We had some of Hubby's family here for the holiday weekend.  Its nice to have guests, there is always someone to talk to.  I always worry about my sanity when I start spending too much time home alone with Fuzzy.  We are pretty much unpacked.  I've pictures to hang, and mounds of projects to do.  I don't know that I'll ever run out of things to do.  I was talking to a neighbor before we moved about our first house.  So I decided that since a lot of people hadn't seen the first home, that I'd do a little virtual tour of the house.  So, we'll see how well this works.  Ya, I couldn't get it to work.  I'm going to have to find a way to get things to work better for me.

In the mean time, the sale and purchase of our homes should record today.  I'll be much more relieved when I get the call from the title company saying that the check is ready.  Then I'll know that everything is official and done.  And hopefully it wont take too long for the realtor to come pick up his sign.

I can't take it, there are better ways for me to do things.  From now on, I'll be posting on wejulaar.blogspot.com.

In the meantime, we'll try posting the nice picture of my little Creeping Thyme patch that I left behind.  I'll have fun plants again soon.  Uuugh.  It should not be this stupid.

 Hubby made it home, we made it fishing, it was wonderful and restful, and then we moved.  We are still waiting to close on both homes, but that is supposed to happen today.  I hope to hear from the realtor every minute.

The house, will get there, there are some issues, but it has good bones, and the neighborhood is nice.  Usually it is quiet, but for some reason the dog next door, or his friend, is just not having a good day, poor guy.  Fuzzy is starting to adjust to her new home and hubby is still liking his job.  Most of the boxes are empty and in the garage waiting for storage or removal.  I still have a few to go through in the next few days.  I'm slowly trying to find places to put things.  We should have more room, but right now it feels like less.  It might just be that for the first time, boxes and bins wont be part of a rooms decor.

Time to make lunch and go feed hubby, maybe some badgers too, depends on how the traps did.

 Hubby gets out of class early tomorrow, so he is going to try and get home a day sooner.  We are so very excited. 

The buyers brilliant loan officer forgot to lock in their rate.  If the closing gets delayed because of her stupidity, I might just have to go have some words with her.  Too bad little Kioda isn't still with us, she'd take care of her.  They still want to close next week.  We're trying very hard to push for a closing by the end of next week.  Then we would move next Fri/Sat and be outta here.  We're getting pretty sick of limbo land.  Besides, if we don't move soon I'll have to unpack the food.  I didn't leave very many rations out.  Fuzzy and I are just sick of being Hubbyless.

The plants are looking fabulous with all this rain.  I'm going to miss them.  I had to take pictures of some of my "children" so that I would have something to take with me.  I'm so happy that hubby will get to see the Red Thyme and the Elderberry in bloom.  It looks like we will both miss the blooming of the White Thyme and the Elderberry fruit.  The yard rocks though, its nice to have one yard get finished enough to start looking good and doing its thing.  Our last yard didn't get too far, but it was hard to leave those plants too.  New yard, new plants.  I'll have to focus more on small space design, but that is fun too.

Now if we could just find someone who wanted to buy the cars.

 Fuzzy and I are counting down, we're very excited.  Yesterday morning I had a surprise visit from the inspector.  Apparently the loan officer scheduled the appointment on Friday and we don't know who she told but it wasn't me or even my realtor.  Just what I love at 8 am, a great way to start the day.  Haven't heard anything about inspections or timelines today.  I assume that means there wasn't a problem with the inspection, don't know why there would be.  Still haven't heard when our appraisal is.  Hubby is getting stressed out of his gourd.  Hopefully things will be better after this week.  I thought we were through with Craptacular, but Chey is still trying to straighten out all of hubby's stuff and Craptacular sent hubby's last pay stub with messed up accumulated leave.  Uuuuuugh!  Wont they ever go away.  Hubby will get his first pay check next  week, so we'll know by then if things have gotten straightened out or if they are still royally messed up.  I started packing the kitchen today.  If we don't move soon I'll run out of things to pack.  It sounds good, but I don't think that it will be.

 We had the appraiser through yesterday, still waiting for the inspector.  As for Chey, we took the "Castle" house at the lowest price they would allow.  We have our inspector scheduled, but who knows about the appraiser.  So far there have been no changes to the closing dates, but there is still hope to close and move mid-month instead of end of the month.  Fuzzy and I are sick of being without Hubby and Hubby seems to be getting a little lonely.  I think he misses his cook too.  Its a good thing that work keeps him so busy, he has less time to think about things.  Hubby will be back next weekend for fishing, F-I-S-H-I-N-G!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm not at all excited, about either.  For now, we continue packing, onward and upward.

 I could do without any car rides for a while.  It will be nice to have no need of whirlwind drives any more.  It was good to see hubby again, he seems to have gotten cuter.  We picked a house and made an offer.  We'll find out tomorrow what their reaction to the offer was.  Hopefully it was pretty good.  I thought we had left the rain behind in Chey, but it seems to have come back suddenly, at least we are a good 30 degrees warmer here.  I'm not looking forward to things being that cold.

Hubby just called, they countered our offer.  We crunched the numbers, we got all grumbly and decided that we couldn't take the counter.  I think poor hubby is about to have a stress attack.  He hardly has a chance to breathe and there is just not much the rest of us can do to help him.  Unless they decide to take our offer in lieu of waiting, we will have to offer on a smaller home instead.  Less to clean is not a bad thing.

I can't wait for this to settle down, the appraiser comes tomorrow morning.  I wont be sleeping in, yet again.

 May isn't over, and June has yet to start, but I'm getting the distinct impression that June is going to be one crazy month.  The buyers quickly realized their mistake in countering our offer.  I haven't seen the official paperwork, but the house should have gone under contract on Thursday.  We're slated for closing the end of June, but we're hoping they can tighten up their dates a little and close sooner.  I would love to close right after we get back from vacation.  We are trying to get hubby out of his hotel soon and into something cheaper.  We intend to offer on a house come Monday, we just have to decide which one.  If we are lucky, and I always hope that we are, then we can talk the owners into letting us rent the house until we close on it.  Then hubby can get out of the hotel and we can move the stuff in at any time.  I hate being away from him.

Hubby had a good first week on the job.  They are keeping him busy and assigning him additional duties as they see fit.  He's learning that coming up with good ideas now means more work for him.  Action at work is a new philosophy for him.  You can hear the smile in his voice now, and it is so nice to have it back.  Christmas will be wonderful.

 Hubby is drooling over all the fun equipment they have for him and intend to get for him.  He's having a rough time with his uniform though.  He has to wear jeans and his last pair went in the trash after we painted the house.  He found out today why jeans are part of the uniform, his business casual dress did not get along with the 'field work", muddy field at that.

We have a young couple trying to barter our house from us.  They're kind of annoying me.  They countered our counter, which we promptly rejected.  They may come to see the house again tomorrow, or maybe they will decide not too.  I'm really not in to playing a bartering game.  This is the price, this is as low as we'll go, end of story.  It may be a while before we have an uninteresting day again, so we shall see what tomorrow brings.

 I asked hubby how his first day of work was, you could hear the smile on his face when he said it was good.  He was so excited to actually say that he had a good day at work.  He has an office, keys, truck, cell phone, and responsibility.  Nobody evens seems all that interested in telling him how to do his work, just what needs to be done.  I think he is still a little in shock.

 I can't say that today is a day that I want to memorialize, but it was full of memories.  Hubby left for Chey today, we played key exchange this morning.  It kind of felt like a divorcing, him taking some of the keys and me taking the rest.  Its possible he might not see this house again.  I don't envy him the drive he had today, long and lonely.  He made it safely though, met some of his new coworkers, likes them so far.  We'll see how the first day of work goes tomorrow.

I spent the day with my parents.  Went to visit the graves of some of my mother's relatives.  It seemed a little more rushed than normal, but we were running late and trying to see a few extra graves all at the same time.  Poor mom.  

We got our first offer on the home today, really low.  We gave them a counter offer, so we'll see by Wednesday whether or not they are really into the house.  It does seem that the basement is deterring some people.  They think they should have a more updated basement.  We're not priced for perfection, so they will just have to get over it.  At least we have gotten our first offer, the timing is still good.  Either this will work out or another week or two and we should have a better offer.  More wait and see.

 No news is good news, and good news is good news.  We had a showing last night and one this morning, still waiting for those illusive offers, but we'll take the showings for now.  We did not here from Craptacular today, so we assume that they kept to their word and got everything straightened back out.  Whether or not they did, hubby did get the official offer from Chey today.  Yae!  It seems rather anti-climatic at this point in time.  But since Chey knew about the screw up and they put out the offer anyway, we'll take it as a done deal and breathe a little easier.

We took a little time for play today and went to see the new Star Trek movie with my parents.  It was alright.  I'm really kind of sick of all this variation on a theme stuff that they are doing for movies and shows these days.  Hubby had high hopes that it would be good insight to the beginning of everything.  He was disappointed, and we'll just leave it at that.

 I have a fear that if I say something nice about today, it will turn into a mess like yesterday.  We haven't heard from the realtor or craptacular today, who knows where all of that is going.  We had a neighbor over to finish the stupid little annoying bits of the kitchen floor.  He got most of it done, will finish up a transition piece tomorrow and wow, a year later and the kitchen might be done.  There are still a couple of fussy parts that I should play with.  I'll just have to see how time goes as to whether or not they actually get done.  Most people don't even notice them.  Right now I need to put the kitchen back together, the fridge is in the middle of the work space, kind of annoying.

Hubby had his final "test" for his transition to Chey today, he passed, couldn't find any problems.  They should have the info up on the server by the end of today, so hopefully everything will be official on Wednesday or Thursday.  Its still seems strange that this is really happening.  Boy, wont Monday and Tuesday be a shock of reality.  I just hope that the transition starts going a little smoother and everything starts moving in a satisfactory way.  Oh how nice that would be.

 Today was going well until we decided to be productive.

We spent the beginning of last week looking for a new home.  We really like the one we have, especially now that the living room is refinished and the exterior is painted.  So most of the houses that we looked at were a disappointment.  We looked at 14 houses in less than 24 hours, pure madness.  We did ended up with one front runner.  A cute bungalow with a very small kitchen, which for some reason the new area seems to specialize in small kitchens, weird.  We have a few more that hubby will look at when he gets up there next week.

The second half of last week was spent painting the exterior so that the house would really shine for the open house on Saturday.  It looks good, there is no more peach.  Its a beautiful thing.  Don't know how the open house went, we haven't heard anything from the realtor.  We've had people come through, but still no offers.  Its just the kind of house that I'm looking for, I'd buy it, what's wrong with everyone else.

As for today, well, hubby checked out of "Craptacular" last Thursday, you'd think their terror and torture would start to minimize.  But no, they made the news again last week because certain legal representatives are complete lazy idiots.  He also got a call last week that they had screwed up his transfer since Chey postponed his start date.  Right now craptacular is holding his last pay check hostage and says he is no longer employed with them and they cant reinstated him.  Which means that not only are the holding up the money for his last two weeks of work, but they refusing to pay him for the two weeks of vacation that he is currently on.  If Chey wants to be fussy they can now refuse to hire him because he is not transfer eligible.  I don't think they will, but I really would like to see that four weeks of pay from "Craptacular".  The incompetence of the place continues to astound me.  Just when you think they can't get any worse they pull something else off.

This week we should have something firm from Chey, aint that great, a firm offer with less than a week before the tentative start date.  This system is just too screwy.  Of course, the bright child that messed things up on their end is off this week, so who really knows what will come from Chey's end this week.  Though Hubby's new boss is still anticipating his arrival next week.

If this week gets any worse, I just don't want to know about it.

 We got all of hubby's stuff scheduled for the new job, they assured us the timing of such things would not interfere with the new start date.  This will be better financially, and I'll get hubby for an extra two weeks and he'll take an extra week of vacation.  So he just has to make it through 3 more days of work.  The prayers just have to hold the demons at bay for a little longer.

We've had a couple of showings on the house, still hoping for a quick offer, but nothing yet.  Hubby's hotel isn't having an easy time changing his reservation.  We may just have the realtor see about a short term rental after all.  We still have no idea when he'll start training.  So housing is just a great big mystery right now.

Its been nice to relax today, we haven't done that for a while.  The outside of the house still needs painting, but nobody seems to want to figure out how we are going to do that.  It looks like we'll spend two-thirds of tomorrow playing, some with family, some with friends.  Recreational time is always a good thing.

 We've been cleaning and painting, tearing the house apart and putting it back together all over again.  The house now looks fabulous, except for the basement (but that is just a whole mess by itself).  We still should get the exterior painted, but energy, desire, and money have quickly ran away.  We've had a few showings, some good interest, but no offers yet.  The house hasn't really been up for a week yet, so that really isn't surprising.  We should have an Open House next week, that should help some.  I think the house shows really well right now, even if we didn't paint the paneling in the living room.

As for the job, well, things there are just as painful, maybe worse.  Chey failed to inform hubby of the timeliness in which they wanted certain things done, they also failed to make proper arrangements.  Now, we hope that things are straightened back out and headed in the right direction with all things in the process of being scheduled.  But, because of the errors and miscommunication, they have pushed his start date back a couple of weeks.  He's very upset and disappointed, frustrated as well.  He will work at least one extra week at craptacular before starting a vacation break between jobs.  And craptacular is just become spectacularly stupid, stressful, and well, bad things are just happening more frequently.  Its almost worth three weeks vacation just to not have to worry if the gates of hell will break loose before he gets out or not.  I swear the demons are getting restless this past week.  I hate to see what next week will bring, and they have a staff meeting, so that wont help.  As always, his departure from craptacular can not happen too soon, and it surely isn't.

Life goes on the piano calls, like a forgotten child, long neglected.  Fuzzy is a little lonely too.  The plants in the yard are happy with all the rain.  We did lose one broom, the buckthorn (which I accidentally killed trying to control the Yucca), the beargrass and agave we will have to wait and see on, they just don't look well.  I wonder if it will be worth planting a garden this year.  

 Well, its been a busy week of working towards job offers, seeing friends, and trying to make progress on the house.  I've got more windows to caulk before the inside is done, there is still plenty that could be caulked on the outside, and we will be having the weather to do it this next week.  But oh, there is so much to be done, so many projects that have sat for so long and as of today they all need to be done yesterday.

Chey finished their offer, its acceptable.  Hubby's got a start date in mid May and I've got a house to sell.  I can't believe its actually happening.  So many times we've tried and so many jobs he applied for, and finally we're actually moving.  It feels like things will go quick and that would be best financially.  Oh but what a mess it will be.  Its an adventure, and we like adventures.

It seems to have been a crazy week.  I enjoyed some time with hubby on Monday and Tuesday.  We spent Wednesday playing with some friends that we hadn't seen for a while, don't know how the friends took it, since they didn't know each other at all.  But it was nice to get out and play.  Thursday made our heads spin with Chey called needing information so that they could make an offer of employment.  Hubby's never had two offers at the same time.  We also got the final step scheduled so that Alpha6 can make their final offer.  Its definitely going to be an interesting month.

I've been working on little projects around the house while I'm not employed.  I finally got the touch-up painting done, at least most of it.  Today I started on the long this of things that need to be caulked.  I may get it finished tomorrow, at least for now.  But man am I tired!  Its good to see progress though, and its nice to have the time to make it happen.  I really should get working again.  Oh well.

 Its been a relaxing weekend.  I didn't get much done on the house, but there are still many days left to accomplish all the little bits.  I'm looking forward to hubby's weekend, we should actually get time together for a change.  I have no intentions of answering the phone should anybody's work call.   It'll be like a small vacation.

The media just frustrates me.  They are always looking for a way to take a little bit of truth and spin it into something that is sensational and generally crap.  Guns aren't responsible for killing people, they people using the guns are.  More and more these days they get their ideas from media sources (tv, internet, radio, etc).  We've got a society of "hey, look, that worked for him/her, I'm going to try it too."  Only a tenth of the news is news any more, the rest is a sales pitch, and I'm just not buying their garbage.

I finally got back out in the yard today.  It wasn't fantastic weather, but I'm glad I did it this morning instead of waiting.  I still have one and a half lavenders.  I don't know what is going on with the half.  I'll keep waiting to see if it comes back or what.  I'm definitely not pruning any more until I see how it handles that damage already done.  It looks like we have some decent winter kill this year, which is too bad.  Our park strip didn't do so well, so the desert plants my have to live next to the house where it is warmer.  

A neighbor came this morning and glued our siding back onto the house.  Amazing, the people who put the siding up should have used more fastening elements than they did.  He'll hopefully help us get some other projects done around here, like painting all of the peach white, though some trim will end up sage.  We may need to have a goodbye to the peach party, I can't wait until it is all gone.  I know the neighbors will celebrate too.

Heard from the UT in the east desert today.  Good candidate or not, they went with someone else.  Haven't heard anything new from Chey, not since the reference check.  We've been hearing from Alpha6, they finally got their heads screwed on.  We just need to hear on the medical and get that done and then Hubby should be out of the craptacular and off to something new, and hopefully better.  Right now Alpha6 has us slated to stay here, which would be so nice.  Especially since in a month we wont have to look at peach paint anymore.

I update the Friends Gallery some.  It may be all that is there for a while.  I have all the known links up, its just a question now if there is anyone who hasn't mentioned blogging.  I put the link to the gallery under my website link.  I'm still trying to figure out how to make everything work for me the way I want.

 There was so much that I was going to do with today, though I had expected my day to be interrupted with more phone calls.  Even though when I left Friday, work hadn't hired my replacement, they said they wouldn't need me today.  They must be sticking to it, because I have not heard from them.  Yae!  It has been nice to have a day at home.  Though hubby worked some last night and will be pulling an overtime shift tonight.  It really is taking the fun out of my "vacation".  We also have siding flapping on our house, so now I'm trying to find a neighbor to help secure it back in place.  sigh.  Once again, the horrifying experience of Advanced Windows takes a bite out of my peace and happiness.  Two years later, their siding isn't staying in place and some of the windows need re-caulking.  They are a curse that just keeps on giving.  Oh well, on to happier thoughts, and may the winds stay low.