Red Letter Haze

Over our Thanksgiving holiday Chris and I got the chance to do some house hunting*. We took the early flight into Pittsburgh and arrived around 930am and by 1030 we were meeting with the realtor. There were 7 (yes, SEVEN!!) properties on the itinerary and only about 2 hours to cram them all in.

Remember the house I posted about a few weeks ago? It was the second house we got to see and I pretty much fell in love immediately. It had a pretty open floor plan, 3 HUGE bedrooms, and tons of closets and storage space. I was pretty much ready to call off the hunt right then and there. Luckily my dad was along to be my voice of reason and we kept moving along.

The second to last one was the other one that left an impression on me. It also had a fairly open floor plan, an attached garage, and an ENORMOUS finished basement. Right now though the house is a total bachelor pad. We would probably have to dump quite a bit of money into getting the carpets cleaned up or even replaced (more than one guy living in a house=total slobbery). And it was the most expensive out of the seven we saw. Still, it’s a high contender for us.

Since my mom wasn’t able to go along with us the first time around, we met with the realtor again on Saturday to look at the 2 we liked a second time. Except the people who are living in place #2 are a bunch of assholes and refused to show the house so we couldn’t see it again. It gave me second thoughts regarding the place. The people who are currently living there are renters, and the owners are in Peru. I have a feeling the renters are kind of being kicked out and I could see some legal drama surrounding the whole thing. Yikes.

We also stopped at another place between House 1 and House 2. It’s pretty much exactly the same layout as House 2, but it’s still under construction. Which means if we were to purchase it we would get to pick out everything from the floors, to the cabinets, to the door handles and bathroom fixtures. Suddenly House 3 is the highest contender. Although it would lead to loads more bickering down the road, for the time being Chris and I agreed that we both liked the idea of a brand new house best.

We were very excited to get back to Chicago and get started on the pre-approval process until: SETBACK. The realtor emailed Chris and said she had spoke to their pre-approval department and informed us it would be virtually impossible to get a pre-approval for a loan in Pennsylvania while we were still employed in Chicago. Obviously our salaries in Pittsburgh would be slightly less than they would be here in Chicago and until we have jobs there’s no way to really determine how much we could afford loan wise.

I have been researching about first time home buying though and did discover there is a difference between Pre-qualification and Pre-approval. I’m wondering if I could still get a pre-qualification just to give us a ballpark estimate just to make sure we’re definitely seeing houses in our price range. Honestly though, the whole process with interest rates and the tax credit thing has my head spinning. I hate numbers. I have a really bad habit of not caring how much things cost if I really want it and I have to get out of that mindset. Fortunately my dad has a knack for finances so I’m sure we’ll be relying on his help a lot in the upcoming months.

So right now we’re kind of at a standstill. We need jobs before we can move forward. We need somewhere to live if we get jobs, and we also need cars to get us there. Sigh. I’m sure everything will fall into place as it should but when I want something, I want it right now.

Patience is not a virtue I possess.

*I brought my G10 to take pictures of all the places but I’m a schmuck who also forgot to put a memory card in it. Whoops.
**I also have something I’m dying to share with you all but I don’t want to jinx anything. Until I actually know anything, I’m remaining mum.

PS. BIG thanks to Matt from Life Without Pants for guest posting yesterday. If you have any thoughts, please jump on in to the discussion. We’d love to hear it!

Hi all! Today I have a guest blogger treat for you: Matt Cheuvront from Life Without Pants. He has been so kind as to post on a topic many of us shy away from, and I hope you enjoy reading his views as much as I did. I’ve been under the weather for the past 5 days but I promise I have lots to update you on tomorrow. Enjoy!

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This post is part of the Guest Blog Grand Tour over at Life Without Pants – an epic two-month journey of over 50 guest posts. Want to learn more about Matt Cheuvront and see how far the rabbit hole goes? Subscribe to the Life Without Pants RSS feed and keep in touch!

Let me preface this by saying that, while I may not be a very religious person, I have a lot of faith. I’m not an Atheist, I believe in God – but may seem Him a little differently than you.

I grew up in a very interesting environment. My parent’s got divorced when I was just a wee lad – after which my Mom decided to try the other team (yes, she’s gay) while my Dad remarried and, ironically enough, became extremely involved in the Catholic faith. To this day, I believe much of his church-going ways came as a result of permanently turning my mom off to men.

While church was never a big thing with my Mom (who I spent most of my time with growing up) – Mass and Sunday school was a standard on the weekends with my Dad. We would wake up on Sunday Morning – go to mass, I’d run along with my Sunday School “friends” to talk about all things Jesus and play games for an hour or so, and then we’d have our regular family breakfast.

I went along with this routine for a while – well over 10 years (mostly for the free breakfast). It was the “routine” that still, to this day, has left a bad taste in my mouth about organized religion. I would stand there during Mass, look around, and half the people would be looking at their watches, falling asleep, or whispering about the football games that day. I thought to myself, “What’s the point”? Church had become a chore, for myself, and for so many other people – something you did because you were supposed to do it, otherwise God would smite you and you’d have no place in heaven.

Enough was enough – and around the time I graduated from high school I “called it quits” with the Church routine. This wasn’t without some friction with my Dad, but I did what I thought was best – and embarked down the path of PERSONAL enlightenment.

I’ll never argue with anyone over their beliefs – faith and religion is something that is sacred, and in my opinion, very personal. So while it’s no place of mine to say your church is pointless, it’s not your place to say I’m going to hell because I choose not to sit in Mass on Sundays.

And that’s the essence of religion to me – it has to be about you. When you lose track of WHY you’re praying, WHY you’re sitting in mass every Sunday – when you find yourself blindly going through the motions, when church becomes a chore, you have to stop and ask “Why am I doing this”?

I believe that God is not only with me, but within me. He created man to replicate a perfect image of himself – since then, things have obviously gone awry. But it is my ultimate goal, down this path of enlightenment, to achieve that perfection that was intended. I’m not saying I lead a perfect life – not by any stretch of the imagination, but I live my life with the intent of “finding” God within myself – and becoming one with Him.

We’re blinded by the imperfection of reality – but underneath it all – each one of us has a pure, raw, unfiltered version of ourselves (I think this is what we get a glimpse of in someone else when we fall in love). I won’t pull out the Matrix references here – but there is a lot of truth in what appears to be nothing more than a slick action movie.

As long as religion and faith has meaning to you – you’re doing it right. When it becomes a chore, it’s time to rethink your direction and try something new.

What does religion mean to you?

(Image courtesy of WishLaura)

I am such a procrastinator.

I always wait until the last minute to do just about everything. Luckily, it’s always seemed to work for me. Whether it was waiting until last minute to write a paper due in an hour or get ready to go out, it seemed to work out in my favor. Today, I’m up to my old procrastinating tricks.

I leave for a trip back home to Pittsburgh in, oh, 6 (ish) hours and is my suitcase packed and ready to go? No. Is all my makeup/toiletries neatly packed away? Nope. Is there a chance I’ll forget my toothbrush in my haste (again)? Most likely. The only thing I haven’t procrastinated on was checking in and printing my boarding pass, but I can’t really count that as a win since technically Chris did it for me. If it weren’t for him, I’d be in boarding group C stuck in between a lady and her crying baby, and probably someone just a little too big for those airline seats.

Also-guess who just spent the last hour updating my resume and fighting with the printer? Yep, me again. I could’ve done all of this when I got home from work but instead I decided taking a nap was the best thing to do at the time. Speaking of sleeping-if I forget to pack my Ambien I’m gonna be one cranky girl over the holidays.

So when I get up at 4am tomorrow, I’ll be thinking of how I’m jealous that all my friends are probably still all comfy in their beds and I’m running around like a madwoman yelling at Chris. Tomorrow is a big day-Chris & I are looking at houses and I also have a semi secret thing going on. After that it’s relaxation, and spending time with the family.

Do you have any big Thanksgiving plans? Are you traveling anywhere? I wish you all a happy and safe holiday!!

*PS: On Monday, I’m going to have a special guest post from Matt at Life Without Pants. I’m super excited to see what he has in store for us all!

and the lucky winners of the Starbucks Giveaway are:

1. Dena
2.  Brittainy
3. Phampants
4. Hal
5. Jarrod

Congrats to the winners!!! I’ll be emailing you all shortly to get your full names/addresses so I can get those prize packs sent out to you quickly.

Thank you to everyone who entered, your support & readership mean a lot to me!

This post is a part of 20SB’s Blog Carnival: Can’t Live Without, and Alice.com is awarding prizes to lucky bloggers and readers!

Is it bad when I think of what I can’t live without I immediately think of my iPhone or a good latte?

No, my first thought isn’t my fiancé or my family or any human contact. That should be a huge red flag that I have a problem.

It’s no secret I have a caffeine addiction. If I don’t get my morning latte, there’s a good chance I’ll be rather snippy with you. I’m probably picturing in my head ways to destroy or torture whatever it is standing in my way between me and my habit. I feel pretty certain that most people share my dependence on coffee so I’m not too ashamed of that habit. Lack of caffeine can turn people (myself included) into monsters. On the other hand, the baristas at Starbucks know me by name and my drink by heart. A little scary, eh?

But what I didn’t realize was how heavy my iPhone dependence had become.

Like most normal slightly addicted smartphone users, my iPhone is no more than arms length away at all times. Nothing abnormal about that. It wasn’t until my doctor appointment on Monday that I realized I probably had a serious problem. I’ve been having insomnia and one of the questions my doctor asked me was “do you tend to check your emails before you go to bed?” I told him of course I did, but what I didn’t tell him was that I check it compulsively. If I am laying in bed and hear my email notification go off, you bet your ass I grab it off the dock and check it immediately. If I hear a text message go off, it’s the same thing. If I hear my fiancé’s email notification go off, I make him check it. Chris and I were on the front page of the Red Eye on Tuesday morning and the first thing my father commented on when he saw it was the fact he thought I was talking on my phone. I had to listen to him accuse me of not being able to put down my phone long enough to take a photo (for once, it’s not true). At this point, I think I’ve hit rock bottom when it comes to iPhone addiction.

Luckily the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.

If Apple started offering iPhone Addicts Anonymous instead of One to Ones, they’d probably have lines out the door like they did for the launch. I’d happily attend those workshops. With a Starbucks latte in hand of course.

Today I have a little treat in store for you all- I decided to let my fiancé guest post here. Alls fair in love and war, and since I poke fun at him constantly I figured he deserved to get in some digs publicly as well. I remind you, I’m currently taking ambien so I refuse to acknowledge accountability for my actions. When you’re finished having a good laugh at my expense, don’t forget to enter to win a starbucks prize pack!

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Hi there, I’m Chris Wardzala, and you may know me from such films as “I’m Maggie’s Fiancee,” and “chriswardzala.com.” Today I would like to talk to you about drug use.  Not the scary kind where you get addicted and all whacked out, but I mean the fun kind.  The use of prescribed medication.

You’ve all head about my fun times of incoherently talking in my sleep, about random pretzel adventures and the like.  But today I flip the coin, and we talk about Maggie and her use of a sleep aid.

This morning, Maggie and I both left the house at the same time, so we rode the bus together.  On our way out the door, Cady, our cat, escaped.  She ran a bit down the hallway, but we caught her fairly quickly.  While chasing her down, Maggie exclaimed, “YOU BITCH! I’M GONNA TURN YOU INTO A HANDBAG!” I thought this was a little extreme, but whatever. While I was wrangling Cady back into the apartment, the elevator arrived, and the door opened with a man inside.  He looked at Maggie, and she just stared at him.  He looked extremely uncomfortable, and the door closed on him without Maggie getting inside.  I closed our door, and called the next elevator.  Maggie was now talking again. We went down the elevator to catch the bus.

A few buses were coming, and Maggie for some reason really insisted that we get on all of them that were really packed.  It was kind of weird how stubborn she was being about it. (This will all make sense in a bit, I swear.)

The final weird thing that happened was on the way to work, she was saying how sluggish she felt, and how weird she was feeling.

“I’m almost too tired.”

Her: “I feel drugged.”

Me: “You are.”

Her: “Oh.”

The final bit that really made me suspect something weird was when she mentioned how much she felt like a zombie, asked me for my brains, and then let out a rather loud zombie moan on the bus.  A lady sitting near us then took that moment to move far away.

Maggie then left the bus, and I went to work.

On our way home, I asked her about how much of the bus she remembered.  She really didn’t remember much, and thats when I began to clue her in.  She began to laugh, and I think I got a few tears out of her as well, because honestly, she says some pretty funny stuff.

I can’t wait to hear what craziness awaits me tomorrow.

Image c/o Positively Present.

And also happy Friday!

I don’t have any plans for Halloween this year, and I’m totally okay with that. Truth be told, I don’t even like halloween that much.

Besides, I don’t ever think I could top the time I dressed up as Amy Winehouse:

Tomorrow I’m going to yoga class with Molly (yay!!) and then I’m spending time getting some hair therapy (double yay!!). Other than, I’m planning on a pretty low key weekend. I’m also super pumped because I got myself a prescription of Ambien so I’m sure I’ll spend a good bit of the weekend catching up on all the sleep I’ve been missing out on lately.

So what are everyone’s plans for the weekend? Anyone have any really great costume planned?

***Also don’t forget to enter my starbucks giveaway! Feel free to enter as many times as you’d like as long as you answer one of the proposed questions. Scoot on over here to enter, there’s still a week left to go.