Entitlement

So, did you hear about the government bailout of AIG?  I’m no economist, and don’t know much about Wall Street, but even I could see this disaster coming. My theory is that it all has to do with the pervasive feeling of entitlement in our country.  I am a part of it too, thinking things like, “I’ve been married for 12 years and have 4 children, don’t I deserve to own my home?” or “This old mini van is looking so ghetto next to the nice Odysseys and Siennas. I should really get a new one.” Or even the smaller ones I actually give in to like, “This sweater is so cute, and it’s on sale.  I’ll just put it on my credit card.” Now excuse me while I vent:

Several years ago when Rob finished law school and we moved to LA for his job, we were astounded at the cost of housing.  There was no way we could buy in a market where small 3 bedroom/1 bath homes were selling for $720,000 and up. So we found a home to rent that was three bedrooms and one bath.  It was a downsize from what we were able to have as students in North Carolina and we couldn’t help but notice the irony in that.  Wasn’t that education he just put in supposed to improve our lifestyle?

Well, after about a year in that house the owners told us they were planning to sell the home, and offered us first dibs. We had no money for a down payment, and were already paying mortgage sized payments on our student loans. The mortgage agent we worked with said he could get us a crazy loan for 90% of the price where we paid less than the interest and then for the remaining thousands we could find an individual who would loan us money.  Apparently there were guys out doing that sort of thing working in conjunction with the mortgage banks. We liked the little house which we were close to outgrowing already, and had a great school and awesome neighbors. We were aching to own this home. The agents asked if we happened to have a rich uncle we could borrow from for a down payment or an inheritance we could collect early.  Both answers were big fat “NOs.”  The  price tag was just too high for us to pull off. We looked around the housing market and said to each other, “Who is buying at these prices? And who is giving them the loans to do it? There is no way people are going to be able to pay those banks back.” It was so frustrating to have put in so much work on education, and get a great paying job, only to be stuck as renters, but we moved into another rental house.

That house was one that the owners bought simply to fix up and flip.  But by the time they got in there and fixed up all of the outward cosmetics, they had spent another $100,000.  Now they were stuck with a huge mortgage and a house that was overpriced.  We offered to rent it out while we looked for a bargain house to buy.  It all turned out for the best for us because it wasn’t long after moving into that home that Rob found a new job in Orange County.  The home prices are just as ridiculous here and we are still renting. I can’t help but feel like those of us who work hard and deal honestly are being punished and paying for (literally) the mistakes of the foolish.

Now that the market is “softening” we are still unable to buy because we still have no down payment and the banks are getting strict on loans (finally).  Now they are actually verifying your income and stuff like that (Grrrr). So why do these banks that willingly gave risky loans to people being bailed out now?  And more importantly, what are we teaching the rising generation about accountability?  There is something wrong when a person feels no guilt about getting themselves into a financial mess and then just walks away saying something like, “but we have no money to pay!” expecting someone else to clean up after them. Remember when all of the department stores had layaway counters? You never see those now, because nobody has to wait for anything. The message seems to be, “Do whatever you want, buy whatever you ‘need’ and someone will come to bail you out eventually.” What happened to “you made your bed now sleep in it!”

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Eight is Great

Happy Birthday to our Emma Elisabeth!  We love you sweetie.

Emma is a wonderful sister and friend.  She is always adored by her teachers because of her positive attitude and willingness to help in class.  Emma loves to be happy and make other people happy.  She is adventurous and loves to read the American Girl books.  She is energetic, fun and always ready to give out hugs. Her favorite foods are pizza and crepes, and today we had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast at her request. Emma wishes that she could have a puppy for a pet, but Mom and Dad are too mean and always say no.  Her favorite colors are pink and purple and she loves the new quilt Nana made for her bed using bright colors and a black & white theme.

We will be spending the afternoon at Disneyland and we are all so excited to celebrate with her today. We love you M-n-M!

Here’s my chance to share an old photo of Emma all dressed up for Halloween when she was 3 years old!

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Disneyland Slideshow

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7YaV9ZGUIY

Going back in time a little: Rob put together this slideshow from the pictures off our camera and my dad’s.  I just love it!

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Hunter and Emma Blogs

Hunter and Emma both updated their blogs over the weekend.  If you have a second, take a peek at what they’ve been thinking about.

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Hannah’s Dance Class

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNDcZl3ii4Q

Hannah just started her very first dance class.  She loves it, and I never get bored of watching her.  She is wearing the same shoes Emma did when she started dance class, and I can’t believe how big my kids are getting.  It’s going so fast, but I love watching them all grow.

Her class has a lot of little girls, and they all have fun dancing with their spunky teacher.  My favorite parts of this video are when Hannah turns to wave at me and keeps waving.  I start to do hand motions through the window telling her to turn around, but she doesn’t get the sign language, and starts doing what I’m doing… and then when she got all of the girls sliding on their tummies while they waited for everyone to finish their turns.  When she first started sliding out and then all the girls started to follow, I was trying to get her attention to get her back to where she was supposed to be waiting, so I only got the part after she was shooed back by the teacher.

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