Why Haven't I Heard From You?

I feel like people are anxiously awaiting a new post about the house and the big move which begun well over 2 weeks ago. I am so sorry to disappoint (and perhaps I'm being vain that people are waiting on this) but things have been so busy and so overwhelming. The closing on the house went off without a hitch and in a matter of about 45 minutes, we were homeowners once again and subsequently broke.

I took the next few days off of work and tried to get all of our utilities and things sqaured away...TRIED is the operative word here. Doug used the week to paint the garage floor and walls, Katie's room, dining room, and bonus room. Thanks to Barret for sacrificing his time and his beloved paint brush to our cause.

 

We moved in the next weekend, again with tons of help from friends and family. We seriously had 9 guys helping and it went super fast. They got the Uhaul loaded from storage and unloaded at our house in less than 3 hours. I tried to make them all stick around for lunch but most of them left to go back home to their families. So once they left, it was time to start unpacking boxes and I feel like I've barely made a dent in things. WHY, you ask? Because we have a one year old. A very busy one year old. Everytime I turn around, she is into something different. I spent uncountable hours putting shelf paper in all of the cabinets and Katie opens all of the ones on the floor and pulls it out with this look on her face like, "Mom - did you know this brown rubber paper was in all the cabinets...It looks much better on the floor - and by the way you should sweep the floor." The kitchen was a totally daunting task - so many different types of things to put away and decisions about where to put them. At one point, I was putting spatulas and wooden spoons away and looked down to see Katie with a large kitchen knife and a pair of scissors in her hand. I tried not to act like it was a big deal because I was afraid she'd fight me for it - so I just quickly diverted her attention to this baking pan - where she decided to sit and try to scoot around the room - buying me some more time to quickly get knives and scissors put away.

 

Diversion has certainly been the name of the game while trying to get things put away. I have put a stash of Katie's toys in each room so that wherever I am in the house - she can try to find something to play with and be content. But she seems to find something other than her toys to play with. Or she finds something from her infancy that she's long outgrown. She has thoroughly enjoyed her aquarium bouncer again - she sits in it like a recliner and props her feet up on the fish and rocks, rocks, rocks. She cries to be put into the jumperoo so she can bounce and listen to the music. This has actually worked in my favor if I need to make a quick haul upstairs and don't want to worry about her following me or trying to carry her too. Here she is relaxing in her infant bathing tub - again - she thinks it's so cool to have a chair that fits just right to her size. She climbed in and out of this thing several times so I finally put it away in her closet - where she soon found it and climbed back in.

 

I promise she's not being neglected - but the attention she is getting is certainly in spurts - and we're finding new, funny things to do to entertain her since we are not quite all settled in and our resources are limited without all of our stuff in it's place. Here is one of the makeshift dress-up outfits she's been in. It's an apron of mine and a large amount of toole tucked into the neck of her shirt - coupled with some nice ravioli stained cheeks. The toole was laying around our old house for years and we used it as packing supplies for lots of breakable things. So it's now been put in a dress up bin for her because she had so much fun being a bride! Notice how long it is - it has draped itself down the hall and through the dining room and around the paint buckets. Not sure how she didn't fall or spill any of the paint!

 

So we are trying to get settled and do a little more each day but there is still lots to do. We hope to have most of the house in working order as we are hosting our annual Super Bowl Party this Sunday...It's all close friends coming so they will certainly understand.

I will now leave you with a "By the Numbers" on my efforts at getting utilities and other specific things established at our house.

5 - appointments/visits from various Time Warner people to get the cable installed in the house. 5 appointments with 2 hour windows.

89 - the number of dollars I was charged by Time Warner for this installation. I called to have the fee waived which they surprisingly agreed to - but when our first bill arrived, the fee was still there.

4- number of security system solicitations we had in a span of 2 days.

2, 2, 2 - visits, phone call, email to the US Post Office to find out why they couldn't find us to deliver our mail. On the 2nd actual visit (after 2 phone calls and 2 emails), I got it resolved. Now I need to go by Fire Department, Police Station, and Ambulance dispatch to make sure they know where we are in case of emergency.

15 - the number of dollars charged by each county agency to transfer an account to our name - Water, Sewer, Electricity, Trash/Recylcling. The same fee is also applied to set up a new account with each of these places.

5- the number of houses that have to be occupied on a street before SCE&G will put a street light there. Not fun for the first people on a culdesac. It's dark and scary.

13 - number of days until our 30 day walk thru with the builder to let him know that the keys don't work for some of the deadbolts and the air makes a weird sound when it turns on/off.

So please forgive me for posting so late - I promise to have some more pictures up after the house is Super Bowl ready!

And I know that all sounds like a lot of complaining - but I couldn't be more thankful to be in our house - I am greatful to everyone who helped us move in, family who housed us while we built, family who bought and hung blinds ASAP in the house so we could feel safe. I know we are so blessed to have our house and I am excited to start making it our home and making memories together!