EARTHQUAKE

I feel like I have been initiated into California life now because I experience my first earthquake last week. Andy didn't feel anything at work though. It wasn't very strong; I just noticed the bed shaking a little bit. I thought that the dog was leaned up against the bed as he scratched.

Trying to buy a house

So after waiting a month for all of the utilities to be hooked up, we've had all our inspections and appraisal done. There are a few repairs that we have to make (because the bank selling the foreclosed property won't do ANYTHING) before our loan can be funded. So that is happening in the next week. We'll do the other repairs once we close on the house. Our bank has told us that the closing date is September 26, but we are working with them to try to make it happen a little sooner. I think that we wrote our offer on the house on July 15...how crazy!

We would love to be able to move in a beautifully refinished house but have decided that will not be the case. Paying for just under two months of our time and the hotel and the unknown cost of the repairs to our house after the cost of purchasing the home means that our bank account won't be thrilled. So, we've decided to be patient for most of the renovations we would like to do to the house. We'll replace the carpet in the bedrooms before we have our good delivered, but the other flooring will have to wait a little while.

We will be very excited to be able to move in to our house whenever that comes to pass! The house will stay a diamond in the rough for a while but will eventually start to shine.

Gifts for new moms

I've always enjoyed posts on this blog, but this post, Ways to Bless a New Mom, spoke to me since we will soon have a new nephew. We haven't lived close by many family or friends when they have had a baby so we haven't been able to these things for the mothers in our lives. But I have talked to several women who have had a baby. I've heard of wonderful ways they have been helped by other women...food deliveries, childcare, grocery shopping, pick-ups and drop-offs, laundry...

One of the best ideas I've heard was experience by my sister. The family moved to a new city and joined a new church shortly before the baby's birth. When they returned home from the hospital, the ladies of the church had a schedule so that someone dropped off food every other day for several weeks. There was always enough food with each delivery for dinner and leftovers for lunch or another dinner. I thought this was an amazing ministry for the ladies of the church to provide. My sister was able to get to know ladies in the church as well as have meals and fewer groceries to buy.

The author of the blog post, says her wonderful friends would also clean a bathroom before leaving her house. I never thought about how hard it might be get that done...finding the time or energy...and who cares about the dirty bathroom when the baby is crying... I also imagine that it is hard physically to reach all of the different places in a bathroom when recovering from labor. I'm definitely adding this one to my list of things to do for new moms. Sorry Cici that we can't do any of these things for you when Hudson comes home.

our house

The house that we are trying to purchase is on 3 acres in the mountains. It is a farmhouse style house that needs cosmetic updates everywhere. There are some architectural changes that we think we would like to make at some point in the future mostly so that we could have a balcony off the second story (all four bedrooms are located upstairs). This is a picture from one of the bedroom windows, but all of the bedroom windows have a similar view.The views from downstairs are not quite this good, but you can see the arena and horse stalls. Just behind the house (still on the property) is a large hill that has an even more spectacular view. Ideally, we'd like to put some sort of patio up there so that we could enjoy the view.

Buying a house

We put in an offer on a house a little over a month ago. Since then, we have waited for all of the utilities to be hooked up and turned on. Normally that process doesn't take very long, but the bank that owns this foreclosed property is dragging their feet. In an effort to speed things along, Andy has had the water turned on in our name. Although we haven't actually turned the valve to allow the water to flow into the house because when Andy, our agent, and the water technician showed up to the house, they couldn't get into the house. The bank had the locks changed, but the locksmith didn't leave a new key in the real estate lock box. Our agent let the listing agent know that this issue needed to be fixed ASAP. So, the technician left us the tool to switch the water on to the house whenever we want. Unfortunately, we can't do much about the propane. Andy spoke with the propane company a while back. The company was waiting for the bank to return a work order for the property. Finally, the listing agent met the propane worker at the house and couldn't get into the house. Apparently, the lock issue had not been resolved yet. So, another appointment was made with the gas company. Unfortunately, at the appointment, no one showed from the gas company. Who knows when they will get together. It is so frustrating that we can't do a home inspection or assessment until then. Once we are able to get the inspections and assessment done, we can proceed with the purchase; hopefully, that can move more quickly. Since our relocation benefits have ended, we are now on the hook for staying at the hotel and storage of our goods. There goes Andy's paycheck each week :(

I continue to look for new properties in case something goes wrong with the inspections. Unfortunately, I haven't seen much that has been interesting in our price range.

Andy's 30th Brithday

He took off an extra day for his birthday weekend; he had Thursday - Sunday to do whatever he wanted. We went out for lunch on Thursday to one of our favorite restaurants in the area. As we were finishing off our appetizer, he looked up and saw his mother, father, and maternal grandfather walk up to our table. Mary Beth and I had been planning this surprise since before we left Texas. Andy had NO clue that they were coming. After lunch, we showed them the house we are trying to purchase. We met up with more family for dinner. We had a lovely time with them Thursday and Friday. They were able to spend time with other family and friends Saturday and Sunday morning before their flight home.

For his birthday he got some Bose earbuds (LOVES them), running shoes, and some clothes. He claims that 30 feels no different than 29. Hopefully, it not be a big deal for me when I turn 30.

Carmageddon

This weekend is Carmageddon. I don't know if it has been talked about elsewhere in the country, but we hear about it every day. Sometime on Friday the 405 will be completely shut down. Everyone is talking about how bad it will be in LA. We are so thankful that we don't live in LA.

Poor Puppy

Andy and Bandit go for a run most evenings. There is a large field behind our hotel that is perfect for them to use. Andy even lets Bandit off of the leash to chase rabbits. Bandit loves the freedom and the chase! They came home one evening last week and we discovered that Bandit was licking and chewing on his paw. We couldn't really see what happened though because the issue was between one of his toes. We watched it for a couple of days hoping that it would heal up on its own. It didn't. So, we went to a vet yesterday to get it checked out. It turns out that he got a good size cut. They packed the area with some stuff and wrapped it. The dog is not happy with a cone around his head and a back leg encased in bandaging. Since we are in a hotel, he has more small spaces to maneuver. Poor puppy whacks into and scrapes by things. Now his bandage has come about half off. It looks like he has a clown shoe on that foot. So, back to the vet we go tomorrow to get it re-bandaged.

Return of the Civic

We got our car back after several weeks without it. It cost almost $6000 to fix all of the hail damage. We are so thankful that we have an insurance company that is easy to work with. The company that did the repairs even fixed a couple of dings and scratches we've lived with for a couple of years for free. The car practically looks new. Even better than that is having a vehicle at my disposal. Best of all, we now have a vehicle with working AC.

We found a house

It seems like there have been so many times when I've been house hunting online that I see something I think we will love only to find out that it is not available still. Some of my least favorite things to hear are "pending" and "back-up offer". Sometimes the listing will still be "active", but it isn't. Not everyone updates their listings quickly. It's been disappointing to ask about 12 places to find out that only 4 of them are actually still available.

We saw several places on Saturday. It was a good day because there were several that had high quality interiors, lovely views, and space. One was fabulous though because it would only be 10 minutes to Andy's work (opposed to 30 minutes for the others), it is directly across from the largest, nicest park in town, it has one of the best elementary schools in the area, it is finished, and the price was good (our higher end but well worth it). Unfortunately, two offers below the list price had already been put in. Our agent let the seller's agent know that we would offer the list price. I just found out that one of the other offers then jumped at the opportunity to buy the house at the list price. We are disappointed, but know that we still have plenty of time to find something else. I think that it will be hard to find something we like as much so close to Andy's work again.

Back to the drawing board...