Monday, December 10, 2007

Tuesday Talk

I should be wrapping the rest of my Christmas things. I should be making the rest of the Christmas stockings that are on my list. I should be doing a lot of things but I have instead been perusing some of your blogs and enjoying myself immensely. Do you ever go over to Ree's at
thepioneerwoman.com and click on her recipe section? She has some of the yummiest recipes around and the cookie one today was chuck full of chopped pecans, cran raisins, quick oats, apricots, brown sugar etc. She also takes pictures all the way through the process which helps. These are not your fat free, calorie free, taste free recipes but eating them in limited quantities is fine. Or in huge quantities.......



I have found another house that I want to flip if the numbers are right. It's our first house that we bought when we were first married. We had been renting for about six months and decided to look for something to own and found this little ranch on a quiet street within walking distance of a nice little school.


We were scared to death to take on a mortgage as our rent was only $70.00 a month including utilities but wanted our own place to start building some equity. The house was $21,000.00 and that seemed like a million to us but we took the step and bought it. I don't think we slept much that night thinking that we would now have a house payment of $130.00!


We stayed in that house for ten years. Our son was born while we lived there and went to the little school down the street. It was a great neighborhood but when it was time to move on I was ready to go.


So I am anxious to see what it looks like now. From the outside it looks pretty tired and worn from lack of TLC but we shall see. Flipping houses is not for the faint at heart. You take a chance on every property you buy and so far in my somewhat limited career I have done okay. I have done tons of construction projects but flipping is a whole different ball game. Huge difference. With new construction you know what you are dealing with, not so with flips. There are surprises that you would just rather not have but you just have to do your best to be selective which is why I haven't done that many plus the fact that the real estate market is a bit depressed right now.

Thanks to my computer guy my scanner is now working. Actually it's a new scanner, the other one was a lemon and they took it back and gave me a new one and he installed it. This picture is me at about 11 years old. I had on my favorite poodle skirt and look at the pointed toe shoes! I think I thought I was a real babe! lol!



A few years back we had another visiting bear on our back deck. This one was a bit friendlier and let us get some pictures. He was young and looking for a free meal so was after the suet I had out for the birds. He came back a couple of times but then we didn't see him again.




I have been going down memory lane going through lots of old pictures looking for something for the 'ole blog that I can scan. This was our first 'family' picture and Son was only three months old. I had a waist back then........sigh.........



We're supposed to get some snow tonight. I hope it's all cleared out by the time we go to the vet with Buddy and his friend Bucky tomorrow. I don't do any hauling when it's slippery. This is just for a check up and x-rays to check on his feet and Bucky needs blood work. He is my friend Ann's horse who is one year older then Buddy at 27! We call them the grumpy old men! :o)



























13 comments:

Donna. W said...

I love the pictures! I'm the right age to have had a poodle skirt, but I never had one. My parents were struggling with finances during that time period, and I pretty much just got whatever clothes Mother could find that were cheap enough.

Carole Burant said...

Good morning dear Louise:-)

I had never heard the word "flip" being used for what you do with houses...that was so interesting to learn! I didn't realize you were into the real estate stuff but how cool is that?!! The very best of luck with your next project...if you do get the house that you once lived in, that would be so neat:-) Isn't it funny how we were so worried about a mortgage that was just over $100? Now some are paying over $1000 a month!! When we bought our house in 1978, we paid $39,900 and now it would be worth $155,000.

Love the picture of you in your poodle skirt...I always wanted one of those! lol Also love the family picture...sigh, we all had waists back then! lol You looked beautiful and still do:-)

The pictures of the bear are great, that third one, he looks like he's just playing! lol We've had bears in our yard often, never know what you'll see when you look out the kitchen window! lol

Congratulations to K and his team for winning the hockey game:-) Now don't you look all nice and cozy wrapped in your blanket! hehe I know what you mean about still being cold, though, whenever I go watch our little 7 year old neighbour's daughter play hockey at the arena, I just can't get warm no matter how many layers I'm wearing.

I wish I could have gone to that children's Christmas program with you...I so miss those since my boys have grown up. Isn't it just hilarious what the children will do though, between pulling up their dresses and picking their nose? hehe

I so LOVE your horse and sleigh decoration outside!! And your Christmas tree is absolutely beautiful!!! I see the sexy Billy Ray Cyrus was singing to you while decorating:-)

Love the deer pictures, aren't they such beautiful animals. Makes me wonder how anyone could kill them but then I always think of them as Bambi and not meat! lol

Take care my friend and know that I'm thinking of you!! Much love xoxox

Kristen said...

I feel really dumb because I'm not sure I know what "flipping houses" means.

Man, what I wouldn't do for a $130 house payment! ;-) I'm sure that was comparable to what we pay now, but that number sounds really good right about now!

Love the pictures! Especially the bear! Wow. He sure didn't seem to mind having his picture taken!

the moose buyer said...

I too love the "old" pictures. I never go through mine because it makes me cry when I see how young and thin I once was.

Tammy said...

This was such a fun post!

I've watched those shows about "flipping"...it can be both exciting and scary...sometimes it works and other times not...but the idea of it is sure intriguing!

My five year old walked in while I was looking at your bear...we loved it! She couldn't believe it was actually in your yard! That third picture is adorable...I know bears can be furious but this one almost looks like our big lab! :)

I just loved seeing you as a little girl in your poodle skirt! So cute!

And what a beautiful family picture!

Thanks for stopping by and it was so fun coming here first thing in the morning! :)

Myrna said...

I enjoyed your walk down memory lane! YOur first house sounds like our firs little place. I think ours was $20,000. We thought we were signing our lives away! :-)

You are brave to flip! My dil and I conisdered doing that a few years ago. We even had a house picked out and had been over to check on it. I think It would have been a good first flip house.

However, about that time we had my husband's illness and her mother's to think about and it just wasn't good timing! I don't know if we will ever get up the nerve again--She might when the market gets just a little better!

If you flip another one you would certainly have blogging fodder all the way thorugh!

Rising Rainbow said...

Oh man, I am going to have to check out that cookie recipe. I do NOT need another way to take in calories! But how can I resist, it sounds absolutely wonderful!

Frazzled Farm Wife said...

Your graphics are looking good!

BarnGoddess said...

MM you ARE a babe still yet!

lol, my husband would LOVE a $130 house payment-wow

I enjoyed your photo/walk down memory lane :)

KC said...

I love your memory lane picture.. those are great.. I just got all caught up reading your blog.. WOW you got some snow dontcha.. we had a bit of snow last week and now it is all gone and have had rain the last few days.. though they are calling for a nice winter storm tonight.. I want snow for christmas.
The hocky game looks like fun, cold but fun.
Good luck at the vet tomorrow.. hope it is cleared up for you to go.

Susie said...

Hi Louise,
I've so enjoyed reading through your posts and catching up! All your decorations look so festive! The snow is just amazingly beautiful, but I bet it's soooo cold!!
I love going to the Christmas programs featuring little children. That is one thing that can truly put me in a holiday mood quickly.
You are becoming quite the graphic artist. Pretty soon you can give us all some lessons!!
Love the picture of you in the poodle skirt and bundled up. I just know we'd be great buddies if we lived closer.
Enjoy this wonderful time of year my dear friend.
xoxoxo

Musings of a Housewife said...

OMG! LOOK AT YOU!! I remember that picture, and I almost remember you like that. I remember your long hair and thinking you were so beautiful. And you still are. Don't EVEN go making jokes about your weight either.

And that childhood picture of you. O my gosh, what an awesome memory.

So we got your book in the mail yesterday. What a fun surprise!! I immediately read it to Rebecca, and she loved it. Kept wanting to read "Maine". And then when David got home, I told him you sent it and he read it to her again. THANK YOU. That was so sweet to think of us!

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