The finish line is in sight

No, my son did not buy the house from Wednesday's photo. In fact, we didn't even view the property. I had contacted the realtor about it to ask if he'd check with the seller's realtor with some questions. He offered to tour the property himself, as he lives and works nearby. The photo was one of several he sent me. His comment "It's a house of horrors. Lot value only." I suspect it may have been tenanted, or alternatively the property owner passed away. One of the photos clearly showed dirty laundry on a bed, in another it appeared the toilet had not been flushed, and in one there were cracked and broken windows. The property is listed at $275,000...lot value would be around $130,000. I sincerely doubt it will sell. Oh, and it comes as-is, where-is so whoever buys it would have to deal with the contents too!

We did see a few more properties Sunday and Monday. None had what C was looking for, so the hunt continued. We saw another two properties on Wednesday. Both had been on the market for some time, but appeared to be more what he was looking for. Sigh...appearances can be deceiving. Both had badly completed DIY renos, both basements were disasters, and in the second property the front door was sticky to open, while the back door could not be opened at all. Can you imagine how much that house had shifted on it's foundation?

I went to Stitch and Chat on Wednesday, with five of us in attendance. C hasn't been there since last fall before she left for Arizona. Sadly, her mother passed away in the spring, just before she returned to Canada. She's spent the last few months clearing out her mother's 4 bedroom house. According to her, it was full of stuff. They did sell it in August and most of the possessions have been disbursed. Some to family members, some sold, donated, or tossed. 

We'll soon say so long for a few months to C and to B as they are both planning their departures for Arizona at the end of October. S is still deciding when she'll leave, as her daughter and son-in-law will be driving down to stay with her. They've just retired. That will leave I and myself - her husband R is currently undergoing treatment for cancer, so I suspect her attendance will be infrequent. Hopefully some of the ladies who dropped in last winter will return. I've no plans to travel until February at the earliest, and that is dependant on my friend S and her husband. They are scheduled to be in Yuma for a month, and I've invited myself to join them for a week if I can make it happen. Their plans, however, are up in the air at the moment so it's not a certainty.

I haven't yet booked my hotel in March for my cruise but I have flights booked. I'm planning on flying in three days ahead of the cruise...I don't a repeat of last January! Even flying in a day early, almost wasn't enough due to storms and cancellations. Of course, it takes a full day to get there from here so I'll arrive late on the first day and have two full days before I board the cruise ship. 

Of course, I can't help looking at cruises especially when a sale is offered. Princess had a 50% off, 50% deposit sale recently for certain 2023 and 2024 cruises and I've booked a 14 day British Isles cruise for late August 2024. If you've been here for long, you might remember that I had a similar cruise booked in June, 2020...we all know what happened with those plans! I e-mailed my friend J and she's offered to have me stay with her for a few days before and after the cruise. (Thanks J! I'm so looking forward to visiting with you and a return visit to the Gardens for certain.)

Because we've had such bad luck with viewing properties with the realtor, C and I took a drive on Thursday evening to look at a property. We figured there would be no point seeing the inside if the neighbourhood wasn't great or the exterior was a mess. It wasn't either of those things, so I called the realtor to ask if he could show it to us on Friday. We made arrangements to meet later in the afternoon.

On paper, the property was perfect. A decent size with three bedrooms up, a finished basement, and a large garage (which means a smaller back yard). We arrived ahead of the realtor, and spent a few minutes looking at the exterior. Shingles look good, there is a small patio out front, and a raised flower bed. 

The realtor arrived a few minutes later and we made our way in the front door. The house is about 1040 sq ft on the main level. On entry there is a closet and beyond that to the right is a decent sized living room. To the left is a large dining area with a galley style kitchen in the center. It's a bit of an odd layout, as you can reach the hall from either the living room or through the kitchen. Off the hall at the back of the house are three bedrooms and a recently renovated bathroom. One of the bedrooms is set up as a laundry room. As you'll see in the photo above (stolen from the internet) there is a ramp on the front exterior of the house so I assume the laundry set-up is for the convenience of the current owners. Back in the dining room, there is a door that leads to the side entrance and down to the basement. 

In the basement there is a den with a large closet, a living room space, a three piece bathroom with a stand-up shower, and a large storage area (which also contains the furnace, hot water heater, water softener, and built in vac). That storage area also has the hook-ups for the laundry, a set of kitchen cabinets and sink, as well as a small freezer and fridge. At some point, it would be an easy conversion to set up a separate suite in the basement for rental, though some work would be needed to update it. 

Out back of the house is a patio area and beside the garage a sadly neglected garden space. It would take some work to get that in order but I told C that would be my project. But the pièce de résistance is the garage. It is huge, the interior insulated and finished with lots of room to park two vehicles plus a space we assumed the current owner is using as a "man" cave. My son was excited about that - he could do something similar and have a space to hang out with friends. We learned later that the garage is actually rented to someone who runs a business out of the space.

The offer was written and submitted about 5:30 p.m. and shortly thereafter we learned another offer had come in. As a result, C's offer was revised a bit, and resubmitted at 6:24 p.m. His offer was accepted at 7:42 p.m., although they could have held off until morning. They even agreed to a move-in date of November 6. And btw, he paid less than the asking price of that dump from Wednesday's photo. It just goes to show that house prices are just made up numbers. 

In the meantime, there are still the conditional periods on both properties to get through. The conditions on my property are to be lifted by next Wednesday, for C the date is the following Wednesday. He'll have a busy week ahead, meeting with the mortgage broker to finalize financing and arranging for a house inspection, as well as working. 

The property isn't perfect. But it is above and beyond everything else we've looked at. The size is great, the basement is finished and would offer a space for me and allow my son his privacy, and the garage is especially a bonus. When I'm travelling, I can park the car indoors and leave it where it will be safe. There are a couple of pink walls that will need to be painted...funny, my son doesn't care for them. The back and one side fence need to be replaced/built. The back garden space is a project as it has been covered by landscape fabric and leaves and debris allowed to accumulate. It is, however, move-in ready and the work I've mentioned can either be completed over the winter or wait until spring.

Oh, one other thing - out in the front flower bed in front of the small patio on the right), are a few lilies. Back in 2018 when we were looking for my daughter's place, we found a bed of lilies out front. My mom loved lilies and had a large flower bed with numerous varieties. We always said the lilies were a sign of her approval. Apparently, it has happened again.

Today, I've got some yard work to get done. It's time to start pulling the annuals and cleaning up the containers. The house needs to be tidied a bit in anticipation of Monday's inspection. There is baseball to watch, and curling has started too (You-tube) so I'll keep myself busy. 

Have a great week ahead everyone!

Winter of my discontent

Have I mentioned recently how much I dislike winter? It's only mid-December and I'm already tired of shovelling snow, bundling up in a parka, mitts, and toque just to take out the garbage, chapped lips and dry hands...  Well, you get the picture. We had a couple of reasonable winter days, meaning overcast, not too cold, and no snow.  However, on Wednesday, a Colorado low moved in from the southeast, and another storm came from the northwest. Here in the city we didn't get as much as other areas did, but there was another 3 inches on the ground when I got out of bed Thursday morning. I had shovelled the inch or so that accumulated by Wednesday afternoon when I returned home after the stitch and chat.

Alright whine over...nothing I can do (yet) or anyone else can do to keep this from happening. I did enjoy our stitch and chat this week; S has returned from Arizona and the lady (Io) I've been meeting with, while she was away was there too. Poor S, she arrived back in Regina the day that the windchill hit -48C. Things haven't improved much, as her car wouldn't start, the picture on her television has gone wonky, and some forms she had sent into to a provincial department were rejected because her cover page said 16 pages, and there were 17 attached because one page was duplicated. You'd think someone on the receiving end would be able to remove the duplicate, but apparently not, and she has to resubmit the documents.

She brought along a couple of knitting pattern books she no longer needs/wants and gave them to me. The patterns are lovely, meant for older children (8-16) and adults. I'm sure I'll be able to use them as Eli keeps growing. Funny that! S also brought a piece of knitting (a UFO) that was tucked away in her closet in Arizona. She had lost the pattern, but we were able to identify it as the moss stitch and with a Google search had the pattern figured out. Io was was finishing sewing buttons on kitchen towels, and then brought out her embroidery. She's making a set of tea towels that are likely to be gifted to her granddaughter.

I had my crocheting with me. I pulled a couple of balls of yarn from the stash and started working on a lap blanket. I'm not a fan of the colors but I need to use up the stash and they do look bright and cheerful together. 

The sugar cookies and red velvet mini-cupcakes were iced and decorated early one morning. Two of the sugar cookies broke as I was working on them, so they and a cupcake were that morning's breakfast. Breakfast of champions? Probably not. :) On the weekend, I had finished the peppermint sandwich cookies. They're tasty, but not nearly as good as my sugar cookies. I'm not sure what I did differently but man, oh man, are they good. 

I've finally caught up on my updates on Ancestry this week. I was thinking I might cancel my Newspapers.com subscription but received notice that they've added a number of additional newspapers from Scotland. I'm hoping I might find mention of some of my ancestors, though it is much like looking for a needle in a haystack with the last name of Stewart. Recently, I picked up a book "Online Genealogy", which I've skimmed and I think may help me identify other sources for searching. At the moment, my hopes are pinned on DNA testing. My adult children purchased the kit for me as a Christmas gift, and it arrived a couple of weeks ago. I've mailed it off and received an e-mail this week that it has arrived at the lab. Results are expected with 6-8 weeks. I'm hoping against hope that this information might be the key to finding the links to origins of various family members.

The other (and much more exciting) thing I worked on this week was preparing for my January cruise. My travel agent L and I had a chat Thursday morning and went through her checklist of things for me to remember and consider. She is truly amazing and is so detailed oriented. L was concerned about my airline e-tickets as they have my first name and only my initial for the second name. This doesn't match my passport which has both full names. We went through the list of things to be saved to my phone and items I need or want to have in printed form as well. I was a bit ahead of her on that as I had the printouts and had updated the electronic documents before our call. 

I made a call to the airline and confirmed my full name is in their system, but the tickets will show only my first name and initial. To be certain, I asked the agent several times, and she confirmed it will not be an issue at the counter. My next call was to the hotel to confirm my reservation. I booked through Airmiles, a third party booking system, and wanted to be certain there was no hiccup. Several years ago, I had used Airmiles to book a New York hotel, only to learn on arrival that they had no reservation for me. I had to pay $400 room for the night. On returning home I contacted Airmiles and eventually learned that the booking had been made for February instead of September! They reimbursed me for the cost of the room, but I'll never book again without following up directly with the hotel to confirm.

I pulled out the suitcase and carry-on bag, and went through my summer and "cruise" clothes. Yes, I have certain items I only wear when I'm cruising. I'm hard on my everyday clothing, so I keep some nicer pieces for my trips. This is a 14 day cruise, with an added travel day at the beginning - I always fly in a day ahead, in case there are delays. I've learned to pack enough clothing for 7 days, along with a few nicer items for evening wear, not including the travel day clothing. The ship has a DIY laundromat that I'll use on a sea day. We have eight sea days and four ports and full day transiting the canal. I do enjoy sea days! One port that was initially on the itinerary, Nicaragua, was cancelled - no reason given, but I hadn't planned to get off the ship there anyway. It would been a long bus ride to the nearest city and none of the posted excursions looked particularly worth the travel time and money to me.

Friday, I ran out to pick up a few groceries to get us through the next few days, and more cat food and bird seed. The birds and the squirrels have been inhaling the seed and at least one rabbit is enjoying the feed too. He/she leaves behind evidence of their visit. It was out in the front yard the other day - looks pretty healthy doesn't it?

No curling streaming this week, though there is an event in Japan that I'll be keeping my eye on for the scores. I'm planning to relax this weekend, watch some sports, catch up on PVR'ed television, and continue crocheting the lap blanket. I better not have to shovel any more snow! Shouldn't have to, as the weather forecast is for more cold weather. I'll end this post as I started...I hate winter!

Have a good week ahead everyone.

Things that annoy me

The damned hawk or falcon is back in my neighbourhood killing the songbirds.  I found a wing (no picture, I promise) with bone attached as I was cleaning up my yard this week.  My brother assumes it is a merlin rather than a kestral and I tend to go with his expertise...he was a conservation officer for many years.  It's frustrating as I can do nothing about it, and I so miss the sound of the birds early in the morning.  I guess it is the way of nature, but it makes me sad and angry at the same time.

This morning I woke early, around 4 a.m. to the sound of a downpour of rain.  We've been missing the storms the last week or so, with the rain falling outside the city.  I was on the phone with my brother yesterday morning, as he watched a thunderstorm to the north of his location (about 40 kms. outside the city), while I sat in the sun on my front patio.  While I've been wishing for rain, I've been watering my containers pretty much every day.  Now the outside tap has developed a leak.  My son and I both tried to turn it off with the inside shut off but by this morning, it was running steadily.  I'll call the plumber tomorrow and have them come and repair it.  Sigh...with a house there is always something that needs fixing.  

Speaking of necessary repairs, check out what the rotten kitten Sheldon has done.  I can't truly be angry with him as he is simply being a kitten but darn it all!

The sunroom has these curtains on all three sides, which I generally close when the sun gets too much.  It doesn't help keep the room cool but simply a bit darker.  Apparently Sheldon wanted to see beyond the curtain - perhaps there were birds that needed watching.  In any event, he's managed to snag several of the curtains, though this one has taken the brunt of it.  I really didn't/don't want to have to replace them but I suspect any repair job I do would be too noticeable.  The problem is finding curtains that are a similar length.  I haven't measured but I'd say I need 96-108" in length, checking on-line I'm looking at $70-100 per panel, ouch!  I'll likely wait until next spring to change them out.  By then I'll have the house up for sale, and Sheldon should have outgrown his kittenish antics. Fingers crossed!

On a totally different note, has anyone been out shopping lately?  I was at Walmart on Friday evening and did a double take when I saw all the school supplies are out on the shelves (and aisle ways).  We haven't even reached the end of July! Of course, once school does start the Halloween decorations and candy will be out, and before that is over, the Christmas paraphernalia will be out in full force.  Rush the seasons, much?  

You would think I'd be happy to see seasons changing, since it is bringing my retirement that much closer.  But I'm not quite there yet.  Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to not having to get up to got to work, it's just that I feel so far out from being able to make the transition.  Almost every area of my house is in disarray, filled with stuff.  My own bedroom has my sewing table, containers of fabric and patterns cluttering the space (not that I've done any sewing since D and Eli arrived).  My stash of yarn for knitting and crocheting is partly stored in the living room ottomans and the rest is in storage in the basement.  At one time this all had a place in the room Eli now inhabits.  His room, along with the living room, sun room, and back deck hold the voluminous mounds of toys, books, riding toys, and furniture that, apparently, every small child must possess.  

Then there is my daughter's bedroom...shudder.  I keep the door shut because I cannot stand to see the piles of clothing, books, personal care items, craft supplies, etc. etc. etc.  AND that's just one room.  The basement area has boxes of kitchen and household items, her freezer and other furniture, the garage is full of items for sale and consignment that she promises will be gone soon.  I've heard that before.  

However, we are making small progress in that regard.  D and Eli have been spending some time in Melville, a small town just 90 minutes from Regina.  Her friend A lives there with her three children (another due in November).  Her youngest child is 3 months younger than Eli, and the two women have become close friends.  A has convinced D that with the cost of living it makes sense to move there.  Unfortunately there isn't much available for rent, so with some trepidation, I've agreed to look at providing the down payment for a small house.  Because of her financial situation (which is about as messy as her bedroom), I'll be the titled owner.  

To that end, I visited a mortgage broker on Friday to explore the possibility and determine what I could afford.  As I expected the extent of the funding available far exceeds my comfort level.  I did some calculations and confirmed that if D had absolutely no funding I would still be able to manage the costs within my retirement budget.  But of course, the expectation is that she will cover the costs of the mortgage, insurance, utilities and property taxes.  She's currently receiving funding that will provide more than sufficient funds, and is in discussions with her employer to work from home when she returns to work in the future.  There are also employment opportunities in the community as well as in Yorkton which is about 20-30 minute drive.  So unless all goes to hell in a hand basket, she and Eli will be in their own home within the next 2-3 months.  And should this fail, I guess I'll have a place to live when I retire....not necessarily where I want to be.

D and A visited six properties this past weekend, of the 17 that were within her price range.  Almost every one of the properties has been listed for sale for at least 180 days.  Apparently there was a large project being built nearby with construction over several years.  These houses were purchased by the workers, and now the job is done, the properties are up for sale.  However, like many small towns, the community is home primarily to seniors who have moved off the farm, and young families seeking lower costs, so while there is a fair amount of inventory, demand is low.  It is a buyer's market, and the cost of property is probably 25-30% of what similar houses would cost here in the city.  

D, Eli, and I are planning to go to Melville on Thursday to visit the short listed properties.  I assume we'll make an offer on one of the properties before we leave, with conditions of financing, appraisal, and inspection before any deal is done.  Wish me luck!

Well, on that note, I'll sign off for this week.  Have a great week everyone!