More often than I care to admit I open up YouTube and watch Paul Anka doing his big band version of Nirvana’s song Smells Like Teen Spirit. I thought you might like to see it too.
Turn up your speakers and press play.
Well …. a sold sign may be a little premature but we do have an offer on our home.
After nearly four months on the market and two real estate agents, we got a suitable offer on our home. We’re pretty excited.
A young lady visited our home during last Saturday’s home open and told the agent that she’d like to make an offer the following morning. He had an appointment at her home last Sunday morning at 10:00. While he was chatting about the offer, we were trying very hard to concentrate on the sermon at church. After church we waited for the phone call to come. Finally, our agent phoned and told us about the offer. While it wasn’t huge, it was what we needed to be able to move forward with the moving process.
Once we got home from church we signed the necessary paper work and our agent rang the buyer the buyer with the good news. Of course we still need to wait for approval from her lender but we’re very confident that things will run smoothly.
On Sunday afternoon we visited a couple of homes in the area where we want to live. We’ve seen a lot of homes in the past few months but it really came down to just two, and we were convinced that one of them wasn’t really all that suitable. Unfortunately we had heard that a successful offer had recently been made on the other house which was the one we really wanted.
We went to see our ‘second favourite’ house, more or less to rule it out before starting the search all over again. We were very surprised. It seemed different. It seemed so much better than we had remembered. We phoned our own agent who then dropped in to look around and give us his opinion. We then went to the other place, the one we couldn’t have. It didn’t seem quite as good as we’d remembered. Our agent said that he liked the other one a lot more. So did we.
We headed back to the house we thought we didn’t want, excited about how wonderful it would be if we could buy it. We made an offer and a short while later we got the call to say that our offer had been accepted.
So after all the months of waiting we sold one house and bought another all within a day.
Our new home is just a few minutes walk from school for Emily and James. Pauline won’t miss having to drive 130 km every day just to get the kids to school.
As I mentioned, we’re ‘not home yet’ with the deal. We’re very confident that we will get the finance we need and that the person buying our home will get their approval but at this stage it’s a matter of waiting.
We should have our approval sometime next week but our buyer’s approval is unlikely to be given for about another month. After that, it’ll be another thirty days before we move.
We’re not done with waiting yet but we are seeing movement in the process and we’re thrilled.
You’ve heard of the calm before the storm but we’re experiencing the calm after the storm.
What a week.
Around this time last week it was wet and wild. The main storm front came through last Thursday. It was really only a couple of days of wild weather but it certainly had an effect. My previous post talked about cycling in the wild weather. The photo in this post shows some of the damage that was caused around Perth.
This tree used to stand beside the road at our local park. After a fairly strong buffeting from the wind it decided to lay down for a while. James makes it look as if he’s conquered the tree personally. We took this picture while at the park during a home open last Saturday as we tried to sell our house yet again. (More details on the selling process to follow.)
We’ve also had a wild week as far as health goes here. Both Emily and James picked up nasty colds with big coughs in the lead up to last weekend. I caught mine from them a few days later (which partly explains my absence from the blog over the past week). Just as we were all getting over coughs and colds this week, James ended up with some kind of gastro last night. He’s recovering today.
I had some fairly wild rides to and from work last week. We had a few days of wet and windy weather with fences, trees and branches coming down across Perth.
On Friday the wind was determined to make it a very slow commute. I didn’t see the regular crowd of cyclists and walkers out and about. That should have been a clue. On the way home on Thursday I had to cycle through water over half way up my wheels when I went through the Causeway underpass. I thought I’d avoid it on Friday but I didn’t even get close.
There’s a section of cycleway near Windan Bridge beside the Burswood Golf Course that can get a little soggy. On Friday morning I came around the corner to see the river extending right across the pathway and into the golf course. Another cyclist had chosen to carry his bike and wade through. He was up to his knees towards the other end of the stretch so I imagine it was a lot deeper in other parts.
Another cyclist turned up behind me and we both decided it was time to change the route for the morning. I backtracked across the bridge, headed through East Perth and finally made it to work. I’m so glad I’ve got a hot shower and dry clothes at work.
On the way home I thought I’d visit the Causeway underpass. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get through but I thought I’d see how much further the water had risen. As you can see in the photo, riding through wasn’t an option this time.
More detours and and a bit more pushing into the wind and rain and I was home for the weekend.
Shane Vander Hart of Caffeinated Thoughts has written a frank introduction to The Dirty Little Secret: Uncovering the Truth Behind Porn
Shane’s post, Porn Sucks, is well worth a read. He quotes Craig talking about the nature of pornography.
We’re trying to help people see the true nature of pornography. It’s pure exploitation, the objectification of sex. God gave us so much more than that. Christianity doesn’t condemn sex or pleasure. Sex is a wonderful gift fully sanctified in God’s glory. Have you ever read Song of Solomon? Ever wonder what that little piece of erotic writing is doing in the Bible? Yet we choose to ignore this gift for something much more carnal; we wolf down the cheeseburger and fries when we’re offered the filet minon. That’s what porn is: sex packaged in a fast-food wrapper, dumbed down and exploited for profit and mass consumption.
The good news is that there is a way out of porn addiction. Check out Shane’s post for more details.