inspection

The inspection was this morning. We got there right around 9:30. We left at 12:30. We took photos, but honestly, there is so much crap of the woman we're buying the house from in each one that I don't feel it does the house justice.

I do like two.

The one of Kev in the garden just makes me smile. It was right before he walked through a large spider web we'd been avoiding all morning.

The view of the garden from the kitchen also makes me smile. That will be my view every morning as I sip coffee and eat my bagel. Sigh...

I think I will be mean and wait to post any others until we've signed and her things are no longer taking over the space. It's a great home.

There are only a couple of things we need to have her take care of. One, the oil take needs to be decommissioned (we fear she feels it already was, but there is nothing in file with the city so it needs to really be done) and the sewer line needs to be redone from the house to the street. Her agent seemed to think this would need to be taken care of so we're hoping it won't be a surprise like the tank.

Other than that, nothing huge. This is good.

empty

The linen closet is packed. The only thing left in it is a round, orange cat. I have also packed up the odds and ends left in my sewing room. I'm done for the night. A little each day and it'll be done before we know it. Kev's working close tonight so it's just me in the house. I went to the store and got some much needed kitty litter and figured I would pick up some beer while I was at it. I'm glad I did.

It's a little sad, packing up our first home. It's been a great place for us. We've gotten to be "real adults" setting up house, paying a mortgage, painting the walls whatever color we want. I will miss it. But of course, the new house is NEW and exciting and amazing. It's the dream house I never realized I dreamed about. It's got a little less room on the main floor as we have in our little gem here, but it does have a basement with much possibility. Of course there is already a finished off part which makes us smile. I'm figuring with putting the tv downstairs, I may just not be the potato I can be. I see myself outside, tending to the garden and enjoying the out of doors much more than I do here. I just have to keep pinching myself to make sure this is all really happening.

Kev took Josie over there for a walk on Sunday. He said that there were people out, saying hello to the two of them, smiling. Two kids asked if they could pet Josie (great parenting!!!) and when it was time for he and she to move on they said goodbye in unison. He loves the new area. He said it was like there was an invisible line and as soon as he crossed it, it was quiet. Everyone cares for their houses. They have pride in their lawns and gardens. They are happy and smiling and talking with each other. THAT is what I want. That sense of community.

But what I am most excited for? My family and friends to come over and see the house for the first time. Their reaction. The looks on their faces. THAT is what I'm really excited for. Sure living in the house will be amazing and wonderful and fabulous, I have no doubt. BUT it is the look of "WOW!" that I expect will cross their faces upon first entering that I most anticipate.

I am taking my camera tomorrow with us to the inspection. I will hopefully get some shots that are different than the ones most of you have seen (those who followed the link and plugged in the mls number). I am interested in seeing how much she's already packed up. They had many years worth of things to pack. I wonder if her partner came back or she's just got friends coming to help her.

We'll see tomorrow, how much work she's done.

a whole ant colony

I am wearing a dress today in the hopes of getting rid of that ants in my pants feeling of the past few days. Ever since we got locked in I've been antsy. I want it to be the 17th today. I know it's only three weeks away and that time will go quickly, but I'm ready now. I'm sure that Greg (buyer of our home) is ready for it, too. Even though we close on the littlest gem on the 14th, we are renting back until the 18th. And even though we are closing on the 17th, we're not sure what time and have decided to give ourselves until the 18th to move.

We keep going and looking at the photos. We are planning on taking our camera with us on Wed. so we can get more. I'm wondering if Nancy has started packing yet, like we have. We decided to make the sewing room the box room for the next few weeks. That meant I had to pack it all up. I've just got a few things on the walls and some speakers to box up. Then we can tackle the rest of the house. I can hardly believe we are already packing!

My parents have gotten their tickets to come already. Mom wastes no time! They are here Oct 2-12. This will give us a couple of weeks in the house to paint and such. They'll help rip out a couple of plants outside that cover the front as well as whatever we haven't done inside.

Yeah, the attempt to shake those ants isn't working...work will hopefully get my mind off of everything. Sure.

meet my kitchen

We close on the 17th. We're locked in as of tonight.

This kitchen is the greatest place on earth (besides the garden in the back, but there were no really good photos of it).

If you want to see the rest go to www.hasson.com and type in 7074767 in the mls search.

So, there you have it. Things are really happening. And now, let the sleep begin.

best! sign! ever!

Alia came by this morning to pick Kev and me up to go look at houses. She let me put the sold sticker on the post!!! I'm telling you, it felt great.

We've got some exciting things happening here. Kev loved the one house I was leaning towards the most. We've written something and Alia is faxing it shortly. We are hoping the seller will get back to us tonight, but we've given her two days.

I won't send out the photos of the house yet, or the rmls number. I know, I always say I'm not superstitious, but...

The best thing? We love it more than that house on Long. It's in a quiet hood. It's on a sleepy street. It's close to many great things. We could walk to a great pizza place. I could bike to yoga at Diana's house. It's got an enormous veggie garden already established in the back. The curb appeal isn't there in the photos, the front is covered by shrubs and wisteria vines and a butterfly bush. BUT that means people aren't looking at it online...

So, until we hear anything back, keep those fingers and toes crossed!!!

my brain hurts

Well, I went out this morning with Alia and looked at 15 houses. Two are contenders, two others have potential. Eleven were NO!

I am jazzed about one a bit more than the other contender, but am waiting to see what Kev thinks when we go out tomorrow.

I swear, being a home buyer is so much better than a seller!!! Although I am pleased with how quickly our house sold. In the grand scheme, it's all about pricing correctly for the market, staging well, and burying St. Joseph!

We got the information back from the inspection and only have a few things the buyer is asking us to do. No biggie. Electrician has been called and will be here on the 12th of September in the morning. Contractor will be out soon to take a look at a broken window and check out the furnace flue (?). We are thinking the inspector means the furnace venting pipe, but we've got a call out about that. Not sure. If anyone out there knows what "replace flue" means in a home that does NOT have a fireplace, comment to me baby!!

Okay, must run off to yoga. YEA!

Oh and Becky, not sleeping much better because of work stuff now. :) Here's to hoping everything settles down FAST!!!

on being awake

I just can not sleep. It started with my now normal having to use the bathroom, but it escalated into full fledged wakedom. The air is still tonight, so even with the bedroom windows open it is rather toasty in there. My brain is functioning at warp speed, but has nowhere to go so it keeps stalling out in the middle of thoughts.

I don't remember when I was last this exhausted. Thankfully I have the next two days off work, although searching this city for our next house, as fun as it will be, isn't going to be easy.

So I get myself out of bed and come to the computer. I peruse all my favorite knitting blogs, sad that 95% of my stash is bagged and boxed up at my dear Jill's house. Not that I'd knit anything tonight, but the fact that I can't see and touch it makes me sad. I am working on a couple of things. One still being one I can't talk about because that person sometimes reads this ol' blog. The other is a mystery. I don't know if it will turn into a scarf or a bag of some sort. I'm kind of leaning bag, but honestly...don't think I'd carry it. I love the yarn, it's pretty rad, but it's not a bag kind of yarn. I think more that it would be a cozy scarf, but I only have two balls of it at 50 grams a ball and it's about 10" wide. I suppose I could frog it and make it narrower, but it feels right at that width. I just don't know.

Maybe now I can sleep? I hope. Otherwise it is going to be a long day...

good better best

I just spoke with Charles (my other half at work). I told him how we were going with the thought that the house being so close to the train yards would probably be really loud and we were glad we didn't get it. He said, "Actually, it IS really loud. It's not just trains rushing through, it's the clanking of unhooking and hooking up the cars. People in that neighborhood have lodged complaints to the city about the noise. The city responded with 'the train yard has been there longer than your homes.' So yeah, it IS a good thing."

This makes us feel better than he knows.

So we'll see what IS out there that is the house for us!!! It's exciting all over again...

Thanks for the support, kids! It does not go un-felt!!!

not the one

Well, as much as we wanted that house, the seller went with the "first" offer she got (does she not realize we were the very first offer a month ago?) because she doesn't want to hurt the people who made it.

M'kay.

So, that just means it was not the house for us and we will find the one that is (all before we have to be out of our house). Thankfully Greg (buyer of our house) gave us the option to rent back for 2 weeks. I'm hoping that we don't have to go too far into that 2 weeks...

So, that's the news. Sucky as it is, we're doing well. Feeling like this really is what is supposed to happen.

this post brought to you by the letter a

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

This morning we got word that our house on Long already had an offer on the table. There had been a bit of countering between parties and was waiting for the seller to decide if she wanted to accept the last counter. She was meeting her agent at 12:30 this afternoon.

Alia called in a right state saying we needed to come in and offer full asking price (still well in our comfort zone). And we needed to do it NOW!

Without going into all the details, I was stressed beyond what I thought was possible.

We got the new offer off to Alia, who got it to the selling agent. We included a letter to the seller saying how much like home we felt in her house, among more things. Alia added her own.

We also had our house inspected by our buyer's guy. So that meant getting Diggity out of the house all day. I ended up meeting Greg (the buyer) and instantly liked him as much as I thought I would after reading the letter he wrote us about our house. He felt like someone we would even hang out with...

So I am sitting in the park with Josie, waiting to go home. I'm chatting with Alia. I ask her if it's bad to take J bird home when they are still there. She said I could go and tell them that I needed to get back to work and couldn't take her with me. The guys were all very nice and accommodating. We joked about Simon lounging all day.

However, while in the park, before going back to the house and meeting the guys, Alia tells me that there is a third offer coming in on our house on Long tonight. WTF?!?!?

So, we added an escalator clause saying we'd go to X number of dollars over the highest offer, but not to exceed X amount. We're still in our comfort zone if this has to happen. The good thing, the third offer is being made by a new, less experienced agent AND the lender is not someone the selling agent has ever even heard of. We are with Wells Fargo and considering many lenders have gone under recently...this is good. He tells us our offer is the strongest.

So there we have it. We are supposed to find out tomorrow if our offer will be the one accepted. I still feel like it's home. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I'm so tired.

boost

It was just yesterday morning when I was screaming into my phone to my friend Reagan that "the only way this *ing week will be any better is if I get a *ing offer on my house!!!"

Last evening, Chris brought his client back to look at the house again (they'd been by on Tuesday to look at it). Alia called right after Kev called to make sure I could get Digs out. We laughed about how the cats hated me (they both used the potty box RIGHT before I was heading out the door...Simon even pooped, the jerk). She kept saying, "just make it as cool as you can inside because it's HOT outside..." Yeah, that's not possible when it's 96 degrees out there and 83 inside.

Josie and I drove around, went to the park, called my parents. I was calm. I'd gotten worked up about second viewings in the past. I was tired and didn't want to waste the energy. Although deep down I think I knew this was the one.

Alia called about an hour or so after they left the house (they were here at least 20 minutes) saying they were at Chris's office and they were writing up an offer!!! My heart sang! But I responded with "cool."

This morning she dropped by with the offer. The money was spot on what we'd been planning. The time frame for the inspection, a little long (10 days). We countered with 7 days for the inspection. It's tomorrow at 1:30. Um yeah, I think Greg wants the house!

We are putting another offer in on the house we looooooove (you remember, the one we offered and they rejected and then lowered it by 15,000?!). So I am having to remember to stop and take deep breaths every so often.

Keep fingers crossed and thank St. Joseph for all he did!!! I loves me some St. Joe!!!

a good stiff drink

Last night I am beginning to do some laundry when my phone rings. It's the annoying ring. You know, the one that indicates it is someone from work?

One of our employees telling me she can no longer work for us. Effective immediately. Um, she was scheduled to work TODAY. I understand she's got health issues. I don't doubt that she's not been feeling great, however wouldn't you think she could work the following day? She called me at 7:20. Many hours after her shift ended yesterday.

So we are dealing with that fire. We've, thankfully, hired two more people. They both start training tomorrow. One with me, the other at another location. I ended up going in a bit today (which both of the newbies noted was supposed to be my day off). I'm tired. I'm going to be working 6 day weeks for the next month or so. Thankfully, my boss knows that we work hard for him (Chas and myself) and I don't think this is going un-noted in his mind.

Somebody kill me. OR get someone to buy my house because THAT is the one thing that could really give me a boost right now.

buried

I had originally nestled St. Joseph in a potted plant out front. In the "directions" that were included in the home selling kit it indicated you didn't have to bury him, as long as you believed it would help you.

After speaking with a few friends (both of whom are Jewish) they both buried him, facing away from the house, I decided this morning to go ahead and follow their lead. I said a little prayer and asked him to help sell my house.

The people who walked through yesterday loved it. It is on their short list (according to their agent). St. Joe...help me please.

diggity has lost her mind and other random orts

I'm sitting in the office (aka sewing/knitting room) and can hear Josie snorting and scratching her back along the bed. She is nuts. She's in the stage where if I look at her, even with a blank look, she gets nuts-o because she thinks we are going somewhere. Not unless someone calls to look at the house darlin'.

Speaking of the house (cuz when am I not these days?) Alia sent out an email to every agent who has brought someone through the place asking what they thought, what stood out as great and not so great. One agent has replied already. She said it has cute curb appeal, except for the old garage door and siding "cheapened" the look. I can totally understand. Two things we didn't love about it, but once we got inside we adored it. She did think that it was decorated wonderfully, though! :)

The agent who showed the house last night, last name is Butterworth. I kid you not.

I packed up eleventy billion pairs of shoes today to be sent back to a vendor on Monday. Okay, more like 13 cases, but it felt like eleventy billion by the time I'd taken price tags off and made sure each of the shoes in the box were friends and what the box said they were. Chas will be happy to know that we don't have to schlep all of them to our downtown store (where we do all the shipping from). Our UPS guy at the new store (where we have more space, ergo where the cases are) will check in on Monday to see if they are ready for pick up.

Josie is stalking me. Every time I turn around and look at her, she starts wiggling at me. I know if I get up, she's going to get a bit nuttier than she already is. Help me.

It is only 2:40 in the afternoon and I could go to sleep. I don't like the stress of selling a house. It makes me not able to get a good nights sleep. Somebody, buy my house!

when will i learn to listen?

I had just laid down with the 4th Harry Potter book (am starting from the beginning and rereading the whole series) and was happily reading away. It was about 4:30. My phone rang. My friend Rachel invited me to a cookout and then to watch her brother play kick ball. I was in!

I get to Rachel and Aaron's house before loading up into their car to head to her bro's house in NoPo (North Portland). I thought, before getting into their car, "I should really drive...might have to get the dog out." Did I listen? NO!

We are there not even five minutes when my phone rings. Of course I can get the dog out so you can take your clients in...give me 25/30 minutes to get my car so I can get my dog.

Aaron and I had a blast going back to their house so I could pick up my car and go get Josie out. I'd had a brilliant thought to call our friends who live around the corner, but then she remembered we'd taken their spare back...bah!

I got to the house, called the agent (as we'd agreed I would do once I got digs out) and told him I'd procured the dog. Josie and I walked around the park for a while and then jumped back in the car to go home. They were still in the house. Okay, wait down the block and watch the house. Drive by the house. See Timothy (buyers agent). Drive back down the block and park.

Finally they come out and they wave as they drive by.

Alia invited me to see The Breakfast Club in a park, but after kick ball I was tired, had to pee, and wasn't dressed for it (it's cold here!!!).

So when am I going to learn to listen to that inner guide?!

bah, once again

So I get a call last night from Kevin. I don't check the voice mail, instead I call him back. He says that someone wants to see the house between 7 and 7:30, could I be there? Jill and I say YES! We already know the bed wasn't made because we'd stopped by to feed the cats earlier so we leave her house at about 6:15. She makes the bed (best. friend. ever!) while I pick up stuff and run the vacuum a couple of places. We spray the hell out of the bathroom with the neutralizing spray Alia gave us. We open a few windows to air it a bit before shutting them and heading to the park with Josie.

We walk and walk and walk. It is finally about 7:20 and we decide to zip by the street to see if there are any cars out front. Nope. Jill runs inside to look for new business cards (the sign that they've come and gone). Nope. We go back to the park, load Josie in the car and park down the block facing our house so we can see if someone comes.

They never show.

We wait until about 7:45. By this time I've called Kevin and gotten what we think is the agents phone number. It is the office she works out of.

Jill and I get Josie back inside, feed her and give her the rest of her stick before heading back to Jill's house for the pizza that is now room temp (we'd ordered it right before heading to the house).

I am thankful for good friends like Jill who are willing and even excited about going to my house to help me pick up the few things that need to be. Even when there is pizza on its way to her house. I can not imagine life without my dear friend. I'm glad we followed her here so many years ago. :)

The thing that really annoys me? The agent didn't even call to say that they were A. running late, B. not coming, or C. needing to reschedule.

Common courtesy, where art thou?

manjam. really?

Got a resume this morning from someone with the surname Manjam. Yeah, after reading the things he's done, hoax. Has to be. I mean his objective is: "intensify and diversify my goal-driven procedures for actuating my definitive internal paradigm"

I have to say that on his list of jobs my favorite is:

"Nigiri Wrangler" which duties included "slicer, dicer, ricer" all as bullets.

However, I think it was the "personal physician to the President of Uganda" that really put it over the top.

If it's not a hoax, he may need to rethink his approach. If it is, he may want to rethink his mission in life. However it did give me a laugh. I can't want to show Chas.

another reason

I love my dog.

It is 3:00 AM. Sassy (dog next door who is outside most of the time) starts barking and barking and barking. She stops after about 5-10 minutes.

Josie gets up and lays by my side of the bed.

It is now 3:30 AM. Sassy starts up again. It's not an aggressive somebody is trying to get into my yard kind of bark. Just a bark for barks sake. I yell her name out the window. She lets one more out and then stops for the rest of the night.

Josie, just lays there looking at me.

I love my dog.

bah

I was told yesterday by an employee that she was quiting. No big deal, we can handle it. We understand...she's going back to school after she gets back from a fabulous European vacation. Today, I get told by a different employee that she, too, is quiting. Excuse my language Mom and Dad...but fuck me!

It was a day we were going to go get keys from someone, telling her that her time with us was coming to an end. Yeah, scratch that idea real quick...bah!!! I don't know when I will ever really have a "normal" schedule again. I've posted listings for three positions on craigslist. We've gotten three applicants already respond. I've got two interviews set up, the third failed to respond to my last email. Since we only posted two yesterday and one just today I feel pretty good about getting three responses thus far.

It will be interesting, how this all plays out. At least it happened after we got back from Vegas, right?

I've got an hour and a half left before heading to my friend's birthday party. I will be drinking wine tonight. I've already told Kevin this. Thankfully I am not working the floor tomorrow, but we are having an all staff meeting that I must attend. Hell, I'm leading part of it.

Give me strength, for everything in my life right now.

back

St. Joe is hanging out on our kitchen counter as I type. I got him when I was in Vegas. I will bury him tomorrow (my day off). It is interesting because the little leaflet that came with him says there are different beliefs when it comes to St. Joe. Bury him facing the house, facing away, upside down, in the East corner, or simply have him in the house. The most important thing, it reads, is to believe he will help you sell your home. :) That makes me smile. Kev says THAT is where he has a problem...the believing. I know I've said in the past that I'm not a superstitious person and here I am burying St. Joseph to help sell my home...it just makes me smile. I'll take any help I can right now.

I know that selling a house can take a long time. I'm okay with this. However, since we have found a home that we want very badly, it is making me anxious and nauseated.

But now onto my first day back from Vegas. Found a dead body in the store. Not a human, but not as small as a mouse...a rat. We got a call when we were standing in the lobby of the MGM before heading to the airport yesterday. Jessica informed us that there was rat activity, chewed napkins, poop, etc. She'd not seen the rat (which I told her we should name Roy). No, that was left for me.

I was coming around the counter to put some shoes back in the store room. I happened to look down at the floor and what should I see under a rack of shoes, Roy. Skin crawled. I freaked out, pulled in the sign saying we were open, turned the sign on the door to "shut" and called Ahmed. He came and was my knight in shining armor. I am hoping Roy (who we realized should have been named Rosetta) was a loner. But often times you don't have that luxury.

So today I will go into the store and work and just not think about it...instead I'll work on kids orders for spring/summer 08, read a bit of the first Harry Potter (I'm starting from the beginning now), and sell tons of clogs!

vegas blogging

7.29.2007

Blogging from Vegas, baby!

It is our first night in town. I’m down about $20. No biggie. I only brought $40 with to waste on the slots and the roulette wheel. I’ve walked far too far in newish shoes (I’ve walked all over Portland in my new sandals with no problem). I have blisters on the bottom of my feet. Thankfully I brought flip flops with that are really comfortable. I do believe that they will be fine tomorrow and the blisters will be gone (they aren’t huge). Sadly there has been chaffing where chaffing shouldn’t be. But I won’t discuss that…

It all stems from the flipping heat. But it IS a desert.

The house was shown both yesterday (twice) and today (once). It gives me hope that it will still go earlier than the average time on the market for SE Portland.

But I’m NOT going to write about that now. However, if internet connection cost less than $13 a DAY, I’d be blogging LIVE! from Vegas. Instead, I will blog when I feel like it and actually post it when I am home in cool, comfortable Portland.

We’ve got busy days coming up. I’ve got four meetings set up tomorrow. Two with kids companies, one with our local handbag maker and one with a clog company. It should be a tiring day. Hopefully the chaffing will not be a problem, nor the blisters.

Until tomorrow…

7.30.2007

Well, today was rather busy. Four appointments to view shoes and handbags. It went rather well, I would say. Between the first two and the last two I got a call from Alia. The people who toured the house yesterday supposedly want to see it again tomorrow. She sounded very positive (she always does). I was jumping around and looking like the complete fool, but making everyone in the VIB room smile (very important buyer). My companions all thought we’d gotten an offer. When I said that it was just a second viewing they all laughed about what my reaction to an offer will look like. We’ll see when that times comes.

So tonight we have the opening night show. Stevie Nicks and Hall and Oats. Not my favorite (Stevie) but it should prove to be fun. We’ll see if I can consume my weight in booze beforehand…okay, not really. Well, the group is waiting so off I go!

8.1.2007

Just in after an evening of great food and better booze. I had just gotten off the phone while in my room when Wendy, Ahmed’s wife, called me. I decided to meet her downstairs (assuming she and I would sit in front of a penny slot machine). I had half a margarita and was done. I’d already had three and a half. She and I had several moments where we talked about Ahmed and his kindness. I told her that I go mamma bear on new staff, warning them of taking advantage of his kindness. I think it gave her a sense of calm. I love my job. I love my boss. I love feeling secure.

I don’t want to talk of the gambling. I don’t want to think about the drink…in fact, I’m out.

8.1.2007---

later the same day:

It was a rough morning today. A bit rougher than I’d thought it would be. We made great time at the show and got in with our vendors earlier than our scheduled appointments. I ate the best burger for lunch and felt human again. I normally am not a heavy drinker. Hence the rough morning.

I don’t want to write about all that though. No fun. Wendy and I hit the roulette table again this afternoon and I am happy to say I’m leaving this town with more money than I came with. Nice feeling. My bags are also about 20 pounds heavier as well, but that’s from all the catalogs I have to take home with me. It’s the only thing about these events that is annoying to me. However I think my stack is smaller this go around.

We’re already thinking ahead to the next show in February. Wendy is planning our hotel (it won’t be the MGM again). She’s also said that if the opening night act isn’t good we’ll go see Ka (a Cirque du Soleil show). I’ve seen the “making of” documentary on the in house channel and it looks amazing.

So it’s 8:00 pm, I’m in my night shirt and I think I’m going to go crawl into bed and watch silly tv. I’m beat.

8.2.07

Just back from a lovely breakfast with Wendy and Chas. Finally, good coffee was found. This hotel has nothing but Staryucks on their premises. However the buffet was different. This made me happy. It’s the first morning I’ve woken and actually feel awake…kind of.

I am looking forward to getting home, showing Jessica what kids styles I saw and am interested in getting for the store. We’ll have an appointment with one of our vendors when back in Portland because their line sheet is the worst. It is simply drawings, not photographs. So I made notes on the styles I think are pretty great and we’ll get her opinion.

I guess the house showed three times when I was gone over the five days. Not bad, I’d say. Although I think Kev and I are ready for it to sell. The keeping it clean thing was tough on him. I think he now realizes all that I do around there to keep it show ready. Maybe he’ll pitch in even more to help me out. I’m not sure we were expecting the kind of foot traffic we’ve gotten. I’m not complaining, but it would be nice if one of the people who walked through would, oh I don’t know, want to buy it!?! I know it will happen. I know that we’ll be making another offer on our house soon. I’m feeling lucky.