House Drama, Part Deux

When I last whined wrote about what's going on with selling/buying houses, we had just found a good roofer who wouldn't rake us over the coals, and we were fighting with both the appraiser (about the possibly too-low appraisal) and the septic guy (about flunking it due to age alone).

Well... those things dissolved into a big pot of poo soup.  Almost literally!

The septic guy DID, in fact, flunk our septic system.  I was completely enraged.  It was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak, and I finally snapped from all this stress and worry.  When I hung up from talking to the realtor and getting the news, I immediately took an impromptu lunch break and drove to hubby's work while, of course, sobbing.  Because what else would I do besides flip out?  Isn't that always the best plan?!

Hubby let me sob into his shoulder for a few minutes and snivel about how unfair this whole thing is, how having to replace the septic system would eat up any money we were going to walk away from this whole thing with.  Of course, this ties back into infertility for me when I'm not entirely rational.  (We're still making payments to the agency for the adoption and I constantly feel guilty about it despite the fact I didn't choose it and I can't change it.  I know you infertiles understand!)

After allowing me to be ridiculous for a perfectly appropriate amount of time, he said politely yet firmly, "We are going to get through this, we always get through these things.  It's just money.  Yeah, it sucks, and it's not fair, but it is what it is."  He repeated this several times in various different ways until I calmed down and remembered that he's right.  We've been through much worse than this just in the past two years!  I wiped my face, dumped about half a bottle of Visine in each eye, and went back to work.

On Sunday morning, the septic system guy recommended by both  my super-awesome realtor and the engineer who had flunked the system came out to dig a couple test holes.  Long story short, the engineer was right when he suspected the system was toast.  I was misled (or misunderstood) the comment about flunking it solely because of age.  The thing was on the verge of total failure.  So, at the end of the day, we would have had to replace it before the winter even if we were staying in the house.  This way, we at least get to move like we want to.  I thought it would derail everything, but it didn't.

Because we had our finances all lined out perfectly for closing, we weren't really prepared to spend $6800 on a new septic system.  Thankfully, the bank of my inlaws came to the rescue (and they are happy to have the 6800 air miles!).  We'll have them paid back by the end of the year, hopefully much sooner.  As much as I hate that we had to ask Mommy and Daddy for money, it's not like we were looking to finance a dream vacation or something.  It was unexpected and it was expensive and it could have been disastrous if we didn't take care of it.  A friend of mine said, "Think of it this way.  In 30 years if Aidan calls you and tells you this exact story about HIS house, will you think twice about helping him?"  Well... when you put it that way...

Once again, we are so fortunate to have a support system nearby full of people we know we can count on no matter what happens.  The new system was installed Monday.  Expense and stress and frustration aside, it was actually really interesting to watch.  I love the smell of fresh dirt!  (Strange for someone who can't stand to get her hands dirty.)

So!  On we go!  Closing is in a little over two weeks, provided nothing else goes wrong.  We are trying to narrow down our choice of appliances and we're posing questions to the new place about possible early occupancy, at least for our stuff if not for ourselves.  It would be really handy to be able to move things straight into the garage there a few days ahead of closing rather than moving it all into storage and then moving it back out of storage 2-3 days later.  We'll see.

Oh, and after we move, and everything is done, and I have more free time and more money, I am throwing a big party!!  You're all invited, all you have to do is get here!!