signs of spring......finally

Good morning.
Spring has finally arrived as evident in the following pics....

It's been slow coming, but at last, it has arrived.   :-)
I've never seen crocus bloom so late before.
It's been a busy week at the Salon, and yesterday, I left for the Salon early, and Craig came in a little later. When he got to work, he said, "did you see the dead Raccoon laying on the side of the road near the end of the driveway". I said I did, but didn't have time to 'dispose' of it then and said when I got out of work, I'd take care of it. Later in the day, I noticed Craig was getting out of work about 1 1/2 hours before me so I said he could dispose of the raccoon. He looked at me with the expression of really? Me? I said "man up and just do it,"  I shouldn't have to do everything right?
Well when he was ready to leave, I told him if he really didn't want to do it I'd do it when I got home.
Well, when I did get home, the Raccoon was gone. I asked if he did it and he said he did. I thanked him. He also said when he took the shovels back to rinse them off, discovered a big pile of Raccoon do-do on the deck next to the patio door, so he cleaned that up to and said at that point  he didn't feel sorry for the Raccoon.
Craig always comes through when you give him the chance.  :-)
Now time for one more work day.

we put an offer on another house

Good morning.
Spring has finally sprung here in mid Michigan.  :-)   The last remaining snow mounds in the yard are now gone.
We're forecast to be near 60 all week.
I was actually able to work in the yard all 3 days.
Monday I edged the driveway, using the removed sod to patch all the holes in the yard caused by falling branches from the Dec. ice storm. Tuesday trimmed back bushes and raked out a couple of flower beds. I also spread preen on the beds to help keep down early sprouting weeds.
I also managed to make another double batch of Kale chips.
On the house hunting front.....
As of Monday, no response to the first offer yet. Our realtor explained that since the house is empty, and the owner will get nothing from the sale, there is no motivation to be timely with a response. It's also possible the owner could be out of town and unreachable. Just a couple of the many reasons a short sale could take so long.
Anyway, in the meantime, I noticed another home in Aliante had just been reduced to the price of the other house we put the offer on. This home has the exact same floor plan and isn't a short sale. I asked our realtor about that one. She said we could put in an offer, and in the meantime, she would go and take some pics for us. We could then wait until an offer is accepted, and rescind the other one.
Soooo, we now have 2 offers pending. Apparently it's very common to put multiple offers. Real estate works a little different in Nevada compared to Michigan.  Obviously Craig is a bit of a wreck right now with all the goings on.The thought of buying a house sight unseen is a bit unnerving for him. But the realtor says it's in as good of condition as the other one we looked at. And that was one of the reasons for going out there to actually walk through some of these floor plans so we know how big the rooms and home is. I'm completely comfortable buying site unseen. What's the worst that could happen?
And you know, Craig could give me a list an arms length long to that question.
What happens happens.
Actually, Craig is doing real good with all that's going on. I think all the planning and prep for this whole house buying thing has helped him get prepared to deal with it all. I've been working on him for 2 years.  :-)
Now it's time to get ready for another work week.

I did it!

Good morning.
Well, it was a very productive day yesterday, and I'm all stiff and sore today.
I cleaned the Salon as usual, came home, woke up lazy bones, had our coffee and read the Sunday paper. Then, while Craig did laundry and paper work, I headed out side to tackle the mountain of branches in the back yard.

before.....during....

and after.

another view....before....during.....

and after.

The piles of branches I had hauled out back from the front yard. Before and after.

I was actually surprised I managed to get it all done.   :-)
Now I still need to get some out out here to take out 3 large branches that are broken, but still connected and hanging from the Sunburst Locust tree.

They are too high up for me to reach with a ladder, and to attached to pull off.
I tell you I did sleep good and long last night, not getting up until nearly 6 am.   :-)
But it was a nice day yesterday, sunny and mid 50's.
If we get back in time today from our usual Monday running around before expected rain starts, I hope to get some more spring yard work done.
Now time for me to get going.

busy

Good morning.
It's been a very busy week in the Salon, and I booked solid today also.
Spring like weather has been slow to come, but it is coming. The snow is nearly all gone, and it rained most of the day yesterday. I've managed to finally get the front yard picked up and raked. Hauled 10 wheel barrels full of small branches out back and dumped them near the burning hole. Plan on spending the entire day Sunday burning up as many of the branches from the ice storm as possible. It's suppose top be sunny and 50 tomorrow.   :-)
I'll try to remember to take some pics before I get started.  I have piles and piles and piles of branches in the back yard.
Now time to get to work.

house shopping

Good morning.
We've just returned from a very short quick trip to Las Vegas.
We left Saturday morning, flying out of Detroit on Spirit Airlines, returning yesterday afternoon.
We continue to hear horror stories about Spirit, but we've now flown them 4 times, and all 4 flights left and arrived on time.  The seats are a little close together, but they don't recline, so you don't have to worry about someone in your lap. And I had my tablet to pass the time, so we were good.
We stayed 3 nights at New York New York, for free, thanks to comps from  the Facebook game, My Vegas Slots.   :-)
Of course, the purpose of the trip was to look at some possible homes to buy.
We had previously lined up a Realtor, who met us early Sunday morning, and showed us 11 homes. I must say, nearly everyone we looked at was in far worst shape than the pics portrayed. The pics also were way off when showing the size of rooms. But then this was exactly why we wanted to physically walk through a bunch of homes to get a better feel for the layout and space.
There were a few possibilities that Craig and I wanted to discuss so we went back to our hotel, made a couple of drinks, and hashed out our differences. He liked a free standing home in Summerlin, and I liked a fixer upper attached 'villa' in Summerlin. We also both liked a free standing home in Aliante.The fixer upper really needed a lot of work. New kitchen, 2 new baths, a ceiling leak that needed to be addressed and also a patio door leak that had rotted trim.
We finally agreed it would be logistically hard to fix up a home long distance.
The house in Summerlin I thought had too small of a living room, and Craig agreed after re-looking at pics I took. We were also surprised at how poorly kept the homes were in Summerlin, considering they were built in the early 90's. We decided to take another look at the one in Aliante on Monday. These homes were built between 2005 and 2008. Much newer although much closer together than the ones in Summerlin. We completely passed on looking at homes in Las Prados, after our Realtor clarified the hoa's were $260 per month. Way more that we wanted to pay. Also, those home were built in the mid 80's.
So Monday morning, we met the Realtor again, and she had one more home in Aliante to show us. A little higher priced, but the same floor plan we liked in the other home we were going to re-look at.
I was glad we did, because that home had furniture where as the one we looked at the day before was empty. That gave us a good idea how big the place would look occupied. It did look nice, but when we re-looked at the place we saw the day before, we were sold. It had tiled floors throughout, a walled private back yard, and cost less.
So........ we headed back to the office to write up the offer.
Now this purchase, if it even happens could take some time.
This home is listed as a short sale, which means the owner owes more than the home is currently worth. So that means, even thought the seller is willing to accept less, the bank makes the final decision whether to accept the price or not. And apparently, the banks are never in any hurry. Now according to records, this home has been for sale since last July. The bank has since then rejected 2 other similar offers. It was most recently re-listed last October, and the price has been dropped 3 times. Our Realtor seems to believe the bank will now take this offer, or counter offer. Considering how much time it took her to prepare all the papers for the offer, I hope she knows what she's taking about. Also, there's also a chance the property could be foreclosed on, since the owned stopped making payments last July and a different arm of the bank deals with that part. So technically speaking, the bank could foreclose on the property and sell it at auction for less than we offered. Crazy right?
So now we wait. Our realtor said it could take 3-4 months to close if all works out. Fortunately, that would be good, since we won't be moving any time soon anyway.
Also, we could keep looking, and if we found something we like better during that time before it's accepted, we could cancel the offer. So, right now, were in kind of a good spot. The seller can't accept any other offers until ours is approved or declined, and we still have flexibility to keep looking.
I'll post some pics, if and when we actually own the house.
Now time to go.