Neverending Story

In retrospect, this has been a very busy week, as evidenced by this being the first blog I have written since Saturday. Here's a brief overview:

Sunday: After much searching, finally found another house we are interested in. Our only concern is the size of the house - only 1800 square feet. The house we were trying to purchase before was 2100 square feet, and we really liked that size. This new house is a one-story with lots of upgrades and personality though, so we guess it's a tradeoff.

Monday: Started all the last-minute projects for the upcoming work conference on Friday/Saturday. Why is it so impossible to plan for a major conference earlier than the week of, so that we're not all RUNNING AROUND LIKE PSYCHO CHICKENS trying to throw stuff together? WHY?
Any free moments today and for the rest of the week are devoted to setting up my new OFFICE - YES, OFFICE! I somehow managed to convince Boss Man (the "NO" man) to give me an office instead of sitting out front in the middle of the chaos. Still not sure how I managed that...I broached the subject in hopes of introducing it merely to begin the long road of pursuasion. Had no idea that the resistance period would only be about 20 minutes before a "Yes" was delivered my way. This was a good day.

Tuesday: Another busy day at work. We really do prefer busy. Felt the baby kick for the first time. Very weird. Like a twitching stomach muscle...except lower. Checked out the one-story again (among others) and decided to make an offer the following day. Speaking of the "others," here's another tip to add to the "How not to sell a house" list: Don't let your teenage daughter answer the front door in her underwear and tell us that despite the fact that we had called ahead to schedule a viewing, we can't see the house because it's still being painted.

Wednesday: Finished conference preparations and devoted the rest of the day to preparing, moving into, and shopping for my new office. Stopped at Target after work for some decorative additions. Met with real estate agent to draft up contract on new house, only to find that he had recieved a call from the agent of the previous house, letting him know that the seller was more seriously motivated to sell the house now and was entertaining offers in the range we were discussing when the deal fell through before. Previous house has now been renamed "Neverending Story" house because it just doesn't go away. A brief synopsis of the 3-week period in which we already pursued this house:

• Found the house, knew it was perfect, told everyone it was my dream house. Planned to make an offer the next day.
• Discovered house was already under contract.
• Found out contract fell through.
• Made an offer (a very GOOD offer, that most sellers would have taken flat out) but was informed that other offers were coming in same day.
• Seller picked our offer, but countered...with stupid things that were really more insulting than anything else.
• We countered the counter to make sure we were still getting our money's worth.
• Seller accepted.
• Found out from our mortgage broker that the house would not appraise for what we offered.
• Tried to lower the price with seller so the deal could still go through.
• Seller declined lowered price offer. Deal off.
• Seller put house back on the market at higher asking price - significantly more than the maximum amount the house would appraise for according to two appraisers.
• We started looking elsewhere.

But it's the only house we've found so far that was an immediate "yes" for us because it has absolutely everything we're looking for. And suddenly they're willing to be reasonable again. Wrote offer for Neverending Story house instead of new house.
Good News - confirmed that Mom doesn't have cyst or cancer, which was one of several possible causes of recent abdominal pain. Endometriosis is the current most likely diagnosis and may require surgery. This may be poor timing, as parents are scheduled to go to colorado next week and Greece in June. She is seeing a specialist tomorrow for full diagnosis.

Thursday: Waiting to hear back from sellers. Will be a long day. Bosses and distributors are busy at conference, so no business coming through. Probably won't hear from sellers until tomorrow, as has been the case in the past, despite the fact that response deadline is tonight.
More good news - Mom doesn't have endometriosis either. Looks like medicatable diagnosis for 2 ailments that are treatable without surgery. Very thankful.

See - told you we've been busy this week!