out, gone, done.

 It’s all over. Yesterday was pure hell.  The new people were literally moving in on our heels. Cleaning each and every room with lysol and gloves as we were out of them. They arrived at 9 am, and the movers a couple hours after that. Their realtor was there as well, kissing butt, providing food of sorts, a huge amount of boxes and packing supplies for us ( in case we hadn’t started ? ) .  We had finished all the bedrooms, bathrooms, and most of the kitchen by the time they all arrived, and only had the sewing room & computer stuff, laundry room, and a bit of the kitchen to do.  They were really nice and gushing over how wonderful the house was and what great creativity and taste I had in doing it  – but really pushy at the same time. As Lauri said: super passive-aggressive.   Their dsl, dish network, phone, water persons were all in and out at the same time.  Making no less than nine or ten people doing stuff at once. 
Bedlam.
At one point I had a bit of a meltdown and threw a mini fit. “Let us get out of this last room before anything else comes into it – you’ve got the whole rest of the house to put your stuff into. I’m at my breaking point and I can’t be pushed any more. Back off!”  At which point they all (patronizingly apologized ) and acted like they didn’t realize that they were being intrusive. jerks. 
Near the very end, Lauri and Victor showed up and helped with the last of the stuff. She and I took the refrigerator and freezer stuff to Evelyn’s house ( where we’re staying). I felt no need to say goodbye and wish them well. 
Unfortunately, Richard is there now supervising the handyman who is strapping down the water heater ( code issue ).
One of my neighbors came and helped to pack up the last room, and several others came by during all of the commotion to say goodbye and covey their regrets at our leaving.  That was really nice, and somewhat emotional. 

We lived there sixteen years – and a lot happened in that time.  Nearly as long as I lived at home before going out on my own. Longer than Richard ever lived anywhere else by a long while.  Things are going to be sooo different. I can’t wait.

We have some consolidating to do, as we really had to work to get things into the trailer. That leaves the things that are now at Evy’s house in the lurch.  Maybe more than one last trip. We’ ll work on that over the next couple weeks. 

But for now, there’s some serious relaxing to do. The money’s been wired to the new bank in Washington, the deal is done.  

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late……

yeah, I know.  a few late nights for us.  we are trying hard to be out of the house by tomorrow night, if at all possible. And just be done with the whole thing.  I am continually amazed at the contentiousness of this whole deal.  If we didn’t want to sell and be gone so badly, I would have been over it and told them to ^$#$%&&^$  already. 
 Thing is, I really want it to go well. I want to leave the house clean and nice. 
 I guess they got me there.  
Yesterday, no wait, make that today ( its late ) we were informed by their agent that they planned on closing tomorrow – Thursday.! Oh, and their movers have been scheduled for Friday – military movers, no less.  I guess everyone knew all about it but us.  
So this afternoon, we went to the escrow office, and while signing another round of papers we are presented with “Repair order # 3” . This latest one had yet another few items on it ( it seems that each time we tell them no on something, they ask for something else in addition ) This time it was the agreed items from the previous two repair orders, minus the $500 that we refuse to give them, plus all of the potted plants outside.  We both kind of lost it.  I know that it seems like we’re taking a chance on throwing the deal out, but they keep pushing and pushing and we have had enough.  Moving the closing date up, demanding that we are out to suit their schedule, and wanting an explicit list of petty items ‘repaired’ wasn’t enough for them.  I’m so annoyed that I don’t want to meet them at all. (Mom and dad, who are the ones actually buying the house for their little girl and her husband, and who is behind all of the pushiness – I think – are flying in from PA tomorrow night to help the ‘kids’ move ) 
At the end of today, the escrow folks are funding the loan tomorrow, recording it on Friday, and we retain posession until 3pm. 

I am waiting for Richard to get home from the ‘yard’ – someone decided to drive down from LA tonight to buy one of the project cars that he has for sale. 
We did go to Richard’s sisters’ house and have a look around today. Looks like all we’ll need to keep out for the three weeks that we’ll be staying is food and clothes. They still have a house full of stuff left there.  We feel so lucky to have that as an available spot to land for a bit. 

I am cutting off all of the utilities here as of Saturday.  This means that I will be losing my doglick email address. bittersweet.  But time to move on. 

When I have a few more minutes, I will try to catch up on the past week.  In short, we had a wonderful time, great weather ( hot, even – in the upper 80’s ) and got to visit with Gretchen & Tom, and Mom and Ryan for a couple of days.

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 We are at our New Home!  
Well, for a few days, anyway.
This trip it feels different, in that I know that it will be permanent really soon.  Like, I have a date. Its looking like the final trip will be around the 8th of October. And as more personal things are taken away from the Santee house, it is feeling less and less like ours now. Hmm. One of the goals is to keep the plants and yard somewhat green in the 105+ degree heat that has settled in the last several days. It would be really disheartening as a buyer to get the keys to a house that you saw in its’ green glory now all brown just a couple of weeks later. I am really lucky to have a couple people come by to do the watering.  No news from the realtor – which really is good news at this point. 

We had a great trip up this time; taking three days to get here instead of the usual two. We stopped by to see Ethan and Sarah in their new house – what a treat to be able to sit and visit for a while. They have found a nice house, and all it needs is for them to put their own marks on it – it’s still in the ‘blank canvas’ state. They are lucky in that the previous owners left everything in whites or light neutrals – easy to go over with whatever colors you like. ( the complete opposite of what we are leaving our buyers ) It was fun to watch the cats warily check out Sunny. 
We left there and had a relaxed drive to Roseburg, where we spent the night.

Today we drove the last leg, stopping at a little place on Hwy 26 ( which goes from Portland to the coast ) called Oney’s – had a good burger and great fries ( always a wonderful thing when they’re fresh cut ). Got here around 2:00. We had to do a little bank/ business/tax/ stuff but got it all worked out – I love technology sometimes!
It looks like Gretchen and Tom, ( and possibly Ryan and Mom ) will join us for the weekend. Yay! I also need to mention that over the weekend is  http://www.funbeach.com/events/cars/RodRun/index.html which is one of the reasons that we decided to come up this week. 
It was great to fire up the Tiger and run into town this afternoon. And the weather looks to be good for the next few days, so I see some topless time ahead!   whoo-hoo!
We need to bail out of here on Monday though, and get back to Santee to move out, as the house should no longer be ours on the 14th.

We got to go to Aidan’s birthday on Saturday, and he is getting so big – but still adorable. I’ve tried to upload pics, but somethings’ witchy there- boo.
I did meet with my wealthy client on Friday, and as of now its looking like she might just be flying me back to San Diego periodically to fit her. There was even talk of her putting me on the payroll. Might turn out to be an okay gig after all. hmmm. We’ll see how it works out, but it should be interesting at the least. 
I’ll try to put up some new pictures in the next day or two. 

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I’ve no idea.

The demands for information are beginning.  The new owners want every possible piece of paper relating to the remodel of the house. One of the problems I’m running into is that there are a couple of contractors that we used that were not big companies, or someone that we knew and we don’t have the ‘proper’ reciepts. They want to see the reciepts for the plumbing and electrical work.The work was done well, and to our satisfaction, but in pouring over piles of paperwork, there are those that I just can’t find.  We’ve made copies of all of the permits and inspection cards, and handed those off, but I fear that might not be enough.   
Today the termite inspection was done with the two tiny repairs to take place on Thursday, and tomorrow their bank appraisal will happen. Friday the house inspection will happen ( by the engineer who signed off on it after we fixed the foundation and slab, coincidently ). I feel like my world is on hold until they’re complete. California has a huge lawsuit business, hence there are a zillion disclosures, and the paperwork is seemingly neverending.  It’s interesting that in every report, and disclosure (that you have to pay for)  there is a disclaimer that we have to sign that says that we won’t hold anyone else liable for anything.
Meanwhile, there is some packing to do if we are going to Washington leaving here Sunday, and I still have a pile of sewing to finish for other people.  We also need to wrap up everything to do with our corporation by weeks end and have it to the accountant as Friday is the end of the fiscal year. 
aaarrrrrggghhhhhhh!
I have to remind myself that this should only last a few weeks.
Oh, and there is a birthday party for Aidan on Saturday.

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and now we wait…….

again. 
Only this time we have accepted an offer. A couple of counter-offers back and forth. But we are officially in escrow. 
And now we are on the twenty-one day countdown.  Yikes!! Three weeks! 
In the end, we settled at 440K.  With the market tanking ( and that’s an understatement for what’s going on here ) in southern California it seems like it’s time to be done with it.  My sad point is that I agreed to leave my washer & dryer. 
But not the antique stove ( they really wanted it ). 

Some changes need to be made in our travel plans. We haven’t ironed all of that out yet.  And there’s the possibility that we will rent Evelyn’s  ( Richard’s sister ) house for a couple of weeks – they have bought and moved into another house, and haven’t listed the old one yet.  We need to be here for an event on the 29th and another the next week on Oct. 6th..  
We’re thinking about bringing (another) vehicle and some more non-essential things up to the beach house, and being back here on about the 11th, moving the last of the things into the trailer, then we would be here for that last couple weeks. This would give Richard time to do the rest of the necessary work on the Falcon.  We don’t want to totally clean out everything here just in case it falls out of escrow for some reason.  The last of the moving out should be a breeze as there’s not much left.  The coming trip I may well end up driving my car up as well.   

I’m happy to be done with the open houses, strangers looking around at our stuff, and the constant fussing. It will be a sad departure from kids, grandkids, and friends. And an exciting new world to look forward to. 

I can breath now.

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resting

Well, the open house was yesterday afternoon. The realtor said that we got a fairly good turnout – 8 couples came through. Lots of positive feedback, but  no offers though. We may do it again as soon as Saturday, if he can arrange it.  We spent all day Saturday and yesterday morning doing last-minute things to try to get everything ‘just right’.  
There isn’t anything left to do on the big list other than keep the newly growing grass and the sprouting dichondra slightly damp. So I give it all a spray every few hours -( like feeding a baby ).  The ‘virtual tour ‘is now up on the listing, so maybe that will help things some. 
I need to ge patient.  The average time on the market here is around 60 days – but I so wanted to be not the average.
patence. 

Now I can move on to getting some much delayed sewing done. 
Maybe even for myself.  ;~)

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questions…

This morning I had a Dr. appointment. While waiting for a few minutes to be called, I noticed that there were no ( even outdated ) magazines on the bookshelf and tables – instead they were covered with pamphlets, advertisements, etc. for a myriad of drugs. You know the ones: resless leg syndrome, ADD, depression, IBS, ED, heartburn, insomnia, migraines, and on and on and on. In those couple minutes, I walked around and counted 63 of them.  I got the overwhelming feeling that if you didn’t need any of what was being pushed, you were abnormal. Creepy.  I only go to the doctor rarely, and it’s always to the same place; so my question is: have all offices gone this route – being an assault of ads for rx’s? No more ‘Highlights’ or the grown-up equivilants.   
National health care, please.  Though with the pharmaceutical companies having so much influence and control, I think it will be a very long time coming. 

We have an open house scheduled for Sunday 12-5.  Think happy sales thoughts for me, please. 
From the looks of the latest figures, in the month of June there were 37 resale houses sold in Santee, versus 35 in June of last year. So, people are buying, although the average price has dropped about $20K in that period.   good news, bad news. 

The other night we watched “The Man Who Wasn’t There” . I loved it – it’s great when the casting is so perfect.

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weekend

This morning the “For Sale” sign went up. Luckily I thought to leave a note ( put the sign where the paint can is sitting ) before I left on our walk. I came home and there it was – right in that spot! My chore for the day is to take a bunch of stuff to the ‘hazardous waste recycling’ at 12:27p.m. ( you have to make an appointment three weeks in advance ). 

There was an interesting ( at least to me ) article in the NY times relating to today’s embroidery featuring one of the machines I have. Here it is:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/business/yourmoney/08novelties.html?ex=1341547200&en=fca7abd36e5b9a46&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
I thought it covered the subject well. 
 
It is hot here, which makes doing much outside work especially yucky.  I might just spend the afternoon sewing some.

Richard leaves the house to come back this direction tomorrow morning. We miss him.

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Listed! ( at last )

Okay, so we officially have a house on the market. Now of course, we wait for the buyers to beat a path to our door instead of the 156 other single family houses in Santee that are currently listed.  Could we have picked a worse time?   Here is a link to the listing:
http://listings1.sandicor.com/SearchDetail/Scripts/PrtBuyFul/PrtBuyFul.asp?prp=mls&AgentId=625468&EmailKey=50369359

Of course I would have liked to ask more for it, but with so many out there, the prices have dropped in the past couple months. Our first open house will be next weekend.  The best news of the day was when I asked the realtor what things I needed to do to be ready for it; he said only that I should clean the mirrored closet doors, oh, and put the coffeemaker away.  That’s it!   He also said that things looked perfect for showing. So, I guess I did it!  Here’s a few pictures ( I’m putting a bunch in the smugmug gallery album titled ‘House for Sale’ )  
   
    anyway, have a look ( and find me a buyer, maybe ) 

Today, I think I will do a little yardwork, and rest. Sunny was sick through the night – not sure why, but we are both tired. I think we’ll kind of take it easy today. 

And an update to Richard’s trip: after nearly re-wiring the trailer in LA on the way up ( someone informed him that there were no lights ) due to a blown fuse and a subsequent short, they got to Red Bluff around 10 on Wednesday night. Then yesterday, as they were getting into the mountains, a tire on the trailer began smoking and shredded. It took a while to get the full ( heavy) trailer jacked up and the spare on. He ended up buying three new tires in Yreka.  Seems that the bias ply ones that he was sold three months ago were all beginning to seperate. Now there are four radials on it. They got to the house around 10 last night. The return trip should be way more uneventful.

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Almost gone.

This has been a really hectic week here. What with getting things ready and into the trailer, realtor issues, car moving issues, and work. 
Turns out that the trailer had the wrong wheels and tires on it when it was built. This took a couple of days to iron out, but short story is that we bought four new wheels and tires ( at a discount, but still it angers me to have to spend the money when it should have been right in the first place ). But you gotta do what you gotta do, and the trailer will have over 10,000 miles put on it over the next several months with all of the moving.
Richard went to pick up the Datsun 510 last night. Finally.  I’ve no idea if it  is truly done, but he drove it into the trailer. Now, this afternoon we can load the rest of what we’re taking into it, and with any luck, we’ll leave tonight.
The LaDawri was picked up by Horsless Carrige on Wednesday night. Fussing with the money was a bit of a hassle, but its done now, and the car is gone. Richard of course had a bit of sellers remorse.    There is also someone who is going to buy his ’57 GMC pickup – one more down – whoo-hooo! We’ll deal with the details of that when we return ( he’s in Arizona and needs to get it shipped ). 

We’re grappling with the fact that the real estate market has “adjusted”, as the realtor says. We don’t have a firm number yet, but its not looking like what we want it to be. And he is strongly suggesting that we have the engineer come and do a full re-evaluation of the house ( another $575 that we don’t want to spend). I feel a bit anxious about that, but what are you going to do? If that helps to sell the house, I guess its worth it. 
Work has kept me busier than I had expected this week. I also got a call to work on a concept presentation that will be a two day shoot next week, but I had to tell them sorry- I’ll be gone!    So, as of now, guess I’m unemployed!  yippee!

I will, or should be able to post while we’re gone, as I bought a dealie that will let me teather my cellphone to my laptop and get a broadband connection, with the addition of a service on my Verizon account. I thought about getting a little network card, but that comes with a two year contract, and I don’t think I want it for that long.  This setup should get me through the move, and its only a month to month charge. 
Gretchen and Tom are at the house, and will be there for a day or so after we arrive on Sunday sometime.

don_quixote    

will come out on Sunday,  and stay for a day or two.  We will be making a trip into Seattle to take care of some business for a couple of days, then back to the house for a couple days before heading back to Santee. 

The list is long for today, and its not getting done while I’m sitting here, lots to get done before we gooooooooooooooooooooo.

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