Homeownership Wows and Woes

Now that we have our own home, I feel more stressed. (don't get me wrong, I feel very blessed to own our home, well... maybe that we have a bank that let us pay them monthly over it.)

I feel more stressed because there are MORE:

-space to fill and make cozy

-storage to fill but with what

-problems due to more space and areas to maintain

-careful planning of how to make space sing with personality and style

-corners to miss in cleaning and organizing

-walls to paint and architecture to update

-competition on which room to do first

-home age-related issues to deal with as opposed to calling the apt mgr to send someone

-bills to pay out since even the garbage is in your name

Also because there are LESS:

-money to deal with problems as they arise

-time to do it all when you have school-age children

-patience in keeping up with problems that pop up

-ideas to run through when home value vs. style clashes

-opportunities to get things done due to lack of time and money

But I guess in the end, it all balances out. (good thing, too since I practice Feng Shui and a balancing act goes a loooong way) We love our home and can't wait to realize its potential.

I'm busy designing closet shelving ideas to maximize storage and built-in cabinetry to lessen the impact of bare walls and add more storage in the living areas. Designing the kids' rooms so they'll want to study in there (and not just use it to text their friends in private). Researching the garden ideas for this part of Texas (aka still waiting for my thumb to turn green). My hubby's busy bringing home the bacon to repair the walls, air leaks, keep cooling and heating and the materials to maintain the house. The kids, they have their chores... (if they ever get to them!)

It may take a few (fingers crossed) or several years before most of our projects are realized, but at least they are our projects...

Side note:

Tonight's BTS Brain Menu:

Pork Adobo (complete protein)

Steamed Rice (niacin, zinc, selenium, manganese and almost complete protein)

Asparagus and Tomatoes (vitamins and minerals)

Melon and Grapes (vitamins and minerals)

It was delicious! And I didn't have to beg the kids to eat it! (winking until you notice)

Good night and later!

7th Annual BTS Fashion Show!

In our new house!!! It was more exciting this time as we had more places to take pictures in.

While the music blared from the TV and the chosen outfits are laid out, we present the new line up for Fall! This year and armed with coupons and sale ads, we hit Old Navy, Ross, JC Penney and Kohls for great deals and clearance. Plus, again, we are using some of last year's finds!

Here's I-Dude! He is definitely ready for school and third grade!
Summer heat is not a problem with this fresh and colorful striped polo shirt and dark denim, both from JC Penney. Sonoma sneakers, Kohl's clearance; 2009. He chose the shirt; great choice!

A cool soccer outfit or just a fun day at school, this is a smart choice; Jersey and shorts, JC Penney.

In choosing school outfits, one must think about these things seriously. Khaki cargo shorts, JC Penney, plain white T-shirt and preppy striped green and navy hoodie, Old Navy. Socks and slip-ons, Kohl's 2009.

And of course, reading time can and should be stylish! Sonoma sneakers and socks, Kohl's 2009. High Sierra dark denims, JC Penney. Black logo hoodie, Old Navy.

Now let's turn our attention to J-Pony. Today, vacation, Monday, school! Violin and Choir, it'll be quite hectic, but fashion, no problem! It doesn't hurt that she loves to pose and it shows!
Cozy on throws, J-Pony sports a polka dot cardigan and skinny jeans, Old Navy, with a White T-shirt and Converse sneakers, from L-Infinity.

A fun scribbled shirt is always in style, Rue 21. Skinny jeans, Old Navy. Red and white star earrings, Claire's. Converse sneakers from big sis, L-Infinity.

School is all about reading, so why not do it fashionably? Green cardigan, white T and Converse sneakers, from L-Infinity, dark flare jeans from cousin T. Book (Sherlock Holmes), Half-Price Books. High Sierra blue and black backpack, Ross 2009

The summer time is everytime with this sunny outfit. Yellow plaid gathered top (Wet Seal) on clearance. Skinny jeans, (Old Navy). Yellow flats (from L-Infinity).

L-Infinity is ready to fly from the nest with these smart college get-ups. She prefers black, but looks great in all colors.
Whether during the warm but windy Texan Fall season of mainland, USA or on the breezy isle of Oahu, this striped with floral embellishment V-neck top (Rue 21), is totally at home. Especially when paired with dark skinny denims (Forever 21) and bronze flats (Walmart).

Now that she's got her Fujitsu tablet, school will be a breeze. Especially with some white fabric slip ons, Payless, Skinny jeans, Charlotte Ruse; White-T, Forever 21 and a spaghetti strap floral babydoll, Rue 21.

We're definitely headed to somewhere breezy and humid, so why not look stylish on the way there? With this striped black & gray cardigan (Old Navy) a fun light yellow print shirt (Rue 21) and dark skinny denims (Charlotte Ruse), mission accomplished!

Her last outfit will also nicely fit in anywhere on Oahu or in the BYU Hawaii campus and hang out with the preppy crowd before they hit the beach! Black zip-up hoodie (Forever 21), black & gray striped tank (Pac Sun), Converse gray sneakers (Kohl's). Gray preppy shorts (JC Penney).

I also had them pretend that they've conquered their first day of school; in L's case, coming back from her first college semester. "Hi, I'm home!"
I-Dude was both hot and tired. He could barely hang on to the door. :-)
Look at J-Pony... With a violin case and a heavy backpack, the first day is definitely a feat!

Of course, no BTS Fashion Show can end without a group shot! Don't they look ready to tackle another year? Fashion police, you may be out of a job! :-)

Are you ready to go back to school?

Home Sweet Home!

Tomorrow, I will post with pictures, but for now, I just want to share how happy we are to be away from airport food, germs and crowds!

We are home! Back home where we can relax and think about what matters. Flying Standby is difficult during summer time!

But I can certainly say that we made the best of our situation.

Honey, I love you with all of my heart for having a career where we are free to experience all the airports we can. Thank you so much!

Homeownership- A whole new fun!

Sorry for not being around much (but then again, who's reading this, right?)

Well... 3 weeks into being a homeowner and we've already encountered:

-door knobs and locks that need to be adjusted and changed.
-dead garage door motor due to a stripped out gear
-carpenter ants in the Master under a window sill
-tons of debris from the ceiling re-texturing
-window screens that have holes or not square any longer
-changing out the lower kitchen pulls to save our clothes from getting ripped
-having the master ceiling fan break and needed to be replaced
-needing to change out one of the kids' bedroom carpet because the previous owners' dogs peed on it and when we cleaned the spots, the smell is now worse!
-needing to change out the Master Bath window to one that can be opened since the fan and the vent don't dry out the air as well as we hoped.
-the shower leaks on to the tub and need to be re-caulked.
-the yard needing immediate attention because of the weeds. (thanks to my in-laws and friend Amy who gave us their lawn mower, it looks great now!)
-saving up for a new front door knob/lock set for obvious safety issues.
-pricing out security alarm systems for the same reason.

*dizzy* from all the responsibility, but *giddy* from knowing this is our house...

Oh yeah, I'm working now, too! That's for another post...

Til' next post!

House Pics!

Here are some pictures of our house! I hope you like it as much as we do! I'm so happy that I was able to upload some pictures! Yay!!!

The front of the house...
Mr. Man and I... at our front door (boy, that feels good to write!)
Our lovely co-habitants. LOL
We love our stairs layout but we'll be changing the rails soon enough...
The top landing, right off the foyer...

Here's the master bathroom
My side of the bathroom.
My closet- it's pretty spacious!
L's walk-in closet
J's closet
I's closet...
I and Mr. Man are planning what to do in his new room after they get rid of the ugly valance and the ceiling fan.


And here's the picture of our new fridge!!! I've wanted this style since they first came out! We all love it and can't wait to fill it!


Glad, joyful and excitement hasn't fully hit us yet, so more adventures to follow!

Soon... the backyard!

We have the Key!

Today, along with two of my neighbor/great friends' birthdays, we drove ourselves down to a title company TO CLOSE ON OUR HOUSE!!! Yeah!!! We picked up the key this afternoon and finally told and showed our children. Whew!

We found it January. Saw and toured it in February. Bought it in March. This beautiful 2-story, brick facade, double column elevation built in 1989. The inspection revealed that the original owners/sellers took great care of this house. We lucked out.

All throughout, NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE, but a few people whose help we needed, knew. Not even our children. It was quite stressful keeping it from them and my side of the family, but we just didn't want any of our hopes dashed. Mr. Man and I fell in love with this house. I knew this was our house the moment I saw the pictures on our realtor's site. So we got sneaky and did it on our own.

Onto the surprising our children... We pretended to have our realtor lend us a key to see this newly "emptied" house that's on the market. Immediately, they loved it! That's just from the front lawn! Once inside, we told them that we have to be careful, stay together and tour the house, one story at a time. We started with the downstairs (Foyer, LR, FR, DR, K, G, Storage, Laundry), then we went upstairs to all the 4 Bedrooms and 2 Bathrooms.

(1 hour before we took the kids, we went back into the house to put up the signs with their names on it in each of their future rooms. Mr. Man hung it up on the window blinds since we didn't have any tape with us)

We steered the kids into the Master first. They loved the separate walk-in closets and the hidden commode (we love that, too). They loved the raised ceiling and the bay and big windows. They loved all the storage in both bathrooms and the separate sinks in the Master Bath. Then L-Infinity happen to open the first closed door... in it was her sign-"L's ROOM" and she was shocked! Then J-Pony opened the one across- it had her sign then I-Dude opened his and saw his sign. L whispered, "Wait, does this mean, we want this house?" "Or... Did we already get this house?" Mr. Man nodded. They raved about their own walk-in closets. And that's when the noise factor rose and the kids simultaneously offered their design ideas and cell phone batteries were quickly spent. It was a great sight to behold...

It was the best day of our lives! Finally having a home we can call our own... Our move-in date will be delayed about a week as they refinish the ceiling and rid it of the awful "popcorn" texture on all the ceilings!

Even better... We managed to keep the kids in the same school district and the same church ward! The kids will still be close to their friends in the neighborhood. Why? It's 2 minutes away from our current apartment! That means we save money on movers!!! What a great blessing indeed! My heart is full and honestly it hasn't really sunk in yet. Give me until late May...

Again, I apologize for no pictures... our systems are still being polished. But I promise, very soon!!!

'Til next post!

Cleaning and Cooking

We decided to stay in today, but we also went to the Library to renew our cards and pick up I-Dude's prescription at CVS. At home, we totally went OT mode on cleaning and reorganizing.

Just before we got crazy on the chores, we had our own version of "McMuffin". I toasted our English muffins and I added tomatoes for a healthier add-in. We powered up with OJ, water and vitamins.

I reorganized my dishes again to accomodate the ones we found in the storage. Yes, I have more in there... I also washed dishes and cooked our meals. Mr. Man was busy going through our MBd to pick out stuff he wants to bring with him to Chicago. We found a couple of his post-mission pictures from the Philippines. Let's just say I have a gorgeous hubby... (lucky me!) :-D

The kiddos, since L-Infinity also got sick today with a cough and congestion, got to have a free day. We played a round of Rummikub and watched a music video of the Crazy Frog as well as they played a detective game on the computer.

Out of 3.5lbs of thinly sliced ribeye steaks, I was able to make three dishes that yielded 6-9 meals for us in two to three days. How much was the meat? Only $6.85! I made our staple, Bistek, a Filipino beef steak with onion in soy sauce. You eat it with freshly steamed Jasmine rice. So good!

Mr. Man also craved Beef Stroganoff, so I made that but Rachel Ray's recipe fell flat for him. He had to call his mama (so cute) to ask her recipe and we discovered that the magic ingredient was ketchup for his pallet! ;-) I quickly rewrote the recipe and filed it away in the computer for future reference.


Then, to end the day, we also decided that some Rootbeer Floats would be a great dessert since we didn't have much of those this week. I topped each pilsner with Redi-whip and a blackberry. It was a nice tang to all that sweetness!

Of course, the day wouldn't be officially over unless we prayed for all of our needs, friends and loved ones.

We had a great day today; the sun was out, mildly breezy and we had minimal errands. I'm so grateful that I have a family that love to spend time with me, love my cooking and love to tell me their thoughts and feelings. That I have one of the greatest husbands in the world. I-Dude was able to get his treatments on time, J-Pony set the two alarms in their room to go off every four hours and Mr. Man's alarms also. L-Infinity even made sure that she took medication every six hours and drank lots of water.

Like I've mentioned in our family creed, "We don't have much money or the best of everything, but our kingdom is full of love, laughter and wonderful memories." We live this way, everyday...

How was your warm Saturday?

FHE: Our Home is Our Sanctuary

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Sunday. I can honestly say that we did. I'll have to catch you up on it on another post.

I am quite humbled that we remembered to do Family Home Evening again. We focused on being a family, being in our home and how we can keep it safe and more spiritually and physically clean.

I'm the first one to admit that we have a lot to work on when it comes to figuring out what we're going to do with the extra stuff still sitting in boxes that we love and use, just can't store anywhere, we are at a loss. We can't afford pretty containers, bigger storage or get a house, so for now, we get creative.

But our home, since Mr. Man and I were still dating, was to be a home of happy memories, kindness and love. But more than anything, we wanted a home that our children would love to be in. And so far, it is. I stumbled upon the late President Gordon B. Hinckley's conference talk on October 2002 General Conference featured in the Liahona in November 2002. He said:

"If we fail in our homes, we fail in our lives. No man is truly successful who has failed in his home. I ask you men, particularly, to pause and take stock of yourselves as husbands and fathers and heads of households. Pray for guidance, for help, for direction, and then follow the whisperings of the Spirit to guide you in the most serious of all responsibilities, for the consequences of your leadership in your home will be eternal and everlasting." (LDS.org)

We applied that statement to each of us, not just for Mr. Man. We all have a part in making our home successful and more of a sanctuary. We talked of the good things about our family and how our standards are set for our own spiritual safety.

The Family: A Proclamation to the World stands as our compass to keep improving our family life. We have it in our dining room as it is our gathering place.

Mr. Man and I made the sacrifice that I would stay home so that our children will feel safe and welcome in our home. We encourage people to come over but we do not allow bad language or inappropriate subjects in our home. We taught them tonight that protecting our home is a group effort and we need everyone to maintain the loving standards we enjoy.

When you come in our home, the first thing you see is the picture of our Savior Jesus Christ, similar to the picture at the top of this post. We never needed to explain why to those who come in our home why we chose Him to be who greets them at the front door. He is whom we chose to serve and emulate each day and though we are not perfect at it, we want others to know of WHO reigns in our home...

Easter Break, Some benches & Fun Memories

So today is the last day of school for Easter holiday. They won't have school tomorrow which is good. That means I can get a lot done in the living room while the kids clean the blinds, windows, mirrors and their bathroom and beds. I'll also take my children for another walk to Tuesday Morning and Kroger for last minute Easter stuff we've been watching out for, while Mr. Man settles into his sleep. My fingers are tightly crossed that my target items (I've watched for about a month now) will be on sale.

Today was just another opportunity to get things done so I chose to do some visiting teaching. I visited two out of my three ladies. It helps that both of them are also becoming my close friends. After much blog hopping today, I also got to finalize in my head what our Easter table would look like. As it is also my mom's birthday, I wanted it to be a more fun and yet Easter appropriate table while recognizing I have three young children. So we'll see what we can come up with...

In the afternoon, my neighbor and friend Annette shared she saw a great bench that can go under one of the trees in front of my apartment to sit on during the upcoming warmer days to enjoy the breeze and it jogged my memory of how I wanted a pair of wrought iron/wood garden benches on each side of the front door path, facing each other. As we are definitely staying for until L-Infinity graduates next year, I think we may do just that... But then again, I need to make sure that we reduce a lot of what we don't need in the house so that we can truly focus on what would make more inviting inside before we focus on the outside.

Below is my front door, I don't know if you can see what I'm talking about, but I am telling the absolute truth when I tell you we have the best unit in this whole complex. Each day, we are able to witness the sunrise and the glow of the sun setting. We look out onto a 50 plus yards of just grass area ending into a narrow creek filled with turtles, a beaver, fish and an occasional snake. The creek separates us from a small wooded area that is home to some coyotes (further out) that sing to us every night, bunnies that come out at night, all kinds of birds, and our complex is full of dog owners and we have a good group of young children that play together well with our children now. Once again, our apartment area is the play hub of the neighborhood. I love opening the windows and hearing children laugh and play! Especially my two younger ones, Jas and Ian...

Look at that natural canopy/shade action going on at our front door. It is so refreshing during the day when we open the door and windows and let the breeze in. We have about a 5 foot path to the main walkway and dirt on each side. Can you imagine how inviting it would be to have facing benches and my two urns full of seasonal plants at each end of it? Mmmmm... my imagination's going wild!

And tonight, we headed to Walmart for a new front door rug as the other one has seen better days from the wet season we've had lately, plus it's about 4 years old, so I think it was ready for the garbage bin.

Trek down memory lane: It was 2002.

We watched some home videos when I-Dude was only 5 months old and J-Pony was three. We were all in our Gilbert, AZ apartment master bedroom and I-Dude was by the pillows in the middle of the bed playing with his toys. I was folding his clothes next to our director, Mr. Man. J-Pony was helping me fold the clothes by unfolding each bib and towel and refolding them by rolling each one up, bending it in half, twist it tight and pile them on top of each other. L-Infinity was making fun of my socks being in the laundry pile because I rarely wore any. Then you hear J-Pony, without being in the picture, "I, are you a Gerber baby? Are you a Gerber baby, I,?" I-Dude responds by eating his toy Sassy frog.

I then snatch up all the bibs and towels from J-Pony while she was distracted to refold them. She realizes they were gone and asks, "where are the clo-tes? L, where are the clo-tes? Mommy, what happened to all of I's clo-tes?" While watching this video of her calmly looking for her brother's "clo-tes", we are busting up laughing with her. She says, "Mommy, I was three then!" While L-Infiinity kept on saying, "I-Dude was so fat!"

Aaahhh... sweet memories. Nothing like it! Mr. Man will soon transfer all of these tapes into DVDs. That should make it easier to view next time...

FREE Feet

I did a Feng Shui consult at my friend Heather's apartment this morning. We had a lot of fun figuring out how she can make her space more her own. (Unless you were the very first tenant of that apartment and have survived the changing of management, apartments are temporary dwellings and past tenants' chi can get left behind.)

Anyway, while we were in the middle of that, I suddenly remembered that Famous Footwear sent me a $5 off coupon back in November as my reward for previous purchases (clearance rack hunter babe, as they call me at any given franchise). So, I called Charlie and he picked me up, we made a lunch date, waited for Jas and Ian to get home and we hit the mall.

Once inside FF, I made a beeline for the "racks", but couldn't find any that fit me or caught my fancy. I was in there for 15-20 minutes and nothing! The saleslady even recommended having me bring a style I like and research if it came in my size. That wouldn't have helped me because- I have a slim size 5! Most 5's come in medium! Meaning, no available size, no available shoes, meaning less shoe shopping sprees for me. Online can't give guarantees either, so I don't go that route. Plus, my most expensive pair of shoes since 1996 was my $25 wedding pumps!Anyway, I digress...

Well, between the lack of candidates and the kids running on energizer batteries, I was ready to cut out of there. As I was getting ready to gather the kiddos, I happen to look up and I saw a box that had a $5 sticker on it. I immediately thought- a mistake! But inside, was one that could replace my last set of Dr. Scholl's slippers back in April.

It was a quite a surprise that it was also Dr. Scholl's and it was a size 5! Given it was blue, but nonetheless, cute enough! I grabbed it, fished for my coupon, rounded up the two kids and went straight to the cash register. I placed my coupon and rewards card on the counter with the box and after it was rung up, the cashier handed me the receipt! The slippers were completely FREE! No tax, no cash out of my pocket kind of FREE! Plus... the original price was $40.00! Yes!

Want to see?


Here's another great deal that we snapped up:
At Kroger yesterday, we had to go and send allowance to my cousin in the Philippines. Ian needed a restroom so we all went inside. After, Charlie says, "There's a lot of batteries on sale at the clearance section". I asked him what kind of discount as batteries do not often go on sale much less clearance. He showed me the price tag and it was 50% off! Energizer brand to boot! That is an awesome deal since around spring here, tornadoes often knock out power and we needed to have tons of batteries just in case! So, we got a lot! We saved a lot of money and we're stocked up for any gadget that needs batteries in the house! YES!!!

How is your deal hunting going?