We decided to get away for a few days. Some may call us crazy with an impending move, and I may do the same later, but for now I can’t hear the naysayers over the roar of the ocean.
We got to the coast without incident which is pretty great since we’ve heard horror stories all summer of terrible traffic. Our room wasn’t ready when we arrived so we walked on the beach and then had lunch. The wait for the room was worth it because I can get behind the view from our little balcony.
Today we had an open house because the realtor had already paid to advertise and apparently you can keep selling a house even after an offer has been accepted. I guess this is referred to as Plan B. The Nieces spent the night on Saturday and so I was a bit grumpy that we had to bug out so quickly and keep the house generally put together while they were here. Usually a bomb goes off and that’s totally cool. Nut 2 made the bed in the guest bedroom without any prompting…good egg.
We had hoped to go see a movie, but none of the times worked for us so we went to Maymont instead. We noticed this on the way into the “back” entrance:
Neither of us had ever noticed this before and it’s pretty darn accurate once you follow the instructions on the base and add an hour for Daylight Savings Time.
We hadn’t prepared to go to Maymont to hang out so we looked for benches to sit on and sat across from this view:
After taking some silly selfies, we walked past a very old tree with lots of tunnels built into the root system. I said I bet someone lives here and the better-half said, “I think it could be a groundhog”. As soon as he said that I saw this:
We decided to go have nachos and a beer at a bar we like and then came home to discover most of the real estate signs out of the yard and the key lock box off of the front porch. I think we can start packing now. I know the cats will be elated that the reign of terror of having strangers in the house is over. On Saturday, I ducked into the study to grab a book for one of the nieces and then popped back out into the foyer. Lucy puffed up and hissed at me. She’s never done that and I think it is completely related to being wigged out for weeks at a time.
On Thursday afternoon I got home and realized our dishwasher was full. I added the soap and started it up. Then I went outside to cut grass. It hadn’t rained that hard earlier and honestly I had no idea when I would cut the grass if not Thursday afternoon. Of course, just as I was finishing, the heavens opened. When I finally got back in the house, the better-half asked me if I had already had my post-grass cutting shower. Ha. Very funny. And, as it turns out, yes. Just changed my clothes and dried off my hair.
As we were preparing dinner, we both noticed the dishwasher was acting a little weird. Our model counts down and the last 10 digits can seem like they take forever because it is the sanitize portion, I guess, and we heard some draining. As it turns out the damn thing didn’t actually wash the dishes because what we saw as weird was dying gasps. Eh, so what, you may say. Get the repair guy out. No big deal.
Friday afternoon was our buyer’s house inspection. Yep. The POS couldn’t have died on Friday or Saturday night, but it had to do it Thursday night just before our inspection. Figures. We left a sticky note that said this POS is broken and we’ve called someone. As it turns out the people we call can’t even get out here to diagnose until 8/29. Because there has been a rash of broken dishwashers. Really. I can’t even make this stuff up.
We’re without a dishwasher until the repair guy comes and eyeballs the problem and then who knows how long before the part can be obtained. It won’t be fixed until September. I’m holding my breath on all other major appliances/infrastructure.
The new house is smaller than the one we are living in now and so this weekend we’ve started eyeballing all of our stuff. We have way too much stuff. There is so much that won’t be coming with us and FINALLY!!!! a boatload of stuff we’ve been holding on for the better-half’s mother’s family will be jettisoned as well. I think this is probably the 4th time we (or someone) has gone through her crap fine things and the next person who goes through it will be the person who buys it from a thrift store. Can I get an Amen?
The toughest decisions are the ones about the books. Two English majors should never set up house together. We’ve agreed that we’ll each go through and pick the ones we can’t part with and then we’ll get rid of the rest. I’ll have to get into the mood and then just (wo)man up and make two stacks. One to keep and one to go. I’m sure the books won’t care which pile they end up in, but it will be a struggle for me.
Negative: So we found a house that we like and have moved into negotiation and torture. That’s a little known part of the house-buying process. The people who own the house must be in financial difficulty or they are just nucking futs. There are also tenants involved who signed the most specific lease I have ever read in my life. The make, model and name of their pet is listed in the lease. When they saw that lease, they should have high-tailed it away from the house and the owners. I am sorry they are caught up in this, but they need to find less crazy landlords pronto.
I believe we have just signed our 4th go-around on the addendum to the contract and there was one more clause that our closing attorney said oh hell no you are not signing that. So, the nucking futs must now just haul their carcasses to the bank when our check cashes in a few months. Good lord, don’t put your house on the market if you don’t want anyone to buy it.
Positive: When we sell our house we will not be crazy and unreasonable people. It’s not our style anyway, but after the past two weeks you can bet your sweet bippy it isn’t our style now.
Positive: Yeah, finding a house that’s worth the back-and-forth is a positive. I can’t wait for the process to be complete and we move in.
Our fig tree is starting to produce ripe figs. It has had unripe figs for a couple of months but now they are turning into deliciousness. I picked two today when I was out fiddling with pool stuff and had no idea I was in danger.
Luckily I made it out of the tree alive and not shorter and redder.
There are two more on the monster squash plant in the compost pile.
My ankle is exceedingly better and SO THERE to all the finger waggers who said I woulda/shoulda/coulda high-tailed it to the doctor last weekend. I took a Motrin late this afternoon because the ankle had been sore all day and I could not for the life of me find a comfortable prop for my foot. I had been using a trash can but the charm was off today.
I realize as soon as I click the Publish button over there on the right that I’ll probably fall down the stairs.
I was “volunteered” at work a few weeks ago to sit on the committee in charge of our summer celebration. No big deal because I’ve gotten to know some people I’ve never talked to before and it’s not a huge commitment. Attend a few meetings, do some extra stuff and then show up for the celebration. Yay, easy.
What annoys me though is that I have been doing all my assignments and making sure my team knows what’s going on AND stepping outside of what I really needed to do because my boss asked me to do it in front of ALL of my colleagues. One colleague acts like she hasn’t heard all of my updates or read any of my freakin’ emails or heard what the boss explicitly asked me to do. She just does whatever the hell she wants. That’s pretty annoying, but the TOP-IT-ALL-OFF annoying part about it is that I have been warned about this colleague and I have purposefully tried to give her a fair shake. Yeah, she’s a loser who could give two shits about how the process is supposed to work.
Yesterday I was weed eating and stepped in a hole in the backyard. I had to drop the weed eater and myself to the ground. I’ve never heard one of my body parts make such a loud popping noise. I laid on my back for a little while and then gingerly moved my ankle. No piercing pains of bone clawing its way out of my skin. First sigh of relief. I laid on my back for a little while longer. Then I stood up. Second sigh of relief.
As an intelligent person, I went on and did all the other chores I felt like doing and then came in the house and took off my shoe. You should see the bruise on my ankle. You should see how fat the ankle is. Has a doctor seen it? No. I Google doctored myself and am now rocking a very sexy look:
It’s hard to tell how freaking huge my ankle is while I have on the compression bandage, but believe me it is quite a look otherwise. At least I can walk a bit better now. I think the rest of the afternoon calls for me to be on the couch reading and changing out the cold packs.
