the apartment comes together.

Good morning.
We continue to get the apartment organized, and  I can finally show you some pics.

The wall with the pyramid cabinet is the one shared wall with a neighbor. To the right is the entry closet and front door. To the left is the hall to the bathroom, linen closet and bedroom.

My puter desk is in the corner by the patio door. Looks like we could use a bigger TV. Oh, we have one. It's in Vegas.  :-)

As you can see, sparse and spacious. We hung just a few pics to help make it feel homey. The rest we put in storage.

Craig's desk in the bedroom.
So we are getting settled in and it feels really good. Still getting use to people and noise.
And in other news......
I went back through my blog and apparently I never posted why the sale of my house is taking so long.
Here's the scoop. The Monday after we picked up the keys to the apartment, (that would have been the 17th of August),  I texted our Realtor to find out why we didn't have a closing date and time set yet, because the buyer wanted closing by the 24th, and occupancy at closing. Well, come to find out, undisclosed to us, the mortgage company she is using to buy our house wants to see money from the sale of her house first.
So basically, our sale is contingent on her sale. That was not in the buyers offer. So we had 2 choices. Cancel the deal, keep the earnest money and put the house back on the market. That would mean another inspection and appraisal also. Or, work with the current buyer. She does have a buyer for her home, and they were set to close the week before us, but their appraisal wasn't good. Sooo, long story a little shorter....They've got their buyers hooked up with the mortgage company our buyer is using. Our Realtor thinks they will get a better appraisal from them. So.......they were approved for a mortgage and last week, the appraisal was ordered. Hope to find out this week if it was good. If so, we should close in about a week, if not, we'll cancel the deal and relist.
So there, now your up to speed.   :-)
And now, time to get.

football

Good morning.
It's was a slow week in the Salon, following a slow month.  I'm concerned that our eventual move to Vegas is causing people to look for another stylist. That's the one thing I was worried about if we told people we were planning  a move.
Hopefully, it's just a late summer lag thing.
Friday evening, after work, we went to a football game.
It was  a high school game and we hadn't been to one since we were in high school

We have a stylist and a good customer who has kids on the team. And I even cut one of the kids. They play for Catholic Central. Their game was against Waverly, which is practically in our back yard. So after dinner, we walked over to the stadium. High school football is a lot different than college or pro.  Since Catholic central was the visiting team, the bleaches we sat in weren't very high so not a very good vantage point to watch the plays. But we enjoyed watching the game. We left a little over half way, as the metal bleachers were hurting my behind. I don't have the cushion I use to.  :-) 
And watching the game live, you don't get instant replays so you miss re-seeing some of the good plays.
And in other news......
As expected, we received a request for another extension on the house. This time through Sept. 11th. Hopefully they will get all their ducks in a row and we'll finally close. Until then, we have to go over every week to mow, weed, and deadhead. Got to keep the yard looking good, just in case this deal falls through and we need to relist it. Let's hope not.
And we should get the rest of the boxes unpacked or stored in our storage unit this weekend.
So time to go.

Plumtree Apts.

Good morning.
Here's a few pics of the apartment building we're in.....

We're the sort of second floor balcony on the left. The first floor is actually a 'garden' apartment. Half in the ground. So there is only 8 steps up to my 'floor'.

A view from the other parking lot where our cars park. That's my Kia in the first spot under the carport.

Another view of the building from across the green area. There's few windows under the right balcony as that is the laundry/storage room.

This apartment complex was built in 1970. 36 buildings containing 406 apartments. The building I'm in is all one bedroom units. 11 to be exact. 4 per floor so every bedroom is in a corner.
When originally built, it was one of the nicer complexes in the city, and the nicest on the west side. They were so well built,  even with age, they are still very nice.
But now I'm off to work.

more apt pics

Good afternoon.
It's currently 60 out, with clouds, wind, and occasional rain.  And this is 3pm in the afternoon. It's fricken August!   60 is the average high for Las Vegas in January! And you wonder why we want to move.  :-/
Anyway, here's a few pics out our patio window in our apartment......

I like the expansive area between buildings. And all the green space.

These are the carports in the parking area to the right of our building.
We've spent a good part of the last 3 days over at the house. Cleaning, mowing and deadheading. Today, we finished up with the inside, and brought the rest of the stuff back to the apartment. The house looks damn good! Hopefully we'll close soon. Got a text from the Realtor yesterday. The buyer asked for an extension of the purchase. It was to expire at midnight. Checked my e-mail, printed, signed, and e-mailed it back. She only wanted an extension until Friday. With the appraisal not done yet, I don't know how we could close by then, but let's hope for a good appraisal and quick closing.
Getting the house more settled. Should be pretty much done by the end of next weekend. That said, with one week here, we really like the apt. Getting used to people and noises. Like being 3 minutes from work.
We did break down and get cable for TV. Our indoor antenna just wasn't getting much. Our apartment complex recommended a guy for cable service. Called him and he was over the same day.  Got basic cable added to our Internet service for just $10 more a month. Couldn't ask for more.   :-)
So back to work tomorrow, and waiting for a closing date.
I'll post when I have more...

the kitchen comes together.

Good morning.
It's been a busy weekend with work and the new apartment.
Without a washer/dryer in our apartment, Saturday was the first day taking our laundry to the Salon. Craig and I are usually the only ones working on Saturday, so that was a good time to do laundry while we worked. We were able to finish the laundry about the same time as we got done in the Salon.
I think it will work out okay.
We're getting more 'settled' in our new place every day. Getting a little more unpacking, and more organized.
We've got the kitchen together, and with some modifications, everything fits.   :-)

We added under cabinet lighting to brighten up that end of the kitchen.

A bistro table and chairs by the window. These will go with us to Vegas and go out on the patio there.

A large white storage cabinet we brought from the house. And two 7 drawer storage units next to it. Craig took out a shelf in the linen closet to make room for a clothes hamper and that shelf fit perfectly over the storage units and a good place to put the microwave. And the espresso machine sits on top of that when not in use. Baking pans go in racks on top of the large storage cabinets.
So despite a tiny kitchen, we fit everything in there.  :-)
I even got a large plastic cutting board that fits over half the sink giving Craig more 'counter' space when needed.

I'll take pics of the living room, once I get the rest of the boxes out. I'm getting close.   :-)
Now time to get going.

pics of our apartment

Good morning.
I've got a few minuted before I get ready for work, so here's a few pics of the apartment before we moved everything in....

Very small kitchen. Yep, that's all the counter space.

Entry door and nice large entry closet.

Looking right toward the patio door and kitchen doorway.

Linen closet and bedroom

Bedroom closet.

And bathroom.

I'll take some after pics once we get rid of most of the boxes.
After a few days here, we are liking the apartment very much. It helps we have new carpet and tile, a lot of windows, and we've added to the kitchen to make it more user friendly. Glad to have the storage area in the downstairs laundry room. We were able to put our snow tires and 9 boxes of stuff we want to take to Vegas, but don't need right now.
I'll post more when I get the time.

moving is work!

Good morning.
Just a quickie before I go.
We moved yesterday and OMG! I can't believe how much stuff I still have after 2 yard sales!
So now, trying to unpack and put everything somewhere.
It's been 30 years since our last move and I'm a bit overwhelmed by everything.
I'll post more when I get a chance.

2 houses and an apartment.

Good morning.
After work yesterday, we went over and picked up the keys to the apartment. For a one bedroom apartment, it is very spacious. Except for the teeny tiny kitchen. I was surprised to see no dishwasher.  But we'll manage. We took a couple of loads of stuff over, and after work today, we'll take another. I know we have movers coming on Monday, but I wanted to handle the fragile stuff myself, and the more I take, the less it'll cost Monday, as they charge by the hour.  I'll take some pics when I get a chance.
We now have 2 houses and an apartment. You'd think we were cross country jet setters, except one house and apartment are here in Lansing MI.   :-)
Hopefully we'll close on our house here on the 24th.
And with that, off I go.

another busy weekend

Good morning.
Whew! It's been a busy weekend, and a very productive one.  Had my moving sale and did quite well. Got the 8 yard trailer delivered Monday morning during our nearly 4 inch monsoon. Fortunately, the rain ended by noon, and I worked on clearing out the garage. Tuesday we mowed and I worked on the final clearing out of the compost/storage area. You can collect a lot of crap in 30 years!

But it's all done now, and I'm feeling we're in a good position with being nearly ready to move.

The riding mower is being picked up after we close and the stuff in the back of the garage is being picked up this next weekend.

The tires go with us and will go in the storage area in the laundry room.
And I continue to box up stuff we shouldn't need until after the move. I've boxed 13 so far, and I'm thinking I might need more boxes! It's amazing how little actually fits in each box! But we have all day next Sunday to pack before the mover arrive Monday at 10am.
Now, it's another work week, and looking to be fairly busy.

another good sale

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon and retrieving more boxes from Meijer. I've found the perfect time for getting a huge selection of boxes, is Monday morning around 6am. They are restocking the store from the busy weekend, but haven't yet disposed of the boxes. They have carts and carts of empty boxes, all for the taking.   :-)           I think I have enough now.

 And here's some of the boxes I've already packed....

The moving sale yesterday went very well.   :-)
And this morning a dumpster is being delivered and a final clean-up will start.
And with that, I should get going.

Sold!

Good evening.
The sale progresses!~

The water heater inspection went well.
We're on track to close on the 24th.
We're getting keys to the apt. on the 14th and moving on the 17th.
Sunday is my big moving sale. Come by. Lot's of junk good stuff!   :-)
Monday we get a 10 yard dumpster. Besides anything left over from the sale, I have quite a bit of stuff out by the compost area I'd like to get rid of.  Old rolls of fencing, posts, pots and such that I can't get in my car and haul, to our work dumpster. And I don't want to leave for the new homeowner.
So now, a lot of phone calls dealing with changing utilities, and Internet services. Then all the change of addresses we need to send everyone.
A lot going on right now, but fortunately, work is a little slow this time of year.
And I'm tired, so good night.

Moving sale Sunday!

Good morning.
Turned out to be a pretty good weekend. We walked, mowed the yard and got more things ready for moving in a couple of weeks.....I hope.
I've just about finished pricing everything for our big moving sale. Having that on Sunday. If your interested it's 9-4. Come early as I have a lot of junk really good stuff!   :-)
And this morning, finally, the banks plumbing  contractor is coming out to inspect the water heater. Hope that goes well.
Now time to get ready for work.

busy weekend

Good morning.
We have a new wrinkle in our house sale. After making it through the inspection, and the appraisal, the underwriter at the bank that's going to do the loan wants the water heater inspected. Apparently disclosing the water heater issue when we listed it, and was accepted by the buyer, isn't good enough. I don't know what they think needs inspected. I've had 2 different companies out, and everything is just as it should be. Oh well, everything else has worked out, I suspect this will too.
We got out of work early Sat. and ran over to the apt complex to pick out carport parking spaces. We decided to get 2 so we would be somewhat protected from the snow. I know I'm going to miss my garage next winter.
Then we headed over to Reno's for a late lunch and to enjoy the sunshine.
Sunday, I cleaned the Salon, we walked, and I weeded and deadheaded in the yard. I also finished packing our china. Took 3 boxes. I've had no bites for the set on Craig's list, so we'll take it with us. It's too nice to put it in a yard sale.
And today, we are going to price new water heaters, just in case. If this water heater issue kills the deal, we've decide to put in  a power vent water heater. Then we'll re-list the house at a higher price. Hopefully we won't have to do all that, but it's good to be prepared.
Now time to go.