Friday, March 28, 2008

Yippee!!

With some wheeling and dealing, we got it done! We're going to be homeowners! K and R just need to tidy up the P&S and we'll sign it by Monday. I'm so excited! Now we can relax and start thinking about the fun stuff like paint colors and flower beds.

You could tell that this has had me as a big ball of stress. I haven't been sleeping too well the past few nights, but last night, I slept like a baby. No dark circles under my eyes today, yay!

Well, off to get some work done now that I can concentrate better.

Happy Friday!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Still waiting...

OMG! I'm dying here! I just picked up my lunch but I'm so anxious that I can barely eat it. R said she hopes to hear back by 2pm....36 more looong minutes.

The Waiting Game

Hi folks.

Now, we're in the waiting game.

I met with a contractor yesterday at the house to go over the issues that the inspector raised. He's a good friend of someone Michael works with. I showed him the problems and he put together a quote for me. $22,425, Yikes! With lead removal quote, that means a repair estimate of just over $27k!

I spoke with K and our realtor this morning and we decided that we'd ask for $7,500 of the purchase price. I know that sounds odd, but Tony's estimate included some things that we would take care of ourselves, so we think it's a reasonable number that won't immediately throw the seller off.

Our realtor is now going to talk to the seller and see what they say. I hope that W, the husband, comes to his senses. You should have seen the tirade he went off on in front of us yesterday saying my contractor didn't know what he's talking about and that he doesn't want to sell the house and the deal is off, and on and on. R, our realtor, did a great job diffusing the situation so hopefully they will be amenable to our deal. We're only asking for about a quarter of the total repair costs.

With any luck we'll have this settled this afternoon and then Michael and I can enjoy our weekend.

So now I wait.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Army of Inspectors

Hello,

It's Monday again. Where do the weekends go? Ours was busy busy!

We had the home inspections on Saturday. Man, were they thorough! But I suppose that's what we pay for. There was a little bit of lead paint on the outside of the house, but thankfully, nothing inside. The home inspection revealed some issues with the deck, garage and wacky stairs on the side of the house going up to the second floor. Apparently, the deck and stairs were not made from pressure treated wood and were improperly flashed, so they are rotting. The wacky stairs need to come down completely because they were not secured to the house correctly and could come tumbling down. I'd be fine with them coming down even if they were stable because they make me nervous that someone could sneak into the house upstairs.

I just sent the lead report off to an abatement company and hope to have a quote tomorrow or Wednesday. As for the carpentry issues, Michael, C and Uncle J all agree that it's probably going to cost $8k-10k. I hope we can negotiate with the sellers to have them do some of the work or at least take this amount off of the price. Michael is going to call some contractors today to do the gut check to make sure we're not too far off.

Otherwise, the other issues that were raised we nothing too big. They are things that we could take care of ourselves and with the help of the army of union construction guys that we know. I think that we have all of the trades covered except for a plumber. We've got to work on that one, though thankfully there are no plumbing issues that were found.

We also are having a radon inspection done. That will be completed this afternoon and then we'll get that report today or tomorrow. Hopefully there won't be any issues there. The radon guy couldn't say for sure without doing the test, but he thought we'd be in the clear given the other inspections he's done in the area.

So, it's all moving along. I need to talk to our realtor and give K a call to see how we should proceed.

I'll keep you posted!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Is it time to go yet?

I think I jinxed myself in my earlier post by saying I hope today goes by fast. This last half hour until I get to leave is killing me. I have Easter baskets to do, I just want to get home and do them. These things are important, KWIM? LOL.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. Michael doesn't have to work so that's great! His hours have been killing me lately. I miss him!

We have the home inspections tomorrow (in case I haven't said that enough ;)), Thankfully, the weather should cooperate for us. If all goes well, I hope we can get out to celebrate tomorrow night since we couldn't celebrate last weekend since Michael had to work early Sunday morning. Then we have Easter with the family on Sunday.

Well, only 18 minutes left so I'd better wrap up here at work.

Have a great weekend, again!

It's Friday! Yay!

I hope today will go by as quickly as yesterday did. I really want to get home to get my Easter things in order. I have some little treats for Michael and also to bring with us over to C & S's house on Sunday when we go over for Easter dinner.

It will be nice to visit with everyone. Mum and Dad and Uncle J are going over too. We'll have all the experts there to help decipher the home inspection report that we'll get tomorrow. C and Uncle J are both engineers, so they'll be able to tell us if something is disasterous or not (though we aren't expecting anything to be).

L and I are going out for lunch in a little while. I think we might go to the Botega place around the corner. It's yummy!

Well, that's all for now. Have a nice weekend!

easter

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

It's raining, boo!

Hi everybody,

What a crappy day outside. It's grey and rainy. It was actually snowing a little this morning too. I actually had to pull out my snow brush to clear off my car. WTH? I'm so ready for spring!

I'm going over the see "our" house tonight and show it to Mum and Dad. I say "our" house, because I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic. We need to get through the inspections first, and Michael keeps reminding me that we might find out that something is wrong with the house and we have to be willing to walk away. He's always good like that to keep me grounded. Thanks, Baby! While my intelligent self totally agrees with him, the "I-can't wait-to-decorate-and-all-that-other-fun-stuff" side of me is going crazy here! =) I was able to schedule the inspections for this Saturday which works out great since Michael won't be working so he can be there too.

Right now, I'm up to my eyeballs dealing with mortgage people. I'm not convinced that they are any better than some used car salesmen. Thankfully, our attorney, K, recommended someone to me who does not seem to fall into that category. He's really trying to save us money and so far, seems to be quoting the best rates. A couple other people are quoting me rates and then I say that I can get a better rate and then they come down with theirs. Sneaky! I think it will all turn out well. I don't think we could have timed this better, with yesterday's fed rate drop and such. Fingers crossed!

JD and I had a fun night on Monday. We went out to Sonny's and then to the Blarney. It was awfully quiet at both places. I think people were still recovering from the parade on Sunday. Neither of us went so we were ready to party, but oh, well. We still had fun.

I finally finished the company financials today. Thank Goodness! They really seemed to drag out this month, I don't know why. I think it's partially due to my mind being all over the place thinking about house any baby stuff that I couldn't really concentrate. Well, they're done now and that's all that really matters.

That's about all for now. I need to go see the IT guys about my computer display before he leaves.

TTYL!

Monday, March 17, 2008

We got it!

We got a house!! Yippee! Michael and I had our offer accepted on the house in C. I'm so excited I could burst! Of course we have to have all of the inspections done, but still, OMG! Yay! I knew everything would come together. We have to schedule the home inspection and then we'll be doing the P&S at the end of the month and then closing at the end of April. I hope it all goes well. This house has so much potential and will be really cute once we put our mark on it.

That's all for now. I'll be back more later...

Oh, I almost forgot...Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Did I find it? I think I might have!

Hello out there!

So Dad and I checked out the houses on Saturday. We only ended up seeing two of them since the one in Q went under agreement. Well, the first one was a mess. It really caught us off guard since the pictures on line looked nice. The house was empty except for a lonely cat. Someone must be coming by to feed it since there was a bowl of food on the floor. It was all just really odd. There were a mess of beer bottles on the kitchen counter and there were several punch marks in the doors. Needless to say, we walked out as quickly as we walked in. The second house was much nicer. It too was empty, but was very well maintained. Unfortunately, it was a little too small and it didn't have a dining room. I know that's not a priority for most people my age, but since I have my Nana and Papa's dining room set that I really love, I want a dining room for it.

Yesterday was much better. I went to check out a house in C that just came on. It's really cute and has a great yard and is at the end of a cul de sac. The neighborhood seemed nice and the best part is that it's only a hop skip and jump from my brother and sil's house. Yippee! Michael was working so I went to see it myself. When I told him about it he said to make an offer but I just can't bring myself to make that big of a purchase without him seeing it. So we're going to try to see it again on Saturday and then maybe make an offer! I'm so excited.

Last night, I went out with S and D to meet up with J, who is home from Iraq on leave! It was so good to see him and T. I hope they have a great time together while his is home. Then, thankfully, he should be home for good in July.

Tonight, JD is coming over and we're going to hang out. I realized on my drive to work that I didn't defrost anything for dinner so I'll have to pick something up on my way home. Of course, maybe we'll get some take out or something. We'll see. It will be good to catch up with her and have some girl time.

Tomorrow, I'm meeting with JS again for another dose of acupuncture after work. It seems to be going really well and I'm hopeful that I won't need to find another RE because I won't need it. Fingers crossed!

I'm starving so I need to go grab lunch. I'll keep you posted on the house. TTYL!

Friday, March 7, 2008

TGIF

Hi all!

Yay! It's Friday. This has seemed like a really long week. I'm not sure why, work has been OK. Maybe it's just that it hasn't been crazy busy. Oh well, enough about work.

S and I went out last night for some sangria. Yummmy! We has a fun girls night just chatting. Among other things, I got some good info about the areas we're looking at houses since she teaches in B.

I'm going to check out some houses tomorrow morning. Two are in B and one is in Q. Nothing much has been coming on in C yet. Dad is going to come with me since Michael is working so that will be nice to hang out. I'm psyched to actually go see three at a time since usually we only catch one or two. Also, it's good that it will be during the day so I'll be able to actually see the yard since mostly we've been looking in the dark. It's too bad though, that it's supposed to be pouring tomorrow, but at least we'll be able to see if anything is leaking, LOL.

I also have another appointment with my acupuncturist, JS. I'll head to that before the showings. JS is really nice so it will be a good way to start my day.

I'm in desperate need of a fill-in on my nails so I think I'll do that tonight after work so I'll be good to go for the weekend.

Well, that's all for now. I'm starving so I need to figure out what's for lunch. TTYL!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

I remembered my camera cable!

Hi folks,

I actually remembered my camera cable today so I have some pics for you.

Here's the living room with its new toss pillow covers:

This is my little reading nook. I have my fuzzy blanket there with the Kodak frame flashing family and friends' pictures. I've been reading my Daily Guideposts there lately when I get home from work. It's been a nice way to chill after a day in the office.


The next pic is of the sofa. I've had the leopard pillows forever. I actually brought them from my bedroom at home when Michael and I moved in together. Anyhow, I think the blue pillows and the striped pillow look really nice with our light blue walls and the leopard makes it a little funky.


As I mentioned, I also set up my snow globes in the dining room. Check them out:

I'm sorry that the picture is a bit dark, but when I put the overhead light on I was casting a shadow so I went with this one. On the left side are my fancier glass globes and the right side has my kitchy plastic ones. Right in the middle is a sand globe that my bff gave me. It's really neat. I'm so happy to have them displayed again. It's been almost two years since they all been out together. I have about ten Christmas ones too, but those are packed away.
I'll be back later. I've got to do some work right now.


Wednesday, March 5, 2008

It's Wednesday

Hello everybody.

I'm so annoyed with myself. So the other day I said I'd take some pics to post of the new pillow covers and such. Well, I pulled out my trusty camera last night and snapped away. I arrive into work today ready to upload them and realized I forgot my transfer cable. Grrr! Anyway, I took some lovely pictures of the living room and also of my snowglobe collection that I set up in the dining room on my MacGyver console. They looked so pretty, and alas, I can't share them with you. :( Oh, well, I've already left myself a message at home to remember to bring it in tomorrow, so stay tuned.

I found out yesterday that the house I wanted to look at tomorrow already has multiple offers on it and will most likely be sold. Bummer, it looked really nice on the online listing. I emailed R this morning to set up showings of three other houses so hopefully I can get in Thursday after work. These look good too and are comfortably in our price range, so I'm optimistic. I was watching Chronicle last night and they were showing the best places to live in the area. I'm so jealous of the people who are willing to deal with a long commute. You definitely get more bang for your buck out there, but Michael and I just aren't willing to move that far out just yet.

Let see, what else. Oh, I have a hot date with the tax guy tonight. Hopefully he'll find lots of money for us this year. We still be probably do the standard deduction since we don't own property and have no children yet, but a girl can dream. I'm sure by next year we will. Think positive!

You know how they say that if you bury a St. Joseph statue upside down in your yard that it will help you to sell your house? Well, can I get one and put it on display in my living room to help us find a house to buy? I may just give that a try. :)

Well that's all for now. TTYL!

Monday, March 3, 2008

Hi - I can't really think of a clever title today....

Hello all!

So the weekend was good. Michael made it home early enough to partake in some beer drinking with me and S and D. Then we all headed out for a change of scene and went to Lowies. OMG, it's a total dive and I know that and had been there before but jeez, on Friday it was terrible. We quickly left and headed to Sonny's and enjoyed the rest of the night. We didn't have enough of a crew to play beer pong, so that's why we ended up going out. Anyway, it was really fun. Gotta love the pregame sessions in the kitchen!

Saturday morning I went to the acupuncturist. She was really sweet and gave me some hope that all is not lost on the baby front. It just further solidifies my opinion that my doctor is an insensitive a$$. She did her thing and it seemed like something was happening. Maybe it's all in my head, but at least I feel better and that's all that really matters. I'm going to see her again next Saturday.

Sunday we ran around on errands. We went to BJ's and Walmart. We really need to plan these trips a bit better. We took my car since Michael's truck was loaded up with stock for work. It's not big deal at all, but you have to remember that I drive a Beetle. Now, normally, it wouldn't have been so bad, but since we needed TP and papertowels along with a few other things at BJ's that pretty much filled the car. Then we stopped in Walmart to pick up a few other things but of course they were all bulky too- A cooler, big thermos thing, and Lord knows what else and you can see how we'd have a stuffed car. Anyway, we needed the stuff and now we don't have to worry about paper products for a while.

Oh, yes I am a spazz, but I have to tell you about the steam mop. I used it in the kitchen yesterday and our cream floors are all shiny. It worked really well and really quickly so it didn't take that long at all. I'm sure future moppings will go even quicker because I'm not going to let the floor get so dusty again. I'm happy that it's a green product too. It just uses steam - no other chemicals or anything and the mop pad is machine washable so I don't have to waste money buying refills for it. It's just part of my little bits to save the world. ;)

I know I have to get some pics up as I've been sorely lacking in posting any lately. I am going to try to take some tonight once I finish my weekly home blessing. (That's just a basic cleaning routine for those of you that don't know about Flylady.) That way, you'll see how my house should look rather than the somewhat messy post-weekend state that it's in right now.

Well, that's all for now. I'll talk to you soon!