Bad news

We got in the appraisal of the house - it's $50,000 less than the price we agreed to. Talk about an emotional blow! I'm quite suspicious of the appraiser's report since they generally say the property is in good condition and the total estimated market value payable 2010 is $195,700. It did drop from the total estimated market value payable 2009 of $206,500, but I'm guessing that's because of the drastic market drop starting in November 2008.

I'm going to try to talk to the appraiser to bring up these questions and to ask about if they appraised it at this because of general market conditions or because of area-specific conditions (such as the Ford plant closing). There is a possibility we lost the house and I guess I'm prepared for that (after breaking down about an hour-and-a-half ago of course). Wish us luck!

Packing extravaganza

As far as we know, everything's on track for the closing date of July 15 (good catch Gina!). The only thing we're waiting on is finding out what kind of gutters we can get. After we made decisions on shingles and the gutters, the sellers will get the roof and gutters done, we send a receipt of the work to our lender, and we close on time! Yippee!

Chris has been packing up his books and has taken down two of his bookshelves thus far. It really is starting to look like we're building a brown fortress in the office. I think it's all of the packing and change that's throwing Banjo into a tizzy. His separation anxiety is bad once again even though we're still following the suggestions of the trainer (putting out lots of treats - instant rewards and ones he has to work at for a while - while he watches). I'm going to be really glad to move so we can start the process of settling in again. Maybe by winter Banjo will be comfortable...I really hope it doesn't take that long!

We're going to be heading up north to my parents' this weekend with Kimmi and Garbe (yippee!). John's bringing his boat and we're going to go out on the lakes! I'm excited for Kim to finally see my parents place! I'm really looking forward to relaxing (like always) but especially this week because it's been more stressful than normal over the past couple of weeks. Guess why: software problems. Bleh. I am looking forward to forgeting all about it while I'm falling off the tube and crashing into the lake.

By the way, it's a bit too warm for my taste. I'm looking forward to having an air conditioner in the bedroom. That is going to be glorious!

Impressed with U's Extension Service

I've been thinking a lot about what sorts of plants I want in my future garden. I want to be sure to get ones that are well-suited for Minnesota and I want to get as many native wildflowers as possible. When I typed "perennial flowers minnesota" into Google, out came a link for the University of Minnesota's extension service, particularly a PowerPoint presentation of perennial flowers of Minnesota. I've also visited the U's extension website when I started thinking about composting.

I continue to be impressed by their information and their resources. I'm going to be referencing their website a lot over the coming months as I work on the garden and learn more about the soil in our yard, etc. I'm always finding out new things...

Lots of craziness and some normalcy

We've started packing - Chris is working on organizing his books as he packs and our livingroom is starting to look like a mini fortress. Since a lot of my stuff are things that should be packed up closer to the move, I've started knitting a tank top. I'm using red yarn of course and will post pictures later when you can actually tell what it is.

We took Banjo to the vet today for a checkup (he needed Heartguard). We went to the Animal Medical Clinic at the intersection of St. Clair and Snelling. We walked over and I then realized that Banjo was hot and panting and we had to get the muzzle on him. The muzzle is necessary because otherwise he would have bitten a lot of people. He was extremely nervous, but the whole thing was quick and he was extremely excited to leave. I'm quite impressed how well he did considering how nervous/scared he was. Chris was great with him - holding him while he was on the table and taking him outside immediately afterwards. Because of the longer walk, Banjo crashed soon after we got home. We watched He's Not That Into You with Kim, who was relaxing before her half-Ironman tomorrow (good luck!).

As for me, I'm really looking forward to closing and moving in. This transition phase kinda sucks (as everyone knows). It will go quickly. I'm really looking forward to my mom coming the weekend after the closing. I'm hoping that the aunts can come down for a bit too (hint hint). I'm really excited for my dad to see the house too. But what I'm most excited about is setting stuff up in our house and exploring the neighborhood (mostly the trails along the river). For now, I'll try to find a cozy spot behind the boxes and read through the engaging paperwork related to the mortgage.

Cleaning out your garages soon?

So now that we've secured a house (our closing date is July 15 and we're planning to move all the furniture over the weekend of July 25), there are some various tools that we are in need of, and we would love the opportunity to take old tools off your hands! We're planning on getting a non-gas, non-electric push mower, so if any of you have one for sale, we'd love to look at it!

We're also looking for tools like rakes, gardening tools, saws, etc.

Let us know and thank you in advance!

P.S. We're also in the market for patio furniture.

We got a house!!!!

It's official: we are going to be homeowners! We had the inspection this afternoon and there's only minor things to be done that we can do ourselves, so no more paperwork for a bit! I'm so completely excited! For those of you who don't know already, our address will be 2035 Ramlow Place, Saint Paul.

Here are some pictures I took while we were doing the inspection: