NEW HOME

Last week, we received a call that put me in tears.  Happy tears.  The day finally came to close on our house and become homeowners once again.  What a journey we’ve been on these past 2 years (1 year and 9 months, but who’s counting). If you’ve read my previously posts, you know I was not happy with the house we purchased in June of 2012. In May of 2013 we made the decision to sell the house and build a new one.  It took 10 LONG months for them to build this house, but it was worth each and every minute of it.  We originally thought we’d be closing in December, then we were told it would be February (actually no one told us this – we just assumed since they were so far behind).  In January, we received the great news that we’d be closing on Feb 24^th… well that day came and went and they were still putting the finishing touches on the house.  This may or may not of had anything to do with the long list of repairs I kept giving them.  Finally, the first week of March we were told we would close on March 26^th.  Well, all the paperwork I’d signed had our interest rate expiring on the 25^th so I was quite concerned with closing after that date.  They kept assuring me that everything would be fine but since we’ve been down this road before, I was getting a bit anxious.  On Wednesday, March 19^th they called and said we were clear to close on Friday the 21^st.  Hallelujah. Praise GOD!  The only problem with closing a week early is that I hadn’t made arrangements for moving.  With Jeff being in a cast and crutches, he wouldn’t be any help.  YIKES, what to do – what to do… So I did what any girl would do, hire movers!!  My Mom and her friend came and helped me pack which was a huge blessing in itself.

Friday came and I could hardly contain myself. We still didn’t know the final amount of money that we needed to take to closing so I was waiting very anxiously with my phone in my hand, refreshing my emails each time I died playing flappy bird (which is often).  It’s now after 10 am and closing was set for 12:00.  Knowing we have to make a stop at the back for a cashier’s check, we would have to leave the apartment by 11 to get to closing on time. Finally, at 10:45 am, I received an email with the final amount to bring to closing. Jeff and I quickly zipped out the door and headed to the bank.  We got to closing and everything went as smooth as can be.  At our last closing, in June 2012, I left in tears because I was so upset about the survey and having the massive easement in our back yard… the only tears I shed on Friday, March 21^st were tears of joy!!!  Feeling so blessed in so many ways. 

The kids standing at the bar looking into the kitchen
about a month before the house was complete.

The movers were scheduled to arrive between 2 and 6.  2 guys arrived a little after 6:00 with  a tiny 14 ft. trailer to move my furniture.  SMH!!  They were complaining from the start “this is our 3^rd move of the day”, “we’re tired”, “you have too much stuff”, blah blah blah… When I made the arrangements for the movers, I explained to the lady that I have Texas sized furniture, big and bulky and heavy.  Because the guys who showed up said it would take way longer than what the lady quoted me, which would cost me double or triple the amount, I spent over an hour on the phone arguing with the company.  They wanted to charge me more to come back the next day with a larger truck and 3 men… ah, NO.  Not my problem you messed up and didn’t send the right size the first time.  So it went from being $85 an hour to $125 an hour…  and from a 3 hour job to a 6 hour job.  They seriously lost their durn mind!  Although we do in fact have big furniture, we barely had anything at the apartment. It was literally a King size bedroom set (headboard, footboard, dresser w/ mirror, chest 2 night stands), a Queen size bedroom set (headboard, footboard, dresser with mirror), a breakfast table and chairs, couch, chair, a 7 ft book shelf and a tv stand.  No way it would take 6 hours!!!  We were only moving 2.5 miles down the road so even if they had to make 2 trips, it would not take 6 hours.  So, after arguing with the incompetent General Manager of Apartment Movers for 90 minutes with 2 guys staring at me (one who was missing a lot of teeth and kinda scary) I finally just hung up.  What a mess and waste of my time.  All this time, Jeff is at the new house thinking we are going to show up any minute with our furniture.  Needless to say, we all slept on the floor at our new house the first night.  I could swear that they forgot to put the carpet pad under the carpet in our bedroom, that floor was brutal.

Since the movers screwed us over, I just decided to pick up a couple of day workers and rent a U-Haul truck to move the stuff ourselves.  Saturday morning, we did just that!  With the help of my Mom, dear friend, brother in law and 2 guys, we knocked this out with a couple of hours.  It felt great to have some of our stuff in the house.

Because we had a very busy weekend of tournaments and moving and other errands I was not able to open a single box until Tuesday afternoon. It’s been an insanely busy week (considering I am the only one in the house that can drive right now) and I finally unpacked the last kitchen box last night.  That is the only room that is unpacked and put away.  None of our bedrooms are unpacked and we still have a 20 ft. storage unit that has to be moved too…  Our closet looks like a tornado went through it, it’s a disaster. It’ll be a busy night getting things in order because we have painters coming tomorrow!!

On Wednesday, Jeff got his cast off which he was so happy about.  They also took the stitches out.  He’s now in a boot for at least 10 weeks.  The doctor said that everything looks great and that it’s healing properly. The boot has a 3 inch wedge in it to keep him walking on his toes… kinda cute!  Now that he doesn’t have to use the crutches, he is much happier.  He and I both went back to work on Thursday.  Thankfully, he has a co-worker who lives in Katy who volunteered to drive him to work for these 10 weeks.

Volleyball is wrapping up.  We only have 2 tournaments remaining which makes me quite sad.  I love the volleyball season.  Looking forward to watching my girl and her team in action this weekend.  We had a great tournament last weekend taking 1^st place in the silver bracket. Kiarra had another round of testing today to see if her brain is all healed from the concussion.  Praying for great results.

Jayden is going strong in basketball.  He has his 2^nd tournament this weekend that Jeff and I will be able to go to.  I can’t wait to see him and this new team play.  I love watching these boys take control of the court.

If you could, please just pray for my sanity.  I’m serious.  This is all quite stressful for me.  Being the only driver, and trying to get the kids to/from their activities, Dr’s appointments, homework, in addition to moving (address changes, utility hookups, construction updates, furniture purchases) and having a busy work schedule myself, it’s causing me a great deal of anxiety and we all know “when Mama’s not happy – NOOOOO-body’s happy”…  Thankfully, they are each only in one activity.  I’d really go insane if they were involved in more than one sport. 

Please also pray for Jeff and speedy recovery for him.  It’s really hard on him not being able to help during this move.