Part XIV: Waiting (present day)

 We are still waiting, waiting, waiting.  It turns out that our deed was filed incorrectly, so that needs to be remedied.

I’m trying to just wait to see what God has planned.  We’ll see if we are actually moving out there or not!

In the meantime, I started a whole cloth quilt.  That should keep me busy for a bit!

I purchased the tree template from an artist on Etsy and the flower border from a quilt shop.  I modified the flower border to fit the corners of my 45* turned square.  The fabric is 6 yards of 108” wide cotton (making both the front and back) with a wool batting.  The drawing was completed with an erasable fabric pen.  Absolutely worth it to get the one with the built in eraser to make changes as I went, since most of the lines will come out at the very end by soaking, and it would have been challenging to remove small errors and my  guide lines used for setting up the different sections—seen in the template picture below—which were to help with setting up, but not to be quilted.

Template

Sketched

Border detail

One of those modified corners

Partially quilted tree

Not My Week

It's not been an easy first week here. I somehow thought moving across town would be easier, but I was wrong. It was cheaper yes, but it means my attention has been divided. I have wasted literal hours driving between the houses. All the trips bringing things over and working on little projects. Once we moved here, I have been back to clean. Back to paint. Back to scrub the carpets. Justin was back to mow. And back to haul sand and a sandbox. In all of that, I have gotten most of our things unpacked, but the garage is a mess of things that don't quite have a home yet.

I had been planning to have Justin help me with that this weekend, but his advisor sent yet another set of revisions for him to complete, so I am left with boxes I can't move and frustration in that, since aside from visiting with our company coming next week, I don't expect him to be free again until the middle of July.

We have no dishwasher, due to an ordering issue...and won't until after the 4th of July. It is an inconvenience, but I've been staying on top of the dishes, so not a huge deal. The washing machine leaked a bit, due to the drain not being hooked up, which I laughed about...it was okay. It was easily resolved and just a product of an overly busy day. Then it leaked again...it was he hoses that time. I laughed again. Also easily fixed. Now my fridge is broken. I seriously have everything I can cram into an ice chest in there--including a three months supply of two different types of insulin(!). I'm not laughing. Not even a tiny bit. Maybe tomorrow (after it is repaired), but not today.

Step 995 of 1000

Missed me? It has been a busy week around here. Saturday my mom came and gave us a hand while we got some things taken care of here and ran to get one more load in the van from the old house. Justin was able to haul two loads via U-Haul on Saturday and Sunday.

My dad stayed with the movers as they emptied the old house, aside from all those toys and books that had fallen down behind furniture, on Monday. It took them hours to empty the old house and set up the new one. They were very careful with our furniture, wrapping it up in blankets and covering it in plastic so nothing would be damaged. Two of the movers were excellent...the third seemed nice enough, just not the best job for him.

My mom and I brought the little ones here (Justin went to work as normal in the morning, just came home to a new house!). The kids beds were already here and set up by Sunday evening, so we were sure those were all ready. The kitchen is pretty well established, as I carried much of it over one load at a time in milk crates and emptied those boxes I found with 'kitchen' labeled on them first.

Yesterday I took the kiddos back to the other house where we found books, toys and even a lost shoe on the kitchen counter. I was able to give the house a good once over--walls to bathrooms and kitchen to baseboards. Justin got the lawn mowed there one last time, and aside from the need to go back to get the sand box and the rest of the sand, he ran out of room in that haul, we are pretty well finished there, except for turning over the keys.

So we are officially here. Over half of our To-Do list has been accomplished and we are settling in. There will be pictures eventually, but there are boxes to unpack, and a few more decorative touches to complete. Oh, and wonderful dear friends coming to visit in a week and a half to prepare for!

Belly Achin'

The next 3 days are our big moving days.

I went by the new house yesterday to take over some things...I try to take a nice sized load every time I have need to be there. We were getting our modem for our new internet provider delivered yesterday, hence my need to be there. I had unloaded and was putting some things away in the kitchen and in the girl's closet, when Gabby tells me she needs to speak with me.

She tells me her tummy hurts. I tell her to go to the bathroom and I run around gathering shoes and such. She didn't puke. We grabbed my cleaning bucket and she carried it home. She didn't puke. I realized too late that I left the thermostat turned down and hadn't had time to take the trash to the curb for pick up.

Aside from not eating dinner last night she was fine all evening. She didn't puke. Kate told me that Gabby just wanted to watch TV, so she said she was sick. Evidently they had been discussing that recently. The girls went to bed and slept peacefully all night. She didn't puke. This morning, just before the kids were to get up, I was pulling a few things from my bedroom to take with us on our run to the house today, so I was in the garage when I heard the screams.

She puked. Bath. Laundry. Not leaving the house.

Thankfully she has been okay the rest of the day. She didn't eat breakfast, save two pretzels--we were out of saltines, but she did eat some lunch. Hoping that the rest of our move goes more smoothly, but perhaps I shouldn't hold my breath.

Step 913 of 1000

Nate has something to tell you.



We're moving! Closing didn't go as we had planned--the banker made some errors and they couldn't be fixed in time for us to close as scheduled, so we had to go ahead or delay again...despite the less favorable financial choice (he forgot we intended to pay more than the minimum required down payment and he also failed to notice that our first payment is not for the agreed upon August 1st date, but instead for July 1st when he read the settlement), we went ahead with it so it will finally be over.

We spent the weekend completing several of the many projects that need to be finished before we are completely settled into our new home. We are very thankful for my parents who were willing to come down and help with the kids for closing day and AGAIN on Saturday to help with that To-Do List. With their help, we knocked it down to a dull roar.

We are thankful for a new door (with a peep hole at my eye level), new locks, door stops, a new kitchen faucet (that actually allows water through), a hand held sprayer of the kids shower (so helpful for little ones' baths), cleaned out cabinets, some of our curtain rods are up (the dill bit broke!), among several other projects that they either helped with or helped keep an eye on the kids while we accomplished.

Oh, and if you haven't seen, this is what my Daddy is building for our new library. We're keeping him busy!

We are hauling odd shaped things in the van, so as to decrease our move next weekend. We were able to get one load over on Friday and we made three hauls on Saturday, one late one, as we saw the weather report and remembered that the broken glass Justin had cleaned up and put in paper bags was still on the deck, with a 100% chance of rain for the evening (after he watered our grass here because it needed to be mowed but is crunchy, none the less). Rather than waste that time and tank of gas he made that last haul by himself as I got the little ones to bed and packed up some more things to take next time we head that way.

Next weekend we'll U-Haul some the last of the little things over and Monday we have movers coming for some of our bigger furniture (read: We didn't want to carry the hide-a-bed up all the stairs to the bonus room!). Then I'll have the final clean out here, and we'll be permanently there. And we do mean permanently--Justin said he'll move out when he can't get up the stairs.

Step 793 of 1000

Hi. my name is Kristy and I have a problem.

See, this was supposed to be a simple cross town move. The kind where you load a few plastic totes up the night before and just unload them the next day when you run to the new house for something, like carpet cleaning or scrubbing some baseboards, or just looking at the new space. I sat on my hands just fine throughout May (lets just pretend that I forgot that it didn't have 60 days in the month this year). Now though, I'm itching to get moving.

So I'm boxing.


It's all free except the tape, since we kept all of our boxes. And we are going to have a bit less time to move, since we didn't close on Friday and we won't be closing on Wednesday. Now I'm rationalizing it. Ack!

Well, If you need me the packing tape and I have a standing date these days!

Bump

I will gladly admit that I have been frustrated by the delays with the house. Much of it is just the fact that we are up in the air so much right now (delays being one thing, uncertainty another), but I am very grateful that one of these days we will get to move in, and until then we have this comfortable place to call home.

Reading the stories of the bloggers who have been traveling with Compassion this week makes it so very clear that these bumps, while frustrating, are definitely just minor inconveniences.

Very thankful for my blessings and for those who are reaching out to those who are in need around the world.

Step 784 3/4 of 1000

I don't even curse, but filth and foul and filth. It has been a stinky day.

I found out that the appraiser was without cable so he didn't send anyone his report last week. You know because there are no public libraries and McDonald's doesn't have free wi-fi. While that stinks and does delay our closing, we can set it for next week.

I agree to next Friday, because apparently that is the favored day for closing. I call the carpet cleaner and reset the date.

After I get off of that phone call, the realtor calls and says that he thinks we should really go mid-week, since the people we are buying from are antsy. Okay, I answer. I call the carpet cleaners again, thankful to get a different person, because I seriously seem crazy.

Then I reschedule the movers. Justin schedules a U-Haul for our smaller things. I have started planning out the next week and a half in my head. What to do when, what goes where, when we need help with the kids. all that fun stuff.

I run an errand. I come home. The phone rings. Yeah. Scratch my plans. I have to call everyone back. Again. Because there is an odd rule. The house we are buying isn't a flip, but because it is being held in trust FHA has decided that it has to abide by the rules of a flip. Which means a second appraisal, you know, because the first one went so smoothly, I'm thrilled. Oh, and don't worry--we don't have to pay for it (No joke, 'cause I wasn't planning on it.). So the long and the short of it is. We will close...someday, but no one is really sure when. So I have to call these people back and say...I don't know what. I can cancel completely or I can take a guess and maybe have to move it again. to add to that, Justin is teaching a summer class starting next week and has several days that he is doing academic advising all afternoon...so scheduling will become more difficult as time goes on.

So, if you need me I'll be banging my head against the wall...or on the phone.

Step 812 of 1000

Someone forgot to tell me that we are closing on our new house on THIS Friday, until we were on our way to Cincinnati (and by someone, I mean me). I knew June the 3rd was the date, but I still had weeks, right? See I thought that May had like, eight weeks this year. I was wrong.

Maybe I should pack a little.

Nah.


I'm too busy making a quilt.


Isn't it pretty? You can sort of see that the stitching is a multicolored thread. It took me a lot longer to make than I planned, but it is finished now.


And it matches Kate's fairly well.


And making valances.

Justin has a project going too. He's painting our old desk white to match the trim in the new house. It was pretty banged up--it had belonged to his dad and as far as I know hasn't ever been refinished.


Here it is two coats of paint in--it will probably need one more coat.


I did go shopping for a few trivial things this weekend after we got back, for silly little things like a kitchen faucet that actually allows water to flow though it, towel bars, curtain rods, door stops, and the like. And I mailed notice to our landlord that we will be leaving at the end of our lease, not renewing. Progress, progress.

Hopefully everything goes smoothly for closing on Friday, finding a mover to help with our furniture on short notice (for next week), and that I that I get all my little ducks in a row!

Step 812 1/2 of 1000

Since I wrote that, I sent an email to the realtor because I hadn’t heard about the time for closing yet. Evidently God thinks I need another week to get it all together. We’ll have to wait another week to close. It seems that the bank’s appraiser (who we paid, by the by) declared the a/c didn’t work. Since we had it inspected just over a week ago, we beg to differ. Evidently he didn’t bother to check the electrical panel, where the breaker was off (so it didn’t waste electricity), seeing as the house is vacant. We think they need a new appraiser, seeing as he didn’t figure that out and evidently he didn’t notice that the furnace, water heater, and gas logs all fail to work (seeing as we turned off the gas at the meter for the same reason). I’m trying to be patient, but I have to reschedule the carpet cleaning and the movers we’re using for some of our heavier/larger items. It will all work out...eventually.

Justin is getting ready for his summer class and making those corrections on his dissertation. Maybe he needs an extra week too.

Step 784 of 1000

We had our home inspection done yesterday. There were no big problems, though several little ones. The biggest things are that the sump pump is out, the toilet in the Master bath is not working, and the dishwasher is broken. The dishwasher is getting power and water, so a new one should work. There are lots of odds and ends for the honey-do list, but they are fairly minor/inexpensive fixes.

The biggies are alright though. The A/C was fine, though the unit is on the small side for a house of that size, which we figured. We tried to turn on the furnace last weekend and couldn't, so I had called the gas company earlier this week to see about turning it on for the inspection and found out that the gas was on to the house already. I assumed that meant it had just been turned off at the house, so we took some wrenches with us. Thankfully that was all it was: the fireplace lights (with a great flash), the water heater heats water, and the furnace lights.

So do ya wanna see the house? First...well my pictures aren't terrific. I was holding a baby boy on my hip, so there are a few blurry/odd angle shots, forgive me.

Here is the house.


She apologizes for her state of undress, but the seller/trustee/their agent hasn't worked of the details of the trim repair. She'll get a new soffit and fixed shutters. She is, however, sporting a new roof.

Here is the inside:

The living room,

with a fireplace--currently gas logs, but is operational as a wood burning,

The Kitchen,

probably the most important room in the house,

Breakfast Area,

where Kate investigates the nice sized pantry,

The Study,

where we will likely have books for school and a writing desk,

Dining Room,

(odd angle and fuzzy--I warned you!) nice wood (not carpet!!) floor and a pretty light,

Family Room/Rec. Room/Bonus Room/Play Room,

a place to rest and play--after we clean up the bird droppings, (Did I tell you that the night we first saw the house there was a poor bird stuck in the house. We let it escape through a window, but it will need to be cleaned up after.)

Odd little Closest/Storage Room/Music Studio,

it has sound proofing and many colored shelves (I think I'll keep the door shut.),

The laundry Room,

my arch nemesis, my prison, a practical little room,

The Master,

with wood floors,

Master bath,

with a garden tub,

The Girlies' Room,

before being princess-afied,

And the little buddy's room,

painted blue, and it will have cute cars, trucks, trains, and planes decorating it soon.

Well that's the grand tour of the house that we should be calling home in a few weeks!

Step 533

Well, I feel like I've been on a roller coaster this week.

First, we heard back to go sign the papers on Monday for the addendum for the seller. That meant things were going smoothly after not knowing what would happen after the offer expired on Friday evening. [Up, Up we go.]

Then, we were awakened at 2 AM by some arguing teenagers Tuesday morning. That has nothing to do with the house, but it had me awake and so I started rehashing the contracts in my mind. It suddenly hit me, they requested closing within 21 days. Then it occurred to me that months aren’t set up in nice neat 4 week sets, meaning we would be closing in May, meaning we would have to pay mortgage and lease both in July. :P [Down a bit of a hill.]

Tuesday I find out that I must call their lender, as they required we get approved by their person too. That guy tried to get us to pick his bank over ours. I spent the day talking to him and our bank (who agreed to match the other bank’s rate plus offer us a percentage point off the first year for free). The banker said there was no way to close in 21 days, whew. So into June we go, and we aren’t in breach of contract, since all is dependent on financing. They could drop the deal, but without another offer that is silly. [I hate the mess and being in the middle, so it was up and down in all that. But I was very glad I was able to negotiate a great rate with our bank.]

Wednesday I get an email from our real estate agent that if we can’t get a guarantee from our bank to close by the 3rd of June that they are backing out, and oh yeah, their bank can do that. Things also slowed because I refuse to authorize the appraisal. “Why?” you ask. See, it is because they hadn’t signed a contract. And I told him I was concerned that they will appraise it with the messed up roof, which will require a second appraisal. They have required we use their title company already. They have just been difficult all the way around. We finally told the real estate agent we were ready to walk away. [Down, down, down.]

In the middle of all of that, I spent the day putting together all the information the bank needs to show that we qualify for the loan officially—financials and all.

Thursday I get another email from our real estate agent. After taking our stand, they had submitted the signed contracts and asked that I meet the roofer to pick out the roof color. I took the munchkins over to meet the roofer. While we waited,

I took a picture of them on the front porch (someone wanted to explore more than have his picture taken),

and I let them play in the backyard...their new backyard. That was fun, but I did learn how hard it is to keep track of all three of them without a fence! We also got the papers to sign to set up the loan with our bank, so when Justin made it home from work after nine o'clock, and we signed, and signed, and signed some more. [What a great relief, and up again!]

Friday was a more quiet day on the house front, I only had to drop off the signed papers at the bank, but Saturday we got to get back by to measure windows so I can have curtains to put up when we get there. My parents and sister were able to see the place too. And of course the munchkins got to wander through their new home, with the real estate agent's daughter to boot, so they had a blast. I forgot to take any pictures though. :P

Step 472 of 1000

Well, it appears we have a house. All the offer papers on our side have been signed along with the addendum the trustee required. There have been a few hoops to jump though, as they required us to talk to a loan officer at their bank as well before authorizing the repair to the roof. It seems they are reluctant to pay for the repair until they have a firm buyer. As of yet, I don't think they have submitted their completed contracts with signatures, but those should be in this week.

There is one tiny little hitch, but I assume it will be easily ironed out. The seller/trustee requested a close date within 21 days, which we agreed to. However, when I spoke to our mortgage broker, he thinks that will be difficult to complete, especially since we won't be having the house appraised immediately (waiting for the roof to be repaired). I can't imagine the sellers opting out of the sale over a few unavoidable days, plus that pushes closing firmly back into June (where we want it, so we aren't making payments on both the leased house and the purchased house at the same time). Also in good news, our interest rate is locked in at a nice low fixed rate that may put our mortgage payment close to or below our rent.

[As a side note, when we got home from the real estate agent's office on Monday, Justin asked what we were having for dinner to celebrate.

Having not made it to the grocery yet for the week, I offered tuna--the only thing we had that I could have ready in the 20 minutes until dinner time. He wrinkled his nose and said, "We just bought a house. I'm not eating tuna to celebrate."

Totally deadpan from the back Kate answers, "You could have peanut butter instead!"

FYI, he picked up a pizza, with a coupon, for dinner because we go for expensive celebratory food around here. And the tuna was quite good last night.]

All that is left is the official paperwork from the bank for final approval and the inspections before closing (I think). Then, it is signing a lot of papers and of course the move (the packing, turning utilities on and off, forwarding our mail, changing our address, the purchasing new things that fill the gaps, the unpacking, the decorating...). I've never done a cross town move with little ones, so that might be interesting, all the back and forth trips rather than the one big haul. We should have plenty of time to do it in, which will be helpful.

I may have pictures after this weekend, as we plan to make a visit to measure for window treatments, so I can have valances and curtains ready to hang right away.

Step 265 of 1000...still

Well, our offer on the house has technically expired. At this point we can walk away even if the seller's trustee decides to take our offer. From what I gather from our real estate agent, it is currently in the hands of a bank (the trustee I suppose) and as such will not be worked on again until Monday.

So I guess instead of making curtains this weekend I'll be waiting a little while longer.

And to add insult to injury, I had found an iron bed so that the girls would each have their very own in a new house, but when we went to get it was not a twin, it was a full. So we get to start over on that little venture too.

Thankfully I'm a little more patient than I was in my twenties and a little more assured that God will provide perfectly in His perfect time. I've had a bit of practice in waiting and we've found that things tend to go just as they should, so long as we stay out of the way.

The House that Jack Built

We're looking at some possibilities for housing. We have been renting since we arrived here in July, and though in many ways the one year lease has a long way before it is completed, but in other ways it will be gone in a blink.

We could stay here month to month. We could ask for a new lease. We could buy a house. We could have a house built.

I never dreamed that we could have a house built, but we are considering that possibility. It would be a 'preplanned' house, not something novel, but brand new and something we can make some specifications on. We're not going to get our hopes up too terribly high, but we did visit a model over the weekend. It was beautiful. For now we're waiting on Justin's PhD adviser to get back to us on his dissertation. If we can get that taken care of, then we'll feel more confident in making a big (giant) purchase.

We'll see what God has in store for us.

Close to Home

We're starting to enjoy some of the benefits of having family close by. My parents had already helped some with the move, but yesterday they got to come down, just to have dinner with us. They also brought us some veggies out of the garden that they keep with my Grannie. I've got pots going with green beans and squash right now. Then tomorrow they are coming back to baby-sit while Justin and I go to a dinner for his work. And I'm even borrowing a dress. The benefits of being close to home!

Slowing Down

I'm at that point in the move where the crazy busy-ness is starting to slow down a bit. I've got all but the last few boxes unpacked. I've change my address with nearly everyone who needs it. I've gotten my new driver's license. I've taken my van for emissions testing and registered it. I've done everything I can to get Kate ready for school until the office re-opens and I can register her.

So here we sit in a new town, knowing little more than how to find our way to the local Wal-Mart, with little to do and even fewer people to do it with. At the moment it seems ironic to have moved to be closer to people (namely family) and now have no support for the little every day things. I'm very grateful to be close to them if something big happens and we need help and to visit more frequently, but to just sit down and have a cup of coffee or an impromptu dinner, I'm on my own. Add to that the impending school year with a huge change in commute--two miles versus what could be 45 minutes of interstate driving for Justin and late labs, I'm not the most eager for that to begin.

I'm very much looking forward to making friends. When we made our first move, for Justin to go to grad school, I met people at work. Since then, I've always joined a MOPS group, here though, there aren't any close by. We're really counting on finding a good church. Last week's attempt wasn't what we'd hoped, so perhaps we'll find something this week. Wish me luck in not staying lonely too long!

Playing Catch Up

I've gotten a bit behind in posting. All this silly moving stuff is cutting into my free time. I finally got my pictures (well over 200) on to the computer, so I can do things like Nate's 8 month update and girl-isms. You know the important things that make the world go 'round and all.

In case you don't believe me about the busy part--you try unpacking my boxes. Some of them grew feet, so you have to chase them down. I got this one caught on it's back so I could get it open.

Okay, so maybe we've had a little fun too. :)

Phew

It's been quite the whirlwind of activity. We made a trip up to Ohio to visit with the in-laws on Sunday. We drove back on to my parents' house Thursday--it's hard to believe that it was only yesterday now. Spent Thursday evening loading up the van, Justin's car, and my mom's trunk as well as telling my Daddy what we wanted him to bring down with him.

This morning began quite early. Justin's alarm was set to go off at five a.m., early to be sure, but my little alarm clock woke up at 4:15. We hit the ground running, and we were on the road by six. We had planned to meet the realtor at the house at eight, but our confirmation message from PODS said that they might deliver as early as 7:30, so I was planning to get here in time for that. About half way down the phone rings and the driver said he was on the way--he just delivered it without us being here, since it was well before 7:30.

So we arrived a half hour before the realtor arrived to let us in. We paced outside with Nate who was the only one of the kids we brought down in the morning. (Thing One and Thing Two staying with Gam until this afternoon.) As we were doing our final walk-thru, my dad arrived with his truck filled up too.

By lunch time the POD was emptied and about half of the van was cleared. Of course, if you've moved you know getting everything in the house is only half the battle--we've spent the rest of the day unpacking boxes and finding new homes for all of it. And we have made great progress. The only boxes left are in our bedroom.

Now we get to do it all over again on Monday when our next POD arrives! It has less in it and we won't have all the car loads, so it should be easier on that count, but we won't have my mom's help with the girlies. Hopefully they will cooperate.

Thank you so much to my parents for all their help and to my poor husband who is really struggling to keep up his blood sugar.

Frustration

We are getting close to our move in date! We are incredibly grateful for having had a nice place to stay while we were getting all of the details of moving squared away, but we will soon be moving on to our new home. But, as if packing up and changing our address with 15 billion (perhaps a slight exaggeration) places, we also have the joy of setting up utilities with several new companies. I've been on hold more in the past 8 days than I care to think about and it's still not done. I haven't figured out if it's the company that the letter of credit is being faxed to or the company that's supposed to be be faxing the letter, but in over a week it has yet to be taken care of. We had to drive down (90 minutes each way) to have water service taken care of. No they don't care we're out of state. Yes, you have a 'nice' day too. So we should have water, phone, garbage collection, and internet, but electric is yet to be worked out. Hopefully by Friday!

Whew!

We had planned to go to look for houses in Tennessee on Friday, but as we watched houses going on the market and off in less than a day we started to get antsy. We called about a few places yesterday morning and took off with the three munchkins instead of waiting for Friday when my mom could watch the girls.

As we started out, one of the people called to push back our appointment, so we started out driving around the area near a school that I really liked. Unfortunately it was a well established neighborhood with no available rentals. We found a few homes for sale, but we aren't quite ready to make that leap yet after being so badly burned with our last house. We'd like the chance to right ourselves financially and not buy until we're ready to choose a house that we intend to keep long term.

We eventually saw four houses.

The first one was a cute two story home, but the bedrooms were so tiny I feared the room the girls would share wouldn't hold a double bed and dresser and the room Nate would have, a fun lime green painted room (which matches nothing we own), was so small that a twin bed and dresser might be a stretch. Baby gates were questionable, as the steps hand spindle railing at the bottom and not really a place to even mount one at the top. This house was fairly far out too, not a vote in it's favor.

We go to a closer suburb and see a second home. This one reminded me of the house that my grandparents bought in Kentucky after my grandfather retired from his job in Georgia. The house was one story with the kids bedrooms and main bath to the right as you came past the entry with the Master bedroom set behind them, just off the living room. The kitchen and dining area was accessible to the left in the back of the living room or from the two car garage. It didn't have the bonus room their house had though. The owner was still completing some work on it, but we were told there would be a walk through before move in.

Then we drove back to the further out suburb to get keys to two houses in the near suburb, drove back to the closer one and let ourselves in...a bit of a crazy afternoon! We looked at two houses that were pretty close together. The first had some work that needed to be done--there was a broken light switch, outlets not set into the wall, bent and broken mini-blinds, and neither house had a deadbolt. The last house had a rotting deck. Both of these houses had larger square footage and more storage, but did not look as well kept. We debated the whole way to return the keys and finally opted to pay the application fee, not knowing if the other house we saw earlier was already taken. On the way back to my parents' house Justin asked me my opinion. I truly liked the second house more, but while the monthly rent was the same as the third and fourth houses those later two had a 1/2 off the first two months rent deal. Neither of them had a refrigerator, which would negate some of that savings. He finally asked me if that the $400 (the savings less the cost of a fridge) was not a part of the equation which would I pick...hands down the second house with the better maintained property and fenced yard. I had to say good-bye to a couple of closets and a nice garden tub, but it's not like I take baths very often with the munchkins anyway, and I think this house will be better.

In the middle of the trip Nate decided he wasn't very happy with us. He cried for a few hours, including the entire last two hours. The girls put up with a good bit of the trip without too much fuss, even though we ate dinner over an hour late. I felt bad we put them through it, especially Nate, but he would have been on our Friday trip anyway.

We called, and as of last night the house wasn't taken, so Justin drove down to take the check to the Realtor who was handling the transaction this morning. So by later today we should know if the house is ours or if someone else beat us to it with their check. Once that's done I can cancel our Friday appointments. If all goes well, we would move earlier than our original August 1st date, and get there July 16th.

I, of course, forgot to take pictures, despite the fact I had my camera with me, so no pictures to show you the house, except the one I got from the listing. I'll be sure to take plenty when we get there!

3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, eat in kitchen, high ceilings in the living room, a window over the door that fooled me into thinking there was a bonus room, 2 car garage, pantry in the kitchen(!), itty-bitty fenced yard