Tuesday, June 30, 2009

I'm Poo'in Bricks!

So our mortgage company just sent a letter... they have been under-charging our property taxes through our escrow account and starting next month, our monthly payment will increase $300! YIKES. I pretty much had a breakdown this past weekend, I've been waking in the middle of the night stressed out about this entire situation.

I LOVE my house, I really like our property, we have all these plans to make things great around the place. But I dont know if we'll be able to keep our house! We have talked a lot about where to go from here, what to do if we just cant make the payment and still have a life. As it is right now, we pretty much have to end whatever life we have and just plug away at making that monthly mortgage payment, we literally are married to the house payment and it is really tough to justify keeping a house when it straps you so badly you cant stop stressing out.

I sat down the other day with Derek and we were trying to figure out WHY we are struggling so badly with our payment. When we decided to build the house, we calculated worst case scenario on our mortgage payment and our payment is at the worst case scenario price, which we previously determined we could deal with, so how is it that now that we have it, why cant we afford it? Well... 1.5 years ago when we started the process of deciding to build the house, Derek was making $12,000 MORE per year than he is right now!! And my income has not increased in over 2 years. I actually am getting less in bonuses than I was before, so my income has decreased as well. What was doable 2 years ago when we made this decision, has become almost undoable at this point.

It is scary to think of all the time/work we have put into this place and to think we might have to sell it. We are not making any hasty decisions just yet, we are trying to figure this out and see how things go for a couple months. We are desperately trying to refinance and get into a lower mortgage rate, which is incredibly frustrating! If we have to sell, then we are doing things differently.. we talk a lot about the what-if's. We have to, we'd be dumb not to. IF we had to sell, we would sell, use the leftover cash to pay off the red truck, sell the green one, buy a new car, rent somewhere or live with my parents (if they'd have us!) and save up some cash for a couple years and buy a new place down the road.

The lender I am working with seems to think he can get us into a fixed loan.. I'm not holding my breath. If he can, then it would put our payment (with our increased taxes) at a little less than what we currently pay per month. So I may not hold my breath, but I am crossing my fingers!!!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

13/18!!!

Yesterday was our 13th Wedding Anniversary!! :) We married on our 5yr anniversary, so it's been 18 years together. Derek informed me that he's known me now longer than I've known myself.. we got a chuckle out of that. We have reached that year that we now have been together longer than we've been apart.


We didnt have an extravagant day, we spent this past weekend camping so that was our celebration to ourselves. Actually yesterday after work we delivered our goats to my aunt and uncles house in Everett! :) Apparently the boys have been getting into trouble over at the Barten Farm... the baby kids were crawling/scurrying under the fenceline to go eat licorice at the neighbors house! lol My aunt/uncle Dale & Heather want their backyard cleared of sticker bushes, shrubs, misc small trees, huckleberry's, salmon berries etc.. As soon as the 3 boys were turned loose, they were in love with their new buffet style accomodations! I'm happy they are no longer a burden on the Barten's and hopefully the fencing will be done at our place or my parents so when they have completed their job at Dale & Heathers, then they'll have somewhere to go again! :)


Back to our camping trip.. okay so the weather has been great for the past 4 weeks, we tied a record of no-rainfall for the spring and what happens the day we head out of town.... downpour!! ;) We were heading down to Alder Lake in Eatonville WA. It is a big reservoir with a huge dam that covers 3 counties! By the time we got down there, it had stopped raining and although the weekend weather was cloudy for the most part, the only rain occured after we had already tucked into bed Saturday night. The fishing.. well that sucked! lol We tried fishin for trout (cast & reel) then we tried for bass, then we tried trolling and as a complete last resort and our 2nd trip out for the day, we tried still/bottom fishing for perch. With 4 poles in the water, we did not get ANY bites using the methods above! Oh well, we did get this great picture!! lol


We took the children with us, always nice to have a heater at night. :) As usual, Derek slept above the cab and I slept on the lower section, I didnt take my air mattress which I later regretted when I realized my right hipbone was actually bruised from laying pretty much on the wood bed for 2 days! At the campsite, we pulled the picnic bench behind the camper which made for a perfect deck... I was reluctant to do it, didnt want the campground hosts to come yell at us, but they never noticed. Now we just need to find a way to do this every time we camp.


Derek's new job is going great, he got a handshake from the owner the other day for a paint job he did on one of the pieces of equipment. Last night, he heard from the night shift manager that the day shift manager is impressed with his work as well. The day shift manager (Bob) hasnt really indicated anything to Derek as far as yah or nay on his work, so Derek was a little worried about that, but then the night guy told Derek that Bob likes him and if Bob likes him, then he'll be sticking around and keeping his job. :) He hasnt been on a horse since the weekend he came off Oakley, we've been pretty busy.


Life is stressed and time is short.. even with these long days! Although now that summer is here, days are gettin shorter every day.. bummer. We are staying home 4th of July weekend, the plan/hope is to get some things done around the house that we havent had time yet to do. It's tough to balance working our paid jobs, relaxing from working our jobs, Derek working on side projects for other people, finding time to camp, fish, ride horses, play with dogs, work on our own projects around the house... Last night we realized how much crazier life/time would be if we had to throw softball back into that mix! The house chores have suffered, weeds are sprouting up all over the place, I think the next couple weeks we'll try to get a bit more organized and feel a little less scattered. I'm sure everyone else suffers the same problems, but I have a blog, so I'll bitch about it! lol

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Facebook Friends

I never thought the internet would be a way that I would reconnect with friends. It is amazing really how the internet has changed my life in some ways. Over a year ago, I had started a myspace page and out of the blue I was contacted by an old friend, who we hadnt seen in probably 6 years! We had lost touch with George & Rachel, whom I've chatted about on here before and their daughter. She contacted me as a blast from the past and we have since rekindled our friendship and enjoy spending weekends together, helping eachother out, camping trips etc... I can honestly say w/o the internet or myspace, I dont know if we would have ever found eachother again.

Then this year I finally gave in to Facebook and started an account there. I have become "friends" with lots of highschool aquantances, good to see their pictures and see how life is treating them. But then I became "friends" with Rachel Nauman whom I used to be friends with and did 4H together, drill team, etc.. We lost touch after high school, however she used to have my sister babysit for her and her friend, so I'd hear about her every now/then. She came to Carrie's funeral but I hadnt seen her in years before that and then not until Facebook had I thought we would really ever connect again. But then we did!

We started chatting on FB a week or so ago and then yesterday we went riding together!! Yippy.. It was really great to be able to go out and have some fun with an old friend that I sincerely hope will continue to be a longtime friend. Again, without the internet it is very unlikely we would have reconnected.

My mom always told me computers were the way to go and encouraged me to go in that direction (I didnt really listen) but she was right in her prediction, if you are in the computer field, you can make some pretty good money. I'm just happy I know enough to use computers daily, be able to work a "blog" page, which is really fun to do and I can open/create accounts online with the tools available to reconnect with people. I've even been able to connect with some family on my dad's side that live out of state that I dont get to talk to often. :)

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Wipeout~ Horseback style, not the ABC Version

The day started well.. a nice easy meandering trail up at the Morgan Club this morning. We were riding with Scott, Barbara, Gail & Angie. Apparently I missed the memo that said ready to ride at 10am, so at 10:04 when Barbara called and wondered where I was at, I was thinking, Wow I guess she's a real stickler to time.. But as I'm pulling in I see their horses are all saddled and ready to go! Dammit, we were late..

We saddled fairly quickly and headed out. There was a very short very steep downhill section and Oakley decided to create his own mini-version of Man from Snowy River as he bolted down the hill at a trot/lope. Now this was not just a little downhill, this was pretty close to straight down, Derek handled it fine and Oakley stopped when he ran into me and Bandit. About 1.5 hours into the ride, Oakley started acting up going downhill. He was walking sideways, he was charging forward at a fast trot, acting uncontrollable at times, so Derek got off and walked him. He ended up walking for about 25 minutes until we got to the lunch stop at the river.

We unsaddled Oakley, the conclusion of his issue was that maybe his saddle was too tight and pinching. Lunch was great, here are some pics.

This is an end of a log at the river for lunch. Can you see the evil in that log!


After lunch, Scott asked if we were okay doing some hills. My thought was well Oakley does fine doing uphill, so should be fine. Well my idea of a "hill" was not what Scott had in mind, his hill was like going straight up the side of the hill! :) Nobody's fault, we just were not prepared to tackle something so big, it was a bit too much for Derek or Oakley. We started out okay but then we stopped to give the horses a breather; inwhich Oakley turned around. I could see that Oakley was possibly going to have an issue but by the time I thought it, Derek tried to get him turned around and heading up the trail, and Oakley stepped off the trail into a bad area where the ground dissappeared under him, there were logs down there and branches, Oakley jumped full into the mess, went down, Derek tried to bail and came off badly, landing on his back on a sharp stump, he pushed Oakley to avoid being trampled and Oakley jumped up/out of the "whole" and back onto the trail.

I jumped off, tied my horse and went down the trail, Derek was having a very hard time breathing and moving, his palm was cut pretty good. I was a little scared for him, I felt really bad that this had happened. After his 10 minute recovery, I ponied Oakley up the hillside while Derek walked behind at his slower pace. My horse Bandit thought he was going to die, I had to really push him to get him up that hill, it was a bit tough for him even.

Overall, they both turned out okay, although Derek is VERY stiff and very sore! They finished the ride just fine, we stuck to logging roads, we didnt need any more trail adventures. The hill was more than Oakley was experienced enough to climb. We are not upset at all, a lesson learned once again and it will in the long run help Derek to grow as a rider, I just feel so bad he is hurting. Not to mention he starts his new job tomorrow!!

Tomorrow morning should be very interesting, I think Derek is going to struggle getting out of bed! He said to me today after we got home "man it SUCKS coming off a horse!" I said "Oh well try coming off when you are over 6' off the ground and falling that entire distance flat on your back, as I did last year!! He just kinda shrugged and I said, NOW picture how unsympathetic you were to my pain.. lol He got my point! Not that he didnt care when I came off, but until now, he had NO idea just how bad it hurts to hit the ground whether you are 3 feet or 6 feet from falling.

So he is done with his old job, he can put the drama filled work environment behind him! We both are ready for that. I think this new job can potentially put him in a great position in the future as he can maybe help them grow and establish a side of their business they never considered.

Here's a cute pic of Scout and then of her and Oakley, she is just fascinated with him! She'll stand at the fenceline for 45 minutes, just starring at Oakley. Occassionally barking at him. Well time to put the laptop down and eat some dinner.. LOL Just as I typed that sentence, no joke, Derek says "are you going to eat?" Oh and we got a laptop BTW. :)

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

WOHOOO!!

10 Pounds!!! I have lost.... gone forever (hopefully) :)

Oh and I have 58.5 hours in the saddle this year so far
Derek has 60.75

Time for a new Job

Derek is driving in to work this morning to inform his boss that he is quitting! His current job is for a company inwhich he drives to two different auto dealerships (his accounts) and repairs/paints on site damages on the vehicles. He has a tent for rainy conditions, but when it is pouring down rain and/or windy and stormy particularly in the fall/winter/spring months, his job can become pretty impossible if not undoable at times. I hate to stick with what everyone is saying right now, but the economy has deeply affected his workload over the past year. This past winter was a struggle at times, the snow shut him down for atleast 2 weeks and considering he is commission, you can see the problem.

So he's been looking here/there and considering his options of changing careers even. He interviewed a week ago with an equipment company in Snohomish on Bickford Ave that was looking for a paint shop manager/painter. Of course, he pretty much go the job right away, however they wanted him to work this past Saturday so that he would be 100% sure he wanted to take the job. He had another interview yesterday to work out details of his start date etc and he starts on Monday! He actually will be working on Saturday again, so I guess he starts in 3 days. His pay is a lot less than he made 2 years ago, a little less than he made last year, but a little more than he has averaged this year. It is steady income and that is what is important right now. With his current position, it is tough to not be able to count on a steady check every week.

This new company offers Med/Dental, Retirement, 2 weeks Vacation and more.. His previous employer offered crappy medical and 1 week vacation. So I am excited about the change but also a little nervous about it. I think it will all work out well, plus there are other avenues for him with this new job and the hope is that Derek can help them grow their paint department/business.