APPROVED!!!!

Provided the inspection goes as expected I will be closing on my OWN HOME on April 27, which also just so happens to be almost exactly one year from the date of our great escape (4/21). Un-freakin-believable. And I promise I’ll post pics as soon as I can. In fact, I should be able to get in there to take some pics this week during the inspection. Aaaaaaaand, it looks like I’ll be able schedule it so that my mom and stepdad (who’ll get into town this afternoon, btw!!) and my brother & sil will all be able to come with me to see inside the house! I sooooo wanted my mom and Mark to be able to see it because there’s no telling when they might be out here again. YAY!! I can’t believe this is really happening! And ooooooh boy, did it ever take some work too. Being a newbie to all this real estate mumbo jumbo, I didn’t realize what all it would take to get me approved considering how badly Bub handled our finances throughout the years. But we were finally able to get me through, despite the bullshit. So there it is, one more move, but a final move, at least for a long, long time. A home… with a fenced in backyard, and located in a lovely, kid-friendly neighborhood where Em can ride her bike and play to her heart’s content. Good stuff…

I actually have more to say since I’ve been neglecting to post for, what, two weeks now? But we need to get ready to go to my brother’s house because for the weekend, and to see my MOMMY, YAY!! :D I didn’t tell her or my sil about getting approved for the house yet because I wanted it to be a surprise when everyone gets there. And I told Em that she could break the big news to everyone too. So I’m off, but I just wanted to make sure I got to share my fantastic news with everyone here as well because you’re all my family, both literally and figuratively, and I couldn’t wait to let y’all know!! Toodles!

My mommy is coming to visit; my mommy is coming to visit!! Yep, my mom and stepdad are going to drive here from California at the end of March, and I CANNOT WAIT! They’ll be here for a week, spending part of the time in town with my brother, and the other part here in my town with Em and me. Luckily, my brother only lives about 35 minutes away by interstate, so we’ll pretty much get to see them all week. They plan on checking out some scenic attractions along the way to AR like the Grand Canyon so, of course,I suggested they try to find the biggest ball of yarn and the biggest frying pan but alas, both appear to be too far off the beaten path,unless they plan to travel by some other route than I-40. I guess they could always check out the biggest bottle of hair tonic in Oklahoma if they were really hard up. Um, eeeeeew? Who cares, as long as they take plenty of pics and get their butts here ASAP, that’s all that matters to me! I’m not sure what we'll do while they’re here yet, besides just hanging out and enjoying the time together. Hopefully the weather will be just right, not too hot and not too cold, as it typically is here in late March. But I know better than to count on it, one of our sayings here is, “if you don’t like the weather just wait 15 minutes and it’ll change.” In fact, the weather people here literally call this time of year the fifth season, as in tornado season. Oh goody.

In other news, it looks as though I may end up being a bonafide homeowner a lot sooner than expected, like waaaaaaay sooner. Since I’m just looking for a starter house that’s not too pricey, everyone seems to think that getting me approved will be a piece of cake, so much so that Em and I even went to check a few possibilities out this weekend, and we found one we liked a lot in my price range! It’s a three bedroom, two bath, house with a fenced in back yard and a garage, located near the end of a long cul-de-sac in precisely the neighborhood I was hoping for! And I'm thinking, dear lord, what else could I possibly fit into this roller coaster of a year?! Seriously, what a difference a year makes, huh? It simply amazes me how easily things tend to fall into place with they’re just right, y'know?

Now, to brag once again about my immensely talented daughter; Em did a class art project at the beginning of the school year of a scarecrow, which recently won best in school. Well, we just found out that it is going on to the Arkansas Art Museum in Little Rock to be displayed at, and compete in the annual Young Arkansas Artist competition. It will be on display from April 6 - May 27, and you better believe we’ll be making the trip to Little Rock ASAP to check it out! I wish I had more info or a pic to display, but I'll be sure to update as soon as I find out anything else about it.

I'm 30. Yep, yesterday (Mar. 3) was my 30th. birthday. My brother and SIL invited Em and I over to celebrate, and this is what they made for me;



Garsh, ain't they just the sweetest?? ;D We had a very nice time, and since my brother was able to finagle himself one of those new LCD flat screen TVs for his own upcoming birthday, they decided to give me their old TV and their really pretty entertainment center as my birthday present. Cool huh? I'm pleased as punch as I've always admired their entertainment center, and I was really wishing I could get a new TV for my bedroom because the one I have now is going out. So this was perfect timing for me.

So, on to other news, we have a new baby in the house, and it's a girl!! That's right, Em and I adopted a new kitty from the Humane Society last weekend, and we've named her Bella.



Em and I fell in love with this angel faced, sweet little kitty a few weeks ago when we met her at PetSmart during the Humane Society’s weekly pet adoption day. She had been rescued from beneath a bush with a badly mangled hind leg and tail, apparently the work of horrible lawn mower accident. Unfortunately, the leg and tail had to be amputated, but she’s since bounced back beautifully. And believe me, you’d be hard pressed to convince this spunky little sweetie-pie that she’s even remotely disabled.



Bah, who needs four legs anyway!! She and Mischief had a rough first day getting to know each other complete with hissing and growling, but now it’s as if they’ve been BFFs all along. (Hey, I have a fourth grade girl, whaddaya expect?? ;D) Anyway, Em is just beside herself, as she’s been hounding me for another kitty for months now. As a matter of fact, in my infinite wisdom and exasperation, I had told her that getting another kitty was contingent upon us selling that damn truck, thinking of course, that it may NEVER sell since we hadn’t had much luck since we got it back last summer. So what was the first damn thing she asked me after I told her we sold it? Oh yeah, without even skipping a beat. “So we can get a kitty now, right??” Oh… there’s that. Alright, alright, now that I no longer had this enormous car payment, I could actually afford the extra expense of the adoption fees. (Woohoo on being able to afford an extra expense, GO ME!) So I called Bella’s foster mamma and we set it all up, and well, the rest was history. This was last Saturday, (Feb. 24) which also happened to be the day of the big County Spelling Bee. I’m proud to say that Em got up there like a trooper, despite her intense fears, and gave it her best shot. She ended up getting out on her first word, anchovy, which she spelled with an ie, but honestly, who cares? The fact that she did it at all impresses the hell outta me. Plus, the words were crazy hard, and about a third of the kids (ranging from 4th. to 8th. graders) got out on the first round, including the other little girl from Em's class who had been the first runner up in their school level competition. And to tell the truth, I was kinda relieved not to have to sit through the whole thing, yowsa!! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz I know, bad mommy, but honestly, can I get an amen here?!! ;D Anyway, I'd thought I'd post one last pic, which is of Em at the spelling bee, and then I'm outta here. BTW, thanks to everyone for your thoughtful and heartfelt comments on my last post, as always, I appreciate the unconditional love and support more than any of you will ever know.