Mindless Chatter - Thursday 3/19

VanMorrison

I just got the call from our Social Worker and our application to bring a child into the country is being submitted to USCIS tomorrow!  Another big step closer to bringing our kiddo home - yay!

Whoa, I missed this the first time around - WHOO HOO! I can't wait 'til M&M get a human sibling :)

Happy Birthday, Janice! - Whenever there's doubt about whether they'll be room for dessert, just eat dessert first.

Joyce

Yup, we've got tons of cake! I had a half off coupon... so... I ordered a cake twice the size we needed! LOL.

Dang. I ~just~ changed Willa's diaper 2.5 minutes ago, and I already smell something suspicious. 

VM, that's really exciting!!

Happy Birthday to Ron and Jano!

And congrats on moving one step closer to parenthood!

DH had a great day wtih the GM, but then got all paranoid because dinner was "just" dinner and a chat.  Good gosh, the man was sharing family details with DH, so it sounds to me like things are going GREAT.  Hopefully that isn't just wishful thinkin.  They are meeting again in the morning, so please keep those prayers, and good vibes coming and whatever body part crossed, that you're willing to cross!

The dogs have been major buttheads since DH left.  Guess that they are protesting his absence.  Someone slammed the underside of the table that the computer is on and royally messed it up.  DS has been working on it for two days and just FINALLY got it working again.  I tried using his computer to get on my email and the forum.  Unfortunately, none of the passwords I tried actually worked.  ARGGGGHHH.  Thankfully, it's working again now.  Having an IT guy for a son comes in mighty handy.

sl2crmeg

Uh, I'd slap BF for not putting the dang thing back together right! (Kidding, kidding)

haha, well he bought the whole thing for me, so i pretty much am just happy i have a REALLY good computer now.. he says he's coming later to take the USB out and i should switch it off now. oh well, i'll use my laptop till then...

aerial1313

Ugh, like a couple others on the forum, we might be having a neighbor issue.  We're getting our back yard fenced in next Tuesday.  We've already had some things done that needed to be done before the fence can go in, one of which was getting the property boundary corners marked. 

Sorry you're haveing neighbor issues!  We're actually buying a house and deciding on a survey vs staked survey... it's an extra $200 for measly "stakes" that are even plastic now!  Ugh.  We want to do a fence, though.... I'm pretty sure of the boundaries to within a small buffer, it's where the grass stops in back, the retaining wall to one side... but the other side there's only a small space between the houses and we're not sure.  Sigh.

Where did you find a survey company, and if you don't mind, roughly, how much did it cost?  Thanks!

NicoleS

Where did you find a survey company, and if you don't mind, roughly, how much did it cost?  Thanks!

I just did a google search for surveyors and checked websites to see which ones did residential.  Then I called a few to compare prices.  We got a pin set only, which means just marking the corners of the lot (no paperwork - that's way extra!).  We paid for 2 extra pins to be set about halfway down each long side, to make it easier for the fence company to rope the boundaries off.  Without the 2 extra pins, it was $285, with them it was $335.  These folks were absolutely amazing.  They came out the very next day after I called, even came out early!  The guy actually called me to make sure it was okay if he came about 45 minutes early.  I told him be my guest!  And they were so helpful when I called yesterday about the buffer.  The guy pulled my plat, told me about the buffer, explained what it was, then told me if I had any difficulty getting someone at the county to help me, to call him back and he'd call on my behalf.  Wonderful, wonderful customer service.  So rare nowadays.

ETA - the pins are actually metal and go completely into the ground, then the put a 2' stake next to each one with a flag attached to the stake, but the pins are there forever...they may even be set in concrete so they can't come loose, but i'm not 100% positive about that part.  That's what you should ask for when you call...a pin set.

The mortgage/closing company and folks charge $250 for the survey that we don't have a choice on, and then it's an extra $200 for little plastic things... it just seemed like a lot since they were doing the survey anyway!  I could see if it was after we bought the house, like you guys are doing, but I have a hard time justifying the cost right now.  Oh well... we may not fence in that close to the boundaries, and a few fence companies will work without the stakes, just the paper survey, but it's up to us if we have trouble down the road.

I'm glad to hear that you had a good experience -- it is hard to find such good customer service -- and thank you for the help and advice!  We still have almost a month before we really have to decide if we want them or not... and I do want them... but getting to closing, financially, isn't fun to begin with so we'll see where we stand when we get closer.  Thanks again!  Oh and I will remember to ask for a pin set -- thanks!