So Close He Can Taste It

It's official: our boomerang child is buying has bought a house!

Right now this spacious, airy place is a delicious vanilla concoction that's visually appealing to a wide variety of buyers.  The walls are a soft tan, the carpet a mid-brown tweed, the tile a pale ivory, the kitchen has new granite countertops.

Yes, there's bright brass obnoxiously winking at him from the master bathroom.  And the cabinets are finished in what he not-so-fondly refers to as pickled pink oak. 

Worst of all:   Every. Single. Major. System. in the house has issues.  Thank heavens for a great home inspector!  Most of the problems are relatively minor and none of us expected a house built in 1997 to be flawless.  But some (a non-functioning A/C unit, incorrect plumbing, and a leaky water heater come to mind) would have been dealbreakers if the sellers had not relented with a fairly substantial credit.  Our son really was willing to walk away and continue looking. Good boy!  He liked this house a lot, but decided that being disappointed and needing to look further would be far better than regretting buying a money pit.

I think the cardinal rule of real estate is that the perfect home for you IS out there, you just have to keep believing, not get discouraged and know that the Universe will provide.

Conversely, if what seems like your dream home slips away to another buyer or falls out of escrow for any of a hundred reasons, then know that it's not meant to be.

This house was a four-day nail-biter while the sellers reviewed multiple offers.  Then the home inspection was a gigantic disappointment that could have sent him back to the MLS listings.  But the stars aligned in the end and the escrow went smoothly and is closing just one day late--a minor miracle in itself.

So...today our son signed all the papers and tomorrow it's just a matter of waiting for the keys!

Wasn't it just yesterday that I took a picture of this little boy going out our front door ready for his first day of kindergarten and now I'll be taking a photo of him opening his own front door for the very first time!

Stay creative,

A Home Of His Own

We're on the real estate roller coaster with our younger son. Exciting, heart-wrenching, thrill and chills...the whole magilla!  I'm hoping to say "all's well that end's well" (thank you, Mr. Shakespeare) very, very soon.  And I look forward to an entire night of peaceful repose for a change.

Sheesh, buying a home for oneself is tame compared to undergoing the same torture with your child.  I know I can't smooth every path for him, but that doesn't make me not wish to torture various sellers and their agents with an incandescently-red poker.  Hmmm, maybe that's why they call it a "hot" real estate market hereabouts?

It's not all bad.  I love looking at houses and seeing their potential to become a dream home.  Isn't that why all the DIY, home-making blogs are so popular?  Fixer Upper, anyone?

After viewing homes that had more drawbacks than assets, and living through the disappointments of failed offers, he's found a home that checked off every box.

• Three bedroom, two bath, 
• decent-sized yard of the Goldilocks variety (not too big, not too small), 
• livable right off but with potential to upgrade and personalize,
• zoned for good schools, reasonable HOA fees (two things that directly affect value in our area),
• decent commute time.

This one had all of the above plus an enormous walk-in in the master and the largest main bathroom we'd seen.  Two hundred extra square feet provided spacious rooms and a great flow throughout.  Our son said, "It's the nicest home I've seen!"  We all stood in the front room with big smiles on our faces.

I'm totally lame but I even liked the address and street name.

Needless to say, he's made an offer.  A very good, strong offer.  Not to leave you hanging, but it's a tight market out there and he's been disappointed more than once.

Fingers and toes crossed...I would love to start blogging about "his house" and all the non-girly, classic improvements that he'd like to make.  But for now, I don't wanna jinx it by frying any fish before I've caught them.

Stay creative,
 

Twenty-Eleven

A year of roses blooming wildly, sweet kisses, wagging dog tales, an empty nest 2.0, painted furniture, blackboard paint, to-do lists, green leaves and blue skies, walks with friends, a camping trip, birthday parties, family reunions, fresh eggs, compost, sun-dried towels, smoothies, new sheets, health worries, visits, high school, inspiration, tweets, Facebook, airport runs, smiles, crazy weather, fireworks, fires, fresh starts and sad endings, quilt fabrics, new art, daydreams, nightmares, holding hands, disappointments, welcome surprises, fun, laughter. 

The best of 2011? A tie between reconnecting with my cousins and knowing my BIL was going to recover. 


The worst?  Let's just say there are challenges ahead and we have our fingers crossed.  But then, all of us are facing problems either large or small, all of the time.  Some things I did right.  Some times I dropped the ball.  Next year I'll do better.  I'm making plans already; I love a fresh slate!

Clink your glass to the year that's passing,
Cheers!

10:21 a.m.

My own personal version of Black Friday.The Queen Mother made the felt jack o'lanterns when the boys were small and I always wanted to find a fun way to display these pumpkins. I blanket-stitched the pumpkins to a suede-like black square last night while we watched a movie and digested our turkey dinner.

The Wizard of Oz was the perfect movie--Thanksgiving lends itself to "there's no place like home" and I'd just finished My Pritty the day before. Plus I was Dorothy for Halloween but I still need some ruby slippers (on my shopping list). This morning I sewed the finished pumpkin squares into pillow shams; each boy will have one of their own. Now they--the shams not the boys--can be easily used each October then stored away nicely with other Halloween paraphernalia.

I was able to complete all my cute goblins because I found a nice black wool blazer at Savers half-price sale on Veteran's Day which is regrettably after October 31st rather than before. I felted the wool in my washer with lots of hot water and agitation followed by a tumble in a hot dryer. Cutting away the lining and then using a seam ripper to deconstruct the jacket was messy but fairly easy; I had a nice selection of black wool felt to choose from when I needed a cat body or penny rug "tongues". Voila! Finished projects.

This is the last Halloween project for the year (I promise!), so I can safely pack away the Halloween/Thanksgiving storage box when I take down all our Thanksgiving decor. I don't have the hair that I need for the Queen of Halloween so she'll have to wait and I'm saving some embroidered Halloween themes for next year. Right now I'm moving on to some unfinished Christmas projects while I root through my crafts to see what new projects excite me. I'm ready for a little green and red in my life.

And I just happened to acquire a red jacket at the same Savers sale that is just begging to be used for a Santa or??

That Empty Feeling

The yellow bedroom is officially emptied of my junk and waiting for son #2's junk which will be arriving tomorrow; nope, make that today.

Yeah, it was lots of work at a really busy time for teachers but there's always a bright side:

1. I got a headstart on organizing my summer projects.
2. I'll have to sew/scrap/craft at full speed to create some nice empty space again.
3. When he finds a place, it will be a snap to re-paint the too-pale yellow a nice sunny yellow instead.
4. I found my porcelain squirrels.
5. I found my extra puppy photos.
6. I found my cardstock stash of primary colors.
7. Zelda ate my pond iris (whoops, that doesn't go on the bright side--file that under living with a puppy, again).
8. Since Zelda ate the iris, that's a giant hint that I don't need to be in a hurry to rebuild the drip irrigation that Kharma destroyed when she was a pup.

That Soft Place

Yeah, home. Where they can't turn you away.

Erkie Pie has been living on his own since 2002 despite the homecooked meals, freshly laundered clothes, no curfew and free rent.

Alas, all that proved no enticement compared to living in an apartment with cement block shelves, three stereos, ten remote controls and downstairs neighbors who democratically did their best to provide contact highs for all.

Or to a house by the university with a pool table, five sofas and surround sound for movie watching, and water service that turned itself off when it felt like it. And apparently no building permits when built.

Or to the house farther away from the college with a front room that's used solely for parking bikes, has light switches that shock you and a hole in the garage wall. (What is the attraction between fists and walls when you're a twenty-something male? I'd think sheet rock would sting even if you were drunk or really mad, but house siding? That had to hurt.)

But his friends, who didn't change majors in their fourth year, have jobs and money. They no longer need roommates. They can pay $750/mo. for a little studio apartment.

Not so for The Erk. His search for someone that needs a roommate with a large puppy has proved fruitless.

So guess what I've been doing? Hiking with Kharma? Nope. Planning a Hawaiian vacation? Nope. Blogging? Definitely not.

No, lucky me, I've been clearing the craft/guest room for occupancy. "Craft room" means many containers and boxes and drawers and files and books that have to go somewhere else. "Guest room" means all the extra furniture ended up in there and that has to go somewhere else too. It's almost cleaned out which is lucky because the end of the month/end of the lease is fast approaching. I'm juggling space as fast as I can. I'm finding lots of stuff that needs to be craigslisted.

Or else I need a magic wand and a disappearing spell.