NOT YET

Aaaaaand here we are 12 days later and yet STILL no house! We are hoping our docs will be sent to the title co. Wed. In the meantime, our house is in the Penske truck and we'll be like the Beverly Hillbillies for awhile....homeless (ok, partially homeless...we'll be staying with friends) until our house goes through. We have to be out of our rental tomorrow. Wouldn't it be awesome if we got the call for the keys as we're driving away???

Whoever came up with the word "short sale" must've been slightly drunk that day. ha. There's nothing "short" about it!

AN EXTRA DOSE OF STRESS!

For those of you who have been wondering.....no we have not closed on our house yet. This whole process has been the most stressful we've gone through (and it's our 3rd home to own). Our closing has been constantly delayed mainly due to negligence on the loan officer's side. Paperwork not getting turned in when we thought it had, more docs being requested from us the day before closing that should've been taken care of a week or two ago...stuff like that. Our biggest stressor now is that we had to file an extension today because someone forgot to turn in our paperwork. The last extension we had to file cost $2,000 which our realtor and the seller's realtor absorbed, but someone has to pay for this one. That is, if the bank gets greedy and decides to stiff us. I'm furious about it. I don't believe we should have to fork over a ton of money for someone else's mistake and I'm ready to stand up for our rights if it comes to that.

We are hoping & praying, that the bank will waive the extension fee. Monday or Tuesday we hope to sign papers and get the keys on Wed. We have to be out of our rental by the 30th so it's getting down to the wire. Hopefully, things will move forward from here with NO MORE hangups!! Our realtor has been awesome and going above & beyond trying to get our paperwork moved along. Some things though, are beyond our control and we just have to give it up to God. 

Frankly, I think God has big plans for us in this new house & neighborhood because the devil is working overtime trying to prevent us & discourage us from getting it!

LABOR DAY PLAYDATE

What a fun day! Nate had a playdate with friends, Shannon & J.J. (and giving their parents a much needed "day off"). I've been wanting to check out a splash park in Tucson so off we went & it was a blast. Next time I'll remember MY swim suit! We had a little Chik-Fil-A picnic and then ran out the xtra energy at the Tucson mall play area. The kids were great...VERY well behaved & had a ton of fun!

BIRTHDAY FUN

First birthdays together, ages 18 & 21 - 1986!
I had an awesome birthday today! Started off with a free Starbuck's mocha (or as Nate calls it, "chocolate coffee"), and tonight we went to La Encantada Mall for dinner & a concert. We sat on the 2nd floor on the deck of a taco restaurant (whose name escapes me for the moment) and they gave us free dessert for our birthdays! Oh man, it was AWESOME too! We were able to watch the storm moving across the valley, which amazingly escaped us (since the entire mall is outdoors) so the concert wasn't spoiled. The Jovert steel drum band from Tucson High was playing and they were AMAZING! What talent!! It was very entertaining and a perfect evening.

PURSES FOR PURCHASE!

Hi everyone! Visit my upcycled purse website to purchase the latest bags I've created. You can order directly off the site and have your original purse within a week! Very cool designs that you won't find anywhere else.

D.S. DESIGNS WEBSITE

MAKING THE CUT

Nate was watching me cut out the bags & fabric for my custom purses when it occurred to me....I hadn't shown him how to use scissors yet. So I asked him if he wanted to cut something too & his eyes got wide & he said "YES!!"

I found some blunt scissors and showed him how to use them. At first he made random cuts just trying to figure them out. But it didn't take him long to start cutting fairly straight strips of paper. He was so intent...it kept him busy for a long time! I also showed him how to clean up his mess. haha!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

This week is our birthday week! Tuesday was Don's birthday and mine is Saturday. It's been fun celebrating together all these years. Nate wrote his name on the card (with a little guidance, but he did write it by himself!) and it was a fun day.

BUSY

Things have been so busy lately, I just haven't had time to do much blogging. Between my art, my custom purses, keeping up with Nate and church stuff...I'm starting to stress about packing up the rest of the house for our move in late Sept. We're supposed to close on the house on Sept 18 but the way things are going with all the delays, it could be later. 

Nate has slept through the night the last 3 nights. YAY!! Not sure why the change. We left the floor fan on in the living room, next to his bedroom wall and ever since then, he's been sleeping. We've trained him to sleep through noise so maybe the silence is what's waking him up & possibly scaring him. It's like the reverse effect for most kids! 

He's started making up funny nonsense words that sounds like he's speaking chinese:

Pong kong!

Peekie poco!

Chon chon!

Po cho!

Packa poco peek!

And more like that. He will say the words and then crack up laughing like it's the funniest thing he ever heard. It's hilarious to watch him. He has memorized 5 or 6 Bible verses and can sing along with several songs. He remembers and recognizes people and their names...even some he's only met a couple of times. His vocab and comprehension is increasing rapidly and so is his energy. He runs, jumps, skips, and is loving every minute doing it. 

My day usually consists of "Look mom!" (translation..."Look what I've been up to!"), "See mom...right there!" (as he's pointing out every object in his eyesight...which happens to be incredibly good). The other day he was showing how big the tail on his toy shark was and I said jokingly, 

"Do you have a tail too?" 

He replied, "No, I no have a tail. I have a BUTT!"

I about died laughing.