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[Nov. 19th, 2009|11:09 am] |
Finally got an update about the upcoming travel I'm supposed to do for work. They still want to do it the week of Nov 30, but it will be in Shepherdstown WV instead of in DC. It has been many years since I've been in WV, and even then I mostly drove through it instead of stopping and enjoying it. I don't even know if Shepherdstown is in in a really gorgeous mountainy area of WV or if it's just plain and boring.
Yesterday was the first day since Nov 6 that I was actually ahead on NaNoWriMo (30050! Woo!). Today, of course, I am not ahead, because I have yet to do any writing today. But if I will be traveling on Nov 29, I'd better plan to wrap up 50k ahead of schedule. The last few days I have been knocking out 3-4k without suffering too much, so 2-3k shouldn't be a problem.
Writing so much has driven me to read voraciously when I get home. Even at work I have been infatuated with blogs. I want a blog--maybe I will start one next month. When I get back from travel. Hrm.... Yesterday I read some blogging advice that you should "Be a character on your blog."
http://www.copyblogger.com/sesame-street-blogger/
Doing this makes your writing more entertaining, it gives brand recognition, and it lets people know who you are. I thought about this and realized that most of the blogs I really enjoy are written with a distinct voice that lets you know about who the blogger is. Also, the idea of doing this scares me to death. |
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[Nov. 3rd, 2009|01:03 pm] |
On track with NaNo for now. My goal this year is to really focus on keeping up with the required word goal each day so then I won't have to kill a whole Saturday with writing 10,000 words like I have in the past. I did slip behind yesterday but caught up today, so as long as I can keep within a day or two of the word goal, I think I'll be all right.
On Sunday tackled sending some poems out. Didn't finish--turned out there was a massive amount of stuff to recreate (cover letters, poem copies with addresses, etc.) which I lost when my computer crashed in 2007. Plus, there has been a massive shift in the submission process since then. A ton more journals only accept submissions online, or some accept online. Plus many have gone out of business, or others simply aren't open for submissions. So it's a ton of research, and none of the old lists or books I have are updated. As of now, I have a cover letter format written up and a list of addresses, so have to put them together and figure out what I'm sending out, and where. Must get that done this week.
David and I are having a housewarming party on Sunday, so that's one more thing to prepare for. The house has a minimal amount of clutter, though the kitchen always collects it. Also, things keep falling off the walls. Nails simply will not hold in the plaster, and I've spent probably $15 on those stupid 3M command strips that lose their stickiness and pop off the walls within a few days. It's mind-boggling and I'm not sure what to do about it. Maybe go buy a drill and start putting screws into the walls.
I may have gotten into a new leadership program at work which will require some travel. Will know more next week. I suspect all of the travel will be to the DC area. Aw, why can't it be Las Vegas??? |
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[Oct. 22nd, 2009|08:44 am] |
Yesterday I made a list of all of the things I want to get done--basically, all of my irons in the fire, things like my book that I'm sending out to publishers, the career ladder change I'm working on at work, all of the house repairs I want done, the beer brewing hobby I want to start, plus more. There were like 13 things, and honestly those weren't even all of them. They were just the ones off the top of my head.
Some of them are dependant on time and money. My first financial goal is getting my credit cards paid off, and I have to just keep throwing the same amount of money at them that I have been for the next 6 months. Big money house projects just won't happen until I can divert that money into savings. I say I want a greyhound, but a pet is a big drain on money too, not to mention time, especially since it will have to be walked until I can afford to fence the back yard.
I'm sure some of my problems are time-management issues. I have down time here at work, and at least some of that could be spent writing. Sometimes I think I should start a blog (not LJ, which is basically an online diary), because that can be a great way to focus your interests and connect to other people. Penelope Trunk says that your blog has to be about 1 thing, and then everything else that you write about can relate to that. It is a challenge picking the thing to write about.
I feel like I don't use social media to my best advantage, which is a disappointment to me, because I used to be a part of a lot of online communities. Of course, when I did that, I had very little else that I was responsible for. There are things I need online networking for, though. I threw $45 at poetry contest entry fees last spring, and none of the publishers even sent back a rejection notice. Michael Anania used to tell us that those contests were like buying lottery tickets. Tons of people threw money into it, and 1 or 2 people got their books published. I need better contacts who can get my book published, or at the very least I need to be sending to publishers who have more respect for the people who send them all that money.
Blogs are a heck of a lot of work, though. If I do one, I have to make sure that I get back at least as much as I put into it. |
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[Oct. 10th, 2009|08:55 pm] |
Gotten hooked on Mad Men lately, which I didn't expect. I reluctantly read a couple reviews on Salon.com, and really ended up liking the complexity of the plot and characterization. It doesn't have the irony or intensity of Dexter, but the drama of how the characters enfold is really quite enchanting. It's not like I'm completely in love with the 1960s decade, but I have to admit that some of the kitchiness is quite charming. I started watching with the beginning of this season (I think), but now I'm thinking of picking up previous seasons on Netflix.
Went to see the greyhounds today at the Broadview Meet-n-greet. They had Banana (racing name Kay Banana Rama), by whom I have been so enchanted for the last week or 2. She is suuuuuuper cute, but she seems like she might have a little anxiety about unknown environments. I know David would like to wait until spring to get a dog, but I am soooooo tempted.... |
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[Oct. 8th, 2009|11:33 am] |
Got the form on my raise today from my step increase that took effect last Sunday. It won't be a ton of additional money, but it helps and it's nice to have. I won't have the last of my credit cards paid off until spring, but I'm thinking about starting up a Roth IRA now. My half of the mortgage plus property taxes is about $175 less than what I was previously paying in rent, so I need to be doing something useful with that money. David and I also need to set up a joint savings account, probably with ING. If we each throw 1/24th of the mortgage in every month, we can make an extra mortgage payment a year (plus earn a little interest), which will cut 8 years off the term of our mortgage. Pretty cool!
All that makes me sound super responsible, but I have been on a real spending spree the past few weeks. I haven't really bought any clothes since last fall and a lot of my work clothes have been looking pretty tattered, so I bought a few things to help out my wardrobe. I'll have to go through things this weekend and throw out or donate a bunch of old stuff I won't wear again, though. Bought a bread machine on Monday from Amazon with the free shipping, and it arrived with lightning speed on Tuesday. Baked a loaf of bread last night--just something plain and ordinary, but it was pretty tasty! Looking forward to baking ones with a lot of whole grains and fruit and nuts, as well as making pizza dough for homemade pizzas.
David and I are headed to The Chicago Theatre tonight to see Kathy Griffin. I'm pretty excited! We've had the tickets since before we even found the house. Since moving in we haven't gone out much, so it will be nice to get out and do something fun. |
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[Sep. 29th, 2009|10:39 am] |
Things are finally seeming to get back to normal around here, so yesterday I wrote some poetry postcards. I knew I was behind on writing them, but those only brought me up to 22, and since next week will be week 40, I see I am seriously behind. Work is more relaxed now that we have reached the end of the fiscal year, though, so I have a little more time here. Can I write 22 postcards (as many as I've written from the first of the year until now) from now through the end of October?
Thinking also about NaNoWriMo. I don't feel a pressing need to launch myself into a novel this year, but I have a month to mull it over, so I'll see if any interesting ideas come to mind. I haven't been reading that much over the last month, so maybe if I read a couple novels in October, more ideas will get stirred up. Anyone else planning on NaNoWriMoing this year? Plenty of time to think about plot and characters if you start now!
More may be in store for me at work coming up. This pay period, I just hit my 2 year anniversary, which means I'm converted to Career Conditional (regular employee). I get a little raise from a step increase, but I'm at the top of my career ladder, so there's no where else for me to go. My boss wants me hired into a new career ladder before she retires, and we've been talking about options. It's great that she is looking out for me. She also mentioned a leadership program which would require some travel. Applying would require a lot of write-ups on behalf of my bosses and HR. No real work for me, but they have to be the ones to vouch for me if they want me to go. Might be a lot of people applying, though, so I'm not exactly counting on going.
Thinking about trying to brew some beer this fall. It's like wanting to improve my cooking skills--it would be interesting and satisfying to learn. It's a big job, a lot of planning, a lot of steps and work before you see a result. The initial equipment cost isn't prohibative, but it isn't stuff I want to buy and then have sit in my basement unused. If I'm going to do it, I want to try it a couple-few times at least. I have other priorities than starting this project now (especially since I don't have much free time to speak of at the moment), but it's interesting to think about. |
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[Sep. 28th, 2009|08:49 am] |
Feeling great this morning, maybe just on account of the house finally feeling like it's closer to being in order. We spent a lot of money this weekend--bought 6 place-settings of dishes (though $100 of that was a gift from David's mom) and and some shelves. The dishes are a dark blue with stylized pink flowers, made in Japan but we got them at World Market. The shelves are from Ikea--David got a Billy, which is a nicer shelf than I've ever bought, but as we were putting it together I could see why it costs more than the shelves I usually get. It's just higher quality in general. They no longer make Flarkes, so I ended up getting the Flarke replacement, which of course costs twice as much. Hopefully it will blend in with all my other Flarkes.
Was very nice yesterday afternoon to hang out and watch the Bears game with David, in our own living room. A lot of our time seems to be spent fixing things, but I still love hanging out with him. We don't go out nearly as much, not just for money reasons but because we have our own space now and it's nice to hang out in it. I think we will go to the Beer Fest at the Bavarian Lodge in Lisle tomorrow, though. David and I are both a little sad we didn't get to go to the Great American Beer Fest this year, which was this past weekend, but the timing was bad and we have other things to spend our money on. Plus, my sister was in a wedding in St Louis this past weekend, and it seems pointless to go to Denver and not see her!
Need to finish putting stuff away at the house--always just a challenge after a move to find "a home" for all of the boxes of miscellany. Looking forward to October, when things will hopefully calm down and get to be more settled. We have tickets to see Kathy Griffin that we bought a few months back. I'm excited to see her! Also, my dad is professing in a Franciscan lay ministry (I think that's how you say it?) in October. It's like taking holy orders, except it's a secular order, and instead of taking vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, he will make promises of them. Anyway, we're all going back to Columbia for a kind of family reunion around it, and it will be great to have a few days off that's not house-related. |
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[Sep. 23rd, 2009|01:05 pm] |
Haven't had a great last few days. David has been off camping, and there are too many problems around the house for me to take care of alone--those stupid plastic tiles falling off in the kitchen, the utility sink overflowing from the washer. Maybe this is an issue of me not growing up in the Chicago area where this is a common practice, but I DO NOT consider it to be acceptable to have a hose dumping clothes washer water into a sink, where you're constantly fiddling with a sock on the end of the hose to filter out the lint, yet that does not keep the strainer in the drain from clogging up with lint and paint chips every few washes so that the sink overflows. No, I do not feel any better when people tell me (and multiple people HAVE told me this), "Oh, that's just like we have in our house!" I call BS--just because you have a sink that's an open drain for graywater doesn't mean I want the same. I want to get this converted to a standpipe so it will
dump the water directly into the sewer. I don't want to have to clean it up, bail bucketfuls of it out, or fish around it it up to my elbow. I actually consider this a high priority, since the current situation functions so badly. I also need to get the dryer vent cleaned out so the dryer will take less than 2 hrs to dry a load of clothes. This house has crap lint issues.
I requested a book from the Westchester Public Library that shows steps on how to convert this. I saw scans from the book on Google Books, so I know the content is there, but only the 1st page of the instructions was online. I don't know if we will actually do the work ourselves, but at least we will know what's happening if we end up hiring a plumber. The bad thing about David's father and uncle being "handy" is that if they disagree with what we want (like putting recessed lighting in the basement) they roadblock it. If I have to hire a plumber to do this, I will, but handling all of this on my own is overwhelming. |
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[Sep. 17th, 2009|09:29 am] |
This has been a tough week, not so much on account of being back at work but just the chaos my house is in, along with earlier in the week every possible thing going wrong that could. Things are slightly better this morning as a result of setting my alarm clock 15 minutes earlier. I hate giving up those precious minutes of sleep, but I'm learning it's impossible to go through my regular routine in the amount of time it used to take, just because I have a second person living in the house.
I hope to god things will settle down once everything gets unpacked, because it is awful giving 10 hours of my day to the government (counting my new, longer commute) and then spending almost all of my evening doing things for David or for the house. I don't even get the chance to check email until 11:30pm. At least I have tomorrow off (though I have half a dozen errands to run). David leaves Saturday for camping and will be gone for several days. I have to spend Saturday power-cleaning my old apartment so I can hopefully get my whole deposit back, but then I should have a few days to myself. Sadly, I think they will be spent unpacking and organizing rather than actually relaxing.
On the bright side, the house's shower is hot now and functions well, despite still being a mind-searing blue. I really wish it had a ventilation fan rather than just a window, though. Looking at the bathroom in the basement on a daily basis makes me think it might be the soonest target for a make-over. I hate looking at the grey wood paneling, the mis-matched plastic "tile" sheets tacked up behind the sink, the rusty storage shelf, and the big empty area behind the door just begging for a whirlpool tub. I only wish the upstairs bathroom had as much room for a fancy tub or shower or at least a useable counter. It's tough to have only the edge of the sink or back of the toilet to balance things on. Seriously, where did they expect 1950s women to set their giant cans of hairspray and tubes of fire-engine red lipstick? |
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[Sep. 9th, 2009|08:33 am] |
Got 2 poetry postcards in the mail yesterday, so I guess the list isn't dead. Still, these were my first in about a month. I think it was the end of April that I last sent any out myself, though, so I'm as much to blame. So even though I am moving on Saturday and I still have a ton of packing left, I will try today to write up a couple poems and get them sent out.
Work is slow this week, and it will probably continue to be slow for 2 or 3 months. A lot of my work is based on spending money, and we have now passed the deadline for spending in FY09, and we probably won't get any FY10 money until November at the earliest. I don't think most people have any idea how hard it is to spend money in the government, for big purchases anyway. Even if you have the funds, they've been alocated, and you have permission to spend them, you still have to find a contracting officer who is willing to make the purchase. It's like being at the store with money in your wallet, looking at the item you want on the shelf, but you can't convince someone to put it in the cart and go to the check-out line.
Considering calling in for emergency annual leave tomorrow so I can finish my packing. It depends on what I'm able to get done after work tonight. I've been stingy with my leave to try to save it up, but truthfully it wouldn't hurt to take an additional day to keep my sanity. Not even counting all the work at the new house, this is more work than my last move--I have a little more stuff, but mostly it's because I'm trying to take a lot of it over to the house myself. I need to stop doing that, or at least finish up with it, because I cannot move the contents of my apartment one Accent-load at a time.
Big Brother 11 is almost done, which is good because I'm almost done with it. Michelle being evicted last night wasn't a surprise, but it was still deeply disappointing. She had all the strategy in her head, she just didn't have the social skills necessary to encourage people to do what she wanted. She said all the right things, but no one believed her. No one has played a good social game this season; it all has come down to Natalie's bullying. I would still rather see Jordan win than either spiteful Natalie or limp-dishrag Kevin, but I've come to see Jordan's dumbness as less cute and more frustratingly inept. I don't know that she deserves to win, but at least she has played a better social game than the others, who don't seem to get that they have to be nice to people to get their votes in the end. I think Kevin has a strong chance of winning the final HOH. If he is smart, he will take Jordan, because it is a 50/50 shot between the 2 of them,
and Kevin will definitely lose to Natalie if he takes her. I don't know if Kevin really has the guts to stand up to Natalie and evict her, though, even for $500k. He is hoping that Jordan will win and evict Natalie so he won't have to, but I have my doubts about her ability to succeed at that.
We'll miss Sunday's show since the cable won't be hooked up yet, but there's not much enjoyment to be had from it. Finale is on Tuesday. This may be the first season of BB in several years that I can't be bothered to make an LJ icon for. These people aren't even fun to hate. |
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[Sep. 7th, 2009|09:31 pm] |
We spent a lot of the weekend shuttling stuff over to the house. Today we finally got the pantry shelves up. See behind the cut for a pic! I think they look pretty good... now if only they don't fall down....
( Read more... )
Also, our mysterious metal drawers for which we haven't been able to figure out the purpose. The first one has a slanted bottom with holes in it, and the second one has a cover that slides independent of the drawer. Anyone have any idea what these were designed for??? The kitchen is original to 1958.
( Read more... ) |
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[Sep. 2nd, 2009|09:48 am] |
David and I haven't even started living together, but already financial issues are tripping me up. He hasn't ever had to live out on his own, so while he has covered things like his car insurance and cell phone bill, he isn't used to covering all the usual household expenses like electricity, rent/mortgage, etc. on top of them. We sat down last night to write out checks on our new joint checking account which we got for the household expenses, and I was rather surprised that he didn't bring over the check register. He only brought a book of checks. Luckily it started with 1001, because I wouldn't want just to grab any book of checks and start using them. But apparently he never uses a check register... and I thought I was lazy since I never balance my check book anymore! How could you not write down what's coming out of your account?? I guess it's fine if you only write 2 or 3 checks a month, and maybe some people use online bill pay for almost
everything, but with writing more than 5 or 6 checks a month, I would find it impossible to remember who had been paid what.
But the thing that really shocked me is that David doesn't pay the the amount of the bill, not for his cell phone or anything. He rounds up to the nearest dollar. Now, I guess I could see doing this if you were making it easier on yourself for balancing a check book, but he doesn't even keep a check register, much less balance his check book! Apparently this is just so he won't have to write out "and 64/100" or whatever in the amount line. Personally, I can't see giving Comcast or ComEd an extra $0.64 for a month--not that $5 in a month is going to break me (usually), but there's no advantage to paying them in advance, so why do it? I chalk it up to while I've been living on my own for the last 15 years and many times had to count every penny, he has not really had any necessary expenses, except for car insurance and gas so he can get to school/work. All of the rest of his money has been disposable income--he can choose to get a cell phone or not,
choose to have Internet service of his own or not--and he was able to save such a significant part of his income, that paying early by couple bucks here or there was nothing. Still, I do not think this is a trend that will continue with our house together.
I got one quote on fencing the back yard for a dog. Even for just 4' chain link, it would cost $2400 for 111' plus 2 gates, and they would charge an additional $600 to tear out the decrepit old pipe-and-wire fence in back. I'm thinking we could probably demo the old fence ourselves, provided we had some kind of cutter to take out the pipe. Bigger question is whether the pipe fence posts are set in concrete or just in the ground. Considering the fence is practically falling down (okay, it's held up by the thicket of weeds and sucker trees around it), there might not be any concrete involved. After talking with one of our neighbors, we found out the back of the yard is an easement for ComEd. Many of our neighbors' fences don't extend into the easement, but at least one neighbor's does. Plus, we have our decrepit old fence which has probably been there for 20+ years (it isn't on the plat, so probably no building permit was involved when it went up),
and ComEd never came in and tore it out in that time. I guess we would take our chances if we built a fence back there. Thinking now that I would save up for the fence, and once we had the money, then get the dog. We could get the fence built within couple weeks after that. I would feel like a complete moron if I spent $2400 on a fence and never got a dog.
As for the packing situation, it's kind of starting to freak me out. Although the books are packed (admittedly, a big job), almost nothing else is. I have a 4-day weekend coming up, and I imagine practically all of it will be spent finishing my packing. By Tuesday, I want to be virtually living out of a suitcase. Fortunately I can run a few carloads of stuff over to the house now that the carpets are clean. We had hand-me-down couches and a TV from David's parents brought over on Monday, but I haven't had a chance to go look at them yet. Might try to go over tonight and finish up the shelf lining, so I'll have somewhere to put the dishes. It's David's job to put up the shelving in the pantry--he had better get cracking! |
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[Aug. 26th, 2009|11:43 am] |
Painting is done. We got the new dining set on Monday and it looks awesome! It is a strange, strange thing to walk into a store and pick out anything we like, without considering cost. The new stove gets delivered today. I think David's uncle set up the delivery time, which happened to be when neither he nor I could be there. I guess his father could be there--our only other option would be to try to reschedule. I think it will be fine, though.
Carpets get cleaned on Saturday. As far as I'm concerned, that's the limit of what I will be doing before I move in. I still have a massive amount of packing today, but the good thing is that after the carpets get cleaned, I can start bringing carloads of things over that I don't want the movers to touch. They will be the ones carrying my 50 boxes of super heavy books, but it will be a lot easier if I can just put a box of dishes and glassware in the car without packing them like they have to be carried through a war zone. (Ugh, I still have to put down the shelf liners! Well, at least that's not too much work.)
Tiles in the shower still have to be stuck back on. We bought a shelving system for the pantry that will be awesome once it gets installed. Despite there being plans for my TV and couch to live in the basement, I'm still not convinced that the area down there will be exactly livable. I'm planning for the birds to live in the office, which will make them happier than living in the dark, echoey basement. I don't have hopes that the basement will get any new lighting in the immediate future, unfortunately.
David's birthday is on Saturday, but he has to work so we'll celebrate on Friday. He says he wants me to cook him a lasagna, which is more trouble than I usually go to for an ordinary meal, but it isn't difficult and it will definitely be cheaper than taking him out somewhere nice, which is what I did last year. It will be the first meal we will cook in the new house, so it will be a nice thing to celebrate. Maybe I'll pick up a board game, since there will be no TV, couch, or any other furniture.
Very much looking forward to the end of September, when the move will be done and we will hopefully be unpacked. I want to get some writing done, but I don't have the time or energy for it either at home or work. I know you make your own time for things like that, but there are priorities too. Haven't decided if I'm going to do NaNoWriMo this year, but I know it will come up fast, considering all we have planned for October. |
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[Aug. 22nd, 2009|03:58 pm] |
Painting a room is tough work, particularly when you are doing it by yourself. Lots of climbing up on a ladder, reaching, bending, more reaching... My whole body is tired, so I'm taking a break today before tackling the master bedroom tomorrow. Unfortunately, the master bedroom is bigger than the office was, so what took me 6 hrs yesterday will probably take me 8 tomorrow. Calling in sick on Monday keeps looking better and better.
What annoys me about the office is I was so careful with my taping, but the previous painters were so sloppy. When I was done, there was a white ring of the previous paint on all of the woodwork. The new green isn't very dark, but it still made the old white paint show up too much. So this morning, David and I went around with tiny brushes and painted over the sloppy paint on the molding, as camouflage. I hate knowing that we added to the paint on the wood, but it does look better. The green paint even makes the orange wood look good.
So, I'll try to get the rest of my books, DVDs, and CDs packed today. It's mind-boggling how many boxes it takes to clear off a shelf. And I have a lot of shelves. Still, I'm looking forward to the move being over. And especially the painting being done. |
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[Aug. 11th, 2009|09:25 am] |
Since closing, the house has really been stressing me out. A lot of this is because I don't have any say in what is being done with it. David's father lives 3 blocks from it, and he has been going over and doing things like ripping out the landscape beds and re-keying the locks. Maybe some of the things need to be done, but I would like at least some say in things like the style of the new lighting in the basement. He wants to replace one of the locks on the back door, when I think the real problem is that the lock isn't alligned properly. The key does turn the lock when the door is open, but the lock is so stiff, there just isn't enough leverage to use the key to unlock the door. Last night I just went home after work and slept from about 7pm to 6am, so I feel somewhat better. It's very difficult, feeling like I have to close my eyes and cover my ears, not paying attention to anything going on over there.
There are a few good things happening. The gas line up to the kitchen for the new stove is in the process of being installed. The new garage door opener (paid for by the sellers, since it stopped working during the walk-through before closing) was installed yesterday. A locksmith came to re-key the garage door, which we did not have a key for. I don't think the remote opener in the kitchen is working yet, though, and the side door currently has to be forced open, due to settling in the garage's concrete slab.
David and I went to go see the greyhounds on Saturday, since it was their day to be at PetCo. We got to hang out with a very sweet black brindle named Jacquie, but when we took her by the cats to see her reaction, she barked! It's pretty unusual for greyhounds to bark. As sweet as she was, I don't know that I would trust her not to harass the birds. We also saw Terra, whom we saw before, and Renee, who was trembling she was so nervous--she had only recently been brought from the track. She seemed a little overwhelmed, but maybe she will settle down once she gets in a foster home. Still waiting to find a good greyhound for our new house. |
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[Jul. 24th, 2009|10:20 am] |
House stuff is getting closer to being done. We had the inspection last night, and there's nothing big wrong with the house. Quite a few smaller things that will be more labor intensive than expensive--all of the outlets in the house should be converted from 2-prong to 3-prong, for example. We need to put a screen on the chimney so we don't end up with birds and small animals in the boiler. The most expensive part will be the appliances, I bet. They're all very old and while they can hold for now if they work, that's actually pretty high on my list of priorities to fix because it will make such a big difference in our electric bill to have more efficient appliances. David insists that he's going to keep that fridge until it breaks down. Personally, I've lived in apartments where the fridge broke, and it's no fun throwing away a freezer and fridge's worth of food. We'll see.
Also, we picked our lender and locked in our rate. If I had been in charge of it, we probably would have shopped around more, but I don't know that we would have gotten that much of a better deal, and I do like Harris Bank--they seem trustworthy and ethical (unlike Chase!) and seem to have really great customer service. I was really pushing to buy points since we have the cash, and we'll come out ahead if we stay in the house at least 5 1/2 yrs, which we plan to do. We ended up with a 30 yr fixed at 4.875%, a rate which I think we will appreciate in the coming years. We considered the 15 yr fixed, but the extra $300/month looked like it would be too much to have to come up with every month. We'll probably end up making an extra payment a year, which will take 8 years off the length of the mortgage--pretty amazing!
I think about the things I want to get done, other than the minor electrical and plumbing repairs, etc. I want to rent a steam cleaner for the carpets (despite David's relatives' insistance that the carpets are "so clean"!) and I probably will want to paint the room that will be my office, at least (despite David's relatives' insistance that the paint colors are "so nice!" and "neutral"! Admittedly, the people did a good job of painting, but all the rooms are white!). We probably won't know the actual state of the appliances and things like the ancient water heater until we start living there, but at least we will have a home warranty on them paid for by the seller in case something happens within the first year. And I'm thinking that if we want to fence in the yard for a future dog, we should do it this fall, before the ground freezes.
Hrm, I think I need a new house icon! |
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[Jul. 20th, 2009|10:09 am] |
We had an offer accepted on a house!
http://p.rdcpix.com/v10/l7183ea41-c0x.jpg
This isn't the foreclosure property we were chasing last week, but we decided that although the other one is about $50k cheaper, this one has had better care taken of it and the sale will go through more smoothly. It's a one-owner property built in 1956, 3 bedroom, 1 and 1/2 bath. It is a lot bigger than the other house, so we're unlikely to outgrow it very soon. It's an old lady house, so it needs some updating--I feel more inclined to make our updates to the kitchen to put in a dishwasher and replace the electric stove with a gas one, but I think David wants to do the bathroom, which is 3 shades of very bright blue, every square inch of it. The back yard doesn't have the fantastic perenial garden and waterfall that the other one had, but it has more functional open yard space. I think one thing we will do is put up a privacy fence on the inside of the driveway so we can get a dog and so we won't have to look at the neighbors' vans. Also, the
garage:
http://p.rdcpix.com/v10/l7183ea41-c10x.jpg
See that black thing on the front of the garage? That is a black ceramic cat strapped to the wall. We'll have to name it.
Hoping to get the inspection done tomorrow. |
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[Jul. 17th, 2009|11:23 am] |
Still waiting to hear back from the bank's agent--heard it was supposed to be Wednesday, next week I guess. Even though I know that it usually takes a long time when dealing with foreclosures, it also feels kind of ridiculous, like they're trying to keep a "non-performing asset" on their books for as long as possible. I just need to use the same strategy as when I was applying around for a new job a couple years ago. No matter how much I want it, obsessing about it doesn't help, so I might as well think about other things.
I am not at all confident we will get the house, and I am somewhat annoyed at David's half-assed approach to continuing our search. We were supposed to go to the bank today, but he has decided to put it off. Still, on Saturday we are taking his father and uncle around to look at the two other houses we may put offers in on. That's fine, but we can't put in offers on either because our preapproval letter isn't high enough, so if we find out we don't get the house we want and then want to make offers on the others, it will take an additional couple of days at least to get a new preapproval letter. Provided David will be satisfied with a phone call to do it, because he was the one who really wanted to meet at the bank in person in the first place. If he wants to do it in person, I bet it will take another week to get an appointment.
In some ways I dread going to look at those houses on Saturday. Although they are both fine houses, I am not particularly enthused about either of them, and it's hard to muster up the interest necessary to do intense tours of both places that David's father and uncle will want to do. Also, I already know his father and uncle will hate the Georgian and bend over backwards to point out every fault, dispite the fact that it's a gorgeous house on a huge corner lot, in a fantastic neighborhood, and has high-end upgrades throughout. ("It's a Georgian, you don't want that. It's like a box. Too many stairs. The only bathroom is on the 2nd floor. It's in the old part of Westchester. It's a war house. All houses built during WWII were built without facing brick." etc.) Also, there was a $10k price drop on it yesterday, so it may end up being more affordable than the ranch. At least we will be able to wrap this up on Saturday morning, though, and then we
won't have to think about it until Wednesday. |
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[Jul. 15th, 2009|10:38 pm] |
Today was positively manic--after a very long day yesterday of work and then several hours of looking at houses, we had decided we would probably put in offers on 2 of the houses we saw. Both houses were nice but had been on the market quite a while, so we were hoping to play them against each other, trying to get the best deal. When I checked the real estate listings this morning, though, I saw not only that the house we had put an offer in on a couple weeks ago but not gotten was active again but it had also dropped $6k in price. OMGWTFBBQ! So I got in touch with our agent and she confirmed that the offer the bank had previously accepted had fallen apart last night and they were taking offers on the house again. Unfortunately, though, there are multiple buyers involved, so our previous attempt to feel them out with a kind of lowball offer wouldn't work. We settled on an offer over the current asking price but under the previous one. I still think it's a bargain at the previous asking price, but I keep thinking of all the work involved in fixing the place up. I think you'd have to put $10-15k into it, but once you did, it would be pretty darn nice.
David wants to pursue the course we were on with the other 2 houses (chat with the bank on Friday, bring his father and uncle around to look at them on Saturday) unless we hear we got the other house for sure. It probably makes sense, but I've been thinking about the second I heard for sure the other house was available, I didn't care about the new ones at all. So if I'm not that attached to them, are they even worth pursuing? It does worry me they are both about $50k more than the house we actually want. That's a significant amount, and we're not yet sure we can swing it. While it would be nice to move into one of the other houses with nothing to fix up, I really hope we get lucky with this other house.
In other real estate news, it is rather sad that the Sears Tower will be changing its name to the Willis Tower tomorrow. Chicago residents being as stubborn as they are, probably everyone will still call it the Sears Tower, no matter what the official name. |
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[Jul. 13th, 2009|07:07 pm] |
Despite all my best intentions to post more on LJ, the truth is that whenever I sit down at the PC, I usually have at least half a dozen websites to check either because of money issues or this stupid house thing.
The house situation is so incredibly frustrating--we keep finding listings we like, and when we ask to see them, we find out they went under contract a few days ago. It's like we're running a week late for everything we want to see. As of Saturday, we had seen everything in Westchester under $225k, with a basement and a 2 car garage, that's not a Georgian, and isn't near Gardner. So we raised our limit to $240k, and which adds about 5 or 6 houses to the list. We're going out to look again tomorrow. If there's nothing in this group, I don't know what we're going to do. There's a limit to how much we can keep raising the price of what we're looking at--mortgage payment aside, 20% down on a house worth over a quarter of a million dollars is a lot of money. Biggest frustration of the day: the house our agent just sent us I was starting to get excited about because it's a Baltis home (a high quality builder in Westchester), I realized we were supposed to see it Saturday but didn't because it's already under contract.
But other than the house situation, the weekend was pretty awesome. We spent Friday and Saturday evening at Westchester Fest, drinking cheap beer, listening to free live music, and hanging out with David's friends. I do find it somewhat amusing that it was David's idea to stay and listen to Friday's bands, which both played a freakin lot of Journey, and David hates Journey. I don't even know how many different versions of "Any Way You Want It" I heard. Even the all-girl punk band Cat Fight played it! Apparently Westchester loves its Journey.
On Saturday night, Dennis DeYoung played, which was all kinds of awesome. I was most surprised that I had forgotten a lot of the lyrics to the songs on Paradise Theater. Also, I remembered about a third of the lyrics to "Desert Moon," which I only ever owned on vinyl... and is kind of a terrible song anyway.
I may try to stay off the PC tonight, even though my email boxes are overflowing. Work has been busy, but as long as there aren't any crises, it's manageable. Still have some financial things I should take care of--once again, Chase bank is trying to screw me over. For the most part, they're very convenient because their branches and ATMs are everywhere (except anywhere in Missouri), but they're just about the least trustworthy company I've ever had to do business with. We have our mortgage preapproval through Harris Bank, and they seem pretty good, I don't live anywhere near a branch must less an ATM.
Also saw the greyhounds on Saturday morning. They were cute! |
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