Finally...

We finally found our new house.  With only three weeks to spare until we have to move from our beloved current house.  Sheesh!  I am certainly not one for waiting until the last minute and I think I have had not only a canary about all of this, but a cow as well.

Friday in the Family Room:
Me: Honey, we still don't have a new house yet.  Did you get anything new to look at from the Realtor?
Honey: No, I will go look at some more houses on-line
Me: How do you feel about cardboard?
Honey: What on earth are you talking about?
Me: Well, we do have a few boxes left over and as that is where we will be living, I wanted to make sure you were good with that.
Honey: You know we'll find something, just have faith.
Me:  Aaaagggghhhh....

Saturday, late in the day after window shopping at several existing houses...
Me: We have to go home and regroup
Honey: Let's keep driving around aimlessly... (maybe I am paraphrasing a little here...)
Me:  We can't keep driving up and down the streets of random neighborhoods.  If we do, someone is going to call the police and you know I don't look good in orange.
Honey:  Okay, let's go home...

We went home, regrouped and decided we could go a little further north of our original search area.  We finally found our treasure.  It is five miles further than the furthest point we were willing to drive, but it has everything that everyone wanted in our family.  Finally!!!  Everyone is happy, including me!!  YEA!!!

Now, onto panicking about the financing and closing of two homes on the same day...oh yeah, and moving...UGH!

Hurry up and wait...

With our house passing the inspection with a perfect score (can you believe that?) we are now in our hurry up and wait pattern.

Hurry - find another house to live in
Wait - for the Realtor to have time to show all of them to us
Hurry - make a decision on which one you want
Wait - for the bank to say how much money you are approved for
Hurry - make an offer on the new house
Wait - for them to tell you that you are absolutely insane - i.e. the counter offer...

Hubby just changed jobs which gave him the entire week to pack up most of our crap, which is a good thing, but now the mortgage company is saying we might have to wait to close on the new to us house because we have to have 30 days of documented employment on him to qualify.

What I am NOT doing is freaking out. I refuse to freak out anymore.  At the end of the day, we will have somewhere to hang out hats.  Whether that be in a hotel, a friends house or our "new to us" house, it will all work out the way it is supposed to.

The house we selected has an awesome view of the lake from almost every room in the house.  I feel so at peace there.  We pulled up to the house, got out of the car and on queue, the birds started chirping and the sun shone extra bright against a cloudless blue sky I almost felt like I was five years old again and in the back yard of our house.  I had a little flashback I guess...

We walked in the front door and I swear I hear the house sigh "at last, you have come - welcome" and every room we looked in, we saw the good and the potential rather than anything negative.  The other homes did not welcome us in, did not embrace us as we walked through but rather pushed at us and said "Tiny rooms, narrow closets, ugly tile, sagging fences, no, no, NOOOOO!!"

So, maybe this is why I will not freak out anymore, because I know that our new friend is waiting for us and we will be together again soon.

We did it!

Our house sold yesterday...we finally did it.  The waiting is over, the fish bowl is done.  Now, time to panic.  We have to be out by the 18th of May, which is a full month away; however, we have NO idea where we are going to live.  Originally we were going to build in a community close to my office, but their prices have gone up so much they are now out of our price range.  So then we started entertaining an existing home and have started looking at those.  We are also looking at some new construction in another neighborhood that is closer to our budget.

I am praying that this weekend we find our peace as to what we want to do, old or new.  New has so many benefits, but it also means we have to move twice.  Old we can get a bigger house with more stuff in it, but what about the energy efficiencies and repairs that will have to be made...

UGH!

Today I did it, I mean boy did I really do it…

You know in a bad relationship with a person, you give them one, maybe two chances and then if you’re smart you toss them out the door like yesterday’s trash?  Why don’t we do that with our family members? 

We let them crap on us for years.  We give them a million chances.  We say, but that’s your dad, cousin, uncle, sister…etc.  What makes it okay for them to treat us badly when they will be the first to tell us that we should not allow others to treat us badly?

My aunt died on Saturday.  She wasn’t my biological aunt, but she and my biological aunt have been room mates for 40+ years.  She has been at every family celebration, she has been a huge part of my life for many years and she was beloved by me.  Nobody told me.

My aunt didn’t call me.

My dad didn’t call me.

Nobody called me to tell me she had passed.

My dad called my brother, my step-mom called my step-sister.  Nobody called me to tell me anything.  I had to find out fourth hand, yes fourth hand from my mother.  The only reason she even knew was because she called my brother to wish him a Happy Easter.

So, I broke up with my family.  I broke up with my dad, my step-mom and my aunt.  I broke up with my brother years ago, so nothing new there.  And, I broke up with my step-sister too.  My other aunt and uncle never call or write anyways, so breaking up with them will go unnoticed I’m sure.

Everyone makes such a big deal about how important family is and how you should do anything and everything to keep you family together, but at what cost?  When do you stop allowing them to beat you down, ignore you, treat you poorly? 

I have had this discussion with my family on several occasions.  Someone is sick, has surgery, gets a house, nobody tells me.  I find out when my letter comes back undeliverable.  What kind of way is that to treat someone?

For years I had hoped that if I kept trying, they would try too.  Nope…

SO…I broke up with all of them except my mother…don’t tell her though, she would be the first to gloat and say “I told you so…”

Wad it up...

I think I would like to take today and wad it up into a little ball and then throw it away. 

I got the feedback from the one, lone visitor group that came to our open house on Sunday.  The 8ft ceilings in the upstairs bedrooms are too low.  Really?  I don't know what the color of the sky is in your world buddy, but many homes have lower ceiling heights than that.  Who builds a home under a million dollars now with ceiling heights higher than 8ft on the second floor?

What I think really happened was that they liked the house, but just not enough to buy it.  You know when you find "The One" and this one just wasn't it.  When forced to come up with one thing that made the house "Not The One", they said something stupid about the ceiling heights.  Based on the wording the realtor used to write out my showing card, I would be willing to bet that English is not her first language and that the visitors fled the house in a panic when she started grilling them.

"So, Heir Gvessen, vat vas it zat made zis house not to your likingk?  Tell me, tell me...VAT VAS it? I'm vaiting, give me za answer!" All the while smacking her riding crop into her leather gloved hand...  Then Indian Jones comes swinging through the open door, snatching the couple up and delivering them to safety.  While they were being whooshed away, the wife said "the ceilings are too low upstairs..."  Yep, that's how it happened!!

Okay, I feel better now that I have made light of my situation and entertained myself to no end with the mental image of Indian Jones saving the prospective buyers. I guess I will un-wad the day and march on!

One is the loneliest number...

All of that hard work for the open house and we had one couple visit the home.  Seriously, one.  Everyone says what a beautiful home we have and how easy it should be to sell yet getting those bodies (with check books) in the door is the hardest thing I have ever done.

I even baked cookies...

I made signs about how cool the house was, things like "Gas Ready" for the range.  I have an electric range because upon move in, all of the gas ranges had knobs on the front of the range where my then 3 year old could have easily begun her own campfire in seconds.  Seriously, why in the heck would you put the knobs to a GAS range on the front below the 4ft tall level? 

I also framed our Green Built certificate and left it on the counter next to the cookies so the energy conscious buyer would know we have an energy efficient home.  I think I should frame a copy of our electric bill from July or August of last summer so they can see that even though we were in the middle of a record breaking heatwave, the bills were still low.  I am worried that might be a little much...

Maybe I should get sponsors?  I could put the Folgers can out on the counter and say how great Folgers is and that we drink it daily...  No, probably not a good idea.

I think I have gotten all batty now after all of the work I put into our second open house only to have it fizzle worse than our first open house.  Plus the lovely realtor, not a peep out of her.  Not one word about how it went or where to go from here.  If I didn't have to wait 120 to relist my house, I would fire her in a New York second... or wherever else those seconds are shorter than anywhere else.

So, if you know anyone in the North Texas area that would like an OCD approved showing of a spotless and fabulous home, let me know because I have a feeling if I don't sell it myself, it isn't going to get sold!