We're closing today!

Change of address cards were sent out more than a week ago, but we don't live in our new home yet. Our initial contract on our new town home expired May 14th, because that was when we were supposed to take possession of the house. May 13th, we found out that the closing was not going to happen on the 14th, but that Friday, May 15th was a possibility. That obviously didn't happen either and neither would a weekend move.

My brain went into overload while Craig dealt with realtors and banks. What utilities did we transfer over that we would need in the apartment? What about the mail? The U-Haul? The people who were going to help us move? The fridge delivery? We heard that Tuesday was the new closing date, but the bank could not confirm it because they didn't have all their paperwork (incidentally, it's the seller's fault, not ours and not our Realtor's fault). We were not going to get our hopes up.

Gratefully, we planned a nine-day overlap between breaking our apartment lease and the original closing date, so we at least had a place to stay. The weather really didn't cooperate this past weekend anyway - lots of torrential rain. You know, the kind where you run to your car and in the five seconds it takes you to get in your car, you're already totally wet. Moving last weekend would not have been fun. We had originally intended on a slow, leisurely move. That won't happen anymore. We also lost a lot of our help because we have to move during the week versus the weekend now. I think one other guy is going to come over and lift the heavy items with Craig Tuesday evening. I'll owe Berger a really good meal after this is all said and done. He's a good friend to come over and help us out.

Craig and I did go over to the house Sunday night to do a little cleaning. Our time line is crunched and we know the lock box code, so we just let ourselves in. We didn't do much, but every little bit helps. He cleaned the inside of the kitchen cabinets while I vacuumed the upstairs. What we discovered was surprising. The place is really clean. I mean, really clean. Craig barely got the shop towels dirty in the kitchen. I discovered that the carpet is still shedding - just like new carpet. The carpet fibers that filled the canister were mostly cream in color, and the dirt that I did pull up was from the main walkways. I had noticed that the carpet had been professionally cleaned, but I would have still expected more dirt. I can only imagine what the canister will look like with cat hair and carpet fibers...I'm going to have to dump the canister out after every room! We also bought sticky plastic to protect the stairs and main walkways, so we put that down.

We have learned a few things about the house from the neighbors we met. First, there has only been one owner and it was a single woman who was a flight attendant. She was rarely home. It has also been vacant for more than a year, so she lived there for maybe two years at most. The house hardly looks lived in, especially since all the walls were repainted. I am tremendously grateful that the house is move-in ready. We already own one fixer-upper, I don't want another.

So, today's the day! It was a long, frustrating road to get to today, but we're happy it's finally here. We're grateful that we did have a place to stay. We're grateful for nice weather. We're grateful we dealt with this uncharacteristic move before the baby got here. Basically, we're just grateful.