Monday (a.k.a. the day we became homeowners).
Monday started bright and early (as does every day). We had cleaning to do, packing to do, errands to run, and Starbucks venues to sit in. We got up early, Mike went on a quick run while I packed and cleaned (what a good wife). We left the townhouse around 7:15, and ventured over to Starbucks where we relaxed over pike’s place and a pumpkin scone (me), and iced espresso and pumpkin bread (mike). By 8:00, my achy and feverish self was strolling into Lowes, to return/exchange some painting supplies and take a quick gander at the fridges. From there we went to Sherwin Williams and picked up over $600 worth of paint (sounds like a mild heart attack, but we budgeted $1000 for everything, so we were happy). By then in was 9:00 and we were off to closing.
I called every single utility necessary on the way over to closing and got water, sewer, garbage, electricity, and gas all set up. (Working Mom tip: triple task everything).
Closing went off without a hitch. Everyone says there’s a million papers to sign, but I thought there were hardly any. It seemed like there were more when we were applying for the loan. The sellers showed up at closing, which I guess is rare for short sales, but it was nice to be able to ask them questions. Everyone ranted and raved about our interest rate, we hung out with our realtor for about a half hour afterwards and we were done!
Officially homeowners.
Went and got our already loaded up truck and drove to the house. We just moved everything into the garage, (thanks for your help). Then the annoying part sets in. We had to return the U-Haul truck by 4:37 pm (yes, that was our technical return time). We also had to pick up Mike’s car that he had left at work the day before, oh, and Comcast was coming from 4-6 pm. After they came we were going to grab something to eat and buy a fridge.
We left our house at 4, hoping and praying Comcast would be late like they usually are. We got gas in the U-Haul and on the way to get Mike’s car I called Comcast. They said the estimated arrival time of the Tech was 4:20…5 minutes from now. I freaked out. It figures the ONE TIME they are on time I want them to be late. So we decided I’d grab the car and run to meet the Comcast guy, and then Mike would deliver the U-Haul and wait for me to pick him up. Problem…when I got to the house there was no Comcast guy, and now when I called they said they didn’t have an ETA. Annoyed I waited around for a while, when I decided to go get Mike. On the way I see a Comcast van a few blocks away and I was on the phone with them. The guy on the phone said I was next up and it would literally be minutes until he was there. So I scurried back home. At 5:30 there still was no tech, so I called again, (at this point I have been waiting 90 minutes, and Mike is stranded at U-Haul), this time the guy on the phone said he left his last location 8 minutes ago. He should be there any minute. As 5:45 approaches with no tech, I am just hoping they’ll be late. They have until 6:00, or I get a $20 credit on my bill.
He showed up at 5:56. I am not kidding.
He was quick though and was out of there by 6:15. I told Mike to pick up Jimmy Johns which was close to where he was, and I’d meet him there. We got our food. It was delish (virtually only had that pumpkin scone up until now).
Now, a refrigerator. We needed something stainless to match the rest of the kitchen (I’m anal like that), and Mike was bound and determined to have glass shelves in the freezer. I wanted an ice/water dispenser. We didn’t want to spend much though. We initially went to the place that were delivering our washer/dryer. Two birds with one stone, but they didn’t have anything in our price range we liked. So we went to an appliance outlet that had rows and rows of fridges. We found a couple of nice ones but found out they couldn’t be delivered until the end of the week (!). So we ran across the street to Best Buy. We found an open item fridge, that met our requirements and was in our price range so we went with that one.
Then we went home and slept. Actually, we went home. I tried to dig out decently unwrinkled clothes for work, we went over the paint colors, and then we went to bed. It was a full day!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
The Move: Part 2
Sunday-
I should first point out that I was sick. Terrible cold, running a fever, and totally and completely congested. I guess I shouldn’t have packed all of my fall/winter clothes!
So, Mike worked Sunday, and my parents were coming to get the kids to take them for the week. Mom and Dad had been at a conference in Milwaukee that ended Saturday, they went part of the way Saturday and then finished the trip to Minneapolis Sunday morning. They ended up arriving at our temporary house around 8:30 am on Sunday, with a Caramel Highrise in hand (Bless you dad). This was much earlier than I expected them to arrive, but it was also super nice. I had so much cleaning and laundry to do that I welcomed the surprise! We hung out and loaded up and then they left with the kids around 9:30. I cleaned for about an hour, when I decided I needed to do some studying. I was picking up Mike from work at 3:00 and we were doing the final walk-through at 3:30, so I decided to head down to Burnsville and study down there. I am not really sure what the point of doing a final walk through was. These people could have scribbled all over the wall and stripped the copper and what were we going to do? Some random bank in CA (okay, I think Wells Fargo/Bank of America) owns the house!
I studied at Panera for a while, but it was packed and I felt guilty because everyone seemed to be glaring at me as they strolled by my table looking for a seat. It was not my fault that there weren’t any other places to sit! Even more so it was not my fault that I was taking up an entire table with my books. That’s just life. Then I went and browsed around Home Goods/TJ Maxx. They had a lot of nice décor items, but I wasn’t ready to buy anything. They also had Theory suits, which were tempting, but I passed as well.
I went and picked up Mike and we drove over to the house. Mike had also decided that we were going to pick up the U-Haul that evening- by 5:00, so we were in a bit of a hurry. We were waiting and waiting for our realtor to show up, he is rarely late and if he is, he always texts us. We gave him a call, and he had the wrong date on his calendar, seeing that he lives a good 45 minutes away, he wasn’t coming. He gave us the lockbox code and in we went. The house has 4 different levels, so we started in the lower level. I’m walking around, going upstairs, when I walk into the kitchen and there is NO FRIDGE. At this point Mike is going to the bathroom downstairs (seriously?) and realizes the water is turned off. So he turns it on and water starts spraying out of a hose in the kitchen. I’m yelling at him to turn it off, he’s 2 levels below me and completely confused.
So they took the fridge.
Everything else looked okay though.
We called our realtor and asked about the fridge and he was going to give a call to the listing agent. We had to move it up to St. Paul to get the U-Haul. We are both completely shocked that we suddenly have to buy a fridge. We were going through all the stages of grief…anger, denial, avoidance, acceptance…As if buying a house and moving isn’t expensive enough! Our realtor calls us back and says that it was written into the Purchase Agreement that they were keeping the fridge. This was MONTHS ago, and there was always some degree of confusion about appliances with this house, so it was our own fault for not writing that into the PA. Live and learn. Now we are just stressed because we need to find a fridge!
We went and got the U-Haul that night, brought it to our old house and loaded it up. Considering it was just Mike and I, no other help, we did well. We had it loaded up in just over 2 hours. Everything fit perfectly, we could not have put one more thing in the truck! We shut the door and Mike says, I wish we had a lock for this. A light bulb went off, We do! I ran to our car and grabbed a U-Haul lock out of the glove box of our car from WHEN WE MOVED TO SEATTLE. Random right? Mike also had the key to the lock on his key ring. DOUBLE RANDOM. Sometimes I wonder how things like that actually work out. We locked it up and left it in the driveway of the old house. We would come and pick it up after we closed on the house.
We headed home, ready for the big day ahead of us!
Some lessons learned so far.
1) Expect the unexpected. Something will inevitably go wrong. Take a deep breath, adjust, and move forward.
2) There is a reason Dave Ramsey says to have an emergency fund in place when you purchase a house. We have to buy a new fridge. It’s annoying, but other than that, it’s just another bump in the road, not a derailment.
3) Picking out paint colors for an entire house is expensive, and difficult
4) You should not move into a new house 1 week before taking a section of the CPA exam. I don’t have high hopes for this one.
I should first point out that I was sick. Terrible cold, running a fever, and totally and completely congested. I guess I shouldn’t have packed all of my fall/winter clothes!
So, Mike worked Sunday, and my parents were coming to get the kids to take them for the week. Mom and Dad had been at a conference in Milwaukee that ended Saturday, they went part of the way Saturday and then finished the trip to Minneapolis Sunday morning. They ended up arriving at our temporary house around 8:30 am on Sunday, with a Caramel Highrise in hand (Bless you dad). This was much earlier than I expected them to arrive, but it was also super nice. I had so much cleaning and laundry to do that I welcomed the surprise! We hung out and loaded up and then they left with the kids around 9:30. I cleaned for about an hour, when I decided I needed to do some studying. I was picking up Mike from work at 3:00 and we were doing the final walk-through at 3:30, so I decided to head down to Burnsville and study down there. I am not really sure what the point of doing a final walk through was. These people could have scribbled all over the wall and stripped the copper and what were we going to do? Some random bank in CA (okay, I think Wells Fargo/Bank of America) owns the house!
I studied at Panera for a while, but it was packed and I felt guilty because everyone seemed to be glaring at me as they strolled by my table looking for a seat. It was not my fault that there weren’t any other places to sit! Even more so it was not my fault that I was taking up an entire table with my books. That’s just life. Then I went and browsed around Home Goods/TJ Maxx. They had a lot of nice décor items, but I wasn’t ready to buy anything. They also had Theory suits, which were tempting, but I passed as well.
I went and picked up Mike and we drove over to the house. Mike had also decided that we were going to pick up the U-Haul that evening- by 5:00, so we were in a bit of a hurry. We were waiting and waiting for our realtor to show up, he is rarely late and if he is, he always texts us. We gave him a call, and he had the wrong date on his calendar, seeing that he lives a good 45 minutes away, he wasn’t coming. He gave us the lockbox code and in we went. The house has 4 different levels, so we started in the lower level. I’m walking around, going upstairs, when I walk into the kitchen and there is NO FRIDGE. At this point Mike is going to the bathroom downstairs (seriously?) and realizes the water is turned off. So he turns it on and water starts spraying out of a hose in the kitchen. I’m yelling at him to turn it off, he’s 2 levels below me and completely confused.
So they took the fridge.
Everything else looked okay though.
We called our realtor and asked about the fridge and he was going to give a call to the listing agent. We had to move it up to St. Paul to get the U-Haul. We are both completely shocked that we suddenly have to buy a fridge. We were going through all the stages of grief…anger, denial, avoidance, acceptance…As if buying a house and moving isn’t expensive enough! Our realtor calls us back and says that it was written into the Purchase Agreement that they were keeping the fridge. This was MONTHS ago, and there was always some degree of confusion about appliances with this house, so it was our own fault for not writing that into the PA. Live and learn. Now we are just stressed because we need to find a fridge!
We went and got the U-Haul that night, brought it to our old house and loaded it up. Considering it was just Mike and I, no other help, we did well. We had it loaded up in just over 2 hours. Everything fit perfectly, we could not have put one more thing in the truck! We shut the door and Mike says, I wish we had a lock for this. A light bulb went off, We do! I ran to our car and grabbed a U-Haul lock out of the glove box of our car from WHEN WE MOVED TO SEATTLE. Random right? Mike also had the key to the lock on his key ring. DOUBLE RANDOM. Sometimes I wonder how things like that actually work out. We locked it up and left it in the driveway of the old house. We would come and pick it up after we closed on the house.
We headed home, ready for the big day ahead of us!
Some lessons learned so far.
1) Expect the unexpected. Something will inevitably go wrong. Take a deep breath, adjust, and move forward.
2) There is a reason Dave Ramsey says to have an emergency fund in place when you purchase a house. We have to buy a new fridge. It’s annoying, but other than that, it’s just another bump in the road, not a derailment.
3) Picking out paint colors for an entire house is expensive, and difficult
4) You should not move into a new house 1 week before taking a section of the CPA exam. I don’t have high hopes for this one.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
OCD and such.
Last week we had our monthly team meeting. We always have some sort of ice-breaker when we begin, and this last week it was “Tell us one of your OCD tendencies.” Now, being we are in a room full of accountants this is absolutely hilarious, because we are all very TYPE A (this should really stand for type anal). One of the team members’ wife also works at Target so he pinged her to see what she had to say right before the meeting. So, I thought it would be interesting to see what Mike had to say about my OCD tendencies, since he knows me better than anyone.
So here were my OCD things I shared at the meeting:
1) I only use yellow highlighters, unless absolutely necessary. Mixing highlighter colors on the same page majorly stresses me out.
2) I only write with .5 mm ball point pens (“fine tip”), unless absolutely necessary, meaning I’ve dug through everything and can’t find anything else.
3) Obsessive list maker. These are the current lists sitting on my desk that I’ve made in the last day:
a. Morning Kids Checklist (basically everything I need for daycare)
b. To Do: Work (what I am going to do at work)
c. To Do: House (what I need to do for moving…pick out paint, set up gas/electric etc.)
d. To Do: Closing (what we need to bring to closing)
e. To Do: Study (a day-by-day breakdown of when I will be studying over the next 3 months)
f. To Do: Multiple Choice Questions (breakdown of MCQ categories I need to do before my exam).
g. Grocery List
4) Scheduling. Everything happens within the same few minutes of each other every day (like getting up and getting out the door in the morning, I am obsessive about running on a schedule).
So then that night I went home and decided to ask Mike what he thought my OCD items were. I was pretty excited since I was SURE he’d say at least one of the things listed above. I ask him and he’s thinking about it and you know what he says?
You do too much homework.
How is that OCD? Isn’t that just my life right now?
Ha. Maybe I’m not as annoying as I thought. Or maybe he’s just used to me…
So here were my OCD things I shared at the meeting:
1) I only use yellow highlighters, unless absolutely necessary. Mixing highlighter colors on the same page majorly stresses me out.
2) I only write with .5 mm ball point pens (“fine tip”), unless absolutely necessary, meaning I’ve dug through everything and can’t find anything else.
3) Obsessive list maker. These are the current lists sitting on my desk that I’ve made in the last day:
a. Morning Kids Checklist (basically everything I need for daycare)
b. To Do: Work (what I am going to do at work)
c. To Do: House (what I need to do for moving…pick out paint, set up gas/electric etc.)
d. To Do: Closing (what we need to bring to closing)
e. To Do: Study (a day-by-day breakdown of when I will be studying over the next 3 months)
f. To Do: Multiple Choice Questions (breakdown of MCQ categories I need to do before my exam).
g. Grocery List
4) Scheduling. Everything happens within the same few minutes of each other every day (like getting up and getting out the door in the morning, I am obsessive about running on a schedule).
So then that night I went home and decided to ask Mike what he thought my OCD items were. I was pretty excited since I was SURE he’d say at least one of the things listed above. I ask him and he’s thinking about it and you know what he says?
You do too much homework.
How is that OCD? Isn’t that just my life right now?
Ha. Maybe I’m not as annoying as I thought. Or maybe he’s just used to me…
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The Move: Part 1
Well, we said a loving goodbye to 4919 Chicago Avenue, our home of 23 months, and begin part one of The Move. (I can't remember if I ever laid out the timeline, but basically we had a renter that needed to move in September 19th, but we can't close until September 26th. I have a friend who is vacationing in Hawaii for 2 weeks so we are cat sitting and enjoying staying at her townhouse)!
Last weekend was filled with chaos as you can imagine. Moving is always tough, you have those things that you need to use until the last minute, but then packing them always takes more space, than you plan for. Lacey peed the bed that night (seriously, it was her second time ever...great timing), so I was doing final loads of laundry in the middle of the night.
The Good:
1) We had the best. landlord. ever. at that place and he gave us our deposit and half of the September rent we paid before we were even out. No waiting time on that!
2) The kids are sharing a bed this week and so far, after 2 nights, it's going great! The first night after about 2 minutes Lacey called me in to the room and asked me "Mom, can you please find another room for Miles, I can't handle his noise." Little does she know, she is the noisy one and he falls fast asleep.
3) We have our own space here at the townhouse. We get up around 5:00 (Mike and I) and I can't imagine disrupting someone that early!
4) Our friends' townhouse has a great TV Cable/Netflix/Movie set up. Not what we are used to at all (we only have TV for movies, no channels), so we are feeling spoiled.
The Not so Good:
1) Didn't get any time at all to study last weekend. Totally not ideal when it comes this close to Exam Day.
2) Our commute is hideous. I leave the house by 6:30 am. Talked my boss into letting me off at 3:30 this week. I am probably commuting 2.5 hours a day (hour in the morning, 1.5 hours at night). Kids are troopers.
3) The cat that we are sitting is scared of the kids. I think she'll warm up to them, but I guess I don't blame her when they RUN up to her!
4)We can't pick out paint colors. We are too indecisive!!! Argh!
Last weekend was filled with chaos as you can imagine. Moving is always tough, you have those things that you need to use until the last minute, but then packing them always takes more space, than you plan for. Lacey peed the bed that night (seriously, it was her second time ever...great timing), so I was doing final loads of laundry in the middle of the night.
The Good:
1) We had the best. landlord. ever. at that place and he gave us our deposit and half of the September rent we paid before we were even out. No waiting time on that!
2) The kids are sharing a bed this week and so far, after 2 nights, it's going great! The first night after about 2 minutes Lacey called me in to the room and asked me "Mom, can you please find another room for Miles, I can't handle his noise." Little does she know, she is the noisy one and he falls fast asleep.
3) We have our own space here at the townhouse. We get up around 5:00 (Mike and I) and I can't imagine disrupting someone that early!
4) Our friends' townhouse has a great TV Cable/Netflix/Movie set up. Not what we are used to at all (we only have TV for movies, no channels), so we are feeling spoiled.
The Not so Good:
1) Didn't get any time at all to study last weekend. Totally not ideal when it comes this close to Exam Day.
2) Our commute is hideous. I leave the house by 6:30 am. Talked my boss into letting me off at 3:30 this week. I am probably commuting 2.5 hours a day (hour in the morning, 1.5 hours at night). Kids are troopers.
3) The cat that we are sitting is scared of the kids. I think she'll warm up to them, but I guess I don't blame her when they RUN up to her!
4)We can't pick out paint colors. We are too indecisive!!! Argh!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Passed Audit
I hate auditing. So happy I passed.
Plus with a pass rate of 43% (less than half) I feel great!
3 more (very hard) exams to go!
Plus with a pass rate of 43% (less than half) I feel great!
3 more (very hard) exams to go!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Vacation Needed
Some days (today for example), I feel like I have been moving for the past 5 years. Not moving, like packing and moving to a new house (Although this is the NINTH time since we've been married, so that too), but moving like go, go, go, go. Never stopping. I need a vacation!! I remember when we got married and our young, naive, selves talked about taking a big vacation somewhere on our 5 year anniversary. Well, then reality sets in and kids join the family, and those big vacation dreams never happened.
Maybe at 10 years...
I mean the last time we stayed at a hotel was (hold your breath...) when Lacey was 4 months old.
I KNOW!
Well, between stress of exams, stress of buying a house, and stress of this general thing called life I have been dreaming of a vacation. Today, let's visit the South Seas...Let's go to Bora Bora.
Do you even know where Bora Bora is? I didn't. I could pretend I was smart and say it was a tropical island...which it obviously is, but I couldn't tell you where. So I had to google map it.
It's South of Hawaii. A tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between Australia and South America, and like I said, South of Hawaii.
It may take hours to get there, but I still want to go...
Um, hello relaxation. This is amazing. It looks so quiet and peaceful. And beautiful. And Warm. And Fantastic.
A Plunge Pool (an infinity pool ON your bungalow ON the water).
Maybe at 10 years...
I mean the last time we stayed at a hotel was (hold your breath...) when Lacey was 4 months old.
I KNOW!
Well, between stress of exams, stress of buying a house, and stress of this general thing called life I have been dreaming of a vacation. Today, let's visit the South Seas...Let's go to Bora Bora.
Do you even know where Bora Bora is? I didn't. I could pretend I was smart and say it was a tropical island...which it obviously is, but I couldn't tell you where. So I had to google map it.
It's South of Hawaii. A tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between Australia and South America, and like I said, South of Hawaii.
It may take hours to get there, but I still want to go...
Um, hello relaxation. This is amazing. It looks so quiet and peaceful. And beautiful. And Warm. And Fantastic.
A Plunge Pool (an infinity pool ON your bungalow ON the water).
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