So not only am I now having trouble sleeping, I also want to throw up quite often!!  Luckily I also feel giddy and excited at times, so hopefully we'll survive this next phase in our journey.

After the blow last week regarding the devaluing of our house we sort of walked around in a stupor all day.  But luckily we had planned to spend the weekend up in the town where the shop is so that really helped us.  We had already booked a hotel, made appointments with a realtor to look at 5 homes, and we were also going to meet up with the broker to look at the shop again.

Seeing the town again, and spending alot more time there really cemented in our minds how much we like the place.  And then seeing the shop again really brought back the excitement we had been feeling, and helped dissipate the feelings we were having about losing so much equity in our house.

Not that the weekend wasn't fraught with really hard discussions, especially around money, which then led to a very loud disagreement between M and I.  This decision will change our entire lives, and that of our daughter.  There's a lot to consider and it's extremely risky.  Although we are certainly not rich, and have to live within a budget like everyone else, we can still afford dinners out, 2 week vacations, and occasionally frivolous spending.  Moving and buying this ice cream shop changes everything.

We had been debating about whether to buy a house in the town or rent for a year.  The thinking with renting is that it will give us an opportunity to get used to the new community and have a better feel for where we want to live.  Also, because we don't know exactly what kind of income we'll have with the business, we don't exactly what we can, and can't afford. But I talked to a mortgage consultant today who informed me that because we will be self-employed we will need to show the bank atleast 2 years of tax returns.  So it looks like, at least for now, the decision to rent has been made.

On Tuesday afternoon I finally made the call to the broker and rambled out an offer.  We were offering much less than the asking price and I wanted to justify our reasoning for the offer.  I am VERY uncomfortable when it comes to dealing with money, and I hate the back-and-forth stuff.  I'm a type of person that would much prefer to go in and pay list price for something instead of dickering around.  But I knew I couldn't do that in this case. 

About 2 hours later the broker calls back with a counter offer, damn I hate this.  I call M to talk about it, then I call our small business consultant, who is just awesome.  She gives me some advice about how to counter and gets my head on straight.  She puts me in 'business mode' not 'personal mode'. I call the broker back and counter, but this time I counter with an offer that I'm hopeful leads her to counter back with an offer that we can live with.  And it worked!  It was like a win-win.  I think it gave the seller the 'last word' on the offer, but her last offer was what we were willing to pay in the first place! So glad that piece is done!

There's still a lot more to the story, but I'm afraid I've gone on long enough.  We still have tons of work to do.  Even though we've signed the P&S (purchase and sale agreement), there are contingencies, and we have a 30 day out if we can't: renegotiate the lease with the building, secure the finances to actually buy the place, form an LLC, investigate and apply for permits/licenses...etc.

 Then, assuming all that goes well, our official purchase date is March 30th, and getting there is even more work.  We have de-clutter, clean, paint our current home and put it up for sale at the end of February.  We have to look for an apartment to rent in the new town, we have to finalize our living arrangement in our current city so our daughter can finish kindergarten here, we have start making and signing deals/contracts with vendors...etc. 

During all of this I have had so much support from L, she has been amazing and a great cheerleader.  I saw her yesterday and she brought us both a celebratory hot chocolate/coffee, and it was delicious.  And it was good timing because I was starting to feel overwhelmed again, and started down the path of 'what the hell are we thinking, quiting our jobs, moving, and opening up an ice cream shop...' L kept me laughing and telling me how important it is that we enjoy this journey and the process of getting there.  I mean, it's an ice cream/candy shop, what couldn't be funner!!!  It really helped remind me of why we're doing this.

So much to do, so little time........I think I need to go throw up now.