Friday, May 11, 2007

Stop the Train, I Wanna Get Off

It's hard to blog after Linda. I feel, well, unworthy of my own blog. Alas, it is my day and I have to do it. Its appropriate, though, given her unnatural attraction to plywood, that I would blog once again about building my new house. No swords named Kitty, although DB accused me of having to name everything. I do. Doesn't everyone name their plants, car, computer?? No. Oh. Hmmm. Moving on...

Well, if I wasn’t in a state of panic before today with home appraisers, wood insect inspectors and handy men hammering roof shingles, the events of the morning pushed me over the edge. I found out that my new house is anticipated to close on...wait for it...June 13th. Ugh. For those of you that don’t know, that’s the day we leave for Scotland. I’m working with them to try and push the date back to the 11th or 12th, but if it doesn’t happen, that means I will set up closing as early as possible that morning, hand DB the keys, and hit the road to Birmingham. No romantic “first night in our new house” sort of thing. Just wrap up the paperwork and run. I’m hoping a day or two early might let me get utilities turned on, maybe even move a few things in. We’ll see.

I guess you should be careful what you wish for. I’d hoped the house would be done before the trip instead of after, but that’s sure cutting it close. It’s also a little disappointing that I won’t be able to revel in new house glory very long before I have to leave it behind and revel in Scotland glory. I wanted to pace my glory. Now I’ll be coming home, jetlagged and exhausted, to an entire house (potentially sans internet or electricity) that needs to be moved into and all my junk put away. Sucks the fun out of it.

Keep your fingers crossed for the two extra days, ladies. Otherwise I'm going to be a scattered, neurotic travel companion. I give all of you fair warning to bring extra toothpaste because I'm anticipating to forget half my stuff in the chaos. Thank goodness for Ambien. Everyone gets one. :)

Considering everything else, we’re not even going to talk about my book. After the luncheon we brainstormed some good ideas for where I went wrong (I've stalled) and there’s a lot of work to be done on what I’ve written before I can move forward. Guess I’ll try to squeeze that in between getting fully moved into the house and leaving for Dallas. I do have one positive development on the book front -


I have a title...the winner of last week's contest to name my book is...Pat L. My working title will be Ghost of a Chance. Kathy gets honorable mention for coming up with the longest list of completely crazy titles. My favorite was Deadliest Match : A PIMPS Mystery. Instigator also gets honorable mention for the best title that wasn't eligible to win with Ghost Encounters of the Future (Dead) Mother-In-Law Kind. I'll keep that in my back pocket when I sell this book and the editor wants a list of titles to choose from. Anyway... Pat - email me at smartypants@writingplayground.com with your home address to claim your prize.

The winner of yesterday's guest blog with Linda Howard is Ladypugs! Email instigator@writingplayground.com with your snail mail address to claim your prize.

That's it. I'm going to bed. Happy Friday.
SP

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats, Pugs.

Enjoy.

Happy Mother's Day to one and all.

Anonymous said...

Smarty Pants, I wouldn't offer this to just anyone, but considering it's you...you stay and move into the house and I'll sacrifice myself and tour Scotland in your stead. I have a passport. Just transfer your airline ticket to me and shuffle a coupla bucks of spending money into my account. I promise I'll tell you all about it. I could even send you daily updates while you were moving in your stuff and setting up the new house. Isn't that a beautiful plan -- best of both worlds. ;-))) Seriously, I hope they can push it forward a couple of days for you. Seems as if they could do that.

Kira Sinclair - AKA Instigator said...

Ack!! They must move the closing. As much as I'd love to have Jen on the trip *waves at Jen* you staying home is not an option.

The house will be there when you get back. And maybe DB can gather the men we've left behind to haul boxes and furniture for you :-) I know after a few days as single dad my DH will be looking for a way to escape (not that he usually needs an excuse to drop the girls off at one of the grandmas).

Instigator

Anonymous said...

SP, they have to move closing. You are the buyer, ergo you are The Boss. I can see where this would be incredibly stressful. :/

Linda Winstead Jones said...

SP, I hope they can move your closing back at least a couple of days. It shouldn't interfere with your trip! Your life is going to be hectic enough that week without trying to do everyone on one day. Fingers crossed.

LJ

Linda Winstead Jones said...

Uh, that should be do everyTHING, not everyONE. I do think better of you than that, SP. :-)

LJ

Andrea Laurence AKA Smarty Pants said...

Well, whatever it takes to get the date moved up... :) J/K!

Playground Monitor said...

They should be able to move it. But if not, do you have someone you trust who could use your power of attorney to do the closing in your stead?

Ain't life grand?

PM

Katherine Bone said...

Sounds like you're in a pickle, SP. Keep the faith! Everything will work out. It always does. This Scotland trip is meant to be. With your house selling so quick and a new house to call home, you can't doubt fate. Remember who works for whom. They can reschedule to meet your needs.

I had fun thinking up some quirky titles for you. Thanks for the honorable mention. And congrats, Pat! Cool choice.

Kathy
(Off to serve 5,000 children at the Star's game) wd. ver. updwght
Okay add oytydd

Maven Linda said...

SP, having moved closing dates myself more than once, I can tell you it's no big deal. Pick the date you want, and tell them that's when it is, for the very good reason that you're going out of the country. DO NOT try to do everything that day, or you'll seriously leave something important behind -- like your passport!

I have a rule: She who pays, Rules.

Linda

word is: ooatzcea, which sounds like a really serious skin disease :-)

And, once again, Blogger didn't like it's own blasted word. The new one is jefjrcd, which sounds like a SWEDISH skin disease.