The Cat is Away

and the mouse is playing :)

Al is back in Tampa and I had a real difficult time getting motivated yesterday.  No one to make me feel guilty, I guess.

My friend Carol just got a new Kindle and has been reading like crazy.  She recommended the book, “The Help.”  I ordered it from the library for my Sony eReader, but it was on hold, so I splurged and paid $9.99 from Amazon.    We normally don’t pay for books, since we can download ebooks from the library.  I put the Kindle app on his iPad, so he can read ebooks on his iPad.    I was wondering if we wasted our money on his eReader that be bought a few months ago…before we even thought about getting the iPad.  However, yesterday I sat outside with the eReader in the bright sunshine and I had no glare  and a nice bright, clear screen.  The iPad has such a glare in the sunlight it would not have worked, so I think we’ll still use our eReaders.

I took  Squeaky outside in her cage for some sunshine.  The Vet said sunshine/vitamin D was good for her liver and jaundice problems.  That was my excuse to sit and read for a while and not feel too guilty :)    Our 96 degree temps are history,  and yesterday was actually a little cool because of the lower temps and strong breeze.  I think we’ll be back up to 80 today and then I’m sure it will start to get hot again….darn it.

I got an update from the Realtor on the pending sale of the property.  We’ve never had much land before, so we didn’t realize the requirements were different than if you just own a house on a small lot.  

FHA requires a ratio of 60/40  of house to land value.  In other words the house and any out buildings need to be at least 60% of the total value of the property to qualify for FHA financing.  They think we are close enough that  will go through once we get some foundation work done.  That’s not good enough for me though.

I was concerned the appraiser didn’t do a thorough job and did not consider all of the building we have on the property.  I requested a copy of his appraisal.  I suspected they would not release it (work product), and I was right.  They did give us a breakdown and it appears he undervalued (by a lot) the outbuildings.  We are trying to get that corrected now.    I would rather not be “close” as far as the land to property ratio, so we’re trying to get that looked at again.  The Realtor thinks it’s looking good though anyway because apparently the buyers have strong credit. 

We’re just going with the flow and as bad as we would like to have this over with, truthfully, I don’t see how we could have ever made it happen by the original closing date of May 6th. 

We are starting to think about our options as to where we will go when/if the house closes.  We may go over to Savannah, Georgia.  We’ve seen some good reviews for Skidaway Island State Park.  

Another potential candidate is  Ho Hum Rv Park in Carrabelle, Florida.  It’s right on the Gulf coast and only about 95 miles from here.  They have waterfront campsites, which would be a very nice change.  Hey, maybe we could go there first, then head to Skidaway?  After all, we will be “on the road.”

One thing for sure though…. I’m not making reservations!