The long arduous journey to move is nearing its end, WOOHOO! Today I will close on my new home and tomorrow I’ll begin the daunting task of finding space for all of my crap (I’ll post pictures of the move in this week and you’ll see what I mean 🤣🤣🤣). I already know that I don’t have anywhere near enough space for my kitchen stuff, so this will be an interesting exercise unpacking and storing. Wish me luck!
Before that occurs, I have one more walk through to complete 2 hours before closing so that should be fun. The project manager seemed really on top of things during the initial visit having already marked many areas to be fixed, so I feel confident it will go smoothly, I think 😳.
However, as promised, I am posting a few pictures of the new digs (note – not a professional photographer) and those who wish to visit, know how to find me – all you have to do is whistle.
Slide show goes as follows: Kitchen (obviously), pantry, view off the back of the house, future library, part of the master bedroom, master closet, back of the house with my little patio.
Do you know what word begins with the letter R? How about Rant? Today’s post will be small rants (mostly humorous) about a few things that peeve me.
First, let me start by apologizing for missing the Wednesday book post. Because nothing has gone according to plan in the entire move, my walk through was pushed from Monday to Wednesday and it’s a 2+ hour drive from where I’m staying. By the time I returned from my outing, it was late, and I had developed a nasty sinus infection, which is also why I didn’t rally and post Thursday. This move has just really screwed with my schedule 😆😆.
But the sinus infection leads me to rant number one – POLLEN. I don’t know if this type of pollen happens everywhere (it sure didn’t when I lived in Vegas) but the lovely coating of yellow has begun to cover everything in its path here in SC and if you have allergies 🤧, you are sunk. Pollen in SC is like snow in the northeast, inevitable and causes problems everywhere. I wish I had video of the clouds of pollen I have seen floating through the woods – 😳😳😳.
Switching gears (because there are no good segues between rants) I want to know who determined it was bad for women to show panty lines or bra straps? Why is it such a big deal? “Oh my word she wears panties? The audacity! 😱” Does the hint of women wearing panties scare people? Are we afraid of confirming that someone is wearing a bra (hell with my cup size, you would know if I wasn’t, that’s for sure)? I just find it ridiculous that the concept of a panty line or bra strap is verboten in this day and age (yes, I was corrected for having my bra strap showing within the last two years). I applaud the woman who just don’t give a rip and am becoming more like them every day. Also, why aren’t we correcting people for looking at a woman’s ass in the first place, which I find more egregious than a panty line? It just makes me shake my fist in rage (too dramatic? 😆😆)
Along the lines of panty gate (though not nearly as sexy), why is it so hard to find woman’s crew or even ankle socks. Apparently, it’s also against the rules for your sock to show over the edge of your tennis shoe 🤦♀️. I have spent months trying to find comfortable crew and ankle socks, when I’m in need of replacements. I’ve just learned when I find a what I like – stock up and give myself lots of lead time. Let’s just say there are some weird beliefs when it comes to 👙/🧦 (yes, I realize that’s a swimsuit, it was the best I could do 🤪🤪).
Lastly, and on a slightly more serious note, people’s ability to vote is under attack with several states trying to make it harder for people of color to vote. I don’t care who you vote for, I’m independent and vote candidate, not party. But I do care that people have proper access to voting and I care if any party is trying to create laws that impinges on any persons right to vote. I am currently looking into how I can participate locally (once the move in is complete – my new mantra 😆). I would like to encourage you to look into what your state may be doing in relation to making voting harder and get involved if you believe in the cause.
Enough serious talk! Monday I close on my house and move in on Tuesday 🎉 but I will post a quick post with some photos from the walk through.
In the meantime, if you have anything you’d like to rant about, no matter how serious or silly – I’m here for it so sound off in the comments either here or on Facebook.
I had another idea in mind for a post today and then I went to sleep. I was plagued by crazy dreams last night – many to do with my new house/getting closer to moving in. But the last dream I remember having was quite weird, so I thought “let me share this with my dear readers and get their thoughts” 😊.
This is what I can remember – I got out of my car to go to a doctor’s appointment and had parked around the corner from the office (Why did I not park in the parking lot? 🤷🏼♀️). I speak with a young Black woman who checks me in for my appointment and after my appointment (went from checking in to post appointment) she was leaving and I asked for a ride to my car, which was at most a two- or three-minute walk from the office. She agrees, we turn onto the street where my car is. She drives past my car and turns onto another street, saying she’s late for her other job. I tell her to pull over so that I can get out and walk back to my car, which she does. I get out of the driver’s side, dropping everything that I was holding and scrambling to pick it up as she drives off. Come to think of it, she pulled over to the curb on the left – 🤔.
I look up the street and there are three skateboard, emo type White teenagers with multi-colored hair hanging out watching me scramble to pick up my stuff. I get everything gathered and start looking for my car and I can’t find it anywhere. I saw a car that I thought was mine but as I got closer, I realized it wasn’t. And I start to panic. Next thing I know a little dog that looks like the miniature sheltie my ex took, comes dashing by running in and out of the street, but surprisingly aware of when to move as not to get hit by a car. I catch the puppy and somehow, I know it is the young woman I had encountered turned into a dog. I approach the group of teens from before and ask if they know what happened. The young woman in the group says that the people in the town will randomly turn into dogs and the Black woman currently a dog should be ok, that it’s happened to them before. While we are talking, they take the dog from me and set her down on a fire ant mound (if you are not familiar, google them. Especially look for videos of fire ants in the rain/floods 😳😳) which breaks open and the ants begin to swarm her. I work quickly to brush the ants off so neither one of us gets bit.
Next thing I know, I’m sitting on a low wall annoyed because I can’t find my car when the young Black woman comes up and I apologize for making her late to her next job and she tells me it was an interview for some school opportunity (yes, her next appointment changed its purpose – the mysteries of the dream world 🤪). I ask her what she’s going to do, and she says she’ll wait 15 minutes and try to go in again.
That is where it ends and dreams like this are why I sleep poorly 🙄.
I should explain any specific descriptors I add are because it was very prominent visual, and I tend to pay attention it because it may be something I need to be aware off.
So there you have it beloved readers. I would love to hear your interpretation of all or any part of this weird dream. There are two parts I can provide a little insight on. First, the Dr.’s appointment. I have been trying for over a month to switch to a local doctor and it finally happened this past week. Secondly, fire ants are a huge problem in SC, so them showing up isn’t the weird part. Setting the dog down on the mound of them? – that has me baffled.
Today we come to the exciting conclusion of the sale of my house, the new owners and how showing a little (or lot of, you decide) courtesy to the new owners on my part into entitlement on wife’s part.
Let me start near the end of the closing meeting and choosing a moveout date. While in the offer letter they had agreed to let me stay until my new house was completed, they reneged at the closing. I stated that I needed two weeks to pack, arrange for movers/storage and a place to stay. And the wife stated, “we trust that she will try to be out by the 8th (8 days after closing) but understand if she needs the two weeks” with an intense look that said you WILL be out by the 8th, right? I took until the 10th and quite frankly I was still rushed even with help.
But let’s talk about the 10 days between closing and moving. A few important pieces of information first 1- The house is situated on about 158 acres of land (lots of privacy), of which they bought 58 with the house, 2- In order to get this deal completed, I agreed to finance about $50K of the sale for 6 months (which is a whole other story) and 3- I had allowed them to store stuff in the building adjacent to the house free of charge while they got their shit together for their loan.
I also acknowledge that at the end of closing, I had become a “tenant” as it were until I moved out, but I still had rights and, more importantly, all the keys to the house and storage building 😁😁😁.
At the end of closing, wife states that she needs something from the building and that they would come by on Saturday. Ok no problem. Saturday rolls around and I wait until about 1 pm to find out when their coming. But I had errands and I figured if they hadn’t texted at that point, they weren’t coming. I also thought that if I were in their position, I would text early asking if a specific time frame would work, because that’s how I am (simple courtesy). I leave and an hour into my errands I receive a text – “We’re coming between 3:30 and 4:00”, not a request, a statement. I let them know that I don’t know if I’ll be back by then (as I had waited to run my errands) and they asked me to leave the storage key somewhere so that on Sunday they could get into their stuff. Ok no problem, they’ve decided to come Sunday instead, right? Nope! I pull up and there they are walking around the property. Now I ask, wouldn’t you be annoyed? If your whole purpose was to get something from storage, why would you come if you couldn’t get in? I shake if off, hand them the storage key and go inside as I was already annoyed from the closing the day before and this just added to it.
Then comes Sunday and I’m at my sister’s house for the day and another text comes in. (Paraphrasing) Coming by to do some things at the barn, husband will be there this week to do some things on the property. Are there any days good during the week so we can get some painting estimates? Let me state I know this is their property, but I have 10 days to get all that I need to get done and I do not need them coming and going at will, it’s disruptive. Which of course I tell them and ask that they not make daily visits since the horses weren’t there and to give me a schedule of needed visits that did not require entering the house.
Now, my realtor, Jeanene, has been looped in because I had a feeling that they were going to be difficult, and I was correct.
Wife continues texting that she needed to prep the barn for the arrival of the horses (which basic prep doesn’t take but a few hours at best) as agreed upon (no, I agreed to let you move the horses and bring in necessities until I moved out) and that I didn’t have to be available for the paint quotes, she was being considerate in asking and that visiting the property was to prepare for moving the horses (again does not require a lot of prep) and to do things around the property, which she deemed not disruptive because it’s outside. Remember back to when I said I lived on a lot of land that affords me a tremendous amount of privacy? People roaming on the land at will is disruptive, especially with a neurotic dog. At this point, I turned it over to my realtor because they were not respecting my space for the last 10 days I was there and figured they could do what they wanted to when they wanted to, like cut up downed trees in the fields that are not causing a problem. Not disruptive at all 🙄.
To wind up this long tale, we came to an uneasy truce and the planned daily visits were nixed until the horses arrived and then only for feeding. No paint quotes or unnecessary outdoor work. At some point they had gravel dropped off for the path to the barn and came back late the next day to spread it because scheduling that to happen at the same time was apparently too hard to manage. All of which you can see from the main living space as it’s a wall of windows – but that’s not disruptive. And then they came a third day in a row to bring the horses, filling the troughs off of my water bill, but of course no acknowledgement of that.
The wife texted me a few times later in the week to announce she would be arriving at certain times to do this or that and I just didn’t respond because it’s not like she was asking if she could come by, she was stating it, so I did feel like it required a response 🤷🏼♀️😆😆.
As the moving day got closer, wife contacts her realtor because I wasn’t responding to her texts and wanting to know if I was still going to leave the list of information I had created about the house and where it would be. Their realtor contacts Jeanene who calls me for the skinny, laughing when I explain why I stopped responding and if I’m being honest, I also stopped responding because I was done being nice.
I told Jeanene I would email the information about keys and paperwork to her to forward on, which of course she was fine with. I also told her that the nice three-page list of house quirks had been reduced to one page of necessary information because their constant abuse of my good nature had reached its limit and they could figure out the quirks on their own. I’m always willing to go the extra mile until you take advantage of me and all bets are off. Entitled behavior is ugly at its core.
I’ve said it before, I couldn’t have made this story up if I tried.
And that is how my last ten days my beloved home (Insert dramatic sigh here 🤣🤣🤣).
Moral of the story – A little courtesy really does go a long way with me. And lack of it turns me into an unhelpful bitch 🤪🤪.
Currently reading: Chains of Iron by Cassandra Clare
The move out has finally occurred and my poor books are now packed away in a storage pod and I have to make do with the four I recently bought until I move (well three actually as I finished Stephen King’s Later) and can find the box of to be read books. Yes, they were packed separately 😆. In the end, I decided to pack them myself because I just couldn’t bear to let the movers mix them up (have I mentioned how anal I am about my books?). And it took about 14 boxes to get the collection packed in a way that didn’t overload the cartons. I knew the movers were underestimating the amount. Never question a reader’s take on how many books she or he has 😜.
I will tell you who helped tremendously to get the books packed (and a tip for those of you moving your own library) – Barnes and Noble! While I had gone there initially to enjoy 🎉 New Release Day 🎉 and to pick up Stephen King’s Later and Cassandra Clare’s Chain of Iron, I realized on the drive over that new release day meant they would have boxes from stocking new releases, and they would be the perfect boxes for packing books! They are sturdy and the right size for movers. They are also the perfect size for hardcovers of which I have many. So, I walked out of there with 10 boxes and four books (yes I found two more than planned – it truly is an addiction), feeling confident my books would be safely packed 😊.
Now I sit in limbo with the four books I purchased that same day waiting until I have new shelves built to unpack my treasures. But never fail, my obsession turned its eye to my book list, and I spent 40 minutes restructuring the format because I didn’t like how it looked. I really think I have a problem, but I have to feed book addiction anyway I can. Don’t judge me 😆😆!
In other news, I did finish Stephen Kings novel Later and I really enjoyed it. One of his shorter reads (which sometimes are better than his longer novels), I found two amusing comments by the narrator – Jamie – that struck me I thought I would share. The first was Jaime quoting “Books are uniquely portable magic” to his mom, a quote that is attributed to Stephen King. Yes, he quoted himself and I got a little giggle out of that. Second, Jaime as the narrator was writing his story as a novel and he commented that the writing got better the more he wrote, which was surprisingly true as I reflected back on the story. And a writer with self-awareness was something I don’t think I’ve ever experienced in a book before. Guess writers can still surprise us after all.
Pretty much how I’m feeling Photo by Brett Jordan on Pexels.com
….and I know you missed me!
I’d like to say the week off from blogging was restful, but I was packing and putting my stuff into storage pods to move and unpack at the end of March/beginning of April. To say the entire week was exhausting and stressful does not even begin to describe the anxiety I was feeling about the chaos. I work in organized chaos but using movers to pack the storage units was not my version of organized chaos, it was just pandemonium to me. That is not a slight on the movers, I just envisioned boxes from specific rooms would be packed together all neat and tidy for the unpacking of the pod, like how I organize my groceries for checkout. Oh, how naïve I was! I’m beginning to dread the day the pods arrive in my new home 😬.
What’s worse is when you think you did a good job of purging before the move and then you start to pack. And pack and pack. I began to realize I have waaaayyyy to much crap for one person 📦📦📦📦📦📦📦… However, the couple moving into my home have probably triple the amount of stuff that I did, so I didn’t feel to bad about my stuff. At some point during the packing, I thought “I should take it all out front, burn it to the ground and start fresh”. I’m sure I’m not alone in this 😆.
Then there were a few small miscalculations along the way while finishing up with the movers and trying to get the hell out. First oops – the very efficient movers closed and packed a box that wasn’t supposed to be put into storage, so they had to spend about half an hour unpacking one of the pods to find the box. Next, I had filled my trash can to the brim and had two bags left to dump, so off to the trash center I go, only to forget that they are closed that day 🤦♀️. So, I dragged the trash around while I finished the other errands, leaving it for the new owners 🤷🏼♀️. Lastly, I bought new locks for the storage pods because I was concerned the locks I had weren’t in great shape. But of course, the new locks were too thick for the holes (and I’ll bet some of you thought “that’s what she said”, didn’t you?), so old locks it was. As many of you have learned from reading my blog – I have weird luck. Not good, not bad, just weird and I’m learning to live with it 🤣🤣🤣.
The only saving grace is my amazing realtor Jeanene who arranged for a cleaning crew to come in as we were finishing. If I would have had to clean, then drive two hours after that, I think I would have been homicidal at that point. 🎶Everyone needs a realtor like Jeanene 🎶 (sung to the tune of How do you solve a problem like Maria from the Sound of Music)
So now I’m recovering from the chaos that has been my life since I signed the contracts on 2-26 and the new owners asked when I can get the hell out (my interpretation of the look they gave me at closing 😆).
And I’m living with my parents again, need I say more?
Note: Rest assured the new owners have given me fodder for one more blog and I will give you the conclusion to the story this week, so stay tuned.
What would the HH couple say about this home?Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
A little housekeeping – thank you all for your support through this challenging and everchanging move. On the bright side of things, I have a closing date and time for my new home, barring any more setbacks. Fingers crossed! Also because of the move, I am taking off next week from blogging. I may post an update on Friday, but the rest of the week is out. After all I’ve been through (fully documented here 😆) I know that you will understand.
Today I thought I would dive back into reality tv for an amusing (and sometimes triggering) observation of House Hunters (HH)/HH International.
Now, anybody who has ever watched anything reality related knows that there is always a “villain”/“bad guy” or two on the hour long shows with continuous casts. I had never really noticed that trope on HH until this week when I found myself yelling at one of the home buyers like I would on a Real Housewife’s show. And I then I started to pay attention a little more closely and I have to say, the editors of that show are so subtly shady that they often (not always) turn one of the potential buyers or their helpful friends/family into an asshole. Some participants are easier than others with the attitudes they cop. This particular episode, the “villain” could not have made it easier for the editors. So, what had me yelling at him?
In the episode I was watching, the wife was acting as the real estate agent which is not uncommon on HH. The issue I had that was kind of triggering was the husband’s insistence at each place they looked at that he should converse with the sellers in order to “help” negotiate the deal. He even stated that he has control issues (Capt. Obvious party of one). His lovely wife was politely expressing her frustrations in her confessionals whereas I was screaming “Let her do her job! Stop being an asshole!” at the tv 🤣. I mean it was really dismissive of her role. Then after HH shows the property couple chose, the wife stated that in the end she did arrange a meeting between her husband and the sellers! I would like to say I shook my head in disbelief, but I have often been on the receiving end of that kind of manipulative behavior several times in the past, so I get it. Doesn’t mean I can’t yell at the guy from the comfort of my bedroom, which I did, frequently.
I followed that episode up the next night with HH international in Geneva Switzerland! The husband in that one just about did me in with his whining about a view of the lake. The one house they looked at with a lake view, $900 over their budget (which if I remember correctly was $7K – not an insignificant budget). As the budget conscious person, I am, I can see going a little over if it gets you what you want, but for crying out loud you have $7K, figure it out (full disclosure, I know Geneva is expensive)! In the end he won and the often-used justification of “well he (or she) moved across the world for me, so I want to make sure they’re happy”. I don’t know why but that excuse just bugs me. But I totally give props to the editors for finding a way to create villains in such a short amount of time.
BTW, screaming at the villains in reality tv is really cathartic, I highly recommend it 😁!
My Lemons My Lemonade 