Why my place sold - the power of photos

You blink and it's Sunday

Last I wrote was Thursday AM. Amazing.

So, Thursday afternoon we had a huge storm come through with torrential rain for at least 10 minutes. Lots and lots of water. And what happened last year when we had lots and lots of water? With my inspection coming up tomorrow/Monday?

Thankfully it did not end like last year. The water didn't really go down but there wasn't enough to make it rise quickly like it did before. I actually went over M's Thurs night (mostly because I had doctor's appointments right near him and it made no sense for me to be home - I had a triple play of doctors...woo hoo!) But I got back and the water had risen. I fully expected to have to do some major correction. But the neighbor recommended their plumber and he came over. He told me he thought he could clear it, and would like to try, and if it didn't work he wouldn't charge me. I looked at him and asked what it meant for it to be clear, because last year they opened it up and look I had the problem again. A bucket of water running down clean.

So, I let him try and in a couple minutes it was open. And I was taught a very valuable lesson by him, as he cleared my steps and cleaned off the drain area. He showed me how much crap really is there and how important it is to clean it every week at least. We got a lint trap in, and he sent a bucket of water down the steps, and even though it looked clean, there was enough crap to almost close up the drain filter he had put in. Sheepish me. A $300 lesson. Oh well - I have paperwork showing my idiocy and the reason for the flood last year and that the carpet will be ok. Hopefully! But, as the neighbor said, it's part of living in these houses - big rain comes you get the sandbag.

Oh, so the cancer dead husband lady wrote on the house two doors down. So my first thought was that she and the guy buying my house would meet and fall in love. If he's not gay. I could be part of FATE for these two! ha.

Wish I could tell you something exciting. OH! M's plane had problems so we had to drive 1 hour away on Sat to look at it and see if he could fly it back home. So we had a forced vacation. I had just borrowed The Help and I sat there devouring it. And then M was indeed able to fly his plane home, so I had to drive to the airport in his great car with great sound system. Blasting Traffic's John Barleycorn Must Die album flying down a 4 lane country byway with the windows open.

I stopped at the farm I got married. Just to say goodbye. It was just closing a chapter. Not really any pangs. I'm happy to be moving forward with M, no matter how stressful all this has been, I know it's right.

I finished The Help this morning. Really very good - read it!

Days on market:: 2

Well friends, seems like low interest rates combined with great presentation and excellent location make for a bidding war. I am not kidding. Unbelievable. I'm still in shock.

Met with my realtor last night and had FIVE offers, all of them starting at asking price with escalation clauses and only one asking for buyer's assistance. And even one 'puppy dog' letter (as termed by my realtor) - the woman whose husband just died of cancer and the yard would be perfect for her dog, etc. I so wanted to go for her, but went instead for the guy who had the highest price, the most excellent credit, (and he's getting 4.75% financing!!!), etc. - who actually so sounds like a clone of my ex husband.

M of course was very excited, glad that he shares in the fruit of all his labor, and I think a tiny little bit miffed that mine is going so quickly - though he is quick to acknowledge that location location location is very important. He didn't see the smile on my face when I looked at the comparison table my realtor made and it started sinking in, and wonders why my voice isn't alive with pleasure.

It's part of my nature and maybe I'll learn new behavior and maybe not. I want to make sure I know what might go wrong and figure out how to mitigate it ahead of time. Yes, I need to stop and take time to celebrate. And also not worry about things I can't control or aren't here yet (such as, and ok, this is funny in a sad way - since the buyer is a single man all of a sudden it came into my head that he could be a registered sex offender and started searching for his name because my neighbors all have kids. Crazy, right? I think so! I got over it though.)

It was also weird since my realtor is 3 houses away from my ex's and my place. To see that house on the hill, and think of the transition. And the moving on. I still haven't decided if I should see him before I go. I want to and I don't want to. I'll figure that out though.

And now the rest of the games begin: inspection, appraisal and all that good stuff. I've never been through this, so it's a little nerve-wracking. But will all hopefully work out in the end. And the long term celebration will start - a new life in CA!

A breath of fresh air

Almost heaven - West Virginia. Took a day off to head out to say goodbye to one of my favorite climbing haunts. Left 'late' Sunday, drove out, did one climb (a 5.5 and very nice), went to dinner/bluegrass, slept on the floor of the other two friends' room, and left 6:15 am Monday morning (two of them pop up at 6 and are ready in 5 minutes to go. the other two of us groan a little but get up). It was so nice to get away. Freeing. Bringing my energy back. And my friend drove the whole time - I love people who love to do that. OK, sometimes I like to drive, but this time around it was perfect. Beautiful views, good music. Well, except for the bluegrass Sat night. The first band was ok, but the most interesting part was the woman's farmer slut outfit (short skirt, cowboy boots, red checked see through blouse with a black bra, and pigtails). The second band hurt. They weren't horrible - five band members and all could play - but they just didn't work well together. And I felt so bad that the sound SUCKED. Really badly. To the point of some feedback. BAD. Luckily none of my friends wanted/needed to stay the whole time.

I was out of telephone range, but I got back and had a message that I had one offer, and was expecting another. !!!!!!!!!! I will have to respond today to whatever offer(s) are there. Makes one think that I priced too low, but we'll see what the offer is! Whew.

OK, though I am unemployed, I have to run. Dr.'s appn't and dropping off donated stuff, and sending out resume, and so on... Will read blogs later... Hope everyone is well!

It's not even officially on the market

And I had someone come by to look at it today. Seems they were just about to submit a contract for the one down the street from me, and my realtor told the other realtor that she should see my place. They were here for an hour. A good sign.

And then I talked to my realtor and she said another person wanted to look at it. The MRIS listing isn't even up. I haven't even seen the photos!

So, maybe it's gonna sell? I hope so!

I'm taking a day off and going away. M doesn't feel he can go, but our mutual friend and I are going. He showed an iota of sympathy this morning and I started crying. So, I need a day off. And I'm taking it.

The nicest room in the house

Well, so far. After three and a half hours of staging. I have shit everywhere that needs to disappear before Friday AM. I have to mow the lawn. Install the cabinet doors. Maybe eat and sleep. We'll see about that. Oh, and my last week of work. And the burrito I had for lunch has been attacking me all evening, and also my realtor by being in my vicinity. OK, off to work I go.

My weekend, with help from friend, BF, and brother

- paint three rooms (dining, living, computer) and basement ceiling (primer and color)
- move all the tools into the shed
- scrape off shiny stuff in kitchen on the cabinet
- front doorstep - crumbling

Tired.

$94 lesson

The furnace and the air conditioning unit are on separate breakers.

Ignorance is not
bliss, all it's cracked up to be.
breaker one breaker.

Monday

Hi there! How was YOUR weekend??

Mine, well, guess. Yep. House house house.

Saturday M's - bringing documents to shred (M has all his dad's old stuff - receipts back 30+ years). Going to Habitat ReStore to drop off a load of stuff (including two children's chairs I got a while back for free, and a couple bought them immediately - woo hoo! $10 for Habitat! I also bought some brown paint for the triangle thing in my basement ($1). When I opened it up, it looks like molten chocolate! OMG. Then washing windows - PIMFA. He has the old style pane glass... ugh. Not washed in 10-15 years.

Sunday brought my house. The air conditioning didn't work - it's getting fixed today I hope. M installed all the vents - I prepped them before he did that. He urethaned a few areas in the basement. I mowed the lawn. I started painting the dining room (around the windows). He primed the fixes in the lr ceiling. I prepped dinner and started it. What's funny is that we had good steaks again, and we both felt like having hot dogs. But we had to eat steak, dammit. And to be quite honest, even though it was local and all that good stuff, it really wasn't all that good.

Great BBQ plantain recipe though. I cooked them in the skin, so it didn't quite work, but it would be really tasty on skewers.

You know you're getting old when

You buy the box of new jumbo multigrain rice crispies to make rice crispie cakes with. I figured what the hell. It definitely is not normal, and you cannot expect your child memory filled treat. But, I think it may be good. We'll see in the morning. I ate of course a whole row already and will likely thus be up for the next four hours, but hey, it's all in the name of experimentation.

Poor M was here all weekend. Did I tell you the first two offers both backed out? So the realtor held another open house today. A lowball offer came out of it, so we'll see what happens. He keeps saying not to worry, it'll all work out. And I try to let my worry and anxiety go. Sometimes I'm better at it than others.

M brought the blinds he had gotten (had to be special cut) and Fri night I painted window sills while he rested on the couch. He's working like a dog at work and at home(s) so I didn't blame him at all. I spent two hours on window frames (a total of four windows). Pain in my beehind. I always think that I can get away with one coat, but that is not the case. I had to paint again Saturday, and we put up the blinds today. Lordy.

He of course got much more tangible stuff done than me. One thing I did was wash the dining room ceiling. NASTY. I have to do the living room next. The last people fried all the time. YUCK. Did I tell you of the droplets of grease on the bottom of the window frame? I think I might have, but hey, let me say it again because it was sooo disgusting.

I should go wash the living room now. I had someone call last week who will be in town this week and wants to see the place. I'd at least like to have the living room ceiling painted. In part to hide the patchwork from the hole from when the bathroom was done.

OK, I hope everyone's weekend was great. Gotta go take advantage of this sugar rush!

Weekend

M worked hard this weekend. And can sleep apparently anywhere. Well, at least when there's sun involved.

'We' got a lot done. Meaning I feel like he did everything while I provided moral support. Or at least support. I now have electric outlets on the wall by the stove. And now there's no live wire running out of the wall which we used to support the dryer venting tube (!). Those are two big things. Oh, also a front door that doesn't slam open in the wind. I worked on the ceiling in the living room. What else did I do??? jeez.

We did watch Dead Snow - a Norwegian zombie movie. Way to gory for me, but tongue in cheek so everyone else was laughing most of the time. I saw only about half. And I think I was very tired, so didn't get into it as much. But most say it was highly recommended for a gory zombie B movie. Next on the list is Bubba Hotep (Hutep?) - something based on Egyptian times. Gotta google it for the full description. I just heard it was funny/good.

Here's a photo of the kitchen I'm using for renting the place:

Doors and windows open

I'm working from home today, woo hoo!. Have doors and windows open, and Billy is asleep on my bed and not bothering me right now.

The reason I stayed home is to get a carpet estimate for my basement, and I added handyman too. Carpet - well, I really want to get an indoor/outdoor with no padding so it can come up if it floods. Home Depot and Lowes do not install without padding, so I had to look elsewhere. From recommendations I found a family-owned business that has been great so far with all my questions. The owner is coming by today so we'll see what he says. It'll be more expensive than the chain stores, but I think worth it.

Handyman, well, my handyman has to work and do so much other stuff (it's M btw), that I hired a guy for a day. He's done stuff at my house before. Good good guy and decently priced I think, though I have no other experience with handymen. Except the free ones that later become your life partner... In any event, he's putting in the molding that's been missing for almost two years in my dining room and kitchen. He's building an enclosure around the electrical box in the basement that we had torn out when I moved in because it was so ugly and not very practical (some triangle weird thing in the corner). And mounting a towel bar/small cabinet over the toilet that I got at Walmart, and mounting my toilet paper holder, and maybe even putting my railing back in my hallway. Soooo excited.

Given such things, I may have to work until the end of May. M and I have still be throwing around how we want to do this. And so I could start renting mid-June or July 1 and it would give us leeway. Found out my COBRA is not so bad as I feared so that's good news too. I still vacillate between renting and selling (there's such doom and gloom forecast for the next year or two!!), but it's really tipping over to renting.

Oh, btw, M got 2 maybe 3 offers on his house! So that's exciting. One was full price, with contingencies of course. So, we'll see how that goes. It's amazing how nice they made it look.

OK, gotta work. Enjoy your day!

Am I blue

Or is it you?



Took far too long to paint this small small room. Ugh. I need to go to sleep. But, I'm excited to have a blue room. A color in my house! Woo hoo! And I got the paint at Habitat ReStore for $3 I think. Almost a full gallon of Benjamin Moore eggshell paint. I prefer this way of picking colors. That color wheel that's out there is just too much for me.

The bathroom.

So, here's the bathroom. My friend B came by tonight to look at it so I feel better about using it. Overall it's great. My issues are just that the shower curtain rod is too close to the showerhead and that vanity looks so small. But otherwise I'm happy.

Beginnings, movings, etc. etc.

1 - my bathroom is sorta done. The lamps don't have the screws so I can't screw in the globes, and there's a small patch of drywall that should be fixed, but otherwise mostly ok. He put a lot of work into it. Thing is, when you are paying parts separately though, how can you tell what he bought is really for your job? I look at the receipt, and see something that says Tape Meas. Seems like it's a tape measure to me. But, oh well. I'll assume maybe $100 wasn't for me, and it's still a good bargain. I think. As long as nothing leaks. I almost don't want to use the bathroom!

2-I never told my mom or hinted this weekend about moving. I just couldnt' do it. And then today I called her to see how she was doing after my brother left and noone's there, and we're yakking a bit. I go to say goodbye and she says "I miss you". !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, this is so going to suck.

3-I did tell half my work and they were very appreciative that I said something so early and were happy for me overall.

4 - I got a call today from my dentist. The appointment I thought was next week is tomorrow - I get my crowns in. CRAP. So, I"m going to bed.

Hope everyone is well, and as I've said before, I hope to catch up soon.

Bathroom is moving along

Ceiling in living room below bathroom. Oops.


Bathtub, some wall, floor.


Wall


I think it might actually look nice in the end!

Welcome to

The space formerly known as my bathroom. Ugly bathroom. Which I hope to make a nice one. Crap! Did I take 'before' photos? I may have forgotten.


Also, [welcome to] a healthy relationship. One in which the other person is available - does not have any barriers be they emotional or of circumstance that keeps him from committing his all.

It's something I deserve, but still has its own challenges. Before it happened, I was just getting into being 'me' - a recuperated grown up me, and I get into this relationship thing where another person is now in my life and I have to make sure I don't fall into old habits.

Old habits include putting the other person before me. Using the cranky domineering voice to squash opposition. Fearing that someone will find me boring. Blah blah blah.

But the new habits are to touch base with myself. Listen to how I'm feeling and what it means. And communicate that, so progress can be made, and chaos/bad feelings do not ensue. To accept criticism/critique and know that it means I have something to learn (most times).

Whew, it's a challenge. But the benefits/rewards are great.

"POW!", "BAM!", "ZONK!"

What's happening to me right now made me think of the TV series Batman (the one with Adam West). "POW!", "BAM!", "ZONK!" As in it's punches, but whatever, it won't kill me.

- My furnace inspector found a crack in the furnace (and I felt it). I will need a new furnace. As my air conditioning is also old and crap, I'll need to replace both at one time. Supposedly if I buy certain types, I'll get $1,500 tax credit and up to $2,000 from the state. That's off of approximately $10,000. Luckily they have payment plans, and I have some money saved.
- I am having two crowns put in without the benefit of the pre-tax thingie. I should have waited until January. I didn't wait because I thought I would get a job and have to move out quickly. Duh. High hopes.
- One side of my mouth I cannot chew on. Which means something is going wrong. So I have to go get a consult from someone who would have to do a root canal. More money.

Oh, BTW, I still hate my hair, and I spent a lot of money on it.

One final note, in searching for an image of the Batman fights, I found a very disturbing term that's in the urban dictionary. Batman bang. I refuse to put a link here because I don't want psychos coming to my block. Beware if you look it up. OMG.

I'm off to California tomorrow early early, so I might not post until December! Likely will meet Laura B in person - don't you dare take photos of me... :-) All the best to you all.

slow motion horror movie

Downstairs, I move the clothes from the washing machine to the dryer and to the drying rack. One item. Two. I look down, and there's a 2 inch long slug on the floor. Ack! I look at the door, and there over the sock lying by the door, is a slug trail. Ack! I get a bag and pick up the slug [shudder] and throw it in the garbage. And notice another slug by the cat food dish. Holy crap! Pick that one up and throw it in the garbage. I look around, don't see any more slugs. But there's a paintbrush under the dryer. How did that get there? Did the slugs move it there? More clothes in the dryer, turn around, and there's a slug by the cat litter! Holy fuck! Into the trash it goes. I put a towel across the bottom of the door, and make my exit upstairs, shuddering all the way. I'm scared to go down there in the morning.

One of the cards I got on my birthday. I really didn't realize I snort all that much.

it's beginning to look like a kitchen

Before Grout

After grout