Buying a house is obviously not for the faint of heart!

A lot has happened in the last week.

We got our home inspection on Friday. As we had assumed, the roof needs to be replaced as well as the chimney. The inspector gave it less than a year. In order to get a loan for the home, we need to have that roof replaced.

Our first step: We asked the seller to pay for the roof replacement (estimated at $4,500). We then proceeded to wait three days to hear back from him. When we heard back from him he said he doesn’t have the cash to pay for the roof, but he’ll give us a $2,000 credit at closing.

There’s no way in hell I would want to make such a major (expensive!) repair on a home that is not my own. even if we had an iron-clad contract with the buyer he could still back out, and then we have a legal mess thrown up all over our laps. No thanks. We countered and asked that the seller then drop the price of the home to reflect the cost of the roof, he countered that he would give us another $1,000 at closing, so we would only be paying $1,500 to repair the roof.

For the amount of house we;re getting for the price, husband and I decided that it was still a pretty good deal. Keep in mind we do plan on putting a lot of money into updating the entire thing, but I digress. The house has a sturdy foundation, it’s spacious, it has a huge yard and in a great location. We can eat the $1,500.

We come back to the issue of not wanting to pay for something so major unless our name is all over that deed. Now we are waiting to hear back from our broker if we can put the seller’s $3,000 and our $1,500 in escrow and wait until after the house is ours (and that it’s not the middle of winter in Pennsylvania!). We’re basically at a stalemate here. We won’t continue if we have to fix the roof first, but if we can work something out with escrow then we will be one step closer to being homeowners. We most likely won’t here the verdict until Monday, but I’m hopeful the news will be good.

This whole experience has been full of headaches and heartaches, but if we end up with the house in the end I’ll consider it worth it.

I don’t really like the cold, the snow, the ice, or the crazy PA drivers who forget that it gets like this every year…but I do love holiday parties!

Last night Justin and I went to our first “formal” gathering as husband and wife, and I was introduced all night as “my wife” by Justin. It was pretty awesome, I have to say. Justin’s department at work had their annual Christmas party last night. It is always so much fun to dress up and go out!

I don’t have much of an update from our contingency news from Thursday. We scheduled the home inspection for this coming Friday and it is basically a waiting game until then.

The whole process of buying a house has been very educational. You have no idea what goes into buying real estate until you’re knee-deep in paper work. Here’s the cliff notes version.

First, you find a house. Not just any house, but one you and your spouse can actually (freakin!) agree on. (kidding honey ) You think that’s the hard part. When you find a house you both love, you immediately start the process of mentally moving in, which is such a bad idea on so many levels. Your husband will deny any such mental move in on his part and tells you it’s not yours yet.
The next part is putting an offer in. In our case the house was in a very comfortable price range, just came on the market the day before we saw it, and to us seemed like it probably wouldn’t last long, even with the market in the toilet right now. We offered full asking price and that the seller pay closing. The seller counter offered for a slightly higher price but would still pay all closing costs. We accepted and are now sitting at contingent. Contingent basically means we will buy the house if _____. In our case we have two things we need to secure the house. The house needs to pass a home inspection so that the lender will give us a mortgage, and then we have to secure the actual mortgage. As far as credit goes we have the money ready, but the house basically needs to be worth as much or more than what we want to take the mortgage out for. It all makes sense in a round about sort of way, but it’s a nail-biting experience.

Our inspection is scheduled for 9am on Friday morning. We’ll meet there with our realtor and the inspector and basically he’ll tell us what all is wrong with the place. We if there’s something minor that needs done we are not afraid of a little work, but one concern our realtor had was the roof. She seems to think that it might need replaced and may not pass inspection. Justin didn’t see anything wrong with it and I have no idea what I would be looking for so I don’t count, haha. The suspense is kind of killing me.

It’s not even that I would be against putting the work into replacing a roof, it’s the fact that it would need to be done before we could buy the house and it is the middle of winter in western PA. Not exactly roof-replacing weather by any means.

If the roof passes then our last hurdle is the assessment. As long as the house is worth as much or more than we’re paying then we will get the money to buy it.

I’ll admit, I’m already halfway mentally moved in. I have big plans for the kitchen and the bathroom is half painted. A garden is almost planted in the huge back yard and Justin and I are already arguing over all the color options for the extra bedrooms (haha). The point I’m trying to get to is that it is hard to not let yourself mentally move into a house that you love, and the closer you get to obtaining it the harder it is to reel yourself back in.

This week will probably be one of the slowest of my life, I hope it goes by quickly!!

So, um, Justin and I put an offer in on a house yesterday.

Today the seller counter offered.

As of 3PM today we are officially contingent.

I guess I should back up a little. We’ve been dappling in house hunting roughly since the time we got back from our honeymoon. We’ve gone back and forth a lot about what we want, where we want it,what all we want in it, and how much we want it for. We put an offer on a house that is very different from the house we had cooked up in our minds three month ago!

We went out with our Realtor yesterday to check out a house we both fell in love with from pictures on the internet. The kitchen was all finished with stainless steel appliances and granite counters, it had a garage and a barn and came with two acres of land. It was the first house Justin really was excited to see.

Well, we got there and the pictures didn’t lie, the kitchen was beautiful and the land was amazing. It was also built for shorter people than Justin and I.

We are tall people, we will probably have tall children. This house was pretty small in all aspects, including the bedrooms. It was listed for $119,000 and in my opinion not enough house for the money. This house was a bust and we didn’t plan on looking at anymore that day. Our realtor mentioned that another house had just popped up on the market the previous day and it was only a 3 minute drive from where we were at. We didn’t have anything else to do, so sure, why not go look?

this house was triple the size for half the price of the other one. While it isn’t beautiful and updated, it can be beautiful and updated. There is so much potential and room to grow that we just knew wanted it and could do it. We said goodbye to our realtor and talked it over at home. An hour later we called her again and asked if we could meet back at the house later that day and maybe put in an offer.

Put in an offer we did! The seller countered for a reasonable amount and we accepted. So here we are now, contingent upon the inspection. If the inspection goes through (and our mortgage, which I’m not really concerned about) then we just might be home owners

So, um, is it bad that I don’t really remember anything from the past year? I’m pretty sure I got married, but that’s kind of a blur. Pretty sure I went to Mexico and didn’t get Swine Flu, but I could be wrong. Honestly, it feels like last year was ages and ages ago, but I feel like 2009 was the life of someone else.

I’m working another crazy week. I am sitting at 51 total hours for the upcoming week so far, but it’s only Monday and I’m sure I can do better, haha. Justin and I are going to look at another house on Wednesday, so it keeps me motivated to keep me working extra. Since moving out of my parents house I never really felt like anywhere else I lived was home. I could say home is where Justin is, and that is true, but our apartment, while pretty damn nice, is lacking something that would make it a home.

It’s really hard to put my finger on it, but I would say that a home needs to reflect the people that live inside of it. We personalized our place as much as we could, but it will be nice to own our own place.

I did not finish Nano this year, I came in about 8k words shy of the target. All in all I’m still okay with that, I never thought I would have ever collected 41k words in the first place. I really plan on continuing with the story and maybe even sending it out later next year.

Bree and I are thinking about co-blogging a food website. Recipes, reviews, and other goodies….now we just need to come up with a name, haha.

I officially worked 53.5 hours this week. I’ve technically been in the building 55 hours, since there where a few half-hour lunches. I’m a little exhausted, a little delirious, but a whole lot of proud. It’s no secret that I would rather get a root canal than come to work 99.9% of the time, but I feel like I helped out when we’re busy, ergo helping the co-workers that I like, and am also that much closer to a house, because, well, that’s a whole lot of time and a half.

Today I’m working 1-10, so I joked with my husband that I was excited for a “short” day. I’ve been working 11am to 12am most of the week. I keep myself occupied looking for houses and writing for Nano, so I still have a firm grip on my sanity.

Speaking of Nano, I blew past the halfway point of 25k words! I can’t even begin to describe the feeling of that sort of accomplishment, I never thought I would actually push myself to hit that point, but I have some amazing support along the writing process, and I’m even beginning to talk about my characters and discuss their background story as though they’re real people….which is either a good thing or a bad thing, I haven’t quite decided yet. I do know though that I will finish Nano and I will win. Right now I’m basically pounding out the frame of the story, the minor and major plot pieces, and then I’ll go back in December and flesh it out. One major surprise with this entire process is that the story just flows as I write. I’ve long since tossed my original outline in the fire and haven’t looked back. My characters are suddenly in charge of the story, and I’m simply giving them a voice. I’m immensely proud of how far I come, and once the story is written I want to have the editing done by the time I’m 23 (which lands on the end of January).

As promised, I would also like to share with you my new favorite food, the panini.

I call this my “grown up” BLT, minus the L, haha. I have found that instead of using butter on the outside of the bread to keep it from sticking to the hot plates, using pam is a fat-free and crispier alternative! I used butter flavored Pam and it was basically amazing. This sandwich consists of lite mayo, bacon, tomato, fresh mozzarella cheese, and onion. I’ve also made steak sandwiches with french fries, ham and cheese, and tuna, all turned out amazing. The thing about the panini maker is that it seriously makes the sandwich look and taste like you bought it somewhere like Panera Bread, even hubby agrees. I’ve had a panini every single day this week and am not sick of them because every one can be different, but the easy prep and quick time is always the same. Love, Love, Love!

My panini maker is my new favorite wedding gift. My favorite changes from day to day, but the panini maker is winning for the third day in a row.

What an amazing little device! I’ve been experimenting with different sandwiches every day now, and am absolutely in love! I have been working 13 hour days at work, and I just throw together a couple sandwiches in the panini maker to eat throughout the long (very long) day. Warm or cold they’re still pretty amazing!

I made some delicious wedding soup in our crock pot on Monday as well. I think I did over do it with the veggies, as it smelled like wedding soup, but definitely tasted more like veggie or chicken noodle. Still good though! It is most definitely soup season, which while I hate the cold, nothing is better than being warm and cozy on a cold day. Eat a little soup, drink some hot chocolate or hot cider (rum optional!) and you have a happy girl right here

I’m adding a new little section to my side links on the right. I’ve stumbled across so many fantastic cooking blogs that I need to have them in one place, and certainly need to share. My latest discovery? A Year of Slow Cooking. Slow cooker recipes! And a lot, I might add. I like cooking blogs because these are real people, usually mothers or other busy people who don’t have the time (like me) to put together a gourmet meal. I like cooking, but I simply don’t have the time to hang out the kitchen for a couple hours every night, so ta da! Easy recipes for all!

About 4.5 hours left of my 12-hour day and I’m still awake. I consider that a win today

The house hunt continues. Wednesday our Realtor took us to a house that Justin and I both loved, which has not happened yet on our adventure. Unfortunately it was also about $15,000 over our price range and exactly $34,000 over our comfort zone. It just went on the market a couple weeks ago, so we’ll keep it in the back of our minds and continue to look. If it is still on the market in a couple months then we’ll see if the price drops or possibly low-ball the sellers. It’s an estate so it could really go either way. In any case, it really set a standard, and I hope we can find something else just as great!

Finding that house has also really lit a fire under my ass. I have been working like crazy and will continue to do so in the coming months. We’re at that point where we’re so close we can taste it, but we just have to find something that meets all our criteria. Patience has never been a strong characteristic of mine, but this is something so monumental that I just don’t want to settle for anything short of what we both love.

I guess that will be it for houses until I have some more concrete news. I have other things to amuse me this month (like my 50 hour work week next week, ha) Nano is coming along splendidly, I’m still about 10k words over where I need to be at this point. And notice the cute widget I added to the right there? It’ll keep you updated. ha.

I am currently three hours into my 10 hour work day. Like I mentioned before, Next week I volunteered (ick, I know) to basically work 50 hours. 10 hours of glorious time and a half over time though, and we just got our yearly raises, so I really can’t complain too much…until later next week anyway. Justin also picked up a little over time, in the form of 8am to 12am on Friday. He can pound it all out at once though, I on the other hand would probably hurt someone.

So as I’m rearranging my schedule and biting my nails at the thought of spending so much time at a place I am not incredibly found of, I got to thinking what might make the work onslaught a little easier. First thing that came to mind? Chocolate chip cookies. Random, yes, but also an excellent idea. Another idea was to break out the Panini maker that we got as a wedding gift that I’ve been itching to try out and stray away from the boring ham and cheese sandwiches Justin eats every single day (I usually go hungry because I’m lazy) and try some fancy sandwiches to keep us entertained throughout the impending week. As of right now I’ve added about 10 Panini sandwiches to my Recipe archive and still going strong. One website I found in my searches is absolutely amazing, Panini Happy. I highly recommend that site, and will definitely be using some of her amazing recipes this week!

I hope that some creative adventures in the kitchen will distract me enough from the workload for next week, and I truly hope hubby isn’t going to get sick of my creative adventures. Truth be told, he’s not quite as into my….creativity sometimes. I know once or twice (or, you know, a dozen) times I’ve made something for the two of us and he grins and bears it. He truly is a very supportive man, so I hope to impress him as well as fulfill my domestic duty to keep him full and content with some yummy sandwiches!

As long as life doesn’t get the best of me, I’ll try to take some pictures to share throughout next week, we shall see!

16,355 words! I am well above my daily word count, but I am terrified of running out of steam. I should not be blogging right now, I should be torturing my main character or something, but I can’t help it. I need a break.

I have found that having a little audience is kind of cool. My husband and a friend of mine are acting as drill Sargents in this writer’s boot camp, err… adventure in literary abandon.

I’m actually fairly proud of my work so far, although not editing along the way is hard; for Nano you’re supposed to basically vomit words out of your fingers onto a keyboard and see what you come up with. Then go back in December and vomit for real at what you wrote….kidding. I think. Anyway, I share:

“I actually have a question for you,” I looked at Michael. He looked back expectantly.
“Who is this Mansel that everyone seems to think is responsible for my situation. Is he nearby?”
Michael’s normally cheerful eyes seemed to darken and harden at the name. “We do not often speak of him around Bellathese.” He replied. His voice seemed to be shaking. “He is the sworn enemy of Rowan’s family, and the feud goes back many, many generations.”
“I was taken aback by Michael’s suddenly cold demeanor. He must have noticed the look on my face, for he tried to relax his posture.
“Would you like to hear a story?” He asked suddenly. “It’s an old story about this very village, beginning nearly two hundred years ago.”
“Absolutely,” I replied. “Tell me.”
“A long, long time ago,” Michael started, “Back when Rowan’s great-great-great….ah, to be honest, very many greats grandfather ruled over Bellathese, he had help in protecting our people by dragons.”
“Dragons?” I asked, “Real, fire breathing dragons?”
“Surely you know of few,” Michael said calmly. “But dragons are very sparse nowadays. There was something special about these dragons, however. Most dragons are very feral, they cannot be tamed and do not want to be in any sort of contact with humans. Not that we can blame them, man has hunted the dragons until there may not be even enough left to be breeding. But the Bellathese dragons, four in all, were dedicated to Rowan’s family and served them loyally. In return the Tuvalui family returned the respect and kindness to the dragons, offering them massive dwellings and offerings of livestock from the villagers. Bellathese was the safest place in all the land, after all, who would want to anger a dragon?”

I know my punctuation and my grammar is off, please be kind I also cannot spell, sorry about that as well.

My goal for the evening is another 2k. Off I go!

So I am off to an excellent start to Nano this year. I am currently sitting at 12,343 of 50,000 words. Basically I need to write a total of about 1,400 words a day until the 30th to reach the 50,00 mark. Can I do it? Who knows.

I feel like my book is finally starting to write itself, if that makes any sense. I find my characters making decisions and saying things that I didn’t necessarily have to plan out. I wrote an outline a couple months ago but that’s all blown to hell and for some reason I don’t care; I like what’s going on right now rather than what I meticulously planned out. It’s kind of amazing.

This is one of the scariest things I have ever done. The only thing that might possibly be more terrifying is when I go back to fix all my grammar mistakes and then….send out the manuscript. REJECTION! Good lord I am so freaking terrified about getting rejected by everyone i send it to. I’ve always wanted to write. I’ve always been told I am a good writer. What if the only people who tell me I’m a good writer simply don’t want to crush my delicate little childhood dreams?

Eep. If I can hit the 50,000 word mark by the end of November then I’m going to assume that I was meant to, and will be dedicating a lot more time (and probably a lot more booze…Hemmingway style!) towards getting myself published. Wouldn’t it be amazing?-