A Hiccup and then A COUGH

First the Hiccup:

While we were at the closing RL got a call from Jim and Cindy's RL (JCRL).  All I heard her say was, "Well yes, that IS a problem" and then my pen was poised in the air for the next 15 minutes.  Turns out that JCRL told Jim and Cindy that the time of possession was July 5th (thurs) at 3pm.  Well, it's a problem because JCRL read the contract wrong.  The contract says that possession is July 4th (wed) at 3pm.  This would not be a problem except for that Jim and Cindy's movers say they need from Monday morning til Thurs at noon to pack and move them.  Well, my movers are showing up at 8am on Thursday morning.

Much like a hiccup, everyone scrambled around to try to find a solution.  Jim and Cindy's movers could not start any earlier than Monday and would not commit to finishing on Wed. Basically, we were stuck.  We could have just not signed the papers.  However, at the same time we heard through the grapevine that Jim doesn't really like his new job out West and they may not actually be moving.  Hence, it would be no skin off their back if the deal fell through. 

So we signed the papers and here is where we are at right now:

• Maybe Jim and Cindy's movers can finish on Wednesday.  If this is the case... hiccups cured!
• Maybe we can change our move date to Friday.  This would be us bending over backwards and would make Molly sad. 
• The way it stands right now, if their movers take till noon on Thursday the hiccups may need surgery because it will be a total mess.  They will be going out one door while we go in the other, everyone will be pissed, and JCRL will owe us $300.

But that was just the hiccup.  Wait till you hear about the cough. 

As we were signing the papers, a huge storm with hurricane gust winds came through and killed the power at the Title Company.  Mr. Molly had to sign the last paper using his flashlight app.  We thought that was the worst thing, but it wasn't.  When we tried to go back to the AH we ran into this:

Photo Credit

Yes, that is the street that provides the only entrance to the AH.  Sufficed to say, we have no power at the AH and it is not estimated to come back until 7/7 or 7/8.  Also, we can not drive up to the AH because of the scene above. 

So the cough can be summed up as this:  no power, no street access, 90+ degree weather, and possibility of not getting into Dream House until Thursday the 5th.  All of that added up to the temporary cure.... get the hell outta dodge. 

We headed to Molly's Parents house for some prescribed R&R..  We will be hanging here until Wednesday.  Stay tuned to see if our cough gets cured, or turns into emphysema.

Closing Time

Closing time, you don’t have to go home
But you can’t stay here

Closing time, time for you to go out
To the places you will be from
Closing time, this room won’t be open
Till your brothers or your sisters come
So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend
Closing time, every new beginning
Comes from some other beginning’s end

- Semisonic, 1998

In 1998 I was a sophomore in college, and I never could have dreamed I would meet such a wonderful man, have two beautiful children, and be successful enough in my career to be able to go sit in a little room at a little table, sign my name a million times, and buy this:

I'm wearing my lucky underwear, a green shirt, and my shamrock necklace.  Please let everything go smoothly today.  Jim and Cindy - it's time to get out.  Finally.

I'm baaaaaack

After a whirlwind and exhausting 2 day business trip I am back in business and a mere 4.75 HOURS from getting inside Dream House again! 

Today is the walk through, tomorrow is the closing.  So far, so good.  We got the receipt for the repairs we asked them to get done.  The loan is all approved and good to go.  And we approved a form that the realtors needed to exchange so that we can talk directly to Jim and Cindy about possession. 

It all seems too good to be true, doesn't it? 

3 funny things....
1) Cindy asked us (through the realtors) if we wanted an entertainment center they are using in the garage for storage.  I can not for the life of me remember what this entertainment center looks like but we said "free furniture, sure!"
2) Subsequently Cindy asked us if we wanted to buy the turtle and his tank that they have in the breakfast nook in the kitchen:

that's it there in the corner. 

She said it was worth $400 but she was willing to give it to us for $75.  We said "No, thanks."

3) Remember the TV lamp I bought Mr. Molly for Father's Day? Well I went over to BFF's house to see if I could install the lamp and get the TV to work.  Much to BFF's hubby's dismay, that $38 lamp made it work like a charm and now he's in even deeper doo-doo for rushing out to buy a brand new TV.  Great news for me, bad news for him.  Can't wait to pick up our new 61 incher next Thurs.

Molly's parents are set to arrive on Independance Day to see the inside of Dream House for the first time and help with the move.  The following weekend we rented a UHaul to pick up some furniture from Molly's Grandma's house.  We will be getting:

• Dining Room Table
• 2 twin beds
• Dining room server thing
• Amazing desk that I LOVE b/c it has a lot of sentimental meaning
• And whatever else strikes our fancy... maybe some dressers/mirrors

All of that for the cost of the UHaul ($350).  That will be a good start but there will still be lots of empty space in Dream House for a while and that is perfectly fine.  This is seriously going to be one of the best week of my life, starting... NOW.

Artwork

We went to the Art Fair today.  The point was to get ideas for a couple of spaces in Dream House that are going to require art.  Namely, above the fireplace and some nooks that have spotlights on them.  We had no intention of buying at all, just trying to see what we liked and if Mr. Molly and I agreed.  We have never really bought artwork together before.

We took the kids with us because the mall that housed the art fair has a splash pad and train set that we thought they would appreciate.  It was a very pleasant day. 

We didn't buy anything but we did take cards from a couple of artists.  The first one was Rich Backer.  What we liked in particular were pieces like this

that would be all metal and could be mounted in the bar area in the basement.

The second one was Helen & Cydney who make Hand Fused Kiln-Fired Glass.  We liked their pieces and thought they would look nice under the spotlights in the nooks.  Unfortunately they don't appear to have a website so I can't share it with you.  Through some Internet stalking I did find another artist named Barbara Schulman-Kirwin who does something similar. Here are some examples of her work

Finally we pulled the card of an artist from Saginaw, MI named John Galbo.  He is pretty traditional but had some big beautiful pieces that could look good above the fireplace.  Hard to pick out a particular one to show you... I have to see my stuff in the room first to know what will look good. 

So that was the art fair.  Tomorrow we rest and try to calm the nerves in our stomachs that stem from the week that lies ahead. 

Parade

Mr. Molly and I got a sitter and went to the Parade of Homes on Friday night.  My goal was to get some ideas for Dream House as far as decorating and furniture placement.  Mostly I wanted to get ideas for the kids "big boy rooms", the basement, and the staging of the family room.

The houses in the Parade were just ok.  Lower price points than last year and several non-custom homes.  The best thing about the Parade was that it made us appreciate Dream House even more, mostly the neighborhood.  With these new homes you just don't get neighborhoods with established trees.  There was not a single yard that came even close to comparing to Dream House. 

I tried to take pics of the stuff I liked. 

This was a cool kids room.  I especially LOVE that nightstand and I thought it was need how they had those bars to hold books above the bed.  I like the metal shelf as well for trophies and such.

On the wall opposite of the bed were these cool metal baskets mounted to hold toys, papers, etc. 

In general, the basements were not that impressive.  They were either over the top, or basically a big empty room.  One thing that did catch my eye was this cool chalkboard on one whole wall. 

Mr. Molly wasn't too impressed so I don't know if we'll actually do it in our basement. 

That was pretty much it as far as ideas for Dream House.  I told you it was slim pickings.  The two coolest things I saw were a wall in a study that looked like a bookshelf but opened up into a closet, and this awesome wall in a great room:

Up above those are all spots for wine bottles and on the left is a sliding ladder that you can use to get to them. 

Sorry for the low quality of the camera phone pics.  The place was packed so it was really hard to get pics. 
I'm glad we went.  It was nice to have a date night and to give ourselves even more reason to appreciate the Dream House.

Close

This morning Mr. Molly took the liberty of adjusting the countdown on our AH refrigerator.  I came downstairs and noticed it was adjusted and was shocked.  I think the countdown started at 46 days and every single day I have been the one to change it. 

Today it went form 13 to 12 (days till we get the keys) and all of the sudden Mr. Molly took an interest.  I asked him why and he said "well, I'm excited."  I said, "you ARE?!?" because a conservative Texan doesn't show excitement the same way a liberal Italian does.  And he said "Yes, because it's getting close now."  Apparently to him 12 days is officially "close."

We can also tell it's getting "close" because all of the sudden RL and MG have started emailing and calling us after a month of silent waiting.  RL has the walk through and the closing all scheduled.  MG has a couple of last minute documentation items he needs (of course).  The point is, we are back on their radar screens.

I need to find out what time on July 4th we get possession.  According to the contract it is 3pm.  But I know that's just a time and not the real time.  If I can get in earlier, I might see if I can get the carpets cleaned.  Jim and Cindy have a big dog and I'm not sure what the state of the carpets is as a result of that.  It can't be too bad b/c we didn't even notice they had a dog until we did the inspection.  Jim and Cindy are smart.

This weekend we are doing two Dream House related things.  Tonight we are going to the Parade of Homes to check out what cool ideas the designers have come up with that we may want to copy.  If I see anything cool I will take a pic and share it here.  Either Sat. or Sun. we are going to an Art Festival at a local mall.  We have a lot of spots in the Dream House that will require artwork and at this point we are just going to get ideas and maybe find a local artist that we like.  Either way, it's fun to dream.

5 lbs

Well, somehow I have gained 5lbs since May 3rd.  I really shouldn't say "somehow."  As someone who has been on WW (on and off) for the past 9 years I know exactly how I gained 5lbs.  Knowing is only half the battle. 

I guess in the grand scheme of things, 5lbs in 7 weeks isn't THAT bad.  Unless you extrapolate it out to an entire year... then it would be 37 lbs a year.  That's singleton pregnancy weight right there.  Not acceptable.

What to do, what to do?  How to switch from Movin' on Up to Movin' on Down?  The first thing is to write a letter to the people in charge of the AH and tell them that a "furnished" apartment should be furnished with a scale.  I don't know why I expected there to be one, but I did.  They gave us an iron and a vacuum, 2 things that I NEVER use, so why not a scale?

Part of it is not having a scale for the past month.  Part of it is not writing down any points or tracking any food.  Part of it is my birthday/mother's day/BFF visit.  Part of it is exercising less. 

Whatever.  The point is, it's time to get back on the wagon.  Things are about to get busy up in here.... no more sitting around from 8-10pm watching TV every night.  Next week I've got a business trip, the walk through, and the closing.  The week after that is the move.  Movin' and shakin', and hopefully movin' on DOWN in the weight department.  Unfortunately, hoping is not enough.  I'm going to actually have to DO something.  Sigh.