Got Wood?

So, Sissy & I drove all the way up to Wisconsin last week (hence the week-long absence) to help Mom get her house ready to sell.

There was much to do - stain a fence, spread mulch, clean a garage, move large stuff into the garage, paint a bedroom, general staging, etc.

All this cleaning/moving resulted in several pieces of wood. Mom pulled out the trusty saw and saw horses, cut them up into manageable, carriable pieces. Since it was trash day and the trash truck hadn't been by, we hauled them to the curb.

Not the curb at the end of the driveway mind you. No, they had to be hauled to the end of the block, and she lives on the "loooooooooong" side of the block. Mom's street was tore up for complete re-paving. (Yeah, we totally had to haul all our luggage and what-not that far too.)

After two or three trips, it was all down there, kind of hanging into the street a bit. Definitely taking up a preemo parking space right at the corner.

We worked all day in the 90 degree heat, cleaned ourselves up and headed out for the evening.

We walked aaaaaallllllll the way down to the car.

The trash was gone.

The recycling was gone.

The wood was not gone.

We left anyway.

When we got back - around 9:30 - the wood was still sitting there. Not even the rubbish scavengers were interested.

We made our way aaaaaallllll the way back to the house. After we got inside, my mom was just beside herself fidgeting.

We really should go get that wood. It's taking up a space where someone could park. I don't want anyone getting upset at me.

[Eye roll]

Mom, I don't think anyone knows you left the wood down there. We can just go get it tomorrow if it's still there.

No, someone might know I put it down there. And there isn't a lot of parking. And I'm just not going to sleep tonight knowing . . .

[Eye roll]

I looked outside.

It was dark.

No one was around.

No one was going to see us going down to get the wood. No one would know my mother left the wood down there if we went and got it tonight. If we waited until morning, we would definitely be seen and anyone who may have gotten upset about the wood taking up a perfectly good parking space would know it was her. Blah, blah, blah.

[Sigh]

Fine, let's go get it.

There was a lot of wood so we decided to take the wheelbarrow to haul it back. My mom's house is over 60 years old and I swear so is the wheelbarrow we were using. It very well could be, it used to be my grandfather's and he died almost 20 years ago. So it creaks and groans even when it's empty.

Every bump in the sidewalk (and there are many because it may also be 60 years old) makes the wheelbarrow jump. When it lands it makes that "thunder" noise. You know the sound, the one every kid loves to make it by shaking a found piece of sheet metal. It's friggin' loud!

Here we are, in the cloak of darkness, taking the wheelbarrow aaaaaalllllll the way down to the corner to pick up the wood.

Gah-gong.

Gah-gong.

Gah-gong.

For crying out loud. Get out the metal trashcan lids, pots and pans and some wooden spoons. We could have had an old fashioned parade! The neighbors would be thrilled!

So much for going quietly.

As we approached the end of the street, I noticed a beacon of light showing us the way.

No it wasn't the moon.

It was a street light.

Shining right down on the pile of wood.

So much for our cloak of darkness too.

Silver Lining:

1. On the way back, because there was some weight in the wheelbarrow, it didn't make as much noise.


2. We only had to make two trips to get all the wood back to the house. Since the wheelbarrow was so noisy, I didn't even bother taking the wood out, I just dumped it (with a loud clatter) into a pile on the driveway.


3. We are only aware of one neighbor witnessing our "stealthiness" - they just happened to get home later than we did, like while we were retrieving our contraband wood.


4. Mom's house was in pretty good shape when we left. Hopefully, she'll have the house sold and be moved down near us by Halloween.

SOLD! Well, sort of . . .

Back in 2005, a friend gave us a 10% off coupon for Home Depot. We had just refinanced the house & taken out equity so we decided to buy ALL the wood to build both an 11’X12’ shed and a 16’X32’ deck. This is enough wood to fill a 2 car garage.

It was August, right in the middle of the dog days of summer. Outside projects would have to wait. So the wood sat in the garage.

Fall came and Hubby had to dig out an area to pour a concrete pad for the shed. This involved digging holes for cement pillars and an “apron” to support the cement pad. By November the pad was finally poured and approved by the city.

Now it was getting too cold for outside projects. The wood continued to sit in the garage.

Spring (2006) came, but there was a lot of rain so outside projects would have to wait. Wood was still in the garage.

Eventually, we pulled 2X4’s out of the garage and started putting up walls!! By the time fall rolled around, we had all four walls up and the attic subfloor laid down. Now it was time for the roof trusses – hmmmm, we’ll have to read up on how to do that.

Around the same time, we fell in love with Pleasantville and signed a contract to build a new house. At this point, the house had a garage full of wood and a skeleton of a shed in the back yard. We also looked around the house and realized there was a lot to be done before we could compete with other houses that were for sale.

We got to work, but it is slow and tedious when you have two kids who are almost three and one. In fact, the progress was so slow, I had to call my dad. He lives in Wisconsin and gave up his vacation to Niagara Falls to make the trip down and finish the shed and get the deck started. Between my father-in-law and my dad, the framing of the deck was done before my dad had to head back to Wisconsin – GOD BLESS THEM!!!

Then, Hubby broke his hand! The city inspector wanted a couple more piers poured under the deck. Rob was using a drill and auger bit to break up the dirt when he hit a rock. I had to get out there and finish the piers with my father-in-law's help. Yah, I’m a concrete pourin’, manual labor type, NOT!


Somehow, after the deck was completed, we still had a ton of wood left in the garage. Ken, Roxie, Hubby & I loaded up a couple of pick-up trucks (TWO trucks worth of wood!) and hauled it all back to Home Depot. There was so much involved a manager had to get involved. I had no receipts since I had bought the wood almost two years earlier. I was so embarrassed. Thank goodness Roxie was there with me - it’s always better to be embarrassed with a friend. At least the wood in the garage was gone.

Anyway, with all the work to get the house up to snuff, we didn’t get it on the market until June of 2007. By then, the market had started to get a little weak so we decided to sell it by owner in order to avoid the 6% realtor fees. I swear the day we put it on the market, the bottom dropped out of the real estate biz.

Despite several drops in price, we were unable to sell before our closing date (September 2007).

We were fortunate to find renters right away so we didn’t have two house payments. They moved out at the end of April and, again, by the grace of God, we got new renters without any time lapse.

These guys were so interested in the house, they put down new mulch, planted some bushes, painted the inside of the garage (where there was drywall), and laid tile in the master bathroom. We thought for sure they would buy it when their lease was up.

Unfortunately, being in the military, they received notice of probable deployment somewhere. Not a good time to be buying a house.

Here we go again.

With the help of a friend, we decided to sell the house via Lease to Own. I was very skeptical that anyone would buy the house at our asking price, even with seller financing. But we got a call the day after we advertised it (which was just this past Sunday).

Heaven and her husband came to look at it on Monday and signed a lease with option to purchase on Tuesday. Now, they either have to buy the house (at our current price) at the end of their lease or they lose their deposits, which are pretty substantial, and the house. So as long as they fulfill their end of the bargain, the house is sold. What a relief!

I have no doubt, God sent me Heaven.

I guess this isn’t a “Laugh” story, just an “I feel good” story that I had to share.


Silver lining:

1. The responsibility of maintaining two houses is gone.
2. We will actually make a small profit on the house; after bracing ourselves for taking a loss.
3. A huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I slept like a rock last night.
4. Through blood, sweat, and a lot of tears, the saga is almost over & I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.
5. Despite four years of calamity, we’re still happily married.