“Adjust”? Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That

This isn’t an exciting or insightful post, but I need to catch myself up on what’s been going on in our world the last week; it’s been so so much. The house stuff is tedious unless you happen to care about house contract minutiae. The friends’ visit I had to summarize because I’d already gone on for too long about the house. Then, I go back to the house! We haven’t even closed yet. I apologize for this post.

House Update

Yes, our offer on the house with the front porch was accepted!  

Then came the inspection. You’re always told that inspectors find every danged thing wrong and wave red flags like nuts, but Geez Louise were there a lot of great, big, this-house-is-falling-down flags. And because we made our inspection contingency have a short time frame so our offer would be attractive, we had to hustle, emergency style, to get workmen in the house to give estimates on fixing problems before our deadline was up. 

We knew the wiring would have to be redone throughout the house. Given. Turns out plumbing will have to be repaired, but not to a dire extent. The roof will have to be replaced, yes, but not before we move in. The freaking weird chimney with the crook in it right where it exits the roof is not gonna fall down right now (thank you, Tom!). There was one final, major deal breaker: the rafters holding up the roof are bowed enough that you can see the roof sagging when you’re up there. As in, huff and puff and one heavy winter storm and the roof caves in, right?

Except, not! The cheerful carpenter we brought in (who could have given us a huge bid on the work) said, “I see this all the time in houses this age!” He laughed at our hysteria and assured us all was safe as is.  Whew. 

We lowered our offer according to what does need to be done, the seller accepted it, and then we ran into him at an estate sale a few days later (he has an antique shop). He expressed gratitude that we’re going to love that house.  So, fingers crossed that it’s a done deal. Closing is on Friday. 

What have we been doing when not frantically calling and meeting tradespeople, renegotiating a house contact, going to estate sales, and flying to visit Finn? 

Airstream Meet-Up!

Those Noffys who followed us around New Mexico and Utah last spring (just kinda kidding there) followed us to Madison. And thank god, because I sure did need to see them. 

They weren’t feeling their best, we weren’t feeling our best, and we hung out just for one evening and an afternoon, but boy did that feed my fix for nomadic friendship. Tracy was even able to pass off some trailer parts we clearly have no need for now. 

And I was able to walk them by the new house and bask in their congratulations. Now, they have zero plans to leave the road, but they were kind enough to humor us with house-talk.  If you ever need a bit of the Noffys, I recommend finding where they are and getting some.  They fix what ails ya.

Planning a House Overhaul

They gave us a break from the other work going on in the background, which is planning what needs to be done for the house. We have to start immediately if we want to move in by the time our apartment rent is up, which is March. Six months to do the necessary work, then the renovations we’d like to do. Tracy is working on the immediate stuff, and I’m getting a feel for renovations.

I’ve never managed a renovation, and heck I’ve never even thought about doing anything of the kind, so this is a steep learning curve for me. We have a list of likely companies to oversee the random work we want done (carpentry, hardwood floor refinishing, kitchen and two bathrooms). I’ve been organizing my photos of the house into online albums so I can glance at what needs to be done easily, and I’ve been pouring over the portfolios of renovation companies, clipping pics of what I like and filling them into online albums, as well. 

I can tell you this so far:

1. The kitchen and two bathrooms are very small. This will be tricky,
2. I find “standard” renovation work to be cold and austere. All that granite and gray and white … it feels too shiny and new to me. Too fancy. If we do have any cash left for renovations, I’m going low-brow. Funky. Lots of color, lots of unusual accents.
3. I hope this will be my last house, so it’ll be up to Finn to have to sell such a weird one.  You’re welcome, Finn!

That catches me up, for the most part.  There have been doctors appointments, purchases for the apartment, purchases for the house. And as I sit here typing, there is the smallest smidgen of relaxation.