Closing day is finally here!

This little house has been a struggle since we placed an offer on it more than a month ago. The last few days especially have been incredibly stressful, but we get the keys tonight!! And amazingly enough, the movers come tomorrow!! I don't know how all of this worked out as we had a major scare yesterday (Ryan and I both tried to wire money to our escrow company, yikes!) and even today our broker told us we might not be able to close today.

The first picture is our old 2 galley kitchen. A LOT of work is planned for this so consider it a before picture. The second picture is the master bedroom which is a chocolate brown color. It's a decent sized bedroom and we love the French doors leading to the back garden/yard!! And you wouldn't think it for a house built in 1914 but it has a very large walk-in closet. So Ryan figured out that the closet used to be the 2nd bedroom!!!! And we thought the house was small already! The last pic is of the backyard which has a sweet little garden and feels really private even smack dab in the middle of Seattle. There's even sage, rosemary, thyme, and rosebushes! As you can see, there's not much grass so hopefully it'll be fairly low-maintenance. We're happy to have a home of our own and I can't wait to move out of the hotel!!! Check your email for contact info..... And keep checking this blog, I'm sure I'll have interesting moving stories! Moving should be a breeze after all of this!

No closing date yet but....

...our loan documents went through! We should close by Thursday of this week so thought I'd continue to post some more pictures of the house!! The first one is of the dining room. I love this paint color on the wall so much I'm hoping to paint the 2nd bedroom with it. I think it looks great with the white trim, coved ceilings, and hardwoods. And the second picture is more of the living room with the big windows. I'll post the last couple of pictures over the next few days....

BTW, did you know it's National Punctuation Day!?@!!!,, I would've added some expletives if I didn't have good news about the house!!:-)

...and Continues....

Closing date has come and gone and we still don't have a new date yet!! Our mortgage broker keeps telling us it should be soon and we continue to not believe him, ha. Best case scenario is now next Wednesday. I'm anxious to know a date. This waiting is even worse than the Air Force!

Things on the job front are much better. I received an offer for the clinical dietitian position! It's on call until November which is really flexible with the house stuff going on. So they call when they need someone and I can even say no. The hospital is in a great location, you can see the hospital where Grey's Anatomy is set. The cafeteria looks like a restaurant and guess what? There is even a Starbucks right in the hospital!! How quintessential Seattle!!

And the wait continues...

We're definitely not closing this Friday. We'll know more by Thursday but it should be next week sometime Mon-Wednesday. So many unknowns! And we have to pay $100 a day past our original close date which sucks as it wasn't our fault in the first place. Hopefully the military movers will wait until the last possible day to deliver our stuff and we might actually be in the house after all. Also, the fed's decision to drop interest rates today will help us get a lower rate than we would've had the original closing date worked out. I'm trying to think optimistically!! Do you see why I've been reading books lately? Have to get my mind off of all this stuff or I'll go crazy.

I feel the need to elaborate more on our hotel life. Contrary to popular belief, we do NOT receive daily housekeeping service. In fact, our weekly service is pretty basic. I've been doing the dusting!! I would not recommend this particular hotel as it feels dingy, carpets seem dirty, etc. Not to mention a very unpleasant fire alarm that went off at 3:30 am a few weeks ago not once, not twice, but at least 3 times and this thing was LOUD!!! And it would go off at random times over the next week or so. Plus, whenever we enter the hotel, we smell certain ethnic smells emanating from others' rooms. Have I mentioned that Microsoft is only a 10 minute drive? Anyway, the room has a microwave and a stove top but no oven so we've been eating as many meals here to save money which is mostly sandwiches or frozen meals. However, the most irritating thing of living here are our very loud neighbors. And the later it gets, the louder they seem to get. In fact, it sounds like they make furniture in there, I'm not kidding. Who knows what they are banging on at all hours?! The weirdest thing is that we can hear them coughing up a lung or maybe puking, we can't figure it out. Are these people sick? Or bulimic?? Who knows? I guess this is city living but now I'm glad that we won't be living in an apartment or a shared wall living arrangement because my sound machine would get so much use......

On to some good news. That per diem job that I mentioned before will actually be turning into more permanent work in November. So if I decide to take the per diem job, it'll be like deciding on the job if I like it and can then determine if I want permanent work there. Anyway, I have an interview Thursday morning!!

Life at the Extended Stay

has just been extended due to some major drama on the house front. Our lender fell through for a couple of reasons: our original mortgage broker left his firm to pursue politics as well as divulged information from the sellers' disclosure report that he shouldn't have. (Just can't trust those politicians! I won't be voting for this guy!). I won't bore you with the sordid details but needless to say, what should have been an easier last 2 weeks before moving in has turned into anything but. Our closing date is up in the air now, it could be as early as next Monday or pushed back a full week, depending on the speed of the new lender. What makes this whole situation even more fun is that our stuff is already on its way from Mississippi. ARRGHH! So if we're not able to close before Sept. 28th, we have to store it (on our own dime) in Seattle until we move in. Much fun! Hence, the lack of pictures the past couple of days. I'll keep you posted on the latest drama......

Books, books & more books plus a rant about the job search

Ok, I have entirely too much time on my hands right now, which feels so weird. Even with the traveling this summer, I didn't get in much pleasure reading, unless you count guide books. And school from the last 2 years ate up any reading time so the last time I've had some good time for reading was Guam. So, instead of looking for a job, I've been voraciously reading my eyes out. Actually, I'm passively looking, as Ryan says. The latest on the job search is there are not any dietitian or health educator jobs here. Actually, that's not exactly true. I have been phone interviewed for a per diem job which is filling in for RDs on vacations, weekends, holidays with no guarantee of hours or benefits. Not exactly a dream job. So either there just aren't many dietitian or health educator jobs or I'm just not looking in the right places, surprising for such a health-conscious community. Thus, I have concluded that the universe is trying to tell me to seek out another field! So I'm debating about many things including traveling, Starbucks, or a career in books. (Is anyone reading this?). If so, what should I do??!!

On to books, I've read some great ones that I want to pass along. Middlesex by Geffrey Eugenides (?sp) is a perfect novel and oh so engrossing. In recommending this, the subject matter is hermaphroditism which might not sound too appealing but trust me, do not be judgmental about this one, you will not be offended. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert made me so jealous as that's what I want to do with my life: well, the eat in Italy part and travel, anyway. But this book also is about finding God and oh so funny along the way. Also Heat by Bill Buford follows a former New Yorker editor as a slave in Mario Batali's kitchen and through Italy learning to make pasta, etc. This book has inspired me to visit Salumi, Mario Batali's father's restaurant in downtown Seattle.

I'm super excited that Love in the time of Cholera will be a movie soon. And Seattle has a Half Price bookstore so I'm headed there for a copy to read before the movie. I have to join a book club, I'm obsessed! Anybody have any book recommendations?

Inside pictures of the house

So here's the breakfast nook in the kitchen. We loved the built-ins. I can't wait to get my hands on the kitchen. It has old appliances and will definitely get a fresh coat of paint and much more. There's not a lot of shelving and cabinets so right above the stove I'm planning on a pot rack and some shelves. Ikea will soon be my friend!! Hmmm, maybe I should work there?!

The second picture is the living and dining room. We loved the fireplace. Oh yeah and the furniture, but that's not our stuff. Wow, staging really works. The living room walls are taupe and dining room is pale green which we like so will probably keep.

Horns beat TCU!

I love college football! Our game didn't start well, down 10-0 at half but McCoy and the defense really came through, 34 points in the second half! I hate to admit where we watched the game, ok, don't judge me you feminists, HOOTERS! Argghh, the Texas Exes meet there because the manager is a huge fan and he gives discounts on food and even has Longhorn stuff all over the place. So we got to meet lots of fellow Horns, very fun. And I have to brag on the Big 12 (because nobody ever does, ha) 11 teams won their games this past weekend!!! OU looks SO good, we are so going to lose. Poor Michigan, sorry guys. Washington looked great too, saw Boise State fans all over Seattle this weekend. Husky stadium is right on the water, gorgeous, and has the most unique tailgating ever, BOATS!!!! I think I should become a fan.....

We got the house!!

Yay!!! After agonizing over foundation, electrical, and roofing issues uncovered from the inspection and much going back and forth between the sellers over what they'll cover, the house will be ours!! Our closing date is in 2 weeks, Sept. 21st. Now our battle is to retrieve our stuff from storage in Mississippi and have it delivered as close as possible to that date. I have a feeling we'll be investing in an air mattress!!

One friend commented how easy it was to buy a house. Do you all think so? I couldn't disagree more, with this, my first experience!! Maybe newer construction is less involved but each inspection we had seemed to divulge more issues, argghhh! Maybe it's better to not know?? I had no idea the stress involved in this whole process. We almost walked away as their counter-offer after the inspection was much less than we were willing to settle on. The major stuff that needed to be done to the house amounted to an estimate of $20,000!! Our realtor warned us it's an old house (built in 1914) so there would be issues, still I wasn't prepared to take such a critical look at where we might call home. We eventually compromised at $12,000, now the real work begins..... The house is definitely "move-in ready" but we have some ideas on updates. I'll gradually post pictures instead of all at once to pique your interest in visiting us!!

Seattle Rocks!

This weekend was so fun because we weren't busy doing house stuff so had time to explore! There are tons of quirky little neighborhoods. For example, there is literally a troll under one of the bridges squashing a VW bug on Troll Ave, I'm not kidding.

We've been in Seattle for a month now so thought I'd post some pictures. Does the first one look familiar, you Grey's Anatomy fans? The other 2 are from a music/indie film/art festival we went to this past weekend called Bumbershoot in the coolest venue ever: under the Space Needle. I'm telling you all of this so you will visit us next year over Labor Day! It's a great time to visit....perfect weather and Seattle's uberfest. We heard The Shins, The Gourds, Rodrigo y Gabriela, all highly recommended!!! Hope you all had a great weekend too!

A Political Statement

I went to my first protest last Monday! Pres. Bush visited Bellevue (the more conservative, suburban answer to Seattle) while avoiding Seattle entirely. About 400 protestors were out in full force. There were no arrests, just some shoving with crowds, although there were some scary looking militant people at the ready. Have to say I was impressed with the diversity of people there: of course, there were scary extremists and a definite SWAT team presence, but there were people of all ages and cultural backgrounds.

The first picture is the best crowd shot I had (love the Crate & Barrel in the background) and the second is of the "I Miss America" girls, creative, huh? Even I didn't agree with some of the bash Bush posters such as 9-11 was an inside job. My all-time fav was "Dumb, Dumber, Dubya!" Although I didn't physically see 43, just his huge motorcade, at least I was a part of the "welcoming" committee. Is 2008 here yet??!!