Sad story...

I just read this heartbreaking story about a 15 year old girl with terminal cancer and the things she wants to do before the end...

It certainly puts all of my moans into perspective - Alice is a real inspiration. She has a blog of her own which is getting a lot of attention at the moment, and rightly so!

Catch-up

It's been absolutely ages since I last posted, and not because there hasn't been anything to write about, I just haven't gotten around to blogging!

Well my friend Taj visited for 10 days, which was lovely. We had a really good time - we went to the Grand Canyon and Sedona, then we did lots of stuff around Phoenix...

• 4 malls (she wanted to do lots of shopping)
• Phoenix Zoo
• Massages (I still had my gift card from my hubby for a 1.5 hour massage)
• Went to sit by the pool at Onel's apartment complex
• Yappy Hour at a really nice hotel/resort (for the Humane Society)

Taj left on May 2nd and on May 3rd my Mum and stepdad arrived, so there wasn't much of a gap between visitors! They stayed in a gorgeous resort, though, so hubby and I had the house back to ourselves. With my Mum and Stepdad we did the following:

• 1 mall
• Phoenix Zoo
• Spent a day at their resort in and by the pools
• Bearizona, a drive-through wildlife park in Williams, AZ
• The Grand Canyon
• Sedona

They also went horseback riding in the desert, which they really enjoyed. As you can see, we had a busy time with all our visitors!

I have to say, once everyone had left, it felt really weird. I think because since I moved here at the beginning of September 2010, I'd known they were coming in May and it was something to look forward to. Once they'd left, I just felt kinda empty. We don't have any other visitors lined up at the moment, although my friend Tamzin and her family are hoping to visit us next Easter when we'll hopefully have our new house. That's not set in stone though, of course.

I was feeling a bit down for a couple of weeks after my Mum left, but I'm back to normal now - whatever normal is, anyway!

We had a big problem with the pugs a few weeks back, their fighting suddenly escalated and it got to the point where we had to do something to sort them out. It was either get a dog trainer involved, or we'd have to consider taking Gracie back to pug rescue. The latter was something that filled us with dread, because we really have bonded with her (we've had her since early February) and we'd hate to have to part with her now. Also I'd feel so guilty because she'd have to go through the whole thing again - she was pretty messed up when she came to us, obviously confused because her original family had surrendered her, and I don't want her to go through that again! Besides, she's not really the 'problem' dog. Anyways, to cut a long story short, pug rescue recommended a dog trainer so we've hired her. So far we've had our initial consultation (which ended up being about 4 hours!) and one of our six training sessions (they're supposed to be 1.5 hours a time, and again she was here for close to 4 hours - just as well it's a fixed fee, and not hourly rates!). We still have issues with them but we're better able to handle them now. Hopefully by the end of the 6 weeks things will be a lot better. If not, well the fee covers any training the dogs might need for the rest of their lives, so we'll just have to have the trainer back again!

We've been told by our realtor that we should be hearing something about the new house in the next couple of weeks hopefully, so fingers crossed we'll get it! It's been over 2 months since we made the offer and because it's a 'short sale' these things take forever to go through - they haven't even accepted our offer yet! I just hope they don't try to raise the price or mess us around some other way...

Our pug Suzie has to go to the vet this afternoon, I think she has a stye on her eye, poor thing! Hopefully it won't need anything too much to treat it. I'm thinking maybe some ointment or drops or something. Also, hopefully it won't be too expensive either - last time she was at the vet (for a UTI) it was $132 (about £80). Actually now that I think about it, considering her 2 weeks of antibiotics and the testing etc, that's not too bad is it?!

I'm on a diet at the moment - I started on Monday May 30th so today is day 11. I finally bought some scales last Tuesday so Tuesday is now "weigh day". I weighed way too much last Tuesday... I don't really want to say here, but I don't think anyone reads this so I might as well! I was 209.4 pounds. I'm 5ft 8" and I have a big frame anyway, but even so, it's very bad! So I weighed myself again this Tuesday and I'd lost 1.5 pounds, I'm now 207.9 pounds. I was kinda disappointed because I was hoping to lose 3 pounds a week, but I think if you want to keep the weight off you're supposed to only lose 1 to 2 pounds a week so if that's the case, I'm right on track.

I've been very good and haven't broken my diet at all, so it's just a case of keeping up with it really. Ideally I'd love to lose 40 pounds but I definitely need to lose at least 30 I think. I'll feel so much better if I do it, and look much better too. If I keep losing 1.5 pounds per week, that'll be 6 pounds in a month, 12 pounds in 2 months, 18 pounds in 3 months... It'll take me 5 months (well 20 weeks, anyway) to lose 30 pounds... Yikes! That all depends on whether something else gets in the way of my diet, though. I can't say too much right now but we may have some rather exciting news in the not-too distant future! :-)

Sad...

This morning I was getting ready to take the dogs for a walk when hubby spotted a little chihuahua-type dog walking past our house, alone. I went out with a leash hoping the little dog would come to me but of course he/she was scared and kept going. I followed him for a minute and called for him a few times but although he did turn around and look at me, he didn't come. I couldn't get near him so I headed home, collected our dogs and put some stuff in my bag - a Ziplock bag with some kibble in, a bowl, a bottle of cold water, an old collar and a leash. Woefully optimistic even though I knew the chances were that even if I saw the little guy again, the chances of me getting near him (especially with our 2 dogs in tow) were very small. Well, I didn't see him again. I wish he would've known I was going to help him, but he had no reason whatsoever to trust me, I know that. Who knows what kind of experience that dog has had with humans... Had I been able to get hold of him, I would've brought him home to our house, put him in the yard with Suzie's old crate out there, given him food and water and figured something out... I guess we'd have taken him to the vet so they could scan for a microchip, and then go from there. At least he would've been safe. I truly hope that he'll somehow be OK, safe from harm and that he will eventually be rescued by someone decent who will take good care of him. It breaks my heart that he's still out there, alone and scared. Poor little mite. I'm not a religious person, but if there is anything out there watching over us, please protect that little dog and all other strays. While you're at it, please protect all the poor animals who are abused by people every single day. :-(

So, good luck little chihuahua-type dog. I really wish you would've let me help you but I understand why you were scared. I hope you'll find a caring person to help you very soon.

3 days to go!

Yesterday I managed to get all of my housework done, despite feeling really rubbish. I feel better today - I got up just after 6 this morning and made us coffee and breakfast, then took the dogs for a walk. When we got back I went and sprayed the weeds in the front yard and pulled the huge weeds in the back yard (there were some smaller ones that I sprayed too). Fed the dogs and then since then I haven't done a great deal! I made us lunch and then had an afternoon nap. I feel a bit more refreshed now so that's nice. I just need to do the dishes and that's my housework done for the day. I guess I'll have to do the dishes again tonight after dinner though, but I need to do them now too otherwise I'll have too much stuff to fit on the drying rack! Oh well. :-)

My friend Taj arrives on Friday evening! I'm really excited to see her, it's been ages! The last time I saw her was just before I left the country, I think the actual date we last met up was August 31st, so it's almost 8 months now. I'm really looking forward to seeing her, I think we'll have fun! :-)

I am a little apprehensive about her staying here with us, though, but mainly because of our dogs - she's not a 'dog person' so I'm not sure how that's gonna go! She knows we have the 2 dogs of course, I just hope it's not too much of an ordeal for her. I guess if it's that bad then she'll probably check into a hotel. Other than that, I'm not really concerned about her staying with us because there's no way she could be as much of a pain as my Dad was when he was here!!!

Speaking of my Dad, yet again we're playing that stupid 'game' where he was supposed to call me last week, didn't call, and now since Sunday he's been emailing me with no mention of it. Great! I guess this is how it's gonna be then. He's even got 3 weeks of vacation from work right now, and clearly doesn't have the time or inclination to pick up the damn phone and call me. Fantastic, huh? I mean, last week he wasn't working, this week he isn't and next week he isn't. He clearly isn't planning on calling me this week, either, because I replied to one of his emails saying that Taj is arriving on Friday and we're going to the Grand Canyon on Sunday, and he said "have a good time at the Grand Canyon". I don't really know what to do, because we had a big falling out over this before and I thought that that would make him realize he should call me when he says he will, but it obviously hasn't had any impact. I mean, after that falling out when he said he'd make more of an effort, he didn't even manage to call me one single time when he'd said he would. Now it's going on again. So to be honest I can't be bothered to say anything about it, because there's no point is there? The way he's going, we'll be estranged soon. I've only been gone for less than 8 months so as far as I'm concerned, if he's this bad already what will he be like in another year?

However I think about it, it makes me feel like shit. I mean, "it's just the way he is", "he just forgot", "he obviously doesn't care enough to call" - either way, it's not really good enough. It's not even like he's called while we're out, because our phone shows missed calls and if he had he'd probably have left a message - which he hasn't. So he hasn't called at all. No doubt he's just gonna wait for me to call him, so I hope he's prepared for a long wait. Next time I have something I want to tell him, I'll refrain from calling. I find it so disrespectful that he continues this behavior especially now that he knows how much it upsets me - that's the worst part of it. What am I to infer from that, please? Yeah - he's obviously not bothered enough about upsetting me to change his behavior. Nice.

Bleh...

This morning I got up 2 hours later than planned, because I didn't sleep very well and I felt crappy. I took the dogs for a walk and now I have a busy day ahead...

1. Feed the dogs

2. Do the dishes

3. Clean the kitchen

4. Dust

5. Polish

6. Vacuum

7. Mop the floors

8. Clean the bathroom

I guess I should probably have some breakfast, too. I'm so not in the mood for all this housework today! I'll probably feel better for getting it done, though.

6 months

Exactly 6 months ago today, hubby and I got married! Friday October 15th, a beautiful day in so many ways. I'm sure before we know it we'll have been married 10 years, we're really happy together and the time has flown by so far!

I love him more than anything in the entire world.

Tonight we're going out for a lovely meal to celebrate our half anniversary :-)

This is one of our favorite wedding photos...

Update

So, on Monday morning hubby called his Dad at work and arranged for us to go see him when his shift finished. It turns out we were right - his Dad didn't agree with any of the crap his Mom came out with, he said that she'd brought it up on their way home from our house that night and he told her that she can't go to someone's house and impose her beliefs on them. He actually told her he feels sorry for her for thinking she can do that! He had no problem whatsoever with what happened that night, and certainly doesn't agree with the "you're uninvited" thing or the "we won't ever come to your house again" bullshit either. As for the dogs not being welcome, he said she must've just said it to get at hubby. He also said that she should've said the same thing to Dave (hubby's brother) because she's being very selective with her criticisms. He said he'd talk to her and that she's being silly.

Last night hubby got a call from his Mom - she didn't apologize or anything, she didn't mention anything to do with what she said on Saturday. She then proceeded to invite us over for dinner this Saturday - to which hubby said, "We can't, we've already been this month, remember?" and she replied "Can't you just come anyway?" - er no, lady, can't you "just" apologize and we'll take it from there? She also then asked if we were taking the dogs with us to the Grand Canyon when Taj is here, because apparently she'd look after them for us if we wanted her to. Well, again, can you first apologize for all the bullshit that came out of your mouth?

So, we're not going on Saturday. Dave is coming here for dinner, but she thinks he's going there - that's not our problem. She should've thought about the consequences of her bloody diatribe before she spouted that shit, we never told Dave not to go over there. She said they were having other people over for dinner this week so I assumed nobody was invited, then hubby told us we're uninvited apart from once a month so whatever! Her loss, not ours. All this just because we don't say grace in our own house? Nobody stopped them from saying it, but they can't expect people to participate in something they don't believe in when they're in their own house! In their house, yeah, we participate but not in ours. I don't see why that's a problem anyway. The thing she really needs to apologize for is saying it was both her and their Dad who thinks all of this, when he has no such opinions - he thinks like a reasonable person, in fact. It's not exactly a little white lie, that's the kind of thing that could really damage our relationship with his Dad if we weren't so inclined to go and speak to him ourselves. She obviously didn't think we'd do that, and I bet she was pissed when she found out we did, but if she hadn't lied in the first place we wouldn't have had to. Plus, that's his Dad we're talking about - he has every right to speak to him, and so do I for that matter. She really thought she could just call and act as though nothing had happened... How silly is she? She at least needs to apologize, and since that's not happening then I guess we'll just keep our distance.

----------------------------------------------

Yesterday, the woman who's selling the house we offered on got out of hospital so she's signed our offer. We paid the earnest money too, so now we're waiting to hear something from her bank. Hopefully they won't mess us around but who knows? At least things are moving along now, it's a good sign. :-)

The whole thing is stupid, but

Sad

Everything that happened last night is really bothering me. It could be a coincidence but I was feeling pretty sick most of this afternoon, to the point that I had to go and take a nap. I felt really queasy. Maybe it was nothing to do with 'the situation' but I don't think it was helping much either. I really feel quite low about it, which is surprising in a way because it's on a par with how I felt when I fell out with my Dad and this isn't my real Mom we're talking about - yes, she's my mother-in-law, but she's not my actual Mom. Anyway, it's taken me by surprise just how upset I feel about it all. Hubby is feeling the same way, I can tell by the look in his eyes.

I chatted with my BIL on Facebook earlier and he said that his Mom is being "fucking retarded" and that if she speaks to him about it he'll tell her that she's the one causing the problems, so that's good I guess. Hubby is going to call his Dad at work in the morning and tell him that we need to go and speak to him - I really don't think he knows about this, and he's gonna start wondering what's up when we don't show up for the next few months or however long she wants to drag this out. We're both in agreement that her saying we're only welcome now once a month, rather than once a week, is enough to keep us both away indefinitely. Neither of us would feel welcome there now as things stand, so we won't be going. I think that my FIL will be very interested to hear all of this - of course we're aware that talking to him could backfire, he might well know what's been said and there's a chance he agrees with her, but we both want to hear it from him if that's the case. I seriously doubt it, but we'll see. I really don't believe that he knows what she said about our dogs - he loves them to bits and looks forward to seeing them, there's no way he doesn't want them to be there when we are. I still think my MIL was grasping at straws when she made that statement - she said it to hurt hubby (or us - surely she's not stupid enough to think that hubby wouldn't tell me, I'm his wife FFS) and when I spoke to my Mom this morning she said it sounds as though there's some jealousy issues and for whatever reason she's taking exception to the fact that hubby has his own life now. I mean, it's been many years since he moved out of their house, he's been self-sufficient for a long time, long before we got together, but something she said to hubby last night just smacks of jealousy: "You've got your own life now, it's time to pull back" or something along those lines, well that just makes me think that for some reason she's jealous that he doesn't need her as much now. It's sad really because she's his Mom, of course he needs her, and so do I. If she wants to push us away she's doing a bloody good job of it, and as my BIL said, this kind of thing can't really be undone.

What the hell?!

We went for dinner at the in-laws' house this evening, and I thought that we had a nice evening. However, on the way home hubby told me that his Mom had been mad at him over something that happened when they came for dinner last Friday! Basically, hubby's brother and parents came for dinner at our house and his parents are Jehovah Witnesses (JWs) so they say grace before meals. Well, last week hubby and his brother started eating while they said grace. I sat there quietly waiting for them to finish saying grace before I started to eat. I didn't think any more of it, nothing was said, nobody seemed to be the slightest bit bothered by it. Well, tonight after we ate at their house (and all observed their saying of grace) she took hubby into another room. I assumed they were talking about house stuff or something. She actually was telling him how offended she is that he didn't wait for them to say grace before he started eating. She said it's even worse because he did it in front of me, and he's basically showing me it's OK to disrespect his parents. If she'd actually paid attention she'd have realized that I waited for them, so hubby's actions didn't influence mine. Also, her other son did exactly the same thing as hubby and she said nothing to him. She told hubby that they don't want to come to our house again because of it. He tried to reason with her and told her that he didn't try to stop them from saying grace, because he wouldn't do that, but he didn't want to say it. Also, it's his right to not be religious - just as it's their right to be religious. She kept going on about how he was so disrespectful and how he should respect them, which by the way he does, and he said that they should respect our choice to not be religious. Of course she doesn't see it that way. Then she threw in his face that she doesn't like us taking our dogs to their house! This, after hubby's had Suzie for 15 months now and has always taken her with him when he's gone round for dinner which is usually once a week. When we got Gracie we called and asked if it was OK to bring both dogs and she said it was great! So now, she's completely changed her tune and apparently we're disrespectful for taking the dogs with us. Also, she said that we're only invited once a month now instead of once a week. Talk about blowing everything out of proportion!

When we got home, hubby called his brother to ask him if he'd been given the same talking to - no, not at all, nothing was said to him! Note that when we've all been over to my brother-in-law's house, the same thing has happened - hubby and BIL haven't observed grace. So why is it OK in BIL's house but not ours? As I said, nobody stopped them from saying grace. I do feel as though it should be optional, we're not in the least bit religious so when we're in our house we shouldn't be obliged to say grace.

Another thing that's pissed me off is that for the past 3 or 4 weeks, she's brought up my weight. It started when her brother and sister-in-law were in town and apparently her SIL said that I'd lost weight. Now bear in mind that I'd previously only met them once before - at our wedding - for that one day. So, the following week she brought it up when we all went out for a buffet - she asked me, in front of everybody, if I was trying to lose weight, because I didn't eat an excessive amount. She said that her SIL had said she thought I'd lost weight. I was really embarrassed by her saying all this, I could feel my cheeks going red. I said that I wasn't on a diet or anything. Since then she's brought it up a couple more times, including tonight. She said, "Have you lost weight?" and I said "I don't know, we don't have any scales..." and she said again that her SIL thought I'd lost weight - I said, "She only met me once before" and she said "Yeah, she'd only seen you in your (wedding) dress before, not normal clothes" - I was having to bite my lip because to me that sounded like she was saying I looked really fat in my wedding dress. Gee, thanks a fucking bunch! Then, she added that she didn't think I'd lost weight. The whole time I was just wanting to say, "Why the hell is this even up for discussion? Just because I'm not skinny doesn't mean that my weight is a topic of debate for anyone to get involved in! What are you trying to say, exactly, when you repeatedly bring this up? Are you trying to make me feel like shit?"

Of course, I didn't say any of that. I hadn't even told hubby any of this, and as I said it's been going on for weeks now. When he told me all this about how she thinks he's so offensive etc. etc. I told him and let's just say, he's not very impressed with her.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not skinny by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm also not morbidly obese. I have some meat on my bones and I could do with losing some weight, but not too much. Anyway, the whole time she's known me I've been about the same size - so why is it an issue now? I don't like to be too touchy about things like this but when someone repeatedly says something like this and it's completely unwarranted - i.e. she brought up the subject, not me - it starts to feel a bit personal and to be perfectly honest I am getting offended now. So, rightly or wrongly I've asked hubby to tell her how I feel about it next time he speaks to her, whenever that may be. We won't be going round in the foreseeable future, because frankly even if they do invite us over neither of us would feel very comfortable there at the moment. It would be really awkward.

Regarding the dog situation - I really think she was grasping at straws, because hubby made a valid point. If she really was pissed off with us bringing the dogs with us every week, I'm sure she would've at least hinted about it sometime before now. Also, my father-in-law loves the dogs to bits and I'm sure he looks forward to seeing them every week. They have loads of different dog treats in their cupboard - and they don't have a dog! And we're seriously supposed to believe that they honestly don't want us to take them round there? I can honestly say that my FIL would be very disappointed if we stopped taking the dogs with us. Anyway, either way, we won't be going round anymore so I guess it really doesn't matter.

I would like to hear my FIL's take on the whole situation, though - she made out that it was both of them who were seriously offended, but he said nothing and acted perfectly normally the whole night - and he's not the kind to keep his mouth shut if something's bugging him. In fact, I think he would likely have said something at the time. The fact they stayed at our house a couple hours after dinner says to me that it wasn't as big a deal as she's making out. But, if she wants to push her son (and me) away, then so be it.

Rain!

It's a wet, grey day in Phoenix! It's raining on and off, and it's supposed to continue that way for the rest of the day and into this evening. It actually makes a nice change, really. Most of the time it's warm and sunny with blue skies, so a grey drizzly day is quite refreshing!

We had a lie-in this morning, Suzie woke us up at 6.30 so we put the dogs on the bed with us and they eventually went back to sleep. We got up at 9.40 - positively late for us, even for a weekend! It was nice, but I do feel a bit groggy now because of waking up and going back to sleep a couple of times. Oh well! It's not as though we're doing much today. I think it might be a movie day - there seem to be a few decent-ish movies on TV, so that'll keep me occupied for a little while!

I need to go to trusty old Target at some point, poor Gracie has allergies at the moment and she's scratching lots. She's on Benadryl 3 times a day (luckily we got the Target own version which is exactly the same, only $4 for 100 so that's great!). Anyway, we're also having to put shirts on her to stop her from scratching herself too badly - her skin was getting raw where she was scratching, so it does help to put a shirt on her. I think I'm gonna buy a pack of baby shirts from Target, she's gonna need a few because all the scratching inevitably results in holes. There's no point spending $15 on a dog shirt, when I can probably get 4 or 5 baby shirts for around that price. Well, I haven't looked into the prices, but I'm sure they're a lot cheaper than dog clothes anyway! She probably needs either a 12 or 18 month size, I'm thinking the 18 month will be better because it'll fit looser. Pugs are hard to buy clothes for because they're broad shouldered and dog clothes that are meant for their weight range and length are usually too small around the shoulders. Ordinarily it wouldn't be an issue because we don't dress them very often, but Gracie seems to feel the cold a lot more than Suzie and with her scratching because of her allergies, it's the only thing we can do to help (apart from the Benadryl of course). Gracie actually seems to love wearing clothes too, she gets all wiggly and happy when we get them out for her. Suzie? Not so much. Apart from the gorgeous pink polka dot dress she wore to our wedding, she loved that one!

:-)

Gosh, the past few days I've spoken to lots of my friends... Wednesday I talked to Taj, who arrives here on April 22nd, and I also talked to my Mom and Dad for a while to tell them about the house and my unexpected tax rebate. My Aunt Dorothy also called, so I spoke to her for a bit too. Thursday I talked to Tamzin, Debbie and Rochelle. It seems to happen like that - I don't get to speak to anyone for ages and then in the space of a couple of days I speak to loads of people. I kinda would prefer it to be more spaced out but hey, what can you do? I guess it just happens to be when people are free - I'm free most of the time, but they're all busy!

Oh - good news, the government shutdown has been averted. Hopefully there will be no disruption while Taj, my Mom and my stepdad are here! :-)

Good news!

Wednesday evening while we were at the dog park, we got a call from our realtor to say that our offer on the house has been accepted - the listing agent has confirmed that any other offers they might receive will be treated as back-up offers, so unless we back out we should get the house! Yay!!!

Of course with it being a short sale, the bank has to approve the price (again). It's all a bit silly, but that's the way it is. Hopefully they won't mess us around - we just want to buy the house, after all! Right now they're not getting any mortgage payments on it, so hopefully they'll just be glad to have a genuine offer from someone who is definitely good for the money (us!). We'll see, anyway.

Some not so good news - there's a US government shutdown looming, which if it goes ahead will start at midnight tonight. All the national parks would close, including the Grand Canyon... Well, we have 2 sets of visitors coming in the next month and we're supposed to be taking them there. My friend T arrives 2 weeks today, and we're supposed to be going to the GC on Sunday April 24th... My Mom and stepdad arrive on May 3rd and we're supposed to be going to the GC on Friday May 6th... Fuck! Now obviously this shutdown (if it happens) will cause a lot of other problems, but I know T, my Mom and stepdad would all be really disappointed if they couldn't go to the GC. Sure, they will probably be here again sometime so could visit it another time, but it's gonna be one of the highlights of their time in Arizona. So I'm really hoping the shutdown either doesn't happen at all, or that if it does, that everything is up and running again before April 24th!

This morning I felt like absolute crap... I don't think I slept very well last night, and I had a lie-in this morning for a while but kept getting disturbed by Suzie so when I got up at 8 I had a really bad headache and also period pain. Great! Well, it was my day to clean the house (I aim to do it Monday, Wednesday and Friday but this week I did it Tuesday and was supposed to do it again today). Well, I really didn't feel like doing anything at all. I forced myself to, though, because I would've been really disappointed in myself if I'd left it. So I changed the bed linen, did the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned the dogs' water fountain, tidied the house, dusted, polished, vacuumed, mopped and then I cleaned the bathroom. After all that I had a nice shower - I sure needed it by that point! I feel much better now that the house is beautiful again! :-)

Then I made us lunch, and now I'm relaxing after taking some painkillers which seem to be kicking in now, so that's good.

Oooh, we have cupcakes! We got them last night at Albertsons - they were $1 for a 4-pack, so we got 2 packs! How bad is that?! Sooo good though, yummy cupcakes! :-)

A surprise!

We're still waiting to find out if our offer has been accepted - all signs are good, there are no other offers and since we've offered asking price and we're good for the money we should be OK, but until we're told that for sure we're not getting too excited.

I logged onto my online banking this morning to check my UK account and found a nice surprise - I got an impressive tax rebate! I had to send the tax office a form saying that I'd left the country, and it said "you may be eligible for a tax refund" - well, I got a lot more than I ever expected! I called them and found out why - my last employer had me on the wrong tax code for the entire 3 years I worked there, so I was overpaying quite a bit in tax. Anyhow, it's probably better to get it now because I don't have a job and with us buying a house (hopefully!) we could use all the extra money we can get. I also owe hubby money from when he paid off my loan for me before I moved here... So I won't be keeping much of it, but it's still good! The money can go towards our deposit for the house :-)

House update

OK, so now we're waiting to find out if our offer on the house has been accepted. I can't stop thinking about it! It should be accepted I think, we offered asking price and they previously had a buyer who "wasn't able to perform" (makes them sound impotent! haha) so I think they'll be glad of the offer really.

Our realtor just called and told us they're trying to get ahold of the listing agent to check that they've received our offer (they should have done, but so far the realtor hasn't been able to speak to them). Obviously this is going to be a waiting game and I imagine it'll be quite stressful at times, but hopefully we'll be lucky and not have too much trouble. We're aware that it's going to take several months to complete, and with the house being a short sale the owner's mortgage lender will probably take a while to agree to it (we're hoping they'll be reasonable but who knows?!)

Our realtor told us to be cautiously optimistic, which I think is how we both feel anyway. We're excited but anxious, because we know nothing is set in stone yet and it may not go through. We'd be really disappointed if we didn't get the house, because we both love it to bits, but I'm trying to keep in mind that if for some reason it doesn't work out, there will be other houses that we'll love too. Still, I really hope this is the one!!!!!

--------------------------------------------

I've been busy again today, got up before 6 feeling like crap (didn't get enough sleep!) and made us breakfast and coffee, took the dogs for a walk, did the dishes, tidied up, did laundry, dusted all over the house, vacuumed everywhere but hubby's office, mopped all the tile floors and finally cleaned the bathroom. The house looks fantastic again, yay! :-) Then I made hubby some lunch, and now here I am goofing around on the internet... again.

I think I should make myself some lunch now!

Maybe, just maybe!

We may just have found our house! I don't want to say too much but in the morning we'll be putting an offer in... Hopefully we'll be successful! It's a gorgeous house in a great neighborhood, it doesn't need any work doing to it and it's a really good price. Fingers crossed!

Huh...

So, my Dad finally called me today... Only 2 weeks later than he was supposed to! He didn't mention that, of course. I think he just wanted to moan about having a cold, to be honest. I didn't say anything about how he was supposed to call me weeks ago, I can't be doing with that anymore - what's the point, after all? I told him we've been looking at houses, he sounded quite surprised by that (I don't know why because he's known for ages that we want to buy a house this year... I think he just doesn't listen to me).

I told him that there are lots of photos and videos of the girls on Facebook (he has an account, which he evidently doesn't use) and hinted that it's a good way to keep in touch as far as videos and photos go. I doubt it'll make a difference, though - hints are never going to work if telling him something outright doesn't make a difference, right?

To be perfectly honest our conversations feel strained at best - I don't think we really "connect" these days. I think there's resentment on both our parts - I resent him for being terrible at keeping in touch and because of all the wedding stuff, and he resents me for leaving the UK. I think that sums it up pretty well, really.

When he does call me, which is pretty rare, it's usually just to complain about things: his neck, his cold, his job... I always get the sense that he's waiting for me to say something, but there's nothing I can really say - he moans about everything all the time, he doesn't do anything to help himself, and I've said everything I can say a million times over now! I think sometimes he's waiting for me to say something like "I miss you so much, I wish I'd never moved" - but I'm happy here, and although I find it hard at times being away from everyone "back home", I could never miss anyone as much as I used to miss my hubby while we were apart.

Why are families so weird?!

A day in the life of a housewife... again!

This morning I got up at 5.35, made breakfast and coffee, walked the dogs and fed them (Gracie wouldn't eat anything - that pissed me off!). Then I did the dishes, did some laundry, changed our bed linen, dusted, vacuumed, mopped and then cleaned the bathroom. I also cleaned the dogs' water fountain. I cleared the yard of dog poop too. Then I made us lunch, and now I need to do some more dishes and put the other ones away. I'm tired!

We're going to look at some more houses today, there are 4 we're supposed to view this time. Hubby is finishing work an hour early (he didn't take his lunch break) and we're meeting the realtor at one of the houses right after that. Then this evening the in-laws are coming for dinner. It's 92ºF right now and it's going to be 97 later - it's too hot! It's going to be hot for a while, I think. We're in April now and it's not going to cool off now, not much anyway. That means walking the dogs early every day, before it gets too hot for them (and me!).

Last night I had another driving lesson, it was my first one since Sunday. It went really well, I ended up driving for about 4 miles on a main road and didn't do anything wrong! I shifted gear fine every time, I obeyed the speed limit and I didn't drive too far to the right of the lane! Hehe. I also had some traffic lights to contend with, and stopped behind a car without getting too close. I also got a good start when the lights changed, so that was good. I didn't get all stressed out - I think I'm getting the hang of this driving business! :-)

I drove us to our local supermarket on the way back, and parked in the lines albeit at a funny angle! Then I drove us home, the long way, so I didn't have to make any left turns, haha! I enjoyed it, it was a good confidence boost because I did good and that was by far the furthest I've ever driven on a "big" road so it showed me I can do it and everything is fine. :-)

Houses!

OK, well we hoped to look at houses on Tuesday as I wrote in my last post. Our realtor was supposed to call hubby around 4 p.m. but she didn't, he texted her and asked if we could look at houses and she said she wasn't free until Friday. We've felt for a while she was messing us around, and we didn't think we'd ever end up seeing any houses if we waited for her all the time. So, hubby called his mom who knows a husband and wife realtor team through church, and she gave him their details. He called and left them a voicemail and they rang us back within a couple of hours, and hubby gave them the info about what kind of house we're looking for, our price range, etc. Yesterday the guy came to our house at about 3.15 p.m. to pick us up to view houses! Yay! We finally looked at some houses! We saw 6 in total yesterday, and a few were a definite "no" - one was in a very dodgy area and pretty run-down, one had loads of water damage on all the ceilings and was generally in bad shape, one had been ripped apart for termites and had a tree out front with the roots probably going into the foundations of the garage and house and one had power lines right next to the house, had a very very old A/C unit and needed a new roof - and was definitely overpriced! There were 2 houses we really liked but they'd just received offers on them and we're not ready to make any offers just yet, we need to look around a lot more. It was interesting anyway, it showed us what to look for with regards to potential problems and we found it to be quite an experience! We're hopefully viewing more houses tomorrow afternoon, then the in-laws are coming round for dinner (hubby's parents and brother too, so our little house will be a bit cramped but it's OK!)

When I last spoke to my Dad, 2 weeks ago tomorrow, he told me he would call me "next week" (so last week) - guess what? He still hasn't! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly shocked, but come on! For fuck's sake, this is getting ridiculous! He knows how much it annoys/upsets me when he does this, and still it continues. I guess he'll never, ever change. I'm still not going to call him though, because why should it always be me making the effort? More to the point, why should it always be our phone bill getting run up? So no, there won't be any calls from me.

I'm being a good little housewife, I cleaned the entire house again yesterday and I'm still doing the dishes after every meal which makes it a much more manageable task! I washed the doggy beds yesterday too, and today I've done more laundry. I'm going to clean the whole house again tomorrow, it works out well because that's when we're having the in-laws over for dinner, but I was going to do it anyway - Monday, Wednesday and Friday are my full-on cleaning days now. That gives me Tuesday and Thursday "off" but I still do other things around the house, just not a full clean. It also leaves weekends free, because that's when hubby is free so we can do things together. I'm finding it to work really well, the house always looks great because there's never too big a gap between thorough cleanings and it keeps me busy. On a Friday I have a couple extra tasks, I clean the dog water fountain and change our bed linen in addition to dusting, vacuuming, mopping and then cleaning the bathroom. Hubby's only "job" around the house is to be in charge of the fish tank, i.e. do the water changes. He doesn't mind doing it, it's not like he has to do anything else housework related after all. He's really happy with the way things are now, and so am I! I love being able to take pride in our house every day, it's not a fancy house but it's clean and tidy and it's our home for now :-)

We might finally be getting somewhere... Maybe!

Hubby got an email from our realtor last night, she now has her computer back virus-free and found hubby's emails which had somehow gone into her junk mail. Hopefully we might be able to look at some houses when hubby finishes work today at 3... Fingers crossed, anyway.

When we went to get our mortgage pre-approval, it was based on 20% down which is what hubby wants to do. Our realtor has now said she doesn't understand why we don't want to just put 3.5% down, like most first time buyers. Well, that'd be because we'd end up borrowing a lot more and our monthly payments would be higher, and hubby has saved up so what's the point of not putting down 20%? It makes more sense to us to put more money down and have lower monthly payments - otherwise the mortgage will be crippling us! 3.5% is fine for people who haven't got savings, but it seems daft to only put that down when you do have the money there!

The dogs had a fight this morning, it was the first time in a while. Neither of them was hurt, hubby grabbed Suzie as soon as she started and then I got the spray bottle and used it on them both. It didn't have any effect this time but I think it's because I didn't get it in time - it was on the dining table and I was in the living room area, so it took me a little longer to get it. All's well now though, thank goodness.

I took them for a short walk just before 9 a.m. - it was already 70ºF then, it's going to be 83 today, then 86 tomorrow, 92 Thursday, 95 Friday... yuck! This is spring? Damn!

I'm not exactly looking forward to summer in the desert, it'll certainly be an experience... =/

Good news!

Around 3.15 p.m. we got a call from the vet - they'd finally got a urine sample from her (she refused to pee for ages!!) and it was clean - which means that the antibiotics have worked and she no longer has a UTI! Yay!!! Her antibiotics won't be done with until Friday morning, but at least she doesn't need another course of them :-)

Busy again

This morning I made us coffee and breakfast, did the dishes, cleaned the kitchen... I fed the dogs, hubby medicated them... Then I dusted, vacuumed, mopped and cleaned the bathroom. I also did a bunch of laundry too and put away all the clothes I washed yesterday.

After all that I had a shower and then we took Suzie up to the vet, they need to try and get a urine sample and see how her UTI is responding to the antibiotics. I hope they manage to get a sample! The house feels really odd without her here, it's not nice. I miss my baby!

When we got back from dropping Suzie at the vet, I took Gracie for a quick walk so she could do her "business" hehe, and now I'm home and I've done everything that needs doing already... I'd finished cleaning the house by just before 9.15 a.m. so I was pretty productive today.

Tonight we're going to the filming session for Suzie's agility class, I hope she does well this time because they're going to put it on the internet! Hopefully she'll get a little bit of practice time beforehand. I know a few of the other people were going to take their dogs for a half hour practice session yesterday, but we didn't go. It would've been another $10 which isn't bad at all, but we didn't arrange to do it. Oh well, I'm sure it'll go fine.

Well, I'd better make us some lunch. Soup and sandwiches! I'm really hungry, it's almost 5 hours since we ate breakfast (at 6 this morning) so we're ready for lunch even though it's not even 11 a.m. yet!