Moving Day Is Here!

Well, tomorrow is Moving Day.

FINALLY! YIPPEE!

I'm posting a quick note here before we get the computer all broken down and packed up. It may be awhile before we get things all set up and situated and I can post again. Maybe on my lunch hour or after work I can try to grab some computer time, but it's gonna be spotty at best until things get lined out.

Wish us luck!

Painting, Painting, and MORE Painting . . .

My sister-in-law and I have spent quite a bit of time together today . . . Debbie came down and helped me paint the Living Room and the Master Bedroom.

Believe me, that was a LOT of painting! The Living Room is 14x30 feet, and the Master Bedroom is approximately 16x16 feet.

*WHEW*

The Living Room was painted a nice rosy mauve color, which will go very well with all our furniture from the old house, which runs more towards the rose and burgundy colors. The Master Bedroom is now a very nice "Apple Blossom" color, kind of a rosy peach color, and will NOT go with any of my comforters or bedspreads. Oh well - - I've been ready for a change!

We met at the house around 9:00 a.m., and it was after dark when we were finally finished and she headed back home. I'm exhausted.

But the rooms look MAH-VELOUS - - SIMPLY MAH-VELOUS!

Thanks for all the help, Debbie! I appreciate you so much!

It's Ours!!

The closing went very smoothly, and it's OVER and DONE - - and the house is now officially OURS!!

HOORAY!!

Now the real fun begins . . . *sigh*

Closing Day

Well, today is the day - - Dear Hubby and I need to be at the title company at 4:00 p.m. today.

It's gonna be a LONG day - -

It's Getting Closer!

I drove by the new house today on my lunch hour. There was a BIG moving truck backed up in the driveway . . .

Oh wow - - it's really happening . . .

I'm nervous, scared, excited, and sick to my stomach all at the same time!

MORE Painting

Dear Hubby and I took this afternoon off work - - to come home and work.

(What is wrong with this picture???)

We spent the afternoon trying to finish up some painting on the front of the house that needed finished - - barely got done, because of all the company we had . . . First was a company Steve had called to give us an estimate on replacing the guttering on the house. Then our Realtor stopped by for a walk-through of the house and the grounds. Then another company with another estimate for guttering. We barely got finished with the painting we needed to do before it got dark (stupid time change!) . . .

ANYWAY - - we need to just put primer on one last part of the front of the house, and then finish it up with the same color that is on the rest of the front.

I certainly hope we can get that done before the next cold spell - - after all, this IS Central Illinois, and it IS November . . .

Wish us luck!

OUCH

My whole body hurts.

We have been putting in LOTS of hours working in the yard (all kinds of LEAVES - - stupid trees!). We have raked, and mowed, and bagged, and sown grass seed, and spread hay over the new grass seed . . .

And that was just on Saturday.

Sunday was the day for painting outside trim on the house. Dear Hubby put up the brick molding around the new slider door, so we had to paint it to match the rest of the house trim. So, as long as we had the paint out, might as well touch up the rest of the trim, right?

So - - MANY HOURS LATER - - I'm tired, my legs are cramped from climbing up and down a ladder, my hand is cramped from hanging on to the paintbrush for so long, and I am COVERED in paint.

I'm NOT a neat painter - - not by any means!

Last night I had to take some extra-strength aspirin before bed, so the aches and pains wouldn't keep me awake all night. I'm taking LOTS MORE of it today . . .

But it will be worth in in the long run - - once the house is put on the market and is looking GOOD! :-)

Preparing for Market

We are putting lots of work into getting our current house ready to put up for sale. The new roof was put on Thursday and Friday (the old roof was about 30 years old!), and we are getting ready to powerwash the outside and get the patio and formal garden all cleaned up and winterized. Dear Hubby mowed both lots today and bagged up leaves; the yard looks GREAT! I spent time today pulling old dead plants out of the planters and emptying the dirt out so we can take them with us to the new place. Don't know if - - or where - - I will have a garden at the new house. If I don't use the planters, they will make a welcome addition to my yard sale next Spring!

Yesterday we spent the entire day pulling the old French door unit out of the dining room and installing a new sliding glass door. The old door had rotted through on the bottom, due to the fact that when we bought the house 11 years ago, there had been a deck and a deck bench right outside that door; rain and wet leaves fell between the door and the deck bench, and over the years, it rotted. We did not want to do a "quick fix" and sell something that was sub-standard. That is what happened to US when we bought this place, and we will not do that to someone else!

This week will be busy with more sorting, packing, painting - - *sigh* - - I'm getting worn out just thinking about it!

But closing is now less than 2 weeks away, and we need to be able to move out of here as quickly as possible, and get this place sold. My stress level is going to be extra high until we do - - only then will I start to calm down and think that everything actually will be okay.

Another Update

Tomorrow Dear Hubby is meeting our Realton and going to the house to meet with the seller one more time. He wants to know about the whole house water softener, and the well pump, and a few other things he has questions about.

Our Realtor has agreed to go with him and "run interference" so that it is a SHORT visit this time!

Good luck, guys - - for once, I'm glad to be at the office! :-)

The Seller

We had asked our Realtor, Carol, if there was any way we could get in to the new house for a brief time to do some measuring in the kitchen and laundry room, since we needed to buy a new refrigerator and washer/dryer. She called us back and told us a time had been set up for today at 5:30 p.m. She said she didn't think the seller would be there, which was fine - - we just needed about 15 minutes or so to measure a couple of things, maybe refresh our memories about wall colors in a couple of rooms, and then leave.

No problem, right? Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

When we got there, the seller was there. She seemed like a nice enough person, but after some talking, we could tell there was something not quite right about this situation.

Our realtor had told us previously that it was best for the Realtors to handle any exchange of information during a transaction, because that helped to keep the "emotion" out of things.

She was SO right. This lady had LOTS of emotion about the whole thing. And LOTS of things to say. What should have taken no more than 15-20 minutes wound up takine almost 90 minutes. WE COULD NOT GET AWAY - - even our Realtor was having difficulty getting us out of there. We were trying to be nice, and polite, and not offend in any way, which is VERY wearing on a person after a while.

One thing we noticed as a potential problem - - they have 2 horses, which belong to her daughter, who will be leaving for college next Spring. She will be going to either SIU or ISU, and has not decided which yet. If she goes to SIU, she has nowhere to board the horses, and Carbondale is so far away, and this is such a GOOD setup for horses . . . and if she goes to ISU, she has an uncle and aunt who live up there and own a farm where the horses could be stabled, but then she would have to work on the farm to pay for the board, and she just wasn't sure if she wanted to do that, and THIS PLACE was such a GOOD SETUP FOR HORSES - - and on and on and on.

Sorry, lady - - the horses are going - - going - - gone.

NO boarding for horses at my place. Nope. No way. No how.

No.

THEN - - (yes, there's more) - - she was talking about trying to get everything moved out to Nebraska, and her husband just got moved in to an apartment out there, and had just returned their travel trailer that he had been living in (since JULY?????) - - and if for some reason she didn't have everything ready to go by the closing date, she could just live in the travel trailer for a few days.

Ummm - - lady, where did you intend to hook that trailer up? And - - if you don't have everything ready to move by November 10th, where did you intend to have it stored away until it was moved?

HMMMM?????

Sorry - - no horses, no storage, no squatters in my driveway.

Nope. No way. No how.

No.

*sigh*

Why do things things happen to us?????

Oh well - - let's see what November 10 brings . . .