Another One Bites The Dust...

So, we went out a looked at a few houses today. One has major water damage that would cost thousands to fix, another has some very obvious disgruntled owner damage. Then there was THE ONE. I looked at it, then went and picked up Phil to look at it...incredible house. Absolutely incredible. Within our price range, too.

THE HOUSE

BUT. There's always a "but". It is bank-owned and will probably go through a pretty substantial bidding war. The odds that we would be the family to actually get the go-ahead to purchase the house are slim, at best. I'm tired and bummed - it fit every requirement (and then some!), with the only exception being a large yard...it was small, but very workable with the way it was laid out. We're still deciding if we even want to pursue putting in an offer, considering the odds.

I always envisioned house-hunting as being a fun, exciting activity. It certainly doesn't seem to be working out that way at the moment. More work than anything else. Oh, well. I'm sure "our" home is out there somewhere. It's just finding it....

For those not in the know, Liam is home. He's been home for about a week now - Grampy brought him home so he could see Ceana (been 2 years!). We had a great visit before George had to head back home. Of course, it was hot while he was here, and then got even hotter - it was 106 yesterday, and still 99 today. I can't believe this weather - it's miserable. We have all three A/C units running constantly and the house was still 82 degrees yesterday. Bah. Is this where I start wishing for rain?

Not too much else going on. Trying to not melt in the heat and getting used to having Liam back home. Ceana is having a hard time adjusting - she's thrilled he's back, but is also not real thrilled about having to share everything again. Spoiled girl ;)

Hope you're all doing well!

Like looking for a needle in a haystack...

Ok, so finding a house we like is going to be a challenge. A much bigger challenge than we anticipated. We spent several hours the last couple of days driving around looking at places, and we're going to have a hard time finding something that fits our requirements. The biggest issue of course involves having a back yard. Lot sizes are small, house sizes are large, and we insist on having at least a bit of yard for the kids and the dog and the (eventual) chickens. We looked at one place yesterday that was incredible, but was literally backed up completely to green space...the branches of the trees were rubbing the back of the house! There was absolutely NO yard. At all. Of course, another issue for us is that so many of the houses are so close together that if we ran out of toilet paper, I could just stick my hand out the bathroom window and grab a roll from the neighbor next door...It's a very good thing that we don't have a specific time requirement. Our landlord has just requested that we give a 30-day notice. Ideally, of course, we will find a place in time to take advantage of the $8000 first-time homebuyers tax credit. We'll see...

We called Liam today to wish him Happy Birthday. He doesn't know about the house hunting - we'll tell him when he gets home. Sounds like he had a great day, including party. From the sounds of it, we won't need to buy him any clothes for school this year! It's nice to know he'll be coming home in a few days - we've missed him.

Not too much else here. The weather has cooled off somewhat (low 80's) but is supposed to start climbing again. Ick. That's another house requirement - air conditioning!!

Sorry for the lack...

I guess I've been on vacation with Liam ;) Speaking of, he's called a few times and sent a couple of postcards - he's having a terrific time. The first week was absolute chaos, culminating in spending a couple of nights at his Auntie Noreen's. Today, he's heading to Boston with Nana and Grampy to either ride the duckboats, or to go to the aquarium. One more week until he heads home, having turned 8 while he was away.

Ceana is doing well - she misses her brother, but has enjoyed talking to him on the phone. She loves getting the postcards that brother is sending, and tends to carry them around for a little while before forgetting them in some location. She goes out into the backyard every morning with Roxie while it's still cool, picks a pretty weed and brings me my "flower". In the evenings, Phil has been taking her for short walks in the wagon while I get dinner ready, picking a few berries (have I mentioned how much I adore thimbleberries?!?) and bringing me a few and a flower she picked along the way. She's growing fast - she seems more like a little girl now than the baby girl she so recently was.

I've been really busy - without Liam to play with Ceana, she spends a lot of time with me yelling "tatch" while holding various balls. Or else it's blocks, games, or..."Num". I've also been putting up stuff - 3 flats of strawberries to start with, then on to 20 pounds of cherries. After two batches of jam and 2 or 3 batches of dried cherries, I'm about cherried out. And, most importantly, I'm working on a special birthday gift for Liam...one that he's been after me to make for quite a while...he keeps reminding me that I've made quilts for other people, but not one for him (the other 2 quilts were baby size!), so I'm working on a very. very. large quilt for him. A lot of work, that's for sure!

Mike and Tracy, the neighbors who have lived across from us since we moved in, are finishing up their moving today. They bought a house on the other side of town, and have been slowly moving out there - today they are here with the moving truck for the last of their stuff. It's kind of strange not having them living across the street anymore...

Speaking of moving, read this next part sitting down. It looks like Phil and I will be house-hunting soon. By this time next week, we should have a pre-approval letter in hand to buy a house of our own. I'm not sure how happy Liam will be about the whole idea, since he'll have to say good-bye to Hunter and Helen, but we're hoping to find a cool enough place, with some neighbors who have kids his age, that it won't matter quite as much. And, we'll be getting chickens. Plus, it won't be too much longer before school starts. Hopefully. There's still some issues with the blockheads on the city planning board, so we'll see what happens to our hoped-for new school building.

Ceana is also doing really well working on her potty-training. She's pretty much doing a fair amount on her own - she woke up this morning in a completely dry diaper and went what seemed like gallons in the potty. As per usual though, the poop thing isn't moving as quickly as the potty part....

I think that about sums it up. Not too much else that I can think of, though I suppose that's probably enough for now! Hope this finds you all doing well, and I'll try to post more often, though it's easier to find the time and the material when Liam and Ceana are here together!