Its a huge pain to post a blog with dial-up, so sorry no photos this time (just picture Jenna's belly slightly bigger).
We put the offer on the house (from the last blog), and after a little negotiation, we're good to go! We're in the middle of the excruciating no-man's land known as "escrow".
Its a much more stressful period of time than I ever imagined it would be. We've got a LOT riding on the fact that a total stranger will be ultimately handing over a large sum of money for our Tustin house for us to put down on the Colorado house. We've got our plane tickets, our movers, our escrow closing date... Just waiting for each individual milestone to pass by without incident.
Things are moving along with the Tustin house's escrow, albeit a little strangely... Our realtor is having to constantly harass their realtor to get them to share anything about the progress on their loan application, appraisal, home inspection (which they may not be doing, seeing as how they only have until Wednesday), etc. Apparently while the closing date is etched in stone here in Colorado, its more of a "guideline" in California, which perplexed our realtor out here... So we're not quite sure when the specific day will be. According to the contract, we should be closing escrow on February 28th. We set the date on the Colorado house for March 2nd, just to give a little wiggle room, and thankfully, they have indicated that they will be flexible if the other house doesn't quite close on time.
Anyway, we're in this strange mental state now where we are completely excited about moving into the new house on the one hand, but trying as best we can to keep our enthusiasm under control on the ever-decreasing possibility that it might not work out. Also we're fighting off the temptation to mentally fill the new house will all kinds of glorious material possessions, maybe to make up for the past 8 months of living super thrifty. We are budgeting for a few things, but its really easy to keep adding to that list.
We'll be out in California on the weekend of the 24-25th, and Jenna will be staying until Wednesday the 28th for the movers. Hopefully we'll get an acceptable amount of time to see everyone while we clean up and put some finishing touches on the house for the new owner, pack up the last few boxes, pick up some baby furniture from my brother and possibly make an IKEA run for some of those glorious material possessions I just mentioned (there's no IKEA in Denver yet, I keep hearing rumors, but still no Blue and Yellow).
The baby is kicking like Mia Hamm (Or maybe David Bekham, depending on the gender), and we went on a tour of the maternity ward at our hospital. I was really impressed. It has to be the nicest hospital lobby I've ever seen (its a 70 foot tall atrium with an equally tall, nicely detailed stacked stone fireplace). And the waiting area for the maternity ward I noticed has its own fireplace and a fantastic view of the front range (rockies). This baby is going to be starting out in style!
Also, in an unrelated note, we are now the number 3 year for the longest consecutive days with snow on the ground in Denver. On the 21st, we take the NUMBER ONE spot! I was a little worried it might melt this past weekend, but we're getting a little more tomorrow, so hopefully it'll put us over the top (we made it this far, why settle for bronze when we can go for the gold!)
3 comments:
Jenna, are you sure you should be flying in your delicate condition?
I'm so glad that everything is working out. We are still praying that nothing goes wrong at the eleventh hour.
Resist the temptation to buy a bunch of stuff for your house before you move in. We did it and it was a mistake. Plus, once we lived there for a while, we realized that there were other things we should have bought first. But we had run out of money! Just get enough to be comfortable and fill in the blanks as you see what your needs are. Congrats guys!
Mike and I each made a list of everything we wanted to buy and ball park figures of what the costs would be. We then compared lists and made decsions. We had put a bit of money aside for these items and when it was gone it was gone. So we still have a list that we can buy from over the next 30 years, but our consistant purchase is just paint and paint supplies.
Our Tustin escrow lingered on for days(8 i think). Our problem was that the only income we had was the money from the house. It is hard to prove to an apartment that you can afford to live there when you are unemployed. I will be praying that you don't encounter that drama.
Tell Mia or David to give Jenna a break once in a while. I think of her on her feet at work and shutter. She is a rock star!
Haha, Tara...I'm hoping that was a joke ;)
We also have a list going but it's a more collaborative effort. We really only have a few things we know for sure we want to get right away: light fixtures for the dining room, nook and stairway, dining room chairs, and new knobs for every drawer and cabinet in the house...the current owners have this strange obsession with leaf-shaped pulls - not really our style.
But as Jay said, the list of possiblities just keeps growing. There are many other things we will be wanting and wanting to do...and that is where we will be taking our time and making sure we are sure before undertaking any such purchases or projects.
Thanks to everyone for thier prayers, we really appreciate it and hopefully this will all be over the beginning of march and then you all can focus your prayers on other things!
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