Jun 02

Sometimes you wanna go…


Posted under All in the family, Life, Moving, Puerto Rico by MicheleP.

Where everybody knows your name (and pronounces it correctly…)

And so, after a week of being really homesick, and longing for all things familiar, and driving my husband a little crazy with my emotional outbursts – we’re gonna do what everyone else here is doing and head home :)

We’ll get to spend the month of July in and around Arkansas. I know, I know, there is not a worse month to be in Arkansas – can anyone say heat, humidity and bugs? But also family, friends and lots of A/C so we’ll be just dandy :)

And you KC folks…Scott has to work there at some point in July so we are hoping for a little jaunt up your way as well…stay tuned! 

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Jun 01

Homesick


Posted under Life, Moving, Puerto Rico by MicheleP.

The girls said yesterday that they missed Kansas. I don’t even know that they remember much about Kansas – but evidently they do…and they miss it. When I asked them what they missed, Clara said, “My party. I miss my party. I wish I could go back to my party in Kansas.” I’m going to take a leap here and assume she misses activities and friends.

Yeah, me too.

I think we all are a bit homesick right now. Thankfully next week brings a special friend as Heather comes for visit. I think having visitors is what keeps me sane sometimes. Well, mostly anyways.

 

 

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Dec 20

Moving Day!!


Posted under Life, Moving, Puerto Rico by MicheleP.

I was hesitant to post anything until I was 100% sure that we were actually going to move in today…even up to last night I had my doubts. Scott got up early to go meet the movers at the house and when he got there (30 minutes before they were supposed to arrive) they were already waiting at the gate for him.

This last week in the apartment has been hard. The closer we got to moving, the more I was annoyed with everything in this space and the more I felt cramped.

Wow – it’s really happening…I might actually get to sleep in my own bed tonight – of course, assuming my bed actually made it here…and is still in one piece…but it’s looking like we’ll be home for Christmas and that warms my heart way more than the 80 degrees outside at the moment.

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Nov 13

We didn’t get the shoes…


Posted under Life, Moving, Puerto Rico by MicheleP.

The owner didn’t say yes to our offer…but he didn’t entirely say no and came very close to our offer – coming down more than 15% off his already reduced price. Our realtor was able to negotiate some additional things in the sale (all appliances, some furniture, pool equipment – oh, yeah, did I mention this home has a pool?!) and then even reduced her commission to get the price down to our offer. In the end, I didn’t get the shoes – there was a misunderstanding (something that happens OFTEN with me these days…) but good gravy we got the house!!

We knew that there were deals to be had – and it took some patience and making offers on 5 houses before we found the seller who was more interested in closing the transaction than the money.

Now, we still have to wait for the appraisal…and the inspection…but pending the successful outcome of those, we’ll be moving the first part of December.

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Nov 10

Now where were we?


Posted under Life, Moving, Puerto Rico by MicheleP.

It’s been over a week since my last post – amazing how busy you can get beachcombing, swimming, chasing iguanas by day and frogs by night. Ahem, such is life here.

But – back to the major task at hand – finding a permanent place to live. This has proven to be a rather tricky task. We have seen some very interesting properties this past week and to keep them all straight, we name them.

There was the “bird home” with at least 20 birdcages in the garage – it was so loud in there you couldn’t here anyone talking.  

And then the “iguana home” – no birds, but 2 huge green iquanas were perched up in the garage. As I have yet to come to the same appreciation as Scott for these (or any reptiles for that matter), I was a bit freaked out. Did I mention this house was vacant – these were not pets.

Then there was the rabbit…and cat…and dog home. All living in the backyard together. Doesn’t seem quite right, does it?

And then there was divorce house 1, 2, 3 and gosh, I lost count. Sadly enough, it seems some of our best options for good deals come as the result of a divorce.

The housing market here is in bad shape – and homes are selling for incredibly low prices – at least the homes that are selling. Problem is that people who don’t have to sell - simply aren’t selling. Homes that have been on the market for over a year will still be listed at the same price that they were a year ago.

Earlier in the week we made an offer on a home that had been on the market since April and the owner called twice to tell us she was very interested in selling and willing to negotiate. We liked the home and thought it might be our opportunity to get a good deal. However, after 3 back and forth negotiations…she came down a whopping 1%. ONE PERCENT? Are you kidding me? Nope.  Clearly we have a very different interpretation of “willing to negotiate” here.

The next day we started negotiating on another home – problem here is that she bought it 2 years ago and the market has gone DOWN from 2005. Not good for this seller at all and really not good for us because she isn’t willing to take a loss on her home.

And so that brings us to house number 3 (well, the 3rd one this week, it’s our 5th attempted purchase). It’s the first and only house I walked in and said, “I love this house.” It’s also out of our price range ;) Go figure. But, the realtor showed it to us because the owner “needs to sell” as he has already moved and is making 2 house payments now. I called it the “closet house” because one entire bedroom had been made into a closet for the wife. As Ana, our realtor says, “So, now, you make offer and he decides.” And she is right – he’ll probably say no…but he might just say yes. You just never know.

Oh, and btw, the owner said everything in the closet room comes with the house too. Not sure if they are my size…or my style…but man, there were some NICE shoes in there!

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Oct 27

’cause evidently I’ve got some time to kill


Posted under Life, Moving, Puerto Rico by MicheleP.

As we walked out of the airport, Libby proclaims “I so excited. I never seen Puerto Rico before. Mom, it’s hot here.” :)

And THAT was at 10pm.

Yes, it is hot here – but only the air, evidently not necessarily the water. The girls are down for a nap so I just announced to Scott that I was headed for a nice, long shower. He asks if I was planning on a hot or cold one.

Right. I forgot.

See, you can get a hot shower here – you just have to plan ahead. This I learned this morning as I was trying to wash some dishes and kept waiting and waiting for hot water to come from the faucet. Then I noticed a RED switch on the wall. Evidently, you have to actually flip this switch to get hot water. Once this switch is on, THEN you will get hot water once it makes it way into the house (or something much more technical than that.)

So I just flipped the switch and am now waiting for my hot water to arrive.

Our trip was relatively uneventful – despite our complete failure of Packing 101. We did manage to get everything most everything into the rental car and to the condo. However, one of us will be making a return trip to the airport for what wouldn’t fit. No better way to look like Gringos that to pack like one – eh?

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