Friday, August 24, 2007

Back Online...Better Late Than Never

Ok, so maybe I was a bit optimistic when I said I'd be back online early this week. It's been 19 years since we last moved, and I forgot how hard it is to find things once you start unpacking! Before we could get online, we had to find the computers, the modem, the keyboards, the right cables and wires....what a project! But my wonderful dh got it all working...woohoo!

This whole moving thing was a rush job to begin with. After nearly 10 months on the market, we got an offer on July 26 (four weeks ago yesterday, but who's counting?) The buyer wanted possession of the house by 8/15 or 8/22. Choosing the latter was a no-brainer, but as we soon learned, moving out of your home of two decades in less than a month is not easy.

The buyer's mortgage was not approved until the last day the contract allowed, 8/15, which meant this deal wasn't close to being official until a week before the closing. Considering how many mortgage lenders have gone belly-up lately, I did not breathe a sigh of relief until we got the call two days ago that the closing went without a hitch. Thank God (and that's not just a phrase, it's the truth! Selling in this market is the work of God, without a doubt.)

If Budget Car Rental's stock went up in August, they can thank us. Truckload #1 made the trip north to storage unit #2 10 days ago. Truckload #2 (all 24 feet of it plus a trailer carrying our minivan) left last Sunday, but unfortunately we were unable to fit the rest of the mess in it, thus we came back to IL on Monday night, rented Truck #3, and finished moving north on Tuesday. Add the cost of three truck trips worth of diesel fuel to three truck rentals, plus the wear and tear on my poor dh, and I have to wonder if we should have hired movers. But by the time we knew the sale was probably going through, the movers were booked up (we checked).

But the important thing is that we're here. We've left the Chicago suburbs, crossed the Cheddar Curtain and landed in beautiful Door County, Wisconsin. Yes, this is a smaller house, and we have no idea where we're going to put all our stuff (most of which is in the one-car garage and storage units #1 and #2. I'm thinking mega garage sales next spring.) But we're a half-mile up the hill from the bay, and we're enjoying the background noise of the boats blowing their horns. I've stopped trolling the realtor blogs (they were getting awfully depressing!) And I've already got a line on two local homeschool support groups, one of which has a teen group. So things are looking up :)

5 comments:

Middle-Aged Moi said...

Glad you're finally ensconced in your new home! Sounds like you're finally settling in.

Cheryl said...

Welcome back to the blogosphere! And happy unpacking! I wish you all the best in your new home (even though I'm sad that you're no longer a fellow burb dweller)!

sarah said...

It really grosses me out that it's called the cheddar curtain. At least the nickname "Windy City" gives one a pleasing (though technically inaccurate) image of cooling winds flying through the city streets. Here it's "Cheese Curtain" and you think, nice, a wall of cheese.

rbh said...

Hi! (Solochristo is my dh's account, I think. At least, it's what the computer says my account is called.)

You're right, Door County is beautiful. Our school (long ago) had a field trip to Door County--I think it was to see the migrating Canada Geese. I still remember how pretty the landscape was.

So the nights must be starting to turn crisp? And soon the leaves will be an amazing array of shades... This time of year I miss Wisconsin.

Oops, it's time to start the day!
Jean
(from Hallmark at HSB)

Barbara Frank said...

Janet, thanks for stopping by. Yes, we are settling in, for the most part.

Cheryl, other than college, I've never lived anywhere but the suburbs, so this is a new experience, but it's fun :)

Sarah, I always thought they called it the Windy City because of all the hot air coming from the mayor and the aldermen.

Jean, the leaves are already changing in Northern Door because of the drought. We were up that way the other day and couldn't believe the color had begun already. Thanks for stopping by :)