We Made It!

Long story that I'll tell a different day, but we made it to Bend around noon on Tuesday, had the truck unpacked by 7:30 or so. We're all great, Burger even started school today and hasn't said that it sucked entirely, so there is hope. While the truck is unpacked, little else is. Sigh. Mr. LT is busy in the garage trying to make at least a little space, I've been spending my time unpacking boxes in the kitchen (I probably have more kitchen stuff than anyone rightly needs, but I do love it all and am hoping it will (for once) all fit into the kitchen! We're both probably about 40% finished with our respective tasks. All involved love the new house. More later, just wanted to let you know we made it here safely and are THRILLED to be here!!

Filling Boxes

I think boxes should be packed as fully as possible, and all little spaces should be filled with small things. We've now reached the point where we're very very close to not having any small things left, and I think it's going to drive me insane.

Burger has abandoned us for a friend's house today - and now she wants to spend the night over there. We haven't given her a yea or nay yet on this request, but we'll probably let her because we think we suck a little for making her move again.

Zippy has been a gem today - she has been keeping herself busy and trying to help. Only one almost-meltdown, and I nipped that in the bud by feeding the poor child.

Other than that, Mr. LT and I are in good spirits and looking forward to the long drive north on Monday. It looks like Mr. LT will drive the truck with the girls and the dogs, and I'll be in my little Alfa all by my lonesome. I'd love company, but I think it's best if Burger is in the truck to help with the puppies and I'm not super comfortable with the safety aspect of Zippy riding 800+ miles in the Alfa.

Right now we just have boxes in the moving truck. Tomorrow all furniture will get loaded. My back already hurts, so I expect tomorrow to kind of suck. Whatever, we're so outta here.

Now comes the packing

The sale of our house here in SoCal has closed, been recorded, and is done. We're now living in someone else's house until we can move our things. The moving truck will be here on Friday, and we'll spend our weekend stuffing it full of our memories (and some other, more practical things). We've been about 60% packed since mid-August (constantly heard around here, "that's in a box") but there's still a lot of work to be done. We should be extremely proficient at packing by now (we're pretty darn good), seeing as how we've spent the past few years moving from state to state. I'm hoping that we'll be able to get everything in the truck this weekend and can get on the road on Monday morning.

If we can be out of here Monday morning, we'll be in Bend late Monday - it's only a 13 hour drive, but we'll have the four of us and four dogs (two puppies - we're bringing an additional puppy as a gift to our realtor in Oregon, as she's amazing) which means that we'll have to stop on a regular basis to let the dogs out of the car. Not to mention Zippy.

Burger alternates between being excited about moving and complaining that we're ruining her life. I think both of her reactions are reasonable points of view for a 14 year old. I hope the kids at her new school will be welcoming, because it's so hard to come in to a new school part way through the year. 14 sucks as an age, and I feel for her.

Follow-up

Loan docs are signed, and the loan should be funded tomorrow. Whew. We're outta here as soon as we can get the moving truck here and our stuff into it! I can't even believe this is really happening.

Springsteen still rocks, even if he didn't play Rosalita tonight. I love going to see him - this was my fourth time - the first time was 22 years ago (which makes me feel a teesey bit old). I love his passion.

Bendites, hoping I'll get the chance to meet some of you once we make it up there! If anyone enjoys emptying moving trucks, let me know - if I could make you very happy by putting you to work, I'd be happy to do so. Ha ha. Or we can have a beer some time soon instead. That's probably more likely. In any case, I can't wait to meet you all!

Finally!

Our buyer is finishing signing her loan docs right now, and the docs should be processed tomorrow!! Once her loan closes and the funds are wired, we'll be able to close on our new place in Bend -- and that'll probably happen tomorrow!! We've called to order our moving truck - we think they can be here on Friday and we can be out of here early next week!! FINALLY, good news that is solid and won't change in 25 minutes!! I feel like I can breathe for the first time in months.

Walk Through

I just got a call from our realtor; the buyer (who's now dealing with a real, known lender) wants to do a walk-through our house before she signs the docs. She'll be here between 4:30 and 5:00. I guess I should go clean up or something.

Blowing My Mind

Argh! Our buyer didn't get the loan. Well, she got the loan, but they wanted her to put $$ in escrow before they'd send the docs over to the escrow folks to get signed. So the lender approved the loan, the buyer put her funds into escrow, and then the lender discontinued the program the buyer had originally applied for! So the buyer had to apply for a different program, and that's the one for which she didn't get approval.

Or something like that. The story changes every hour.

We've struck a deal with the buyer that will give her three more weeks to get a loan, and if not, we'll keep a not-insignificant (but not enough to make you gasp) amount of cash from her escrow deposit.

So three weeks. November 8 is the drop-dead date.

Argh again.

We really really really didn't want to move that late in the year. But the second we can go, we're outta here. Fingers crossed.

Karma, or something

I spoke too soon. When our buyer's money went to escrow on Thursday, we thought we were pretty much at the finish line - all that was needed was for the docs to be sent from the lender to the escrow company, the buyer to sign them, and for the docs to go back to the lender. Well, here we sit three days later and the docs have still not made their way to the escrow company. I hope that good things will happen soon. I'm really an eternal optimist, but this mess is testing even my outlook on things!

Hardball Works

Well, we put our foot down yesterday and told our buyer's agent that we were just about done because their story we've been told has changed every day and we can't live in limbo forever. Today, the buyer had their downpayment wired into escrow. Docs are supposed to be there later today, and we've been told we should be able to close on Monday. I won't get excited until the docs are signed. Then I'll be able to relax. This has been a ridiculous roller coaster ride.

Selling Our House

Well, it's been forever and a day since we signed the contract to sell our house. We've been put through the wringer, have been told different stories numerous times (often from the same person), and have been up and down and all around with this sale. We understand that the market sucks, and that we should feel lucky to be able to attract a buyer in this market. The fact is that we still haven't closed. We had to cancel our contract on the house we'd wanted in Bend. Our lives have been put on hold for the past two months while we've been waiting for this place to close. And I've been depressed and absolutely no fun to be around as of late. This ends soon, one way or another. More soon, I hope.

Ringing Phones and Other Things

Our listing agreement with our realtor here in California expired yesterday, and weve had ten phone calls from other realtors so far today, with all of them wanting us to relist with them. The first guy was a huge jerk, woke me up before 8 am (7:17, to be exact) and then was rude when I told him I didn't appreciate the phone ringing before 8 am. I wish I hadn't been sound asleep when he called so I could remember his quote. Unfortunately, he doesn't answer the phone number that shows on caller ID, or we'd have had another conversation by now. Hell hath no fury than a woman woken up early on a day she could have slept in.

So... what are we doing about the house situation? Well, right now (hysterical laughter in background) we're just waiting. We cancelled the contract on the house we'd wanted in Bend because we felt like we were doing a disservice to the owners by keeping them hanging on - we know how much that sucks. I know they were disappointed, as we are, but there wasn't more we could do. We'll have a mad dash to figure out things if this place does close, but we can always move in with Mr. LT's mom for a little while while we sort things out, if necessary. We'll cross that road when/if we come to it.

In the meantime, poor Zippy is sick again - she'd been sick-ish all last week and last night her fever was 103 or so - some Motrin and a cool, wet washcloth on her head made things better. The fever came back again this morning, so we gave her more Motrin and it came right back down. She was still zipping around the place like she's fine, and grandma wanted her, and she had to see grandma, so Mr. LT and I drove her over there and then went and had a nice breakfast together, just the two of us. Yay!

Today is Columbus Day, so we will hear nothing about the house today. Patience. I guess.

Zen and the art of annoyance

Things have been sorta stinky lately. On top of the house mishaps, Zippy, Burger, and I seem to be catching every little bug out there these days. Burger missed an entire week of school because she was sick, and the Zipster and I have both been whining, "I don't feel good" all week long (except I'm gracious enough to whine in my head, unlike Zip who feels the need to restate her current level of health every two and a half minutes. We get it. Really.)

Mr. LT has somehow avoided all of the muck. He's generally much more stoic than the rest of us anyway (something about testosterone), and would ignore most illnesses anyway. When he goes down with something, you know it's bad. But usually he'll just power his way through a cold. I admire that capability, except in cases where it makes me look like a wuss.

Frankly, I'm tired right now. Tired of the daily good news-bad news game with the house. Tired of the germs that seem to be picking on us. Tired of not knowing where I'll be living in a week. Tired of Burger whining that she HAS TO finish her freshman year of high school here now that she's started. Tired of Zippy telling me she needs jelly beans right now or she'll die or something. I guess the bright spot here is that I'm only irritated with 2/3 of the other people who share my home instead of being three for three.

Why am I so cool with Mr. LT? Well, right now Mr. LT (who, like me, has a quick temper) is being cool as a cucumber. We're both oddly Zen (should Zen be capitalized? I think so.) about our housing situation at the moment, but I do fear that we're both just a nudge away from screaming at the closest realtor we see.

We're just trying to breathe. Ommm.

Roller Coaster

We're still riding the roller coaster on selling our house. Good news one minute, bad news the next. I swear we're both just ready to crumble into little bits at this point.

I wish I had more to say, but really, I'm just dead tired over the whole thing. Thanks to everyone who's sent well wishes. They mean more than you know right now.

I think I need to get a good drunk on. Anyone want to supervise my kids so I can?

Quick Housing Update

We're still in California and are extending our current escrow to (possibly) the end of the month. Burger loves high school here, of course, and Zippy started back in speech therapy (3x/week) today. Life goes on, and we'll survive no matter what happens. We've been lucky to have some friends here who make things much better for us, and will sorely miss them once (if?) we're gone. Right now I'm not even depressed, I'm just numb. We've been up and down so many times with this deal that we're just not getting our hopes up anymore. I can't be excited about the prospect of moving, because I cannot afford to be crushed again. Just can't. I can barely read the blogs of my friends in Bend, because I'd planned to BE THERE now and to have had the chance to meet them in person. (I'm a computer geek, and yes, I have friends I've never met. Lots of them. I also have tons of friends that I never would have met if not for the Internet, and I'm all the better for having met them - a few of my best friends are people I've met on the 'net. Yes. Geeky. Whatever.) I dunno, I don't have much to say, but I figured a report was due. Trying to keep my chin up. And being happy that I hadn't packed a higher percentage of things in my kitchen. If I couldn't cook I'd go mad.

Short Update

No, we haven't moved yet, and we haven't closed on our house here in California yet. Sigh. We've extended to closing date to later this month, and with a little bit of luck (I need to burn some sage or something, maybe wave a chicken around my head) things will work out. It sounds like we'll be able to extend our closing date (again) in Bend, but we haven't yet formally submitted an addendum to do so.

Burger has started high school here and missed the first day of school; she was happy to get to go to school with her friends, but is not looking forward to being the new kid part-way through the school year. Again. I hope we'll be able to get up there before too much time passes, because it does suck coming into a new school when everything is already established (and by everything, I mean the social order of the school, which is of the utmost importance for teenagers).

Zippy, luckily, is going with the flow. She asks about moving every day, and we just try to keep positive, even though we're still unsure as to what the future holds. It'll all work out in the end. It'll all work out. (If I keep repeating that, it must be true. Right?)

Downer

Right now it's looking like the sale of our house here in California isn't going to go through because of the things that are happening to lenders all over the area. I hear that the buyer is still looking for a lender that will fund the loan, but we did not close today as we had hoped. Our lives are in boxes, and we're trying to stay positive and hope for a good outcome, but we won't be in Bend on Friday - we can't close there unless we close here. This sucks.

Getting ready to move

Cable internet and phone service - ordered DirecTV - waiting for a call back Gas, Electric - need to arrange (i don't even remember if there IS gas at the new place. check that.) Schools - called (need to call the schools here to get current records) Boxes - over 75 packed, who knows how many more are needed Moving truck - arranged. whew. I know there are 476 other things I need to do, but my mind is blank. Hold me.

Panic

The buyer of our current home didn't want to pay for a full appraisal and had a drive-by one done. I used to be a licensed real estate appraiser, and always hated having to do drive-bys, because all you can see is that the house is standing. If you have a neighborhood of cookie cutter homes, it's not too difficult to get a decent idea of what a house is worth, especially if the house is in a fairly new development.

Our current house is 70 years old, and is about half again as large as most homes in our area (at a whopping 1500 SF) - our lot is also half again as large as most lots around here (we have +/- 12000 SF of land - most lots are 8000 or fewer SF). The condition of the house is awesome - we renovated the house when we moved in, aside from the kitchen (which has handmade cabinets that are in amazing shape - they're NOT original to the house) and the larger bathroom, which has its original 70 year old everything (plumbers freak out when they see the toilet, as it's rare). All new systems, appliances, fixtures. You cannot tell this from driving by the house.

We also have 800 SF of workshop, which in SoCal is rare -- it's like having a basement, and amazing for storage. And a 2 car garage.

So we're at the top of the market here in our little town, we're twelve minutes from the ocean, and we have a huge avocado tree that produces more fruit than we can eat (I think I'll miss the tree the most. Nothing like having fresh avocados available 9 months of the year - for free!).

The appraisal came in about 60K lower than it needs to be. I wanted to cry, because I'm so set on getting out of this place and into Bend. Cry with me for a few moments, won't you?

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, the (I hope) good news is that we had a different appraiser come by and do a walk-through yesterday. I hope he can find the right comps - they're out there (Zillow has nailed most valuations in our area, and we're selling for less than they think we're worth - we priced under what we felt our real value was because we wanted a quick sale - and getting a contract in 14 days in this slow market shows that we did price our place well). Fingers crossed.

Zippy's school

I'm so late to the game. I just sorted out that the local elementary school is about 3 blocks from our new house, which really makes me happy - this means that we will be able to walk Zippy to school next year when she starts kindergarten. My guy apparently told me this in the very recent past, but somehow I didn't process that information. I'm such a dork.

I'm a little bummed that she won't be able to start this year -- but the cut off birthday for kindergarten is September 1, and Zippy's birthday isn't until September 21.

I do need to find some sort of preschool program for her - and I need to call the special education folks (the High Desert ESD) tomorrow to see if there's a preschool that does speech therapy. She'd qualified to do a preschool program this past year in California, but we weren't quite ready to let her go. (Another reason that we decided to keep her out of the program this past year is that we felt like the staff at the local school thought she was less intelligent than we know she is. She's a late talker, but that doesn't mean she isn't smart - my brother was the same way, and trust me, he's way too smart!)

.Bomb strikes again

Waah! www.oneswitch.com, where you could once change your address for multiple magazines at once, is apparently dead - their URL resolves to Network Solutions. That blows. Now I have to change them one at a time. Bah.

Moving Sucks

Who wants to come help us pack? There's soooo much to get done, and so little time! I have to get Burger registered at the new school, get the utilities situation sorted out (thanks for the advice, Jake and everyone else!), change our address, change the address for our stupidly high number of magazine subscriptions (and I know there's a website out there that can help me do it. Now I have to add "google that website" to my list), pack boxes, find out about speech therapy services for Zippy, and more more more. All while working full time and going to NYC way too many times.

The good news is that I'm really looking forward to moving to Bend. I've loved every second I've spent in the area, and people there are nice, real people. Everyone I've met there feels like they could become a friend - and there's a real sense of community there. I cannot wait to live there, so I'll suffer through the pain of the move to get there.

One side note - as I was driving in Bend on Sunday there was a guy (I assume) in front of me in an obnoxious yellow hummer (sorry, but really. Who needs that vehicle except the military?) who was being very agressive revving his engine while tailgating the car in front of him. Shame on you, Mr. Yellow Hummer man. You're one of the main reasons we're done with California and its perfect weather and great beaches after two years. Yuk.