes, forget everything and just RELAX!

3. Talk it out

Talk to someone that you trust. Get everything off your chest. Interaction makes the days and moments special and can make you feel millions of times better.

4. Take up a hobby

I garden. I sew. I crochet. I scrapbook. I knit. I write. I take pictures. I have a million different hobbies. But each take me away, let me zone out and be myself. Those moments to myself relax me and make me a better person.

5. Cry

There's something so amazing to me about crying. I can be feeling so overwhelmed, anxious and full of stress and a few moments of pure, honest tears just wash all those feelings away. So close the door and cry. Scream in a pillow. Kick the bed (Just don't hurt yourself) and let your frustrations out.

6. Have faith

Regardless of what your faith is, have faith that even though you're feeling a little down that life isn't over. Remember the good and remember that with that good comes some bad times. Does the bad have to outweigh the good? Of course not! So have faith that thinks work out for a reason.

Secret Garden

I like to think I have a green thumb. Like to think being the key phrase of that sentence.

It all started after the Mr. and I got married. I just felt that because I had entered sweet wedded bliss and wives are supposed to be perfectly domestic, our house needed some sweet homely touches to it. And since we were living in Hawaii at the time, I went out and started a beautiful arrangement of plumerias, gardenias, hibiscuses and few other beautiful exotic plants I loved and was lucky enough to have handy. I'd post some photos of my great past gardening attempts but unfortunately, when my external hard drive crashed, along went all my photography portfolio. But that's another story. Overall some of the flowers grew beautifully and others just never caught on as great. I was totally rocking my green thumb.

So when the Mr. and I moved to California, I had big hopes and dreams of continuing my gardening adventures. I mean c'mon, how hard could it be? Well as it turns out, pretty hard. I managed to rot my plumeria plant within a month and killed two decorative money trees within the next few months as well. Depressing? Definitely.

I thought it'd change when we moved from our small apartment to a bigger place with a yard. So I ventured out and bought a beautiful rose bush, a hibiscus plant and another gardenia one. Within weeks, the leaves were brown and as crisp as french fries. Apparently, they were getting too much sun. Who knew? Not me.

So I sent my plants over to my Poppy's house. With the greenest thumb I've ever seen and a garden to prove it, I just knew I had to pull every ounce of knowledge out of his sweet Japanese head. And within weeks of their move, the plants were flourishing. Bright magenta roses, beautiful hibiscuses. I couldn't believe my eyes. I HAD to master this skill.

So here we are. Spring. The rain is slowing down and the weather starting to warm. The perfect time to plant. And one day, during a Target trip, I got excited, went out on a whim and bought two strawberry plants. They seemed like the perfect spring plants. I mean, how hard could it really be?

Turns out not at all. Within a few weeks, I had over 15 little strawberries popping up and the plants were growing at rapid speeds. I'd water it religiously, make sure the sun was perfect and give it all the TLC I possible could. Until one day I came out to this:

How could it be?! There had been FIVE strawberries on it the day before! Turns out, a sneaky little rodent has been coming in and feasting on my beautiful strawberries when the backyard is dark and the house is asleep! I was mortified! My green thumb was being sabotaged.

So I had to act and I had to act fast. At the rate this rodent was going, (we're suspecting it's either a rabbit or raccoon) there would be no plants the following day. So to Home Depot I rushed, found a Strawberry Topsy Turvy, ran to Target and purchased some additional strawberries and VOILA!

So 17 small and 2 large strawberry plants later, I'm done. And the even better catch, it's Earth Day, so I did my part to help the Earth.

Fingers crossed for yummy strawberries and no rodents!

Happy Earth Day!

Bubble Toes

"To show a child what once delighted you, to find the child's delight added to your own - this is happiness." J. B. Priestley

Becoming a mother has opened up doors and deep emotions I never thought were possible. And some of the finer moments of this journey, are the ones when little Miss B's eyes open wide in pure amazement and delight. Like the first time we took her to Disneyland and her eyes were wide as she took in all the fun things going on around her. Or every time we sing along and dance around the house. Or when we blow bubbles and she giggles as she tries to catch and eat them all.

A child's amazement to the small things in life is amazing and makes motherhood all the more rewarding. The tantrums, the screaming, the kicking, the throwing...all is wiped away clean when I see that sweet face light up and smile. I can't even tell you the number of times I've caught both myself and the Mr just staring and smiling at her in awe. I hope she never loses that amazement, that wonder, that delight. It's a beautiful thing.

Open the Eyes of my Heart

i'm struggling.

i need you.

your embrace.

your comfort.

your grace.

i'm hurting.

save me.

remind me.

love me.

i'm lost.

guide me.

hold my hand.

light my path.

i trust you.

i trust in you.

i'm crying.

wipe my tears.

sing to my heart.

forgive me.

you've always been here

but i got lost along the way

grant me serenity

flood me with peace

light my way

forgive me

Drowning (Face Down)

i am drifting.

lost at sea.

sinking.

barely afloat.

treading.

gasping.

can't...

breathe.

save me.

save myself.

save you.

light.

darkness.

waves.

back

...and forth

...and back again.

life raft?

something

just to hold on to

for one...

minute.

so

...

tired.

aching.

drowning.

lost.

(picture courtesy of http://allison712.deviantart.com/art/No-Fear-of-Drowning-54454159)

it's obviously been awhile. and where do i start?

well brooke is fully walking. she started walking a month ago and within the same week, started running. it's opened lots of doors for her and boy is she a troublemaker. we also started a kindergym class and enjoy lots of library time together and playdates with friends. she is growing up fast and has an attitude to prove it. she is signing and talking a bunch too. it's fun and scary altogether.

myka and i are doing well. in the midst of trying to close escrow on our own place! it's dragging along and taking forever but we are optimistic that whether it goes through or fall through, it's what's meant to be for our family.

my external hard drive died last month and i lost all of Brooke's baby pictures and videos. Thank goodness for this blog, gma and facebook and myspace or else I might have had a mental breakdown. we lost a good portion of everything but luckily, we were able to salvage important memories from her first year of life and our weddings.

we hope everyone is well! even though i don't update like i should, doesn't mean i'm not thinking of all of you!