Did that Really Happen?? Yeah - I Just Put in an Offer on a New House!

When you wake up in the morning you usually have a pretty good idea of what you are going to do for the day.  Rarely do events totally and completely surprise you and take you to a place that you never suspected.  When I woke up this morning I hadn't the slightest clue where today was going to take me.

First off, I woke up in a horrible mood.  Events of yesterday - which I am not going to go into details about left me in an extremely foul mood.  After waking around 8:00AM I decided that the day wasn't worth it and I hightailed it back to bed around 10:30AM.  My goal was to sleep as much of the day way as was humanly possible.  Unfortunately my slumber was interrupted around 11:00AM by a call from my real estate agent.  Back in the late winter/early spring of 2011, when I had been heavily involved with Shelly, I had commissioned my real estate agent to show me pretty much everything that came on the market so that we could buy a new house.  Later after Shelly left the scene I changed my qualifications to Roberta (my real estate agent) and asked only to see houses that were on one of the greenbelts, had a walk out basement and were thorough renovated throughout.

Prior to today, there had only been one house that met these qualifications and I wasn't too enamored with it.  Roberta's call at 11:00AM this morning sparked my interest and I decided it was the pick me up that I needed to pull myself out of my foul mood.  Regardless of whether or not this house would work for me I decide it was a reason to get out of bed and do something with my day.

First I checked the house out on the Internet and I was blown away - it was gorgeous.  My interest was definitely piqued at this point.  Zack and I had a bunch of errands to do as we were totally out of dog food and a bunch of other staples.  As we left the neighborhood to run these errands I saw that there was an open house that was being hosted by the agent selling the house that I was interested in.  Of course it WAS the house that I was interested in so Zack and I just had to go in and explore.  It was everything I wanted!!  Zack was so excited by the thought of living in this house.  I phoned Roberta back and told her I was interested in the house and would most likely make an offer.

The rest of the afternoon seemed to crawl by.  Finally the time arrived when I was to meet Roberta at the house.  We meet up and walked the house from one end to another.  I explained all the things I like to Roberta and she explained what it meant in terms of price.  At the end of our 20 minutes in the house I had concluded I was going to make an offer on this house.

After we were finished looking at the house we headed to Roberta's office and came up with a contract.  I wrote the check for the earnest money and I signed the contract.  I should know by 4:00PM Sunday whether or not this house will be mine.  If this house is to be mine there are some key decision to be made.  Such as - what do I do with my current house?  What does Nancy do - as there is no first floor bedroom.  All-in-all I am quite excited by the turn of events.  Had anyone told me 24 hours ago that I would be putting a bid out for a new house - I would have told them they were full of crap.  But here I am...  Looking forward to acquiring a new house and moving in a different direction in life.

Thanks and peace to all!

A New School Year!

It has been a while since a new post has been added to the blog.  It is time for me to get busy and do some writing!

Monday marked Zack’s first day of his 7^th grade year in school!  It was amazing to watch him head out the door and walk to the bus stop.  Gone were the anxieties from past years.  Gone too was the trepidation of going to school.  Instead there was hopefulness for the school year and a desire to do well and achieve good grades.  Zack left me with a positive feeling and hope that he has finally turned the corner in regard to his anxiety.  He has made me very proud of how much he has achieved in overcoming his anxiety and starting to take ownership of his own life.  I love my son dearly and all I can say is that I am so very proud of him!

The last 2 summers have been very important times for Zack.  He has really grown and started to feel confident in his abilities to manage his own life.  Don’t get me wrong there are still plenty of anxiety related issues that he needs to work through.  However, he has really moved beyond the maturity level of a child into that of a teenager.  He is thirteen now and is really starting to adapt to how he should behave as a teenager.  In one way it is scary as he is starting to take an interest in girls – gulp!!!   Since Zack is an only child, this is the first time in my life that I have had to deal with a teenager and their blossoming interest in the opposite sex!

(Zack on the way to the bus stop for his first day of school.)

(Zack wanted to show off his new backpack in this photo.)

Work continues around the house on all the projects that have been in flight since early this summer.  The entertainment center in the basement is almost complete.  My brother has worked hard and all the cabinets have been installed and now the finishing carpentry and the placement of a counter top is all that needs to take place.  It will be quite exciting to purchase a new television and get the satellite system installed. Though it may be a little bit before that happens as the selection of the TV to go into this space may take a little while!  Regardless it is certain to be installed before the football season is too far underway.  So we will get to watch some of the Pittsburgh Steeler games on a new big screen TV.  Of course Zack is very excited to get it up and running as he is looking forward to playing his video games on a giant sized TV.  You can only imagine how excited he is going to be to play “Smash Bros.” or “Mario Cart” on that television for the first time.

 (The beginnings of the new entertainment center in the basement.)

Other than this, there hasn’t been too much going on.  God – I sound so boring.  But I guess life for me has become relatively boring at this point.  The end of August and the month of September are always a time of transition as you move from the fun of summer into the humdrum existence of school and colder months.  (I can tell I am in somewhat of a crappy mood as I had an invitation to attend an event at the Colorado School of Medicine for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society tonight and I didn’t quite get there.)

Truth be told, we are far from the colder months at this time.  The temperature for the last two weeks has been extreme with Denver tying a record high the last two days in a row. 

In addition to the extreme heat we have had another strange event in Colorado this week.  On Monday evening at 11:42PM the largest earthquake Colorado has had in 40 years occurred.  It was a 5.3 magnitude earthquake with the epicenter 9 miles to the south of the small town of Trinidad.  Though the epicenter was located about 160 miles south of here, we still managed to feel it.  I was sitting on the couch watching television when I noticed a slight shaking of the couch.  It wasn’t anything too drastic at all, but it was definitely noticeable.  (I have been through several more significant earthquakes before including several 5.x earthquakes in California and a 6.8 magnitude quake in Seattle in 2001.  I was in Portland, Oregon during that earthquake.  Even though it was over 200 miles from the epicenter it did enough shaking to scare the crap of me.)  So it has been a weird week all around in terms of earthquakes and extreme temperatures.

That is about it for the evening.  I hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Thanks and peace to all!

P.S. There is much to be written in the coming days.  I have purposely not written much recently because all that has been happening.  There are many deep and interesting stories that must be poured out into this blog.  Stay tuned.....

Chocolate Vodka!

 A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of tasting chocolate vodka for the first time.  You might think that a drink of that type sounds pretty darn nasty, but in reality it is one of the best tasting drinks that has ever been invented.  Imagine the rich, supple taste of chocolate mixed with the finest, smoothest vodkas - and you have Godiva's Chocolate Vodka.  Whoever invented this drink really needs to be taken out into the middle of a really big field and beaten with the biggest and hardest sticks you can imagine.  Good god - they have invented a drink that is going to turn the world into a bunch of lushes!!!

Yet despite that thought it is a drink to set your mind free.  You can drink and drink without having to gag your drinks down.  It kind of tastes a little like an adult favored Nestle Quik.  Yeah - it is that good.  If you are strong enough do resist the urge to go out and buy this drink as you will be hooked.  In that way it is a little like crack cocaine.  One drink and you are hooked.

All joking aside it is a marvelous tasting drink and one that was not expected to produce such a sense of flavor and delight in my mouth.  On a trip to the liquor store this afternoon I took the plunge and purchased a bottle.  It now sits getting ever colder in my freezer.  When it has reached the proper temperature it will pour just like the chocolate syrup that it tastes like!

The weekend has at last arrived and I am extremely grateful for that.  It seems that just about every waking moment ends up consumed with some type of work during the work week.  Maybe I grew to used to vacation and going back to work has left me with a heavy heart.  The weekend will be very good for us as I hope to finish off much of the work in my basement as we are getting ready to install our entertainment center and the new flat screen TV.  I really can't wait until that work is done!!  It will make viewing of the upcoming NFL season that much more intense.

Today Zack completed his registration for 7th grade!  Dear god - it is hard to believe that Zack is entering 7th grade. Every parent must feel this emotion as they see their children grow up, but where has the time gone?  What has happened to the last 7 years of my son's life as he has gone from kindergarten to 7th grade?  It is unbelievable to think that in just 2 short years Zack will be getting ready to enter high school!  Where or where has the time gone?

Tomorrow I will resume the narrative of our vacation.  I have a ton of pictures to share and I hope to make a video of all that we experienced.  Until then - I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.