Per Chris's request...more pictures!

The wedding pics are starting to come in...

We're Baaaaaack!

kudos to mom

The days are really flying by fast! I wish I could spend a little more of my time thinking about the wedding, but I've been too busy at work to think about anything else! Good thing I have the best mom in the world who is really coming through for me. She has pretty much planned this entire thing herself. Even when she tried to ask me questions, my answer was always, "I don't know; whatever you think is best." She's been  real trooper, so that is why she get a shout-out on my blog for everyone to see!

THANKS MOM!! I LOVE YOU AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU IN 4 DAYS!

Sorry it's been so long!

Wow. I didn't even realize how long it had been since I made a blog entry! I'd like to take a moment and apologize to all of my loyal blog readers out there. I hope that I didn't lose your interest in the 2-week delay of a new post.

We are 1,000% done with our apartment now. It's a very refreshing feeling! Now we can actually focus on the wedding!!! Only 11 more days and I'm going to be an honest woman. I just ordered my new nametag so when I get back, my new status will be reflected!

I am getting more and more excited for our honeymoon, also. Part of our trip is going to be visiting the Winchester house. That's the part that I'm most excited about. They have a midnight tour where they take you into the attic. (None of the daytime tours include the attic.) George and I are going to try and make this tour. It's going to be hard since we're both such early birds. I think we're both 65 years old at heart. My perfect day is filled with crossword puzzles, and early dinner, and an early bedtime. Too bad I can't skip being a mom and go straight to being a grandma! I think that's what I'd be the best at.

Well, until next time!

thisclose to being done!

We have about 3 more car loads of junk to get out of our apartment. It's amazing what you can fit into 700 square feet!

George is seeing ghosts. He didn't phrase it EXACTLY like that, but that's what seems to be going on. I have not experienced any of this myself, so I can't testify to the truth here. Apparently, he's been hearing "weird noises" and one night he went downstairs to use the restroom and he saw a man in a green shirt standing in the hallway. Then the man disappeared.

It's funny that this should be happening to him right now because last week in Utah, my mom asked if he had ever had any 'encounters' and he said no! And now this. I wonder if his story will change when we're out there next month...

Once again, I'll say I have not heard or seen anything! But I can still hope, right?

The first pictures are here!

Our first dinner in our new home...I was too tired to cook!











George is starting his first project!













Our first trip to Home Depot!

We've been many times since this day...

WOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!!

We are officially in the middle of moving!

For those of you with a college degree, you can probably surmise that means we got the house! Internet should be hooked up at the house tomorrow, so I'm going to try and get some pictures posted on here for all of you to enjoy.

Long story short, I love my house and I hope it doesn't cause me too many problems! Anyone is welcome to stop by any time as long as you're ok with half unpacked boxes lying about. Seriously--that's not an olbligatory offer. I really mean it! You can look up the address in Millennium--Hilary updated it this morning!

The final move should be done on Saturday. We've rented a cargo van from Budget and we're going to throw everything in there. Then, it's just a matter of cleaning the apartment and giving notice that we're not coming back.

The cats seem really happy. At first they were very tense, of course, but now that they've had a few days to explore they seem excited. Isis keeps following us around, though. I think she's afraid that she's going to get lost in the house. Bastet is a little braver and was the first one to venture downstairs. The patter of her little paws on the wooden stairs in adorable!!!

As early as next week!

We may be closing as early as next week. My dad bought his first house when he was 24 years old. My main goal in this whole thing was to beat him. I'm only 23 for 2 more weeks, so we better close next week!

The electrical work is being started this morning at 9am. The electrician's estimate on time was 2 working days. When I talk to my loan officer and real estate agent today, I'm going to ask if we can get this deal wrapped up on Monday. Wouldn't that be great?!

That means the next time I see my parents (in 6 days) I will be a homeowner.

Everyone, keep your fingers crossed, though, because there is still a lot of stuff that can go wrong.

Alvin makes me scream "$@@#%!!!!"

Alvin is refusing to let the electrical work be completed unless George and I put $4,000 in non-refundable earnest money. When we close, we can still put that money towards closing costs and down payment, but if something goes wrong, all that money is gone. *POOF*.

Our loan will not let us close unless this electrical work is done before closing.

Alvin won't let the electrical be done unless the above stated condition is met.

George and I feel extremely uncomfortable putting that much money on the line. The odds are 100 to 1 that something could go wrong. Those odds are in our favor, but I'm not putting our entire savings on the line.

So, this is where we are.

George and are are pi$$ed off and want to call Alvin and use a few colorful words about how "fun" he is to work with. He's made every step of this like pulling teeth and George and I are so frustrated we're about ready to track him down and kill the old geezer!

Wednesday

I woke up this morning and thought it was Saturday. That was a very depressing way to start Wednesday! I think Jason said it best on Monday morning at 8:01am, "Is it Friday, yet?"

Housing Update August 5, 2008

WE HAVE A SIGNED AROUND DEAL.

That must be the news everyone's been waiting to here. Everyone that reads this post, anyway. The one person. Probably Just Hilary. Maybe Jane.

Now it's time for the appraisal and for the electrical work to be done. I'm sure we'll hit a few more bumps in the road, but at least we've moved on to the next chapter in this home purchase story. (I hope you like my use of multiple analogies.)

Housing update August 4, 2008

Alvin, the old fart, REJECTED our request for him to update the electrical. After some emotional searching and long talks on the beach, George and I agreed to increase the amount of our offer in the exact amount of the electrical bid. Since that will be a net difference of $0 to Alvin, we're hoping that he'll then agree to pay for the electrical repairs.



If he doesn't agree to this final offer, then we're dead in the water and we will have to start over. I'm exhausted from looking, so "starting over" my also involve a hiatus of not thinking about houses at all.

Housing Update July 30, 2008

Well, the electrical bid is in! Our real estate agent is sending the request over to the seller as I type this. So, everyone keep your fingers crossed that Alvin will just whip open his check book! If you all don't cross your fingers hard enough, then we'll have to enter negotiations around the electrical situation. There are a few things we can do, like upping the sales price in the amount of the electrical, but we'd like to avoid that, of course.

They have three days to respond, but they usually respond sooner than their legally allotted amount of time.

Many of you have volunteered to help us move/paint/clean/refurnish cabinets/do a sage cleansing. I've been keeping a list and your number's almost up! Get ready for that phone call!

Housing Update 7-29-08

As many of you know, the electrical in the house is good, old knob and tube wiring. Since we aren't in the mood to live in a fire hazard and we ARE in the mood to plug in our computers, we had an electrician inspect the situation. We're hoping that Alvin (the current owner) will just write a check and fix it. We were going to have the entire house 100% re-wired, but we found out that the amount of damage that would be done to the home wasn't worth it. Now what we're going to do is put a new circuit in the computer room and just false grounds in the other areas of the house. This will help combat the fire hazard situation and will also allow us to plug in our TV, computers, and other electronics us kids're using these days.

We're sure that Alvin didn't have a computer or a TV. We speculate that what he did all day was spy on the neighbors. Or perhaps he spent a lot of his time down at the Tavern. Who knows? All we know is it sure wasn't surfing the net because half the outlets in the house haven't been able to accept electronic devices since like 1932!!!

Now, we're just waiting for the estimate back from the electrician. Then, we're going to draft a request for Alvin to fix the electrical before closing. If he says "yes" then we're rockin' and rollin'. If he says "no"...well then I guess George and I are going to have to start playing the lotto more frequently!!!