I don't know if we're going to have enough time...

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything and so I will do my best to encapsulate everything that has been going on.

When we last left off we were still living on a prayer, I mean living in an office, with our stuff scattered everywhere. This was due of course to Amanda’s grandparents coming to stay with us. It was nice to have them there, but we weren’t exactly devastated when it was time for things to get back to ‘normal.’ It’s funny in retrospect now what my concept of normal is…right now ‘normal’ is just living in the same apartment with your in-laws vs. real normal which is having your own place.

I will say that this experience has taught me a lot, and I think it will make me value and appreciate our new apartment when and if we finally get there.

I say “IF” of course, because a lot has happened in the past week.

On Saturday we went with our contractor to look at the apartment and scope out the renovations we would like to do. It’s a lot. New bathroom (including an expansion into the second bedroom), painting the whole place, new lighting fixtures, building closets in the “+” room, and a whole lot more. I could list it out, but it’s too much right now. We are now waiting to see his bid, and hoping that he comes in for our “number.” Ideally, we want to use this guy as he has done work for Amanda before, and since he is a tenant of my father-in-law’s building, we know where to find him and don’t have to worry about him running off. But…if the numbers come in too high and we aren’t happy, then we’re going to have one or two more contractors come in and bid as well. On the same note, we are in the process of figuring out the minatue of what our co-op does and doesn’t allow for renovations. One of their stipulations is that they expect a homeowner to be present during renovations, which is of course unrealistic. Well at least if they want us to be able to afford our mortgage.

At the same time we are putting the final touches on our mortgage and getting everything ready for the closing on the 28th. This has involved my taking up a lot of time talking to lawyers, brokers, and basically taking care of all the little details including getting home owners insurance, life insurance, securing our final 10% down payment and god knows what else.

This weekend Amanda and I are going tile shopping, thus officially turning me into Frank the tank from Old school. “It should be a nice day, some tiling, some lunch, maybe look at paints, but I’m not sure if we’re going to have enough tiiime.”