Getting Closer!!!

We're now down to just 2 1/2 weeks 'til closing!!!  We tried to move the date up but it was already too close, so the bank said.  Ah well.  I suppose I can wait two weeks.  Yay!
Our preparations for moving are going along smoothly.  We've been working on the garage this week.  It's probably going to be the biggest job as there are boxes that haven't been gone through since moving to The Cave!  But work is moving steadily, and we've made a dent already!  The kiddos have all been helping by getting their chores done on time (for the most part!) and have been organizing their rooms.  We'll be packing their rooms this week.  They were given one box for each room to put things into that they don't want to be without for the next two weeks.  They're doing really well, all things considered.  My daughter's room is probably the most difficult.  Poor thing, she must have inherited her mother's "pack rat" gene.
Our kitchen and living/dining rooms are about half-packed with all knick-knacks and such packed away.  My walls look strangely bare with no pictures hanging.  That's always been one of the first things for me to put away in a new home.  Wall hangings, family photos, things on the walls...  Those touches seem to give a place a lived-in look even if you've been there for only a day or two!  So guess what I'll be doing "first" in the new home!
My mum will be over tomorrow to help work on some stuff here.  That'll be nice!  It's always good to have help, and it's even better to have good help!  She's one of the best packers I know!  So we should be able to knock out a few rooms!
As for the new farm, we haven't been out in over a week or so.  But I'm sure, by now, I must have reached stalker status with the neighbors as I've driven by every possible chance!  It's still beautiful.  I still can hardly wait to get moved in.  And I'm still very much in love with it!  Huzzah!!!

                                             I leave you with a picture of our gorgeous view!

Housing Pre-Inspection Today

Well, this should be interesting. Any time now, the base housing inspector should be over to do their initial walk-through of The Cave and let us know what, if anything, we will have to repair or pay for. If they try to charge us any extra money, I just may have to refer them to some actual construction companies so they can see how a real house is built. Anyway. I'm just hoping it goes smoothly. And that we don't get someone like the *cough* man we had at Andrews AFB. That was fun. The pre-inspection, for those who aren't familiar with military housing proceedings, is to allow the housing office and the current occupants to see what, if anything, needs to be completed or repaired before the occupant can clear housing. That is, leave free and clear. We should be given a list showing any and all items that need to be finished before our final inspection later next month. Things such as cleaning the appliances, vacuuming (or in our case, having the carpets professionally cleaned as we have pets), and basically just leaving a clean house.
As I was typing the above, the inspector came by. She was very nice and helpful! Looks like it should be a fairly simple deal to get this place cleaned up ourselves. Well, except for the carpets. Bleh. Ah well. This place will definitely be in better shape than when we moved in! For one, the yard will be clean and free of animal poo. Gross. So there we go!
Hopefully all will go well in the next few weeks, and we will be in our new home soon! Very exciting!

And Now You Know!!!

Now that the cat is officially and completely out of the bag, welcome to our new blog!!!  We hope you enjoy our posts, rants, comments, and photos.  The plan is to eventually have a working family farm that will provide much of our food needs.  Not all but a lot!  We're planning to get chickens later this summer and maybe some cows next year.  Daughter wants a bunny and Youngest wants his pony.  The older boys are wanting things like a tree swing and a pool.  Plus plans for gardens and other animals.  Lots of trial and hopefully limited error!  And you can see how it's all going right here!
As to current goings-on, the inspection last week went very well!  There were a few things that must be done before closing and we are waiting on the sellers to see what they are willing to take on.  The rest of the comments on the inspection were suggestions such as water temperature and such.  Plus, the inspector was really great.  He was willing to check out anything we asked of him in addition to all the things he was required to do.  He explained some things, pointed out stuff of interest, and kept us well-informed throughout the entire three hour inspection!  Whew!  But everything in the house is solid and up to code (except for those few things mentioned).  And those aren't even anything super huge!  But we're going through the VA, and they're quite a bit pickier than most conventional lenders.  So now we're down to four weeks til closing!  We're actually hoping to move that date up a bit as my mother and I will be travelling to Florida.  The day after closing.  Gulp! But we're hopeful that will all work out.  So all in all, June will be a pretty exciting month!  Especially, since a dear, dear friend of mine (a sister of the heart!) will be coming to visit right before closing!  That's going to be a super busy week!!!
Again, thanks for stopping by!  And thank you to my FB friends for all of the congratulations and well wishes!  We look forward to sending out the invite to our first party in our new home!  Someday soon... Hopefully!  Have a great day!

The appraiser came out last Thursday.  What a great guy!  He was an older fellow with some fun stories about being an appraiser and a very definite opinion on unlicensed folk doing the same.  He toured the home, checking things out, and "unofficially" declared it good!  Huzzah!  So that's one hurdle overcome.  Whew!  This afternoon is the inspector's visit.  So I will have been inside my new home twice in the last week.  Can you guess how giddy and happy that makes me feel?  Ha!  The husband will come pick me up from the house after lunch.  We're going to ride out on his Harley.  Yay!  We really need to put some more miles on our bums for our trip next week!

Speaking of which, next Thursday will see the beginning of a 9+ hour motorcycle ride from here to Ohio for the Blessing of the Bikes in Dayton!  We haven't been in two years.  It will be good to see our friends from that state again.  It's been a long while!  We'll be gone for five days!  What's also fun is that Heritage Village's Civil War Weekend is that same weekend so we'll be able to stop by to see our reenacting friends, too!  And we can visit the house that is the namesake for our new farm, Elk Lick!  But that is a story for another day!

I'll pop back in here later to let you know how the inspection went!  And we're expecting to send this blog live either next week or the week after.  And then everyone should be caught up!

Why The Wait??

Since you are reading this a few weeks after the date of the post, you may be wondering why we waited so long to share our exciting news! Well, the answer is fairly simple.  When the papers were signed and the closing date chosen, we had seven weeks to move. Count them. S-e-v-e-n weeks. Loooong time.  Or so it seems!  Plus, there are so many variables when buying a house.  We still have the house inspection to get through and that's not until next week. And then there's the appraisal but that's still a couple weeks away.  Yep.  Still a lot of things to accomplish.  In fact, the packing is sort of begun but will just sit for another week before I get serious about it!
Of course, there's still the house in Ohio, too.  We thought we had a renter but haven't heard from him today.  He was supposed to let us know yes or no today.  But nothing.  Are we getting the brush-off?  Gosh, I hope not!  At least have the manners to call, even if you are not going to rent from us.  Ah well.  The Lord provides, even if it's not what we might be hoping for.  I mean, look at this blog!  Just a month ago, I was despairing of ever finding a farm, of being stuck on base or in town forever!  There was just nothing out there that meant enough of our criteria to suit us!  And then... And then this little gem. Yep.  So I wait some more.  I wait for a new renter or someone to purchase the OH house.  I wait for these next few weeks to be over with so we can move into our new home.  I wait to make purchases for the new home 'cause I have to wait.  I wait.  But I wait with a bit more patience and a much bigger smile on my face!

And We Have a Winner!!!!

You can all shake our hands, pat us on the back, etc 'cause we got the house!!!  We close on June 14th!  I'm sure it takes little imagination to know how incredibly excited we are!  The next seven weeks seem like a really long time to wait to move into our new home but I'm sure as the time gets closer, it will feel as though we have barely enough time to complete all of our tasks!  We will share more photos and stuff as we move in and begin the next chapter of our lives!  We hope you will come along for the ride!  Thanks for stopping by!

The Front of the New House

A Possible Farm??

As you might know, our family has been hoping for and, most recently searching for, a farm to call our own.  Well, we may have found it!  Some of the qualifications set forth by my husband, myself, and our kiddos have been:
Big yard
Large pasture(s) for livestock
Outbuildings in usable condition
Preferably on or at least very close to a paved road (husband has motorcycles)
And close enough to places we go without being too close (Know what I mean?)

As for the house, that has a list of "prefers" too:
Must be at least livable
Some work to do (Like trim, painting, mild cosmetic stuff. I like to "fix things up".)
Most, if not all, heavy work done (Like wiring, plumbing, etc)
Solid roof and foundation
And it must be old

I know.  That last criterion is a little strange but we do love our older homes!  They already contain and possess so much character!  They have a lifestory already.  We get to add to it!

So with all of those boxes to be checked, we've wondered if we'd ever find a place!  And sometime in the near future, as I've been telling my husband for years that I do not want to be buying my retirement home! I want the family farm!  And here we are.  Waiting, ever so impatiently, for news today.  For we have found a property that we like.  That we might possibly love but are holding our emotions in check.  You know.  Just in case we don't get it.  It's a lovely home on about 10acres.  I've been saying that less than 30acres was just too small for me.  I have a horse.  I want more.  I also would like a cow.  Maybe a goat or two.  Perhaps try out sheep or pigs at some point.  A real hobby farm!  But I would "settle" for less if there was the possibility of acquiring more surrounding land.  Well, this place has all that.  And then some!  Very cool!
It's an interesting story as to how we first saw the house.  I've been window-shopping for farms for years.  "Just keeping up with current market knowledge!" was my excuse.  A really nice property just south of town popped up and the boys and I drove by it one afternoon.  It was great!  The pavement stopped just beyond the drive, which meant good travel for the husband on his bikes.  It had a pond, some outbuildings, and the house looked great!  So I called the realtor later that day.  She said,  "Oh, um... Yeah.  We just closed on that property about an hour ago."  *heavy sigh*  Well, that took care of that one.  There were a couple others that looked alright but weren't quite what we were looking for.  Then the cute white with blue trim house popped up in my search.  Hmm... Cute.  Some acreage.  Surrounding area is very rural but it's still just around 10-15minutes into town!  Outbuildings in good shape.  Built in 1908.  Original floors and trim throughout!  Getting excited!
So we did another drive-by.  And thought,  "Maybe.  I think I wanna see inside too!"  So we called the listing agent as we were passing the For Sale sign.  He couldn't make it out but offered to call the owners.  "If they're home and don't mind showing it to you.  Would you mind?"  Of course not!!  And they were home.  And they'd love us to stop by!!  So we turned around and drove back.
What a wonderful couple!!!  They are an older couple, kids all grown, wanting to downsize their home.  They enjoyed our kiddos, laughing as the boys ran around the yard playing and jumping.  Our daughter, the young lady she is, accompanied us through the house tour, occasionally running out to check on her brothers.  She's a great big sister!  The home needs some finishing.  But all the electric and plumbing has been done.  And new blown-in insulation.  And new storm windows.  And... Wait!  Did I just check off the most difficult item on my Wishlist???  I did!!!!  So we went home after nearly two hours of looking at the house and then chatting with the owners.  We thought about it over the weekend.  When Monday finally rolled around, we were on the phone, making phonecalls to our bank, our realtor, base housing office.  We received positive on almost every front!  "Would you like to see it again today if the owners are willing?" our realtor asks us.  Of course, we are!!!  And they were, as well!  So off we went, leaving our two oldest boys at home to play video games (sillies!) and drop our daughter off at the ballfield for softball practice (field is barely 5minutes away!).  The owners took their dogs for a drive so we could tour the home alone.  Very nice!  Thanks, you two!  I took lots of pictures, of course, and the husband was extremely picky.  Good thing too.  We make a good team, I think, with me being full gung-ho and him being heel-draggingly slow!  The owners came home just as we were wrapping things up and, I've gotta admit, I was really hoping that they would so they could see it was us wanting to see it again!
When all was said and done, we made an offer last night.  The sellers have until 6pm today to reply.  I'm nervous.  My stomach is in knots.  I'm trying not to get too excited but there's so much to do to get ready to move.  At the same time, I can't really do much as the house isn't ours yet!
So I suppose I'll close out this post with a few pictures.  No address and no detailed location info 'cause I don't want anyone coming in and stealing away "my" farm!!!

 Back of the house

 Outhouse!!! Unusable but very cool!

Part of the lovely yard!

So there you have it, folks!  A good, solid attempt at achieving a piece of the American Dream!!!  Please pray it all works out for us!!!