June 6th - Distractions from the stress, but not our focus.

June 6th, 
We tried to spend this weekend thinking about the wonderful friends and family we have. Sharing good meals and happiness with coworkers at a large party at our current house. We tried to not think about the new place, and the headaches and stress that have accumulated from purchasing this home. We tried to not stress out about the lack of news regarding the roof. We tried not to stress about the current rental situation, we tried to not stress.

We spent Saturday smoking twenty pounds of pork butt, making bean salad, mole baked beans, and smoked salmon dip. Making food for and sharing it with friends always lifts our hearts. We work so well in the kitchen together, and cooking has always been an intimate and fun affair for the two of us to share. This weekend reaffirmed for us that it will be important to us to have the right space to continue doing this, and to continue sharing it with others.

While we were happy to play around with friends in the gorgeous summer sunshine, there was that nagging thing in the back of our minds. The house. Before the end of the week we reached out to the agents and asked for an update on the roof situation. What came back was bleak and felt like a large punch to the gut. The roof was not done, nor was it planned to be anytime soon. The seller had made some huge blunders and was incommunicado with his own agent during the past week. Our trust has been shattered. The agents have been repeating what we already know in our hearts; this is not how purchasing a home is supposed to go. We are now in a position that if this is going to go forward, the seller (and his family) will need to make some drastic changes to the contract in our favor. The biggest concession is that we will take 'credit' for the roof repair and replacement. Meaning that since they won't be able to do it in time, that we will take what the cost of the roof would be off of the offer and do it ourselves. There has been some additional issues and we feel that because of those, the amount that we will be taking as credit will be higher than just the estimated roof cost. How do you calculate emotional damage? Is it fair to say we want to take off more for the added stress? Can we live with making and standing behind a decision to place a monetary value on emotions and stress? Is all of this worth it for this house, and are these all not signs that we should just move on and go away?

This whole roof issue has placed us in a real difficult bind. We need to have everything ASSURED 100% that we will have the house before we leave on the 10th. All of us are unsure that the bank will be able to do such a quick turnaround, and that the sellers will actually get the paperwork signed in a timely manner. We don't necessarily need to have the closing done by the tenth, but we need to know that we will take possession of the house before the end of the month. Issues with our current rental lead us to notify the agency of our intent no later than the tenth. We have to tell them if we intend to move, intend to sign for another year, or will take them up on their ridiculous offer for two weeks in July and more than double the usual rate.

It seems that what we thought was the last hurdle we needed to jump over before we close has become a mountain that we are slogging up. Perhaps things will change for us, and the route ahead will be easier. Big decisions are being made today and over the next few days. This is all before we leave for ten days to Iceland and Holland.  We are both hoping that this whole house deal doesn't taint or ruin our trip, it will be hard to NOT think about it all the time. Especially on those long flights, or when driving places watching the countryside slip past. I hope for myself to find inspiration on this trip, to see a stone I like and want it in the bathroom, or a color for the living room.  I need to keep trying to find the positive in all of this.

Oh... and Happy Birthday Paul!