I Am Now A Homeowner!

I would have posted about it last night, but I had to head off to work. The closing, though originally set for 10am, was postponed till late afternoon and then delayed again after we got there. By the time all was said and done, it was probably 6:30 or so in the evening.

It's all done now, though, and we have our shiny new keys to our very first home. It is a beautiful thing. We (of course) went over to the house right after the closing, and we got to meet the neighbors! They have only lived there for 2 weeks, and have a son who appears to be about the same age as Big Sprout. He is definitely not the shy type, so I am hoping that he and Big Sprout will get to be friends. I know they are coming up on the age where there will be "cooties" involved in any m/f friendship, but perhaps if noone is looking they will be able to play a bit. The neighbors also have 3 dogs, which both Sprouts honed in on right away. Little Sprout was funny, peeking through the spaces between the fence boards to see the puppies. I had to make her stop when she started poking sticks through the fence at them, though.

I am really excited, folks. Today will be a day of rest, since I work tonight, but tomorrow I am planning on picking up paint to begin the long hard road to a decorated home. Oh, yeah, and I need something to get rid of spiders too. Empty houses seem to breed them. Yuck.

Have a good one!

Oops, Sorry!

Closing is 3 days from TODAY, not yesterday.

That's what I get for listing to Mr. Barefoot.

3 Days Till Closing

And counting....

6 Days and Counting

Till we close on the house.

So I Have Been Packing...

And packing.....and packing.

Who'da thunk we had so much stuff? I am trying to go through as I pack and set stuff aside for the thrift store, but most of what I want to get rid of Mr. Barefoot wants to keep.

Being the generous soul I am, I have been keeping my (perfectly natural) impulse to get rid of it all when he isn't looking in check. Barely. I am, however, beginning to wonder how in the world all this stuff is going to fit in the new house.

I figure if we fit here, we will fit at the new place, it is just a matter of figuring out where everything goes. I am also worried about feeling crowded at the new place. It is about 450 sq ft larger than our apt, plus a garage. We are just busting the seams of this apt, though, and I am wondering if an extra 450 sq ft will be enough.

Oh, what am I saying! Of course we will make it work....we love the house, and families much larger than ours have lived in that much space (or less), so we will be fine. I guess all the boxes all over the apt just have me down.

Anyway, we have begun the countdown to CLOSING. We are sitting at 10 days till closing right now, with so much to do.

Well, I had better be off.....there is still packing to do, and I work tonight!

Pics....FINALLY!

K, folks. I got lots of pictures for you all today! First off, Little Sprout got a "tattoo" just like Daddy's at the local fair. She was so cute about it. She would climb up on Mr. Barefoot's lap, point at his arm and then at her own. She was unpleasantly surprised that it washed off in the bath....

Next, there are pics of THE HOUSE! It may not be ours yet, but Mr. Barefoot had to take the electrician over to the house to get some work done and he remembered to take the camera. He didn't remember to take pics of the upstairs, but at least I can share with you all a little bit what it looks like......

Kitchen, obviously. There is more of it to the right, and the wall behind Mr. Barefoot as he took this pic is two sliding glass doors facing South. Tons of light, I tell you!

Living room, entry, and stairs

Dining room

Family room in the basement

Side yard between house and garage. Those are lilacs there, in the shade. Smart homeowners, huh?

The fabulous deck off the kitchen. It needs to be re~stained and re~painted, but is very sturdy. It is huge and gorgeous!

Another view of my fabulous deck. If you notice to the far right, that is a hydrangea planted right up against the foundation and blocking a window.....silly people. Also behind the deck you can see that a recent storm took out two fence panels....great, more repairs already! Hehe

The back of the three car garage (Mr. Barefoot is so happy about that) There is a doggy door, so we will have to get a dog.

The side of the house closest to the garage....again with the stupid plantings. Who puts trees that close to the foundation? I mean, really. There is actually a flower bed here, but you can't really see it. I am looking forward to rehab~ing it and making it beautiful.

I am so incredibly excited to hopefully be moving here! Think of these as "before" pictures, 'cause I have so many ideas on things I want to do. I can't wait to get out in that yard and start digging, to haul out the paint brushes and rollers, to make it mine.

Anyway, thanks for letting me show off a little....

More House Update

The roofers begin their work on Monday and the electrician is going over to the house today to fix a couple little things. We have reset the closing date AGAIN to be on the 25th of this month.

I have my fingers and toes crossed that nothing else gets messed up.

What is in a name?

K, so we have established that I am weird, right?

Good, then this should not shock you all.

I wanna name my house. But I am having trouble coming up with a good one. So I am asking for suggestions.

There are classics like:
Dunroamin'
Dunwaitin'
Almyne

etc.

But I don't really wanna house name that lots of folks have.

So then I was thinking maybe an anagram of our names....that could be cool, but lots of work looking through all the possibilities.

I found "Satis House" in the book "Great Expectations". I really like that one, as "Satis" means 'enough' and I think that fits the house really well. But Mr. Barefoot doesn't want that one 'cause he thinks that folks will think our name is Satis. He is probably right, there aren't all that many folks who read the classics anymore, so there will be lots of confusion.

Help? Anyone?

The Good News and The Bad News

Yeah, remember that we are trying to buy a house? What a mess, let me tell you.



The bank-hag must have had a great time on her vacation, 'cause when she got back she decided that fixing the roof and the plumbing leak was just a FINE idea. I am so excited. Really, that will save us many $$.

Bad news? Evidently she wants us to put off the closing until.......

wait for it.....

AUGUST 15TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, that woman had a few too many Mai Tai's on her lovely little vacation. Has she forgotten that we were supposed to close LAST month?


K, just in case any of you lovely readers have forgotten.....I am a nut-job, remember? Lots of mental/emotional issues that require me to imbibe a multicolored array of pharmaceuticals to keep me functioning semi-normally. Or at least keep me from setting my hair on fire and running naked through the streets.

So how do you think it has been affecting me to have my ENTIRE LIFE up in the air? Hmmmm?! Guess what? It ain't pretty! I am losing my mind, here, and I really don't know how worth it a new roof and a fixed plumbing leak really are.

Here I am, half packed, and they want me to wait over a month like this? Do they figure that I can just put my life on hold and wait for them to do their thing?

Ugh.

So Mr. Barefoot came back with the idea that we could close on the 1st of Aug. Better, but not great. I just don't know, man. I want the roof fixed, but this is getting a little crazy here. I mean, really crazy. We told our building manager we would be out of the apt July 31st. Now of course we have worked it so that we can stay through August, but I wanna have TIME to move. I hate moving all at once like that.

AND the house needs paint and a thorough cleaning. The folks left it in a bit of a mess, so there needs to be some serious cleaning up done.

Double ugh.

Drowning My Sorrows in Egg Rolls and Cheesecake

The house thing is not going well.....we found out today that the woman handling our house (it is bank owned) has been on vacation for a week and won't be back 'till Monday. So things are stalled out, even though we were supposed to close last Monday.

I am so depressed. I have been busting my backside for so long to get us in a position where we could afford a house, and I have worked even harder to get time off the weekend of the 11/12th so that we could move in hopes that I would have time to do some much needed cleaning and painting in the new house before we moved anything in there. That is the only weekend we really have this month to move, thanks to Mr. Barefoot's band schedule, and now it will be really tight to get us even through the closing by then, much less have time to get cleaning and painting done. It just doesn't seem fair that some woman gets to go lay on a beach sipping Mai Tai's while my whole life is sitting on a shelf in her office. I mean, really.

I am so not happy.

So I went to the grocery store and I bought egg rolls, cheesecake, chicken kiev, brussels sprouts, bagels/cream cheese, and french fries.

By tomorrow I will have gained about 200lbs, but I feel better already.

How Do You All Do It?!

For those of you who haven't been listening, we are TRYING to buy a house.

OMG, is it a lot of work and worry! How do folks handle all this stress?! I mean, I figure that my depression and anxiety issues factor in to how stressed I am, but I am guessing that this can't be easy even for normal folks.

Today I got a package from the mortgage folks with a list of things we need to provide about a mile long. Some of them are things that I have already located for Mr. Barefoot, and I have NO IDEA where he put them when he was done with them (cuz that's the kind of "filer" he is). I mean, really. Then the ins co decided that they don't wanna insure the property because the condition of the garage roof. Ummm, hellooooo people! We are gonna fix that, but not before we actually buy the house. Duh... We are getting insurance, but maybe not through the same company as we have had our car insurance through for forever.

Oh, My, Golly, Gee, Whiz.

And they wanna know everything about your life. Is there no privacy? I mean, I am lucky if I can remember my age and birthday on any given day. How am I supposed to know all this other stuff they are so determined to know?

My mantra has become "breathe in.......and out. Good thoughts in...........bad thoughts out." This can't be over soon enough for me.

Really.

Two Things

Okay, first off I need to announce to the world at large that my Wonderful - Fabulous - Incredible Honorary Uncle came up to do the house inspection last night and gave it a good report. He also (wowowowowow) offered to donate one full day of work to fix the few things that need fixing (some doggy damage and a leaky sink) as a housewarming gift. I really appreciate that so much, because as a general handy-man he has been hit hard by the economy tanking. No one wants to do home improvements or fix the things that are only a little broken when they have to worry about gas to get to work or food to eat.

And he is the best fixer-upper dude I know. A total perfectionist in every way.

I am so excited.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The second thing is one that I swore to myself I would no longer discuss on my blog. So I am breaking that promise in the hopes that Mr. Barefoot won't read this, and if he does that he doesn't mention it at home. Hehe.

I happened to peek at one of the cable news channels at work last night (something I try really hard to avoid) and caught the tail end of a discussion between someone from the McCain camp and someone from the Obama camp. They were going at each other tooth and nail over the "Energy Crisis" and why their candidate had THE ANSWER and the other was just a fool.

One phrase that stuck out in my mind (I have no idea who said it) is that we are "the Saudi Arabia of coal".

This is a good thing? I don't know about the rest of this country, but I haven't bought into the advertising saying that coal is "clean energy". Not only that, but it is a fossil fuel which (by definition) means it takes millions of years to create and is a FINITE source of fuel. It will run out eventually. I suppose I am the only one who sees something wrong with trading one set of issues for another ~ equally bad ~ set of issues?

The one thing that neither party brought up in even the most obscure way was our nation's need to conserve the resources we have and to learn to do with less consumption.

I tell you who I will vote for:

I will vote for the candidate who stands up and says for all the world to hear that he is going to take Crunchy's "Freeze Yer Buns" Challenge while in the White House. I will vote for the candidate who is willing to stand up to the American Public and inspire them to live in a manner that the earth can support. I will vote for the candidate who turns their back on the age old tradition of pointing fingers at the other candidate and, instead, points their finger at the American Public and says "You are the reason we are in crisis right now. All it takes is a few simple changes in your lives to make a big impact, and I am here to lead the way in making these changes. I am here to tell you that it is not about buying your way to a green life. It is not about spending all our time trying to find a way around making changes. It is about facing those changes bravely and with conviction. It is about 'biting the bullet' and moving forward into a different way of life, rather than desperately trying to hold on to one that no longer works. I am here to show you how, to help you make the changes needed, to pave the way for a new era in our history."

Yeah, that's the candidate I want in the White House.....Maybe I should run? Or we could all vote for Crunchy! Or something....



I have to go on record here as saying that, for me, the issue has never been about Peak Oil, Climate Change, or anything else.

In my mind, the bottom line is that it is irresponsible to live in a manner where you do more damage than good. Any organism that lives off another and gives nothing back is a parasite. I don't wanna be a parasite...do you? But that is what we are. And a very devastating one at that. We scalp, rape, and destroy the earth in our search for ways to live in a manner more and more removed from the natural rhythms of our host (the earth, for those of you who aren't following). Much like any other parasite, we take what we want without any regard for what it is doing to the very organism we are dependent on for life.

We are tapeworms. Yuck.

You know, I used to have nightmares where I was being chased by a monster or a "bad man". I would run and run till I was exhausted. Then, when all my strength had been sapped by my long flight and evasive maneuvering, I would turn to fight only to find that I was not strong enough to win. Only when I learned to train myself (in sleep and in real life) to turn and face the monster RIGHT AWAY did I find the strength to beat it.

I feel like we are in the same position as a country. We have spent so much time trying to avoid the problem or even deny it's existence that the issue has become bigger and bigger. A problem that would have been easy to fix in it's infancy has been allowed to grow into a grotesque giant that we feel less and less able to conquer.

So I get a little frustrated when the candidates get so caught up in telling each other that they are wrong. There is no doubt anymore that we live in a manner that the earth cannot sustain indefinitely. It doesn't matter what "Crash Theory" you subscribe to or who you blame for the whole mess. It doesn't matter if we have reached Peak or if we can delay it for a few years. Those issues are just the tentacles of the beast, and they will lose their power once the main creature is killed. We have to learn to live more lightly on the earth.

Bottom line.

Disclaimer: I write this on my energy-sucking computer with a movie in
the DVD player (babysitting Little Sprout) in an apartment with the air
conditioner on (it IS really hot and stuffy today) and Big Sprout in her room
with probably two lamps on and HER tv. I am not saying I am any better than
anyone else. I am just stating what I see as facts.

House Update

Man, what a ride so far!

Since two days ago, when we heard that our offer had been accepted:

-Our Mortgage company has gone out of business
-We found a new mortgage company
-Our name has been misspelled on all the paperwork
-We found out we are gonna get bit--hard--the first month our mortgage is due, as we will still have to pay rent here (idiots won't grace us a mere 10 days)

Other than that, things are wonderful. Mr. Barefoot and I will just look at each other and smile for no reason. I keep thinking about how wonderful it will be to have a house of our very own!!!!

I know that sounds so stupid, but the reality is I have never had a home where I could do whatever I wanted. I still can't, if I think about it, cuz I gotta let Mr. Barefoot have a say. Still, I can do a lot more than I have ever been able to before. I get to pick paint colors and actually start buying real furniture.

I think the real furniture thing has me the most excited. Up till now I have purchased mostly modular pieces that I can configure to fit whatever place we happen to be living in. It has been wonderfully flexible for the various apartment and rental homes I have been in, but I would really prefer to have real wood for a change. I am dreaming of a beautiful secretary desk, of built in shelves, maybe even a curio cabinet. It will be so fun to know that I am buying a piece of furniture to fit a specific space and function and to know that it won't be obsolete in a year or two when we move again.

And gardening! I am going to be able to really work on permanent gardens. What a thrill! I won't feel like I am taking over my folks' place and worry that they don't like it. I will have my own garden tools (the shopping list for that is HUGE) and my own garden shed. I will be able to plant and replant and tend all my beautiful green growing things. I will be able to see them every day out my windows. There is even a "sun room" (not really much of a room, more a sunny hall) off the kitchen that I will be able to use for seed starting in the spring. And I can have a "potted salad" growing there the rest of the year...lettuce, a pepper plant, patio tomatoes, maybe even some bunching onions, herbs....oh, joy!

I will have a laundry room! oh, my gosh I forgot that for a minute. No more fighting the other mom's in my building to wash the massive amounts of laundry my kids generate. No more paying $2.50 per load. No more hauling laundry across the hall and worrying that my undies will fall out of the basket and lay there for the whole building to see.

OH, MY, GOSH.

For all of you who want pictures, I will try to remember to send the camera with Mr. Barefoot tomorrow when he goes with my honorary uncle for the inspection. If he gets good pics, I will surely share...otherwise you will all have to wait till next month when we get to start moving in. I will surely take pics of the house before all our junk gets moved in causing all sorts of mess.

OH! MY! GOSH!

Remember, I didn't wanna jinx anything....

BUT....

We put an offer in on a place that we both love, and they ACCEPTED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now I am putting out a request to all of you to please do whatever you do (pray, send good thoughts, light a candle) in hopes that nothing goes haywire between now and closing (at the end of this month, holy crap).

I am terrified, yet so excited.

A HOUSE!

Trying Again.....

.....on the House Hunt Thing.....don't wanna jinx it, but


PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEDON'TLETANYTHINGGOWRONGTHISTIMEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!!!!!!!!!

Sold!

Well, the house I love....the house I had almost convinced Mr. Barefoot to sell a Sprout so we could get.....is sold.

And not to us.

It is one thing to know that a house (even though you love it) isn't really gonna work for you. You can still dream a bit. Finding out that it has been sold to someone else is another thing entirely.

This stinks.

Letting Go

A traffic jam when you're already late
A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It's meeting the man of my dreams
And then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn't it ironic...

It's like rain on your wedding day
It's a free ride when you've already paid
It's the good advice that you just didn't take
Who would've thought...it figures


~~Alanis Morisette, Ironic

I think I may have mentioned that I found The House. The house that immediately upon entering I fell deeply in love with. The house where I felt like I had come home. The house that I just knew was for me.

I also mentioned that there were some problems with it. Loving a good challenge, I set my mind to solving them so that Mr. Barefoot would have no reason to blow my dream ship out of the water.

Falling down garage.....easy. Get a Home Rehab loan (which you can roll right into your mortgage), tear down the old and build a new. Even if we didn't want to do that we would be able to afford it (low mortgage payments rock) by spring.

New roof needed....no problem; see above.

Room for Mr. Barefoot's drums, etc....Make it a two story garage and he can have his stuff up on the second floor.

Guest quarters needed for when FIL & SMIL come from CA....the second story of the garage could also make a fabulous "in-law suite".

Storage? I got that covered in spades...I have whole notebooks devoted to magazine clippings regarding DIY projects, and I love to do it.

Third bedroom.....ummmm. Basement? Nah, the ceilings are too low, and there is a scary "Amityville House" thing going on with the foundation. Solid, but spooky looking. Rearrange some walls? Not gonna happen without completely restructuring the roof and destroying much of the home's charm. Addition? Same problem. Convert the upstairs bath back into a bedroom and only have the downstairs bath? Possible, but the downstairs bath is so small I can sit on the toilet and soak my feet in the tub at the same time (not kidding), and there isn't really room to make it bigger. Besides, with three females in the house (not that I spend much time in the bathroom, but Big Sprout IS getting up towards the teen years), Mr. Barefoot isn't really excited about the idea of only one bathroom. Have the Sprouts share a room? Well, the rooms are pretty small to start with, and Big Sprout is 9. Would she really want to share with her baby sister who isn't even 2 yet? I really don't think so. Ummmm....Ummmm....Ummmm.....

I don't think it is going to work.

Needless to say, I am brokenhearted. This house is so perfect in every way. Perfect price, perfect style, perfect potential. It just has this itty bitty problem.

My family won't fit.

So I am forced to take desperate measures...Anyone wanna buy a Sprout? I will let you have one cheap, but there is a "no return" policy, just like the one I got suckered into when I took them home. They are both healthy and strong, so I am sure you can get many years of good use out of them. Take your pick of which one you would like, as I am finding it difficult to decide which to get rid of.

Just kidding.





Kinda.

I Found It!

Okay, it needs a new roof....and about 8 trees removed....and the garage torn down....and it is a 2 bedroom when we really need a 3 bedroom or bigger....and it's right across the street from my parents, negating any hope that I will ever grow up all the way and be and independent woman.....and it is a little smaller than we had hoped.

But it is THE ONE.

We walked in the front door and were met by a heated four season porch with hardwood floors. Not to mention the fabulously carved front door. With leaded glass. And a little entry area with hooks and a cupboard for coats and mitten/hat storage.

When we finally entered the main part of the house, I just about died. All hardwood (beautifully finished) floors. An open (but narrow) staircase with beautiful bannister. Stained glass windows. Leaded glass windows. Original trim. A refinished kitchen. Old style radiators for hot water heat. Funny closets that run back to the ends of the earth. The basement is even dry!

Outside? Several trees have to go, like I said. The "garage" is more of an old barn or carriage house that is falling down and needs to be replaced. BUT.....

Hostas, crabapple, peonies, two kinds of lilac (white and purple), a little decorative pond, flowerbeds galore!, a deck, fencing. I mean, really, what more could I ask for?

Everyone loved it, and we had the whole troop going through the house. My folks, my Bro, the Sprouts....everyone. Our poor realtor.

Mr. Barefoot is being a pill and wants to check out some other houses a little further out before we decide anything, even though he said he was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. I could kick him.

I am IN LOVE!

*Happy, Happy Dance*

Happy Frickin' Weekend, Folks.

To start with, I would like to thank you all for showing so much interest in my latest job shenanigans. You were all so much more supportive (and entertaining) than Mr. Barefoot. Of course, I would probably bop him in the head if he came home and told me he had done something like that....but he only has ONE job. I have three, so if I screw one up it shouldn't be that big of a deal....right?

Anyway, despite the fact that Big Boss B*tch wrote two apologies, I have no faith that anything will change. That sounds so pessimistic, but I have been here before with her. She pushes and pushes until someone takes her down a peg (usually me or the Sarge, as we are the only ones who care about our pride more than the job). Then she makes a big deal about apologising and kisses some serious backside for a couple of weeks. The novelty of that wears off pretty quickly, though, and she is soon back to her old tricks.

I do have to say that she leaves me (and the Sarge) alone for the most part because she knows that she can't get away with it. I am sure the only reason she got so catty was because I was going to be gone for two weeks and she didn't think that I would find out about it.

Silly girl.

I suppose I am lucky that she has such a weak personality. Any other boss wouldn't put up with me talking back like that....but then a stronger person wouldn't feel the need to be all high school gossipy and snotty, now would they.

In other work related news, the Sarge has put in her notice and is leaving me in that pit of incompetence all by my lonesome. She has found a fabulous new job that she is very excited to start, and I AM happy for her. Really I am. I'm just going to miss her terribly. I have never met anyone easier to work with, more fun to chat with, and with a better work ethic. My line of work attracts a lot of idiots, so it is really wonderful when you find someone who is not only good at it, but that you click with as well.

It SUCKS that the Sarge is leaving.



Anyway....

Mr. Barefoot is (once again) gone for the weekend. I am just a little ticked that he is going to be gone again so soon after coming home from CA. Not only that, but he is driving nearly two hours to go to a gig that will pay just enough to pay for the gas and his hotel...maybe a meal or two. That means that he will probably lose money on this gig, when I am busting my chops to save money and bring more in.

Jerk.

He did try to let me sleep this morning, since we figure Little Sprout is going to freak out when she realises that he isn't coming home tonight, but it didn't work. We are going to look at the fixer-upper house on Sunday, and I am too excited to sleep.

I keep reminding myself that the house could be in terrible shape, that it might be no good for us. It works for keeping the excitement at bay during the day, but when I close my eyes it is a whole other story. I keep imagining how lovely I could make the yard, how glorious the hardwood floors could look all refinished. I imagine the old style trim around the gorgeous stained glass and leaded windows. I mentally furnish each room, and imagine what colors I would choose for the walls.

I've got it bad for this one, folks. Rational thought has nothing to do with this. It is all from the heart.


In other news, I get to spend all day tomorrow at the hospital. The woman I care for on Saturdays fell, and her family still wants us all to spend time with her while she is in the hospital.

Fun, fun. I am not so much looking forward to this day. I think it will be really tough to sit there and keep her from deciding to up and leave.

Ah, well...it's best for her, and that's what counts.

So, I am off to "enjoy" my working weekend with no Mr. Barefoot to help out. I sincerely hope you all enjoy your weekend and your Memorial Day celebrations....think of me while you are all partying and stuff, cuz I will be at work. :-(

Indecision

So Mr. Barefoot and I have decided to put an offer in on a house. It is a cookie cutter house in a cookie cutter subdivision with a cookie cutter yard and some miserable looking landscaping that desperately needs an overhaul.

Yesterday I saw that the house across from my parents' house is for sale for about half the price of the other. It is an old, run down place in an old neighborhood. It doesn't have lots of room for a garden, and the yard was landscaped in a way that would cost me hours of back breaking labor to un-do.

Do you need three guesses to figure out which one I want?

My problem is that I love old houses. I love their character, their funny little corners and hidden cubby-holes. I love their sense of history and trying to figure out the stories they have to tell.

Unfortunately, Mr. Barefoot and I have discussed this again and again. We do not want to take on the expense and hassle of a "fixer upper". We decided that it is best for us to get into a house that is easy maintenance and that should have good resale value when we are ready to "upgrade" to what we really want.

We decided.

And yet I am becoming increasingly unhappy with the idea of living in a neighborhood where everything is the same. In a house that is the same as every other house on the block.

But we decided.

So I will stick with it, and we will get the cookie cutter if it is still possible. I will be happy there, because we will own and I will be able to give it my character. Poor house.

Someday, I will have my beautiful old house.....and then I will be super-duper ecstatic.