Author Archives: Manda

Things are going pretty good since we have moved into our new home. My stress level has dropped considerably since we moved in and that has helped my overall attitude. Unfortunately, my over thinking mind won’t let things just die and it must continue to rehash the problems of the past 4 years. All these doubts are now coming back up along with the worries and the what ifs. I don’t want to think about those bad things and bad times but it seems as if I have no control over it. In order to keep these thoughts away, I have to have the TV or radio on even when I’m working. If my mind isn’t completely distracted (and even working will not distracted it 100 percent) then I start to think of the past 4 years and all the pain, anger and helplessness I felt. I hate remembering those things and wish I could just forget.

So, I am just finally getting around to posting photos of the house. Yes, it will be a month of use living here in a few days and we still haven’t gotten everything out of boxes but I am working on it.

Before posting the pictures I will give you some info on the house. It was built in 1920 and has 2 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, living room, computer room, basement, attic and a 2 car detached garage. So far, we love it! We still have work to do to it. For example, summer 2012 we want to build a new front porch and replace the back porch roof.  Anyway, here are some pictures of the house. I will upload new ones as we progress on the house.

LIVING ROOM

RAVEN’S ROOM

MINE & MIKE’S ROOM

KITCHEN

I don’t have any before pictures of the bathroom mainly because a. I forgot to take a before picture and b. All we really did to it was change the paint color. It was originally pink and we painted it blue. I also don’t have any of the computer room at this moment.

We have all been extremely busy since we closed on the house July 14. Our projected move in date is before August 19 since that is when Raven starts school. Raven busted her little butt to get her room done and it looks awesome. She scrapped, primed and painted with the color of her choosing.

We have been scrapping, painting, cleaning and fixing small things almost all day every day. Mike has been fixing leaks in the plumping while replacing faucets. He has also dealt with roof shingles and clogged gutters. We got the water turned on last week and are waiting for the electric company to turn the power on.

Here is a quick rundown of the rooms and what we have left to do to them.

• Raven’s Room – Completely Done! We are going to start moving some of her things in. Colors: Turquoise walls with black trim.
• Living Room – Just needs the carpeting installed but we are going to wait on that so we are not tracking mud or dirt all over the new carpet while working on the rest of the house. Colors: Gray walls with black trim and probably burgundy or dark red carpet.
• Our Bedroom – Just need to add carpeting which we are planning to do this week. Colors: Light green (in-between a sage and lime green) walls and white trim.
• Bathroom – Just needs painted. Colors: Light blue walls with white trim.
• Kitchen – Needs painted and the new floor down, which we are working on today. Colors: The wall color is called Pumpkin spice so it is an orange color with creme trim.
• Computer Room – Finished scraping it yesterday. Going to prime the ceiling and walls today. Mike has yet to pick out the color.
• Basement – We got a lot of the junk out of it and are trying to get rid of the excess condensation that forms on the back area of the basement. Thanks to my Dad and step-mom, we have a new hot water heater.

Here is a quick picture of Raven’s room before and after. I will post the rest of the house photos before we move in.

Also, this past weekend I photographed my step-brother’s wedding (pictures to come later) and we have been introducing (slowly) the stray kitten (who we named Nefarian) to Jedi and London so he can be ready to move into our new home.

Things have been extremely busy this last week. Since closing on the 14^th, we have spent majority of our day over at our house (that sounds awesome to say and I cannot believe it has been almost 4 years since I could say that) trying to get it ready to move in. We are hoping that we get everything done and settled in before August 19 when Raven starts school. May I say that I think it is absolutely stupid they are starting school so early and on a Friday nonetheless. Why couldn’t they have started on that next Monday so the kids could have a few more days of summer? Anywho, I cannot wait to say goodbye to our current living situation. The stress inducer has been in rare form lately and that is all I am going to say on the subject. I have decided that our home will have as little negativity in it as possible and if family or friends come over and start putting our home down (some family members seem to get off by putting us and others down) than I will tell them to leave. I have had 4 years of almost constant negativity and I do not want anymore.

We will be closing on the house sometime this coming week! As soon as we close (and get the keys), we are going to start working on it. We are planning on accomplishing some small repairs along with new paint and carpet and tiles is the kitchen before we move in. We want to be in it for a few weeks before Raven starts school so she can be adjusted to her new room. I am so happy we were able to find a home without having to take Raven out of her school. I am not an overly religious person, but thank the good Lord!

My awesome cousin Daniel came over late yesterday evening and got my car (break line is busted) with the car dolly to take to the mechanic. My family is absolutely crazy and has some problems but all in all, most of the time, they are nothing but awesomesauce!

My brother (technically stepbrother) is getting married July 30 and I’m photographing their wedding! I am so excited and cannot wait. However, with working on the house, moving, taking a trip to Ohio for a few days for the wedding and getting Raven ready for freshman year of high school; the rest of my summer is gonna be hella busy, in a good and happy way!

*EDIT* We got the house! I am so excited. We could close as soon as this coming Friday! Since it’s owner financing the closing should be completed by the 15th of July. However, before we move in it we want to paint it, put new carpeting in and do some minor repairs. I am so excited and cannot wait to start working on it! *END EDIT*

I’m not even going to recap my June goals cause they were a big fat fail. All of them. However, some maybe good news is going on. We made an offer and put a down payment on a house. Now the ball is in the owner’s court. If she decides to take our offer than we will be able to close by the 15^th of July. If she refuses our offer than it is back to square one.

Anywho, here are my July Goals:

• Show A Lose On The Scale – I haven’t reached my goal but I am showing a little weight lose and hope it continues throughout July.
• Budget meals better and only go grocery shopping no more than once a week.
• Spend less money on frivolous items.
• Increase my work time and frequency.
• Work harder on my photography.
• Increase my work load.

So, pretty much everything is the same as it has been. Nothing new to report about the house situation. It looks as if we will not be getting that home I previously talked about. It sucks. Big time. I really love that house. I have been overly depressed this past week and had a mini break down. I screamed. I cried. I threw things. I thought for sure my head would explode. The what-I-think-is-a-stress-induced-headache has continued on for several weeks. No matter the amount of over-the-counter painkillers I pop it still remains. I have tried several different stress reducing techniques and nothing works.

I am still not giving up on the getting the hell out of here idea. It just seems like it will take me a little longer. Today, while driving to the store I saw a house with a “For Rent” sign. I grabbed my cell phone and called the number posted on the sign. The man on the other end of the line said he was sorry but the house was just rented. He did not even have the sign up for 24 hours and has to go take it down. That’s the problem I keep running into. The houses in my area are snatched up in a matter of hours. It would be nice to broaden my search but I do not want to take Raven out of this area. She will be starting high school this fall and even though it is technically a new school she will be entering high school with all her friends. My parents took me out of several schools and I always hated it. I do not want to do that to Raven. Especially when she has been with these other kids since kindergarten.

Besides all that crappiness, the outside cat I feed (we call her River) had 2 kittens which she is now bringing around. They are adorable and I (of course) want to keep them. One is striped (just like River) and the other one is black. I think the black kitten is a girl and the striped kitten is a boy. And because cats make me happy, I will leave you with pictures of the kittens.

May was a more productive month than any others this year. I did not accomplish all that I sat out to do but I am proud with what I did complete.

• Get down to 165 pounds. – Didn’t happen but I did loose 2 pounds so at least that’s something.

• Save an extra $300. – Yes and no on this one. While I did save an extra $200 an unexpected expense occurred.

• Eat more fruits and less junk. – Completed and I intended to stick with it.

• Create and stick to a monthly budget. – Big fat fail!

• Grocery shop once a week instead of making several trips throughout the week. – Another big fat fail!

• Workout 1 hour a day at least 3 days a week. – Completed and am going to keep it up!

• Drink less pop and more water. – I am proud to say that I have been drinking 50% less pop than I normally would.

June Goals

• Get down to 160. – I don’t think I will be able to accomplish this goal by the end of June but I am going to try.

• Up my work out to 1 hour a day at least 5 days a week.
  

• Continue drinking more water and less pop. – Since I cut back my pop intake by 50% last month this one should be fairly easy to complete. I don’t think I will ever give up pop 100 percent because I need the caffeine too bad.
  

• Eat healthier and blog more.
  

• Save more money. – This is a no brainer and will help us out immensely if we get our own house.

• Take more general life pictures. – I am always so worried about taking other people’s pictures that I don’t bother documenting my and my family’s daily lives.
• Lower my stress level. – If we don’t get out of here soon I will probably have a heart attack or brain aneurysm from all the stress.

Things have been a little hectic and a little depressing lately. Even with working out for an hour or more at least 5 days a week and watching what I eat I have somehow managed to gained weight and my clothes fit tighter. To say I am more than a little depressed would be an understatement. However, I am not giving up and am hoping that I can lose 20 to 30 pounds.

We are trying to get a house a few miles away. It is a small, 2 bedroom home that needs some work. We have all ready toured the home and spoke to the Realtor multiple times. If we can come up with the down payment and the owner agrees to finance it (they are considering it) then we just might own a home once again! Please prayer (if that’s your thing) or send me positive vibes that we get this house. Living with my MIL is slowly deteriorating my sanity.

In other news, me and Mike are going to the midnight premier of Hangover 2 tonight! I have been looking forward to this movie since I first heard they were making a sequel!

My daughter, Raven, will be 14 years old tomorrow. She is leaving tomorrow morning at 4:30am to go to Washington DC for her class trip. She won’t be home until 11pm tomorrow night so we are celebrating her birthday Thursday. Also she does not have to return to school until May 2 because of Easter/Spring break.

My daughter is a talented artist who one day wants to be a manga artist living in Japan. She lives and breathes almost everything Japanese. She can speak and understand a little Japanese right now. Nothing major but it is enough for her to communicate and understand a short conversation with the only Japanese student in her school.  She has been immersing herself in the Japanese culture since she was in the 4th grade (she is now in the 8^th grade and will be starting high school this fall).

I love the fact that she is into the Japanese culture. I may love it more than most since I am a huge fan of Asian movies (especially J Horror). However, many people in the family are not. I see my daughter’s talent and love for all things Japanese and want to help her achieve her dream. Some family members do not agree.

“She is too obsessed with all this Japanese stuff!”

“You need to nip that in the butt, NOW!”

Those two quotes above are the two most common things we hear from family members about Raven’s obsession with Japan. For some reason, they have a problem with my daughter’s interest.

Does Raven take her interest a bit too far? Maybe. But it’s no different than the diehard Twilight fans or this whole Bieber Fever thing. And in actuality, her learning about another culture (including their language) is a rather educational activity. Something that these asshats don’t seem to realize. They would much rather have her lusting over the latest heartthrob than exercising her brain and following her dream.

However, since she is not their child, they do not raise her nor do they support her in any manner what so ever then they have no say in how she is raised, what we allow her to do or not to do or what her hobbies or activities are. If they do not like it, they can shove it up their ass. I have been pretty damn polite to these people when they say their ignorant comments. That, however, changes today. I don’t care who they are (or who they think you are) but I will tell them exactly where they can stick their opinions (which we never asked for but they seem so inclined to spew out of their mouths) about Raven or her interest.

I really wonder if it makes these adults feel better about themselves when they try to crush a 13 year old’s dream? Well, I have news for them. Raven knows that these people do not truly care about her. That me and her father want her to follow her dreams and will help her anyway we can. She is not going to stop her love of Japan for these jackasses.  And just to prove how much more grown up she is then these supposed “adults” she knows that going to college in Japan and breaking into the manga industry is a tough task. Therefore, she has a backup plan.

The funny thing is. Nobody on my side of the family has said any negative comments about Raven and her Japanese obsession. It is always people on my husband’s side of the family.