Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

This past Saturday night we took my soon to be sister-in-law out to celebrate.... bachelorette party! We had so much fun. Started the night out eating pizza at her favorite pizza place. Then we went to the Sugar Bar and had a martini! I ordered the pink lemonade martini! I highly recommend it! If you ever find yourself at the Sugar Bar...

Here are a few pictures from our night of fun.

At the bride's house

Driving to the pizza place, Bill's Pizza. Steph kept telling us she did not want this veil on her head. She also didn't want it to be big. Well... it was sticking up over her seat and I couldn't resist taking a picture of it.

2 timing on her martini. We all had to try each others. Yum!

Fish faces! What you look like if you have one too many martini

All of us!

Steph on some big Harley dude's bike!

Um... taking shots.... of WATER!! Seriously that is water. The girl on the left said we shouldn't drink the water. She didn't trust it. So instead we tossed it over our heads.

The last picture of the night! Done... D-U-N... Done!

This weekend the guys go on their bachelor party... paint balling. Do you think they will let me tag along and be the photographer?? I'll send the camera along but I am sure it will come back empty... then again maybe it won't. Hmmm....

Pocket Bike

Jesse ordered a pocket bike for his business to use as advertising. He is having his friend (who does auto body painting) put the graphics for the motorcycle alarm that we sell on the bike. Jesse will then install the alarm on the bike, send the bike to the dealer to take to trade shows to use it as a display so the customers can see how the alarms works on real bike. Plus this tiny little bike will draw the customer in to come look and see what is going on with this tiny bike. Wham - they buy an alarm!!! Or that is what we hope will happen.

What is a pocket bike you ask? It is a bike that is super tiny... but it looks just like a normal size bike. It comes in a box like this....

You put the windshield on, handle bars on, and fill it with gas. I'm sure there is more to it... but this all I know about. Oh and it takes 4 guys to do this, 2 guys stand and watch, and 3 girls to sit by the campfire!!

Jason is the lucky (or not so lucky) guy to take the first test drive!!

Jerry's turn at it!!

Um, why is Jerry not coming back? Jason goes to see what is wrong.

Jerry broke down and Jesse ended up having to take my little brother's dirt bike out to go rescue him and pull him back to the garage. It was too dark so that picture didn't turn out. Jesse is riding a dirt bike (that is just a wee bit bigger then this pocket bike) and Jerry is holding on to Jesse's shirt riding the pocket bike which is being pulled by Jesse.

Jerry messed with this part of the bike all night long! He kept trying to make the bike louder and I guess you can do that by messing with this piece.

One of the times that Jerry was riding the bike he broke the foot peg off. He stopped, picked up the part, and put it in his pocket. We all giggled so hard and now knew why they called it a pocket bike.

After you are done with your night of fun riding a pocket bike... you will have hair like this!!!

Unbelievable!

Sunday we went down to the realtor to see more houses. We didn't even have a list of houses that we were seeing because I wasn't looking for any. By the time we found out she rejected us it was too late for me search the Internet. I left it up to the realtor this time.

We get to her office, we sit down, she hands us a list of houses that fit into our criteria and there were about 7 houses in Stanley and about 6 houses in Thorp. We didn't like any of them!! For a variety of reasons... 1 car garage, no pictures of the inside, too small, too icky. At this time in our search we are being extremely picky because we thought we already found 'our' house. And we were comparing all these houses to 'our' house.

We didn't even want to go look at any of the houses in person. We just sat in her office with a pouty look on our face! *kidding* We asked her if we could go visit the old lady and sit down and have coffee with her and chat. A nice chat! We just wanted to chat with her and see what in heck she was thinking rejecting our offer!! : ) Our realtor said she couldn't stop us! Funny!

Anyway... we are feeling kind of pressed with time... and we don't like anything... we can't get our mind of this house... we want this house!! So, we decided... FINE! Just give her want she wants! Seriously! But, lets make her wait until Tuesday (tomorrow) before we do this.

I had asked our realtor for the signed copy of the rejection... and she didn't have it!!! Odd. She finally broke it to us that the seller's realtor never had her sign the rejection. He wanted her to think/mull it over, over the weekend. We were kind of shocked by this. And we almost made our realtor pinkie swear to us that she would not tell the sellers realtor anything about us putting in an offer on Tuesday and giving her what she wanted. Our realtor said she wouldn't say a word, she would just try to get a copy of the rejection for us.

We left the realtor's office, ate lunch, and drove around looking for private sellers. Went home disappointed.

Well....

This afternoon I got a call from our realtor!!!!! Katie, she took the stick out of her butt!!!! Were you praying for that?!! LOL.

The seller finally accepted our offer and will pay our closing costs!!!!! Whooohooo! I am so excited! We actually have the house! We signed the acceptance and sent it over already! We got it!!!

We can not believe it! We never thought she would do that!!

Now, we don't move until the 30th of August. I don't even care when we move in... we just got the house!

Now.... are you ready for some pictures! You have to promise me that you can put on your hidden potential hat and imagine what this house will look like after we get our special touches on it!!

The front. Facing the street. What we have imagined here is...

Landscaping, landscaping, landscaping!

In a few years re-siding it and possible adding brick to the front.

Adding something to give that front door some sass and stand out more.

The back yard/back of the house.

Extend that deck to end of the house. Remove that door - because it is in the kitchen and is kind of in a strange place. There is a window behind that red tree that you can't see - make that a patio door and enter the deck from there instead.

Landscaping, landscaping, and more landscaping.

Oh and adding a fire pit!! Gotta have one in Wisconsin!

Kitchen. Ugh!

This was definitely not a selling point for me... who loves to be in her kitchen.

It took some serious talking and help for me to invision a functional kitchen. But I have it now and can't wait to get it started. There is a wall behind the fridge that separates the kitchen from the living room... get rid of that wall and add in an island. Put the fridge on the right side... which will give us loads more room. This will be our biggest under taking... but we can't wait!

New flooring, cupboards, counter tops, remove a wall... etc. Complete face lift!

Dining Room. The window in the back is the window that will eventually be a patio door.

New flooring. Wood paneling... history! Paint it, get rid of it, anything...

Living room (upstairs). Can you invision this room minus all the clutter and the 2 TVs stacked on top of each other!?

Upstairs has the living room, kitchen, dinning room, bathroom and 2 bedrooms. Downstairs has another huge living room (which we can section off and put my office in), a bedroom, a bathroom, 2 huge closets (one of the closets we want to get rid of and make the bathroom bigger), and mud room (which we will make Jesse's office/ washer & dryer area). When you enter the house from the garage you enter in this mud room.

I think that is everything. Pretty exciting! We never thought that she would actually accept the offer!

Now we just do some more waiting until August 30th when we can actually move in!!! Too fun!

Rejected.

Yup, you read it right. The lady rejected our offer of her paying closing costs. Both realtors where not impressed that she did this. Especially because we were bending over backwards for her. Giving ourselves 2 days to move in before Jesse started working.

What now?

Um, we are digging in our heels and moving on. Even though it is really hard for us not to just cave in and say fine. We want her to sit on it for awhile longer... and... um... play her game back. : ) She may think we are just some punk kids who really want her house and will do anything for it.... wrong-o! Okay, we might be... but first lets see what else is out there. Plus, we need time to really think/pray about it. Our realtor is setting up more houses for us to look at this weekend. Who knows maybe something better will come along...

I will confess that I did have great plans for that kitchen!! My Mom called last night and said she was headed to a garage sale for furniture and did I trust her... heck yes I trust her! Go find some deals! Then to find out this morning... rejected! Good news is... her steal of a deal on furniture finds will go in any house, right!!?

Patience!

I am learning patience right now... which I am about out of.

The seller counter offered back to us. Which basically means she refused about everything that we offered. But instead of refusing she just counter offered back. So, we said fine and accept all that she wanted which included the higher price, no appliances being left, and her living in the house for 2 weeks - rent free after it would legally be ours!! But we asked her to pay closing costs! Our realtor said it was a fair deal. Even the seller's realtor said it was a fair deal and he would try to let her know it was a good deal and she should accept. The seller is elderly though and I am not sure how much her kids are involved in this process.

Anyway - no word yet!!!! I can't take it!! Every time my phone rings I go running and then I am disappointed because it is Jesse going "Did she call yet?!" : ) We have been waiting for 2 days now...

Ben, can you sing me the patience song?! It is a patience song that you sing, right?!

Weekend Updates

Happy 4th of July!!! Okay, I know that was a little late... but here are some pictures and updates from the past couple of weeks.

My Dad driving the Jeep.

I probably shouldn't have let him... he now wants one, bad!! I think he looks pretty good in it and should get one! Don't you?! My Mom and I rode along on his Jeep adventure. He took us to "cut the gut" as my Mom calls. Which means drive down main street and show off! : )

My home town put up this memorial wall for all the veterans in our town. We stopped here to check it out. It is right along the river. Very neat spot for it! I found Jesse's Great Uncle on the wall and lots of my Mom's side of the family on the wall.

Bailing Hay!

This is Jesse's side of the family making hay! I thought it was so funny! Not very often that you see this many people on a hay wagon out in the field!

On the road again!

We have been doing a lot of traveling over the weekends. I caught this great picture on our drive back this weekend! I loved how I could see the sun rays!

The reason for all this travel is because we are trying to find a place to live! We have been house hunting, which is loads of fun! I have learned that some places are not what the pictures show... and some are better then what the pictures show! One of the houses that we really liked in photos was not at all what it was cracked up to to be! Right next... and I mean right next to a bar!!! The little neon sign that says "Friday Night Fish Fry" was practically right out the living room window! I couldn't believe it! We didn't even get out of the car to check it out further. And then some houses were so much better then what the pictures show!

Anyway.... we found a house!!!! I know!! How very exciting!! This picture above is of Jesse and I learning what happens next once you find a house! : ) That concern look on our face of "Don't you dare let anyone else get this one! It is ours!"

What happens now? Well, we put in our offer on it and we gave the owner 2 days to accept, refuse, or counter-offer. I haven't heard anything yet... but it is also only 10 in the morning!! I am sitting on pins and needles just waiting for my phone to ring!

A sweet elderly lady lives there. We didn't have an appointment to see it but she let us right in! She was cooking chicken and it smelled fantastic! She was such a clean lady... which I loved!! I didn't even find dust!! Anyway... the house is a split level house and from the 1970s... so it has lots of that dark wood paneling! Thank goodness my Mom (the ultimate designer) came with us so she could help me envision it with no dark wood... and lots of sass and Lynn style! : ) So we have a few projects to do on it... but I think they will be fun ones. Taking down a wall between the family room and kitchen. No Dad, that is not a supporting wall!!! Even the homeowner said it was just a dividing wall.... did you hear that... dividing wall!! : ) (My Mom has this thing for tearing down walls but they are walls that shouldn't/can't be tore down because the house could fall down!)

The yard was a big selling point!! The house is in town... but there is no one behind it!! You back yard over looks a big beautiful field... and I think there even might some trees back there. The neighbors to the right have a gorgeous yard w/ flowers and a fire pit! (My Mom kept trying to sneak over there to check out her gardens!) We have some competition! We even picked out our perfect fire pit spot! : ) And the neighbors to the right we can't really see because there are pine trees dividing us.

Anyway... I shouldn't get so worked up because now I have to go to work and try to focus on work stuff. And... we have to see if the lady accepts our offer! So... now the waiting and patience begins! Ahh!

I'll keep you posted! Have a fantastic week!!