Move Update # 3 - 06/24/2006

Tuesday we got up a little late and had to rush to the baby sitter's. Our closing was at 10 a.m. in Sanford and we had to drop "I" off in Orlando, from Deltona. A lot of driving. When we got to the title company's offices, they had a totally enclosed play room for kids. Doh! If we'd only known.

This time, it was just David, Jake & I, plus the closing lady. No one else. We signed a gazillion papers, they kept a bunch of the $$ we made yesterday and boom! keys to the new house. When Debi the closing lady said "Congratulations," I grabbed David's arm and shook him while saying "Yaaaaaaaaay!"

Drove BACK to Orlando from Sanford to get "I" and then BACK to Deltona to the new house. We got in through the garage door (different keys from the house - no garage door opener yet), through the door to the kitchen with the house key and walked around. Then I went to the front door to test out the keys there. They worked on the dead bolt...but not the bottom lock. A-HA!! Hence the rude people not being able to get in. The key did not work. Na-nee-na-ni-boo-boo. We had the garage keys and were just fine. I called and left a message for the builders and they had someone out the next morning to fix it.

So, this is Tuesday, it's about 1 p.m. We're lolly-gagging about....until David said that oh, by the way, the truck is due tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. AAAAAK! What? We have an entire truck to unload, a toddler...toddling about..., a 12 year old whose idea of helping is grabbing one thing and casually strolling down the ramp, only to get fascinated by whatever was in the box. *sigh* I don't know how we did it. I had David set up Mrs. Squeaklefritz's bed first, so she could nap and later go to bed. Oh, no blinds in the house. No ceiling fans...and it was a hundred degrees upstairs. We worked out tails off. DAVID worked his tail off. He really did. At MIDNIGHT we were done unloading. I wanted to cry. My body hurt so badly. We actually carried a washer & dryer up an L-shaped flight of stairs! David's idea - I blame him for the dinged and chipped drywall. I think I lost an ovary on the landing. I only need one, right? So, I'm asleep on the mattress at 1 a.m. We got up at 7:30 to get ready to return the truck at 8:30.

Since then, it's been unpacking and sorting and whining and yelling. This is not fun, people. Ms. Squeak has discovered the wonders of stairs. Up & down, up & down. Someone has to constantly be watching her, so it gets a bit frustrating. "Where's 'I'?" "I dunno, I thought you had her." There she is, half way up the stairs.

There are also ants everywhere! What a pain. They bite sometimes too. Ouch! We have found a few places where they are coming in from the outside and have to seal those, but I am sure they are inside the walls by now. Fun. Middleton Pest Control, here I come.

I walk around the house moving things from one place to another. We want to paint, so a lot of things like frames and shelves will remain in boxes until we are done, which is driving me bonkers. The ADD in me.

Even with the swollen knees and climbing the stairs (who the heck was the idiot who wanted stairs? oh, that would be me), the lower back pain, the stiff neck, the painful feet, I still walk around with a grin on my face - Thanking God all the time.

Move Update # 2 - 06/23/2006

Did I mention the tiredness that is me? My knees! WHY did I have to be an idiot when I was 18 and bust them up? As Vicky so aptly put it, "You're going to be one of those old blue hairs yelling I'm mo-bile thanks to my Hover-round!"

OH HEY! SIDE STORY: While my sister Brenda & Fede were here, I decided to take them to look at the new house, from the outside. We're walking around the house, and two cars pull up in the driveway. I'm not too concerned. I'm thinking maybe the builder, Maronda, told them where they could see what a George Washington model looked like. So, I am putting Ms. Squeak in the car seat, when my sister comes around the corner and says "They're putting a key in the door Kaaren!" Now, there is no Maronda rep. with them. Just some old Hispanic lady(Puertoriquena by the look. I can spot my own). and her son in his 30's. My sister Brenda, as you can tell by my last post, takes no guff. She says to them "Why are you trying to get into my sister's house? SHE doesn't even have a key to show her own sister and they're letting strangers look at it?" They explain that Kenya at Maronda gave them a key so they could look around. Unattended. In my house. Now, I knew I had not technically closed on it, and I said so to them, but the more I thought about it, the less I liked it. Brenda said that it looked as though the key would not work because the older lady was jamming the key in & pounding on the door. I got on my cell and called my salesman Ralf. I was driving around the block as I spoke to him. I asked him "Ralf, why did Kenya send people to look at the house? I mean, I've already had my second walk-though, right? I've already signed off that everything is perfect, so what recourse do I have if someone does something to the house or something gets damaged?" Ralf acted all shocked but I really don't believe it. I think they were trying to be sneaky and show the house. The odds of my being there were pretty slim, right? HA. God works in mysterious ways. I drove back to the house and Mister Hispanic Guy gets ATTITUDE with me. Attitude! He's at my house and he's giving me 'tude?!? He starts immediately with "I have nothing to say to you, you need to call the office. It's not your house yet anyway, you haven't closed." To which I replied "I did call the office. They said that no one should be in the house. I've already had my second walk-through. I've signed off that it is perfect and no one should be in the house even after the first walk-through!" (They're getting in their cars - looks like they never got in the house). My sister Brenda asks him "What was the name of the sales lady again?" He says "I'm not telling you nothin," (nice grammar - if you're not telling me "nothing", you're telling me something. The two negatives negate themselves, Dork.) My sister replies "I know her name is either Kendra or Kenya, so don't worry about it." We drove off. I was so upset for the rest of the night. The NERVE of Maronda for sending someone unaccompanied to look at my house and the NERVE of el estupido portorra que se cree que puede comprar una casa tan grande como la mia. NOT.

OK, where were we...Monday's move & closing. We got the truck pretty much settled. Then, we remembered the 44 cases of 6 each of tile in the garage! The HEAVY 44 boxes. David and I loaded those suckers up, 12 cases at a time in the Jeep & he drove them to the U-Haul place (we got free storage for a month for renting the U-Haul for 3 days). David, by the way, is Superman in disguise. I don't know how he did it all. Mrs. Squeaklefritz was o.k. Bored out of her mind and wandering to the U-Haul a lot.

I cleaned the old house top to bottom. I hope the new owners appreciated the work I did. It looked really good. David and I walked around the house, looking in every room. I was o.k. David was misty-eyed. We then went to the closing at 2 p.m. ....in jeans and t-shirts, because the Einsteins that we are forgot to leave nice clothes out. LOL I was all worried until we got there. They were dressed like shlubs too. WHEN did people stop dressing nicely? I wore a suit when I originally closed on the old house when I was buying it.

Babysitter story. Remember me saying my babysitter was going to be in Puerto Rico? You don't? Then read the BLOG, hello? Long story short: Oldest son got summer school after they booked the flights, so she & oldest son stayed in FL while husband and 2 other sons went to Puerto Rico. We had a babysitter for both closings.

The closing went well. The couple who bought the blue house were young - early 30's, with a 4 month old boy...named David. We did not have to bring anything to the table. By the time everything was signed in septuplicate (I'm making that word up, by the way), we were out the door with a ton o' cash...figuratively (it was all bank wires). We were quite wealthy...and also homeless. I text messaged almost everyone in my phone too. Hee hee. We ate dinner out. :) We drove the U-haul to Deltona and spent the night at a friend's house. Tuesday morning was the closing on the new house.

Move Update # 1 - 06/23/2006

Let's put aside the cool blog post titles for a moment (not that most of you even get what I am doing with the titles of my posts. First person who comments on what it is on this blog, gets cookies!) and update you on the move. It's official. We are in our new home. I am SO TIRED!!! I don't ever want to move AGAIN. This stinks.

Last we talked, I was upset because we had no help moving. I was speaking to my older sister, Brenda, telling her my moving woes. She immediately offers herself & husband up for fodder. They live about 3 to 3 & 1/2 hours away and said she would call me on Friday the 16th to tell me for sure if they were coming.

She called Friday to say they were driving up that night! I was so happy. They weren't actually going to help with the move from one house to the other. Our closings were one day apart. Old house on the 19th (Monday), new house on the 20th (Tuesday.) Brenda & Fede were coming up Friday the 16th to basically load the U-Haul so we could be out of the old house by Monday at 1 p.m. David was at work & J with his dad. Just me & the Squeak. My sister & her husband argued the. entire. time. It freaked me out! I was so uncomfortable...until I realized that this is their "thing." They bicker all. the. time. ALL the time. They both want to be right about everything. If the sky is blue and Brenda says Blue, Fede will say no, it's a light green. LOL Little things, like how he hands her the keys with an attitude. LOL I know. They are both too much alike so they argue all the time, but they're ok with it too. Really weird. Too much energy for me to exert.

Let me tell you this though: without them, we would be mud. Fede and David loaded that truck UP in half a day (with Brenda in tow telling Fede the best way to load, Fede yelling at her to stop kicking the boxes.) We went out to eat a few times too. It was actually quite fun, once you ignored the bickering. I owe them.... A LOT. They left Sunday morning. David and I spent Sunday and Monday doing the last minute "throw-whatever's-left-in-whatever-box-you-can-find-and -Lord-forbid-you-need-it-when-you-get-to-the-new-house-cause-you'll-never-find-it" shuffle.

THANKS BRENDA & FEDE!!

Bargaining, Pt. 1 - 06/12/2006

Today is the first walk-through of our new home. Eeeep. I'm going to be late to work, btw. Right now, I am waiting for David to finish his shower & "I" to finish her "brekbist." "J" is with his dad.

The move is officially a week away. A week from today. Can I say how my emotions are all over the place lately? Of course I can, it's MY blog. Last night, I was crying. I was upset that all my friends or family live out of the darned state or far enough away that help for a middle-of-the-week-move is impossible. Also sad because...all my friends or family live out of the darned state or far enough away. I was bored to tears yesterday. Literally. It does not help that I am PMS-ing either. Stupid Eve.

And, how am I going to move with "I" in tow, running all over the place? My babysitters? One moved to Minnesota, the other...she's going to Puerto Rico on vacation.

I was also sad to be leaving this house. The house that I bought, all on my own. Me & "J," that's it. Not even any child support from "J"'s dad ($19k and counting). My own house with a nice piece of land. This is the first house Mrs. Squeaklefritz came home to.

Speaking of...she's calling me. Time to get her dressed so we can go check out the new digs and make sure the house looks good.

This Year's Girl - 06-07-2006

We have a male neighbor with a young daughter. She visits with him every other weekend. Now that school is out, she’s with her dad a little more. I think she is truly going to miss us. I feel a little sad for her. Her dad is a great guy, I just don’t know so much about her mom (her parents are no longer together). Little things she says like “You cook a lot” and “What is THAT?” (to my trying to feed her cheese-covered broccoli, make me sad. I cook a lot? How often does she get a home-cooked meal? She also says things like “We don’t have a dining room table. We eat dinner on the floor in the living room” when I make her eat her snack on the dining room table and NOT in the living room on my new carpet. Her dad has all these things, but she only sees him every other weekend. What must weekdays be like? She also said “We have to move in 30 days.” When I am not home, she always asks “Where’s Kaaren?” and when I get home, she jumps up & down. Isabel loves her. Loves to play with her. I am going to miss her, even those times when, like tonight, we said we were going out to dinner. She said, “OK, so am I” and RUNS to tell her dad she’s going to dinner with us. How can we say no? (and we actually got treated to dinner by her dad for taking care of her at no charge). I do hope “J” & “I” appreciate all we do for them. I do.

OK, new topic: Cell phones in restaurants. ARRRGHHH. Does Arrrgh get my point across? We went to breakfast on Sunday. Three people at the table 12 inches from us are talking. The one girl gets a phone call. She proceeds to answer it and “blah blah blah hee hee hee blah blah NOOOO…Nooooo, she said that? Noooo.” I wanted to shove the cell phone in her uneaten scrambled eggs. Anyone who knows me knows I cannot stand cell phone use in restaurants. I will not answer it if it rings. I cut the call. I am there to eat dinner with whomever I am there with (my husband, my friend, my grandpa, whoever). I am NOT there to have a random conversation on the phone, leaving my lunch date hanging. One word: Rude. Stop it. NOW. WHAT can be so terribly important that you have to ignore the people you are eating with? Are you that self-centered? No, really, you do NOT look important. You look like a dork. A Rude Dork. * ahhhhh * I almost feel better.

School Hard - 06/06/2006

Take Two. Mrs. Squeaklefritz came over to the computer, hit some button and my post disappeared.

Summer officially began for J last week. I went by yesterday, Friday, to get his report card and dematriculate him. Took a little while for the ladies to figure out what to do. He is officially a 7th Grader, Thank GOD. My honor Roll, never-got-a-B-until-one-time-in-5th-grade-and-I-think-it-was-because-his-teacher-did-not-like-him-but-I'm-not-bitter child turned into a boy who I was afraid would have to go to summer school. He could not get it together all year. No focus. He'd DO all the work....then forget to turn it in. And those teachers..they don't ask. You're just supposed to automatically become a responsible adult in the summer between 5th & 6th grade. It was a constant battle. It also does not help that if J can't do something right the first time, he gets frustrated and gives up. He's a perfectionist. So then, J started lying about homework, I'd believe him, find out about the lie, scream my head off, punish him, and them check his backpack and e-mail his teachers religiously. He'd get back into the groove, so I'd slack off...and he'd start the whole cycle all over again. It was very frustrating to see my super-genius act this way. He'll be 13 soon. Can't wait for that.

We have about 18 days to pack. I have been trying to get rid of things that I don't need and have not used in forever. My # 1 pet peeve right now? WHY why why do we keep the soaps and tiny bottles of shampoos from hotels? And then we store them under the sink..for what? Why? I have little bottles from my trip to Puerto Rico in 2003. Worse...bottles of small shampoo from my 2000 business trip to San Diego. Why am I saving these? I'm not going to take them on a trip because...more free shampoo there. It's really ridiculous. These past 2 weeks, I have been using them ALL up. Shampoos, conditioners, teeny bars of soap. I can't just throw them out, have you met me? I am down to ONE teeny shampoo and one teeny conditioner. Then I am done. Swear this oath with me people "I will no longer collect shampoos, soaps & conditioners from hotels. There is no point in saving these for years."

Never Kill a Boy on the First Date - 05/24/2006

I was talking yesterday with my brother-in-law, David's youngest brother, about how David and I met. When I told him, he thought I was kidding. So did David's mom, for that matter. So, it's share-time.

Back in 1998-1999, cell phones did not have the great plans they have now. Free nights, weekends, free calls between network people, etc. Also, I didn't have a cell phone. :) I talked to my sister Vicky practically every day, but the long-distance bills were rough. We got AOL and talked all the time via IM instead. We would be up till 2 a.m. addicted to AOL. Vicky had an ad with AOL's dating service. It used to be called Love at AOL (now, it's actually merged with Match.com). She would send me links of all the scary guys who would answer her ad (she got TONS of replies) and I would laugh with her, . She started sending me links to guys in Orlando - scary guys. We'd laugh at them all, because "occasionally, I'm callous and strange". . She sends me a link and writes "This one's cute." I open it and it is a picture of David. She also IM's "Aaaand he's on-line right now. I dare you!" Yup, I did. I sent David an IM. He said he was busy and had to leave and could I send him a picture, since I had already seen his. (he was on his way out on a date, by the way). I sent the picture and thought that was that.

The next day, I get an IM when I am on-line because, again - addicted to AOL. We talked on the phone and via e-mail and eventually set up a date. We met at Applebee's and had dinner. He was goofy, but I have a thing for goofy guys. (side bar - David had a date w/someone else that he cancelled after meeting me - LOL)

Yada yada yada.....MARRIED. OK, not that fast. We dated 3 years before we got married.
And that's our story.

Dopplegangland - 05/21/2006

So, when did JC Penney become Sears? Really, when? I went there last night with my daughter. I've noticed this in the past. This store is always having these amazing sales, almost as if they were going out of business. I have noticed this change for about a year, as well as a lack of customer service.

I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination. Shopping at JC Penney does not bother me. They have cute things at cheap prices. I know several people in my circle of family/friends/co-workers that would turn their nose up at it. (Like one who complains about being in debt, and then shops at high end stores or spends $85 on a pair of shoes. There may be a correlation between the being broke thing and the shopping thing.) Lately, I could see their point in turning their nose up. The store here in Altamonte Springs is a mess. A mess. Anyone who knows me, knows that I can't do messy stores. I want to organize things, fold things and put clothes back where they belong. lol There are hardly any employees working the floor. I had to walk to another department to find someone. There are no longer cashiers in every department. Now, there are "customer service" centers in main aisles. One or two cashiers handle several departments, and there is almost always a line. I feel like I'm at Wal-Mart, or Sears. Sears started this "Customer Service" centers thing a while back. Then again, they are now owned by K-Mart, so maybe that's why I get the Wal-Mart feel in these stores.

I got the cute brown shoes for $20. They are technically for work, so some people may find them dull. I'm going to wear them with these brown wide-legged slacks ($20) and a blue shirt. I'm trying to dress nicer for work.

Out of Mind Out of Sight - 05/18/2006

Hey it’s Thursday! How did this happen? A very busy week at work, let me tell you.

The house inspector for the buyer comes tomorrow! I am trying not to hurl. Please send your prayers and well wishes our way.

School is almost out. “J” has three more days. THREE. Can someone please slow time down? We have no idea what he will be doing this summer. We’re not signing him up for the summer camp this time. We need save money right now during this selling/buying phase.

Really nothing new to report. Oh, we’ve rented Season 1 of Veronica Mars (UPN show). We’re really liking it. Even David. We’re getting them from Blockbuster on-line and are very impatient when we don’t have the next dvd in hand. What the heck is happening w/my font size?

Living Conditions - 05/14/2006

Take 3!! I kid you not. My computer FROZE twice while typing this update. The second time, I copied to the clipboard as I went, and guess what? It didn’t save it either. Wahhhhhh!

OK, sigh; let’s see if I can remember what I have already typed twice today.

With all the goings-on this past weekend (travel to Seattle and death of a loved one), I forgot to mention that we got three offers on our house and we have a contract. Hopefully, I will get this right (not good with the details, I’m afraid), but I am sure David will correct me :P

Offer # 1: Couple offered 10k below our listing price. No other conditions (other than the usual inspection stuff) and they were pre-approved.

Offer # 2: Man offered 5k below our listing price, but wanted us to pay his closing costs. This turned out to be over 6k, so in effect, his offer was over 1k less than the one above. We declined it.

Offer # 3: Couple offered 10k below listing. They did not have a pre-approval letter. It was also an FHA loan, which means $1k more out of our pocket. They also wanted a home warranty, another $365 out of our pocket. Their agent appeared to not have a clue either. He used the wrong forms (our broker specified which forms), his contract was not signed completely, he asked us for Lead-Based Paint certifications (our house was built in 1994, so that is not even applicable, and he wanted some letter from our Home Owner’s Association. Our contract clearly stated, “No HOA.” Derr. We turned it down.

We went back to Offer # 1 and raised it by 5k. They were going to come back with only raising it 2.5k and play some kind of bidding game, but David told our agent that we would not go below $5k more and she told them. They agreed and signed the contract. Papers were faxed to Seattle for me.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…The agent for Offer # 3 got his act together. He either got help or really smart overnight. The offer was on the correct forms. No FHA, no home warranty, with a pre-approval letter from Bank of America and…..here’s the kicker, ladies & gents: They came in at 1k OVER listing price. They were giving us listing price plus 1k more. So, $6k over the offer we had just signed!!

Hindsight is 20/20, and we can play the “What-If” game until we are blue in the face. We had an offer and we took it. We need to sell this one in order to make the purchase of the other one happen. So, June 19^th will be the closing on our current little home, at which point, we will be wealthier than we have ever been and…oh yea, homeless. The closing on the new house should be a few days after that, at which point we will be poor again, but no longer homeless.

I want to take time to paint the rooms before we move in, especially the bedrooms. The formal rooms downstairs I am not so much worried about. We’d need furniture for me to worry about painting around it all. J But definitely the bedrooms. I just don’t know how much time I can take off of work and how much I could get accomplished with Miss. Squeaklefritz in tow. We’ll have to figure something out.

So that’s our story (which I saved on Microsoft Word as I typed, before putting it on this blog. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, oh computer, and you’re getting a very-literal bat in the face).