the attack

i decided today was the day to get rid of my horny guests. you know, the wasps. i got this spray at home depot which promised to project up to 27 feet. the jet spray turned out to be a squirt and the actual stream of chemicals was more like a wide angle hair spray kind that you get with aquanet...not the sleek jet stream that i was expecting. anyways, i sprayed it and true to the three stooges moments in my life, a gust of wind was ALSO blowing at the same time so it blew back on me. let's just say, i had a chemical shower myself. i sprayed the nest a few more times and as you can see, DEAD. the directions say to knock it off after 24 hrs....count down starting NOW.


anybody want some empty wasp nests?

dead! don't mess with bagnatic!

shopping gone awry

bye bye urban outfitters, bloomingdales, nordstrom's, and the like.

here's where i normally shop now :( i say hello to:

home depot :(

ikea. :( ikea normally would be fun if i had the money to refurnish my wee house. well i don't so i've been going back and forth for bits and pieces.

target is another highly trafficked place. none of them, FUN. bleh.

bagnatic vs. wee heater

i took a cold shower yesterday morning. ugh. it was very cold. i seriously thought the water would eventually warm up, but it didn't! i had to climb out of my shower all drippy (but uber sexy of course) and freezing to check on the heater. there was no doubt in my mind that the heater was at fault. after all, it officially has a track record now and sure enough, the pilot light once again, was off. fyi, i had asked zeb (the plumber) before about what causes a pilot light to go off since my heater is relatively new. he says sometimes, an air bubble can get trapped inside the "i don't know which tube" which can then blow out the pilot light. it could also be blown out by gusty wind which unfortunately i think is the main reason for it. i think it's situated in a wind tunnel of sorts with a flimsy aluminum casing that hardly does it any good.

anyways, it got fixed. so the score so far:

bagnatic: 2, wee heater: 0

savings: $75 x 2 = $150.

my wee house is pro-OBAMA

i have a small "lawn" space. hard to describe it other than it being a funky patch with very little grass and dead plants in the front of my wee house. the property wasn't taken care of for over a year before i bought it and "gardening" (what the heck does that mean?) isn't exactly in my vocabulary. besides, it's cold right? do plants grow in the cold when they should be wearing sweaters and sipping hot chocolate instead? i think not. that will be my spring activity. i did hire a gardner though named juan carlos who trims my trees....but i digress.

while in nevada, i asked for an obama/biden lawn sign to place on my patchy lawn. unfortunately, i was denied. i think the resources are pulled for the swing states, not good ole california which is expected to be blue. i was able to get a huge round obama sign though for my window. although he is lopsided, his politics are not.

how cool is that to discover my house is pro-OBAMA.

can you see my reflection in the window? i look like a stalker.

horny guests

on my property, i discovered 2 wasp nests in two different areas. goodness! both hives seem "relatively" small, though i'm sure their stingers aren't. after reading up on wasps, i discovered that:

"Wasps are considered dangerous in regular homes. Although certain uses have been founded in certain species of wasps, wasps and regular homes should never co-exist. Not only will these insects bother us, they could also cause certain diseases because of their stings. If nothing is done about them when they start existing at homes, they could easily invade a house which could even cause damage."

now that i've effectively freaked myself out, i will make my way to home depot (one of these days...soon...err) and see if i can get these wasp sprays that can project up to 15ft away. then i'm knocking those suckers down! yup, by myself! i need to do that soon...before the nest doubles in size! but if i get attacked and die, you all may share my bags. :(

why are you so high up?!

ick!! bleh!! so ugly!

you light my fire

the culprit in question.

first of all, if you don't already know this, I AM AWESOME. let me now proceed to explain why i am so awesome.

today, my sis woke up and took a cold shower. i don't think she watched porn or anything the night before so this cold shower was indeed involuntary. since i'm normally up when she gets ready for work, she comes to me and tells me, "there's no hot water!" expecting me of course to do some magic and fix it up pronto. she was right...the water was cold indeed but it was not an issue i could deal with right away. i had brunch plans in cerritos with my cerritos momma and i needed to get out of the house asap.

once i got back, i turned on the water and found that it was still cold when it should be hot. i went to my water heater outside and inspected it. i suspect that the pilot light for the heater went off and since i didn't know how to do anything remotely useful, i started calling a few plumbers i found on yelp. i told the first one that i think i needed the pilot light lit and he told me it would be $75 for the house call. really?! effin' crap. i then called a second one to get a different price point and let me just say, zeb from lipson plumbing was 110% amazing. he actually said if it's really an issue of having my pilot light lit, HE WOULD WALK ME THROUGH IT ON THE PHONE!!! and he did!! it worked, my pilot light was lit, i have hot water, and he saved me $75-$90 today!

i'm just so freakin' excited that i am capable of getting things done. and saving $75 on top of that...that was pure sweetness! zeb is awesome and so am i!

directions (as best i can recall them) for next time the pilot light blows out.

iron chef

i try to cook more now. obviously, i have time because i'm on vaykay and of course, trying to save a buck or 2 for bagnatic as well as my wee house. since my sister lives with me now, i naturally take on the more nurturing role, though she would probably beg to differ.

in my quest to be a saver and to utilize my new kitchen more so than not, my sis and i agreed that we would each cook one day out of the week. that means two days of homecooked meals with leftovers...hopefully. that is the plan anyways. she cooked dinner on sunday with my mom (cheater!) and though i wasn't home to share the yumminess with them, i did get to eat some leftovers. tonight was my turn so i decided to make:

chicken quesadilla with roasted red peppers and shredded cheddar cheese. yum!

chinese green beans with a whole lotta garlic. yummy!

hahhaa, the food doesn't match with each other, but i knew i had to throw in a veggie dish somewhere and there were green beans in the fridge. anyways, i don't know how long this cooking zealousness will last, but it's satisfying to know that i don't have to rely on rodeo grill for food. do you know of any simple recipes that i can use so i can diversify my cooking repertoire? the less ingredients, the better.

greetings!

hello friends of bagnatic!

i wanted to say hi and let you in on my big secret for the past 8 months. yes, from beginning to end, i've been house hunting, sitting in escrow, having a few heart attacks here and there, painting, and finally moving in september 28 (here's where being on c-track would have been helpful) into my very first house! ow! i was stressed out consistently and constantly so you'll have to forgive the overtly negative tones on my posts. although i've been diligently putting things away (here and there and after school) i am no where close to being settled and will invite all you lovelies here for a visit once i'm ready! ow!

if you start from the very first post, you can kind of see what i've been doing with my house. i'm not as diligent with blogging things about my house because i spend too much time as is on the computer :) but hehehe....i'm super content and OH MY GAWD I AM A HOMEOWNER! i told you right? this is most definitely better than a chanel!

fyi, umm, owning a home hasn't curbed my bag buying habit either. shiet....more to come on bagnatic!

smooches,

bagnatic ;)

settling

ahhh, i moved in on september 28. what a long day it was....and so dusty too! goodness! here's my house fully moved in :(

here's my house almost one month later. still can't figure out where to put a few of these boxes. storage is limited and i just have plain too much shit! not to mention too many teacher boxes!

perhaps my two weeks off after intersession can be spent cleaning it up and finally putting it in order. or not. i recall still having a box or two of unpacked things in my old apartment two years after the fact.

a rolling rock gathers no moss

i hate moving. i don't remember how many times i've done it, but the feelings are the same each and every time...UGH! obviously, with time, i've amassed even more and my two bedroom apartment is filled.

moving is so time consuming too and requires one to be neat, organized, and motivated. i possess none of these qualities. in fact, i live in organized chaos and i'm fine with it as of late ESPECIALLY since i have been so busy because of various things going on in my life, my wee house included. unfortunately, living in organized chaos really sux when you move. i have a ton of crap everywhere that i still have to figure out if i should toss or not. arrrggghhh.....and the goodwill bags...lordy, i need to fill those up!

anywasy, the movers are coming tomorrow between 8-9am to help me move. do you think i will have to pull an all nighter to get this done? perhaps.

placing it on the backburner

i went to sears and bought a stove during labor day weekend. i was under a time constraint so i didn't have a chance to shop around. i knew my budget (but i didn't want to get a super duper cheapo one either) and decided to go to sears. they had a few models within the price range that i was interested in. besides, i bought both my fridge AND my t.v. from them. i definitely went back to them due to familiarity.

i ended up with this stove. it's cute, matches my white fridge and the white appliances i have (except for my random toaster oven that is black). anyways, i had to go to vegas the following day because it was a friend's bachelorette party in vegas. i waited and waited for the stove to be delivered AND IT WAS NOT!! i literally stayed in my empty house for 5 hours going through many frustrating phone calls with sears and they never came. two words: FUCK SEARS. i will never buy another thing from them again!!!!!!!!

an apple tree for the teacher

my very own apple tree. pretty looking buggers but per my momma's tastebuds, they are a bit on the dry side albeit both sweet and tart at the same time. kinda like me, sweet, tart, with a dry sense of humor.

the tree is medium sized and grows on the side of my front "yard." it gets really heavy with fruit on top and if you want to pick an apple or two, you may feel a *boink* on your head as the tree offers more to you.

cute tree. i loves it.

the perils of painting

painting sux a lot. sucky shit. holy sucky shit. painting stands for:

P- pain in the ass
A- aggravating
I- inhaling toxic fumes
N- nasty aches
T- tired limbs
I- inflamed muscles
N- never ending task
G- gunk in hair

not only do you have to clean the walls with soap and water (or some solution that i bought at home depot), you also have to tape off walls, baseboards, and trims with painters tape, prime the walls, THEN FINALLY paint. apply a second coat of paint if the first one wasn't good enough...and usually it ain't. damn it!!!!! hate it.

the only thing i look forward to after a day of painting is an ice-cream treat at scoops or baskin robbins. otherwise, i would be depressed...... :(

my sister's bedroom primed and ready to paint.

you might not be able to see the color as well from the pic, but it's pretty! it's the original color that was there. i just needed to paint over some knicks and marks. so painting for the walls are done....trim and baseboards now? perhaps. doors? ugh.

"this ain't no mall"

my fourth trip back for painting supplies. this should do it!

i've gone to home depot about 3 times now. every single time, i've walked out of that testosterone laden place with a headache. a big fat, advil-ain't-gonna-to-fix-it kind of headache. ugh.

the second time i went to home depot was the most time consuming. it took me about 2 hours to get what i need. that's because i was planning to buy all my painting supplies that day. prior to going, i had made a list of things to get, but honestly, once you stare at the aisles upon aisles of supplies that vary in brands and what not, it's quite overwhelming indeed. my well planned out trip became a freakin' nightmare...until i met home depot dan. hi dan!

dan was a sweaty employee running about the painting area. i snagged him and started off the conversation with..."i have a quick question about painting...." yeah right! i had him stay with me for an hour! he pretty much helped me piece together the supplies i needed. he definitely leaned towards the more expensive items, but i would lean it back and grabbed the more "affordable" ones. anyways, at one point, i was asking him about the type of gloop i needed to spackle the nail holes in my walls. the convo was quite amusing:

me: i need to spackle some holes.

dan: how many holes do you have?

me: *smiling* mouth, ears, nostrils, anus..... j/k i said THAT part in my head.
me: i don't know...5? *smiling of course*

then dan had to leave and help other folks. but by that time, my cart was fully loaded. some XXX amount of dollars poorer, i walked out of home depot with a ton of crap. it was a shopping spree for sure, but there wasn't one single pair of shoes in there. what a sad little shopping spree it was.

de-fence-less

i need a fence. that's because i don't own a gun. just kidding. a fence for security reasons of course. if life wasn't the way it is and we could trust anyone and everyone, then i guess the fencing people will be out of business. anyways, i need a fence for my wee house.

i got a few estimates. good lord the interesting people i met trying to build one. the first person i met was this old korean grandpa. i didn't understand half the english he used, but i did understand the parts when he told me not to do something or get something...you know, the way older folks just tell you straight up what not to do?! i'm like, hold up now grandpa...am I getting the fence or are YOU getting the fence. set me straight please cuz i'm confused. the second guy is normal...didn't stand out in any way. the 3rd one, is a racist. kept talking about them "mexican kids" at public schools when he found out i was a teacher and then kept repeating that he wasn't racist. two words: GOOD TIMES.

goodness. i still don't have a fence. not only is it expensive, it is also FEROCIOUSLY time consuming trying to schedule and meet with people. this is where my assistant should step in and get it done for me....but alas, i don't have an assistant.

a blessing for the nest

if you don't already know, i live in deep rooted traditions and superstitions. my family goes to temple during chinese new year's eve, we observe all the holidays and special dates that requires ancestral worship and offerings, and we defer to the lunar calander when special events are planned. i even listen to buddhist chants when i need to meditate or refocus a bit. yes, i am a FOB at heart. actually, i'm just plain FOBulous.

before i could do anything for the house, we hired a "sifu" to come and bless it. he also goes around "scaring off" any potential spirits that might still lurk there. *ugh, shudders* he also identifies a place that i am suppose to place guanying "the goddess of mercy" so that she can watch over us and my house. i have yet to buy guanying.

if you look at the first post, you might notice a yellow piece if paper hanging above the door frame. that is called a "fu" and it's suppose to do all that protecting that i was talking about. we also had to move in a few items during a window period during a lucky day to maximize our luck while living there. ahhh...it is much needed for this fobby side of mine.

i'm so butch

closing escrow was one thing...but getting my house ready to move in was A WHOLE NEW BALL GAME. goodness gracious!! so much freakin' shit to do....SO much. i didn't know where to begin. thinking about it made/makes my stomach queasy and my wallet tremble. ugh. it's like a never ending laundry list of tasks...but did i tell you yet how much i love my house?

so my first task as a homeowner was to change the locks. this would deter past owners from "breaking in." i could have done it the easy way (which usually translates into mo' money) and hire a locksmith. but once i was equipped with my home depot homeowner's manual, i decided i can handle it. i went off to home depot and bought some locks. it took some time to figure it out, but once i got the hang of it, i changed the locks...MYSELF. whoo hoo. as i stood there changing locks on my front and back doors with a screwdriver in hand and with screws tucked into my baggy jean pockets...i felt so butch. goodness. but i got it done! whoo hoo! and i'm quite sure i saved a pretty penny too. yay me!

off.

on.

a rollercoaster of emotions

a rollercoaster of emotions indeed. it's tough checking out homes that you want, but perhaps can't get it for whatever reasons, or put in an offer and have to face multiple bids while you wait and cross your fingers. there were a few instances like that, but in this realm of my house hunting reality, truly, what was meant to be IS. i got the house that i liked the best in the area that i wanted. indeed it is not perfect, but you should have seen what i had bidded on previously. boy was i desperate with my limited budget. it took 6 long months, but it is all good. i got what i wanted after all.

my ultimate heart attack happened during escrow. helen was going through all the paperwork and a bomb fell...indymac (my lending bank) had to sell off a piece of itself (the freakin' department that helen worked in no less!!) because of all the foreclosures and people defaulting on their loans. i was in the midst of the sub-prime debacle...and here i am, waiting to get my loan processed. i think it was at that point that i decided that if this escrow fell through because i couldn't close in the allotted time then i'm DONE. i would take a break from house hunting...perhaps i can't do this on my own after all. :(

obviously, it worked out. indymac promised to process any loans that they have already committed themselves to. thank benevolent buddha. seriously though, buying a house is an absolutely emotional rollercoaster ride. well, to me anyways. i'm kinda skittish like that......

and then it began.....

i've thought about owning a home for MANY years now. definitely a dream i've always had. about 3 years ago, i started to look but only out of interest. at that time, the real estate market was way out of control. it is only with this sub-prime debacle that housing prices are finally pulled back down to "normalcy." for the first time in a very long time, first time home buyers are able to buy a house in l.a. no less (i know there are many arguments out there speculating if prices have bottomed out yet. if you are interested in knowing my viewpoint, let's have coffee. i can talk non stop about this shit).

i started looking and actually touring homes in february. i've seen TONS of property (all within my price range-ish) though all of varying savoriness. and here's one thing people don't tell you on these articles about plummeting prices. yes, properties are getting relatively cheaper, but people are also leaving these houses in a shitty way. you might get a good deal on the location and the size of the house, but some of these houses are pretty jacked. messed up foundations or other types of tlc required which would cost tens of thousand of dollars or so for you to fix. i guess it makes sense right? just cuz it's cheap doesn't mean it's a steal. especially in the area i want, there were few deals and no steals. and many are still out of my price range.

anyways, good guidance from my friend potsticker brought me to look into first homeowner's programs and loans for teachers as offered by our government. this in turn lead me to a really awesome lender named helen and who in turn lead me to an awesome real estate agent named dara. i was truly blessed in this journey. all the nuts and bolts were in place. i just had to find a house and i finally did. thank god for all the nuts and bolts that were at my side to help me realize this wee little dream of mine.

and potsticker, if you are reading this (um, yeah, of course you are), THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HELP. IT WAS INSANE TO SAY THE LEAST. THANK YOU!!!!

my real estate agent. she was a godsend after the crappy one i ried to work with through ziprealty. if you need someone, tell her, i sent yah! she's great and i still talk to her from time to time.

my first love

a mural in silverlake. so cute when you find poultry in love....

you might think my first love is chanel...or maybe even the chloe paddington. but it is not. my first love is silverlake. always have been, and i have the inkling that it always will be.

i was not born here, but raised and lived roughly 25+ years here (i didn't count the years i moved away). suffice to say, i know this neighborhood in and out and have seen it change with the times. it wasn't always that cool or hip. it was just an average lower middle class neighborhood that saw its fair share of grafitti and police cars. oh my how silverlake has changed!! it's now the "cool" place to be for hipsters and visitors alike. for me, silverlake is just HOME. HOME SWEET HOME.

not too recently (roughly the end of july a bit after my birthday towards the beginning of august), i closed escrow on a house IN SILVERLAKE :) it's not as close to the resevoir as i would like, but then again, there was no effin' hell that i would have been able to buy one close to it. given that, i still found a home in silverlake. walkable to my parent's place as well as the resevoir. all is good is what i say. all is good :)

my wee house has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. my sis will be moving in with me. i have no real yard, but a ton of fruit trees. i loves it a lot. meet my house :)

in the midst of cleaning and trying to paint. TRYING is the operative word here.

i really apologize for not fessing up sooner. please believe me when i say that i was ABSOLUTELY OVERWHELMED. the last thing i wanted to do was to answer any questions and give updates. but now you know so we are still friends :)