Surely everyone must be at least semi-familiar with Pinterest by now, right?
If you ARE familiar, are you registered (and therefore addicted) yet? Or have you been holding out, and have not yet checked it out for yourself?
If you AREN’T familiar, have you been living under a rock? (Relax; I’m KIDDING!)
I feel like I need to fulfill my duty to spread the Pinterest love. Because, well, Pinterest is pretty much the greatest thing since sliced bread. (In fact, I wish I had thought of it. I’d probably be well on my way to being a rich woman right now.)
You know the “Bookmarks” folder in your browser that is full of random websites, half of which you’re not sure why you bookmarked in the first place, until you click on them again?
You know the “starred posts” in your Google Reader, that are terribly unorganized?
You know the searches you do in Google images, when you’re desperate for inspiration?
Pinterest is the answer to all of these things. Pinterest is bookmarks + starred posts + Google images + a smidge of a Facebook feed thingy-majig. It’s awesome. Trust me.
When you first log in, this is the landing page that you see. This is the “Facebook feed thingy-majig” that I am talking about. Here, you see all of the recent “pins” that have been posted by the people you “follow.”
So here, I see my friend Jenn has pinned (a.k.a. bookmarked) a recipe for quinoa salad, as well as a style board for an outfit that is inspiration for fall. Kate over at This Place is Now a Home has pinned a few fabric samples that she plans to use for throw pillows and bar stools. If I, too, like any of these things–take the quinoa salad recipe, for example–I can “repin” the recipe to my own boards (read: “folders” for your bookmarks).
Here is what my board set-up currently looks like:
Currently, I have boards for categories such as “Nora,” and “Recipes to Try,” “For the Home,” “Crafty,” “Kitchen Makeover,” “Parties,” “Photography,” and “Travel.” As I browse through the photos pinned by all of the people I follow, I can repin their items to my own boards for future reference. It doesn’t stop there, though. If I’m browsing around on the internet, and come across something I want to save, I can pin that page to my boards as well, by selecting “Add” then “Pin,” and entering the URL. Cool, huh?
When bored, you can also look at ALL of the recent pins on Pinterest–not just the pins from the people you follow. That’s a fun way to find random inspiration, I assure you! Looking for something specific? You can SEARCH Pinterest as well.
You pin things to your board using images that are on that particular web page. So, when you go back to look for something later, it’s easy to find, thanks to the image and the description you choose to put underneath. Want ideas for dinner? Go to your recipes board, and drool as you scroll through all of the photos you’ve pinned. Find something you’re in the mood for? Click on it, and you will be taken back to the source of the photo, so you can easily access the recipe you need.
The best way to familiarize yourself with it and get the hang of it is just to sign up and try it out! For some reason, Pinterest still requires an invite in order to log in. If you are interested and don’t have an invite, feel free to leave your e-mail address in the comments and I’ll send you one. Please be patient with me through the weekend, though, as I *might* not get to the invites until late Sunday or Monday.
If you are on Pinterest and would like to “follow” me, click here. I would love to have some new people to follow as well.
Questions? Still not sure what the heck Pinterest is all about? Ask away in the comments, and I will do my best to answer (or maybe some of my Pinterest-obsessed readers can help out as well).
PIN ON! :)
Dog crates are the most funnest toys ever, don’t you know?
I could play with it for hours.
Open the door, close the door… amazing!
Oh. Hi, Mama.
Let me take a closer look at this here interior. Looks pretty well kept, Tessa. Good job.
Now, I am going to inspect the lock on your door. I’d call it reliable. Which is good, since, you know… it’s “key” to your security.
BWAHAHAHA. I crack myself up.
Now, let me take a peek at the roof. If only my feet weren’t so slippery from these footie jammies! Ugh!
Alright. Roof looks stable enough, from what I can see.
Right, Mommy?
Label is in good shape. Wouldn’t want that to come off now, would we?
This crate has officially passed inspection. I deem it safe for occupancy by Tessa.
My work here is done. Back to the living room to inspect the couch!
On Saturday, I suddenly realized I hadn’t blogged since last Tuesday. Prior to that, I hadn’t thought about it in days. Not once.
It was just one of those weeks.
On Thursday, I pulled into the driveway after picking up Nora from daycare. Michael met me at my car, saying, “It’s 95 degrees in the house.” He wasn’t kidding. It was literally 95 degrees inside. Our central air conditioner decided to die on the hottest day of the year. We set a record high of 98 degrees, with a heat index of 113.
We immediately packed up and got the hell out of here, retreating to my mom’s house for the night. Thankfully, we had a home buyer’s warranty taken out on place, which covers anyone who buys our property for up to a year–and covers us while we are on the market. We were able to place a claim through that insurance company, and a serviceman came out on Friday morning and fixed the A/C. Even with the air working, it took several hours for the house to cool down again, so I spent the day working from home and cleaning in lower-90 and upper-80 degree indoor temps. I’m not going to lie; it was unpleasant.
We had another wedding on Saturday. We bought 19 gallons of paint for the new house at the Sherwin Williams 40% off sale. We visited with family on Sunday.
At the back of our minds during all of these everyday life occurrences, we were thinking about what the hell we’re going to do about our condo (like always). Which, as you have probably assumed by now, has still not sold. We are just a few days shy of six months on the market. This is so far from our ideal scenario, I’m almost not even sure where our minds were when we originally started this nightmare.
We’ve had countless conversations, and we’re ambivalent. We should find a tenant. No, we don’t want to rent it out. We should drop the price drastically to make a last-ditch effort to sell. No, we should wait a few years to see if the market rebounds and we can sell for a better price.
In all honesty, it’s sort of a lose-lose situation for us.
We don’t want to be landlords. We wouldn’t make any money by doing so. We’d have to worry about things breaking (mainly our ancient furnace and air conditioning), in not one house, but two. We spent a lot of time and money fixing this place up. We put in new carpet last summer, and we’re afraid a tenant will destroy it.
But we don’t want to sell for a rock-bottom price, either.
In the end, I know that we’ll be OK. One year, five years, ten years into the future, we’re going to be in a better place about this condo. Maybe we’ll be landlords and it won’t be as bad as we’re imagining, and we’ll make our money back. Maybe we’ll finally sell it, and we’ll never look back.
The thing is, I’m at the point where I kinda just don’t care. As long as we’re not paying two mortgages come October 1st, I am indifferent about how we get there. I just want a resolution. Because unless you have lived for six months (or, God forbid, longer than that) with this kind of weight on your shoulders, you have no idea what kind of toll this amount of stress can take.
What it really all comes down to–at least for me–is that I don’t know when to call it quits and give in. I don’t know when we should officially accept that we aren’t going to sell this place, and turn toward searching for a suitable tenant. Because although I have come to terms with the possibility of renting, I would still much prefer to sell.
Our contract with our current realtor expires next week, and we have plans to re-list with a new realtor. I’m honestly not sure that he’ll be able to do anything differently than our old realtor; I’m not sure that our old realtor did anything wrong. It just feels like we have to make a change, given that it’s been six months. A new perspective, a breath of fresh air–sort of a fresh start, if nothing else. In my dreams, he comes in here and somehow manages to pull of a miracle and sell this place within a few weeks of it being back on the market. As we’ve been saying all along, it only takes one.
But if the end result is going to end up being the same–meaning we have to rent it–then we’d honestly rather get someone in here starting September 1st, instead of waiting until October 1st. And if we’re going to do that, we need to start looking for a tenant… right now.
We know we could play both angles at this point. We could put a rental ad out there, and we could keep it on the market, and we can see what comes of it. And maybe that’s what we’ll end up doing, believing all the while that whatever happens to work out–whether it’s a buyer or a renter–is what is meant to be. But if we sign a lease with a tenant, I don’t know that I’ll feel complete peace with it. I can see myself wondering, “What if we had given it just a little more time on the market?”
Thus continues the dilemma.
We are so ready to be done with this shit.
…really junior.
How cute is Nora with her longtime-volunteer-firefighter great-poppy?
Poppy brought her this hat. (He also brings Michael a “care package” every time we see him–paper towels, tools, shaving cream, toothpaste… pretty much whatever he feels like buying. How cute is he?)
“Which way to the firetruck?”
“I’ll man the hose!”
We had a wonderful Sunday afternoon hanging out with family. The weather was “only” in the 80s, so it felt very refreshing compared to the upper-90-degree heat we experienced all week. In fact, when we woke up on Sunday morning, it was 71 degrees and after Michael took Tessa outside, he came in saying, “It’s almost like there’s a chill in the air!”
Amazing what a little perspective will do, eh? :)
Well now. Look what finally decided to show up.
What, you don’t see anything? Take another look…
How about now? Still not convinced? Alright, here’s another…
You mean you STILL can’t see it? Really? C’mon… how about now?
Alright, so I’ll admit, there’s not much to see yet. But that little arrow right there is pointing to the tip of a tooth that officially broke through the surface today. I can feel its sharp little ridges and see them if I get the right angle (hard to get her to let me look at them these days!).
This is one of those baby book things that I’m not sure how to handle. Like, for Nora’s first word, we weren’t 100% sure when to count her official first word. That is, until she started clearly belting out “Tessa” every five seconds. For the first tooth, do I count when it just breaks through the surface (today)? Or do I count when it is fully visible? THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT DRIVE A TYPE-A MOTHER INSANE. I need it to be accurate as possible, people. I think today counts?
If that’s the case… First Tooth: July 19, 2011 at 10 months and 8 days old. It’s about dang time. :)
And for the record–looking at those photos above, I don’t think tooth #2 will be far behind!
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
