4 Hours Until Closing...

But who's keeping track? :) Today should be a very good day, we are buying our house in just over 4 hours. Nothing can wrong at this point, right? I thought I would not be able to sleep last night, but thankfully I was wrong and slept like a rock. I feel good this morning, better than I have felt in a week and energized, ready to tackle the construction and moving. I have a few loose ends to tie off at Workflow.com this morning and will then have until next Wednesday off work to do our stuff.

My dad should be on his way up here from Western Kentucky, tools in hand. Our friend June and her daughter Renee are coming over after work and Saturday to help, and Missy's brother Josh is also going to come down Saturday to help, presumably with the drywall. All of the cables, wiring and computer stuff I needed did in fact arrive yesterday from CablesForLess and NewEgg. I got the cashiers check for closing, the $100 for Lucille to buy the pool table from her, and Bug and I went to the hardware store to pick out a few last minute things last night. Knowing my access to my computer and Internet will be limited, I already paid all of the upcoming bills and made sure the checkbook was in balance. We had so much time to spare, we even went swimming for 30 minutes last night.

Bug and I also bought a new mailbox and stickers to put our name on it. The mailbox that is at the house now is old and says "Grosse". Nothing stakes your claim to a place like replacing their mailbox with your own :)

I did visit the house yesterday to check on the status of the roof repairs. Something has been done, there was new tar on the roof, but I could not tell if the rotted plywood underneath was actually replaced. I have not yet heard from my realtor about a final walk-through, but at this point it doesn't matter. If the plywood was not replaced, I will do it myself, I am not that afraid of heights.

We did have a minor scare earlier in the week when I received the final HUD settlement document. The numbers did not seem to add up. In a panic, I emailed our mortgage broker, Jules Stewart at iFreedom Direct, and she immediately called me back. There was actually no problem at all, and we verified this in Excel, just the layout of the form is confusing. She has been absolutely wonderful to work with, THANKS JULES! I highly recommend anyone considering either an FHA or VA mortgage to give her a call (800.891.5785 x6624 or 801.682.9907). Jules is also good for entertaining stories and Zen-like precision and thoughtfulness.

Well, that's all for now. Missy and I will soon be homeowners and I will be posting updates to the blog as time allows during the construction and move. Kind of like HGTV, but in our own home :)

T Minus 24 Hours

We are just a shade over 24 hours now before we are homeowners! Or to look at it another way, deep in debt :) The optimistic me prefers the former, and Missy and I are both very much looking forward to having our own place, a house we can truly turn into OUR home.

We haven't even closed yet, and we've already spent over $2,000 on "stuff" we need, and we are not done yet. Most of this was on construction materials for my office (which I often slip and call my bedroom) and basement foyer, but some is also for paint, pictures, computer networking, tools, and other items needed to truly turn this house into our home, with our own taste, etc. We will start our journey tomorrow afternoon, right after closing.

My dad will arrive tomorrow, construction will start on Friday, and I will post pictures here of our progress. We lost (literally, it disappeared) our new Kodak camera we bought on Woot a while back, but I scored a nice cheap camera from a guy on Craigslist and bought it this morning. Stuff that I ordered online from CablesForLess and NewEgg are supposed to arrive via UPS later today, and UBC will be delivering all the building materials first thing Friday morning. It is going to get real busy here real quick, but I am ready for it and VERY much looking forward to this work.

At the Workflow.com company meeting last week, I discovered my personality type, ESTJ. Translated that means I am Extroverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging. I am a guardian, a level-headed, do it right, well planned and on time type of person. Let's see how well that holds up :) Just to prove the test valid, I have created self-imposed deadlines for the construction:

Day 1 (Friday) - Framing and Electrical. Missy's uncle Pat is an electrician and is going to stop by Friday after work to hook up our wiring to the service, and of course check my work. So the real deadline for this is actually about 5:30 PM Friday, not midnight :)

Day 2 - Hang all drywall and mud.

Day 3 - Sand mud, paint everything, hang ceiling fan and light. Start wood laminate floor installation in free time :)

Day 4 - Finish wood laminate floor, paint and install all trim. Have a beer, go to Ho-Chunk with dad, etc.

Day 5 (Tuesday) - This is my last day off work for about 2 weeks. Tie off all loose ends, unpack, organize, complete move, wire the network, etc. In bed by 4:00 PM :)

So that's the plan. Hear God laughing?

PS: Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart, Jules Stewart

51 Hours and Counting

We will be homeowners in 51 hours, but who's keeping track? :)

I made it back from Cleveland, just barely thanks to Continental Airlines. They suck, scaled back so much they had no pilots in Cleveland to fly the plane to Madison and had to fly some in from New York, making me about 4 hours late getting home. After a fun but tiring weekend in Cleveland, I was hardly in the mood for airline delays, but what can you do.

Missy and I purchased almost everything we need to complete the basement construction project yesterday, and will have a huge load of materials delivered by UBC to the house on Friday morning. I had some down-time in Cleveland Sunday waiting for the plane, so I did manage to get all the utilities changed over, or scheduled to be changed.

We are still waiting on the final settlement documents, but were told that they may not be ready until the morning of closing, Thursday. Should be getting real busy here soon, but will be a lot of fun as well. The movers will be here next Monday, so I will be able to concentrate on the office construction with my dad Friday through Monday, which should be enough time.

When I get back to work next Wednesday, it will be major push mode for about 2-3 weeks while a major portion of my code gets certification. Having my new office will make a huge difference I am quite certain, and it will be super nice if we actually get it completed while my dad is here.

Also, don't drink a huge variety of local microbrewery beers at Rocky River Brewing Company in Cleveland. Don't ask me how I know, just don't do it.