Dilemma solved (hopefully)

I think the Lord knows it's sometimes hard for me to make decisions.  That is why, I seem to struggle with options for a long time, then have all but one foreclosed to me.  It turns out that the newer home in the same ward is under contract to someone else.  Meanwhile, H has likely decided to buy a different house that turns out to be in the other ward I was looking in.  Problem solved, hopefully.  We'll see what happens with contract negotiations and inspections, but I visited the house again this evening and felt like it would be a good place to be.

Meanwhile, it looks like our buyers might back out.  It's unclear whether they can't perform or are just letting us bribe them out of the contract, but our other buyers are still eagerly waiting and hoping to buy the house, so even if we pay the first buyers 5k not to buy our house, we come out roughly 15k ahead and have a more solid buyer that is able to close.  There are so many moving parts, it will be a miracle if I make it through the next month, but when I do, things should be much more stable.  I'll be writing up a written offer on the new first choice tomorrow.  It's also got 4 br and a gameroom, same square footage as the other, but a floorplan I like better, and manages to squeeze in a small office which could double as a guest room or nursery if needed. 

It also has great landscaping, with a lush, verdant, private courtyard in front, and a patio and multilevel deck in back.  I just wish I had my dad's magical green thumb to care for it.  Truth be told, though, a good chunk of my dad's magical green thumb is called hard work.  I don't think anyone outside the immediate family--and maybe not us either--has any idea how much time he spends on his yard.  He hosted a wedding reception for a cousin last month.  I hear it was wonderful, and I know she was very gracious and grateful.  However, since most of us see his yard as always beautiful, she may not realize he generally spends hundreds of extra hours making sure everything is as perfect as possible each time he agrees to host one of these events.  He's a good man.  But maybe just a touch obsessive about his perfect gardens. :-)