Life in the Cheese Drawer

i was getting all these recommendations for realtors from everyone: people at work, people at nate’s work, the mortgage dude. however, my coworker from the newsleaders, sharon, used this lady to buy, sell, and buy her houses. she really liked her, and she told me that if i ever bought a house, i should go through her.
so, after listening to everyone’s recommendations, i called delores, sharon’s realtor, who owns her own agency. after i talked to delores and set up and appointment, i checked my messages on my cell phone, and there was a message from sharon! i took it as a sign.
today we went to see delores. she had asked me on the phone what our price range was, what i was looking for, etc. etc. we chatted for about 10 minutes in her office, then we went out and looked at some houses. the first bunch we went to see were all under $120,000 and all on the east side of st. cloud
that’s all i got

really like. and it’s on a corner lot.

house

nate and i went to the mortgage dude today and we got approved for $155,000!!!! that was way more than i thought! (and way more than i want to spend!!)
anyway, we have two programs to choose from, since we don’t have a down payment. one is a program where we would pay asking price for the house and the seller would pay the down payment and closing costs. the second one is if we choose to buy a house out of the st. cloud metro – like in avon or rice. no down payment and no mortgage insurance! but then, there’s the cost of commuting, so it’s a toss-up.
most of the houses we’ve looked at have been $120,000 or less, and most of those have been what i’m looking for. the lower the payment the better is my thought.
here’s our list of preferences so far:
nate
garage
dishwasher
me
trees in yard
window over kitchen sink
deck/patio would be nice
not on the 5 major thoroughfares in the area (33rd, 25th, 8th, 3rd, and 9th)
next step: the realtor.

yo peeps. i is alive.
live has been rather disorganized lately because of all the moving and cleaning and crap. now my house is a mess because i haven’t had time/energy to put stuff away. that and i need another shelf for books and movies.
tomorrow is my last work day of the week! then indiana! woohoo! i made a list of all the crap i need to remember and i’m hoping that i will remember the sleeping mat this time. stupid stupid me.
other than that, i’m just hanging out (figuratively). i bought a new strapless bra for angie’s wedding so i don’t literally hang out whilst at the altar. that wouldn’t be good. anyway, i must rave about this deal on this bra, because i got it for $20 total with shipping, and normally these bras go for like $60 (they’re goddess bras). rave! rave! rave! yay for amazon clearance!
anway, enough about my boobs. it’s time for bed i think and then tomorrow i’m on a birthday mission and then work and then the weekend! yay!

although i felt like it a couple times, i did not die while moving all my crap from my dinky apartment to my spacious (tho seemingly dinky w/all the boxes) duplex. i borrowed my parents’ van, and despite my saying i will never move without a moving van again, i moved without a moving van. again.
jane came up sunday the 4th and we moved a good portion of my crap that day. all the big stuff anyway. with breaks in between. like to go to the benton county fair to sample the minidonuts and view the llamas and goats and cows and baby goats (which were soooo cute!!!!). but the two of us moved everything out of storage, the couch and the loveseat (blaaargh, that couch…) and the bed. we did pretty good. it was a tossup between the washing machine and the couch. i don’t know which was worse.
well, now i am mostly unpacked. all the necessary stuff is in its place and the unnecessary stuff is strewn about in closets and rooms where no one looks. and now i have a guest bed! yay!
so that is my update. i am looking forward to next thursday when i will take off for indiana and see lizzie! yay!!!
and now i am so tired because i was up this morning at 8 a.m. to let the dish network guy install our tv. so now it’s off to bed!

here are pics of my new house. sorry, too lazy to do a cut. i will dominate your friends’ page!!

as you walk in the front door, the stairs are right in front of you and this is to your right.

walking forward into the dining area

and around into the kitchen. note the doorway into the basement that is unfinished and slightly scary.

another kitchen shot. i like the tile. don’t like the cupboards. and notice how the countertops are in pieces.

the huge closet in the living room.

going upstairs.

and right into the bathroom (where the tub is). i don’t like the sliding door on the tub. or the fact that there’s no side on the tub.

bedroom 1.

bedroom 2 (which will probably be our room).

weird half bedroom off the 2nd bedroom. i think this will be our walk-in closet.

the mini-hallway upstairs. (and a shot into the bathroom.)

i am putting in my two months’ notice at the end of this month. which means i need to find a place to live in the next two months. arg. i hate house shopping. i’d much rather rent a house or even BUY a house, but since nate’s income is questionable at most, i guess i’ll have to move to another apartment.
arg.
and on top of that, his car is in the shop to get its timing chains fixed, and they did a diagnostic and found a total of $2400 worth of stuff that needs to be fixed. ugh. i’m slowly dying here, help me.
but on a lighter note, nate is trying to quit smoking. we’ll see how that goes. last time he tried he lasted 2 days.
poo and all that.

nate and i went to ikea last night and got this quilt:

with this duvet:

yay! it’s so pretty! i’m so happy we got it!

i’m scared of my upstairs neighbors. they fight all the time. they yell at each other, and tonight there was throwing right above me. HUGE thumps. and the girl was yelling “f-ing stop it!” hysterically. 4:30 a.m.,
what am i supposed to do? nate was gone, so there was no way i was going upstairs to yell at them to shut up. it lasted like 5 mins, then stopped. someone drove away in a car, rather furiously, out of the parking lot. calling the cops would have done no good. what do i do?

i looked at three apartments today. one was a dump, the other was in a questionable section of town, and the third, oh baby! what a deal!
here’s what i get: $480/month, $500 deposit, free garage! and electricity is $30-40/month. all for a 6-month lease. yeah! i forgot to ask her about the cat thing, but when i take the applications in tomorrow, i will tell her we’re thinking of getting a cat, and see what she says. if she says they don’t take cats, then i guess i’ll just have contraband. kitty kontraband, that’s what we’ll call her from then on. time to get packing.
i’m going to look into being a vendor at the lemonade fair this year. it’s an arts/craft fair at scsu over the course of three days. if it’s a reasonable charge for a booth, i might think about doing it and seeing what happens. i don’t know what’s reaosnable, though, $300 or less?if i choose to do it, i also need to get a bunch of stuff printed. oh boy! it sounds exciting, but expensive up front, and who knows if people will buy stuff! rrgg… sound like a good idea or not?
no social commentary today. i cna’t think of anything to comment on. plus i have to go kick nate of the computer so i can work on a project.