Craft Room - Complete and in Use

So, I worked to complete my craft room from the moment we moved in, but it ended up taking a lot longer to complete than anticipated (almost five months). I still don't think it's quite done yet, I would love a row of white boards above my cork boards, but it is functional. My sewing machine and crafting supplies are hidden in the shelves to the back left and right, the closet, and the two-drawer filing cabinet usually tucket between the bed and white shelf as an end-table for guests (in the picture at the top you can see it next to the desk because I had to move the bed more into the center of the room).

The bed folds from a twin daybed into a king sized bed for guests. My parents tried it out in October and loved it. I was a little worried that it wouldn't be comfortable when pulled out, because the mattresses are a bit on the thin side, but apparently that was not a problem. We've also had several people crash overnight. So it definitely serves its purpose as a guest room admirably.

As for crafting, I have started several sewing projects in there to date. The first of which was a new pair of pajama pants for my DH, which he loves! I'm currently working on a crib quilt for a friend of mine (pictures of that to follow in the next few days, because I need an opinion on how to finish the edging around the jungle animals.)

Craft Room Frustration

 

So with the new house, I have an official craftroom that our cat is not allowed in. It's painted a beautiful green, and all of the stuff in the room is white or natural wood (pictures to come). But there's still something missing. Right now I'm working on a rickety brown card table until we have the time, energy, and money to buy the white shelf/desk set and 2-drawer white filing cabinet that I've had my eye on at IKEA for a while now.




But even when I can envision that furniture in the space, there's just something missing. Part of it is the perpetually closed door, the lack of a cute kitty following me wherever I go, the fact that it's the coldest room upstairs, and it kind of echoes. I really think I need a nice plush rug on the floor (I'm thinking green, maybe something like the one on the right). Maybe I need some pictures on the walls, maybe I just need another spot of color (I'm thinking lavender or red). Whatever it is, I currently avoid that room like it's my job, and that's sad considering I've wanted a craft room for ages. I'm hoping finally having the shelf and desk in there will help, but who knows. My husband thinks it's silly that I'm not using the room I was so excited about when we moved in. But I just can't explain to him what's bugging me until I figure it out for myself.

Longer Post to Come

We've been quite busy these last few weeks with various things. Primarily getting everything unpacked and situated, having a housewarming party, getting some new furniture and setting it up, watching our garden grow, and planning for the future.

Right now my hard drive is not occupying its usual space in my computer, which is why I haven't posted anything in a while. I ordered a new hard drive, but found out it wasn't the right kind, so now I have to wait for the bridging piece to get here. I could just put the old hard drive back in, but I really just want to be done with that piece of crap and think about the new one and my reformated computer.

Hopefully a longer post will follow soon (with pictures).

One last freak out?

So we received notice today from the mortgage company how much money we would have to bring to closing. No surprises there, in fact it was slightly less than anticipated. However, the next part of the sentence stopped me in my tracks and threw me into a major panic, "and needs to be a certified check or wire!" Umm, why would you tell us that 1 business day before the closing? It's not like Monday counts, it's a federal holiday, the banks will be closed. How fucking stupid are you? Remember, first time homeowners... wtf! So I sent the woman an email back asking why she couldn't have told us that a few or two ago? She managed to misunderstand what I meant so I spelled it out for her. Could you have told us we needed a certified check or wire transfer from the bank holding our down-payment money... a few weeks ago?

Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but let me elaborate. Our down-payment money is happily sitting in the bank... in Michigan! We are buying a house in Washington, DC! Our bank in Michigan does not have a local branch, which is why we finally looked for a new bank a few months ago. If I'd known a few weeks ago, I would have just cut myself a check from the MI to the DC bank and gotten that certified check or wire transfer no problem. And I checked with our DC bank, a check was not going to clear by Tuesday morning. Then I checked with the MI bank, they don't do wire transfers. But they could overnight a certified check to us, but no guarantees it would get there in time either (especially with the way our mail services drags around here).

Finally my hubby came up with the perfect solution, have my father-in-law pick up the check and bring it with when he drives to DC on Sunday. So, I wrote a letter to the bank asking them to process a certified check and release it to my father-in-law, ran down to the bank on the corner and got it notarized, ran back to work and faxed it to the bank, and then kept calling the bank to try and get the manager on the phone I'd talked to previously to make sure he'd gotten my fax. I kept getting his voice mail. My father-in-law called me to tell me that he needed to pick up the check that day instead of the next day, because he was going to my sister-in-law's place which is an hour out of town. And he and my brother-in-law had planned on leaving right from there. So I tried calling the bank manager again, still no answer. Finally I called my father-in-law to ask if my brother had dropped off the stuff my mom wanted my in-laws to take to DC, and he told me that the check was in his car. Why couldn't someone call me and tell me it was taken care of? I hate banks.

So, yet another crisis averted. But I might go gray by the time we sign our paperwork.

On the utilities front, I sent an online form to Pepco asking them to start service on Tuesday. The automated response email said a representative would contact me in the next FIVE days! We need it turned on asap, not in five or more days. Crap. Then I called the gas company, they just wanted me to set up an account, but the service is already on and will remain on. Next I called the water and sewer company, but the office wasn't open and won't be until Tuesday, so I guess I'll have to pray that they either a) didn't interrupt service or that they b) can start service quickly. Next stop, Comcast for our internet. No problem there to move it from our current residence to the new house. But because I didn't know when we'd have electricity, I decided to make our appointment for Friday to give Pepco some extra time to get back to me.

In happier more exciting news, my mother-in-law is sending several plants with my father- and brother-in-law for our garden. I'm so happy at the thought that I get to dig in dirt and make our yard something beautiful and peaceful. I've never had a yard of my own to take care of. I don't even know if I'll be a good gardener. I guess we'll find out.

To Do List

Only the bottom boxes have stuff in them so far.

Closing Date: 5/31/11

To Do List before then: seemingly endless!

Eric putting together boxes

For a small sample:

1) pack up four floor-to-ceiling bookshelves worth of books [most double rowed] as well as the rest of the stuff in our 1-bedroom apartment

2) turn off water and internet

3) turn on trash, recycling, water, electricity, gas, and internet at the new place

4) cancel renter's insurance [we're getting some money back from that, so that's a plus]

5) make a list of stuff we want the in-laws to bring from Michigan

6) figure out how the apartment complex handles last month's rent [I know they pro-rate if it's not a full month, but I don't know if they want the full amount up front and then reimburse us for the difference or if they just want a check for the pro-rated amount]

Sir decided to help by boxing himself up.

 7) change address at 2 banks and on numerous other things like our phone bill and car insurance, and forward our mail from the apartment

8) measure the rooms and pick out paint colors

9) start planning a house warming party

10) start making plans for the garden

11) figure out a list of needs and wants for the new house and prioritize [we're going to be fairly poor after the closing costs come out of our accounts]



Modest progress



My goal is to keep a pretty acurate picture log of before and after shots of our house.

We're Buying a House

After several interminable days of waiting (we sent the appraisal notice to the seller on Thursday and heard back today), we found out that the seller is willing to accept the appraised value as the sales price. But she is not willing to pay $5,000 towards the closing costs. I did a bit of quick math and with the reduced down payment and figuring in the Earnest Money Deposit, we should be just fine! I'm waiting on our loan officer to send us a new estimated closing cost sheet, but I'm fairly positive that my estimate is going to be very close.

Between the original negotiated value and seller subsidy, and the reduced sales price, she's come down $20,000 from what we originally offered!

So we close on the 31st and we're already planning on what needs to happen when. The day of the closing, we're getting everything ready to paint and starting to move our stuff over. The day after the closing we're going to paint and move most of our big stuff over. Hopefully both my mom and the in-laws will be here to help with the move. My biggest concern is the cat. I don't know how he's going to handle the move. I do know that I'm going to need a second litter box with three floors worth of space. And it's going to be hilarious seeing him race up and down stairs.

And the thing I'm looking forward to the most? The dishwasher and gardening!

Appraisal... I hate you!

So, we found out today that our appraisal came in low. It's the thing I had completely forgotten about, I wasn't worried about it, or anything. And now it comes in low. And not just $5000 under, $25,000 under the price we negotiated. I haven't gotten any answers from our realtor or our loan officers, but if our FHA loan isn't willing to cover anything over the appraised value, we might not be getting a house. We can't afford to pay the difference out of pocket, we just don't have that money. We can barely cover the closing costs and down-payment. This is completely fucked up!
In other news, I stayed home sick today with the worst stomach ache in history. And I ended up sleeping most of the day until our realtor called to tell me about the appraisal.

Termite and Home Inspection

We had our termite and home inspection on Saturday. The termite inspection didn't turn up any problems, except some un-baited termite traps set around the house.

The home inspection didn't turn up any major issues, just a few minor issues. One thing that might be in issue in the future but isn't one right now is the air conditioner. It's beyond its useful life, but it's still trucking along. There also seems to be some water dripping down into the electrical fuse box and the bottom of the box is corroded, but the wire in the box itself is fine. So just a few minor issues, we're going to ask the home owner to fix the electrical fuse box, and I guess we'll see if she agrees or not.

We're both so excited about the house now. The last hurdle is whether or not we get our loan. And right now that's a huge question mark. We brought some paint samples, and talked about what colors we wanted in which room.

My mother is going to come and help us move and paint. And Eric's parents and maybe his younger (not little) brother may come as well. I'm really hoping everything goes smoothly so we can see them. I really want to see my mother, and I saw my family in February, and Eric hasn't seen his family since last September. So this is proving to be a catalyst to see them all again. My father is also talking about driving down mid June.

Our offer was accepted!!!!!!!

Source in bottom right corner

So, the above picture is roughly how I feel right now. Light, happy, a few butterflies. Our realtor called this morning and said "I hate to say this, but you were right." I asked him why, and he said, "the seller accepted your offer without making a counter-offer." I was stunned. I had fully expected her to counter our offer, because we sent her an offer that was $10,000 below list price AND we had asked for a $5,000 seller subsidy on top of that. So technically we're getting the house for $15,000 under list price.

I was at work at the time, otherwise I might have done a happy dance right then and there. And luckily, as if he knew what was going on, Eric had just signed on to AIM, so I didn't even have to try to wake him up via phone call [an impossibility, especially when his phone is in the other room.... whereas I wake up to a phone call or text message even if the phone is in the farthest corner of our apartment from our bed]. He also couldn't believe it for a few minutes. And then it hit us, we're officially under contract for our house! The house I've been mentally moving into and gardening in since I first saw the place. It's going to be ours!!!!!! [Pending an inspection, appraisal, loan application, and all of the many other tasks looming ahead of us prior to our closing on the 31st of May, but really, who's thinking about those things... well, ok, that would be me].

My mother has already offered to come help us move in, paint, and get the garden started. Right now (if you'll remember my previous post) the yard is one empty rectangle of lawn. My in-laws have expressed similar interests, and I told them that they were more than welcome to come visit and help once my mother has vacated the guest room. She has dibs, because she's been planning to come help ever since we started talking about finding a house.

Hopefully, I'll be able to keep this thing updated now that I have something so exciting to write about. Here's wishing myself good luck. :)

Waiting!

So yesterday I finally got an answer about a few last questions we had about the offer. I sent our realtor all the paperwork and we've officially submitted our offer. So kind of scary, but also extremely exciting. I'm already mentally gardening and moving in. I started packing in my mind while looking at our living room last night. But I hate waiting for something to happen! I want to know. I'm thinking the seller will come back with a counter-offer, but I want to know.

In other, more geeky news, the printer I ordered on Sunday arrived yesterday. It's an all-in-one, large format (it prints 12"x12" paper) wireless Brother printer. It's huge! And the box it came in was even bigger. But I got it out of the box and got it set up. Our wireless internet stopped working a few weeks ago, so we haven't been able to use our Wii to watch Netflix. And the printer couldn't find our wireless network either. So I finally figured out what was wrong with it. Our router's wireless was turned off. I'm not sure how it happened, but I turned it back on, and our network popped up again. I got the printer onto our wireless network and printed a test page from my computer via the wireless network. I was so happy and felt so wonderfully nerdy! That also means I'll be able to watch Netflix while playing on my computer. It's funny how the little things in life make such a difference.

One of the biggest reasons I'm so excited about moving into a house of our own is that I'll finally have a craft room to which I'll be able to shut the door and just leave my projects laying out whenever I want. Leaving out my projects usually leads to me actually finishing or at least continuing to work on them. The problem is that our cat has a love afair with paper and plastic. He has chewed up several photos before I finally became wise to his ways. Another thing a craft room with a door will accomplish is that I will have a place to put houseplants without having to fear for them disappearing in between my cat's teeth. Eric insisted on buying a large potted palm at our local Giant the other day, on the theory that the cat wouldn't be able to destroy it all in one day. So far he's been proven correct.

A Week of Ups and Downs

This week has had some crazy highs and some depressing lows. It all started on Sunday, well, really it started as soon as I had sent this Sunday's list of houses to our realtor. I was so convinced that we would find something this weekend, because I felt like a we had a great set of choices in this batch, at least from what I could see in the pictures. They were all comfortably in our price range, they all had at least 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

My sister, DH and I took the Metro across town and ended up in Suitland, MD, which is the second to last stop on the green line (for all of you who are familiar with DC). The very first house we looked at was in a quite, safe-feeling neighborhood with lots of green space and a tennis court. The house itself was a foreclosure, but the bank had put in all new carpets and painted all the walls white. I really wish every home owner would do this when trying to sell their house, because it is so nice to start with a clean slate instead of some of the garish or just plain hideous colors, wallpaper, and carpets we've seen to date. Or if you have hardwood floors, rip out that old carpet and get them refinished.

Anyway, the first house was a split level, and part of what attracted us to the place so much was that it had a deck, it would have taken just enough work that we could put our own stamp on it without spending a ton of money or even really NEEDING to do anything right away (i.e. it was move-in ready), it was the brightest and happiest place I'd ever been in (part of that was due to the sunlight streaming in every window), and it had a finished basement that was just as light and airy as the rest of the house. Oh yeah, and it had three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. One on every floor. As far as I could tell, the only downside was that the stairs were a bit scary because the upstairs stairs and the basement stairs overlapped with only a wobbly banister in between a fall of several feet (I'm scared of heights).

We measured, we sketched, my sister and my DH went through the whole house with a very critical eye (my sister is way more critical than I could ever be). Then we looked at the other 7 houses. Some of them were complete duds, one of them was gorgeous on the inside but had no curb appeal, had weird wires trailing along the front of the house, and was in a neighborhood where I did not feel safe, and one of them had potential but potential that would have cost a lot more than we were willing to spend plus again with the sketchy neighborhood. As far as I can tell, Suitland seems to be very hit or miss when it comes to the individual neighborhoods.

So that evening the three of us went out for dinner and discussed the pros and cons of the first house in detail. We discussed the furniture my mother had offered to give us (a piano and couch set my parents have had for years) and if or how it would fit into the house. The repairs we wanted to make. I was mentally moving in. I called our realtor to let her know we wanted to put in an offer and didn't hear back from her until the next day. She told us that the bank had received several offers on the house and was no longer accepting any more. I was completely crushed. I felt like crying, I felt like nothing was ever going to be good or wonderful again. Our house would never be ours. I told DH and he was equally crushed. After much consolation, I finally started to see that there might be some good to be gleaned from the situation. Like the fact that we knew which neighborhood to look in now. And I proceeded to look for every house in our price range and with our specifications in that same neighborhood.

On Tuesday, DH had an interview. He is currently a line cook, working for an upscale restaurant. He had a chance to interview for an executive chef position and was told to pitch his idea for the restaurant. The restaurant doesn't even exist yet, it's literally an empty shell. We'd both worked on the idea for days, he focusing on the food, I focusing on the design. We made visuals, I gave him pep talk after pep talk, and I waited anxiously to hear back about how the interview had gone. They loved it! They loved his idea and even went and grabbed the blueprints of the restaurant to show to him. And they wanted him to send them a whole menu (he'd come up with a few dishes to show them the direction he wanted to take things). So we worked on that after he came home on Wednesday and were both so elated when he sent it off this morning.

Then I got the news that our realtor wanted to stop working with us. All legitimate reasons: too far of a commute to look at houses, didn't know the areas we were looking in, kept getting lost, potential jury duty at the end of the month, etc. I'm probably the world's most insecure person, because my first thought was... did I do something wrong? Was I too pushy? Did I expect too much? Then I became angry... was our price point not high enough for her? It's not like I wasn't completely upfront about our price, the locations we wanted to look in, our expectations, our past experiences with realtors and all of that. She at least said she would refer us to a couple who does work in the areas we're interested in, so hopefully we won't lose too much time.

On top of everything, I've been sick since Thursday, and I haven't been able to sleep well due to constant coughing fits while lying flat. Quite frankly these lows and highs, this emotional rollercoaster is making me feel exhausted. Enough already.

The House Hunt Continues

Since we went to look at 8 condos and houses yesterday, I'll give you a quick summary first.
Condo #1: Immediate no, because of the price. It's almost double what the other condos in the same building cost and it doesn't even have a balcony or anything else that would make it stand out.
Condo #2: On the top floor. View of the parking lot instead of the green space behind the building, but otherwise nice looking. Updated kitchen.
House #1: Middle of three rowhouses, foreclosure, fixer upper, potential mold/roof leakage problem. Finished basement.
House #2: Couldn't get inside because the key was missing.
House #3: Immediate no. Floors uneven, layout haphazard at best. Most of the appliances missing.
House #4: Quiet area, park across the street, couldn't see all of the rooms.
House #5: Duplex, fenced backyard, foreclosure, fixer upper, new appliances, potentially dangerous walk from the Metro.
House #6: Immediate no, major structural/foundation problems (huge cracks in almost every wall), too big for the two of us.


Condo #2


Condo #1 was such an immediate no, that I didn't even bother to take any pictures. Although the kitchen had a nice big window, it lacked the storage space I had come to expect from looking at the first condo in the building. It also had no balcony, which I felt was a major crime. Plus the price was almost double what any of the other condos were going for.

Condo #2 was on the top floor of the building. It looks like it has brand new laminate wood floors (looks like hardwood but isn't), the kitchen and bathroom are nice, the furnace room doesn't look atrocious. There are a few potential issues, like cracks along one of the ceilings, broken doors, and haphazard molding, but all in all nothing a few extra bucks and some elbow grease couldn't fix. And the price is good. The appliances in the kitchen also look to be new and I love the tile work in the kitchen and the bathroom.


House #1


House #1 is a bank owned fixer upper with some black mold and potential roof leakage issues. It would definitely need an investment of ready cash, a brand new kitchen with all new appliances, a new washer/dryer, and various cosmetic touches to make it livable. The price leaves us some wiggle room to do that, however. It's in a quite neighborhood, about halfway in between the two Metro stops we're looking around. One of the bedrooms upstairs has part of the ceiling pulled out and the insulation laying on the floor is covered in black mold. I'm not sure if it's a bathroom pipe leakage problem, which should be fixable, or a roof leakage problem which could easily put us over budget very quickly.

I see a lot of potential there, but also a lot of work and money invested. It also doesn't have a driveway which worries me a bit. One plus side is that there were at least three nice cars standing on the street in front of the house, so maybe parking in the street isn't as much of a problem as I think it is. It had a nice fenced yard too, long and narrow, but perfect for a dog. The basement is finished too and has a small bathroom with a shower. We could potentially rent it out as a basement apartment (it has a stove) or just put guests down there when they come to visit.


House #3

 House #2 we couldn't even get into, since the lockbox key was missing. The yard looked nice though and it had a dog run in the back.

House #3 was a definite no. It looked promising from the front and even at first glance from the side entrance. However, most of the appliances were missing, the beautiful hardwood floors in the living or dining room looked more like a rollercoaster ride than a floor, the floor in the one bedroom bounced when you stepped on it, and the layout of the place was attrocious. Upon a further look, we saw holes in the foundations and the glass door in the back was smashed on one side.


House #4

 Before we could go look at House #4, my sister texted me to say that she was at the metro stop. We went to go get her, but she'd already walked to our apartment. So we met up with her there, dropped off her luggage and then took her with to look at the remaining houses. The house was on a dead end, across from a park, so the location was nice. Unfortunately, both neighbors had clutter in their yard, like they had so much stuff inside that they were spilling out onto the lawn. That was a bit off-putting. The house itself had no basement, but it did have a yard and a driveway. No dishwasher though and we couldn't look at all of the rooms because they were locked. There were also people at home, which always puts me on edge. The price does give us some wiggle room to make changes, but I'm not sure there aren't surprises hidden in the rooms we didn't get to see.

House #5

House #5 was by far my favorite. My sister liked it too and so did DH (I think, he's not very vocal about that kind of thing, but he seemed to like the yard and stuff). It's a foreclosure and definitely a fixer upper. But the price gives up a lot of room to play. It has new windows and new appliances in the kitchen (they haven't even been hooked up). It needs a major kitchen overhaul and the upstairs bathrooms has some mold issues (but they appear to be minor). It does have to be completely redone though (the bath that is). The three bedrooms upstairs need some major cosmetic overhauls, but that's most sweat equity not actual contract work. I see a ton of potential there.

The one big downside is the location. Although the neighborhood seems quite and there are some nicer homes in the vicinity, it's the walk from the Metro that's a bit off-putting. You have to walk along a river and through the woods behind the Metro stop, which sounds and is quite nice during the day, but becomes a lot more sketchy at night. And since it's dark by the time I get home in the winter and it's dark by the time DH gets home every day, that's a problem. But I'm already mentally redoing and decorating the place in my head.

House #6

House #6 looked really cute from the front. No driveway, but there was space in the front yard for one. But then you get closer and start to look. There were huge cracks in almost every wall, around every window and door. There was a very creepy looking crawl space in the basement and the kitchen needed to be completely redone. No dishwasher either. The backyard had a nice screened in porch, but that needed work too. And then there was the fact that the place had 5 large bedrooms. There are two of us, we plan on having two kids someday, but even then, we wouldn't need 5 bedrooms. Not to mention that we'd have to heat and cool those 5 bedrooms whether or not we actually used them, etc. The price also wasn't right in terms of the amount of work it would have needed and it was the house farthest from a Metro stop. So it's out.

The House Hunt Begins

So we went to look at houses and condos on Saturday, for the first time since the end of 2009. We also met our realtor in person for the first time. She's an older woman and seems to know what she's doing, so far.



House #1



I had given her a list of about 8 houses and condos I wanted to look at. Unfortunately, one of the houses ended up not being available to view until Monday and one of the condos went under contract (meaning someone made an offer and the sellers accepted the offer). In the process of making appointments for us, our realtor was unable to reach one of the condo seller's agents and another condo's agent forgot the keys at home (an hour away). So we ended up with 4, 3 single-family houses and 1 condo.

The first house we went to look at was one that we had fallen in love with from the picture of the outside. Unfortunately, upon closer examination, the picture didn't live up to the hype. Although the yard has major potential, the porch rails are rotting and falling apart in places. There is a varitable cable salad along one side of the house and the air conditioning unit is covered in duct tape and a trash bag. The worst part was that people were at home.

I'm used to people leaving before the house they're living in is shown to prospective buyers so the buyers can speak openly about the things they like and don't like. Even weirder was that some of the rooms were locked. When we left our realtor said something about it being a boarding house, and I feel she might be right, where people rent rooms for a while and then move on. There were some positive things about it, it had a really nice laundry room on the second floor with a nice washer and dryer. It also had 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, so it certainly had room for us to grow into it. The biggest downside was the amount of property taxes. At $6,900 per year on top of the price of the house and the amount of work we'd have to do (putting in a dishwasher for one) it's just not feasible.

House #2



Then we went to look at House #2, which was even worse than House #1 in terms of boarding house type. Again, there were people at home, which was annoying. Most of the rooms were locked. No dishwasher in the kitchen. Both staircases were literal death traps (my DH almost fell down the stairs to the basement, conveniently located directly across from the door when you enter the kitchen). And the basement had a second kitchen with the hood not actually over the stove. As with the first house, the amount of work, coupled with the property taxes, and the price made us dimiss that house from consideration entirely.

The only good thing about that house was the yard. And no amount of fenced in yard could make up for the lack of enthusiasm we felt about that house. House #3 was a few houses down from House #2, so after a brief sit in the car to jot down impressions, we continued on.



House #3

House #3 also had people at home, but it didn't look like a million people lived there. All of the rooms were available for us to look at. It had two bathrooms and a huge master bedroom. The yard had a lot of potential for a large deck and was fenced in all the way. Again no dishwasher, but there was space for one.

One of the true downsides was that one of the bedrooms smelled rather musty and they had never bothered to paint the room since they moved in 10 years before. It had some really awesome built in shelves in the living room though and had a nice large finished attic which would mean a lot of storage space. Another negative was that you had to pass by the washer and dryer to get to the master bedroom and the master bedroom had a pass-through window into the kitchen which was a bit sketchy. Again, the property tax is a bit crazy coupled with the price, but except for the dishwasher situation and a bit of paint, it didn't really need any drastic changes before it would have been move-in ready. Definitely still on our list for consideration.

Condo #1

 Next we went to take a look at the one condo that was left on our list. Of the places we'd looked at so far, it was far and away my favorite, but was also the smallest. 2 bedrooms, 1 bath. But the light was amazing in the condo, the kitchen actually had a dishwasher, there was no one at home (in fact, by the look of the packed boxes in the living room, the owners were merely using it as storage until it sold), and it had a balcony and the complex had security and a pool. One of the only downsides was that the monthly condo fees are $581 and it was unclear if all utilities were included in that price (at which point I would have said fine).

Another problem was that the closet with the furnace looked to have black mold and the furnace itself looked ancient and hadn't been inspected since 1999. The one bedroom closet also looked like it might have some water damage. On the whole though, I would have loved to consider it further but after having been on the market for over 400 days the owners received not one but two offers the weekend we looked at it. I was pretty bummed. I'd already started picturing what our furniture would look like in the space.

So I guess we continue our search this weekend. And maybe we'll find that perfect place, if not, we'll just have to keep looking or turn a fixer upper into our starter home.





Stopping at Home

We have not looked at any houses yet, and won't start until next weekend. Part of the problem is that Eric and I have not found any time together. Eric did make it through Restaurant Week last week largely unscathed. Past restaurant weeks have done a major number on his hands. If you've never seen the hands and forearms of a working chef, you don't know how much I dread restaurant week every half a year. He doesn't cut himself on his knives too often, but he manages to cut himself on just about everything (from a broom to tin cans). He also comes home with grease and fire burns all the time. He can also pick up hot plates with his bare hands without even thinking about it, which is a problem when he then hands said plates to me. Although I worked in a restaurant for several months, I just never gained the tolerance to heat that so many career servers and cooks develop. However, back to my original point... we didn't have time last week because Eric worked a 6 day week, and his only day off was Wednesday.

This weekend is my fault. I am flying to Portland, OR next week for a work strategy meeting. But I'm leaving late afternoon on Friday of this week and stopping in Grand Rapids, MI on the way. Both my parents and my in-laws live there and I'm beyond excited to get to go home for two days. Eric gets to stay and hang out with our cat. I've already finished packing everything. All I need are my keys and I'm good to go. I've even packed my toothbrush and will have to either use Eric's or pull out my spare (wherever that went).



Sir managed to climb on top of a stack of chairs not seconds after Eric had stacked them on the table to vaccum.



NaNoWriMo and House Search

Sorry for the long absence. For all of those who want to know, I did not finish NaNoWriMo in November. Between my very first business trip (which was amazing) and Thanksgiving, etc. I got to about 12,000 words before I gave up. It was slow going at best after the first week. They have a term for that at NaNoWriMo, getting week two'd.

I also recently got word, that we would not have to relocate for my job. So that means we can finally restart our search for a place of our own. We have a loan officer and a realtor and I have a list of places that I want to go look at. I'm so ready to have our own place, to be able to decorate it the way we want it to look. I want to be able to paint the walls without having to repaint them white. I want to be able to have hardwood floors where I want them and no carpet that we can spill stuff on in our dining room or under our computers.

I just came back from another business trip last week. It was a lot more exhausting than the first one, but it was good in other ways. We had our annual planning session and got a lot of things hedged out. The next trip is coming up fast. I leave this Friday and stop over in Michigan to see my family, which I'm really excited about. I haven't seen them since our wedding in September and that's just not often enough. After that I'll be in Portland, OR for a week for yet another strategy planning session. I'm becoming a righteous jet-setter.

Small House on a Small Planet

I am currently reading Small House on a Small Planet and it's not a new idea for me. In fact, I've drawn plans of my "dream home" ever since I was a child. I believe they started off as a castle with a big round tower, that then turned into a slightly smaller, but no less extravagant house with streams running through the middle and a large courtyard a la Roman architecture. Lately I've tried to reevaluate what we really need in a house, where do we spend most of our time, how that might change once we have kids, etc. And then how small of a space I can comfortably fit those things into.

I haven't quite managed to fit everything into a space as small as say these Tumbleweed Homes, some of which can fit on the back of a 7'x15' trailer. But I have considered several other small options, and I'm happy to say that we don't need as much space as I once envisioned.

I also been watching Extreme Makeover: Home Addition on ABC.com. It's been really frustrating to watch because a lot of those families don't need a house quite so big. Obviously there are some that do, like families with wheelchairs that just need that turning space and ramps and other things that tend to take up a lot of space. Or families with large numbers of children, generally adopted. These families are all inspiring, and I love seeing them get a new home. But I'm not sure saddling them with these monsters to show off what the builders can do, is the right approach to the situation. For the most part, these families were unable to keep up maintenance on the houses they had, so what makes the ABC producers think that they'll be able to maintain an even bigger house? Also, I cannot imagine the heating/cooling and electricity bills on those houses.

A smaller house is more cozy, "forces" you to be close to one another (and how can that possibly be bad for a family), requires less maintenance and care (can you imagine trying to keep one of those houses clean? I'm pretty sure they won't be able to afford a maid), and less money for utilities. Not to mention that it teaches children a valuable lesson in the finite nature of our resources and about sustainability.

Some of the best memories I have of my childhood, is hearing my parents voices through the floor or from down the hall. It's reassuring to know that they are there. If you have this huge house, I think there's a great chance at a disconnect. Maybe it's time for a study on the impact of large houses on the psychology of a child. What do you think about this trend towards bigger, bigger, bigger?

Tiny Houses

I spent most of today browsing the web, looking at "tiny houses." It's amazing how small they look from the inside, but how roomy they can look on the inside. Granted, I saw a few that would not be close to liveable for me personally, but most of them I coveted with all my heart and soul (we're talking about less than 300 square feet total here). Especially the "build it yourself" factor and the whole idea of paying as you build so you don't have a mortgage at the end. I think the worst part about living in a tiny house is the lack of space. I have a lot of stuff... I like my stuff. Especially my many, many books. Could I get rid of most of it for the sake of a smaller footprint? Well, thinking about it, I could probably get rid of some of my books, but definitely not all of them. I have first editions from most of my favorite authors, and I'm just not willing to part with those. But what about some of the school books I've kept that I never plan on reading again? Those could probably go. The problem is, that I have picture books that I'd like to pass onto my children someday.

And what about kids... would something so small be big enough to raise 2 kids in (that's how many my husband and I have decided we want). It sounds like it would be a great starter house, or a great retirement plan, or maybe after the kids have finished school and are living on their own. But I'm not sure it's quite as feasible in between.

It's sad how many people think that the bigger the house, the better. Average square footage per person has grown exponentially over the past century, and I'm just not sure it's worth all the headache of the maintenance costs, the mortgage, and the amount of electricity, heat and water required to keep it running. How do you feel about down-sizing?