the beat goes on

we finally heard back from the sellers after 2+ weeks wait to hear if they would help w/ the cost of replacing the entire sewer line. wasn't expecting anything but lo & behold, they'll kick in $2k. pretty cool. we're rolling right along. still waiting to hear back from the city about the driveway. hoping for word by next Tuesday at the latest, though at this point, my resolve is crumbling because (a) i'm tired of living in this apartment (b) i think this is the right house for us & i like it a lot. i'm thinking more along the lines of, "we'll have 5 years to argue w/ the city about a driveway". our realtor contacted us yesterday to let us know the termite inspection took place last Friday & evidence of termites was found in several different locations. YUCK! why can't anything be easy with this place?! it seems like we should run screaming in the other direction. i met a structural engineer there after work to check out the damage. the only place we found termite damage looked pretty terrible to me. he checked it out & stabbed the visible area all over with a sharp pointy tool to see if it was more than superficial, which it wasn't. he advised that it was not a big deal & should not be a deal breaker because old lumber is much denser than what is currently available & the joist was in very good shape. i paid him $110 for his time & breathed a sigh of relief.

every time i go in there, the place seems smaller. i think that happens when people remove furniture though. can't wait to be done w/ this house buying crap. seriously. & done with our realtor. one of the contractors i called today about the termites was very confused that i (the buyer) was calling and not our realtor. the first time someone said that was when i contacted our title company. "Oh, we usually work with the realtor." huh.

i blew my nose on my shirt a little while ago. tired of using up all of our toilet paper for nose-blowing. t'is the season for colds & crap & we've both been sick.

i think this is day 2 of freshish air in our apartment. it's fantastic! i slept so well last night, i still can't believe it. i hope to sleep similarly well tonight. don't know what's gotten into our neighbor - nicotine patches?? whatever it is, i appreciate these short breaks we have in the smoky air. i never realized how much air quality affects me. but i can say that smoky air makes me angry & grumbly & if dan's around, i become pretty much of a whiner about the whole thing. it's pretty pathetic.

going out of town for work the first week of November w/ my supervisees - all 14 of them. should be interesting. 12 of them are under 25 & the other 2 are over 50. i so look forward to hanging with the 50+ crowd.

can't believe settlement is scheduled for next Friday. it's starting to seem all to real & it's freaking me out a little bit. i never thought we'd actually buy a house. but i guess we've still got a little over a week to wait. maybe we won't buy it... have to wait & see.