Making our House a Home is busy stuff!!

Hey Everyone!!  Sorry we haven't updated our blog in almost 3 weeks.  Its amazing how fast time goes by once you move into your new home.   So far we've been really loving our new house and just been keeping busy unpacking and getting all our services established.

Closing was relatively smooth.   There were a couple of minor things which were quickly resolved.  The funniest however, is the amount we were given to bring to closing was $0.11 short of the actual closing amount.  So instead of making us go back to the bank to get a new check our attorney literally gave them 2 nickles and a penny from his pocket and through the whole meeting the change sat on the "official" pink paper with all the other paperwork.   Was kind of silly to see it there on the table....At least it took the edge off the scary content of the meeting though which was good.  At one point  it literally felt like I was signing my life away, and if I was ever 2 seconds late on a payment our life would be instantly over....it certainly made you second guess if what you were doing was the right thing or if we should just run away while we still could!   Then as quick as the meeting started it was over and the house was ours!!

Moving on the other hand was a nightmare!  We decided to hire a mover since we needed to be out of the rental house by the next day, it was hot, and we already asked for help from all our friends and family when we sold our house and moved to the rental.  We thought hiring a mover would make every one's lives less stressful  but we were so WRONG!!.  We got quotes from 6-8 moving companies, and ended up hiring a company that was recommended through the realty company used to sell our house.  This moving company was the only company, who after actually looking at our stuff, recommended  having 6 guys and 2 moving trucks (one to move the rental, and the other to move the storage units simultaneously).  Andrew called the day before  to confirm plans and arrival time (1pm).  

WEEEEELLLLL.....1pm came and went, 2pm came and went.....Andrew calls to ask where the movers are and they are finishing a prior move and said they'll call back in 20 minutes for an estimated arrival time......3pm comes and goes and we still don't hear anything and now we can't even get a hold of them.  SO we load our minivan to the max and I drive an hour to meet my dad at the new house to help unload.  4pm comes and goes and still nothing from the moving company.... My husband and father in law were getting nervous that the movers were going to be a "no show" so they rent a U-Haul and load everything from the rental house and drive 1 hour to our new house and have the u-haul unloaded before we finally hear from the moving company.  They were finally on their way to load the storage units.  So 8pm comes and goes and the movers still weren't at our new house (I'm thinking now all 6 guys are there to do the storage units so it shouldn't take long).  Finally around 8:30 or so they get to our new house and unload.....however because it was so late they didn't put furniture in the right rooms, boxes just went wherever regardless of the room labeled, stuff got broken, we ended up helping unload.....it was just a mess.

Around 10:30pm the movers were finally done unloading.  By then my kids were asleep at my moms (my mom already had 4 out of town guests staying with her  so we felt bad having her watch our 3 kids as well). The movers told us they only accept cash payment, so earlier in the day we had withdrawn enough cash to  pay more than the high estimated moving quote plus tips......So you can imagine our surprise when we get the bill at 10:30pm and it is 40% more than the high estimate of our original quote.  My husband who is usually pretty reserved flipped out.  Not only where they over 4 hours late, they only moved the storage units (both  the rental and storage units were included in the original estimate), we had to rent a u-haul and move the rental ourselves and they didn't even put the stuff in the rooms it was supposed to go, and how can they charge 40% more than the high estimate when they actually came and looked at our stuff prior to the original quote so it wasn't like   they didn't know the amount of stuff we had when they gave us the original quote......We were livid!!  Long story short I think we still paid too much but the bill was compromised and we were just happy it was over!!. All that we had hoped to avoid by hiring a moving company still ended up happening anyways so it was an expensive disappointment!!

Since moving day things have been good.  We love our house!!  Most of our stuff has been unpacked and  installed.   The lights/ceiling fans we were responsible for have been installed, the mail box is up, even our garage door opener is installed....thank goodness my husband is so handy and technologically gifted.....he's really done a great job getting us set up and settled.  As of last week we have Internet, cable, and phone, and as of today our trash service has begun (guess there was a mix up in our start date....nothing like having 3 weeks of  trash and boxes piling up in your garage....yuck!).  Already I've been dreaming of how I want to decorate.  I have some new curtains up in the morning room, and we will be putting up new curtains in the family room tonight,  and I have some paint colors picked out.

Our grass.......well its supposedly growing.  A couple days before closing they hydro seeded our lawn and a big storm came the same day and washed it all away.  Ryan told us they felt the grass seed was still there but if it doesn't grow they'll come back later and re-treat it.  Well the front yard does look good but the back yard is nothing but mud.  I'm hoping at our 30 day inspection it will be handled. I can't wait until we can walk outside and relax in a yard again ......feels like forever watching the grass grow...ha!!

Other than the grass there has just been some small stuff to report.  The biggest issue, however,  happened  a couple days after we moved.  I heard banging in the basement and found a pipe that was completely off the gas hot water heater.  Andrew had temporarily fixed it but the plumber came the next day and officially "fixed" it.  But within a day or so my husband had to continue putting  the pipe back on the hot water heater multiple times a day.   I guess there have been a few issues with the workmanship of the plumber who originally did the work so our PM came to look at the pipe for himself and felt it was installed a little too short.  So he called the owner of the plumbing company to come take a look and resolve it himself.   As far as I know whatever he did to resolve the situation has now held.  One big gripe we have had though..... the paint used on the walls of this house is horrible! I swear you don't even have to touch it and it picks up dirt or marks.  Then if you try to wipe the smudge off, the wall comes off with it.  Wish they would have used at least an egg shell paint.

One of the best parts of our new house, besides having the best neighbors ever, is we love our proximity to everything.  Before, we lived at least an hour away from everything, work, family, friends, stores, etc.....my new commute to work...15 minutes!  AND I'm 10 minutes from all our friends and family....its sooooooo awesome and what a difference it has already made in our lifestyle!!  Love it!!!

Well I wish I had some pictures for you on this post but unfortunately I don't.  Perhaps after we hang the curtains tonight I can get some posted for you.  I continue to check out all your blogs.  Looks like you're houses are all coming along nicely.  Congrats go out to Ravenna Ranter on your close......what a nice gift with all those plants.......everything looks so beautiful!!

Until next post......