Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Not a lot of free time!

I have been so busy lately dealing with getting the house repaired and my car done.  I was suppose to get my car back this week but I called to check on the status of my car and now it is going to be another 2 1/2 weeks and going to be almost $10,000 worth of damage to my car!! They tried to repair the hail damage where they press out the dents but they could not do them all because there were so many, now they have to order new parts to put on my car like the hood and my roof as well as others!! I cannot believe that I only had my car 2 weeks and now its going to be over a month since I had it!! I can't wait to get it back!!

Any who other than that I have been working on a project from work at home so all my extra time has been occupied with that.  I should be done this week or the beginning of next week so then I will have some more extra time. I feel like I have not been able to blog all of my thoughts lately.  Plus I get the dogs back this week from my mom who has been awesome and has been keeping them since we have not had part of a fence.  Hopefully it will be started or done by thursday when I get them back or I may be in for some trouble...lol. Well I hope to blog more often soon!! Gotta get some work done and rest a little before Bray wakes up from his nap!!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Bad, The Good!!

Wow, lately I have had more bad days than good.  Last week after the storm it was like everyday was bad and something happened to stress me out more and make me mad.  This week so far has been better but it has had its times.  Bray decided that his new wake up time is 7:30 which I am not too happy about because I was spoiled with him waking up between 8 and 9:30....maybe I will make his bedtime later in hopes that will work!! He has also been wanting to go outside every day from the time he wakes up to the time he goes to bed, he says outside and shoes!!!  He has also been testing me and not behaving which is very emotionally draining for me.  Hopefully this is just a phase!!

As far as our house and cars...my car is in the shop getting fixed and they said that it was going to take about 2 weeks to fix it.  They said that hopefully they can pop out most of the dents but if they can't then they will have to replace some parts.  It makes me sad because my car was brand new and perfect!! It better be perfect when I pick it up!!  We decided to wait on Matt's car since we would both have rental cars and we are only allowed a certain amount a day and that does not pay for an SUV.  I had trouble with my rental car and Bray's car seat, Matt had to work on getting it to fit properly.  Our fence is still down but our insurance adjuster is coming on friday to see all the damage and tell us what they are going to give us.  We will need a new roof and gutters but at least it is not leaking just lots of hail damage.  We have someone that is going to do our roof and fence (if you ever need your fence done, roof repaired, or general contracting on your house contact me and I can tell you who we are using), he is such a nice guy.  He came on saturday and walked around our house explaining everything to us, he is easy to get in touch with and answers all your questions (we all know I ask tons of questions!).  Excited to get all of this done so we can put it behind us!! 

Looking forward to this friday!! I get my hair done!! I am so ready to be more blonde again!!!!!! Woohoo!!  Then of course this weekend is Easter so I am excited to see Bray hunt his Easter eggs.  I think that we are also all going out to eat on Sunday so that we can celebrate Matt's birthday and Easter.  Hope everyone has a great week and good Easter weekend!! 

Monday, April 11, 2011

Hail Storm!!

My poor new car is now beat up with dents from the hail!! It is all over the car and I am so upset!!

I get to take that in to get fixed and we also will be getting a new roof, new gutters, part of a new fence and some windows fixed.  We had a huge storm pop up last night that had over 70 mph winds along with about ping pong ball sized hail.  It was the scariest thing that I have ever been through.  Our electricity flickered off and back on then it just sounded like rocks being thrown at all of our windows...all I could think about was my new car outside being beat up by the hail.  I was also worried that there was a freaking tornado and that our windows were going to get blown in.  We were very lucky that none of our windows broke, a lot of homes had broken windows.  Bray also managed to sleep through the whole thing, I don't know how he did it.  It has caused my anxiety to go through the roof and my stress level to soar!! We both took off work today to clean up, make calls, and get estimates.  It is going to take so long for all of this to get fixed....It made me so sick today that I threw up while we were at Lowes buying some things.

The storm also tore up our flower bed that we just planted yesterday.  Here are some before and after pictures along with other pictures of the damage to our property.
Before the Storm!

My pretty flowers before!

The corner of the roof lifting.

No more pretty flowers

Money wasted on flowers!

Our fence and neighbors yards!




On the side of our fence

I feel grateful that we had no windows broken and that we are all safe but it is still a major stress to deal with.  Hoping we get everything taken care of soon so I can stop stressing!! Something I learned is to clean out the garage so that you can park your new car in it to avoid hail damage!

On a good note we had fun at a Rough Riders game last night!! Bray had a blast there walking around and cheering. 

Hope everyone has a better week than how mine started out!!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Busy Bees!

We have been so busy!! This past weekend we ran a lot of errands, got some stuff down outside, took Bray to build a bear, took my mom out to dinner, and the normal weekend stuff.  I have been wanting to take Bray to build a bear for awhile now but Matt kept saying to wait...well we took him on Saturday and at first he loved it, but when it came time to stuff his dog he screamed and cried from the noise it made!! Normally he is not scared with loud noises but it sure did scare him, after that he was all into looking around and taking everything off the shelf and hangers.  We got him a really cute dog and named him Ruff, yes I know very original name, he loves him!! He had to take him in the car to daycare on Monday.  I do think he is still a little too young to get into it but that just means we will have to go again...lol.

I have so much going on lately!! Next week I shoot the basketball banquet, which I am very nervous about but excited!!  We also go to a concert next Saturday that I am supper excited about because I have the cutest outfit to wear!! Then Easter is just around the corner, summer is almost here and that is going to be very busy for us!  Oh and I finally got signed up for my photography class that starts in July.  I am excited to take a class to start learning more and refreshing my memory.

 I took Brayden on Tuesday to a field near my house that is full of bluebonnets, it is so pretty.  Here are some pictures that I took, I was amazed that my pictures turned out so well that I did not have to edit much. GO ME!!!







We had a great time there in the field even though we were only there about 15 minutes, I was surprised I got so many good pictures of Bray.  I need more practice, but I need to find some good places and people to practice with.

I was so excited last weekend to be able to go to lunch with my girlies!! We got to have a couple hours kid free! We got to have lunch, a drink, and I did a little shopping.  It is really nice to be able to get out and see my friends even though it does not happen as often as I wish. Hopefully we will make it a thing once a month or every other month. I miss my girlie time!!

We have busy weekend ahead with working, getting some yard work done, and going to a baseball game. Bray and I are also going to meet with his cousins and Auntie for a play date!! We are excited!!

Hope to be able to blog a little this weekend but with everything going on not too sure when I will get a chance.  I also have to get my nails done...the things we do to look good...lol!!

Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!!!!

Busy Bees!

We have been so busy!! This past weekend we ran a lot of errands, got some stuff down outside, took Bray to build a bear, took my mom out to dinner, and the normal weekend stuff.  I have been wanting to take Bray to build a bear for awhile now but Matt kept saying to wait...well we took him on Saturday and at first he loved it, but when it came time to stuff his dog he screamed and cried from the noise it made!! Normally he is not scared with loud noises but it sure did scare him, after that he was all into looking around and taking everything off the shelf and hangers.  We got him a really cute dog and named him Ruff, yes I know very original name, he loves him!! He had to take him in the car to daycare on Monday.  I do think he is still a little too young to get into it but that just means we will have to go again...lol.

I have so much going on lately!! Next week I shoot the basketball banquet, which I am very nervous about but excited!!  We also go to a concert next Saturday that I am supper excited about because I have the cutest outfit to wear!! Then Easter is just around the corner, summer is almost here and that is going to be very busy for us!  Oh and I finally got signed up for my photography class that starts in July.  I am excited to take a class to start learning more and refreshing my memory.

 I took Brayden on Tuesday to a field near my house that is full of bluebonnets, it is so pretty.  Here are some pictures that I took, I was amazed that my pictures turned out so well that I did not have to edit much. GO ME!!!







We had a great time there in the field even though we were only there about 15 minutes, I was surprised I got so many good pictures of Bray.  I need more practice, but I need to find some good places and people to practice with.

I was so excited last weekend to be able to go to lunch with my girlies!! We got to have a couple hours kid free! We got to have lunch, a drink, and I did a little shopping.  It is really nice to be able to get out and see my friends even though it does not happen as often as I wish. Hopefully we will make it a thing once a month or every other month. I miss my girlie time!!

We have busy weekend ahead with working, getting some yard work done, and going to a baseball game. Bray and I are also going to meet with his cousins and Auntie for a play date!! We are excited!!

Hope to be able to blog a little this weekend but with everything going on not too sure when I will get a chance.  I also have to get my nails done...the things we do to look good...lol!!

Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!!!!!

Friday, April 1, 2011

NEW CAR!!!!

I got a new car!!! I love it!! I am so excited that I was able to get a new car, I got a 2011 Chevy Equinox.  Let me tell you, it is so awesome.  It is perfect size, not too big and it gets great gas mileage.  This car has great features blue tooth, back up camera, onstar, eco for fuel saving on the highways!!  If you are looking for a good car I would go look at these and test drive one.  I did a lot of research on this car to make sure it is what I wanted since I am going to have this car along time.  I was nervous about car looking because I know how some car dealers are, not very nice.  I dealt with 2 different dealers and let me tell you, one was a major jerk and the other was the nicest most helpful person.

I started off emailing a couple dealers to see what kinds of deals or specials they had on the equinox.  I made appointments to meet with them last weekend but I only made it to one since Matt got sick with the stomach bug that he caught from Brayden (which I was able to not get woohoo!!).  I went to the first one after work and my mom went with me so that she could be there to watch Brayden so I could at least test drive the car.  I got there and the guy who I was suppose to meet with was busy so another guy helped me and took me the test drive (this guy was really nice and too bad I did not deal with him).  I fell in love with this car as soon as I sat in it...lol. We get back to dealer after the test drive and I met with the original guy and I was telling him I might trade in my car but I was not sure so I wanted to see what they would give me for a trade in.  One tip I have is not telling them you are making a trade in or telling them how much you want for the trade in.  He asked me how much I wanted or thought I was going to get so I told him what the value was based on the kelly blue book.  He looked at me and sorta laughed, he said that I would not get the much at all for my car since it was a saturn and they do not make them anymore.  That made me mad, but he said he would take my car back and see what they would give me for my car.  My mom had left by this time so I was there with Brayden and it was about nap time so he was not easy to handle there.  They finally want to talk with me and I said that I would have to come back but we talked a little about the car and he gave me the price of the car he was going to sell me and it went up like $600 from the online quote then he said he would only come down $200.  I was so mad, I then asked what are you going to give me for my car and he would not even tell me...his excuse was he had to shop my car around to a few places since it was a saturn.  I left that place mad and had wasted my afternoon there.  They will never get my business!!

The second dealer I contacted and told him that I would go there on tuesday since that was my next day off. We did everything over the phone, he was able to find the exact car I wanted color and features.  He gave me an awesome quote which was way lower than the other dealer.  I told him that we were going to be putting money down and that I might have a trade in but I was not sure if I was going to sell it myself or not.  He had everything ready on tuesday, even my credit was run before I got there so all I had to do was see the numbers and look at my car!! They already had the paper license on the car, I knew it was meant to be..lol.  I talked with him and asked him if there was any way he could just tell me what they would give me on my car and he was back within 10 minutes with a price.  He told me how much and I said SOLD!! He gave me $200 less than what the kelly blue book said which I thought was great because the guy had told me I was not going to get anything for it.  He worked up all the numbers and I told him I would be back that evening with Matt to sign the papers and now I have my new car!!!

Some things I learned about buying a car, especially if you are young and/or a woman going to the dealers alone.  RESEARCH, RESEARCH,RESEARCH!! You need to know what you want out of a car, what prices they are, the reviews (consumer and safety), what type of payments you can afford, if you are going to trade in a car research what your trade in value is and what other dealers are selling the car for, ask about any specials or incentives ( I was able to get an extra $1,000 off my car when he searched using my maiden name since my old car was still under that name), just search around until you can find the right fit.  I was prepared with all my information, I just needed to find the right car and dealer.  Never give in to a dealer if they try to raise the price because they do not have what you want and all they have is the car with something extra.  They can always find the car you want or you go to another dealer that has exactly what you want.  Stick your ground and never give in!! I did and was able to get a great car from a great dealer!! If you are looking for a new car James Wood in Denton, TX is where I got mine from.  Sometimes they have better deals on cars if you contact them over the internet, Henry Estrada is who I dealt with and he is the internet sales manager. Let him know I sent ya!! Oh and I do not get any money or anything from them if you buy a car!! lol...wish I did!!