ole schnikees: 2016

it was rainy and chilly Monday-Wednesday this week, and cloudy/windy on Thursday.

Wednesday morning I found a new house for sale online in the neighborhood we were looking for so I sent it to Al (he was still in green bay for training til Friday night). He liked it so Trevor and I drove by it to see about the yard and neighborhood. I liked it a lot so I got a hold of the neighbs' realtor, Jill, and was able to get in to see it at 1130am that morning. the listing was actually Jill's listing from the selling side too. before we got to the showing, Al said if I liked it to go ahead and put an offer in and possibly even offer more than it's listed for since that's how houses have been selling in ec. Trevor and I went to the showing and really liked the house. it's a little older, 1962, so there's some little things about it, but it was the layout that we want (ranch rambler), 2 car garage, 1/2 acre lot (the backyard is a double lot), big basement with lots of storage, half the backyard is fenced in with a swingset, has central air, everything we wanted. after chatting with Jill about the house (she knew the seller from high school) and knowing there were 12 other showings that day and the next on it, after talking with Al while in the house, we decided to put an offer in. it was priced at $154,900 so we offered $160k with a $1000 credit to the closing costs. it was a lot to think about and decide without Al there, but he was ok with seeing the pictures.

the sellers are moving to Owatonna on a job promotion. they hand built a bar in the basement (not a selling point for us, i'll probably use it as my sewing area), they painted it modern, comes with all appliances. in texting with Jill throughout the day, I learned there were at least 5 other offers on the house and they were going to make their decision that night. if our offer was picked, it meant more commission for Jill and less commission that the sellers had to pay, so we knew we had that on our side. Jill was meeting with the sellers at 8pm, and at 915 I got the call that they accepted our offer! we're buying a house! and did it all in 1 day.... without Al here. yikes! excited but nervous!

Thursday and Friday we went over to jenny's house as she was having a garage sale. we bought her couch and 2 recliners. Trevor played with kali and kourt on Thursday and the girls plus cam and chloe on Friday. Al got back from training just at supper time.

Saturday morning I ran to a couple garage sales first thing after breakfast and found 2 chair bar stools for us and a cool toy shelf for trevor. then mom came down and we went garage saling some more; it was cold and windy. we drove by the new house and found a huge table 4 houses down for free; it'll be a great crafting table! it folds down to be pretty small. Saturday for supper, we went to the neighb's for brats/hot dogs and some fixin's as well as wine and rhubarb crisp.

sunday morning Al finally got to see in our house! he likes it! mom, Jodi and tyler came with too. makes me feel a bit better now that they've seen it and like it! the back yard is even bigger than I remember/thought! after seeing the house, we drove up to mom's for nap time, finally got to play outside (sun came out), and then I had softball at 7. Al, mom and T came to watch. we won, and I finally hit well!

Monday morning, Al, Trevor and I went to the Minnesota zoo again. it was a beautiful day! we did the outside loop and then hit a couple animals/play spots we didn't get to the first time. Trevor also had his first carousel ride and of course, rode on the giraffe. :) we grabbed lunch on the way home and Trevor went down for nap right when we got home.

playing with ribbons :)