Kitty! and I go hiking at Cowles Mtn., nextdoor to my new house. |
Things progressed pretty quickly on the new house. Everything went off like clockwork.
California is an escrow state, so I was a little confused by the process. The escrow company called to ask me to come down and sign some paperwork. I went in last Wednesday to meet with them, and about five documents into signing things, I realized I was “closing” on the house.
“Oh no!” they assured me, we weren't actually closing on the house, we were just doing all the paperwork, and when I bring my check in the following week, the house will fund then Close.
Uh….sounded like we were closing to me.
To me the “Closing” part is all the documents and legal crap. That's really the important part. I am used to having my realtor AND my mortgage broker right there with me to make sure I am signing all the right stuff, cuz with over a 100 pages of crap, I'm sure not the expert on what is what. That's part of what they get paid to do.
I was a little blindsided by that. You can be sure Bill Evans would have been there, despite it not being “necessary”, as my escrow lady told me.
Oh well, hey, I didn't have to stress about it the day of closing. It just happened.
So all I have to do is get my down payment to them this week, and tada, I have a new house to move in to, and appliances to buy. Oh boy. There goes my Best Buy card again. I just got it paid off too.
We did an inspection on the house, so I took some shots of it for the journal. I'm not gonna have much to fill it with, what with most of my stuff still in Austin, but this way you can see it unmarred by my tacky furniture.
But let's start on the outside.
Here is the back patio. As you can see, it is covered. It's not as nice as the one in Austin, but it's a big covered area, perfect for socializing. I am spoiled by the ceramic tile I have on the one in Austin.
There are a lot of little garden areas around the house. There is a small garden that sits kind of under the patio.
On the left side of the house is another terrace with some nice landscaping. I have an orange tree and a lemon tree! Will probably add some patio furniture and table here. Be nice to have breakfast out here.
The front of the house is nicely landscaped with these nice brick wall dividers. I need to learn about what plants work here, cuz it is kind of barren. It's a nice start, but I really want to make it look good with lots of great plants. I wonder if they have cedar mulch here? The pine chips are icky. It just looks like mud.
This is the view of the kitchen from a small breakfast nook. The nook has a small fireplace in it, and actually feels more like a small sitting or a tv room. I might use it as my office since it has a nice view of the backyard.
The kitchen was recently redone and is just missing a fridge. The countertops are granite tile. Not a lot of drawer space, but I'm not much of a cook, and my old house really was suited for parties…which of course I liked to have. No big parties at this one!
This is the front room. It has Pergo floors in it and two skylights. It also has cathedral type ceilings that none of the houses that I looked at had. The owner had also removed all the popcorn ceilings, so it is much updated.
Opposite view of the front room. I am tempted to put my office and my tv in here just cuz the space is so open and airy that I wont feel like I am smashed into a small house. But don't like having my office out where visitors can see all.
There are four bedrooms in the house but they are quite small. The largest is the master at only 12' x 12'. I have been talking about knocking down the wall between it and the room next to it, making a much larger master bedroom and perhaps even a walk in closet. I think a 3 bedroom house would still have nice retail value, and the master suite would be more appealing. But that is a project for a rainy day (when it's raining money that is).
That's about it. I fund on Wednesday, and “close” this Friday, December 31st. I will likely try to move in that day, and since I don't have much it will be a quick move.
I am trying to figure out how to get the rest of my stuff here. I just can't bring myself to make that two day drive again, just having done it a couple months back. I'm trying to get JBB to do the drive for me, and then take some vacation days, enjoying the tepid San Diego Winter.
I think I will have to fly back to Austin to pack up, but I am gonna try to get out of doing even that, cuz this deal is sucking every last penny out of my savings/retirement.
We'll see.
Bill's Visit and Trolley Ride
My roommate and buddy Bill came in for a quick weekend tour of San Diego.
We spent Saturday and Sunday visiting all the places that I have already been. We went to the beach, the malls, Mount Soledad, and also ate out at some of the more typical Hillcrest restaurants.
One of the things I wanted to try while he was here was to take the trolley. I wanted to go to Fashion Valley mall, but didn't want to endure the parking hassles on a weekend a week before Christmas. I knew the trolley went right down to the mall and Bill could be my Public Transportation Buddy.
So we got on at station by the Qualcomm stadium and road it down to the Mall. We looked at the route maps and saw that the trolley went down to Tijuana, so we decided to stay on and visit little ole Mexico. Fun!
The trolley rolled through downtown San Diego, and the patrons on the trolley began to shift to the fringe. One woman was screaming on her cell phone to what we all assumed was her boyfriend that she was going to rip out the unborn fetus inside her if he didn't do something…blah.
Crazy people are everywhere, but boy, they sure do like public transportation.
We quickly realized we were heading into an episode of the Twilight Zone (or Rescue 911) and hopped off the trolley at the next stop. We caught the other one heading back to Fashion Valley where the only insane thing happening was compulsive shopping.
Overall, I liked the trolley, and have taken it another time down to Fashion Valley. Again, it was brilliant 'cuz I didn't have to drive down there and deal with the holiday parking nightmare. In fact, holiday shopping was a breeze.
Oh yeah, that weekend we puppysitted Susie, one of my bosses new puppies. She and Kitty! love playing together and Kitty! is really patient as the puppy grabs onto her ears and dangles.
Office Party
Our office had its official holiday party also.
They rented an Expedition style limo that held all 20 or so of us. The limo came by the office and we all piled in and drove over to Baja Betty's where we had a private space to party.
Drinks and dinner were all covered by the office, and since everyone had a safe drive home, drinks were ordered in large amounts.
Sorry for the blurring of faces, but I didn't get a chance to ask everyone permission before I left for the holiday.
After dinner, the limo took us over to some nightclubs, but before stopping there, one of the employees asked to be brought back to the office. When we stopped, I jumped out too. Everyone was getting tipsy, and I could tell they were going to be out all night, and I had a photoshoot the next day.
I felt like a wet old sock abandoning them, but I really just wanted to get some good sleep.
The party was awesome though. It was super nice of them to go to so much expense and effort, and it really makes me glad that I am staying here!
Home for the Holidays
I debated going back to Colorado till the last minute. Finally my Dad guilted me by saying he had sent my mom to me a couple weeks back, and that I needed to come home, and that my flight home would be a gift in itself, and I wouldn't even need to get presents, and you know there are only so many more holidays that they would be alive. ~hehe~
Buying this house at Christmas has put a major crunch on the bank funds. I booked a flight and even managed to get everyone a little something so I didn't feel like a complete cheap wad.
My mom has had another round of some pretty aggressive surgery, so she wasn't moving to quickly. Still, she and my dad met at the airport on December 23rd- her birfaday.
I didn't want to pack gifts on the plane, and I'm glad I didn't after hearing some of the baggage nightmares that occurred. I had only two days to shop, so the pressure was on! My mom did need to walk a little, so every day we went and shopped in small little increments, pushing her just a little each day.
I copped out and got gift certificates for my sister and her two girls. I feel so out of touch with them, and ya know, well, they have everything. My mom knew their favorite stores and we stopped by and got the cards. Cake and Pie.
Shopping for my mom and dad was harder. I got my dad a fleece pullover like the one I am wearing in the snow picture. He really liked it when I arrived wearing it, and we found them at Foley's. I also got him an indoor/outdoor wireless temperature gauge that transmits the outside temperature to a readout thingy that would sit on top of their TV.
On the 24th, my mom and I went shopping for her presents. We had such a blast. We went around and she picked out things she liked, trying them on to be sure they fit just right. We also found a new cookie jar for her counter top. She had been looking for months for the perfect one, and we found exactly what she wanted at Dillard's.
I wrapped it all up and put it under the tree. I know, not very surprising, but my mom didn't have to return any of the stuff I got her, and she did with others, so it worked out perfect. Besides, I got to spend time with her, and that's better than surprising her.
One of the drawbacks of visiting my parents is they live so far out. I can't get a cellular signal, and my dial-up connection is flaky. My dad recently moved his office to the Tech Center, and he is real proud of the new building. He took us down there for a visit, and I jacked into a hot connection there and tried to make a flurry of updates to the site from there.
And now it is Monday the 27th, and I am uploading this from the Panerra Bread in Highlands Ranch. My mom and stopped here on the way to the airport. I fly back at 5pm tonight, and it will be good to see Kitty! and my new friends again.
Hope you all had a great Holiday, and please check back on the 1st for a major new feature on the site!
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