updates on packing and moving

http://picasaweb.google.com/mag56ster/ProjectsAndPackingTheHouse?authkey=RuNf6cQukVk

Here is the link for pictures of the house and packing. I appologize right now about the spelling as I am presently balancing the keyboard on my lap, and a cat that wants there as well. And the mouse rests on the cooler that will be shortly in the car.

The fencing work we did involved re-installing the fence posts and stringing the chain link fabric. We recycled as much of the material that we could which is why you see Terry using the trees and bending the top rail straighter so we could reuse that. The actual chain link fabric was in such a state we opted to just go out and get a 50ft roll and not mess with the nasty used stuff.

The moving company we chose is called Denali Group. I have to say working with the four young men for two days was absolutly great! These guys were happy, worked right along, respectful, didn't smoke, paid attention to our concerns, asked permission to use the restroom or get a glass of water. They handled our meager belongings well. When I went and did a final walk through there was not a single mark on any wall, nor any trash left period.

Since yesterday we have been dealing with additional requests from the VA guy. What totally pisses me off is they didn't tell us everything in the first place so now we are scrambling with out our tools. We had to go ahead and install an air gap for the dishwasher. Well because of this the buyers loose the instant hot water dispencer. It didn't matter that when we pulled out the installation instructions for the dishwasher that is states right in there that installed like it is this unit does NOT need an airgap. But apparently there is a code out there that says otherwise. what ever! we left the hot water dispenser and the parts of the drain we had to change so they can put it back. Just another government stupid rule that only causes more trouble.

And the VA guy going off the home inspector list insisted we caulk the T-111 joint where we installed the Z flashing. OK FINE (F U) Caulking there is the wrong thing to do and thankfully these guys are not responsible for building my next home. And there is still concerns over the offending deck. The "deck" is nothing more than a wooden sidewalk. it's not attached to the house, or even to the main deck. It only serves the purpose of getting from the asphalt driveway to the main deck without sloshing through mud, snow and what have you. It is 1000 % better than what we had when we bought the house. We got to hop accross from the driveway to a pallet to the deck. Not to fun when you are unloading that $300 haul from Costcos.

I also wonder how many more things these idiots will come up with. When can we say DONE no more lists, we have been completly compliant and this is insane. IT IS A USED HOUSE FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!

So, today we are off to Tom's house for a farewell dinner, last night we had a blast at Mel's house with dinner and campfire and probably the best night of the year! Tomorrow we'll be back to Mel's house cause it's Savana's BD and we'll see more folks there. Then Tuesday is carpet cleaning, take the cats to the vet for paperwork and shots, and then dinner at Lou's place. Wednesday we plan on being totally out of the house and checked into a hotel in Anchorage. Our appointment to close is on Thursday at 9 am. Then we'll hang out and have a final dinner with Jared and Azure to say our good byes, and we'll be off in the morning down that long travelled way on to our new adventure.

humm humm "On the Road Again"

the loading of house begins!!

Well, we are getting close to being lock stock and barrel packed and loaded. I took pictures and will try and get a Picasso page loaded with them. It's a little odd to be balancing the keyboard on my lap let alone work out the program sitting on the floor before my leg goes to sleep.

We had a slightly disturbing development on the VA appraiser. Apparently he went off the home inspector report and decided even though the buyers weren't concerned about the positioning of the decks and the relative space to the ground he was. The comment is that several (again with the several as in butt joints)areas of the decks appear to come in contact with the ground and need pavers under them to keep them off the ground.

The step off the deck to the yard was built with green treated wood for ground contact. So fine we put the pavers down for the step. the other deck which measures approx 9 x 12 feet was built specifically to lay on the ground. We again used the green treated wood but some of the top boards that are cedar do end up touching dirt. The deck is engineered to be a walking path from the driveway to the big deck. we built it to be ground cover basically. So options of raising it and putting pavers down are pretty limited.

If they get really nasty, we could with great difficulty raise it and drag it off and put three cement pavers to hop skip and jump across from the driveway to the deck.

It's so darn stupid. The deck is just a convenience to avoid mud and make snow clearing much easier. It's not structural it doesn't support anything but itself. And it looks nice. Plus I stained that darn thing so it really looks nice.

So message has been left for the realtor to call Terry back.

I'll work on some pics to post later!!

The fun begins!

Today is the last day of any type of normalcy in this house. The movers come in tomorrow and Friday and we'll hang out here till we close on the house.

Closing is officially scheduled September 4 at 9 am. the realtor's office didn't have the VA appraisal yet but we can't see any reason why the house would have lost value since January 2008 when we had it appraised. We also don't know if the buyers will request another inspection of the work requested on the punch list. Man, it's not like we don't have all the receipts etc for work completed. This is the kind of thing that drives me nuts. And while we will still have the opportunity to spend that last night in the house we'll probably opt for a hotel.

The garage sale was a pretty darn good success. It's amazing that people are willing to cart off stuff for you. It came very close to a "FREE" garage sale but with all Terry's help we got her done.

One couple came through and bought a bunch of the big stuff and then later in the day the wife came back about the 28ft extension ladder. Her husband wondered what brand it was and we couldn't find the label any longer on it. Found where the label should have been but alas no proof of what brand the ladder really was. It is the heavy duty variety for sure and will hold up fully extended without bowing. So she phoned her husband and they decided to take it but would be by later to pick it up. No worries thank you very much.

Later in the day a young man came by and looked at the ladder and I let him know it's sold and he mumbles something and came in to see what else we had and bought a few things and headed to his truck. loaded what he got and proceeded to grab the ladder and toss it up on the rack of the truck. I'm like Wait, that's sold already. Mind you, I can with effort lift this ladder with two hands if I'm balanced in the center. This guy one handed it. (I am so humbled) He quickly set the ladder down and saying, no I'm the one who is picking it up. It was my Mom, Dad and Uncle who were here earlier in the silver jeep. we were both laughing by then as he bears an amazing resemblance to his parents and described them and all. His Mom failed to say who was to pick up the ladder. LOL

Last evening a bunch of the gang from my old office, AFOC, took Terry and I out to dinner. Man what fun we had. Talk about laughing till you cried, hugs and best wishes all around, and then they wouldn't let us pay for our dinner. It really was a blast, I'll never forget these ladies as they were a very important part of my life for a long time here in AK. as always AFOC ROCKS!! And they are all invited to Utah anytime! well, probably best after we are settled but they know that.

We'll be busy for the next couple of weeks in a way. heck once the house is empty it's going to be a lot less stress full. LOL. We are planning on taking the computers down and having them shipped direct to one of dealers in Utah who can sit on them for us and we'll have them accessible before our stuff gets to Utah. Then we have the pick up to get to the shipper as well. But we'll have a chance to take the loads to the dump and what we'll donate. It will be better by the weekend actually. Empty house but better.

Getting closer to humming a few bars . . .

Moving on out . . .

The house is half empty. It looks so managable. The garage sale was totally worth all the trouble especially now that it's done. My brother inherited some furniture and our piano. Tonight we went over and helped put the piano back together and Terry helped him with some window instalation that he's also doing. The furniture looks right at home there! how cool is that. It feels so right to do this.

I'll have to look for another piano when we settle down in Utah. I've played more lately than I have for a long time and it feels so wonderful to be back behind the ivory keys. I don't care what anyone says, playing piano is a wonderful stress reliever.

Having Terry home to help with the garage sale and getting some stuff moved out has been an absolute God send! I so miss him when he has to travel and stuff needs decisions here that need both of us.

Still looking at closing the first week of September so we'll keep moving to that end. Hang in there for more updates!

; - )

Countdown Time!

Today we had the VA appraiser in as required by the loan people. The poor guy was running 2 1/2 hours late. I guess good to be busy.

We have completed the nasty list of repairs requested by the home inspector. What a stinking laundry list that was. Glad to have it out of the way and actually had great timing with all the required trades that came in. Actually there was mostly some electrical work, the plumber only had to come in and quote the code and tell us the toilet is fine, which we already knew (then charge me $115.00), and the dry mold in the attic was taken care of in jig time. We took care of everything else we were allowed to do. *roll of eyes* Point being is we don't really see us selling a home that was dangerous or in need of major something. But some of the things this guy insisted on were just plain wrong, or he was not versed in the codes.

And for all that we can tell, and for the two other contractors we had look, no one can find the 'several areas' around the house that the siding was cut into and now requires the butt joints caulked. (I could think of something rather pointed to say here about butt joints but this is read by a lot of people and that might be just a little out of line)

I called the realtor and asked directly if there is anything that could derail the timing at this point and he said no. With the appraisal done now, and the 'list' done everything is a go for closing the first week of September.

Looks like Terry has been able to reserve Friday for home and we can try and swing a garage sale after all. My brother will be out this weekend to pick up all the things a good brother gets to inherit. Our son should be out to pick up the freezer. I'm actually looking forward to the next couple of days as the build up to this was a killer.

I just called the moving people and confirmed our pack dates of the 28th and 29th. That will give us time to fuss about the house empty and make sure it's clean and order the carpet cleaners in for the living room and bedroom carpets.

All that will be needed after that is closing. Well, and discontinuing the utilities. OH and I have to get the cats down to the vet for health certificates and shots. Won't that be fun!

OH and get the oil change and the car checked. Something tells me I better make a list.

We are so very close! YEA!!!

This will be a working week

Lots going on this week. We finally managed to get a contractor to address the mold situation in the attic sheathing. It is limited to about 12 areas between the roof joists on the north side of the house. It's actually the same mold that's been there since we bought the house and is the dry mold variety not the bad scary stuff. That part of the house didn't have a vapor barrier when we moved in so we suspect between that and the roofing at the time is what probably created the proper situation for the mold to develop. Since we moved in, the entire area in the house was remodeled, vapor barrier and sheet rock etc. AND a new roof. The mold hasn't changed one iota since we moved in and we basically didn't give it a thought. STILL we want a contractor to deal with it AND sign off on it. period.


Along with that is some basic code changes with GFCI outlets that the electrician will come and take care of this week.


There is a new code up here that you can't be grandfathered in on and that involves safety glass or safety film on windows that are within 24" of a door. OK. Our kitchen window is within 17 inches of the back door but it's like 27" or more from the closest corner to the door knob. So only king kong or a relative could break the window and reach the door knob. AND since the window is well above the floor no child is going to fall against it and break it and get injured.



Frankly, if someone wanted in the house there are several ways that would be easier.



BUT code is the almighty code and heaven forbid you aren't compliant. There is a new product on the market that is a film you can apply to your windows to make it like saftey glass. It's clear and also UV block. It's a little tricky to work with and is not as forgiving as the films you can get for just tinting and UV block but it's applied now and a done deal.

Fourteen years ago when we bought this fixer upper of a house we did not have an inspection done. Inspectors were just coming onto the housing markets and seemed more like shysters that worked for the "other" people than legitimate business people. Come to find out, if we had had this place inspected we could have bought this house for about $1.00. Silly us.


And you might ask, are we going to use an inspector in Utah. Absolutely. We are moving to a whole new climate with different insects, growing stuff, much lower humidity etc. Plus, unlike AK, these homes come with central air or swamp coolers, and there are brick homes there and we may buy a brick home. I have zero idea how to know what is good and what is bad and what we may be looking at for upkeep. Hmmm. wonder if it's bad publicity for the paint salesman to buy a brick home. hahahaha


So, with the contractors coming in to take care of the items on the list we can't take care of ourselves and we sent in to the realtor the acceptance on findings of the list we also scheduled the movers to come in August 27. This gives us the weekend to get the carpets cleaned and make sure all the utilities are closed out in our name and hopefully we can close on our side of this that Friday or the following Monday and be out of here. (fingers crossed)


We'll have to see. at least with the movers scheduled, if we have to bump this into the following week that's not a problem. Let's hope for the best, always.....................

Time, Time, Time

Seems like I think in songs. well maybe more correctly, song lyrics.


Time, time, time See whats become of me Time, time, time See whats become of me
While I looked around For my possibilities I was so hard to please

Look around Leaves are brown And the sky Is a hazy shade of winter

Hear the salvation army band Down by the riverside Its bound to be a better ride Than what you've got planned Carry a cup in your hand Look around Leaves are brown And the sky
Is a hazy shade of winter

Hang on to your hopes my friend That's an easy thing to say But if your hopes should pass away Simply pretend That you can build them again Look around Grass is high Fields are ripe

Its the springtime of my life Seasons change with the scenery Weaving time in a tapestry Wont you stop and remember me Look around Leaves are brown And the sky Its a hazy shade of winter Look around Leaves are brown Threre's a patch of snow on the ground

I love this song. Thank you Paul Simon. I know the grass will be high, and the fields will be ripe, and one day this current business of selling and moving will be behind me.

For those of you who know me, It occurred to me on one of my MANY sleepless nights, My Mom was my age when she and Dad moved us from Warren, Ohio to Billings, Montana in 1972. My Mom had 4 kids still in school (at my age) and 4 other kids older. Ya know, it took almost a full year to realize even though they ruined my life at the ripe old age of 15 momentarily, that it was absolutely the best thing that ever happened to me. Man, if she can do it, this move to Utah should be NO SWEAT.

Thanks, Mom and Dad for everything you did for me. Rest in peace!

Inspection report

So, we got the inspection report and basically I am not good at this and pretty much lost it. I think with all the stress that has been going on I hit the end of my rope.

Once the tears cleared and I quit being so effing pissed off and we looked at the list it's so do-able. Thank you Lil sister for your calm response. I still find the whole attitude of the inspector to be humiliating and condescending. We haven't worked our tails off for the last 14 years to be treated like this. If something needs addressed then we can address it. (course lets talk stress level and realize I'm reading too much into the whole process.)

It doesn't help that Terry is again out of town. It doesn't help the buyers want to close Sept 11th and I have to live somewhere with the cats while Terry is then out of town (again) for another week with a prior obligation. Then you think, are you absolutely crazy?? you have an offer and they want to close soon and you sold your house and it's a good offer? etc.

I remember when I was growing up my Mom would pray, "Oh Dear God give me strength", the older I get the more I understand this prayer. My Mom and Dad raised 8 children. They needed all the strength God could give. Right now, so do I.

So we are lining up the contractors to take care of the repairs. Some are quite simple and some a little bit more complicated. Still not anything that is a deal breaker. It really looks like we'll be heading out about the 22nd of September or so. By then the house will have been packed up, our belongings moved the sale closed and our good byes said.

For those of you who also are in the know. The August followup appointment for Terry went very well. Nothing to report and our follow up now will be in the Provo area in November. The Oh Dear God give me strength, turns in to "thank you Dear Lord for looking our for us!"

On the road again, I just can't wait to be on the road again . . .

Yikes, we just shifted down to over drive.

the home inspection was moved up to Tomorrow at 10:oo AM.

new mantra is STRESS STRESS STRESS

LOL

New Gear, New Direction

Yesterday afternoon I was on the phone with our Oklahoma daughter when the realtor called and asked if we (husband and wife) could come to the office.

THEY HAVE AN OFFER ON THE HOUSE!!!!

OMG HOW EXCITING. problem is, Husband was presently on a plane from San Francisco to Utah, then finally back to AK around midnight. Gee, do you need us both? (had to ask) And yes, they did need us both. So today at 10 am we made our way to Anchorage (25 miles or so) to the office to go over the offer.

YES WE ACCEPTED THE OFFER

So, now we are in change gear mode to the max. Never did this sell a house before, so believe me, when someone says ignorance is bliss, they forget to add STRESSFUL.

We requested the realtor to find out about another person to do the the as built cause the guy we tried to contact hadn't answered us from our request on July 27th.

We needed to come up with our last appraisal to see if that was ok to re certify or at least help out the person doing the appraisal.

We needed to have the heater in the garage inspected and done what ever is done with those heaters per the buyers offer. ( like I just had the house boiler done on July 29 and never even thought about the garage)

So, as of right now. I contacted the mortgage company and they have promptly faxed to me a copy of the appraisal. (WOW can someone say customer service??) I was able to contact the heater guy and he was in the area and came over within 30 minutes of my call and not only inspected and tested the heater, but since he was just here, didn't charge me. (AGAIN can we say customer service?) AND I called the guy for the As Built that we requested to let him know to cancel, and he said he was all set to call us tonight and come out tomorrow is that ok? YUP that will be fantastic so I called the realtor and told them we got that part covered.

The home inspection is scheduled Monday at like 11:45 am. I am running on 1000 proof adrenalin and timing for all of this will still be VERY interesting. I'm hoping we can make some sort of firm decision after we get the results of the repair list on the inspection. (this part makes me wanna puke)

It is such a weird feeling hanging out waiting for phone calls, hoping someone calls to look at the house and all of a sudden change of direction.

To all our prayer warriors, and companions in arms. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! We still have a ways to go but I think I see the dotted white line of the highway looming ahead . . . . . On the Road again.

Open House

So, while I was staining the deck on Friday I got this call from the listing agent that they are scheduling an open house on Sunday. OK, I'm good with that. Finished the deck staining and on Saturday did very little because physically I could barely move. LOL. Stayed up till midnight visiting with our oldest who obligingly came over after work and helped me put the heavy stuff back on the deck and take some of the stuff that needs to be out of the yard and put it in the pick up ready for a dump run. This is a most remarkable son of ours.

Then came Sunday. I figured I might be able to move by then. WRONG. I certainly know where the muscles are that need the most work. Went through the house top to bottom to make sure it was good to go. At the last minute decided to make banana bread. Nice homey smelling banana bread. This being done at the same last minute decision to damp mop the floors. You know, just to make sure they are spiffy clean.

So this was timed out pretty well. Mop part of the floor, get the bread mixed and in the oven, mop the rest of the floor so it can dry while the bread bakes. Then vacuum the rest of the house and pull the bread out so it can cool before I leave. All while I can hardly move let alone pick up things.

I am in the habit of pulling out all the ingredients of a recipe before I start as too many times I was half way mixed and found I was out of something. The vanilla was found in the back of the cupboard so I shook it and opened it and set it down to get the rest of the things needed. Once I was to the point of using the vanilla I shook it again. YUP that's right, the lid was not on all the way and now the kitchen, stove, and Me are covered with vanilla extract. OK the good news is there was still some left for the recipe, and I hadn't mopped that part of the kitchen yet.

I got the banana bread in to bake, finished my cleaning, turned the bread out to cool so I could cut it and was ready for the open house with about 15 minutes to spare. whew.

Odd thing about this open house. Apparently this is literal. I have the spreadable butter in the fridge but since that gets weird if you leave it out didn't put any butter out. Plus the banana bread was warm and fresh from the oven, hardly dry. The realtor apparently felt it was OK to go into the fridge and open my brand new container and use it. odd.

No news yet on if anyone was really interested. I wonder how many open houses you can have?

sigh, and by the way, Vanilla stains shirts.

One of the Never Nevers . . .

Crazy day yesterday. Started out OK, figured with the weather forecast it would be fair game to stain the front deck. This is a project that was sorely needed and with the weather here this year the timing is everything. So we wait and wait till things look OK. Well yesterday looked OK. I started on the part of the deck right off the front door. While I was doing that I got a call from our listing agent to let me know they want to do an open house here on Sunday.

Suddenly my try and do one part of the deck turned into doing the entire deck. This is three sections and I believe the biggest is more square feet than our living room. There is only about a quart of stain left out of three gallons. I've never done a project this large by myself before. And, this is something I will state right here and now, I will NEVER NEVER do this again. If you are not familiar with the Never Nevers the theory is you should never say never cause it will come back and haunt you. For example, Never say, My child will NEVER run around naked outside. ( I won't mention names here). HAUNT. or My child will NEVER run around with a green snotty nose all over their face. again HAUNT. But on the other side of this is the NEVER NEVERS. Fair game and we all have the list but a good example is: NEVER hold and jostle a baby over your head to make it laugh right after it's been fed. (that will get you) and NEVER do loads of toddler laundry without checking pockets for various things like Crayons etc. I'm sure we can all add to this list. And to this list I add, NEVER will I stain another deck.

Amber, do not ever regret using composit lumber on your deck!

I am unable to post pictures on the blog. I think I have them in the computer in too large of files so I do have the Gmail link for you here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mag56ster/DeckPart1?authkey=zI247PxdkcQ

If you copy and paste you will see the deck shots.

Till we meet again . . . . . .