Monday Morning

I'm tired of looking at sad news.  Unfortunately I have no good news, so here's a photo of the iris in the back yard.  The columbine are also blooming and the dianthus is lush.

Tim was able to get a lot of painting done while he was here last week.  (This is the painting necessitated by the hail storm, undertaken last fall, and interrupted by bad weather.)  I've contributed to the effort by finishing some windows and second-coating a section over the weekend.  One last push today should finish it.   I guess you could call that good news...
Having seen the new house I have been able to go through some boxes of packed stuff and eliminate a few things, which probably qualifies as good news.  I can also say that so far I haven't regretted any previous eliminations - more good news.
You could also call the fact that I didn't have to mow this weekend good news.  Our realtor arranged for someone to mow - and I reallyreallyreally appreciated the gesture.

Apparently I was wrong about the dearth of good news - which has raised my spirits considerably, so I'll close with a cute story:
I took Charlie for a walk yesterday morning and let him swim in the irrigation canal at the park - he loves it!  You throw a stick, he launches from the bank and lands with a satisfying splash.  He retrieves the stick and gets ready for the next round.  We then take the long way home giving him opportunity to dry.  Unfortunately he stays damp for quite a while...
I had some inside puttering to finish before I began painting so I fastened Charlie outside to finish drying.  He has a choice of sun and shade and was just lolling about waiting for me.  At some point I saw our (elderly) next door neighbor coming toward the house (which is odd because she always just catches us over the fence for a chat) and wondered if there was a problem as I waited for her to reach the door.  She never did.  She stopped to talk to Charlie.  Petted, patted, chatted, turned around and went home.

Read it and weep....

Oh the difference a few days can make.

Last Friday we were driving back to Nebraska from Grimes.  Tim had finished his last day of work, I had interviewed for a position at the Grimes Public Library and seen the new house for the first time.
We were smiling, thinking happy thoughts, making plans to finish packing, secure the uhaul, sign off
on the house here, and head east to start our next big adventure.
We were one week away from closing.

We received two phone call during the drive.

  The first was an official offer for the library post which I accepted.

The second was an unofficial warning that our buyers had run into trouble with their loan and would spend the weekend trying to figure out what they could do to salvage the situation.

 The smiling came to an abrupt end.
We were one week away from closing. 

We made several suggestions - creative financing that we could offer the buyers - and waited.

2:00 Monday afternoon they withdrew. We have no buyer.  

There were phone calls, many many phone calls over the weekend as we tried to make things happen on this end and worked to determine our options on the other end, as well.

The people in Grimes have been very helpful. We will sign on the dotted line, as scheduled, on Tuesday.

Tim starts his new job on Wednesday.  I can return to my old job at the library and pick up some
hours while I stay here for another month.
We'll hope for a fast sale.  

Painting

In a previous post Naphtali left a comment about coming to help me paint.  We've been discussing Aidan's summer plans and had already penciled in a week for her and Aidan to paint at the new place, followed by a week of Aidan here (there?) on his own.  That will be a fun/productive visit.  Here's a bit more of the back story.

Last week (?) I had sent Naphtali a link with pictures of the house and a general comment about painting.  Her reply made me laugh - something along the lines of:

YES!  let's get some paint on those bathroom cabinets!

This, however, was the picture that I had thought might provoke an urgent offer to help:

She never mentioned it....

What do you think:  Which room cries out for immediate attention?!

Housekeeping details

Mother's Day brought phone calls all around - my kids, my mother - it was good to talk with everyone.


Grades were posted today.  My 4.0 is intact.


The good ladies of the Garden Club had me out for lunch today.  Another round tomorrow with another group of Intrepids.  

Here it is

The offer has been accepted.

There are a few formalities to observe, 

but this should be where you'll find us the first week in June.