Well, the long weekend has officially come to an end. The last few days have been a whirlwind and it’s taking everything I’ve got just to stay up and write about it. Thursday we both signed our names more times than you could possibly believe, then Friday we got the keys. Amy, Tom, and my Mom all arrived on Friday and helped us get things in order for a big day on Saturday. I made a couple trips to the new house on Friday night just to get a head start on things, but Saturday was by far the biggest day of the weekend.
I’d be lying if I said it all went smoothly, but with the help of family and friends we got through it unscathed. I think we each had our own difficulties to face; Jessica was coming at it from the stress of having things organized and prepared point of view, Amy and my Mom were coming at it from a ‘Wow those little girls are really fast and hard to keep up with’ point of view, and Tom and I from a ‘Please let that be all of the furniture to move’ point of view. However we were so fortunate to have the help of my sister Dana, her friend Michelle, Michelle’s son Connor, and last but certainly not least, our good friend Laurel. I seriously can’t thank all of you enough for everything you did this weekend. We couldn’t have done it without you and are so appreciative for all the hard work. I definitely owe some favors and will be expecting a call next time some help is needed for any of you.
Sunday and Monday were all about getting things organized. Although we still have a long way to go, I’m so pleased with where things are at. My Mom and Amy were so helpful with getting things organized, and of course Tom was a huge help getting things put together / fixed. I’ve already made 3 trips to Lowe’s in my first weekend as a homeowner and I can see its not going to change. I’m eager to learn how to do stuff around the house and have jumped right in to the best of my ability. In addition to putting up all kinds of storage hooks in the garage, I have pressure washed the North side of the house (where the moss grows), mounted our TV on the wall, and learned how to hook up a washer and dryer. I bought a weed-wacker today and am planning on getting a lawn mower later this week.
I have to give special thanks to my Mom, who in addition to treating us to Chinese food on Saturday night, made filet and lobster on Sunday night, plus got us a Keurig coffee machine, a new toaster, and a really cool hybrid barbeque that has a charcoal grill, a gas grill, and an infrared side pan. I’ve never owned a grill before and can’t wait to try it out. Putting it together was a bit difficult but it was fun working with Tom on it. I still have a ton of work to do in terms of putting clothes away and organizing my office, but considering this is only our third night in the house I couldn’t be happier.
My Mom left today, and Amy and Tom leave tomorrow, however Jessica is working tomorrow night so it won’t be until Wednesday that we have a normal family night at home with just the four of us. To be honest this still all feels a bit surreal. Every once in a while it just sort of hits me that we’re in our own house and can do anything we want to it. I’ve never cared at all about personalizing my home before this but now it’s all I can think of. Hopefully by the time Rick comes out to visit for the 4th of July we’ll have everything looking good. We’re going to have a lot of visitors throughout the summer so I can’t wait to get everything put away.
Plenty of new updates coming soon, but for now here’s a couple images of our farewell to the Bellevue house. Also, another big thank you to Carol and Julie for all their help throughout this process. It really was a pleasure.
