naladahc | tripping along the golden path

Today has been about getting the back yard set up for the 4th Annual Giga and Nala Cookout/Potluck tomorrow, as well as getting all the meats marinated, including the big portabella mushrooms.

I started out the day mowing the lawn.

Would you believe autumn as hit the Cowlands already?

The damn tree in the back yard is shedding leaves and will probably have dropped them all by middle of next week.

Insanity!

Of course, I raked up what I could and bagged it all.

I also got the 1 canopy set up but decided against the other one since it was so shitty. Hell, there was definitely a reason it was on clearance at K-Mart! It went right into the trash!

I also got all of my cooking prep for tomorrow done.

The steaks and chicken were all poked with this new multi-bladed tenderizer I bought and they're all marinating in olive oil, white white, garlic, pomegranate juice, and miscellaneous herbs.

I've also got 6 portabella mushroom heads marinating in a variation of this marinade that also includes onions and dill.

I kind of make up my marinades on the fly. Hopefully they'll all come together.

I made a roasted red pepper, artichoke, and cactus topping to put on the mushrooms once they are grilled.

The mizeria (Polish cucumber/sour cream/dill salad) is made.

The kapusta (Polish sween & saur kraut) is made and is cooking down on the stove as I type.

I'm pretty much done until having to grill tomorrow.

The kitchen is Giga's now for his stuff!

Oh. And the kielbasa is thawing too!

Yay!

No dachshunds allowed in the kitchen when I'm prepping!

So somebody accidentally showed up for the cookout today!

Oops!

I thought the email and flyer were clear. Plus, we've always held it on the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend.

Oh well.

Was funny at least.

Yesterday was just too busy because of the cookout and all.

We had a ton of people come through and there was so much food we didn't even open of few of the things!

The yard and deck work so well for entertaining and the weather was just perfect! Not too hot. A bit of a breeze. Zero rain!

Hensley found a filthy dirty ball he'd hidden somewhere and conned a ton of people into throwing the ball for him for 9 or so hours all day long!

It was a great time.

But... while I was grilling I got a phone call that a realtor wanted to show the house on Monday.

So... my first potential buyer!

We tried to get the house de-partied last night and spent a good chunk of the morning today cleaning and trying to put the "photograph" look to the house with out any shit in site.

The call said that they wanted to see the house from 1 to 2 so that meant taking the Hoont out to a park and becoming scarce.

Well, we returned around 2 and they were still in the house.

They literally were in the house until 3pm, leaving just a bit after!!!

Now I know you aren't supposed to talk to the other realtor or anything like that but I was patiently waiting a few houses down and the realtor came over to ask my neighbors about the 'hood and all. Of course, I was trying to play it low key but inevitably it came out that indeed the house was mine.

She said that the couple wanted her to make an offer!

They are the first people to come through and it looks like I may be getting a call soon!!!

I'm kinda scared!

Well.

They made an offer.

And for the most part, I couldn't refuse.

The only issue is that they want to move in by the end of the month which means I need to find a place, get a new mortgage, and close all within the same time frame!

They want the refrigerator, the Craigslist washer & dryer, and the window treaments, of which most of the high quality blinds were with the house when I bought it, the others are the cheapest Lowe's blinds, or curtains Giga made from cheap sheets.

I'm having my realtor write back that I accept with the conditions of finding the House of Love IV within a few days.

I didn't think it would be this crazy! I really didn't!

Well I accepted the potential buyer's offer, with the counter-offer that I have to have 7 days to find a new house and that they can take possession at 8pm the day after closing.

It appears they've signed the counter offer.

So.

Their building inspection needs to be scheduled, and then all the oh-so-fun-and-exciting remediation phase, and then the closing. All of that going on while the true bad craziness of finding the House of Love IV begins!

I looked at 5 houses today with another 5 tomorrow afternoon.

So far, out of the 10 I've looked at since last week, only the 1 today really had the potential to be a great home.

It needs work, and some "undoing" of a very 80s kitchen and a horrible built-in table, the removal of awful carpeting in every room and the return to hardwood floors, as well repainting of every room and new electric.

The garage is iffy but will last for a few more years.

The thing is, it is on the perfect street in the perfect neighborhood.

I am also fairly certain that every dollar put into the place will make it all the more valuable should I choose to sell it.

It really has massive potential.

Now it doesn't have the real charm that made me immediately fall in love with the current, and soon to not be House of Love III.

The moment I walked in the door here in 2003 I fell in love with it.

This house doesn't quite have that but I can see, after a year or two of work, and some substantial kitchen work, a home that I will love to have people over at and a place that really will make me feel happy to be a homeowner again.

That just can't happen here in the campus ghetto.

I'll see what tomorrow brings but I'm going to keep thinking about this place.

FYI:

Velveeta, like Alia, is an abomination against nature.

That is all.

After looking at more houses this evening all I can say is that absolutely none of them are perfect.

Either they are on nice lots or they are awkward properties.

One of them stuck out for me, but it has issues and of course would need work. However, it is on a huge chunk of land but far more north than I wanted to go.

I can't stand up in the basement. Yeah. That's a problem.

From a certain perspective that kills the usable space there and also brings into question a decent laundry area.

It is really only a 2 bedroom house too since some previous owner tore down a wall to make a huge master bedroom.

It is also set towards the back of a huge parcel of land which is what first blew me away.

It has a "plantation vibe" to it and I immediately thought of The Plantation of Love as a possible name.

I think the lot itself is the more impressive thing. With the right funds, I can totally see tearing down the garage to put a new one up that also has a livable second floor. It is also the area you'd add on to the house if you wanted to.

Tomorrow will pretty much wrap up the options available in the area I want to live.

Then I have to make the decision if it will indeed be possible to meet the buyer's stipulation or not and just walk away from the offer.

I hate to, but I knew their request to move in by the end of the month would not be ideal for me.

So another night of non-sleep... or should I say a very poor 2 1/2 hours of sleep.

I'm running on about 5 hours or so since Monday.

I got up around midnight and walked the house for a long time.

Finally, around 3am I just said screw it and came in to work so I could try to get some solid undisturbed time in on my audit project data analysis.

This house thing is making me a total wreck.

I don't like feeling like I'm not in control of the situation.

I swore to myself I would make sure the next house had the right amount of time invested in it.

It doesn't help that Clintonville has nothing totally right to offer and there are no other neighborhoods I really would feel comfortable living in.

More houses looked at.

More houses looked at with bad basements and in need of $80,000 of work.

But over dinner, we decided that one of them is worth it even with the work we'll have to do on it.

So maybe... just maybe... this will be the new House of Love IV in 5-6 weeks.

Four bedrooms, a 2 car garage, and a shitload of purple and lavender carpet to remove before we move in!

That is if all goes well.

I'm kind of making an initial low offer based on what I'm making off of the House of Love III sale but I'm inclined to make a slightly higher offer if need be.

This house is in the ideal neighborhood for me, and is a brisk walk to High Street, the Whetstone Park of Roses, and a library where we can have crappy VHS copies of Doctor Who episodes sent to.

There houses are maintained. There are no abandoned cars in yards and the lawns are cut.

I think it'll work out in the long run.

The best part is that every dollar put in this house will eventually come out of this house.

The HOL III is at its max.

So...

Once more unto the breach dear geeks...

And 12:50pm my offer for Blenheim was faxed to the other realtor.

I upped my offer by $5K and agreed to $1K earnest money down if they accept.

I said we didn't want anything in the house. I think the black (ugh) refrigerator is included but I could be mistaken.

So.

Now onto finding an approved mortgage.

The owner of Blenheim is on vacation until next week and it sounds unlikely that she'll accept my offer.

And there's not much else out there worth looking at.

Certainly nothing I can think of looking at again.

We sorta-kinda walked in on the realtor and the potential buyers just now. I wasn't sure if they were still in the house and there was an SUV blocking our gate. It being OSU game day means parking is practically non-existent on the street.

Anyway... Giga and I left at 10am so the house could have the full building inspection. I left The Hoont here are well and apparently he behaved himself.

Now to see what they want me to remedy and if I'll even consider it.

We're going out to look at more houses at 4pm.

Some friends of Giga's who are currently selling a house are dealing with a "remedy the basement with $35,000 worth of work" situation. Um... Not for a $189K house near the Giant Eagle.

There's "remedy", and there's "REMEDY"!

Anyway, I forgot how much I hate the whole affair of buying a house. I think I now loathe the affair of selling a house just as much.

So.

While I haven't officially seen the list of things for remedy, my realtor did mention them to Giga, and one of them I didn't even know about.

1. Move the garbage disposal switch under the sink. (Was always something I thought of doing.)
2. Have a damper added to the chimney and certify it for woodburning. (I just always burned logs there without the damper/flue.)
3. Repair the leaky tub faucets. (Was always planned for the remodel of the bathroom.)
4. There's apparently a leak on the somewhere after the water meter that I didn't know about.
5. Change the 30amp breaker for the stove to a 40amp breaker.

Obviously, none of these hampered my enjoyment of the house nor have we ever tripped circuits.

So. Tomorrow I'll begin looking for a plumber and a chimney guy. The simple electrical stuff I should be able to do myself.

So in an hour I'm off to see 8 more houses.

I know we've seen one on Tulane at an open house a few weeks back. An ok house with a phenomenal 2 story garage but not in the neighborhood I want to live in.

No matter what else I see, Blenheim keeps calling me. The neighborhood is just the dream neighborhood, and nothing south of North Broadway can compare to it.

It has been pouring rain today and I hope that keeps people away from the open house at Blenheim.

I'm ready to up my offer a bit.

I want it that bad.

Well today was a real bummer.

We even looked at a place in Worthington.

There was only 1 house that had potential but it was 1 bedroom too small and Giga hated the kitchen. The price was very nice though, but honestly, it was worth the full price if you ask me.

So.

I can't exactly say things are looking good for a new house right now.

There is absolutely nothing left in Clintonville to look at.

So my realtor has a chimney guy coming out. It'll probably be around $500 to do the chimney.

Giga's got the plumber coming out.

I've got an electrician coming out, but the buyer's realtor says they want more electric work done after they move in. With a few of the issues, it makes sense they should just have their own guy do it afterwards and maybe I'll just throw a few bucks at it.

Sorta-maybe-kinda good news on my new house front.

My realtor talked to the other and I've upped my offer substantially to $4K less than asking. I'm going to throw part of my savings into the house too to bring the mortgage down to where it will be more manageable. I didn't want to, but this house will not only be my home but will truly be an investment in terms of the neighborhood it is in. I have to look at dropping into the savings as a positive thing here.

You know what my favorite part of this house drama bullshit is?

The stress that has caused my A-list model looks to break out in zits!

Zits!

Like I'm 13 again!

Grrrr!

(I hope this isn't a revisit of those f'n shingles from February!)

For the second time tonight I was startled out of bed by the phone ringing.

Obviously, in the realms of real estate transactions nothing is set in stone until the loans are closed, the names are signed, and the deeds and titles are fully passed over, but the final call was that the owner finally returned to town and had agreed to my offer.

My realtor suspects there will be a counter-offer of some kind, and tomorrow the appropriate paperwork will have to be signed and the earnest money paid. Of course, it always involves the money in some shape, way, or form.

Ok.

I'm going to go try and sleep now.

Maybe... just maybe... I can finally get a good night's sleep.

And maybe my zits can clear up.

House of Love III

Things are moving fast on the House of Love III sale.

Giga chose wisely with the plumber and the repair of the basement pipe that had a small leak was both quoted and repaired in less than 2 hours! That's one item to completely check off the list!

I had an electrician quote all the work, including the items that would result in the cutting and/or downright destruction of the kitchen counter. I thought the price was ok (it was less than I expected) but my realtor though it was high.

The buyer's electrician was also supposed to give a quote at 1pm. I'd rather just float them cash to have the work done by their guy but definitely no more than what I was quoted.

The chimney guy will be out tomorrow. This will likely be the costliest thing from my end.

Sietch Clintonville

So I called to rework the loan and apparently, according the the loan dude, I am officially "in contract" on the new sietch. Though that may just be a clerical thing.

Anyway, I've decided to put more of my savings into the downpayment to rid us of that PMI bullshit right out the door. I'm sure PMI did such a good job with all.

The seller did not counter offer so it is now onto the House Inspection and Giga's handling that. We need to get that done ASAP because it is conceivable that we could close very quickly and take occupancy!

This just in...

I just got a call from my realtor with what may be the most bizarre request I could have ever imagined coming.

No where in my mind could I have ever thought this would come up from the buyers.

Ever.

Ok.

I'm upgrading the blog software to Moveable Type 4.0.

The template will probably change to the new ones.

Now is as good a time as any to learn the ins and outs of the new stuff.

Plus, with the new house, I want to relaunch naladahc.com a bit and I've been working on a plasticcrack.com relaunch for months.

So I upgraded to MT 4.0.

Major differences. It is like a totally different web applications. They redesigned the GUI on this bigtime!

It did major upgrade to the SQL database too.

Here's hoping I can find some time to customize the default templates.

Obviously, I totally hosed the site.

MT 4 is a drastic change and some of my templates are totally messed up.

I can't even get the defaults to properly work.

You can read this but it is all messed up. Damn comments are not working either since somehow it inherited something from my anti-spam measures.

Lovely.

Oh well... if you want to check up on the house stuff you'll need to visit plasticcrack.com.

Thank fully I didn't attempt to update that!

Ok. I think I got the MT backend working again.

At least the generic default template seems to be funcitonal. Comments appear to be working too.

This has been less than fun.

And dammit... MT 4 is SLOW AS HELL on my server.

This may have been a mistake.

I don't know why but I had a panic attack at home when I went to let the dog out at lunchtime.

Everything is just kind of getting to me.

I really should start fasting again. That always helps.

Of course, the crap I've been eating since Labor Day has no doubt contributed to my depression and general bad craziness over the house and such.

I decided that I'd swing by the new house on the way back to work and just going up High and down into that neighborhood, knowing full well I'd soon be a resident, really cheered me up.

The house will really be nice.

The sign's changed.

I signed off on the final remedy paperwork and locked the loan for the new house.

The final 2 weeks could feel like an eternity.

So the remedy stuff was faxed to the buyers yesterday evening.

As of this morning I haven't heard back or not and today's the day they want to get married in the house.

The inspection of the new house is tentatively set for 1pm tomorrow. Expect all kinds of photos and thoughts on the place.

I'm still in that strange head space about it.

I so wish I could move my house to this neighborhood.

I know a lot of you don't care of the House of Love III but I stand in my living room and look at the huge open space, the huge dining room, the long kitchen, and my wide stairwell and I realize I'll probably never find a place like this again.

The new house is ok but it doesn't have the full charm and appeal that the House of Love has to me.

I don't think many places could.

This just in...

'Vaginal rejuvenation' unnecessary, not safe, however I don't think having the plumbing checked every now and then is such a bad idea.

Talked to my realtor.

They accepted my remedies and are signing the release.

Giga's got the completion of the chimney work scheduled and next Monday the bank will appraise the house.

So I think I may have just mowed the lawn for the last time.

Then again, there may be one more mowing to be done over the next 2 weeks.

I'm really going to miss my huge back yard.

The new place has practically no yard really.

Enough for the Hoont and that's about it.

Hopefully we can make something special out of it.

And I don't meet covering it in Hoont bombs!

"The beast was clumsy..... "


Originally uploaded by And... Action!

I don't know what it is about short-haired dachshunds but I just love them.



The one that lives with me or pretty much anybody elses.

So.

It was a nice evening actually.

There was me, Giga, the buyer, her Hungarian fiance, a minister/something guy, and our two realtors.

I was the photographer, but I didn't use my camera so I don't have any people photos to show you.

Plus, it wouldn't really have been appropriate.

There was champagne, and I even pulled out my grandmother's wedding crystal for the bride and groom to use.

I learned a bit about the buyers.

She's a teacher that recently got a permanent position at the University. They met in Hungary. This is her first house. They looked at houses all summer and found nothing they liked until they opened the front door of the House of Love and immediately fell in love with it.

They love the stairwell. They loving the dining room. They love the living room. They love the kitchen. They love the way the bedrooms come together at the center of the stairs. They love the Attic of Love. They especially love the Hoont.

I didn't bother to ask if they liked the *cough* lovely *cough* bathroom.

The irony of it all is that it somewhat mirrors my own experience in finding the house after looking at 49 places in 2003 and then only going on the last run with my realtor to tell her I was totally over looking at houses. They had been looking for months and this was pretty much the last one before they were going to throw in the towel.

But all in all, it was nice, and it was special for them in a city where they don't really know anyone at all and are buying their first house together.

So the house inspection is at 1pm today.

This whole affair is almost over and yet I'm nervous and antsy as hell.

This has literally been one of the most miserable months of my life.

Really.

I'm a mental (and physical) wreck right now.

Well.

There're problems.

Major problems.

The roof has two active leaks and one of the rafters is totally broke, the roof on the small rear addition is totally shot, and the one south basement wall is leaning in 2" and would need to be totally reinforced with steel beams. The garage is utterly worthless and not salvageable. The house is extremely under powered electrically and what is there is heavily ancient knob and tube.

Here are the photos I took.

The house is actually pretty charmless.

Spending 3 hours in it made me realize that.

I like the block and neighborhood though.

This entry is all about some pics.

I made the Flickr gallery private since really it isn't my stuff.

Continue with this post but I warn you it'll be graphics heavy.

I've decided that the problems with the house are just too great to deal with.

Collapsing garage, roof problems, structural problems, the list truly goes on and on.

And while it looks ok on the outside, it lacks any sense of soul or charm and has nothing remotely quirky about it.

The cost to repair the work is just too great and not worth it.

So that's the good news.

Want the gooder news???

So the original house has issues. Major issues.

Of course, if you've ever owned a house or went out looking you know that initial appearances can be quite off.

Suffice to say that the inspection is the best money you can spend to help you make your decision about a property.

The house would need major money put into it to bring it to even remotely the price that they were asking, and then it probably still would not be satisfactory.

Now this morning I put an offer in on another place (pic above) that totally meets our needs and has a solid garage and from all appearances a solid new roof.

It is sans 1 bedroom but the other 3 are also larger.

I've had to make the same offer on this one that I did on the other since that's pretty much my maximum.

I'm so hoping they accept.

Tomorrow's the appraisal at the House of Love and we have to find a place that meets our needs.

I definitely think the new one will. And then some!

I am so running out of time!

So it was a rough day again but I'm in contract on the House of Love IV!!!

And yes, it is definitely a House of Love as opposed to the other one.

There was definitely a reason why I couldn't give it that name, or any other, and when it comes down to it everything about the house was just wrong and would have cost so much money to have fixed yet never have been worth it.

Now I did have to up my offer even more. But I'm just not in a position right now to lose out on this one.

Sure something may come up in the inspection but quite frankly, this one feels good.

It feels solid.

It makes me happy inside.

And even though it will take a few years and some decent scratch to redo the bathrooms and the kitchen, I know that every day when I walk out onto my deck, and down onto my brick patio under the 3 magnolias, and out to my car parked in my garage, and down my street of nicely maintained homes, every dollar spent now will have been worth it.

And believe me, I'm not kidding myself that this is worth it. I'm going to totally feel it in the pocket book for a good 2-3 years at least.

But there really isn't anything that can give one piece of mind like this anymore.

It was so long in coming.

Here's hoping that all goes well with the final aspects of the sale of the House of Love III tomorrow and the purchase and acquisition of the House of Love IV over the next 2 weeks!

TakaraTomy Binaltech Rijie makes 2000 Transformers.

The Attic of Love disappears in two weeks with the sale of the House of Love III...

I don't think there will ever be 3000.

That much is certain.

Well yesterday the damper was installed in the fireplace, completing the remedies the buyers of the House of Love III agreed to.

The chimney guys also moved the cap from the main fireplace (replaced by the flue damper) to the small no longer used chimney at the back of the house for free. The other chimney was for venting cooking heat a century ago.

The appraiser was also by and he's the only thing that could currently throw a wrench into the sale of the house, and hence into the purchase of the new house, and basically make a month's worth of stress and expenditure for nothing.

At 3pm today the inspection is happening at the House of Love IV. I'll have photos later tonight and then you can all rip it to shreds.

So the inspection is over with.

This one was so much better than the last house and after spending 3.5 hours there I know it is the right choice.

The house and landscaping is a blank slate to work with and I just love that.

So we're going to ask to have the following fixed:

1. Have the termites and carpenter ants taken care of in the garage and shed.
2. Fix the gas leak above the hot water tank.
3. Fix the hot water tank venting into the chimney. Something is no working right there.
4, Fix the leaking laundry faucets. (Haven't fully confirmed this one yet!)

I think that's about it.

Yes. There's a shit load of other stuff but I'd have to say those are the major things.

There rest will come in time after we move in and plan our own remedy attack and the remodels of the 1st floor bathroom, 2nd floor bathroom, and the kitchen. Not to mention the creation of a full finished room in the basement.

Anyway, here's a quick down and dirty gallery of the pics from today.

Pussygate at Blue Peter?

Say it ain't so!

So the loan paperwork is on the way back to the mortgage broker.

I found myself over at the house again today. I got out and walked around the yard again.

I think in 3 years time it'll be fantastic.

It won't happen over night but I'm pretty excited!

One week to go.

We start packing this weekend.

So it hit me at work today (yes I worked on a Sunday) that a week from now I'll be in at the new house.

The NalaMatka and the NalaOjciec will be down for an overnight visit next week too which is a first.

I'll be sending out an email of desperation shortly to see who can lend a hand for a few hours Friday night and Saturday morning to help move.

The goal is to have a 24' rental truck here by Thursday afternoon. Giga and I will then start to load up the major furniture and probably miscellaneous boxes. That way, since I'm to take immediate possession upon closing at 2, we can drive and start trying to get some large stuff over.

Then (and this is where the lucky volunteers come in) we'll bring the truck back to the House of Love III and continue loading it up with as much large stuff as possible. There will be the beds, the freezer in the basement, and miscellaneous other stuff.

Hell... with any luck, we might be able to get all of the large stuff completely over and return the truck early on Saturday, leaving us with the smaller stuff to move by pick-up, Deluxury (new word) New Beetle, and the vehicles of whoever volunteers.

Hopefully my back and shoulder will hold out.

I'm already in pain and the stress of the past 20 days hasn't helped much.

I can't recall a month this insane in my life.

So switching to Movable Type 4 was a huge mistake.

The app itself is slow as hell and I hate to imagine how long rebuilding the site design would take based on how slowly it works. (MT has never been known to rebuild sites fast.)

Anyway, I'm working on the basics of a new House of Love IV site to document all the work I will be putting into the new place.

It'll be at domicile.naladahc.com when all is said and done.

I'm going to install WordPress 2.2 as the blogging software.

I've used Moveable Type since 2001 and have zero experience with WordPress at all.

I imagine it will be easy. Hopefully, designing custom templates will be similar.

We shall see how it goes.

So I've decided to test out WordPress over at Adventures in The Fourth House of Love, a possible place where I'll post all the pictures of me renovating and redoing yet another house.

When I started binning up all the robot crackage I kind of just threw everything into the closets and then Giga made those cheap sheets curtains to hide it all.

Thankfully the toys are all packed. That'd be drama I wouldn't want to add to everything else.

Giga's done an immense job packing up the kitchen and all the glass shit. We have boxes upon boxes of it stacked in the dining room.

Thankfully most of the basement, with the exception of the tools, is packed up more or less.

I'm just going to flip my cheap ass crate wall that I use in the attic and move those as-is too.

The more I pack, the more I realize I'm going to miss this house.

I'm pretty sure The Hoont knows somethings afoot other than his bad-ass self. There's so much shit everywhere packed up in this or that corner.

So very much to do. So very very much.

We got possession of the new garage so we can take some stuff over and get it all in securely in there. Depending on Giga's washer/dryer quest we may be picking up a new set tonight and then can drop them off right at the new house.

I've started staging the tools in the basement. I've decided that since they are already in tubs and bins, I'd rather just bring them directly up into the car or truck and not rebin them. I'm setting them up on a table so we can move the shelves over first and then, once the small bins move, they can go right back on the shelves.

I got some glassware/kitchen stuff bagged and boxed too.

The final numbers are due in tomorrow morning so I'll find out how miserable life will be financially for a few years.

And life turns... turns along the golden path...

Yesterday we decided to scrap the idea of trying to find Craigslist replacement appliances.

The washer we (mistakenly) purchased on Tuesday night came is filthy and neither of us even wants to touch it. (I'll tell the story in person to Cowtowners that want to know!)

The guy that Giga arranged a dryer from sold it out from under us as we were heading to pick it up (asshole) and the people selling the set we later found never once returned Giga's phone calls or emails.

I broke down and decided to buy new last night so we ran out to Appliance Smart and I dropped money down on a brand new, but non-matching set.

I can pretty much write-off putting that earnest money back into savings.

Now today has been about as shitty as it possibly could be.

Went to pick up the truck at 7am. I feared I wouldn't be able to drive it since it is so huge and I've only driven a vehicle this large (actually larger) once before back in 1996. That was on the open roads of the USofA from Cowtown to San Francisco though.

They originally had us set up for an f'n manual transmission! I said bullshit to that since it would be hard enough for me to get used to a vehicle this large let alone try to deal with a clutch and all! (I drive a manual transmission every day but I don't quite think it would be the same!)

So anyway, it is pouring rain down. We haven't had this much rain in months. It has been pouring rain for hours and is now thundering.

And... in my general anger and frustration with the initial size of the truck I put my glasses down and broke them. (That'll be another couple hundred of dollars out the door!)

So in less then 12 hours I've put myself about $900 or so deeper in debt, not to mention the $50,000 or so check I'm writing tomorrow!

When we add the money spent to remedy the old house, the money spent on 2 inspections, all of the other incidentals, we're already probably $3500 out of pocket and we haven't even moved!!!

Anyway, I'm just miserable right now.

The f'n truck is leaking water from the roof, they wouldn't even have another one to replace it with if we tried, the back gutter drain isn't draining as well as it is supposed to so I've got water pooling by the deck, etc., etc., etc..

Miserablism. Deny that happiness is open as an option and disappointment disappears overnight.

All I can do is hope that the basement is ok at the other house now that we've had substantial rain to see the effects of a 19 year-old waterproofing system.

In less then 4 hours the House of Love III will no longer be mine.

In less than 6 hours the House of Love IV will be mine and I'll take possession.

Funny how things work like that. And... all in less than a month!

This'll probably be the last post on any blog for day or so. The broadband will get shut off and transfered later today but there's entirely too much to do in the next 48 hours to both with trying to get the wireless router and all operational.

Plus, I'll be losing the use of my desktop PC, until I get the new N-Router and make this PC wireless for the new house. All the real work gets done on the desktop while all the low quality aimless blogging occurs on my laptop while I'm laying in bed or some shit.

Anyway, the house is a disaster.

Total chaos in pretty much every room with no room totally empty.

I don't know if I have to thank Set, Boreas, Rudra, or even that asshole Thor but the damn rain has finally stopped. It seems to have rained sometime last night too!

The truck barely looks packed even. As soon as I'm done with this post it'll be back to work until closing time.

It is finally hitting me that I am leaving the house that I've sank so much of my effort into.

It isn't a bad feeling since I know that the new neighborhood will hopefully eliminate all of my problems (vandalism, noise, trash, OSU game day, noise, retarded 20-somethings, roving bands of aimless vermin teens, trash, noise, etc.) but there is something very melancholy about it all.

No matter how much things change, this will have been my first house. And I'll never forget it.

I'll never forget the year of work on the basement, the dinners, the Labor Day cookouts, and pierogi day here. And hopefully 3 out of 4 of those will continue at the HOL4.

But you know what I think I'll miss most of all?

Something that greets me everytime I go and let the Hoont outside.

Yup! The tree limb that looks like a huge flaccid dong hanging high above my yard!

I think it is a cosmic marker that a total dick lives below!

Or maybe I'm just reading into that.