Did we get the house?!?!

I left a message for our agent yesterday, and 5 minutes later, he called. Said my ears must have been burning because he was talking about us! Heard from the seller's agent, who heard from the bank. (Remember, it's a short-sale which means the seller is trying to get out from under the house without going into foreclosure.) The seller's bank said they'll take our offer IF we pay the closing costs. In other words, we need to come up a bit on the price.

Hubby and I discussed, and yep, sure can do. I called our mortgage guy, he worked up the numbers, talked again with Hubby, and made the new offer through our agent.

So...basically, we have the house! Okay, it's not official but since they countered and we agreed to the counter, we are 99% sure we're good to go.

Now.... as soon as we get the official document and get the closing date set (please let it be before March!), I have to find a decent inspector (our last one was horrible and ignorant and missed a LOT), request a survey to get property lines, and need an inspection of the septic system AND the well. Hubby's already started looking at fencing (can't get the goaties and chickens until that's up!), and I'm gonna find good cheap reliable sources for all of the fruit and nut trees and bushes we plan to plant in April.

Maybe I should start making my seed tapes and markers!

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By the way, I've now slept 4 (or is it 5) nights in a row WITHOUT sleeping pills! I'm completely tickled! Unfortunately, my cough is still so bad that now I have some major pains going on on the right side of my chest. I have another doc appt for that (nurse practitioner) in about an hour. If only I could take a nap or at least just rest during the day, but the brats... er, kids who live above us are allowed to run and jump and bounce on their new trampoline, and since our little temp apartment shakes and amplifies the sounds, well, sleep is impossible until they go to bed at 10:30 p.m. This apartment complex, the Legacy in Highlands Ranch, just doesn't care. But... I need more sleep!

My mouth feels better. The pain is pretty much gone so I can eat normal again. I ate so healthy yesterday: taco meat with GF corn chips, homemade chocolate-chip-blueberry muffins, cheeseburgers with GF buns, and GF chicken/pesto/onion pizza. Besides the muffins, I barely had any chocolate yesterday. Thrilling!

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The Kid has been having troubles sleeping lately too. We watched Dr. Oz together yesterday as he had a segment on sleep troubles. Part of the problem is that he has the radio on all night. That alone isn't the problem; it's set to a radio station that plays hits. We requested that he change it to classical, which is what he used to have it on. He slept last night!

We also figured out that the Kid (now 13) is having anxiety about his future, about schoolwork, about having so many chores on the mini-farm that he won't have time to do anything but chores and schoolwork, and more. The three of us sat down last night and talked about the chores part. We explained that once we have the animals and the crops, yes, we'll have less time to ourselves, but if we all do our chores regularly, it won't take much time.

And we decided to pay him for the chores as incentive, but also he'll want to start dating soon, and will need to know how to manage money. He's never gotten an allowance; he's just expected to take out the trash and empty the dishwasher, along with the rest of his chores. It's time he gets paid. We'll discuss how much once we settle in. A certain amount per chore. He'll need to bill us (well, the school and the farm account) at the end of the week, and he'll get paid in cash. This discussion definitely helped to alleviate his anxiety, and he's starting to feel good about having the opportunity to earn money. He'll have 5 jars and divy it up this way:

10% charity (to buy toys and things for the children's hospital or whatever he chooses)

30% education savings (for college, online courses, etc.)

10% taxes (if he doesn't earn enough to pay taxes by the end of the year, this money will go into his education savings)

20% long-term savings (for a car, an expensive game, a new computer, etc.)

30% short-term savings/purchasing (for books, gifts for family members, special clothes, dates, whatever!)

He's wants a mega-memory computer so he can create video games. I'm thinking he might put more money in the long-term savings for that, but it'll be his choice. The taxes, charity and education savings will not be changeable. But other than the basic rules, we won't control how he spends money, and he won't ask to be bailed out.

There's enough of that going around!

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Guess that's it for now. Have a great day! Vikki