A showing at 11 a.m?

"I am sorry, but I have somewhat dreary news"

I am borrowing this exact quote from my Realtor last Thursday. And to think I was actually 2 seconds before overjoyed when her name popped up on Caller ID. We have been waiting and waiting. . .probably 3 weeks now for the house to close. That is how long it has been sitting at the bank with everything done. The magic date of May 25 was quickly approaching and so I was AT LEAST 1/2 way packed and ready to go. So of course I figured this was the big moment we had all been waiting for.  

Instead, we were told that our buyer wasn't able to secure the loan and the house was now back on the market. . . and Oh, Would we be ready for a showing the next morning at 11 a.m?

No! My house is full of boxes. I removed all pictures from the wall, spackled and painted over them, and had made very minimal effort to keep the appearance up in quite awhile. Cleaning isn't top priority when you are moving. 

Well, we aren't. Not anytime soon now. I bawled like a baby all afternoon. Brent on the other hand was totally cool. He did mention that he had told me several times that a house isn't sold till you have the money in the bank. He let me cry it out while he just kept right on doing what he was doing the moment the call came in. (Taking the Wii apart after Marcus stuck a penny in it) We worked our guts out from the time we heard to 11 a.m. on the dot. All the boxes were hauled to the basement, and organized as best we could so you could at least pick your way to the washer and dryer, should you want to. Then I went back through the boxes again trying to find my pictures, vases, etc and little touches that I realized after cleaning were essential. . .the place looked totally bare and boring. And, since my house sold in March I didn't bother with curb appeal this spring.  So at 10:30 we were out frantically planting flowers and spreading fresh bark literally finishing seconds before seeing the buyer coming up the walk.
Once all the work was done I was surprisingly all better- no more tears.  Yeah, we are now months behind schedule. Closing a house in New York takes forever, and we have to do it all again.  But it just was impossible to not be happy now I was living in a clean organized house with fresh flower beds. 

And really doesn't it solve another really big problem? I guess we won't be camping now.  

That has to be why Brent is taking it so well. Pressure is off. It's all back on me to sell the house- cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. But it's going to be way harder now. The $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers is over and done with. But as they say here in NY -What are you gonna do?

Speaking of what are we gonna do, we really don't know. You know how I told you all that we were -Going to Pennsylvania. Well, now we have to say. . . we might probably not move to Pennsylvania. Last week we were able to finally see the info we have been requesting for weeks and turns out it doesn't look as good as we hoped and now we are just too nervous to proceed, plunk down the money and make the commitment. So the job search continues on. Brent has an interview later this afternoon. I think I will just leave the Where? out of the post.  When he has been extended and accepted an offer I will let you all know. I hate to keep jerking you all around. 

It's been a little hard on Brent now that we are down to what (his wife thinks) is crunch time and his dream of purchasing a practice right out of dental school may not happen. It takes so long to investigate and at this point it may be time  to go to work for someone else as he gets started . . .so he can get started. 

Caroline is 6 today. We partied yesterday so Dad could leave us today. Her Big Birthday Party post is coming up next.