Going, Going.. Gone.

Well, we finished it, finally, after 3 months from start to finish, we closed on the house we fell in love with. We went in this morning, signed about 5,000 papers, paid in the remaining $.51 of our closing costs, and we officially, finally, 100% became house owners. Or, rather, the bank bought a nice house, and is letting us live there as long as we pay them for it. ;)

The first thing we did was drive both vehicles (already loaded down to the gills will boxes) to the house, and unload. The realtor met us there to give us the keys (the seller's realtor's dad had died, and his funeral was today, so they hadn't had a chance to remove the lock box or get our keys to us before hand, so we did it at the house). He also gave us a $50 gift card to Home Depot!

From start to finish, we've had a fantastic experiance with Dave (the realtor), and would gladly, and whole heartedly recommend him to anyone in the Lansing, MI area who is looking to buy a house. He was just an awesome guy with getting things done, getting us where we needed to be, and even helping us along the way with painting, and repairing things.

After we unloaded both vehicles, we grabbed lunch, then Nick went to work (where his awesome boss wrote off his PTO, so no time was "missed" technically), and me and the kids went home to load the vehicle up. We got it loaded, called all the utilities to get them transferred to our names, then we ran to the dollar store for some cleaning supplies.

Then it was off to Home Depot for some paint and painting supplies, and light covers for Chris's room. He pointed out that the 3 frosted 'cups' on his light were flowers, and since we needed 2 cups like that for bare lamps elsewhere in the house, we told him he could pick new ones for his room, ad we'd just reuse the ones he had.

He picked godawful ones, but Home Depot had a crappy selection. We decided we can go to Lowes and get something better tomorrow, and return the ones he picked. He only picked those ones because he really wanted them -today-.

Chris and Rae each picked their paint- Chris went with an almost forest green color, though with a bit of a blue base to it, and Raegan went with a color that I'd say looks like grape juice. Mostly purple but with a red base, not a blue base.

At the house, we got the van unloaded, and I put the kids to work helping me unpack what could be unpacked, which was actually quite a bit. Then I got ambitious, and started painting Raegan's room.

I started with hers for two reasons- her walls are not traditional walls, but are steeped ceilings (like a dormer window), with wood paneling (actual wood, not that fake grained crap stuff), so she actually has very little that needs to be painted. The other reason is that her room was a mauve color, so I figured I could get away without primer.

One thing I didn't count on, was how hard it would be on my body to paint angled ceilings like that, and crouch down at ground level to get the bottom half. I got 1 of the 2 "ceiling" sections done, and the color does look great, even over top of the mauve without the primer.

By then, Nick was "home" from work, so I took Raegan to the downtown area, found a fun little pizza parlor (not a chain!) and ordered us a pizza and soda. Attached to the parlor was a bar on one side, and an arcade in the back. It's only a few blocks from the house, so we may have to go down there for dinner some evening, and walk there.

We ordered it, then asked for it to be delivered since it would be a 30 minute wait, and we snuck off to the IGA behind it to grab plates and cups. Then, we drove around for a few minutes, and found exactly where the library is (it's nearby, which I knew it was, but didn't know exactly where). Also within walking or biking distance. As is a park, the Dairy Queen, and an elementry school with another playground.

I'm hoping to get out and active a lot this summer.

All right, it's late, and the shower is calling my name. I'll be offline now until Friday the 27th. That's the first available time for the internet company to come and set up the modems- go figure.