It's Official and Other Final Day Musings

We're officially out of the rented house. Nothing left there--well, except for a broken plastic table and some broken plastic chairs that are by the back fence waiting for garbage pickup. I'll probably have to bring them down here since the garbage only picks up "bulky items" on the 2nd and 4th Mondays. Missed it by two days. Ugh.

Still...it's locked up and the keys and garage door openers are turned in. I had to drive all the way to Duncanville to turn them in. The company has an office in Carrollton, but no. They're not always in that office. I had to go to Duncanville. About 30 minutes down, 2 minutes (maybe 3) in the office, and 30 minutes back home. Do I get gas credit on my deposit? Yeah, I thought not.

On the way home, a little red sports car came flying up the road followed by a big Chevy truck. Looked like the truck was following the car. I hung back. No point in getting involved in that, I thought to myself. About a mile up, the sports car decided it needed to take an exit it was about to pass. So he jerked across three lanes of traffic, missed the exit and plowed through the little median area onto the exit ramp. Apparently going through the grass messed him up a little bit because he started to fishtail down the ramp. He overcorrected and barrelled straight across the side road. There was a car coming up, but luckily (blessedly?) they were able to stop in time as idiot-sports-car zoomed across the road, over the curb and into the grass in front of a bank building.

I was still on the freeway, so I didn't stop. They didn't hit anything but the curb, although it looked like he smacked it pretty good. I'd bet with that low sports car, he did quite a bit of damage to his front end, undercarriage and certainly his alignment. Idiot. Can you imagine being the car on the frontage road? Thank goodness he (I'm assuming here) looked at the exit ramp as he was coming up on it. The idiot car passed what seemed like inches in front of the minding-his-own-business car.

I'll likely never know what came of the whole deal. But it took me quite a while to calm down. I could feel goose bumps all over and just this sense of--not really panic, but maybe such relief. It felt like my whole body melted. Thought I would have to pull over for a moment, but it passed. I said, out loud, "Thank you, God!" Many of us were being watched over this afternoon, that's for sure. Tried to call Richard, but he wasn't available.

I"ll say this...if I'd gotten in a wreck all because I had to drive to Duncanville to turn in a set of keys--I'd have been royally ticked. That management company has no idea. But now we're done with them. If we get any deposit money back, it'll be a bonus. I'm not counting on it. I've learned that most renter-owners don't like to give back deposits. So...we're done. For real. I'll wait a few days, then I'm taking the manager's number off my cell phone. That's when you really know it's over. :-)

So Done!

I'm done. Done cleaning. Done climbing up and down a stepladder. Done wiping down baseboards. Just done. It's probably not perfect. I don't care. I've been cleaning that blasted house for over a week now. I'm done. A sister came over for an hour or so this morning and did the living room window (including blinds--yuck) and baseboards, another window and the front door. I got the rest of the windows done, light bulbs changed out (not leaving my expensive energy-saving bulbs there--that's for sure!), carpet vacuumed and floors mopped. House and garage are empty! Only thing left is for dh to go over and put a new filter in the a/c. DONE! Now--after today--I can concentrate on my new house. I have about three weeks left before I go back to school.

I need to figure out what to do with some of my knick-knack stuff--like water globes. I had a huge wrap-around mantle in my old house. Don't have a big place like that here. Need to get some bookshelves for the office area and get that junk off the floor. And we need to organize the game room better. Dh is putting John's bed together right now, so maybe on Friday he can paint Chris's room. We also need to install the microwave. Got it home and realized that the tile backsplash behind the stove goes all the way up to the hood. So, dh will have to take some of that tile out. Things are never as easy as you think they're going to be, are they?

It's just been so hot. 105 yesterday. Could be a few degrees cooler today, but the humidity is higher. Yuck. Makes you not want to do anything after about noon. Oh well...this house will get put together slowly...and that's okay. It's liveable and presentable, so beyond that...we'll get there. Yay!

Final Week

We're down to the final week of the old house. Most everything's out of there and it's time for the deep cleaning. Ugh. I hate this part. I want to set up my new house, not clean my old one. We've gotten a good start, but it's just so blechy. There are still baseboards and ceiling fans to clean. Oh, and that little window over the tub. How the heck am I going to reach that? I just have to think room-to-room-to-room and not go wandering through the house from thing to thing. We also have to do the outside windows and front porch. How does that front porch (more of a walkway really) always get packed with dead leaves? Even in the spring?

And it's going to be the hottest temperatures of the season this week. Over 100 every day. Ugh. Anyone wanna come help? I'll be begging for help at church tomorrow. I know that I can get it done by myself, but it's so much easier and even almost enjoyable when you have someone to work with. And I'll try to remember that the next time someone I know is moving. Because I'm not moving again. Nope. Not again. This is it. So...now I'm off to clean house. Yippee.

Making It Our Own

This is the railing overlooking the front entrance. As you can see, the boys are already enjoying the idea of a second floor. These are their "guards." So be careful when you enter our home. You're being watched.

This is James's room. He picked out the color - Wickford Bay by Behr. We were worried about the color, but I tried to remember that "it's only paint." It turned out gorgeous! We (okay--Richard) painted two walls and left the other two white. It looks fabulous!
This is John's room. He chose Chlorophyll Green for his paint color. We were really worried about this one, but it turned out nice as well. It's not overwhelming as we thought it would be. Again, Richard painted two walls and left the other two white, plus the window seat in white. Both boys have spent a lot more time in their rooms today since they were finished.

We'll start on Chris's room tomorrow. He picked Amphibian gray. He wanted black, but we talked him out of that. Whew!

We Got It!

Finally! Ok...the closing was only a day late, but still...I was nervous. I spent all day Tuesday curled up in a ball warning the children to "leave Mom alone if at all possible and if I snap at you, I'm sorry in advance." The finance company was dragging their feet. They were all at a conference this week. Oh, and they needed some last minute documents and signatures. Okaaaaaay. Then yesterday (the day after we were to close), they discovered a "discrepancy" on our credit report. ARGH!

Apparently, back in 05, Richard's student loan company switched the account numbers on his loans from his social security number to a made-up account number. (Anybody remember when our SSN's were used for school ID's? I do. That's how I memorized my SSN!) The "old" account showed as being deferred, but not zeroed out. The "new" account showed as having been transferred to a different lender. They wanted proof that the "old" account was the same as the "new" account. Oh good grief.

It took some digging, but then I realized that the numbers meant something. "Oh look, that's Richard's SSN! And *that's* not. I bet they changed it." So, all the people who are supposed to know what they're doing in the finance world couldn't figure out what happened, but me...a lowly elementary music teacher...could. LOL Oh well...we figured it out and got it all put together.

So...the loan will fund this morning and we'll get the keys this morning and spend the next two weeks moving stuff down the street. Yay! The boys are super-excited. In fact, it's not even 8:00 in the morning, and they're all going with their father to the Home Depot to buy paint for their bedrooms. Ok...the younger boys are super-excited. Chris--he's excited in his own inimitable fashion. Those of you who know him know exactly what I'm talking about. :-\

My job today is to go buy the new mattress which we desperately need, linens for said mattress, and a slipcover for our couch. Oh, and I have to call all the utilities and dish people and get all that transferred. Yippee!!!!

I'm In Love...

with Craig's List. I just sold our toddler-sized bunk beds. Dh made them from scratch for the boys and they slept in them until last year when their feet were hanging off the edges. They still didn't want to give them up, but it just had to be done. So they've sat in our garage for a year--and then sat at the garage sale all day two weeks ago. I was shocked that no one bought them.

Someone said, "Put 'em on Craig's List!" I've never used Craig's List. I've heard good things and some really bad things, but I figured what the heck. I have a pretty good command of my gift of discernment (most of the time). I put the beds and a piano on there on Thursday. By Thursday afternoon, I had a sale. They picked them up today and were so excited! She said they were perfect. They had looked at something like them at Ikea, but knew that they would fall apart and they were still expensive. So she just jumped on Craig's just to see and lo, and behold, there were our beds. They were a really nice couple who have two little girls. So, they're going to paint the beds pink. Ack! She promised to send a picture afterward. That will completely destroy my boys. LOL

So...I'm still waiting on the piano to sell, although I had a couple of inquiries. And I'm looking around my house wondering what else I could put on there. LOL

Stresssssssss

We're scheduled to close on Tuesday. I got an email today from our broker with the last-minute little things the underwriters want. He swears it's normal--and it probably is. I have everything he needs and sent him copies, except for the check stub I can't scan because my computer won't recognize my scanner. One of the things they want is the source for a "large deposit" in my checking account back in April. Figured out it was the first 6 weeks' lump sum payment from my workers' comp. And I found the check stub. I remember trying to throw those out recently. There was no real reason why I should keep them, but I kept putting them back in the file. I love the way Heavenly Father takes care of me. Even when I don't realize I'm being prompted, it's nice to look back and recognize it.

I haven't packed a single, solitary thing. I didn't take my walk this morning--which I should have. And I forgot to ask the broker one important question. Guess I should email him. Feel so scatter-brained the last few days! The boys got badly sunburned on Tuesday. Blistered even. I feel like these last few days before closing are just going to drive me nuts. Now I'm rambling!

On the bright side, I put the toddler bunk beds and the piano on Craig's List this morning. I already have someone who wants the bed and will bring cash tomorrow morning! And I had a question about the piano. So now I find myself looking around the house wondering what else I could put on there. LOL That air hockey table is looking like a good deal for someone. :-)

I know it'll all come together. It's just this last bit of waiting and wondering that may drive me to lots and lots of chocolate.

Baptism Day

We did it! We got John baptized! And all went well. The baptism lasted about an hour without rushing through anything. The ward scheduled after us didn't have any baptisms, so we didn't have anyone lurking outside. It went beautifully. Chris played "When I Am Baptized" on his violin (I Like to Look for Rainbows.) One of the other moms made little boxes with notes in them for people to fill out for the boys. She also made a framed quotation for each boy about a penny.

John's 2nd grade teacher came and so did his grandparents (even his grandmother--I was shocked.) The best part of the actual program was when dh went to baptize John. "James Lawrence M____" I started shaking my head and waving my hands. John went, "Huh?" But no one else caught it at first. Not even his grandfather who was one of the witnesses! LOL Dh did catch it before he finished and everyone laughed and we started over. As John's teacher put it, those are the kinds of things memories are made of. :-)

Afterward, we all went over to a member's home for a celebration. Not a party--a celebration. ;-) We had a nice lunch for everyone and then the kids went swimming. It was a good day. The kids all had a good time.

When I asked John how he felt when he was baptized, he said, "Very inflatable." Apparently his jumpsuit felt funny going into the water. But when I pointed to his chest and asked him how it felt there, he said, "Niiiiiiice," with a big grin on his face. He also said that he could feel the Holy Ghost right on the top of his head. I'm very proud of my boys and the paths that they are on right now. I know they're still young (even the freshman) and there are a lot of bumps in the road ahead, but they've made good choices up to this point and I hope they'll remember those choices when those bumps come along.

Opposition In All Things

Have you ever noticed that almost every single problem we have within a ward or between wards comes down to communication? Take the baptism this Saturday. Our ward was told we had the building scheduled for us from 11-2. This would accomodate three boy's separate baptisms. The three of us decided to combine the program. This way people could attend all of the baptisms and wouldn't have to either pick and choose or be there for three hours. So we planned to have the baptism at 11:00 and then have a small reception.

Last Sunday we were told that we couldn't have the reception at the church. I had heard of that guideline before, so I wasn't surprised. In fact, I was surprised when we were told that we *could,* but okay. A member of the primary presidency volunteered her home for all of us. It's near the church building and is large enough to accomodate us. She even invited us to go swimming after the lunch/snack part of the reception.

Then yesterday we got an email saying that the baptism was to be pushed back to 11:30. Not only that, but we have 11:30-12:30 for THREE baptisms. And...they would like for us to be out 15 minutes before the next baptism program, scheduled for 12:30. There are five wards using the building for baptisms on Saturday--so 9-10, 10-11:30, 11:30-12:30, and 1:30-2:30. ARGH! Didn't anyone else in any other ward know that they were having baptisms on Saturday? Did they just yesterday finally get together and talk about this? We have been planning our program for weeks. It's not excessively long, but with three baptisms, it's going to take a little bit longer than 45 minutes.

Well, it'll be wonderful anyway. We're not going to rush through it. We're going to do what we went there to do and that's the most important part. I just wish everyone would plan ahead--or at least communicate those plans. What's the old saying? "Lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part." Uh-oh...I just thought of something. We weren't planning on a lunch, we were planning on a reception. It'll be at least 1:00 and people will be hungry when we're done. Good grief. :::find a happy place, find a happy place, find a happy place:::

Hot and Sweaty

I cannot WAIT to get out of this house! The a/c quit today. First, it started blowing house-temperature air, then it started blowing heat! ARGH! It's done this before, but usually there's a break in the power or something. This time...just started doing it. Dangit it's hot in the house! The repairman is supposedly on his way, but they "fixed" the problem last summer--NOT! The owner paid over $1000 last summer, but obviously it didn't help. We've turned it off for now since we didn't really want heat blowing all afternoon. Now you watch...when the repairman gets here, he'll turn it on and it'll blow cold air. I'd bet my hat on it. Then he'll look at us like we're insane. Whatever.