Pam & Jim + real life antics (as a newly married couple with a baby)
The Office has been one of my favorite shows for many years. I have always adored the "Pam & Jim" falling in love & staying in love story lines. As the show has come to an end, I am filled with a sense of bittersweet memories. I remember watching the show in Florida, during some of my darkest days & nights. My boyfriend, at the time, brought home the first season, after I quit grad school and was feeling rather down. He had hoped it would help cheer me up & get me out of my funk. I wasn't having much luck with the job hunting process, my parents were upset with my academic decisions, and I was even questioning my relationship with that particular boyfriend.
We made watching The Office a part of our nightly television ritual. Even when we decided to take a break from our relationship & I moved into my own apartment, we still managed to make watching The Office "our thing". When I started working full-time at an art college, I remember falling asleep while watching a handful of episodes. We usually watched 2 or 3 episodes a night, trying to play catch up to whatever season was being aired at the time. After my nearly 7 year relationship (off & on) ended, I continued the tradition of watching reruns & the current season of The Office semi-solo. When I moved back home, I began Tivo'ing episodes, which annoyed my father, who absolutely hated the show. My mom, on the other hand, found the show rather amusing, even though she didn't quite understand most of the humor. When I started dating my now husband, we used to watch reruns during dinners at his place or chilly winter weekends snuggled with hot cocoa & hot, fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Although, my husband never truly got into the show, he still watches it whenever I turn it on.
Any ways, on Friday morning & after Noah's "breakfast" bottle, a poonami diaper, some giggles, kisses, & snuggles, a cup of coffee + cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese, I watched the finale of The Office OnDemand. It made me a bit teary-eyed, in a sentimental, lovey-dovey way. I am glad Pam & Jim are still going strong, regardless of all their relationship struggles. I liked how their relationship & connection has always seemed fairly realistic & relatable. I liked how this final season has showed that they are not perfect & how the stress & strain of married life with kids can affect couples. It makes me wonder about my own married life & whether or not we should consider additional kids in our future, etc....
On another note, the husband & I are still working through this whole mortgage loan, house buying, hoop jumping ordeal. We're still waiting for his mother to do her part & get him off as the co-signer for her mortgage. There's so much I want to say about that whole situation, but I find myself biting my tongue, in efforts to keep the peace if she ever finds this blog. Originally, the loan officer requested a copy of the lease for the property my husband & his mother are "financing". However, I think due to time restraints & people taking their sweet time to get things accomplished, we're going to be stuck with this damn FHA loan verses a conventional loan. The interest rates are slightly lower for a FHA, but there's a "penalty fee" aka mortgage insurance fee tacked on to the life of the loan. Of course, the mortgage officer said refinancing later (when my husband gets his $hit together), is an option, to avoid paying that extra $100+ a month.
With regards to the "hoops" we are still jumping through to get things moving forward, of course there are tons of paperwork involved with the entire process. Most of this involves ME gathering information to provide to the loan officer. I feel so utterly alone in this process of finding tax returns, our individual bank statements, W-2's, etc. I spent hours finding the majority of what she requested, scanning it in & emailing it to her, only for her to ask me to bring everything in (plus additional documents) to our meeting last week. She emails me the evening before our scheduled meeting, giving me barely any time to obtain the additional documents + print/organize the stuff that I already sent her. We scheduled the meeting for 6PM on a Tuesday, in order for my husband to avoid leaving work early. By 6:30PM, with a semi-sleepy & getting hungry baby in tow, we are just getting started. We smile through exhaustion and remind ourselves that the process is meant to be easy. By 7:45PM, after all my organized documents have been pulled apart & shuffled into a stack of signed paperwork, the loan officer is making copies of whatever few documents she needs and reminding us of the additional documents we need to provide. We are finally walking out the door sometime before 8PM. Starving & exhausted my husband decides to pick up food, while I drive our sleepy baby home. I think we finally crawled into bed sometime after 11PM, only to wake up to Noah's "feed me" demands at midnight & again at 4:30AM.
The weekend was filled with grocery shopping, errands - finally getting my husband's bank statements (had to go to his bank because he was locked out of the online website for failed password attempts) & a brief trip to Williamsburg to show Noah the horses. We also brought carrots to feed the gentle creatures. Noah didn't seemed too phased by large beauties. He gave us some inquisitive looks as we fed them carrots, but seemed more interested in the people walking around. The skies were threatening storms, so we did not stay very long. On Sunday, we stopped by my parents' store for lunch & a short visit. My parents were having another one of their childish arguments over something trivial. This led to them both boycotting meals, as an attempt to out stubborn one another. I decided they needed to eat something & brought them leftover spaghetti, salad & breakfast sausage biscuits. My father, who decided to go to the morning church service & leave my mom to mind the store solo, bought fried fish, oysters & shrimp from a local seafood restaurant for lunch (only because my mom told him to buy it). He refused to eat the yummy food & both parents decided that my husband & I looked hungry. So, we ate a small portion of the food while listening to them argue over who should eat lunch first & how Noah's feet felt chilly without socks.
Monday was semi-grumpy teething baby & random to-do-list day. During Noah's brief naps, I was running around frantically trying to get dishes & bottles washed/sterilized + eat breakfast & lunch + do laundry + contact the cable company to downgrade services. When my soaking wet husband arrived home from work early (because of the rain), my mind fumbled through my to-do-list, realizing I still had a load of clean, wet laundry in washer & dried now-wrinkled clothes in the dryer. Cooking dinner, giving Noah a bath, taking a shower myself were also on the agenda. Emailing the loan officer completely flew to the bottom of the priority list. Sometime after 7PM, when Noah finally went down for a pre-sleep-nap, I remembered that I still needed to scan my husband's bank statements & get them emailed. Ironically, I missed the call from the loan officer requesting these documents.
When I scanned in my husband's statements I had a revelation: My husband SUCKS at managing his own personal finances! His year-to-date amount in overdraft fees absolutely shocked me. It's not even June & they exceed any reasonable amount that an average individual could rack up. What the hell was going on? So, we discuss this matter & I begin to feel like the nagging wife that I swore I would never become. I recall saying something along the lines of already having a baby to take care of & not wanting to baby sit a grown man's checking account too. It may have been a bit harsh, but when the loan officer emailed me before the night was over let me know his overdraft fees would definitely throw up red flags with the underwriter, I became even more frustrated. Luckily, she said we can move pass this hurdle with a few additional documents....le sigh.
It's now Wednesday & I have only put in 7 hours of work at my parents' store this week. I thank my lucky stars that I don't have to put my sweet little one in daycare with complete strangers. Not only would I feel extreme anxiety from watching horrible nanny cam videos on YouTube, but the financial strain would not be worth it either. I would love to eventually get him into a good pre-K/preschool program, but it truly depends on our finances. I have created a pretty stringent budget plan, which we plan to implement for the month June. It looks like, downgrading our cable/Internet services & cutting our grocery costs are necessary. Sometimes, I envy those who simply rely on government assistance. I'm sure it must make things easier, but my family has always been extremely against utilizing any outside assistance & saving government assistance as a last resort. I think hard work, budgeting & saving are important qualities that I want to pass on to my son. I would be embarrassed if I followed the suit of those individuals, who are lazy drains to our society & hardworking taxpayers. With that being said, it's time to clock in some hours of paperwork, while Noah naps & eventually head out to the store.
Until next time.... XoXo - HMBC
We made watching The Office a part of our nightly television ritual. Even when we decided to take a break from our relationship & I moved into my own apartment, we still managed to make watching The Office "our thing". When I started working full-time at an art college, I remember falling asleep while watching a handful of episodes. We usually watched 2 or 3 episodes a night, trying to play catch up to whatever season was being aired at the time. After my nearly 7 year relationship (off & on) ended, I continued the tradition of watching reruns & the current season of The Office semi-solo. When I moved back home, I began Tivo'ing episodes, which annoyed my father, who absolutely hated the show. My mom, on the other hand, found the show rather amusing, even though she didn't quite understand most of the humor. When I started dating my now husband, we used to watch reruns during dinners at his place or chilly winter weekends snuggled with hot cocoa & hot, fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Although, my husband never truly got into the show, he still watches it whenever I turn it on.
Any ways, on Friday morning & after Noah's "breakfast" bottle, a poonami diaper, some giggles, kisses, & snuggles, a cup of coffee + cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese, I watched the finale of The Office OnDemand. It made me a bit teary-eyed, in a sentimental, lovey-dovey way. I am glad Pam & Jim are still going strong, regardless of all their relationship struggles. I liked how their relationship & connection has always seemed fairly realistic & relatable. I liked how this final season has showed that they are not perfect & how the stress & strain of married life with kids can affect couples. It makes me wonder about my own married life & whether or not we should consider additional kids in our future, etc....
On another note, the husband & I are still working through this whole mortgage loan, house buying, hoop jumping ordeal. We're still waiting for his mother to do her part & get him off as the co-signer for her mortgage. There's so much I want to say about that whole situation, but I find myself biting my tongue, in efforts to keep the peace if she ever finds this blog. Originally, the loan officer requested a copy of the lease for the property my husband & his mother are "financing". However, I think due to time restraints & people taking their sweet time to get things accomplished, we're going to be stuck with this damn FHA loan verses a conventional loan. The interest rates are slightly lower for a FHA, but there's a "penalty fee" aka mortgage insurance fee tacked on to the life of the loan. Of course, the mortgage officer said refinancing later (when my husband gets his $hit together), is an option, to avoid paying that extra $100+ a month.
With regards to the "hoops" we are still jumping through to get things moving forward, of course there are tons of paperwork involved with the entire process. Most of this involves ME gathering information to provide to the loan officer. I feel so utterly alone in this process of finding tax returns, our individual bank statements, W-2's, etc. I spent hours finding the majority of what she requested, scanning it in & emailing it to her, only for her to ask me to bring everything in (plus additional documents) to our meeting last week. She emails me the evening before our scheduled meeting, giving me barely any time to obtain the additional documents + print/organize the stuff that I already sent her. We scheduled the meeting for 6PM on a Tuesday, in order for my husband to avoid leaving work early. By 6:30PM, with a semi-sleepy & getting hungry baby in tow, we are just getting started. We smile through exhaustion and remind ourselves that the process is meant to be easy. By 7:45PM, after all my organized documents have been pulled apart & shuffled into a stack of signed paperwork, the loan officer is making copies of whatever few documents she needs and reminding us of the additional documents we need to provide. We are finally walking out the door sometime before 8PM. Starving & exhausted my husband decides to pick up food, while I drive our sleepy baby home. I think we finally crawled into bed sometime after 11PM, only to wake up to Noah's "feed me" demands at midnight & again at 4:30AM.
The weekend was filled with grocery shopping, errands - finally getting my husband's bank statements (had to go to his bank because he was locked out of the online website for failed password attempts) & a brief trip to Williamsburg to show Noah the horses. We also brought carrots to feed the gentle creatures. Noah didn't seemed too phased by large beauties. He gave us some inquisitive looks as we fed them carrots, but seemed more interested in the people walking around. The skies were threatening storms, so we did not stay very long. On Sunday, we stopped by my parents' store for lunch & a short visit. My parents were having another one of their childish arguments over something trivial. This led to them both boycotting meals, as an attempt to out stubborn one another. I decided they needed to eat something & brought them leftover spaghetti, salad & breakfast sausage biscuits. My father, who decided to go to the morning church service & leave my mom to mind the store solo, bought fried fish, oysters & shrimp from a local seafood restaurant for lunch (only because my mom told him to buy it). He refused to eat the yummy food & both parents decided that my husband & I looked hungry. So, we ate a small portion of the food while listening to them argue over who should eat lunch first & how Noah's feet felt chilly without socks.
Monday was semi-grumpy teething baby & random to-do-list day. During Noah's brief naps, I was running around frantically trying to get dishes & bottles washed/sterilized + eat breakfast & lunch + do laundry + contact the cable company to downgrade services. When my soaking wet husband arrived home from work early (because of the rain), my mind fumbled through my to-do-list, realizing I still had a load of clean, wet laundry in washer & dried now-wrinkled clothes in the dryer. Cooking dinner, giving Noah a bath, taking a shower myself were also on the agenda. Emailing the loan officer completely flew to the bottom of the priority list. Sometime after 7PM, when Noah finally went down for a pre-sleep-nap, I remembered that I still needed to scan my husband's bank statements & get them emailed. Ironically, I missed the call from the loan officer requesting these documents.
When I scanned in my husband's statements I had a revelation: My husband SUCKS at managing his own personal finances! His year-to-date amount in overdraft fees absolutely shocked me. It's not even June & they exceed any reasonable amount that an average individual could rack up. What the hell was going on? So, we discuss this matter & I begin to feel like the nagging wife that I swore I would never become. I recall saying something along the lines of already having a baby to take care of & not wanting to baby sit a grown man's checking account too. It may have been a bit harsh, but when the loan officer emailed me before the night was over let me know his overdraft fees would definitely throw up red flags with the underwriter, I became even more frustrated. Luckily, she said we can move pass this hurdle with a few additional documents....le sigh.
It's now Wednesday & I have only put in 7 hours of work at my parents' store this week. I thank my lucky stars that I don't have to put my sweet little one in daycare with complete strangers. Not only would I feel extreme anxiety from watching horrible nanny cam videos on YouTube, but the financial strain would not be worth it either. I would love to eventually get him into a good pre-K/preschool program, but it truly depends on our finances. I have created a pretty stringent budget plan, which we plan to implement for the month June. It looks like, downgrading our cable/Internet services & cutting our grocery costs are necessary. Sometimes, I envy those who simply rely on government assistance. I'm sure it must make things easier, but my family has always been extremely against utilizing any outside assistance & saving government assistance as a last resort. I think hard work, budgeting & saving are important qualities that I want to pass on to my son. I would be embarrassed if I followed the suit of those individuals, who are lazy drains to our society & hardworking taxpayers. With that being said, it's time to clock in some hours of paperwork, while Noah naps & eventually head out to the store.
Until next time.... XoXo - HMBC
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