waiting

The last three weeks have been hard, but we are getting better.  We have made arrangements for a company to come in and waterproof the basement.  It will be guaranteed not to leak and the guarantee will transfer to whoever buys it.  So now we have to wait for them to come and do it.  When they are finished our realtor will clean up the basement and put it backon the market.  She figures that it will be about March 15.  I am hoping this time it works.  Fingers crossed. 

In the meantime we are trying to keep busy.  Bob has decided to make bread again.  He is good at it and it is really yummy.  He is also making a chest of drawers for my make up to fit under the bathroom sink.  It will be really nice when it is done.  But Bob is having a hard time working on it.  He reguarly has days when he feels too bad to work and just sits until the nausea passes.  I think it is nerves, but who knows?

I have been exercising regularly and trying to stay within my weight limitations.  The exercise helps with the stress and the weight.  And I enjoy it.

Bob wants to plan a mini trek for this summer - if the house sells.  Again, fingers crossed.

It is hard

Well, not only did we not sell the house, but there is a major leak in the basement which is going to cost significant money to fix.  we don't really have the money, but it is somehting we have to do.  so we will do it.  In the meantime, I am seriously worried about Bob.  this has been very hard on him.  He is already having troubles because the medicine he takes for his neuropathy has a side effect of depression, and this is not helping.  so we are keeping busy and trying to laugh our way through this.  I keep telling myself that we are extremely lucky and haven't really had any difficulties for a long thime.  this is just to remind us what it feels like when it is tough so that we can appreciate it when it gets better.  How is that for seeing the glass half full?

I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.  The deal fell through.  We still don't know why.  Back to the drawing board.

Maybe?

Is has been a very hard six months.  We were so disappointed that the house did not sell.  Actually, we were disappinted that the inspections derailed the two sales.  Both Bob and I were feeling a lot of stress.  It was caused by worrying about finances and trying to keep our spending down so that we could support two houses.  We were also worrying about the vacant house and what might happen to it.  fianlly, I was worried that Bob might get sick if we had to stay here.  It was the kind of stress that just gnawed at me.  And, I had to admit that I loved that house so much and was disappointed that other people did not seem to love it also.  I would not let it get to me.  I held it in. 

Well, we checked the house before we put it back on the market and there was some water in the basement.  So Bob and Mike redid the entire curb and drain system, then Bob and Mike, and I cleaned and repainted the entire basement, including the floors.  It looked pretty good.  As we finished I went into the kitchen and explained to the house why we had to leave and move elsewhere.  I told the house that we had loved it and that it was really hard for us to move.  But, it was time for a new family to enjoy the house.  The house needed to have life in it and laughter and joy.  So I asked the house to please be warm and friendly to people who were coming through it.  And I said goodbye.  It seemed weird, but it felt like the right thing to do.

The house went back on the market on Tuesday.  On Thursday we got a call that there was an offer.  It turned out that it was a full price cash offer.  We accepted it (duh).  They want to close in two weeks.  So now we are sweating out the inspection.  I thought that I would be relieved, but the stress right now waiting for the inspection is terrible.  This is happening fast enough that we might be able to go to Phoenix.  I am trying hard not to get my hopes up, but it is hard.  We should hear soon.

Sigh

It has been a difficult couple of months.  We had two different offers on the old house, but they fell through because of incompetent inspections.  We finally paid for our own inspection, but the summer season was over.  We have had lots of people viewing the house, but no offers.  I feel like our life is on hold until we can get that finished.  And it is expensive to keep maintaining both houses.  Thank heaven I got a little work and we got some extra money to pay for some of the stuff that we had to do.  Now it is just sit and wait.

In the meantime, both Bob and I really like our new house.  It is smaller and easier to take care of.  I am still getting used to some things - like the smaller bathroom space or the smaller sinks.  I had a hard time finding some of the winter stuff.  I still have not found my really warm winter hat.  I had a challenge when it came time to reset the clocks and had to get out the directions for the heating system and the coffee pot.  But it is feeling like home.

We still have not put up the mezzuzah.  I was waiting until we sold the old house.  But we are getting very settled here and I think it is time.  Bob and I have decided that we will put it up while my sister is here, even if we have not sold the other house.

We still don't know for sure what we are going to do for this winter.  Bob is already starting to feel the effects of the damp weather.  It is not cold here, but it is damp and he has a head sniffle - not really a cold.  We will see.  With any kind of luck we will sell the old hosue and be able to go to Phoenix.  If not, we will figure something out.

With all of the worry about the sale of the old hosue, I have not been doing as well on the weight.  I have been putting on a pound here and there.  I have been exercising pretty regularly, and now I have to do some portion control or it will get out of hand and be much harder.

Other than that, things are going well.  I have gotten used to using public transportation and really like it.  In fact, last week, I drove to the school district offices and had to come back during rush hour.  I think it took longer than it would have if I had taken MAX.

Sigh.  It will get resolved sooner or later.  I just wish it would be sooner.

It is all starting to come together.  We have enough of the house done so that we can live in it.  We accepted an offer to sell the old house.  Our new sofa gets delivered tomorrow.  Soon we should have the venetian blinds for the dinig room and the bedrooms.  Then we can start working on making bob's shop what it should be.  It is happening so quickly.

I haven't blogged for a long time.  In that time Bob and I bought a new house and moved into it.  The house is much smaller than the old one.  The living space is pretty nice, but there is much less storage.  So, I had to get rid of a lot of stuff - and so I did.  The good news is that a friend was having a yard sale for charity so I donated all the good stuff to her.  Then the big stuff was picked up by Salvation Army.  Then after we moved I realized that I still had too much stuff so we made a few trips to Goodwill.  When we tried to move the garage and the shop there was so much stuff.  We took two trips to the dump.  It does feel good to have less stuff - but there was a lot that we had to do before we could move in.  We bought a Tuff Shed and had it built in the back for Bob to use as a shop.  We built a pantry in the basement.  We extended the deck so that it is large enough for our outdoor furniture.  We bought an IKEA island for the middle of the kitchen and put it together - that was a real challenge.  We had to put on a shower door.  We had to put together and install cupboards for the bathroom.  Then we had to put together a lot of IKEA bookcases and a couple of IKEA chairs, and an IKEA cupboard for over the washer.  We are becoming IKEA experts.

We now have enough stuff in and unpacked so that we are starting doing things like putting up the curtains.  Putting up pictures will be a real challenge because I don't know where they should go.  One thing at a time.

Our new neighborhood is much more city.  The area that we lived in before had been part of the county until 1986.  There are no sidewalks and things are pretty far away.  This area has sidewalks that are stamped 1914.  There is lots of stuff that is walkable and lots of stuff that is very close.  There is a very busy street two blocks away, but I don't notice it most of the time.  I was worried about crime, but it does feel pretty safe.

We have very nice neighbors who have already been a help in getting stuff done around here. 

The big surprise for me this morning was that I was sitting eating breakfast and saw the streetwashers come by.  I have lived in Portland for over 30 years and have never seen the streetwashers in my neighborhood.  Nice.

The best part about our new house is that it is only 3 miles from my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson.  They can drive here in 10-15 minutes.  On the fourth they biked here.  (It took less time to bike than to drive to our old house.)  More Nice. 

Getting tired and settling in.  Looking forward to being comfortable in the neighborhood and the house.  (Also looking forward to selling the old house.)