Stressful Tears

I am on the verge of crying or screaming . . . maybe both. Thornewood can only hold 100 people and we're now at 102 with a few people we still need to hear from. Our response cards stated that October 15th was the deadline for RSVPing. Here it is October 30th, 15 days later and we're still adding people to our guest list.

What happened to etiquette? What happened to caring about deadlines and the stress level of the bride and groom? Why are we chasing people down to find out if they can come to the party we're spending thousands on to throw for THEM? We're already married. We don't need to have this second wedding. We don't need to spend all this money, which quite frankly, I would have rather used to buy furniture and redo our new kitchen. This is all for family and friends, who are simply adding to my stress level at this point. I'm not trying to be hurtful, but how about caring about our feelings too? If the card says to respond by October 15th, you should have responded by October 15th and shame on you if you didn't. These tears are for you.

House News

We got a phone call tonight from our mortgage guy, Brian (who is amazing and so helpful!) and it looks like everything is completed, for the most part. All the approvals, appraisals, title information, and other miscellaneous "stuff" is all in order and we are officially ahead of schedule. There might be some other little things, but it looks like the next big thing is signing the papers, paying our lovely down payment, and getting the keys to our new home. Closing is still November 12th, 5 days after the wedding, which makes me happy along with stressing me out. A lot of the homes we looked at in the beginning have been pending for months now because of the short sale situation, so Nick and I are feeling really blessed to have found this beautiful house that wasn't a short sale and everything has really worked out. We'll be moving in on time!

And now I'm going to go make up another one of my lists for the "stuff" I have left to do for the wedding and those things that I need to delegate to my aunts and Loretta, who are all going to help me with those last-minute details. Nick, Mom, and I are going to Thornewood on Wednesday to get a last look at the place and figure out the sound system and then I have to pick up the aunts from the airport on Thursday and Friday will be the day of freaking out and a million things to do. I've got to say, I'm really looking forward to pigging out on Halloween candy this weekend . . . and a beer. I'm really looking forward to a beer.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is Nick's and my one month anniversary. It's crazy to me that it's already been a month since we got married and it's been over a year since we got engaged. I remember thinking that September day that November 7th was so far away and I had all the time in the world to plan. And now, here it is less than 2 weeks to the wedding and Nick and I are just so excited for it to be over. We're trying to keep in mind the happiness that should come in seeing our family members and friends and having almost everyone we love in one room to celebrate with us, but really we're just looking forward to it being done. Lesson learned: don't buy a house at the same time you're getting married unless you love stress, paperwork, and massive to do lists.

Also, tomorrow is my mom and dad's 31st wedding anniversary. Happy anniversary to them! Nick and I have good role models in that department, as his parents have been married for over 30 years too. I'm so proud of the places we both come from and I know our marriage will be successful because of our backgrounds, families, faith, and our love for one another. But again, excited for this wedding to be over!

16 Days . . .

Until the wedding is finally done! And both Nick and I can hardly wait. I work really hard to make sure that the stress of buying the house and planning the wedding doesn't fall on Nick too much. In fact, it feels like I just bought a house by myself with his money. I put forms in front of him and he signs them and I take care of everything else, which is fine. Nick makes the money and doesn't make me work so it's fair. But my stress level is brimming over at this point and Nick is taking the brunt of it. We keep saying that we just have to get through the next 3 weeks and then we can breathe. And until then, I will be spending a lot of time apologizing and Nick will be spending a lot of time teasing me for my freak-outs.

Because I'm such a fan of lists, here's one of all the "stuff" that is stressing us out:

House and work-

-Getting the appraisal back so we can get homeowner's insurance and finish our escrow form

-Figure out the furnace situation (we need a new heat exchange or a new furnace altogether)

-New gas hot water heater

-Appliances we need: a fridge, garage freezer, washer and dryer

-I want new bedroom and dining room furniture, but we have to wait until we're in the house before I can buy anything so I've been shopping for a long time . . .

-Money, money, money (buying a house at the top end of your budget is scary!)

-Getting my name changed (I'm going to wait until the first of the year) and all the crap that goes along with that--driver's license, teaching certificate, social security card, etc.

-Getting my fingerprints done so I can start subbing in Puyallup

-Nick's new job on the reservation-getting used to the new schedule (6pm-2am) and my apparently unfounded concern that he will be bored, plus making sure he has enough food in his lunch every day (he needs 2 meals and snacks in his lunchbox-means a lot of cooking)

Wedding:

-Getting a final head count to the caterer and photographer

-Thornewood can only fit 100 people inside and we're right there with a few more people we still need to hear from. This is actually the biggest thing stressing me out right now. Some people added guests to my list who weren't invited and I'm pretty upset about that, but don't want to open that can of worms.

-Cake: we're not doing it, but we are doing cheesecake from Costco, so I need to find a cake stand and pray that Costco has enough cheesecakes when we go to buy them!

-My flowers, the guys' boutonnieres, and moms/aunts corsages-we're making them

-Have my dress steamed

-I need to pick up my veil and go to Laura for a trial run on my hair (not really stressful, just something I need to do)

-Cleaning the downstairs and packing--2 of my aunts are coming in a little early to help out with the last details of the wedding and they are staying downstairs with Nick and I

-Finishing our vows and getting the script over to Dave, our officiant

One thing we took off our list:

Liquor. We aren't getting the liquor license, nor are we buying wine and champagne for the wedding. It's an added expense that we don't need, so people will have to be happy with coffee and sparkling cider. (I love that I got my way on this-I didn't want alcohol from the beginning!)

And finally: does anyone have any suggestions as to how to kick people out of a wedding without causing a scene? Haha, just kidding.

Wedding Hair

I need to make an appointment with my wonderful, amazing hairstylist Laura to do a trial run of the hairdo for the wedding with the veil, which I will be getting this weekend. So here are the photos of the styles I like:

Four weeks left . . . Thank God.

THE House!

On Thursday, Nick and I met with our realtor to look at yet another house in Bonney Lake. We were at our wits end with the house on 60th, having still heard nothing on the formal approval. We were ready to walk, but decided to wait until we'd seen this house or talked to the agents dealing with the new homes in a neighborhood called Panorama West. Both Nick and I liked the idea of a new home, in which we'd be able to get everything we wanted. However, there are some serious cons to new developments, mainly that you can never be sure when they will be completed and new construction can have hidden costs.

However, all the worry and stress was over when we walked into this house. First off, the curb appeal was amazing. The couple that lives there took meticulous care of this home. As we walked up to meet Mike, our realtor, the first thing he told us was that this was NOT a short sale. Hallelujah! Close to 75% of homes in this market are short sales and we didn't want to deal with another one of those. Big plus for this place. Then we walked in. We loved the floor plan and the bones of the house. There are some changes we will eventually make, such as new flooring and paint throughout the house, new countertops and appliances in the kitchen, and new light fixtures in a few of the rooms, but the home is in great condition and is move-in ready, unlike the other home.

So, some of the statistics: approximately 2200 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a den/office, formal dining and living rooms with vaulted ceilings, a big kitchen with lots of counter space, a 3-car garage, and large master bath with a walk-in closet all on .28 acres of landscaped bliss. The house was built in 1997 and is in an established and well-maintained neighborhood full of gorgeous homes (and not one of them was questionable) which is situated right behind Bonney Lake High School.

Here are the pictures:

The front of the home

The front porch

The back of the house with a deck

One side of the yard with concrete curbing and lots of trees for privacy

We are meeting with Mike tomorrow to drop off the earnest money check and the withdrawal notice for the house on 60th (yay for having that giant weight off our shoulders!) and setting up a time for the home inspection and appraisal. Once those two things are done, then we are in the clear. Closing for the house is November 12th and then I will post interior before and after photos as I start to decorate and furnish the place.

(Moment to be excited: YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY! We are new home owners!)

Wedding and Reality

I suppose I should write about the wedding on the 26th, but I don't really feel like it. Everything went well and the ceremony was short and simple. Paul stood in for Cheryl who was busy with my new niece (yay!) Isabelle who is going through a phase where only Mommy can hold her. She is the stinking cutest thing ever and everyone just fell in love with her and Cheryl too. I could not ask for a better sister-in-law! So since Cheryl was busy with the baby, Paul got to be my "man of honor," which meant he also got to hold my flowers, which was hilarious, especially with the look on his face! It cut the emotion of the day. Dad wore Grandpa Harvey's shirt and I wore Nana's ring, so it was like they were there. Everyone cried at some point on my side of the family and Nick teared up a little bit too. We had dinner at Mama Stortini's and my cousin Katie did our photos, which turned out great. We spent the night at the Salish Lodge and then drove down to Hood River for 5 days for a simple honeymoon. Now back to reality.

And the real thing I wanted to post about: the house. For those of you who don't know, it's been one giant headache for a long time now. We had verbal approval at the end of August and expected written approval soon after, but we have just started that conversation with the bank that owns the house. Not that big of a deal in a short sale situation, which can often take months to approve. A short sale is simply when a house is listed for less than is owned on it, which is why it is so hard to get approval. But the bank had already approved the price we offered when we offered it. So to make a long story short, I think we are going to walk away from this house. Here's the list of reasons why:

1. Horrible communication from the listing agent

2. A crazy seller who called me to tell me what assholes the bank people are AND he called me Wendy, the name of our crazy old neighbor who threatened my entire family, including Jake. Bad juju.

3. Wells Fargo (the bank who owns the loan on the house) is being awful. Changing our offer before approving it (it had us paying $14,000 out of pocket on top of the 3.5% we'd pay for the loan) and then trying to rush us into signing by threatening a fine of $100 a day we go past October 14th for the closing date.

4. The house is in an area where it's one of the highest priced homes, which means we aren't going to be seeing a lot of equity in terms of raising the value of the home. Plus, the neighbors behind us have made me a little nervous from day one: loud, barking dogs, and a yucky house.

5. Wells Fargo approved their "version" of our offer on Thursday, which our agent, Mike informed them was bull and they had to approve what we actually offered. He expected to hear back from them by Friday or yesterday, but we've heard nothing. More crappy communication.

Fortunately, we are able to back out of this mess at any time. If only a couple of these things were going on, I wouldn't be so hesitant, but when you add it all together, it's screaming at you to get out now! The nice thing is that we already have a neighborhood we've been looking at with new construction that we've fallen in love with. It's called Panorama Heights and it overlooks the valley. The house we want is 2400 square feet on a third of an acre and it starts at a lower price than the other house. We can add whatever we want to the place, like granite countertops, coffered ceilings, and upgraded fixtures and we can choose our floor plan. Another good thing about new construction is that it will take 5 months to build. This means more time to save money. Nick will be getting a raise in January and one again in May, which will also make things easier and I can sub a lot to earn that extra money we'd need for furniture. 5 months would also give Jacob more time to get used to the idea of us moving out. It also means not dealing with a house closing on or around our second wedding date. Therefore, I think we're done with house #1.

And speaking of the second wedding . . . the due date for the response cards is on the 15th of October. I have only half in and most of them are from Nick's family. Way to be on top of things Pritchetts! Now I have to light a fire under my family and our friends. I am going to use the cards to figure out the seating charts, so I really need them from everyone, even if I've gotten a verbal response. Phone calls start tomorrow . . .