Update on house stuff

New house update:

We had an inspection on our new house last week and some big foundation issues came up.  It’s nothing that can’t be fixed but we’re not 100% sure that the owner is willing to do it.  I feel really bad for her because she said that she had the same concerns when she bought the house and paid a lot of money to fix it.  But apparently (according to our engineer and another company I’ve talked to), the pulley system that was put in did nothing to fix the actual problem.  Her agent asked if our engineer’s findings were negotiable and we had to say no.  We really love the house but it’s just too big of a problem for us to take on.  So now we’re just waiting to hear from the owner to see if she’s willing to do the repairs.  We’ve extended that deadline to Friday (an extra week) to give her more time to figure things out and to show that we want to work with her.  We know she had an engineer out the other day to get a second opinion and I’m sure she’s been making a lot of calls to her old engineer and the company that did the original fixes.  Or at least I would be.

Current house update:

We’ve had a lot of showings but no offers yet.  Most of the feedback has been good except for the very first one.  I specifically told the company that set up the appointment to tell the agent that the wood rot on the house would be fixed within the next few days.  The agent must not have gotten the message because the majority of the feedback was on that.  After that, I just started leaving notes on things that were going to be replaced and fixed.  For example, I’m still waiting for a window in Luke’s room and a kitchen drawer front to be replaced.  They’ve both been ordered but haven’t arrived yet.  The wood rot has been fixed and the majority of the house has been painted.  We’re just waiting for the weather to warm up so we can finish the rest.  I think we’re going to try to have an open house this Sunday if the weather is better.

Our house is on the market

Our house is officially on the market.  Look on FB for the link and pictures.

What’s going’ on

Here’s some of the craziness that’s been going on at our house via bullet points:

• I am so behind on my Christmas stuff.  I just ordered my Christmas cards last night.  Actually, at first I ordered the picture of the boys that you’ll see on the card.  Less than an hour later I realized my mistake, tried to cancel that order and then ordered the actual card.  I love my kids but I don’t need 50 copies of that one picture:)  I have presents for all the kids in our families but I’m still working on the adults.  I have absolutely no idea what to get Eric.  I have a few little things and that’s about it.  I really don’t want that much this year either.  I want a food chopper thing, a movie, an I-tunes gift card and new pillows.  That’s all I can think of.   
• In the midst of the holiday season, we’ve found a house that I think we’re going to put an offer on.  After much debating on whether we should move to a different area or stay close to here, we’ve finally decided that we’re staying in this area.  If we moved to Lenexa (where I grew up) or a little further south in Overland Park, we could definitely get a bigger house for the same amount of money.  But, we love this area.  The people are great and the schools are wonderful.  Kenny would even go to the same elementary school.  The high school that the boys will go to will never have a bad reputation.  It just won’t.  We already know some of the people who live on the street through the PTA and one of the ladies even emailed me after the first time we looked at the house to tell us how great that street is and that she hoped it would all work out.  Eric and I both work really close (1.5 miles and .5 miles respectively).  It is so nice that Eric can come home to eat during whatever shift he is on.  If we moved, we wouldn’t have that.  So, the house that we’ve found is on a street that we love (and that I’ve blogged about before).  It’s a two-story that looks like a cape cod but has a basement and more living space than we have now.  It’s already cute but it also has so much potential.  We looked at it for a second time yesterday and will probably put an offer down some time this week.  The offer will be contingent on how the inspection goes and on us selling our house.  The ‘us selling our house’ is the part that I’m freaking out about.  Our house is really cute and we’ve made a lot of big improvements to it (ex:  kitchen, fence, roof, etc)  but I’m not looking forward to always having to have the house clean and leaving for showings.  Cross your fingers that it sells quickly if we end up putting it on the market.  If you live in the KC area and know of someone looking for a house, send them our way. 
• The plus side to possibly moving is that I didn’t have to put up a lot of Christmas decorations this year.  We put up our Christmas tree and brought out the Little People nativity, Christmas plates and cups for the boys and our wreath.  Pretty much everything else will stay packed up. 
• My boss is having surgery today and he’ll be out for 4-6 weeks.  I’m trying to work a little more while he’s gone.  Plus, money is always good when you are thinking of moving. 
• I have a surprise up my sleeve that I’m working on but can’t talk about yet.  Don’t y0u hate it when people do that:)
• I joined a book club.  We read The Girl from Foreign in November and are reading Thinking in Pictures now.  I also have a huge stack of library books that I’m trying to get through.  I just read The Help and couldn’t put it down.  I started The Hunger Games two nights ago.  So far, so good.  I had to return The Girl Who Played with Fire without even reading a page of it.  I’m bummed about that one.  I’ve reserved it from the library again and am hoping it doesn’t take another three months to get it.  As you can see, I don’t really buy many books.  I only buy the ones that I’ll read over and over again (and I do).

Little Leah Tutus

If you have a little girl, go here to see what Eric’s cousin, April, is making.  Aren’t they adorable? 

Annie, at some point in the future you will more than likely be receiving one.

Car for sale

My friend Annie and her husband Heath are selling their Ford Explorer Sport with 4WD.  They’re asking $6300 for it.  It’s a 1998 but it only has 23,720 miles (Heath inherited it from his great aunt who basically used it to get groceries).  They live down in Springfield, MO.  If interested, here’s the rest of the details:

http://springfield.craigslist.org/car/707238797.html