house not sold & still working 3-day weeks

Sale of House:

As most of you are already aware, the sale of the house did not go through. The buyer was never able to secure her loan. It is now back on the market - after sitting inactive with "Contract Pending" for several weeks. At this point, I am asking God for a miracle.


3-Day Work Weeks:

The good news: IAM and Boeing seem to have come to terms. There is to be a vote this weekend to see if the members agree and are ready to accept the contract and return to work.
The not so good news: We were notified today that we can expect the work slowdown at Spirit to last 90 days past the strike at Boeing, if it ends now. The expection was that most of us would remain on 3-day work weeks until "likely the end of January."
The "could be" good news: We were also told today to expect a full week of shutdown at Thanksgiving and a full two weeks at Christmas.
The reason it's not good news: Of course, the company is only paying for our usual two days at Thanksgiving and seven days from Christmas Eve through New Year's Day. The other six days (Monday thru Wednesday of the week of Thanksgiving, Dec 22 & 23, and Jan 2) are "on us."

As you know from my previous blog on this, I have been able to charge my additional 16 hours each week to a "Reserved Sick Leave Fund" that we brought over from Boeing, but could not really use. I will exhaust what I had accumulated in that fund the week before Thanksgiving. From that point on, I will be either using my "Earned Time Off" (the term used for companies that no longer separate vacation and sick leave time) or taking time off without pay.


On the Bright Side:

I did take my "usual" vacation trip to the panhandle of Florida for the International Gathering of the Apostles & Prophets this year. I didn't make it last year so my last trip there was the last trip mom & I took together in October of 2006 before her final problems began in November. Joyce went with me and we "road tripped" it down and had nearly three days to relax before the conference started. That was wonderful! Well, it was for me. She burned to a crisp on the beach the first day and was, therefore, miserable for the rest of the week! Nonetheless, we did get in some shopping and a dolphin watching cruise -- and lots of fresh seafood, mostly in open-air, beach restaurants. Ah ... that's the life!

The conference itself was also EXCELLENT. It was entitled "Apostolic Reformation for City Transformation." We truly are entering into the next reformation of the church. The change in how we "do" and how we "see" church in the coming years will be as significant as the change with the reformation Martin Luther started when he nailed his 95 thesis to the door of the church in Wittenberg "for public discussion" (a common custom of the day). And the shift is starting ...

closing on house postponed

For any who haven't heard, I did not close on my house on Tuesday as scheduled. I assume that is some of the fallout from the present economic condition. The buyer was initially working with Chase for her mortgage and had to switch to another lender.

I can understand that given the present situation. However, it would have nice if her realtor had let us know there was an issue a little sooner. It was after 3pm on Monday before we were informed that she could not close at 11am on Tuesday as scheduled.

Among other things, I had rearranged my work schedule since Tuesday is one of the three days I am working. (Yes, we are still on the reduced work week.) Of course, I had scheduled to have the utilties turned "off" (which usually means transfered to the buyer who has then turned "on"). I had to quickly "stop" my "stop order."

I knew when I called on Thursday to schedule the turn off, she had not yet scheduled a turn on. That's evidence that she already knew she wasn't going to be able to close on Tuesday, but waited until the 11th hour to tell us.

And, of course, it continues to "cost" me daily until I finally reach the closing.

She had "requested" (though "demanded" seems like the more appropriate term) an additional 9 days, until the 16th - but the realtor kept saying that she really wanted to get moved and would close as soon as the lender had the paperwork ready. (Part of the hold up was that their appraisal was not done until last Thursday, 10/2). As you know, it's either grant the extension or put it back on the market and start all over.

Well, I'm told the lender will have all the paperwork ready "the first of the week" - but she scheduled closing for 4pm on Thursday, 10/16. Once again, they do not seem to care about "good faith effort" to what they say. :-(

Here's where it gets even more fun!

1. I am taking a series of classes that run 4:30 - 7:30 on Thursday evenings. They ask us to be there by 4:15 to check in each week. How does one close on a house at 4pm and be across town by 4:15? Answer: You can't!
2. I am supposed to be leaving town EARLY the following morning for 10 days. That means I really need to finish my business dealings with the house BEFORE I leave. Specifically, I need to pay off the bridge loan so that I do not have to continue paying interest on it for another 10 days.
3. Even though they did move the timing of the closing up to 3pm, given how long they usually take I cannot be there and wait on them to finish all their paperwork and be sure I will make the class by 4:30 (much less 4:15). Hence, I will have to go in early and sign paperwork. But, of course, I can't get my money early!
4. If you are in class until 7:30pm and are leaving before the banks open the next morning, how do you get the money from the sale in the account and transfered to the mortgage company?

Fortunately, my bank is willing to work with me on the transfer. I can give the information and authorization, and they will make the tranfer as soon as they money is transfered in. However, if the transfer does not occur until after 4pm, it will not show until the following day.

I also have a question in to the Title company (via my realtor) to see if they will make two transfers for me - one to the mortgage company with whom and I have the bridge loan and the remainder (which is not much!) into my bank account. If they will do that, it will make things a little less complicated for me. Pray that I have favor with them.

I will be SO glad when I get past all this! One more week.

more wisteria

I spent another 9+ hours today cutting down wisteria - and even had a neighbor helping me for about 3 of that, so that's 12+ hours of labor. I'm still not "quite" done. I hope the remaining section takes no more than a couple of hours. THEN, we can start working on the wisteria on the other side of the fence (in my neighbor's yard). MOST of what I cut down along the fence on my side "came over" the top of the fence from her side - and was 5-6 ft or more in places on my side! And she even had it cut back once this year!

The long term goal is to cut it completely down on both sides. I have cut mine back "severely" - meaning there is just a "stump" left. However, it will come back if that isn't dug out. Because I do not have another 2-3 days to work on hers, we are going to just trim it this fall -- and try to find time to cut it back to stumps in the spring before it starts really growing. Then we will need to find someone who can dig those out or grind them down like you do a tree trunk. I have a tree that needs to be removed, so hopefully I can find someone to do both jobs. I have a total of nine wisteria bushes. I'm not sure how many she has, but probably the same - since it is along the same fence and she also has them on her patio as I do.

Since I am getting this cut down, I now need to decide what I do want to do as far as landscaping my yard here. That's my next spring / early summer project. :-)

I have really enjoyed getting to know this neighbor. I found a lot out about her today as we were working together. I knew she was widowed fairly recently. Her husband passed away suddenly (in front of my house!) about two and a half years ago. He had been an administrator (vice principal) and she had been a teacher in the public school system.

The best part is that she is a very committed Christian, so we enjoyed sharing some of our "God is so good" stories today.

Guess we'll have time for a few more before we get all of this mess hacked down!


One note on a different subject. The closing on my other house is set for Tuesday (10/7) at 11:00. PTL! It's been nine months today since I closed on my new home.