Appraisal + Gas shortage

The appraiser finally called yesterday afternoon. It was like 3:00. And it still wasn't final. She had questions for Joe. At that point, she was at $165,000. That's very good. Joe flirted with her a little to try to boost it up a little bit. :) He wants it to be higher. The higher the appraisal, the more we'll be able to borrow for remodeling (we can only borrow a certain percentage of what it will be worth).

Joe is at the bank right now meeting with the banker and trying to get things set in stone for the mortgage so that we can close on Tuesday! :) I am so incredibly excited. So long as everything goes well with the banker (we don't expect any problems), we will just have some final paperwork to complete, and on Tuesday, we will own our very first house!

Joe and I were supposed to be going to Salisbury this weekend to hang out with some very cool people (They know who they are :) ), but this stupid gas shortage may cause us to cancel those plans. Last night on our way home from work, there was a gas station which actually still had gas (all grades), so there were lines clear down the streets at all the entrances to the station. My car is at about a quarter of a tank right now. Joe's truck is at like 3/4 of a tank, so even though it gets less gas mileage, we're driving it. They don't want people to get gas unless they absolutely have to, so we're trying to hold out on filling up my car. Besides that, Joe's truck is a diesel and diesel seems to be easier to find right now.

If we have to cancel our plans, I will be going to Lowe's to pick up supplies for the house... like paint and other such items. :) Also, I have to pick up some stuff to repair the house we're renting right now. Daly chewed on the cabinets in the bathroom and I have to sand and stain them again. :( Also, I have to replace the floor trim that she chewed on. And I'll probably start packing up the stuff that we don't use regularly. Joe and I have decided that even if we aren't finished remodeling the house in Shelby, we're moving in by October 31 so that we won't have to pay another month's rent at the house in Gastonia. I am so incredibly excited that I can't even find words! No more Crackton. It's the best news ever. :) Besides finding the love of my life, Joe, and the adoptions of all four of my babies, of course. :)

HOUSE UPDATE - We agree!

Okay. So, we have some very exciting news!

Yesterday, we went to look at the house again to make sure that we were sure about it before we put in an even bigger bid. We still love the house. So, our realtor put in an offer of $98,000.00 last night with them still completing the repairs and us still allowed to do inspections (we could have gotten it for $92,000 if they didn't have to finish the repairs and we didn't want to inspect the house). Well, they came back to us and accepted the offer. Actually, more than that. They said that they'd accept $97,500.00 if they didn't have to put down new linoleum in the kitchen. We happily agreed since we were going to tear out the linoleum and put in ceramic tile anyway! :)

So, we've signed the paperwork and sent it back to our realtor so that they can sign off on it. Then we have until September 17th to get the inspections done. :) Once they sign off for sure, Joe is scheduling an inspection for early next week. Then, so long as the inspections come back clear, we will get our financing and finish up everything to close on the house. :)

After we close, we'll tear out the carpet in the living room (there are hardwoods underneath), clean the whole house, paint the whole house, then have the crew come in to remodel the kitchen the way we want it done, and then move in! :) I'm so incredibly excited! Goodbye Gastonia, Hello Shelby!

Shelby House Update!

Well, so much has happened since the last time I was able to write about the house. Joe went around to banks to shop for loans. He went to several banks and finally found a loan that worked for us. 5.8% for a 15 year loan... :)

Then we decided what we would want to do with the house. We're going to remodel the kitchen and update the bathrooms. We're also going to tear out the carpet in the living room (there are hardwoods underneath the carpet -- so that means there are hardwoods all throughout the house except for ceramic tile in the bathrooms and linoleum in the kitchen, which we are going to replace with ceramic tile).

Then, we made an offer. It didn't go through, but we didn't expect it to. They made a counteroffer. We have now made another offer on the house. We're hoping that it will go through. If not, we'll try again. And if it does go through, then we'll have to start the inspections. It turns out that the house had termite damage. They've replaced all of the damaged wood and it's supposedly all good now. I guess we'll find out when the inspection comes back. :S

So, now we play the waiting game some more. We're hoping to find out soon so that we can really get the ball rolling. Once we find out yay or nay, we will start the inspections. Then if it passes, we'll get the financing going. Then we'll take possession! Then, we will be having a cleaning/painting party with all of our friends. lol... we'll need the help! Once we get it cleaned up and painted the way we want, the remodeling crew will come in and put in the kitchen cabinets, appliances, and ceramic tile. Then, once that is finished, we will move in! :) :) :) We're hoping to be in by Christmas. How exciting! Even if this house doesn't end up working out (I hope it does... it's my favorite that we've looked at by far), we're moving as soon as possible. The list of crappy stuff keeps adding up at our house in Cracktonia. :(

Schools Out Forever...

In a few days, students will be moving back into the dorms or into apartments in Salisbury. A few days after that, classes will be starting. And I will not be a part of it. For the first time in 17 years, I will not be starting another semester. And it makes me sad.

When I left Catawba in May as an official college graduate, I was so excited. I thought, no more homework, no more papers, no more reading books that I don't want to read. No more school BS. I was really burnt out. I thought that the real world would be simple compared to Catawba.

Well, I was right. I don't have homework. I have free time at night where I don't have to worry about writing papers or reading books that I don't care about. I don't have to do lab reports or projects. I work about 48 hours a week. And I still have lots of free time. I have my nights and my weekends to do whatever. It's a hundred times simpler than Catawba. However, I don't know that that is a good thing.

I miss my friends. Some of them are still around, but there are so many missing links (haha, double entendre for my Link Friends)... My life is boring. Even though there was always so much to be done at Catawba, it was at least always different. I do the same things every week at work. I always had multiple jobs and lots of schoolwork, but at least it never got boring. Joe travels a lot. When he's gone, I mostly just hang out with Jack, Cody, Jippy, and Daly. I love my babies, but they don't have much to say.

My birthday weekend was the most fun I've had all summer. I had so many of my friends together at one time. We talked and hung out and it was wonderful. It was like what I had most every weekend while at Catawba.

I'm hoping that now that school is about to start back up, I'll at least get to see some of my younger friends more often (and the super seniors, of course), but I can't just hang on to Catawba forever. Sooner or later, all the people I know there will be gone.

My parents always told me to enjoy college because life gets rough in the real world and there's always so much to be done. That's BS. College is WAY more work than the real world. It's just that the real world is not nearly as interesting.

I am hoping to find a book club or something to join. I just don't want to have to drive all the way to Charlotte. I'm sure that things would be easier for me to adjust to if I didn't dislike Gastonia so much. We live in Crackton and there is nothing to do in Gastonia. It's dull and dreary. It's a depressing place to live.

But Joe doesn't want to buy a house. I don't blame him, but we won't find anywhere else to rent where they'll let us have 4 dogs. So, we're stuck until we decide to buy. I hate it. I just want to be less bored and live in an interesting (and not depressing) place. Life in the real world is ... I don't even know. It's certainly not like life at Catawba.