OUCH

My whole body hurts.

We have been putting in LOTS of hours working in the yard (all kinds of LEAVES - - stupid trees!). We have raked, and mowed, and bagged, and sown grass seed, and spread hay over the new grass seed . . .

And that was just on Saturday.

Sunday was the day for painting outside trim on the house. Dear Hubby put up the brick molding around the new slider door, so we had to paint it to match the rest of the house trim. So, as long as we had the paint out, might as well touch up the rest of the trim, right?

So - - MANY HOURS LATER - - I'm tired, my legs are cramped from climbing up and down a ladder, my hand is cramped from hanging on to the paintbrush for so long, and I am COVERED in paint.

I'm NOT a neat painter - - not by any means!

Last night I had to take some extra-strength aspirin before bed, so the aches and pains wouldn't keep me awake all night. I'm taking LOTS MORE of it today . . .

But it will be worth in in the long run - - once the house is put on the market and is looking GOOD! :-)

Preparing for Market

We are putting lots of work into getting our current house ready to put up for sale. The new roof was put on Thursday and Friday (the old roof was about 30 years old!), and we are getting ready to powerwash the outside and get the patio and formal garden all cleaned up and winterized. Dear Hubby mowed both lots today and bagged up leaves; the yard looks GREAT! I spent time today pulling old dead plants out of the planters and emptying the dirt out so we can take them with us to the new place. Don't know if - - or where - - I will have a garden at the new house. If I don't use the planters, they will make a welcome addition to my yard sale next Spring!

Yesterday we spent the entire day pulling the old French door unit out of the dining room and installing a new sliding glass door. The old door had rotted through on the bottom, due to the fact that when we bought the house 11 years ago, there had been a deck and a deck bench right outside that door; rain and wet leaves fell between the door and the deck bench, and over the years, it rotted. We did not want to do a "quick fix" and sell something that was sub-standard. That is what happened to US when we bought this place, and we will not do that to someone else!

This week will be busy with more sorting, packing, painting - - *sigh* - - I'm getting worn out just thinking about it!

But closing is now less than 2 weeks away, and we need to be able to move out of here as quickly as possible, and get this place sold. My stress level is going to be extra high until we do - - only then will I start to calm down and think that everything actually will be okay.

Another Update

Tomorrow Dear Hubby is meeting our Realton and going to the house to meet with the seller one more time. He wants to know about the whole house water softener, and the well pump, and a few other things he has questions about.

Our Realtor has agreed to go with him and "run interference" so that it is a SHORT visit this time!

Good luck, guys - - for once, I'm glad to be at the office! :-)

The Seller

We had asked our Realtor, Carol, if there was any way we could get in to the new house for a brief time to do some measuring in the kitchen and laundry room, since we needed to buy a new refrigerator and washer/dryer. She called us back and told us a time had been set up for today at 5:30 p.m. She said she didn't think the seller would be there, which was fine - - we just needed about 15 minutes or so to measure a couple of things, maybe refresh our memories about wall colors in a couple of rooms, and then leave.

No problem, right? Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

When we got there, the seller was there. She seemed like a nice enough person, but after some talking, we could tell there was something not quite right about this situation.

Our realtor had told us previously that it was best for the Realtors to handle any exchange of information during a transaction, because that helped to keep the "emotion" out of things.

She was SO right. This lady had LOTS of emotion about the whole thing. And LOTS of things to say. What should have taken no more than 15-20 minutes wound up takine almost 90 minutes. WE COULD NOT GET AWAY - - even our Realtor was having difficulty getting us out of there. We were trying to be nice, and polite, and not offend in any way, which is VERY wearing on a person after a while.

One thing we noticed as a potential problem - - they have 2 horses, which belong to her daughter, who will be leaving for college next Spring. She will be going to either SIU or ISU, and has not decided which yet. If she goes to SIU, she has nowhere to board the horses, and Carbondale is so far away, and this is such a GOOD setup for horses . . . and if she goes to ISU, she has an uncle and aunt who live up there and own a farm where the horses could be stabled, but then she would have to work on the farm to pay for the board, and she just wasn't sure if she wanted to do that, and THIS PLACE was such a GOOD SETUP FOR HORSES - - and on and on and on.

Sorry, lady - - the horses are going - - going - - gone.

NO boarding for horses at my place. Nope. No way. No how.

No.

THEN - - (yes, there's more) - - she was talking about trying to get everything moved out to Nebraska, and her husband just got moved in to an apartment out there, and had just returned their travel trailer that he had been living in (since JULY?????) - - and if for some reason she didn't have everything ready to go by the closing date, she could just live in the travel trailer for a few days.

Ummm - - lady, where did you intend to hook that trailer up? And - - if you don't have everything ready to move by November 10th, where did you intend to have it stored away until it was moved?

HMMMM?????

Sorry - - no horses, no storage, no squatters in my driveway.

Nope. No way. No how.

No.

*sigh*

Why do things things happen to us?????

Oh well - - let's see what November 10 brings . . .

Financing

I went to the bank today to drop off the rest of the paperwork we had forgotten to submit.

While I was there, Pam took me in to her office, and said she wanted to get Steve on the phone so he could also talk with us - - she wanted to give us the news at the same time.

Oh God - - there goes my stomach . . .

But it was okay - - she told us our financing was approved, and she was moving ahead with the contract.

It was okay.

It was really OKAY!

Pam hung up the phone, and asked me if I felt better now - -

And then immediately reached for the box of Kleenex behind her, because I just burst into tears and cried like a baby. The relief was so great - - and I just COULD. NOT. STOP. CRYING.

How embarrassing - - I'm just totally pathetic.

Once I finally mopped up all the tears, apologizing the whole time, I thanked her for all her help and hard work, and how much we appreciated her. Then I left her office and headed out to the parking lot.

Once I was outside, I got on the cell phone and called Steve. I asked him how he felt, and he said he felt GREAT. He asked me how I was doing - - and right there - - in the middle of the parking lot - - in front of all those people - - I just burst into tears again.

Once I finally made it into the Jeep, and got off the call to Steve, I just sat there and had a good cry and got it all out of my system - - and then FINALLY headed back to work.

PATHETIC, I'm tellin' ya . . . there is NO hope for me!

Drowning In Paper!

Last night I sat up late and completed the paperwork for the bank. Thought I would NEVER get it all done!

They want everything but signed in blood and promise your first born . . .

But it's done, and we dropped it off to the bank today. The lady we are working with, Pam, is a super lady, and we really like dealing with her.

But now is the hard part - - WAITING - - and hoping for the best.

We also were able to meet with our realtor for lunch, and it was lots of fun! She is also a super lady. Dear Hubby Steve and I are very lucky to have such good people working on our behalf!

Hope we hear something soon . . .

Tractor Time

We spent the day traveling the area looking for a tractor for the 5 acres we will have to mow now - - Steve is seriously considering a New Holland, because they are durable and real work horses.

Got up at 5 AM, got ready, and hit the road.

First stop was Shelbyville, where we spent a solid hour talking with a salesman I just could not "cotton" to AT ALL - - something about him that was not setting right with me. So we left there and headed up to Arthur to check on the price of having a king size bed made for our new bedroom, and then to Tuscola to make a quick stop at the Amish Mall and look at a dining room set that we both dearly love.

Then it was on the road again heading to Urbana to another dealer. This guy was pretty okay, but he didn't really have the style of tractor Steve is looking for. But at least we were able to have lunch at our favorite place - - Li'l Porgy's BBQ!! They are the best.

Next stop was Atlanta, which is over by Bloomington, and about an hour from Urbana. We are both very glad we went there, because the gentleman we dealt with turned out to be the owner of the company, and a very decent guy. We both liked him right off. He has the tractor model Steve was looking for, and shot us what we consider a very good deal. We will DEFINITELY give this one some serious thought.

He ALSO cleared up some of the strange feeling I had about the first salesman in Shelbyville - - when I mentioned to him some of the things he told us, they turned out to not only be WRONG, but possibly ILLEGAL! Glad I listened to my instincts about that guy . . .

But now we are finally home, after 12 hours on the road, and I'm tired. Beddy-bye time for me . . . *yawn*

We Got It!

Just as I got out of my meeting at 9 AM, my phone rang - - it was Linda, telling me the sellers had accepted our offer.

Oh my - - I think we just bought a house . . . .

Now I'm so relieved, I'm ready for a nap! But the boss may frown upon my crawling under my desk and sleeping . . . :-)

Can't wait to tell Hubby!

The Waiting Is the Hardest Part . . .

We met with Linda at 3:15 PM and decided on what we were going to offer for the house. It seems that there has also been another contract drawn up, and both contracts were going to be presented to the seller this afternoon. Dear Hubby and I discussed what we felt our "best offer" should be, because that is what it will take to attract the seller to our contract. Linda said she would contact us as soon as she knew anything.

About 9 PM the phone rang. It was Linda, telling us the seller had decided to work with our contract. HOWEVER, the seller had made a counter-offer higher than our bid.

Hubby went ballistic.*

He told Linda that she had counseled us to make our BEST offer right up front, and that is what we had done. He said the seller could accept our offer, or not, it made no difference to him. Our "best offer" was just that, and he was sticking with it.

He was pretty "incensed" . . .

Linda told us she would inform the seller's realtor of this and let us now when she heard anything more.

Around 9:30 PM the phone rang. It was Linda, saying the sellers wanted to think about it overnight. Steve said that was fine, that they could think for the next couple of days if they wanted to (told you he was "incensed!")

SO - - here we go with ANOTHER sleepless night - - and I have to go to work tomorrow . . . *sigh*

*There is a good reason why Dear Hubby reacted the way he did - - but that is a long story, and a post all its own. I'll have to post that one later - - right now I'm tired, and I'm going to bed.

Made An Offer!

I was out running errands this morning when my phone rang around 10 AM. It was Linda, and associate of our realtor, calling to set up an appointment to meet with us this afternoon about the house. We are to meet at 3:15 PM at her office.

NOW I'm REALLY nervous!