Catching up

OK - so it's been two weeks since the last update. But I've been busy. No really, this time I mean it.

Let's start off with K's house. In a market with 348 current homes in her price range that only had 22 closings, her house went under contract in 5 days with a full price offer. Considering that we were worried about pricing it too high when everyone else was taking a loss, that was both unexpected and incredible.

Then, since the sellers wanted to close on her house on August 28th, and we decided that my house was simply too small for 6 people to live in while trying to sell it, we had to go find a new house. So we did!

We found a new construction home in a fairly new subdivision that still allows my kids to go to the same schools they were in, and caught the builder on a good day. We started out giving them a total lowball offer. To top it off we asked for $4000 in closing costs and some upgrades, figuring they would counter and we'd meet them in the middle from the original purchase price. However, to our utter surprise, the builder took our offer on the spot. So basically, we just sold K's 2000 square foot home for $14k MORE than we bought a brand new 2700 square foot home. *boggle*

That's the good news. On the (very) sad side, my grandfather passed away last week and I took the kids up to the funeral in Maryland. It was not completely unexpected, he's been in a home for a few years now and hasn't really been 'there' during that time. In fact he never knew my dad died away last year, and my uncles were joking the first thing he was going to say when he got up there was "Bob, what the hell are you doing here?"

Still, it's a loss and it's hard. Growing up, you always think of yourself as being young when you've got grandparents around. And in one fell swoop not only did I lose my last grandparent, I became the oldest male left in my tree. It's odd to think of things in that light.

Back to a more lighthearted topic. GB and I were goofing around on the couch on Saturday, and in an attempt to keep me from beating him silly, he tried to give me a "dead arm". Yet (with all apologies to the women) he hit like a girl. So I immediately ended the game and began to show him how to hit with some power behind his punches. Apparantly he sat and listened very well, because 20 minutes later he walked into the kitchen where I was talking to K. He didn't say a word, just walked up and punched me in the arm. HARD.

I was like "Ow! What the F........ Damn, boy. Nice punch!" It's 5 days later and I still have a huge black bruise on my forearm in shape of his fist. I don't have my camera here at the office or I would post a picture because unless you see it, you cannot get the full effect.

But all I am saying is that if he ever does get into a fight, I am no longer worried about him defending himself..