WOW! I am sitting here laughing to myself a bit, browsing through pics deciding what to get printed. I am coming to realize that the best pictures are of the people. I kind of figured that would be the case. I look at the scenery pics and there are some beautiful ones that bring back great memories and they are the best ones to share because most people don't know the people in the pics. But to me the people pics are the best, they are making me laugh.... I was just looking at pics from the RDCC Christmas party in 2003... remember? At the restaraunt near Covent Garden next to Pacifico? Well the pics are hilarious (although I have already forgotten some people!!! I can't remember some of the names and some people I go oh yeah! I remember them!!) This was the first night I saw Evil Reed.... oh a night to remember...


So the great news is that Jamie got a job!!! YAY! It is even a promotion, he will be a 1st asst on a small budget movie called "Stay Alive". It's such a small budget that they won't have a 2nd asst which is what he normally does. So think good thoughts for him as this is a big deal and a lot of responsibility! Big changes! He leaves Wednesday for New Orleans and will be there for 5 weeks, so poor me!!! Let's hope he gets back in time for the move!!!

23 more days til I see Star Wars!!! I got our tickets for Katherine and me the other day and we are looking forward to it!!

Yesterday we had some excitement looking out my window. A psycho crow (we think it must be the one that left the leg on the ledge) sat on the ledge screaming at us. He was there for a good few minutes and then kept flying around past the window... back and forth.... Katherine called him Satan

6 weeks from today, but who's counting. I keep thinking of all the great things about owning a house that I will try not to take for granted.
* A dishwasher
* Central air
* A hose to wash off our bikes when they get all muddy
* A garage to put them in instead of next to the dining room table! (especially when they are muddy)
* No one living below us so that when the cat races around at 2am, we don't have to worry about waking up the neighbors!
* An outdoor BBQ
* An outdoor anything for that matter!
* A garage to store our crap in
* A place to plant tomatoes
* Best of all, the ability to look at something you don't like about your home and know that you can fix it or change it to be anything you want!!!

We got very good news! The appraisal came back on our house and it is for the amount we are paying. Even though we still feel we are paying a bit too much to live in a 2 bedroom, 950 sf house in Tujunga, it is nice to know that there are other people out there willing to pay the same amount we did!

Today is our 2 month anniversary! WOW time sure does fly!

You will all be very sad to know that the bird leg has disappeared from my window ledge. There is now a half eaten apple and a lot of bird poo. Nothing worth taking a picture of. I will keep you updated in case something worthwhile shows up.

The front of the house. A great feature is the garage being in front of the house, sets the house back so when you are on the front porch you feel a bit of privacy, especially with the big pine tree. 

The front yard. The owner is a big gardener as you can see with all the flowers. 

Jamie and I sitting on our new front porch 

The left bit of the backyard with the big lemon tree! The yard is an blank slate for Jamie to play around with. 

Our realtor Judy and Jamie sitting on the deck in the back yard of our new house! The seller is going to let us keep this furniture. 

Here is a pic of the birdie leg!!!! Fascinating huh! 

YAY!!! We got the house! House #4 was the one we were meant to make our home. We found out yesterday afternoon. I went home and Jamie and I popped open a bottle of champagne! It's a little bit surreal but I am sure we will quickly get used to the idea. We have the inspection tomorrow and I am looking forward to that. We pretty much won't see the house again until the final walk through so I want to take my time and let it soak in tomorrow.

Here is a link to a 360 tour of the house:

http://media.homestore.com/H7KUE7Z7-4-VIRTUAL_TOUR.htm

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know whether to laugh or cry!!! I was sitting in my cube minding my own business talking to Carolyn on the phone and Katherine came in and we were all having a perfectly nice conversation. All of a sudden I noteced a flock of feathers floating down past my window. I commented on it so Katherine went and looked and bust out laughing/crying and she couldn't talk. We got her to tell us and I looked out and the is a little ledge below my window with a bird leg on it!!!! It's pretty big too. A big old foot with a bone sticking out. I only wish I could take a picture to share with you all....

So we are in the counter offer waiting stage. House #4 had 4 bidders. The good news is that they only countered to 2 with us being one of them. The other good news was that the counter wasn't for more money (goodness knows we don't have any more!!) they just had conditions and stuff. We're not sure what they countered to the other people. So we have agreed to their conditions and supplied the paperwork they wanted and now we are waiting again....Probably until 9pm tonight....I'll catch you all up tomorrow....

So here we go again, we just put a bid in on a house in Tujunga that is 2 blocks away from my mom. I am sure we have overbid it but that gives us a little hope that we might get it, again careful what we wish for? Any house we get will be a case of us bidding more than everyone else so does that mean we paid too much? Should we worry if we do win it? But if we always bid too little then we'll never get a house so it comes down to which house do we want to pay a little too much for? It's all such a tough decision. We just don't know the future.... what if we get the house and the market falls out and goes back to the prices from 4 years ago... that would be terrible... but again we just don't know. What we do know is that we are ready to buy a house and want to buy one... so we fall into the group of crazy people that are willing to drive the prices up by bidding too much. Well we will just try not to think about it too much when we are sitting in the new backyard with a BBQ.... but who knows, most likely we are worrying about nothing cuz we won't get it anyway.....babble babble babble....

We saw another house the other day, the house itself was fine. It also had some opportunities!! Jamie and I could start a new career there. I could become a prostitute and Jamie could start dealing crack and we would have a built in clientele right on the street!!! We would never have to leave the house to work!!! We put a bid in right away, we'll let you know as soon as I can resign from Nestle. How exciting! If we get it, I get to go shopping for a whole new wardrobe!!! Maybe I can get an outfit like the girl next door that we saw with a bright green bra and black mesh shirt and mini shorts.... If only I gained 30 pounds I could just share clothes with her.....

Well house #3 is history. We put in a counter offer and found out someone else was higher, we were asked if we wanted to go more but we said no. The price we offered was what we felt the house was worth to us. This one is different, I'm not upset or anything. Jamie and I both agreed that we are starting to feel more in control of this and getting a little used to it. We both want a house but we don't want to get caught up in the craze of just bidding more to win. I think if we keep that in mind and bid what it's worth to us we shoudl come out ok in the end.

So we saw another house on Saturday that is a very nice Spanish style on the oustide and very plain on the inside, so lots of potential. We aren't getting overexcited about it but we are going to bid on it. We have a price in mind that it is worth to us but it might be low so we are not expecting to get it. We have to draw the line on what it is worth to us and not just bid higher to win.

We also saw another house that was quite atrotious (sp?) It was on top of a hill and the next door neighbor was the massive power line holder. I can only imagine that the people have died from cancer from living under these power lines. The house insde was soooooooo beyond ugly and worn down, it just needed to be bulldozed and pushed down the mountain!!! I know it sounds like we are getting too picky....

Had a great evening last night! Mark Griffiths was in town so we met up up and went to dinner!!! It was so nice to see him!!

Well we did not get this second house. We were the third highest bidders out of 4. The house was listed at $449 and went for $485. This time it was only $36k higher and the last one was $75k higher so we are getting a little better! So we are jumping back on that horse and looking at another house tomorrow. Wish us luck in this continuing adventure!