Here we go again

The raping of my childhood continues as it's all but "official" that there is going to be a remake of "The Karate Kid".

Will Smith is set to direct...

His son is set to star...

My lunch is set to come back up...

Won't someone make it stop?

Back Again Part 3: Back with a Vengeance

Yes... again, I'm back to more regular blogging. For those of you who had been sending emails asking where I was, here it is.

Let’s start from the beginning.

Frequent readers will know we put an offer on a house a few months ago… a house we liked SO much, we put our old house on the market, by owner.

It sold in three weeks (I swear we didn’t make a pact with the devil)…

Things were going smoothly… we had a closing for the new house, we had a closing for the old house, and we had all our ducks in a row.

Then came the home inspection on the house we wanted to buy… and… well… let me just say this; son of a bitch.

The sale fell through when the home inspection revealed that there was close to $50,000 worth of needed repairs (who needs a foundation anyway?)

Knowing we hit the mother lode in selling our old house this quickly in THIS market, we decided to move forward on the sale of our house and build on the lot we bought last year.

So we started looking at housing options in between selling our old house and moving into the newly constructed house.

Many ideas were floated… stay with my in-laws (eep) until we decided upon renting a small apartment… we looked at half a dozen, and each one was worse than the next…

Until… manna from heaven…

We found an apartment in the new school district that The PB & The J would be attending, under $750 a month with all utilities included (I imagine those of you reading this on the Coasts are shaking your hands to the sky screaming… ya gotta love the Midwest).

We signed the lease, paid the security deposit and first months rent and were all set to move as soon as we closed on our house.

The contract we had our attorney draw up called for the closing to happen before June 15th.

The buyer, or more specifically, the buyer’s MOTHER, had other ideas.

Herein lies the rub…

When we started this endeavor and the buyer, more specifically the buyer’s mother, did everything.

She called to express her daughter’s interest in the house…

She called to express her daughter’s desire to see the house…
After seeing the house, she called to express her daughter’s desire to purchase the house…

She called to express her daughter’s wishes to sign the contract…

And she called to express her daughter’s agreement on a date to sign the contract…

So we signed the contract saying that they would be out of the house by June 16th… this was around April 26th.

Foolishly thinking that we were going to sell our house in a few weeks, we had a moving sale and unloaded The PB & The J’s playset (which they had outgrown anyway), our washer and dryer (over 10 years old and were on its last legs) and a few other large items we didn’t want to take with us…

The Monday after the sale we were told that we would be closing the next week, so we started vigorously packing.

The next week came, and we heard nothing from the buyer, nor had our attorney.

This is when things started going downhill fast…

Our attorney contacted the buyer and, when got no response from them, the buyer’s lender.

He was then told that there was a problem… the buyer was listed on her mother’s mortgage… and we couldn’t move forward until the mother re-financed and taken her daughter’s name off.

Problem is, the mother – who works for a title company so one would think she would know this would create havoc – decided to do some upgrades on her house at this time and had it cut up and messy.

Lovely…

Our attorney, being an attorney, started to push for a closing date… the mother started pushing for everyone to mind their own business.

Then… suddenly, weeks after the initial offer sheet was signed; a glimmer of light appeared.

The mother was having her home appraised and re-financed while taking her daughter’s name off the mortgage and the closing was slated for July 1st (2 weeks after the closing was contracted to occur). We lined up help to move us on June 28th…

Hallelujah, we were closing!

…

Not so fast there chuckles…

The Friday before the closing our attorney called us and said the lender was backing off of the closing because “they had concerns about her (the buyer’s) income.”

WHAT!!??

She was pre-approved… everything was falling into place… what the hell happened in that short amount of time??

Turns out nothing… the attorney was told that by the mother, who had decided things were moving too quickly for her and decided to slow things down a bit.

Long story short (to late)… we closed last Thursday…we (technically movers, thank GOD!) moved out Saturday… handed keys and possession over on Saturday night… and we are now, officially, apartment dwellers whilst they build our house… which is expected to start now the first part of September.

This is a long-winded way for me to say that my life is starting to level off now and I’ll have more time to write… including a blogging first on Kemp’s Blog.

Next week I join my Dad on a road trip… a road trip in his 2006 red corvette convertible to the Black Hills of South Dakota.

I plan on blogging the trip… so stay tuned.

So Kemp, what have you been up to lately?

Well…

We found a house, made an offer, had the offer accepted, put our house on the market, saw it sell within 3 weeks (in this market), had the home inspection done on the new house which showed that there was over $50,000 worth of repairs needed including electrical, plumbing and foundation work, rescinded said offer, threatened legal action if our earnest money wasn’t returned, continued with the sale of our house, decided to build on the lot we bought last year, realized we will be homeless by June 6th, started looking for apartments to live in while the house is built, got our earnest check back, started packing, started looking at house plans, found a house plan, looked for builders, found a builder, met with builder, found out it will take anywhere from 6 months to 1 year to build house, started freaking out, started to get ready for HoMu’s graduation this weekend (she finally finished her Master’s Degree), getting ready for The PB & The J’s 6th birthday, decided to have a family one at Chuck E. Cheese (eep) and another at our house with their friends from school and dance (double eep), decided to have a moving sale at the end of the month, found an apartment, realized I hadn’t gotten HoMu anything for her graduation yet and realized that we have to move by June 4th.

What’s up with you?

Here we go again…

We did it about a year ago...

Then we rescinded it...

Then we bought something else with the goal of building...

But then, this past week, like you would see in some un-original romantic movie starring Hugh Grant, we saw each other... there was an instant connection... a sense that this was right... this was ideal... so, we made our move...

The wife and I put an offer on a larger house this past Saturday… again.

This house is our dream house… it is a quad-level with 2,400 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a kitchen that would make Alton Brown proud (complete with skylights), a formal dining room, dinette, family room, living room, basement, deck…

Did I mention it has an in-ground pool with a heater? (Did I mention that that was the only thing The PB & The J saw?)

So we made an offer… we put the ‘For Sale’ sign in our yard… and we’re holding onto our lot for the time being.

Now we wait… while we try and sell our house so we can buy a newer and larger one… with a pool… so we can move all of our crap stuff?My God… what the hell are we thinking?

Anyone want to buy a house? 2 (possibly 3) bedrooms, kitchen and dining room recently remodeled, new windows, new roof with nice landscaping?

Anyone?

So Kemp, what are you doing tomorrow?

I won't bore you with the details or the specifics of the procedure I'm having done tomorrow other than this; it will make a vas deferens in my life...

Time Apart

Regular readers of my blog know that The Peanut Butter was diagnosed with a “seizure disorder” a little more than a year ago and was prescribed medication to combat it.

When she started kindergarten this year, HoMu and I, along with her teacher, noticed that at times she wasn’t paying attention in class, was easily distracted, seemed distant and un-interested and sometimes would act as though she didn’t know something even though she did the day or even hours before.

Like we did before she was put on the medication, we started researching the side-effects of her medication again and discovered that these were indeed side-effects of taking it. So at her bi-annual exam with her Neurologist, we discussed with the doctor and it was decided that we would wean her off of the medication and, for the last 8 weeks, we’ve been doing just that.

After being dropped from 4 doses a day to 2, she showed a drastic increase in her testing and schoolwork, scoring a 27 on a numbers test weeks before when she was under full dosage to an astounding 49 (out of 50) when her dosing was cut in half.

She is now totally off the meds and, knock on wood, has not had a seizure during that time… and today she starts her 48-hour, in-hospital EEG at the University of Chicago Hospital (also where they were born) to see if she is still having them (she was having them in her sleep, hence the 48-hour EEG).

This is significant for two reasons: First; hopefully we can find out if she has, as most children who develop this type of seizure disorder do, grown out of the seizures.

Second: this means that she and The Jelly will be separated… for 3 days/2 nights.

For those of you reading that don’t have twins, everything you’ve heard about the connections that twins have with each other is, for the most part, true… and in the past, their separations have not worked out very well.

So this time we’re trying something different.

I am teaching two ‘Introduction to Public Speaking’ classes this semester and this week are final exams and final speeches, so I can’t cancel class. HoMu will be staying with The PB in the hospital and I will be down here with The J. But since I teach tonight until 10:00, and in an attempt to make The J more at ease, one of my SIL’s graciously said that The J can stay with them… so rather than staying up late until I pick her up… and rather than staying with a set of grandparents, she will be with one of her Aunts and Uncles and three of her cousins…

Hopefully my nephews and niece will help The J get through this first night… my wife will help The PB get through her first night… and me? Well… in front of people I will be the strong father, stoic and solid. But when I get home tonight, with no one around, and when I start thinking about my wife and daughters and what one of them is going through at the hospital and the other is going through away from her sister… I’m sure I’ll sit down for a nice cry…

And I have no problem with that…

How many times?

After taking a break from blogging for a few months (2 1/2, but who’s counting?) I am once again feeling the mojo to rejoin the blogosphere and start blogging again.

To say I’ve had blogstipation would be a cheap cop-out… so instead I’ll say that the inspiration to write again has struck and I have found my muse.

Also, the issues in my life that led to the, well we'll call it a sabbatical for now, have slowly evaporated, and I find myself feeling good… looking good… and doing good…

Besides, there’s a lot of stuff to talk about…

My "confirmed bachelor" brother gets married this Friday in downtown Chicago... and I am the Best Man for said wedding and The PB & The J are the flower girls...

I am having a male-oriented "pro-ce-dure" in December...

HoneyMustard and I have decided, due to her PCOS & diabetes, we are done having children but are indeed looking into adoption...

The family in-laws are heading to Disney World after Christmas… All. 18. Of. Us. (eep)

The PB & The J are enjoying school, dance and gymnastics and are as full of life as ever...

The PB is being weaned off her seizure medication and will have a 3-day test in December to see if she has grown out of her seizure disorder...

So I am looking forward to regaling you with tales of whimsy, fun, drama, horror, opinion... in short; life.

I am in the process of re-designing the ol' blog, and it's a mighty task... so bear with me.

Maybe we can hire Bob the Builder

Well… apparently Honey Mustard and I are gluttons for punishment.

First, we made an offer on a lovely house…

Second, we rescinded said offer after the home inspector said the house was a ‘fire waiting to happen’ and was… well, I can’t really say any more as I’ve suppressed those memories…

Third we thought about adding on to our house. Uh… no…

Fourth, and current, we have purchased a lot… a lot in which we will build a house.

We are going to build… a… house…

Bui— Oh my God…what the hell are we thinking?

Didn’t we see “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House”???? Or “The Money Pit”? Or “Drömkåken”????

Didn’t we see Ice Cube’s “Are we Done Yet?”? (wait, that’s right; no one saw that movie…)*

Oh my God… building a house?

...

...

Is it possible to hyperventilate in the blogosphere?


*BTW, I’m ignoring the fact that all of these movies are all in some way remakes of ‘Mr. Blandings…’

Decisions...

…are made by those who show up.

And a trio of bloggers is asking for your help to show up, or more appropriately, post up.

Croutonboy tipped me off to this, and I thing it’s an extraordinary idea.

Brian, Rick & Carol, along with Brave Humans, are trying to organize 30,000 bloggers to

“...act as a single voice for one moment in time.”

The purpose is not to make any particular political statements, but to, simply, make some noise.

Why? Because it’s there… because we can… because voices need to be heard. Or, in simpler reasoning; why not?

It’s an opportunity to stand-up and be counted… an opportunity to have your voice heard… an opportunity to “teach the world to sing” and to “shout from the rooftops”... okay, those are a little cheesy, but you get the idea.

Think about it, it worked for The Who’s in Horton Hears a Who… and it can work for the blog-o-sphere.

There’s no agenda attached… it’s not a Liberal thing… it’s not a conservative thing… it’s a change thing… it’s something aimed at bringing about change... and that’s all.

Sure, the catalyst was something said by a bat-shit crazy biatch conservative pundit, but it’s not who it is that prompted the day… it’s the chance to do... something.

What do you think?

I've made some aesthetic changes and I want to hear YOUR opinion...

Like it.

Hate it.

Have mass indifference to it.

Inquiring minds... okay fine, inquiring mind wants to know...