…love Jillian

Dear Realtor,

Hi!  I haven’t heard from you all afternoon.  I know it’s not really your fault and the sellers are just taking forever, but I’m starting to get concerned.  I’ve been waiting by the phone like a love sick teenager…seriously, if I check the phone one more time the unlock button is gonna stop working.  (I don’t know the life span of an unlock button, but I’m dangerously close to finding out.)  Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that my phone is broken (unfortunate because it would mean that you had tried to call, couldn’t get in touch and I could just call you to get the good news that we are going to be new home owners.)

Honestly, I’m just so surprised you haven’t called to ask me out, I mean, iron out the details of this real estate transaction.  (Did you see what happened there? I am literally turning into a love sick teen.)

So anyway, I wanted to pass along all my contact info in case you accidentally lost my regular number.  That’s totally possible right?

Now, you usually use my cell and normally that is the best number but I also have a home phone and an office line.  If you would like to send notification over fax, No Problemo! It only takes 2 seconds to plug in the fax machine.  I also have fax at work, so does Hubs.  We prefer phone calls or emails but fax would work too.  

Speaking of email.  I have several, jilliancheer at msn, jillian ranee at gmail, and jillian at jillianranee.com  Oh, and I have a work email too.  Hubs’ emails are easy; dashaun at dashaun.com, gmail.com, and openjack.com.  I’m pretty sure he has more if you need them….feel free to drop us a quick note.

In case the regular forms of communication are not available, we can both be found on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Flickr…you know, just in case you want to send us a quick message letting us know the status of our pending offer.

Oh, and Athlinks.com but surely we can connect before we have to resort to a race result tracking website.  Oh, and let’s not forget our websites:  jillianranee.com, dashaun.net, and .com

Well, that about covers it.  If you wanted to deliver the happy news in person you know where we live.  Feel free to come by…

Love,
Your anxious clients

No Comments | In: Letters, Our Home | | #

The person who said, “no news is good news,” never tried to buy a house.  Or get a job.

This is kind of getting ridiculous.  I’m so sick of waiting.  We still haven’t heard back on our offer and apparently our initial offer gives them until 5pm tomorrow.  I mean, what’s the point of putting your house on the market if you aren’t willing to play ball…

(Never mind that I totally backed out of an offer on our town-house earlier this year…this post isn’t about me; it’s about these ridiculous sellers and their lack of urgency.)

So, since there is no news to report I thought I would update everyone on the insanity that is waiting for your realtor to call.  Hubs is even getting impatient; he’s IM’d me several times this afternoon asking if we have heard anything and I always have to respond: no.

Lame.

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Hubs and I put an offer on a house yesterday and the waiting is killing us (well it’s killing me, I really haven’t heard much out of Hubs today.)  But seriously, why are they taking so long to respond?  I’ve already moved into this house!  I know where our furniture goes and dreamt about baking cookies in our new kitchen.  (Cake mix cookies, not “from scratch” cookies.)    

I know how it works: our realtor calls their realtor and then their realtor calls their client and then they take some time to discuss.  After they make a decision, they call their realtor and their realtor calls our realtor and he calls us.  Then we discuss.  After we make a decision we call our realtor back and he calls their realtor and so on and so on…no wonder it takes so long!  I suppose this particular method is the most void of emotional thoughtless decision making but the waiting is killing me.

So, if anyone has pull with the “real estate” gods, let them know that Hubs and I impatiently sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for an answer….

No Comments | In: Our Home | | #

2011 has come in with a bang!  Hubs and I headed over to STL to visit a couple friends AND see Crystal Method…again.  We saw them in Chicago last year but we really didn’t get to experience it the way we wanted so we did a Crystal Method Take 2.

It was nice seeing friends we hadn’t seen in a while and we even met some super cool new friends that actually turned out to be friends with the friends we were meeting….the world is so small.

After we got back we slept in on Sunday and had a pretty lazy day watching football.  I’m pretty darn excited for my Chiefs to play in the playoffs I just hope that yesterday’s showing is not and indication of how they plan on playing for their first play-off game.

After football we went house shopping (we’ve decided against building for a myriad of reasons the primary being we like to go places and do stuff and being married to our mortgage doesn’t really sound like a recipe for a happy life.)  I think we found a house and we’re going to put a bid on it today.  So, hopefully that will all workout…let the negotiations begin!

No Comments | In: Our Home, The Chiefs, We Like To Go Places | | #

Today is my birthday.  The big 31.  And while I mostly still feel like I’m in my 20’s a few things have definitely changed (in no particular order): 

• There was a time (not too long ago) when I could smell my own feet.  That’s right folks; I could get my toes to my nose with no problem at all.  A few weeks ago, I was sitting on the couch with Hubs and noticed that my feet felt a little sweaty (which sort of concerned me since I had just showered) so since they were in Hubs’ lap, I asked him if they smelled.  He made a gross face so I grabbed one of them and pulled it towards my nose only to realize I could only get it a little over half way and in the process made a sound like a 90 year old women had just stooped down and got back up.  I seriously thought my hips might have broken it was so loud!  I still don’t know if my feet smelled that night.
• My metabolism is not coming back.   Like Ever.  It’s a struggle to merely maintain my current weight.  And my love affair with food is growing stronger and stronger year to year. 
• There was a time my biggest “want” was a fun night out and a nice boyfriend.  Now my biggest wants revolve around moving into an actual house coupled with getting Hubs to load the dishwasher and pick up his clothes.
• I’m still not sure what ‘Get your Diamonds Up’ means….
• 4 inch heels are getting less and less comfortable.  And comfort wins out on fashion more times than not….nothing beats a good pair of fuzzy boots and leggings!
• Having a baby has turned into a high priority.  Cause seriously, I’m not getting any younger.  It was only a couple years ago my girlfriend and I joked around about having a ‘community’ baby…now I really want one of my own.

I’m sure this list will grow longer and longer the older and older I get but for right now, I’m hanging on to my youth as long as possible.  Sure I could have smelly feet while wearing fat girl pants but all in all it’s not so bad….

No Comments | In: Babies, I miss my metabolism, Life, Our Home | | #

Fall is here.  Again.  It seems like it was just fall a few weeks ago.  It feels like Hubs just got engaged last week and our wedding was yesterday.  But infact, another year has gone by and we are looking down the barrel of another winter.  (I’m hoping for tons of snow, obviously.)  But with the winter holidays rapidly approaching I can’t help but think of last year.  Back when Hubs and Tyson moved into my cozy little townhome and the holidays came and went.  I was confident we would not be living in the same place this time next year.  In fact, I even packed our entire holiday decor collection in my parent’s attic because I was planning on being out of our house by now.  But here we are a year later. 

            Don’t get me wrong, we haven’t just been sitting around not doing anything.  Hubs and I have made some significant progress on our next move.  We found a neighborhood we love, a corner lot right by an elementary school and even paid a small down payment to secure the future site of Casa de Carter.  We have a floor plan and a builder however; this particular builder requires a 5% down to start building.  Which is totally fine by me; the more we put down in advance, the lower our payment!  We could have put the money down already but we’ve spent some time paying down debt and making sure all our ducks are in row when it comes time to apply for an actual loan.  It has been a slow and tedious transition from spending to saving but we are doing it.

            We did have a couple opportunities to move out of our townhome this past year but I was unable to pull the trigger when it came time to actually pack up our stuff and move. I hate change.  My mom refers to me as a free spirit and while that may be true in a lot of aspects of life I can struggle with change—I drove my Eclipse for an entire year after I decided to get a new car because I wanted to get a car I would love just as much as my old one and I force my family to sit in a completely different seating arrangement when I’m at dinner because I HAVE to sit next to mom.  It was no different when I backed out of an opportunity to sell the only real home I’ve made for myself since moving out of my parents house.  Sure I’ve moved a lot and gone a lot of places but something about selling the home I bought and built during my independent late 20’s was more than I was willing to give at that point in time.  So, now we can only hope for another opportunity to sell when the time is right.  



            Looking back at the last year, I think I needed this additional year to make peace with the fact that Hubs and I will actually be moving. We moved in, got engaged, and married in the matter of months so I think I might have needed a little more time to get used to the idea.  But now our home is little a cramped seeing as it’s packed to the rim with everything a young couple and two dogs need to get through life and I cannot wait unitl the day I can get out of my car without running the gauntlet of bicycles and puppy kennels.  We should have the remainder of our down payment by the end of the year and we will start building in Dec/Jan. with a move in date the beginning of June-ish.  I’m comfortable with this timeline and am really looking forward to finally taking a step that we’ve spent so much time talking about….

No Comments | In: How much I love my Husband, Marriage, Our Home | | #

So, I have a ton of topics that need to be discussed, none worthy of their own post so here they are:

• I purchased the Laser Hair Removal Groupon a couple weeks ago but cannot get up the nerve to actually make the appointment.  I mean, I hate needles — I cried like a baby when I was forced to take an additional measles shot when I was 19 (yeah, I know laser treatment isn’t NEEDLES but I’m just trying to give you a measuring stick for my pain tolerance.  It’s low.)  So, now every time I think about calling and making my first appointment I immediately get sweaty and nervous.  I think Hubs is gonna have to go with me….isn’t that why women get married?  So, they have someone to drag along on scary (albeit elective) appointments?




• Fusion is working.  I know it.  I can feel it in my legs and butt and shoulders and abs.  And I’ve noticed that every time I think I’m building up some sort of tolerance to the level of Fusion I’m doing there is a more advanced modification; and so begins the pain all over again.  I think that is why I love it.  When I started the only parts that got sore were my back, abs, and shoulders.  But the stronger I get the more deep I can feel the exercises.  It’s like a light goes off and I can finally understand what the exercise is SUPPOSE to feel like and I feel like such a dumbass because I’ve been actively participating in the exercise without being able to tell which part it was suppose to be working.  Maybe it’s because I wasn’t strong enough to work the parts intended or maybe it just takes a bit of practice.  Either way, it’s working.   I can tell–even if the scale doesn’t agree with me….




• Hubs and I’s relationship feels good.  We are as happy as we’ve ever been.  Or at least I am.  It’s amazing how putting a little bit of distance (aka independence) on things makes such a big difference.  I feel like I’ve owned the things I want to be doing: Pilates, reading, school, running, and not worrying so much about our schedules lining up.  Which in turn has basically put the urgency on him and he responded right away!  I felt the shift immediately and I have to admit…it feels kinda good




• Our finances have been locked down.  Hubs got his allowance and he finally seems to own the amount.  Before, he would qualify purchases (food, drinks, snacks, exercise, misc crap) item by item and day by day whether they fell in the allowance or debit card category.  But now, EVERYTHING falls in allowance and it makes a difference since I do’t have to log in to see what he’s spent before we go to dinner or something.  The Carter Family has two major financial priorities right now:  paying down bills and buying a house.   I think if we can keep up this pace we will be out of debt and living the American dream in no time; although I’m not sure the 2.5 kids fit in our plan so we might just have 1 or 2 (depending on the sex of the first one) and let Juls/Bret have the our extra 1.5/.5–then they can have an even 3 or 4.  That sounds easier than trying to have ½ a kid…I hope Juls and Bret appreciate our generosity!  

Oh, and since you brought it up—kids.  We’re working on it (and that’s all I have to say about that)

No Comments | In: Babies, I miss my metabolism, Life, Marriage, Our Home, Workout | | #

It was brought to my attention today that I haven’t posted in a couple weeks…and in my defense I will say this:  my job is taking up more and more of my time everyday and that leaves less and less time for blogging (especially since when I’m not working I’m like busy doing other stuff.) 

   The lost weeks have been full of totally blog worthy events though….

• We went to Branson with my family and spent an amazing day on Table Rock Lake.  I didn’t even get sunburned.  We ate and shopped and ate some more!  I always thoroughly enjoy family time…especially when we are out doing stuff.




• Hubs’ longtime friend George came into town and stayed with us for the better part of the week.  He is so fun!  And he actually got Hubs and I out on a week night too (which doesn’t normally happen.)




• I finished up my summer class.  I’m super confident I landed an A in that class—or a B  




• Tyson passed his doggie daycare interview with flying colors (so now he has a place to stay when we go places…AND it’s right by Hubs’ work!  So no more puppy shuffle for me!  Yay!




• This last weekend Hubs and I went to Cincinnati for a dear friend’s wedding.  Time and life has taxed our long distance friendship but every time I see him it reminds me of super fun times and revives my initiative to make plans!  Did I mention how much I LOVE Robin?  I’m unbelievably happy for them!




• And yesterday Hubs and I reserved a lot for the building of our dream house.  So we are super excited to get that project underway!  

The rest of the week is full of work.  Measures, cold calls, AAKC meetings, and heat.  Have I mentioned how hot it is here?  Let’s just say when I got in my car this afternoon the temp gauge said 113.  So.  Hot.

No Comments | In: blogging, Family, Good Buddies, Our Home | | #

This weekend Hubs and I went out for a mean night on the town—we had to celebrate the sale of the Belton house!  I feel like I have been nagging him about that house for an entire year–we are both ecstatic that it’s finally gone. 

                So, in celebration we went out for a nice dinner and then “out” out.  We haven’t been out out in a long time…it turned into quite an interesting night.  I met tons of Hubs’ old friends (my favorite thing about meeting those particular ‘old’ friend is that when I asked how they knew him they would all started talking about the ‘old days’ which sort of made me giggle because if they know Hubs from the ‘old days’ then I know him for the ‘old old days’…the days BEFORE Kabal, before Jacqui, before Belton—you know, the days when the only thing in our wardrobes were cheerleading tshirts (regardless of the school they promoted) and the thought of wearing a sports bra in public wasn’t scary at all–oh, and I still wore ribbons in my hair no matter where we were going.)  I know it sounds silly but when they asked how long we’ve known each other and I said 12 or 13 years they were all shocked as though they thought we had met and married last week.…that feeling might have been brought on  by a conversation that started, “wow, you guys got married quick!  I suppose that’s how he likes to do it!”  And then I hit him with the “we’ve known each other for 12 years,” and somehow in his mind the “quick marriage” turned all legit and he congratulated us defeatedly.   I did meet a lot of cool people too and hopefully we can incorporate more of Hubs’ friends into our lives becuase really, we hang out with my people mostly–unless we’re racing…

              Anyway, now we are ready to find a house for US.  No more his place and my place but a new place we can turn into a home together!  And one day we will look back and say, “Do you remember the ‘old days’ of living in that townhome in Blue Springs?”

No Comments | In: Good Buddies, Marriage, Our Home | | #

            This year has been a world wind of change for Hubs and I….well, mostly Hubs, my life is really the same with a few amazing additions—Hubs and Tyson.  Oh, and a new little niece or nephew on the way but that really has nothing to do with this post about Hubs and I. 

            The only things that have really changed in my life since Hubs:  not being able to sleep in the middle of the bed, my last name, and dad started ringing the doorbell instead of just coming on in (which by the way, I still think is stupid.) 

            Hubs on the other hand has turned his entire world upside-down—something I hadn’t really thought about until this week…

            We are dangerously close to closing on his house so we posted several things to sell on Craigslist insisting that everyone MUST  pick up by Tuesday night.  And then, we posted a “FREE Moving Sale” for Wednesday to encourage people to come and take the remaining stuff so we wouldn’t have to pay the “junk” people to haul it all off.  After the ‘sale’ I think he felt a little violated; which I totally understand as I feel unsettled and a little violated when HUBS moves anything in the house (or garage for that matter.)  And yes, I know it’s a little bit of a double standard considering every time he brings something over I say, “where are going to put that!?” in my most annoyed wife voice but I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to watch strangers rummage though the treasures of his life.  Anyway, he was clearly  down in the dumps a couple nights this week and I got to thinking about all the things in his life that have changed since we moved in together and how I would feel if the tables were turned (Keep in mind, I don’t even like it when HUBS moves my phone charger from one plug in to the next–nevermind STRANGERS rummaging in my stuff (albeit unwanted stuff, but still, MY STUFF.  Yes, I need therapy.) 

          I suppose in all relationships there is a time to purge old relationship stuff, ie. pictures, clothes, keepsakes ect. and make room for the new.  But our union has caused a series of events that has basically transformed his world from what is was a year and a half  year ago. 

           It started immediately, with the prompt removal of a tattoo (seriously, seeing an old girlfriend’s name tattooed on my husband (well, boyfriend at the time) for the rest of my life?  No, thank you!), to selling his motorcycle to help pay for our (perfect) wedding, to trading his truck (and getting rid of those old personalized plates of his x-wife—bonus) for a new truck we bought together, and finally, the cherry on the top of the sundae, selling his house and finally getting to enjoy the spoils of a two income household! 

            I can’t imagine how I would feel if I had to sell my car, house, and most of my belonging to move into a home that requires me park outside in the snow during the winter and crawl into a car as hot as the Sahara Desert in the summer.  But Hubs hasn’t complained once.  He’s gone above and beyond to make sure I feel comfortable and secure in our life and love and I don’t think I tell him enough–I do notice, I have noticed, and I appreciate all he’s done to ensure I feel like the only women in his life (aside from his mother, of course :)

           So, after the aforementioned items are done (closing on his house being the final task at hand) we will be free to enjoy our happy, healthy, and fart filled lives together without anymore ‘previous relationship’ red tape.  Because really, nothing spoils a party quicker than having to confer with an x-wife on issues that have nothing to do with her….

          Jokes aside?  When you put all the red tape and nail biting (waiting for signatures) up against not being with Hubs at all—there is no comparison.  I would put up with a lifetime of red tape and drama if it meant I could spend the rest of my life lying in bed, giggling, laughing, and sleeping in a pile with Hubs and Maggie and Tyson.  I’m still trying to figure out how I got so lucky…

No Comments | In: Being an adult is lame, Boys, How much I love my Husband, Marriage, Our Home, Puppies | | #