At first, I liked them. Many Canadian geese are flocking to Minnesota. I’ve never seen so many of them. The locals tell us that they come here, mate and then head south.
So — they frolic and play in the water.
Canadian Geese Frolicking
Then, while I’m driving, they decide they are going to walk out on the road. Or, better yet, they’ll fly so close to the car that I am swerving to avoid them.
Yesterday, they walked quickly into the road and when cars were trying to avoid them, they honked at us.
The locals tell us that after they mate they get very territorial. But — they haven’t mated yet so I have yet to understand their behavior.
A few minutes ago I made arrangements to have the things we have in storage in Seattle sent to us here in Minnesota. Â I am confident that we are going to close on the Lake Elmo house.
As a matter of fact, we received an email from our real estate agent letting us know that the title company would like to close one day early — so April 28th instead of the 29th.
Lake Elmo, Minnesota House
The only picture I currently have of the house is when it was still drenched in snow. Very pretty in the winter and it’ll be very pretty in the summer with all the trees that surround it.
Things are starting to move quickly now. I’ve made a checklist for myself so that I don’t miss anything. My checklist includes:
Forwarding Mail
Arranging for internet/phone service
Changing the locks at the new house
Changing the utility bills to our name
Getting Homeowners/Car Insurance in Minnesota
Notifying banks of our address change
Hiring a cleaning person for the initial house cleaning
How exciting! After 5 1/2 months of living in an apartment and being weirded out we are finally going to have a place of our own again.
Well, it looks like we might have a house pretty soon here. Like — April 29th.
We did run into a couple more glitches yesterday though. The assessor’s office has the house assessed well under other houses in that neighborhood. Â That’s good in that property taxes are cheaper but it made us question whether we should have offered so much to purchase the house.
So I headed over to the City of Lake Elmo office and reviewed the file on the house. No permits were pulled for the remodels that they’ve done – kitchen, screened-in porch and the deck.
When I inquired of the city if I should come back and update them on the remodel work the young man looked at me and said “no, we don’t have to know.” Well, that’s a relief. Â I think he was shocked that I would offer to update them.
The second challenge — whether a homeowner’s insurance will cover work that was not permitted. The answer, according to Hartford Insurance in Woodbury here, is yes.
We have found out that the seller did the work himself and are checking to see if he is/was licensed. If so, one other check I can do is to follow-up with the State and see if there were any complaints against that license.
But — overall, I think we’ve got a house. How exciting is that!
This was a brand new recipe for me. I found it online and it is great. The icing is a little sweet so if you want it less sweet you should probably use less powdered sugar.
Carrot Pumpkin Bar with Orange Icing
Ingredients
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons. baking powder
1 tablespoon orange zest
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
2/3 cup cooking oil
1/4 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup carrots, grated
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
The original recipe calls for egg replacements but I used real eggs. I also only used 1/2 cup walnuts instead of a full cup to make it less nutty.
Orange Icing
1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
Directions
Grate the carrots and chop the walnuts.
Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and zest in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, spices, oil and vanilla.
In a third small mixing bowl, mix and beat the eggs and add the soy milk.
Preheat the oven to 350 F.
Oil a 15 x 10 x 1 baking pan.
Combine the pumpkin puree mixture with the flour mixture.
Add the grated carrots and chopped walnuts.
Pour the batter onto the oiled baking pan and spread evenly.
Place in the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes.
To make the icing
Put the powdered sugar in a small bowl.
Gradually add the orange juice, stirring while you add. I added a half teaspoon more to make the icing more syrupy.
If you wish to drizzle the glaze then it should be a bit more liquid then if you wish to spread it evenly over the top.
That’s it! This was really really good.
Carrot Pumpkin Bar with Orange Icing
Chop carrots & walnuts
Spices, Pumpkin Puree and Brown Sugar
Mix the ingredients well to get a good consistency
Spread the mix into the baking pan
Baked without the icing;fresh out of the oven
Grate the orange to get orange zest
I found this recipe while reading a fellow blogger’s blog at vegalicious.org.
Well, seems like our offer on the Lake Elmo house is back on. After sending them an email rescinding the offer, we received gobs of paperwork with information that we’ve been requesting all along.
The builder of the Oakdale house wants to give us a new 6 foot fence, washer & dryer, etc. to buy that house instead.
Now we have two choices. Â Lake Elmo – older house, deeded lake access, screened porch on a nice treed lot with remodeling needed or Oakdale – brand new house, on a semi-busy street, no remodeling, master bedroom on the main floor.
Options! Â Good options! Now I don’t have to pull my hair out. Â I just cut it instead.
Simply Norma
Thank you God for answering my prayer for good news.
Sometimes I want to test God so that I can know exactly which direction He wants me to go. Does He want us to buy a house? Is there a reason all of these deals fall through or don’t even get off the ground? Or is this perhaps God testing me?
In the Old Testament a man named Gideon used a small test for God that worked for him.
He laid a piece of wool fleece on the threshing floor and said to God “If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry then I’ll know that God will save Israel.”
Not a very hard test for God but it shows that Gideon doubted that God would do what He said He would do. But God worked with Gideon in spite of his lack of trust. Dew was only on the fleece and the ground around it was dry.
But, as humans are, we need to double-check God to make sure it’s really Him talking to us. Kind’ve like rolling die 3 times and going with the 2 out of 3 decision.
So Gideon tests God again. This time He asks God to do the reverse, make the ground wet with dew and leave the fleece dry. And God, being ever so patient with us, comes through again.
Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.â€Â And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.
Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.â€Â That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew. Judges 6:36-39
Gideon was a little too bold for me. I’d rather wait and trust that God will speak to me when He’s ready and in His own way than for me to devise some test for Him.
After waiting over 2.5 weeks for the relocation company to accept our offer on the Lake Elmo house, we have rescinded the offer. We do not know why it’s taking them so long to sign the paperwork and at this rate, we will probably not close on April 29th. But, who knows? Since they don’t respond we don’t know.
Combine that with having to move out of our apartment by the end of the month and we are a wee bit stressed.
We have 3 houses now that we are considering. One is in Hudson, Wisconsin, one in Oakdale, Minnesota and the other is in Lino Lakes, Minnesota.
The Lino Lakes house is the one we had made an offer on prior to Lake Elmo but the sellers decided to get weird on us and not disclose any information regarding a new septic that needs to go in after we close on the house. Their agent has assured our agent that all the paperwork we need is there.
Still — we hesitate with that one because once people are dishonest, it is hard to trust them again. So, for now, we’ll make an offer on the Wisconsin house. A little further commute but a new house and it sits on 2 acres so the neighborhood is nice and quiet.
Life has not been easy in Minnesota since we moved here. Illnesses coupled with offers on houses that aren’t accepted or won’t close have made us a little doubtful of what our next step should be.
How quick my tongue is sometimes to speak a word that should not be said or to speak in a tone that does not bring any goodness to a heart. When I think of how Jesus treated people, I feel so inadequate sometimes to even speak. Yet, as I continually look to Him, I am reminded that my character can be like His. A transformation that, if I allow it, will take place in my heart.
“He was never rude, never needlessly spoke a severe word, never gave needless pain to a sensitive soul. He did not censure human weakness. He spoke the truth, but always in love. He denounced hypocrisy, unbelief, and iniquity; but tears were in His voice as He uttered His scathing rebukes.” Steps to Christ, Chapter 1
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