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The party Saturday was wonderful and we enjoyed seeing family and friends. I am glad to see that our backyard was big enough to hold everyone. My mom, Sandy, and many other people did so much work setting it up and taking it down. Dad set up the croquet and the beach ball areas and brought in his huge plywood table so the gingham tablecloths could cover it. There was plenty of food and dessert afterwards, and no rain to be found. (Whew!)

I am glad the party was Saturday…

Sunday was the hailstorm that lasted 45 minutes with pea and marble sized hail, accumulating up to an inch and a half deep. My car and Doug’s car, covered in blankets and jean quilts, weathered it just fine. There are still piles of ice in the yard, and most of the trees and bushes got shredded. My garden looks wretched and we will need to rake the leaves from the grass so it doesn’t kill the grass. I haven’t had to water at all yet this year though… But, being a Colorado girl, all this rain and no sun is making me gloomy, and it is taking extra effort to be interested in anything. The weather does give me an excuse to be inside, starting to put things into boxes in different rooms, getting this place ready for the movers to move it all in July.

Hopefully we will hear by the end of the day if the offer we made on the house we liked will be accepted.

Thanks again everyone for helping us celebrate the impending arrival of our littlest family member whether you were here or somewhere else Saturday. We really appreciate all the love and support.

The rain, constant since early this morning and making everything green and growing, reminds me that it is that time of year when there are 11 lighthouses, 5 state parks, more shoreline than any other county in the nation, and goats on the roof at the best place to find pancakes in a county that doesn’t allow chain restaurants or retail, and a hand carved Scandinavian church… The Door is calling, Door County. Someday I will have to take Doug.

Our housing search through dozens of houses has narrowed to two. Why is it always just two?

THERE IS SOMEONE ON MY ROOF

and no one gave me a heads up ahead of time!

For all that are asking, I am a tomboy and don’t like traditional girl-only gatherings, aka- amish parties. Translation- the guys are welcome and so are the kids.

We put our house on the market on Friday, the 15th, and by the evening of Monday the 18th, after four showings in four days, we had a full price, no-appraisal-needed, cash offer contract, and three showings on Tuesday the 19th for backup contracts. We accepted their offer and now the house is under contract. Last Friday, the buyer finished their transaction that allows them to not need an appraisal from a bank for a loan, which we guess would have come in at $7,000 under our asking price. Tomorrow will be the inspection, and July 13th will be the closing, and they get the keys July 17th. I had left fresh, still cooling, chocolate chip cookies sitting on the counter for the showings. Other than the obviously huge amount of time, money, and hard work we put into the house over the past two years, you know it was my cookies that did it.

Yesterday, Memorial Day, we took the morning off from house hunting so I could run the Bolder Boulder. I finished, without walking or stopping, in 1 hour, 17 minutes, and 30 seconds. That is really darned good for 7 months pregnant- I am proud of myself. It is not nearly as good as my times from early college or even the time I ran it without having run in 4 years solid. The doctor had agreed to let me “run” it as long as it wasn’t for time and I stayed well hydrated and didn’t exhaust myself. I am sore today as one of my calf muscles cramped up before the first mile, and still has a walnut sized knot in it. But I finished. 🙂 Baby apparently slept through the whole thing and doesn’t seem to be stressed or upset, so, mission accomplished. Baby and I ran the Bolder Boulder.

We went house hunting today and saw 8 houses, all in one part of our target area. The first 3 of 4 were scary- either the ground was trying to grind them to pieces underneath, flush it out with water, or suck it into a hole under the house. Those houses might need to be scrapped and start over again for a fresh start. One of the houses had someone try to flip it- they should have let us do the work- it would have made more sense and it would have been a better quality, plus they forgot to flip the deck and landscape.

The houses from today ran the gamut from scary to perfect, and there was one in particular that the only thing wrong with it is that we don’t live there.

I can tell we have learned a lot with the house we live in now, because we are able to look past some things to the projects and problems of potential houses. We are not afraid to do the work that a house would need as long as it is structurally sound, and in some cases, found ourselves knowing what we would do and not do to it.

It certainly is an adventure. Wish us luck that “The One” will “fall out of the sky” and land in our laps.

Doug works in the northwest Arvada southwest Broomfield area. So, that will be the search area for a new place to live.

Here is where Photoshop is a disadvantage- GIS would have been faster, easier, more accurate. But this was free- the GIS is a profession for someone and this info would have cost a lot.

Elementary schools with a high or better score, crossed with a proximity (but not including- because you can’t live in the middle of a park) to parks, trails and open space, with a deleted proximity to railroads.

Too bad it includes areas there are no houses, and I don’t have an overlay to delete the ones we can’t afford or ones that aren’t for sale. I also can’t delete any that don’t have a mountain view, don’t have 3+ bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms, 2+ garage spaces, a basement, and need our special touch. I didn’t add crime data, or proximity to major roads.

I guess we will have to search it out by hand.

But Geordie could have. And all without leaving Engineering.

It has been a whirlwind of projects and cleaning for two weeks, and today at 11 was our first showing. I grabbed the cats and left for an hour and when we got back, I got a nap (with two cats) on the couch that is well deserved.

The house looks better than it has ever looked in its existence, and is cleaner than I have ever known it to be. It was many late nights, but it is on! MLS # 599148

http://alliance10.colorado.remax.com/listings/ListingDetail_r4.aspx?LID=70955936&#aTop

Ron, Doug’s brother, was a huge help yesterday. They both tore out the old floors, laid down new tile, and grouted the new tile for both bathrooms. The problem appeared about 11pm last night. Doug had just fallen asleep and I was headed to bed when it occurred to me.

See the problem? To make it worse, I am pregnant and will need to use the bathroom again at some point in the middle of the night.

Lucky for us (me), our town is a college town with a 24 hour King Soopers nearby.

The floors look great though, no matter how many trips I make to the grocery store.