Gardening

I finally got around to planting our spring garden today. I was going to skip it this year since we're hoping to have a new house and this one rented out by May. But now that we're looking at months before we hear anything back from the bank, I've decided that we might as well start the garden and enjoy it while we can. I'm about a month behind (for Phoenix), but hopefully my plants will produce some veggies before the summer heat kills everything.

For us, the major work of gardening is getting the beds ready. We have 6 raised beds that we built a few years ago that are awesome! They have seriously reduced the back and knee pain involved in gardening. But it still is work aerating the soil, adding any amendments or additional soil (since the raised beds do start to sink eventually), and clearing out the debris. The planting itself is the easy part!

Today I transplanted 6 tomatoes, 4 cucumbers, 4 sweet peas, 2 eggplant, 1 zucchini, 1 crook-neck squash, 3 bell peppers, 4 green chili peppers, and a whole bunch of herbs and marigolds. I usually try to start these from seed, but since I started so late this year, I was reduced to buying transplants. Seed is so much more preferable as then I can control the varieties much better - this year I've been reduced to depending on the varieties supplied by the local nurseries. So we'll see how they do!

As far as seeds, I planted some radishes, carrots, lettuce, spinach, nasturtiums, and sunflowers. I love the spring when all the plants are small and manageable, when the seeds start poking up through the soil, and when the bugs are not so plentiful to be a nuisance.

In the next few weeks I'll be planting some peas and beans (from seed) and I'll be starting the melons (also from seed). After that, I'll be done planting and the real work (a.k.a. keeping those stinking squash bugs off my plants) will be begin!

Love this

More design inspiration

From Better Homes & Garden's "Big Style for Small Rooms" issue:

From Elle Decor:

From Do It Yourself Magazine:

From House & Home:

Sold by Room & Board

More House Hunting

So we went back out to look at more houses yesterday. Here's what we saw:

First up: A 20 year old house on 1/3 acre with more code violations than we could count!

Love the way the microwave covers up half the pass through window!

This was a popular house - it already had 3 offers on it. But it was the typical cookie cutter house.

The insides were ok (the kitchen being the best of the bunch), but not worth fighting over. The big draw? This house is on 5 acres!

The cookie cutter house in a big development (with high HOA fees). Typical cookie cutter.

I think I like black and white kitchens...something to keep in mind. But this one...a little small.

This next one was located up the side of a hill (we had to take a uneven dirt road to get there). The house in on 3 acres, but none of it is usable since it is on the side of a hill (not a flat piece in sight beyond the house). And it is way beyond our budget.

But check out that view of Mingus Mountain.

I wish I could show you what the next house looks like (flat roofed Santa Fe style), but I was too distracted by the cacti emblazoned on the front.

And I wish I could show you more of the insides, but I was too distracted by that bright green wall. These homeowners are certainly not afraid of using some color! (The pink room was a classic too!)

Lastly, there was the family-built gem which had awesome landscaping (on 2 acres). The insides are certainly unique: a spiral staircase to a loft, a staircase to the basement about as wide as me, old linoleum floors, lots of code violations...

A beautiful wrap-around deck.

 A hideous kitchen.

We did find one more that we're considering, so I'll post more on that later.

Wish us more happy hunting!

Falling Apart

Last night, the bank finally decided to let us know that they rejected our offer. I was kind of expecting it, and I'm kind of relieved. Our offer was our absolute limit and I'd prefer to have some breathing room in our budget. But I'm bummed because I really did like that house. Oh well - now we can keep looking until a better fit comes along.

The bad part is that I secretly hope they don't get another offer for another 6 months, until they finally drop their price even lower than our offer. Or that there is a leak in the roof that collapses the whole ceiling. But I'm not bitter! lol

We're off to look at more houses this weekend. Woo Hoo!

Waiting (again!)

This is getting ridiculous! For the past day and a half, we have been waiting for a response about our counter offer. I understand that they like to take their time - given that they want to give others the chance to make an offer - but come on! It has now been over a week since we put in our first offer and the suspense is killing me.

What I don't understand is this - we put in an offer with a deadline of last Friday. They responded Monday night. We put in a counter-offer on Tuesday with a deadline of last night. They still haven't responded. What's the point of putting in those deadlines if no one pays them any attention? All it does is put crazy scenarios in my head trying to figure out what they are thinking.

I like this house a lot. And I will be disappointed if they say no, but the fact that they are unwilling to follow the deadlines placed into the process gives me a bad taste about it. And I kind of want to walk away from it just to teach a lesson.

And I would do it too - if there was anything else decent out there. But since there isn't, I guess we have to just put up with their nonsense.

Counter

Well we finally heard back today. The bank has written up a counter-offer, coming only $4000 off their original asking price. Not good enough, especially considering that we think the market in Arizona is still going to drop at least 10%. So....

We are putting in a counter offer and this is it. We are unwilling to go up any further. If the bank agrees by tomorrow night, we'll have our house. If not, it's back to the drawing board.

At this point, I'm almost hoping it doesn't go through. Not because I don't want that house, but because I feel stretched to my limit. I was hoping to have a little breathing room. Oh well...we'll see.

More inspiration

More rooms that I love:

From Martha Stewart's website:

Love the gray and the bookcases flanking the door!

Simple...beautiful

Beautiful combination of neutrals

I would sit here all day long...gorgeous!

From House Beautiful:

Still Waiting!

We are now on day 3 of waiting for a response on our offer. Our Realtor seems to think that the delay in response could mean one of two things: 1) They are so insulted by our offer that they want to send us a message, or 2) the asset manager is trying to get approval for going below their asking price. Since the property is bank owned, I think it is more likely that the asset manager is gone for the weekend and won't be responding until he is back at work on Monday.

I'm not expecting a response until Monday afternoon. If we still don't have an answer by Monday night, I'm going to go mildly crazy. It is amazing how much anxiety this has roused in me. I can deal with moving or not moving - I can't deal well with not knowing.

The good news is that in his inquiries about the offer, our Realtor found out that no one else has shown interest in the property. So yeah! At least we don't have competition to push up the price.

Decorating Inspiration

As I'm waiting to hear on our offer, I can't help but dream about how I will decorate the house. I have a notebook that contains pictures, mostly from magazines, of rooms that inspire me. Here are some of my favorites right now. (I apologize that I didn't write down any magazine names in my book, so I'm not sure who to credit for these photos).

Kitchen:

I love the turquoise and green combo!

More turquoise...love it!

Dining

Living:

Love that the painting slides over the tv...putting it out of sight!

Bed & Bath

Still waiting for some news...at least I'm keeping my hopes up! I'm mainly worried that the seller is holding off in hopes of getting additional offers in. One thing we don't want is a bidding war, so if that's the case, we will walk away, no matter how much we want this house! Another one will come along eventually, right?