Final walk through....

Welcome!

Window seat next to the mock fireplace.....awesome....
(mock fireplaces are very common in old houses down here-that was where they put one of their ceramic gas heaters, before there was central heat)

From the laundry room, which was once a back porch, through the refurbished but tiny kitchen, dining room, and looking out a living room window.

Another view of the window seat and mock fireplace.

The final walk through was yesterday, so we were able to get in and take some pictures of the house while it is still vacant. Unfortunately, it was a gloomy day, so some of the shots taken with my phone look sort of crappy. Remember, you can click on any image to see a larger view of it.

I really don't like the colors inside the house. They're too dark, and they painted the ceilings the same colors as the walls...so it's like a cave in there on a cloudy day.

The lawn mower that was promised was not there, so our realtor is looking into why that is. He is not, however, looking into the other oddities.

Apparently, things in Yokelhomie are MUCH different than back in Illinois when it comes to home sales.

Back home, EVERY DETAIL is written into the contract, and then lawyers on both sides review and agree after any changes.

For example, the seller says clearly in the contract "I am leaving the lawn mower, but taking all of the rods out of the closets. I am leaving the ceiling fans, but taking all of the curtains."

(those are, by the way, the oddities mentioned above)

I asked Dave why we have not seen the contract yet, expecting that all of the stuff we negotiated would be written into it. He said "It's right there," and pointed to a document on the couch which is NOT what I have seen before as a home sales contract.

None of those details are present.

Anyway, then yesterday, while we were with the realtor, I asked..."SO, we don't have an attorney. Do you bring one? We have not talked about that, and it's getting late!"

He just stared at me, looked at Dave, looked back at me.

There are no attorneys involved in home sales in this state. He'd never heard of it before.

Okay then, so, you apparently take your chances with unpleasant surprises like the ones we found yesterday.

Fortunately, they were not HUGE expensive surprises, like she took the fridge and stove. It's just closet rods, curtains, and a lawn mower.

Aside from that, all looks in good order!

We went out and got a cheap hard wired phone for the land line we are having installed. Found one for $15 at Best Buy!

Then we went to Home Depot and looked at paint colors. The ceilings HAVE to be white, if you ask me, and I am in charge of decorating decisions, so.....the ceilings WILL be white! And I would much prefer a lighter, more neutral color for the majority of the walls.

The living room/hall/master bed are all that dark, olive drab color. The dining room and kitchen are a lighter color, but still sort of ugly. I want a yellow kitchen, and will MAYBE leave the dining room as is if the white ceiling improves the darkness enough.

Sigh...much work to be done over the course of May....

shopping list/check list

So, next weekend, our errands will include a trip to get cleaning supplies. Rubber gloves, bleach, a bucket, hard wood floor cleaner, a hard wood floor dust mop, and lots of paper towels!

Closing is just over a week away, and the first order of business, on that day, will be to clean and disinfect the place top to bottom.

While in the house that day, we will determine what painting, if any, needs to be done, and that afternoon/evening, we will go choose colors.

(we really, really hope the closing is in the MORNING! Don't know yet....)

Then, the next day, which is my birthday, I will go back to work, and Dave will get the locks changed, and will start the painting projects.

He's got so much vacation time that he can take Wed. through Sun. of that week off without any trouble, and then take more days off around Memorial day weekend for the big move.

I don't earn nearly as much time off as he does, so I'm only taking the closing day off, and have to wait til the weekend to go do stuff at the house. Then, I will see about taking extra days off around Memorial day, too.

Sigh.

But, all's well and in order. He's called the utility companies, and we already have a phone number, even though the line isn't ours yet.

Oh yeah, we will need to buy a phone, too! HAH!

(I insisted that we get a hard wired house phone once we have a house. I think we NEED to have it for the security system to work, AND, I'd like the peace of mind of knowing that if one of us has another heart attack, ahem, the other can just dial 9-1-1 and they'll already know where we are calling from....)

The house is already vacant, and we are champing at the bit, but can't legally get inside until the 27th.

Anyway, that first weekend, we will also go pick up the dressing table and hoosier we have on lay away at the antique mall. Thanks to our dear friends Cathy and Mike, we can now pay for the hoosier!!

Which is nice when you've laid something away, and need to either pay for it, or lose your deposit!

During May, Dave and I can take car loads of stuff over to the house and gradually settle in over the course of the month. It will be great to be able to take non-essential items over and put them away! Like winter clothes, and stuff that's just being stored in the closet, etc.

If we need to, we can even bring empty boxes back and use them again. We can easily move small furniture in my car, too.

We can take it slow and easy until the final weekend of May, when the pets and the furniture and the humans will go to the house for good!

Unfortunately, our apartment complex will not let us out of our lease 2 weeks early (lease ends June 15 for some reason), so we have to pay June rent and our first house payment, even though we will be out before May 31st.

Thankfully, Dave's parents are going to help us out with that....we would be in a tight spot for the month of June without their help.

THEN, we will eventually hopefully get a refund from the apartment complex for the deposit Dave put down 5 years ago.

That's about it for now...just trying to think of everything and be sure everything gets done....it won't be long now!

Oh, and p.s. don't ever go to "Dental Depot." They were horrible.

The assistant I had on the day I went in for my crown (who was, of course, different from the assistant on the first visit who made me bite down on bite wing films and impression material with a painful broken tooth!) ignored my telling her FIRST THING that the tooth was sensitive.

She came at me with pliers to try to get the temp off. I looked at her skeptically....why wasn't she numbing me up? She said it should come right off. She reached in and grabbed the tooth with the pliers, and the nerve pain was so intense that I jumped and pushed her arm away.

Of course, it didn't just "pop off" like she said it should, and she went at it again, and tried wrenching the pliers back and forth to loosen the temp.

I literally screamed. Then, I said "I TOLD YOU when I first walked in here that the tooth has been sensitive."

She seemed exasperated and put out, but ultimately, she agreed to numb me up, like she SHOULD have the instant I told her the tooth had been bothering me! Again with the three shots of novocaine, like the first time.

My scalp and neck were numb by the time I left there....rather than giving one shot and giving it time to work, she just filled my head with the stuff.

Finally, it did pop off, and then the dentist came in for about 2 minutes, to fit and mount the crown. Then, another half hour with her in there trying to remove the excess cement.

I could not open my mouth the next day, and once again had abrasions and injuries around the tooth and on my lips and tongue.

It was horrific. Never been through anything this awful in a lifetime of dentist visits. The only reason I will ever set foot back in there will be to collect my films.

stuff

Tomorrow, I get the permanent crown put on my tooth. Not looking forward to this, since the first visit was so unpleasant.

We spent yesterday going to antique stores. My legs and feet hurt today from all of the wandering!

We found our potential "hoosier" freestanding kitchen cabinet, and a potential dining room set, and several options for a bedroom vanity, so it was worth it.

The hoosier and dining set are both at the same antique mall, which is very close to the house. We're hoping they're both still there at the end of the month when we take possession of the house.

It's been hot, dry, and windy here. No rain at all. Today's fire danger is high, and they are warning that blowing dust could be a problem. They aren't calling it a dust storm, though.

I'm finally feeling better after that awful upper respiratory infection that lasted 2 weeks, and now I have one of those epic cold sores that takes over my nose when I've had to blow it so much.

At least this one isn't as big as the one that covered the entire exterior left side of my nose a couple of years ago.

This one just looks like something's coming out of my nose, as it has formed up inside of the the nostril, and comes down toward my upper lip. The part that shows is about 3/4 of an inch long, but 1/2 an inch wide.

Dave has missed the ones I have had previously since meeting him, because this is the first time I have had anything like this since we moved me down here. He said he has never seen anything like it....it's so very ... large.

I have to admit, I've never seen anything else like them anywhere either...just on my own face.

Well, we are off to do some errands that didn't get done yesterday because of the antiquing... Then later, packing some boxes!

ADDENDUM: SO---friends of ours said "Go get the hoosier, we'll send you money as a house warming gift," and who are we to disobey?

We went back to that one antique mall that's close to the house, and got the hoosier on lay away!

We also found a vanity table and ottoman for the bedroom-- for $99 -- that we didn't see yesterday. OH, and a Russel Wright cake plate, just like the one I grew up with! HAH!!

No dining room set, though....we don't actually NEED that....but we WANT it. That will have to wait.
If it's not there when we decide we're ready for it, we'll find a different one. They are very abundant.

The vanity and ottoman are paid for, but we don't have to pick the vanity up until the last weekend in April, when we go pay off the hoosier.

We take possession of the house on 4/27, and can move those items right in that weekend.

Whoop!

General updates

Aside from a wicked upper respiratory infection, things have been going great!

The appraisal on the house is done and over, no issues.

The federal tax refund arrived in the bank, and paid off Dave's car...no more car payments improves monthly cash flow just in time for us to have our housing costs go up.

I also finally got word that I passed the second test I took at work in December. My raise from that finally kicked in, along with an extra check for retro pay. That mainly allowed us to buy groceries after paying the rent this month! Wheee!

My job description is changing as I take over for the woman who trained me. She is shifting jobs, and I am getting all of her stuff. It was not an offer, it was an assignment, and I was not given the opportunity to say "no, thanks."

I do not know yet if this is good or bad, as people keep asking me if I am crazy, or offering me their sympathies. My boss has literally apologized to me several times.

I am trying to just take it a day at a time as I learn my new duties. I really don't want this to be the thing that makes me miserable at work.

My mouth has healed well from the trauma almost 2 weeks ago. I go in on 4/11 for the permanent crown, which I have already paid for.

The only other snag lately have been the state refunded us, and then they sent a letter stating that Dave owes them back taxes from several years ago, for just about the same amount as the refund. So, that refund is going back to them. Oh well.

We have started collecting and filling boxes. The luxury of being able to move non critical items at our leisure over the course of the month of May will be quite nice.

If we don't have enough boxes, we unpack some at the house and bring them back. Simple.

We are in a drought here. The water level in the "fake lakes" that provide the cities with water is 6 to 7 feet below normal.

Please send rain.