4 Paones

Old Republic Home Protection has repairmen in our home today covering yet another home repair, so I thought I would do a small promo on their behalf since I have been very happy with their service thus far.

To give a little background, our realtor inserted a clause in the purchase agreement requiring that the seller purchase a Home Warranty as part the sale. He obliged and thus began our coverage with Old Republic Home Protection Warranty for our new (older) home.

Within the first 2 months, our upstairs AC/Heater/Blower had broken down. They paid for the repair/removal and replacement. They estimated the cost of the unit at about $3K, not to mention the code upgrades and labor. Our fees were $60 for the initial diagnosis.

Within 6 months, our water heater went out. It took them a little while to get the right unit, but they eventually got a new unit installed and we were set to go. We would have been looking at another $1-1.5K with that repair.

A month later, enter our 25 year old microwave. The unit stopped working. After a checkup, Old Republic gave us a check to buy a replacement unit, now installed and working beautifully.

I was hoping that this would be the last repair until the new year rolled around, but a week ago, our main AC/Heater stops cooling our Texas home right at the start of summer. We call the repairman and find out that our nearly 30 year old unit is giving up the ghost and needs replacing.

So here we are, 9 months into the warranty, the repairmen are upstairs working on installing the new unit. The old blower unit is all rusted out and corroded. The AC unit itself is frosted over in several places and also corroded. The repairman says a unit like this one typically costs approximately 8K, although I’m sure Old Republic can find it cheaper. By now, our allotment for code upgrades is gone, so we are having to shell out $700 for “non covered” items (ouch), but all in all, it seems a small price for everything that HAS been covered.

Thank you, Old Republic. And I can’t stress enough how important getting a Home Warranty is if you purchasing an older home. Things may look great and, in our case, the previous owner told us he’d replaced the AC units (and the condensers did look new), but you just never know.

It’s official! Uncle Alex got baptized on his birthday today. Alex and Renee go to little church now called  Life Spring Baptist Church. Violet and I attended to support Alex as he enters his “new life” although Violet was more interested in the birthday ice cream after the baptism. Everyone seems very nice and friendly and their music was fun. Of course, I kept picturing Justin up there. It seemed wrong to have a band without him in it. Ah, well. It helped remind that I’m married to an awesome musician that needs to be reminded of his musical side.  I’m going to have to organize a “pass the guitar night” one of these days so we can all enjoy his songs and so the kids can hear their daddy sing.

We’re still here. A little too busy, perhaps, but alive and well and enjoying Houston in the spring time. (which I think is really the only time you can actually say you enjoy Houston weather). We live right next door to a beautiful park with biking and walking trails, so we’ve been heading over for bike rides and picnics every chance we get now that the kids have figured out bicycles and tricycles.

Violet’s right around the corner from turning 5. My little girl is so inquisitive about everything and has developed a real love for um… planning special events? I have no clue where she gets that from. Ahem! She’s also developing a burning desire for school time. She’s learning to read and my quiet little girl is learning how to be bolder, braver and how to make real Taek Wan Do shouts.

Jude is growing twice as fast as she is, has five times as much to say at ten times the volume. He is just as determined as his older sister to get his school time, although his school is more along the lines of Feed My Lambs (since the box looks just like his sister’s Hooked on Phonics box). Of course, he’s also learning his shapes and flash cards. We are not big pushers for too much school at an early age, so he’s mostly playing and learning as he goes.

As for Justin and me? Well, let’s just say we’re following Steve Job’s final advice in his Stanford Commencement speech to “Stay hungry and stay foolish.” We’re doing a lot of reading, working and discovering what it is we love to do. With a little help from friends and the Lord’s direction, I think we just may find it.

I was treated to a 6:00 a.m. game of baby charades today. Jude crawls out of bed this morning and immediately starts with “Bo! Bo! Bo!” as loudly as possible.  I pry my eyes open and try to understand what he needs so desperately, but I just really don’t get it. He realizes he need to be more specific, so now it’s “Deedo! Deedo! Bo! Bo! Bo!” This dense mamma is still clueless, so he finally goes over to the bookshelf and gets the “Incredibles Video” off the shelf.  Arg! (And no, I don’t let my kids watch videos at that ungodly hour. And also don’t usually let my 1 & 1/2 year old watch videos like Incredibles. Double Arg!) These times of wild, craziness will settle down soon and standards will go back up, Jude and Violet.

It’s been a long week, but I’m sitting here at my parent’s house with Jude napping, so I thought I’d catch up my  blog.

We ended up taking almost a whole week to make it to Texas, but we enjoyed the trip, so it was worth it. We met up with Sam and Maria and co. in Las Vegas. I had no idea how cheap hotels there are if you go during the week. The kids were in awe at all the flash and dash of the place. We went out walking one night and stopped in at a few hotels. Treasure Island and Bellagio with the dancing fountains were awesome, but the…. Venetian. Ah, I was wowed with that place. You feel like you’re walking down the canal in Venice headed to St. Marco’s square. It’s got the canal, gondolas, singers, shops, bridges and the village houses that are above the shops. I’ll have to post some pictures although I doubt they would do it justice.

We watched a show or two, and Justin, Sam and Maria and I all spent a few minutes down in the casino. Maria was the only one who came out ahead on the black jack table. I think the attraction the kids loved best was… the hotel room? Yep, these kids are easy to please. Bouncing on hotel beds… first rate entertainment. Jude also learned a new word… “TV”.

We tried to swing the Grand Canyon, but it ended up being very uninviting weather wise, which is surprizing for this time of year. It was freezing with cold wind and then finally rained and sleeted. We high tailed it out of there and got back on the road. We were just so thankful we hadn’t tried to pull off camping there the night before. That would have been a very chilly nightmare.

Anyways, we are here now and are settling in. Justin just took off for Chicago this morning for the new job. Weep. We miss him already. I hope it won’t be the full 3 months before we see him again. Somehow it doesn’t feel as far as California was, but I know it’s a long haul. We’ll be counting the days.

I am house hunting, car hunting, unpacking me and the kids, packing my husband, trying to help two kids adjust, and doing a million things at once. Being here feels like the ultimate test for a multi-tasker. So many goals, so little time. I need to pace myself, I think. Ah, well….

The other day I was rummaging through the Encinitas library book store and came across a book entitled “Start late, Finish Rich, a no fail plan for achieving financial freedom at any age” by David Bach. That wouldn’t typically catch my interest, but being that we are entering a new phase of our lives and are launching out as a family for the first time, I thought I’d check it out. Turns out it’s a great book  with a lot of good, practical, realistic advice on staying out of debt, how to save for the future, ways to bring in extra income on the side so you can save for your future,  and even amass wealth, along with a lot of good common sense counsel for how to be penny wise and how you can build a nest egg with any amount of income. It’s been a big help to Justin and me in guiding and shaping our financial goals and plans. Of course, our end goal isn’t “riches” per se, but having something saved up for the future is definitely on our list of goals. I highly recommend “Start Late, Finish Rich” as an encouragement that it is possible for anyone to start saving today in little ways and reap great results with time. David Bach also wrote a new book that I just ordered called “Start Over, Finish Rich” which has post recession updates. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ll let you know if it’s worth the read.