It was freezing cold this past week. The worst day of the week? It was Wednesday. Not only did I have to get up at 5:30 after only a couple of hours of sleep, but I had to pick up Margie by 6:30am. Margie and I pre-paid for a golf tournament at Web Hill. Note, I said pre-paid cause I wouldn't have gone if I could have gotten my money back. It was AWFUL. It was not only cold, it was extremely windy. Not one of those gusty days, it was a continuous flat out BLOW ! All of us women were digging to the bottom of our golf bags in search of anything that would fit over our ears. I found a broken head band that I tied in a knot and managed to keep it on my ears. I also drug out my rain cart cover made by Frogger. I was the only girl in the entire tournament with a cart cover. It was noisey, but hey, it did keep the wind off of me. Sheila and I each got one in a golf tournament we played in last fall.
Before I leave the subject of the golf tournament, I must tell you that I shot a big bold 102. I was sort of embarassed. But then, they called my name. I won something in my flight. Maybe 2nd place. Margie also won something in her flight, she shot a 101. I couldn't believe it. I was one of many women who couldn't freeze to death and play golf at the same time. Paula, our best player there that day, shot a 95 or 96. Even she won something. It was amazing. The highest score that won in one of the flights shot a 122. After we all kept laughing (we weren't laughing at the lady personally... we were laughing because the scores were ridiculous. Someone suggested the lady doing the awards stop giving the scores. I didn't see who it was that said it, but I suspect it was Margie. (smiling)
Speaking of Sheila..... she didn't go with us to play that day, cause she was making Mark happy. How, you may ask? By going to work. You know, it's not the hours you work, it's the thought that counts. I think she even worked the next night. Mark must be smiling now, big time.
On Thursday, instead of playing golf with the Firewheel Ladies, I went house hunting with Gary and Gigi, our realtor. I have almost ruined my eyes by being on the PC if I'm not asleep. It's eithere converting documents to searchable PDF documents, or hunting for a house on Zillow. I can't remember if I mentioned it, but we are wanting to move.
We moved here 14 years ago because this house has 8 acres behind it. We are actually in the city, and it is rare that anyone in our income bracket could afford a place with any type of land, unless it was a dump. Anyway, the surrounding area has gotten so noisey.
We now have a train that is about 1 mile away that runs all day long (think subway type of transportation, but on an elevated track in parts around me), an elevated high speed toll road, and increased traffic on the 6 lane divided roads leading to the entrance to our subdivision. It is just awful. So, peace and quiet in the country is what we're looking for.
We want an out building (think metal structure that is easy on the eyes) that will house all of Gary's junk and my RV. Gary already has 2 storage places. Once he found out I threw away his old moth eaten High School Letter Jacket, and almost divorced me. It was so nasty.... I was afraid the EPA would find out what I'd done and fine me for polluting the trash truck. Then, I have the RV and various things I need for it. You know how that goes..... 10 or so lawn chairs. I got some of those collapsible ones that have canvas and fold up and go inside a long tube. Then, I upgraded and got four new folding ones that have a side table on them. Then I got one bar stool heighth chair like them. Then there is the extra stand alone shower/toilet tent that I thought I might need. It has never been out of the box, but just in case.... I have it. Then there's the rug I got.... it's like 8X10 and was really pretty for an outdoor rug. However, I used it once and it was too much trouble to clean. There's the extra insulated drinking glasses, dishes, pots and pans, separate fishing poles (Gary needs his near by... in his storage space).... on and on.
Back on track Connie.... We also want at least 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, and closets that will hold at least one season's clothes. I can get by with only one living area and one big eat in kitchen. OK.... I'm thinking 2000 square feet.... and maybe limit myself to $300,000. Oh, and at least 3 acres, and preferable on a lake. Shouldn't be a problem, right? Well, last week when I went looking, I thought I had the perfect house. It looked sooooo go on the internet. It had 6 acres, only one living area and one eating area, and only 2 baths, but what ever... and it had a HUGE drive in storage barn with electricity and a bathroom, a pond, was on a deep well for watering the HUGE garden and HUGE orchard, and for keeping the HUGE pond full during droughts. The pond was full. The house had one problem that I noticed immediately.... the washer and dryer were in the garage, which was a different level than the house.... STAIRS!!!!! I'm thinking I can probably nag Gary in to doing the wash, then I go into the master bedroom. Not bad, but not large. I'm cool with that cause I don't live there. Then the bad part.... the master closet wouldn't even hold MY summer clothes, much less anything Gary had. The closets are where they saved the space. Damn... 2 apple trees, peach, pear, and pecan trees, grapes, berries, even a planted garden. Oh my... it was sooo pretty. Oh well.
Off we go to the next house. It was a 2 story, but it was beautiful on the internet. We got there and walked in to the living room and eating area... and I could see out the back door. It was not the right size for the doorway. The drapes were ripped off the windows and thrown in the closets. It was filthy, and the toilets were dirty. No wonder it had been on Zillow (real estate market web site that does multi-listed properties) for almost a year with no offers. Of course, it had a beautiful out building. The last one we looked at was about the same. These homes were almost $300,000. Gigi told me I needed to up the minimum square feet on my searches, and up the price to $400,000 so I could get a better range of proper to view. But, I didn't want to pay $400,000. Well, we can always negotiate. OK.... I changed it all. I keep telling myself that my house is worth a lot more than what we paid for it.
It is amazing what you can get for just one hundred thousand more dollars. OK, I had property to view. All houses were about 3200 square feet. All had at least 3 acres. All were no more than 15 years old. All were about 1 hour (60 miles) away, and all were near a lake. First house was about 3600 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 2 living and dining areas, 4 acres, was on a well, total electric (ugh), was beautiful. The only problem was, you had to drive thru old abandoned trailers and shacks to get to this high dollar subdivision. The house we looked at was one of the cheaper/smaller ones. Well, that and the fact that my RV was too tall for the storage door. However, they did have a pad in place behind the storage facility that was paved and it would accommodate the RV. I just didn't like the drive thru the slums.
Next house, Gary got soooo excited. So did I. It had a gated entry (solar system) and you could hardly see the house for all the trees on the owners side of the wrought iron fence. Once you got in, it was tall oaks trees. An the storage barn? It had door tall enough for any one's RV. Gary immediately went out there. We go in the house, and you are met with a 2 story set of windows, and the living area (only one) has a 2 story rock fireplace. Wait..... it sticks about 3 feet out into the room. They have a sofa back for the first thing you see after the windows and fireplace. Then I notice that they have one sofa, one love seat, and one arm chair. Only 2 end tables, no coffee table. I could never seat more than 6 people in this room unless they sat in the entry way. Even worse, you could not see the TV from but 4 seats. It was built in behind the fireplace. There was no place else to put it.
Then, the kitchen is really screwed up. The pantry is in a different room... back past the laundry room and by the garage door. They had put the island which contains the kitchen sink so close to the refrigerator, that you couldn't open it and walk out of the kitchen. What a mess. Big bedrooms, and abundant bathrooms. We go to the garage and it smells like dog shit. UGH. The floor is spotless, but the dog obviously craps there. I'm done with this. I go try and find Gary and he's out by the pond.... as I approach, he tells me this is the house he wants. WTF? He hasn't even walked in to the house. We
It is 6 acres, backs up to a lake, and is in a very restricted area. Everyone has out buildings. All are nice. Mine won't fit in this one, but we've decided we can just build another one. This house has an underground propane tank and is plumbed for gas kitchen and laundry room appliances. The house is beautiful. Two LARGE living and dining areas, GIGANTIC kitchen, master suite wing and bath, a dedicated office with bookcases and desk and filing cabinets, all wooden and built ins, laundry room, 2 bedrooms and one jack-in-jill bath, 1/2 bath downstairs, and 2nd floor had a sitting area, bathroom and bedroom. Hey, I could live with that. I'd just tell the girls to take sheets up as they went upstairs and to bring them down when they leave. It also had an enclosed sun room with glass windows and screens. It also had a boat slip with motorized boat lift. That is where Gary was, once again, not in the house. I head down to the dock and fishing pier.... and of course there is no water. Not only was there no water, we couldn't see any water anywhere. We were on a peninsula. We even went to the members only boat ramp, still no water. We did finally see some in the distance behind one of the houses.... but it was only because they had cut down all the weeds that had grown where the water once was. Alas, we knew that would be an issue. Oh well, then there was one tiny problem. As we were leaving, I opened the office door again, and as I left it closed behind me. OOPS. Then I tried to leave it open again, and again it closed by itself. Then I noticed the laundry door did the same thing, and also the bathroom door in that wing. Crap... probably foundation problems. It was not on a pier and beam system, just a slab. Off we go, and head home.... deeply disappointed. These house were all good on something... but always a show stopper there somewhere. I did hear from the realtor today. The owners have not disclosed any foundation work or problems. We will just have to have it inspected.
I came home and spent the rest of the evening looking at property. Crap. Gary and I talked, we probably only have another 10 "good" years. We may or may not be around long enough to see the lake fill up again. Not only that, but there is a super reservoir being planned to support the new 1 million residents they are expecting in the Dallas Ft.Worth area in the new few years. Guess you all heard that Toyota will move their headquarters to Plano (a suburb just 1/2 mile north of us) in 2015. However, the lake subdivision was one of the nicest neighbourhoods we saw. I did ask Gary if we couldn't just build one, and he doesn't want the hassle of having to deal with it. Not only that, I'm worried about being here with the new trash transfer station is built. He thinks that no matter what, our acreage will always make our house desirable. I just hope he's right since he refuses to put it on the market until we move to a new house. Soooo... that's my new life plan. Sit at the computer and look for houses or blog.
OMG.... look at this long novel. Then again, no one has probably read this far. Oh well, it does give me a chance to vent. Speaking of vent..... Gary bought me a new oven and convection microwave from Lowe's 2 weeks ago. They were supposed to deliver it today. They called and said it would not be in for a couple more weeks. Yup, that's how my life is going to go. But get this.... Gary has alread modified the surround that it will fit in already. I almost fainted. He had to remove 1/2 in on each side, and then remove one piece of wood on the bottom and replace it with a taller one. See, before it held an over in one section, and then the microwave section was separated by a piece of wood... on a separate shelf. The new one is one big ass unit. He has the board stained and everything to put in the bottom. He just doesn't want to screw it in place until he verifies that it fits perfectly. He has never, NEVER been so prepared. We both should have known something would wrong when he was ready.
Have you all been watching the fiasco with the land management group and the farmer? I personally think the farmer is wrong. I mean, next he'll be wanting to let his cattle graze on my 8 acres behind my house because some ancestor did it 200 years ago. He wants it for free. Man, I pay taxes on all the land I get to use, why shouldn't he? Well, anyway, I'm closing with a story for you all.
Have a good one. I promise not to blog about houses.
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