I hope I don’t regret this…
I passed up a 20% off sale at Lowe’s and bought a completely reconditioned Kenmore Elite washer and dryer.
Why?
$300.
But, there is always a risk. They are used.
I hope I made the right decision.
Hoping to get back to boring
I have an old truck that I have named “Wild Bill”. I call it that because it is an old style pick up…
Uncivilized, untamed…
It’s a man’s truck! No foo-foo women crud here!
The doors are hard to open and just as tough to close.
Since he’s old, he’s a little temperamental. Since there is no fuel injection, you have to pump the gas 5 times (not six!!!) before starting it up for the first time of the day. However, if you pump it the next time you start it, you’ll be sitting for awhile…(now that I think about it, kinda like dealing with my wife!)
You want air conditioning? Crank all of the windows open and start driving.
You want to turn it cooler? Drive faster.
My wife couldn’t believe it but through the years, guys in California regularly asked me if I wanted to sell it.
“Why would anyone want that beat up old thing?”
But, she’s a woman. How could she possibly understand???
Then, when I was ready to sell it two years ago, no one wanted it…three different times in two different states!
So, I…no…make that WE are stuck with him.
About 4 years ago, I had to change the water pump. To do that, I had to pull off the fan shroud. When I took it off, it crumbled in my hands…literally!
For the mechanically challenged among us, the fan shroud is like a hood or a funnel that helps the fan pull air through the radiator so that the engine doesn’t overheat.
I didn’t want to buy a new one because…
I was going to sell the truck!
So I looked for a used one…
Nothing!
“That all right…I’ll just drive without it. After all, how bad can it be?”
Plenty bad!
Every time the traffic stopped on a warm summer day became a high pressure moment. I grew to dread a light turning red.
“Will it overheat before the light changes?”
I have been reduced to yelling and pleading for the traffic to start moving or the light to change more times than I care to admit!
I decided that enough is enough. If Bill is going to stay on my ranch, I’m going to enjoy the ride when I saddle him up!
I found a used fan shroud in very good condition at a reasonable price. Now I just have to install it.
From famine to feast!
I forgot to tell you…
My son technically now has 4 part time jobs!
You already knew that he works several nights per week as a busboy at The Bonefish Grill restaurant.
However, he followed up on some adds for construction post on Craig’s List and found work…
Three brothers each have their own construction company. He works for whichever one needs him that day.
So, instead of sitting on our couch like last summer, he leaves at 7:00 in the morning, comes home to take a quick shower then heads off to the restaurant. He gets home at around 10:00 P.M.
He’s pretty tired.
No, we aren’t on the debate team!
People think that after 24 years of marriage, you’ve probably pretty much been through every possible relationship scenario.
Not so!
We had a re-disagreement…
I don’t mean that we continued a disagreement that we had already had…anybody can do that! and most couples do.
No, my wife and I just broached new territory. We revisited a previous disagreement…
But this time we changed sides!
A few posts ago, I wrote about how my projections for our move differed with my wife’s.
Well, that happened again yesterday!
After working our tails off on both Saturday and Sunday, I thought we were in good shape.
“We’ll just make one or two small trips to tie up all of the loose ends, clean up the apartment and be done by 6:00.”
My wife, who on Friday night thought we could wait until Monday to do most of the moving, now told me that I was dreaming!
To make a long story short, I was right on Friday night and she was right yesterday morning. So, I guess that means that we were both right!
We hauled 2 Super Crew loads, 2 Wild Bill loads and 3 car loads! My wife and daughter didn’t finish cleaning the apartment until midnight!
During the move, my son expressed it best when he asked me, “How long do you plan to live in this house?”
“5 years.”
“Good.”
“Why do you ask that?”
“We won’t have to move for awhile!”
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So she wasn’t being rude!
As if things weren’t hectic enough with the impending move, two of Cake’s California friends flew in to spend the better part of a week with her. It made for crowded conditions. The three girls took over the second bedroom so Big A had to sleep on the couch.
After church last Sunday, we all went out to Chili’s for lunch. We were having a great time when Cake’s phone rang. She looked at it and quickly sprang up from the table and headed outside.
Hmmm….
That was an unusual reaction…
When she returned, we learned that her manager asked her if she was interested in being trained in “Admin”! The woman (in her 30’s or 40’s) who has been doing it will be leaving for a temporary opportunity with her “dream company” and he thought to ask her first!
Amazing! She’s 17 years old!!!
Wow! Go Cakes!
Ah, yes, I remember it well!
The title to this post comes from the movie “Gigi.”
My wife and I had a small disagreement on this very topic tonight…
I told everyone that we had to get started moving bright and early tomorrow morning. She thought we could wait until Monday.
I agree with her to an extent. When I look around our little two bedroom apartment, it looks like we will be done in just a few loads.
But our eyes have to be deceiving us! I remember how much work it was to move into this very place one year ago!
Most of the time, I make an effort to be an attentive, kind, understanding husband and father…
But, tonight I don’t really care if she thinks I am unreasonable…
Everyone who is able is helping us move in the morning!
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The long and winding road
Today, my wife and I became the proud owners of a house in Grandview, MO!
This is our second house. We bought our first house (or rather Bunch’s parents bought the house for us!!!) 21 years ago.
We ended up buying the very first house that we looked at nearly 3 months ago.
As seems to be the norm here in the Castle, it was anything but simple…
It started with dueling realtors. Then, an absolutely amazing 7 hour chain of events on a Friday enabled us to take our first unsuccessful foray into the foreclosure market.
We then missed the Federal tax credit despite looking at hundreds of homes.
Since I was unwilling to settle for just any house, I tried an unconventionally bold move to get the one that we wanted and it actually worked!
I then had my first real negotiation…
was awakened from a much needed sleep to digitally sign a contract in the middle of the night…
and finally realized that, in this case, losing was really winning.
It took a little work, but we got the house we wanted!
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No more delays!
We did the final walk through today…
The place looks great!
I think we are going to like this house!!!
Posted in Real Estate Comments Off on No more delays!
The skeptics trifecta
When I was 30 years old, I wrote down several big physical goals. I achieved one of them a little over a year ago!
I only have 11 weeks to reach my second big one…
I want to be 12% bodyfat when I am 50 years old.
Let’s just say that I am not there so I need to get moving.
That goal and the fact that we will be moving into our new house in a week or so are providing me with a legitimate excuse to buy an exercise machine! That’s right…an exercise machine.
I am very aware that most of the people who buy them actually end up using them for little more than a glorified clothes hangar! I am determined that will not happen to me. I can’t let it. I couldn’t justify the expense!
So, I have begun looking at equipment. What will I realistically use? Which hunk of metal will inspire me to hop on and start furiously pahm-ping my mah-scles (said in an Ah-nold voice) every time I look at it?
I stopped by a fitness store and started asking questions.
The guy asked me how I came to visit his store. I told him that accidentally drove by his store a few months ago while looking for another store that was having a going out of business sale.
He then showed me a really nice piece of equipment. It had better be nice with a price tag of over $4,000!
I looked at a few more pieces of equipment and asked a few more questions. Since I was the only person in the store, I had his undivided attention. I learned quite a bit from him.
I then asked him what this one bracket was for. He said, “That is the ‘Oh, God’ stop.”
I immediately understood his description because I have had one of those moments myself except I didn’t have a safety stop. I told him the story. (You can read about it here.)
I began sensing that his incredulity was rapidly mutating into full scale cynicism so I asked, “Do you believe me?”
“No. Are you in the fitness industry?”
It took me a few seconds before I figured out what he meant.
I was asking about the story concerning my weightlifting accident. Not only did he not believe that (“probably just temporarily collapsed your lungs”), he didn’t believe me about how I came to visit his store!
Since he was so steeped in “rational” unbelief, I decided to just pile it on. I told him how God healed my wife of 3rd stage limes disease.
“It could be a false positive.”
Right! Complete with extremely painful symptoms.
He hit the skeptics trifecta!
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Negotiating the close
Our realtor gave us some bad news today…
Someone broke into the house that we are buying and stole some of the contractors tools! He won’t be able to finish the ceiling in the master bedroom until Friday!
My realtor wanted to know what I thought about that?
“I don’t like it!”
negotiated
How about he leaves the bedroom ceiling alone (I am going to change it anyway!) and finishes everything else perfectly by Wednesday and we close on Thursday?
She delivered my message to the current owners who then talked with the contractor and we are not going to close by Thursday!
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