Home Sweet Home

Well, it is official. Brian moved the last of our belongings from Earl Street today. He was off to tackle the mini-storage last time I talked to him. When that is all moved, we will be done with that monterous job. Next comes the unpacking, but the way I see it, the necessities are already unpacked, and the rest can be tackled in the same manner we packed it - one box at a time. We aren't on any deadlines, and while it will be nice to have everything put away and settled, it doesn't have to all be done at once.

Tuesday night was the first night we got to spend in the new house. The kids love it. The neighborhood kids have descended upon us like locusts. One of Stephen's classmates lives right next door. They have played together every evening so far. I know they will have a lot of fun together. There is also a little girl Skylar's age just down the street, though we haven't got to meet her yet. I am sure that once we do, they will become fast friends as well.

We have been so blessed throughout all of this. Our families have stepped in and helped so much. They have cleaned and moved and for that we are extremely grateful. Our church family has been so helpful too. Tuesday night four of the guys showed up and with three trucks and trailers, they managed to move all of our big furniture, as well as a lot of other stuff in a matter of a couple of hours. I can honestly say that we could have never pulled this off without all of the help we have had. Even with the help, poor Brian is absolutely exhausted. He has worked so hard this week. I know he will be glad when it is all done, so he can relax a little.

Maybe in a few days I can take a couple of pictures and get them posted. The ones that were on the real estate website really didn't do the house justice at all.

A Few More Hours - AKA Big Day #2

It's just a few more hours until we get to sign the papers and receive the keys to our new house. Then the real work begins. I will probably spend most of today cleaning. While we had hoped to be able to get in the house and do our cleaning over the weekend, it didn't work out that way. Though the current owner did finally get all of his stuff out on Saturday evening, he decided not to be overly cooperative. He basically told our agent, if we cleaned before Monday, he wanted compensated for the utilities we would be using, since they would not be transferred to our name until today. So we chose to wait and do it on our dime, so as not to inconvenience him (ha ha).

I do not look forward to spending the day shampooing carpets, cleaning toilets, and wiping down all of those kitchen cabinets, but it will be well worth it. It wouldn't be so bad, if the current owners had not had a cat, but with our allergies, we really can't take any chances. So, we will spend the day cleaning and moving what we can, and hopefully we can spend our first night in our new home tomorrow.

Big Day #1

Today is the first of two big days in our quest to buy our new home. In just a few short hours we will officially sell our home. While I am more than ready to move to our new house, I have so many fond memories of our first home. When Brian and I married, almost 15 years ago, we lived in a small duplex - ironically it is only a mile from our new house. We stayed there for almost a year before moving to my great-uncle's rent house north of Morrilton. We loved it there, but after I graduated from college and got a job we knew it was time to stop throwing our money out the window by renting.

We first looked at our current house on March 1, 1997. We closed on it a month later and became homeowners. We have had so many blessings during the last 12 years in this house. It is the only home either of our children have ever known. We have celebrated a lot of birthdays and Christmases there. We have entertained our friends and family there. And though there are things I will miss about it, it now it is time to move on to bigger and better things. Mostly bigger...I can't wait to have space to invite people over and not feel like we are all on top of each other. I get claustrophobic when we have company now. I look forward to Monday, when we get to start making new memories in our new home.

Quick Update

Well, if everything goes as planned we will be selling our house at 1:30 this Friday, and purchasing the new house at 10 on Monday. We have spent most of the last month packing and sorting. We have weeded out some stuff, but probably not nearly as much as we should have. Maybe we can part with more of it as we begin to unpack next week. We are all tired but super excited. The kids are anxious to get their rooms back in order, and to get their own rooms again. Almost two weeks ago, when we were running out of space to store the packed boxes, we decided to move Skylar's bed into Stephen's room and store the boxes in her room. That has worked pretty well, but you can sure tell they are not used to sharing their space. It will be a real treat to get to spread out again.