jayes_musings: (LiW -- Eleanor 1183 barbarians)
Since my last (non-review) post quite a lot as gone on in the past few months. I can't believe that it was February, so yeah, been quite busy since then. If you follow me on Facebook then you've probably seen the photos, etc.

Read more... )
jayes_musings: (Banksy -- Flower hooligan)
...but I'm back and trying to stick with it. So, an update...

The truth is that it's been busy. Just about every other day I'm up at the house redecorating. Most of the wallpaper is off and we are now painting and should be done by the time our furniture is delivered, hopefully by the end of the month. Hence why we are still living with hubby's parents right now. So, other than that, I haven't really been doing much as I'm absolutely shattered the next day.

The best news is that hubby now has a date when he starts work! March 10th! I love him, but I'll finally have him out of my hair on a daily basis and get back to my life as we should also be actually living in our own house by then!

In other news, I...like most in the northern tier of the US...am done with winter. Last week we had a massive ice storm that knocked out power to most of the area here. We were lucky in that it only took them just over a day to get it back on, but others, even neighbours were out for 4 or 5 days. And today is another snow day and we've had well over a foot of the stuff, on top of the several inches that were already on the ground, and more to come later. Spring really can't come quick enough.

At least next week, we (hubby, #2 son, and I) will have a break from the in laws. Hubby's sister and her husband 'won' a trip to Rome for a week. Their son is a Marine on embassy duty and the USO held a competition for two sets of parents to go out...except that only two sets of parents could take time off/had passports/wanted to go. So while they are enjoying Rome (of which I'm exceedingly envious), we are going to house and cat sit for them...and enjoy a place to ourselves, with TV!!! for a week.

So that's what's going on...not exactly thrilling, but that's life, right.

Next up, book reviews.
jayes_musings: (Moving)
Well, okay, along with the hubby.....and, oh yeah, the bank.

And not just any house, but after (for me) 28 years of moving every very few years, this is intended to be our forever home. For a brief description, it's rural central PA...as rural as I would allow the hubby to move me and about 30 mins from the closest good sized city, but the location is stunning. It's American farmhouse style, built in 2008 and about 2700 sq.ft, but we're going to finish off the basement, so that'll bring it up another 1000 sq.ft, four bedrooms, 2.5 baths. The only thing 'wrong' about it is the decor...so not to our taste, very flowery...but that is easily remedied. It sits about halfway up a big hill/small mountain with open fields in front and wooded to the top of the hill/mountain and is all but 22 acres (21.96 to be precise). It almost backs onto a state park...and the strip of land between the two is an easement for utility companies, so no one is going to build there anyway.

I won't say how much we paid, but if I converted it to British pounds, it would cost only 50kGBP more than my mum's 2-up/2-down end of terrace in the middle of town.

It was a long, roundabout journey to getting the house though.

We first viewed it back in July and really liked it (duh!). The problem was, at the time, twofold. 1) Hubby did not have a job, only his AF retirement (that hadn't actually come through yet) and naturally banks were not willing to lend him the money without a job, even though he would have a very good, steady income for the rest of his life. The second was that the property was actually divided into two parcels of 10 acres and 12 acres which would have meant two mortgages...one at a much higher interest rate. We had to walk away as it was just impossible.

Clearly, we weren't the only potential buyers with that problem, and within a couple of months they had combined both parcels into one. That problem solved, hubby still didn't have a job and our bank that caters nearly exclusively to the military would not give him a loan (despite the retirement pay). So, on the advice of our wonderful realtor, we went to the small local bank in the town, and we were pre-approved with very little fuss and certainly they weren't bothered by his lack of employment, knowing that a) he had his retirement, and b) he was looking for work. Our mortgage is worked out relying solely on his retirement, which is very good. As it happens right before Christmas, he got a job with the DoD, although he hasn't started yet.

Our next and last hurdle was the fact that the sellers, a Mennonite family had already moved out and were in Bolivia doing missionary work. We actually should have closed last week, but they had signed the Power of Attorney for their representative incorrectly, so they had to travel to the US Embassy in La Paz to redo it and then express mail it here. With the holiday weekend and the heavy snow on Tuesday, it didn't reach their agent until yesterday.

So now, after 28 years of moving, 9 months without a home of our own, and over 7 months of living with the in-laws...we have a house. Not that we've moved in yet...or will do for a little while. Arranging for our belongings to be delivered out of storage, some in VA and some in CA, can take a few weeks, and so we're going to spend that time decorating it to more our tastes. And that in itself is a thrill after so many years of base housing and rentals where magnolia white is the only permissible colour!
jayes_musings: (historical -- rome domina)
....declaring my excitement that the scheduled closing on our house was just a week away. But I knew...just knew that I shouldn't let myself get excited until it was a done deal.

The joys of buying a house )

So, yeah, not exactly thrilling stuff, but it's about all that happened this week...aside from the PA Farm Show, which is basically cow butts.

And if, by chance, anyone is reading this...some eye candy for you. As it was his 40th birthday this week, Hrithik Roshan )

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Jaye

August 2020

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