It's (still) coming

I am still planning on a return to blogging… it’s just I haven’t had anything pop into my head that I would consider suitable enough for my first return post.

But I, along with The Wife, are taking the Gemelas to see the Jonas Brothers in concert tomorrow.

If that doesn’t give me fodder for writing, I don’t know what will…

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?

Hello? Is anyone there?

Yes, I am still here... I am still writing, I just haven't had a chance to write lately.

Not only did The Peanut Butter get the flu, so did Honey Mustard... the two of them then got upper respitory infections... followed by The Jelly getting a sinus infection (but NOT the flu thank God).

I, knock on wood, have not gotten anything... wait, does my throat feel scratchy now? Do I feel warm?

Sorry.

This weekend marks the annual Chorizo-making fun with my Dad, brother and a slew of cousins and Uncles. And making a special guest-appearance this weekend is none other than that other missing blogger; Scott.

Hopefully I will have more stories to regale you with upon my return.

Now I'm going to take some Vitamin C and echinacea...

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…

Las Vegas: Departure (hopefully) & Arrival (hopefully)

When we woke up Wednesday morning, there was snow on the ground.

Snow… in Mid-April… wtf?

Later in the morning, the snow became this combination of quickly-changing and ever-changing snow/sleet/rain.

Usually it takes about an hour to get to Midway from our house, but because of the weather… and knowing that people can’t drive if they see a flake of snow fall from the sky, we decided to leave for the airport a little earlier.

We dropped The Peanut Butter and The Jelly off at HoMu’s parents house and hit the road.

Lo and behold, the traffic was fine and we arrived at the airport about three and a half hours before our flight was scheduled to depart.

Son of a…

We checked our bags and then checked the monitor to see the status of our flight:

“On Time.”

Excellent.

We then had two and a half hours to kill but that was not a problem as it gave us a chance to eat dinner at Harry Carry’s Seventh Inning Stretch and have a calming alcohol-based drink before boarding.

After that, we went to our gate and checked the status of our flight…

“Delayed.”

Son of a...

Did I mention it started snowing again… harder? And that the wind picked up… and that the temperature started to drop?

We were supposed to leave at 4:35, but at 4:45, they put a sign on the board that still said delayed… but listed no time.

Hmmmmm…

Being the inquisitive one that she is, HoMu went up and asked them approximately what time our flight would be leaving… the conversation went something like this:

“We don’t know, we can’t find the plan.”

“I’m sorry, what? Are you being funny?”

“No unfortunately I’m not…”

“Oh. Shit.”

That’s right, you heard me (sorry Sarah); they couldn’t find the plane.

Gotta love Southwest…

About 20 minutes later, they announced that they found the plane (it must have been in another pair of pants or something…) and that it was on its way to Midway.

A joyous applause was heard throughout the terminal… which was quickly beat-out by shouts of anger and frustration as the flight in the next gate was pushed back an additional hour.

So, we boarded the plane about 5:50 and they tell us we should be taking off within the next 10 minutes.

Needless to say, that was wrong.

We left the gate in ten minutes, but we sat on the tarmac for an additional 40 minutes before taking off…

We landed about 8:45 Vegas time and were told that our luggage would be on carousel 14.

We waited… and waited… and waited… and waited…

Finally, I saw a Southwest desk in the corner of the baggage area and went over to ask when our luggage would be unloaded and put on carousel 14, that conversation went something like this:

“When will the bags from Chicago be unloaded?”

“They already have been. They’re right here. We have our own luggage carousel.”

“We weren’t told that, the sign said carousel 14. I mean, didn’t you think it was odd that no one was claiming their luggage.”

“Actually I did. I thought about making an announcement, but didn’t.”

“You’re an idiot, do you know that?”

So HoMu and I got our bags and, since Southwest wasn’t doing a damn thing, we walked over to the luggage carousel where everyone on our flight was waiting and told them where to go and whom to yell at.

They obliged.

We quickly found the shuttle to The Flamingo, arrived, checked in and, seeing as how we hadn’t eaten since 2:00 Chicago time and it was now 11:30 Chicago time (9:30 LV), we grabbed a bite to eat before hitting the casino for a quick drink and some quick gambling before hitting the strip and getting to bed early so we could start early the next morning.

We ended up going to bed around 3:00.

Tomorrow; “Day One” or “How We Ended Up Getting Sand in Every Orifice of our Bodies”

Breaking Hearts

This Saturday is the Day of the Chorizo.

A family tradition that I, along with my dad, my brother, a few of my cousins partake in annually. It’s the day we make the family-chorizo for the coming year. We use a recipe that my Abuela brought over with her when she immigrated (or is that emigrated) from Spain at the age of 19.

We butcher the hog, we add the spices, we mix it, we put it in a grinder, we encase it and we let it smoke for a few days.

Last year I was too sick to participate... but this year I am feeling fine and ready to go.

Because The Peanut Butter and The Jelly have dance class (and a recital in May that they’re practicing for), and Honey Mustard has midterms next week (that she has to study for) they are not going...I am going sans family.

Last night at dinner, The PB asked if we could go see a movie this weekend, and HoMu said ‘Daddy will be out of town this weekend.”

(Note: We are not telling the girls where I am actually going... if they knew I was going to my parents, their Abuelo and Abuela, they would want to go and would throw a fit that could very well go down as the most impressive fit by a child EVER)

The J started crying... actually crying... saying “But I love Daddy. I want him to stay home. Don’t go Daddy, don’t go.”

My heart... was breaking...

Then The PB decided to join in... and my heart was doubly breaking...

(Let me explain something about my daughters… being twins, they know how to play off each other… whether it be for fun or dramatic effect or for getting what they want – and they’re only four, so get ready Sarah, Becky, Matthew – so I knew that I was in trouble)

This went on for about 20 minutes until The J said, “I’ll miss you Daddy but you can go” followed by The PB saying, “Go Daddy.”

Great... they feel better, but my heart is still breaking...

If they’re acting like this now, what are they going to do when both HoMu and I go to Las Vegas in April for our 10 Year wedding anniversary??

What do you guys do when you have to be away from the kids?

...

And incidentally, my family’s version of chorizo does NOT use the “varietal parts of the animal, such as cheeks, salivary glands or lymph nodes” that Wikipedia mentions...