Well, it looked like our house purchase in CO was going to fall through because of a discrepancy on the amount of square feet in the house per the appraisal vs the amount we thought we were buying. But at the last minute, we were able to come to an agreementl with the sellers, and it looks like the sale will go through this time. Our new closing date is January 8th, and the current owners will vacate at the end of January. We are investigating a move in early to mid February. Our house is on the market through For Sale by Owner, including listing in the MLS. We have had two individuals view the house, and one buyer’s agent brought a family to see the house. I’ve had several other calls for information, and the flyers keep disappearing out of the tube in front, so that seems promising.

The updating of the house is moving along. All of the bathrooms now have tile floors, the wallpaper has been covered with texture and painted antique white, which looks ivory to me. The upstairs bedrooms have all been painted and the carpeting is coming around Dec. 29th. The living room is painted, except for the highest parts of the ceiling, we are waiting for scaffolding. The garage is stuffed with bamboo wood flooring, tile, and overflow from the office on W. Vickery.

I’m trying to clear out / sort at least one thing a day. Matt and I cleared out the wet bar in the living room last Saturday, second night of Hanukkah. We had alcohol that I think we moved from Houston in 1983, and some of Shirley’s stash- who knows how old that was. Many of the bottles had the old paper tax seal on them. None of them were potable. Jay worked in his cave last Saturday, and we took one suburban full to the landfill. We are looking forward to the days off to get more done.
Julia and I are going tomorrow and Saturday to look for apartments for her for next semester. We’d like her to move in while we are still here so we can get her settled and accustomed to her new space. We will be looking at apartments very near Brenda’s work, which is comforting to us but maybe potentially worrisome for Brenda.

We are looking forward to Megan Pereda’s wedding in a few weeks, Jan. 6th. We will host two of Brenda’s sisters, and a few nieces for the weekend in our newly carpeted upstairs. I’m sure they’ll be as flexible as Brenda, and forgive our construction mess and just enjoy the weekend.

Ted and I will be going to El Dorado for the family get-together next week. Julia and Jay are both too new at their respective jobs to be able to get any time off. And the next thing we know, it will be New Year’s again. My how time flies. Enough for now!

I tried to post a picture of Julia, but it didn’t work correctly. I’ll have to get Matt to show me what to do. Hopefully, I’ll have Julia’s picture on the snow day on the blog soon. Sorry.

(Edit: Here ya go! — Matt)

We had a snow day, kind a, last Thursday, Nov. 30th. The cold front working its way across the country hit DFW. Julia’s college was closed Thursday morning, but Ted, Jay and I all were not so lucky and got to go to work and school. Although I did leave work around 1:30 pm and spent the afternoon making chili and staying warm in the house. Julia did not go to work that day, because she has to travel over many overpasses and bridges which were icy and dangerous. But she was brave enough and loving enough to go out to play with the dogs in the inclement weather, see attached photo. There was definately ice on the roads, cold weather and sleet / snow to look at while it fell, but no buildup and not that pretty to look at.
Jay and I put the house on the real estate market yesterday, by buying a for sale by owner sign and putting it out front. We printed some flyers and put them in the flyer tube. They were all gone this morning, so we put more out today. Today we signed up for “for sale by owner” and now have a listing on their website. Our neighbor is selling her house and had an open house today. We had one realtor and her client who called after visiting Pat’s open house to ask if they could see the house. Of course, we accomodated them and they seemed somewhat interested. We may hear from the realtor again to take her own pictures. Another person called after the open house, but didn’t come by, just wanted some information. So we have had some interest in the house with the street sign, which is good. We’re a little optimistic with the interest so far.

Right now, Jay and I have given ourselves an end of January, first of February date for the move, but will be flexible depending on how everything falls together, including Ted’s school, the sale of the house and of course, the weather. We’re researching four wheel and all wheel drive vehicles to replace Jay’s and my car. Actually, Jay is doing the research and I read what he finds. It’s actually working out well. The appraiser is going to the Westcilffe house this week and all seems to still be on track for a successful closing. I need a little more pressure to be effective at de-cluttering my house, suggestions are welcome.

Good luck to all of the students for upcoming finals. More later….