What I want for my birthday

"Grass...and a book!" That's what one of my nieces asked for for Christmas a couple of years ago, when she was just barely talking. She got just that: A small box with some grass harvested from the yard, and a book. When she opened the box Christmas morning, she was completely over the moon. She had to show EVERYONE her box of grass and her book. She talked about it for weeks afterward, and as far as I know, she still has both.

My 42nd birthday is coming up soon, on September the 1st. Everyone who knows me knows I am a big kid, and I have plenty of toys: Hi-def TV, Wii, Computer, smartphone, iPod....Lord knows I don't need anything.

People in the impoverished nation of Ethiopia have next to nothing. They die regularly of disease from water-borne illnesses that come from brackish water that they and their children must walk miles to haul every day, not to mention the lack of water for crops to feed themselves properly.

So, what I want for my birthday this year is for everyone I know to click on this graphic:

and donate 1$ for every year of my life on this planet. This charity comes from one man's visit to Ethiopia, what he saw, and how he decided that, as one man, he could help. Take a look at the video, go to my birthday site, and donate. That'll be a happy birthday to me.


The September Campaign Trailer from charity: water on Vimeo.

Under Contract

That's right, you heard it first, right here! Our house is NOW under contract to be sold! There is of course, the 15-day "due diligence" time period that encompasses the buyer getting their loan, performing inspections, etc. etc. that we have to go through, but once that's done, we are LOCKED IN. August 31st is the magic day when this contract is solid as a rock, and we gotta start packing!

An OFFER!

Just got a call from the realtor who showed our house today. She said they WILL be submitting an offer! The buyers were very happy with the new bonus room, and loved the touch of cookies & lemonade Jamie left on the dining room table. Stay tuned here for details as we learn them!

UPDATE : 7:45 PM - We are now on our second counteroffer. Hopefully this one will be the charm. We'll let you know if and when we get an acceptance!

Done!

We thought we had 11 days to finish our bonus room. We didn't. It turns out that it wasn't 11 days, it was UNTIL THE 11th. Our prospective buyers are scheduled to come into town TODAY, on the 11th of August. (UPDATE: The buyers are planning to get into town this EVENING, but aren't planning to actually see the house until Thursday.)

I guess it's good that we got it done! With many thanks to all those who helped with this LONG LONG process from the beginning: Rod, Ryan, Danny, and most especially my in-laws, Judy & Ray (the man!), we were able to take our bonus room the final leg from newly plastered walls and bare floor to completely painted, trimmed, and carpeted bonus room in SIX days!

Without further ado, here is the newest 250-ish square feet of our humble abode!

Standing at the bottom of the stairs

Halfway up the stairs

At the top of the stairs, facing the front of the house

Facing the back of the house, showing the half-wall and huge TV-cubbyhole

Back down the stairs

There's the 50-cent tour. Here's hoping that this new piece of "sweat equity" we've put in our home will pay off in a sale soon. You're welcome to come by to see it for yourself any time. As usual, we'll keep you posted!

11 Days

Walking into the gates at the Braves game on Saturday, I got a call on my cell phone. A realtor wanted to show my house. This was kind of bad, because we hadn't made the house perfectly spiffy for showing that morning -- the bed was unmade, etc. It was good, though, too, because this meant that our realty company had done what we had asked them to do -- that is, ask realtors who want to show our house to actually SPEAK to us on the phone before showing it, rather than just leaving a message and going on in.

We decided to go ahead and let the realtor show the house, giving our apologies that it wasn't in prime shape for showing. She assured us that it was OK -- her clients were more interested in seeing the layout of the house in general than its presentability. We didn't hear anything back from the realtor for the rest of the day, as is usual. But she DID call the next day, saying her clients wanted to see the house again on Sunday afternoon. This time we got it all spiffy and left the house to eat a late lunch and run some errands.

We ended up at Ryan & Cathlyn's (Jamie's brother and wife) to hang out for a bit that evening, and on a whim I decided to check messages at home. Behold, a message from the realtor! I called back and spoke to her. It turns out her clients were interested in our house, in large part because of the bonus room that we had just completed finishing the drywall on. They had seen ours and one other they were interested in, but were leaning towards ours. Her clients were moving into town from the Southwest, soon, and wanted to know if we could get it finished in time for them to see it when they returned. At that time they would be fully moved into their temporary apartment, and would be ready to make serious offers if they still liked what they saw.

The catch? They will be back in 11 days. That's right. We have 11 days to prime, paint, get trim work primed, painted and installed, finish the stairs, and have the room carpeted and buttoned up for them to see.

11 days. A strong possibility of an offer, and a lot of work to do between now and then. Pray for us, our stamina, and the family moving in from those many miles away that everything come together and make this happen! Stay tuned, faithful readers (all 3 of you!)

Awesomeness

Like most red-blooded American males, I am completely addicted to those "tough guy" shows, like "Deadliest Catch", "Ice Road Truckers", and "Ax Men". If I catch one of them on, I can't help myself. I try to get out, but they keep pulling me back IN!

I also enjoy the occasional "reality"/competition show, like Survivor.

So what if you could have your cake and eat it too, perfectly melded together like peanut butter & jelly, ham & cheese, Simon & Garfunkel??

YOU CAN. Witness:



Awesomeness. Just awesomeness.