13 is our lucky number

I don't think I could say that I like the number 13 except for these two small reasons -- we sold our house yesterday on the 13th and because our new house address is 13 ______ Court!!!! YES WE BOUGHT A HOUSE, and not just A HOUSE but the one we knew could be the "one" when walking in it a few weeks ago.

God is GOOD!

I have realized and came to terms with a lot in the past week, and that is firstly, we were not meant to build a house . . . yet. I do think one day we will. That will be our next journey, but it's just not time yet. We still have many years ahead of us! But, I realized that we were meant to be in the town we were building in, just not meant to build something we really couldn't afford (who wants to live paycheck to paycheck on a super duper tight budget? Not me.) God's whole plan was this town, but an already established home. We were halfway there when we decided to build, just not all the way to what God had in store for us, and so He let that be known when we could not sell our house by owner for 3 months yet sold it by realtor in 9 days after coming to this realization finally and being at peace with the decision. (If we had sold it, we would have immediately started building and God knew that, which is why it took 3 months to help us see what the true plan was.) Who can argue with that?! Can you believe it? We had a dozen interests, one verbal offer and one written offer in just 9 days? In a town where it's a buyers market and not a sellers market, how unbelievable but what a blessing!

We also did a bit of soul searching and a lot of prayer. I asked my hubby if he had prayed about it and he said 'no'. That really shocked me. I said 'don't you think you should?'. He said without hesitation 'yeah'. I went on a walk about 10:00 that night and prayed my entire mile and a half. Neil prayed that night also. And it was the next day that we found out this girl had accepted our counteroffer.

Another amazing thing is, we leave for vacation on Sunday for a week. We were dreading the fact that we would have to keep the house showing that week and my mom and friend, Heather, were going to come and vacuum, keep the litter boxes clean, water my plants, feed the cats, etc. Now they don't have to do that and we don't have to worry the entire trip. We can truly enjoy ourselves and have the time of our life. I cannot wait for vacation. Lord knows we really need this.

So the new house. Wanna know about it?!?! Ok, you're right, that's a really silly question. Duh. So here's the details . . . it's about 35 years old, and not at all what I would have picked out for us, but the interior pictures of it online looked stunning and and so that made us want to see it. And, . . . we fell in love with it.

This house has almost twice the living area as our house now with 2677 sq. ft. It has 4 bedrooms and 3 full baths (I've never had more than 1 bathroom in my homes since I've lived on my own, so this will be awesome . . . minus the cleaning part, ha!). It has a brand new remodeled kitchen with cherry cabinets (!) and the entire house has new pergo flooring, even in the bedrooms - fun! It has a two-tiered deck in the back that has been well-maintained and for the kids, a swing set and play house --- woot-woot!!!

Let's see . . . an attached garage, an OFFICE for me, play room area for the kids, a living room and a family room. We have decided to not use the living room for us, but for me to take my clients to. So we hope to get some new furniture for that room with a nice presentation table and then I can fill the walls with my portraits. I really like the color of the walls throughout the house, but since I absolutely love to paint walls (I know, there's seriously something wrong with me!), I will probably repaint just about every room. Oh, and there is wainscoting in the kitchen and master bedroom - I love wainscoting!

One of the best parts of all with this house is, it's in a very well kept subdivision with LOTS of trees, on a large lot and it's on a quiet cul-de-sac. I've been lurking through the neighborhood quite a bit and there are kids everywhere Noah's age! The biggest negative for me is the color of the house, but it can be painted. I have never painted a house, but I'm up for attempting it!

We close on our current house July 18th and the new house July 9th! Which mean when we get back from vacation, we have just a few weeks before we can move in to the new one! It's going to be one heck of a crazy adventure, and as Erin told me in an email, we'll still need prayers for as crazy as it will probably get, so keep them a coming!

Is this absolutely crazy and wonderful?! I love the number 13! And, again, God is good, God is great!

Lastly, we need you to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as tomorrow we take Maia to see the Orthopedic Surgeon in Springfield. They say he's highly sought after, but that doesn't mean I'm not a little nervous. Actually, I'm very nervous. I already know that Maia has to have x-rays and that is just not something I want to make her do, but I have to. It's going to be a hard day. :o( I hope she doesn't remember it.

Now, let's go celebrate! And I am! Tonight I'm getting a pedicure, going shopping with a friend and out to eat for 'ritas. I am so so so so excited.

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!!

Boxes, we need boxes!!

Because . . . drum roll . . . we have to start packing!!!!

Ok, so I don't want to jump the gun, but I am so freaking excited because . . .

in 40 minutes we will be at our realtor's office to SIGN THE PAPERWORK on a CONTRACT to SELLING OUR HOUSE!!!!!!!!!

I'll be back later to explain all the details!

Is this a dream?!?! I honestly cannot believe I just wrote what I wrote! Maybe I'll wake up and it will be. If I get responses, I know it must be true. *happy sigh*

Selling update.

So we had a realtor's tea this morning. Our realtor said she had 19 realtors come through. I think that's pretty good, don't ya think?! Man, it better be good for as much cleaning as I've been doing! I'm proud of all my spik-n-spanning but sooooo exhausted, too. Cleaning an entire house every day to near spotless is not an easy chore when you have a dog, 3 cats, a 3-1/2 yr old boy and a 19 month old girl! Yeesh. (Oh and did I mention that this has been basically going on since the end of March? I am ready for a break! Anyone out there like to clean and wanna come over?)

We've had the house shown 5 times since it went on the market Monday. It was shown once today already and again tonight. I'm never going to get any of my work done (Beth, you are one of them waiting patiently --- thank you!, and Corie, and . . . oh my, there's just so much work to do!), but on the other hand, maybe we are closer to selling our house? I really really really really hope so.

House situation -- updated.

Welp, we did it. We met with a realtor today and signed a contract with her to sell our house. Sigh.

As I just now typed this, my stomach turned as though I am on a roller coaster going over the top and falling down . . . faster . . . faster . . . faster. Woa, I hate that feeling.

I think I have that feeling because of, well, so many reasons.

1 - we are listing for way way way less than I ever dreamed we would list. Our list price will be 13k under what we started out asking back 3 months ago. But after really thinking about, comparing other homes selling on the market similar to ours, and those similar to ours that have sold, we know we made the right decision. It just sucks.

2 - we realized today how much our market here in Smelly Town U.S.A. stinks. Ha ha. Get it? (Another bad Val joke, I know!, just trying to lift my spirits . . . )

3 - we realized it's as if we built our $10,000 garage just for kicks and put out a sign that said "free money". Most of the time, with building a garage, you should get that money back, at least some. We won't. We know if we sell, the garage will be a very helpful factor in selling, but we just won't get it back. My stomach sinks thinking that $10,000 went down the drain. We have put forth a LOT of money into this house but won't reap the rewards. Not at all.

4 - because of the low asking price, we are not going to be able to build. Nope, I'm finally letting it be known . . . we aren't going to build. (*super deep sigh*) We were honestly starting to realize that a few weeks ago. Last week we "saw the light". Today we saw the light even more.

A few posts back I posted about how things were rough for us. It's because of the house situation(s). We realized last week that even after thinking about it, praying about it and even feeling like we were making the right decisions, we really weren't. I don't think we were praying for the right things. Too many things were pointing to "you guys can't build right now."

Why are we even trying to sell then? Because we need to get out of here.

It's obvious that the market here is very poor. That after 6 years, our house has hardly appreciated at all. Even if we acted as if we didn't put in $25,000 of hard work and improvements into our house, that we would still barely make anything more . . . that my business can't flourish with such a poor environment to work in (the dark dungeon-y basement) . . . that I have no way of expanding the business at all . . . and that we really need to get our paws into a different town, even though we absolutely love our neighbors . . . we still have to do what's best for our children and their future. It's depressing that if our house was in the town we so wish we were already in, just 40 minutes away, that our house would be on the market for probably $50,000 more than what is is going to be on the market tomorrow. Makes me want to cry.

So that's the latest news. I feel like we might actually finally sell because we're working with a great realtor and we're at a price where people will buy, but we won't be going into a house that we had dreamed of building. We've scratched those plans. Literally scratched. I've cried and cried some more, but I'm over it. (Well, pretty much.) I'm ready to move on. I'm ready for no more let-downs. I'm ready to take on whatever we're meant to take on now. I'm ready to be positive about the steps we're now beginning to take. It's a whole new journey . . . again.

I am ready . . . I think.

Enough of my whining. I know it's not that bad. We're extremely blessed. It's just a huge huge huge let-down that I honestly was not prepared for.

Good things, not-so-great things and very good things

So "what's up?", you ask. You know something is going on when Val doesn't post an entry for an entire day or when she doesn't comment on anyone elses!

Well, here's a synopsis.

Good things:

* Our septic is temporarily fixed. The roto guy was able to rooter it (is that a proper term?) 150 feet which is wayyyy further than anyone else has gotten recently. It solved our issues for now. Hopefully for a long time for the future owners, also. This sort of issue is very normal in an old part of a city like where we live. The roto guy said they replaced a tile system a block over and the sticker price on that was $2000. So if we were to do that, that's the sort of numbers we are looking at. Thank God we don't have to do that now.

* The basement no longer smells like ca-ca.

* While we have not sold our house, we have done some more things to spruce it up: new blinds in the living room (looks awesome!), a new ceiling light (which we have never had - again, looks great!), a new door mat at the back door (minor, but makes a world of difference!), and we put up an under-counter paper towel holder (chrome) and it looks so good!! It helps clear off counter space and just makes it look bigger, which is a big plus since we have very little to begin with.

* We met with our builer and finalized our house plans. (Oh that was fun!!) And now we wait for the bid, which should come back the end of this coming week.

* I finished one big wedding album, met with her and her mother (bride is from Atlanta), and she was so very happy with the results - it made my day yesterday. And, she is coming back home in June for a baby shower and she would like me to do maternity pics --- oooo, my fave!

* I have had 6 different photo shoots in the past week, and that is a lot for me. But, I had a blast at all of them and I can't wait to show off my sessions. I'll be posting today and the rest of the week at VWC. I am having more and more fun with my photography as I try new things!

All-in-all, things are looking up . . . except . . .

The not-so-good things:

* My bf's baby boy, Brodey, (2 months old) was put into the St. Louis Children's Hospital hospital for RSV. He spent 2 days there, but thank God he is doing better and is at home now. But please still keep him in your prayers as the recovery can take some time.

* We haven't had a single call in about a week. But, when we met with our builder yesterday, he gave us some great ideas to help us sell by ourselves. We really really need to sell ourselves to save us that realtor commission. Neil said if we went down too much more on our asking price, that we won't be able to have enough of a down payment on the new house. (Another good thing - the realtor we met with did tell us a) he was surprised it had not sold yet and b) that our price was good.)

* My aunt is in the hospital and is criticial. She had a brain aneurysm yesterday. She has made it through so far, which is a good sign (many don't even make it this far), but she is 77 yrs old. Her age is going against her big time. They are doing surgery (going in behind her ear) today. If she makes it through, she will be in ICU for a while and probably will be in the hospital a total of 3 weeks. What scares me is, her chances are slim. And, it worries me that this could be something genetic perhaps? My dad had a brain aneurysm when I was in 7th grade. He was in ICU for 2 weeks, but he made it through! So I am hopeful, but at the same time, my worries are high again. For many years every time I had a headache, I thought I was going to die. My fears are escalating again. The most important thing right now is for us to keep my Aunt (Barb) in our prayers. She needs them right now desperately.

On a very happy note . . .
Tomorrow is Easter! It's easy to get caught up in the material things with the holiday, just like with Christmas. I do it and I wish I didn't. It wasn't the Easter Bunny that died an rose again for us, it was God. My friend, Amanda, wrote about this a few days ago. We must must must remember why we even have this holiday. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for Him. We wouldn't be given the chance of everlasting life if it weren't for Him. Please remember what tomorrow is really about.

God Bless!

Another problem arising . . .

I have a feeling this will be just a post of random thoughts, not very cheery thoughts, because I'm not the most chipper about what I am wanting to talk about. But I need to talk about it because talking about frustrations is good, right?

You see, parts of our house are falling apart. We are never going to sell (I know, such a negative thought, you're thinking). Thank goodness it's not apparent to people who come and look, well, wait, yes it is . . . now. Our basement keeps flooding because our septic is backed up. Yep, it's backed up, and to be honest, I want to SCREAM. It really stinks . . . literally and figuratively.

We've had this problem over the past 2 or 3 years. So we get it "snaked" every time and that always fixes it . . . until 4 weeks ago when we had it done. It did not help this time and we realized that when we did one load of wash and our basement flooded. Ugh.

About a year ago we were told by some professional crew who had this fancy camera equipment, that the tile under ground is broken. It happens all of the time, especially in the older neighborhood that we are in where the homes are 70-100 years old. But ours is really bad.

They told us that it's broken about 15 feet out and that to totally get rid of the problem, they'd have to bring in a crew to dig up the tile and put in new, which would require digging up our side yard and our neighbors' yard and taking out part of our fence to get to it. It's also on a pretty steep hill so they said the price would probably go up because of that as well. It's just not easy to get to and a lot of destruction to our property would most likely take place.

We said, "no, we'll wait and just keep snaking it for the time being". Well, this is what we get for not taking care of the problem when the problem arised. Learn from us please.

So now we sit with a house that we need to sell, but with more and more problems arising. We can't sell the house like this because we'd have to disclose the problem and who wants to buy it with such a major problem? And we keep risking the chance of people seeing our basement flooded, too. We have standing water and it smells. We can't let this go on for much longer. On top of that, we can't even take a 3 minute shower without it backing up, flush the stool and we especially cannot do laundry or run the dish washer, and that's all piling up now. We're going on 5 days of this being as bad as it is.

Oh, and I think I mentioned my love-hate relationship with this house in an earlier post. I love it because it's old (75 yrs) and has major character - nooks and crannies, curved archways, original crown molding, built-in glass cabinets, beautiful hardwood floors, and even a coal door on the side of the house which I find quite cute! But I hate it because we've put $20,000 into our house, and not because we wanted to but because we had to. A new roof, new garage, new air conditioner, and I could go on. You would think people would want to buy it just because it's got everything brand spankin' new, right? Well, just that is another reason why I am hating this house right now.

So, we now must get this problem fixed, and with money that we don't have. Well, we do have it, but it was going towards our down payment on our new house. We have income tax money coming in, but I need to use that to pay off my work bills from last year. With my switch to digital and having to buy 2 new computers in one year, I have mega bills that must be paid.

Nothing is seeming right anymore. It all started out so perfect. And I know I should not let this drag me down, but it is. It means I'm allowing the enemy to take over. But I can't even look at our house plans right now, and one of our new neighbors brought over wardrobe boxes to us yesterday. At first it made me excited, but then I thought "why am I getting excited?" There just doesn't seem to be any sort of happy ending to all of this right now, so it's really hard to be happy or to see any great future in sight. And the last thing I want to think about is moving, although what I want more than anything right now is to move . . . and far far away.

Giving in . . . maybe.

I have a realtor coming any second now. I want to see what he think the house is worth and just hear his thoughts. We don't know if we'll go with one, but this meeting will probably determine it for us. He is known for selling homes in our area and usually sells really fast . . . usually. I'll update once hubby and I discuss!

Random thought . . . you know what I'm getting tired of most?! CLEANING! Wowzers.

Back to the realtor. Can I hear your thoughts as to whether selling by owner is better or if by realtor is better? Cons, pros, whatever! I'd just love to hear! (Thanks!!)

House plans!

Our house plans are coming back today! Woo-hoo! Finally. I can't WAIT to see them. Do you want to see? Should I scan them . . . photograph them . . . or be mean and MAKE YOU WAIT?! Hmmmmmmm . . .

Only downfall to these plans coming home is, we can't start building until we sell this darn house, and I know once I see them big and all laid out perfectly to our desires, that I will just be a bit sad. Arg. This. Is. So. Frustrating.

We are buckling a tiny bit and having a realtor come by tomorrow and see what he thinks he could get us in the house (if we were to go the realtor route). We also think we might be having some plumbing problems. Ugh ugh ugh. One of the grand things that go along with owning a historic home; you love it dearly but you hate it dearly too. Definitely a love hate relationship and we've basically had this relationship since day one.

I know 3 weeks isn't anything, really, and I'm definitely not upset by it . . . just disappointed. It kinda sucks when you are trying to sell your house for the 2nd time, the first time for 4 months, and get the feeling that you are heading down road #1 again. And then you wonder, what is wrong with this house?! It's not a happy-happy joy-joy feeling, but I'm trying my hardest to stay positive.

St. Joseph Statue - does it work?

Anyone ever tried burying St. Joseph in your yard to help sell your house? Did it work? Have you even heard of St. Joseph doing such a thing? Not I! But this is what some people have suggested we try and do.

In 2005 when we tried selling our house the first time, after a couple months on the market, our neighbor suggested we try burying St. Joseph. That was the first time I had heard of such a tradition. At that point, I kinda figured it was too late to go to that extreme. (And to be honest, I didn't have a clue what she was talking about.)

Forward to present day. My fabulous Catholic friend, Katie, suggested we do this, too. After going through 3+ months of not selling the first time around, my thoughts now are, "why not?". I'm a very anxious seller this time around. I'm not Catholic, but that doesn't matter, does it? (I don't know . . . does it? All that really matters is that I believe, right?) All I know is, I want to sell my house and soon.

Here's a little about the tradition, taken from the website stjosephstatue.com (yes, there is such a site!). I find it quite interesting and they have testimonials from people it actually worked for. (I believe in testimonials, don't you? Gotta believe it works, right?)

The solemn tradition of burying St. Joseph in the earth began hundreds of years ago in Europe. During those times, an order of nuns prayed to St. Joseph (the patron saint of the family and household needs) when they needed more lands for convents. The Sisters were encouraged to bury their St. Joseph medals in the ground.

The medals evolved into statues, culminaing with the complete "Underground Real Estate Agent" Kit currently available. Today, thousands of homesellers and real estate agents nationwide continue this successful tradition; they are looking for a little divine intervention.

So, you think it will work? I'm going to order my statue tonight, so I will let you know! Sara, you are my other fabulous Catholic bud . . . does it work?

Oh, and I cannot forget Johanna, my secret lurker! I'm sure I'm forgetting other Catholic friends. Jo, do you know anyone this has worked for? Or are you thinking, "Val is one cheesy girl!"??

If you could spare a prayer . . .

. . . we would really appreciate it.

Time for a house update:

We just found out today that, before construction can begin on the new house, we have to sell this one. We put most of our savings down on the lot of land where we will be building, and we are required to put 20% down before new construction can begin. So . . . since most of what we had went towards the lot, we must must must sell this one first, and hopefully for the asking price or even near that (please?!?). So this is why I am asking for prayers. Prayers that we will be successful this time, prayers that we will have good buyers, prayers that we won't run into any road blocks in the process, and prayers that it doesn't take so much effort this time. (By the way, we are trying to sell by ourselves first because we could use the extra 6% realtor fees for new house must-haves!)

I say "this time" because we tried selling the house in 2005, had it on the market for over 3 months, and while we had a few hits, no follow-thrus, obviously. We took it off because I was about to have my baby girl. I couldn't go much longer trying to sell a house and take care of a toddler and wonder if we'd have to be moving at the same time I was giving birth. We were told later, by realtors other than our own, that we should have had a garage because only 10% of all buyers will purchase a home without a garage. (Tell me, why didn't we know this before?!) So we built one. So hopefully as the quote from Field of Dreams goes, "if you build it, they will come".

We have also done some more sprucing up than what we had done in 2005. But if anyone has any suggestions as to what will sell a house besides de-cluttering, I would so totally love any sort of suggestions. I want to do it completely right this time, and quickly. Which means probably in the next day or two, our house will be up for sale. Oh the anxiety and oh the pressure! (Oh my goodness, we are actually about to do it!) Help me be calm. Please!?

New blogging friends from the ultimate party, any words of wisdom??