May started with Roxy and I at my Dad's house. Still working on it. Getting really close to being done 🙌
I think we ended up being there three nights in a row.
Jake had his dunes trip the 2nd-5th. The morning of the 2nd he took the kids out for breakfast at Kneaders.. kind-of like a last hoorah before he was gone for the rest of the week.
It happened to be the Father/Son campout that same weekend. They were both bummed they couldn't go but Everett went with the Westover boys & Dave. They picked him up that night.
Roxy and I were still up at my Dad's. I was putting the grout on the backsplash but it was going SOOOOO much slower than I had anticipated (literally everything takes like 4 times longer than you think). I couldn't leave in the middle of the project and I was running into so many problems.... so Breckie ended up spending the evening with the Westover girls & Jen... which turned into a sleepover. Her first sleepover ever. And it was a school night.
Did I feel like a terrible mom? Kind-of. But given the situation I couldn't be more grateful for amazing and willing friends.
And it was nice that Jake could have a break from the chaos. He had an amazing dunes trip.
Maybe one of this favorite trips, even. This year he had his own bike. I think he's been in an identity crisis for years since we sold the quads.
He really loves his bike.
Meanwhile, I made it home about 30 minutes after school got out the next day. It seems like I've been 10 dollars short and 30 minutes late for everything lately! BUT, it all worked out :)
One thing I didn't mention in the April disasters is that our neighbor had been asking me to watch their youngest (who's not in school yet) last minute/late at night all month. It was like the classic case of you're drowning and someone hands you a baby.
Also, the neighbor girls were/are over constantly. I'm just too nice and I need to learn to say no.
Roxy loves to play in the playhouse but wants me to be right there. She makes me food :) She is REALLY cute.
I was SOOOOO exhausted that day. Emily took the picture and you can see my arm and leg sprawled out on the grass. If I was still, then it was hard for me to keep my eyes open.
I was totally wiped. The backsplash and grout totally destroyed me. It felt like I didn't have fingerprints anymore, there was grout in all of my cuticles and under every fingernail.
At one point it was setting up too fast so I had to improvise and wrap a wet rag around a flathead screwdriver to scrape around the tile joints and I totally electrocuted myself. I accidentally touched the hot part of the outlet and it got me good. It felt JUST like this:
I swear things get better!
Jake and I have had many conversations about the last few months.
I feel embarrassed. And foolish.
I love updating houses (plus, my Dad's house legit needed floor/foundation work) but I didn't NEED to update the kitchen.
One thing I learned from parts of this experience is that I need to say no to people and my children. I should ask for help. Try not to do everything myself. And "don't be dumb" (which is actually our family motto!). Parts of this house project are categorized into the "don't be dumb" category.
I probably should have asked for more help. But I really don't think it's because I'm "prideful"
I think it's because when people ask me for help I always say yes. So I only like to ask people for help when I absolutely can't do it myself (like be home to pick Breckie up from school or be her mom for a day).
Anyways...
*Roxy coloring a picture Breckie drew for her (of a train)
Jake got home Sunday night from his dunes trip. I had taken the kids up to my Dad's after church with a whole houseful of decorations. I rented them Wreck-it Ralph Breaks the Internet for the 3rd time (I should have just bought it!) for the car ride.
We got home that night just in time to say Hi to Jake and go to bed 😅
The next morning, Roxy and I packed up and headed back.
Roxy was my best friend through the whole process. She played SOOOOO WELL most of the times we were there (with a few solid meltdowns). I know I would have been faster and more efficient if she weren't there, but she was an angel for the most part.
We had all kinds of finish work to do. Caulking and painting, planting a tree and bushes, more caulking and painting, cleaning, hanging curtains, decorating, installing the cabinet doors (and making them level), drilling holes for hardware and completely exhausting ourselves.
The real estate agent came out, installed the lock boxes and we looked at comparable houses to decide on a price. I had a higher price in mind... but the truth is, we didn't ADD value to the house, basically just salability (which I TOTALLY get but you could argue that "awesome, pretty and clean" do add a little value ;)
I had been bringing things and furniture to the house basically each trip. Essentially un-decorating my house and guest bedroom!
I did buy 5 sets of basic white curtains at IKEA (they were only $12.99 each!) but re-used the curtain rods already in the house.
I re-painted the entire house using paint I originally bought for my own house but didn't love (although it looks SUPER great in this house!).
It looked SO good! I really loved this little house. I spent quite a bit of time there and enjoyed the space.
*That's my Dad's TV and our old TV console that we'll sell when the house does.
We updated the tile in the bathrooms and laundry room.
*decorating with our shower curtain, rug, towels, baskets etc.
The vanity in the guest bathroom was big, outdated, and kind-of gross. Since we changed my Dad's address to ours we got the "new-to-the-neighborhood" packet of coupons. We had coupons for and saved money at Home Depot and Ikea 🙌 The vanity was a HD purchase.
*All of the appliances were already there... including the the washer and dryer.
I totally scored the tile for $.50/sqft and the wood-look laminate for $1.75/sqft
I felt like a boss! I am a total cheapskate and I was trying super hard to update the house as inexpensively as possible.
Roxy slept in her old crib we brought for staging purposes.
*the two white rugs & crib will be yard sale items. Also, I had that black picture frame(above the bed) but I put a map of AZ my Dad had in his house. I really can't even remember where I found it but I think it's like an elevation/topical view sort of map. It's really cool.
My Dad had a queen and king tempurpedic bed in his house. We had already brought one half of the king bed to our house for Roxy's room (since she was old enough to transfer out of the crib) and the other half I used for staging the other room in my Dad's house. The white nightstand is Breckie's (she's counting down the days until she get's it back!) and the black dresser is the nightstand from our guest bedroom (so are the lamps/candles/bedding...)).
The bed frame is also from our guest bedroom and the nightstands are from our room. Jake really hate's not having our lamps 😅
I'm really proud of this house. I learned a lot, grew, suffered, allowed my family to suffer, had moments of realization/disappointment/intense sadness (like when I opened the kitchen drawer and found my Dad's glasses or one of his arrowheads), I learned new skills, learned that THIS IS NOT THE TIME IN MY LIFE TO WORK OUTSIDE OF MY HOME, and in the end, pride that I did it.
*believe it or not, I only spent $1000 in this kitchen.
It's funny though, I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY not being a downer right now, but I was so tired and exhausted by this point that after I got the house clean and the garage somewhat cleaned up and the truck loaded (don't worry, I did fix the crappy loading job a little by closing the tailgate and adding tons more stuff 😂) but I was so tired and ready to be done that I actually had to MAKE myself walk back through the house and snap those iPhone pics. So, what I am getting at, is that I don't know if I actually feel pride or I'm still embarrassed I took on a huge project "just for fun".
(Those pictures are from Wednesday, May 8th.)
The night before (Tuesday) Kelly came out to the house (Roxy was being a turd AND she peed/pooped her bed during her nap)... BUT it was SUPER great to see Kelly and talk to her. We talked a lot and it was like therapy. We both miss my Dad so much and feel like he had so much life left to live. We reminisced about all the things we wish we could do or could have done.
Roxy and I pulled out of the driveway Wednesday afternoon. I was beat. Practically going numb.
Thursday the pictures were taken of the house and it was listed Friday around 11:00am.
*back at home Roxy and I tried resuming regular life. We went to the gym, saw a new cookie place called Crumbl that opened up, and got a carwash.
NO JOKE, by 1:30 the day the house was listed we had a showing, and then another and another.
Saturday there was something like 8 showings and Sunday had 3 more.
Sunday. Mother's Day.
Oh dear.
I tried to get a picture with the kids and then I was like NEVERMIND!!!!!
Plus Jake's thumb wasn't even on the focus button so even if they were cooperating it might not have mattered.
Our kids have been professional PUNKS lately. It's probably because our life has been nuts for the last 6 months. But I'm not going to blame myself. We are so good to them. Maybe too good. Maybe thats the problem??
The only thing given to me for Mother's Day was by Breckie. But I think it's pretty fabulous.
*I love you. Mom is the best when it is cold. When it is hot, I like when you are far. 😂
She also emptied out the envelope box, painted it blue and put all kinds of treasures in it. It was sweet.
It was a decent afternoon weather wise. A storm rolled in and it rained. It was pretty exciting.
Monday at noon we met with our real estate agent and had SIX offers.
4 were above asking price
1 was a weirdo/low offer
and one was a cash offer for just 1K under asking price and closing just two weeks away.
There were SO many variables to consider and Jake was excited about the cash offer. They wouldn't have to do an appraisal and the closing date was the soonest. He was ready to be DONE, which is 100% understandable.
But the cash offer was from an LLC (probably a rental agency/company)
One of the offers stuck out to me and as it turns out, it's from a girl (with a boy name!) and her Dad (who is co-signing just so she could get the loan & is gifting her a downpayment). I almost wept right there in the meeting.
I was trying so hard to hold back the emotions. I wanted that offer (plus the girl wrote a letter), but there are a few risks. Like with the type of loan she's getting once the appraisal is done, that appraisal sticks with the house for 6 months NO MATTER WHAT.... even if someone else wants to buy it.
So there's that.
And Jake still wanted the cash offer. They don't have to "qualify" for any loan and the closing date was soonest of all of them.
So what we did was counter back to the cash offer with a higher price (still less than all the other offers) and they said no right away. Earlier in the day, our agent mentioned that if anything came back in the inspection, that they would probably just ask to lower the price instead of asking for repairs.
So I decided I'd rather sell the house to someone (a real person) that is practically begging for the house (vs a rental agency with multiple houses that will probably ask us to lower the price)... I'd rather see the house go to someone who really wants it. To someone just like me... a girl who's Dad co-signed on our first house AND gifted us the downpayment to our third house.
And if the house happens to appraise for a few thousand dollars less than the offer price, then we lower the price (and still get probably the same amount that we would have if we took the cash offer) AND we sold it to someone that really wanted it.
I actually haven't even read the letter submitted with her offer.
I feel like I'm too vulnerable right now.
I have too many feelings already that I can't handle!
So we are under contract and we're hoping for all the miracles.
Her loan needs to go through, it needs to appraise, the house needs to stay safe, and we're hoping there are very few repairs that need to be done. We obviously fixed everything we found but the inspectors are very, very specific.
So our fingers are crossed.
Until that chapter of our life is closed, there is this:
The cutest kindergarten (*almost) graduate ever.
And teacher appreciation day week. "Mis is Tomis" (Mrs. Thomas)
*You're the best teacher. I love you. I love you guys, especially Preslee and Adalyn.
How cute it that!
The heart says *Love you. Happy days. I love. I miss you when I am gone.
The paper says *My favorite part of myself is my hair because *because* it is pretty. I can do lots of awesome things like skates.
The first 15 days of May could have easily been 15 different posts... but I'm just trying to get caught up.
Now I can sleep at night knowing I hit most of the "high points" of the last 6 weeks I've gone missing :)