Sunday, December 31, 2006

Grumpy, oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR


I had some fantastic packing help offered yesterday and I took it. We packed like mad, even though I wasn't entirely prepared for the depth of packing...but hey, they were good! So, now, I am sitting in the middle of my all-but-empty kitchen and I am grumpy. My house is a mess, I have exactly ZERO plans for tonight b/c I have one week to finish packing, and I am grumpy. How on earth did I used to move so often?? When Tod and I met, we moved to TN, then, while we were there we moved, I think 4 times. Before that I had easily moved at least once a year all through college...of course, I had a whole lot less shit then, but honestly, I'm totally HATING this move and I'm only moving 1.5 miles away!!!!

I guess the good news is we're there to stay for a while too, so I guess that's good. And, moving IS good to help get rid of a bunch of crap. Also good. Ok, I'm feeling better already. Now, back to packing for me...

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Malfunctions

So, I just want to mention for those of you who read this with any regularity, our computer chose this week to die. I've got it up for a brief bout, but who knows how much longer it'll be up!! So, to include everyone:

If you are -

Friends and Family: Thanks for the holiday goodies. We're lovin' everything, and looking forward to moving our new loot to the new house. Our phone numbers won't change, just the address. Come see us anytime!! We now have a "spare" room!!

My Secret Pal: I've posted our new address in the comments section under the post with the pix of the new house for you. It was the ebst way I could think to post it!

Followers of the Blog: Don't give up on me!!! I will post SOON, but with packing and moving, and all, I can't be sure when I'll have the blog back up and running. Check back often, but do not loose hope!!

We close on the 8th of January, so I'll certainly try to post after that. Until then, all offers to help will be accepted, and all good wishes can be sent to us via email, or phone. Thanks for all the support!!!

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Happy Packing...I mean X-mas

So, it's Christmas eve and what am I doing? I'm not wrapping presents, (ok, well, I have one to wrap, but that's b/c Uncle Phil hates wrapping and I told him I'd do it for him). I'm not sitting around our tree drinking egg nog and singing carols...I'm packing FRANTICALLY. We've been packing all day, in fact. My house looks as though it was robbed, but by an idiot thief, as the gifts are still under our tree. Oh, crap. The Tree! I haven't watered it in DAYS. It totally slipped my mind! (I'll be right back...). Whew. Ok, the tree's now been watered.
I do have my dinner for tomorrow night started, and breakfast ready to go first thing in the morning. What I haven't done yet today is
  1. eat any REAL food
  2. walk my dogs
  3. clean off my kitcehn table (eek. What the hell is all that CRAP on there for anyway?!!)
  4. change out of my PJs
Crazy. Who's idea WAS it to move at Christmas????!!!! I guess the good thing about it is that by the time we get settled into the new pad, we'll all be ready for another party!

Ok, since I've somehow managed to really injur BOTH my wrists packing, sewing (I had to make 2 more stocking today!), and kneeding bread, I have to stop typing! Anyway, Happy Holidays to y'all, and I'll be back tomorrow of the next day! See you then.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Our new house!!!

Here's the pics. Enjoy!
  • View from the road (I love those new windows!!)
  • Livingroom (windows from the inside!)
  • Master Bedroom (Nice fireplace, huh?!!)
  • Master Bathroom (the second shower head isn't up yet, and it's obviosly not done yet, but you get the idea!!)














Paperwork

Buried in paperwork.

Signed contract to sell our house last night.

Signing contract to buy new house in 10 minutes. WOW!

I will post pictures soon!!

House: terrible mess, BUT SOLD!!!
Emotional State of Owners: Excited, freaked out, TIRED!!!
New house: lovely, old but renovated, all hardwood floors!!!

Monday, December 18, 2006

TG- We've found a home

Ok, so after a VERY long weekend, we can fortunately report, WE HAVE A HOME! Tod and I "accidentally" sold our current home without actually having a home to move into...We were told not to expect to sell our little house at this time of year. I mean, who buys a house at Christmas?? Well, a lot of folks it looks like. We had the first two people who looked at our house offer to buy it. In fact, the first folks didn't even look at it, not in person anyway! They only saw the pictures on line and had their agent look at it!!! Amazingly, it took them 24 hours to put in a very reasonable offer to us. At which point, we needed to find a place FAST. So, we did go back to the first house we looked at (pictures will be posted AFTER I sign the contract today!!). It's a lovely home and in a wonderful neighborhood. I can't wait to post the pics.

So, the next few weeks will be rocking busy. We close on both places on the 8th of January, so we have to pack our brains out! Fortunately, the house we are buying is empty (and clean!), so we we have the option of moving some "stuff" over there before we actually close on it. Meantime, well, things are NUTS!!!

I'll make sure to get everyone my new address (especially my very important secret pal!!!), but again, I want to finish the paperwork before I make it "officially" our new address!!! Oddly enough, we're only moving about 1.5 miles from where we live now, but the change in neighborhood dynamics is HUGE!!!

Ok, enough. I've got paperwork to get back to and packing to finish!! Anyone what to help out? You have my number!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Holding pattern


No news on the house front. We're hoping to hear back from a seller today. Then we can accept the offer from the folks who want our house...otherwise, we're still homeless. I'll post later when I know something. Or, when I know something about the house situation, any way!

Friday, December 15, 2006

BTW


We are 6 months down from LID...our agency told us today to expect a 17 month wait as things stand now. They do expect a speed up, but not until Spring sometime...Bottom line: We know NOTHING.

OMG - offer on our house


Ok, I don't know much, other than Tod and I are post-poning our trip out of town this weekend due to an unfore-seen complication...someone wants to buy our house!!!! We'll get an offer in writing today. And you won't believe this. The person HASN'T even SEEN our house! Not in person anyway. Her agent looked at it yesterday and called her (she is from MD somewhere) and they desided to put an offer out TODAY!!!! She wants it by the first of the year!!!!! WOW! Ok, I'm too excited. I should calm down. And pack. And eat something. And pack MORE... Holy cow.

More later. Promise!!!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Big BIG box

I came home today to find this on my front porch:

This is what it is (although I haven't unwrapped it to see the pattern)

I had a hint that something was coming since the sender(s) (my brother and future SIL) called to tell me "something big" was on it's way. Wow. He wasn't kidding! It also came with a sweet note. It's so awesome. Definitly something I wouldn't have bought myself, since I mainly couldn't afford it (;->) AND thought maybe a stroller wasn't the way to go. But once I saw it, I knew it was perfect!!! Exactly what the "city baby" needs!!! ESPECIALLY since our new neighborhood has actual SIDEWALKS!! I can't wait to take Baby M out in it!!! It's nice and high, so she can see what's going on, and it's sturdy, so it can go anywhere. Thank you thank you!

Monday, December 11, 2006

crazy busy


I haven't been posting b/c I have been INSANELY busy getting our house ready to be sold. That's right. Last week Tod and I found the "house of our dreams", and the same day, chose to get our tiny house on the market. It's a LONG story, but we have to sell our house before we can buy the new one...there's one other offer on the "new" house, and there's a chance we won't get it. BUT, in the mean time, our house is up and out there. I hope it all works out.

Interestingly, Tod and I had been thinking about selling our place and buying a new on for sometime, but we thought we'd wait for about 6-8 months before we went through with it!! But, we happen to find the "perfect" house for us and a mess of kids, sooner rather than later.

I was going to send/post pictures of the "new house", but I'm hesitant until I know more. I'll send/post pix as soon as I feel that we will actually GET the house.

All that said, life has not slowed down any. With x-mas approaching, I've fallen further and further behind on EVERYTHING. Work got 100% put on hold last week (my boss is awesome!), and haven't done anything much except prepare the house for sale. Now, I'm trying to un-bury myself from the piles of "stuff" I need to do. Nearly ALL my social plans were put on hold as well, but Tod and I did take the time Friday to meet with some new friends (also adopting from China with a June LID!!). It was so fantastic to meet like-minded and genuinely cool folks who live near us AND are adopting from China!! We spent over 3 easy housr chatting and we could have easily spent more time with them, but we're all old (LOL) and had to get home to go to sleep. I say this all the time, but I am so lucky to have such great friends. I can't wait to have a HUGE house party to show off the new place. I'll invite all y'all!

Anyway, that's the haps. I'll post more when I actually have something worth posting on!! Meantime, y'all keep in touch!

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Ups and Downs


Another December 5th has come and almost gone. Last year this date was amazing with great news (we were accepted into the China program by CCAI) and amzingly traumatic news (Tod was told he had to have open heart surgery). This December 5th has been traumatic, but not nearly as bad as last year. The house thing is in a holding pattern. For those of you I've spoken to about it, well, you know what's up. I'll call and update more of you this weekend. Mainly, we have to sell our house before we can even think about moving into the "new" house. EEK. I'll speak with our Real Estate Agent tomorrow.

As an aside, work just plain sucked today. I am not going to bore you with details, but it was one of those days I was there ALL DAMN DAY, and busy ALL DAY (not even a lunch break) and STILL somehow I managed to get NOTHING DONE. UG.

More when I find the energy!! This is shaping up to be an insane week...and, it's late, and I'm off to bed. So there.

Friday, December 01, 2006

House hunting...oops

So, how do you accidentally buy a house? Ok, no, calm down, Mom, we DIDN'T actually buy it. Tod and I did look at a house tonight. It was info from a friend of a friend kind of thing. It's a lovely little house!! More on this later. Basically, the best parts are:
  • It's literally within 2 blocks of the #1 Elementary School IN THE COUNTRY.
  • The neighborhood is wonderfully diverse (and I don't mean b/c it is full of drug dealers, gang-bangers, and a Mexican trailer park...like our current one).
  • It has an active (and cool) neighborhood association that gets together to drink and chat once a month (the best part? You can walk home if you drink TOO much!)
  • The shower has that double sided shower thingy going on, so that there are giant shower heads on each side of the tiled shower stall...Need I say more???
So, I'm in love. But not so in love that if it doesn't work I'll be heart-broken...ok, maybe a LITTLE heart-broken, but not TERRIBLY TERRIBLY heart-broken...much.

Looking at more houses tomorrow. Talking to bank next week. Wish us luck!!