Here you go: the link to our Scandinavia Cruise Blog
http://scandinaviacruise2009.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Chaos
It has been absolute chaos. These past few weeks have been crazy. My parent's visit went well, I was very happy to see them and of course to see Dane. We got a lot of work done and some relaxing. Someday I'll post pics of my graduation.
I found out I failed the Audit exam by one lousy point. I don't even know how that happened. I felt I did really good on it. Shows what I know. I haven't got my diagnostic yet, so I'll know more after I receive that to see where I went sideways.
Then, after my parents left, Dane and I found out that the lending on our Palomino Park condo did not go through because it was a non-FHA approved condo. They could have gotten spot approval, but since Dane went from a W2 employee to 1099 and didn't have 2 years of 1099 history, they wouldn't approve us. So our loan officer suggested we look for a house, an automatic FHA approval, as an alternative. We found several houses that we liked and Dane went to visit them and even put an offer down on one, against our loan officer's suggestion. We should find out today or tomorrow if the loan goes through.
I am flying out to Denver with the cats tomorrow. It was the best and only option left since the cats wouldn't fit in my car and I don't have anywhere to keep them from now till September. Why? - you ask? Because our landlord has to short sale his home to forgo foreclosure. We need to be out by July 31st. Not a big deal because we were planning on being packed by then anyway, but it put a couple wrenches in our moving plan, particularly the cats. Originally Dane was going to drive our stuff home after we returned from Europe with the cats. Since we have to leave in July, we were going to pay one of our friends to drive our stuff home (with the cats) in July. That didn't pan out so we had to opt for professional movers (my preference) and shipping the cats via airplane (nerve-wracking). It dawned on us to have the cats just fly out with me and turned out to be cheaper as well. I feel that will be less stressful on the cats all things considered. Now, instead of them living in an empty house for a month and then going on a 3 day car trip or having a stranger drive them on a 3 day car trip and then us not come home for a month (both VERY stressful options for my spoiled animals) they just have to deal with a 3 hour plane ride and then get to be with us for a couple days, with Dane for a couple weeks while our friend who is taking care of them meets-n-greets them before we leave for our trip.
In the meantime I'm trying to juggle packing up the house, sorting out items for the garage sale and studying for my last CPA exam. As an extra bonus, I get to deal with realtors calling me every day asking to show my house. They call at 8 am, 8 pm - they want to put the cats in the garage. It's a nightmare. At this point I've resigned to having to take 3 exams over again, so I'm trying not to stress myself out too much over the Regulation exam that I take on July 18th. It will be a good practice exam. I am getting stuff packed little by little each night. I've got the whole art room, foster kitty room, linen closet, medicine closet, and upstairs bathroom packed and sorted out. I still need to do the TV room, the office, the kitchen, the storage room, the guest room, the downstairs bathroom, the laundry room, the garage, and our bedroom. The garage sale is on July 11th so I have time. I've been calling on all my friends to help out. Jacob is taking me to the airport tomorrow and helping with the sale, Heather is taking a day off to help pack and sort for the sale, Nick is picking me up from the airport and helping with the sale and Mark and Angela are letting us stay at their place both before and after the Europe trip. I need all the help I can get if I'm going to make it through the next 3 weeks.
I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with Dane in Denver. It's going to be a turn and burn trip but we have dinner plans for our second anniversary (time flies!) and then who knows what we will do for the 4th of July. Sunday I'm going to Jamie's baby shower - FUN! It will be nice to be with Dane. And I'm happy he gets the cats. I love my cats but honestly, with everything I have going on right now, it will be nice to shove off that worry/duty.
I'm also trying to figure out this crazy matrix of clothing and packing. I'm getting rid of about 2/3 of my wardrobe because I no longer fit into the clothes (they are too big - a good "problem" to have) or if I did shrink enough to fit in them, they are no longer appropriate/my style. I even have some pre-surgery clothes that no matter how much weight I lose, they will never fit right again. So I'm unloading all that. Then I have to figure out what clothes I want to bring with me to Europe and of those clothes, which clothes I can wear to work in Seattle when I return. Then I need to figure out what clothes I'm not bringing to Europe but will need for work in Seattle. What's left can be packed and shipped home with the rest of our stuff. However, what I take with me for Europe must fit in two suitcases and what I keep in Seattle for the rest of my time here must fit in one suitcase (that's all that will fit in Iza). So once I get back from Europe, I'll have to pack all my stuff that I can't wear to work and then check two bags when I fly to Denver for Labor Day weekend. Leaving one bag of work clothes in Seattle. Crazy, huh. Good thing I love problem solving. This is almost like a word problem on some SAT thing: Crystal is leaving Seattle over three separate dates with three tons of clothes that must fit in a.....
Finally there's Europe. Wow. So much is happening all at once and so fast, I just can't believe it! Dane and I secured our shore excursions. I guess now is as good a time as any to release the Scandinavia Blog. I'll go make that now and post our trip details. Link to follow.
I found out I failed the Audit exam by one lousy point. I don't even know how that happened. I felt I did really good on it. Shows what I know. I haven't got my diagnostic yet, so I'll know more after I receive that to see where I went sideways.
Then, after my parents left, Dane and I found out that the lending on our Palomino Park condo did not go through because it was a non-FHA approved condo. They could have gotten spot approval, but since Dane went from a W2 employee to 1099 and didn't have 2 years of 1099 history, they wouldn't approve us. So our loan officer suggested we look for a house, an automatic FHA approval, as an alternative. We found several houses that we liked and Dane went to visit them and even put an offer down on one, against our loan officer's suggestion. We should find out today or tomorrow if the loan goes through.
I am flying out to Denver with the cats tomorrow. It was the best and only option left since the cats wouldn't fit in my car and I don't have anywhere to keep them from now till September. Why? - you ask? Because our landlord has to short sale his home to forgo foreclosure. We need to be out by July 31st. Not a big deal because we were planning on being packed by then anyway, but it put a couple wrenches in our moving plan, particularly the cats. Originally Dane was going to drive our stuff home after we returned from Europe with the cats. Since we have to leave in July, we were going to pay one of our friends to drive our stuff home (with the cats) in July. That didn't pan out so we had to opt for professional movers (my preference) and shipping the cats via airplane (nerve-wracking). It dawned on us to have the cats just fly out with me and turned out to be cheaper as well. I feel that will be less stressful on the cats all things considered. Now, instead of them living in an empty house for a month and then going on a 3 day car trip or having a stranger drive them on a 3 day car trip and then us not come home for a month (both VERY stressful options for my spoiled animals) they just have to deal with a 3 hour plane ride and then get to be with us for a couple days, with Dane for a couple weeks while our friend who is taking care of them meets-n-greets them before we leave for our trip.
In the meantime I'm trying to juggle packing up the house, sorting out items for the garage sale and studying for my last CPA exam. As an extra bonus, I get to deal with realtors calling me every day asking to show my house. They call at 8 am, 8 pm - they want to put the cats in the garage. It's a nightmare. At this point I've resigned to having to take 3 exams over again, so I'm trying not to stress myself out too much over the Regulation exam that I take on July 18th. It will be a good practice exam. I am getting stuff packed little by little each night. I've got the whole art room, foster kitty room, linen closet, medicine closet, and upstairs bathroom packed and sorted out. I still need to do the TV room, the office, the kitchen, the storage room, the guest room, the downstairs bathroom, the laundry room, the garage, and our bedroom. The garage sale is on July 11th so I have time. I've been calling on all my friends to help out. Jacob is taking me to the airport tomorrow and helping with the sale, Heather is taking a day off to help pack and sort for the sale, Nick is picking me up from the airport and helping with the sale and Mark and Angela are letting us stay at their place both before and after the Europe trip. I need all the help I can get if I'm going to make it through the next 3 weeks.
I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with Dane in Denver. It's going to be a turn and burn trip but we have dinner plans for our second anniversary (time flies!) and then who knows what we will do for the 4th of July. Sunday I'm going to Jamie's baby shower - FUN! It will be nice to be with Dane. And I'm happy he gets the cats. I love my cats but honestly, with everything I have going on right now, it will be nice to shove off that worry/duty.
I'm also trying to figure out this crazy matrix of clothing and packing. I'm getting rid of about 2/3 of my wardrobe because I no longer fit into the clothes (they are too big - a good "problem" to have) or if I did shrink enough to fit in them, they are no longer appropriate/my style. I even have some pre-surgery clothes that no matter how much weight I lose, they will never fit right again. So I'm unloading all that. Then I have to figure out what clothes I want to bring with me to Europe and of those clothes, which clothes I can wear to work in Seattle when I return. Then I need to figure out what clothes I'm not bringing to Europe but will need for work in Seattle. What's left can be packed and shipped home with the rest of our stuff. However, what I take with me for Europe must fit in two suitcases and what I keep in Seattle for the rest of my time here must fit in one suitcase (that's all that will fit in Iza). So once I get back from Europe, I'll have to pack all my stuff that I can't wear to work and then check two bags when I fly to Denver for Labor Day weekend. Leaving one bag of work clothes in Seattle. Crazy, huh. Good thing I love problem solving. This is almost like a word problem on some SAT thing: Crystal is leaving Seattle over three separate dates with three tons of clothes that must fit in a.....
Finally there's Europe. Wow. So much is happening all at once and so fast, I just can't believe it! Dane and I secured our shore excursions. I guess now is as good a time as any to release the Scandinavia Blog. I'll go make that now and post our trip details. Link to follow.
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