House(s) Update

Everything is going well with both houses! Our Omro house that we're selling is moving right along. We had the electrician here yesterday to fix a couple of minor things from the building inspection, so that's all done and cleared. I've got the major work done on the kitchen change...demo, framing, electrical, plumbing, sheet-rock... Just have a couple more coats of mud, painting, reinstall cabinets, hang a door, and some trim. The buyers faxed over a copy of their loan commitment...so everything should be ready and just waiting for closing!!

I was at the new Seymour house for a building inspection this morning. There was a couple of things that came up that we wrote an amendment to our contract to have the sellers handle before closing. By this evening we heard that they have already signed the amendment and have appointments booked with the appropriate contractors to have the issues fixed. Then there was just a small list of minor maintenance and electrical things that I can easily do once we're moved in.

We have our loan in place and commitment letter ready to roll. So after a couple more days to finish the kitchen project, we stay busy with some packing because all we have to do is eagerly wait for paper-signing and moving day!!

Kids at the Cottage

This last weekend we were lucky enough to bring 4 little ones to the cottage with us - Rae and Jo, along with our nephew, Chase (almost 3), and niece Sanibel (2 months). Jen's brother and sister-in-law were celebrating their anniversary, so we got to steal the kids for a couple of days. The three older ones played together, or at least around each other, most of the time. And, except for a little fussy time Friday evening, Sanibel was a content baby all weekend either in someone's arms, laying on a blanket, or sitting in a little princess chair.

Jen's sister, Erin, and Derek were up Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. They were celebrating their dating anniversary, and helped us play with the kids. Saturday afternoon, Zoe came up to play, and help us watch the extra kids the rest of the weekend! The weather was a little cool and windy for much swimming, but we had lots of beach time and paddle boat rides. Derek and I even took a little time to get the sailboat in the water and make our way across the lake a couple of times. Another fun weekend at the cottage with lots of young energy and fun company!!

Last House Project

I'm in the middle of the last, and unexpected, project for our house. The buyers had a building inspection done and found that we did not have enough clearance around our electrical panel. There are no simple places that meet electrical code to move or turn the panel to...leaving a $3500+ price tag to relocate it to the garage, have the power company trench a new main line to the house, and reconnect all the circuits back to a junction box. We didn't like that price tag too much, so I'm moving half our kitchen cabinets, re-plumbing the kitchen sink, and studding in a closet around the panel. This only costs us about $60 in materials, but I'm up for a few late nights working on it. And I thought I was done with projects on this house...haha :)

I'm staying happy through the late hours though, as all is going very smooth with the selling & buying details for both houses. As of now we're still set to close on the sale of our Omro House August 21st, and close on the purchase of the Seymour House on August 27th.

We Bought a House!

We went to look at a couple of houses on Saturday and loved, loved, loved one of them. We put an offer in right away and heard tonight that it was accepted!! It is the PERFECT house, layout, setting, location...

6 ACRES BACKING ONTO WOODED FOREST! *Amazing Grand Foyer *Oversized Great Room Offers Floor to Ceiling Brick Fireplace & Gleaming Hardwood Floor *Totally Remodeled, Fully Applianced, Chef’s Kitchen Accented by Gleaming Hardwood Floor, Custom Raised Panel Maple Cabinets, Porcelain Tile, Granite Countertops & Center Island *French Doors Off Dining Area Lead to Maintenance Free Deck, Overlooks Scenic Back Yard & Private Pond - Spring Fed: Walleye, Bluegill & up to 20’ Deep *Main Level Den Could Easily be Converted to Formal Dining *Master Bedroom with Trey Ceiling, Huge Walk-In Closet & Full Bath with Dual Sinks & Ceramic Tile *1st Floor Laundry Includes Washer & Dryer *Finished Lower Level Features Family Room, Rec & Exercise Rooms *2 Stall Attached Garage + 2.5 Stall, Heated & Insulated Detached Garage *Convenient Storage Shed with Overhead Door *Maintenance Free Brick & Vinyl Exterior *Beautifully Landscaped Plus Fruit Trees (Apple) & Grape Vines *Loads of Wildlife: Deer, Turkey & Birds

Not the Right House

We just got the news that the sellers of Morrison house closed with the primary buyers, so the search and planning for our next house continues...

Onward.

Accepted Offer

Lots has happened since we have posted on this blog, and hopefully over the next week or so, we can get most of the updates on here to catch-up.

But, our big news right now is with our house. We had two offers come in over the weekend. The first was a little low, but we accepted the second one that was for a $1000 over the asking price!! Their house inspector comes through this Friday, and we can relax until the closing on August 21st.

The realtor selling the house we wanted, managed to sell it himself from under us, so we're back to finding a new plan for our next dream house. There are a couple of places we're taking a look at this week, and can still put in a secondary offer on our original choice. It'll be fun to see how the Universe lays this one out for us!

And of course, we're anxiously awaiting our new niece...although I'm sure she's not coming until Monday ;)

Scattered

We've been more than a little scattered lately. There has been lots going on this spring and many big events we've had recently. I'd like to post more details on them, but that will have to wait a while - I'm grabbing a few minutes while the kids sleep to to put out this quick message now :) So, here's what has us running around like crazy...

Big, big, big news - We're getting ready to move! We are working around the clock to get our house finished so we can put it on the market. We've found our dream house we plan on living in the rest of our lives...it has EVERYTHING we want and have asked for...perfect location, lots of room, some land, excellent school district.... So, we have to get our house done and up for sale, so we can put in an offer contingent on the sale of our house. We ask that everyone help us by asking the universe for help and cooperation with this big dream for our family!!

We celebrated Rae's birthday with Easter this year and it was wonderful! She is getting old enough to understand everything that goes along with the celebration and had tons of fun! Still working on the new caramel room in my mom's basement whenever we're there with a little time. We've attended a few big rank testings for karate...two black belts and a purple belt...all did excellent and were an honor to be invited by their senseis. We had another poker party with our students, that Jen won! My grandma moved from her house that she's lived in for over 55 years this past weekend. I was planning on helping, but ended up with the kids and spent most of the time trying to keep them out of the way of the other movers :) Our sister-in-law, Jen, is due with their second child in under 3 weeks...so, we're all in the excited, on-call mode for the big news. Our other sister-in-law, Pam is due with their first in about two months, and Jen is excited about going out to MN for the baby shower soon!

Thanks to all of you that have been helping and dealing with our scattered nature lately. Once this house thing calms down we'll be able to plan and organize a little better again ;)

Well, kids are waking up and we still have lots to do before Jen gets home from work...I'll get more details and pics out soon!!