Thanks guys for putting it into perspective. They countered again, we countered- they took our counter. It's really only about 2.5% under our asking price - but that's about 10K (which sounds worse!). Anyway, you're right Mariann - I'm too emotionally attached and was getting insulted. Home inspection has to be done in 7days. I'm not too worried about it because we had a pre-listing inspection and fixed all the important things (and then some). Besides MD changed the way the contract reads as of Jan, and houses are basically sold "as is" and they can only really ask to fix structural or safety (HVAC, electrical) issues.

praying for your dad and family. I hope the surgery is successful this time around.

Thanks for resurrecting this. I know I've missed several and it's always nice to find more. 30 mins to read all these blogs. I'm impressed!

God is good! love the photos. Many years to all the newly illumined in your family and welcome home. My entrance into the Orthodox church was one of the happiest days of my life.

I haven't been in a book club for over a year so I looked up my "book Club" list over at Goodreads. Here's some that were great for discussions in years past: "Children of Men" by PD James "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee "My Father's Paradise" by Ariel Sabar "The Giver" by Lois Lowry "Cry, Beloved Country" by Paton (although the audio is better because of the grammatical weirdness - no quotes "A Sacred Journey" by Buechner "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" Betty Smith

We got a written offer. It's was quite low and they wanted a few "extras" :glare:. My realtor said; "No, we're definitely not doing that...no way." The potential buyers come from a culture where bartering is quite common, so we kind of took the cue from that and countered WAY back up, but still under the asking price. I'm concerned that this will just be the beginning of a nickle-n-dime experience. I rather wanted to walk away but my dh and realtor thought that they are very good buyers (no debt, lots to put down on the mortgage) so we should at least counter and see what happens. We had another couple come through that were quite interested in the house. I don't know if we'll hear anything before this particular offer is ratified though. It turns out they have some grand kids who live with them and others who will be coming to visit for the summer. That made me feel a lot better about it, but I still have a nagging feeling that they might be difficult to deal with after looking at the offer. Yeah, they're great buyers, but I don't want to lie down and let them run over me either.

I use the finish tabs. I can't count the times I found the tab nearly intact sitting on the rack after running the machine. :glare: Thanks everyone for your imput. Now I have some homework to do.

Wouldn't it be great to get a bidding war. Well, about an hour after I wrote on here our realtor called. They submitted a low-ball offer AND asked for closing costs (3pts). But, they can put 100K towards a down payment :confused:. We're 3 days in to having it on the market and I'm not feeling THAT desperate yet. I don't know if we have to have our realtor officially give us the offer before we reject it, but that's what I'm thinking we will do. I hate to waste everyone's time (mine, hubby and realtor). I'll call her tomorrow, as she told me she'd be in meetings tonight. We have another showing scheduled for tomorrow night too.

congratulations.

I agree. My daughter got into a minor fender-bender. Barely a scratch on the fender. But, it was a brand new car for the owner, so they wanted it fixed. $1600 later it was all purdy again. :glare:

Well, it's been over 24 hours and still no offer. Honestly, I'm relieved. I really don't see what a couple with an adult child would want with such a big house/land/pool? Plus, I'd love to see a growing family move in for my neighbors. I know, it's crazy, I should be happy about any potential offer..and I'd be so happy not to have to keep going over there to deal with the pool. I think I'd make a terrible realtor :001_smile:. *I* have in mind the perfect homeowners and I'm having a hard time seeing past that. My realtor did say she heard there were others interested who may put an offer on the house but they couldn't visit until later this week. We'll see.

LOL - yes, we moved from well water (hard) to city water. I'm not sure if its hard or softer? I do miss our well water. Sniff.

oh, I forgot to mention that I did the vinegar thing about 2 weeks ago. I didn't notice any difference. Maybe doing it more than once in a row makes a difference??

I did this with vinegar, but only one cycle, as that is what I found suggested online. Maybe I'll try another cycle or two. Thanks.

Our new house has a spiffy stainless steel Electrolux dishwasher. I.hate.it. About 40% of the time it doesn't even dispense the soap. If it does decide to dispense the soap there's still some left in the dish. When it does wash the dishes they don't come out very clean ...like a greasy film on the dishes. Ugh. I'm constantly re-running the same dishes over again. I know this has got to be more than the loss of phosphates in the soap because my dish washer at the old house didn't have nearly this kind of problem. Anyway, I hate stainless steel too - I think its ugly as heck. My kitchen is dark too, and ss is very dark. I looked up this particular model and the former owners spent $1100 for this piece of junk!! [shock]. I was looking at Lowes and your standard white dishwasher seems to go for about $500 give or take. I'm thinking of craiglisting the current dishwasher for $400 or $500 and going to buy one that WORKS. Any recommendations??

wow. Three years of living apart. How far away is your husband? This sounds like such a difficult situation with your son. I hope the best for all of you.

My oldest trained a puppy for Guiding Eyes for the Blind when she was around 13/14. There is a LOT of work involved in puppy training to be a service dog and by the time our puppy failed (yup) my daughter was SO over the puppy stage. I was more upset when we put the dog in the crate and off she went. We could have kept her but opted to give her away...which was really best. Our puppy was definitely a social dog. She always did way better when she visited other raisers who had multiple dogs (we had no other pets). She went to a home that had other dogs. It can be very hard to give up the dog, but when they pass there's a sense of accomplishment and pride that YOUR dog is doing this.... at least that's what I heard from other raisers.

first off I'm sorry. I've not experienced this attitude that people with new baby's should be ignored or marginalized, especially in church. I don't think any of the churches I've attended over the years were this way. So sad. But, that said, I think there are ways to say a new baby is special without having a baby shower. To ignore a mom with a new baby is just SO rude!

I love it!! And I *love* your header.

I used my mother's dress and the alterations were about $150. This was 26yrs ago. However, my oldest got married in 2009. There was NO WAY we were going to pay those kind of prices for a dress. We put them on a strict budget and told them that any left over they could keep for themselves (honeymoon, down payment on a house - whatever they wanted to do with the excess). My daughter found a simple but beautiful dress from David's for $300 and she bought a white sheer shawl to go over her arms during the ceremony since the dress was sleeveless. One thing we learned was that David's overcharges for alterations, IMHO. It was a sleeveless dress that only needed to be hemmed and taken in a bit on the sides and was over $120!!!. Next time we'll go to a private seamstress for alterations.

I'm also in the camp that think it's weird to be having a baby shower for a 4th,5th, or 6th child. Why?? I think you've gotten some excellent support and advice. I would only add that I would prayerfully consider telling someone in leadership that this sort of cliquishness is going on. Seriously. This is the type of thing people leave churches over (I would). If I were the spiritual leader of a church I'd want to know that my church was being used in such a manner and that some people were being left out. Church is not supposed to be like high school! Of course, it isn't supposed to be about baby showers either! :grouphug:

I really appreciate this ramble. It's exactly how I've been feeling. It was like a big hug... seriously. Sometimes I regret pulling my youngest away from such a great house/land/pool. Room to run around and throw things and be a boy. But, he was often bored and lonely too. He still gets bored here, but not nearly as much. He's 5 yrs younger than his next sibling, so he's very much like an only. It turns out we had 30 people through the house today! And wouldn't you know it but the 60yr old couple I saw are probably putting a contract on the house tonight (they came back 2x!). They have a grown son who lives with them and other married kids with children who come to visit. Sigh. Not what I was looking for, but what can I do? I feel bad for my neighbor's son. He's going into high school next year and my family keeps reminding me that once he's in high school neighborhood kids won't mean so much. But, I still feel bad. I guess the good thing is they won't be having wild parties into the night. :D

I absolutely think this can happen. It doesn't mean we buy a sports car and run off with a younger model :D But I guess it happens. I know I definitely started questioning what I'd been taught as a Protestant Christian and began to look seriously at church history to figure it all out. I've often wondered the same thing about my husband and come to a similar conclusion as you. Not because I don't like him - but we're very different people now. I was quite young when I got married (and was also pregnant before our first anniversary). I see things very differently with more years behind me. I didn't get to go away to college (and didn't finish either), and I often wonder how different my life would have been if I'd had that opportunity. I don't think so much the same about the kids because I always did want a large family. But, now that I'm nearly done raising a my kids I do wonder "who am I and what do I want to do with my life?" and "What is really important to me now?" That, of course, has changed dramatically from 26yrs ago. It's not a bad thing, but change can be hard.

I used to be in the "I never cry" camp. And, I also used to think there was something the matter with me... because I didn't have emotions. I've always been an even-keel kind of personality (Phlegmatic Temperment they call it). But I used to wonder: would I even cry if one of my kids died?? Yeah, I definitely worried there was an issue. But.... last November everything changed. I made what I think is a very bad decision. Something I can't change back. I so regret this. I cry all the time. I cry almost everyday now. Yeah, I know people think it's depression. But if it's the result of a stupid decision why should I try to cover it up with medication? I think I should face the music.

I wonder if she thought your son was a lion cub and she's trying to get to him? he's about the right size.