The House

After all that excitement about the house, I've been very quiet.

Did anyone even notice?

We got valuations done, I set up a spreadsheet and we knew what we could offer.

We put in an offer on Thursday night, they countered with another offer and it's up to us right now - we could counter with something in between.

BUT now I don’t know.

It's not the number because all we could do is change the Offer To Purchase and structure it so that our house has to sell for x amount more (x being the amount we're increasing our offer to).

It's the principle. I have a feeling about that number and I do know if they don't accept that number then that house is not for us. Plain and simple.

But even going to that number is making me doubt.

I wonder if we could get a similar house closer to a very Fancy Suburb next to ours (the way it works is the nearer you are to the Fancy Suburb, the more your house is worth).

Also, there's a big street running through our suburb. Above that street up to a certain point houses also go for more.

Currently, we're below the main street but are fairly near Fancy Suburb.

Number 46 is above the main street (hence the gorgeous view) but much farther away from Fancy Suburb (probably 2 - 2,5 kilometres).

To put this all in context, we moved 3,2 km down the road 5 years ago and are now less than 1 km from Fancy Suburb.

It might seem like "so what?" but in these parts, it's a big deal. People actually ask "which part of ____ are you from?" LOL

I did some homework on Sunday afternoon and drove around looking at houses in the preferred area that were on show.

Saw a GORGEOUS home above the main street and right next to Fancy Suburb but .... R400,000 more than we can comfortably afford right now. As an aside, spent about 20 mins talking to the agent about my two IVFs. She had 5 miscarriages before having two boys (now 7 and 6).

My business is doing shocking at the moment (seriously, I'm not just being dramatic) so I can't count on any extra income other than our fixed salaries.

So the questions running around currently in my mind are:

1. what if we can't find a house like this again? I do plan on staying for at least 5 years, preferably forever LOL
2. should we wait 2 - 3 years when we actually do need that extra bedroom (when do you separate boy/ girl twins anyway?) and hope we find a perfect house then? we'll be earning more money (!) and will be able to afford "more" house.
3. could we get a similar house nearer Fancy Suburb for a bit more money (but still be able to afford it)?
4. am I just being sentimental because we saw this 5 years ago and it feels like destiny?

(Yes, I have prayed. God is being quiet on this one so having to follow the peace in my heart).

As for D... D is definitely certain we are not going above a certain price (what we could counter offer). But he has none of the angst - typical man - "if you want it, let's get it"

Goodness, I’m dramatic, aren’t i?

But please, what would you do???

Cauliflower and avocado

I had cauliflower for supper (on the side of my curry, rice and butternut) and remembered how much I love it. Hmmmmm. I don't buy cauliflower because D doesn't eat it and there's no way I can get through one all by myself before it goes bad.

Enter... the babies. I had a bright idea after looking through the Annabel Karmel book. So I made them some cauliflower with a cheesy sauce ("yummy" as we say to Connor to encourage him to eat), pureed it and it's in the little ice trays as we speak. I can't wait to see how that goes - who will be my fellow cauliflower eater?

Speaking of food, I HATE spending huge amounts of money (said she who is busy buying a house - but that doesn't count, does it?) for things I KNOW I can get cheaper. The avocadoes have been ridiculously expensive lately (and we're not in the UK where fruits and veggies are generally expensive - like R30 for two corn on the cob - goodness, we get about 8 or 9 for that price) so I can't bring myself to spend that kind of money.

Yet... every time we go see the baby nurse, she asks if I've given them avocado yet and I say no. I don't want to tell her I'm cheap so I just say I haven't got around to it yet LOL and then she kindly tells me it's a great first food.

This weekend was my weekend to do the grocery shop and yes, I spent R400 more than D does! But I got the darn avos. And Connor ate it - not with real enjoyment like cereal, but then again these days, cereal and plain yoghurt are really the only things he DEVOURS - but with no crying and no spitting. This is success for me these days (oh, how my standards have slipped).

Kendra let me know in no uncertain terms that she was not a fan of avocado - spat it out in my face. I tried again and again - same result.

Later I did a sandwich for them (Saffy, I told you I'd try) with avocado and cream cheese and she pulled that thing aside and THREW the avocado side at me but nibbled on the cream cheese side.

So there - definitely not a fan of avocado. Just in case I was unsure.

The food thing is going much better mainly because I'm pandering to him. This is another thing I said I'd never do when I had children "one day" and here I am, desperate to get food into him.

We know he likes cereal and yoghurt, so every day he gets fruit and yoghurt for one meal and for another, cereal with a chicken cube hidden inside. Oh, I'm a sly one. The third meal is the one where I still persist in getting some "real food" inside him.

We went back to giving veggies only (but I sneak cream cheese so he gets some protein), and now we're on 2/3 veggies, 1/3 chicken/ lentils. He often doesn't finish and then I put the leftovers into the cereal too. It sounds disgusting but what does he know?

Since he's taken a liking (I use that word loosely because what I mean is he doesn't scream when I feed it to him) to two of Annabel Karmel's dishes, both with chicken, so that's what he has 4 out of 5 days.

Nanny Viola told me the only reason he's eating the veggies is for the cream cheese LOL. Every day when I get home I ask her, "how did Connor eat today?" and we go through the whole debrief. She even has to rate the ease of eating (verbally, not in The Notebook!) from 1 - 10. Kendra is our benchmark as the way she eats is a 10. Most days she tells me 7 or 8 for Connor, but remember she has Patience with a capital P and I do not.

I'm in pajamas and going to get a nice hot mug of tea before working on my newsletter.

Today was lovely - grey skies, rainy weather and an empty office so I could get on with things and do good, focussed work. I then dashed to the shops to buy formula and nappies and then home for a quick tidy before the agent came to value our property.

We drove past the house after church yesterday and saw that it was a show house from 2 - 5pm (apparently show houses are different times all over Jhb; in our suburbs they're Sundays 2 - 5pm) so D went back to have a look after dropping us off. Of course I was on tenterhooks wondering WHAT he'd find to complain about.

He LOVED the house but did have a moan about one little piece of the property where we need extra electric fencing. I switched off as I do when talking about boring, man bits but ........we decided we're going to put in an offer based on what he tells us our house can fetch.

While technically we can pay what she wants for Number 46, I'm sure people won't give us what we want for ours since it's a buyer's market. And bottom line, I need x deposit on the new place as I don't want a bond bigger than a certain amount. Apparently everything is negotiable according to the agent - his commission, etc, etc. Hmmm. I don't even want to THINK about all the lawyer and bank schlep so I have to keep thinking about that view from the lounge.

But enough about me...

How has your Monday been?

P.S. The reason I haven't been commenting much is that my computer has gone in as they think there's a virus and I'm working on the slowest laptop known to man. When I get the other back, this one's got to go in for them to make it faster.

P.P.S. Tomorrow I want to give you a sleep update as it's been a while, hasn't it?