Box by Box

I am enjoying every minute of packing. Well, maybe not every minute last week I ran out of tape in the middle of packing (that wasn't so great) . I also broke my tape dispenser last night but now that I am almost done I am not going to bother going out for a new one.

The walk thru and closing are scheduled for next Thursday. That is only eight days from today :) On Friday we get the keys and on Saturday the moving truck is coming. We also have delivery of our new washer and dryer scheduled for Saturday. It will be such an exciting day. We bought the washer and dryer on a "Black Friday" special. "Black Friday" is the day after Thanksgiving. It is the biggest shopping day of the year. The stores were having even crazier specials this year than last year. The earliest opening that I heard of was 4:00am.

I purchased the washer and dryer from Best Buy. The store does have a website where you can order things online but when I tried to order the washer and dryer I got an error message that our zip code was not recognized. After finding this out I resorted to my original plan which was to wait outside the store until it opened. I arrived at the store at 11:45pm (and athere were already 150 people in front of me) wearing an undershirt, long sleeve t-shirt, sweatshirt, and jacket. I also had a blanket in my bag and a candle to read my book with and keep my hands warm. Well, it got much colder than I was expecting. After two hours I called my brother who is always up really late and he drove over to the mall and gave me a bathroom break while dropping off a sleeping bag for me to sleep in. I got comfortable and layed down much warmer.

About 30 minutes after that my brother called me and said that the website seemed to be working and he was able to input our new zip code and it was accepted. YEAH! I was able to pack myself up and head home at about 2:30 in the morning. Because I am crazy for "Black Friday" shopping I didn't go straight home. I instead went to drive by a few shopping centers were stores were scheduled to open at 4:00 but since there was nobody waiting in the other parking lots I decided to head home and go to bed. JJ was already in bed cause he had to work on Friday morning so it was nice to join him in bed. I am really happy to have the new appliances for our new home.

I have since then been spending almost every spare minute packing. I am happy to say that we have multiple empty spaces now. And we have a wall of boxes ready to go. Tomorrow I need to call the moving company to schedule the move. We have decided to move the majority of the stuff to the downstairs and also to try taking apart the bed ourselves next week in order to minimize the hours it will take the movers.

Our Own Driveway

We now have our own driveway. I went to the house last week and there was no drive way but this past weekend I was actually able to park in my own driveway. The house is now also locked up and to see the inside you have to go to the sales office and pick up the keys. There are stacks of tiles in the house and the cabinets are in the kitchen and the bathroom. This is the first time there is something worth stealing. I took some pictures on Sunday and I am really happy with the progress. We now have less than 3 weeks till the move.

See the wonderful driveway

Some of the tile in the family room is done. By next weekend the edges and the grout should be done. I need to find a large area rung for under the sofa. I think that will be the Ikea trip.

The kitched cabinet and counter top are in aswell. There was a little scare last week abou the cabinets not being deep enough for a plate but this week I brought my plates with me to check.

I have done a lot of packing tonight and have another person coming over for a quote tomorrow. I think the last quote we got was overpriced. I think the man thought we had a lot more stuff. I don't think he realized that although there were stacks of boxes there was very little left in closets, drawer, and cabinets. I think we are also going to put all the boxes downstairs in the kitchen before the movers arrive in order to make it quicker. I am loving puting the boxes into the packing log. I can't wait to use it while unpacking. Each box has a room number - box number that refers to the packing list. The movers will each get a copy of the floor chart with the room number and I will be hanging a sign on each door with the number so they don't have to refer to the floorplan each time.

Home Progress

The progress of the house is amazing to see. We now have a walk thru date of December 6th and the appointment with the title company that day. On the 7th we get our keys and the moving truck will be here on December 8th. We will only be moving the valuables, files, and kitties.

I will be taking the weekend of the move off from Thursday through Sunday. I have to work on Mondays but wil be off again on Tuesday. By the time I go back to work on Wednesday I want everything where it belongs. I would also like to make the Ikea trip on Tuesday. We need some shelves, cheap end tables for JJ's den, and a TV stand. We are also in need of a new vacuum cleaner, a stainless steel trash can, new litter boxes, and blinds. Fortunately Wal-Mart is already open in the area so that is one of the easier stops. Ikea on the other hand will be about an hour drive each way. Ikea is well worth the trip though.

Work has been really busy lately. I got a promotion in August. The promotion was supposed to put me in charge of half of the catering functions at the Country Club. The person who I was going to share the position with has now decided that he cannot accept the additional responsibility. The is his decision to make and because he has a young daughter I think it is the right choice. I would not be able to work these types of hours if we had kids. The promotion is going well so far but season has just begun. The Christmas parties begin the fist weekend of December and turn into Holiday parties at the beginning of January. They really don't show any sign of slowing till late February.

I worked till 8:30 tonight and have been packing since I was going to enclose some pictures but seem to have forgotten my camera in the liquor room at work.