Fiddler on the Roof

Two and a half weeks ago (I know it has been awhile.  I tried to send this from my phone last week but it didn't work.) I had a girls night out.  We went to the Cracker Barrel for dinner in West Valley.  I had the dumplings.  They were good but didn't leave me craving them the next day.  What I did crave was the Coca Cola Chocolate Cake.  It was amazingly delicious.  The four of us shared but I wanted the whole thing after the first bite.

After dinner it was to Hale Theater for Fiddler on the Roof.  I give the play and its actors two thumbs up.  My mom thinks even the boys would have enjoyed it.  I agree.  The dream scene was superb and very entertaining.  I believe it was one of the best scenes I have seen there.  The man who played Tevye was spectacular and made the show.  Definitely go if you can.  You might end up making Hale a tradition ; )

Mother Nature the Tease

Oh why, oh why does mother nature like to torture the Salt Lake Valley in Feb, March and April.  She gives one day with a high of 56 degrees and the sun shining.  The kids come out of hibernation and start asking for tee shirts.  The neighborhood is filled with life again.  Then the next morning we wake up to this.  Pure agony.

Good-Bye Home

Great news! I am no longer an Arizona homeowner. After 10 months my home finally closed last week. It is such a relief, but I would never recommennd what we had to go through unless you have too.


My family and I re-located for job reasons last May. We had to short sell our home because we bought in Phoenix in the summer of 2006. There was no way we could have made up the difference. We looked at renting out the home until prices started rising again but that scenario was so bleak. Rent prices have fallen because investors can buy homes for cheap. We couldn't rent it out for close to what our house payment was. So we opted for the short sale.

It wasn't pleasant. Bank of America was our servicer and Freddie Mac owned our note. If anyone knows, they can be extremely slow. The pace of their response cost us our first buyer. However, we were able to complete the deal with a second buyer. We even got them to remove the possibilty of seeking a deficiency judgement against us. They couldn't wave the mortgage insurance company's right, but luckily for us we didn't have mortgage insurance. We were also able to stay current on our monthly payments because our hardship was a little different. We were always able to maintain employment but we had to move out of state to do so. Other people we know have not been so lucky. They were in a similar situation as us but backed by Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae required that they be delinquient on payments before the company would consider a short payoff.

Please also note that ours was pretty straight forward. We only had one mortgage, we were current on all our HOA dues and taxes, and we had no mortgage insurance. Guidelines on short sales are continuously changing and that is important to remember too. And again this is not a route I would recommend to everyone. You need to look at all your options carefully.

Feel free to contact me if you would like more details on my experience.

Unique Auto Body

Yesterday I was able to pick up my vehicle from Unique Auto Body & Repair in South Jordan. They had it for 2 weeks. It was not their fault that they had it that long. I guess I have unique tires and rims so it took a while to get the replacement in and then they discovered that in the accident my axle was bent.


Anyways, I wanted to write this post because I had a great experience with them. They were very timely in dropping off and picking up my vehicle. They called each time they had delays or when the parts didn't show up when they were expecting them. I never once had to worry about calling them to check on things. They said they would have it done in a week. As soon as they were worried about hitting that deadline they phoned me to keep me in the loop. I really appreciated that customer service aspect. They were nice and courteous and the place was clean. They even vacuumed out my vehicle. Maybe they were disgusted with what they saw when the car seats were removed. It was cleaned too but probably so they could touch up the paint.

I wish I could tell you they had great prices but I wasn't footing the bill (the accident was in no way my fault so State Farm was taking care of everything including the rental car).

Two people recommended this place to me and I will definitely recommend them too. They are also on State Farms list of repair shops.