Tinkerbell's Pages

On playing the waiting game....

We're at that stage in the flat-buying game now where nothing much is happening, After the last couple of frantic weeks, things have gone quiet now. Have filled in all the relevant paperwork (for the moment), got our mortgage agreed (in principal) and appointed a solicitor. So now we're just waiting on the loan people to get back to us. Spend time with little sis, baby niece and other female members of my family on Saturday afternoon and last night with boyfriend's family, so have shown everyone the details of the flat now. Everyone oohh-ed and aahh-ed a bit. The latest (in a long line) of concerns I had was that the boyfriend and I were going to end up homeless because the lease on our current flat runs out in two months time. We have to give two months notice if we want to leave (ie. our notice would have to be handed in the day after tomorrow), but we have no idea when we are likely to be moving. However, the lovely ladies in the letting agency have agreed to renew our contract on a month-to-month basis, so we can leave when we want, which is a big relief. We're hoping to be in the flat by sometime in July. We're keen to get moved in time for the beginning of the summer holidays and in time for boyfriend's birthday (July 26th), so that we can organise a join birthday/moving-in party in our lovely new garden. Also, we're off on holiday on Aug 20th and it's my 30th on August 29th, so we really want everything to be completed sorted and want to be settled in by then. But who knows when we're likely to move? Nothing's definite yet and I don't like it...

On the rollercoaster ride of searching for a new home...

Last week was interesting to say the least. I don't think I've ever felt so many conflicting emotions in such a short space of time. It's a long story, but it goes something like this... Over the last few weeks I have being trying to arrange for the boyfriend and I to see some flats in the local area, several of which were sold before we even got the chance to view them. We went to see a few flats which were just not for us. Suddenly - lo and behold - out of the blue, a flat in the next road to us came onto the market. From the details and photos on the website it looked perfect for us. The right location, loads of space, decorated to our taste. Better than we could ever have imagined. It just stood out a mile from anything else we had seen (or attempted to see!) Even the boyfriend managed to show a little bit of interest in going to see it. So a week ago on Saturday on the off-chance, we walked into the estate agents to see if it was available. By chance, there was actually an agent and some people there viewing it at that precise moment. We went, we both totally fell in love with it (boyfriend showed more excitement about it than I had seen him show for anything in years), we put in an offer. But could we really afford it?! And what about the other people who had viewed it at the same time and also put in an offer...????

Fast forward to last Monday, when I received about a thousand voicemail messages on my mobile from the estate agents (for the first time, I really missed having a desk job with a phone!) Not only had some evil person put in a larger offer than ours, but there was also a case of a lot of improvements which had been planned for the property which could cost up to another eight thousand pounds! Then was the case of the mortgage advisor who I was beginning to lose confidence in. Could we afford all this anyway?! By Tuesday night I was on the verge of some kind of nervous breakdown and just about to give up altogether. However, later in the week, with the original mortgage advisor duly sacked by me and by talking to another who knew exactly what he was talking about and talking to the estate agents, we came to an agreement about a price and we found out that we could afford it. In theory.

Anyway, to cut a very long story short, the vendor had to decide between us and someone else who had put in exactly the same offer once the cost of the improvements planned came to light. After another three nights of not sleeping and three days of constant phonecalls, we finally found out on Friday that our offer has been accepted! Except that poor commitment-phobic boyfriend was by this time having a major case of cold feet and about to pull the plug on the whole thing. Luckily, a very emotional chat later and a further viewing of the flat that evening (where the vendor offered to throw in about 90% of the furniture for free) made him see the error of his ways. It really is too good an opportunity for us to miss.

But apparently, all of that was the easy part. We still have to sort out the mortgage and key worker loan (which we are again now going to need). Fingers crossed! The saga continues...

On juggling different aspects of my life...

I am knackered. Had a lovely day out in Brighton with big sis yesterday as a treat since I finally finished tidying the flat AND did some work for school on Wednesday. Today I've had one of those days where you just don't stop. And I haven't even been at work. I'm juggling my life at the moment. Didn't particularly want to be in the flat when the woman from the estate agents came round to nose around first thing this morning, so I escaped until she had gone. Walked over to see little sis and baby niece. Baby niece was promptly sick over my leg. Walked home again and changed out of my jeans and put a load of washing on. Went out again and walked to the Post Office to post five VERY HEAVY parcels (boyfriend and I have been selling stuff on ebay). Took myself off and walked to find the flat we were supposed to be viewing tomorrow morning (although was informed this afternoon that it has now been sold). Walked into town to drop off mortgage paperwork at another estate agents and did a bit of shopping. Walked home and had some lunch. Rang another estate agent about new flats on the market. Walked over to view one which he highly recommended and disappointedly walked home again (I was somewhat unimpressed with over-hyped flat). I have therefore done a lot of walking in the sun today (even got a little bit sunburnt on my nose!)

Going to have a quiet night in with a DVD tonight and then it's off tomorrow to see the one remaining flat which appears to be on the market in this area at the moment (it's only in the next road to us, so not so much walking to do!) Then tomorrow night it's time for our first BBQ of the year - my friend Miss M does like to be the first to host a BBQ once the weather starts to get nice... : )

On spring-cleaning my life...

Well, it seems like Spring has really arrived at last! What great weather we've been having. Had quite a family-orientated Easter weekend with tea and cakes at mum's with rest of the family on Friday afternoon, birthday lunch with whole family for big sis's birthday on Saturday and dinner on Sunday night with the boyfriend's family. Now I am fully recovered from my horrible lurgy, have finally got my appetite back and am making up for it now and eating too much again... Yesterday afternoon the boyfriend and I did some food shopping followed by a spot of spring-cleaning because the flat was a complete tip and the lovely lady from the estate agents is coming round again to check up on us on Friday morning! Am supposed to be finishing off the flat today, but am not getting on too well at the moment *blush*.

Went to see my new best friend the friendly local Mortgage Advisor this morning. He has offered to lend me a lot more money than the stingy Key Worker Housing scheme have, so the search for our new home is officially on again. It also means that I don't have to sell my soul to the education system (ie. sign up to being a teacher until I finally retire in about 40 years time!), so we're going to go for a normal mortgage instead. Really must stop searching for properties on the internet and get on with some serious cleaning and tidying up now. I'm hoping to get all the boring jobs (eg. flat cleaning and work for school) done over the next couple of days, so I can enjoy the rest of the week and the weekend before I have to go back to school on Monday. Might even take a nice jaunt down to Brighton with big sis before normality of working too hard sets in again... : )

On catching a major lurgy and catching up with Buffy...

I have not been well for a week now. I do not usually get 'properly' ill and NEVER have time off sick from work, but last week I did both of these things. I was not planning for my Easter holidays to begin in this way, so I am not a happy bunny. Usually, if I feel a bit rough, I just struggle on as normal, but I've had a proper lurgy which meant I had to lie down on the sofa for days and I couldn't do anything. I am not good at lying around and not doing anything. I have not even made my usual holiday 'list of things to do'. I have had a very long list of symptoms and have cried most days due to feeling so frustated and so ILL. I even had to miss my half-brother's funeral because I just didn't feel well enough to go. It all started last Wednesday night, when for some reason I developed excruciating pains in my back and shoulders. Since then I've had (in no particular order): really bad pains in my knees and thighs; bad headache whilst continuously having to blow my nose; bad earache whilst continuously having to cough my lungs out; nausea; vomiting; complete loss of appetite; dizziness and insomnia.

The only good thing about not being able to sleep is the fact that the boyfriend is a bit of an insomniac anyway, so we've enjoyed each other's company whilst spending untold hours over the last week watching my Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Seasons 1-7) DVD boxset in the middle of the night. I had originally acquired this boxset before Christmas and thought I'd never get the chance to watch it. So that's good : )