House hunt update

The waiting...Day 14

We have offered, been rejected and counter offered and now we are playing a waiting game. 14 days have passed since we wrote the contract on the house and we are no closer than we were the last time I wrote here. I only THOUGHT that I had a headache then.

This house is everything I could want...except ready to move into...it needs SO much work. There is a crack in the wall of the second bedroom that is wide enough to put my hand in. It needs a shower enclosure in the guest bath and new fixtures in the main bath. It needs new glass in the back door and a tree removed after the storm that blew through here in July. Extensive landscaping work and new vinyl siding is also needed but lower on my priority list than the rest.

Yet with all this, the mortgage company that holds the key to getting the house refuses to budge on the price. The location is wonderful, the layout is great, the closets are to die for and I can see the fireplace at the holidays. But will any of this come to fruition? The answer to that is in the hands of some inept mortgage lender on the left coast that doesn't return her phone calls or answer her e-mails in anything resembling a timely manner. Last week we thought that was a good thing...right up until they rejected our first offer after 7 days of leaving us hanging. Now we are 7 MORE days into the process and awaiting word on our counter offer...I must admit I don't have high hopes for the desired answer and my mind has already moved ahead to do we make yet another counter offer or do we cut our losses and walk away.

I hate house hunting. Passionately.

House Hunting Makes My Head Hurt

I haven't blogged much recently because of the fact that we are searching for a new home. I have discovered that house hunting makes my head hurt and financing makes it hurt even worse. However we received word yesterday that we are pre-approved. Yeah! Of course this means that we must now decide for serious if the house we have been daydreaming over for weeks is the one we really want to put an offer on and what our max offer will be. I feel a migraine coming on even as I type this.

My stress level has been incredible and my eating disorder is almost out of control. The most I can claim as victory is the awareness that I am losing my grip. Sometimes that is a victory worth celebrating and this is one of those times. Other areas of my life have been at the fore recently and I became distracted. The eating disorder is my "default setting" and I revert to it in times of stress because it "feels" comfortable. For the first time I am able to step back and see this happening. The last two or three days I'm feeling more in control again. This is good.

In the midst of all this I'm homeschooling, teaching 4 classes in co-op, carting the 6 year old back and forth to various lessons and trying to find some time for me. Contemplating moving terrifies me but I will manage it when the time comes. I always do.

Was there a point to this? Probably not. Did I find something within it that is useful to me. As always, yes. Celebrate the small victories and don't beat myself up about the seemingly large failures and I will be much more able to cope with life the universe and everthing.

T