Today I had my mother in law over to help me plant my native plants I had purchased a couple of weeks ago and to survey the yard. We have an acre and a quarter her at the new place and I've never managed that kind of space before. I'm slightly more than a little in over my head to say the least. The week we were supposed to move in here way back in November, there was the worst ice storm this mountain has seen in 35 years. This is according to all the neighbors, and based on all the damage that we still hear being cleaned up by saws and chippers, they aren't lying. Our amazing next door neighbor did the majority of the big clean-up from the huge trees we lost, but there is still a lot of clean up to be done.
Enter Jane. She was downright giddy about the prospect of spending the foreseeable, non working hours helping me clean up beds, pile up branches and all sorts of other things to whip this place into the showplace of natural beauty it should be. It has been really fun watching all the little bulbs poke their heads up and seeing the poor storm damaged trees still manage to start popping out theirs buds of fresh growth. Spring is coming to the mountain, and it's shaping up to be one beautiful spot. Now, if I can only figure out what I'm going to do with all of this crazy debris. They have no yard debris cart services out here and I have no truck, so it could be interesting.
I'm excited though. Spring break is only two weeks away. Some of the family is going camping, but Sean has to work and can't take time off, so I was wondering what I'd be doing with myself for that time. After the visit and planning session today, I'm pretty sure I'll be busy the entire time. It sure should look nice when we are done though.
Hopefully I will have some opportunities to get some forest hikes and fun in as well. If not, at least the place will look nice!
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Friday, March 6, 2015
March?
Holy crap, it's March already? It feels like this year is passing in a blur. I guess that happens with each passing year, but damn, seriously, March? Life at the new place continues to be great. I miss my easy after work running path, and my proximity to my family. Those two things are probably the biggest adjustments. However, I'm sure getting used to the amazing nightly city view and morning sunrise. It's lucky that I get to call this place home. Change is mostly, very, very good.
March? Seriously? I have got to get back to reality. None of my clothes fit any more and swimsuit season (which comes with a community pool), is just round the corner.
March? Seriously?
March? Seriously? I have got to get back to reality. None of my clothes fit any more and swimsuit season (which comes with a community pool), is just round the corner.
March? Seriously?
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Just another day in paradise.
We finally sold the house on 53rd and moved to the mountain back in late November. The chaos and unforseen nightmare of that entire process is best left in last year's memory book. The future is much brighter. The last bit of unfinished business from that roller coaster is the location of our missing appliance suite. It shipped out back on December 11th and has yet to be seen anywhere. Super frustrating, but out of my control. Hopefully they will show up on our door step very soon.
Welcome 2015 and my 46th year on the planet. I'm excited to see what you bring.
Sunday, October 12, 2014
And so it goes...
You shouldn't be able to see light under the garage door. That was my first thought as I pulled into the driveway yesterday. My second was, "What is that cable on the outside of the door." As I quickly headed into house and through to the garage, my curiosity turned to rage. The garage door was clearly broken. The reason for the light underneath was that it was off it's track and where a tightly wound cable used to be, there was now an unattached cable. Sean who was a few minutes behind me soon returned home. Shortly after I heard him pull into the drive way I heard him step on the door from the outside. He had seen it too. Soon, there was two of us standing in the garage, unable to believe our eyes.
Perhaps you are asking yourself, why is she making such a big deal of a broken garage door? Things happen right? You would be correct, they do. Except this garage door was perfectly fine just two hours earlier. What had changed during those two hours was that our home was being inspected for our buyer. Somehow our garage door was broken during the inspection. What the hell? Even if for some reason it was about to break which I don't see as possible since there had been no problem with it just last night, a note of some sort would have been helpful. We just came home to damage, no notification of any kind. No information to our agents, no warning to us that our house was no longer able to be secure. Just another check in a long series of pain in the ass boxes that have documented this house selling experience.
There is a reason that buying and selling homes is on the top five list of most stressful life events. We Ross's don't like to do things half ass, so we decided to double down and do both at once. Except for my first year of teaching, which happened to also be the year my dad was dying of cancer, this is the worst and most stressful experience we have ever lived through in our entire marriage. Preparing this house to sell took my entire summer and all of our savings. Then we had the water heater issue, then the rodent issue and don't even get me started on the ongoing battle of installing hurricane straps. Yes, in the Willamette valley we are supposed to entertain the idea of hurricane straps. We are resisting for now. All this adds up to about $8,000 in repairs after we exhausted our own savings, that mom has financed until we close since one of the fun side effects of buying a house is that you can't take out any debt. Great...we put mom's extra money in limbo so we can fix things that are ridiculous just to be able to sell.
Oh and then there is the buyers. So far there has been three of them. The first had no business even wasting our time since she had no money. The second dropped out as quickly as he got in. The current buyers have made it to the inspection stage, but not without significant bumps, delays and uncertainties along the way. With the addition of a broken door during their inspection, I'm not holding my breathe that their list of requests will be smooth and simple. Oh, and have I mentioned that with all the unexpected items, and the rock bottom price with closing costs included, we will be lucky to have enough money at closing to just pay mom back.
Which leads me to the buying portion. We have our dream house in our reach. It is absolutely perfect for us, except for one thing. It is no longer a walk to my sister and the kids. That part breaks my heart. But the home is so amazing and we are in the same town that I have resigned myself to driving to visit sister instead of walking. I will not let this location change our relationship. The house is set on the side of a hill, near the top of a local mountain. It is beautiful and you can see half way across the valley from the roof top deck. Initially when we found it, we expected we would have about $25,000 to bring the original 1980s home into our century, but now we will be thrilled just to get in. We will have the rest of our lives to make it our own. Right now, we honestly just want to get home. We've got our financing in order, we've got our inspections done up there and we have done everything right along the way. It's time that our buyers get their shit together and do the same.
We are really hoping for no more bumps in the road. I'm a little concerned though because this morning the fridge is making all sorts of noise.....
Perhaps you are asking yourself, why is she making such a big deal of a broken garage door? Things happen right? You would be correct, they do. Except this garage door was perfectly fine just two hours earlier. What had changed during those two hours was that our home was being inspected for our buyer. Somehow our garage door was broken during the inspection. What the hell? Even if for some reason it was about to break which I don't see as possible since there had been no problem with it just last night, a note of some sort would have been helpful. We just came home to damage, no notification of any kind. No information to our agents, no warning to us that our house was no longer able to be secure. Just another check in a long series of pain in the ass boxes that have documented this house selling experience.
There is a reason that buying and selling homes is on the top five list of most stressful life events. We Ross's don't like to do things half ass, so we decided to double down and do both at once. Except for my first year of teaching, which happened to also be the year my dad was dying of cancer, this is the worst and most stressful experience we have ever lived through in our entire marriage. Preparing this house to sell took my entire summer and all of our savings. Then we had the water heater issue, then the rodent issue and don't even get me started on the ongoing battle of installing hurricane straps. Yes, in the Willamette valley we are supposed to entertain the idea of hurricane straps. We are resisting for now. All this adds up to about $8,000 in repairs after we exhausted our own savings, that mom has financed until we close since one of the fun side effects of buying a house is that you can't take out any debt. Great...we put mom's extra money in limbo so we can fix things that are ridiculous just to be able to sell.
Oh and then there is the buyers. So far there has been three of them. The first had no business even wasting our time since she had no money. The second dropped out as quickly as he got in. The current buyers have made it to the inspection stage, but not without significant bumps, delays and uncertainties along the way. With the addition of a broken door during their inspection, I'm not holding my breathe that their list of requests will be smooth and simple. Oh, and have I mentioned that with all the unexpected items, and the rock bottom price with closing costs included, we will be lucky to have enough money at closing to just pay mom back.
Which leads me to the buying portion. We have our dream house in our reach. It is absolutely perfect for us, except for one thing. It is no longer a walk to my sister and the kids. That part breaks my heart. But the home is so amazing and we are in the same town that I have resigned myself to driving to visit sister instead of walking. I will not let this location change our relationship. The house is set on the side of a hill, near the top of a local mountain. It is beautiful and you can see half way across the valley from the roof top deck. Initially when we found it, we expected we would have about $25,000 to bring the original 1980s home into our century, but now we will be thrilled just to get in. We will have the rest of our lives to make it our own. Right now, we honestly just want to get home. We've got our financing in order, we've got our inspections done up there and we have done everything right along the way. It's time that our buyers get their shit together and do the same.
We are really hoping for no more bumps in the road. I'm a little concerned though because this morning the fridge is making all sorts of noise.....
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
The waiting game
I go back to work in two weeks. This summer has been a blur of home improvement projects to get this place on the market. It officially hit the market on Saturday. So far we have three showings scheduled along with a realtor tour and an open house this coming Sunday.
I wasn't prepared for the overwhelming emotions involved in this entire process. Binge watching HGTV is not an adequate preparation for buying and selling a home. I thought all the manual labor of the home improvements would be the worst. Nope, not even close. The worst part is living in limbo land.
See the staging people want you to have a house that looks like a home, but not a home that anyone actually lives in. So you can have the rule of 3. Three things on any flat surface. That means no appliances out in the kitchen, no personal pictures, nothing like that. So instead, we get to live as if we were in a hotel, out of a few bags that can easily be tucked away with the phone call that a showing is scheduled. The only difference is that there is no maid here. I'm constantly tidying up and poor Annie is searching the want ads for a new family. Seriously, this blows.
We have found our dream house. I'm not sure if that makes this game we are playing right now better or worse. There is a goal in mind, but it is just feels more unattainable with each showing that doesn't produce an offer.
Let's just hope that we get an offer soon. Patience is not my forte'.
I wasn't prepared for the overwhelming emotions involved in this entire process. Binge watching HGTV is not an adequate preparation for buying and selling a home. I thought all the manual labor of the home improvements would be the worst. Nope, not even close. The worst part is living in limbo land.
See the staging people want you to have a house that looks like a home, but not a home that anyone actually lives in. So you can have the rule of 3. Three things on any flat surface. That means no appliances out in the kitchen, no personal pictures, nothing like that. So instead, we get to live as if we were in a hotel, out of a few bags that can easily be tucked away with the phone call that a showing is scheduled. The only difference is that there is no maid here. I'm constantly tidying up and poor Annie is searching the want ads for a new family. Seriously, this blows.
We have found our dream house. I'm not sure if that makes this game we are playing right now better or worse. There is a goal in mind, but it is just feels more unattainable with each showing that doesn't produce an offer.
Let's just hope that we get an offer soon. Patience is not my forte'.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Change in the air
July is a big month for the Ross family. We will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary on the 29th. I have no idea how in the world that ever passed by so quickly. That will be the subject of a later post.
The bigger news is that after 16 years in our starter home, we have decided to entertain the idea of moving on. Our street has become busier and we have just decided it is time for a change for us. The problem with this idea is that we have not done much around here other than minor improvements over the past few years. This includes some pretty bold paint colors. We have also, let the yard go to chaos and the back deck has long outlived it's lifespan. So we have quite the project list out before us.
We got a good start on it last weekend, but I certainly did not think when I ordered the tiny dumpster. Wednesday the large one will arrive and that should make short work of getting the deck and all the yard trimming I did all weekend out of the yard and into the dumpster. That will also allow for us to get going on returning the majority of our back yard to grass. Since we live in a nice family neighborhood and in the boundaries of two of the best schools in town, we hope that the bigger lawn will attract buyers.
So, I suspect over the next few weeks I will be typing out my frustration and experiences as Sean and I move into the uncharted territory of house sellers and buyers. When we moved in here it was a one stop shopping experience which is why we jumped on it. I'm nervous and hopeful that we can make this happen kind of quickly, since we have our eye on a diamond in the rough property that we'd love to move into sooner rather than later. Time will tell. As my brother told me "your house will sell for what someone will pay for it on any given day." I hope this day is soon and the price is enough to get us where we want to go. I guess it's time to put away the computer and get back to work. My worker gnomes have yet to have appeared even though I wish for them daily.
The bigger news is that after 16 years in our starter home, we have decided to entertain the idea of moving on. Our street has become busier and we have just decided it is time for a change for us. The problem with this idea is that we have not done much around here other than minor improvements over the past few years. This includes some pretty bold paint colors. We have also, let the yard go to chaos and the back deck has long outlived it's lifespan. So we have quite the project list out before us.
We got a good start on it last weekend, but I certainly did not think when I ordered the tiny dumpster. Wednesday the large one will arrive and that should make short work of getting the deck and all the yard trimming I did all weekend out of the yard and into the dumpster. That will also allow for us to get going on returning the majority of our back yard to grass. Since we live in a nice family neighborhood and in the boundaries of two of the best schools in town, we hope that the bigger lawn will attract buyers.
So, I suspect over the next few weeks I will be typing out my frustration and experiences as Sean and I move into the uncharted territory of house sellers and buyers. When we moved in here it was a one stop shopping experience which is why we jumped on it. I'm nervous and hopeful that we can make this happen kind of quickly, since we have our eye on a diamond in the rough property that we'd love to move into sooner rather than later. Time will tell. As my brother told me "your house will sell for what someone will pay for it on any given day." I hope this day is soon and the price is enough to get us where we want to go. I guess it's time to put away the computer and get back to work. My worker gnomes have yet to have appeared even though I wish for them daily.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Post 30
So it turns out I was terrible about documenting my 30 day clean journey. I had to do a ton of that with the program itself and it never quite migrated to the blog. My bad for not realizing what that would actually entail. However, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words so here are a few photos.
Front view: Before and after
Side view: Before and After
Back View: Before and After
30 days of clean eating speaks for itself. I feel stronger, I've lost 9 pound and 5 inches and there is no way I'm going back. Seriously. I love the way I feel and for the first time in 25 years I'm starting to love the way I look. I can't wait to see what the next 30 days will bring. I'm officially done with the challenge, but honestly, I'm adopting this as a way of life for now. Hmm, eating real foods is not a bad thing. So I'll just keep with it. Perhaps I will have a piece of cake or cookie at some point, but the detox from the sugar was exceptionally brutal so I believe I will avoid that process again in my lifetime and just stay clean. This whole experience has given me a new found respect for any kind of addicts trying to kick a habit. Who knew it was really that hard.
Anyway, tomorrow I'm heading off for my first biking event. Not only has this new lifestyle given me a new found energy. I also have a new embracing of things I've always wanted to try. If not now, When?
Cheers!
30 days of clean eating speaks for itself. I feel stronger, I've lost 9 pound and 5 inches and there is no way I'm going back. Seriously. I love the way I feel and for the first time in 25 years I'm starting to love the way I look. I can't wait to see what the next 30 days will bring. I'm officially done with the challenge, but honestly, I'm adopting this as a way of life for now. Hmm, eating real foods is not a bad thing. So I'll just keep with it. Perhaps I will have a piece of cake or cookie at some point, but the detox from the sugar was exceptionally brutal so I believe I will avoid that process again in my lifetime and just stay clean. This whole experience has given me a new found respect for any kind of addicts trying to kick a habit. Who knew it was really that hard.
Anyway, tomorrow I'm heading off for my first biking event. Not only has this new lifestyle given me a new found energy. I also have a new embracing of things I've always wanted to try. If not now, When?
Cheers!
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