Moving Day

It's here!!!!

I hope I don't loose my mind (or my things).

Reaching the end of my rope

I decided to tidy up my inbox this morning because there were 210 conversations in there. Rather messy, I know. After I "filed" all the emails about buying this house, I was down to 139--that's 71 conversations. And those of you familiar with gmail know that a conversation is more than one email--most of mine are 6-8 messages long! Buying a house is such a headache. Why can't I just give people my money and be done with it??? Actually, I would be happy if I even knew what day the house would be mine, but I can't even get that information and it will supposedly be within a week! I know this is all very normal, but I still hate it.

Success!

I will be the first to admit that I am not a decorator. Although the idea of having my own house and doing my own things is exciting, I am overwhelmed by the idea of making decisions about paint and furniture and all that stuff. Add to that the fact that it all costs money and it's even more stressful.

The only room I have any idea about what I want in it is the baby's room. Yet even there I have no exact idea. I think my ideas are based more on how the room should "feel" than how it will look. I have looked and looked at bedding (to the point of driving my mother-in-law crazy) and hated all of it. I am not a lover of pink. It's fine, but most of the stuff out there is really pink and I know I'd get tired of it very quickly. I do like blue, but even the "girl" things that are blue are still too boyish. Green and yellow are dull. Can you see my dilemma? All I know is that I want wide cream stripes on the wall--simple and elegant.

So after concluding that my daughter will have only whatever we get at the baby shower (no matter how badly it clashes), I had decided to give up. I planned on spending today packing things we won't need for the next six weeks to make the move easier, but after spending the morning on the phone with loan drama (will it ever end?), I was not in the mood to work. Therefore I wasted time on the internet. I decided to check Wal-Mart for baby things, just because I hadn't, and there it was. The perfect room:

It meets nearly all of my criteria: not too pink; cream, brown and cranberry/magenta/red based (depending on which review you read); simple, not overwhelming but still has some color. What more could I ask for? Well, I would like to see it in person and get a few precise measurements, but that is not possible as it's on clearance and I get everything you see (minus the furniture) for, get this, $77. Yeah, 10-piece set for $77. And I love it, too. This is a good day after all.

A little story (and finally some pics)

After thinking about how we were going to fit our lives and a baby into our two-bedroom apartment, we decided that instead of sacricing our stuff, we'd just move. Add to that the constant promptings of my dad, the real estate lover. It all became too much and at the end of August we started the house hunt. I'll tell you what--any of you who live in a metro area are lucky. In Blythe we have very few options in the lower price ranges, unless of course you want to buy a dump in the ghetto. Yes, we actually have multiple ghettos in our small town. Go figure.

Nevertheless, we were optimistic. This is Troy the day we went on our first home tour:

If you can't tell, he's in a good mood. I think he's singing along with Eddie Money or something. Anyway, among many other awful sights, the visual evidence of which I deleted without thinking of this post, this summarizes our first day:

An investor's reno that looked great on the surface, but at closer inspection was trash. This is the sprayed on grass in the front yard. Highlights of other houses included a kitchen with about two cabinets, bedrooms with psychedelic carpet and extension cords powering the ceiling fans. If I had a picture of me at the end of the day, you would see I was clearly depressed.

But the search continued. We saw houses straight out of the fifties, complete with metal cabinets; houses with a reek that will likely never leave; and houses that were workable, but priced far above our comfort level. There was a foreclosure we made an offer on, but only after it had been on the market for three days (which included a weekend), there were already multiple offers besides ours, so that didn't work out for us.

Anyway, I had pretty much given up on the idea when our realtor told us about a house that was coming on the market. We made an offer the day it was listed and the owners accepted the next day. Hooray! So we're moving and I'm very excited.

Welcome Home!!

There are some things in life you should just expect: taxes in April, fireworks in July and, apparently for the Petersons, floods in December.
Last December our neighbor had a leak in his bathroom and all the water came to my living room. All turned out well just in time for us to leave for vacation.

Jump ahead to 2008. Yesterday we returned home to find this

There is water under the tile and the base cabinets stink of wetness. But there was no water dripping anywhere. I talked to my neighbor (sharing the other wall this time) and she had noticed a wet spot on the exterior stucco but nothing more. I decided to trace the water line on the tile to see if water was still leaking. When I got up this morning the water marks had expanded, so that meant I had to spend my day sleuthing. As I was standing in the kitchen contemplating my dilemma while eating leftover pizza for breakfast, I heard the sound of rushing water in the wall. I touched the wall to see if it was wet and found a little drip of water coming from under the faceplate of an outlet. I immediately unplugged the microwave (thank goodness the water didn't gush as I was warming my pizza), threw on my slippers and ran to the neighbor's to see if she had just ran water in her bathroom (which is on the second story of that wall). She had!

Great, I thought. I have poo water under my tile. However, after more testing, we concluded that the tubs and toilets in our bathrooms were safe, but that we share a drainline from our vanity sinks which must have a hole in it. Workers were called and after doing this

to my kitchen wall, we found the problem--a gaping hole in the pipe.

Of course the master plumber is out of town until tomorrow so until then I had to put the sink out of commission because I'm such a creature of habit that I accidentally turned it on for .5 seconds before realizing I was filling my kitchen with more water.

Oh well, if I look on the bright side, I'll start the new year with a new pipe. (fingers are crossed for good luck!)

Here's a Good Rant for You

Oh my goodness, where to begin. Good things first. Troy's team won yesterday. They're now 3-5, but I believe that's the best record in the boy's basketball program right now, so we're happy.

Now on to the real reason I'm posting. I'll begin by saying I'm not in a good mood. Between stupid kids asking me stupid questions, students and teachers expecting and demanding the world and the internet deciding to take it slow just as I'm trying to notify parents their little dears have books to return, I've had a long day. Add to that this little adventure,

and I'm more than a little frustrated. That's right, that is the carpet and pad in my living room pulled up because it is soaked. When I push my finger into the pad water squirts out. The neighbors (with whom we share a wall) are remodeling and apparently have a leaking something in the bathroom. So what do I get as a thank you for letting them know they have a problem? Yes, you are correct, all their water. Okay, I only knew they had a problem after I discovered my carpet was wet, but who cares about a timeline?

Anyway, I wasn't too upset about it last night because, after all, these things do happen and I'm not the one paying for repairs (the joy of renting), but after listening to fans night and day, rearranging the filthy pad and carpet backing to get optimal air flow and enduring the smell that has taken over our house, I am quickly losing my patience. In one way I'm counting the seconds until I get to leave this mess behind but in another I realize this needs to get taken care of in less than 48 hours because if it's not, nothing will happen for two weeks--other than, of course, a dirty, musty stink penetrating every single thing I own.

One final little rant: who pays for the electricity to run those stupid fans 24/7 as we try to salvage worn, stinky carpet? Oh yeah, that would be me. Have a nice day!

Peterson Update

Well, I guess the biggest news is that we've decided not to buy a house. We've decided to hold out and make sure Blythe is really the place we want to be. We're just gonna save, save, save. Hopefully I can become a miser. That might actually be kinda fun.

Other than that, there isn't much going on. It actually felt like fall today. It's 4:24 and we've yet to hit 80 degrees. If you're going by my mom's rules when I lived at home, that's not even warm enough to wear shorts. The kids were so funny as school today. They were complaining, "It's cold, it's cold," when it was never before 70 degrees after 8 o'clock this morning. I should send them to Utah. It would be very entertaining.

Today I'm making cupcakes to take to work tomorrow because one of my TAs is turning 17. Yay! Actually, I just want an excuse to eat cupcakes all day long. What fun.

A Big Step

Well, I haven't posted for a few days but that's because we've been BUSY! Busy and stressed. But guess what . . . we put an offer on a house! I'm excited, but not too much just in case things fall through. Who knows. But I'll keep you posted!

P.S.--I'm anxious for any advice anyone has!

All Ready for a Long Weekend

Thank goodness the weekend is here. I'm a little bummed because the house we were considering buying is probably going to be sold in the next few days. We had to wait to get current bank statements, etc., and now that the bank has our paperwork the house is going off the market. It sat for months and now that we can almost move on it, it's gone. Not that I was really attached to that particular house, but it's nearly impossible to find something in a decent neighborhood at a price we can afford. Oh well, at least when we find something else we'll be ready to move ahead. Who'd have thought you'd have to be ready to jump when working with a buyer's market.