Done talking about houses!! :)

Well, OK, I may post some more SOMEtime. But most of you know my blogs have been almost entirely about moving, looking for, and buying houses lately - because that’s all I could think about and almost all I had time for! I’ve been itching to get back to other interesting subjects (and to actual life) for some time now. But first, an update for all of you who have patiently followed this journey.

I moved in Wednesday!! Yay! It didn’t even rain, even though it has the rest of the week. I had a GREAT moving crew and a fabulous friend here to help me move in, and by the time we were done, 2/3 of it was already unpacked! Rick was right in his thought that if there were a few rooms totally done, including ones you mainly need to use (kitchen, bedroom, living room), it would feel like a home already. And so it was. He even organized and unpacked the garage (in between fixing little things that needed fixing).

I have been busy setting up the computers, doing a lot of administrative stuff related to the move, and am trying to get around to the grocery store to stock the kitchen. I still have a wireless network to set up today among other things. But I am doing it in my spacious living area, which is the main part of the house, kind of a combination work area, dining room, and living room space, with the kitchen connected. It has high ceilings, skylights, tile and wood floors, a gas free-standing fireplace, and french doors to the deck and enclosed garden.

There’s lots of things to figure out still, like the most efficient way to heat the different parts of the house given the gas stove and the furnace and the odd hours that I work and sleep. I’m planning to grow some food in raised beds, and that’s taking some thought as to how to do it organically and sustainably. But probably the best part so far is just how quiet and peaceful it is.

I have slept so well the last two nights - the only sounds are the birds in the morning (and the rain!). And my cat, who is not happy about being excluded from the bedroom. But, she used to really keep me awake at night and I’ve decided it’s time to take back my sleep. Also there’s no other guest room now for my frequent visitors who are allergic to cats. Soooo poor kitty, she’s sleeping in the living room now. She’ll get over it - she’s got a lot more room to play and explore, and a private garden where no other cats or dogs can bother her :)

My main prayer to the Universe (given that the houses on either side of me are for sale)… may the peace of this neighborhood remain and bless me, my cat, and all the neighbors for years to come.

Really, truly buying a house

So I had my inspection on this second house. It didn’t go badly, it wasn’t perfect either. It was encouraging to hear things like “that’s the cleanest electrical panel I’ve seen in a long time” from my inspector, who’s notoriously picky and thorough. There were some issues though - the lady who lives there is a very interesting woman, but like me, she’s not really a fix-it type. And she’d been there 17 years and had put the house through extensive remodels.

Suffice it to say that not all of the contractors completely finished their jobs, or did them in the highest quality manner. Most of what we found can be attributed to that - some of which could have been disastrous over time. Like the fact that the roofers she hired to replace the roof last year took the skylights off but didn’t reseal them. They’re just sitting on top of the roof in their places, unattached (!). Fixtures weren’t bolted down after the tile floors were put in, etc. And the air filters one of her housemates put over all the vents may be restricting the airflow that the furnace needs. Stuff like that.

All told, there’s about $6000 worth of work to do, a far cry from the $40,000 of last time. As my inspector put it, “this is the Taj Mahal compared to that other house we were looking at.” (Which still doesn’t have any offers on it.) Still, of course it made me worry a bit. Fortunately, she came home as we were wrapping up and we had a chance to meet, get to know each other, and talk it over. We hit it off really well, she is a smart and interesting lady that teaches at Evergreen College. By the time we left, we all felt like it would work out. In the end, I offered to split the cost and asked for $3000 toward closing costs, and would do the work myself. She agreed - and now we’re set! All the contingencies have been removed.

Now it’s just a mad race to complete financing, move all the money where it has to be, change over the utilities, get the movers and painters scheduled, and … I’ll be there - in just a little over two weeks. I can’t wait. My cat can’t wait. We’re both so ready to have our own quiet, private space to live, work, play, and sleep in.

Woohoo!!! The long search is over :) I am officially an Olympia… hmmm Olympiite, Olympiate, I wonder what they call themselves :)

Anxiety dreams…

So this weekend, I bought a house :) I haven’t talked about it much, because of what happened with the last one after the inspection (scroll down if you really want to know). Sometime this week we’ll have the inspection, and I’ll get the financing and insurance going, and then I’ll feel safer!

But the truth is, I’m not worried. This is a much newer house and there isn’t all that much to be wrong with it that isn’t visible, not like the older craftsman-style houses I’ve been looking at. I’m pretty excited and can’t stop thinking about all the little details of where I’ll put everything, paint, garden, etc.

One of the main reasons I chose this house, aside from the house itself, is the neighborhood. It’s in a little planned community called “The Woods.” And unlike so many of those, the woods are still there! The houses were built in the late 80s and it appears they left most of the trees and forest vegetation. There isn’t a lawn in sight. Each house has its own little garden courtyard, and the rest is very foresty. The times I went there to look at it, it was very quiet and peaceful - nothing to be heard but birds and wind in the trees. No traffic, no barking dogs, no lawnmowers (no lawns!).

Earlier I posted about different kinds of dreams, including “anxiety dreams.” Night before last I had a classic, just after I found out my offer had been accepted. I dreamed that the new house was on a lake (it’s not), and I had just moved in when I heard a noisy sound. Next door was a jetski rental place and they were training little kids to ride them, and the kids were zooming up and down the lakeshore right in front of my house :D

I had to giggle at myself in the morning. Probably my biggest nightmares anywhere I live have to do with noise and sound, since I am ultrasensitive to noise and work and sleep strange hours. This house looks like it will be as perfect for that as anywhere can be :) but obviously some little place in my subconscious is worried! Hopefully it’s out of my system now.

And if you’re curious, here’s the link to the new house. One reason it took me so long to get around to looking at this one is that the pictures really don’t do it justice. I’ll post some better ones later this week. The colors are not as they appear, the floor is tile (not linoleum), and the pics were taken on a gloomy day! This really has a very pretty little sunny courtyard, which the previous owners have not done much with. But I intend to :)

My first 100% organic shopping trip

I’ve been doing a bunch of chores this morning, as I can’t get into the state database I need to do the work I had planned today. I ran down to the local grocery store (Bayview Thriftway in Olympia, in case you’re wondering), and did a quick shopping run. Only after I got home did I realize that I had bought nearly 100% organic products - without even thinking about it, other than the usual attempts I make to generally buy organic. This has to be some kind of important milestone, that it’s even possible.

Here’s what I bought, all organic:

Apples and strawberries (west coast, carefully avoiding South American produce)
Colby jack cheese and parmesan
Three varieties of cereal
Two cartons of milk
Three kinds of yogurt
Kettle corn for snacking
Four frozen dinners (various organic brands)
Two frozen veggie packs (from Oregon, in little recycled paper bags!)
Four kinds of chocolate (small stuff) for Mother’s Day
Bread (local)
Toilet paper
a latte

There is one thing I bought that isn’t organic - Mother’s Day cards for my Mom and Grandma. If I had been thinking about it, it’s even possible those could have been at least recycled. But when it comes to Moms, it’s more important that the message be right :)

And then I had a fairly long conversation with the produce manager about whether it would be possible to separate out and make a little section for local organic produce apart from the stuff that comes from all over the world (using up lots of petroleum and generating carbon emissions in the process). He was actually receptive and said that in the summer and fall, they do that, and they actually take surplus from local farms. Not many big grocery stores are willing to go to those lengths.

I did tell him that, from the shopper’s point of view, winter is the hardest time to get local produce so it would be the most important time to highlight any they do have, for those of us purists who just won’t buy it if it had to come on an airplane (yes, I eat a lot of apples in the winter). He agreed that maybe increasing the size of their “grown in Washington” price labels would at least help us find what there is.

Anyway, good stuff :)

Turning over a few new leaves

Well, the last day of April I was sitting around in my little apartment (650 sq ft) and it was rainy. I was feeling really cooped up and exhausted, which I had largely been doing to myself by working too much and just kind of hiding inside. I moved to Olympia to support a healthier, more fun, and less expensive lifestyle, but lately it’s been all work and house-hunting, and a serious sleep deficit from my landlord’s little dog barking loudly at 5am. No fun.

I decided things have to change. I’ve been putting everything on hold until I find a new house, but that may not happen soon. And putting everything on hold like that increases the pressure to find a house, which might push me to buy something that isn’t exactly right. I have to do a better job of starting to make the changes I wanted to make, even in this temporary place.

So, May 1 I went to Curves and got signed up. At least I will be exercising three times a week - that has to help a lot. The program is short enough and close enough that no matter how tired I am I should be able to do it. I also researched yoga studios in Olympia and found one that looks like it will be great - and not too expensive. Once I get on a regular schedule at Curves, I’ll start adding that in on alternate days.

In spite of her dog, my landlord and her partner are also being encouraging. They have a neat new electronic exercise cycle that they’re encouraging me to use, and also to go walking with them. They also decided to make for me a little patch of garden that i can putter around in. I already got the dirt prepared and compost mixed in, now I just have to find a minute to go get some little plants to put in. That feels good.

The weather is changing for the better and both I and my cat can spend a little time outdoors on the property, and enjoying all the beautiful gardens as I go around looking for homes. While houses for sale have been few and far between for some months, it seems For Sale By Owners are really picking up just this weekend, even if there are no new MLS listings. Apparently people are feeling like if they’re going to lose money, they should eliminate the agent commission. This makes it a little challenging for me since I’m very loyal to my agent (especially after the last house fiasco, which she really helped me with). I’m going to make sure she gets her commission one way or another.

And the really good news is, my landlord is finally convinced that the dog barking is really a problem for me. She tried keeping him in the house and taking him out onto another part of the property in the morning, but he wakes up at 5am and now she’s tired!! (after only 3 days) So she has ordered a citronella collar for him, which apparently works by spraying a bit of citronella on them when they bark. Supposedly they hate that so much that they stop barking (I know my cat would), and it’s more humane than a shock collar. This dog has never been socialized (not his fault) and is just now being trained, so we’re all hoping this will help.

Obama’s speech on race

OK - I finally got to listen to the whole thing in its entirety. I have never heard a better speech from a politician in my lifetime, or one more appropriate to our time. Please don’t limit yourself to what you’ve heard on the news - go listen to it. It is now the most downloaded ever video on YouTube. It is 37 minutes long - and he wrote the entire thing himself.

You can find it here. Go listen, for the future of the country. We need this type of honesty, intelligence, personal fearlessness, and character in office.

Here’s another video from Portland that’s pretty interesting - it’s Obama’s comments on getting endorsed by Bill Richardson. Listening to what Obama says about Gov. Richardson, I wonder if we’re seeing a possible vice-presidential candidate… He’d be a very good one, far better than most people had any idea of during the election.

Vignettes from a new life

So today, I am really, truly moved to Olympia. Even if it’s to a temporary furnished apartment with the rest of my belongings crammed into every square inch of a 10×20 storage unit :) Our first few days here (this being myself and my cat, Sophie), we’ve been a little off-kilter, not sleeping well, jumpy at all the new noises. The heaters turn on at random times, and every time they do, I can still feel Sophie start next to me. There’s a little neurotic dog who will get used to us and bark less eventually. Other than that, the apartment and the property are pretty much perfect.

I haven’t had a second to relax, really, between getting back from Mexico and packing the house, getting the utilities and mail transferred, moving, trying to work, etc. I think the day and night that I can finally relax I will start to feel at home here. Sophie was feeling better yesterday after she got to stretch out on the ledge in the sun and explore the front porch a little. She is no longer meowing loudly and plaintively at me, like “when are we going HOME??”

The famed Olympia Farmer’s Market is opening in two weeks, and I can’t wait. It’s open Th - Sun, so I should be able to go every week and get fresh and locally-produced food. Yay!

Seen today on a bumper sticker: “B.A.D.D. Bicyclists Against Dumb Drivers” :P Very Olympia.

Yesterday was like a mini-amalgamation of all the different things I am trying to do with my work life, with five different income streams converging. First, I spent the morning in conference calls on environmental consulting issues. Then, I had a noon training session on the new technology for InstantAssist, an online conflict counseling start-up I am involved with (more on that in a later blog). I managed to fit in some quick editing that I do freelance on Guru.com, and then it was off to meet a new mediation client and introduce them to the process they will be going through as they mediate their separation and parenting plan. Finally, I did a tarot reading :)

All paid except the InstantAssist training, which is still in start-up mode. I had some issues with my headset that I hopefully solved tonight (by buying a better one… for $29.99). It’s interesting to look at the breakdown of income for the day:

Environmental consulting $240
Editing $60
InstantAssist -$30
Mediation $250
Tarot $35

Of course, the rest of this week I’ve hardly had time to work. But all in all, it seemed like an interesting and worthwhile day. Mexico was also interesting from the standpoint of my eventual hoped-for lifestyle. I worked about 3 hours a day, slept a LOT to the sound of soothing waves, read books, talked and played games with my family, walked, and just generally had a very nice and relaxing time. And still made enough money to support myself, especially in the local economy. So I came back feeling like my plans are not entirely ridiculous.

And tomorrow I am going out to look at houses that have been on my “to-see” list for a while, but which I’ve been too busy to visit. On the week-end I may fit in a little relaxation :)