Need Short Sale Help!!!

I'm making a plea.

Seriously. This is to anyone that might have an answer. This is my message in a bottle.

We've been under contract for NINE months now. Nine. Nothing seems to move along. I'm due in eight weeks. We are in a place until the 24th of April. I'm suppose to have a baby just a few short weeks after. If we don't close by the 24th, we have to move, AGAIN.

My husband and I go back and forth on our angry days. Sunday I was furious. Angry doesn't eve begin to describe the feeling. I can't be positive anymore. I have nothing nice left to say. It seems that most of this mess comes down to having a lazy negotiator. (A realtor in the Denver area whose name I will give out gladly if you want to know who to avoid.)

If I understand correctly, the negotiator is hired to be the go between: the banks and the parties involved.

What if that person is incompetent, can't formulate an email to save his life, is rude, is disliked by both realtors and spends his time tweeting?


Or says that he can't make a phone call because he starts his second job at 11am? If you can't do your first job, don't get a second. Perhaps you wouldn't need a second job if you did your first.

What if you made a call to a bank he's said he's been trying to get a hold of for two months but can't get off hold and you get through in less than five minutes... to a person who says you got through to the right department and could of helped if you knew the loan number.

But you don't, because you aren't given that info.

We are told we aren't allowed to contact anyone, the more we try, the more our file gets placed at the bottom but my husband was too annoyed today.

We can't sit back any longer.

If I could fire the negotiator, I would. If I could take things into my own hands, I would of long ago. If I could drive a tank through a few homes, I would.

What if the negotiator says the people he got verbal approval from don't work at the bank anymore. This "verbal approval" was suppose to be followed by a letter days later. Meanwhile almost two months have gone by since this "verbal approval".

What if you seldom hear from this negotiator, you wonder if he got fired but no one bothered to tell you, meanwhile you sit and wait for a house you were suppose to close on last year?

We are told the banks don't care if you threaten to walk away.

We've jumped through endless hoops. Agreed to pay money we hear we are legally NOT suppose to pay but the greedy banks require to close the deal.

Money to pay off the second lien holder.

And HOA's that aren't even ours.

We are told we must pay for an HOA overdue balance for a property the pervious owners of the house bought. This is not even for the house or the land the house sits on, this is for land we aren't purchasing but it's another few grand we have to bring to closing because the banks holding onto the house WE BID ON say so. We can't close on the house unless we pay this. Oh sure, they say we'll be reimbursed when they have proof that it isn't our HOA. They said the maximum time this short sale would ever take would be six months. They said we would for sure close in December.

They say a lot, don't they?

We have jumped through so many hoops. It seems like some of this is fraud but people have no where to turn.

Where do we turn?

Where do others turn?

What do we do?

Is there anyone out there???

1st lien holder: Bank of America
2nd lien holder: One West (Indy Mac)
Negotiator: A Keller Williams Agent

UPDATE: Our negotiator seemed to get in contact with people, located the file (had no idea he couldn't locate it), and filed complaints with all sorts of departments. He also snuck in a nasty comment about my husband calling people yesterday saying that by us doing so, we won't get anything done. Strange because AFTER our negotiator gets wind of us trying to stir the pot, he gets a bunch of things done in a matter of a few hours where he couldn't even make a phone call in a matter of MONTHS.

Hopefully more updates soon... and not like in three months soon...

Issues

This morning I looked in the fridge for a pen.

And that is on a full nights sleep. I wonder what is gong to happen when this baby comes.

I have pictures to share and blogger won't load them. Is anyone else in this boat?

Don't you wish I was literal when I said "boat"? A boat would be really nice right now.

Home Sweet Home

I love Craigslist.
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Project Imagination Nursery

Are you going to kill me if I start one more post, "When I was pregnant with Sawyer"?

Well, when I was pregnant with Sawyer (Ahhhhhhhhhh!), we had a roommate living in the second bedroom. He was super fun and I loved having him there but as most people know, a pregnant lady is filled with hormones.

Crazy, intense hormones that make you do stuff like scrub the floors on your hands and knees even though your stomach drags on the ground and you just scrubbed the floor the morning before and no one has even step foot on it.

AND, get the nursery ready.

The nursery is a big deal. People plan and sketch and search high and low for the most perfect crib sheet. People paint a room just to paint it over again because the color wasn't just right. Hang pictures just to relocate them and if and when everything is done, clean it again and again.

Because we have hormones that make us nuts. It's just fact and when you CAN'T nest, you become even nuttier.

That's where I come in, Holly, the girl who can't nest.

This is not unfamiliar to me in any way, like I was saying, when pregnant with Sawyer, we had a roommate, up until I was 31 weeks pregnant or EXACTLY WHERE I'M AT NOW and it KILLED me not to put a nursery together. I wanted to see the crib up and pick bedding and sit in the middle of the room letting it all sink in. I thought waiting until this point was a lot to ask of a hormonal woman but boy was I wrong.

Here I sit on the floor in the middle of a living room that isn't mine. Our couches are in storage, our everything but the essentials are in storage just waiting for this house to close. For nine months we have been waiting for this house to close. We thought we would be in by now and at this point, I just hope I'm in there before the baby comes. I sit here waiting, unable to create a nursery for my baby, a big boy room for my bigger baby and a house for us all to live in.

I think this is why Geoff bought me a sewing machine. It was like he knew I might internally combust and he would be left cleaning up the mess. A girl harboring a child has GOT to nest.

So, I nest in my imagination. I plan for what may be and hope it all comes together. I sew crib bedding, imitating the expensive bedding I can't afford and pick out paint colors in Lowes while Geoff purchases tools we need to fix all the issues in the house that isn't ours.

I present to you: Imagination Nursery

I fell in love with several crib bedding sets, all WAY more than we can afford and would EVER be willing to pay even if we could afford it. My biggest inspiration was this set:


I wanted the crib ties to be longer than the ties in the picture above and I wanted them to be light pink. I found no pink fabric pale enough to fit in well with the bright white linen fabric so chose a thin striped fabric of pink and white. I sewed the crib skirt in a matter of a few hours (not pictured) and the crib bumper in a matter of a few days. The fabric cost about $40 all together and I have extra pink and white fabric left over to sew curtain panels. I purchased a pale pink crib sheet for $6.00 and already have a white one from Sawyer so I can switch them out or see which looks best.

Behold the bumper. You have to IMAGINE it's in a crib. Remember this is Project Imagination...


I've never found a mobile I loved and the cost of them make me cringe. Seriously $50 and up? I don't think so. I found these fairies that hang from the ceiling at Pottery Barn Kids. I bought one of each color and plan to hang them above one side of the crib at separate lengths.


All the furniture is black, it's Sawyer's old stuff and we are on a budget. So, the colors are pale pink and white with sharp, contrasting black furniture. The walls will be light pink. On one wall, I want to buy some molding and do something like this:


Along the opposite will be the changing table and these flowers either floating up from the changing table or cascading down from the ceiling.


I was going to post all of this as one full post; from thought process, to planning to finished pictures. My taste are a little more extravagant than our wallet and if I can pull off an awesome looking nursery on (I think I spent under $90 so far.) a tight budget, I thought I would share! We are cutting it so close to the wire that once we are able to close, I'm sure I'll be bloggy absent for some time and knew I wouldn't have the energy to actually post my thoughts and plans during the move in process or right after baby so here is the post I won't be able to get to later. Basically, welcome to my head.

31 Weeks Pregnant!

(Week 31 with Sawyer. Photo by HickeyJames.com)

If this baby is anything like my cravings, I can skip all the breastfeeding worries and just fill her bottles with Cholula Hot Sauce. That's my girl!

Also, do you hit a new low when cat food commercials make you hungry?

But in all seriousness, am I really eight months? Wow.

The last few weeks went by without a problem. No acid reflux, no pains, no weird hormonal mind takeovers, just normal if you can say peeing every 3 minutes is on the normal side. This pregnancy really is as boring as it could be. I guess I don't have gestational diabetes since my doctor didn't mention anything in my last 3 second visit so all is good.

We still don't have a house meaning almost everything we own is locked up in some storage unit including all things baby: infant car seat, breast pump, crib, toys, blankets, clothes and more. To put it simply, that is a plea for this little girl to stay in as long as possible. Maybe go overdue... I'm just sayin'.


I was in and out of California this weekend for a wedding. I didn't tell anyone and knew I had no time to make visits so I'm pretty sure some people that read this are going to kill me. I still love you guys! Anyway, the flight to California was Hell. I mean, it was on time (shockingly) I sat closer to the back than the front (I miss first class.) and cramped liked crazy. The cramps actually hurt a bit, more than a bit, more like really uncomfortable, and non stop. I figured it would stop when we landed and thankfully they did. I just don't want to go into any sort of labor especially away from my husband! Well, 48 hours later, I was back on a plane and expecting the same thing. My uterus was much happier on the flight back, and surprised myself to wake up mid fight not recalling take off.

This girl is still incredibly strong. Geoff was feeling some movement last night and we laughed each time she kicked. She is so much stronger than Sawyer ever was and kicks me to the point where I feel pain. Geoff looked surprised after one specific kick and said, " WOW, I think she is pretty much ready to be born!" I won't say this often but don't listen to your dad on that one!

I'm back to eating pretty healthy. All I want is fruit and salads with the occasional soft chocolate chip cookie or eight.

Sawyer points to my stomach every time I ask him where his sister is and even pokes her with his sippy cup thinking he is giving her milk. Though his actions directed to her so far are cute, we aren't sure how he will really act when the attention is not on him every second of the day. During our last baking frenzy, we would turn to see Sawyer with his lego box on his head, screaming and running into walls. He'll do anything for our attention back so whatever stunts he pulls after this girl is out might be video camera worthy. I just need to remind myself to keep the batteries charged!

Everyone keeps asking if this is it. Umm, we really aren't sure. Geoff wants like a hundred kids and I don't know this is our last baby but an army of 100 sounds a little too, ummm, much? I think I for sure want another one but we'll take it as it comes. I've only had one kid, lets see how we handle two, geeze! BUT, I'm kinda thinking I want three: Sawyer can be the older spoiled one that gets all the new stuff and most of the love. Baby two comes along, she gets no special maternity pics or 4D ultrasounds, she gets hand me downs even if they are boy things, no sparkling stocking, and a complex about it all. We wait a while for baby three because lets face it, mommy needs some time to drink, and once we deicide to have baby three, we are all excited to have a baby again (It's been a while.) and she is super spoiled and her parents true BABY.

See how well we plan, in your face to everyone that said I wouldn't make a good parent!

Onto the mid section:






P.S. This is my first time on blogger (and most of the internet) in like 6 days. Forgive me while I play catch up! Love you guys!!!

Finally a Job I Qualify For!

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Brown Town

I told her either super blonde or brown and she was like, "Are you sure, we can do low lights and ..."

No low lights, no halving it, it's all or nothing. You choose, brown as in ALL OVER BROWN, or blonder .

She went brown with me and I LOVE it!



P.S. Check out how fat my face is! It looks like I stored all of Canada in my cheeks.

My Disappearing Act

Is it really already Friday and I haven't posted one thing this week? Wow. Well, ummm, I've been super busy. Really busy. You know, doing things like:

Catching up on the Office and watching re-runs just in case I missed a joke.

Wondering how Michelle Duggar sneezes without peeing her pants.

Reading books.

Internally debating whose boobs are bigger: mine or Jessica Simpson's.


These things take up lots of time.


I'm also trying to be more positive regarding our house. Our house. I call it, "our house." Can you believe that? Am I delusional? You know when nothing else can go wrong and it does and then you think, "That is it, nothing ELSE can go wrong." Then something does go wrong. That would be the house, our house. It's going to be OUR house.

So on a POSITIVE note, we passed our latest inspection. This was actually a huge hurdle. One that required cutting holes in the wall to catch leaks from broken pipes that wouldn't of occurred had the bank done their job in a timely manner. Oh yeah, positive, so Yippee, we passed inspection!

I'm going to keep up my positive and tell you how in love with my husband I am. I'm so crazy about that guy it's nutty. The other night he got home really late. He was out the house doing all sorts of work before the inspection and his phone died. I couldn't help but worry myself wondering if something happened to the car and without a phone, no houses nearby, crazy snow, what would he do? What would I do? Did he get in an accident? I looked at accident reports. The thought of anything ever happening to him brings tears to my eyes. I can't believe I scored him, really.

I'm also getting my hair done today. I don't think I've had my hair done since August. I can say, my roots are probably longer than you hair, and you know what, I haven't really cared. With Sawyer I wanted to be the cute pregnant girl. WIth this girl, I could care less, I don't wear makeup, ever, my hair is always messy, my outfits don't match. I'm a wreck, truly. It was Geoff that finally said, "Baby, when do you want to schedule a hair appointment?" Ha! So, I did. I mean, someone has got to keep me in check!

And I'm thinking brown, dark brown. I've never been dark, dark brown. So, yeah, at 4pm I'm going to go to the salon to get smart. I think smart will look good with my boobies.

28 Weeks!

Quote of the month:

"Wow, you look GREAT! I mean, you don't even look pregnant, you look like a regular fat person!"

Ummmm?


I'm officially in the third trimester, the last trimester, the top of the mountain. When a friend emailed to ask how I was doing, I replied that I could be pregnant for six more months, no problem, and this girl can get out all her sleepless nights in utero and come out all rested and ready to sleep through the night. Meanwhile, I can get all settled into that house I complain about. Of course this backfires and the next day I can't get comfortable to save my life and have 24 hour acid reflux. I was like, JUST KIDDING to all that and since then, I'm back to comfy. Basically, all that means is there is NO DOUBT a girl in my uterus and I think she is already on her period since she can't seem to take a joke. Wow, do I really have to deal with her when she is a teenager?


You know how else I know it REALLY is a girl? Remember all that weight I gained in just a few weeks? Eight pounds to be exact? Well, I went to the doctors today and gained just under two.

And I've been eating like CRAP just like I promised you guys. Chocolate chip cookies, cupcakes with frosting, loads of ciabatta bread dipped in olive oil and vinegar. I've been feasting just for experiment sake and apparently, she loves it because she didn't make me gain the weight of an elephant. Girls are SOOO weird, I could never be a lesbian, I don't even know how GUYS put up with us!

Lately I've had vagina on my mind. As in my vagina. I was just nervous it was going to hurt, and of course it's going to hurt, hello, it hurt SOOO bad after delivering Sawyer. I'm just not looking forward to that and I don't think I told you guys but I want to deliver all natural. Like without an epidural. No, I didn't just get done smoking something illegal, I've been thinking about this since I've found out I was pregnant, reading articles, and soaking up every natural birth story I can and still want to feel the birth. I want to experience labor old school style, I want to cut down my chances of having a C-Section and an epi for sure increases those chances and, well, I'm competitive. I feel like if the mom from 18 Kids and Counting can do it, I can too. I mean, hello, I should be WAY tougher than her, I exercise, I ran marathons, I used to do all sorts of crazy firefighting training, I can push out a baby without drugs right? Anyway, it's not the pushing or contractions that scare me, it's the sewing of your whoha (hooha, hooohah?) that scares me!

Vagina talk, aren't you excited?

With Sawyer, contractions sucked just like promised, they were two minutes apart for about a full day before I delivered but delivery was like two pushes. He was all, "GET ME OUT OF HERE!" and then peed on everyone. I mean, it was soooo fast. I pushed twice, looked down and saw a gooey, peeing baby. The doctors weren't even ready. BUT, they were sewing me up FOREVER. Seriously, could of been days they were down there and when they finished, every one and their mother came in to see the peep show and made sure it looked good. I'm not joking. I'm assuming this is totally normal and your vagina become the thing for every doctor and nurse to check out but I'm NOT looking forward to that without a little somethin' somethin'.

So I asked the doctor, "WHAT ABOUT MY VAGINA?!?!" And she was like, "huh?". After mentioning that I'm PRETTY SURE I want to go natural, but the thing that scares me the most is the stitching and WOW, did that hurt later; she assured me that they would not stitch me up without numbing me a little down there. I don't care what it takes, numbing or a lot of Vodka, I don't want to be totally aware down there when you are poking me.

One more thing you don't want to hear about but I have to mention... BOOBIES! My boobs are HUGE! Another one of our friends mentioned my big knockers to me and Geoff and said she was sure Geoff was loving it. But the truth I'm the one sticking them in his face making him look. I shake them at him until he takes notice. I thought this was a totally awesome bonus but they keep growing and now when I lay down, it feels like the one on top bunk has too much gravitational force and is pulling OUT my chest muscle. It's like Shin Splits of the Pecs and no thanks do I EVER want a boob job. Shaking them around in my husbands face is awesome but gravity is not. I now miss my smallish boobs. Come back!

I'm going to shut up now, I mean, is there anyone that actually kept reading after the 5th "vagina" word? Welcome to pregnancy!

Picture time!



Notice all the boxes? We still hold out hope that we will only be here for a few more weeks and to not get rid of the boxes. So, yeah, deal with it! :)

Love you guys!

P.S. Just read this birth story and fell in love with it.

See the light? No? Lets make some!

I've been a little negative. Eeek. I spew my negative words on the internet and you guys make me feel better like a big drink of cold beer during a US versus Canada hockey game.

We went up the house today to measure for appliances we'll have to buy and generally say hi, give it a hug, the usual. I'll be short, I'll stay away from the negatives as much as possible and just say, it got broken into again. The sellers agent defends the owners but who else breaks a door in to steal cooking magazines, a 1970's exercise machine a funnel cake maker and dead plants? So, we didn't leave very happy but so many of you ask, WHY DO YOU STICK AROUND? BID ON A DIFFERENT HOUSE!

Easy answer: The house is awesome. Incredibly, awe-inspiring awesome. Actually not even awesome because that is just SOME AWE but the house is FULL of AWE. The house is AWE-FULL and we love it. Love is a B-word though and sometimes people get a little hurt. We are letting this process walk all over us, Hollywood style, while we lay down in red clothes, taking pictures and criticizing slutty outfits. Just like Joan would.


On a light and happy note though: I bought a diaper bag.

OMG, I bought a diaper bag, FINALLY! If you are new here (Cause, I have a few new followers, HELLO new friends, I promise to love you in sickness and health and...) I've been eying diaper bags long before Geoff knocked me up and stalked companies and stared at various styles finally falling in love with Timi and Leslie Diaper bags. Of course I didn't order one because I'm cheap and only spend money on food or diapers until Geoff got sick of me talking about Timi and Leslie Silver Satchel and said, "Buy the damn thing!" And then... I closed my eyes and pressed 'add to cart'. There was no turning back and I was proud and then got an email saying the bags were recalled. No pretty, shiny bag for Holly.

Until, until, UNTIL yesterday! Babysteals.com is a site you better not buy from because I love it and everything sells out in three minutes so I said I wasn't going to share the link with any one else, so please just look into this pen and FLASH (Men in Black). What was I saying? So, I bought a cute bag for $150 off! YEAH! It's not the bag I have dreamed about during my nap times but it's cute and it will do the trick and hello, I got a ROCKIN' DEAL!


Friends, meet bag. Diaper bag, meet friends.