42 Days

And so the countdown begins.  42 days (at the most) until we move into Dream House. 

I was planning to get more "settled" in the AH last night but I got last minute invited to the LMFAO concert so that didn't happen.  I really want to get it all set up for when the boys come back on Monday.  I'm nervous about them coming back and being confused.  We have tried to play up the AH but it's not as cool as our old house, Molly's parents' house, or Dream House so I don't know what they will think.  I also don't think they will understand that we can't go back to the old house.  They are only 4yrs old after all.

So the big question is, how much stalking will I do of the old house?  Poor Mr. Molly.  He felt so bad that the grass had burned up a little b/c we've had no rain and he couldn't water b/c the hoses were packed.  He told Jack last night when he turned over the keys and Jack said "It's no big deal, I'm not the kind of guy who needs a green lawn."  WTF Jack??? Way to break Mr. Molly's heart.  He worked so very hard on that grass.

Jack also asked Mr. Molly if he could keep the garbage can outside of the garage.  This is a no-no with the association but just the fact that he asked made us think that they are not going to take as good of care of the house as we did and that is kind of sad.  They are going to keep the front room as a playroom.  I wonder if they will paint over the balloons that Molly's Mom freehand painted on the walls.

I'm sure I'll get reports from my neighbor friends in front and back of the house.  But I will also do many drive-bys in the next 42 days (and probably beyond).  Dream House is exactly 2.87 miles from our old house.  AH is exactly 1.35 miles from our old house.

Keys

Sadness is setting in today.



Move #1 Complete

I'm writing this post from my new home, the Adventure House (AH).  Otherwise known as, temporary apartment living.  This temporary apartment living is really a very interesting thing.  It's like living in a hotel, except not.  But I'm getting ahead of myself....

The 3 movers showed up a little before 9am this morning.  They brought 2 trucks and they were super nice.  They loaded our stuff from the house into these wooden boxes that were in the trucks and then they will move the wooden boxes into their storage facility.  Darrel, AJ, and Tom were professional, polite, efficient, conscientious, and just seemed like all around nice guys.  Exactly who you would want to be in charge of all your worldly possessions.

So they packed the truck until about 3:30pm and then they drove away and Mr. Molly and I just looked at each other like "what now?"  So we finished packing our cars with stuff for the AH and we drove over here.  They handed us the keys and we walked into our new house (for the next 6 weeks).

There are pros and cons of temporary living at AH. 

Pros:

• No responsibilities.  (except keeping kids alive - that one never goes away)  No bills, small place so no cleaning, no lawn to take care of, no one cares if you mess stuff up, it's an apartment.
• All you have to move is your clothes and toiletries (and the kids toys - those things never go away either)  The AH has everything you could need including sheets, towels, a billion pillows, flat screen TVs, wireless Internet, plates, cutlery, an ironing board (ha, like I need that!), and even hangers in the closets.  It is basically a hotel.
• It is basically a hotel.  They even put little tiny shampoo and conditioner in the showers.  Like one tiny shampoo would tame Molly's hair for 6 weeks.  But it's a nice gesture.  There were 2 rolls of toilet paper in each bathroom. 
• Pool.  About 20 steps away from our front door is a pool.  Enough said.
• Fitness center.  About 15 steps away from our front door is a gym.  Enough said.
• Spacious. For an apartment.  It's 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths.  There is plenty of space for the 4 of us for 6 weeks. 
• Satellite TV including THE GAME SHOW NETWORK.  My absolute favorite channel.
• It has a very nice shower in the master bath.

Cons:

• It's not the dream house.
• No DVR
• It's not the dream house.
• Small master closet.
• It's not the dream house.
• One sink in the master bath.
• It's not the dream house.
• Feel like we are in a fishbowl.  The actual location of the unit is right in the front of the complex so literally every person who comes in drives by our kitchenette window.  It's also across the street from the pool so every person who goes there can see straight in our kitchen with the blinds open. 
• It's not the dream house.
• Busy street so kids can't ride bikes.
• It's not the dream house.
• Have to park outside.

45 DAYS TILL WE MOVE FOR THE LAST TIME.

P.S. Tomorrow we met Jack and Jill at the old house at 7pm to "hand over the keys." 
P.P.S.  Only 3.5 work days this week and then 3.5 days off again.  So that's good.
P.P.P.S. Our loan was approved and Dream House appraised for $10k more than the selling price.  So that's good.

Lost and Found

The process of packing up all our worldly belongings caused us to find many items that have been missing for some time.  For example:

• Mr. Molly's spare car keys.  Would have been helpful a couple of months ago when Molly's dad locked himself out of Mr. Molly's car and had to have someone come and open it.
• The power cord to the video camera.  Luckily in this day and age you can just use your phone as a video camera, but I really missed being able to use our real one.  Now we can watch all the old movies we took when the boys were little!
• Toys, toys, toys.  So many random little pieces of toys.  It's like they mate with the dust bunnies and multiply.
• My "cash for gold" jewelry I was planning to sell the next time someone invited me to a "cash for gold" party (which, by the way has never happened).
• Huge stash of Mr. Molly's grandma's crystal.  Now this was never lost, but I had a lot of it displayed in my china cabinet and I forgot I had a whole additional box full in my basement.  Such beautiful gorgeous crystal.  I can't WAIT to display it in my new dining room.
• One John Deere Christmas ornament and one plastic plate holder stuck in the crumpled up paper in a box that someone gave me that she had gotten from someone else.  I gave them to Goodwill.
• Lots and lots of expired food and medicine.  I gave them to the dumpster at the Adventure House.
• My preserved wedding dress.  Again, not lost but it was fun to pull the box out of the bag and look at the beautiful dress through the little plastic window.  That was $385 well spent.  /sarcasm
• The remote control and instruction manual to a DVD/VCR combo that we threw out years ago.
• Cowgirl hat.  That I got at my bridal shower.  Yes, I married a Texan.
• Molly's mom's handkerchief she used at her wedding. 

Not found yet:  My sunglasses. 

Last seen:  When BFF was visiting 2 weekends ago.

Outlook: Not good

All Packed Up and Nowhere to Go

Thanks to the amazing wonder powers of Molly's parents, we are pretty much completely packed and it is Saturday evening.  The moving truck comes Monday at 8am. 

I only have major electronics left (this computer I'm typing on, the printer, the stereo) and little electronics (alarm clock, phones).  Then just the last minute stuff, of which there really is not much.  Our car is even partially packed to go to the apartment (which we can't get into until 4pm on Monday). 

So now I basically just sit here and wait.  My kids are at Molly's Parents house in another state.  So I guess I will do some work clear out all the shows on my DVR.

P.S. I still LOVE packing.  The past 3 days have not changed my mind about that at all.

My name is Molly, and I love packing.

"Hiiiiiiii Molly."

It seems like if you admit that you love packing people look at you like you should be sent to the loony bin. 

Well guess what?  I'm out and proud.  I.  Love.  Packing.

The feeling of putting everything you own into tightly sealed and well-labeled boxes gives me great joy.

I know you skeptics out there are saying, "Of COURSE she loves packing.  She goes to work all day and Molly's Parents pack all the boxes while she is gone."

Well, that is kind of true.  They do pack boxes while I'm gone (for 3 of 5 work days this week) but the full truth is I would MUCH rather be here packing the boxes. 

It's so exciting to me.  Everything goes in a box and then VOILA (in 6 weeks) it shows up at Dream House ready to roll.  The boxes all say what room they go to thanks to my awesome moving tape and everything is neat and organized.  I think the hardest part will be at the end when you have lots of bits and pieces that aren't already organized and you have to kind of throw them together in an unorganized way.  But right now it's pretty sweet.  All the work we did back in March to stage the house definitely helps.

We have to separate everything into what goes into storage and what goes to the "Adventure House (AH)"  This is what we are calling the apartment, mostly for the sake of the kids.  It does have a pool across the street so to them it will be a most excellent adventure.

Technically the AH is fully furnished and all we need to bring is our clothes.  That's how they advertise it, but it's not really true.  You also have to bring your toiletries, your kid's toys, your kid's sleeping devices, your medicine, your important documents, your iPad and laptops, and all the food and liquids that the moving company won't put in storage.

So everything they say about "it's so great, you don't have to move twice!" is only kind of true.  It's just a baby move.  As my 24yr old employee who is about to move into his first house would say "it all fits in my car."

Inspection Period Complete

The sellers of Dream House accepted all of our "Requests to Remedy" with no negotiation at all!

Happy Mother's Day and Birthday to me!

So things are moving right along (as Kermie and Fozzie would say) this week. 

Today is the FINAL WALK THROUGH on our current house.  I hope Jack and Jill love their new radon mitigation system. 

Thursday is the CLOSING on our current house. 

Saturday or Sunday the kids will say goodbye to the only house they've ever known and head to Molly's Parents house for an extended vacation.

Monday the moving men come and take it all away to storage and we start our adventure in apartment living.

P.S. Trying to set up RL with Molly's Mom because 1) I think they would be great friends and 2) I think they could actually work together if Molly's Mom ever moves here.