This past week was pretty much the same ole same ole. We're all very tired of living in a hotel room and even though we have light at the end of the tunnel, we're still in the tunnel for now. Ugh!
I posted a quote request to the Denver BBB website for a plumber to tell me how much it would cost to run a gas line up to the 2nd floor laundry area in our new home. I've got a few who said they'd come out and give me a free estimate so I scheduled them for the first day in our house... While we're trimming and priming the bedrooms and there won't be any furniture to deal with. We've been pricing electric dryers as well since the set we have has about 10 years of use on it. Thinking longer range, if we decide to move back to CA and keep this house as a rental property, then maybe we can include the washer and dryer with the property. That's still years down the road but it never hurts to think about stuff like that, right?
We did make some progress this week. We met Tim Duvall and signed our loan application paperwork. Actually, I did most of the signing. Since Jen's not working up here (yet) he advised us that she doesn't need to be on the application. Plus, we have some debt that's only in her name (student loans) so that helped our debt to income ratio. When all was said and done, it looks like our payments, to cover mortgage, HOA dues, insurance, and taxes will be lower than we were expecting. Of course that's great news. To be honest, I think/fear that the biggest challenge will be to maintain the curb appeal of the house. The lawn is a nice thick green carpet and the landscaping is just about perfect.
The Boy starts school on Tuesday. I think that will help everyone's sanity. It will get him into a schedule and break up the daily hum-drum of living in a hotel room. The Girl starts Kindergarten the following week. Then, the week after that is closing and possession! Jen made a paper chain for the hotel room. Each night the kids take turns removing one link from the chain so that the last link will be taken down the day we take possession of our house. We'll probably actually sleep here for that night (since I will have paid for the room for that night) and then go to the house early in the morning the next day. We'll pack up the car with everything we've loaded the hotel room with over the last couple of weeks (clothes somehow seem to expand when they're not locked into a suitcase) so that all that's left to move will be the cats and kids. Of course, now that we've been here for a couple of weeks, we just learned that we have access to the pool at a sister property just up the street. Why didn't they mention that when we checked in?! Still, better late than never, right?
I'm slowly gettin merged into the folks at work. I've been assigned to go with the color guard to a "PR gig" on Wednesday. I don't know what the job is. I was thinking it might be a ball game, but the Rockies are in Washington, so I kind of doubt it. =) Other than that, there's not much to report about work. I'm still trying to get into a routine myself, but with all of the time I have to take for house related stuff it's been tough to get settled. I am very grateful that the command has been very flexible in allowing me the time I need. I'm even going to be able to take a week + off when we actually take possession to get settled; have our household goods delivered; paint; get cable, phone, and internet started; and spend time with the family.
Speaking of spending time with the family... We're going to try another church in the area this morning. The church we tried last week seemed very home-folk oriented which seemed fine for them, but we're not home-folk and only one person said hi to us... after the service. Hopefully today will be a better experience.
Have a great week and keep looking up!
Sunday, August 16
Saturday, August 8
with apologies to Jerry Garcia... what a long strange week it's been
When we first got to Denver last week, I was unsure about a lot of things. I didn't know where we would live, where the kids would go to school, where we'd go to church... you know, minor detail stuff like that. A lot can change in less than a week.
We started meeting with our realtor, Wendy, in person shortly after we got to town. Last Saturday was our first day of actually driving around and looking at properties. See, Jen and I had decided before I deployed last year that we wanted to buy a house this spring. Well, when I got home and got orders we made the easy decision to modify our plans to buy a house when we got to our new duty station. Fast forward to my last post about our trip up here from San Diego...
Anyway, we met Wendy and started looking at houses. We looked and looked and looked some more until our daughter got to the point where she said she doesn't want to look at any new houses. As we looked, we totally played like we were a couple on an HGTV show by saying what we liked and didn't like about each place and whether or not that particular house was still on "the LIST" of options. Finally we were able to narrow down our choices to about 4 properties. Two were bank owned (foreclosures) that were still in decent shape and had a lot of potential with open floorplans, neutral carpeting and white walls. Of course, there were some minor issues with those, but nothing that I felt was beyond my skill level or experience (except maybe the yards, but that's a different story) so we wanted to see them for a 2nd time. However, they went under contract before we got to see them again, so they were taken off the list for us. One house was just about perfect for us... right now. The decor was great and the lot is big enough to play in the yard. Plus it's right next to a green space which I figure is common property so the kids could play there as well. However, everything on that house is done which leaves very little room to grow. (Side bar: We're not planning to have more kids, but we haven't taken any permanent precautions, and the kids we have aren't likely to get any smaller.) We also looked at a house that was an obvious flip property. The owner has done a good job, but there is more to be done and we aren't crazy about the neighborhood.
That brought us down to a house that had just gone on the market and a house that already has 4 bedrooms and an unfinished basement with plenty of space for a family room or "granny flat" of some kind. Down sides? Well, the new listing is a bit of stretch for our dollar and since it is a new listing, it's not likely that the sellers would be willing to lower their price as much as we would need them to. The other one is within sight (and sound) of the local high school and you can hear the traffic on the main drag. So, the question comes down to: Will they pick the ready to move house that's too expensive but perfectly located or the house that's priced better and is bigger?
Well, we signed a contract yesterday for the second option. That doesn't mean that we've bought it just yet, but it does mean that it will no longer be available for showing to other buyers. The house is great. It's got a perfect yard with a decent sized deck. The eating area is a bit small if we put our table in there square, but if we funk it up a bit and put the table at an angle we should be good. The living room and family room (as it is now) are separated by a 1/2 wall so the space is defined but still very open. The master suite is a good size with a large walk-in closet. The current owners ran power and water up to the closet and put the washer and dryer in there! The master suite basically takes up the back half of the 2nd floor and faces West... toward the mountains, sunsets, and if you squint hard enough on a crystal clear day... the beaches of California. (;-P) The other 3 BR's are on the East side and will get the morning sun. The basement is over 400 square feet of blank space. Except for the water tank and forced air unit, we can do pretty much whatever we want down there. It's already insulated so we just need to finish the walls and put down a floor and we're good. It was also originally designed to have the laundry down there so there's already water and power. We will need to repaint the bedrooms. The master is a nice mocha color which works with the furniture that's there right now, but will look odd against our cherry pine stuff and painting is a lot easier (and cheaper) than getting new furniture... especially since no one out here sells CA King size beds. (CA King is also referred to as Western King and I thought CO was still a western state. Guess not.) Besides, we (meaning Jen) has some ideas about decorating the kids rooms.
The current owners are camping this weekend so we're going to go back this afternoon and take a super detailed look with an eye toward what can go where, what we need/want to do before our stuff gets delivered and what can wait until later.
Anyway, I want to take a minute to thank our 'sponsors' for this adventure. I called my Dad and put him to work finding us a good realtor in the Denver area and he totally nailed it. Wendy has worked hard for us and even though I know we're not the richest clients she's ever dealt with she's made us feel important. She referred us to Tim Duvall who quickly got us a pre-approval for local financing and has even said that he can't think of a reason why we can't close by the end of the month. Last, but definitely not least, I want to thank God for watching over us during this process. This house has sort of just fallen into our laps and, assuming everything goes well, I can't see this as anything other than answered prayer.
Oh, and I checked into my new unit yesterday. I'm back at work. I will get permissive TAD (free time off) but I'm holding that until we actually move and Jen's mom comes to visit. That will be in less than a month!
Have a great week and thank you for your prayers and support.
We started meeting with our realtor, Wendy, in person shortly after we got to town. Last Saturday was our first day of actually driving around and looking at properties. See, Jen and I had decided before I deployed last year that we wanted to buy a house this spring. Well, when I got home and got orders we made the easy decision to modify our plans to buy a house when we got to our new duty station. Fast forward to my last post about our trip up here from San Diego...
Anyway, we met Wendy and started looking at houses. We looked and looked and looked some more until our daughter got to the point where she said she doesn't want to look at any new houses. As we looked, we totally played like we were a couple on an HGTV show by saying what we liked and didn't like about each place and whether or not that particular house was still on "the LIST" of options. Finally we were able to narrow down our choices to about 4 properties. Two were bank owned (foreclosures) that were still in decent shape and had a lot of potential with open floorplans, neutral carpeting and white walls. Of course, there were some minor issues with those, but nothing that I felt was beyond my skill level or experience (except maybe the yards, but that's a different story) so we wanted to see them for a 2nd time. However, they went under contract before we got to see them again, so they were taken off the list for us. One house was just about perfect for us... right now. The decor was great and the lot is big enough to play in the yard. Plus it's right next to a green space which I figure is common property so the kids could play there as well. However, everything on that house is done which leaves very little room to grow. (Side bar: We're not planning to have more kids, but we haven't taken any permanent precautions, and the kids we have aren't likely to get any smaller.) We also looked at a house that was an obvious flip property. The owner has done a good job, but there is more to be done and we aren't crazy about the neighborhood.
That brought us down to a house that had just gone on the market and a house that already has 4 bedrooms and an unfinished basement with plenty of space for a family room or "granny flat" of some kind. Down sides? Well, the new listing is a bit of stretch for our dollar and since it is a new listing, it's not likely that the sellers would be willing to lower their price as much as we would need them to. The other one is within sight (and sound) of the local high school and you can hear the traffic on the main drag. So, the question comes down to: Will they pick the ready to move house that's too expensive but perfectly located or the house that's priced better and is bigger?
Well, we signed a contract yesterday for the second option. That doesn't mean that we've bought it just yet, but it does mean that it will no longer be available for showing to other buyers. The house is great. It's got a perfect yard with a decent sized deck. The eating area is a bit small if we put our table in there square, but if we funk it up a bit and put the table at an angle we should be good. The living room and family room (as it is now) are separated by a 1/2 wall so the space is defined but still very open. The master suite is a good size with a large walk-in closet. The current owners ran power and water up to the closet and put the washer and dryer in there! The master suite basically takes up the back half of the 2nd floor and faces West... toward the mountains, sunsets, and if you squint hard enough on a crystal clear day... the beaches of California. (;-P) The other 3 BR's are on the East side and will get the morning sun. The basement is over 400 square feet of blank space. Except for the water tank and forced air unit, we can do pretty much whatever we want down there. It's already insulated so we just need to finish the walls and put down a floor and we're good. It was also originally designed to have the laundry down there so there's already water and power. We will need to repaint the bedrooms. The master is a nice mocha color which works with the furniture that's there right now, but will look odd against our cherry pine stuff and painting is a lot easier (and cheaper) than getting new furniture... especially since no one out here sells CA King size beds. (CA King is also referred to as Western King and I thought CO was still a western state. Guess not.) Besides, we (meaning Jen) has some ideas about decorating the kids rooms.
The current owners are camping this weekend so we're going to go back this afternoon and take a super detailed look with an eye toward what can go where, what we need/want to do before our stuff gets delivered and what can wait until later.
Anyway, I want to take a minute to thank our 'sponsors' for this adventure. I called my Dad and put him to work finding us a good realtor in the Denver area and he totally nailed it. Wendy has worked hard for us and even though I know we're not the richest clients she's ever dealt with she's made us feel important. She referred us to Tim Duvall who quickly got us a pre-approval for local financing and has even said that he can't think of a reason why we can't close by the end of the month. Last, but definitely not least, I want to thank God for watching over us during this process. This house has sort of just fallen into our laps and, assuming everything goes well, I can't see this as anything other than answered prayer.
Oh, and I checked into my new unit yesterday. I'm back at work. I will get permissive TAD (free time off) but I'm holding that until we actually move and Jen's mom comes to visit. That will be in less than a month!
Have a great week and thank you for your prayers and support.
Sunday, August 2
Welcome to Denver(?)
Okay, so July was an 'interesting' month. Fortunately I spent the whole month on leave so I could concentrate on getting the family moved. Allied sent a three person crew to our house on the 13th to pack everything up and get us ready for the actual movers. They were there pretty much all day and even worked through lunch but by the time they left just about everything was in boxes and ready for the movers to pick up the next day. I say 'just about everything' because they missed our drawer of cooking utensils and they weren't allowed to pack up our chemical cleaning supplies, but other than that, they got it all. The movers showed up the next morning with a HUGE truck and a five man crew. I gave them a quick tour of the house and they got right to work. They did take a break for lunch, but not a very long one and they loaded just about everything and drove off with our stuff around 4. I say 'just about everything' because I forgot to take a mirror off the wall and there was a medicine cabinet type item behind the door of the bathroom that no one saw. Still, it was pretty impressive (and scary) how much stuff we got onto the truck. In fact, the foreman/driver said he thinks we have more than 11,000 pounds of stuff, which is our limit as far as the Gov't is concerned. I don't know what that means as far as money, but I guess we'll find out. For the rest of the week, the four of us slept on the floor in the family room (too hot upstairs) and Jennie and I cleaned while the kids were at church camp (aka VBS). We got that all done and our landlords came down with their new RPM guy to look the house over on Friday. Since they agreed to change out the carpet before putting it back on the market, I cancelled our appointment with Stanley Steemer... Why pay $300 to clean carpet that's going to get ripped up, right? I also fixed the hole in the wall put there by my son in a classic AFV clip. He had the treadmill up too fast and fell and... well, you get the idea. We got everything cleaned up and ended up leaving the keys in the lock box provided by the RPM agent. Jen had taken the kids to church Saturday evening to "graduate" from VBS so. I didn't go because I was waiting for the landlords to come back (they never did) and I was pretty nasty from working all day. After church was over we all moved in with Jen's mom and had a camp out! Actually, we all went to Souplantation for dinner and had a pleasant visit before we all crashed out. The cats had spent the whole week at Grandma's and were very happy to see Jen again. =) So that was July week 2...
July week three was spent up at Forest Home, on Mt. San Bernadino. It's a family camp and the week is spent getting closer to God and leaving technology behind for a week. The whole camp is very similar to Ridgecrest or Glorieta, but more primitive. The camp's construction tries to minimize the impact on the the woods around it so there are trees used as pillars and supports for beams. It's actually pretty cool. There were a couple of reasons we chose this particular week to go. For starters, with moving out and trying to time our departure for CO, this was the best week to go. Also, since we got to prorate our rent for the month, we could use the money to pay for our camp fees. We went to FH a couple years ago and the speaker was just amazing so we picked the week that he was scheduled to preach. Lastly, we figured we needed to have a good family week to draw closer together because Jen and I figured we'd get on each others nerves living in a hotel for an extended period of time. So, we got home from FH after hearing an awesome series on the Wisdom of God from Proverbs by Dennis Keating, pastor of Emmanuel Faith Baptist in Escondido. Jen and I had a good time with our friends from church, Kelly and Sheryl and our kids had a blast with their programs and our CCA (Child-Care-Assistant) who happened to be the daughter of one of our small group members. I think that's probably the coolest thing about FH. They will provide you a babysitter for the evening so you can spend time with adults and you can even bring your own 'sitter if you desire. Week 3 three was a much needed calm before the storm.
When we got home from FH, we moved into the new South Mesa Lodge on Camp Pendleton for the weekend. I originally had reservations at the old Ward Lodging up on main side, but for just a few bucks more I was able to give my beach bunny wife a view of the ocean for our last couple of days. I figured I had to. =) Anyway, we did laundry and got ready to leave again. On Monday the 27th I got to spend the day at the garage. I took the Ford in for an oil change and asked them to check on why the battery light was on. Half an hour later I'm told that I have a bad alternator. (AutoZone had already tested my battery and alternator and told me both were good to go.) He put in a new one and then told me that it was putting out the same amps as the first one. His thought was not that there was nothing wrong, but that he'd gotten a bad part. So he put in a brand new alternator (we're after lunch by now) and told me... same test results. (Grrrr...) So, he put the original alternator back in and sent me on my way. I paid $13 and my entire day for an oil change and tire rotation. (Did I say "Grrrr..." yet?) Oh! And to top it all off, I had to push back our dinner reservations by an hour. Did I forget to mention that Monday was our anniversary? We went to dinner at Donovan's and had a wonderful dinner experience. It didn't completely make up for the rest of the day, but it was a great dinner. The next morning I got up early and ran out to U-Haul to pick up an auto transport that I had reserved. (I borrowed the mechanic's car to run out to the U-haul dealer to sign paperwork while he had my Expedition on the lift.) I grabbed it and went back to the base. Our friends Kelly and Sheryl allowed us to keep my Saturn at their house while we were at FH and I went there to load up. That was actually the easiest part of the day. I got back to the hotel and rearranged stuff to keep the back of the Ford open for the cats. I loaded up the Saturn and put some stuff on top of the Ford. I had planned/wanted to get on the road by 8 because we were planning to drive for about 11 hours on day 1 and I wanted to get going. We were on the road a little before 11... just a bit late. :-P
Well, I was accurate in my estimate of how long we would be on the road. We got to Beaver, UT right around 10 after a very long day. We checked in and got to our room. I would highly recommend that anyone stopping in Beaver for the night that you find a different hotel than the Paradise Inn Best Western. There were bugs all over the place! We got out of there in the morning after a decent breakfast at the restaurant right there and got back on the road. We got to Eagle, CO later that evening and had a MUCH better experience at the Best Western Eagle Lodge there. Since I'd signed up for their members club when I made the reservation they bumped us up to a deluxe room and we were right next to the pool. After dinner the kids and I took to the pool for about 45 minutes which allowed the kids to burn off some energy. Since we only had a few hours scheduled for Thursday, we took advantage of the full breakfast bar and then the kids jumped back in the pool while Jen took a shower and packed up. We checked out right at 11 and headed for the pass. The weather was very wet and quite chilly. I don't care who you are... 40 degrees is chilly! We got into the Denver area around 2:00 and got into an accident at 2:10... seriously. I was slowing down for an interchange... it was crowded... the road was wet... the car in front of me stopped short and I ran out of room... HOWEVER, Jen had taken a picture of the interchange sign for scrapbooking and you can see the car in front of us. More importantly, you can clearly see that her tail light and bumper already have damage. I took a picture of her car right after the accident and the pictures look virtually identical. I made two calls right after the 'wreck' one to 911 to get a cop out to us and the 2nd to our insurance. The agent advised me to take the 'after' pictures and Jen found the 'before' picture as she scrolled through her camera later that evening. Unfortunately, I now owe the city of Denver $110 and I'm going to have 2 points on my DL. Yep, I was cited for "following too closely" and found at fault. The officer was apologetic and wished us luck, but that's a heck of a way to announce our arrival in Denver. Anyway, we finished the last 15 minutes of the trip and got checked into our Extended Stay Hotel, which we'll call 'home' for at least a month. We called our realtor and she met us yesterday. My dad had called her to get us connected. Thanks, Dad. We spent a few minutes at her office just talking about the plan for the day and then we got into her car and started driving. We looked at 5 or 6 houses (I can't remember which) and then went back to her office to pull up a few more and make a plan for today. I liked the 2nd house, but the lot is odd shaped and there's a long shared 'drive-way' that we'd have to either back up or down (or use the neighbor's driveway to turn around). Still, it's a solid possibility. We saw one house that is way over-priced for us and we didn't like it anyway. It's not ready for showing in my opinion... Nevermind, we scratched that one pretty quick. The last house we saw also had some possibility, but it would take more work than the 2nd one. After lunch we drove past a few more houses and called Wendy back to set up some more viewings for this afternoon. These would be much closer to the base where I'll be working so that's a plus. They're a little less expensive so that's another positive. There's one that we both have high hopes for. It's at the end of the street, which is a cul-de-sac. There's a paved path from the end of the street to the community center on the other side and it's in a good school district. I'll post more on FBook this afternoon after we get to see inside. I have high hopes and I'm very optimistic that we'll be able to find something we can make an offer on maybe even before I check into my new unit on Friday.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We're tired of living in a hotel and even if we make an accepted offer tomorrow, we'll still be here for at least a month while we close.
July week three was spent up at Forest Home, on Mt. San Bernadino. It's a family camp and the week is spent getting closer to God and leaving technology behind for a week. The whole camp is very similar to Ridgecrest or Glorieta, but more primitive. The camp's construction tries to minimize the impact on the the woods around it so there are trees used as pillars and supports for beams. It's actually pretty cool. There were a couple of reasons we chose this particular week to go. For starters, with moving out and trying to time our departure for CO, this was the best week to go. Also, since we got to prorate our rent for the month, we could use the money to pay for our camp fees. We went to FH a couple years ago and the speaker was just amazing so we picked the week that he was scheduled to preach. Lastly, we figured we needed to have a good family week to draw closer together because Jen and I figured we'd get on each others nerves living in a hotel for an extended period of time. So, we got home from FH after hearing an awesome series on the Wisdom of God from Proverbs by Dennis Keating, pastor of Emmanuel Faith Baptist in Escondido. Jen and I had a good time with our friends from church, Kelly and Sheryl and our kids had a blast with their programs and our CCA (Child-Care-Assistant) who happened to be the daughter of one of our small group members. I think that's probably the coolest thing about FH. They will provide you a babysitter for the evening so you can spend time with adults and you can even bring your own 'sitter if you desire. Week 3 three was a much needed calm before the storm.
When we got home from FH, we moved into the new South Mesa Lodge on Camp Pendleton for the weekend. I originally had reservations at the old Ward Lodging up on main side, but for just a few bucks more I was able to give my beach bunny wife a view of the ocean for our last couple of days. I figured I had to. =) Anyway, we did laundry and got ready to leave again. On Monday the 27th I got to spend the day at the garage. I took the Ford in for an oil change and asked them to check on why the battery light was on. Half an hour later I'm told that I have a bad alternator. (AutoZone had already tested my battery and alternator and told me both were good to go.) He put in a new one and then told me that it was putting out the same amps as the first one. His thought was not that there was nothing wrong, but that he'd gotten a bad part. So he put in a brand new alternator (we're after lunch by now) and told me... same test results. (Grrrr...) So, he put the original alternator back in and sent me on my way. I paid $13 and my entire day for an oil change and tire rotation. (Did I say "Grrrr..." yet?) Oh! And to top it all off, I had to push back our dinner reservations by an hour. Did I forget to mention that Monday was our anniversary? We went to dinner at Donovan's and had a wonderful dinner experience. It didn't completely make up for the rest of the day, but it was a great dinner. The next morning I got up early and ran out to U-Haul to pick up an auto transport that I had reserved. (I borrowed the mechanic's car to run out to the U-haul dealer to sign paperwork while he had my Expedition on the lift.) I grabbed it and went back to the base. Our friends Kelly and Sheryl allowed us to keep my Saturn at their house while we were at FH and I went there to load up. That was actually the easiest part of the day. I got back to the hotel and rearranged stuff to keep the back of the Ford open for the cats. I loaded up the Saturn and put some stuff on top of the Ford. I had planned/wanted to get on the road by 8 because we were planning to drive for about 11 hours on day 1 and I wanted to get going. We were on the road a little before 11... just a bit late. :-P
Well, I was accurate in my estimate of how long we would be on the road. We got to Beaver, UT right around 10 after a very long day. We checked in and got to our room. I would highly recommend that anyone stopping in Beaver for the night that you find a different hotel than the Paradise Inn Best Western. There were bugs all over the place! We got out of there in the morning after a decent breakfast at the restaurant right there and got back on the road. We got to Eagle, CO later that evening and had a MUCH better experience at the Best Western Eagle Lodge there. Since I'd signed up for their members club when I made the reservation they bumped us up to a deluxe room and we were right next to the pool. After dinner the kids and I took to the pool for about 45 minutes which allowed the kids to burn off some energy. Since we only had a few hours scheduled for Thursday, we took advantage of the full breakfast bar and then the kids jumped back in the pool while Jen took a shower and packed up. We checked out right at 11 and headed for the pass. The weather was very wet and quite chilly. I don't care who you are... 40 degrees is chilly! We got into the Denver area around 2:00 and got into an accident at 2:10... seriously. I was slowing down for an interchange... it was crowded... the road was wet... the car in front of me stopped short and I ran out of room... HOWEVER, Jen had taken a picture of the interchange sign for scrapbooking and you can see the car in front of us. More importantly, you can clearly see that her tail light and bumper already have damage. I took a picture of her car right after the accident and the pictures look virtually identical. I made two calls right after the 'wreck' one to 911 to get a cop out to us and the 2nd to our insurance. The agent advised me to take the 'after' pictures and Jen found the 'before' picture as she scrolled through her camera later that evening. Unfortunately, I now owe the city of Denver $110 and I'm going to have 2 points on my DL. Yep, I was cited for "following too closely" and found at fault. The officer was apologetic and wished us luck, but that's a heck of a way to announce our arrival in Denver. Anyway, we finished the last 15 minutes of the trip and got checked into our Extended Stay Hotel, which we'll call 'home' for at least a month. We called our realtor and she met us yesterday. My dad had called her to get us connected. Thanks, Dad. We spent a few minutes at her office just talking about the plan for the day and then we got into her car and started driving. We looked at 5 or 6 houses (I can't remember which) and then went back to her office to pull up a few more and make a plan for today. I liked the 2nd house, but the lot is odd shaped and there's a long shared 'drive-way' that we'd have to either back up or down (or use the neighbor's driveway to turn around). Still, it's a solid possibility. We saw one house that is way over-priced for us and we didn't like it anyway. It's not ready for showing in my opinion... Nevermind, we scratched that one pretty quick. The last house we saw also had some possibility, but it would take more work than the 2nd one. After lunch we drove past a few more houses and called Wendy back to set up some more viewings for this afternoon. These would be much closer to the base where I'll be working so that's a plus. They're a little less expensive so that's another positive. There's one that we both have high hopes for. It's at the end of the street, which is a cul-de-sac. There's a paved path from the end of the street to the community center on the other side and it's in a good school district. I'll post more on FBook this afternoon after we get to see inside. I have high hopes and I'm very optimistic that we'll be able to find something we can make an offer on maybe even before I check into my new unit on Friday.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We're tired of living in a hotel and even if we make an accepted offer tomorrow, we'll still be here for at least a month while we close.
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