You are kidding me!

I had a good weekend in New England. I got to go to L's 30th birthday bash. I've never seen her so surprised in my life and E&J got the whole thing on video. I even got a chance to drive up to NH and see my cousin and his wife who are due to have their first baby any second. This weekend was fun and even refreshing. I finished Harry Potter (no spoliers, but I will say that I could've done without the epilogue) and spent time in 4 states in 48 hours. Today has been full of a week's worth of ups and downs. It all started on my way to work. I was 10 minutes out and got a call from one of the sales assistants. "The auditors are here." I knew they were in town but thought that would be at Union. I thought wrong. They were not getting what they needed in a timely manner at Union, so they stopped by my office first. I don't mind that they are here. I am ready for the audit, just not the time they needed today. I dropped off the majority of what they needed from me and rushed in to my Tuesday morning managers meeting about 5 minutes late. Then I spent the rest of the day being interrupted by sales people, my GM & the auditors. Just to give you a better understanding: I didn't get lunch until 1:30 (Taco Bell drive through), it took me 20 minutes to eat ONE taco at my desk, and I didn't get my first cup of coffee until 2:50. As if that wasn't enough, I got a call at 4p from my mortgage officer. Apparently she had made a mistake. The sellers agreed to pay all but $200 of my closing costs (which are about 5% due to it being a no money down loan and the taxes), but legally they can only pay 3% in closing costs! What does that mean? Well instead of getting back $300 of earnest money and not having to make my first mortgage until October 1, the seller reduced the price by $2,100 and I have to present a cashier's check for just under $1,100 by 11a tomorrow! Oh, and I can't afford the extra closing costs associated with the additional pre-paid interest, so my first mortgage payment will be September 1. After the initial shock wore off and I was once again able to function, I sat down with my checkbook. So, after transferring 99% of the money from my ING savings account and paying my rent for August on the 3rd (because it takes up to 3 days for the ING transfer to go through and my apartment does not consider the rent late until the 6th) and deciding to hold off paying one of my credit cards until next payday, I'll be able to pay the additional closing costs and have $2.12 to spare. Thankfully my pantry is stocked with Ramen and Mac & Cheese. :) At first I was wondering if God was trying to tell me that I'm not supposed to buy this house. Then, when I saw that I have just enough money to pay the closing costs, I realized that God is showing me that Yes, I should buy this house and to always remember that when you are faithful to God (When calculating if I could pay the $1,100 I refused to factor in any reduction in the amount of semi-monthly tithes and offerings that I committed to back in January.) He is faithful to you. It is also a reminder that God will provide exactly what you need. He may not give you more than you need, but he won't give you less!

Soon and Very Soon

In less than a week, I'll own my own house! The closing is scheduled for 11 am Wednesday. I can't wait. I had three girls from Pathfinders over last night to help me pack. Two pizzas and $20 each later, my kitchen is 90% packed (we ran out of boxes), my closet and dressers are barren, and all of my linens are packed. Apparently, I "have a lot of stuff." :) We accomplished all of this in about two hours! The girls were a blessing and even volunteered to come back to finish up free of charge. Thankfully I have a full weekend coming up to distract me from the fact that I'll be living in a sea of boxes for awhile.

Breathing easier

I heard back from the appraiser and all he had was praise for my new house :) Appraiser, praise...get it? Anyway, everything is falling into place nicely. I double checked with Lowes yesterday about the technical differences between slide-in and freestanding ranges. According to them there is no issue with using the cheaper freestanding range between the cabinets. Woo-Hoo! I'm also looking at over the range microwaves. I gave away my old microwave when I moved as my apartment had one built in. The hood that is currently in place needs some work, so might as well upgrade. I'm just praying it is at least 30"; I'll measure it during my final walk through. LadyBoyd's hubbie has been volunteered to help me with the details of the mini-renovation. I won't make him doing any of the install, just the cutting :) As for HP, I'm up to page 100+. I don't remember exactly where I stopped, but it was midnight when I put the book down. I'm hoping to get a lot of reading in this weekend. Maybe I'll even finish it by Monday so I can start reading all of the spolierish articles on line. I'm not good with waiting for surprises, so it is killing me not to read about the ending.

Undaunted

It is T minus 8 days until closing on the new house. I'm very excited and am getting butterflies every time I think of it. I have started the packing process and have at least a dozen boxes ready to go. The main challenges will be the kitchen and my closet. Thankfully I have some of the Pathfinder girls coming over Wednesday night to help. There is a lot to be done, but I'm pretty confident that it won't be too daunting of a task. My biggest worries have nothing to do with packing or moving and everything to do with the kitchen mini-renovation project. Once I talk to the experts at Lowe's I'll be more at ease. I just want to be sure that I do everything right when it comes to putting in the new stove and modifying the cabinets. Cross your fingers! On a side note: I got the new Harry Potter in the mail on Sabbath and have only read the first two chapters. I know, I'm lame.

Quote of the Day

A man's discretion makes him slow to anger, And it is his glory to overlook a transgression. Proverbs 19:11 (NASB)

Invalid

Friday's home inspection went well. There are just the usual repairs needed on the outside of the house. I'm once again waiting to hear back from the seller about the repairs I want them to take on. I'm holding off on packing for fear of jinxing the sale, but August 1 is only fifteen days away! This weekend I went to a Spa Day at the Pastor's house for the women of our church. Only a handful showed up, but it was still a good time. We had a mini-women's ministry meeting to discuss what we wanted to do as a group. Some of the ideas involved making bears for the police to give out to kids and blankets for some of the local shelters. We also discussed the upcoming "secret sisters" program. We were trying to figure out some of the details such as how long it should run for and the dollar limit on gifts. We decided it should go from August to March and have a $10 each cap on gifts. The next major issue was the cap on the number of gifts. Should we have only 1 or up to 3? I brought up the point that I would like to see us allow the range of 1-3 gifts. I explained that my reasoning for this is that if my secret sister has a birthday during this time, I may want to get her something. Yet people who only give 1 gift during this time (ie, for Christmas) wouldn't need to feel like they are slacking. While most of the women nodded in agreement, one asked me "Are you a mother? You aren't a mother are you? If you aren't a mother then you can't understand." I was shocked into silence by this response since it is so irrelevant. This is not the first time that this single mother of an elementary school aged girl and her friend (also a single mother of a school aged child) have said this to me. The first time was because they were complaining about the excess charges by the after school care program run by the local church school when someone is late picking up a child. My response was to ask, "Couldn't you ask one of the other parents to pick up your child if you know you are going to have an issue making it there on time?" The response I got was: "Apparently, you are not a mother. You don't get it." True, I don't get it. But that has nothing to do with not being a mother. I don't get how there is not another parent in the entire SDA school that you would trust to pick up your child for you occasionally. Talk about overprotective parents! Now, I understand that being a single parent is not easy. Heck, being single isn't easy either. What really gets me is that fact that these two women who have been single mothers for several years and who have probably been burned in the past, are taking it out on me. The fact that I am not a mother makes all of my thoughts, opinions and comments invalid in their eyes. I call malarkey on that one. Being a parent, expecially a bitter single mother, is no excuse for putting people down nor is it permission to feel entitled to pressue those around you to feel sorry that your life is not turning out how you planned it.

Waiting is the hardest part

So here it is 3 1/2 weeks until I close on the house and I'm stuck waiting. I'm waiting to hear back on my homeowner's insurance policy which needs to be in place for the mortgage papers. Waiting on this Friday's home inspection to find out what exactly I've gotten myself into. That is also when I'm going in with the measuring tape. I'm hoping to buy a stove this weekend (after the inspection of course). Next week I can work on finding some movers to help me with the heavy wood furniture from the bedroom and the washer & dryer. I also need to figure out if I want a futon for the second bedroom or a regular mattress set. Either way that is a purchase I'll need to make in the near future. I'm waiting until the inspection to start packing. I'll need to clean the rugs in my apartment and figure out a time line so I can transfer over the cable, electric, etc. I'm not really looking forward to two electric bills in August. It seems like so much needs to be done, including a small paint job on the cabinets, downstairs built-in and fireplace mantel, but nothing can really start for several weeks. I don't think that the back yard has been mowed all summer, so that will be a fun task. J has offered to take care of it for me, but we'll see. I'm going to need to get my own mower at some point. Maybe my parents can help me pick one out when they come for a Labor Day visit.

I'm a Big Girl Now

July has been a very busy month so far. On the first I looked at a couple of houses that are a no go. Then on Monday I took E&J to see the house that I like (see picture). They love it as much as I do. So I put an offer on the house Monday night. Tuesday morning I got my counter offer. They accepted all of my terms and came down some on the asking price. I jumped at it. The contract was signed that afternoon! I have an inspection lined up for Friday, July 13. Let's cross our fingers that superstition does not hold true :) If all goes according to plan, I'll close on August 1st. That gives me a full month to move out of my apartment and get it up to par so that I get back my full security deposit. I know I need to clean the carpets and scrub the aging linoleum. Thankfully the new house does not need a lot of work, just some minor painting of the kitchen cabinets and some accessory change outs. I still am a little shocked that if/when this works out I'll have reached my goal of home ownership by the age of 30. I'll even have done it with 9 months to spare! I guess I have to find a new goal. Kids by 35? Fitting back into a size 8? We'll see.