The One With the Story of Our Move to VT

I was newly pregnant with KT when we first decided to look into moving back to VT. Our main reason was that we had started going to church over here on Sundays, Friday School on Fridays, Piano Lessons on Tuesdays & Matt was working here. It seemed as tho we were "living" our lives in VT and not NY.

We put our home FSBO and started looking at houses w/ our wonderful realtor, Dianne. After 5 months we pulled it off the market because I was about ready to deliver, Matt didn't want to commute through the winter and took a job in NY and it was just a daunting thought to sell.

The following May (2009), KT was 7 months old and we decided to start looking into selling again. Matt's VT job wanted him back, so he took it. We listed our home with a realtor and in doing that we discovered that we had no deeded rights to the well we had been using for 5 years. There was no way we could sell like that!! So we had to put a new well in.

14 showings and 1 crummy offer later we finally got a good offer on the house in February 2010!! We were so excited!! We moved into a rental my parents own in April and closed on the house then as well. What a relief that was!

We made 2 offers on homes here in VT in April. Both homes were very old (100+) and needed a lot of renovating, but the market is such in VT that we were sure that was our "lot". Both offers were rejected with the owners wanting exactly their asking price... or more. It was very odd to encounter that in today's market.

In May we decided to look at a house that hadn't really been of interest to us, but it was in the town we wanted to be in and was big enough for us so we grudgingly went... and fell in love. We tried to make an offer on it, but it had just gone into auction. We tried to make a pre-auction offer, but by the time Fannie Mae processed our paperwork it was too late. (It was "owned" by Fannie Mae at the time) So we ended up going to the auction on June 14th. I posted about the auction earlier, so won't bother w/ the details, but in short we won! We had 30 days to close.

July 13th rolls around and our closing is supposed to be the 14th. I get a call from our lender saying there is a problem on the seller's end w/ paperwork and we wouldn't be closing after all. In the end there were a lot of problems on the seller's end w/ paperwork:

1. Fannie Mae's name was not on the title, therefore they could not sell the house. They had to request a quitclaim deed from Nationwide Advantage Mortgage, whose name was on the title.
2. Fannie Mae was supposed to provide our lender with the amount that the previous owner owed on it and they couldn't seem to cough up this $.
3. There was another problem on the title that had nothing to do w/ Fannie Mae, but a property transfer done almost 15 years ago.
4. Fannie Mae didn't want to pay the water and electric bills that were due. It was their job and in the end they did, but they fussed about it.

All of that had to be straightened out and it took them 7 weeks to resolve. It was A LOT of hassle for our lender, our attorney and ourselves. In the end we finally closed yesterday and you could almost hear an audible sigh of relief from all present in the room. So I'm up early this morning in eager anticipation of our move today! I'm so excited and so ready to be settled at last. 2.5 years of house hunting/selling our old home/ buying a new one has finally come to an end.

The One With a Picture of "My" House

My poor lonely house is sitting there all by itself. It's so sad... it wants family in it... it wants kids running around and yummy smelling dinners cooking in the kitchen. It wants a makeover w/ fresh paint and decorations.

Or is it me that wants all those things in this house? I am getting so frustrated & anxious to get into this house. I want this journey to be over. I want to feel settled again and be able to relax here. I want my house!!!

The One With Nothing To Say

I'm grumpy lately. Therefore there has been nothing positive to say. I've been avoiding blogging because of that.

It's crazy how life can be so extremely stressful that it affects pretty much every area. From marriage to child rearing. From weight loss to health. I'm pretty much ready to jump ship and swim to the closest remote island far away from everything.

Aww... that sounds wonderful. I'll only have to listen to the lapping of the waves and smell the smells of the beach. Of course there will be a concierge there that doesn't do anything but bring me food, drinks and good books to read. A massage therapist will be there as well... again doing nothing but serving me.

Yep... ready to jump ship and go there.

The Accomplished One

I feel so accomplished today. We had our first day of school today and we completed it all in good time. Like I mentioned previously, we're trying something new this year & going w/ Oak Meadow. By the time we finished the first day the kids said "It didn't even feel like school, Mom." Lots of drawing along w/ the writing and reading and math... they really enjoyed it. Nathan's science lesson was about how the earth revolves around the sun and instead of just reading it we had a ball and a lamp and did a whole blurb w/ the ball & lamp. It was fun and he really learned a lot from it. I'm still a little concerned that they won't be getting enough academics or that I won't be able to keep up w/ all 3... but I thin kit'll work out. I even have a few minutes to work with Erich who was happy to do so because he got to help me light his special candle to have on while we worked together.

On top of schooling I've done 3 loads of laundry, dishes, floors, painting w/ the kids, outside play, bills paid, budget worked out, started a grocery list & planned dinner for tonight. (Still need to make a menu for the week).

Now I brewed a pot of decaff and am sitting down to relax for a few minutes before making dinner. I do love a good accomplished day.

The One With a Summer Cold

What is up with summer colds? I think it should be impossible to get sick in the summertime. I don't remember being sick in the summer when I was a kid. Perhaps I was a few times, but not that I can recall.

We had VBS the week of July 19th and ever since then we've been fighting a cold. Usually in the winter we get something every time we go to church and/or Friday school. It drives me bonkers.

Some people have a stomach bug too... I thought perhaps Nathan had it becuase he did throw up once on Friday morning. The rest of the day he was fine, tho... eating, playing, running around. Matt tends to get really sick if he gets overtired & Nathan was overtired, so I wonder if he gets the same thing.

I'm making a big pot of chicken soup today. I put in a whole onion and a whole garlic bulb. I'm hoping it'll help.