Posted Saturday, November 28, 2009 3:16 PM
It began some time ago:
We decided it is time to start looking for our own house. DH has been renting a home from his parents for years.
Last week we looked at our first "open house home." It was in a great area, but wouldn't have fit most of out furniture (which is a bad thing).
Today we met with a Realtor -- we were so nervous. It's like going on a first date. She was amazing. We talked about what we wanted and what we didn't. She's very well-versed in first-time home-buying, and since that's us -- it works!
After we left her, we went to the bank to get information on a preapproval (the mst-do step in our househunt) -- actually two branches of the same one since the loan officer was not around at branch No. 1. We were thisclose to getting on the freeway and heading to the branch where we purchased our CDs... but there was a mega traffic jam (looks like fate intervened).
So we met with the officer who told us what paperwork we needed and, amazingly enough, it looks doable. We'll be scheduling a meeting with him for later this week, and meeting with a few other lenders, just to have something to compare it to.
Then, once we have offer letter in hand, the hunt can really begin.
The nice part is we aren't rushed and we know our dream home is out there waiting for us -- it just might not know it yet. 
Posted by
Shoshie
Filed under: house, home, household
Posted Tuesday, September 22, 2009 11:34 AM
Last week I was watching Fiddler on the Roof for 4 hours and whenever Tevye the Milkman had a problem he would talk it out using the "but on the other hand...." It worked great until his middle daughter married a non-Jew: "There IS NO other hand."
My husband and I have been talking a lot lately about starting a family. Next month we will have been married for two years (which apparently is about the time your mother and other family members are supposed to start asking all the time "when are you going to have a baby?")
To paraphrase Ellen Degeneres: I want to have a baby -- I don't want to HAVE a baby.
Which isn't totally true.
I DO want to have a baby. I look forward to having a baby. WE look forward to being parents.
But there are also things we want to do and places we want to go before we have children.
On the other hand: these places will always be there
But on the other hand: some of them are not kid-friendly and would cost more.
If you've read this blog before, you'll know I'm in a wedding in June. I was thinking I wouldn't have a problem is I was the pregnant BM -- the problem is we are taking a cruise in July (we're cruiseaholics -- did I mention that?), and the ship will not let you board in your last trimester.
Plus, Royal Caribbean will not let you cruise with a child younger than 6 months.
Fast forward to 2011: The Disney Cruise Line is repositioning a ship out here to the West Coast. You cannot travel with a baby younger than 3 months on the Disney Cruise Line Last June I put in a request for us to be on the journey through the Panama Canal-- thinking the ship would reposition in February. Working backward, we could have had a child in October/November who would have been 3 months old by the time the ship sailed. No problem. However, the ship is sailing in January.
New plan.
On the one hand: It is just a cruise, and there is only so big a window a woman has to concieve.
On the other hand: I'm only 31, and the fact that we got onto this cruise -- which I never thought in a million years would happen -- seems like a sign.
So I went to a spreadsheet and marked when we could have a baby (putting aside the fact that we haven't really started trying and have no idea how long it will take).
We told our friends and family that we were looking to start in February 2010. Based on the chart -- it looks more like August/September 2010 at the earliest.
I know my mother wants to be a grandmother -- I know my grandmothers want to be great-grandparents. I know my father and my in-laws are happy to have us wait even longer. I know waiting will give us time to get the house set up, more money put aside and more time to "practice."
Traveling seems like an odd reason to put off parenting
On the other hand: is it really as odd as it seems?
But the other hand: Is it OK to postpone one dream for another?
Ah look -- more questions than answers. Guess I should get used to that if I'm going to be a mother someday. 
Posted Sunday, June 14, 2009 11:24 PM
I know it has been a while since I've posted to this blog, but I felt I should wait until something important enough came up.
You know that expression "always a bridesmaid, never a bride"? Well, for me, it doesn't hold water. Next year I will be a bridesmaid for the first time. Well, an "official" bridesmaid anyway (I was a pseudo bridesmaid at my cousin's wedding -- the bride didn't have a wedding party, but we stepped in with an emergency kit at the reception).
I'm also going to be an "out of town" bridesmaid (or is the term "bridesmatron", which adds a new layer of complexity to the simcha.
I'm looking forward to standing up for the bride. I will be posting my adventures on here ... and asking for insight and advice from other bridesmaids (and former bridesmaids).
Stay tuned, the party's just begun!
Posted by
Shoshie
Filed under: Bridesmaids
Posted Thursday, February 05, 2009 12:05 AM
Today something inspired me.
I'm not sure what did it. I don't know what kicked me -- but I decided I wanted to get serious about losing weight through intense workouts.I do workout at home, but usually the 10-minute spurts.
At my last WW weigh-in I was up a bit, my own fault for eating sushi the night before.
I went out for coffee with a friend tonight while DH was at a weekly poker game. We had recorded several shows on our DVR, but I promised him I wouldn't watch any until he came home. So I put on Exercise TV.
I've worked out on E TV before, but tonight I saw a teaser for Two Weeks, New You, where you go online and print out a two week workout (if you go on the web site, it is under workout plans). At the end of two weeks, you start again with another two weeks. After the two weeks, I should be that much closer to my 10% (I'm just three pounds away from that).
I'm a fan of The Biggest Loser, which is a good thing because my first workout was 30 Day Shred, with Jillian Michaels.
It kicked my ass ... but I felt really good after.
Tomorrow night: Arms of Envy.
I would love to know if anyone else is using the same method.
Posted by
Shoshie
Filed under: Exercise
Posted Saturday, January 24, 2009 4:53 PM
Since the last time I posted, I have started a new job, and my husband has lost his. Actually, he knows where it is, it is just that someone else now has it.He expects to have a new job next week.
We've been doing all we can to find one. DH even sent back a key to the Queen Mary he's had in his possession since before we were married. We think it was haunting our house. When we had it, we kept shocking ourselves on door handles and light switches. Since sending it back -- no shock!
We've found ways to work around this economic mess -- cooking more at home, staying in at night, not driving for the hell of it, and I can't remember the last time I was at the mall.
We still are going on our European cruise in May, as canceling would cost us far more than going. For the first time, we'll both be going to a part of the world neither of us has been to ... and in a language neither of us can speak.
So if anyone knows any choice words in Danish or Finnish for "where can I get a cheap lunch?" let me know.
Posted Sunday, October 19, 2008 9:35 PM
One year ago, there were fires in mid-October.
This year, there were fires in mid-October.
One year ago, we were planning to take a cruise.
This year we are planning to take a cruise.
One year ago I was single.
This year I am celebrating one year of marriage (this Tuesday to be exact).
In many ways my life has changed more than I could ever have imagined in the last 12 months. My world is now totally invested in someone else’s. We are the masters of our home. The decisionmakers. The ones who yell at the toilet paper fairy for not changing the roll. The ones who run out to 7-11 at 1 a.m. to get Tylenol and orange juice.
In other ways, my life is the way it ways before I was married: I still hang out with the people I hung out with, I still have “me” time, in addition to “we” time. I still have aliyahs during High Holiday services, only this time I am called up with my husband.
I have loved being a Jewlywed. I have loved sharing stories with everyone of our first year of marriage.
My husband and I have celebrated a lot of firsts as a married couple, and in the coming 100 years, we will be celebrating many more.
We are now, as our families lovingly call us, an “old married couple.”
To those Jewlyweds to be: Enjoy it. The ups and downs during your first year will bring you together – and make you stronger.
And it will make for great stories to tell your grandchildren one day.
Posted by
Shoshie
Filed under: anniversary
Posted Sunday, September 28, 2008 5:47 PM
To my beloved husband,
Since circumstances this Rosh Hashanah require us, once again, to be more than 1,700 miles apart, I wanted to tell you something. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because it's almost New Year's Eve.
It’s because I wanted to let you know that out of sight does not mean out of mind. So, I figured I would write you this love note (with some help from Johnny Mathis):
Maybe it's much too early in the game
Ooh, but I thought I'd ask you just the same
What are you doing New Year's
New Year's Eve?
Wonder whose arms will hold you good and tight
When it's exactly 6:21 that night
Welcoming in the New Year
New Year's Eve
Maybe I'm crazy to suppose
I'd ever be the one you chose
Out of the thousand invitations
You received
Ooh, but in case I stand one little chance
Here comes the jackpot question in advance:
What are you doing New Year's
New Year's Eve?
So Monday evening, just know that even though our lips will be in different time zones, I will be kissing you in my thoughts.
A L’Shana Tova to all … and this New Year’s Eve remember, like Stephen Stills advised, if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with!
Posted by
Shoshie
Filed under: Holidays
Posted Thursday, September 18, 2008 12:20 AM
I learned a lot about my husband when we went on our first date at CityWalk. While sitting at Howl at the Moon, he with his Smirnoff Ice, me with my Appletini, we made a list.
It wasn’t a list about our hopes and dreams, about our future plans or even about questions we had for each other.
It was a list of movies that each of us thought the other should see.
The list of films I thought he needed to see had at least 40 movies on it, including: “Singing in the Rain,” “12 Angry Men,” “Inherit the Wind,” “The Godfather,” “The Music Man,” “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “Casablanca.”
He made a list for me, too. I think it had three films on it.
As we went through film after film, I was shocked. My father is a film guru – and I have followed in his footsteps. I knew my husband needed to expand his pop culture knowledge – a lot.
Over the past three years, my husband has been a very good sport. In addition to seeing at least 65 percent of the films I thought he would enjoy, the most recent being “Guys and Dolls,” he has found new films that he loves.
He even has ended up watching made-for-TV movies he never in a million years would have watched before being with me: How many guys would have ever made a conscious effort to watch Hallmark’s entire “Love Comes Softly” series?
We have a sort of “in joke” now.
Whenever we start watching a film that he, at first, wasn’t sure he wanted to see, he’ll look at me and say: “I hate you.” As in “I hate you for showing me this movie because I love it, dammit.”
I still have to watch “The Last Starfighter.” He still has to watch “Field of Dreams.” Tell me who got the better end of that deal?