Favorite Pic!

Ok, so mom and I don't have many good pictures together - that's something I've noticed and have started working on, however we took this picture at Mitch's birthday party that I really like! Love the big smiles!!!

ps..mom doesn't like it much -- but I do and it's my blog so I can post if I want!!!!!!!! :) Sorry Mom ;)

LOVE IT!

'2010' A Year In Review

Ed and I traveled to Paris to celebrate our 1st anniversary on July 3rd. We had a wonderful time but I was almost glad to be home as we certainly didn't gain any weight on that trip. I don't think I've ever walked so much in my life.

One day in late July we were driving around North Richland Hills and found our dream house -- well, it had all the potential to become the 'dream house'. It was a foreclosure that needed quit a bit of work but we decided we were up to the task. We started the negotiation process in late July and finally signed on the dotted line on October 18th. We've had a General Contractor in there working on it since that very day and it will finally be complete on January 18th per the Fannie Mae agreement -- we knew our contractor would be good..just didn't realize how slow he was! Nonetheless, his work is superb so we opted for good and slow vs. sloppy and fast. It will be beautiful when finished!!!

Oh yes, God provided incredible renters for the Carrollton house too. We put a 'For Rent' sign in the yard on Sept. 6th and by Sept. 24th our renters were moving in.

Ed has had a great first year at IBM, in fact, he helped bring in a big deal in June that made him #3 in the country and #1 in the West. Of course, I was very proud of him (and great timing with this house we just bought)!!! He's been on the road a lot though, 29k miles in November alone --- the only bonus I seen in this is that it helped him qualify for Executive Platinum on AA for yet another year.

Me...same thing, not much change. I'm ready to get this house thing done and all moved in, after that I think I'm going see what else is out there. Oh yea, Newsflash, Chip Coyle, VP of Field Marketing resigned last week to take a job as CMO with Charles Phillips. We'll see how that changes things in Field Marketing, especially with Mark Hurd at the helm.

In summary....very very good year. Ed and I are very blessed and want to remember to continue to be grateful and always have a giving heart!!!

We're past the car

Ok...good news. Sarah and I had dinner and sorted through all the ugly details of 'abandoned' car. We're ok and moving forward but I'm sorry to report though that I believed this car has cause some 'hard' and 'hurt' feelings that we both have to sort through. This will take time.

The 'Sarah Situation'

With Sarah, there always seems to be a 'situation'.

Today, I learned that Sarah's boyfriend has bought her a car and she's afraid to call me to tell me the car I bought for her is broken...for good this time. So, for all practical purposes, she has abandoned the Ford Taurus. This makes me feel sad on so many levels.

Is that my car?

I can't believe it! Ed and I found the 2005 Ford Taurus that I bought for Sarah Nicole Rinehart sitting in the parking lot of Long John Silver's ... 2 blocks from our house. I asked the Long John Silver's employees if they were aware of this car and they said yes "...it had been sitting there for about 2 weeks...with the window down'. They were getting ready to call the police to check and see if was stolen. Another Sarah situation!!!

Of course, the car would barely run. It sounded like the engine was going to shake out of the hood and it probably would have if you left it running very long. We were able to drive it home with the spare key (that I spent $100 to make before giving it over to her) and parked it in the garage. I'm waiting for that phone call when she actually does go check on it again (who knows, maybe she never will) and it's gone. Not sure if she'll call the police or me!!!

Anyway, Mitch took a look at it and said it had thrown a rod, and the back window was busted out. Thanks to Sarah, in less than 1 year (8 months to be exact) the car is ready for the trash can. I've already had to replace the head gasket back in May. I remember it well, I gave it back to her, directly from the mechanics, on her 20th birthday, May 7th.

The poor poor Ford Taurus is now going to the auction and hopefully will find a nice person to take car of it.

As for Sarah...who knows how she'll get around? She's got something going now as I haven't heard a peep from her.

And me...I'll never buy Sarah another car...possibly nothing ever again! She seems to believe in disposables. If it doesn't work or she doesn't need it any longer...throw it away!

Very sad. Hurts my heart.

The Bridlewood house passed inspection

Good news again today! The Bridlewood house passed the home inspection today without any big surprises. Just a lot of cosmetic and handyman type things.

Laura has a walk-through scheduled with a property management company tomorrow for the Carrollton home. After that, we'll start on the North Richland Hills (NRH) home.

Things are moving along!!!

Securing financing is next.

We're not selling the Carrollton house after all!

Today we spoke with Lee Heffley, our accountant. Ed told him the whole story and Lee told Ed all the benefits there is to owning rental property. After a long conversation with many questions, Ed and Lee hung up and Ed decided we needed to keep the Carrollton house and rent it out.

My sister Laura, our real estate agent, is going to be so confused. We've had two offers to lease the house while it was on the market (135 days) with no buyers and now that we have a buyer, we want to lease it. Crazy!!!

Anyway, so the new plan is to hire a management company and let them rent it out and manage it for us. Neither Ed nor I have the time or patience to do that...AND we can write off the cost of the management company - win/win!

So here's we stand today.
1. Both houses will be rented by utilizing a management company
2. Bridlewood has contract is at the underwriters
3. Ed and Lisa need to secure financing

More to come!