Oh What A Thought!

I have always loved Christmas. That joy was taken away for a long time after my Christmas baby, Shannon, died. I finally got to the point where I could enjoy Christmas again when I moved into the duplex in 2004. And, of course, Matt came along two years later and since then I have celebrated with them which makes it wonderful for me. It fills my heart and makes me so happy! I just wish I could spend more time there!

This year my Christmas Tree and decorations will come out! I can put them up! And other holidays, too, if I want! I have Halloween decorations somewhere. But it's Christmas I am looking forward to decorating the house for the most. I am even thinking I might just invite all my friends over for a Christmas party if I'm ambitious enough. And can clean. And it fits the budget. :)

But what a thought! My Christmas tree out of the box! And I know just where I'm going to put it! YIPPIE!

A Very Tired Penguin

I will be meeting Susan for breakfast in Oroville at 9am this morning. I am so happy she can make time because I know how busy she is with her family. I expect to be seeing a lot more of her in the next month or so. Susan has offered to help me move. Into my own house.

The economy stinks as we all know. Lots of people have unfortunately lost their homes to foreclosure. So let me share this with you...

When I lived elsewhere and was, stupidly, married to husband #2 we used to go to Oroville a lot since we lived halfway between Oroville and Chico. We used to pass this little house which I thought was cute and said wouldn't it be nice to have that place. It was for sale many years ago but, obviously, I couldn't afford a house.

Susan's daughter Lisa has been looking for a house to buy. She found an absolutely wonderful house in Gridley. I had been feeling cramped in one room. I wanted more space, more privacy, the ability to have people over if I wanted. Living in one room just doesn't fit those requirements. So I had been looking for an apartment. I found a nice little 2 bedroom apartment for $625/month. Problem was the bedrooms were same size and small and almost no kitchen counter space. I do like to cook even if it's just for me although I admit not like I did in the past and having not cooked for over a year it will be tough but hopefully fun.

Anyway... because Lisa was looking to buy I figured what the heck. I started looking. And found that the house I loved was once again for sale. Owned by the bank. For a really, really good price.1664 square feet! 3 bedrooms! Well except that the room upstairs which is truly an attic will be used by me as an attic. There is eave space on both sides of the staircase. There is a shed which was added on that is half storage and the other half is the half bathroom in my 1.5 bathroom house. The kitchen is HUGE. The room off the kitchen, outside the half bath, has the same tile floor as the kitchen so I call it the Tile Room. I will be able to put my treadmill and the futon there for company. The second bedroom downstairs will be my Yarn Room. Crafting and computer. Hope I can fit everything in there! The floor in the entryway, livingroom, diningroom and hall to the kitchen is new laminate flooring. The bathroom is in the worst shape and needs probably about $500 worth of work. There are lot of little things to be done. The big part is cleaning and bathroom. I want to have the oak cabinets in the kitchen cleaned up. Need to have the tree out front trimmed. I have a $1500 budget and hopefully that will cover most of those repairs. The shed needs some finishing and trimming up and the patio roof needs to be taken off. I hope those don't cost more than $500 and will get those done as soon as I can afford them.

My mother has generously purchased the new appliances for the house (the ones in it can't be used) which included gas stove (self cleaning!), fridge, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer and the hood fan with microwave. Expensive. Fabulous housewarming present! Makes it so I can hopefully afford to do this. Moving is expensive. Fees to hook up utilities, arranging tv, phone, garbage, water, need to pay someone to move the big furniture. This is to say nothing of needing to buy a new basic set of pots & pans ($39 at WalMart which I will pick up next week) plus who knows what else. Oh yes... I have no spices or food and almost nothing for cleaning supplies. When I buy my pots and pans I will purchase new toilet seats for the toilets. That's just something I have to do.

I arranged with my bosses to work the 5 days in 4 all month so I can handle supervising repairs, appliance installation/delivery, satellite installation etc. PLUS pack and move. They were generous about it and I truly appreciate it.

So Monday I will leave work early, drive to Oroville and sign the papers. I have the cashier's check for the escrow amount. I am working on getting the insurance which I now find out is horrifically expensive because the cost to replace this beautiful little house I am buying is approximately $377,000!

I got lucky. I got the house I always wanted at a price I could afford. My downpayment is coming from the car payment money I have been continuing to save since I paid it off (plus some other money I have saved). The mortgage payment is actually less than what I currently pay for the one room and storage unit although insurance will be higher and there will be utilities and gas and repairs but it will definitely be worth having my own house.

Jolene and her husband Fred have offered to move the contents of the storage shed for me. Susan has offered to help with my room. Amy may be able to do that, too. I am not sure David will help and I can't blame him, in a way. He will be very unhappy tomorrow when I give my rent money and notice. But I have to do what is right for me. I can't turn down owning a house for the price of rent.

And this house I love and will be happy in... well it's a rare foreclosure - it needs repairs but nothing major and things that I can get done along the way. My realtor has a great repairman. Today he will check to make sure the heating and air conditioning system (AIR CONDITIONING!!) works. That is the only way this deal will fall through - if it doesn't work. Those are just too expensive. And I will know in time so if I have to stay where I am then I just won't give notice tomorrow. But I'm pretty sure it will work. He is also going to have my written estimate for repairs so I can figure out what can be done outside of the MUST list and fit in my budget. I am hoping that I will be able to pay for moving costs etc. out of my regular paycheck. I won't have to make a mortgage payment until April 15th which means I will have a little breathing room.

I am excited and a bit scared. I am looking forward to picking out the tile to go around the tub in the bathroom and a rug and colors for both those rooms. Curtains. Oh yes... let me tell you some more about Susan, my dear adopted sister.

Last year she remodeled at her house. She was given 2 beautiful Hunter ceiling fans with lights. These run about $150/$160 each. She couldn't use them. She offered them to me because I need lights (some of the fixtures were taken). She has also offered me the motion sensor light for outside of the back door. And some curtains. And hopefully some curtain rods. And furniture. She is looking forward to getting rid of things and giving them a good home.

I am also trying to save my refund money from the government so I can use it to buy a ticket to go see Mom for Mother's Day. I need to talk to Den to see if we should tell her or not.

I am looking forward to a June Friday evening when perhaps Alma is over and we are having a glass of wine, some pizza, watching a movie in my now-settled-in house and that everything is put away. We shall see. A Saturday morning breakfast with Susan in my diningroom. Maybe even a night of knitting and movies with Amy if she feels like knitting again.

So I probably will not be posting much until after the move. I am going to be tired and hurt. I thought it was going to kill me last time. But this time everything at least in the storage unit is packed. The room has some things still packed so I am hoping it's not too bad. But you know what - I don't care. This will be so worth it!

And I am hoping perhaps Ally and Matt can come visit sometime. I'll have to look at my vacation time. If I take a week in May I would probably only have a day or two but maybe they could come up so that a weekend would be involved and we'd have 4 days together. That would be nice. And I still am hopefully able to go there for Christmas. I know they plan to move this year, too.

The nice part is that hopefully before my birthday I will financially be back on track and able to start saving again. My budget is such that I should be able to save. Probably not as much as I do now but if I can save half that will help.

Exciting time for a very tired penguin.