Year: 2013

The housing market is copious with foreclosed home deals for homebuyers. However, the money you believe you are saving through purchasing an older, foreclosed home could be all smoke and mirrors. The benefits of buying a new home are vast. From personal touches to lack of repairs and inefficiencies, buying a newly built house can be more economical to owners who are looking to avoid additional hassles and headaches during the long process of home buying.

Efficiency standards are more rigid than they were just three years ago, and the penalties for violating energy conservation standards can be pricey. Newly built homes will already meet the necessary criteria to match the standards set by the International Energy Conservation codes. More secure living spaces to prevent conditioned air from escaping through seals and triple- or quadruple-paned windows to minimize the transfer of heat are being built into new homes.

New homes are often installed with “greener” appliances and systems. The money to be saved from more energy-efficient appliances can far outweigh the money saved from buying an older home in the long term. The purchasing of new, more energy-efficient equipment can be costly for homeowners with older homes. Both energy and money can be saved when buying a newer home.

Years of surviving the elements may cause serious damages to an older home costing owners thousands of dollars in repairs. New homes will have little to no repair costs and many are built to minimize the costs of maintenance due to the fragile economy. Potential homebuyers should be aware of the costs concerning the upkeep and maintenance of a home and how much they could save in both the short and long term.

Warranties from new homes could save thousands more in repairs, damages, and maintenance. In many cases, builders will agree to a warranty of a year or so to have any damages fixed during that time period when someone offers to buy a new home. Appliances and systems may be under warranty for even longer. Having to repair a cracked foundation or leaky rook could be detrimental to homeowners and their funds.

Bargaining power is in the potential buyer’s favor when buying a new home, in most cases. Individual sellers will look to make the most money they can from selling a property they have owned for an extended period of time. Builders are looking to sell and sell quickly after the construction of a property. Because builders are typically in better financial standing than an individual seller, they may be more prone to accept a loss on a property. In addition, builders are more likely to work out a financing deal with potential buyers due to ownership of their own mortgage companies.

If for no other reason, new homes are preferable over older homes due to their location and property values. New home communities are exactly that: new communities. These areas and their surroundings are typically more valuable than an older community that has not been updated and renovated. New home communities are usually built around newer schools and newer roads with shopping centers and malls within reasonable distance. Perhaps shopping is not very important to you, but when looking to resell you home, it could be very important to potential buyers and could entice them to pay a little more than they originally planned.

Buying a new home is far more economical and budget friendly than buying an older one. Energy standards for the home are up to date and the resell value will be higher. Maintenance fees are significantly reduced and warranties can be afforded. Consumers should make the calculations for how much money they can save in both the short-term and long-term.

Information Provided By http://www.kolterhomes.com

So turns out after 10 days of antibiotics I do NOT have have a sinus infection. A CT scan was ordered by my doctor after I tested negative for EVERY SINGLE tree and pollen they skin tested for. I was just DONE. There was another day with no answers and more excruciating pain. I broke down explaining that all I had eaten in 24 hours was a bowl of soup because when I have a bowel movement, the pressure in my head is so horrible that I’m pretty much useless for the next 3-4 hours. I can’t poop, I can’t work out, if I get even a LITTLE stressed and my heart rate rises a LITTLE, pain. My life for a week has just been: Live with The Pain. Smile. Pain. Fake it. Pain. Go Home, try to sleep it off. Pain.

The CT scan shows a deviated septum on the right side with Haller’s cell present. I got a heavy dose of Prednisone which the doctor said should give me some relief pretty quickly. THANK YOU SINUS GODS!

But let’s go back to the last week. I was basically on no medication except a round of antibiotics that I couldn’t stop even though they weren’t working because apparently when you stop a round of antibiotics that aren’t working somebody punches a kitten in the face. Yesterday I’d already had one horrible bathroom experience that had me, literally, on the floor in the bathroom at work trying not to vomit from pain. Then I came home and it happened again.

I was done. I normally will never reach for something stronger than aspirin but I was beyond that threshold of pain I can deal with. I’ve had three tattoos and pushed a human out of my vagina, this pain far surpassed either of those. There is something about pain IN YOUR HEAD that is just so much worse than anywhere else. The blinding pain that stops you in your tracks, drops you to your knees and kicks you right in the face.

So I took some Vicodin. I have two reactions to Vicodin. 1) SLEEP ALL THE SLEEPS. 2) TRIP BALLS.

I was very happy that #1 happened. I slept for a solid four hours. The first solid block of sleep I’d had all week. It was glorious. However, you can not wake me up and expect me to have a coherant conversation. An example from when I woke up to my phone ringing.

Me: MmmHmm
Ben: Hi.
Me: Hi.
Ben: Do you think you can eat or should I grab food on the way home?
Me: I’m scared to poop.
Ben: Okay. So. Do you think you can eat or should I grab food on the way home?
Me: I don’t want to eat because I don’t want to poop.
Ben: Is Cassidy hungry?
Me: I’m not even sure Cassidy is here and/or awake.
Ben: Could you, you know, figure that out?
Me: CAAAAAAAAAAASSSIIIIDDDYYY!
Cassidy: Yep.
Me: Food. Ben’s getting it. Hungry.
Cassidy: Are you asking me if I’m hungry?
Me: …
Cassidy: I’m not hungry but I will be.
Me: At some point she has to eat eventually.
Ben: Does she want food?
Me: Do you want food?
Cassidy: Eventually. What’s he getting?
Me: OMG I CAN’T EVEN WITH THIS RIGHT NOW ALL I HEAR IS AN ECHO AND I’M NOT EVEN SURE WHAT IS GOING ON!
Ben: I’m going to get food.
Me: I don’t want to poop.
Ben: Are you okay?
Me: I took a Vicodin.
Ben: Okay, go back to sleep, I’ll figure it out.
Me: Sound like a great plan.

After that I woke up enough to eat some soup and bread then realized that the Vicodin was wearing off when I had to bend over to pick up something that had fallen off the couch and if felt like perhaps my head had just been punted across a field. So I took another one.

And then reaction #2 happened and I spent the rest of the night TRIPPING BALLS.

I went to bed and fell asleep pretty quickly but the first dream I had was that I took the dogs out to potty before bed and Kumo pooped puppies. He pooped puppies out of his butt. When I took the puppies inside all, WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED, Ben didn’t believe me! And he tried to say that I was MAKING IT UP! And I was getting PISSED! LOOK AT THE PUPPIES!

Then he came to bed and when I woke up I told him about the dream and he didn’t seem that worried or impressed. PUPPIES OUT OF HIS BUTT, BEN! You keep saying that you want a 3rd dog, whey aren’t you more excited about this!?

The next six hour went something like this:

• DREAM CRAZY ASS SHIT!
• WAKE UP!
• CONTEMPLATE CRAZY ASS DREAMS!
• “I don’t understand why I’m not tired maybe I should drink some water but then I’ll have to pee and it will wake me up but it’s not like I’m sleeping that was a weird dream I should be more tired I’m probably never going to get to sleep I’m going to be up all night then I’ll be tired all day at work and why is that blue light flashing maybe I should check it out but it’s way over there and why is the bed shaking is KC licking her butt again oh crap KC isn’t even on the bed WHY IS THE BED SHAKING WHAT IS GOING ON RIGHT NOW maybe I should wake up Ben but what am I going to tell him other than MY MIND WON’T SHUT UP I’M GOING CRAZY! Okay I think my mind is slowing down now and maybe I can get some sleep if I just close my eye and relax for a… *snore*”
• Rinse. Repeat.

I woke up this morning feeling like I’d just run a marathon. With my brain.

As an example of how infrequently I take major pain medication, this bottle of 30 pills was dated August 12th, 2005 when I had three wisdom teeth pulled. There are still 8 left.

This is one of the more tame reactions I’ve had. I do not get how people take this on the regular. I remember having a similar reaction when I was 16 and had to take some to get through a serious bout of ovarian cyst pain. I decided then that I’d never be able to take any kind of hard drugs. If this is how I get off some pain meds, can you imagine the hot mess I’d be if I took anything harder?

Actually, imaging it. The visuals are awesome.

So I’m totally winning at The Allergies this year. I’m choosing to look at the bright side of this because the never stopping pounding in my sinus cavity are fulfilling All The Negative and I like balance. Before yesterday I was taking 1 AllerClear as soon as I woke up. Then right after breakfast an antibiotic, Fluticasone nose spray and an Advil Allergy. Then the Advil Allergy ever four hours till dinner time. At dinner time it was another antibiotic and a Benadryl. If I had my way it would be Benadryl all day every day but unfortunately I need to actually be awake to function in what society considers a normal fashion. And you if you are on Benadryl all day ever day you most definitely require the use of a translation service to decipher the directions on the rest of the medication you are prescribed to take for two weeks that aren’t going to work!

So now, unfortunately, I have to be off ALL the meds except the antibiotic (only two pills left!) and the nose spray once a day. The nose spray is good because it works for ONE HOUR then stops but the allergist promised me that it takes about two weeks for it to really start working so there’s HOPE. And after my allergy testing Friday I can be back on all the rest of the medication. So today is going to be ROUGH. This is my public apology for anybody that has to deal with me between now and tomorrow afternoon. AllergyAnna off meds is not a happy person to be around.

For Cassidy’s birthday we gave her some cash and took her to open her own back account. She is currently at the local out let mall, debit card in hand, shopping with friends. The guy that set up the account was really awesome and spent some time explaining overdrafts, savings, responsible spending, etc with her but I’m not sure how much of it really sunk into her 15 year old brain. I guess we’ll see in a few months if we are having to research north dakota bankruptcy laws or California, as in our case. 😉

I’ve been on a bit of a cleaning and organizing binge lately. CLEAN ALL THE THINGS! CLEAN OUT ALL THE DRAWER! THROW ALL THE THINGS AWAY! It’s a three month cycle with me. Usually I try and hit everything in a few days but I’ve decided that sometimes that leads to missing things or only doing a so-so job just go get to a state of: DONE. I’ve been doing one area at a time and not moving on to the next till the current project is done. I’ve been organizing, deep cleaning and using tools from placed like Reid Supply Industrial to fix broken items as I go along. It feels good to see areas cleaned and fixed and progress being made.

6:30AM Getting on the light rail to downtowm and the start of the race.

11:50AM FINISHER! 13.1 mile. Such a badass!

The problem with dating is meeting someone you have more in common with than just being single. Most of the online dating sites are just too large to find anyone to really form a connection. Rather than use the innovative potential of technology to make dating easier, these sites have done little more than create a digital listing of the old newspaper personal ads. Things are starting to change and raise the chances of you meeting someone special a real possibility. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the newest way to socialize is based in music; after all, music has defined the baby boomer generation like no other generation before it.

Share Your Music, Share Your Life

Music has always been how we have marked moments in our lives and how we share our lives with others. When we can’t find words, there is music to play. The newest social network, iOldies, took that reality and combined it with the new world where most of our first social interactions occur online. The result is a new oldies website where you can not only find the music you remember, but you can socialize with others who are there with the same love and passion for the sound of their generation. This is a social network that is based upon people connecting through a shared interest, this means that the connection you will start to make will go further and mean more in your life than ones on more general sites. On iOldies, you can do more than find the music you remember. You can meet new people and discover whole sides of the style and trends of your generation that you may have heard of, but weren’t a part of your experience.

Share your Life, Find someone Special

When you are in the 50+ generation, you have discovered who you are and created a life that you want to live. Now, the only thing missing is to find someone special to share it with. When you are ready to meet baby boomers online to begin to re-explore the dating scene, it is going to be a much different experience than any other you have had in your life. When we are younger, we seek people to help complete us and help us to reach our goals; the goals are much different when you are 20 then when you are 50+. Now the goal is to experience the fullness of life, to connect to what is real and to live an authentic experience. You don’t find people to do that with who are on sites so large it will take a year to sift through the profiles. You find them by going to boutique dating sites that are focused on the kinds of people you will most likely have something in common with. Start with the generation, add in a common interest in music and now you have a place to begin.

Being Social Online

There has been a lot in the media about the drive to “unplug” from the Internet, but there are some cases in which maintaining a moderate connection can be very helpful. Maintaining social contacts online, and being involved with social networks, can keep you engaged and your mind lively. It can help alleviate those pangs of loneliness we all get when we are in that awkward stage of looking for a partner and it is also one of the few ways you will actually meet someone. With our busy lifestyles and schedules, often the beginnings of a courtship have to occur online until you know there is enough of a reason to take it offline and make room for the relationship.

Fifteen. My baby girl is fifteen years old today.

She is wicked funny. And now it’s a more adult humor. No more knock-knock jokes that don’t have a punch line. She has mastered the one liner and she pulls them out at the most inappropriate times. I could not be more proud of her horribly timed one liners.

She doesn’t let trends dictate her style and I love that. Even though sometimes I want to drag her out of a store by the hair because it’s the 5th one we’ve been to and she still can’t find the correct shade of blue jeans that are also the correct length. NEWSLFASH: THEY DON’T EXIST. WE STILL HAVEN’T FOUND THEM. Usually I just tell her if she’ll just PICK A PAIR I will never publicly embarrass her again. Of course this is a lie. She should be really scared for what I have planned for her wedding day. When she’s 35.

This year in school she’s really found her niche. Her niche is: band geek. And it’s adorable. But also a double edge sword. On one hand it’s been really great to watch her at a game, to see her come home giddy and exhausted after getting to play during a college game, to see the pride on her face. But also, it’s been a big time commitment. Her next two Saturdays are booked with Band Stuff. She has 3 hour weekday practices then Taco Bell afterwards with Band Friends. So less time to hang out with her awesome and amazing mom.

More than ever before I’m really excited to see where this year takes her. She is becoming so independent and unique and we are beginning to see what Adult Cassidy is going to be like and I have to say, I’m excited to get to hang out with her.

Till then… Happy Birthday, Kid. I love you.

Cassidy has turned into such an adorable little band geek. It’s been fun to see her playing grow and progress throughout the years. She’s stuck with the flute through it all so she’s gotten so good that now I enjoy getting to listen to her practice in the afternoons. Previously we rented a flute but this year her band teacher was a SAINT and let her have one of his to use for the season. I’ve been keeping an eye out on one to buy but for now the free one is just fine for me because there’s still a chance that she could end up changing her mind. As crazy as this kid is I full expect that one day she’ll come home fluteless and will instead be lugging in something like this remo ergo soloist doumbek at guitar center!

But no matter how many times she might or might not change, I will never get tired of sitting in the stands at the game listening to her play. It’s one of those awesome parental moments that you just know will go far too fast.

I make an extremely horrible sick person. I know lots of people want to be babied and have their significant other around to help them out. Bring them soup and water, make sure you’re taking your medicine, remind you that you need to take a shower because, come on, it’s been three days lady, I can smell you from downstairs. I am not one of these people. Leave me alone, let me sleep and stop telling me what to do. I don’t want soup. Soup is horrible and I don’t want to eat it when I’m WELL why in the world would you think that now that I don’t feel good I’d want to eat salty water? GROSS.

So when I started to feel bad at the end of last week I didn’t really say anything. Looking back, I should have gone to Urgent Care on Friday when my head hurt bad enough that I was having problems concentrating at work. But no! If I don’t go to see a doctor then, technically, I’m not sick yet! Plus we had tickets to see Rush. PRIORITIES.

Again, Saturday I should have gone when I worked out and had to breathe through the pain in my head when my heart rate would rise while throwing around 15 pounds above my head.

Then on Sunday around the time that Breaking Bad started…

Hold on. Moment of silence for Mr. White.

…

Okay, on Sunday when I sat down to watch Breaking Bad I was in some pretty serious pain. I should have stayed home Monday morning and gone to the doctor. But I was not ready to admit I was sick yet!

Then Monday was kind of a haze. Like, watch the clock, pass the seconds because OMG THE PAIN IN MY HEAD. I was actually really productive but in so much pain I couldn’t even remember what I had done all day on the way out to my car. Even then I was trying to talk myself out of going to Urgent Care on the way home.

Just get home. Take a nap. You’ll be fine.

Except I got to my freeway junction and couldn’t remember the drive there or focus on the sign in front of me so instead of heading South for home, I went North. To Urgent Care.

And then I spent an hour waiting to be yelled at by a doctor that said I should have been there on Friday. heh

The next 24 hours are pretty much a blur. Well, except for the two hours it took me to get home because all three lanes of the freeway were closed during rush hour because people are stupid and don’t know how to drive and cause multicar pileups when I JUST WANT TO GO HOME.

After that though, pretty fuzzy because of the antibiotic, the aspirin, the nose spray and then the two Benadryl. There was sleeping, then Ben came home, then more sleeping, then my stomach was all OMG WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO!? DID YOU EAT TACO BELL THEN FILL US WITH MEDICINE!? AHAHAHAHAH DUMBASS. Then nausea. Oh my God the nausea. Then sleep. Then ALARM CLOCK. WHY IS THERE AN ALARM CLOCK!? Then I emailed my boss. Then WHY IS BEN’S ALARM CLOCK TALKING TO ME!? SHUT IT UP OH MY GOD!? Then sleep. Then food. I think I cooked oatmeal? Ben talked to me about running? Then there was more Benadryl. Then more sleep. Kumo and Danica had unicorn horns and pulled my sled to Narnia but there wasn’t a Lion, just a lot of snow and Dogicorns and I was disappointed that they just pooped normal poop. UNICORN POOP IS A LIE. Then somehow there was more food consumed so that I could take more Benadryl and dream more.

The medicine haze wore off around the time that Ben came home and I’m pretty sure we ate Mexican food. Yeah. Pretty sure I ate nachos.

So then Wednesday I was like, maybe I should take the day off again? Instead I did exactly what I SHOULDN’T do. I decided to make up for all the sleeping the day before by doing ALL THE THINGS.

GET UP!

GO TO WORK!

PICK UP CASSIDY FROM SCHOOL!

PICK UP HER ADORABLE NEW GLASSES AT THE OPHTHALMOLOGIST!

GROCERY STORE!

DROP HER OFF AT APPOINTMENT!

GO HOME! PLAY WITH DOGS! CLEAN MASTER BATHROOM WATER CLOSET (Can I just say that I always feel like a complete douchebag when I say water closet but it really sounds SO much better than That One Room We Pee In) AND START LAUNDRY!

PICK UP CASSIDY!

COSTCO! BUY ALL THE THINGS!

COME HOME! PUT ALL THE THINGS AWAY! CLEAN THE KITCHEN!

BEN’S HOME YAY!

GO TO COUNSELING WITH BEN!

COME HOME! YAY! CASSIDY MADE DINNER! EAT THE DINNER!

CLEAN UP KITCHEN!

SIT DOWN!

REALIZE THAT I WAS WAY TOO ACTIVE AND MY HEAD HURTS AND I’M A FOOOOOOOOOL!

START WRITING THIS BLOG.

FALL ASLEEP!

Like I said, I am not a good sick person. Or a good person that is sick but chooses to believe she’s not thus just making herself sicker.

Today was better and tomorrow is Friday which is awesome but also Cassidy’s FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY.

*queue panic attack*

THE END!

TILL NEXT TIME!