Ahhh, Thursday

I used to love Thursdays because in was NBC's "must watch" line-up; you know, Friends, Seinfeld and ER.  Now I love them because they are my breather day during the week.  One little 24 hour period with no work, and lots of options for how to spend my time.  I look forward to them like you can't believe because I know that the majority of the week is over, with only one more day to plow through and then the weekend.  Thursday is the only day off that Joe and I have together.  We try to make the most of it by combining our energy to get through yard work, housework or errands, but a lot sometimes we don't even make it off the couch and out of our PJ's.  That's nice too.  Even though I still wake up at 5:45am because the little beastie is ready to start his day, I don't really mind.  I can have myself a nice leisurely cup of coffee (or two), watch the Today show and browse blogs.  Heaven!!  On the docket for today:  must go to Old Navy to get some new summery type tops and some clothes for Joe, then head to the mall to see if I can get a pair of jean capris and a skirt or two for work/church, and a summer pair of dress shoes - I'm thinking wedges.  I really haven't spent money on clothes for awhile because I feel like our money should go towards things for the house and yard to try to get it to a more finished state, but... time to bite the bullet.  Then tonight, time to assemble the desk!!  I have extracted a promise from Joe that it will happen, because I fear if it doesn't, the boxes will sit there for another week.  And that would drive me up the wall.  Then I'll have plenty of time to cook a great dinner, walk Blitz and curl up on the couch with my boy.  Can't beat that.  Let's see how many of those things actually happen! 

Welcome to My World

Welp, here she is; the Casa de Joe & Kate. Are you ready for the tour? It'll be slightly disjointed because these were just some shots that Joe took on the second or third day of being in the house. Pretty bare bones. Keep in mind that we're working on changing some things, so this is not obviously the finished product. Just some tidbits so you get an idea of what it's like here. Ready to start? Great, wipe your feet before you come in!

You'll have to use your imagination to envision hydrangeas and geraniums in the front flower bed where currently there are some nasty brown daisy bushes. Yeah, those suckers are coming out. But gardening is lower down on the honey do list. Which is too bad because since the house has been empty for so long, there are some weeds we have that could probably eat a kindergartner.

Living room. And me in my scrubs. Classy. The walls are actually a moss green, not gray like is coming thru in the picture.


So this is the one of the bedrooms that we'll set up as the "office" and place for guests to stay with us (and hopefully I can have a little nook of it designated for craft stuff). In fact, Joe's cousin Jerrod was the first to grace it with his presence last week. He slept on the floor on a Coleman blow up mattress. Nothing but the best for our guests. Currently, the color is a dingy baby blue, but we chose a cinnamony-red color called "Rum Punch" that I can't wait to slap up on the walls! It'll really warm up the space.

Next down the hall is what Joe is already referring to as "the kids' bathroom". Nothing too much to say, other than that the walls are a cafe au lait with white trim, so I bought aqua towels, rugs, and brought in some red accents. You'll see.


This is the smallest of the three bedrooms, and has already been appointed as the baby's room for when we have one. In the mean time, it holds all the stuff that we have to unpack. Don't worry, the hippy-dippy bead curtain was promptly ripped down and stuck in the garbage.


OK, now the kitchen, which I love. Do you see all the storage? All the lower cabinets have roll out shelving. Do you see all the counter space? It is wonderful Formica, not that horrible tile which we had in the apartment which never looked clean and was always loosing grout. This stuff is a dream, wipe it up and you're done. Do you see the skylight? That thing is awesome!!



Hallelujah! A FULL SIZE FUNCTIONING dishwasher!!! After three years of washing everything by hand, you can imagine my excitement. The view from the sink is out into the backyard.



And the other jewel of the kitchen is the washer/dryer. No more lugging laundry up and down a flight of stairs. No more using quarters. No more waiting for others. I commented to Joe not long after moving in that I could cook, clean dishes and clothes all at the same time here, and really be an efficient woman, thankyouverymuch. Before at the apartment? Not possible.

So this is back out from the kitchen (door is on the right) into the living room/dining area, and we're heading thru that back doorway to the master bedroom, mkay?


See how there's two doorways here? This was really appealing to us. It's like 2 barriers to whatever is going on in the rest of the house, which for Joe and his opposite hours, is perfect. He can still sleep in peace during the day, and I can go about my normal routine and function without feeling like I have to be absolutely silent. Our bathroom is to door to the right.


And here it is! Again, this room is in dire need of paint; it's gonna be a warm golden-yellow color. Probably the most exciting of all is that when we closed on the house our realtor gave us some money back (what a nice guy!), so we decided to split the money, with the stipulation that it had to go towards things for the house. Joe spent his chunk on exercise equipment and fixing up the garage to be a gym, and I spent mine on bedroom furniture. YESSSSS!!! I marched on down to Pottery Barn and ordered a headboard and bedside tables, and as luck would have it, caught a killer sale. Since the picture was taken, it has arrived, but no peeking yet for you. I want you to see the complete finished product. Yes sirrie; paint, furniture, some black and white pictures that we took in Italy blown up and framed, and you won't recognize it.


Different angle of the room.

So, here's what is in store for us. Painting. I really can't wait to do that, because once that happens, we can really place furniture, hang things on the wall, and make it look like a cozy home, not just a house.

Thanks for coming by!

Coming to You From the Land O' Boxes

Well, here I sit in my house, typing on the laptop that I hijacked from my husband.  If I knew how to use a Mac, I would upload photos of the place, and then you'd get a real good idea of what I'm sitting in.  But alas, I was lucky just to get the internet switched on and logged into Blogger.  So you'll have to sit tight with me until the nice Comcast man comes and installs whatever it is he needs to, to get my life back into comfortable, bloggable order.  Gosh, even though cable was a relatively new addition to our lives, I miss is dearly.  To fill the quietness of me all alone in an empty house I dug around and found the boxed DVDs pronto and have been enjoying seeing my old favorites like Pride & Prejudice (the good A&E version), Gone With the Wind, and You've Got Mail while I unpack and wind down at night.

Tonight will be the sixth night that I've slept here.  Four of those nights I was alone (am I brave or what?!?).  I love it.  (The house I mean, not the aloneness).  Of course, we're still getting to know each other (what does this light switch do?), but I feel very sure that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.  I feel safe and secure on this street.  I'm getting used to all the new noises, like the way the furnace clanks and the floors creak, and the refridgerator making it's sound.  I even got to answer the door on Saturday to meet a neighbor girl selling me Girl Scout cookies!!  I bought two boxes from little Grace and had a nice chat with her mom.  Joe and his dad and brother moved everything in one day, in pretty yucky weather...I was impressed.  I was less impressed when it turned out that in a last minute decision to just be done with the apartment, it was decided that we needed to give it the final cleaning that night so we could hand over the keys.  Let's just say that swiffering, scrubbing and vacuuming are not things I relish doing into the late night after working a full day.  Glad that is behind us.  This past weekend was dedicated to making all the calls for change of address stuff, and tackling the kitchen.  I had my mom and Joe's mom and we went to town vacuuming drawers and cabinets, scrubbing, ripping out old contact paper and putting new in, and finally upacking the boxes labeled "kitchen" and organizing it.  It felt really good to get that taken care of, and have a little spot at least that feels really functional and non-choatic. 

The things that I'm coming to realize are:

1.  There will be many more runs to Target for this and that, that we need RIGHT NOW.

2.  Everything will not come together as instantaneously as I would like.  I need to remember that it is a process.  Dang it!!

3.  A crowded one bedroom apartment makes for a bare house furniture wise.  That just means buying a few new pieces of furniture.        Since most of what we have is hand me down or scavaged, I am very excited about this prospect of getting something that we are the    first owners of.  And something nice enough that you would not want to scratch it or anything.

4.  Most people are talking about the candidates and their platforms, while we here are focused on much more weighty things.  For instance, should the garbage go under the kitchen sink, or should we get a nice free standing stainless steel one?  See my point?  Suddenly, there are lots of choices to make about furniture placement, wall colors, wiring issues, the list is long.

And you know what?  I'm enjoying every minute of it. 

I Apologize...

Did you fall of the face of the earth? Or did you buy a house, celebrate the holidays and just get really busy???
Where are you???=)

Wow Lorie, you have no idea how flattered I was that my absence was noticed. I often think that this is just a jumble of writing, and who really cares about it? So...thanks.
As to your guesses about why I'm a blogging flake... I am pleased to say that they're all correct!!

We had the marathon Christmas which was wonderful, but at last count we had 5 different family things that we attended, plus Christmas shopping, wrapping and the like. With Christmas on a Tuesday, it threw me all off kilter and lets just say that having to work the day before and after stinks. But it was great to see brothers who live away, hang out with family that we don't see often, and for Joe and I to enjoy our third Christmas together and quietly look back on all the tangible and intangible blessings that 2007 brought us. God is so very good.

On December 27th we put in an offer on a house that we had looked at 3 times. I had loved the neighborhood for a long time, but Joe had some reservations. After looking at other houses like the Titly House where all the doorjambs looked like something out of Alice in Wonderland, and the Stinky House where the smell of curry slapped you in the face as soon as you walked in, (just to name a few) we reassessed the situation, and came back to this one. We didn't think we really had much of a shot and decided that we would put in a lower offer and if it was meant to be it would work, if they didn't like it, well, we would just move on. At this point rejection really wouldn't bother us so much.
But they accepted it AS IS on the 28th. No counter offer or anything. The house has been on the market since early April, they are already in another house, so they were highly motivated to sell. What a big, BIG praise. I am completely ecstatic. The street has so much charm since it is rather tucked away, quiet and tree lined. The houses were all built in the 50's, and are all a little different from each other so there's some character there, and it is in one of the best school districts in the valley...can you tell I think it's marvelous? Another big plus is that it is move in ready. Everything is in really good shape, and while there will be things to update as we choose, we can live comfortably in the meantime. I think the only big thing that needs to be done is replace the heating system with a new one and have it wired for AC too. Compared to all the other houses that we looked at that needed things done which would cost major $$$, we feel really fortunate that's all we'll have to tackle. Needless to say, it had been a whirlwind of paper signing, inspections, walk thrus, meetings with the mortgage broker and real estate agent...whew. So far, all the inspections have gone great, and if everything continues as it is now, we are scheduled to get the keys on January 31. Yea!
But of course, it's not that simple. About a month and a half ago, Joe was granted some vacation time, so we hopped on it, and booked a trip to Washington DC/Virginia to see the sights and hang out with family. We're supposed to leave in 2 days. But due to a scheduling oversight at Joe's work, he is needed in court on Thursday. So the trip might get called off. We find out tomorrow evening if it's yea or nay. If we do go, we'll be gone 10 days and get back home on the 17th. That is not a lot of time left to pack, sort and clean for the move. Truthfully, it's a little overwhelming. So we've already started to pack up the kitchen, I sorted through my dresser and closet for a donation pickup that came thru, we've gotten a lot of boxes, so I'm feeling OK about the start...but the flip side is that there are stacks everywhere in out apartment, hardly and walking room and I HATE HOW IT LOOKS.
So you see, there's has been constant activity in my life right now...and to top it all off, I got a nasty sore throat/cold that has been causing me pain for about 5 days. The kind of pain where it feels like every time you swallow, liquid lava is going down your throat. My loving husband says that I sound like a man. Talk about terrible timing. It has caused me to fall behind in packing, miss out on some fun family stuff, and who really wants to travel sick? Not me.
Anyway, all that babble to say, things are hectic. But I will post pics of the house as soon as I can, and thanks for being faithful to check in on me, even though I haven't been faithful at all in my blogging. But I will try to do better!

Sorry Charlie

The house is a no go. The short version is they got another offer for the exact asking price, and they took it.

The longer version is that on this past Monday while at work, I got a call from the realtor who was a "sub" for ours while he was out of town, saying that he hadn't seen anything new on the market that would interest us, he wanted to let us know that he hadn't forgotten about us, and oh, by the way he had talked to the seller's realtor and he was going to be presenting the sellers 2 offers in 15 minutes.

WHAT???????? This is the point where shock took over and my mind went numb and I was pretty much useless.

"But I thought we were waiting for them to counter our offer, or at the very least respond with a yes or no....and what about getting the mom evaluated? Are they raising the asking price? I don't understand...", I sputtered. The agent said that it was highly unusual that they never got back to us and basically let it fizzle out. And no, they weren't raising the asking price, they just wanted to get one that would be a lot closer. And did we want him to call the selling agent and tell him we were still interested and he could throw ours into the pot with the other 2? At this point, I told him to call Joe and get his opinion as to what we should do. This is where it got sticky.

Joe, bless him had gotten off work at his regular time in the morning, but had to stick around for traffic court...so he was tired, and hungry, and did I mention tired?? That is not the most winning combo. So he called me after talking to the sub agent dude, and it went something like this. Keep in mind that neither of us had any paperwork with our chicken-scratch figures, Joe was really fatigued, and I was in shock in an office, because basically at this point we had 10 minutes to decide what the deuce we were going to do with a LARGE sum of money and our future.

Joe: Do you think we should go for it?
Kate: I don't know.
Joe: If they don't get the mom evaluated, what's the worst that could happen to us legally? I mean, if they don't like it after it's done and sold to us and then they realize she wasn't in her right mind, I guess they could take it away from us and then we'd be back in the same position, right?
Kate: I don't know.
Joe: Even if they said yes to our higher offer, we'll still have to work with these people on all the inspections/negotiations...is this really the type of people we want to deal with?
Kate: I don't know.
Joe: Do you recall any of the figures as to what our mortgage payments would be if we put down an offer of X amount? I mean, I recall that we qualified for X amount, but just because we qualified for that, doesn't mean we can actually afford it...
Kate: I don't know. (See how helpful I can be at very crucial moments in life?)
Joe: OK. Let's do it.
Kate: Really?
Joe: I don't know, what do you think?
Kate: I don't know.
Joe: Forget it! We're not doing this. It just doesn't feel right, and I don't have any peace about this situation at all...let's just hold tight and see what they do with these new offers.
Kate: OK.

And there you have it. I was a little mopey throughout the rest of the day, but I'm over it now. It was nice to finally have a definitive answer, even if it was the one I didn't really want. I'm sure that we'll be back out there this next week, scoping out houses, so definitely keep us in your prayers that the right one will pop up, and I will keep all of you in the loop.

***Chris, I'm surprised at you! Where do you think I learned my repertoire of moves to entice Joe with? I know, I know, Joe is a lucky man. And it's all due to Showgirls. Don't knock it till you've tried it!

Pending?

I guess that is the best way to describe where we're at with the whole house thingamajig. Here's the scoop...
Remember how I said that the lady who owned the house is in her 80's and now living in a nursing home, and no one is really sure what her whole understanding or frame of reference for this whole process really is? Yes? OK, keep that in mind.
So on the night we wrote up our offer, our realtor Craig took it straight to the seller's realtor, Jon, and he took it to the owner's son and daughter-in-law to discuss and go over. The three of them felt that it was a very solid offer, they could work with us, and they were pleased. And the people rejoice.
The next morning they went and talked to the mom/owner, and as Craig put it, she "went off the deep end", and completely wigged out and started saying that she knew good and well that her house was worth x amount of dollars (about $60,000.00 over what the asking price was that she agreed and signed to), and that everyone was trying to put her through the wringer. Boo!! Hiss!! And there is where it's at. Everyone pretty much thinks that she needs to have her mental competency evaluated, and if she doesn't really understand what is going on, then the family needs to step in and either get power of attorney over her, or something. It stinks because all the sane people think it's great and didn't shoot our offer down, but as of now the only person who legally can do anything is out to lunch (so to speak), and basing her figures on about a year and a half ago. Funny, I thought that the son would be the problem person, since the sale of the home is really going to be his inheritance, I thought for sure that he would be a real stickler for the price and not like our terms, and here it is that she's the one with the issue! I guess technically the offer fell through because they didn't get back to us with a firm answer by the time we had asked them to in the contract. We just had Craig let them know that we are very much still interested in the house, they know what our offer is, and once they hash out all their details they know how to reach us. I guess that's all we can do.
I would really appreciate prayer for contentment and patience. I think because there wasn't a firm answer either way it bugs me, since I didn't hear a "no" I'm still holding out hope. And I guess that anything could happen. It was nice to see a date that we would be out of the apartment by and on to bigger and better things; coming back here to something so tiny each time seems harder and harder. As it happens, our realtor Craig is leaving town and won't be back until the 18th (I think), so not much could really be done on our part until then anyway. Maybe this is just the Lord's way of slowing things down a little, or protecting us from some unseen problem. I just have to TRUST in the Lord's timing and wisdom for our home. Easier said than done!! In the meantime, until we hear from the seller we'll just keep our eyes open for other homes popping up and see what comes next...

Pins & Needles

Today Joe and I did something we've never done before...we made an offer on a house. So now we sit and wait to see if they'll accept our offer.

GULP!!!

I'm sure that they'll come back with a counter offer, and things will go on from there. But it is a weird feeling. To have to love the house enough to be willing to sign up for 30 years of debt and a sizable mortgage each month, and then still be able to walk away and not look back from it if they don't meet our terms or won't come down in the asking price. I've been told numerous times not to get attached to any one particular house...and I've tried not to. But it's hard for me. When I walked in it for the first time, it instantly felt like "home", and I was already trying to mentally place the sofa and loveseat in the living room. It's the right age house for us - the previous owner is now in a retirement home, but she took really good care of it, so it isn't a dump, just a little dated. Which is very much what we wanted to find - something livable now, but with potential to update and put our own twist on, at our own pace, as opposed to a complete fixer-upper where you have to do mucho work just to make it comfortable. It's ready for a young family to give it some life! Is it weird that I really wanted the house to need us? Probably not, since I also believed when I was a kid that my dolls and stuffed animals had feelings. Now you probably think I'm nuts...oh well.

It would be an extreme blessing for us if in fact this house works out; the only reason that we're able to even consider it is because of the dropping prices and very generous grandparents who are eager to help with a down payment. But this is the type of house, that if we had 2 or 3 kids, we could comfortably grow into it and live there for an extremely long time. Nice size back yard, quiet street, great school district, the whole kit 'n caboodle. The great thing is, Joe and I have been on the same page throughout the whole process, and that I attribute to prayer. This is the biggest financial decision we've ever (and might possibly ever?) made.

All that to say, am I excited? YES Will I be disappointed if it doesn't happen? Yeah. But I'll be OK with it. I know that the Lord will provide us with exactly what we need, when we need it. It's just exciting that this process is underway. I think I'm in for a sleepless night tonight though...I can't wait to hear back (hopefully) tomorrow from our agent!!!