Where We've Been

I can say with great confidence that January 2010 was officially the craziest month of my life. Hands down. We were in the middle of selling our house, but our buyers were not too stable, so we had to keep showing our house until they finally got approved by the THIRD lender. The final approval came five days before we were supposed to move/close. We couldn't pack too much because we were still showing the house. That kind of stress, having five minutes notice before someone comes to look at your house with three kids four and under in the middle of sick season, is not something I would wish on my worst enemy.

Dave was able to take the 15th off to help pack, the day the buyers had final approval. We packed like mad people all weekend. Well, as much as mad people with a 9 month old, a two year old, and four year old can possibly pack. Dave had his international sales meeting Monday and Tuesday from 8am-11pm. On Tuesday afternoon, he was able to skip out a bit so we could do a walk-through of the new house. The new house was filthy! The owner had repaired some drywall in the family room and the kitchen and family room were covered in drywall dust. There were a ton of crumbs and junk left in the cabinets. When our Realtor turned on the ceiling fan one of the blades fell off. And the bathrooms were nasty. There wasn't anything we could do about it. Had I known earlier, I would have hired cleaners.

Our loan had been fine until the day before closing. Then on the day of closing, the 20th, the processor in Texas was taking longer than expected. We switched the closings and closed on the old house at 9 and we were supposed to close on the new house at 11. We signed all the paperwork saying that we could move in our stuff, but not stay at the new house, just in case something went awry.

We woke up on the 20th and both boys had fevers. Which meant they couldn't go to our friend's house, because they would get their boys sick. We spent the morning juggling the boys, the movers, the Realtors, the loan people, and all the last minute stuff we needed to pack (like the food in the refrigerator). My mom was able to take the boys and Lucy for the rest of the day. Lucy had school in the morning, which was nice. Somewhere around noon the movers told us they would not be able to get everything in one load. Of course, right? We were supposed to be out by four-ish. Our Realtor emphasized the "ish" with the buyers Realtor, but they didn't understand that. We told our Realtor that the movers were taking two loads instead of one, supposedly it was not going to be a big deal.

The truck was mostly unloaded at the new house around 2:30 with the first load and our Realtor called us and said, "Do NOT unpack anything. You can't stay there tonight. I'll call you in 20 minutes." She called back and apparently the lady we were buying the house from FINALLY called our attorney's office with her payoff amount (she refused to give it to her Realtor) and she was $25,000 shy of what she needed. Her Realtor told our Realtor who told us, "She didn't think your buyers would really buy the house with all the problems they were having with their buyers. And really, my seller has been exceptionally gracious with postponing the closings." DUDE! REALLY? She had no intention of closing, gracious is NOT what I would call that. So, we were homeless. Our stuff had a temporary home, but we were homeless. We just laughed. We were shocked, stunned, amazed that this could happen. And we were homeless.

We drove back to the big blue house to get the last load and wouldn't you know the new owners were there with a moving truck full of stuff. The lady talked to Dave and was appalled that we were not completely moved out. I couldn't be there to face her, I was too frustrated. I was on the phone with our Realtor and she had me on one ear and the new owner on the other ear. I could hear the new owner go on and on and on. Our Realtor was awesome. I went back to the house to get the rest of the stuff and the lady came four times and at one point sat out in the cul-de-sac for 45 minutes. It took us three hours to get everything out. We decided to store our furniture overnight and the movers would unload the next day.

Right before we got everything out we got a call from our Realtor saying that the owner of our new house had miscalculated her numbers and it looked like we would be able to close Thursday or Friday. I didn't know what to believe. I was in such shock and so physically exhausted.

We stayed at my mom's house on Wednesday night. Dave and I were able to clean a bit on Thursday morning before the movers finished unloading. My friend Jenna came over and cleaned the two downstairs bathrooms. It took her over two hours. God bless that woman. It was so hard unpacking, because we didn't know if we were going to be able to buy the house or not. It was all completely up in the air.

We finally closed Friday, the 22nd at noon. It still didn't sink in, though, with all the drama that had happened.

About 10 months ago we planned a trip to Disney World the 24th through the 31st of January. We spent Saturday unpacking so we could pack again. We left for Disney at 5am on Sunday. It was Dave's birthday and he spent it driving. Poor guy. We celebrated in EPCOT, though, so that made it a little bit better.

We had an amazing time in Disney. Spectacular. We needed that trip so badly. We left Disney two days early because of the expected snow in North Carolina. Everything shuts down and we wanted to get back before Monday, so Dave could make it into work. We pulled into our new house, that we own, at midnight, with big chunky snowflakes floating down. It was picturesque. We've been unpacking like crazy since then. Our house is mostly set up. The garage needs some serious work, but everything else has pretty much found it's home.

We all LOVE our new house. It's amazing. This is our fourth house we've owned, the sixth we've lived in since we've been married, seventh, if you count the few months at my mom's when we first moved here. Out of all the houses, we've been least excited beforehand about this one. Now that we're in it, and settled, it's by far our favorite. The kids love it, too. It has a first-floor master, which we were hesitant about, but it's turned out to be fabulous. The kids feel like they have their own realm upstairs, especially with the bonus room. We had our old neighbors over for dinner on Wednesday and had Gus' party here on Saturday. It's such an easy house to entertain in. We love it!

A lot more has happened the past six weeks. There will be more posts later.