Checking In

Good morning!  Yesterday brought fall's first frost!  Woo-hooo!  Although my thermometer only registered 32 degrees, the frost on the ground proved that Jack Frost had, indeed, visited.  

September 15th, 2011:  First frost!

Hang on, my eyes aren't working well - let me grab my glasses.  This morning, the mercury had dropped to 27 outside and 56 . . . inside!  Time to spend a little quality time with the woodpile.  Which, incidentally, I've been craving, but the HOT early fall temperatures (and the continued bother of mosquitoes) was thwarting.  I'm SO happy to say, though, that the skeeters F-I-N-A-L-L-Y seem to be gone (thank gawd!!!), and I'm even going to (gasp!) take down the net canopy over the bed tonight!

My schedule these past many days has been all over the place.  That is to say, there hasn't BEEN much of a schedule!  I've had meetings at the court house, meetings with the realtor, etc., etc.  And, my uncle and aunt from California have been here, so I've been squeezing in as many visits as I can with them, too.  I've felt bad about that:  the timing of their visit.  I KNOW I had super busy / stressful times last year during the divorce, but this really seems like the busiest, most stressed I've been.  As a result, I've not been a good niece - not available for the majority of the time.


They and Mom and Dad came out to see my place on Wednesday afternoon (their first visit since my wedding here in February of 2000 when there was nothing more than the cleared land*), but, of course, I haven't had the time to have the 'stead in tip-top shape as I would have liked.  Neither did I have the time to get a lovely dinner made for everyone.  :(  We DID have a great visit, but they all brought the dinner, drinks, and dessert with them!  Bah!  Next time . . . !


* My uncle said, upon seeing the house, "It looks just like it does on the blog!"  So, it's nice to know that my online representations are accurate!  :)

The idyllic aftermath of dinner.

The skinny on the commercial properties is . . . not good.  It seems as though the forces are working in unison to prevent me from having a restaurant, and I can't figure out WHY?!  (I know, I know, "it's not for us TO know".)  Well, bah-HUMBUG to THAT, I say!  ;)  And ppbbbbttt!

It was good to have "the advisory committee" (my folks & the visiting family) here to look at my top choices this week.  Between the four of them, they probably have somewhere between 80 and 120 years of combined business / customer-related experience!  The PP Option looks so good on paper and the possibilities for that 3.4 acres are really infinitely wonderful . . . but after a look-see yesterday, we reconvened for a business meeting last night.  My suspicions were confirmed:  the existing kitchen / restaurant structure is a money pit.  Estimates were between $100 and $200,000 to get it in good shape.  The previous restauranteurs, who left at the beginning of the summer, took everything from the building but the kitchen sink.  Literally.  There's not even a FORK left, not to mention a chair or appliance.

There was no question that, were money not an option, it WOULD be the property to buy.  Unfortunately . . . !  (Are any of you really secret millionaires who want to bankroll me????  Ha!)

Option P, which still feels really good to me (but not to Mama Pea 'though she can't explain why), came to a bit of a screeching halt yesterday when my realtor went to the court house to explore the existing Contract for Deed (which they'd transfer to me).  We'd assumed & been given the impression that it was a standard, 20-year contract.  NOPE!  It balloons in less than two years!  I'm still going to ask if the deed holders will consider refinancing with me FOR a standard, long-term loan, but I'm 90% sure they won't.  So, there goes THAT plan!  Over dinner last night, I sincerely thought of stabbing my dinner fork into my forehead.  Repeatedly.  Have brick wall?  Will strike head against it.

I was really down during my drive home last night, but that wasn't getting me anywhere (but even more stressed - if such a thing is possible), so I plugged in my current audio book (Nevada Barr's 'Burn').  By the time I got home, I was ready to sit myself down in front of the mirror for another talking to.  Instead of doing that, though, I made myself a cup of tea and took a notebook upstairs to fill a page with new options.  I REALLY have to get creative now, though, because this financing I've been applying for is available ONLY if I buy!  It won't go towards renting a space!  So, I'm in a pickle.

Annnnnd, this is getting depressing.  So, I'll sign off for now and get my rusty-duster into town and the office.  Know, though, that I am REVELING in the coolness that has finally arrived!  I've actually gotten to wear a Polarfleece vest the past two days!  Whooda thunk it?!