nine months...

that's right folks. i know. you've all been waiting with baited breath for this post for years, and here's the big announcement-

WE STILL DON'T HAVE A HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wow. anticlimactic. i know. you didn't think i was going to tell you that i was pregnant, did you? cause i'm not. (did you have a heart attack/anger attack watsons and harrisons?) and even crazier yet- you didn't think i was going to announce that we actually have bought a house, did you? good.

so, we started our new home search 9 months ago. i could have conceived, baked, and popped out a baby in less time. but much like pregnancy, there has been much anticipation, nausea, exhaustion, and ice cream consumption.

last week we heard back from a house that i REALLY wanted. the location was wonderful, the price was right, the square footage was perfect, the lay-out was a dream, and there was an option to rent it before closing. perfect, right?

until the bank showed up. here's the abbreviated version of what happened with this house:
we put an offer on this house in august. 4 months ago. not too bad. we put an offer on it right away cause i liked it so much. it had previously been listed for $15,00 more than what we are willing to spend on a house right now. but it dropped to a VERY reasonable price, which was below our ceiling, so we put in an offer. they asked for our best offer once they received a handful of offers that weekend, so our best offer was $100 over the asking price of the house. they accepted our offer and we moved forward from there.
things were actually going really well, until we received the counter offer: $35,000 over our offer. exsqueeze me? that was actually $20,000 higher than the originally high asking price for the house. so we offered an additional $3,000. then they came down to the original asking price of the house, you know, the price that was out of the question for us. so then we went up an additional $2,000 and that was all we were willing to pay for the house. all the realtors and even most of the folks at the bank agreed that this was a very fair price for the house. very very fair. but apparently there were investors involved. and they were unconvinced. so our papers got moved around to higher levels of morons, i mean bankers and investors, who said we would have an answer in two weeks. all we got in two weeks was an e-mail saying it would be "any day now, to two weeks". we waited on an answer for about four more weeks. and when we finally got an answer, it was that the investors wanted their original counter offer of $35,000 over our best offer."
now THAT was anticlimactic.
so, here we are. still loitering at our in-laws, who all deserve nobel prizes for generosity and patience. my parents were here from sunday til this morning (a post on that to follow any day now...) and today i am running around like a chicken with my head cut off, in preparation for my honeymoon which begins promptly at 5:20am, when chris and i get in the car to go get greg who will drive us to the airport so we can go to cancun!!!!! yippee!
i will return about 10 lbs heavier- from food, excess of sleep, and a spirit full of good vibes. we get back on wednesday and then we are moving into a month-to-month rental on friday.
if and when we finally move into a house, i am going to start my own business of packing and unpacking suitcases for others. cause at this point- i'm kind of amazing at it. and i've still got at least two moves to go.