The Verdict....

We heard on Bowers Hollow ~ finally!

They will only accept all terms of our offer IF we use THEIR lender.

This being a foreclosure this little item is ILLEGAL.

Only builders can tie in a specific 'endorsement' and force you to use their lender.

That being said, proving it is a long and so not worth it process for us.

So we are NOT moving into Bowers Hollow.

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The bank did email today and say that their official short sale approval letter is to arrive to us tomorrow.

(again, not holding my breath)

But if the letter follows the signed contracts then we will be signing for Bear Gulch

(my dream kitchen location)

once we return from Oregon.

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So really no news...

Still "on eternal HOLD".

But I'm not going to be worrying about houses... I'm off to Oregon.

Luck?!? What luck...

Many are wondering what happened today with either of our offers.

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Ummmmmmm, NOTHING!

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Please ~~~ remember I don't have any luck.

Realtor is claiming that Bowers Hollow will be responding in the morning...

(yeah, like they did today...)

and Bear Gulch's letter will be here on Wednesday.

(this is the fourth time they have given us a date for this "letter"... so NOT holding my breath)

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Now the realtor wants to know which house we will choose if they both do come back...

WHO KNOWS!!!!

We will ALL be surprised.

Stay tuned for further update....

ha ha ha...

(IF there is an update...

remember ~ this is my luck we're talking about...

so no holding your breath... )

More of Bowers Hollow...

Okay, here is our "Full Disclosures" on the Bowers Hollow home. (the current 2nd offer)

First, the pics all come from the realtor.

I hate realtor pics... they don't know how to capture a house. From searching through hundreds of home listings and then going to see properties, I can say that the pics never do the home justice for good or for bad. They can make a horrible house look fabulous on-line and vs. vs.

Most of the pics are blurry... I will walk you through them. Of course they are all over the place as for as "order" goes... so here we go....

The front of the home...

Part of the kitchen. Granite counter tops and all new black appliances. We will be adding upper cabinets to the wall on the left... the door straight ahead is the pantry. there is hollowed out space for bar stools to sit up to this island for the kiddos to eat at and not ruin carpet... (always a bonus for the zoo crew)
See, out of order. Now we are in the first part of the master bath. Dual sinks, tub, stand up shower, off to the right is the toilet. Straight ahead is a BIG walk in closet that has a dividing pillar in the middle... that is what you see in this pic. The back wall of the closet is probably another five feet beyond that visible pillar.
One of the bedrooms... ooooohhhh awwwww, yeah not exciting... moving on.

This is standing at the entry of the kitchen and looking out over the formal dining / living room. Our dining table and bench/chairs will look great with that dining light.... bonus.

I've already commissioned Lance to encase the existing 'mantle' (that white stucco knobby thing above the fireplace) with a nice wooden mantle the will fit over this existing thing and will actually be functional and painted black.

This is the laundry room leading out to the garage. It does have a small counter space/cabinet thing off to the left.

A different part of the kitchen. A new black stove/oven sits here with a black microwave above it. This pic shows it before they had them installed. The empty space to the right off the counter top and cabinets will have a matching pantry built in (yes, two in one kitchen... heaven). This will have power in it. Hide all the phone chargers etc. It is just a dead space now... it will be holding my bread maker, kitchen aid mixer, food processor... and so forth.

Standing at the front door looking at the living/dining and through the kitchen to the family room way in the back. That is the back door and window that are glowing... Carpets throughout are clean and no damage. We'll keep them for a while. The tile is clean and starts at the front door and goes throughout the kitchen/laundry and family rooms.

Very dark picture of family room standing in the kitchen. The dog door located near the back door will be removed and the wall patched and the outside stucco filled in as well. No need to supply the Tank with another escape hatch. :o)

The inset wall to the left is painted a really bright yellow and will soon be red. This will 'house' my piano and the entertainment center armoir-thing.

This is the backyard. The home is foreclosed so the water has been off... hence the dead grass. New sod will be put in. A large cement pad will be put along the back of the house. Lance must have a place for his precious barbecue. Then over the pad will be a arbor to help shade the area but still allow for great light.

So there you have it... the tour of Bowers Hollow. I hope you enjoyed your visit.

Please come and see us once we have debugged the place (lots of spiders - yuck), cleaned, painted the walls, hung the ceiling fans, cleaned, moved our things in, hung pictures, cleaned and have the kitchen and backyard done. Soooooooo, give us a week ~ at least! :o)

I'm kidding... well sorta. Lance knows I don't do well with half-finished things... so this may move faster than he realizes.

Monday ~ Monday ~ Monday...

That is when we will be hearing about this house...

2119 sq. ft. 3 bed/2 bath

HUGE kitchen with granite counter tops and all new appliances.

Not a short sale = closing within 2 - 3 weeks....

I know, fast!

(finally)

Same elementary school as last year...

Same Stake... different ward...

Crossing our fingers - toes - eyes... everything that can be crossed.

I don't want to go on vacation with no home to come 'home' to...

***Update***

So here is the Reader's Digest version of the situation.

BofA is a pile of poo...

That should be enough but I'll explain a little further.

They are still dragging their feet on an approval that should have come THREE weeks ago.

Since this is an already approved short sale it should have been done.

They have no motivation to move quickly since they are losing over $140k on the deal... hmmmm. So I decided that they were no longer going to 'drive the bus'.

Lance and I looked at homes last night and found a couple we were interested in.

We went and looked at this one and liked it.

We put an offer in on it and the realtor said if we got the offer in to her before 5pm tonight her bank will make a decision first thing Monday morning... before 10am. We had our offer in before 3pm... so now we wait.

Both homes have plus/minuses.

I am leaning toward the second...

I can't really explain it... just my gut.

Maybe cuz BofA has torqued me off so much I don't want their stinkin' house no mas.

I don't know...

It's in the Lord's hands now.

It's About Love...

This is Brenley, big man McCoy and Bryce.

They are Waiting with Love to have a new little one join their family.

If you or someone you know is searching for a forever family for a baby... please visit their profile or their family blog.

Adoption is a miracle...

we have been blessed three times with such a miracle and are praying for Bryce and Brenley's family to be blessed once again.

Thank you...

Waiting...

Dreaming, hoping, praying that this week will bring the waiting game to an end...

Day dreaming about my new kitchen...
Even in the heat... I can't wait to bake brownies and a casserole at the SAME TIME.

Awwwww... it's love.

Presenting Baby K~~~~

Here she is... Baby K and her amazing momma...

She was born 3 weeks early but is still doing wonderful.

I love Kimmy ~ she ROCKS!

Mother's Favorite...

(pic taken in Oregon in my bedroom ~ Fan-C had just lost her first tooth!)

It is 107+ today.

We came out of church this afternoon and got hit with a wave of hot air, like we stuck our heads into a preheated oven.

Fan-C walks out and says...

"That's it! I'm done with this stinkin' desert!"

Oh.My.Heck... I love this child!

I reminded her of telling me how she 'loved the heat and loved the desert' only a few weeks ago.

She then said, "Okay, I was SOOOOO wrong! I'm really gonna die..."

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Mother's favorite... Hee hee...

I'm not alone in my detesting the desert.

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Seriously, people who LOVE this weather have a few screws missing... not loose ~ completely GONE!

(Of course, I told her she isn't going to die... just wish she was)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow...

(Aubrey Park ~ Eugene, OR September 2009)

We would NEVER see so many gorgeous trees here or a rainbow.

The kiddos finished school this last week and we have had an "Excessive Heat Warning" posted for our area... that is desert talk for over 100 degree temps. So I choose to keep my kiddos inside and wait for the sun to slip behind the mountains to let them outside to play or go to the water park. Trust me the water park at night feels just fine when it is still over 100 degrees without the sun beating on you. We have filled our days with a couple videos, the Tank is obsessed with watching Taylor Swift on YouTube (I've only let him watch a few), coloring, writing stories, reading reading reading and playing with toys. Oh and they have squeezed arguing and fighting into their packed schedules as well. :o)

Fan-C and the Tank have both come to me (one at a time) and asked me if they could go home to Oregon. I told them they should click their heals together three times and say, "There's no place light home..." They've tried. I then told Fan-C she needs to find a rainbow and make a wish on it and then she can go home to Oregon. (I know, mean joke. There isn't even one cloud in the desert sky let along moisture to make a rainbow... I'm a mean momma) I am getting them excited for our Oregon visit in 2 1/2 weeks. Fan-C said she is planning on hiding under her cousin Tiana's bed and that way we will drive away and she can stay in Oregon.

Hmmmmm... I wonder if I will fit under that bed too?!?