Tuesday, July 24, 2007

The week from Hell

Ended last Sunday.

We moved into our new home over the course of the last week; culminating in a big push on Sunday to get the old place empty and clean.

It was a miserable week. When we bought the house, my better half informed me that she wanted me to paint two of the girls' bedrooms before we moved in; no sweat. Right before we got the keys, she tells me that I am going to paint all four bedrooms, the living room, the dining room, the upstairs hallway, the foyer, the family room, the kitchen and the master bath.

I told her I only had a week; she told me I better get started.

Six 12-hour days later, the bedrooms, the living room, the dining room, and upstairs hall were painted. I got home Sunday morning at 12:30 a.m. The movers were coming at 8:00 a.m. Another night of no rest.

The bedrooms had to be painted prior to the new carpet being put in. To save money, my wife decided that we would remove the old carpet, so that the carpet guy wouldn't charge us to do so. Removing the carpet from the tacking strips was a piece of cake. Manuevering a 15 foot-by-12 foot piece of carpet out of the master bedroom, down the hall, down the steps, through the foyer and out into the garage by myself at 10:30 p.m. after a long day of work, not such a piece of cake. That sucker was heavy. Thankfully that was the hardest piece and I got it out of the way first.

My wonderful wife moved the majority of the house herself, because she had already decided that I was going to slave in paint fumes the entire week. She did a great job, despite my constant expressions of concern over her ability to get the house moved by herself in time to turn the keys over. I'm proud of the job she did.

I am also proud of the house that God blessed us with. We put our house on the market in April; within a month, it sold. We found a house in a couple of weeks and entered into a contract. The funny thing about selling your house is that you are really never done until the sale actually closes. Our buyer stopped paying some of his bills between the time he got pre-approved for the purchase and the time his loan went to underwritting for final approval. Needless to say, his credit rating plummetted and he could not get financing. Then we fired our real estate agent for his complete incompetence and re-listed our house with a new agent. After about two weeks it sold again. Fortunately, the house we wanted to buy was still on the market, and we were able to purchase it again. Transaction completed, move completed.

The new house is great and it is in a great school district, which means we don't have to move again or be concerned about the kids going to public school.

Monday, July 23, 2007

life goes by so fast

My oldest daughter is five (I now have 4 littl princesses). I can't believe that she's five already. We are not sending her to kindergarten this year, so she will go next fall. I remember so clearly when she was born, holding that little bundle of gunky baby in my arm, what an incredible experience. Having kids is an incredible, humbling, frustrating, and joyful experience. Watching children turn from little poo factories into little people is just wonderful. They are such little sponges absorbing everything around them. I love my little girls with a purity and to a magnitude that I did not think it could go. I am so blessed to be having this experience.