Moving

Well it has certainly been a whirlwind of a week but things are almost finished. By almost finished I mean our old house has been cleared out and cleaned top to bottom meaning we NEVER have to worry about that crappy little house ever again!! Woo Hoo!!! However, as far as stuff at the new house goes, we are pretty much living out of boxes.

We closed on the house last Thursday afternoon and celebrated by painting the living room. It is now Sagey Green (yep that is the name). Friday we both worked half a day and spent the rest of the day packing the old house up and getting ready for everyone that was coming to help on Saturday.

Saturday arrived bright and early as we had to pick up Jim's sister's car at the airport at 5am, so we were up at about 4:40. We packed some more, picked up the u-haul, and had some breakfast before family started to arrive at 8:30. Jim's Dad Harry was the first to arrive then Chelsea, my Mom, my Dad, Deb, Jesse and Cheryl all followed. We had quite a bit of help which made the day run pretty smoothly.

Only a few minor setbacks along the way. First, our queen bed boxspring absolutely would not fit up the stairwell, it was too tall no matter how we leaned it or how hard people pushed and pulled. Eventually we came up with a solution. We had to cut all of the cross boards, bend it to get it up the stairs, cut down a piece of plywood to fit in the box spring, and then screw everything back together. Jim and the Dad's still had a heck of a time getting it up the stairs.

We also had purchased a solid wood tv armoire that was for sale by owner here in Des Moines. It was a great deal, but it was an incredibly heavy piece of furniture, by heavy I mean absolutely back breakingly heavy. The lady we bought it from wouldn't let the uhaul pull into her half a million dollar house's driveway, so the guys had to carry it all the way down the drive and into the uhaul. They were cursing us when we got to our house, already too exhausted to want to carry it in but with some manuevering of some carpet pieces to help it slide we made it.

Needless to say it was a busy long day and we are all glad it was over. We never could have done it without all the help from our families, they are awesome!! Now maybe this weekend we can actually unpack some of what we moved!!

Thought you would like this one Mom...

Close is Coming...

Well, countertops and carpet are all installed and they look mighty fantastic. The carpet really make the upstairs feel so warm and homey. The countertops brighten up the kitchen so incredibly much. They were finished on Friday so we had the appraiser come out to take the pictures he needed and now his stuff will be sent to the underwriter. Everything else has gone through underwriting so once this is done we should close this week.
Jayke is visiting us for the weekend. I love having him come to hang out and getting to spend some special aunt and uncle time with us. Here is a picture of him and Jim in the jammies we got Jayke for Christmas. What a cuttie.

The Hassles of Home Ownership

Buying our home has been a nightmare to say the very least. It all stems around one lousy issue complicated by an incompetant realtor. Needless to say, after a ton of annoyance once again yesterday about countertop installation mostly, we will not be able to close on our home until January 25th. That leaves a whole 6 days to move. It also means we will be unpacking longer since we will still need to paint and clean. It has been stressful to say the least but we can't wait to be there and to be living in our own home. It is a 1945 charmer and so much of what we were looking for, something with room to grow yet having some character and charm. I don't know if January 25th can come soon enough...I want to be home!!!

Workin' through the Weekend

This weekend will be a busy one for Jim and I. We need to head over to the new house and prep it for the countertops and carpet that are being installed this next week. We are scheduled to close on January 11th, next Friday, and the repairs have to be made before we close since the seller is paying for the repairs.

The main level has all hardwood floors and the upstairs has run down carpet so the stairs and entire 2nd floor are being re-carpeted. The main floor will stay hardwood. The countertops in the kitchen are a blue fake marble laminate, very unattractive. We will be getting a solid surface countertop installed and it should look fantastic.

We had $5000 to do the carpet and countertops and we came in at $4968 but that does not cover tear out and disposal of what is already there. It was going to be an extra $800 to have them removed by the installers so we decided we will do it on our own. We will also be painting the upstairs before it is re-carpeted. Wish us luck!!