So hubby and I have not sat idly by the last two weeks in the search for housing. While many of my dear readers know the story, here's the break-down:
1. We house hunt with our amazingly hard working, friendly, knowledgable and responsible agent.
2. We find house we love for cheap (i.e. the little yellow house)
3. We make offer on the little yellow house.
4. Things get complicated b/c it's on a grandfathered septic within city limits.
5. We spend time hashing details, possibilities, small forests of paperwork.
6. We find out financing isn't approved b/c we haven't started our new jobs. We MUST have pay stubs as proof of income/employment. We were told a written offer letter with acceptance would work.
7. We return to scrambling to find short term rental that will allow four pets.
So basically we're still planning on buying a house - financially and personally it makes all sorts of sense. We're not in a huge rush, but want to do it in the next 6 months so we can be settled and be putting money towards a mortgage rather than rent. But we've got to have our butts in Blacksburg for at least a month before we can qualify for a mortgage. The mortgage guy had everything else processed, so we know we're in the clear and will be approved as soon as we get those pesky pay stubs! We're headed back down this Sunday to hunt further...hubs has found some promising leads.
Sorry for the lack of updates last weekend...I managed to catch a frickin cold. In May. In the middle of a 90* heat wave. (My immune system hates me.)
Everybody keep yer fingers crossed we find SOME place to live (that preferably doesn't charge by the night....)
PS: the other rentals we've looked at have all been 1yr long leases, and the one super cute one that seemed promising definitely turned out not to be. Plus the landlord wasn't happy with 4 pets. I'm starting to consider not "counting" Cato. I mean, no one else ever sees her....she's like a ghost. A big, hairy, matted ghost that gobbles cat food and stinks up the litter. (she's next on the shave list....)
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
The land of the furries....
We're out of rawhides. Zack does not understand the concept. He's definitely convinced that he can will them into being. But he can't. He can only will me into driving over to Harris Teeter and picking up some. Which he usually does. Darn the adorable nub wags (Zack has a docked tail) and sweet-talk (Zack also "talks". I've got to get video of this sometime.)
Haley just wants to snuggle. Unless there is a ball, in which case she doesn't care if you have a porterhouse steak in your hands JUST THROW THE BALL!!! Haley hasn't changed much.
Only bummer is that both of the pups end up limping around the house after a fetch session these days. We've been limiting the fetching and doing more trail walking at Mint Springs, the park across the street. And of course by "we" I mean the hubby...but that's for another post.
Pony-butt is ok. She will sell her soul to you if you'll just take off the g***amn grazing muzzle. She will shove it in your face so her request is loud and clear. She'll rub it up and down your back if you turn away. She will stand at her gate and glare balefully. But I have a heart of steel and will not give in, as she's holding her rather high weight perfectly steady, even with the muzzle on. Lucky for her horse cookies do fit through the tiny hole in the bottom.
Bad news: A couple days after a longer ride to Mint Springs, during which Dax was very happy and forward, I put her on the longe line. She was slightly lame on her bad leg (the one with the cyst). It wasn't hugely obvious, but clearly there. Then, this past week the farrier came to trim her hooves. When a horse has to pick up a single front foot, most of their weight is transferred to the diagonal hind foot. Well, she was fussy when he was working on her right front, meaning she wasn't thrilled with adding weight to her left hind leg - the bad one. Of course I'm super bummed about this, but a good friend (and horsey expert) mentioned Dax's 'lameness" could partly be due to her favoring of that leg for so long. Getting muscles and tendons back into shape in a way they haven't been used in a while will certainly make one sore. Adding on top of that favoring a particular side....it's hard to say. The really unfortunate part of all of this is I've simply got to do the very slow, easy rehab and push her until it's clear she's truly lame on that leg or not.
As of now, with moving to Blacksburg seriously looming now, Dax is on extended recovery/vacation. This is actually not me just being a slacker - I found a peer-reviewd publication on the efficacy of steroid injection into bone cysts compared with surgery. In the paper, they evaluated the horses after 6 months, not 60 days. The 6 month mark for Dax is in the middle of June, probably right around when she's moving to her new digs. Anyway, so factor in some settling in time, and she'll be ready to try riding again, with the benefit of being at a barn with an arena and a 1/2mile grass "track" for exercise. Speaking of the new digs, the place is called the Stable at Hoge Pasture, and they've got a website if you've got time to kill: http://www.hogepasture.com/Home.html
Oh, and I shaved the dogs and Sam just in time for a serious heat wave. They are sooooo much happier, and we have the bonus of laughing our butts off constantly. I will share pics as soon as I can find the cable for my camera :-)
Haley just wants to snuggle. Unless there is a ball, in which case she doesn't care if you have a porterhouse steak in your hands JUST THROW THE BALL!!! Haley hasn't changed much.
Only bummer is that both of the pups end up limping around the house after a fetch session these days. We've been limiting the fetching and doing more trail walking at Mint Springs, the park across the street. And of course by "we" I mean the hubby...but that's for another post.
Pony-butt is ok. She will sell her soul to you if you'll just take off the g***amn grazing muzzle. She will shove it in your face so her request is loud and clear. She'll rub it up and down your back if you turn away. She will stand at her gate and glare balefully. But I have a heart of steel and will not give in, as she's holding her rather high weight perfectly steady, even with the muzzle on. Lucky for her horse cookies do fit through the tiny hole in the bottom.
Bad news: A couple days after a longer ride to Mint Springs, during which Dax was very happy and forward, I put her on the longe line. She was slightly lame on her bad leg (the one with the cyst). It wasn't hugely obvious, but clearly there. Then, this past week the farrier came to trim her hooves. When a horse has to pick up a single front foot, most of their weight is transferred to the diagonal hind foot. Well, she was fussy when he was working on her right front, meaning she wasn't thrilled with adding weight to her left hind leg - the bad one. Of course I'm super bummed about this, but a good friend (and horsey expert) mentioned Dax's 'lameness" could partly be due to her favoring of that leg for so long. Getting muscles and tendons back into shape in a way they haven't been used in a while will certainly make one sore. Adding on top of that favoring a particular side....it's hard to say. The really unfortunate part of all of this is I've simply got to do the very slow, easy rehab and push her until it's clear she's truly lame on that leg or not.
As of now, with moving to Blacksburg seriously looming now, Dax is on extended recovery/vacation. This is actually not me just being a slacker - I found a peer-reviewd publication on the efficacy of steroid injection into bone cysts compared with surgery. In the paper, they evaluated the horses after 6 months, not 60 days. The 6 month mark for Dax is in the middle of June, probably right around when she's moving to her new digs. Anyway, so factor in some settling in time, and she'll be ready to try riding again, with the benefit of being at a barn with an arena and a 1/2mile grass "track" for exercise. Speaking of the new digs, the place is called the Stable at Hoge Pasture, and they've got a website if you've got time to kill: http://www.hogepasture.com/Home.html
Oh, and I shaved the dogs and Sam just in time for a serious heat wave. They are sooooo much happier, and we have the bonus of laughing our butts off constantly. I will share pics as soon as I can find the cable for my camera :-)
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Weeeeee!
It's official, I got a B in Physics lecture and an A- in the lab, so I am FOREVER DONE WITH PHYSICS!!!!! WOOOOoooooo!
To keep all my dear readers occupied till I get another real post together, here's a link to some FABULOUS stories. Well, they're fabulous if you like reading about equine antics.
http://theliteraryhorse.wordpress.com/mr-chips/mr-chips-the-stories/
I really think Dax needs a Shetland pony :-)
To keep all my dear readers occupied till I get another real post together, here's a link to some FABULOUS stories. Well, they're fabulous if you like reading about equine antics.
http://theliteraryhorse.wordpress.com/mr-chips/mr-chips-the-stories/
I really think Dax needs a Shetland pony :-)
Monday, May 16, 2011
So I....
....aced the final. Considering that's 36% of my grade, I don't think I'll be taking Physics again, even with the 3rd midterm fail. :-)
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Back in the land of the living!
Woohoo! So I'm riding high on being done with Physics, whether I manage the C to pass or end up having to take it again. I keep saying I either aced the final or failed it miserably :-) But I think it's leaning towards the ace side of that feeling b/c the undergrad I know who was also taking the class thought the final was easy like I did. I busted my heiny (side note: why isn't heiny in my spell check? It speaks italian but not euphemisms for butt? Do I have this thing set to high-brow or something??!?) studying and prepping and felt confident that I understood the concepts and questions. The big issue for me with the exams was having to rush/not reading questions carefully enough. When I'm already nervous and know I've got to work quickly to finish, it's easy to gloss over details like remembering to switch the direction of a predicted magnetic field b/c and electron has a negative charge...blah blah blah. Basically, when my nerves are up, my attention to detail craps out. I'm hoping my over-prepartion will counter act that effect for the final, and that I rocked the final enough to counter act the third exam fail. The lecture and lab are considered separate courses, and both are graded on curves, so we'll see where I fall in the undergrad pool. And we'll see how long I can put off looking at my grades to keep enjoying the feeling of just being done ;-)
Let's see, in other news, hubby has accepted the job offer previously mentioned. They didn't want to play the haggle game, but seeing as no other offers were forthcoming, we figured it was a place for him to start. Accepting the position doesn't mean he can't keep his eyes and ears open for other opportunities. He's got a quitting day at the old job and a starting day with the new one, with 3.5 weeks between. *grumble* I'm only taking 9 days off between b/c there's so much going on in lab and I needed to start with the beginning of a summer session at VT. The hubby's first day will be July 1st and my first day in my new lab will be July 5th. Which means.....
WE FRICKIN' NEED TO FIND A PLACE TO LIVE!!!!!
The nester/planner side of me (which I keep trying to suppress) is shrieking, jumping up and down and pointing at a calendar. Ok, so we've got a pre-approval letter for a mortgage, and an agent that we like has been contacted in B'burg, and houses have been looked at online. We're trying to get a bunch of house tours lined up for next weekend. Why not this weekend you may ask? Well, I've got a nursing gig in Richmond - the moms had a bionic knee installed so she can kick even more a$$, and I'm here making sure she doesn't try barefoot water skiing before the sutures heal. And shuttling bits of giant cookie with frosting to her.....it helps with the healing, and don't you say otherwise.
Back to the housing situation. So we've found a couple of promising places online, but if our previous dalliance with house-hunting taught us anything, it's that every place looks different in person. Usually worse. I think with the right lighting, a wide angle lens and a bit of blur, real-estate agents can make a yurt look like the Biltmore. That being said, hubs and I aren't exactly picky.....as in, if it doesn't have contact paper for counter tops in the kitchen, we'll be thrilled :-) On top of the house-hunting moving forward, hubs also just found a super-cute rental available that is pet friendly, so we'll probably look into that as well.
Why would we still be considering a rental you may be wondering?? Or not. But I'm going to tell you anyway. We're pretty much stuck with renting SOMEWHERE for two months when we first get to B'burg. In order to have the full, official mortgage qualifications go through, they will need two months worth of pay stubs as proof of employment/income. And darn if those banks aren't bright enough to realize we aren't commuting from B'burg to C'ville to continue working at UVa. The plan is, if we find a place we really like and want to buy, to negotiate a rent-to-own arrangement for a few months so we can get those pesky stubs, then apply for the mortgage, making the paperwork WAY easier. Considering the housing market, if we agree to earnest money, have a loan pre-approval and pay rent and all, I think we stand a reasonable chance of negotiating this kind of thing. But, first things first....FIND A HOUSE!!!
And maybe start packing. Ugh.
Let's see, in other news, hubby has accepted the job offer previously mentioned. They didn't want to play the haggle game, but seeing as no other offers were forthcoming, we figured it was a place for him to start. Accepting the position doesn't mean he can't keep his eyes and ears open for other opportunities. He's got a quitting day at the old job and a starting day with the new one, with 3.5 weeks between. *grumble* I'm only taking 9 days off between b/c there's so much going on in lab and I needed to start with the beginning of a summer session at VT. The hubby's first day will be July 1st and my first day in my new lab will be July 5th. Which means.....
WE FRICKIN' NEED TO FIND A PLACE TO LIVE!!!!!
The nester/planner side of me (which I keep trying to suppress) is shrieking, jumping up and down and pointing at a calendar. Ok, so we've got a pre-approval letter for a mortgage, and an agent that we like has been contacted in B'burg, and houses have been looked at online. We're trying to get a bunch of house tours lined up for next weekend. Why not this weekend you may ask? Well, I've got a nursing gig in Richmond - the moms had a bionic knee installed so she can kick even more a$$, and I'm here making sure she doesn't try barefoot water skiing before the sutures heal. And shuttling bits of giant cookie with frosting to her.....it helps with the healing, and don't you say otherwise.
Back to the housing situation. So we've found a couple of promising places online, but if our previous dalliance with house-hunting taught us anything, it's that every place looks different in person. Usually worse. I think with the right lighting, a wide angle lens and a bit of blur, real-estate agents can make a yurt look like the Biltmore. That being said, hubs and I aren't exactly picky.....as in, if it doesn't have contact paper for counter tops in the kitchen, we'll be thrilled :-) On top of the house-hunting moving forward, hubs also just found a super-cute rental available that is pet friendly, so we'll probably look into that as well.
Why would we still be considering a rental you may be wondering?? Or not. But I'm going to tell you anyway. We're pretty much stuck with renting SOMEWHERE for two months when we first get to B'burg. In order to have the full, official mortgage qualifications go through, they will need two months worth of pay stubs as proof of employment/income. And darn if those banks aren't bright enough to realize we aren't commuting from B'burg to C'ville to continue working at UVa. The plan is, if we find a place we really like and want to buy, to negotiate a rent-to-own arrangement for a few months so we can get those pesky stubs, then apply for the mortgage, making the paperwork WAY easier. Considering the housing market, if we agree to earnest money, have a loan pre-approval and pay rent and all, I think we stand a reasonable chance of negotiating this kind of thing. But, first things first....FIND A HOUSE!!!
And maybe start packing. Ugh.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Will return to regular schedule after Thursday.
Thursday, from 2pm to 5pm I will be flexing my mental muscle to it's limits......that's just sad to consider. Actually, not my brain's limits, but more like the limits of my attention, interest in physics, and motivation to do crap that is hard and not fun at all. *Sigh*
Is it worse to feel stupid or lazy? I'm not sure.
Anyway, on a happier note:
Happy belated Mother's day to all the wonderful Moms in my life - both the actual and the spiritual ones!!
More this weekend....
Is it worse to feel stupid or lazy? I'm not sure.
Anyway, on a happier note:
Happy belated Mother's day to all the wonderful Moms in my life - both the actual and the spiritual ones!!
More this weekend....
Monday, May 2, 2011
All style, no sub....
Well, hope everybody enjoys the new blog-look! Spring is fully sprung 'round here and I'd thought I'd share the love. Also I'd like to point out the new "follow by email" gadget to the right ------>
Can't say I've tried it (seems weird to "follow" one's own blog) but I'm hoping it simplifies things for those of you who are interested. Also, I've heard from a little birdie (*cough* sister *sniff*) that it's hard to leave comments after posts. All I can say is that I have enabled the anonymous commenting option, so folks should be able to leave comments without having to sign up for anything. That being said, I'm sure that blogger (the free program I'm using to do this) would prefer that you have some sort of account and probably asks you to sign in by some method - just keep looking for that anonymous comment option/button, realizing it won't be the first option that is presented. Beyond that, I'm afraid I'm not much help b/c I'm pretty sure that blogger "looks" slightly different depending on which web browser you're using.
Business aside, there are a few things going on (har-dee-har-har):
1. Hubby got a job offer!!! So I'm not the only one who thinks he's brilliant, hard-working, honest as the day is long and has a cute tush. Well, I might be the only one who thinks that last part, but whatever. Of course we're both excited, but not surprisingly the offer wasn't for the income he had hoped....thus begins salary negotiations. Salary negotiation is such a foreign concept for us coming from academia that we didn't remember that he's supposed to counter-offer at first! He did call them back with a counter just this past Friday, so we'll see what they say. He's being modest about his experience and conservative due to the economy, so I have high hopes the company will agree to the counter offer. I also think he should have pushed for more, but I'm not the one doing the negotiation (and I do have all the wifey bias of thinking he's worth more than his weight in gold.....I mean, c'mon!! The man does dishes so I can work on my physics homework then helps me with the algebra when I get stuck! Who wouldn't want him!??!?)
2. Physics/Hell is drawing to a close! But the pressure is on. So I kind of dropped the ball on my third exam....as in, like, left my brain somewhere somewhere under the desk at home. *sigh* I can over-analyze the situation and why I did poorly all I want, but what it comes down to is that all that's left is cumulative final worth 36% of my grade. So from now until May 12th, it's one last push to conquer my math and motivation demons. I'm sure you'll hear more about this :-)
3. Working on pre-qualification for a mortgage....happily there are still specialized first-time home buyer options out there. Once we have the pre-qual in hand, it'll be coordinating with an agent to check out as many houses in B'Burg as we can in one day. We want to minimize the trips with gas being so frickin' expensive. Pre-qual should be figured out early this week, so we might be looking at houses as early as this Friday. I wish I could say I'm thrilled to be buying our first home but....well, I honestly feel backed into it by the lack of rental options, and I'm totally dreading all the paperwork and surprise expenses and obnoxious owners who change their minds 20 times and....you get the idea. Being an adult and realizing the implications of these big decisions sucks the excitement out of it for me.
Don't worry, I still get excited about some stuff. Stuff like free cookies at a seminar, and new episodes of "Glee". And I definitely get excited when nature decides to throw a little surprise into the mindless task of lawn-mowing:
Morels, baby!! For the first time the five years of renting in the same house, we've had a bumper crop of morels - all over the yard! These things are about $25 per pound at the foof-stores in Charlottesville. Hubby and I briefly considered selling our crop, but that passed pretty quickly :-) First dish I made was a chicken scaloppine with a sautéed morel-vermouth-tarragon-cream sauce. (Random side note - spellcheck just blew my mind and corrected my phonic butchering of scaloppine....my spellcheck speaks Italian. Who knew?) Anyway, with lots left over we decided to dry the remaining morels. Boy was that depressing! Know what two pounds of fresh morels looks like dried?? A handful of bad-looking prunes is what. We have one 2/3 full ziploc baggie in the freezer (extra precaution) for all our dried morels. NOT that I'm complaining, but it was a bit of a surprise to realize how much of a morel is made up of, well, just water. Anyway, I'm happily soliciting any morel recipe suggestions from you guys - feel free to share!
Well, it's quite past my bedtime now. I shouldn't start the week sleep deprived, but it's hard to let relaxing Sundays go :-) Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!
ps- furries are all great. Dax is a fattie and not getting ridden enough, but otherwise fine.
Can't say I've tried it (seems weird to "follow" one's own blog) but I'm hoping it simplifies things for those of you who are interested. Also, I've heard from a little birdie (*cough* sister *sniff*) that it's hard to leave comments after posts. All I can say is that I have enabled the anonymous commenting option, so folks should be able to leave comments without having to sign up for anything. That being said, I'm sure that blogger (the free program I'm using to do this) would prefer that you have some sort of account and probably asks you to sign in by some method - just keep looking for that anonymous comment option/button, realizing it won't be the first option that is presented. Beyond that, I'm afraid I'm not much help b/c I'm pretty sure that blogger "looks" slightly different depending on which web browser you're using.
Business aside, there are a few things going on (har-dee-har-har):
1. Hubby got a job offer!!! So I'm not the only one who thinks he's brilliant, hard-working, honest as the day is long and has a cute tush. Well, I might be the only one who thinks that last part, but whatever. Of course we're both excited, but not surprisingly the offer wasn't for the income he had hoped....thus begins salary negotiations. Salary negotiation is such a foreign concept for us coming from academia that we didn't remember that he's supposed to counter-offer at first! He did call them back with a counter just this past Friday, so we'll see what they say. He's being modest about his experience and conservative due to the economy, so I have high hopes the company will agree to the counter offer. I also think he should have pushed for more, but I'm not the one doing the negotiation (and I do have all the wifey bias of thinking he's worth more than his weight in gold.....I mean, c'mon!! The man does dishes so I can work on my physics homework then helps me with the algebra when I get stuck! Who wouldn't want him!??!?)
2. Physics/Hell is drawing to a close! But the pressure is on. So I kind of dropped the ball on my third exam....as in, like, left my brain somewhere somewhere under the desk at home. *sigh* I can over-analyze the situation and why I did poorly all I want, but what it comes down to is that all that's left is cumulative final worth 36% of my grade. So from now until May 12th, it's one last push to conquer my math and motivation demons. I'm sure you'll hear more about this :-)
3. Working on pre-qualification for a mortgage....happily there are still specialized first-time home buyer options out there. Once we have the pre-qual in hand, it'll be coordinating with an agent to check out as many houses in B'Burg as we can in one day. We want to minimize the trips with gas being so frickin' expensive. Pre-qual should be figured out early this week, so we might be looking at houses as early as this Friday. I wish I could say I'm thrilled to be buying our first home but....well, I honestly feel backed into it by the lack of rental options, and I'm totally dreading all the paperwork and surprise expenses and obnoxious owners who change their minds 20 times and....you get the idea. Being an adult and realizing the implications of these big decisions sucks the excitement out of it for me.
Don't worry, I still get excited about some stuff. Stuff like free cookies at a seminar, and new episodes of "Glee". And I definitely get excited when nature decides to throw a little surprise into the mindless task of lawn-mowing:
Well, it's quite past my bedtime now. I shouldn't start the week sleep deprived, but it's hard to let relaxing Sundays go :-) Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!
ps- furries are all great. Dax is a fattie and not getting ridden enough, but otherwise fine.
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