 | This just in... Guess what folks, it's going to snow in New England. I was busy today, so I found myself at 6pm realizing we were out of milk and cream. |
So I had to do it. I had to go to the market. *shudder*
The parking lot was packed, even the overflow to the loading dock side of the building. At least seven cars were parked in the fire lane, these people are far more important than you or I ever will be so I bowed to them and averted my gaze, lest they make eye contact and steal my soul.
There were three gallons of whole milk left. Obviously they will never milk another cow again. I was lucky. In hindsight, I should have grabbed all three of the gallons. I could possibly live to regret it when we have no more milk for cornflakes.
Speaking of cornflakes, they were OUT of boxes with King Kong on the front and only had boxes with Cinderella on the front. Oh hell no. All the boys in Groveland, Haverhill, Plaistow NH and West Newbury MA got the King Kong Cornflakes. I couldn't come home with THE GIRL CORNFLAKES! So I bought Market Basket brand cornflakes. He'll never know the difference, but he would have known there was a problem if some girl was gazing back at him from the box.
All the Eggo waffles were sold out. And there were only three small containers of ground beef.
I'm glad I got out of there with a bag of pizza rolls for the kids and some steak tips for dinner tomorrow. I just hope that the incredible amounts of snow don't sock us in so badly that we run out of food. Will it be weeks? Perhaps a month? Oh. I can't bear to think of it.
I, oh -- oh no. I just checked the liquor cabinet. We, oh God no! NO!
WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH GIN TO LAST THROUGH THE STORM!!!!!
I hope the store isn't out of THAT too! I may have to hurt someone. Or... turn tricks for a bottle of cheap paint thinner quality gin. Or. I might have to drink something with carbs in it. Well, cross your fingers kids. I'll be back in about an hour.
You knew that last part was a joke, right? Yeah. Like Doug and I would ever run out of gin. Ha.
I guess that the bulk of the storm is supposed to land on my mom's house. 15 inches and the news broadcast is making it sound like the freaking apocalypse is coming to the southeastern part of the state. Initially one model showed us getting the brunt. Doug said it's okay if the south shore gets hit hard because "most of them down there are real assholes."
Today was an interesting day for us. Not sure if I'm really ready to spill a lot of the details out here, but what with me being a world wide well known blog terrorist and all I may as well say something.
You recall, dear longtime reader, about five months ago my neighbor approached us about a project where we'd take our garage down and he'd buy the land in a stripe going back along our property so he could have enough frontage to build a house out back. Town requirement for him to be able to put up a house is 50 feet, he's got 44. Our garage being torn down and him getting the bit of land under there will give him 50 feet. He will in turn side our house, build us a shed, and give us land going back from our house, an amount yet to be determined.
He's still working on that plan with the town, and trying to find out if it has to be done that way, or if there are options. But knowing we're willing to help him out makes his life a lot better.
We took it a step further last month. We offered to sell him our house for the appraised value, and then he could do anything he wanted with it. He could rent it out and make money to finance the building project. He could tear our house down, absorb our .5 acre lot into his, and have enough frontage for two houses back there, one of which he could sell and make boatloads of money on. If he tore our house down, he would instantly have brand new Newpro windows to put in the new house(s), two new furnaces, two new waterheaters, and a septic system already in the property, all he has to do is repurpose the connections to that beast and he's all set.
Yesterday my neighbor's wife called and said his cousin is very interested in buying the house from us, and she wanted to know if that was still an option. I told her it sure was, and she said she'd have him call me.
Now, this is the thing. If we wanted to stay here, we'd have to put in a ton of money on the house, probably $50,000 worth of work, to make it THE house I've wanted to have. I want a single family, which means our tenants would have to mosey along. I was hoping that over the summer we'd have them go and we'd start converting the house back to a single family, and we'd get all the work done over the next year. It would be a great house with four bedrooms and 3 full baths. I'd have an interior staircase built down to the basement so I wouldn't have to schlep laundry out in the snow. I'd have all three bathrooms completely rehabed. I'd have a formal living room, and extend the kitchen.
It would be a lot of work.
Appraised value on our house is $331k. If someone wanted to take it off my hands so that I could walk into a single family house that HAS all those things, or has almost all those things that I want, I'd gladly participate in the deal. I know if we put the money into this house and get the work done, we could MAYBE sell it for $370. We'd have to live through the work though, and then, would the property values in this area still GET me that $370? I doubt it.
I think it may be the perfect time to see if this guy is serious. The price is for the house pretty much "as is." We'll have the major projects that NEED finished done (ie: ceiling, bathrooms, and septic tank inspection) and he can do whatever he wants. Paint everything, refinish floors -- whatever. It would be his to fix up and do whatever with. And because he's in construction, he and his cousin (our current neighbor) could probably do a lot more with the house than we ever could afford to do.
Doug and I have been talking about this for months. I have wanted to move for a few years, and when Kinger was killed this fall, that cinched it for me. I wanted off this street. I want to go somewhere that my kid can ride his bike and I don't have to worry about traffic and semi-trucks hauling trash from Haverhill.
I'm ready.
We had a huge discussion about the cousin neighbor offer, and then this morning Doug got on realtor dot com and started fishing around. He suggested we ditch the kids and go look at houses.
The houses in this area are all really nice, much nicer than what I am living in now. And some of them have laundry rooms on the first floor. Wow. What a concept. We have been driving by one house in particular for weeks, eyeballing it and drooling. Knowing the asking price and the fact that we could sell this place and have enough money left over to make a kick ass downpayment makes me smile. We poked around two particular properties that have a lot going for them. And then I called the buyer's broker that I spoke to about the house we've been eyeballing. We met with him, entered into agency agreement, and drove by a few more properties before it got dark. Some of them make me happy, some of them make Doug happy. I don't know that we're in agreement over which is happiest.
We shall see what comes.
In the meantime, I need you to pray. Pray that the right opportunities and pieces to the house puzzle fall into place for us. I know what I'd like, I know what my wants are. I'm looking for something that will make all four of us happy. Five counting Jack. And I know it is out there.
I'm not unhappy here. I think it echoes back to my favorite Neil Young line:
Is it hard to make arrangements with yourself
When you're old enough to repaint, but young enough to sell?
I'm young enough to sell. And will want to stay somewhere long enough to repaint it. Later.
Alright -- this entry has taken me two hours. Two damn longassed hours of my life people. Just for you.
Survive the storm. And remember, when your neighbors who didn't go to the market come to steal your bread and coffee. Kill them. You can do it. It is your right.
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