The Erickson Looney Bin

I am falling in love with my new vehicle! I had some worries in the beginning when I realized just how huge it was but now that I am used to it I love it!

I had my Jeep Grand Cherokee for so many years that driving a new vehicle was very uncomfortable. I hate driving an unfamiliar vehicle. It makes me very tense when driving and I already do not like driving that much. It took me about a week before I started to feel more comfortable but now I absolutely love it!

I got a Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer Edition with the big V8 engine. I still get a kick out of hearing the engine start it has that tough sound of a Ford F-150. It also has the roominess of a huge van. I can not believe how big it is inside! We got one with 3rd row seating so the girls can spread out and relax when we go places.

I am still learning though. Everyday I find a new button or a new light. Just the other day a windshield washer light came on up by where the check engine light would be. James looked at me like I was a big dork when I said that I had never seen one of those before.

I will need to bring it into an auto shop at some point. The previous owner removed the cd changer and tv before they sold it and I want to replace them. Heck we bought the vehicle so we would have a large vehicle for long rides maybe we should make it a trip and find a San Diego auto repair place. I could use some sun light right about now!

Do you ever have so much to do that you just want to avoiding doing it all? That is how I have been lately. I keep putting things off and then there is a mad rush to get it all done.

I am hoping that we can get a lot done in the next few days. The girls have an early release today and they have no school on Friday.

This last weekend we did a lot of prepping for the new furniture. Sunday we got half of the living room painted but we still have a second color to paint.

I filled our front hall with tons of boxes of things that we had in the living room. I also filled the hallway between the front hall and the living room with things. Today I realized that the new furniture will actually have to come into the house! Such a silly thing to not think of before hand.

This means that once I am finally finished with painting the living room I will have to then figure out what I will be doing with all of the things that are in the front hall and hallway. When the furniture finally arrives I will then have to move everything again to a final resting place.

Then I get to pull everything out of the kitchen so we can paint the kitchen.  There is one large wall that is shared by the kitchen and the living room so the kitchen has to be painted too.

At this point I am pretty much feeling sorry for myself and wondering why I had to beg James for new furniture. This is too much work!

Life has been crazy here in our house lately. Yeah, I know go figure! I have not been able to make many posts lately with how busy we have been so I guess some updates are in order. Life should be turning more normal now so I will be able to write more often again.

In the last two weeks… We have bought a new vehicle. Then we had a 3 foot by 5 foot hole cut into our living room wall to get to the bathroom plumbing. We bought new furniture and now while we wait for the furniture we are getting the living room ready. This means lots of plastering and painting. Tomorrow is supposed to be painting day but we are way behind schedule.

We also had another vet visit for Max (Pugimus Maximus). I already mentioned that we had to raise his dosage of Phenobarbital for his seizures. It has finally been 2 weeks so it was time to check on the levels that he had in his blood to be sure that we were not doing liver damage. His dosage was considered high for his weight.

The blood test showed that the Phenobarbital in his blood was actually on the low side of what is acceptable so now we upped his dose some more and we go back in another two weeks for a blood test. The vet also did some physical tests on Max and said that Max seems to have bad neurological problems that could cause seizures.

So once again we are giving him more drugs and just hoping for the best. The visit ended with the normal… “Hope for the best but realize that the pills might not help for very long”.

Well, we are now at 6 weeks since he was first hospitalized which is longer than anyone expected. So we just take it one day at a time.

I was just introduced to a pretty neat site called Baby Base. They have some great articles on everything Baby and child. They cover topics from trying to have a baby to childhood topics.

When I was pregnant with my first child I had tons of questions that I did not feel comfortable asking. I loved being able to look up articles online and find out more info. Everyone is different so I loved reading everything that was out there.

I love that they include early signs of pregnancy. That is the number one time that women want to ask questions but they do not want to say anything to people they know. Many women do not want to say anything until they are completely sure they are pregnant but if they have not had a baby before they do not know the early signs.

At a time when the housing market has fallen many families are looking into lease purchase homes. It can be perfect in some situations but you really need to know the ins and outs. If it does not go well you could be out thousands of dollars. If all goes well you could purchase a home.

How does it work?

Before going into a lease purchase agreement you need to really know the fine print. When an owner and a buyer find each other they agree on a selling price.  The buyer then pays around 3% down and monthly rent. The rent amount is usually a couple hundred more than usual rent since a portion of each months rent is a rent credit that goes towards the purchase at the end of the term. A usual term is three years. During those years the buyer tries to fix their credit score so that they can get a home loan. At the end of the term the buyer has the original 3% plus the rent credit to put down on the home.

What’s the fine print?

If the buyer is even a day late on rent they forfeit that months rent credit. If the buyer changes their mind at any point they lose all the money. If the buyer can not get a loan at the end of the three years they lose all the money. If the buyer can not pay rent they lose all the money. If repairs are needed the buyer must pay for them.

The Moral?

If you do not have good credit and can not save for a full down payment this might be an incredible opportunity for you. There are things to remember though. Lease Purchase Washington DC or lease purchase in your neighborhood… You need to be sure that you will have the money to pay on time all the time, pay off your debt, and raise your credit score. If you can not do all of these things you could lose everything.