Yay! We finally got to close on our property yesterday! For a while it didn't look like it would happen at all, then when the appraisal came in, it was far less than the negotiated price and we figured that was the end of it. Amazingly, the sellers agreed to take it so we feel like we got a really good deal! Lots of work to be done--we started in on the farm house today to see if it could be made liveable and it has potential to be really cute at some point. Still a lot of things for us to work out but we should be out on the property by mid-October at the latest.
Since I posted last, we spent a good deal of time working on getting things done around here to help us prep for the moving. We had some friends stay for the weekend right before I left on the 20th to visit my family. had a fantastic two weeks! Got to help one aunt clean her garage and then we went through some of the remaining boxes she had stored from my Grandma (her mother). We found so many amazing things! The best was the hand-crocheted slip ( i guess that is what it would be called--the lace showed underneath the actual dress) that Grandma wore as a six-month old baby in her first picture and was made by my Great-Grandmother. We actually found three of the slips and pulled out old baby pictures of Grandma and her siblings. We were able to identify Grandma's slip and her brother's (yes, brothers!) but aren't sure on the other one. Grandma was born in 1905. In addition to that, we found EVERY card she had ever received--at least starting in high-school--and lots of newspaper clippings and letters. Amazing family history lesson. I wound up bringing home a box of items (including the slips!) of old family embroidery work and linens and a few things I remember fondly from my childhood. We had so much fun together! Then spent time with my sister and her family and enjoyed that immensely. It was so unusual to not be the one to worry about what to fix for meals, what to do, etc. I just got to be there and enjoy it. Highly recommended! Spent Labor Day weekend with an aunt from the other side of the family and was given the family bible and the necklace that was a present to my other Grandmother when she graduated from highschool. And got some more family history lessons there too. I love that type of stuff. The best part though was just getting to spend time with my extended family. We are pretty far from everyone so that was a real treat. I even got to see four of my five cousins!
We have been working hard this week on things both here at teh current house to get it ready for the new occupants and to get things ready for what needs to be done out at the property.
Today we had the well company come to see if they can get the well working and since we didn't have enough water out there to prime it, they showed my husband what to do to see if it would work once we can bring a large quantity of water out (good excuse to buy the rain barrel I want!). it is a 50/50 chance that the pump will work. Normally, they don't even work on this type (it isn't a submersible one and is very old). But he tried what he could and said if we aren't able to get enough water, they will bring out their truck with the water tank and see what they can do.
have a busy weekend coming up. Friends from when our kids little are coming to visit tomorrow and will stay the night and then there is a dinner at church on Sunday to prepare for. Hope to be on here a little more frequently again after that!