12 hours at work yesterday, 11 hours the day before, and working most of the day last Saturday. The best thing to say is that we’re just about done with the equipment testing and that I will not have to work this weekend. It’s mighty draining, though.

As you may have seen on Twitter, we got a call on Monday from our real estate agent. We’re supposed to close on the new place August 7th, but there’s a snag – the house appraised for about $20,000 less than the selling price, which means that the bank will only finance the appraised amount. Our lawyer is talking with their lawyer, and one of three things will happen: They’ll walk away from the deal (most likely, though we know the seller is relocating and in a rush), they’ll try to meet us in the middle (no luck there, since we don’t have that much cash on hand), or they’ll agree to the appraised amount (yeah, I doubt it). No word yet from the lawyers, but hopefully we’ll have something today. We’re already researching new properties to look at, and the good news is that we’ve got a place to live at least through November or December.

Oh, and just to add to the fun: yesterday morning while we were getting ready for work, takaza and I saw a quick brown flash along the baseboards – yep, we had a mouse in the house. One quick trip to Ace Hardware later and a few traps spread around, that is an ex-mouse. It is passed on, is no more, has ceased to be…well, you get the picture. I’m certain that was an isolated incident, but just in case we’re leaving a few traps down in case he had any buddies along with him.