melvania

Okay. That was quick.

The valuer went through the house YESTERDAY. Today our loan consultant rang and said that the loan has been officially approved. The house is ours. Yeehaw.

So I just have to get the insurance organised tomorrow, and we have to send back all these forms to the conveyancer - six of them, one of which needs to be witnessed & stamped by a justice of the peace. And then more paperwork from the bank, and if all THAT goes quickly as well, we could very well have the keys by the 15th. After all, the contract we signed was dependent upon the bank approving finance by the 8th of December. They've approved it, and the 8th is still a week away....

The house is being valued today. Also got a call from the conveyancer, and they're sending paperwork out today to get to us tomorrow.

I have to say, I didn't expect things to go so quick. I hoped they would, but I figured since there's a bank, real estate agent, conveyancer, vendor, and who knows who else involved, it would be a matter of people waiting to hear back from other people before they can tell still other people to do their work...you know, the usual bureaucracy. And okay, it's still early, but it's moving a lot faster than I expected.

So maybe we will get in before the settlement date, who knows....

Packed heaps more last night. More books, all the DVDs & videos, the small amount of baby stuff we have already, and some odds & ends. Of the 15-20 boxes Darrin brought home last night, we used all but I think 4 or 5. And we still have heaps left to do.

Hanging out with Darrin at work today. Too hot to stay home when it's going to be 38 (just over 100F), and I'm already feeling warmer from being pregnant, and there's little or nothing we can do about the temperature in that place.

So the deposit has been handed in, and so has all the paperwork for Homestart. Now we just wait for the valuation. And pack some more. Darrin's bringing home a whole pile of boxes from the library that they were just throwing out.

And it's going to be 38 degrees tomorrow, so I might tag along to work with Darrin. Mmmm, air conditioning....

So we're in the 2 day cooling off period. Which is technically 4 days since the 2 business days are Friday & Monday. And we've got all this paperwork to read, and more paperwork to fill out, and sign, and get back to the bank on Monday. And then they send out the valuer, and do the final approval of the loan, which our loan consultant said usually takes 3-4 days. So we might have that by next Monday, but we'll see. After that we have to get insurance, sign more papers, and wait. And then get the keys, and move in, and pay all the fees, and move our phone/internet/electricity accounts, get our mail forwarded, unpack, yada yada yada.

So we've also started packing. I did two big boxes of quilts, towels, and other bedding, plus five smaller boxes of books. Darrin did three boxes of books. And we're not even halfway through the books yet. Yep, we're geeks. And let's not even talk about all the books I still have in my parents' basement....

Anyone got more boxes?

Okay, this is the SECOND time I've tried posting this. I just tried hitting "save" and whaddya know, stupid Mambo logged me out for inactivity. THE NERVE! I'm sick to death of Mambo.



I'm okay now. Really.

Anyway. Tonight we made an offer on this house. And two hours later, about 15 minutes into my recording of House, we got a phone call from the agent saying the vendors accepted our offer. So as long as the financing, valuation, and everything else go according to plan, we'll be in there by the 22nd of December.

Floor plan here. I've taken some pictures but they're not up yet; should be in another day or two, whenever we get the time.

Some other details of the house:

• There's a chicken shop right across the road. It won't win any awards, but it's edible. And the chickens are pretty small. But still...edible.
  
• 5-10 minutes walk to Fasta Pasta, KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Haven, Red Rooster, Subway.
  
• There's a rainwater tank already installed - something we were thinking we'd put in anyway at some point.
  
• The laundry room is HUGE. Big enough to hold washer, dryer, cat food/litter, and a freezer.
  
• The bathroom is also HUGE. It doesn't have a bathtub (just a shower) but there's room for one.
  
• The "study" mentioned in the advertisement really could be a third bedroom. Or a computer room.
  
• There's a smallish lemon tree, and another fruit tree, only we're not sure what type of fruit it is. Plums, maybe.
  
• There's a bottlebrush in the front yard.
  
• I realise real estate agents sometimes, um, embellish things, but this is what he's said about the house: old lady, died about a year ago, the family has kept the house but now they're ready to sell. There hasn't been anyone living in it all that time. And from looking at it, it doesn't really look lived in. It just looks like a little old lady lived there for a long time.
  
• There was a neighbour's cat sniffing at the agent's car when I got there yesterday.
  
• Being just off the Salisbury Highway, yeah, there's a bit of traffic noise. Not much more than where we are now, what with the doctor's office next door and people pulling in & out all day.
  
• Darrin can get to/from work in 10 minutes (if he has to wait for a train) or less, or walk to work in 30 minutes (most people would take closer to 45).
  
• There's enough space to add on a couple bedrooms out front in, say, 10 years.
  
• There's already a roof TV aerial/antenna installed.
  

So. The two out of three? That was in reference to this post about things I wanted to do this year. Got the residence. Got the house. Don't got plane tickets. Ah well...maybe next year. With a 9-month-old baby. Or not.

Well. It's kinda hard to tell when I'm looking DOWN at my belly, so I didn't think I was sticking out much. Then the other day we were waiting to cross the road, and I noticed my shadow. And yep, there's a definite bump there. No pictures, because the camera batteries are nearly dead. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Oh, and the baby's latest hobby? Dancing on my bladder. Not quite as uncomfortable as having a cat stand on it, but only because he/she is only 1/6 the size of Calico, and 1/12 the size of Biscuit. And the kicking is strong enough now that Darrin can feel it too, which he's pretty happy about.

We're just past 21 weeks now, or almost 5 months. 20 weeks is considered halfway, but given that first babies tend to come late, I figure 21 weeks is closer to half. And the 3 kilograms I lost in the first few weeks have all come back, and each one has brought a friend along. So I guess my net weight gain so far is only 3 kilograms, and I'm far from finished, I'm sure.

So in a nutshell, everything's going well, nothing unusual happening. I've finally found some maternity clothes I can put up with, which is really good since even with the Belly Belt, my normal jeans feel a bit too tight in places.

Well.

We've applied for a home loan "in principle." Meaning, basically, they tell us an amount we can borrow, and we have six months to go out and find something in that price range. And we've been approved "in principle" as of a week ago. So now begins the search.

The amount isn't quite as much as we expected it to be, so we'll probably be getting something smaller than originally intended and building on extra later. And it won't be quite as close to the school as we thought either. But hey, that's life, right?

So last weekend I went out to look at FIVE houses. I'll be looking at a few more this weekend. The lady at Homestart said it usually takes about 30 days for settlement, so we don't really HAVE to make an offer on a property till mid-December if we still want to move in the same timeframe. But once I get started on something, I'm kinda unstoppable, so it could be very soon. That, and I REALLY wanna get out of the place we're in, with the creepy landlady and the tiny kitchen and the combination bathroom/laundry because I'm sick to death of stepping on kicked-up kitty litter every time I have a shower!

<end rant>

And then comes packing. And moving. And then unpacking. Both (packing & unpacking) things that, strangely, I sorta like doing. Don't worry, I won't be lifting any heavy furniture.

This weekend I'm upgrading the web servers software. This might cause a few disruptions to various sites, my apologies in advance.

UPDATE: All upgrades now done, all SHOULD be working fine again.

This weekend we went to visit Darrin's mum in Riverton. She made us eggs for breakfast on Saturday morning. These were REAL eggs, laid by hens of local farmers. The yolks were bright yellow and had a much better flavour than standard supermarket-bought eggs. They're sold in the craft shop for $3/dozen (not that much more than the $2.70/dozen I pay for the cheap eggs).

So next time we're planning a trip up there, I won't be buying eggs when I do my regular shopping that week. I'll wait till we get to Riverton to see if they have any and buy eggs up there.

I've got 2 dozen eggs in my fridge at the moment and I'm afraid to use them, because I know they won't taste as good. Time to do some baking maybe.

Not much happening. Well, except my download is gone because the fileserver crashed in the middle of it. Could be my download caused it, but we don't really know.

And...umm...not much else really. Well, not completely true, but the other thing that's happening, I don't want to say anything about it just yet because then I'll be expected to give updates as soon as they happen, and I don't feel like being pressured just now. So there.