WE GOT THE HOUSE!!

FINALLY..........after 4 long months of waiting, we were handed those precious keys yesterday!! What an ordeal this has been. We found out that apparently our lender was not a very good one. The lady at title said it was her first, and hopefully the LAST time she would have to deal with them. She also said buying a short sale had nothing to do with the all the nit-picking & delays...it was because of the lender.

We signed papers last Friday and as we were signing, the lender called, said the closing costs needed to be adjusted & raised them $400. Then on Monday, we are waiting for the funds to close & the deal to record and the lender tells us they need our latest paystub & phone #s on a doc that didn't have them. *eyes rolling* but we hurriedly gave them what they asked for. Then on end of day. Tues, they decided to to not credit us the aggregate adjustment (whatever that means) and needed a few more forms filled out...meaning, they wouldn't record until we paid another $600+ & completed the forms. WHAT?!@? Unbelievable!!! I was seriously doubting that this deal would go through. If we didn't record Wed morning, our rate lock would have expired & we would've had to start the ENTIRE process from square 1...adding up to more fees we wouldn't be able to pay. But miraculously, everything went through on Wed, we recorded at 3pm & got the keys!!

We are VERY excited to finally have a permanent place and for all of this to be over. Even with all of the extra fees we've had to pay, we still have $40,000+ instant equity in the house! I've started painting Nate's room & we are scrubbing the place clean so we can move all our stuff in by this weekend. YAY!!

Thanks to everyone for all your prayers, encouragment & support during this grueling process. Next time, I'm paying cash for a house. haha.

A toast to the new place with our nearby neighbor friends

Painting Nate's room. It's going to have a beach theme. Even the paint has fun names like "Shallow Tide" (blue-gray) & "Sand Between Your Toes" (sandy brown). 

HARVEST FESTIVAL FUN

I got a new camera phone & had to try it out at the Harvest Festival. Not bad!

Look mom! I caught a fish!!

Getting his face painted

A dinosaur!

This was a hole-in-one....you go guys!

Ok, this is not at the Harvest Festival but Saffron Indian Bistro....MMMMM!!!

ONE MORE RANDOM PICTURE

This is the best way to watch cartoons...according to Nate.

BREAKFAST ON THE PATIO

Mmmm....hot Starbucks on the patio with my boy.




...and a random picture of Harvard's new "bed"....claimed by him of course.

INTERESTING TURN OF EVENTS

What an interesting week this has been. On Monday, we were still crashing at a friend's house. 3 days had now turned into 3 weeks and I was going stir crazy. Our friends were extremely gracious hosts & were not kicking us out, but I felt we had worn out our welcome, was tired of the 3 of us crammed into a small room & just wanted our privacy (I'm sure our hosts felt the same!)

Fortunately, a friend had a friend who happened to have a 2 bedroom rental that they could not rent out. He offered to let us stay the rest of the Oct for free & not charge us a security deposit..or any kind of deposit to rent it. On top of that, we could rent month to month. So, on Tues, we began moving our stuff out of the rental truck (yes it had been in there for 3 weeks!!) & moved into the rental. Come to find out.....we really liked it & felt totally content.

On Monday, our realtor told us the lienholder & lender were at a standoff. Lender required the lienholder to write a letter of explanation stating what we paid them a chunk of money for & what they were doing it. It was supposed to be for an extension fee but the bank was refusing to write a letter explaining that or even give us a receipt for it! Without the letter, the lender said the deal would be dead. On Wed, we were shocked to find out that the lienholder submitted the letter and on Thurs, underwriting released all our docs to title!

Today, we were numb as we began signing papers on this house....4 months in the waiting. Next Tues, we are expected to fully fund & get our keys. HOWEVER...........it IS possible for the underwriter to decide to re-review all our docs & put our funding on hold. The title lady said she was working on a short sale where that happened & the funding has been held up for 2 weeks! As far as we are concerned, it's not a done deal until they hand over the keys. What should have been a happy day has been a skeptical one for us. I felt nothing as we signed....not wanting to get my hopes up again & be crushed.

At any rate, we are still very content in our little rental. Harvard is back with us (YAY!!!!!), Nate is in his own room again (BIG YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), we have a fireplace, a cozy patio to work on my Mac, nice neighborhood to walk in with a park & God is good.

So that's the scoop. Interesting to see what next week will hold.

JUST KEEP SINGIN'

Nate has been singing more lately & this morning, he just happened to be a good singing mood.

ART IN TARGET STORES!!!

WOW!! It's finally here! I spotted my "Turning Leaves" art on paper plates & napkins in Target stores in Tucson so that means they've hit the stores nationwide! I found them on an endcap next to the giftwrap section. My name with copyright is on the front of the plates. SWEET! While we were out & about, we stopped at Anna's Linens and took a photo of my Inspirations-Butterfly art on display. The manufacturer is making a different color scheme-same art but in browns & tans.

Exciting times!!

ORO VALLEY TARGET

SUPER TARGET ON ORACLE IN TUCSON

ANNA'S LINENS

BIRTHDAY VIDEO

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!

Last Thursday was Nate's 3rd birthday. We are staying with friends until our home closes and they insisted on having a little party for him. Nate was in heaven. His friends J.J. & Shannon were there and he scored on the gifts. Normally it's my tradition to bake & decorate a cake for him, but since we were displaced, he got a Ding Dong tower cake instead. He called them his "cookies" with "marshmallow" inside. haha. Here's a few pics below of his presents from the grandparents and a big boy bike from mom & dad.

HOMELESS

That's right. We're officially homeless. Still haven't closed on the home and we are staying with friends until our house goes through. It's been a nightmare and the paperwork is a mess and my ear is tired from constantly being on the phone to work through the situation. It would take too much writing to explain but we are once again, hoping that it will go through on Monday. 

In the meantime, Nate celebrated his 3rd birthday yesterday! He had a blast and funny Ding Dong cake, since I did not have the time or means to make a custom cake. He also had a lot of fun gifts to open...a nice surprise since all of his toys are in the moving truck. I will post pics soon!