The house is officially sold. That makes us officially homeless. We are living in a motel until April 15, at which time I will either be able to move into our new house or will be forces to start building a treehouse. Or something.
Middleton is beautiful. With sidewalks. It's a pretty major concept for me.
I'll try to keep you posted.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
A Good Sign
We did it. We found another house. By the time we got to it night had fallen and it was difficult to assess the outside, however, the inside showed beautifully. Lots of room, high ceilings, good sized level lot, within walking distance to schools for the kids, fireplace...
This was the first time driving over the mountain that we had good weather. In my book that equaled to a good sign. We joined the 21st century by investing in a cell phone (!), rented a storage locker, and found a house that we put an offer in on. It was accepted after a couple rounds of negotiating. Wow.
Tomorrow will be hectic with the actual emptying of this house and putting stuff in storage until the (new to us) house is available. Must get sleep.
This was the first time driving over the mountain that we had good weather. In my book that equaled to a good sign. We joined the 21st century by investing in a cell phone (!), rented a storage locker, and found a house that we put an offer in on. It was accepted after a couple rounds of negotiating. Wow.
Tomorrow will be hectic with the actual emptying of this house and putting stuff in storage until the (new to us) house is available. Must get sleep.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Pay Attention to the Signs
Every single time we drove to the Valley to look for houses, or later to inspect our selected "dream home", it snowed. Heavily. It stormed with a certain ferocity during each trip across the South Mountain that it should have made us reconsider moving there. We should have been paying attention to the signs Mother Nature was posting in our way, all but spelling out "stay away from the Annapolis Valley, it's bad news". Did we? Of course not. We, okay, okay, me, I was surrounded by that rosy glow you normally get from wearing those rose-coloured glasses, happy in the knowledge that I had finally come upon the perfect house for our family to grow up in, and maybe for me to even open a business in. Never mind all the deals having gone south, the deposits lost, the bitter feelings. All signs.
Well. I drove to inspect the "dream house" for the last time yesterday, in yet another snow storm. We're talking complete white-out conditions at times. I should have turned around and said to heck with it. Nope. I must be a sucker for punishment. Well. I walked into the house; the writing on the walls was clear. Literally. Okay, maybe not actual writing but the cracks in the plaster spoke volumes. They screamed! Oh my! It turned out the vendor hadn't filled the oil tank enough to keep the house relatively warm, which was part of the deal. Instead, he plugged in three small space heaters set on low, to heat a 2300 sq ft home.
A couple weeks ago NS was practically swimming after the rain storms it received. Of course the house would be damp. And naturally as it dried, the plaster split and cracked in every single room. But wait! That's not the worst. The real estate agent and I walked up the stairs to inspect further and found that the roof had leaked, cracking and staining the ceilings in four out of six bedrooms, and around one of the chimneys, plus cracked the wall plaster in all the rooms. We crept further to the attic and saw daylight in spots in the roof. At this point I still had hope. Seriously. I figured we'd get the vendor to give us cash back to put new shingles on the roof and repair the worst damage. HA HA HA I mean, he had only painted the walls and ceilings to hide the fact that the roof had serious problems, and ta da, after all that rain, the stains were revealed, above all the new damage.
About getting cash back for the new roof? Forget. It. He offered $500. He might as well have said "stick it in your pipe and smoke it". My brain kept racing, trying to figure out ways to make him reconsider. My husband said forget it. Let's walk away. There is probably more hiding under that "perfect" exterior. Eventually, near tears, I finally accepted it.
We will be homeless come Thursday. We're trying to find a new home.
We need luck.
Well. I drove to inspect the "dream house" for the last time yesterday, in yet another snow storm. We're talking complete white-out conditions at times. I should have turned around and said to heck with it. Nope. I must be a sucker for punishment. Well. I walked into the house; the writing on the walls was clear. Literally. Okay, maybe not actual writing but the cracks in the plaster spoke volumes. They screamed! Oh my! It turned out the vendor hadn't filled the oil tank enough to keep the house relatively warm, which was part of the deal. Instead, he plugged in three small space heaters set on low, to heat a 2300 sq ft home.
A couple weeks ago NS was practically swimming after the rain storms it received. Of course the house would be damp. And naturally as it dried, the plaster split and cracked in every single room. But wait! That's not the worst. The real estate agent and I walked up the stairs to inspect further and found that the roof had leaked, cracking and staining the ceilings in four out of six bedrooms, and around one of the chimneys, plus cracked the wall plaster in all the rooms. We crept further to the attic and saw daylight in spots in the roof. At this point I still had hope. Seriously. I figured we'd get the vendor to give us cash back to put new shingles on the roof and repair the worst damage. HA HA HA I mean, he had only painted the walls and ceilings to hide the fact that the roof had serious problems, and ta da, after all that rain, the stains were revealed, above all the new damage.
About getting cash back for the new roof? Forget. It. He offered $500. He might as well have said "stick it in your pipe and smoke it". My brain kept racing, trying to figure out ways to make him reconsider. My husband said forget it. Let's walk away. There is probably more hiding under that "perfect" exterior. Eventually, near tears, I finally accepted it.
We will be homeless come Thursday. We're trying to find a new home.
We need luck.
Monday, March 17, 2008
OMG, Our House is Shaking!!
The wind out there feels like it's putting every effort into blowing this century-old house right off its rock foundation. I'm surprised the truck hasn't been seen rolling around the fields like a giant red tumbleweed!
It's shocking to actually feel this power of wind. I am in awe of it. I wish we had a windmill or two, to harness this power and use it for good. Whatever, I feel safe in this old house, knowing that it has survived and kept safe all the families before mine. So for the short time that I have remaining in this house (I am quite confident now that we will be moving within about a week!), I will stare out its drafty windows and enjoy the sight of the towering poplars whipping back and forth in their rather uncoordinated dance.
In other news, I am officially unemployed. As Hays and I hugged and said our goodbyes on Friday, the only telling signs of our true emotions were our overly shiny eyes. So we tried to keep it short with promises to visit. After all, these kinds of friendships don't come along everyday.
This one is for you, AliP:
Sam has sure grown! Still as cuddly as ever.
And now that the March Sweater Madness sweater is done, back to the regularly scheduled knitting.
These are both cotton/wool blend socks. Two different brands of yarn, and truly I can't decide which I like better. The red sock is in Cotton Fantasy and the lighter one is Clown. I love both colourways equally, as well. Please ignore the wine stain on the lighter sock. I have high hopes that it will come out in the wash. LOL
I was supposed to start packing today, but haven't felt inspired. Instead I poured over an old copy of Canadian Gardening magazine, making lists and dreaming of new gardens at the dream house. Not long now.
Did you wear something green today??
Happy St Patrick's Day!
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