A couple of years ago, Dave and I refinanced our house to consolidate some debts, pay for our wedding, and oh yeah, invest a whoooole lotta money in fixing this place up. I wouldn’t say that Dave and I are exactly financial experts, although we’ve learned quite a bit since we got married. (Mostly lessons we learned the hard way, unfortunately.) One thing we learned was that our interest rate was only fixed for two years. So now we’re faced with having to refinance again, or else our mortgage payment will go up close to $700 a month. Fun!
A tip, if you’re ever looking to refinance or buy a house for the first time: avoid AmeriQuest. Seriously. Just stay away from them. Take my word for it.
Part of the deal when you go to refinance your house is that you have to get an appraisal, so the mortgage people know what your house is worth. They sent a guy out to do the appraisal last month when I was in Mississippi, which was nice for me, in sort of a “well, nothing I can do about it from here, so I might as well not worry about it” way.
Turns out, the company sent out an apprentice to do the appraisal, so the mortgage company won’t recognize it as valid. Um? I don’t know. Whatever. The point is, the week before we left for California, they told us they were going to have to send out another guy to do yet another appraisal. This one was free since the last one was their goof. Ok, fine. But this time I was home to worry about it, so I spent two days in Frantic Cleaning Mode. We haven’t been able to afford our housekeeper since I stopped working, and with the baby and everything, housework just hasn’t registered all that high on my “must-do” list.
And of course, it was fine. The house was in great shape by the time the guy got here, and I felt pretty good about it. We’re not sure what the status of our refinancing is yet, since we sort of forgot to check our home voicemail while we were out of town. Oops.
But the cleaning frenzy just reinforced something that I’d been thinking for a while, which is that we desperately need a new vacuum cleaner. Ours weighs a ton, it’s hard to maneuver, it’s impossible to clean the stairs, and it really just moves the dirt around rather than sucking it up.
So, I told Dave that for my very first Mother’s Day, I wanted two things:
1. A cheesecake from Costco (have you ever had their cheesecake? It’s the next best thing after my grandmother’s. Honest.)
2. A new vacuum cleaner.
I know it’s a totally trite, 1950’s housewifey kind of a gift, but that’s what I want. And behold, my wish was granted:
I haven’t used it yet. I feel like it needs some sort of special inauguration ceremony. But I will try it out soon. The cat fur is starting to get out of control now that it’s shedding season, and this is the model that’s designed for removing pet hair.
Oh, and I’m still waiting on that cheesecake.
You got the vacuum and NOT the cheesecake?
Dave, I thought you were so smooth. What’s this about? You better have been naked when she unwrapped the vacuum. Or at least wrapped in cellophane.
The clear cannister vacuums are rewarding. You get to see how much stuff you’re sucking up while you go. It’s also fun to see how much cat hair you collect, which is absolutely amazing.
Actually, I just snagged Dave’s Sears card and bought the Dyson myself. The guy at the appliance pick-up department was fully clothed, thank God.
And the cheesecake isn’t Dave’s fault – I’m pretty sure his Costco card is in my wallet.
Well, I went to Costco to pick up the cheesecake, but they wouldn’t allow me in until I put some clothes on – so I told them to bite me and drove back.
June and Ward, what a wonderful team you make! Cindy, you have figured out how to get what you want, just get it yourself! Too funny.
Let us know how the mortgage hunt goes. We’re trying to get alternate rates to give to our bank in order to talk them down. We have a great bank but they tend to be over priced on mortgages until you get another lender to say “Well, I’ll give you X” and then our bank is like Horshack on Welcome Back Kotter, “OOOooo, oooo, Mister Kotter.. Ooo, ooo”
Good luck!
I lurve my Dyson, and I don’t even have a cat. And I second what Carl says, it’s really satisfying to empty the canister and see just how much crap you sucked off the floor. (except it also made me feel like a horrible person, because we sucked up a lot of crap the first couple of times)
Yayyy Dyson! It’s the bestest vacuum ever. You will love it. And I do hope you get that cheesecake, with yummy cherry topping, if that does it for you.
I don’t ever want to see what I vacuum off my floors, and I don’t wan’t to see Dave naked at the Costco.
NOOOOOO cherry topping! Toppings are evil, they mess with the perfection that is Costco cheesecake.
Ohhhhh. I understand. Plain cheesecake is sometimes best of all. But the Costco sampler? Chocolate, mocha, plain, swirly fruit? All in one? Ohhhh, the ecstasy. The ecstasy!
Not to be mean, but we had a nice slice from the Cheesecake factory today at lunch and OH MY GOD it was tasty! Cindy, hope you get yours soon! 😉
Lizard: everything tastes better when you’re pregnant. Enjoy it. But yeah, Cheesecake Factory = yum.
All this talk about cheesecake is killing me. I think I’ll be heading to Costco either later this evening or first thing tomorrow.
Everything that’s sweet tastes better when you’re pregnant. Everything that’s meat or vegetable tastes terrible when you’re pregnant. Except cheeseburgers. They taste especially good when you’re pregnant. Almost good enough to make me want to be pregnant again, so I can enjoy another huge Whataburger with cheese and extra pickles.
Cheesecake + Cheeseburger = prenatal bliss
I think the french fries do it for me more than the sweets. I still can’t believe how little i have had in the way of cravings. I mean, heck, who doesn’t enjoy french fries! I just have to be careful how many of them I enjoy.
We’re getting closer, any tips on how to make this a quick one? Yea, right. I know. We’re in wait and see mode. DH still thinks Miss C will make her entrance this weekend. Any other guesses? Actual due date is 12 June.