Last Minute Problems

We are supposed to close on our house tomorrow afternoon at 2pm. Today at 12:30 pm the mortgage lender calls and says there is a problem. Apparently the appraiser (two weeks ago) decided that in order for them to loan us the money, the downspouts and gutters need to be replaced. The appraisal reviewer missed that when approving the loan. (Although, they approved the loan 2 months ago, so I don't really understand all of this anyway.) We now have to escrow 1.5 times the money they think it will cost to fix the gutters and they will release the money to us when the work is done. Problem is, it is going to cost us $200 to escrow the money. I know it is silly to get upset about $200, but that is just more money on top of the deposit and closing costs and survey fees and who knows what else. Most people to not have infinite funds. What happens to those people who can just barely afford the down payment and then one day before closing the lender or the title company goes, "By the way, give us $1000 more". I guess it would be irresponsible to go into such a major situation with no rainy day money, but I am sure people do it. I am just lucky my fiance has a good job and is responsible, otherwise I'd be screwed.

What style is our new house?

So, I was reading the back posts at NewlyWoodwards.com and she posed an interesting question. What style is my house? I have been wondering that exact same thing. From the front our house looks like a cute, little cottage or something.

But from the side it is monstrous-looking, almost Victorian.

It was built around 1951-1953 and is full of character. Do all houses have to have a style? Is it possible to have a freak house that does not fit into a category?

We are buying the house from the grandchildren of the original owners. Apparently, according to some friends who know the area, the woman who lived in the house until recently was incredibly strange. The house sits fairly close to a busy two-lane road. The speed limit is 25mph, but most people do at least 50mph. Supposedly, to dissuade people from driving so fast, she would put trash in the road and hang roadkill(I hope it was roadkill) from the trees lining the road. Then, in October, she died suddenly. At the age of 72. Active people rarely die suddenly at the age of 72. What if she died in the house? What if she, like, fell down the stairs trying to do laundry and she thinks it is the houses fault that she died? What if my new house is haunted?!?!

Okay, so my fiance does not believe in ghosts, but I totally do. He also doesn't believe in vampires, werewolves(were-anything, for that matter), possession, etc. I totally do. I think anything is possible. I am not a math/science person, so even "scientifically explainable" things seem as though they could be supernatural. What about you guys? Do you believe in the supernatural or do you think the unexplainable is completely the opposite?

Closing

We close on our house on Thursday. It has been such a long time since we saw it and put the offer in, I barely remember what it looks like. I was hoping to have some ideas in place before we had to start moving our stuff in, but I didn't take any exact measurements, so I don't know where everything is going to fit! I know it will, this house is twice the size of the one we are in now.
I think I start to get an idea about where things will go, but then I remember another piece of furniture... Should I make a list of all the big pieces we have, what I want to keep, then what rooms they might go in? Or should I just wait until we start moving stuff in and drive the heavy lifters crazy?
I took advantage of the Glidden free paint giveaway that Katie announced on Friday, so I have to wait and see what the colors I picked will actually looked like in person. Problem is, I wanted to get some painting done before we move too much stuff in and the Glidden people are saying the paint will take 3-4 weeks to arrive.... Hmmm.
It just seems like there is going to be so much to do and I know we have the rest of our lives to get it done, but I am all about instant gratification. I want it all done now! Grr. And I want somebody to make the paint color decisions for me. My family is not all about redecorating every few years, so a paint decision seems very final to me. I know it's not, especially after ready about G&D repainting the kitchen four times! I would very much like to paint the ceilings and the radiators with a cream tone instead of a white, but I am worried that I will pick something that will not match all of the wall tones. Okay, now I am whining... Nevermind. It will all be great! I just need to grown some patience.

Brilliant...

So I was reading(lurking) {freckles chick}'s blog and clicked a link to this website. They have a Look for Less section that is brilliant. You know sometimes your reading a mag and they have those sections where they show you a beautiful pair of $1000 "splurge" shoes, then go "here's a steal!" and show you a really shitty, $20 payless version? Well, this is the total opposite. The "steals" are just a fab, sometimes better, than the original. And while they still may not be thrift store budget, they are considerably more reasonable.

I am drooling all over my desk for this piece:

Only $187.78 with discounts here. The discount is apparently automatic at checkout.

I know this piece is a little questionable by itself, but you have to put it in context. My fiance's family is from Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, where the favorite pastimes are high school football and hunting. Now he is not a hunter, thank god, but the rest of his family lives for it. They shoot things from their front porch. Seriously. His 8 year old nephew has already been inducted and wants to kill anything that moves. It's disturbing to say the least. Anyway, his parents had a pair of mounted steer horns in their basement and they were going to get rid of them, but they belonged to his grandfather and I couldn't let them toss 'em. So, we have steer horns in our living room above the arched doorway to the dining room. Classy, right?

It gets better. The only time Mr. ever went hunting, when he was 15, he killed a yearling. His father had the horns mounted. Of course, I couldn't allow these to languish in their basement either, so they are mounted on the opoosite wall of the living room above his chair.

THEN Mr. found a shed antler, this is when they fall off naturally, at on of his work sites and, of course, brought it home. So it lives on an antique side table in the dining room.

So, in conclusion, I think this mirror will really tie together all the random dead stuff in our house. And seeing how all of it is a.) an antique, b.) a replica, or c.) fell off on its own, I don't feel bad when looking at it. Plus, my couch is leather so, really, where do you draw the line?

Bee Sting?

This is what happens when your poor puppy pooch gets stung by a bee...

Isn't that the most awful thing? My poor baby. It was 15 min. after the vet closed last Sat., so I called my mom, who's next door neighbor works for the Humane Society. She told me to give her two Benadryl and listen for breathing problems. I called my fiance, who was out at the bike shop, he told me to put baking soda and water on it. I did both, then she puked up the pills, so I had to take her to the emergency clinic. Luckily Veterinary Specialty Services is about 1/2 mile away, so we got there in no time. They gave her a shot, checked her vitals, and we were good to go. $105 poorer.
Then I came last Monday and the whole right side of her face was swollen! Argh! Mr. had come and gone, letting her out and back in, not noticing(although there was probably nothing to see when he left). So I gave her two more Benadryl and the swelling went down, yay!!

Arg.

Got an email from my realtor yesterday evening saying the survey company cannot survey the property. The woman at the survey company said our deed is "ugly and bad" and the deeds around us are also "ugly and bad". What the hell is that supposed to mean? How can they sell a house where the deed is mucky? We are supposed to close in a week and a half and now they can't survey our property. Lovely, no?

Impatience...

We don't close on our new house for two more weeks. It is so frustrating to know that you have so much work and fiscal hemorrhaging ahead, but to not be able to do anything about it. I want the Decor fairies to visit and make my house as beautiful as John and Sherry's or FC's. I know it doesn't happen immediately, but it is hard leaving a perfectly well decorated home to have to start all over. To make matters more complicated(in my head, at least), the new house is a totally different style and gender than our current house. Our house now is a small, white, 40's bungalow with stained glass and strong masculine bones. Our new house is an over sized, pink, 50's shingle and stone (I don't know what style) with a frilly, pastel quartz fireplace and it is definitely feminine, albeit a big-boned female. We don't have enough furniture to fill it and we don't have money to buy more.
Which, actually, wasn't really a problem with the first house. I think we paid money for like 4 furnishings in the entire house. The rest are hand-me-down and antiques(also hand-me-down, actually). Mr. picked out a chair for our living room all by himself. Now I know what you're thinking, but you'd be wrong. The chair is covered in flowered embroidery fabric. This chair has beautiful carvings in the wood surround, but it is the bane of my existence. What goes with a pastel flowered-y arm chair? It works now because the green of the leaves and stems coordinates with our walls, painted Sweet Annie by Olympic, which is a deep olive green. But this color paint will not coordinate in out new home. Plus I really prefer simple fabrics on furniture.
I bought our couch after a year of us watching T.V. on the floor or in separate chairs with the Christmas money my grandmother gave me. I was supposed to invest it. I consider brown leather sofa with brass studs an investment. Don't you?
Tell me... What pieces of furniture do you consider investments? Anything your significant other has brought home that you dread decorating around?