Moving along

The past few days have been crazy busy. Here’s a somewhat brief rundown:

Tuesday

We drive down to the new town in the early afternoon. Our TB tests were scheduled for 3:00. We arrived at the clinic, filled out some paperwork, and waited.

There was some confusion about whether or not we needed to get actual physicals. None of the receptionists seemed to know, like they had never done an intake for this before. M and I tried to explain to them that we had only signed up for a TB test, because that was all that the district had told us we needed. We brought all of our paperwork with us and showed it to them. After they conversed for some time, we eventually were both led back to meet with a nurse. My conversation went something like this:

Her: “So I see that you marked all of these risk factors as ‘No’ on your paperwork. Is that accurate?”

Me: “That is correct.”

Her: “Okay. Well, based on that, I’m just going to sign off that you don’t have TB.”

Me: “Ummm… Okay?”

Then she gave me back my paperwork, signed and ready to hand in to the district office. The same thing happened for M. We had driven down two hours and booked a hotel room (because of the issues with my mom at the moment), only to have them NOT ACTUALLY GIVE US A TB TEST!

Granted, it was only two hours, but M and I were talking afterwards. What if someone was hired from a different state? Maybe 8 or 12 hours away? How pissed would you be if you REALLY had to travel to get the result that we did? The district made it very clear to us that the TB test HAD to be done at the specific clinic in town where we went; it couldn’t be done anywhere else.

After finishing up there, we called the realtor we’ve been working with to find out which properties we were going to be looking at. It was disappointing. She told us that she had scheduled other showings for other people, and we should drive past the ones on our list and check out the neighborhoods. We did that, but I am certainly not going to buy a house without looking at the inside beforehand.

Oh, and two of the six properties on our list were already sold.

We then went over to Grandpa’s house to look at it. It was… unusual. I pretty much grew up in that house. And now, seeing it completely empty is very strange. M asked me if it would be too weird for me to own that house. I think that it would be at first, but after some time passes and we start to make our own memories there, I think that strangeness would wane and eventually pass away entirely.

M and I walked around the whole property, talking. Seeing the place completely empty really made us realize how much space the house really has; especially in the basement. That basement is a much more livable space than our current one. It is becoming (I think) much more likely that we will end up buying that house, regardless of what is currently going on with my family and their feelings and actions surrounding the purchase.

We headed back to our hotel so the boys could get some time playing in the pool. It was a VERY basic pool. I did have the foresight to bring our inflatable pool basketball hoop and a couple of balls, thankfully. We were down in the pool area for a while, then came back to the room to end our day.

Wednesday

We woke up in the hotel room after a pretty rough night’s sleep. M got almost no sleep, because, you know, she had to sleep in the same bed as me. According to my FtBit, I had a very excellent sleep; my body and brain disagreed. I don’t think that I fell asleep until after 3:00, but my watch said that I was already into and out of REM sleep once before that.

Anywho, the boys and I got up and went down to the continental breakfast around 8:00. For being a cheap-o hotel, it was pretty good. Went back to the room, and the boys started being naughty.

I blame it on the small, confined space, but they could NOT keep their hands off of one another. And that inevitably leads to loud behavior. I was trying my best to keep them quiet, for M’s sake; I knew we’ll before she woke up that it was going to be a rough night for her, and I wanted to let her sleep as long as possible.

But the boys just would not stay quiet. They had their tablets and their Gameboys, but it was a constant struggle for almost an hour to keep them quiet. I didn’t even care if they were talking to one another. That’s not it. The problem is that they really only have one volume level: obnoxious. Neither one of them really knows how to whisper, even when the person they’re talking to is sitting right next to them.

Well, eventually M got up and we got ready for our meeting with HR at the district office. We went, and it all went very well. We got our non-conditional contracts, which means that we can now get an actual mortgage (not just a pre-approval) when the time comes. We had our pictures taken for our badges, got some fancy school district shirts and tumblers, had several questions answered, and met some very wonderful people.

After, it was back to house hunting. We called our realtor, and she said that two of our four remaining properties probably would not work for us, for various reasons. We agreed with what she said, but that meant that we were now down to two total properties to see (plus Grandpa’s house). That kind of stinks, because at the rate properties are selling in town, it is going to be almost impossible to find something, even though nice-looking stuff is added almost every day on the various realty websites.

We met her at the first property. It was nice, but is listed at the extreme top-end of our budget. We could only put an offer at the list price on that, and it will almost undoubtedly be outbid immediately. So we drive to the second property. It is also very nice. Well within our budget, too. But it was tiny. About 500 square feet less than our current home. One fewer bathroom, also. It was nice, but we decided that we had to pass; we’d never be able to fit our current life into that little space.

We went to Mom and Dad’s house after the second showing, just to relax, cool down, and talk about things. We started discussions on various updates, modernizations, and improvements to Grandpa’s house, as it becomes more and more likely that we will end up there with each passing day. The floors will have to be first, before we even move in. Also, a fence for part of the back/side yard for the dog. We sat there and talked for more than an hour, while the boys watched Henry Danger in the family room (Mom and Dad weren’t home; they were babysitting my niece).

Eventually we packed up and made the drive home.

The rest of the night was uneventful, until both children were in bed. I gave M a back rub, because she was sore from her workout on Monday and the shitty hotel night prior. She made it clear that she didn’t want me to stay in the room (which meant, in no uncertain terms, no sex). I was fine with that. I just helped her out in that area, instead of a mutually beneficial arrangement for the night.

Thursday (today)

Today was filled with phone calls (lawyers, mortgage broker, home buyer) and paperwork (finishing the mortgage application). We also kept an eye on Zillow all day to look for any new properties which may be listed. There were a few, but I’m somewhat doubtful about the prospects that they will still be on the market when we return to town on Tuesday night.

I spent a good deal of the morning finishing the job of emptying out our file cabinet. It was a weeks-ling process. I went through every file, deciding what needed to be kept for us and for the new home owners, what to shred, and what to throw away. We decided to either leave the file cabinet itself for the new owners, if they want it, or junk it on move if out. It’s very old, not huge, and very hard to move. But at least all the files are done and packed up.

The highlight of my day was watching the last episode of Poker Face on Peacock. I generally done binge shows; I tend not to like watching episode after episode without any decompression time. I would much rather watch an episode a week and be able to reflect on the events and ponder what happens next. But Poker Face was so engaging, well-written, and amazingly acted that I did pseudo-binge it (10 episodes in about 4 days). I love good detective shows, and that’s exactly what this was. There were also many times throughout the series when I was truly laughing out loud. I loved it, and really hope that Natasha Lyonne wins the best actress Emmy she is nominated for.

That’s about it for now. I’m sitting outside grilling a fancy chicken breast, but it’s a little chilly (70 with a pretty strong wind). Tomorrow we meet with our lawyer to sign and turn in our accepted offer, so things continue to move along.