So where was I? Last Saturday. The performance went fine (though I could swear it was almost in Virginia), then we went to look at two different houses with my parents (including one we'd seen the night before). The one from the previous week got a positive rating from my father, and the other one was not as well maintained. So we decided to make an offer. We split up from the realtor at 5:30 so we could get something to eat and she could put together the paperwork. We met with her at 7:30 and got on the road to the convention just after 8:30. We arrived at the hotel just before 1 A.M. What a long day! At least we were pleasantly surprised with an awesome hotel room (with a panoramic view of statues of a general on horseback and Martin Luther).
Sunday we went to set up my booth, had lunch, and walked around a bit (it's been really hot!) before going back to the hotel. A bit later we got a call from the realtor saying that our offer had been rejected. Some background: the house has been on the market for over six months, and the price has been lowered a total of $18,000 since then. It was WAAAAAY overpriced before, and now it's just kind of high. We put in a bid about ten percent below asking price (which is kind of standard right now in this market). Apparently they are not interested in selling their house. Our realtor said that the sellers' realtor claimed that the house was worth ten thousand above the current asking price (why'd you lower it, then?), and that housing prices in that part of town had gone up 3-5% a year for the last ten years. Um, except for the last two years! The current owners bought the house three years ago, near the top of the market; all indicators we and our realtor have found show that prices are either the same or LESS than they were three years ago. The house is currently on the market for ten thousand MORE than what they paid. There were a few other things they were deceptive about (e.g. they claimed to have a "remodeled kitchen", but it still has the original cabinets, older appliances that don't match--and they're replacing Formica countertops with more Formica), so I think it's probably a good thing in the long run that they rejected the offer. I don't think I want to be in a business deal with these people! I feel bad that they can't sell their house, and that they're going to lose money on it no matter what they do. But they are clearly delusional, and are probably carrying two mortgages now. Anyway, we are back to square one, again... There are a few more things on the market that we want to see, but there aren't as many as there used to be. Plus, well, we're just more picky now, I think. We've measured living rooms and analyzed neighborhoods, and we now are quite clear on our minimum living room size (in order to fit the piano) and on which parts of town are just too far for Mark to commute from without going insane. There are some seemingly nice places that we've had to rule out because they're too deep into the southwestern suburbs, or because the living room is more of a square than a rectangle. And our requirements can't be as bad as most people's... We're still confident we'll find something, but it's pretty daunting! I find myself playing cheerleader for Mark, more often than not. Poor little boo, he gets discouraged...
ANYWAY, I am now manning my lovely booth at the convention, waiting for people to come by who have the least idea what I'm even promoting (let alone are interested in the topic). Yesterday I read Heather's book online, and it really made the day go quickly. (I did get pretty involved at a few points, and had trouble pulling myself away to talk to actual people... Take a look!) Today Mark stopped by, and we had lunch together. I was expecting to get all this knitting done, but it really wouldn't seem appropriate (I specifically started a pair of Vinnlands for myself in order to have a fun project for the two trips, and I'm still just a few rows past the first ankle). I guess I'm supposed to look like I'm working. =7 Last night we had dinner with my aunt (modern Indian--not bad), and tonight we're meeting Cathy and "Mr. L". I have about half an hour left, and I am BORED. Nor does it help that the Coke Zero I had at lunch was a bad idea...
Tuesday, August 18
Monday, August 17
I have been dreading this month for a while, but now that I'm in the middle of it, the time seems to be flying by. Where should I start?
The trip incorporating Mark's family reunion in Pennsylvania, then my future sister-in-law's bridal shower in New York, was thoroughly exhausting. I haven't had time to recuperate yet. The reunion was nice, and didn't feel particularly rushed, but I fell victim to an awful hotel mattress (so old you could see the sagging in profile) and never got back on track. We got up super early to drive to New York for the shower--which was better than I expected, but still pretty materialistic (my brother's fiance grew up in a richer area than we did, and it shows in every bit of this wedding and the accompanying activities...I will spare you the drama). Then there was a very stressful, neverending trek with my mother (insanity!!) upstate to my grandparents' house, various family misunderstandings, allergic reactions to cats, etc. Mark and I were supposed to leave Monday morning and drive straight through, but we decided we were so tired and stressed out, we needed to leave that evening from a barbecue at my brother's new house (another crazy story, but that one's Mark's to tell). I did get some pretty cool news at the barbecue, though: my aunt (actually my mother's aunt, but they're only seven years apart) and her partner of 22 years got married about a month ago! They live in New York, which honors gay marriages from other states, so they just went into Connecticut and had a quiet ceremony. I am so excited for them! I immediately wanted to get them some sort of gift--so I decided to make them a Hemlock Ring Blanket. Because what do two successful sixty-year-old women need but something for their Hope chest? :) I finished the main patterned section in short order, but have a long way to go in the feather-and-fan section. I don't really have a deadline, but I do want to finish it soon.
Last week was a flurry of activity trying to get ready for a conference for work (which I'm currently staffing). I also got a last-minute request to sing for a program showcase for a charitable organization. In addition to that, we've still been looking at houses, and we saw one the night before our previous trip that seemed very promising. [Long story short: we did go for a third look at that house without a dining room, and we finally decided it really didn't have any eating space to speak of, and that we wanted to look again at the house with the high utilities (thinking that stuff would come up in inspection, and we could take it off the price if everything else was fine). When our realtor emailed that house's agent with more questions, she found out that the sellers had accepted an offer the day before--from buyers using the same agent representing the sellers. It was unethical for the realtor not to let our realtor know that they'd received an offer, since we'd seen the house TWICE, and our realtor was mad, but it was too late at that point so we moved on.] We decided to have my parents come up on Saturday for another look at the house (we were also going out with the realtor Friday, and would include something we saw then if it seemed nice)--and were prepared to make an offer if it met my father's approval. (My grandfather is a carpenter and cement mason, and my father has done his share of construction--my mother is also pretty observant, and would make a pretty good realtor herself.) So Saturday was lining up to include a performance at a middle-of-nowhere high school, a trip to look at houses, a possible offer, then a four-hour drive to the convention.
Then Friday happened! I went to Costco to pick up bagels for the trip (the hotel doesn't offer breakfast), and was pulling out of the parking lot when I was sideswiped by another car. There was an SUV making a left that was in my way, and I never saw the other car coming. The whole thing is still really unclear in my memory. Luckily nobody was hurt (the other driver was probably going under 20 mph, and I was barely moving), and I didn't get a ticket, but it was my fault, and my car suffered way more damage. The other driver was in a big old Chrysler, which only had a broken headlight and some very minor damage to the fender and hood, but I'm going to need a whole new driver's door (it opens and closes, but kind of gingerly and it doesn't seal) and probably a fender. There is some question as to whether my car is totalled--which seems absolutely insane, considering it runs fine despite the 210,000 miles, but the Blue Book value before the accident was only about $1600. Even if the insurance company doesn't total it, we have a $500 deductible, so it may be worth trying to sell the car for $1000. We were going to sell the car anyway, and buy my father's car (older, but with lower mileage) for the same price. I would've sold the car a month ago if we'd ever received the title (N.C. Motor Vehicle is notorious!), but I had to order it and only got it last week. Anyway, our insurance company is sending out an adjuster to take a look at the car while we're gone, just in case. Then we'll have to check with our agent to see how much this is going to affect our premium. Ugh.
The conference is over for the day--more tomorrow.
The trip incorporating Mark's family reunion in Pennsylvania, then my future sister-in-law's bridal shower in New York, was thoroughly exhausting. I haven't had time to recuperate yet. The reunion was nice, and didn't feel particularly rushed, but I fell victim to an awful hotel mattress (so old you could see the sagging in profile) and never got back on track. We got up super early to drive to New York for the shower--which was better than I expected, but still pretty materialistic (my brother's fiance grew up in a richer area than we did, and it shows in every bit of this wedding and the accompanying activities...I will spare you the drama). Then there was a very stressful, neverending trek with my mother (insanity!!) upstate to my grandparents' house, various family misunderstandings, allergic reactions to cats, etc. Mark and I were supposed to leave Monday morning and drive straight through, but we decided we were so tired and stressed out, we needed to leave that evening from a barbecue at my brother's new house (another crazy story, but that one's Mark's to tell). I did get some pretty cool news at the barbecue, though: my aunt (actually my mother's aunt, but they're only seven years apart) and her partner of 22 years got married about a month ago! They live in New York, which honors gay marriages from other states, so they just went into Connecticut and had a quiet ceremony. I am so excited for them! I immediately wanted to get them some sort of gift--so I decided to make them a Hemlock Ring Blanket. Because what do two successful sixty-year-old women need but something for their Hope chest? :) I finished the main patterned section in short order, but have a long way to go in the feather-and-fan section. I don't really have a deadline, but I do want to finish it soon.
Last week was a flurry of activity trying to get ready for a conference for work (which I'm currently staffing). I also got a last-minute request to sing for a program showcase for a charitable organization. In addition to that, we've still been looking at houses, and we saw one the night before our previous trip that seemed very promising. [Long story short: we did go for a third look at that house without a dining room, and we finally decided it really didn't have any eating space to speak of, and that we wanted to look again at the house with the high utilities (thinking that stuff would come up in inspection, and we could take it off the price if everything else was fine). When our realtor emailed that house's agent with more questions, she found out that the sellers had accepted an offer the day before--from buyers using the same agent representing the sellers. It was unethical for the realtor not to let our realtor know that they'd received an offer, since we'd seen the house TWICE, and our realtor was mad, but it was too late at that point so we moved on.] We decided to have my parents come up on Saturday for another look at the house (we were also going out with the realtor Friday, and would include something we saw then if it seemed nice)--and were prepared to make an offer if it met my father's approval. (My grandfather is a carpenter and cement mason, and my father has done his share of construction--my mother is also pretty observant, and would make a pretty good realtor herself.) So Saturday was lining up to include a performance at a middle-of-nowhere high school, a trip to look at houses, a possible offer, then a four-hour drive to the convention.
Then Friday happened! I went to Costco to pick up bagels for the trip (the hotel doesn't offer breakfast), and was pulling out of the parking lot when I was sideswiped by another car. There was an SUV making a left that was in my way, and I never saw the other car coming. The whole thing is still really unclear in my memory. Luckily nobody was hurt (the other driver was probably going under 20 mph, and I was barely moving), and I didn't get a ticket, but it was my fault, and my car suffered way more damage. The other driver was in a big old Chrysler, which only had a broken headlight and some very minor damage to the fender and hood, but I'm going to need a whole new driver's door (it opens and closes, but kind of gingerly and it doesn't seal) and probably a fender. There is some question as to whether my car is totalled--which seems absolutely insane, considering it runs fine despite the 210,000 miles, but the Blue Book value before the accident was only about $1600. Even if the insurance company doesn't total it, we have a $500 deductible, so it may be worth trying to sell the car for $1000. We were going to sell the car anyway, and buy my father's car (older, but with lower mileage) for the same price. I would've sold the car a month ago if we'd ever received the title (N.C. Motor Vehicle is notorious!), but I had to order it and only got it last week. Anyway, our insurance company is sending out an adjuster to take a look at the car while we're gone, just in case. Then we'll have to check with our agent to see how much this is going to affect our premium. Ugh.
The conference is over for the day--more tomorrow.
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