March 2019

The month of March has been erratic and unpredictable for us, much like the weather here this month has been. We've had a lot to figure out in terms of moving out of one house, moving in to another and completing a mortgage transaction. On top of that, we've been coming to terms with Alex's delay in language development and ASD diagnosis, and figuring out what the best approach is for him is. 

Closing, Moving and Unpacking (Rob)

On March 5, I met with our attorney and real estate agent to sign many papers in exchange for a house key. This was the beginning of a new chapter of home ownership for us, and the conclusion of a process we started last summer when we first started looking at houses. We went through a few real estate agents and looked at probably 20 or 30 houses along the way. We got to the point of putting offers on four of them, did inspections on two of them, and ultimately landed on a split-level home located in a nice neighborhood with lots of families nearby. 

The house is located in the hamlet of Endwell, which is in the village of Endicott, which is in the town of Union (don't ask me to explain the difference between a village, hamlet, town or city). Many of the houses in this neighborhood were built in the 1960s during the glory days of IBM, which employed most of the people in this town until a couple decades ago.

There were a few reasons we liked this house. It is in a highly-rated school district that we've heard good things about, and it's within walking distance of all the schools in that district. We like the square footage and open floor plan that wraps around a beautiful stone fireplace as a centerpiece. The previous owner bought it following a foreclosure with the intent to renovate it and sell, so it has some newer features like the kitchen, bathrooms, furnace and paint. It also has new drainage installed around the perimeter of the house. In this area good drainage is important because it rains so much that most basements have some flooding issues. The age of the house does show with some other things that will need some work along the way. For instance, the roof is old, but we made a deal when we bought the house to have a seller's credit at closing so we could have money to put toward a new roof ASAP. For now though, it is mostly move-in ready and we haven't had any major issues yet.

Waiting in our mailbox was a welcome note from the next-door-neighbors with a gift card for a local pizza restaurant. Those neighbors are a young family, with a girl a bit older than Alex. On the other side of us is an older couple that has lived there for about 50 years. We've dropped off brownies to both neighbors and had nice visits with them.

Moving is never a pleasant experience, but I'll take a move across town over a move across the country any day. Between a Uhaul, several trips in the Subaru, some vacation time, a couple of movers I paid for 3 hours of labor and the two of us, we were able to handle it mostly on our own. We had 10 days to move out of the old place we were renting and clean it up. With little time to spare, we did so successfully and signed the paperwork to have our deposit returned after an inspection, just as the new tenants were moving in. We had a terrible experience getting our deposit back from the house we moved out of in Arizona. I practically had to threaten legal action, and even then we didn't get the full deposit back after 3 months. This experience was much better, and I was grateful that we were fortunate enough to rent from some honest and professional people. We also had a good experience with our real estate agent and attorney, who were great in walking us through the process and alerting us where we should have caution.

In our new house we still have some boxes of things to unpack and organize and some decorative details to hash out. But maybe next month we'll be ready to post some pictures of the house in its furnished state.

Binghamtonians Paying it Forward (Rob)

The welcome note in our mailbox was one of many random acts of kindness that we've benefited from in this area. Last year, I was at the grocery store with Alex buying some Huggies, and a kind woman in line behind me wanted to buy them for me and gave me a $20. She only asked that I pay it forward (coincidentally enough, that day Becky had donated $20 toward a refugee cause). A similar incident occurred again this month. I took Alex with me to Lowe's and loaded him up in one of those shopping carts that looks like a race car. He's all smiles when we are lucky enough to get that shopping cart, and many people return the smiles when we walk by. At the check out stand, he caught the attention of the woman behind us. The clerk rang us up for a charge of $28. I then realized that I had forgot my wallet, and I asked her to set my items aside and I would come back later for them. As I wandered aimlessly around the parking lot because I forgot where we parked, the lady in line behind us flagged me down and said she wanted to pay something forward and give me some cash to so I could buy my stuff. In fact, she wanted to give me $60. To no avail, I explained that I didn't live far away, and the items were only $28, but I couldn't talk her out it. Anyway, feeling truly humbled by these experiences, I am reminded that I have a lot to pay forward if I want to fit in around here.

Iguanas (Rob)

Once while eating a Quaker Chewy Granola Bar when I was a kid in the early 1990s, I saw on the box that if I saved several (maybe 14?) UPC symbols from granola bar boxes, I could send them in for a free iguana stuffed animal. Obviously, that was an offer I couldn't refuse. So after several months of eating granola bars, I sent in the UPC codes I had cut from the boxes, and waited several more months for my stuffed iguana to arrive. I've had it ever since (it was featured on a post from last year, On Infants and Iguanas). Fast forward to a few weeks ago where we were attending a church activity. Some of our friends from church had picked up some decorations for the activity from a local thrift store. Among these items was a stuffed iguana -- exactly like the one I got from eating granoloa bars so many years ago. What's more, is that they also had a baby stuffed iguana as well. Anyway, I was so interested in their stuffed iguanas and I had to tell them why. When we moved, we had to leave that branch of the church. So as a parting gift, they gave me their thrift store stuffed iguanas, and now we have a little iguana family (pictured above).

More photos of the house and Alex from the month of March can be found here.