It is truly amazing how quickly one's life can change - even when you are not looking for it!It all began with the ring of a door bell in early February. The old gentleman that lived next door to Russ had passed away in late January, and it was his son coming over to let Russ know. Roger & Russ had struck up an acquaintance with him during the building of Russ' house. He was a retired electrician - and had made an instant connection with Russ. He would often walk over to 'check out' the progress on the house. He never shared that he was in the last stages of terminal lung cancer.
The first time Russ brought us out to look at the lot he was considering for his new home, I looked over at the little brick home to the west and said, "Now that would be the perfect home for us!" Never in my wildest dreams did we ever imagine it would come to be.
We were scheduled to close on Friday, March 16th, but on Thursday the seller (the son) told Roger he had changed his mind and wasn't going to sell it to us - he decided he wanted to keep it for himself. We were devastated! Our first reaction was just to give up, but after a very long evening, a sleepless night, and a talk with Russ, we decided to tell the guy we were going to hold him to his contract. Russ talked with an attorney friend, and we decided we were prepared to retain him if necessary. When Roger called the seller and told him we were going to call for performance of the contract, he told Roger he would hire an attorney. Roger assured him that we were prepared to do likewise.
With that hanging over our heads, we were up VERY early Sunday morning, March 18th, to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight for Billings, Montana for our annual job training with KOA. The first part of our flight went well - until we arrived in Denver. Although we knew we had a 2 hour layover there, that 2 hours extended on to 3 1/2 hours. It seems that although the weather was beautiful, our pilot didn't show. (Roger told them he could probably fly the plane, but couldn't guarantee the landing!) Thankfully, they found us a pilot. He must have been called in from his day off, for he cut our 1 1/2 hour flight from Denver to Billings down to 1 hour! Arrived in Billings to be greeted by our boss. Since our flight was late, we ended up having lunch at the airport and greeted three other teams as they arrived.
This is always such an enjoyable time for us - as we so enjoy the socializing with friends that we only get to see twice a year. A nice addition this year was 'meeting' our new traveling companion - a 2007 Chevy Dura-Max diesel truck - with all the bells and whistles! We'll be driving it back to Oklahoma City in early April at the end of our training.
With three weeks to spend in Billings, we began our 'tour' of the local restaurants by joining several of the teams for supper at Famous Dave's (BQ) that evening. We made it an early evening since our day had started at 2:45 a.m. Oklahoma time.
Monday morning began early with our training session starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. As always we are supposed to mute our cell phones. Well, about mid-morning - right in the middle of the session, our cell phone started ringing. I gave Roger a very dirty look (because I had told him to turn it off!) Thankfully, he had not - for it was the mortgage company calling to tell us that the seller had consulted an attorney - and been advised to honor the contract and sell us the house - and now he wanted to close within 5 days! We were so relieved that we didn't have to carry through with legal action, but a bit stressed for now we are stuck in Billings! But they assured us it could be done - and Roger made the necessary calls to get the insurance policies in place and wire funds, etc. All the paper work showed up via Fed Ex on Thursday - and we slipped away for an hour to get everything signed and notarized - and shipped back to Oklahoma City in time for the 2:00 p.m. closing on Friday. (What would we have done without 'overnight' mail?)
Russ picked up the keys and garage door opener that afternoon - and we once again joined the ranks of homeowners! The ladies at the title company shared that the seller was not a 'happy camper' - so maybe it was best that we were in Billings and didn't have to confront him again.
We have plans to add a 'path' between the two houses, so Hunter & Hayden will always have easy access to us - and we to them! Wes & Nick have already discovered one of the 'benefits' of our new driveway . . . it's a really neat paved downhill run on Nick's 'Green Machine'! And it will be a 'natural' for sledding down hill, should we ever see snow & ice again like we did this past winter.
And now we have a reason to haunt the aisles of Home Depot & Lowe's once again! (That's one of the reason we were so devastated at the man's change of mind! We had been shopping and dreaming ever since we signed the contract for we knew we had a very short time left this spring!) What fun we had plotting and planning for the 'new look' for our new home. Carpet is always a 'biggie' - and I kept telling Roger "I'll know it when I see it". And sure enough I did. Can't tell you how many places I had been looking at carpet. We were headed to yet another store, when I spotted the place where we had bought our last carpet (2000) for the old home place. On a whim, we stopped in. At first we were disappointed to find that they had switched to mostly wood flooring and area rugs (for that's the popular trend today) - but our old joints crave carpet. We began to visit with the sales lady - and were just about to head out - when she said "Will you let me show you my favorite - and one that we have been selling a lot?" With nothing to loose, we said, "Sure!" She reached down and picked up the sample, laying it on the table. One look - and I looked at Roger - and he knew - I had found it! And, all the better, it was in our budget! Can't wait to see it installed!
The hard part will be the waiting. Hopefully, if all goes as planned, Russ & Randy plan to complete some of our home improvement projects over the summer - and we'll officially 'move in' when we return in the fall. Got a call from Randy last night telling us we needed to 'get home' and start mowing! Have to admit to looking forward to that - but while we are gone Roger's dad has agreed to do that for us.
Know many of you have commented that my blog page has been very quiet. That is because - for some reason - I could not edit my blog on my computer. As I type this tonight I am 'getting acquainted' with my new Dell laptop that KOA has provided us. Everything looks very different - and it is so much faster! It is amazing how rapidly computers improve!
Can life get any better? A new house, a new truck and a new computer!
Stay tuned - and I promise I'll do better in updating our blog.
Twylah
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