Scorching the World

3/29/16             Tanya and family came out to the Bay Area for the weekend, so we wanted to spend as much time as possible there, also. On Friday they went to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, but Tom had to work, so I stayed home. On Saturday we went to Tami’s house to spend the day with them and the McGills. We got there in the early afternoon and spent most of the day just hanging out with them. The McGills just got a new hot tub, so most of the kids were in it most of the day. It was fun.  By the end of the day we wished we had brought everything to spend the night instead of going all the way back home and coming back on Sunday after church. Then when we hit HEAVY traffic going home, delaying us another 45 minutes, we REALLY wished we had just spent the night. Sunday we sang two songs with the choir, which we really both enjoyed. It’s so wonderful to be part of a good choir. It’s small, but almost all the sin...

I had thought I would keep a running list of what day of the process of selling and buying we were on, in order to give me some sense of progress. So here's where we stand. Berkshire opened escrow on February 16. It was supposed to close and be final on March 9, which would have been 23 days. However, it didn't actually close until March 17 so that was day 31. In realtor time, that's a pretty good turnaround. In mental stress time, it was day 100. hahhaha We made an offer on the Grove Place house on February 26 and opened escrow on February 29. I count the days from the time we placed the offer. It's still due to close on April 11, so we are on day 55 of that one. Our rental on Road 29 began escrow on March 9, so we are on day 17 of that one. It's supposed to close early next week. And last but not least, our lot here in Berryessa went into escrow on March 25, so we are on day 1 of that one. It is due to close on April 8th. So as of today we are on day 31 ...

(funny title)  3/23/16             Time for an update Our Berkshire house didn’t close on Wednesday of last week like it was supposed to, so it was supposed to close yesterday. We haven’t heard anything, so we’re supposing that it will close today. There was a last-minute issue with the septic system, and the realtors apparently are so eager to get this thing closed that they both agreed to put in $500 to the buyers to make them happy about the septic system so that it could close today. They knew we wouldn’t give any more. Hopefully it is sold. We won’t see the money, though; it will get transferred directly over to the house we are buying. I just had to get my name off the utilities. So I guess we don’t get a certificate of sale, or a receipt or anything. It’s just done and they’ll tell us with an email. Kinda anti-climatic. Also, our other rental has sold. The money we got from it was also directly transferred o...

.... So are the days of our lives. 3/20               Does anyone remember that soap opera? "Days of our Lives" I didn't every watch soap operas on TV, but that title seemed appropriate for this post. Days go by, we do stuff - some of which is interesting to us but probably not so interesting to anybody else - but the days pass and it seems little or no progress is made on the four major things going on in our lives. We're selling our home, Berkshire, and it should have closed on Wednesday. But Wednesday came and went and we heard nothing. Finally on Friday we got a note from our realtor saying the buyers had a septic inspection and the tank is shot and needs replaced and they want an additional $6,000 for it. Tom was considering asking them to pay half and we would pay half. My opinion was 'NO WAY'. We asked our realtor, and after some checking he said since the sale should have closed by now, we shouldn't have t...

3/16      Today was the big day for the RS Birthday Social I was in charge of, and I still needed to put together some of the things for one of the games, so I planned to leave for Napa several of hours early so could buy the stuff and put them together in the car before the activity.   Sometimes it isn’t very convenient to live so far from town. It’s beautiful and peaceful, but not real convenient for times like these. Besides the regular distance, on Sunday night part of the road washed away, so they’ve closed the road that we usually take. Now we have to go another 20+ miles on a detour to get to Napa or anywhere else. It’s another beautiful drive and actually a nicer road, but it sure adds to the time it takes! Anyway, first thing in the morning we did manage to try out the Family Feud game I prepared, and it was a good thing we did, because there were quite a few errors! We had also scheduled a friend who is an electrician to come over to do s...

3/15      Tom had to leave for work today, and I needed a few things from the store to finish preparations for the RS Birthday Social I was in charge of, so I gave him a list so he could get them while he was out. I was waiting for them so I could finish. Unfortunately, he forgot to buy it. We were leaving for a concert Draven was involved in and needed to leave here by 4, but Tom’s work took longer than he thought and couldn’t make it all the way back here in time. We decided to meet in Vallejo at the Costco, but that meant I needed to leave a couple of hours earlier than I had planned and wasn’t ready. I hurried and got out of the house as fast as I could but got stuck in heavy traffic trying to get out of Napa. It seemed to take FOREVER to get to Vallejo and by the time I was halfway there was about ready to turn around and go home! It was a good thing I didn’t because we made it to the concert in time and met Tami there. Draven’s Pacific Boy Choir was ...