No post for a week, must have gotten a lot done....

.......yes a lot, but not on the house.

Monday of last week we worked on the south and east kitchen window shingles and was making great progress.  Then the rest of the week happened.

Tuesday R had oral surgery and had to take it easy.

Wednesday G had a rare Wednesday night race so R had a short day of working on shingles.

Thursday R was busy on a paid outside job and I wrenched until 230AM on G's race car.  Yes, they pulled me out of wrenching retirement.  G was involved in two wrecks in the feature on Wednesday but still finished 10th.  Both not his fault and both from getting hit from behind. 

He needed to be ready for Friday's race because he lost some points recently and needs to maintain his place in the standings.  So he needed body work people and engine people. The engine had 10 races on it and was oiling the plugs. Better to pull it now and rebuild than to end up with a pile of debris.

Dirty hands, chipped nail polish, and regulation flip flops for working in a race shop...don't call OSHA.

So I worked on the engine swap with G, while his two friends, that are also engineers, worked on repairing the body and frame.  B went back and forth between both groups.

Also, I put my mother's condo on the MLS and we are selling FSBO (for sale by owner).  I started fielding calls immediately for showings.  Friday I had a showing.  They loved it but wanted a country setting. Condos in the country are rare but I think they just weren't ready for a condo just yet.  Agent told me, as she was leaving, that it was a lovely condo and that we will have no problem selling it BUT we needed to come down on the price.  Yea.....right.

Waiting for the first showing.  I can hear my mother now..."get your feet off the sofa."

Friday was a short work day for R because G had his Friday night race.  

Saturday started out sunny and I showed the condo again. As they were leaving the agent said to expect an offer. Then Saturday turned into a rainy day.  Rain then sun, rain then sun, rain then sun. We would nail a few shingles here and there between rain drops but I couldn't paint.  

Offer came in.....full price/cash offer.  B looked over the offer, we signed the purchase agreement, buyers signed the bottom line.  Done deal.  Inspection ordered.  No appraisal because it's a cash offer.  They take possession at the end of September.  Sold for over 30K more than any other condo in the development. We only had to pay $89 to get it on the MLS and 3% to the buyer's agent.  Only way to go. Saved us 3% to a seller's agent, which was roughly $6,600.  Plus, all the agents seem to want to list low for a fast sale.  It's hard for an agent to sell for a certain price if they do not truly believe in that price.  I'll do a post on selling FSBO when we are all said and done.  

BTW this is the second FSBO that I have sold in the last 10 months.  The other property was sold by us without a buyer's agent, so there was no cost at all to sell because we didn't even do an MLS.  Buyer was a lawyer and he knew our daughter in law so they emailed back and forth and took care of the paperwork.  I have two more properties to sell next year and we will do the FSBO plus $89 MLS.

Sunday we shingled and mowed.  There is one good thing about a drought.  It really cuts down on the mowing.

Monday (today) despite the forecast for no rain....it rained and rained.  By the time it cleared, it was late so we drove to Lowes in White Lake about 35 miles from our house.  We passed a small nursery with a cool planted roof so we stopped. 

We walked around and I of course checked out the hostas.  Had them all except a miniature or small hosta called Limey Lisa.  Now that I look at it, the leaves are too big for a miniature so it is a small hosta. Had to have it.  Also purchased a hydrangea called Twist and Shout.  When we got to the front door, they were closed. Duh....our truck was parked right in front (see our red truck) of the door.  R pounded on the door and they said they didn't know anyone was out looking at plants.  Really?  They said come back tomorrow. We said can't because we don't live around here.  Fortunately they were able to bring the cash register back up and we paid and left.

Twist and Shout hydrangea

Got to Lowes and while they brought our item up to the front, we went to the garden area.  Bought a common lilac plant (syringa vulgaris, doesn't seem to be affected by the black walnut trees like the other fancy lilacs) for 10 bucks and a one gallon Pow Wow Berry coneflower (bees and butterflies love it and the birds eat the seed heads during the winter) for a fiver.

 Today's plant haul

And here is where we are at with the shingling and painting.

R has a small side job to do in the morning but if it doesn't rain anymore, I'll prime and paint these shingles until the sun goes down.