Upcoming Lamp-Revamp DIY

Here's my lamp.

Make that TWO lamps.

Ugly lamps. Lamps that my husband and I inherited from family when we moved into our first place together. They work. They're in pretty good shape. But they in absolutely no way have anything nice to say to me. They scream for attention. So my DIY for this upcoming weekend involves these lamps. They will no longer be maroon, gold, and white.

I'm thinking blue or mirror spray paint and jute twine.

I can't wait!

What's held up the closing process for so long?

Our closing was scheduled for May 31st. 

What's today again? 

July 28th. 

We are not living in that house. 

We found out less than 1 week before closing that our lender, was pulling the loan out from under us. The reason? I work as a government contractor. Periodically the contract for my position goes up for bid and I may or may not get a new employer when that happens. My contract went up for bid on May 12th. Just a few days later our lender sends me a form to fill out- Verification of Employment. My contract was not awarded until May 17th. Unfortunately, that meant that I was not working. Worst yet was that my doctor had put me on bed rest in fear that I was developing Preeclempsia. My due date was June 7th so it was decided that if my position was to start before my due date, I would not be returning and that I would be taking an early maternity leave. This is why our lender pulled the loan. I could not provide a pay stub with the new company's name. The new company wrote our lender a letter verifying that I would in fact be returning to work, for the same pay, 6 weeks after I delivered. This still was not good enough, and we discover this 5 days before closing. If this has ever happened to you, you know how frustrating it is to pack up an entire house, give your 30 days notice to your landlord, and have everything switched to the new address.

So here we are. Our beautiful Son graced us with his presence June 6th. We've since unpacked essentials, repacked, and unpacked again discovering we need more toothpaste or shampoo than we thought. 


Late June we got the news from our realtor that there was another accepted offer on the house. Apparently it was an investor who decided shortly after putting in his offer that he no longer wanted that property and moved on to another after the home inspection. 


That weekend we put in our own offer on the house. We were rejected. I still do not know how the company that owns the house (previous owner relocated, it now belongs to the relocation company) knew that I had not returned to work, but they stated that they would not be dealing with us until I had received my first pay stub.


Just yesterday, we received an unexpected call. They want us to put our offer back in and have the contract ratified while waiting for that pay stub to appear.

I must say, at this point, Do I love this house anymore? Maybe I just feel spiteful for the mess we've been put through, but it's hard to feel like this house is worth it anymore. I can't find a lot of information about similar experiences so I hope someone can find solace that they are not the only one if they find this blog. 

Huge thanks to ChristianPF

If you haven't already read Bob Lotich's How To Make Money With A Blog article, you'll probably head that way before you finish reading much of this one. Today I started my first day back at work since I had my beautiful God-given gift, Carson. Boy, It was one of the worst days of my life. Not only was it rough in-processing again, but I had to leave my son alone with someone else for the first time. I was a wreck. In fact, my bosses let me go early because of how distraught I appeared. I kept playing various scenarios in my head in which I was this glorious stay-at-home mom, living without cable, a second car, renting a tiny apartment in a neighborhood I would never walk around in. It hit me hard- I had to have an income. Sure a part-time job would give me more time with him, but in the field of pharmacy, I've got one of the best positions available (and it took a really long time to get there). So what do I do? Do I give up the career I've worked so hard for or do I give up the childhood I had envisioned for my child? How about neither? I forgot the real reason I started this blog. I never intended on this being my source of income, nor did I expect it to satisfy my career needs, but I started it to see what could happen. I love to write. I love to share. I've been journaling my entire life and I love to share entries with my friends. If I can do that and be home with my son, God will have given me a way out. If it doesn't work out, clearly there are better plans out there for me. With a plan in front of me, and the honest how-to from Bob, I feel like I shouldn't abandon this blog (I'll explain more on that next time). I genuinely thank you for reading and I hope you stick around!

Speed Bumps Ahead... and Behind

Although I have not posted anything since the Home Inspection, it's not because we've just been breezing by awaiting closing. Our realtor had us fearing that we wouldn't close on time because of the underwriting process- Nope! Underwriting was finished a week ago. For whatever reason, Our mortgage lender has attacked my financial situation from every angle. I can only attribute this to the fact that my income is greater and thus needs to be justified above all else. Unfortunately having to verify and re verify and verify again my employment and income is a problem when I am a government contractor and my contract went up for bid this month! So it's now been a week since I found out I am in fact likely keeping my job, but, there is a form we need filled out by my "new" employer and that is taking time. I'll take a moment to sigh now.

Ha! But in better news, we finally have most of the furniture for the nursery! Only 2 weeks to go before this little guy is due to make his big debut! His room will likely be full of boxes for the rest of the year but I think I can take on the additional challenge of getting that set up before family visits for Christmas. :)

Home Inspection... Not so bad?

Due to the woes of late pregnancy exhaustion I'm several days late updating the latest on our first home purchase process. I really, really, wish I had remembered to take pictures as we went along. Overall things were not bad. The roof needs to be replaced in "3-5 years" as we expected, there's some damage to the furnace (the seller agreed to have that serviced), there's oxidation around the connections for the hot water heater and a double tap in the electrical panel in the workshop garage (which they'll be putting money into our escrow account to pay for those repairs). Things could have gone a lot worst so I am thankful! 

Now here's the real kicker- we live on the east coast of Virginia. We've weathered dozens of hurricanes. Apparently some people have not had as much luck as we have and most insurance companies will not provide a homeowners insurance policy. It's completely frustrating going through the lengthy quote process just to receive a 10 second "sorry but we can't write a policy for that area" call. But alas! Thank you Allstate! Looks like we are also changing our car insurance to them as well. 

Can things get any more hectic for one month?

Shall we Agree to Disagree?

One week and 3 days later, we finally have a ratified contract on our house! I'm told that it wouldn't ordinarily take this long but the seller had relocated to another state for work, and his company hired a relocate company to handle the sale of the house. So it was me and my husband against the seller, relocate company, and the listing agent. Terms were agreeable to both parties but, boy oh boy, those relocate companies have so much paperwork! At long last though, everything is signed and ratified!

Next up? Home Inspection!

I cannot wait until Friday!

 

In the beginning...

FINALLY! After several years of attempting to buy my first home, the time has come! When I began this process almost 4 years I never thought that I would be buying my first place with a husband and our first child on the way, nor did I think we would be buying a house in Hampton, VA. But I (sorry) WE are and it's begun. It didn't take looking at that many houses. Some were beautiful on the outside, scary on the inside, and others were OK but just not in the ideal location. I've always needed to live near water and I'm never going to stop being a beach girl so to have found what we have found I'm certain stars aligned right in time. 

So here she is! Not at all what I had imagined in my mind, trust me! But she's strong, and beautiful on the inside. I just have a lot of work ahead of me (once we settle things with the seller). Waiting truly is the hardest part. I'm itching to pull those ugly window shades, or whatever it is that they're called down, and start painting... and changing the floor... and removing the breezeway... and adding a laundry room in the house... The list is endless. Clearly I'm thinking like she's already in my name, but she is not yet mine. Soon enough though, I'm sure her current owner will agree to our terms and I can get started!