Yesterday, we went to see a couple of houses “for fun.” Judging from the info and photos online, they didn’t look bad, but neither of them struck us as possibly being THE ONE.
As it turned out, one of them had a nicely updated kitchen and a nicely updated bath, but the rest of the place was a shithole. (Pardon my language, but seriously. There’s no other way to describe it.)
But when we stepped foot into the other one, something happened. Dare I say it… it felt like a home. A home that could be ours. Still, we hesitated. We’re not the type to take big decisions lightly. We research electronics and baby gear to death, we don’t go out and buy things on a whim. So as you can imagine, we’re most certainly not going to go all gung-ho on a house right away.
But after we left it, we kept talking about it. Kept talking about all of its positive features, all of the things we loved. All of the things that were on our “wish list” that this place had. And the one thing it didn’t. We weighed the options, trying to figure out if we could sacrifice one thing for the benefit of so many others. And questioned whether that one thing was really that much of a sacrifice at all.
Today, we went back to see the place for a second time, with my mom and Michael’s dad in tow. And our parents? Well, they pushed us over the edge, really. They loved it and thought we should go for it. Our realtor emphasized all that we would be getting for the money. We walked through the house with a fine-tooth comb, checking out all of the nooks and crannies and details that we had missed yesterday. We imagined how we would arrange furniture in rooms. We talked about the minor cosmetic updates we would make.
We imagined our lives in this house.
And tomorrow, we will sign an offer.
Tonight has been filled with talks of mortgages and down payments, inspections and closing dates, contingent and non-contingent offers. We’ve debated over a $1,000 difference in offer price.
We are praying that things will work out as they should. I know in my heart that they always do, but it still doesn’t keep me from being nervous. If you know me at all, you know that I have trouble dealing with the unknown. But, by this time tomorrow, we should know whether or not we are homeowners (again).
We would appreciate all of the positive vibes we can get right now. For the home we hope will be ours and for selling the one that is currently ours.
*fingers crossed*
We’ve been meaning to take Nora outside into the snow for a while now. After all, we have had A LOT of snow this year. But this winter has been especially frigid, and it was difficult to justify taking a teeny baby out into the cold.
This morning, however, things kind of fell into place and we took advantage. For one, Nora is a bit bigger now, and is almost sitting up. Secondly, we got some fresh, pretty snow last night. And finally, the temperatures were in the upper-30s, so it was relatively comfortable outside.
We bundled up Nora and ventured out into the yard to snap a few pictures before her morning nap.
No, we have not found a new house yet. And we haven’t sold our current one, either. (Boo.)
Heather Drive has a new home on the web. Check out the URL up top of this window.
That’s right–you can now access my blog at www.heatherdriveblog.com. If you have me bookmarked as heatherdrive.blogspot.com, no worries, as you will be automatically redirected. But if you’re ever in situations where you need to type it all in, I hope that this simplifies things a bit.
More changes to the blog will be coming soon!
…with lovely little smiles.
She is my heart.
As I was leaving work yesterday, a few of my coworkers were discussing the weather forecast for today, saying we were supposed to get a good bit of snow (6-10 inches) and that conditions were going to be pretty bad.
I lightheartedly scoffed, “Oh, suuure. That’s what they say. I’m sure we’ll wake up to a dusting!”
You see, I have reasons for my skepticism. We’ve had a lot of false alarms this year. Frankly, our meteorologists don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.
Take the “Groundhog Day Storm,” for instance. After a massive storm system essentially leveled Chicago and the midwest by blasting everyone with more than two feet of snow, our area was hustling and bustling, preparing for the “snowpocalypse” that had our weather forecasters practically guaranteeing 14-20 inches of snow.
It was all anybody talked about for days. Any real breaking news got pushed aside in favor of coverage of the impending storm.
The grocery stores were mobbed with people trying to buy milk, bread, and other staples to get them through should they be trapped in their houses for days. (I’ve never understood this. We live in New York, not Virginia. Even if we get two feet–I have not been literally “snowed in” in a good 10 years, and even then it lasted for less than 24 hours. Do people really not have enough food in their cupboards to survive for 24 hours?!)
All of the schools cancelled classes. Not only did they cancel them, but they cancelled them THE NIGHT BEFORE. That almost never happens here. Almost never.
Imagine everyone’s surprise when we all woke up to find that we had maybe four inches of snow on the ground. In fact, when I made my commute into work, the roads were less treacherous than they had been on February 1. It turned out that the MASSIVE storm, the BIGGEST OF THE DECADE (or whatever they were calling it), that was sure not to miss us–missed us.
Jackasses.
So, all of this to explain why I may be a bit of a skeptic when it comes to weather forecasts. And why I so easily brushed off the idea that this morning would result in anything other than a typical snowfall.
Upon first glance this morning, it appeared that I was right. It had snowed, and was snowing, but it was just a few inches. No big deal, at least not yet.
BUT THEN I GOT ON THE ROADS.
And holy hell. It was easily the worst commute I’ve had all winter (and my commute is short, people). My anti-lock brakes kicked in pretty much every time I engaged them, and my highest speed was probably 20 miles an hour. I fish-tailed nearly every time I made a turn, and there were a few times that I know I would’ve slammed into surrounding cars–if there had been any. This week is “February Break” for all of the schools in our area (they get a week off in February; I don’t really know why, but it was awesome when I was growing up!), and it appears that our towns and cities believe that if kids aren’t in school, roads aren’t worth plowing. Lovely.
To top it all off, when I finally arrived at work and was pulling through the parking lot, I completely RAN OVER a curb with the tires on my driver’s side. It was totally covered in snow and I didn’t see it. In addition to the 6-10 additional inches of snow they are saying will fall today (snow brush FTW), I fear that my tires could be flat when I go to leave work today.
When I walked into the office, I had a few coworkers say, “HEATHER! This is all your fault!” (You know, because out of the millions of people in the world, Mother Nature apparently listens to me when I trash-talk the local meteorologists. Obviously.)
As I trudged to the kitchen in my snow boots, in search of the water cooler, my only response was, “You know what they say about the boy who cried wolf!”
P.S. Is it spring yet?
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
