The Great House Misadventure

So I last left you with our bidding war saga. Well, that came and went and we were disappointed for a while, but as so many people told us; everything happens for a reason. Fast foward a few months and we continued to look at houses mostly online and went in one or two, but we weren't overly motivated to move. We eventually decided to go into a home that was just outside of town on five acres. It had been built in the last decade and had plenty of space. It needed nothing (not even paint!), which was a bit of a contrast from the changes we made to our last home to fit our cosmetic style. After touring the home we decided we really liked it but quickly learned it might be out of reach. The deal had to go through the owners' relocation company which wasn't accepting offers with contingencies; meaning they wouldn't take our offer unless our house was already sold. Well, our house wasn't even on the market, so we kind of let that go figuring it wouldn't be there by the time we got our house sold.

After seeing that it was the sale of our house that seemed to be holding us up every time, we threw our hands up and decided just to put our house on the market. We knew we wanted to move to something bigger, we knew we wanted to do it this year and we knew we didn't have a whole lot to lose. We figured if we sold and couldn't find something suitable we would just rent. At least we'd have a sold house and nothing holding us back next time. So we go through a marathon few days of cleaning our place up, fixing some little things and we eventually get it listed. Our agent, who has been fantastic through this whole process and very patient with us to boot, calls another agent to let her know he's listing our property the same night the sign goes in the yard. She schedules a showing for the next morning and BOOM! Offer, accepted, sold. So, we sold our house in 12 hours. I was in complete disbelief. Not to mention, now that other house is still on the market! Should we offer? Will they accept before our house deal is closed? What do we have to lose?

We make an offer on the other house. The owners accept immediately. We're thrilled! But, alas, the relocation company has the last say and says nothing. FOR. A. WEEK! We wait what feels like a year (but like I said it was just one week) and they ask for all kinds of documents on our house, the people who are buying our house and the people who are buying their house. This frustrated us, but we came to realize that it's a whole world full of cover your own rear-end kinds of practices now so we get it. To make a long story short, they eventually accepted our offer. Yay! Happy! Elation! Relief!

That was only the beginning of what would be the most frustrating month or so I've ever experienced. From this point on it was nothing but little setbacks and threats of the deal falling through. If I detailed them all, you'd get bored and stopped reading, but to hit the highlights: our deal almost fell through at one point (not due to anything on our end) so that threatened our new house deal, that was fixed but then the relocation company wanted more things signed, more documents, etc., the new house had a new septic tank put in (due to the old one being pumped out wrong) so that was a plus but the poor current owners had to move out for four days because of no septic, we found radon during an inspection in the basement (not a deal-breaker but one more thing to deal with), we had to install GFI outlets and fix a door at our current house, and the creme-de-le-creme: our closing was delayed by 3 hours due to a random happening on our mortgage company's part. We literally were driving our stuff around town because our other house had closed that morning and we had nowhere else to go.

So, needless to say it was a bumpy ride, but we got there and we now own our dream home. It's just far enough from town to make my husband happy, but just close enough that I'm not annoyed when I have to go to Wal-Mart! Why can't anything just be simple? Well, it's because of the misadventure factor of course! But life is still good.

We really do live under a lucky star, just as my Nana used to tell me.

Home sweet home!

Misadventures in Real Estate

My husband and I like to drive around. A lot. Probably more than anyone else on the planet. We do it to get out of the house, to pass time at lunch and to see what's on the real estate market. I guess you might call us the eternal optmists when it comes to home shopping. We're always on the lookout for our next dream home. We currently live in what was and still mostly is our starter dream home, but as families change and needs change, different sets of criteria become more desirable for the humble abode. So, you might say we're always looking for what's next. That's not to say we're not happy where we are now, we've just kind of made a hobby out of seeing what's on the market at all times. Some people call it an obsession, we just call it a passionate hobby.

Well, about a month ago our passion paid off, in what we thought were spades. See, with as much real estate as we drive by, view pictures and listings of and dream about, you'd think we go in every house that comes on the market. We don't. We couldn't do that to our poor real estate agent. I'd say we've been in maybe 3 or 4 houses in the last as many years. We've currently lived in our home (your standard 3 bedroom ranch) for 5 years. But on a recent trip to the country for our normal drive we stumbled across a gem (to us, trust me, many wouldn't get it). It was a little gray ranch house on about 3 acres of land with a creek running through the property; my husband's dream back yard come true and one that was close enough to town that I could adapt too. We called our agent, went in it and loved it. It was just a little bigger than our house which is what we had finally agreed was all we needed. It had the separate living and family rooms that I wanted and the landscape he wanted. We couldn't ask for more. After leavning we knew we wanted to make an offer so we left and went straight to the bank. We decided we'd get the offer on the table on Monday (this was late Friday afternoon).

The offer went out on a Monday (mind you this property had been on the market less than a week and in Charleston, IL, time that's nothing. Bidding wars aren't exactly a thing here.). A few hours later we were informed there was a competing offer and to give our best and final. So we did. After a few agonizing hours we learned we had been outbid and/or outdone, we're not sure which. We put in a hefty bid but were financing a certain way and asking for closing costs so we could move forward with the purchase and hold our mortgage and the new one until ours sold. That might not have set with the sellers and the other offer might've had more cash. Who knows. But at any rate, they didn't pick us and we were pretty much crushed. So, the moral of the story is, if you want something, hurry up and get it! Or something like that...

But the sting has lessened and we've decided we will move and upgrade this year while rates are low and prospects are high. Now is the time! Plus, something great might be on the horizon. Things happen for a reason and I'm starting to see how true this can be. We're currently looking into another dream home. Fingers crossed!

Elevator go...nowhere!

Wow! Long time, no blog! I'm back and sorry for the delay. I guess finishing up grad school, teaching a class at the university and taking on some extra responsibilities at work, plus a busy toddler have left me lacking in the free evening time department! At any rate I'm back and I'm going to try my best to keep on posting more often.

This misadventure begins with something I do every Tuesday and Thursday, but it's really more about what I didn't do. I teach class on those days in the same building I work in and I always go up the elevator and into the Journalism Department office to get keys to open my classroom door (which I don't have to now thanks to my very own set of keys!). This particular Tuesday I went into the elevator shut the door and waited to go up. And waited. And waited. I began to wonder, but not panic, if the elevator was stuck. So I stood there a little longer and pushed the "door open" button. It opened and I was still in the same place I started from (I think elevators are like magic little boxes. It's amazing that you can push a button and totally end up somewhere else with the opening of a door). So I walked back in and tried again. This time I actually PUSHED THE 2 BUTTON! Amazing. It went right up. I guess the moral of the story is, make sure to push the elevator button if you actually expect it to work. Yeah, I was "that guy" that day that got in and just expected it to go. In my defense, there are only 2 floors in the building and 2 buttons in the elevator so I guess I just kind of thought it only has one place to go, so it'll go there. Alas, it's not true. So just remember you have to command the elevator to go. Using the force just won't cut it. I happily admitted my error to the J. Department staff who laughed. At least someone got some entertainement out of the whole thing!

I did make it to the wedding! Here's a picture to prove it. Haha!

This reminded me of the time I actually got stuck in an elevator. It just happened to be on my wedding day. I was all dressed and ready to go and heading downstairs to get in the limo. We were married in Sarasota, Florida, on the beach so I was excited to get there and check the place out. A few of my bridesmaids were with me and as we got on, so did about half of a high school basketball team that was headed to a tournament from our same hotel. I don't know if it was weight overload (no fat jokes! There were a lot of people on this thing!) or just a malfunction but somewhere between the 4th floor and the ground level the whole thing just stopped. We all were quiet for a minute and then one of the basketball players pushed a few buttons and nothing happened. We began to debate pushing the help button but decided to wait just another minute. I was getting nervous that I was going to be late, although let's be honest, it's hard to start without me and the bridesmaids!  But anyway, I think a few of the guys could tell I was starting to worry and one of them said, "Don't worry, we'll get you out first and to that wedding if we have to push you out of the top!" That definitely lightened the mood. A few seconds later the thing kicked back on and we made it safely to the ground floor where we all came out with a story to tell. I'm still left wondering how their version goes though.

The Wrap Party Misadventure

This summer I was blessed enough to be a part of the St. Jude Mattoon to Peoria Run. The run is a fundraiser for children at St. Jude and culminates in a 150-mile run from Mattoon to Peoria where the fundraising is celebrated. I am not a runner, so I rode along and provided "run support." I also took photos and made a video of my trip (naturally, I'm a journalist!). It was an amazing experience and very inspiring to see these 50 runners and their physical and emotional dedication to this cause. After it's all said and done, there is a wrap party to share photos and memories. I decided to attend this party and take my 15-month-old. By myself. My husband was needing to get some  yardwork done and I thought, "What a great time for him to do that and we'll go and enjoy the party!" (In case you're interested in seeing what the run is all about, you can view the video I made here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK2cW2YQWDI)

Now, I've been places with my son by myself before, but I can safely say this was a new experience. And a learning one. First, he's walking now so his favorite thing to do was run around and try to play with other kids and explore. Not so bad. I can just follow him and make sure he plays nice and doesn't explore anything too dirty or inappropriate. I never bothered trying to go to the bathroom while I was there because I honestly had no idea what I would do with him. I don't think he could stand still and behave in a bathroom stall long enough! He did well sitting at the table and eating snacks until dinnertime. I decided to take him to the line with me to get food (it was buffet-style). This is where it got interesting. Like I said, I was learning new things all the time here as I often am as a first-time parent. Luckily, I knew many people there and my friends Dalena and Rick were able to help me and entertain Tyler a little in line or what happened next could've been a complete disaster.

We're in line waiting patiently (well, sort of) and I pick up a plate and proceed to get a few rolls. Next is the buns for the pulled pork they were serving. Right about there in the line Tyler decides to grab the whole bun bag and pull it off the counter. Luckily, Dalena is right behind us to grab them before they all hit the floor and are rendered completely useless. We get that all taken care of an move up to the pulled pork. I reach up to get the tongs and Tyler beats me to them and pulls them out of the dish flinging hot pork juice all over. I'm struggling to get them and keep him settled down while he's wildly waving the tongs around. Dalena and Rick rescue the tongs before they get dumped on the floor or thrown at somebody, thank goodness! Another disaster averted. We did finally get to our table and manage to eat and watch the videos without incident (except Tyler falling asleep for a few minutes. I'm sure he was exhausted from all of that potential fun-ruining!).

I guess the moral of the story is, thank goodness for good friends and life with kids will always be a learning experience! It certainly made me appreciate all of those times I have help even more. It's crazy to think that it's so much easier when someone is with you. You can go to the bathroom, order a drink, walk across the room to talk to someone, etc., and there's another set of eyes to watch him! It's totally doable on your own, but again, it sure made me grateful for all the help I do get!

12 Reasons Why I Wouldn't Live Anywhere But a Small Town

"Sometimes you wanna go...where everybody knows your name!" Okay, so now that I've got you singing along with me, I'll move on to the actual topic of this post that the Cheers theme song so aptly segueys us into: 12 Reasons Why I Wouldn't Live Anywhere But a Small Town.

I realize this isn't a "misadventure" so to say, but it was a topic that just happened to be on my mind today. I was reading an article about 10 Reasons Living in a Small Town Rocks posted by a Facebook friend the other day. It focused more on the arts and artisans parts of small-town living, but it got me thinking about why I like living in a small town, and just to be different, I had to come up with 12 reasons, instead of 10, so here goes.

1. There's never any traffic. You may never find yourself in a legitimate traffic jam in a small town unless it's shift change or there's a funeral procession. And even then, we still only call it "rush minute." There is no such thing as rush hour.

2. When you go out, people actually do know your name (and sometimes your order at your favorite eatery, your kids' names, your cousins, aunts, uncles, mom and dad and siblings). Sounds like a bad thing, right? I beg to differ. There are advantages to this. Like going to the bank. They don't ask for my picture ID or my name. They already know me and bring up my account as I walk int he door. Another example I can think of is losing your dog. A friend of mine at work lost her dog the other day and the neighbor found her, let her in the back yard, fed her and sent an email out to her contacts about having this missing dog. The email eventually got to someone who knew my friend. That someone called my friend and the dog and owner were reunited. Only in a small town. And it's still the type of town where we post flyers with photos of our missing pets because there is hope that they'll actually be returned safely. Another good example is leaving the door unlocked. I've had to do this in more than one instance and I'm never afraid. Not having fear goes a long way in my book. I'm not saying all cities are scary, I'm just saying that the Beaver Cleaver-esqueness of small-town neighborhoods is something I can't get enough of. My neighbors still wave at you, bring you electric hedge trimmers when you're struggling with manual ones and stop by just to say "hi" sometimes. The interconnectedness of your community really makes you feel safe and welcome.

3. Shopping local is just about the only option and it's actually fun! I have actually recently adopted this as my new challenge. Shop as local as possible. Small towns develop little boutique businesses and if we choose to support them, we can also find out that they have more unique offerings than your big box stores. Let's face it: Most small towns only have a Wal-Mart, so patronizing the little antique stores, resale shops, health food stores and other pop-up mom and pops are our best option. And you better bet the items and food you buy are a whole lot better than a lot of your chain choices.

4. This is one the other article mentioned, but I agree with 100%. Trends seem to come late or pass us by completely and sometimes that's ok. At least we don't buy trendy things we'll be sick of in the immediate future. Since it takes so long for trendy things to make their way to rural America, many times they're over and done with before we even get wind of them. Two things here: again, we don't spend a lot of money on things that will only be hot for a short time, and two, if we do want to get something trendy, we have to go a long way to find it, so chances are it'll at least be a thought-out purchase before we make it.

5. People still get together just to chat. It's a slower pace in Small Town, USA, and people still get together at the local McDonald's or the cafe down the street just to have coffee and catch up. It seems in cities the hustle and bustle has everyone using the "I'm too busy" excuse. Not in a small town. We make the time for our friends and family.

6. It's not a competition or race to the 4-Way stop so that you can go first. I've noticed this a lot lately. Three people get to a four-way stop at the same time. Who goes first? Well, here in my small town, no one's in a hurry so we all wave each other on. One person tries to go, then another, then we get stuck again and the whole silly dance starts over. I actually love this. It's one of those things that makes me happy inside because even though we're all strangers, we really want you to just go ahead and get to your destination first. We're happy to wait.

7. Riding the lawnmower down the city streets is not an uncommon sight. So it's a little Redneck, but you can't help but think that guy or gal is headed to help a neighbor mow, right? Why else would you drive your mower down the street? No matter what the reason, you only see it in small towns and I love it.

8. High school football. Yeah, we're totally all "Friday Night Lights" around here during football season. You don't have to have a kid in sports to want to watch either. The whole community takes pride in their local high school teams. A deep-rooted, simple pleasure you can't get at this level of intensity anywhere else.

9. Volunteerism and community pride. Without volunteers and people taking a little pride in their hometown, most little villages, towns and cities couldn't survive. There's nothing like seeing a group of small-town people coming together for a blood drive, during times of disaster, or any other time. It's just a feeling I don't think can be matched in volume or degrees of care in any big city.

10. Farmer's Markets. Sure, there's fresh produce markets in big cities, but they're not your good, ol' downtown farmer's market. Fresh, homemade pies, homegrown corn, local tomatoes and sometimes even local music fill the streets once a month in many small towns. Neighbors chat, new friends are made and it's just the best example of local people coming together to support one-another.

11. Finding something to do presents a challenge. Again, sounds bad, right? I see it another way. Learning to discover the little things right here at home in your community is priceless. Maybe it's the local history museum or restored candy kitchen or soda fountain, but every small town has something like that and finding those little gems and making a day of them truly makes it worth the hunt. Cities are great and have an abundance of activities, but what's the fun in knowing where you're going when you can explore and create your own fun in rural America?

12. The people. People in small towns are easy-going, friendly and always willing to help. Flat tire? No problem. Even a stranger would probably stop to help you around here. It's just the way people are in small towns and it's something I've grown up on and will never forget. Small town people really do rock!

In case you want to read the original article I got my topical inspiration from, you can find it here:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/10-reasons-why-i-love-living-in-a-small-town-173511

The "Almost Done With Grad School" Misadventure

Have you ever had that sudden, gut-crunching feeling when the wheels fall off? I can honestly say I hadn't until near the end of my grad school career. I'm what many like to call "organized." I like to get things done (sometimes even before the deadline). So, I made sure that my final paper for my grad school thesis-like project was turned in with plenty of time to spare. I think my final draft was turned into my advisor sometime in late February and it wasn't necessarily due until early April. At any rate, I got it done, got it pretty much off my mind and continued to prepare for my oral presentation of the paper that was to come in mid-April (which means I made the Power Point and never looked at it again. I never practice speeches). About two weeks before my presentation I get to thinking about my panel committee (previously selected and scheduled for my big presentation). I start to wonder if I was supposed to give them my paper or if my advisor would do this. A little panic sets in, but I email my advisor and he says just to put hard copies in their mailboxes and all should be well. Ok, no problem. I can totally do that. I print the copies off five minutes later and in a matter of 10 minutes I have them dropped off to the appropriate people. While I'm dropping them off I receive an email from one of my committee members (and the chair of the department).

It says something to the effect of, "I haven't seen your paper yet, have you submitted it?" I quickly reply back that yes I had (it was done many moons ago) and that a hard copy is now in the mailboxes (which is required, no electronic copies will do). She emails back, "I don't feel like one week is adequate enough time for me to review your paper and perhaps you should reschedule your presentation." Panic. Pure panic sets in. Here I am, I have everything done, I worked hard to make sure I'm all scheduled and ready to go and this person wants me to reschedule?! There's that "wheels fell off" feeling. Just like a punch in the gut. I'm frantically searching through the handbook thinking, "Can she do this to me? I am all ready to go and I don't have time later to fit the presentation in my schedule!" I find the section in the book that says the paper must be submitted to the committee two weeks in advance. So, she's right. I didn't provide the paper in the proper amount of time for review. Now I'm really freaking out. My advisor is usually awesome at giving us deadlines and reminding us to do things like this, so I'm trying to figure out how I missed this one. I'm a graduate student, I should know better and don't need to rely on other people to remind me!

I forward the email to my advisor with a note simply asking, "What do I do!?" In the meantime, I haven't replied to her other than to say the copy is in her mailbox. My phone rings. It's the advisor. "What the heck does she think she's doing to you!?" He's pretty mad at this point just like I am. He goes on to explain that apparently nobody has followed this rule in the last 2 years and it's never been made a big deal of. He's all fired up and says he'll just find someone else to be on my panel if she can't find the time over an entire week to read a 40-page paper. He tells me not to worry and not to let it ruin my day. I'm a little relieved, but glad that he's on my side at least. He could've easily told me that I'm a grad student and I'm responsible for the hole I dug myself into.

Of course I worry. And of course, I never hear back from her. I have to have at least 3 people present at my panel so I go there the following week not knowing what to expect. She is there in the room for the previous panel but leaves before mine. So, I'm thinking, well, we'll  use the advisors backup pick who shows up right on time. She ends up coming back and sits down without saying a word. I'm just silently running through my presentation, trying to calm my nerves. My advisor decides to ask her why she's here. She says, "Well, I'm on the committee." He scoffs in disbelief and says, "Well, I didn't know if you'd be here or not since you sent that email." She says she would have told someone if she wasn't going to be there. By this point, it's five minutes past my time to present and our backup pick (it feels like the draft or something!) says he'll just stay because it doesn't look like my other comittee member will make it. So I start. I'm doing well. The door opens, here comes the final committee member.

To make a long story short, I ended up with a bonus committee member and I passed the presentation with distinction. So, I ended up with a Master of Science in Technology with a 4.0 Grade Point Average and distinction for my presentation. What started out as a scary week, turned out to be just about the best one ever. Even if it did mean nearly having a heart attack.

Misadventures in Beekeeping

No, I'm not a beekeeper. I just play one on TV sometimes. I've said it before, I have a pretty cool job. I host a travel show for a small PBS station and we travel around Illinois meeting people and visiting places that are unique. One of my recent ventures was to a beekeeping farm in rural Central Illinois. For anyone that knows me, you know I'm terrified of bees. Well, I'm terrifed of all flying insects really. So, when I ventured out to this bee farm for my show, I never dreamed I'd be getting up close and personal with the bees.

I was doing okay filming them. The beekeeper told me where to stand and assured me I wouldn't get stung, so all was well. Then he said "I've got an extra suit, maybe you want to demonstrate some of this on camera?" Uh, I'm sure I looked blank, but after grinding about it for a minute I decided that you only live once and I'd give it a shot. I suited up in the white suit, made sure all of the velcro was as tight as possible and proceeded to the chosen hive. I was going to lift one of the combs out of the hive for my co-host to film...WITH MY BARE HANDS! I was like, "Aren't there gloves or something?" I was informed that no, there were not. Your hands need to be sensitive so you know how much pressure you're exerting everywhere and not crushing bees. Ugh, I shuttered just thinking about accidentally touching a bee. But, at any rate I went ahead and picked up the comb and even managed a smile for the camera. Later, I got brave enough to taste the honey right off the comb (AMAZING!). It turned out to be a really fun and educational day, despite my fears. I maybe even got over some of them...a little.

I'm also happy to announce that I didn't get stung! I've posted the video above so you can see what all the buzz is about (Ha-Ha)!