Tuesday, April 28, 2009

So much...so little time

I accidentally posted this one and the other one on my cooking blog. So this should be the older one but oh well.

Well clearly life has gotten in the way of blogging which I'm not very happy about...but at least I'm doing it now.

Let's see. I won't even go into the details of the French Quarter Fest but I'll recap it like this.

~Started drinking by 10:30am
~Almost had my ankle broken
~Almost got in a fight with a meth head white trash gapped tooth ho
~Almost had to break up my little friend getting in a fight with a big "macho" man (I say that because he wouldn't have stood a chance against Mr. B who had a beer bottle waiting in case he hurt lil friend....oh and it was totally "macho's" fault.)
~Drank a 24 pack by myself
~Watched my friend dance hookerish on a pole that wasn't made to be a "dancing" pole.
~Watched said friend get knocked off the bull multiple times.
~Watched said friend practically rape her husband.
~Went to Temptations at 8:30pm....Nahhhh hhhhasssss ttttteeeeee (don't go before like 11:30pm)
~Watched friend who almost break my ankle almost break his ribs when he fell on the curb ouch..
~Got my Lucky Dog and a slice of pizza
~Was back at the hotel by 10:30
~Sent my husband out at 11 to pick up lil friend from Temptations when they called and said "come get him now" haha
~Woke up with no hangover!

Gotta love Bourbon

Then came my work retreat.

It was in Daytona and I barely got to be on the beach. But since I was head of a committee who did a lot I was noticed which was great. My biggest boss said I did a great job and I was a natural born speaker. Wow! What a compliment.

Then the last day all the peers voted on who showed the most leadership and I won!!!! That was a fantastic feeling.

I just got an email awhile ago from the guy who put the whole retreat together and said he had a ton of folks saying how great it was and how I did a great job. He cc'd my boss and my bigger boss and they both replied....so all in all I couldn't have asked for a better retreat. I didn't get the free time like others since I was working but it was worth it.

And I was able to sneak away some time with some friends and we had a good time catching up.Then I flew in and already had company waiting for me!

We had a pretty chill weekend just watching the draft and eating. Yesterday I napped for like 5 hours haha.

And this weekend I'm planning on doing nothing! Well we need to do our back flower beds but other then that nothing at all.

I'm off to plan my menu for the week...well at least the next few days until Mr. B decides if he's off to travel. Oh and his boss man came into town and nothing was said...soooo that means so far so good.

His commission was 900 more then it was the past few months and fairly close to what it was before all this shit went down. I'm hoping that's a indication of the economy coming back but I'm just not sure.

I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts....

deeduuu leee dee So I was woken up at 2:43am (yes I know the exact time) from a yapping little dog. I know who's it is because I know my neighbor has a little white yappy dog. It's strange how our house is compared to theirs. Their backyard backs up to our bedroom window.

And from 2:43am-3:03 that dog yapped.

Now excuse me while I say this but "don't you fucking have ears?" "do you not have any manners?"

oh no you don't because you're the same jackass who told me you didn't want "blacks" living next door when my aunt, uncle, and cousins came to visit. My uncle makes so much more then you and has an education asswhipe. They were just bringing us some of their things since they were moving to Belgium because THAT's how important he is....and you're not.

Anyways I'm really ticked. And then at 6:15 the big fucking Golden Retreiver down the way starts barking and doesn't stop.Do these people not know the rules....like hello if your dog is barking BRING THEM IN! I mean even when it's like 4pm if Parle starts barking I immediately stop what I'm doing to go and get him. It's just rude and inconsiderate.

So I'm really thinking about complaining. They all didn't have problems complaining about our yard not being edged "well enough" or reminding us 500 times that our mailbox should be painted once a year.Which by the way ours has been for 2 weeks now and there are still some jackasses who don't and had far worse faded boxes then ours.I mean I'm pretty angry that these two dogs woke me up. I suffer from insomnia (and no I'm not on sleeping pills because I don't have a regular doctor) and I'm a super light sleeper.

Anywho so of course I didn't want to get up this morning but I did. And at about 8:30 I was already hankering for lunch...Izzo's to be exact. So I send ol Mr. B a texy woo and he said he'll try to meet with me.And he did! He had to run to meet a guy 1/2 way to Lafayette so he had to hurry and what do you know he let two guys go ahead in line and never once said anything about me eating slow (normally he does).

He was such a sweetie today. So I give him props and maybe he'll be rewarded tonight...but I do have to do his laundry since he'll probably go out of town this week boo!He also said I could buy an Ipod for our trip to Europe and said for me to get online and find what kinds of plants I want for our backyard since we're doing those beds this weekend.He is in a super generous mood! I'll take it!

I also made Pioneer Woman's spicy baked chicken and have tons for leftovers plus I'm making french dips tonight so I won't have to go to the grochery the rest of the week...well til the weekend and I can relax at home every night.....and hope I work out.

I really need to because I can't be the fat girl in the pictures on our vacation.I think I'll do the level 1 and then alternate to level 2 every other day. That way I'm using weights and squats but it won't be so boring on the other days doing the fast stuff.

I just need to win the lottery and get a personal trainer and plastic surgeon...oh no I'm not to proud to say that.Well I guess it's time to work again booness

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

A weight has been lifted....

And I don't mean off my waist or hips.


Well here we are......we didn't know where we stood with the whole PMI and saving money thing...and the appraisal.

Well I talked to my lender today and he's switched us to an FHA loan because the PMI is only 78 a month vs 205! I'm soooo happy.

Plus our appraisal came back and it's 205. Which is 2k more then the other guy whooo!

We had two options.

4.875 and pay the 1% origination fee which would've been 1900.

or

5% and no origination so the loan would be 188,100

Well with FHA they do charge a 1.75% fee either way.

So I said well we might as well go with the 5% because we're evening out.

And we'll be saving about 265 a month! That's fantastic.

Plus the one credit card will be paid off in July that's 300 that we pay towards that. Then we'll take that 300 and put it on the other card which we pay 150 on right now.

Plus with the savings of 265 we'll put towards that card too. So that's 715 we'll be putting towards that card which means that card will be paid off by about Thanksgiving.

Then we will have 715 extra every month which we will then start paying off my grandpa for the car and our small personal loan....once those two cards are done we'll take that 265 and put that back into savings. So we'll only be taking 450 a month to pay more on the car and personal loan but still.

That's 225 extra a month and it'll go by quickly.

Hello debt free 2010...then it's baby making time ha ha.

And this is all if things don't get better (well let's hope Mr. B can still keep his job) and that his commission's don't go up. If they go up things change and we pay off things faster.

I'm really rambling here but I'm so excited. This is how I felt a few months ago when I was figuring out things but that was when I thought Mr. B's commissions would be 1000-2000 more then they are now... and we're still doing really well and are super grateful.

But it's good to see it's closing down on all the stuff weighing us down.

Plus we'll be doing the backyard landscaping soon too hooray!

Then maybe I'll be able to get my guest bedroom set like I want.

Well yesterday Mr. B came home to say "surprise I'm going out of town this week instead of next"!

Well that's good and bad.

It's good because then we won't be boarding Mr. Barky (a.k.a Parlé) so we will be saving 60 bucks....but

Bad because next week I'm out of town and then if Mr. B would've been gone that means one less week of sleepless nights for me.

But a company is interested in buying a kit which means $ for us. So he can get gone and go! ha ha.

I can't believe that next week is already my regional retreat. I'm very nervous and hope our activities go as planned and some kudos comes out to me.

And next week also marks 1 month until Europe. I mean seriously? Time has flown by it really has.


Also I want to give a huuuuuge kudos out to my good friend Eric. He has made the cut to go out and get tested for UFC 10 on Spike....that reality show to see who will make it.

He got flown out there today and he has 4 days of medical testing and interviews. Then he'll know if he's made the cut.

He's worked very hard and deserves it. So good luck old friend!

Well I guess that's the end of my play time and it's back to work.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Weekend Recap

Well the weekend is over and well yesterday I was able to get caught up on all of the hours I stayed up instead of sleeping.

Friday I got to leave work a little early and drove down to Luling. Got a daiquiri from Cajun Ice..which I will never again because it had NO alcohol in it.

We hung out with the aunts and uncles and cousins. Uncle Tommie fried Shrimp, and Oysters...sooo good!

We then went back to hang at Ashley and Winnie's. Of course had to hang out with Todd and Nat and Mel came over. 4am we were finally going to bed!

I got to sleep until about 9 Saturday morning before getting up and running some errands. Then before I knew it, it was time for the boil.

A good amount of people showed up and the crawfish were soooo yummy! We were drinking and drinking and drinking...had a great time.

Then Ash, Mel and I decided to go play Laser Tag and then head to Social City for the band that was playing. We had a great time.

We were back by 1 and I crashed.

Then yesterday morning we had to get up and get ready to got o Lexi's 4th birthday party. They had more crawfish ha ha. It was so good but I was so tired from the weekend that I didn't even drink and wanted a nap.

A few hours later we headed out because Denham was getting really bad storms. I got into my comfy bed, played on the laptop, and watched Midnight Bayou. One of those Nora Roberts films....boy the accent's were terrible but it was great seeing NOLA and Oak Alley Plantation.

I think by 6pm I was dozing in and out. Mr. B came and layed and watched tv with me. I woke up at about 8 to him snoring and by 9 had turned off the tv.

I think I overslept but it was nice with it raining....and I was excited that my flowers got the rain they needed.

The garbage men didn't take the cement heavy ass Mary or the psyclopse of a cement cat creation that we found in our big plants in the back haha...oh well Mr. B can lug em to work.

It's only Monday and I'm already dreading next weekend because we go to the quarter and it'll be a crazy time I'm sure. But I'll get to eat like a pig and then eat some more at Drago's.

I'm sure there will be pictures to show. Speaking of I need to upload the like 2 pictures I took this weekend. Somehow I hate all the ones we took or someone else took them.

Friday, April 10, 2009

It's Friday

You ain't got no job...you ain't got shit to do....let's get high!

Well not really because I don't smoke pot...never have actually. I figured my parents did it enough for us and the entire block I grew up on. Ha

It just reminded me of Friday a movie that I love. A movie that my aunt and uncle watched with me when I was like oh 10 ha ha no lie.

But then again my grandparents let me and a friend watch Pulp Fiction when I was 12...yes they did and didn't think twice. Yet didn't want me watching Striptease with them Ha.

Anyways one of my favorite lines from Friday is "You got fired on your day off....for stealing boxes?....what the fuck were you trying to do..... BUILD A CLUB HOUSE"! ha ha oh boy good times.


Anyways yes it is Friday and it honestly couldn't have come at a better time.

Today we had the appraisal for yes count them the 2nd time. That means we are now 900 in the hole so this better work out.

This time was an inside appraisal because it was a new company and he arrived at 6:30am! Oh yes folks you read that one right.

Yesterday Mr. B and I both took half days. I had a crap ton of errands to run and when I made it home for 2:30 Mr. B had already weed eated, moved the lawn, and blew. I was so shocked! He was already in the back yard trimming the Sago Palm and Elephant Ear plants. However he cut the Elephant ears down so far that I told him just get it to the stump and we'll pull those suckers out at a later date.

There was soooo much to cut and clean up and we ran out of trash bags...so we improvised and used the box that our plasma came in and our TV stand came in ha ha. It started to break so I got out that clear tape you close boxes with and that's what we did.

I cleaned that house like I've never before ha ha...but its nice so it won't be too hard to update now.

Then around 9pm Mr. B comes to me cleaning and says it's starting to rain. So we hauled the one box into his work truck and slid the other box into the garage. It would've been a nightmare if those boxes ended up soggy and broke because we were going to be out of town the whole weekend.

So speaking of this weekend.

I get to leave work today at 3 and I'm heading down to Luling/Boutte. I think we'll just hang and have a few drinks tonight. Then tomorrow is the crawfish boil. I will be in a Daiquiri/Miller Lite and Crawfish induced coma ha ha. Then Sunday we're heading to our friends house for their daughters 4th birthday party and guess what they're boiling crawfish.

I'm ok with eating so much because crawfish really aren't that great after the middle to end of May and then it's like 9 painful months of no crawfish :(.

So when we got the Good Faith estimate is had our PMI estimated at 205 a month! I almost crapped myself! I looked at all kinds of charts and specifically ones that Region's will bid out to and the highest with Mr. B's credit and 30% coverage was 145 a month. I mean that's the highest possible especially with the Loan To Value.

So of course the lovely guy I've been working with is out this week training so I had to call his boss who said yes it did seem high but they wouldn't know until they bid it off and got the best rate back.

So I just decided heck I'll email the guy we've been working with and see when he replies. Well he must have checked his email because he replied and said that seemed very high and that he probably made an error when he was figuring it all out and he'd call me on Monday.

I thought we were doing an FHA but it's still a conventional and the other lender lady said if it was a FHA it would only be 98 a month...which is what we pay now. And that was 100% back then and now its like 92.5 (Unless this appraiser goes higher but Mr. B already told him our last one was at 205 which is 2k higher then it was but hey we did landscaping ha ha).

So any who's I emailed him again and asked and he said something with the fee's were less whatever anyways he's going to talk to me all about it on Monday because those things can be changed but the rate stays the same and that's my concern.

But if for some strange reason our PMI would be 205 a month (we'd only be saving 150 a month) it wouldn't be worth it to lose the equity and start over. But I bet there was a typo in calculation. I feel pretty confident being that I checked rate charts on those companies sites.

Anyways now it's just a waiting game. I know the appraiser guy was going out of town later today so I bet he'll turn it in today.

I have 2 hours and 15 minutes left. Thank you!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Shoooooozzzzzz



Ok if anyone listens to Kidd Kraddick in the morning they'll know that Kidd is always making fun of JC's fiancee Kenzie. She is a skinny bitch model who loves shoes.




So Kidd has this techno song where the guys goes Shoes....shoes....I love shoes....and he sounds very nelly like. haha


Anywho that popped into my head when I was looking at shoes on payless.com today. Normally I don't like buying shoes on the internet unless I've worn the brand but hey I know I'm a size 8 so eh.




So I really wanted these Steve Maddens because my other ones that look similar are breaking. But these are 60 bucks and I just don't want to spend that much.





















But then I found these on payless' site for 17.99. 27 bucks after shipping. Not exactly the same but close enough for me!

Hooray for discount shopping!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Busy Bee

Ok so Friday Mr. B and I were having a relaxing drink after our week and anxiously awaiting our lender to call and say for sure that we were locked in for our rate. Well he called at like 6:40pm! I was escatic.

Back story. We decide to use Region's and do the streamline. So I get through (after being on hold for 20 minutes as usual) and Eason my trusty guy starts going through and he goes "oh the rate has gone down since a few days ago" but it's about to go back up.

So he gets things going and he goes "I have 9 minutes to get this in let me call you back". So he called back and said he turned it in at 1:11 and it was due by 1:17. He even printed the email.

But because everyone had to email in if they were working with someone they had to manually go through to lock in the rates...he told me that it went up so much it wouldn't have been worth it to re-finace.

So needless to say we were worried. And then we got the call and we got locked in at 4.875. Better then we ever thought. We started with a 5.3 then the 5 and then 4.8 I mean awesome! That is 1.7% less then what we have now. We'll literally save like 300 a month.

So cool!

Well we decided to do something before the jerks of the homeowners association said anything else. So Mr. B got out and mowed yesterday and the next door neighbor's (racist one) brother (who must live with them now) came over and edged for us which was nice...but we were buying one today.

So today we went and got flowers, top soil, mulch, and an extension edger to go on Mr. B's weed eater.
Well that thing sucked haha so now we'll have to return and buy an expensive one eh.

But boy I did a great job on the flower beds! I really need to pat my back. I have to go buy more mulch for a bed that's been done since before we moved in but it's great the others are done...and now Mr. B can't say that I don't help in the yard haha.

And he also went down to where we used to live and sold his car that's been sitting there for years and sold it for 700 yipee skipee...that's money for our trip whoot!

Ohhh yah my aunt reserved our apartment in Rome. It's so cool.


I made this kickass Crawfish Cream sauce of fettucine last night...well we ate it for dinner tonight too. I will update my food blog tomorrow. But honestly I was in heaven and want more.

Country

As I'm listening to George Strait sing at the ACM's it reminds me of the time Mr. B and I drove to Chattanooga to see his parents and we all took a trip up to Nashville. We went to Tootsie's and drank and listened to music most of the day and then went to a great steakhouse called The Stockyard. We had a very expensive meal but it was so fun...that's when I fell in love with country music and Nashville.

Mr. B and I have since been back for the FanFair. I surprised him on his 30th birthday with a package to go...even though it was like 8 months later hehe.

Last year we couldn't go because it was the week after we got back from our honeymoon and this year we won't be able to go because of our Europe trip....but I really miss it.

Mr. B used to live there and I know that he would love to live there one day too.

I guess the whole point of this is Mr. B and I come alive in Nashville just like we do on Bourbon haha....and no I don't mean after we've had 10+ drinks, I mean at 11am before most folks are even up or are waking up from the bathroom floor. I mean when it's the locals out, when things are just opening up, when they've just cleaned Bourbon Street, when you have that one homeless guy getting yelled at to wake up off the street. It all just makes us feel alive. Going to The Old Absinthe House when it's just us or a few locals in and it's nice and quiet...the smell I love it.

Anyways it just makes me really appreciate Mr. B and I's relationship. He really is my bestie...he would kill me if he knew I just called him my bestie hehe. Ok I just did and he said "what the hell is that"? haha and I told him and he said well you're my best friend too....I just said "say bestie" he said "no" eh at least I'm his best friend. :)

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Geaux Tigers


So the other day the center manager and I went on a quest to take some LSU themed photos for our upcoming retreat.


Here is an awesome picture if I do say so myself :)

3 years today.....

Mr. B and I made it official and started dating. I think a week later I was moved in ha ha. We did move fast in the sense of moving in and getting a checking account. I don't know it all just felt right to me. But we didn't get engaged for 9 months more, and then we were engaged for 1 year 16 months.

Boy do I wish we would've just eloped in some tropical island and would've been married for over a year already.

But time does fly and we're already past our 10 months anniversary.

So yesterday I emailed the lender and asked if she'd heard if they can do an FHA. She said she hadn't heard and was emailing the lady again. I know she's just stalling and most likely knows she won't be able to, and honestly I really do feel bad. But at the same time I don't want to wait. I want to get this done and closed before April.

And we've already changed insurance companies and will still be paying our normal note when that could at least be lowered 50 dollars a month. Not that I really care that much but I know I could be saving at least 200 a month with the current company and even though I'm angry I'll have to pay for another appraisal the rate was a little better.

I don't want to keep bugging her but hey it's my money at jeopardy here right?

Anyways so I've been seeing all of these people update their cooking blogs and I've been really bummed. Since Mr. B and I have been doing the salad with a protein thing every night I don't really have to think about what to make. I like that when I'm running late but also have really enjoyed finding recipes and making them.

I think I'll start to bring some stuff in the mix. We just need to stay away from the carbs. Our plate just always looks so bare if we do our salad first because Mr. B doesn't like the salad on the same plate as his main course ha ha boy he's a spoiled one eh?!

Well yesterday I got our hotel room for the FQ Fest...hooray! So excited. And I checked out the menu to make sure our favorites will be back and they will be. However Mr. B's favorite beer will not be served where we normally hang so I think we'll have to mosey on over the other areas where it will be sold.

April is just going to be so crazy for us. But that just means it'll go by fast and then it'll be May and we'll be getting ready for our Europe trip...eeeeeek!

I'm back to doing my daily log in to the sparkpeople. I have been able to maintain the weight I am at for a few months now but I've been cheating left and right which isn't good. So back to drinking my 10 glasses of water a day and eating oatmeal and fruits for breakfast. I really want to find this lunch box that has all these compartments in them to hold things like salad dressing or tomato's so that if I had a sandwich it wouldn't get soggy. I really want to start bringing my sandies again with hummus etc.

Well Mr. B is coming home tonight!!!! I'm so excited. I didn't think he was coming home until tomorrow and really thank goodness because I've already had 4 sleepless nights I don't need another.

And he is selling his car on Saturday for 700 bucks! We do have to go buy an edger so the stupid homeowner association will get off our backs. I did see a really great deal on flowers at this new place a town over so I think I could get all the flowers and green plants I need for the front for like 15 bucks...now the mulch will be more but heck even if I spend 50 bucks it'll look like I spent a couple hundred.

Well I have to get some work done before I go out looking for crafty stuff for my work retreat coming up.. yippee errands!