We didn't get the house after all.
I'm sad, and a little angry. Mostly at the world at large, and mostly because we missed the boat when it comes to housing. Even two years ago we could have bought a great house with land in our little rural town for less than $100,000. Now we're going end up paying significantly more, and we can't even afford the land at all.
I'm also a little relieved, because deep down I think we were getting in over our heads. I love that house. Really love it. But a $1300 month house payment would have been a struggle.
We looked at a different house on Friday. It has almost zero land (5000 square feet), but the house itself is perfect for us. It's also two doors down from our towns community garden. We can get a 10X12 plot, and if we go for this house I'm going to ask my parents to get one too and let me plant on it. 20 X 24 can house a ton of veggies. This little garden is new, and I've noticed that some people have planted fruit trees near their plots.
There is also a city corrals about two miles away. For $50 a year I can lease a corral for chickens, goats, whatever. The trick is that they're all leased already, and improved upon. You have to buy the improvements from someone who is ready to sell their corral. And at only $50 a year maintance, people hold on to them with the idea that they might want to get a horse or something someday. There are some empty ones though, so I'm thinking maybe a newspaper ad once we know where we're going to land.
What really gets to me is that even fixer uppers are priced so freaking high. The owners want to get the price for the potential of the house, without getting it up to that potential. That sucks.
On a more positive note: I got an email from a publisher today about a short story I submitted--it's being passed on to the second level of aquisition. Woo!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Gas Worries
Over at www.casaubonsbook.blogspot.com, there's a lot of discussion about cutting back on consumption by 90 percent. I'm too tired tonight to write about the rules and the whys, but if you go look at her blog, you'll find it.
I've thought a lot about participating. I'm gone through every excuse from "my husband won't like it" to "my kids will hate it" to "but I live 100 miles from the nearest Wal-Mart, I can't only use 50 gallons of a gas a YEAR!" But in the end, I've realized that I can't let my life be ruled by excuses.
I don't know if I'll be perfect. I don't know if I'll even come close to succeeding. But I want to be able to relax when I'm an old woman, knowing that I didn't add to the problem of how my grandchildren will eat and breathe. And that I did what I could to make it better.
I'm too tired, like I said, to go into my plans right now. Tomorrow.
I do know that according to the rules, we get 50 gallons of gas per person per year...or 250 gallons for my family of five. That's 20 gallons, or roughly one monthly tank in our minivan or one and a half in our Saturn that we can't all fit in.
Our mini-van gets about 20 miles to the gallon, and can go about 400 miles before running out of gas (don't ask how I know that!) My job requires me to drive 11 miles one way twice a week during the summer, and everyday during the school year. Twenty gallons of gas a month means that we'll be cutting it super close. Driving 22 miles a day, five days a week is 110 miles a week--or forty over our total monthly allowance, even without going to the grocery store or anything else.
Kevin can walk to work, once we move. The kids walk to school. No buses or other forms of public transportation. The grocery store is two miles away, walkable--although the two miles are on Highway 6, fifty miles per hour and no shoulder.
I don't go to school for two weeks in December, one week in the spring, all federal holidays (I'm pretty sure there are eight) and all summer. I have 180 days of school, I think...so that's 3960 miles just going back and forth to work. Or 198 of our 250.
I'm afraid that the answer is to try to get transfered to a school near my house, instead of driving 22 miles a day to work at the school that I love. And to give up the three hour drives every month to the bigger city with it's plentiful shopping.
My brain hurts now! I'll think about this some more tomorrow.
I've thought a lot about participating. I'm gone through every excuse from "my husband won't like it" to "my kids will hate it" to "but I live 100 miles from the nearest Wal-Mart, I can't only use 50 gallons of a gas a YEAR!" But in the end, I've realized that I can't let my life be ruled by excuses.
I don't know if I'll be perfect. I don't know if I'll even come close to succeeding. But I want to be able to relax when I'm an old woman, knowing that I didn't add to the problem of how my grandchildren will eat and breathe. And that I did what I could to make it better.
I'm too tired, like I said, to go into my plans right now. Tomorrow.
I do know that according to the rules, we get 50 gallons of gas per person per year...or 250 gallons for my family of five. That's 20 gallons, or roughly one monthly tank in our minivan or one and a half in our Saturn that we can't all fit in.
Our mini-van gets about 20 miles to the gallon, and can go about 400 miles before running out of gas (don't ask how I know that!) My job requires me to drive 11 miles one way twice a week during the summer, and everyday during the school year. Twenty gallons of gas a month means that we'll be cutting it super close. Driving 22 miles a day, five days a week is 110 miles a week--or forty over our total monthly allowance, even without going to the grocery store or anything else.
Kevin can walk to work, once we move. The kids walk to school. No buses or other forms of public transportation. The grocery store is two miles away, walkable--although the two miles are on Highway 6, fifty miles per hour and no shoulder.
I don't go to school for two weeks in December, one week in the spring, all federal holidays (I'm pretty sure there are eight) and all summer. I have 180 days of school, I think...so that's 3960 miles just going back and forth to work. Or 198 of our 250.
I'm afraid that the answer is to try to get transfered to a school near my house, instead of driving 22 miles a day to work at the school that I love. And to give up the three hour drives every month to the bigger city with it's plentiful shopping.
My brain hurts now! I'll think about this some more tomorrow.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Night Drive
It was about 85 degrees last night, and probably ten degrees hotter and STUFFY in our tiny apartment. So after dinner, Kevin and Ruby and I (the big kids are in Vegas with their dad this week) went on a drive.
There is a scenic loop here that goes through the Humbolt National forest. We'd never been on it before, so it seemed like a good idea. And it was. Absolutely stunning. There is a big stand of White Pines that you drive through, and I swear it's like a fairy tale. Huge, tall white trunks. Some of you are probably from a place that has more than sagebrush as the local vegetation, but seeing big tall trees is rare for us out here.
At one point we came around a corner and saw a SUV parked at the start of a sideroad leading up to a campground. Next to it, maybe two feet away from it, was the most perfect, huge buck. Seriously, like Bambi's daddy. It was just standing there and for a minute I thought it must be a statue marking the entrance to the campground. Then it moved a few feet from us, and just stopped and stared. It had gigantic antlers and I am sick that I didn't bring my camera. Just sick.
We also saw a baby deer and some rabbits and chipmunks. I saw a hawk, too. And many, many cows. Right on the side of the road, like a cow-country safari. Two baby cows ran along side us for a little bit.
I really do love living in Nevada. I was born a California girl, but I love the mountains and the wide sky. I love the fresh air and the cool breeze as soon as the sun goes down. I love that there are unadulterated places here. I imagined last night what it would be like to be a pioneer coming over a pass and finding those mountains and valleys. The road we drove was a dirt road with grooves, like a wagon train might make. Amazing.
There is a scenic loop here that goes through the Humbolt National forest. We'd never been on it before, so it seemed like a good idea. And it was. Absolutely stunning. There is a big stand of White Pines that you drive through, and I swear it's like a fairy tale. Huge, tall white trunks. Some of you are probably from a place that has more than sagebrush as the local vegetation, but seeing big tall trees is rare for us out here.
At one point we came around a corner and saw a SUV parked at the start of a sideroad leading up to a campground. Next to it, maybe two feet away from it, was the most perfect, huge buck. Seriously, like Bambi's daddy. It was just standing there and for a minute I thought it must be a statue marking the entrance to the campground. Then it moved a few feet from us, and just stopped and stared. It had gigantic antlers and I am sick that I didn't bring my camera. Just sick.
We also saw a baby deer and some rabbits and chipmunks. I saw a hawk, too. And many, many cows. Right on the side of the road, like a cow-country safari. Two baby cows ran along side us for a little bit.
I really do love living in Nevada. I was born a California girl, but I love the mountains and the wide sky. I love the fresh air and the cool breeze as soon as the sun goes down. I love that there are unadulterated places here. I imagined last night what it would be like to be a pioneer coming over a pass and finding those mountains and valleys. The road we drove was a dirt road with grooves, like a wagon train might make. Amazing.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Wait...wait...wait some more
We were finally able to get our credit score where it needed to be to finalize our loan. We should be able to move in to the house in a couple of weeks.
I guess the sellers are balking about going past the June 15th closing date. No chance our loan will close by then. If they back out, I'm not going to cry. I'm going to move on. We already have the loan in place, it'll just be a matter of choosing a different house.
I found this single-wide mobile home on five acres for less than half what we offered on our house. It's totally unimproved land--five acres of sage brush, except for the trailer and the area immediately around it. The payment would be so low, however, that we could easily afford to manage the land.
If the sellers won't sign off on letting us have more time, we are going to look at that mobile home. It's tiny--really too small, although it does have three bedrooms. And is twice the size of our current apartment. The one thing that's holding me back from backing out the house myself and moving forward on the other property is how far it is from town. It'll be about a ten mile drive for Kevin to get to work, rather than a half mile walk. The kids will have to be bussed to school. On the other hand, it's much closer to my job, maybe two miles instead of twelve.
When PO hits, I don't want to be in the middle of nowhere. That's why I wanted the house we're buying--it's walking distance to everything but my job (and my job is transferable to a school within walking distance.) And it has enough land for a decent garden. The land is already fertile.
The waiting game is killing me!
I guess the sellers are balking about going past the June 15th closing date. No chance our loan will close by then. If they back out, I'm not going to cry. I'm going to move on. We already have the loan in place, it'll just be a matter of choosing a different house.
I found this single-wide mobile home on five acres for less than half what we offered on our house. It's totally unimproved land--five acres of sage brush, except for the trailer and the area immediately around it. The payment would be so low, however, that we could easily afford to manage the land.
If the sellers won't sign off on letting us have more time, we are going to look at that mobile home. It's tiny--really too small, although it does have three bedrooms. And is twice the size of our current apartment. The one thing that's holding me back from backing out the house myself and moving forward on the other property is how far it is from town. It'll be about a ten mile drive for Kevin to get to work, rather than a half mile walk. The kids will have to be bussed to school. On the other hand, it's much closer to my job, maybe two miles instead of twelve.
When PO hits, I don't want to be in the middle of nowhere. That's why I wanted the house we're buying--it's walking distance to everything but my job (and my job is transferable to a school within walking distance.) And it has enough land for a decent garden. The land is already fertile.
The waiting game is killing me!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
