Argh! House Decluttering

Gosh you can acquire a lot of crap in 22 years.

I have worked through the main floor and am down to the middle and back bedrooms. I have filled the car twice now for trips to Goodwill and I have filled the trash and recycling bins twice - and there is more to go. For some reason I thought the basement was my biggest challenge. No. Each room so far has presented its challenges. Yesterday I worked just in the attic trying to wipe data off of PC hard drives so I could recycle the compyuters. Easier said than done. I now have a pile of hard drives! Each one will get hammered then tossed.

I still have more to get out of closets and I've got more items to donate to Goodwill etc. and I have barely touched the basement. I was thinking this would all be done in a week. Perhaps at the end of next week? The job seems overwhelming but I know if I work on it every day I can get it done. But then, as I pack things in boxes, what do I do with the boxes? My only idea so far is to start stacking them on a pallet in the garage.

I realized today that I have not been using my "to do" notebook to plan and that is frustrating me. Now where did I put that notebook?

Home!

Sunday afternoon and we are home. We stopped in Davenport to join in the birthday celebration for Brady, so this added another night on the road, but it was worth it, though the cats might not agree!

 

On The Road

We left Longmont this morning and headed east. This evening we are at a New Victorian Inn in Lincoln, Nebraska. They allow pets and it is a comfortable place. Shelby is very content here though L.C. is under the bed.

The cats did pretty well on the drive, settling down after about an hour. They were ready to get out of the car at end of the day though. I think eight hours is enough for them and for us too.

 

The trip was uneventful though traffic picked up quite a bit the last 100 miles or so into Lincoln. High point might have been our bald eagle sighting out near Kearney. Oh, and coming into Lincoln, Lola our GPS, took us right through downtown Lincoln. She is so enterprising.

We are in our room after a Friday night dinner at the local Red Lobster. We ate at the bar rather than wait for a table. Friday night, Lent, what are you gonna do? Are there a lot of Catlickers in Lincoln? While we drove we talked about our new home and life in Longmont Colorado, and we are happy and content with our choices. Yes, we are making major changes in our lives, and leaving friends behind in Chicago, but we will be building new friendships and will still see and visit with old friends. Sometimes change is good and this is one of those times.

Our New Home In Colorado

Sharon and Colby now own a home in Longmont Colorado. We showed up at the closing at our scheduled 9:00 AM and found the closing officer, Lesley, our agent Kevin, the selling agent Stan and the loan officer Blake waiting for us. After handshakes all the way around we started. I commented that this must mean our loan was approved. We never received a confirmation that it was. Lots of papers and signatures and initials and a big check and almost an hour and a half later we owned a house at 1527 Otis which we promptly leased to the builder, Von's Colorado Concepts, for six months. This leaseback was critical to this deal. We likely would not have bought this house if we knew we would have to cover two mortgages for this transition period.

After closing we visited friends Chuck and Joan in Boulder and then had a nice, relaxing lunch at Carelli's. I needed the relaxing lunch because I started the morning a nervous wreck and was still a nervous wreck at lunch. In fact I didn't really recover until this evening after a couple of bourbons. I have never been so uptight and nervous at a closing.

After shopping for a birthday present for Brady in Boulder, Sharon and I went back to Longmont and printed out our warranty deed to take to the post office in order to get a mailbox key. Sharon mailed her passport renewal while we were there. Stan met us at the post office to get one of the mailbox keys since they would be paying the utility bills and home owners association fees while they rent the house. Sharon went to Party City for wrapping paper for Brady's present and I went to Wyatt's for the aforementioned bourbon - Evan Williams Single Barrel. An easy afternoon and evening at the rental house followed.

Tomorrow we pack and clean the house in preparation for leaving early Friday morning. We head for Lincoln Nebraska for Friday night and then Davenport Saturday for Brady's birthday. Sunday will get us back to Glen Ellyn and then Monday morning Sharon flies off to Orange California and I begin the house decluttering and disposal. Our hope is that we can be moved and in the new house by June or July.

Anyone need a house in Glen Ellyn? Know of anyone who wants a house in Glen Ellyn? Only a few blocks to the train station! Oh, we have one in Redmond Oregon too. That one is for sale also. Give us a call drop us an email. We are ready to deal.

Still Don't Know

This weekend we sent e-mails to the mortgage company with the information they asked for on Friday. On Tuesday morning we received a thank you e-mail acknowledging that they had the information, had added it tot he file and were submitting it to the underwriter so that we could close on Wednesday. We fully expected to receive an e-mail later in the day saying we had been approved. Here is is Wednesday morning about an hour prior to closing and we have heard nothing from the mortgage company and nothing from the title company. Nada. Zilch. We are going to the scheduled closing, check and IDs in hand and we will see what happens. Frustrated again!

Will It Be Ours?

I've signed us up for gas, electric, sewer, water and garbage service. This closing had better happen! As of Tuesday morning, the mortgage company has everything they asked for and say we are waiting on final approval from the underwriter.

I am excited about the new house and living in Colorado. I still have worries about selling our house, packing it up and moving. Much work and probably some frustration is involved in this process. 

Almost Done

We are winding down our stay in Longmont. Everything seems to be coming together on our house. This past Thursday we did a walk through with the builder and on Friday we received a message from the mortgage company that we had conditional approval for our loan. This weekend we sent them the additional documents they are looking for. We are scheduled to close on Wednesday morning. The cash from Fidelity should show up in our account here on Tuesday morning. I've arranged for gas service to the new house but have to visit the City of Longmont for electricity, garbage, sewer, etc. on Tuesday. We've taken lots of pictures and many measurements. We've visited furniture stores to look at furniture we might need and a nursery to talk about landscaping. We have discovered restaurants and grocery stores and liquor stores and other shops around Longmont. We have looked at refrigerators at Lowe's and Home Depot. This week we will start packing the car for our return and clean this house. We have entertained guests and had lunches and dinners with friends. It has been a busy visit to Longmont! Whew!

Hard to believe that in a few days we will own a home here and the next time we are planning to be here it will be to move into our new home (though I suspect it will be do do a final walk through after the builder passes it on after their lease.) Did I mention the builder is leasing the house back from us for up to six months? This takes some of the pressure off of selling our house in Glen Ellyn.

The weather here is quite something and I have a lot to learn about it here. Very different from Chicago with different dynamics at work. I will have fun getting to know the patterns for all of the seasons. I am fascinated that Longmont weather is not Boulder weather is not Denver weather.

Oh, and the stars are so much brighter here - and more of them! Telescope in my future?

I Am OK, I Am In A Good Place......

For those of you who know me and know Lee Gramas, this is a quote from Lee that I repeat often. (Perhaps not often enough.) Today I am OK and I am in a good place. Last night I dreamed that I resolved the matter with the Macy's credit card. This morning I checked my credit report (yes, you can do that) and the Macy's account was on it. The mortgage company responded after I sent a copy to them and they said they now had enough information to put the information update on their credit reporting agency. Then, with the mail this afternoon was a statement from Macy's. I don't have their credit card but I do have an account number. One problem resolved.

Also, the mortgage company seemed to become more proactive on Sharon's employment verification and that is looking better also.

Progress.

Mortgage Loan Frustrations

One thing is holding up our mortgage loan - and account number for a Macy's credit card. Just the account number.

The day after we arrived in Longmont Sharon and I went to Macy's in Boulder to pick up a few items for the kitchen in our rental as well as a blanket and pillow for the bed. Macy's had a sale and of course the usual additional % off is you open a Macy's account. I did not have a Macy's account and I signed up. We spent about $190 and got about $50 off. A good deal right?

It was a good deal until we chose to buy a house and apply for a mortgage loan. There was a credit inquiry from Macy's and the lender wanted to know what it was. Simple, I told them. Then they wanted a copy of the statement. They could not understand why I couldn't provide a statement. We went round and round and made no progress explaining. I am convinced that our loan officer does not have a life beyond hi desk as he was incapable of understanding what I was telling him. I finally went to Macy's and they printed a copy of my account statement from a register. It shows my balance, minimum payment due, my name, and the last four digits of my account number. Looked good to me. Not to the lender. They want the full account number. Then they suggested I email an image of my credit card. Had I not told you that I did not have a credit card? Sheesh!

I have called Macy's two times now and pleaded for a credit card number to no avail. They said the credit card and statement have been mailed. We don't have either. On my last call I told them I signed up for e-mail statements and I have not received one. They said they would send me an e-mail statement - but would take about 48 hours. 

All of our mail has been forwarded from Glen Ellyn to Longmont. Thinking perhaps this did not get forwarded, our next door neighbor went through our mail at home looking for anything from Macy's. No luck.

Our loan is not approved and won't be submitted until we have an account number from Macy's. Our closing is scheduled for February 17th. If we don't have a loan that will not happen. Now I suppose we just wait. We are leaving here on the 19th. 

What Are Those Peaks?

Today while wandering around Longmont we pulled into a park close to our new house, the John Hamm Nature Area. It is a pretty spot next to a lake and has some benches and signage indicating it is ideal for bird viewing. At a viewing area was this sign which explained the peaks on the horizon. Now we know! This is about the same view as from our new home, at least the view from the west side of our house. I still am trying to figure out where they get all the Twin Peaks references we see in town. Some seem to point to Mt. Meeker and Longs Peak but what about the Twin Sisters? The North Twin Sister and the South Twin Sister. Oh, the John Hamm Nature Area is a short walk or bike ride from our new house. I wonder if I can fish there?

It seems the people of Longmont really don't know what the twin peaks are. Read this.

Winter Storm

Longmont had a winter storm running Sunday evening through Tuesday. It looks like an official 10.8" of snow. Just what we need to convince us to move here! I suppose the good news is that in the past 25 years in Longmont there have only been 15 total snows of 10+", and it will be sunny and in the 40s in a couple of days. Sharon and I shoveled yesterday and today, only a couple of inches yesterday but at least 8" today! We are happy it is light weight snow. One issue here with a big snow is that residential streets do not get plowed. The main arterials are plowed and what they determine to be residential feeder streets but not the rest. I believe I can get around in the Volvo but if I were driving the Miata in this I wouldn't get anywhere - snow tires or no. I would simply plow snow in front of me until I stopped.

I've been using the down time the past two days to research landscape companies in Longmont. We will need to hire someone to take care of our back yard. My requirements as I have been sending to landscape companies:

We are buying a new home at 1527 Otis Dr. in Longmont. It is in Shadow Grass Park and sits on a small lot backing to a greenway. We are looking for a low/no maintenance landscaping plan. We know that we want to extend the patio area with flagstones or somethingsimilar.

We want low height evergreens at the back of the yard - mugo pine or similar. We would like medium height evergreens on the south side of the house to provide a visual break between our dining room and patio and the house to the south. And, perhaps a medium evergreen on the north west corner of the lot. We are thinking pines rather than deciduous trees for maintenance reasons but would be open to medium height trees at the back and north if they will stay below the second floor views. 

We envision lots of stone, perhaps with walkways on the sides of the house. There will be no grass on the rear and sides – we don’t want to deal with grass. There is sod in the front and partially down the sides and this is maintained by the HOA.

We do want some small raised planters on the rear for small garden. Perhaps a total of 8 to 12 feet in total length. Drip irrigation is required for all plantings and in the raised beds.

We are coming from the Chicago area and do not know what does well here. But I would want any plantings to require minimal water and care. Xeriscape with natives. We call our desires Zeroscaping. We want to enjoy our patio and back yard but not have to be concerned with routine maintenance.

I just had a new experience. I said goodbye to Sharon, put on my coat, hat, and gloves and got in the Volvo to drive to the store. I backed out of the driveway and into the portion of the street where we shoveled, put the car in Winter mode and started out only to soon bog down. I tried several times and couldn't make it more than twenty feet or so, The snow was too deep for the Volvo and so soft I couldn't get on top of it. I pulled back into the garage and took a look at where I attempted to drive. There was a flat area in the snow where I had flattened the snow with the bottom of the car. We are stuck here until enough vehicles drive over the snow to pack it down.