House Update

We recently got an update from the bank.  My employment verification has been received.  They were still waiting for the certificate of completion for the personal finance counseling I had to do, and they were waiting for the appraisal value to be transferred to the right department.  As soon as they received those two things our application will go to the underwriters.  It is estimated that we should have an answer sometime mid to late next week.

Introducing the Beverly Hillbillies

My work takes me all sorts of places.  Some days it is just around town and others it's in the boondocks of a town twenty miles away.  Sometimes the roads are fine, other times a road is to be desired.  And the most exciting part is you never really know for sure if mapquest is taking you in the right direction.  You do know one thing though, never rely entirely on a GPS.  A GPS doesn't do you much good when it can't pick up any signal.


I was driving down one road and things were going fine.  I hadn't had any navigational trouble and the roads weren't bad at all.  It wasn't long before the road I was on began to deteriorate fairly quickly.  Within a mile of turning on the road it had turned into a very narrow loose gravel road.  Shortly after the road turned to gravel I noticed an ambulance and a pick up truck speeding up behind me.  I pulled off onto the narrow shoulder of the road to let them pass.  It wasn't much use though, because they couldn't travel the road much faster than I could.  After tailing the ambulance for a couple more miles it finally came to a stop in the middle of a bend in the road.  I figured the house it was going to must be on the side of the hill to the right.  I stopped a polite distance back to wait patiently till I could pass.  That's when a jeep showed up with another emergency person.  


I watched as they loaded a very elderly lady into the back of the ambulance.  There was quite a crowd of people there.  Many of them (men and women alike) sporting mullets.  To my surprise, the ambulance just sat there.  I was wondering how it was going to get turned around and where I was going to position my car so it could get by me.  But they didn't go anywhere.  They didn't even close up the back doors.  I sat there awkwardly not knowing if I should try to pass by, turn around, or just sit there and wait.  How long could they possibly take anyway? 


It wasn't long before I realized the customers I was on my way to visit were standing at the back of the ambulance talking with the emergency staff.  I suddenly didn't know what to do.  Should I approach them and deliver my demand that they come pay their overdue bill?  Or do I try to get by unnoticed and stick the letter on their mailbox?  I didn't want to seem insensitive but their accounts were only getting further and further behind. Letting the accounts reach the point of no return wouldn't help them deal with whatever they may have going on at the moment.  I decided to call my manager to get her opinion.  But of course, I had no cell phone reception.  It looked as though it was my decision to make.  One of the emergency guys walked up to my car and said there may be enough room to squeeze by the ambulance...I considered for a split second handing him the letter and asking him to deliver it for me.  But there was no way I could get turned around to flee the scene.  So I hung my head as much as possible and still be able to navigate successfully around the ambulance.  


To my surprise, there was no house where the ambulance had parked.  But it was clear to see the woman had been transported from her home (where ever that was) to the ambulance by horse and buggy.  I had to creep behind one man headed down the hill on his buggy until he pulled off.  The houses along the road looked mostly abandoned with random windows boarded over, doors hanging open, and furniture laying carelessly around the properties. I finally found the mailbox of the sought after customers.  There was neither door nor flag on the mailbox.  the numbers were faded, peeling, and barely visible.  I decided not to try and make my way up the dirt, rutted driveway to the shack that couldn't be seen from the road.  I parked in the middle of the road (because there was no shoulder to pull off on) and found a place to secure the letter in sight.  More cops had shown up by the time I got back up the hill to where the ambulance still sat.  What exactly happened to the woman, we may never know.  We have yet to hear from the customers. Looks like another trip to the hills may be in my near future.  I wonder what I'll encounter next time....

Anxiously Awaiting WInter

I was on the phone with Will while driving from one customer's house to the next.  My next stop was at a few trailers randomly placed on the side of a main highway.  As I pulled into the gravel lot, I told Will I had to get off the phone.  This place was rather trashy looking and I wanted to hurry and make my stop and get out of there!  The standard procedure consists of knocking on the door of the customers house and getting him or her on the phone with my manager.  If the customer is not home, I leave a letter for the customer and hope that it prompts him or her to give us a call.

I had to make my way through the maze of random mechanical parts, children's toys, forgotten trash, and abandoned scraps of clothing to get to the door of the trailer. I knocked on the door and was answered by an unknown number of dogs barking on the inside.  Shortly thereafter the door begins to open.  

I'm afraid the image thereafter burned into my brain will never go away.  In the doorway stood a woman of about 350 lbs.  She had one dog tucked under her right arm, another she was pushing back with her foot and yet another she was holding tight to the collar of.  She yelled over her shoulder for someone to come get the dogs before she lost hold of them.

Her head was about the size of a basketball.  She had salt and pepper hair that was falling out of a ponytail but still held stiff out of her face by the thick build up of grease that comes from far too few showers.  Her thick mustache stuck out from her top lip at a 45 degree angle, only slightly distracting from the few rotten plaque covered teeth she had left.  She was stylishly modeling a pair of stretchy shorts three sizes too small and a purple lace see-through bra.

I wasn't sure whether I was going to laugh, cry, or vomit.  Upon discovering that the lady I was after was not home, I handed the woman at the door the letter and hustled my way back to the car. "Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!" I yelled over the music as I drove away.  Needless to say, I hope the winter brings many many turtle necks and long baggy sweat pants.

New Title, New Duties

As before mentioned, I recently received a promotion at work from customer service representative to assistant manager.  This month I has flown by with my new job duties.  One of the responsibilities I've acquired is field calling customers who are behind on their payments.  My main focus as assistant manager is collecting from our bad debt.  I have been out on the road a lot this month.  It is not uncommon for me to spend 6 hours of my work day driving around trying to track down customers that owe us money.  The adventures have not been few!  Those who think field calling is a boring chore obviously do not have the same customer base that we have!  I have been enjoying it quite a bit!  I never know for sure what I'm going to encounter!

Home Sweet Home

A couple months ago my Aunt Becca referred us to a house that was for sale in Kingsport.  We weren't looking to buy at the time but decided to check it out anyway.  The house was cute, but not for us.  After mentioning it at work, a coworker suggested we go check out a foreclosed house on her street.  The house needed quite a bit of work, but we liked it!  We decided to call the realtor.  Unfortunately, before we could be shown the house, an offer was made on the house by someone else.  We took the time to look around at some other houses and talk to the appropriate people to find out the process of purchasing a home so when we were ready to buy we would also be prepared.  

Large shaded back yard

July 4th we spent with our good friends Evan and Leah and their two kids.  On the way to their house we noticed a cute little house for sale.  When it was still on our minds the following day, we decided to drive by and peek through the windows.  Big mistake!  We fell instantly in love with it!  We called the realtor that night and arranged a tour of the house for the next day.

To make a long story short, the following business day we contacted our own realtor and met with him the next evening.  At about 9:30 pm we finally left the house with a written offer to be submitted in the morning.  By early afternoon we had an answer....The seller had accepted our offer!  After a 4 hour visit with the bank this morning, we are hopeful and waiting to hear back about the financing.  We were told we should have an answer in about three weeks. Hopefully the process continues to go smoothly and quickly!  If all goes well, August 15th will be our closing date!

Our little house was built in 1940.  It is in incredible condition!  Someone has definitely been taking care of it!  The house was built well with sturdy materials that appear to be in prime condition.  The house is small, but perfect for our first home.  It is two bedroom, one bathroom.  The original hardwood floors remain in the living room, dining room, hallway, and bedrooms.  The kitchen has recently been tiled.  The attic is partially finished. We plan to eventually finish the attic and turn it into a master bedroom and bathroom.  The kitchen is quite small but sufficient for us.  Definitely a one cook kitchen.  Two would be a crowd.  Expansion is always a possibility for the future though!

Dining room

Living room

We certainly haven't been getting much sleep since we found this house.  Hopefully the bank hurries and makes it official so maybe we can get some rest!  We are very excited about the opportunities we have recently been given!  It is going to be so nice to finally have a home of our own...And what could be better than to have awesome friends just down the street?  And what better 1 year anniversary gift could there possibly be than a perfect little house?  It is hard to believe we have been married for nearly a year already.  Time has most definitely escaped us!

basement

Dewomanized

Earlier this year Payton and Kylie made the big visit to the vet together.  It was time to be spayed.  We were thankful they didn't have to be held over night.  When we brought them home they were the saddest sight to see.  Payton would try to follow us around the house as usual but couldn't quite manage it.  She wanted Will and I to stay in the same room and stay close to her.  Feeling bad for our little girl, we piled cushions on the floor, covered them with a blanket, and the three of us curled up together on the cushions and watched a movie.

Kylie was a different case.  She didn't want to be anywhere near anyone else.  She refused to leave her stitches alone.  By the following day, she had all of the stitches except two pulled out.  The incision was staying together so the vet said she should be fine.  It wasn't long before her stomach around the incision turned purple and began bulging outward about an inch.  

The following Monday we carted the babies back to the vet to have them looked at.  Kylie's stomach was terrifying us, and Payton had a lump on her side.  We learned that the lump was just a reaction to the shot she was given and it soon went down on it's own.  Kylie, however had daily visits to the vet.  She kept looking worse and worse.  The vet decided she may have a blood disease.  She ended up getting a shot of antibiotics and close observation.  She eventually started to heal and is doing great now...just as big of a pain in the butt as ever!

A New Year and New Opportunities

We've had a great start to 2012! Things have really been looking up for us.  We have been staying busy, which is a good thing but  makes it hard to keep the blog updated.  


I am no longer working at Pier1 Imports. In February I started working full time as a CSR at Regional Finance in Kingsport. As of this month, I was promoted to assistant manager.  At Regional Finance we  give personal loans as well as finance vehicle purchases.  As the assistant manager, my main focus will be collecting on accounts that are past due.  I will be spending a lot of time on the road going house to house.


Will is still with E. Luke Greene Company handling things in the shop.  After spending a semester thinking he wanted to change his major to Spanish education, he has decided to stick to nursing.  This fall he will be transferring to North East State for their RN program.

The other excitement for us this year is we traded in the 2004 Isuzu Rodeo we were driving for a 2010 Chrysler Sebring. In the short time we've had the new car we have already been able to save a lot of money in gas and insurance. We couldn't be happier with the change. My favorite thing about the new vehicle is the leather interior and heated seats! Payton likes her new ride as well.