MikkiStreak

hell yes Mel!!!! Liquid lunches kick ass. I actually miss working for companies that allow "beer-thirty" on Fridays. (At 3:30, we'd go get a couple cases of beer and head back to the office and drink thru the rest of our workday) and, yep, I was having an extremely shitty day... until Miss Christa decided to keep my company via IM. And let me tell you--- I haven't done SHIT today, but I could give a crap less because my mood is so much better now.

favorite: PLANTAIN COKESNOT BITCH.... (don't ask...)

Kathi, I belong to a network of Texas photographers (several of which are based here in the DFW area) and could check to see who could do this. If you PM me some preliminary information such as whether you would only want a female photographer or not, any pricing range you'd want to stay within, and any information on particular styles you like for photography.

Damn Kate, you got a Gene Simmons tongue! hehehe....

Quote: Originally Posted by PaulaV Maria! that is just like my neighbour's house! It was a Centex Home (They may have changed names here in OH). Oooh, I'll have to check out the Centex site then too! Centex is down here too (under Centex, Fox & Jacobs, and 2 other names that I don't remember). I'll have to see if they have a similar plan too. This floorplan with David Weekley has 2 different names depending on which community it's built in. If we build it within the city/suburbs, the price goes up about $100K. But just going to a community 10 miles north of the farthest suburb reduces the price enough to make it worth doing. Especially since my job isn't by downtown Dallas anymore. It would only increase my current commute by about 15 mintues. Quote: Originally Posted by lucy106 Maria, I cant see the pics here at work but sounds incredible. Granite and ceramic is standard? gotta love that! It always makes you feel better when a builder comes with a great referral from someone you know. I hope this process is fun for you guys! Great idea to dive into the experiences of everyone on BDW once again BDW to the rescue! I know what you mean! Frank's brother built a house about 2-3 years ago and loved their builder too. So those are the 2 builders on our "short list" for now. It is exciting--- I'm itching to jump in and get started with building, but I have to remind myself "pace yourself, pace yourself!"

Sorry I haven't responded to all of this---- but thank you everyone for your input. It has definitely helped us tremendously when talking to the builders! We have taken various "pointers" from almost everyone who has responded! We've walked thru several communities and met with about 5 different builders so far. There are 2 builders on our shortlist, but one stands out to us. Regardless of which floorplan we've viewed, we always like them better than the other builders, so we've begun researching them. Fortunately, my sister built her house with them about a year or so ago, and she raves about them and the process of building with them, as well as the service after completion. We've really gotten great advice from everyone's responses. We now ask the builder to point out all the "upgrades" as we walk thru the models. We've also asked for copies of their contracts to be sent to us, and the upgrade pricing. Like Paula, we'll wind up visiting their design center to see all the "standards" and "upgrades" before we even sign with someone. The builder at the top of our list, has offered about $20K in incentives and $5K toward closing costs. They have a lot of things we like as part of their "standards"--- like granite counters are standard with them, as well as ceramic tile in the wet areas. The model we've viewed that is at the top of our list so far, has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, study, children's retreat, 2 car garage, formal dining room, and optional media room/5th bedroom/3rd full bath. And hey, after viewing all the models we have so far- we have gotten some GREAT decorating ideas!!! Anyways, in case anyone's interested--- these are the photos of our "strongest contender" so far. ifg-mcl0108/David Weekly - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

If he doesn't get it done this weekend like he's hoping, I'd take Bria and just let her "have at it" with painting and coloring on the wall in the meantime! She'd probably enjoy her own artwork, and if that doesn't motivate Everton to get it done the fastest and easiest way possible, I don't know what would!

curious- do you guys have basements out there? I was just noticing the pics as the framing went up, but I couldn't tell if there's a basement. We don't have basements here--- that seemed so "odd" to me when I first moved here.... and I've always wondered what other parts of the country have or don't have them.... We do not have a basement, however it is not uncommon to find homes with basements here in WA. I would say approx 30% of the homes we looked at prior to deciding to build had basements. Some new construction boasts basements as a key feature.

Hey, it's amazing how quickly things wrap up on homebuilding! Your kitchen looks HUGE! How many bedrooms & square feet will you guys have? I cannot wait to see the final pics--- and of course, the view out back. That is absolutely AMAZING! so, so envious, my friend... Hey Maria - thanks for stopping by The kitchen is huge & there is a pantry behind it that is also huge!! We will have 3 bed/2.5 baths, 2250 sq.ft. I'll post the plan sketches.

Quote: Originally Posted by starchild Drea your condo is the cutest!!! Maria...$85,000 Even at $285,000 that would be a steal. Darn my geography and my parents for birthing me in California! What some people pay for mortgages on a nice home we pay in rent out here. We do have the great weather and scenery, but shoot...sometimes I think I'd be willing to move somewhere less desirable to have a home. And Amy, I feel your pain! We looked at a place a few months back near Pico & Barrington and they wanted $1350 for a small, old, and ugly 1 bedroom with no balcony or patio. Westside Rentals is your best shot if you're willing to pay for listings....good luck! I should pull out the photos of the house I owned when I lived up there. It was built after the turn of the century... 1300 square feet, 2 stories with full walk-up attic and basement... restored hardwood floors, stained glass windows, restored wood beams in the living room, 3 bedrooms, 1 bath at the time, wine cellar in the basement.... It was on the historic register for the city because it was once the founding father of the city's property... I bought it in 1998 for $55,000 after it had been restored fully. I miss that house. It was really cute. The housing market in your area is just unreal to me.... Last summer I got an "open door" job offer from a company in Orange County, but I just couldn't bring myself to take it simply because the housing market is so inflated out there and I really want to get back into home ownership again.

Quote: Originally Posted by DreaW I know, Erik saw some of the houses that some girls posted that are in the midwest ....where you can get a HUGE house for the price of a small condo in CA. and said he would move if gotten the chance to do it I'm trying to convince Frank to move back up to the midwest because of this. The property taxes are half what they are here in Dallas, plus insurance rates as a whole are about 1/3 what they are here. Literally, my brother lives in a small town outside a 100,000 resident city--- he has a 3 story home (about 4,000 square foot) with 4-5 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2 living rooms, formal dining room, huge kitchen, multi-level outdoor deck with a big backyard (complete with separate cobblestone patio with fire pit), and 2 car garage--- all for $85,000. And they live 4 hours away from Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City... so when craving really big city things like top-class art museums and pro sports teams, it's just a weekend drive/trip.

My concern would be that child protective services could wind up being drawn into this. I hate to even think like that, but for whatever reason these things are being said--- all it takes is for the wrong person to hear this information and an anonymous call is made that can shatter everyone's lives. I would strongly advise you to start taking protective measures- like not leaving your FI alone with your daughter under any circumstances. I know this probably sounds ridiculous, but like I said--- doesn't matter if its true or not, all it takes is one person to call CPS and even innocent adults have children removed until the case can be proven as untrue....

Quote: Originally Posted by jean-marcus you have no ideaaaaa the issues us guys have to sort through.... guys are just as messed up in the head but its so easy to read through them... i mean if you see a guy who's all suave and saying all the right things and buying you drink after drink in a bar OBVIOUSLY he just wants sex... not tough to figure that out. and if he drives a porche but still lives at home "because he is helping take care of his mother" then obviously he is a looser who wastes all his money on a flashy car... but women are so sneaky and hide all their flaws and insane wacky issues its not fair... why cant women be easier to read. Women aren't hard to read... you just forget about "man eyes"... you know, that thing you guys do where you don't see the ketchup bottle in the fridge if it's sitting behind the ranch dressing. Frank's best friend and I have had this discussion before. He's in a similar boat---- amazing guy who would be one of those guys every girl admits would be the perfect kind of guy. But it doesn't work out for him. What I've noticed in most people (men and women both)--- is that they try to put people into a specific role in their lives instead of letting them take the role they were meant to take. They'll see someone in public that they are attracted to and the first thought is to talk to them and see if it leads to getting a date, which could lead to dating and relationships. It's a lot of pressure on people, because it's always about seeing how they fit into this mold of what the person is looking for in a partner. I think when we set aside that "dating" mentality and approach people the same way we do our casual friends- that it really relaxes the situation enough for it to go as fas as it was meant to go. enough psych-babble.... sorry.

Quote: Originally Posted by Kat81 I think about 5 months. They are getting divorced so I don't know if that helps me or hurts me. They may just want out of it or maybe she lives there for free until it sells? Don't know. Also, a widowed lady was going to buy it a couple months ago then backed out at the last minute... I don't know how much she offered though. Maybe that will make them more willing to sell? They're motivated because in about one month, their listing will expire and they'll have to pull the MLS down and wait awhile before they can relist it. And, the divorce situation will help because they are probably having to sell the home and split the proceeds- so that could prevent wrapping up their divorce until the house is sold, or cause them to go back to court to re-negotiate other assets. I'd go lower than the $15K... worst case scenario, they counter-offer, and you banter back and forth awhile. or they say no completely and you make a second offer that is a little higher than where you started.

Ok, I know I've posted these before, but they're still the favorite ones I've done in the past.... we had this one lady who was really sweet in the office I worked in several years back- but lets just say she had a serious "dimmer switch" on her light bulbs. So here are the two things I did (not even waiting for April Fools Day). 1) She came to work one day commenting she had taken the tollway for the first time, but never saw where to put the tickets in and just kept hearing all the bells & whistles going off when she drove thru the tollway lanes. So I faked a letter from the North Texas Trollway Association (yes, deliberate misspelling that was never caught by her) and had the receptionist stamp it and hand it to her. The letter said she was caught violating the toll booths and had to pay $900 in fines within 24 hours or she'd be arrested. BUT- for the month of May, the NTTA was offering a special: if she used a black marker and wrote "tolltag" on a piece of 8x11 paper and affixed this to the upper part of her front passenger window, the NTTA would take a picture of her car when she drove thru the toll booths and would just bill her monthly. But she had to act immediately to avoid arrest. Signed, Shaquita/The Imprisonment Specialist. My field technicians sent me pics of that damn paper taped to her car window. I had to call her at the end of the day and tell her to remove it so she wouldn't get busted. 2) Several months later, I decided to mess around with her again. at the time, Nextel was just starting the 2-way radio/cell phone service, and caller ID wasn't available on the text messages. So I sent her a text message that said, "low battery. remove battery and rub on hand three times." Once she did that and had the battery put back into the 2-way, I texted her again with "mmmm.... that felt good." She never did figure that one out....

If he has a desktop PC (not a laptop or Mac).... hit Control+Alt+down arrow. It will turn his screen upside down and really mess with him. (you do Control+Alt+up arrow to return to normal).

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan I just became curious why a London paper would give a price in dollars. So I looked up the story & it said 6000 pounds. To a person in London who gets their salary in pounds, isn't a ring that costs 6000 pounds more like a $6,000 ring? It would just cost us $12,000 because of the exchange rate for the dollar. I pulled the article from my brother's website. He's a Republican news-whore. He probably changed that part of the story so his readers would get the gist of what that dollar amount would be for us Americans.... And I like the visual of Tammy with the levers granting karma... hehehhee....

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan I saw the girls name maria tried to steal from so i did an advanced search to see what she had posted, but her posts were gone I like gossip & I'm sad when I missed something. hehehe, I knew you'd go check. sorry ladies, believe me, i can be ALL about the gossip- there were two people involved in the issue I mentioned... and while the one I tried to thieve from was a bitch (whom I hope rots in hell for being such a "baby jane" type), the other person involved is one of my favorite people on the forum, so I'm inclined to keep tight-lipped on this one for her sake---- sorry, it's not my story to tell for this one....

Quote: Originally Posted by Raeka Hey Maria, look what just came back jesus christ, how the hell did that happen. I had nothing yesterday and now it's like 3. crap, now i'm going to have join Morgan on the quest for enlightenment about this stuff!

Do you know how long the house has been on the market? that might help you gauge whether you can start pretty low and work your way up...

Kathi, have you signed anything with the realtor saying you'll use her service? If not, have you tried contacting some of the realtors close to Stephenville? I know there's a Century21 in Glen Rose that works the Stephenville area. The real estate licensing is at a state level, so technically, a realtor from FW or Waco could assist you--- most don't because of how long the drive would be to show homes in Stephenville--- but since you know which home you want and are just looking for independent advice during negotiation, maybe someone would represent you just for that portion of the work....

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan Whoa a forum about the forum. This is blowing my mind so late at night. I will have to look at it tomorrow. vBulletin is the company providing the web interface (forum as we know it). I got curious about how the reputation points/karma/etc... worked too awhile back and started looking on the web for info. vBulletin is actually pretty common software for online forums. I'm a member of 2-3 other forums that use the same software, but with different skin options for it....

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan We went crazy thiefing to see how it works (not well). Then we realized we lost our karma. I tested the x reps = 1 karma, but it didn't work. I had 3 reps & 3 karma. Then I got 50 reps & I have 4 karma. Currently I think karma has to do with how long you are a member and probably other stuff. I saw someone with a lot of karma & not a lot of posts, but they joined a long time back. Seeing your 0 karma confused me, but now that I know about the point stealing it makes sense. I had a big discovery yesterday. When you post a template & someone downloads it, you get the 50 points the lose. Someday I will know all the secrets of the forum. Wow--- that totally explains why I've gone thru some serious jumps! I had a bunch of "template" type things out there for making logos, budgeting, and resort comparisons. Here's something to help you on the quest for knowledge--- vBulletin® - Documentation

Quote: Originally Posted by Morgan Threadjack, but Maria how is it possible you have no karma? Have you tried to steal points? If our theories about karma are right, you should have a bunch of it. Have you ever donated points? Originally I thought karma came from donating points. Sorry, I have an obsession with getting to the bottom of the whole karma thing. Actually, I only had 1 karma at my "high". I'm curious about the karma too! I thought maybe it was "x" amount of reputation points = 1 karma, but I never found any proof of that. When we outed someone's "true" identity awhile back- I decided to steal her points to screw with her, but it took the amount of points she had away from me and reset my karma to 0. It used to be that Catherine and I were the only ones who had tried to thieve from a user, but damn- I just looked at the list, and there's now like 35 attempts (most unsuccessful, but a small number of successes)...

I know what you mean---- I can't count how many times I got caught sneaking stray animals home on the school bus. Man, my folks were soooo pissed---- we wound up with 25 cats, 15 dogs, oodles of rabbits and 2 raccoons (boo1 and boo2) - and the coolest thing: I found a deer and lured it home with Oreo cookies! Kate, that ignore method works like a charm! Whenever we had wild animals wander onto the property, my dad would tell me. Then they'd find me sitting motionless for hours on end every day- holding a piece of food in my hand and not looking at the animals. Eventually, they'd get curious and approach. I'd do it everyday until they were tamed. hehehehe.... I miss those days.